Hands to Yourself

Spring Break Kickback | Masterlist

synopsis: Goose's love language is physical touch, and sometimes he can get a bit handsy

prompt: “we’re in public you know”

warnings: public display of affection, fingering, public sex (kinda), allusion to smut.

word count: 1.3k

It was no surprise that Goose’s love language was physical touch. He was a very hands-on type of person. He liked building things, working on puzzles, drawing, holding your hand whenever you’re out at the O Club. He was always having to touch you, a hand on your thigh, or an arm around your shoulders, or even having you sit on his lap. His touchiness seemed to get more extensive when he came home from a long deployment or when he was horny. Like tonight. 

Maverick had somehow convinced you to come join Goose, Ice and Slider at the O Club for a drink. You were happy to join in on the festivities, throwing on a red checked sundress and sandals, easily spotting your mustached pilot when you walked into the bar. 

“Great Balls of Fire, look at my girl,” Goose whistled as you walked up to him. You blushed as he took your hand and twirled you around in a circle before bringing you into his arms. He pressed a kiss to your cheek, as his hand slid down your back, resting on the curve above your ass, “How was your day?” 

“Good. Spent the day finishing up that quilt for Bradley,” You pecked his lips, “How was your day?” 

“Good, better now that you’re here,” Goose gives you that thousand watt smile and pulls you in for a slow, sensual kiss. You feel your cheeks heating up as his hand slips down to your ass, and gives it a squeeze. You jump back from him and he’s got a shit eating grin on his face. 

“Hands to yourself, Mister,” You point at him and he holds his hands up in defense. Even though you both know. . . he won’t keep his hands to himself. 

And you were right. Goose hardly kept his hands to himself, or let you out of his arms reach. He had settled your group into a booth near the back. He sat next to you in the booth, sitting on the outside so he could easily go and get you another drink if you wanted it. He had his arm around you, playing with the ends of your hair as you talked to Charlie about this blanket you were going to make for Viper’s new grandchild. That was one thing that Goose loved about you. Your love language was gift giving and you loved to make gifts for everyone. 

You were deep in your conversation when you started to feel the light brush of fingers up your thigh. You glanced over at Goose, who was looking down at you and gave you a small smile. You shook your head and went back to your conversation with Charlie. It was a couple seconds later that you felt Goose’s hand on your thigh. You sucked in a breath as you tried to listen to Charlie talking about some training plan that she was trying to execute at work. But the feeling of Goose’s fingers swiping against your inner thigh was pulling your attention into other places. Charlie excused herself from the table to go find Maverick, who was shamelessly flirting with another woman across the bar. When she left, you turned and swatted Goose’s chest. 

“Nicholas,” You scolded, “Hands. . .” You grabbed his hand, “To. . .” You picked it up from your thigh, “Yourself,” You placed his hand back in his lap, just by his crotch. Goose had that glint in his eye, that look that he got when he and Maverick were about to do something mischievous. He leaned down and pecked your nose, before placing his hand back on your thigh. 

“I don’t think,” He slid his hand up your thigh, “You want me to do that.” You let out a shaky breath as you tried not to let your eyes roll to the back of your head as his fingers trailed to the spot that you needed him the most. You were suddenly thankful that Goose decided to sit on the outside of the booth. Damn Goose, and the way he could make you melt with just one look. 

He leaned in, the scent of his cologne clouding your senses as he gently nuzzled against your cheek. You had learned to love the feeling of his mustache against your skin, and threatened to leave him if he even spoke of shaving it. The roughness of his palm sent a shiver down your body as he gripped your thigh, his fingers digging into the skin. 

“Goosey,” You sighed and leaned your head back against the cushion of the booth. 

“Be a good girl for me,” Goose said quietly, his voice getting that delicious rasp to it, “Let me touch you baby.” You bit back a moan as his finger ghosted over the damp spot that had been created in your panties. You nodded, letting Goose get what he wanted. He let out a sigh, and pressed his lips to your temple, “Thank you so much.” 

You audibly moaned at that. That was the thing about Goose, he was always so thankful that you let him touch you. He was always thanking you, before he slipped his fingers into your panties, or before his tongue lapped at your core, or before his penis penetrated your cunt. He would even thank you as he orgasmed, coating your walls with thick white ropes of cum. 

“Shh, gotta be quiet, honey,” Goose whispered, as he ran a finger through your soaked folds, “Jesus, you’re so wet, soaking my fingers. Bet, you’re always like this.” 

You nodded, “It’s the curse of living with you, Bradshaw.” 

“Oh you poor thing,” Goose chuckled, and you let out a sigh as he rubbed your aching clit, “Oh this what you needed, huh?” You nodded again, “I’ll always take care of you, honey, always.” 

“Goose,” You whined as he drew slow, steady circles on your clit. He moved his fingers lower, finding your soaked opening and easily sliding a finger into you. You bucked your hips up at the feeling and Goose looked around quickly to make sure no one saw anything. Everyone was too busy flirting, drinking or smoking to give a damn that he was knuckle deep in your pussy. You leaned your forehead against Goose’s shoulder to hopefully suppress the moans that were threatening to leave your lips. 

“Clenching around my fingers, honey,” Goose muttered, and curled his fingers to touch that spongy spot inside of you, “You close?” 

“Fucking hell, Goose!” You whined, lifting your head, “I. . .Fuck!” You grabbed his hand, and squeezed his wrist, the universal sign for him to stop, “I want you to make me cum, but. . .” You let out a breathy laugh, “We are in public, you know. And I can’t be quiet when I cum, you know that.” 

Goose smirked and pulled his hand from under your dress. He set his warm hand on your thigh and squeezed it, leaning in for a kiss. You kissed him back and gripped the collar of his khaki service uniform in your hands. He pulled back first for air and leaned his forehead against yours. 

“Oh boy do I know how loud you get,” He laughed, “Pretty sure you’ve woken up the whole dorm be-” You slapped his chest playfully and he pulled you to sit on his lap, still laughing. He grabbed your chin and turned your face to look at him. He peppered kisses all around your face; your forehead, nose, cheeks, chin, and then eventually your lips. 

“Take me home, sailor,” You said, putting your arms around his neck. He looked at you, that look of mischief back in his eye.

Somehow he had managed to get up from the booth, with you still in his arms. You let out a squeal and he kissed your lips before finding his way out of the O Club and towards his awaiting Bronco to take you home and love you properly.

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The Sibling Connection

Summary: Now 23 and 38 the Bradshaw siblings come back to Miramar and see an old face. Feelings come up and surprises are revealed.

Pairings: Bradley Bradshaw x Sister!Reader

Warnings: angst, fluff, swearing, very inaccurate military talk, and timing

Masterlist

First Installment- Brotherly Love

Second Installment- The Sibling Connection

A/N: Italics mean that they are up in the air or getting ready to be up in the air.

Y/N wasn't at The Hard Deck when her brother arrived; this is due to her being fresh out of flight school and now officially a pilot. She had just been at her base in Fallon, Nevada for 3 days when she was told she would be helping out at Top Gun for a secret mission. She exceeded all of her training but then again what do you expect when you have an uncle that is the Commander of the US Pacific Fleet and taught you everything to know about flying?

When Y/N turned 18 she applied to the Naval Academy but first talked with her brother about it. He wanted her to chase her dreams and so he helped her even though he didn't get in, he wasn't gonna hold her back like Maverick did to him. He supported her the entire time. She kept him updated with everything and also Maverick too but it was mostly about her and not Bradley, per his request, and she respected that. When she told Bradley that she wanted to fly he was ecstatic, when she told him she wanted to fly the F-35B he was a little disappointed it wasn't a F/A-18E Super Hornet but didn't make her switch, they even joke about it and play fight. 

The next day when everyone showed up to class, Bradley looked around for his sister but she wasn't there and he frowned slightly. He really didn't pay attention to what was going on but he was listening.

"Attention on deck!" Someone said and everyone scooted their chairs back and stood at attention as Warlock and Cyclone. 

"Morning." Warlock said and everyone sat down "Welcome to your special training detachment. Be seated. I’m Admiral Bates, NAWDC commander. You’re all top gun graduates. The elite. The best of the best. That was yesterday. The enemy’s new fifth-generation fighter has leveled the playing field. Details are few, but you can be sure we no longer possess the technological advantage. Success, now more than ever, comes down to the man or woman in the box. Half of you will make the cut. One of you will be named mission leader. The other half will remain in reserve. Your instructor is a top gun graduate with real-world experience in every mission aspect you will be expected to master. His exploits are legendary. And he’s considered to be one of the finest pilots this program has ever produced. What he has to teach you may very well mean the difference between life and death. I give you Captain Pete Mitchell. Call sign: “Maverick.” Warlock finished as Maverick walked up the aisle and Bradley's frown deepened. 

"Good morning. The f-18 natops. It contains everything they want you to know about your aircraft. I’m assuming you know the book inside and out." Maverick said Bradley was listening but wasn't happy about Maverick teaching him. Oh how he wished his sister would show up.

"Damn right." Jake said and another person said "Damn straight."

"You got it. So does your enemy." Maverick said threw the book into the trash.

"And we’re off." Warlock said

"But what the enemy doesn’t know is your limits. I intend to find them, test them, and push beyond. Today we’ll start with what you only think you know. You show me what you’re made of." Maverick continued "Before we continue Cyclone has something he wants to add." He said and took a step away and to the side as Cyclone walked up.

"Since this mission is dangerous and high stakes, we are bringing in another pilot. She will be flying the F-35 but will not be running the mission with you but will be training with you. She will be back up in the skies only and will take off with everyone else. She will assist if she needs to." Cyclone said and Bradley could feel his smirk, mood lightening, and sitting up straighter. "She has exceeded her training and has graduated early from pilot training and is now a stealth pilot. Everyone, I would like you to meet Lieutenant Y/N Bradshaw. Call sign: Sparhawk." Cyclone said as you reached the front and turned. You smiled and waved at the rest and then your eyes turned onto Bradley who had a smirk on his face and you smiled back at him.

Everyone was dismissed. Y/N was already out by her F-35. She would be going up with every hop to pose as another enemy along with Maverick. She saw Bradley get stopped by Maverick but wasn't able to hear anything. Bradley walked away from Maverick and came up to her. 

"Took you long enough." He said playfully and she laughed and smiled.

"I wanted it to be a surprise." She told him which is true he knew she was coming but just not when. He smiled and shook his head.

"You haven't changed one-bit little sis." Bradley said.

"I haven't but you have." She shot back she missed the playful banter. He just smirked.

"If you need anything. Let me know." He told her and she nodded her head.

"You got it, bro. Be safe up there." She said and turned to get up in her jet.

"You too sis." He replied and headed to his own jet. 

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The training was going well. Each hop was different from the last since each pilot had different flying skills. Y/N stayed unseen which was doable since she had a jet that was almost completely invisible from radar. There were a few times that she had freaked out the others by flying right next to them and they didn't even know. She especially liked to freak out Jake. 

It had been when Jake, Natasha, and Bob were up for one of the hops. Jake was looking over at the other two and that's when Y/N silently flew up next to him. Both Natasha and Bob were smirking.

"What are the two of you smirking at?" Jake asked and they said nothing but Y/N's voice came into the comms.

"Why don't you look to your left, Bagman." She said with a smirk on her face and you could hear it. He looked to his left and saw her there and he jerked his jet to the right and almost hit Natasha and Bob but he corrected it before he crashed. 

"Geez, Spawhawk. Where did you come from?" He asked, "You almost gave me a heart attack." He continued and she laughed. 

"I've been here for at least 10 minutes." She said with a smirk on her face. 

"Warning next time would be nice." He said and she laughed.

"That would beat the purpose of it being a stealth jet." She responded back with sass. They didn't get to speak much longer because Maverick's voice came on the comms. 

"Ok enough chit chatting. Sparhawk, time to start." Maverick said and she nodded even though he couldn't see it. 

"You got it Mav." She said and dropped her speed and seamlessly disappeared but in reality she just dropped down below the other jets and let them speed past her. She flew to Mav and settled right next to him. They decided to make the others sweat and they switched to private communication. 

"So an F-35?" Maverick asked her and she smiled though he couldn't see it. 

"Yea I figured it would be a nice change of pace and I like stealth." She said and he laughed. 

"You sure do. Are you ready to take them down?" He asked her. 

"Absolutely." She replied and off they went. Mav was the distraction while she stealthy came up behind them and toned them. This went on for several hops. 

Bradley was the toughest but eventually he was toned too. When Coyote went into g-loc she thought she was going to have a heart attack along with the bird strike, but in the end everyone was ok. 

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Not much time was given to hang out except when Maverick made time for dogfight football. It was wild and Y/N loved it. She always had a competitive side with Bradley and just in general. Getting to hang out with hot sweaty, shirtless, muscled, 6-pack abs, and sun-kissed skin guys wasn't bad either.  

After Y/N and her team won against Bradley they all sat down to cool off and some even went into the ocean. Bradley came over to her and threw an arm around her and she made a face.

"Bro you're sweaty. Get off of me." She said and pushed him away and he laughed.

"Look who's talking. You're just about as sweaty as I am." He pushed her back and smiled. They eventually stopped and talked until the sun went down and they headed home. What they didn't know was that Maverick was several feet back watching them smiling. He was glad Y/N stayed in touch and sad that Bradley didn't. He was surprised that she went into the Navy but couldn't blame her. 

Everyone left the beach and headed home to continue the next day. Then they were off to do the mission and come home, safely.

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The time has come for the mission. Everyone was nervous but ready for it. Maverick picked his team and Y/N was shocked when Bradley's name was called and her stomach dropped. She already knew she would be going but she feared for her brother. They all started to go out towards their jets when Cyclone stopped her.

"Lt. Bradshaw, stay back for a few seconds." She stopped and turned to look at him as the other left and Bradley gave her a questioning look. He also stopped Maverick before he left  "Captain Mitchell a word." He said as he was getting ready to leave.

"What can we do for you?" Maverick asked and then Warlock walked up to them.

"We have decided to send Lt. Bradshaw out before the Daggers." Both Maverick and Y/N were shocked, this was not the plan.

 "Captain Mitchell, you will still be leading the Daggers. Once everyone gets to the opening of the mountain, Lt. Bradshaw will drop out and do air control." They both were silent as Warlock spoke about the change of plans.

"Understood." Both of them said.

"Dismissed." Cyclone said and both Cyclone and Warlock walked out of the room followed by Maverick and Y/N, but not before looking at each other. 

When they got to their jets and Maverick and Bradley talked, Bradley walked up to his sister. "What was that about?" He asked.

"You know I'm not allowed to say. It's just the plans have changed. You'll see once we get up in the air." She said and he nodded but he could tell that she was nervous, they could always tell when something was up with the other it was just the sibling connection they shared. The announcement came on telling them that they were ready to launch. They hugged each other. "I love you, big brother." She said and he hugged her tighter.

"I love you too little sis." He replied and then let go of her and they went and got in their jets getting ready to take off. 

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They had Y/N's jet taxi to the catapult and she could feel the eyes of her teammates on her. They would be asking questions later. "Safety Dagger up and ready." She said into her comms. They gave her the go and the shooter gave the command and she shot off the deck and into the sky. Once she was far enough away they gave the ok for the other Daggers. She could hear Maverick talking but wasn't paying attention. She was on the lookout for bandits but found none. She saw the missiles fly above her and once the opening of the canyon, she dropped down and let the now-in-formation Daggers go ahead of her. She broke right and went around the mountain monitoring the skies. 

She was far enough away from the mountains but still close enough. As she was monitoring the skies she came across one of the bandits. "Safety Dagger this Comanche. You have a bandit at 3 o'clock." She looked at her radar and so behold there it was.

"Comanche, this is Safety Dagger. Copy that. Will not engage unless need to." She said into her comms.

"Copy that Safety Dagger." Comanche said. Everything was going smoothly until they spotted her and it was game on. 

"Comanche bandit is engaging, Safety Dagger is responding." She said.

"Copy, Safety Dagger." They said to her, she dropped her speed and dropped altitude. She was trying to disappear from their radar and it was working. 

She got behind them and got tone but she was still far enough away from them they couldn't see her. She got closer and they panicked and started to try to lose her. Each move they made she made. "Can't shake me. Our jets are practically the same." She said to herself. "Oh you're good but I'm better." She said and after a few minutes and a few missile shots and gunshots, she got the final tone and shot, taking them down. Her 1st confirmed kill. She still has a lot of ammo left. She had this feeling that something was right and boy was she right when she started to hear all the commotion going on and then Maverick went down and her heart dropped. She saw Natasha, Bob, Mickey, and Javy emerge but not Bradley. She flew up beside them. "Where is my brother?" She asked any of them but they remained silent "Answer me." She almost growled. 

"He went back for Mav." Bob finally said and boy was she angry. She quickly pulled her jet to the left and headed towards where they were last. When Cyclone came over the comms 

"Safety Dagger, return to the ship." He said and she was pissed.

"What's the point of a Safety Dagger if it's not going to protect the fellow Daggers?" She replied and Cyclone knew she was right and she might be in trouble but be damn with it. 

"Safety Dagger you are clear to proceed." Cyclone said and she nodded and proceeded to her brother. She flew around but couldn't see them. She practically growled. "Safety Dagger, report." He said. 

"Plane wreckage but not shoots or bodies." She said looking through the bottom of the plane thanks to her extremely up to date technology helmet. She then saw an F-14 on the runway and knew it was them but didn't say anything. She didn't want to alert the enemies. 

The F-14 took off and was in the sky. Once far enough away from the base she flew up beside them scaring the crap out of them. But once they saw she was friendly they were relieved. "Thought I would never see you again boys." She said into the comms. Bradley laughed. 

"What made you come looking for us?" He asked.

"Let's call it the sibling connection kicked in. I knew that you were still alive and I wasn't about to not help." She said to her brother and pseudo father. 

"Well, I'm glad it's still working. Let's go home." He said and that is exactly what they did but not before running into several bandits. They put up a good fight. Y/N could give them that but she had a jet of the same technology as them. She broke away from them and took off after the 3rd bandit and they watched her in a dogfight, and they were impressed, while they were fighting off on their own. They quickly got rid of their first one and they watched her take down the 3rd one, which was behind her but she shot a missile and it shot out but it went up and behind her hitting the 3rd bandit, they were impressed, confirming her 2nd kill. The second bandit was now chasing Maverick and Bradley through the canyon but she had another problem, a 4th bandit showed up and she was in another dogfight.

Y/N and the 4th bandit were chasing each other just as soon as she took down the bandit, Bradley and Maverick came back without the bandit and knew they would be ok. The 4th bandit was her 3rd confirmed kill. A 5th bandit showed up and Maverick and Bradley were out of ammo she put up a fight for them as they tried to invade and damaged the bandit but soon ran out of ammo.

Just as soon as they thought they were done for the plane that was in front of them but now behind them, after turning avoiding gunshots, them blew up and Jake came out of the smoke. "Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman, this is your savior speaking. Please fasten your seat belts, return the tray tables to their locked an upright positions and prepare for landing." Jakes voice came through the comms.

'Hangman , you're looking good." Bradley said

"I am good, Rooster. I'm very good." Jake said to him being the cocky son of a bitch that he was. They all headed back to the ship, first Jake then Y/N, and then finally Maverick and Bradley. Once Bradley and Maverick crashed landed they got out of the plane and everyone cheered.

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Once they debriefed and got onto solid ground everyone gathered at The Hard Deck, except Cyclone, Warlock, and Maverick. They all chatted about and making plans for their well deserved team when Y/N silently slipped out on to the deck and looked out over to the ocean. Her brother noticed the absence of his sister and went out to her. He slung an arm around her shoulders and she leaned into his embrace. "Warlock tells me that you have now 3 confirmed kills." and she smiled and nodded.

"That would be correct." She said and he smiled.

"I'm proud of you. I know it was hard to take a life. Mom, Dad, and Uncle Ice would be so proud of you too." He said a laid a kiss to her hair. They heard the others cheering but didn't pay attention to it they were enjoying their sibling time together.

"You're right it wasn't easy but it was necessary." She said. Maverick walked out onto the deck and joined them smiling at them before walking up beside them.

"You missed the announcement." He told them. Bradley and Maverick were working on their relationship it would take time to heal but it was going in the right direction. They both looked at him.

"Oh?" Y/N asked as Bradley spoke up. "What's that?" Bradley asked at the same time.

"Yes. I just got out of a meeting with Cyclone and Warlock. They have decided to make this squad a permanent one. He also said that Y/N will also train and learn to fly the F/A-18E Super Hornet." Maverick said to the both and they all smiled. No words were needed. They all looked out into the ocean and setting sun.

Bradley hugged his little sister tighter and dropped another kiss to her head. Y/N leaned further into her brother enjoying the warmth from him and the familiar scent that she had grown up with. Maverick looked out into the sunset just thinking that Goose and Carole were up there smiling and begin glad that they had him in their life, even though there was rough patches. Occasionally Maverick would look at them and smile. He was glad they were together again and they were safe.

Bradley and Y/N truly did share the sibling connection. Now they don't have to be away from each other. Now Bradley could protect his little sister from guys, especially guys like Jake and Jake. Y/N had her big brother and pseudo father right there when she needed someone to go to when things get rough. The family was back together again.

Tag list:

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@els-marvelvsp

@atarmychick007

@nyx20

So guess who started the Married in Vegas fic from Maverick and Goose's side?! This is what happens when people heap praise on me. Comments work *finger guns*

I'm very busy but hoping to have it up by the end of this weekend. Please send love and good vibes that my brain (and life) behave long enough for me to get it written!

Glad You Exist

| For: @askmarinaandothers |

| Song: Glad You Exist by Dan + Shay |

Nick Goose Bradshaw will never stop being head over heels over his Irish beauty. He’s even more glad that Scarlet continues to put up with his shenanigans. He constantly calls her just to tell her hi or that he missed her. For their engagement party, Goose was late because he stopped to get her a dachshund just because. Out of the billions of people in the world, Goose would always pick her. “I never want to share secrets with anyone else unless it’s with you. I… I’m just so glad you exist and that you’re mine,” he says as part of his vows on their wedding day.

- -

Cowboy AU 🏷️ List: @askmarinaandothers @bayisdying @breadsquash @callmemana @dragon-kazansky @callsignscupcake @callsignthirsty @cycbaby @luckyladycreator2 @gracespicybradshaw @mischief-siriusly-managed @starlit-epiphany @heyriojude

Family Line 

Warning: Some violence (glass being thrown), yelling, talks of PTSD and trauma (reader is a psychologist),Angst, Jake Seresin is a warning in general, Canon character death mentioned

Characters: Bradley Bradshaw, Jake Seresin (Mentioned), Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell (Mentioned), Tom 'Iceman' Kanazsky (Mentioned), Carole and Nick Bradshaw (Mentioned)

This is just some backstory into the downfall of the Bradshaw siblings and how you met Jake

A/N: Yes I know Family Line by Conan Gray is based on something else but let me run with this please!

A/N: Please keep in mind it's been years since I've personally written fan fiction. But this might turn into a 3 parter.

Scattered 'cross my family line

I'm so good at telling lies

Looking back on what has happened in your life, you would have never believed you'd wound up here. Married to the man you adore, with a 1 year old son who is the light of your life and helping trauma victims in the navy as one of the best psychologists seen.

You are the eldest child of Nicholas and Carole Bradshaw. You were only 4 when you and your brother Bradley lost your father in that training accident and 18 when your mother passed from cancer. Before her death, you and Bradley both promised her you would stick by each other no matter what. Well that ended up broken a few years later.

But before this all happened, let's wind back to 6 years ago.

Flashback

Flinching as the glass shattered a few inches away from my head as it impacted the wall. Bradley huffing and puffing, red in the face.

"WHY WOULD YOU TAKE HIS SIDE?!" Manages to make it's way out of his mouth.

"Because Bradley, Maverick thinks he is doing the right thing. If you want the truth, talk to him about it" I breathe out, only noticing that I have a little tremor running through my body.

Bradley discovered that his naval application papers have been pulled and once he found out it was Uncle Pete, well he assumed I knew about it.

"No Y/N, I'm not stupid enough to talk to that man again and that fact you had something to do with it astounds me" Well that hurt.

No matter how many times I explained to him that I didn't have a clue about what Uncle Pete had done, he would not believe a word out of my mouth.

"GOD! Just because you will never amount to nothing doesn't mean the same should happened to me" He threw back in my face, continuing, "I hate you and after this, you're practically dead to me"

A few moments of silence fill the room after the realization of what he had just said. A tear rolls down my face and his face turns apologetic.

Raising my hand to stop him as his mouth opens to say something.

"Just leave Bradley please" It kills me to say that to my own baby brother but I need him gone.

Bradley shuts his mouth, starting to calm down but I walk out of the room to my bed. Starting to cry as I hear the front door slam.

I can run, but I can't hide

From my family line

FLASHBACK OVER

After what happened with Bradley, I tried to get in contact with him only to be sent to voicemail and then eventually being blocked all together.

Over the years I ended up staying close to my godfather Admiral Tom 'Iceman' Kazansky, being there with him and his family for the holidays and other events.

It's hard to put it into words

How the holidays will always hurt

I watch the fathers with their little girls

And wonder what I did to deserve this

Being Uncle Ice's date to one of those events, being a navy ball, ended up as one of the best nights of my life.

I met him.

Lt. Jake 'Hangman' Grant Seresin

Welcome to my Blog

Hi!

New Blog/Writer here. I'm Emmie and I have found a small love for writing and reading fan fiction. I'm new to the writing part and have been in a major writers block lately and decided to make an account in hopes I could find some people out there with the same interests as me. I'm asking for requests on what to write, down below this small paragraph is the fandom's I write for and my request rules. Please don't be shy and send them in so I can hopefully get my creativity flowing!!

HARRY POTTER

Harry potter

Draco Malfoy

Blaise Zabini

Ronald Weasley

Fred Weasley

George Weasley

Ginny Weasley

Hermione Granger

Luna Lovegood

Neville Longbottom

Mattheo Riddle

Theodore Nott

Tom Riddle

Severus Snape (PLATONIC ONLY)

Lucius Malfoy (PLATONIC ONLY)

Narcissa Malfoy (PLATONIC ONLY)

Bellatrix Lestrange (PLATONIC ONLY)

Remus Lupin (PLATONIC ONLY)

Sirius Black (PLATONIC ONLY)

Regulus Black (PLATONIC ONLY)

Molly Weasley (PLATONIC ONLY)

Arthur Weasley (PLATONIC ONLY)

STRANGER THINGS

Steve Harrington

Eddie Munson

Billy Hargrove

Eleven (PLATONIC ONLY)

Max Mayfeild (PLATONIC ONLY)

Will Byers (PLATONIC ONLY)

Mike Wheeler (PLATONIC ONLY)

Dustin Henderson (PLATONIC ONLY)

Nancy Wheeler

Jim Hopper (PLATONIC ONLY)

Robin Buckley

Chrissy Cuningham

Lucas Sinclair (PLATONIC ONLY)

Johnathan Byers

Erica Sinclair (PLATONIC ONLY)

Joyce Byers (PLATONIC ONLY)

Karen Wheeler (PLATONIC ONLY)

TWILIGHT

Edward Cullen

Jasper Hale

Alice Cullen

Carlisle Cullen (PLATONIC ONLY)

Bella Swan

Emmet Cullen

Jacob Black

Rosalie Hale

Esme Cullen (PLATONIC ONLY)

Charlie Swan (PLATONIC ONLY)

Renesmee Cullen (PLATONIC ONLY)

Leah Clearwater

Sam Uley

Seth Clearwater

AVATAR/AVATAR THE WAY OF WATER

Jake Sully

Neytiri Sully

Ts'utey

Neteyam Sully

Lo'ak Sully

Kiri Sully

Tuk Sully (PLATONIC ONLY)

Tonowari

Ronal

Tsireya

Ao'nung

Roxto

TOP GUN MAVERICK

Nick (Goose) Bradshaw

Bradley (Rooster) Bradshaw

Jake (Hangman) Serisen

Pete (Maverick) Mitchell

PEAKY BLINDERS

Thomas Shelby

CHRIS EVANS / CHARACTERS

Chris Evans

Steve Rogers

Lloyd Hansen

Ari Levinson

Andy Barber

Ransom Drysdale

SEBASTIAN STAN / CHARACTERS

Sebastian Stan

Bucky Barnes

Lee Bodecker

MISC. CHARACTERS/PEOPLE

Elvis Presley/ Austin!Elvis Presley

Miles Teller

Jack Harlow

Taylor Swift

I WONT WRITE FOR ANYONE I DONT KNOW I WILL WRITE PLATONIC FOR ALL OF THE CHARACTERS I WILL ALSO WRITE FOR PREGNANCY AND THE READER AND CHARACTER HAVING KIDS :))

PLEASE LIKE RE-BLOG AND COMMENT

LOVE YOU ALL <3

RULES

Smut is allowed! I make no apologies for how bad it will probably be though

I wont write about R@pe, Abu$e or ince$st

All my writing will be fem/GN!reader, I wont go into detail about skin color, body type or really any personal details UNLESS asked to

I want to keep my stories fun so try and keep the requests non boring lol :))

If you have any questions please ask

I write it all, smut, fluff and angst

Actor Miles Teller Says, Top Gun 2 Uses No Green Screen

Actor Miles Teller shared the shots in the movie Top Gun: Maverick. He said that the film did not use the green screen.

Top Gun: Maverick is an upcoming action drama movie directed by Joseph Kosinski. Eric Warren Singer, Ehren Kruger, and Christopher McQuarrie wrote the screenplay of the film. Peter Craig and Justin Marks developed the story while characters were based on Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr.’s characters. It stars Miles Teller, Tom Cruise, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Connelly, Lewis Pullman, Val Kilmer, and Ed Harris.

The movie is scheduled to be released theatrically on 2 July 2021 in the United States. It was initially planned to be released on 12 July 2019, but due to some complexities, the release date got postponed and delayed further for the coronavirus pandemic. Top Gun: Maverick is a long-awaited Cruise movie. The film’s plot follows Pete “Maverick” Mitchell keeps pushing the envelope as one of the top aviators of the Navy. He soon confronts the past when training a new squad for an ultimate mission. The character Maverick is played by Cruise, Miles Teller is featured as Lieutenant Bradley Rooster, and Jennifer Connelly played the character of Penny Benjamin, Maverick’s love interest.

In a recent interview with Men’s Journal, Teller shared that the team did not use any green screen to shoot the Top Gun movie. He added that every stunt and every shot result from the real sweat and real work that the whole team has put into. Miles’ character is the son of the former wingman Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, who died in the previous film. Rooster is following the footsteps of his late father and is also newly hired in the Topgun program.

The actor further said that the film took a year to complete the shooting, and it was the longest film scheduled that Teller has ever been a part of.

Miles Alexander Teller is an American actor known for his film, Whiplash, Thank You for Your Service, The Spectacular Now, Bleed for This, and The Divergent Series. He appeared in many short films after completing his graduation from Tisch School of the Arts and his debut with the film Rabbit Hole. The actor received many nominations for the BAFTA Rising Star Award, the Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture, and the Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Actor. Teller won the Special Jury Prize for Dramatic Acting at the Sundance Film Festival for The Spectacular Now and Ensemble Award at the CinemaCon Award for Fantastic Four.

In today’s cinema, the green screen and blue screen technology are widely used to create amazing special effects. The technology is commonly used in science fiction or fantasy films/ TV shows. It is very cost and time friendly to create a fantastical world. However, actor Tom Cruise is known for his stunts and daring performance. He believes in keeping things real and surprises his fans and the film industry with his wild stunts in films like Mission: Impossible. The actor insanely hanged on the side of the plane during take-off in one of his action sequences. He also strictly against using stunt artists for his part.

Cruise knew that the aerial sequence in the film is very demanding, and hence he made arrangements for his co-stars to undergo the flight training. During a conversation with Empire Magazine, Teller shared that it compresses the spine and skull when pulling the massive G’s. It makes some even insane. And some cannot even handle it. He could not have the people sick the whole time.

The award-winning actor shared three months of training before starting shooting for the movie Top Gun: Maverick. He started his practice in Cessna and then moved on to the L-39 Albatros, a jet trainer aircraft. After that, he got the chance to fly F-18 to build tolerance for extreme G-force. Later he took some breathing practice techniques.

The actor’s shot inside the aircraft F-14s in the Top Gun has been taken on a gimbal. Cruise has flown a helicopter and a P-51 for real in a movie sequence. With the latest details of not using any kind of green screen for the shoot in Top Gun: Maverick, fans are even more excited for the film to release. Hopefully, soon the team will share some more details and posters of the project.

Eva winget is a Microsoft Office expert and has been working in the technical industry since 2006. As a technical expert, Bella has written technical blogs, manuals, white papers, and reviews for many websites.

SOURCE: Actor Miles Teller Says, Top Gun 2 Uses No Green Screen

A Power Ranking of Cosmopolitans from ‘Sex and the City’

In the final moments of the 2008 “Sex and the City” movie, the HBO hit show’s four lead characters — Carrie Bradshaw, Miranda Hobbs, Samantha Jones, and Charlotte York — enjoy a nostalgic reunion with an old friend, Cosmo.

“This is delicious!” Charlotte exclaims, as she sips a shimmering pink Cosmopolitan cocktail from an oversized Martini glass. “Why did we ever stop drinking these?” Miranda wonders. In turn, Carrie quips, “Because everyone else started!”

Their conversation is loaded with intentional irony. Many people did, in fact, start drinking Cosmopolitans (or Cosmos) during the late ‘90s, arguably because of the drink’s association with the show and its sex-column-writing protagonist, Carrie Bradshaw. Whether or not the Cosmo is, as Charlotte says, a “delicious” drink, is historically and hotly debated.

Before “Sex and the City” (SATC) first hit the small screen in 1998, the bright pink cocktail had already amassed an impressive following among New York socialites and celebrities in the late 1980s. Bartender Toby Cecchini is widely credited with introducing the drink to high-profile regulars at TriBeCa brasserie The Odeon, where he worked at the time.

Cecchini, who now owns Long Island Bar in Brooklyn, has often recounted how he “adapted” the recipe from another pink cocktail called the Cosmopolitan, which was doing the rounds in San Francisco gay bars. Cecchini learned of that drink from a colleague, who was introduced to it by friends visiting from the West Coast.

“It was gross, but it looked pretty,” Cecchini told Punch in a 2017 interview. “I went about reconstructing it.” He upgraded the drink’s ingredients, swapping out rail vodka and store-bought lime juice with new-on-the-market Absolut Citron, a lemon-flavored vodka, and freshly squeezed citrus. In place of grenadine, Cecchini used cranberry juice to give the drink its signature hue, and added triple sec (Cointreau, by many accounts) for sweet balance.

Ironically, the ingredients hardly mattered. What shot the drink into popularity was its instantly recognizable pink hue. “It was always made wrong, and you could tell, because it looked like a Negroni,” Cecchini said. “Nobody was doing the proper amount of lime juice. … There was too much cranberry. And still, to this day, people never get it right.”

The Cosmopolitan’s hit-or-miss ubiquity, and the countless overly sweet, artificial-looking recreations, sadly led to its downfall. But at its core, the Cosmo belongs to the “sour” family of cocktails, and is a sibling of other hugely popular drinks such as the Margarita and Daiquiri. In capable hands, and by avoiding gimmicky tools and ingredients, both can be crafted into stunning drinks. So is the Cosmo, too, worthy of a second chance?

VinePair decided to find out. To do so, we thought it would only be fitting to give the drink another go at the major New York bars and restaurants that featured in “Sex and the City.” After all, this was the show that helped make the drink famous.

Helping this writer on the Cosmo-fueled bar crawl was VinePair’s director of marketing, Jeff Licciardello, a late-to-the-game “Sex and the City” fan who regularly watches reruns of the show. VinePair columnist and cocktail enthusiast Aaron Goldfarb was also on hand to share his knowledge and palate (Goldfarb has been a regular fixture on previous VinePair bar crawls).

And making a special-guest appearance was Melissa Stokoski, an actor and comedian who leads guided “Sex and the City” tours two to three times a week for On Tour Locations.

To set the stage, our tasting began at the Cosmo’s original NYC home, The Odeon.

Our judging process was simple: If the establishment featured a Cosmo on its menu, we’d order that. If it didn’t, we would ask for one to be prepared according to the house specifications. Each taster scored each drink on preparation, presentation, ingredients, balance of flavors, and value for money. Scores were then averaged to determine our final ranking.

Setting the Standard: The Odeon

The NYC home of the Cosmo never featured in SATC, but it feels like the type of restaurant where the bougie leading characters would start the night. The TriBeCa institution captures a traditional French brasserie’s comfort and sophistication, while a long, incredibly well-lit art deco bar dazzles. (It also reportedly cost close to 10 percent of the restaurant’s opening budget when it debuted in 1980.)

The tasting team told our bartender about the Cosmo crawl, and he reacted excitedly, recounting the drink’s ties to the restaurant and detailing its popularity — he prepares 20 to 30 per shift, on average.

The perfectly pink Cosmos he served arrived in sturdy Martini glasses. In other, more modern establishments, the thickness of the glass would have felt tacky; but in this nostalgic setting, they were perfect. While our bartender free-poured the ingredients, the drinks were remarkably well balanced: tart, fruity, and acidic, with just the right amount of sweetness. Average score: 21.75/25

6. Cipriani

In SATC Season 3, Episode 3, “Attack of the Five Foot Ten Woman,” the girls brunch in SoHo’s Italian eatery, Cipriani. Flicking through The New York Times wedding section, they learn that Carrie’s ex, John James “Mr. Big” Preston, has married his girlfriend of five months, Natasha Naginsky.

Credit: Cipriani / Facebook.com

Drinking a Cosmo at Cipriani in 2020 proves to be a similar assault. The service is elitist, and the experience resembles an awkward first date you really want to end and will pay any price to get out of. In this case, that was $22. In return, we received a tiny, foamy Cosmo, served in the type of thick, stemmed water glasses designed for large-volume catered events and not expensive New York restaurants.

Cipriani’s bartender opted not to shake our drinks, but instead mixed them using a milkshake frother. The result was undeniably attractive, but not a classic Cosmo preparation by any parameters. It contained (unflavored) Stolichnaya vodka, tasted like pink lemonade seasoned with sour mix, and arrived with a clumsy lime-wedge garnish. While the Cosmopolitan has come to embody free-spirited fun, drinking this frothy concoction at Cipriani feels anything but. Average score: 8/25

5. Cafeteria

Chelsea’s Cafeteria restaurant, known for its 24/7 service, is also the location for numerous brunch scenes throughout the SATC series. Nearly two decades since the show finished, Cafeteria’s ambience evokes that late-30s friend who, rather than settling down like many of their contemporaries, is trying to keep the party going for as long as possible. The music, a compilation of Ibiza dance hits from the early 2000s, blares multiple decibels too loud, and the after-dark lighting is inappropriately low for any restaurant — even one that never closes.

As for its Cosmo: a modern interpretation that deserves some acknowledgement for effort, but the delivery, much like the bar/restaurant in general, is off. Served in a Nick & Nora glass, this Cosmo smelled like Starburst-infused vodka and tasted like an overly sweet passionfruit-spiked Sex on the Beach. Bearing as much resemblance to a classic Cosmopolitan as an Appletini does to a Martini, this is an accomplished Sandals resort cocktail at best. Average score: 12.25/25

4. Grand Bar & Lounge at the Soho Grand Hotel

Featured in Episode 15 of Season 4 (“Change of a Dress”), this hotel bar and lounge played host to a charity event put on by (fictional) hotel magnate Richard Wright, Samantha’s soon-to-be ex-boyfriend. During the formal “Black and White” party, Samantha learns Richard is seeing other women, and is shocked to discover how much it bothers her. “I think I have monogamy,” she tells her friends. “I caught it from you people.”

IRL, the Soho Grand delivers an authentic, glamorous SATC experience. The decor seasons stripped-back regal fittings with sleek 21st-century details. Both the bar and lounge feel expensive without being stuffy, and the staff provides remarkably friendly service.

Credit: Soho Grand Hotel / Facebook.com

If it’s Cosmos you’re looking for, you’ll need to order off-menu and there’s no Absolut Citron on the bar. The cocktails arrived in a stiletto-thin, oversized coupe glasses, garnished with a large orange twist. The sweet citrus fruit garnish ultimately hijacked the drink, and the mixture lacked boozy punch. As this Cosmo’s beauty is only skin-deep, it’s acceptable for a one-time fling but definitely not worthy of long-term commitment. Average score: 13/25

3. Onieal’s Bar and Restaurant

The most-recognizable bar from the show (On Tour Locations finishes its tours here), Onieal’s is better known to SATC fans as Scout, the bar co-owned by Steve Brady, Miranda’s husband, and Aidan Shaw, Carrie’s two-time boyfriend and one-time fiancé.

The main appeal of this Nolita bar today is its familiarity from the show. But past that, it’s hard to pin down exactly what the space serves as. “Is it a pub, lounge, or a dive bar?” we wondered. It’s dimly lit, has TV screens behind the bar, and is furnished with a mismatch of multicolored faux-velvet booths.

Sipping a Cosmo at Onieal’s is an obvious must for SATC fans, but for cocktail enthusiasts, the experience doesn’t deliver the same appeal. Served in a robust Martini glass (read: chunky), the cocktail had a vivid red hue, leading us to question whether there was too much cranberry juice in the mixture, or perhaps even an illicit splash of Rose’s Grenadine. Either way, the drink lacked tartness and acidity, and arrived with undesirable hints of Luden’s cough drops. Average score: 13/25

2. Buddakan

Featured in the 2008 “Sex and the City” movie, Carrie and fiancé Mr. Big choose Buddakan as the location for their wedding rehearsal dinner. During the course of the evening, Miranda accidentally plants seeds of doubt in Big’s mind, paving the way for numerous plot twists throughout the movie.

Situated in a nondescript (from the outside) industrial warehouse in the Meatpacking District, the cavernous bar and restaurant epitomizes everything you want from a SATC experience. There’s sushi Lounge music, courtesy of a live DJ who’s tucked away beside the bar; the kitchen serves Asian fusion dishes, like edamame dumplings, while the bar area, which overlooks the vast dining room below, seems custom-designed for bottle service.

Credit: Buddakan / Facebook.com

Of all the locations we visited, this was the only bar where we weren’t the only ones drinking Cosmos. We surely weren’t alone in enjoying them, either. A booze-forward cocktail, Buddakan’s Cosmo is rose pink, suggesting just the right proportion of cranberry juice (a notion that was backed up by its slightly astringent flavor profile). Tasters docked points for insufficient lime juice, but we doubted this would have been a major problem for Carrie and co. Average score: 16.5/25

1. Balthazar

“The most powerful woman in New York is not Tina Brown, or Diane Sawyer, or even Rosie O’Donnell,” Carrie says during the opening narration of Season 1, Episode 5 (“The Power of Female Sex”). “It’s the hostess at Balzac, which had overnight become the only restaurant that mattered.”

“Balzac,” the fictional French restaurant, proves too exclusive for even Carrie and Samantha to get a seat, so they opt to leave and eat elsewhere. The scene’s external shots are of bona fide Soho brasserie Balthazar. The restaurant also has interesting ties to the Cosmopolitan: Its owner, restaurateur Keith McNally, also founded The Odeon — he opened Balthazar in 1997 after selling his stake in The Odeon.

The brasserie shares similar DNA to The Odeon in both its decor and ambiance. But the energy is livelier and you can easily imagine the girls spending Friday night here, animatedly discussing the past week over a few rounds of Cosmos.

While the drink doesn’t feature on the menu, our bartender, Willis, informed us he had all the ingredients to whip up authentic Cosmos, including Absolut Citron. Within no time, he served a picture-perfect round of cocktails that accurately recreated The Odeon’s version, down to the bubblegum-pink hue and slightly dated, but not-out-of-place, Martini glasses. Refreshing, balanced, and sweet, without tasting cloying, these were amazing Cosmos. While The Odeon’s version was sharp around the edges, Balthazar’s slightly sweeter version was well rounded and perfectly balanced.

Sitting there with our perfect Cosmos in hand, we couldn’t help but wonder: Was this not only the best Cosmopolitan of our “Sex and the City” crawl, or does Balthazar offer the finest version of the drink in Manhattan, period? Either way, the jury was out: The Cosmopolitan is a delicious cocktail, after all. Average score: 22.5/25

The article A Power Ranking of Cosmopolitans from ‘Sex and the City’ appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/cosmopolitan-sex-city-ranking/

A Power Ranking of Cosmopolitans from Sex and the City

In the final moments of the 2008 “Sex and the City” movie, the HBO hit show’s four lead characters — Carrie Bradshaw, Miranda Hobbs, Samantha Jones, and Charlotte York — enjoy a nostalgic reunion with an old friend, Cosmo.

“This is delicious!” Charlotte exclaims, as she sips a shimmering pink Cosmopolitan cocktail from an oversized Martini glass. “Why did we ever stop drinking these?” Miranda wonders. In turn, Carrie quips, “Because everyone else started!”

Their conversation is loaded with intentional irony. Many people did, in fact, start drinking Cosmopolitans (or Cosmos) during the late ‘90s, arguably because of the drink’s association with the show and its sex-column-writing protagonist, Carrie Bradshaw. Whether or not the Cosmo is, as Charlotte says, a “delicious” drink, is historically and hotly debated.

Before “Sex and the City” (SATC) first hit the small screen in 1998, the bright pink cocktail had already amassed an impressive following among New York socialites and celebrities in the late 1980s. Bartender Toby Cecchini is widely credited with introducing the drink to high-profile regulars at TriBeCa brasserie The Odeon, where he worked at the time.

Cecchini, who now owns Long Island Bar in Brooklyn, has often recounted how he “adapted” the recipe from another pink cocktail called the Cosmopolitan, which was doing the rounds in San Francisco gay bars. Cecchini learned of that drink from a colleague, who was introduced to it by friends visiting from the West Coast.

“It was gross, but it looked pretty,” Cecchini told Punch in a 2017 interview. “I went about reconstructing it.” He upgraded the drink’s ingredients, swapping out rail vodka and store-bought lime juice with new-on-the-market Absolut Citron, a lemon-flavored vodka, and freshly squeezed citrus. In place of grenadine, Cecchini used cranberry juice to give the drink its signature hue, and added triple sec (Cointreau, by many accounts) for sweet balance.

Ironically, the ingredients hardly mattered. What shot the drink into popularity was its instantly recognizable pink hue. “It was always made wrong, and you could tell, because it looked like a Negroni,” Cecchini said. “Nobody was doing the proper amount of lime juice. … There was too much cranberry. And still, to this day, people never get it right.”

The Cosmopolitan’s hit-or-miss ubiquity, and the countless overly sweet, artificial-looking recreations, sadly led to its downfall. But at its core, the Cosmo belongs to the “sour” family of cocktails, and is a sibling of other hugely popular drinks such as the Margarita and Daiquiri. In capable hands, and by avoiding gimmicky tools and ingredients, both can be crafted into stunning drinks. So is the Cosmo, too, worthy of a second chance?

VinePair decided to find out. To do so, we thought it would only be fitting to give the drink another go at the major New York bars and restaurants that featured in “Sex and the City.” After all, this was the show that helped make the drink famous.

Helping this writer on the Cosmo-fueled bar crawl was VinePair’s director of marketing, Jeff Licciardello, a late-to-the-game “Sex and the City” fan who regularly watches reruns of the show. VinePair columnist and cocktail enthusiast Aaron Goldfarb was also on hand to share his knowledge and palate (Goldfarb has been a regular fixture on previous VinePair bar crawls).

And making a special-guest appearance was Melissa Stokoski, an actor and comedian who leads guided “Sex and the City” tours two to three times a week for On Tour Locations.

To set the stage, our tasting began at the Cosmo’s original NYC home, The Odeon.

Our judging process was simple: If the establishment featured a Cosmo on its menu, we’d order that. If it didn’t, we would ask for one to be prepared according to the house specifications. Each taster scored each drink on preparation, presentation, ingredients, balance of flavors, and value for money. Scores were then averaged to determine our final ranking.

Setting the Standard: The Odeon

The NYC home of the Cosmo never featured in SATC, but it feels like the type of restaurant where the bougie leading characters would start the night. The TriBeCa institution captures a traditional French brasserie’s comfort and sophistication, while a long, incredibly well-lit art deco bar dazzles. (It also reportedly cost close to 10 percent of the restaurant’s opening budget when it debuted in 1980.)

The tasting team told our bartender about the Cosmo crawl, and he reacted excitedly, recounting the drink’s ties to the restaurant and detailing its popularity — he prepares 20 to 30 per shift, on average.

The perfectly pink Cosmos he served arrived in sturdy Martini glasses. In other, more modern establishments, the thickness of the glass would have felt tacky; but in this nostalgic setting, they were perfect. While our bartender free-poured the ingredients, the drinks were remarkably well balanced: tart, fruity, and acidic, with just the right amount of sweetness. Average score: 21.75/25

6. Cipriani

In SATC Season 3, Episode 3, “Attack of the Five Foot Ten Woman,” the girls brunch in SoHo’s Italian eatery, Cipriani. Flicking through The New York Times wedding section, they learn that Carrie’s ex, John James “Mr. Big” Preston, has married his girlfriend of five months, Natasha Naginsky.

Credit: Cipriani / Facebook.com

Drinking a Cosmo at Cipriani in 2020 proves to be a similar assault. The service is elitist, and the experience resembles an awkward first date you really want to end and will pay any price to get out of. In this case, that was $22. In return, we received a tiny, foamy Cosmo, served in the type of thick, stemmed water glasses designed for large-volume catered events and not expensive New York restaurants.

Cipriani’s bartender opted not to shake our drinks, but instead mixed them using a milkshake frother. The result was undeniably attractive, but not a classic Cosmo preparation by any parameters. It contained (unflavored) Stolichnaya vodka, tasted like pink lemonade seasoned with sour mix, and arrived with a clumsy lime-wedge garnish. While the Cosmopolitan has come to embody free-spirited fun, drinking this frothy concoction at Cipriani feels anything but. Average score: 8/25

5. Cafeteria

Chelsea’s Cafeteria restaurant, known for its 24/7 service, is also the location for numerous brunch scenes throughout the SATC series. Nearly two decades since the show finished, Cafeteria’s ambience evokes that late-30s friend who, rather than settling down like many of their contemporaries, is trying to keep the party going for as long as possible. The music, a compilation of Ibiza dance hits from the early 2000s, blares multiple decibels too loud, and the after-dark lighting is inappropriately low for any restaurant — even one that never closes.

As for its Cosmo: a modern interpretation that deserves some acknowledgement for effort, but the delivery, much like the bar/restaurant in general, is off. Served in a Nick & Nora glass, this Cosmo smelled like Starburst-infused vodka and tasted like an overly sweet passionfruit-spiked Sex on the Beach. Bearing as much resemblance to a classic Cosmopolitan as an Appletini does to a Martini, this is an accomplished Sandals resort cocktail at best. Average score: 12.25/25

4. Grand Bar & Lounge at the Soho Grand Hotel

Featured in Episode 15 of Season 4 (“Change of a Dress”), this hotel bar and lounge played host to a charity event put on by (fictional) hotel magnate Richard Wright, Samantha’s soon-to-be ex-boyfriend. During the formal “Black and White” party, Samantha learns Richard is seeing other women, and is shocked to discover how much it bothers her. “I think I have monogamy,” she tells her friends. “I caught it from you people.”

IRL, the Soho Grand delivers an authentic, glamorous SATC experience. The decor seasons stripped-back regal fittings with sleek 21st-century details. Both the bar and lounge feel expensive without being stuffy, and the staff provides remarkably friendly service.

Credit: Soho Grand Hotel / Facebook.com

If it’s Cosmos you’re looking for, you’ll need to order off-menu and there’s no Absolut Citron on the bar. The cocktails arrived in a stiletto-thin, oversized coupe glasses, garnished with a large orange twist. The sweet citrus fruit garnish ultimately hijacked the drink, and the mixture lacked boozy punch. As this Cosmo’s beauty is only skin-deep, it’s acceptable for a one-time fling but definitely not worthy of long-term commitment. Average score: 13/25

3. Onieal’s Bar and Restaurant

The most-recognizable bar from the show (On Tour Locations finishes its tours here), Onieal’s is better known to SATC fans as Scout, the bar co-owned by Steve Brady, Miranda’s husband, and Aidan Shaw, Carrie’s two-time boyfriend and one-time fiancé.

The main appeal of this Nolita bar today is its familiarity from the show. But past that, it’s hard to pin down exactly what the space serves as. “Is it a pub, lounge, or a dive bar?” we wondered. It’s dimly lit, has TV screens behind the bar, and is furnished with a mismatch of multicolored faux-velvet booths.

Sipping a Cosmo at Onieal’s is an obvious must for SATC fans, but for cocktail enthusiasts, the experience doesn’t deliver the same appeal. Served in a robust Martini glass (read: chunky), the cocktail had a vivid red hue, leading us to question whether there was too much cranberry juice in the mixture, or perhaps even an illicit splash of Rose’s Grenadine. Either way, the drink lacked tartness and acidity, and arrived with undesirable hints of Luden’s cough drops. Average score: 13/25

2. Buddakan

Featured in the 2008 “Sex and the City” movie, Carrie and fiancé Mr. Big choose Buddakan as the location for their wedding rehearsal dinner. During the course of the evening, Miranda accidentally plants seeds of doubt in Big’s mind, paving the way for numerous plot twists throughout the movie.

Situated in a nondescript (from the outside) industrial warehouse in the Meatpacking District, the cavernous bar and restaurant epitomizes everything you want from a SATC experience. There’s sushi Lounge music, courtesy of a live DJ who’s tucked away beside the bar; the kitchen serves Asian fusion dishes, like edamame dumplings, while the bar area, which overlooks the vast dining room below, seems custom-designed for bottle service.

Credit: Buddakan / Facebook.com

Of all the locations we visited, this was the only bar where we weren’t the only ones drinking Cosmos. We surely weren’t alone in enjoying them, either. A booze-forward cocktail, Buddakan’s Cosmo is rose pink, suggesting just the right proportion of cranberry juice (a notion that was backed up by its slightly astringent flavor profile). Tasters docked points for insufficient lime juice, but we doubted this would have been a major problem for Carrie and co. Average score: 16.5/25

1. Balthazar

“The most powerful woman in New York is not Tina Brown, or Diane Sawyer, or even Rosie O’Donnell,” Carrie says during the opening narration of Season 1, Episode 5 (“The Power of Female Sex”). “It’s the hostess at Balzac, which had overnight become the only restaurant that mattered.”

“Balzac,”the fictional French restaurant, proves too exclusive for even Carrie and Samantha to get a seat, so they opt to leave and eat elsewhere. The scene’s external shots are of bona fide Soho brasserie Balthazar.The restaurant also has interesting ties to the Cosmopolitan: Its owner, restaurateur Keith McNally, also founded The Odeon — he opened Balthazar in 1997 after selling his stake in The Odeon.

The brasserie shares similar DNA to The Odeon in both its decor and ambiance. But the energy is livelier and you can easily imagine the girls spending Friday night here, animatedly discussing the past week over a few rounds of Cosmos.

While the drink doesn’t feature on the menu, our bartender, Willis, informed us he had all the ingredients to whip up authentic Cosmos, including Absolut Citron. Within no time, he served a picture-perfect round of cocktails that accurately recreated The Odeon’s version, down to the bubblegum-pink hue and slightly dated, but not-out-of-place, Martini glasses. Refreshing, balanced, and sweet, without tasting cloying, these were amazing Cosmos. While The Odeon’s version was sharp around the edges, Balthazar’s slightly sweeter version was well rounded and perfectly balanced.

Sitting there with our perfect Cosmos in hand, we couldn’t help but wonder: Was this not only the best Cosmopolitan of our “Sex and the City” crawl, or does Balthazar offer the finest version of the drink in Manhattan, period? Either way, the jury was out: The Cosmopolitan is a delicious cocktail, after all. Average score: 22.5/25

The article A Power Ranking of Cosmopolitans from ‘Sex and the City’ appeared first on VinePair.

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Goose helping you with ppd after having Bradley?

I changed this just a bit cause I had an idea that came to my mind so I hope that's okay:)

Stuck with me

warnings: child birth, postpartum depression, Goose being sickeningly adorable. Carole and Goose aren't together in this but they still have Bradley:)

word count: 1.5k

Goose Masterlist | One Year TG celebration

gif is not mine!! found on google

There was nothing that Nick Bradshaw loved more than being a father. Sure, flying with his best friend came in as a close second. But, coming home at the end of the day to his little boy who looked exactly like him would beat out the adrenaline rush of flying any day. So when you told him that he was going to be a father again, he was overjoyed. In fact, he fell to his knees crying, and hugged you, telling you thank you over and over for giving him another chance at being a dad. 

You couldn’t have asked for a better partner. Goose was by your side through the whole thing. He never missed an appointment (sometimes he even showed up earlier than you, coming from base and you from home). He knew all the milestones that the baby was reaching. You swore he knew more about what was going on with your body better than you did. You didn’t feel any sort of jealousy that this wasn’t Nick’s first pregnancy he was experiencing. It actually brought you some comfort having a partner who had done this before. He was on top of everything, making sure you were comfortable, stepping in to help you with Bradley, and getting the nursery all squared away. 

When you woke up in the middle of the night having contractions, Goose was as cool as he could be. You guessed it was those years of flying in the backseat with Maverick, childbirth was an easy cakewalk. Goose held your hand the whole time, wiping the sweat away from your forehead and holding your hair back when you got sick. He let the threats and curse words you shouted at him roll off his back, knowing the second the baby was placed on your chest, all this would fade away.

And that’s exactly what happened. 

The moment that Brie Elizabeth Bradshaw was placed on your chest, you were in tears and telling Goose that you were sorry for yelling at him. Goose was in such an awe state that he didn’t care about it. It was truly love at first sight when he looked at your little girl. You thought that you would be on cloud nine after giving birth. You thought that you’d go home, have this cute little family that you saw on TV, and everything would be alright. But no amount of books and TV shows could prepare you for how you really felt post-birth. 

You thought it was just exhaustion at first. Brie was fussy from the jump, the doctors told you that at the hospital. She didn’t latch on right away to breastfeed right, and when she did it was only for a few seconds at a time. It was frustrating for you, who wanted to do something that most mothers did. It seemed as though the only person who could calm her down was Goose. She’d cry and cry in your arms but the second Goose held her the crying would cease. Goose told you that was okay, that Brie could tell that you were tired and needed some rest and that once you got home everything would be better. 

But it didn’t get better. In fact, it almost seemed to get worse. 

It wasn’t Bradley’s fault that he was excited to have a new sister. He was only four and the new baby was like a shiny new toy. Goose had a talk with him about being gentle and letting you have your space, but that seemed to go right over Bradley’s head. The little boy wanted to be by your side for every single moment of every single thing. He was climbing up next to you when you fed Brie, or standing next to you on his little step stool when you changed her, or bringing her his toys when she was fussy to try and make her feel better. You tried your hardest to not just snap, knowing that the little boy didn’t know better. 

You had finally hit the wall and that’s when Goose realized this was more than just exhaustion from being a new mom with a toddler in the house. He saw the faraway look in your eyes as you did things like make bottles or wait for laundry. He noticed that every time Brie cried, you’d jump a bit and wait just a moment before going to tend to her, you looked near tears whenever Bradley would come up and try to “help” you with Brie, and you hardly engaged in a conversation with him. 

“So Mav apparently has gotten in trouble again,” Goose sighed as he pulled the blankets back, “Can you believe that? I step away to be a dad and my first child runs off and gets in trouble,” He chuckled and looked over to where you were sitting on the bed, “Baby?” 

“Hm?” You blinked and looked over your shoulder at him, “Mav’s in trouble?” 

“Yeah, he uh. . . that’s not important,” Goose shook his head, “Are you feeling alright?” 

“I’m fine, Goosey,” You tried your best to put a smile on your face but Goose could see right through that. He walked over to you and sat down next to you. He could see the unshed tears in your eyes and gently ran a hand through your hair. 

“You don’t have to lie to me,” Goose whispered, “It’s okay if you’re not.” 

You sucked in a breath, “Did this happen to Carole? D-did she feel like this?” You spoke through sobs and Goose quickly pulled you into his arms. He knew something really must be wrong if you were comparing yourself to his ex. You never did that. You always saw Carole as a friend and had reached out to her several times during your pregnancy. 

“Everyone feels differently, baby,” Goose said, rubbing your back, “What’s going on? Talk to me.” 

You shook your head, pulling away from Goose, “I’m just not good at this. I don’t know why I ever thought I was. I-I can’t make enough milk for her to eat. I can’t stop her from crying. She hates me, Goose. My baby hates me!” 

Goose shushed you and gently grabbed your face, brushing away the tears with the pad of his thumb, “Brie does not hate you. And none of this is your fault. The doctor even said she’s just a fussy baby. And not every woman on the planet can breastfeed, it’s alright.” 

“It’s not!” 

Goose knew better than to try and argue with you about it. Your mind and body were just too tired to be able to be rational. Instead, Goose gently picked you up in his arms and pulled you into his lap. He held you tightly, rocking you gently as he whispered sweet nothings into your ear.

“It’ll be okay,” Goose whispered, pressing a kiss to the crown of your head, “It’ll be okay.” 

— — — 

You knew you had slept way too long when you woke up with full, sore breasts. You moaned in pain as you walked down the hall toward Brie’s nursery, only to find it empty. Your heart started racing in your chest, as you raced down the steps as quickly as you could. Tears started to fill your eyes, the nightmares you had been having started to come true.

“Goose!” You gasped out, trying to keep your tears at bay. You stood in the middle of the living room, trying to catch your breath, pulling on the strands of your hair, “Nick! S-someone took Brie!” 

“What?” Goose’s eyebrows furrowed as he walked into the living room, “Sweetheart, breathe for me,” He gently took your hands from your hair, holding squeezing them gently, “What’s wrong?” 

“Someone took Brie!” You cried, “I-I’m so sorry! I tried my hardest to be a good-” 

“No, no,” Goose shook his head, “No one took her, I promise. She woke up crying and I got her so you could sleep. I didn’t mean to scare you, sweetheart, she’s okay.” 

“What’s wrong with me!?” You cried and Goose pulled you into his arms. He gently pulled you to the couch, still keeping his arms around you. 

“There is not a single thing wrong with you,” He kissed your tear-stained cheek, “You’re just tired and overworked. I’m sorry I didn’t see it until now. I’m sorry I wasn’t more helpful with feedings and Bradley,” You opened your mouth to say something but Goose shook his head, “I’ve got the next week off so I can stay home and help you. Carole agreed to switch weeks to have Bradley. It’s just us, okay?” 

You nodded, sucking in a breath, “I think I need to see the doctor.” 

“That’s okay,” Goose said, kissing the crown of your head, “That’s totally, okay. I can call and make the appointment while you rest. Everything you’re going through is normal, I promise you. It’ll be okay, you’ll get through it.” 

“Just don’t leave me,” You mumbled against his chest. 

“Never in a thousand years will I leave my girls. Hate to say it sweetheart, but you’re stuck with me.”

Goose taglist: @damrlova @shanimallina87 @desert-fern @mygyn @cherrycola27  @yanna-banana @topgun-imagines @bradleybeachbabe @startrekfangirl2233 @xoxabs88xox @bradshawseresinbabe @happypopcornprincess  @bradswolfe @callsignharper @genius2050

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I'm Already There Pt. 2

Summary: Now that Carole knows she is pregnant she has to deal with the pregnancy without Nick but her wanting to go through this together she moved to Maryland. Now they’re back home for the last month of the pregnancy where they learn some exciting news.

Pairings: Nick Bradshaw x Carole Bradshaw, Carole Bradshaw x Daughter!reader, Nick Bradshaw x Daughter!reader, Bradley Bradshaw x Sister!reader

Warnings: fluff, inaccurate military talk

Masterljst

I'm Already There

The, now, Carole Bradshaw was ecstatic learning she was going to be a mother and Nick was going to be a father. Everything was perfect, except the morning sickness. It wasn’t terrible but it was there. Nick was back home finally after graduating from the Naval Academy. She had one more month of being pregnant and that means one more checkup. She had all of her appointments in Virginia since that is where they wanted their child born. They were currently at their last appointment and getting ready to do the ultrasound.

“What do you think the baby is going to be?” Nick asked his, now, wife who was sitting on the chair in her medical issued gown.

“I honestly don’t care as long as they are healthy.” Carole said, rubbing her swollen stomach and smiling at it. The sight made Nick smile.

“What if we end up having twins?” Nick asked coming over to stand next to his wife. Carole smiled and looked up at him.

“Then it would be perfect. Boy and a girl.” Carole said and smiled. Nick was about to answer when the doctor walked into the room and greeted them while shutting the door.

"Good morning, Mr. and Mrs. Bradshaw. How are you today?" Dr. Lake asked them.

"Really good. Excited to see what we are having." Carole said smiling which made Dr. Lake smile.

"Well let's get started shall we?" She asked and Nick being the over excited man he nodded enthusiastically which made them both laugh. Carole had already been sitting on the chair so all she had to do was lift her shirt. Dr. Lake put the gel on her stomach and moved it around until she found the baby or in this case babies. "Oh." She said and that freaked the soon to be parents out.

"Oh?" Nick asked for both of them.

"Well it seems like there is a second baby. I don't know how we missed it unless the other one was hiding behind the other." Dr. Lake said "Do you want to find out then genders?" She asked.

"Absolutely!" Carole said and they watched the babies move at the sound of their mothers voice. One even kicked where the ultrasound wand was. They all laughed at that.

"Well it looks like the one in front is a little boy and the second looks like a little girl. It looks like brother is hiding sister." She said and both Carole and Nick looked at each other. The rest of the appointment went by with a breeze. They were just so happy they were getting twins.

When they got home Nick was all about taking care of his wife and his babies. He was good at it and Carole wasn't going to complain, although he could be overbearing at some points. Now they knew the gender of the babies, they knew their names and couldn't wait for them to be here to spoil them.

June 27 1984 couldn't have come any faster. It was in the middle of the night when Carole's water broke. "Nick!" She tried and got nothing. "Honey!" She shoved him a little bit and got a grumble and rolled over she sighed frustrated. She grabbed her pillow and hit him "Goose!" She yelled and that woke him up. When he told her the callsign he had gotten she laughed but said that it fit him. She also had met Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell and they instantly became friends.

"I'm up. I'm up. What's wrong?" He asked sitting up and looking over at his wife.

"My water broke." Carole said calmly and it took a few minutes and then it clicked and he was shooting out of bed. He started to run around getting stuff and throwing stuff in and Carole just sat there and looked at him like he was crazy, which he was but she loved him. He finally stopped and looked at her.

"Are you ok? Do you need anything?" He asked and she just looked at him.

"Yes I need to go to the hospital. We're fine." She said and before they knew it they were out the door and on their way to the hospital with Nick going as fast as he could.

When they got there they took her straight back while Nick called Maverick, who was there in a instant. He also called their parents who also came down. They all waited in the waiting room while Nick went back to his wife. Carole was sweating and had hair stuck to her but to Nick she couldn't have looked more beautiful.

"I can't believe I let you do this to me!" She yelled at him and hit him but he didn't take it ro heart.

"Just think, Darling. We'll have two wonderful babies here soon. They're going to be so loved." He said and ran a hand through her hair.

"I still hate you for doing this to me but I'm gonna love those babies." She said just as another contraction hit her. She squeezed his hand and hard and he tried to show it but he was in pain.

"Ok, Darling. Let up on the strength. I have to have my hand for my career." Nick said trying to joke and keep the mood light but she just glared at him and he shut up. Dr. Lake came in as she was glaring at her husband.

"I take he said something offensive." She chuckled and Carole nodded. "They always say the wrong things at the wrong time. Ok, I'm gonna check you." She said and Carole nodded.

"I'm ready for them to be here." Carole said as another contraction hit and while she still had a hold of Nick's hand but he didn't say a word.

"Well it looks like your fully dilated. Ready to see your babies?" She asked and both Carole and Nick nodded.

"Absolutely!" They both said at the same time.

"Next contraction I want you to push." Dr. Lake said and as the next contraction hit she started to push. "That's it momma. You're doing great. Dad you doing ok?" She asked not taking her eyes off the babies.

"Doing great." He said trying to hide the pain.

"I see the head of the first baby." Dr. Lake said "I want you to do the same thing as before." She said and as the next contraction hit Carole did what she was told.

"I'm never letting you touch me again." Carole told him and eveyone just laughed knowing it wasn't true.

"Ok, Darling. I love you." Ncik said and she turned to him seething.

"I see the head. You got this momma." Dr. Lake cut in and Carole pushed and the first baby came out screaming and crying "Congratulations! It's a boy!" Dr. Lake said "Dad you want to cut the cord?" She said and Nick nodded. She showed him where to cut. The baby boy was placed on her chest for a brief moment until Dr. Lake announced that the second baby was on its way and she could already see the head. "Wow. I've never had this happen before." She said.

"Have what happen?" Carole asked a little panicked.

"Nothing bad don't worry. It looks like they're going to be born at the exact same time." Dr. Lake said "It looks like you have come competitive babies." She said with a smile and they chuckled. "Ok, you know what to do." She said and then Carole started pushing and the second baby came out screaming and crying just like her brother "Congratulations! It's a girl!" Dr. Lake said "Dad?" Nick cut the cord. Both babies were crying and wouldn't stop until they were laid upon their mother's chest together, when they touched each other letting each other know they're there that's when they stopped their crying. Both of them were already cleaned up.

Once everything was settled and Dr. Lake and the nurses left is when they got to actually be with their kids. "They're perfect." Carole said while she held the boy and Nick held the girl.

"Just like their momma." He said and Carole chuckled.

"They're also like you." She said and he smiled. He looked down at his little girl and she wrapped her hand around his finger and it brought tears to his eyes. A nurse came in and checked on them and asked them for the names so she could write them on the card.

"The boy is Bradley." Carole said looking down at him smiling he opened his eyes and smiled at her. The nurse smiled.

"What about the girl?" She asked and Nick was just smiling away.

"Y/N. Her name is Y/N." He said and she smiled in her sleep and snuggled into her daddy. The nurse wrote down the names and then left. A few minutes later they let their family and Maverick in to see them. They were in awe. They were perfect.

Carole, Bradley, and Y/N stayed in the hospital for a few days making sure they were ok. Nick never left their side and surprisingly Maverick was there as well. He was cherishing those moments that he was getting with them because you never know of it's going to be your last.

3 days later they were allowed to go home and honestly, they were pretty easy babies. Bradley and Y/N never wanted to be away from each other, this just proved to the parents that they were going to be there for each other and Y/N had a brother to look after her. The parents couldn't wait to see them grow up and see what they become.

Tag List:

@kmc1989

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A Power Ranking of Cosmopolitans from ‘Sex and the City’

In the final moments of the 2008 “Sex and the City” movie, the HBO hit show’s four lead characters — Carrie Bradshaw, Miranda Hobbs, Samantha Jones, and Charlotte York — enjoy a nostalgic reunion with an old friend, Cosmo.

“This is delicious!” Charlotte exclaims, as she sips a shimmering pink Cosmopolitan cocktail from an oversized Martini glass. “Why did we ever stop drinking these?” Miranda wonders. In turn, Carrie quips, “Because everyone else started!”

Their conversation is loaded with intentional irony. Many people did, in fact, start drinking Cosmopolitans (or Cosmos) during the late ‘90s, arguably because of the drink’s association with the show and its sex-column-writing protagonist, Carrie Bradshaw. Whether or not the Cosmo is, as Charlotte says, a “delicious” drink, is historically and hotly debated.

Before “Sex and the City” (SATC) first hit the small screen in 1998, the bright pink cocktail had already amassed an impressive following among New York socialites and celebrities in the late 1980s. Bartender Toby Cecchini is widely credited with introducing the drink to high-profile regulars at TriBeCa brasserie The Odeon, where he worked at the time.

Cecchini, who now owns Long Island Bar in Brooklyn, has often recounted how he “adapted” the recipe from another pink cocktail called the Cosmopolitan, which was doing the rounds in San Francisco gay bars. Cecchini learned of that drink from a colleague, who was introduced to it by friends visiting from the West Coast.

“It was gross, but it looked pretty,” Cecchini told Punch in a 2017 interview. “I went about reconstructing it.” He upgraded the drink’s ingredients, swapping out rail vodka and store-bought lime juice with new-on-the-market Absolut Citron, a lemon-flavored vodka, and freshly squeezed citrus. In place of grenadine, Cecchini used cranberry juice to give the drink its signature hue, and added triple sec (Cointreau, by many accounts) for sweet balance.

Ironically, the ingredients hardly mattered. What shot the drink into popularity was its instantly recognizable pink hue. “It was always made wrong, and you could tell, because it looked like a Negroni,” Cecchini said. “Nobody was doing the proper amount of lime juice. … There was too much cranberry. And still, to this day, people never get it right.”

The Cosmopolitan’s hit-or-miss ubiquity, and the countless overly sweet, artificial-looking recreations, sadly led to its downfall. But at its core, the Cosmo belongs to the “sour” family of cocktails, and is a sibling of other hugely popular drinks such as the Margarita and Daiquiri. In capable hands, and by avoiding gimmicky tools and ingredients, both can be crafted into stunning drinks. So is the Cosmo, too, worthy of a second chance?

VinePair decided to find out. To do so, we thought it would only be fitting to give the drink another go at the major New York bars and restaurants that featured in “Sex and the City.” After all, this was the show that helped make the drink famous.

Helping this writer on the Cosmo-fueled bar crawl was VinePair’s director of marketing, Jeff Licciardello, a late-to-the-game “Sex and the City” fan who regularly watches reruns of the show. VinePair columnist and cocktail enthusiast Aaron Goldfarb was also on hand to share his knowledge and palate (Goldfarb has been a regular fixture on previous VinePair bar crawls).

And making a special-guest appearance was Melissa Stokoski, an actor and comedian who leads guided “Sex and the City” tours two to three times a week for On Tour Locations.

To set the stage, our tasting began at the Cosmo’s original NYC home, The Odeon.

Our judging process was simple: If the establishment featured a Cosmo on its menu, we’d order that. If it didn’t, we would ask for one to be prepared according to the house specifications. Each taster scored each drink on preparation, presentation, ingredients, balance of flavors, and value for money. Scores were then averaged to determine our final ranking.

Setting the Standard: The Odeon

The NYC home of the Cosmo never featured in SATC, but it feels like the type of restaurant where the bougie leading characters would start the night. The TriBeCa institution captures a traditional French brasserie’s comfort and sophistication, while a long, incredibly well-lit art deco bar dazzles. (It also reportedly cost close to 10 percent of the restaurant’s opening budget when it debuted in 1980.)

The tasting team told our bartender about the Cosmo crawl, and he reacted excitedly, recounting the drink’s ties to the restaurant and detailing its popularity — he prepares 20 to 30 per shift, on average.

The perfectly pink Cosmos he served arrived in sturdy Martini glasses. In other, more modern establishments, the thickness of the glass would have felt tacky; but in this nostalgic setting, they were perfect. While our bartender free-poured the ingredients, the drinks were remarkably well balanced: tart, fruity, and acidic, with just the right amount of sweetness. Average score: 21.75/25

6. Cipriani

In SATC Season 3, Episode 3, “Attack of the Five Foot Ten Woman,” the girls brunch in SoHo’s Italian eatery, Cipriani. Flicking through The New York Times wedding section, they learn that Carrie’s ex, John James “Mr. Big” Preston, has married his girlfriend of five months, Natasha Naginsky.

Credit: Cipriani / Facebook.com

Drinking a Cosmo at Cipriani in 2020 proves to be a similar assault. The service is elitist, and the experience resembles an awkward first date you really want to end and will pay any price to get out of. In this case, that was $22. In return, we received a tiny, foamy Cosmo, served in the type of thick, stemmed water glasses designed for large-volume catered events and not expensive New York restaurants.

Cipriani’s bartender opted not to shake our drinks, but instead mixed them using a milkshake frother. The result was undeniably attractive, but not a classic Cosmo preparation by any parameters. It contained (unflavored) Stolichnaya vodka, tasted like pink lemonade seasoned with sour mix, and arrived with a clumsy lime-wedge garnish. While the Cosmopolitan has come to embody free-spirited fun, drinking this frothy concoction at Cipriani feels anything but. Average score: 8/25

5. Cafeteria

Chelsea’s Cafeteria restaurant, known for its 24/7 service, is also the location for numerous brunch scenes throughout the SATC series. Nearly two decades since the show finished, Cafeteria’s ambience evokes that late-30s friend who, rather than settling down like many of their contemporaries, is trying to keep the party going for as long as possible. The music, a compilation of Ibiza dance hits from the early 2000s, blares multiple decibels too loud, and the after-dark lighting is inappropriately low for any restaurant — even one that never closes.

As for its Cosmo: a modern interpretation that deserves some acknowledgement for effort, but the delivery, much like the bar/restaurant in general, is off. Served in a Nick & Nora glass, this Cosmo smelled like Starburst-infused vodka and tasted like an overly sweet passionfruit-spiked Sex on the Beach. Bearing as much resemblance to a classic Cosmopolitan as an Appletini does to a Martini, this is an accomplished Sandals resort cocktail at best. Average score: 12.25/25

4. Grand Bar & Lounge at the Soho Grand Hotel

Featured in Episode 15 of Season 4 (“Change of a Dress”), this hotel bar and lounge played host to a charity event put on by (fictional) hotel magnate Richard Wright, Samantha’s soon-to-be ex-boyfriend. During the formal “Black and White” party, Samantha learns Richard is seeing other women, and is shocked to discover how much it bothers her. “I think I have monogamy,” she tells her friends. “I caught it from you people.”

IRL, the Soho Grand delivers an authentic, glamorous SATC experience. The decor seasons stripped-back regal fittings with sleek 21st-century details. Both the bar and lounge feel expensive without being stuffy, and the staff provides remarkably friendly service.

Credit: Soho Grand Hotel / Facebook.com

If it’s Cosmos you’re looking for, you’ll need to order off-menu and there’s no Absolut Citron on the bar. The cocktails arrived in a stiletto-thin, oversized coupe glasses, garnished with a large orange twist. The sweet citrus fruit garnish ultimately hijacked the drink, and the mixture lacked boozy punch. As this Cosmo’s beauty is only skin-deep, it’s acceptable for a one-time fling but definitely not worthy of long-term commitment. Average score: 13/25

3. Onieal’s Bar and Restaurant

The most-recognizable bar from the show (On Tour Locations finishes its tours here), Onieal’s is better known to SATC fans as Scout, the bar co-owned by Steve Brady, Miranda’s husband, and Aidan Shaw, Carrie’s two-time boyfriend and one-time fiancé.

The main appeal of this Nolita bar today is its familiarity from the show. But past that, it’s hard to pin down exactly what the space serves as. “Is it a pub, lounge, or a dive bar?” we wondered. It’s dimly lit, has TV screens behind the bar, and is furnished with a mismatch of multicolored faux-velvet booths.

Sipping a Cosmo at Onieal’s is an obvious must for SATC fans, but for cocktail enthusiasts, the experience doesn’t deliver the same appeal. Served in a robust Martini glass (read: chunky), the cocktail had a vivid red hue, leading us to question whether there was too much cranberry juice in the mixture, or perhaps even an illicit splash of Rose’s Grenadine. Either way, the drink lacked tartness and acidity, and arrived with undesirable hints of Luden’s cough drops. Average score: 13/25

2. Buddakan

Featured in the 2008 “Sex and the City” movie, Carrie and fiancé Mr. Big choose Buddakan as the location for their wedding rehearsal dinner. During the course of the evening, Miranda accidentally plants seeds of doubt in Big’s mind, paving the way for numerous plot twists throughout the movie.

Situated in a nondescript (from the outside) industrial warehouse in the Meatpacking District, the cavernous bar and restaurant epitomizes everything you want from a SATC experience. There’s sushi Lounge music, courtesy of a live DJ who’s tucked away beside the bar; the kitchen serves Asian fusion dishes, like edamame dumplings, while the bar area, which overlooks the vast dining room below, seems custom-designed for bottle service.

Credit: Buddakan / Facebook.com

Of all the locations we visited, this was the only bar where we weren’t the only ones drinking Cosmos. We surely weren’t alone in enjoying them, either. A booze-forward cocktail, Buddakan’s Cosmo is rose pink, suggesting just the right proportion of cranberry juice (a notion that was backed up by its slightly astringent flavor profile). Tasters docked points for insufficient lime juice, but we doubted this would have been a major problem for Carrie and co. Average score: 16.5/25

1. Balthazar

“The most powerful woman in New York is not Tina Brown, or Diane Sawyer, or even Rosie O’Donnell,” Carrie says during the opening narration of Season 1, Episode 5 (“The Power of Female Sex”). “It’s the hostess at Balzac, which had overnight become the only restaurant that mattered.”

“Balzac,”the fictional French restaurant, proves too exclusive for even Carrie and Samantha to get a seat, so they opt to leave and eat elsewhere. The scene’s external shots are of bona fide Soho brasserie Balthazar.The restaurant also has interesting ties to the Cosmopolitan: Its owner, restaurateur Keith McNally, also founded The Odeon — he opened Balthazar in 1997 after selling his stake in The Odeon.

The brasserie shares similar DNA to The Odeon in both its decor and ambiance. But the energy is livelier and you can easily imagine the girls spending Friday night here, animatedly discussing the past week over a few rounds of Cosmos.

While the drink doesn’t feature on the menu, our bartender, Willis, informed us he had all the ingredients to whip up authentic Cosmos, including Absolut Citron. Within no time, he served a picture-perfect round of cocktails that accurately recreated The Odeon’s version, down to the bubblegum-pink hue and slightly dated, but not-out-of-place, Martini glasses. Refreshing, balanced, and sweet, without tasting cloying, these were amazing Cosmos. While The Odeon’s version was sharp around the edges, Balthazar’s slightly sweeter version was well rounded and perfectly balanced.

Sitting there with our perfect Cosmos in hand, we couldn’t help but wonder: Was this not only the best Cosmopolitan of our “Sex and the City” crawl, or does Balthazar offer the finest version of the drink in Manhattan, period? Either way, the jury was out: The Cosmopolitan is a delicious cocktail, after all. Average score: 22.5/25

The article A Power Ranking of Cosmopolitans from ‘Sex and the City’ appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/cosmopolitan-sex-city-ranking/ source https://vinology1.tumblr.com/post/190771709709

Are ‘The Masked Singer’ stars Donny Osmond, Rumer Willis and Cee Lo?

What in Gritty’s title did we simply watch? That’s the query we will’t shake after watching Wednesday’s premiere of FOX’s infectiously entertaining singing competitors, “The Masked Singer.” It’s so convoluted and corny — and we will’t wait to tune in subsequent week together with the opposite 9.2 million viewers who watched final evening. This revamp of the favored South Korean actuality present “King of the Masked Singer” incorporates a dozen “celebrities” clad in loopy Gritty-like garb warbling tunes earlier than a studio viewers. Hosted by former “America’s Acquired Expertise” escapee Nick Cannon— sporting what seems to be Samuel L. Jackson’s afro-sheen wig from “Pulp Fiction” — the present incorporates a surreal panel of judges: Robin Thicke (recent from his $5 million payout to Marvin Gaye’s household), Jenny McCarthy (billed as a “popular culture guru”), humorous man Ken Jeong (“Loopy Wealthy Asians”) and the vocally gifted Nicole Scherzinger, who appears decided to increase her run of actuality TV slumming, I imply judging, on either side of the pond. For the file, none of those judges do any judging. They’re too busy doing an entire lotta guessing — largely of the clueless selection. McCarthy is very susceptible to shouting out the names of A-listers (Hugh Jackman, Justin Bieber, to call two) who would by no means stoop to showing on this sequence — but. Nonetheless, the singers’ identities are saved refreshingly secret (btw: arduous to imagine they haven’t leaked, seeing as how this taped in June) because of beastly disguises — and their disspeaking voices are distorted. The way it works: The studio viewers votes for his or her fave singer in every face-off, whereas the panel of professionals determines which celeb from the underside three goes house on the finish of every episode. Performances by the Peacock, Hippo, Monster, Unicorn, Deer and Lion immediately lit up the Twitterverse — with the present’s official Twitter account dropping clues and viewers throwing out doable names behind the masks. Listed here are a few of the high guesses for the hidden identities, beginning with the primary contestant to get the hook: THE HIPPO: This massive fella carried out an brisk model of Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative,” however since he couldn’t actually sing (Thicke known as him out for singing over a monitor), the judges panel instantly pegged as an “athlete.” [embedded content] Guesses ranged from Deion Sanders (due to his iconic landing dance strikes) and Odell Beckham Jr. I believed for certain it was Von Miller due to these distinctive eyeglasses. Alas, it was Antonio Brown — capping a high-profile week for the Pittsburgh Steelers huge receiver. Brown reportedly had a dramatic falling out with teammate Ben Roethlisberger, one which is reportedly irreparable sufficient for him to request a commerce. Certain, Brown was the primary to get the boot — however not earlier than whipping off that hippo head and flashing these pearly whites and washboard abs for the thirst-trappers tuning in at house. [embedded content] “And girls, I imply, how good-looking is that this man?” Thicke hyped. “You gotta see him with out his helmet extra usually, proper?” Cool down, sir. Did you be taught nothing from all that “Blurred Strains” backlash? The Peacock:  This colorfully costumed contestant teased himself as a showbiz veteran from the age of 5 (“it’s been some time since your mother had a poster of me on her bed room wall”), one who knew Michael Jackson and stands 5-foot-9-inches. The Twitterverse thinks Donny Osmond is a no brainer — however was the King of Pop actually his pal? (And does Donny have the pipes to bust out that soulful model of “The Biggest Present” from the hit Hugh Jackman/Zac Efron flick?) [embedded content] Alfonso Ribeiro is likely to be a greater match. Lengthy earlier than he danced the Carlton on “Recent Prince of Bel-Air,” he was a toddler star who bought his massive break in Broadway’s “The Faucet Dance Child,” circa 1983. The aforementioned King of Pop was even his mentor for a sizzling minute — Ribeiro co-starred within the notorious Pepsi commercial-gone-awry that ended with Jackson’s hair set aflame. Plus, Ribeiro is a veteran of this type of factor after 2007, 2015 and 2017 stints on ABC’s related however not almost as enjoyable “Dancing with the Stars.” One peacock-eyed viewer proffered Neil Patrick Harris since he does magic. Sure, sleight of hand was name-dropped as half as a facet ability on this contestant’s in depth repertoire. [embedded content] The Unicorn — Rising up in one of many richest neighborhoods (Beverly Hills), Unicorn at all times needed to be a singer — however her goals have been silenced by neigh-sayers. “I haven’t seen this kind of stellar efficiency from a horse because the Kentucky Derby,” Jeong mentioned because the Unicorn struggled sweetly by means of Rachel Platten’s “Struggle Tune.” Armchair pundits’ high decide: Tori Spelling — this tracks. The spawn of legendary TV producer Aaron Spelling talked overtly about her mom, Sweet, criticizing her appears as a small little one, and critics have been unkind to her continuous actuality TV rotation and well-publicized cash woes. Full disclosure: We hope it’s Tori. There’s one thing oddly transferring about wrestle for acceptance. Plus: Unicorn mentioned her nickname is “Chicken,” and Reddit says Tori means chook in Japanese in order that settles that, proper? Resort heiress and DJ extraordinaire Paris Hilton is one other sizzling take. Yeah, plenty of individuals have mentioned she will’t do plenty of issues properly, however she went proper forward and did them anyhow, so — not one of the best match. A darkish horse guess: Rebecca Black of “Friday” infamy. Nicely, phrase is she is searching for a comeback. [embedded content] The Lion — Earlier than launching right into a strutting rendition of Fergie’s “A Little Occasion By no means Killed No person (All We Acquired),” this contestant supplied this pre-performance tidbit: Lion comes from “Hollywood loyalty” (she later admits “there are loads of girls in my delight.”) This sparked the highest on-line guess of the evening: Khloe Kardashian, in fact. “Her posture was excellent, her legs have been in entrance, she shook her hips proper on time. I’m telling you that that’s a well-trained skilled,” Thicke raved “Robin, cease hitting on the livestock,” Jeong mentioned. Certain, long-legged Khloe suits — however there are two different intriguing breakouts: Rumer Willis — she’s leggy, she sings (FOX’s “Empire”), she dances (“DWTS”) — and she has a litter of sisters and one very well-known Mama in her “delight.” “One of many Braxton sisters” was one other guess tossed on the market, however Aubrey O’Day was the opposite guess that grabbed our consideration. The previous Danity Kane frontwoman could possibly be an excellent match. She has actuality TV expertise from Diddy’s “Making the Band” — and with all her tabloidian distractions, individuals neglect she truly has a giant voice. After all Jenny McCarthy saved making dumbass guesses like “Woman Gaga.” Get it collectively, Jenny, you’re a Pop Tradition Guru now! You understand a soon-to-be Oscar nominee just isn’t going to let the likes of you being the choose of her anytime quickly. [embedded content] The Monster — This top-heavy, one-eyed ball of fur narrated his intro-package with a aptitude for the dramatic: “I’m a monster as a result of that’s what the world labeled me. I used to be on the high of my recreation, however the recreation turned on me. So I retreated into my cave to take a break from the general public eye.” As manipulative maudlin music swells in to underscore The Monster’s hard-luck story, Jeong quips, “I believe he’s completed a while.” We’re drawing a complete clean on this one: Who would truly go on TV and cop to being a monster with belting out Queen’s “Don’t Cease Me Now”? This dude truly can carry a tune. Oh, it simply dawned us: That is Cee Lo Inexperienced. The “F*** You” singer ticks all of the packing containers. He was a pop-culture juggernaut who burned vivid — then burned out amid a sequence of controversies, from an exploding cellphone to accusations of sexual assault. [embedded content] The Deer — This engagingly goofy critter crooned “Thunder” by Think about Dragons. Gridiron guesses ranged from Ben Roethlisberger to Peyton Manning (“he was a COLT AND A BRONCO!,” one fan tweeted) — however NFL legend Terry Bradshaw got here out on high. Terry is an effective match: Social media warriors say he runs some type of a horse farm, he’s one a number of Tremendous Bowls (a clue within the intro bundle) — and that Southern twang sounds oddly acquainted to anybody who’s watched “Failure to Launch.” Oh, and the Deer and Terry each stand 6-foot, 3-inches tall. Tune in at 9 p.m. Wednesday to catch the subsequent installment of this responsible pleasure. Missed the primary episode? Meet up with it any time on FoxNow or Hulu. Share this: https://nypost.com/2019/01/03/are-the-masked-singer-stars-donny-osmond-rumer-willis-and-cee-lo/ The post Are ‘The Masked Singer’ stars Donny Osmond, Rumer Willis and Cee Lo? appeared first on My style by Kartia. https://www.kartiavelino.com/2019/01/are-the-masked-singer-stars-donny-osmond-rumer-willis-and-cee-lo.html

'Savagely funny and bitingly honest' – 14 writers on their favourite Philip Roth novels

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'Savagely funny and bitingly honest' – 14 writers on their favourite Philip Roth novels

Emma Brockes on Goodbye, Columbus (1959)

I fell in love with Neil Klugman, forerunner to Portnoy and hero of Goodbye, Columbus, Philip Roth’s first novel, in my early 20s – 40 years after the novel was written. Descriptions of Roth’s writing often err towards violence; he is savagely funny, bitingly honest, filled with rage and thwarted desire. But although his first novel rehearses all the themes he would spend 60 years mining – sexual vanity, lower-middle-class consciousness (“for an instant Brenda reminded me of the pug-nosed little bastards from Montclair”), the crushing weight of family and, of course, American Jewish identity – what I loved about his first novel was its tenderness.

Goodbye, Columbus is steeped in the nostalgia only available to a 26-year-old man writing of himself in his earlier 20s, a greater psychological leap perhaps than between decades as they pass in later life. Neil is smart, inadequate, needy, competitive. He longs for Brenda and fears her rejection, tempering his desire with pre-emptive attack. All the things one recognises and does.

My mother told me that the first time she read Portnoy’s Complaint she wept and, at the time, I couldn’t understand why. It’s not a sad novel. But, of course, as I got older I understood. One cries not because it is sad but because it is true, and no matter how funny he is, reading Roth always leaves one a little devastated.

I picked up Goodbye, Columbus this morning and went back to Aunt Gladys, one of the most put-upon women in fiction, who didn’t serve pepper in her household because she had heard it was not absorbed by the body, and – the perfect Rothian line, wry, affectionate, with a nod to the infinite – “it was disturbing to Aunt Gladys to think that anything she served might pass through a gullet, stomach and bowel just for the pleasure of the trip”. How we’ll miss him.

Emma Brockes is a novelist and Guardian columnist

James Schamus on Goodbye, Columbus (1959)

Philip Roth was more than capable of the kind of formal patterning and closure that preoccupied the work of Henry James, with whom he now stands shoulder-to-shoulder in the American literary firmament. So yes, one can always choose a singular favourite – mine is the early story Goodbye, Columbus, though I know the capacious greatness of American Pastoral probably warrants favourite status. But celebrating a single Roth piece poses its own challenges, in that his life’s work was a kind of never-ending battle against the idea that the great work of fiction was anything but, well, work – work as action, creation; work not as noun but as verb; work as glorious as the glove-making so lovingly described in Pastoral, and as ludicrous as the fevered toil of imagination that subtends the masturbatory repetitions of Portnoy’s Complaint. Factual human beings are fiction workers – it’s the only way they can make actual sense of themselves and the people around them, by, as Roth put it in Pastoral, always “getting them wrong” – and Roth was to be among the most dedicated of all wrong-getters, his life’s work thus paradoxically a fight against the formal closure that gave shape to the many masterpieces he wrote. Hence the spillage of self, of characters real and imagined, of characters really imagining and of selves fictionally enacting, from work to work to work. So, here, Philip Roth, is to a job well done.

James Schamus is a film-maker who directed an adaptation of Indignation in 2016

I read it when I was about 18 – an off-piste literary choice in my sobersided studenty world. I had been earnestly dealing with the Cambridge English Faculty reading list and picked up Portnoy having frowned my way through George Eliot’s Romola. The bravura monologue of Alex Portnoy wasn’t just the most outrageously, continuously funny thing I had ever read; it was the nearest thing a novel has come to making me feel very drunk.

And this world-famously Jewish book spoke intensely to my timid home counties Wasp inexperience because, with magnificent candour, it crashed into the one and only subject – which Casanova, talking about sex, called the “subject of subjects” – jerking off. The description of everyone in the audience, young and old, wanking at a burlesque show, including an old man masturbating into his hat (“Ven der putz shteht! Ven der putz shteht! Into the hat that he wears on his head!”) was just mind-boggling. A vision of hell that was also insanely funny. Then there is his agonised epiphany at understanding the word longing in his thwarted desire for a blonde “shikse”. (Was I, a Wasp reader, entitled to admit I shared that stricken swoon of yearning? Only it was a Jewish girl I was in love with.) Portnoy’s Complaint had me in a cross between a chokehold and a tender embrace: this is what a great book does.

Peter Bradshaw is the Guardian’s film critic

William Boyd on Zuckerman Unbound (1981)

Looking back at Philip Roth’s long bibliography, I realise I’m a true fan of early- and middle-Roth. I read everything that appeared from Goodbye, Columbus (I was led to Roth by the excellent film) but then kind of fell by the wayside in the mid 1980s with The Counterlife. As with Anthony Burgess and John Updike, Roth’s astonishing prolixity exhausted even his most loyal readers.

But I always loved the Zuckerman novels, in which “Nathan Zuckerman” leads a parallel existence to that of his creator. Zuckerman Unbound (1981) is the second in the sequence, following The Ghost Writer, and provides a terrifying analysis of what it must have been like for Roth to deal with the overwhelming fame and hysterical contumely that Portnoy’s Complaint provoked, as well as looking at the famous Quiz Show scandals of the 1950s. Zuckerman’s “obscene” novel is called Carnovsky, but the disguise is flimsy. Zuckerman is Roth by any other name, despite the author’s regular denials and prevarications.

Maybe, in the end, the Zuckerman novels are novels for writers, or for readers who dream of being writers. They are very funny and very true and they join a rich genre of writers’ alter ego novels. Anthony Burgess’s Enderby, Updike’s Bech, Fernando Pessoa’s Bernardo Soares, Ernest Hemingway’s Nick Adams, Edward St Aubyn’s Patrick Melrose and so on – the list is surprisingly long. One of the secret joys of writing fictionally is writing about yourself through the lens of fiction. Not every writer does it, but I bet you every writer yearns to. And Roth did it, possibly more thoroughly than anyone else – hence the enduring allure of the Zuckerman novels. Is this what Roth really felt and did – or is it a fiction? Zuckerman remains endlessly tantalising.

William Boyd is a novelist and screenwriter

Roth outside the Hebrew school he probably attended as a boy. Photograph: Bob Peterson/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

David Baddiel on Sabbath’s Theater (1995)

Philip Roth is not my favourite writer; that would be John Updike. However, sometimes, on the back of Updike’s – and many other literary giants – books, one reads the word “funny”. In fact, often the words “hilarious”, “rip-roaring”, “hysterical”. This is never true. The only writer in the entire canon of very, very high literature – I’m talking should’ve-got-the-Nobel-prize high – who is properly funny, laugh-out-loud funny, Peep Show funny, is Philip Roth.

As such my choice should perhaps be Portnoy’s Complaint, his most stand-uppy comic rant, which is gut-bustingly funny, even if you might never eat liver again. However – and not just because someone else will already have chosen that – I’m going for Sabbath’s Theater, his crazed outpouring on behalf of addled puppeteer Mickey Sabbath, an old man in mainly sexual mourning for his mistress Drenka, which could anyway be titled Portnoy’s Still Complaining But Now With Added Mortality. It has the same turbocharged furious-with-life comic energy as Portnoy, but a three-decades-older Roth has no choice now but to mix in, with his usual obsessions of sex and Jewishness, death: and as such it becomes – even as we watch, appalled, as Mickey masturbates on Drenka’s grave – his raging-against-the-dying-of-the-light masterpiece.

David Baddiel is a writer and comedian

Hadley Freeman on American Pastoral (1997)

American Pastoral bagged the Pulitzer – at last – for Philip Roth, but it is not, I suspect, his best-loved book with readers. Aside from his usual alter ego Nathan Zuckerman, the characters themselves aren’t as memorable as in, say, Portnoy’s Complaint, or even Sabbath’s Theater, which Roth wrote two years earlier. And yet, of all his books, American Pastoral probably lays the strongest claim that Roth was the great novelist of modern America.

Zuckerman, who is now living somewhere in the countryside, his body decaying in front of him, remembers a friend from high school, Seymour Levov, known as “the Swede”, who seemed to have everything: perfect body, perfect soul, perfect family. But then the Swede’s life is shattered when his daughter, Merry, literally blows up all of her father’s dreams, by setting off a bomb during the Vietnam protests and killing someone. The postwar generation has rejected all that their parents built for them, and while Roth uses the Levov families as symbols for America’s turmoil, they are far more subtly realised than that. And in a terrible way, now that school shootings – almost invariably done by young people – are an all-too-common occurrence in America, the bafflement the Swede feels about Merry seems all too relevant. “You wanted Miss America? Well, you’ve got her, with a vengeance, she’s your daughter!” the Swede’s brother famously shouts at him. In today’s America, more divided and gun-strewn than ever, it’s a line that still chills.

Hadley Freeman is an author and Guardian columnist

Hannah Beckerman on American Pastoral (1997)

By the time I read American Pastoral I was a 22-year-old diehard Roth fan. But no book of his that I had read previously – not the black humour of Portnoy’s Complaint, nor the blistering rage of Sabbath’s Theater – had prepared me for this raw and visceral dismantling of the American dream. With Seymour “Swede” Levov – legendary high school baseball player and inheritor of his father’s profitable glove factory – Roth presents us with the classic all-American hero, before unpicking his life, stitch by painful stitch. Swede’s relationship with his teenage daughter, Merry – once the apple of his eye, now an anti-Vietnam revolutionary who detonates Swede’s comfortable life – is undoubtedly one of the most powerful portrayals of father-daughter relationships anywhere in literature. But this is Roth, and his lens is never satisfied looking in a single direction. Through the downfall of Swede Levov, Roth portrays the effects of the grand narratives of history on the individual, and questions our notions of identity, family, ambition, nostalgia and love. Muscular and impassioned, American Pastoral oscillates seamlessly between rage and regret, all in Roth’s incisive, fearless prose. It is not just Roth’s best book: it is one of the finest American novels of the 20th century.

Hannah Beckerman is a novelist, journalist and producer of the BBC documentary Philip Roth’s America.

Roth in 1977. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

Xan Brooks on I Married a Communist (1998)

Great novels hit you differently each time you revisit them, but a second reading of I Married a Communist felt like being flattened by a steamroller. For decades I had cast this as the brawling bantamweight of Roth’s American trilogy; bookended by the more polished American Pastoral and The Human Stain, and bent out of shape by the author’s personal animus towards ex-wife Claire Bloom (thinly veiled as Eve Frame, a self-loathing Jewish actor). These days, I think it may well be his best.

I Married a Communist charts the rise and fall of Ira Ringold, a leftist radio star who finds himself broken on the wheel of the 1950s red scare. Fuelled by righteous fury, it’s one of the great political novels of our age; a card-carrying Shakespearean tragedy with New Jersey dirt beneath its fingernails. And while the tale is primarily set during the McCarthy era, it tellingly bows out with a nightmarish account of Nixon’s 1994 funeral in which all the old monsters have been remade as respected elder statesmen. “And had Ira been alive to hear them, he would have gone nuts all over again at the world getting everything wrong.”

Xan Brooks is a novelist and journalist

Arifa Akbar on The Human Stain (2000)

I read The Human Stain when it was published in 2000. I was in a book club comprised of gender studies academics, gay women, women of colour. No men allowed. We had been reading bell hooks, Jamaica Kincaid and along came Philip Roth. I expected it to be savaged. I expected to do the savaging, having never read Roth before, precisely because of his much-disputed misogyny.

Then I read it, this tender, shocking and incendiary story on the failure of the American dream refracted through the prism of race, blackness and the alleged racism of Coleman Silk, a 71-year-old classics professor who embarks on an affair with a cleaner half his age, as if by way of consolation.

Here we go, I thought, and raised an eyebrow when she danced for this priapic old fool. But The Human Stain is much more than that single scene. Here was a Jewish American writer, taking on black American masculinity, filling it with its legacy of oppression, the perniciousness of the internalised white gaze, the “shame” that Silk feels that leads him to his lifetime’s masquerade. In less masterful hands, it could have read as dreadful appropriation.

I have re-read it since and it feels just as contemporary, like all great works of literature. It sums up so much about desire and ageing, but also institutionalised racism, the dangers of political correctness and colourism that we are increasingly talking about again.

Yes, we spoke of that dancing scene at our book club, but forgave it. There is something profoundly honest in the sexual dynamic between The Human Stain’s lovers. Roth caught male desire so viscerally and entwined it within the nexus of vulnerability, fear and the fragile male ego. I read the other Nathan Zuckerman novels afterwards and realised that you don’t go to Roth to explore female desire, but you read him for so much else.

Arifa Akbar is a critic and journalist

Jonathan Freedland on The Plot Against America (2004)

Rarely can a four-word note scribbled in the margin have born such precious fruit. In the early 2000s, Roth read an account of the Republican convention of 1940, where there had been talk of drafting in a celebrity non-politician – the superstar aviator and avowed isolationist Charles Lindbergh – to be the party’s presidential nominee. “What if they had?” Roth asked himself. The result was The Plot Against America, a novel that imagined Lindbergh in the White House, ousting Franklin Roosevelt by promising to keep the US out of the European war with Hitler and to put “America First”.

The result is a polite and gradual slide into an authentic American fascism, as observed by the narrator “Philip Roth”, then a nine-year-old boy who watches as his suburban Jewish New Jersey family is shattered by an upending of everything they believed they could take for granted about their country.

The book is riveting – perhaps the closest Roth wrote to a page-turning political thriller – but also haunting. Long after I read it, I can still feel the anguish of the Roth family as they travel as tourists to Washington, DC and feel the chill of their fellow citizens; eventually they are turned away from the hotel where they had booked a room, clearly – if not explicitly – because they are Jews. Like Margaret Atwood’s Gilead, the America of this novel stays in the mind because of the plausible, bureaucratic detail. Philip’s older brother is packed off to Kentucky under a programme known as Homestead 42, run by “the Office of American Absorption”, whose mission is to smooth off the Jews’ supposed rough edges, so that they might dissolve into the American mainstream, or perhaps disappear altogether.

It is not a perfect novel. The final stretch becomes tangled in a rush of frenetic speculations and imaginings. But it has an enduring power, which helps explain why the election of Donald Trump – who has often repeated, without irony or even apparent awareness, the slogan “America First” – had readers turning back to The Plot Against America, to reflect on how a celebrity president blessed with a mastery of the modern media might turn on a marginalised minority to cement his bond with the American heartland. Nearly 70 years after Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here, Roth insisted that it could – and he detailed precisely how it would feel if it did.

Jonathan Freedland is an author and a Guardian columnist

Roth in New York City. Photograph: Orjan F. Ellingvag#51SY ED/Getty Images

Linda Grant on Nemesis (2010)

After Philip Roth published The Plot Against America in 2004 and came to the end of the great sequence of long, state-of-the-USA novels beginning with Sabbath’s Theater, which were his brilliant, late, but not last period, he published a number of short novels that felt like a coda to the main body of work. They centred round the ageing, dying male, the declining libido, old age all alone. Then, with a final surprising flick of his fingers, he wrote Nemesis, returning to his youth in postwar Jewish Newark where it all starts. He uncovered one last story, the forgotten epidemic of polio that affected mainly children and young adults and whose malevolent transmission was the subject of conspiracy theories, a population blaming, as ever, the Jews.

It is the story of aspiring heroes and their moral failure, the lifelong consequences of striving to do the right thing and disastrously doing something so wrong you become trapped in a carapace of guilt. With his protagonist Bucky Cantor, Roth encapsulates his fascination with the heroic generation of Jewish kids destined for great things, and the ones who failed. Though I’ve read all of Roth, it’s the novel I’m most likely to recommend to absolute beginners to his work. It’s him in miniature, yet perfectly whole.

Linda Grant is a novelist

Alex Ross Perry on The Professor of Desire (1977)

I discovered the novels of Philip Roth as I have most literature during my 15 years in New York: on the subway. The experience of pouring over the sexual nuance of The Professor of Desire while surrounded by children and the elderly created a perplexing dichotomy between brown paper bag smut and totemic American fiction. This was both transformative and inspiring, illuminating for me the possibility of couching perversion, sexuality, anger and humour into a piece of work rightly perceived as serious and intellectual. Each transgressive element became less shocking as I made my way through Roth’s novels on F trains and Q trains, the feelings of shock replaced with the intended understanding of what these “amoral” acts said about the characters and the novels they inhabited.

I’m not sure if I would call The Professor of Desire my favorite of Roth’s novels (an honor I generally bestow upon Sabbath’s Theater, which I have learned seems to be the low key favourite of those in the know) but it was certainly the first to announce itself to me as massively influential. The Kepesh books introduced me to a view of improper, quasi-abusive relationships within academia that gave me the professor character in my film The Color Wheel.

When I began writing The Color Wheel in 2010, Roth was my north star. I intended to reverse engineer a narrative with the same youthful arrogance flaunting sexual taboos that excited, then inspired, me in his work. Depicting the story of an incestuous sibling relationship, but presenting it in the guise of a black and white independent art film, felt like a genuine way to honor the work of this titan; those books bound in the finest jacket design the twentieth century had to offer, elegantly concealing without so much as a hint the delightful perversions contained within.

Alex Ross Perry is an actor and filmmaker

Amy Rigby on The Ghost Writer

I refuse to accept the assertion that misogyny in Philip Roth’s novels makes it impossible for a woman to find herself in his characters. I want to – have a right to – identify with the great man or the schmuck.

I started reading The Ghost Writer looking for a road map to a stunning middle-career but found myself in a house of mirrors. The 46-year-old author looks back at himself as an accomplished beginner who visits an older giant of letters. Parents, wives, lovers – even Anne Frank – weigh in. It’s funny and moving and compact.

I picked it up again today, touched that anyone would ask for my thoughts on this genius whose work ethic and output made his greatness undeniable, whether you believe in him or not, and found this passage contained in Judge Wapter’s letter to young Nathan Zuckerman, who recounts it to us with such scorn and hope I couldn’t help but feel like a schmuck myself, or at least a poser: “I would like to think that if and when the day should dawn that you receive your invitation to Stockholm to accept a Nobel Prize, we will have had some small share in awakening your conscience to the responsibilities of your calling.’” You really were robbed, Phil.

Amy Rigby is a singer and songwriter. Her songs include From Philip Roth to R Zimmerman

Joyce Carol Oates on Roth’s legacy

Philip Roth was a slightly older contemporary of mine. We had come of age in more or less the same repressive 50s era in America – formalist, ironic, “Jamesian”, a time of literary indirection and understatement, above all impersonality – as the high priest TS Eliot had preached: “Poetry is an escape from personality.”

Boldly, brilliantly, at times furiously, and with an unsparing sense of the ridiculous, Philip repudiated all that. He did revere Kafka – but Lenny Bruce as well. (In fact, the essential Roth is just that anomaly: Kafka riotously interpreted by Bruce.) But there was much more to Philip than furious rebellion. For at heart he was a true moralist, fired to root out hypocrisy and mendacity in public life as well as private. Few saw The Plot Against America as actual prophecy, but here we are. He will abide.

Joyce Carol Oates is a novelist

Not Like Any Wrestling You Know – Wrestle Maniacs Anthology @Adam_G_Howe

Some of the authors for the Wrestle Maniacs anthology are familiar to me and you may recognize some of them yourself.

Amazon  /  Goodreads

MY REVIEW

If you are a fan of wrestling or like twisted, convoluted tales that will tax your imagination, Wrestle Maniacs is for you. Some of the stories are sad, some are hilarious, and some are down right frightening. Twisted. Horrific. Every punishment you can imagine in the ring and many you never would have dreamt of, are contained herein.

Gabino Iglesias had me gagging and trying not to upchuck as I read his brutal, bloody story, El Neubo Sant’s Last Fight.

Adam Howe had me laughing my ass off, as Reggie, a shit magnet, finds himself in some of the most hilariously funny, yet dangerous situations in the book, in Rassle Hassle.

Gory, gross, disgusting and some seemingly normal stories, along with some horror, scifi, mystery, thrills and chills. Off the wall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Wrestle Maniacs by Adam Howe & Company.

  5 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

A dozen dark fiction masters bring their twisted vision to the world of professional wrestling. Twelve original stories of crime, horror, humor, and taboo. Ohhh, yeahhh! This ain’t no kayfabe, baby. This is hard-hitting wrestling fiction that grips like a Camel Clutch, and pins the reader to the page for the count of one, two…THREE!

Includes a confrontational foreword by ring legend ‘Pulverizing’ Pat McCrunch (as told to Jeff Strand)… An all-new story starring Nick ‘The Widowmaker’ Bullman from James Newman’s wrestling noir, “Ugly as Sin”… And ex-boxer turned strip club bouncer Reggie Levine (“Tijuana Donkey Showdown,” “Damn Dirty Apes”) returns for another action-packed misadventure.

Original fiction by: Jeff Strand Tom Leins James Newman Eryk Pruitt Adam Howe Ed Kurtz Hector Acosta Joseph Hirsch Duncan P. Bradshaw David James Keaton Gabino Iglesias Patrick Lacey and Jason Parent

Wooooo!!!

MY ADAM HOWE REVIEWS

Gator Bait

Die Dog or Eat the Hatchet

MY JASON PARENT REVIEWS

Wrathbone

Seeing Evil

Bad Apples

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11. “I’m taking you to the hospital.” If you could ❤️

In Sickness, In Health | Nick "Goose" Bradshaw x Female!Reader

warnings: exhaustion, dehydration, sickness, passing out, Goose being fucking adorable

Goose had been silently watching you all week. Going into February was always a busy time for you at the flower shop. One, you had started planting all your hanging baskets, succulents, and rose bushes. Next, Valentines Day was the second busiest time of year as couples came in looking for flowers for their significant other. And spring was usually when prom and wedding season would be in full blast.

You were spending your days down in the basement working under the heat lamp, watering and watching your plants grow. You spent hours working on specific arrangements and baskets that you knew would see good. You also spent hours on the phone, contacting different growers about getting seeds for certain strains of plants. The kitchen table had become covered with magazines, seed packages, and past receipts from the year prior.

"Baby," Goose said, walking into the kitchen. You were barely awake, your eyes straining as you read over a magazine on perfecting the planting of hydrangeas, "Why don't we call it a night on the flower stuff."

"Mm, I can't," You said, rubbing your eyes, "I gotta get these ordered by next week if I want to have them in bloom for May. The old ladies love their red hydrangeas. They say we always have the best ones."

"Well," Goose said, "Can't argue with that," You smiled and he placed a kiss on your cheek, "A couple more minutes, then I'm taking you to bed. I'm gonna go check on Bradley."

"Yes sir!" You said, giving him a mock salute. He shook his head with a laugh, heading upstairs to check on the sleeping three year old. You stretched as another yawn fought its way out of your mouth. You grabbed your coffee mug and frowned seeing that it was empty. You pushed yourself out of your chair and walked towards the coffee pot on the counter, but white spots filled your vision.

"Whoa," You blinked a couple times as you went to reach out for the counter, placing your mug down. You winced as you missed the spot, the mug crashing to the ground and splitting everywhere. You went to crouch down to pick up the glass, but felt your head start to swim, and before you knew it, you crashed to the floor.

--- --- ---

Goose whistled as he walked down the hallway to your son's room. He gently pushed the door open, and noticed that Bradley's reading lamp was still on, and the little boy was playing with his two model planes.

"You," Goose said, pointing at the little boy, "Are supposed to be in bed." Bradley giggled shyly as he set the two planes down next to him.

"I'm not tired, daddy," He smiled and shook his head.

"You and your mother both," Goose muttered and walked into the room, "How about another book?" Bradley nodded and Goose grabbed a book from the pile near Bradley's bed. He sat down next to the little boy and he cuddled into his dad. Goose could never get tired of the way Bradley liked to curl up on his lap or your lap when you would read to him.

Goose was half way through "Goodnight Moon" when he heard the sound of glass breaking. His head snapped towards the bedroom door. He waited a moment, expecting to hear your voice that you were alright, and then he heard another loud thud.

"Stay here," Goose said, gently moving his son off his lap. He pressed a quick kiss to Bradley's forehead before running down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Y/N?" Goose called out as he rounded the corner into the kitchen, and saw you trying to pull yourself into a sitting position, "Holy shit, baby!"

You held your hand up as you leaned against the kitchen cabinets, out of breath, "There's glass." Your voice was weak and Goose looked down at the glass on the floor, and then to your bleeding elbow.

"What happened?" Goose asked, kneeling down next to you and gently touching your face.

"I needed more coffee and I just. . . my vision went black," You said.

"When was the last time you ate?" Goose asked, "You skipped dinner with us," You just shrugged and shook your head, "Okay. . . when was the last time you drank anything beside coffee?" Again, you shook your head, "Baby, I’m taking you to the hospital.”

"No," You pouted, "It's late. I'm fine. Bradley is sleeping-"

"You need hydration," Goose said, "You are going to work yourself sick. If you won't let me take you to the hospital, at least take a couple days off. Let Margery or Jack do some stuff. Please, honey." Goose held your hands in his, almost near tears and you felt your heart break.

You didn't think that you were working yourself too hard, but with you being in your current position, you knew you were probably on the brink of a stress induced attack.

"Okay," You said and Goose kissed your forehead, "I need to clean up the-"

"Your time off starts now, lady," Goose scolded you, "I'm taking you to bed, and then I'll come clean up the glass."

You smiled at your husband, "I like when you get all demanding."

"Sex is part of the time off deal," Goose smirked and winked at you.

You groaned and Goose chuckled, his arms going around your body and easily picking you up from the floor. He took you to your shared bedroom and gently laid you down on the bed. He helped you change out of your work clothes, and slipped one of his old academy t-shirts over your head. He tucked you in and placed a kiss on your lips before he walked back down to pick up the mess in the kitchen.

When Goose returned back to the bedroom, after cleaning everything up, he was met with the sight of not only you, fast asleep, but Bradley curled up with you. He smiled to himself, taking in the moment before climbing in and laying next to his family.