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jeongyunhoed · 4 years

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8 Stories, 8 Movies from the Golden Age (1930s to 1960s).

It’s the golden age and 8 men are the most sought-after actors in Hollywood. Lights, camera, action!

A tale of love and suspense, Park Seonghwa is haunted by the memory of his deceased wife, a shadow looming over the halls of his mansion. When he marries again, his new wife now comes to realize that even in death, his wife still remains.

Daphne

Warnings: Mentions of murder, death, suicide, and illness. Might have some innuendos, might not. But I’m putting these warnings out there regardless.

Other things to note: There are OCs. I might mention other idols (most likely NCT).

A/N: More of creepy San, but the last (and longest) part of Seonghwa’s story. Who’s next? Most likely Jongho or Yunho, or maybe even San. Either way, enjoy.

Masterlist

Part 3

She ran out of Daphne’s room mortified with what San told her and in tears. It felt like she was running around a maze without an escape, an escape from the shadow cast over the Fontaine estate by Seonghwa’s first wife. She was that powerful, and she was that barrier between them. She ran down the flight of stairs, and like a light at the end of the tunnel, she saw Seonghwa enter, following Hongjoong who was carrying his briefcases. “Seonghwa!” She cried out, throwing her arms around his neck in a tight hug as if hoping that he would shield her from the madness.

“Hello to you too,” He giggled, returning the embrace. “Hold on any tighter and you’d be choking me,” He added, pulling away to give her a soft peck on the lips.

“Am I?” She asked, hoping that it would at least snap her out of the overwhelming anxiety she felt earlier.

“Yes, my darling, what have you been doing while I was away?” Seonghwa asked, holding her hands.

“Seonghwa, I was thinking we could hold a costume party, a ball, we could dress up and show everyone that the Fontaine has always been the same. Can we?” She asked.

Seonghwa smiled. “Alright, if you’d like, we can have it. You should probably get help from San,” He suggested.

“No, no,” She shook her head, feeling a lot more assured after getting her husband to agree. “I don’t need him to help me, I can do it on my own.”

“Alright then, if you’re sure,” He said.

That seemed to give her the confidence she needed to do what she was thinking of doing next. She was going to do something about the looming shadow of Daphne over the house, and sooner or later she returned to Daphne’s room and approached her desk, noticing all the embellished “D”s on her notebooks and contact lists. She opened the drawer and took out the thick wads of letters and cards that Daphne had signed, noticing some cards coming from Wooyoung, further confirming how he knew her.

She piled everything on top of the desk. If they were to move on and be happy, there was only one thing they could do. One thing she could do. She picked up the phone and asked for San to come inside. “Yes, Madam?” He appeared shortly after.

She got up and approached him. “I want you to gather all of these things and throw them out. Pile them in the cottage by the beach, I don’t care, I want all of these things out of the Fontaine immediately,” She instructed, sounding firm in her resolve this time.

“This belongs to Mrs. Park, Madam,” He replied.

She stared at him and turned to the door. “I am Mrs. Park now,” She turned the knob. “I would also request that Seonghwa not know about Wooyoung dropping by earlier either.”

“Yes, Madam,” San could only reply before she left the room.

Regardless of her insistence not to have San help her decide what to wear for the costume ball they would be hosting, he helped anyway. He suggested that her costume be based on one of the portraits on the walls, a woman in a flowing white dress, puffed sleeves and a hat with ribbons. She hoped Seonghwa would like to see her in it, and as the days went by until the party, she planned everything with a kind of excitement she hadn’t felt since they got married.

The night of the ball approached, Hongjoong choosing to wear his graduation toga with his cap, while some of their friends and their respective spouses wore other costumes. Seonghwa greeted them in his tuxedo as she could see from her room. She could imagine the look on his face when he’d see her enter from the hall. She hurried down the steps to enter the ballroom, but stopped when she saw that everyone had gone quiet.

She noticed all of them looked shocked. None of them had smiles on their faces, especially Seonghwa, who looked as if he was going to faint or collapse from fright. She carefully approached her husband, feeling all eyes on her as she went up to him. His expression was now stiff, and she could tell he was upset. “What the devil were you thinking?” He said.

“Seonghwa, it’s based on the picture, the one in the gallery-” She paused, seeing his expression stiffen even more. “What? What is it?” She asked.

“Take it off, go and take it off,” He said. “Just take it off and change, what are you standing there for? Go and take it off!” Seonghwa snapped, making her step back in surprise.

She seemed to have hit a nerve as she excused herself to her room, tears streaming down her face in embarrassment. She could sense San was already following her to her room and she closed the door, wiping the tears that kept streaming down her cheeks. “Do you need help with another gown, Madam?” She heard his voice by the door.

“No,” She sniffled, shaking her head. “No thank you, Mr. Choi.”

“Mr. Park was upset, I saw you just now, Madam,” San spoke. “I watched you go down the stairs, just as I watched her a year ago. Even in the same dress you couldn’t compare with her.”

She looked up at him, eyes wide in the realization. “The same dress? This is the same dress?” She said, now understanding why Seonghwa was so upset. “And you knew it, you knew it. You knew she wore it and you suggested it on purpose!” She didn’t know whether to cry from being further humiliated or get angry. “Why do you hate me? What have I done to you for you to be this way with me?”

“Because you tried to take her place,” San said stiffly. “You let him marry you. I’ve seen his face, his eyes. He had the same look as those first few weeks after she died. I used to listen to him pace in his room, in the study, all night long thinking of her, miserable because he lost her.”

She covered her ears the more San spoke. “I don’t want to know! I don’t want to know!” She yelled.

“You thought you could be Mrs. Park, you thought you could live in her house, walk her steps, take her things,” San’s voice was growing louder. “But she’s too strong for you, you can never beat her. No one could, ever! She was beaten in the end, but it wasn’t because of a man, but because of the sea!”

“Stop it! Stop!” She cried out, backing away from him.

“Oh, you look distraught, Madam, I shall open the window for you, the sea air could do you some good,” San walked up to her, making her realize that she was already standing by the window that he was opening. “Come, stand here, Madam. There’s no need to be afraid,” He approached her again, gesturing to the view of the sea. “Look down there, isn’t the sea beautiful?”

She turned around to face the window, but more chills ran down her spine when she realized that San was now standing behind her. “Why don’t you go? Why don’t you leave the Fontaine? He doesn’t need you,” He hissed. “He’s got his memories to live with, you have nothing to stay for, nothing to live for,”

“Look down there, it’s easy, isn’t it? Why don’t you? Why don’t you jump?”

She cried out again, nearly sliding to the floor in tears only to stand up straight when the sounds of a ship’s whistle were heard from the distance, followed by a rocket fire. “What’s that? What’s that noise?” She wiped her face, looking out into the sea.

Moving past San, she changed into the first other dress she could find and left the room. “Seonghwa? Seonghwa!” She called out, looking around the halls. “Seonghwa?!” She continued to call out, noticing that everyone had left to look out for the sound. She stepped out, catching up to the crowd, Hongjoong being the first one she saw. “Hongjoong! What happened?” She went up to him.

“There’s a shipwreck, there’s a ship sending up rockets,” Hongjoong looked up at the sky, then turned to one of the staff. “Call the coast guard, tell them there’s been a shipwreck” He instructed, the staff nodding and running off.

Hours had passed since the news of the shipwreck. The party didn’t matter now as something had come up that she noticed how worried everyone seemed to be, including the rest of the staff in the Fontaine. “Hongjoong?” She saw him standing by the path that led to the beach. “Have you seen Seonghwa?” She asked upon approaching him.

“Not since 30 minutes ago,” He replied quietly, looking out at the waves crashing onto the rocks and the shore.

“I haven’t seen him back at the house all night, I’m starting to think something probably happened to him,” She said, looking out at the view as well. She glanced at Hongjoong and stopped. “Hongjoong, are you okay? You look worried.”

Hongjoong looked down for a moment, then back at the sea again. “A diver went down to inspect the bottom of the ship found the hull of another boat,” He said. “A sailboat.”

She stared at him, sensing something unusual in the way he said it. “Hongjoong? Is it-”

“Yes, it’s Daphne’s boat.”

“Daphne’s?” She was in disbelief. “Oh, why did they have to find it? Why couldn’t they have just… left it there at the bottom of the sea? Poor Seonghwa, it’s going to be hard for him again,” She let out an exasperated sigh.

“Yes,” Hongjoong nodded slightly. “It’s going to bring it back again, but this time it’s going to be worse.”

She left Hongjoong later on to find Seonghwa, getting increasingly worried the more she looked for him at the beach. She couldn’t sleep knowing that something probably happened to him. Everything seemed to be caving in on both of them and it felt like they weren’t going to be able to come out of it. She called out his name the more she looked, but there was no answer, until she stopped at the boathouse. Daphne’s cottage, but this time, it looked like there was someone inside from the dim light coming from the window.

A part of her suspected it was probably the old man with his shells again, but a bigger part of her felt that Seonghwa was in there. She approached the cottage and gently pushed the door open. She could see the fireplace was lit, and seated by the fire was Seonghwa, looking distraught and tortured, one side of his face illuminated by the flames. “Hello my dear,” He said softly. “Come in.”

She would’ve been relieved upon seeing that he was alright, but as Hongjoong had predicted, Seonghwa looked like he was about to curl up in fright, like he was about to cry but no tears would escape him. She closed the door behind her and took small steps in case he was still upset about the costume party. “Seonghwa, you haven’t slept a wink, have you forgiven me?” She asked, almost kneeling down in front of his lap.

“Forgiven you?” He asked.

“For last night, for what happened in the party, I was so stupid, I’m so sorry Seonghwa-”

He shook his head. “I forgot about that.”

She sighed, reaching for his hand to hold. He had never looked so devastated with their situation. “Seonghwa,” She began. “Can’t-can’t we start over? I’m not going to ask you to love me, I’m not going to ask too much from you. But I’ll be your friend, I’ll be your companion, I’m perfectly alright with it,” She said quietly, squeezing his hand. Her own heartache didn’t matter when her husband was too stricken with fear and guilt from the past, from his first marriage.

Seonghwa looked into her eyes and cupped her cheek with his other hand. “You love me very much, don’t you? But it’s too late now, my darling. We’ve lost our chance at happiness.”

She shook her head. “No, Seonghwa, no.”

“Yes, it is. It’s all over now. Daphne has won,” Seonghwa looked down, his hand on her cheek dropping back down onto his lap. “Her shadow has been between us all the time, keeping us from each other. She knew this was going to happen.”

“Seonghwa, what do you mean she knew?” She said, squeezing his hand again.

“They sent a diver, they found a boat-”

“I know. It’s Daphne’s boat,” She cut him off.

Seonghwa nodded slightly. “The diver found something else. He broke through one of the ports and found a cabin. There was a body.”

“A body? Then she wasn’t alone? Someone was sailing with her?” She asked.

Seonghwa looked even more devastated. “No, you don’t understand, there was no one else with her. It’s-it was Daphne’s body they found.”

She gaped at him, unable to say anything. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “No, no, that’s- no,” She said.

“The woman that was washed up on the beach,” Seonghwa sighed, voice cracking. “The woman that is buried in the family crypt, that wasn’t Daphne. It was some other woman. I identified it even if I knew it wasn’t her. I knew where Daphne’s body was. On that cabin floor at the bottom of the sea…”

She didn’t want to ask what she was thinking, but she needed to know. “Seonghwa, how did you know her body was there?”

Seonghwa looked away, pulling his hand away from hers. “Because,” He paused. “Because I put it there.”

“Seonghwa…” She managed to say. She wasn’t sure how she was taking all of this. “You? You put it there?” Her eyes were welling with tears. She didn’t know what to think, she didn’t want to think it but the suspicion was beginning to set in.

“Will you look into my eyes and tell me you still love me now?” He asked, pain evident in his tone.

“Seonghwa…” She said.

“You see?” He looked away from her again. “I was right. It’s too late.”

She shook her head, trying to regain her composure and trying to process everything she found out. “No, no, it’s not too late. You shouldn’t say that. We can’t lose each other now. We have to be together now more than ever,” She insisted, almost pleading.

“We may only have hours, days left,” He said weakly.

She got up and sighed. “Seonghwa, why didn’t you tell me before?”

“Sometimes I nearly did, but you never seemed close enough,” He managed to reply.

Frustration was beginning to sink in her. “How could I be close to you when I knew you were always thinking of Daphne? How could I even ask you to love me when I knew you still loved her?”

Seonghwa’s expression changed from distraught to disbelief at what she said. “What are you talking about? You thought I loved Daphne? I hated her.”

It was her turn to be surprised again. “...Hated her?”

Seonghwa got up this time. “I was charmed by her as everyone was charmed by her,” He paced back and forth. “But I never had a moment’s happiness with her. She was incapable of love, of tenderness, of decency.”

“...You didn’t love her?” She asked, now firm on trying to understand what he was saying.

Seonghwa moved to the window seat and sat down, the light from the fireplace casting a slight glow on his features. “Remember that cliff where you first saw me? Daphne and I went there on our honeymoon,” He recalled. “That was where I found out about her, about who she really was, four days after we were married. She stood there, laughing, her dark hair blowing in the wind as she told me about herself,”

She stood in her place, prompting him to explain further. “Things I’ll never tell anyone. I-I wanted to kill her,” He paused. “She told me, ‘I’ll make a bargain with you. You’d look rather foolish if you were to divorce me now after four days of marriage, so I’ll play the part of a devoted wife, the mistress of your precious Fontaine. People will visit us and envy us and say we’re the luckiest, happiest couple this side of the world. What a big joke it’ll be - we’ll have fooled all of them!’”

Seonghwa looked down at his hands. “I shouldn’t have accepted her proposal, but I did and I kept it. She apparently upheld her end too, but after a while she got careless, sloppy. She got a place in the capital where she’d stay away for days at a time, then she started to bring her friends here. I warned her but she ignored me. Then there’s that cousin of hers, Jung Wooyoung.”

“I know him,” She nodded. “He came the day you went to the capital.”

Seonghwa looked up at her. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t because I thought he would remind you of Daphne again,” She explained.

“As if I needed reminding,” Seonghwa scoffed. “Wooyoung used to visit her here in this cottage. When I found out, I warned her that if I see him here again I’d get rid of them both,” He sighed and looked down again. “One night when I found out she came back quietly, I thought Wooyoung was with her. I decided to go down here and do away with them, but,” He paused. “She was alone, lying on the divan, looking rather ill. Then she got up and walked up to me. ‘When I have a child, neither you nor anyone else can ever prove it wasn’t yours. You’d like to have an heir wouldn’t you, Seonghwa? For your precious Fontaine?’”

She looked down, nodding as she listened. “Then she laughed,” He went on. “‘Funny, isn’t it? I’ll be the perfect mother just as I’ve been the perfect wife, and no one will ever know,’ She walked closer, face to face with me. ‘So, what are you going to do about it, Hwa? Aren’t you going to kill me?’ I guess I went mad for a moment, I probably struck her but she stood there looking at me as if she won. She started to go up to me again, smiling, but she stumbled and fell, and it must’ve been a while when I looked down as I saw her on the floor. She hit her head on a heavy piece of ship’s tackle, and I wondered why she was still smiling but then I realized that she was already dead.”

She looked up at him again. “You didn’t kill her, Seonghwa, it was an accident, you didn’t do it,” She said.

Seonghwa looked away from her. “No one would believe me, but I had to do something, so I carried her out to the boat, placed her in the cabin and when the boat was far enough into the sea, I tried to destroy the planking of the hull, the water eventually coming in. I climbed onto the dinghy and pulled away from the boat. The boat capsized and sank, and it began to rain,” He finished.

“Seonghwa, who else knows about this?” She asked.

“No one else, just me, and now you too,” He replied.

“Then we have to explain it. It has to be the body of someone you’ve never seen before,” She suggested.

He waved a hand dismissively. “No, they’re bound to know who she is. The rings and bracelets she always wore and was still wearing. They’ll identify her and then look into the other woman, the one buried in the crypt.”

“Seonghwa-” She approached him this time and sat beside him, wrapping her arms around him to hold him tight.

“I did a selfish thing, marrying you,” He said, cupping her cheeks. “I’ve loved you, and I always will, my darling. But I’ve always known that Daphne would win in the end.”

She kept shaking her head. “No, no, she hasn’t won. No matter what happens, she hasn’t won” she insisted, leaning up to kiss him.

They heard the phone ring, and Seonghwa pulled away slightly to reach for it. “Hello? Hello Hongjoong...Who? Colonel Song Mingi? Yes,” He said with a soft sigh. “Tell him I’ll meet him there as soon as I can,” and he hung up.

“What happened?” She asked.

“Colonel Song Mingi called. He’s the Chief Constable of the area. He wants to know if I was mistaken,” He paused. “In identifying that other body.”

As Seonghwa had expected, they were able to identify the body was Daphne Yoo. An inquest soon occurred and she knew she had to be there for him. She knew he was innocent even if everyone else found it hard to believe. She was the only one who knew what really happened, his side of the whole story. Among the crowd in the inquest was the coroner, Kang Yeosang aside from Colonel Song Mingi who was overlooking the proceedings. “I’m sorry to bring you back here for questioning, but now that you’ve heard the statement from the boat builder, maybe you can help us somehow,” Yeosang said.

Seonghwa shook his head. “I don’t think I can.”

“The holes in the planking were done from the inside, is there any possible reason you can think of?” He asked this time.

“Of course I can’t think of any reason,” He snapped.

“Then since Mrs. Park was sailing alone, is it possible that she made those holes herself?” Yeosang prodded him again.

“Believe whatever you like!” Seonghwa snapped again, sounding increasingly annoyed.

“Can you tell us why Mrs. Park may have wanted to commit suicide?” Yeosang continued to prod.

“I don’t know of any reason whatsoever!”

Yeosang pressed on. “Mr. Park, as painful as it may be, I’ll have to ask you a very personal question. Were you and the late Mrs. Park happy?” He asked. Seonghwa didn’t answer. “Again, were relations between the two of you happy-”

“I won’t stand for this any longer,” Seonghwa got up and she could feel herself getting light-headed.

“No, Seonghwa-” And she collapsed, falling to the floor.

“Mrs. Park! Mrs. Park!” Yeosang exclaimed, the crowd surrounding her, including Hongjoong, gathered around. Seonghwa broke through to help her up. “We’ll adjourn after lunch.”

“My darling, are you alright?” Seonghwa helped her up, slinging her arm around his shoulders. “Hongjoong, help me bring her outside for some air.”

“Be careful, there’s no need to hurry,” Seonghwa said, helping her out of the courtroom and towards the car.

She was beginning to regain her composure as she got some air, Hongjoong choosing to catch up in case something happened again. “It’s very foolish of me, fainting like that, I’m sorry, darling,” She said, her husband shaking his head to assure her.

“Hello hello!” Came in the cheery voice of Wooyoung, making them look.

“Oh, Seonghwa. It’s-it’s Wooyoung,” She noticed his expression stiffen again upon the mention of his name. Before she knew it, Wooyoung was standing by them.

“How is the bride doing today?” He asked with a grin.

“What do you want, Wooyoung?” Seonghwa asked.

“And how are you doing, Seonghwa? I have to admit I got a little worried about you after hearing about the inquest. That’s why I’m here,” He replied, a sly smile played out across his features.

“How thoughtful of you,” Seonghwa turned back to her. “If you don’t mind-”

“I have a feeling their verdict’s going to be suicide,” Wooyoung said. “Unless of course, something else, something unforeseen is revealed?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, I can’t help but feel that before the end of the day, someone might bring up that very expressive claim of foul play,” Wooyoung revealed. The more she listened to him, the more she felt uneasy, but she knew she had to be strong for Seonghwa if he was to make it. Seonghwa said nothing and instead gave him a look that prompted him to explain. “You see, Seonghwa, I’m at an awkward position right now, and you only need to read the note that I have to know why,” He took out a card from his pocket. “It’s from Daphne, written on the day she died.”

“She-?” Seonghwa looked uninterested.

Wooyoung pocketed the note again. “I’m not going to regale you with the details at the moment, but I can tell you that it’s not written by someone who plans to drown herself the same night,” He paused, glancing at her. “I’ve always wondered what it’d be like to retire to the countryside, have a nice place with a few acres where I can go shooting, I haven’t figured out how much it would cost per year and I’d like to take that up with you.”

Seonghwa turned back to his wife. “Darling, Mr. Jung and I have some business to take care of, we should probably do this in the nearby inn. They have a private room there.”

“But Seonghwa-”

“Are you feeling better now?” He asked.

“Yes, but-”

“Hongjoong will be back, and when he does, ask him to find Colonel Song Mingi, then bring both of them to the inn right away, okay?” Seonghwa kissed her forehead. He turned back to Wooyoung. “Come on, Jung. Let’s go,” and they walked off.

Seonghwa made the introductions between Wooyoung and Colonel Song Mingi later on when they all gathered at the inn. Wooyoung, with his attempt to be affable, suggested he was friends with the colonel, who only greeted him a good morning when introductions were made. “Since you’re old friends, you probably already know he’s also the head of police here. Colonel Song might be interested in hearing what you have to say,” Seonghwa pointed out.

“I don’t know what you mean, Seonghwa, I just want to see justice done, Colonel Song,” Wooyoung turned to the official. “The evidence seems to suggest some possible scenarios regarding Daphne’s death, suicide being one. But, I have a note here that can put that scenario out of court,” He took out the card again.

Colonel Song read out the note, revealing that Daphne went to a doctor and was on her way back to the Fontaine. “I shall be at the cottage this evening, and shall leave the door open for you. I have something important to tell you, Daphne,” He read.

“Well? Does that look like the note of a woman who tried to take her own life? Colonel Song, as an officer of the law, don’t you feel that there may be some grounds for suspicion?” Wooyoung asked, as if trying to taunt and accuse at the same time.

“Of murder?” Colonel Song asked.

“What else could it be?”

“Blackmail!” Hongjoong suddenly spoke, glaring at Wooyoung.

“Blackmail’s not that simple, Mr. Kim,” Colonel Song pointed out. “Mr. Jung Wooyoung, perhaps you have a motive to present?” He asked.

“I knew you were going to ask that, and present it, I will,” Wooyoung said, moving to the door.

She turned to Seonghwa, squeezing his hand. “What do you think he’s going to do?” She asked. He said nothing.

“Will you come in, Mr. Choi San?” Wooyoung called out as he opened the door. The figure of the head butler appeared, and she felt her heart stop for a moment. Wooyoung introduced him to the Colonel.

“Mr. Choi San, I have some questions for you-” Colonel Song spoke but Wooyoung cut him off.

“I think it’s better if I ask it as he might understand it more from me,” He said. “Sannie, who was Daphne’s doctor?”

“Mrs. Park always had Dr. Jeong Yunho from the village,” San replied.

Wooyoung shook his head. “Daphne’s doctor. In the capital,” He added. “We both know Daphne went to a doctor in the capital on the last day of her life, who was it?”

“I don’t know.”

“I understand, Sannie,” Wooyoung nodded. “You’re trying to defend her. I’m doing the same thing.”

Colonel Song spoke this time. “Mr. Choi, it was suggested that Mrs. Park was murdered.”

San stared at him in horror. “...Murdered?”

“There you have it, Sannie,” Wooyoung said. “There’s also another thing you should know, the name of the murderer, Park Seonghwa,” He glanced at the taller, who said nothing. San remained horrified. “Well, Sannie?”

“...Mrs. Park sometimes went to that doctor privately,” He revealed.

“What’s his name?”

“Dr. Choi Jongho,” He replied, revealing the address of the said doctor.

Wooyoung looked triumphant, like a predator close to catching its prey. “There you go, Colonel. There you’ll find your motive! He’ll tell you why Daphne went to him, she wanted to confirm that she was going to have a child! A sweet, sweet, rosy-cheeked child, and she told Seonghwa about it and like the gentleman that he is, he killed her!”

She wanted to say something, she wanted to refute his accusations and deny everything, but she knew she couldn’t. Colonel Song turned to Seonghwa. “I’m afraid we’ll have to question this Dr. Choi Jongho,” He said.

Despite Seonghwa’s insistence that she go back to the Fontaine to wait for him, she chose to stay. She still wanted to be there for him, partly because she wanted to see Wooyoung proven wrong. As the said doctor was brought in, she stood by him, holding his hand tightly to assure him that things will be okay. “Dr. Choi, are you sure you’ve never had a patient named Daphne Yoo?”

“I’m sure of it,” The doctor brought out his notebook that had his schedule. “Here, all my appointments that day, Liu Yang Yang, Xiao Dejun, Wong Kunhang, Choi San-”

“San?!” Wooyoung exclaimed in surprise.

“Doctor, can you please read that name again, Choi San?” Seonghwa asked.

“Yes, the wife of Choi San, she booked the appointment under his name. She was my three o’clock,” The doctor replied.

“Can we ask what she looked like?” Seonghwa said.

“Oh yes,” He nodded. “I remember her very well. She was very beautiful - tall, dark hair, elegantly dressed,” The doctor recalled.

“Daphne!” Seonghwa pointed out.

“Well in that case, it’s surprising, I’ve been seeing her for a while,” The doctor revealed.

“What was going on with her?” Wooyoung asked.

“Mr. Jung, there are certain ethics involved-”

“Dr. Choi,” Colonel Song spoke. “Could you perhaps give us a reason for Mrs. Park’s suicide?”

“For her murder!” Wooyoung exclaimed again. He turned back to the physician. “She was pregnant, wasn’t she? Come on, say it!”

The doctor raised a brow at him. “No she wasn’t, Mr. Jung,” He said. “But she was very ill.”

The color seemed to drain from Wooyoung’s face. Seonghwa looked just as stunned while she felt relieved and she could tell Hongjoong was as well. “You mean...she wasn’t going to have a baby?”

“That’s what she thought, but the diagnosis said otherwise,” The doctor explained. “She wanted the truth, I told her. She only had a few months left probably even less than that.”

“Did-Did she say anything more when you told her?” Seonghwa managed to speak.

“Well, she smiled in an unusual way, but then she said something that I thought was even more unusual after I told her,” The doctor recalled. “She said, ‘No, not that long.’”

Wooyoung’s expression fell further. “Thank you, Dr. Choi, you’ve been very helpful,” Colonel Song said. “As for you, Mr. Jung, I’d like to have a word.”

“Hey, I-I didn’t know-” Wooyoung stammered.

“Will we be needed any further at this inquest, Colonel?” Hongjoong asked.

“No, no,” Colonel Song shook his head. “I’ll see to it that Seonghwa’s not troubled any more, you may go.”

It was all over, and she wrapped her arms around Seonghwa as they left the inn that night. It was then they realized that they were there all day and into the night, but she didn’t care. Seonghwa was finally free from suspicion. “Hongjoong, there’s something you don’t know,” He suddenly said as he drove. Hongjoong raised a brow in response. “I didn’t kill her, but now I know that when she told me about being pregnant, she wanted me to kill her. She lied. She knew what was going to happen. That’s why she stood there, laughing-”

“Don’t think about that anymore, Seonghwa,” He said.

“It’s all over now” She assured him this time.

Hongjoong sat up when they noticed Seonghwa pull the brakes. “Hwa? Why’d you stop?” He asked.

Seonghwa looked up at the sky. “What time is it?”

“It must be three or four in the morning, why?”

“The sky. That way,” Seonghwa pointed. “It can’t be the dawn coming in.”

“It must be an aurora,” Hongjoong replied. “But then, we only see those in the winter…” He looked to where Seonghwa was pointing to.

Seonghwa’s expression turned into that of horrified as he figured out the cause. “It’s not an aurora, it’s the Fontaine! It’s burning!” He stepped on the gas again, driving faster than before.

She could feel the wind grow warmer the closer they got to the estate where they heard the loud sounds of crackling flames as the mansion was now set ablaze. The staff were all surrounding the house, trying to put out the fire. Seonghwa pulled the brakes and the three of them got down the car. “What happened? What happened? Why is the Fontaine burning down?!” Seonghwa asked the staff.

“It’s Mr. Choi, San, he’s gone mad!” One of the housekeepers said. “He set the house on fire!”

“He’d rather destroy the Fontaine than see us happy here,” She realized, holding his hand tightly.

“He’s at the West Wing!” Hongjoong pointed to the other balcony.

“Seonghwa! He’ll be killed!” She said.

Before any of them could do anything, they heard a scream as a loud crash from the West wing was heard. No matter how hard the staff members tried to put out the fire, it was too late. The Fontaine continued to burn down.

#kdiner #ateez #ateez scenarios #ateez fic #seonghwa #park seonghwa #ateez seonghwa

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darkangeldesignstudio · 5 years

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Dark Horse

Warnings: Angst, Violence, Death, Attempted Rape, Strong Language, Mentions of Animal Abuse, and Eventual Smut and Fluff

Setting: Post Civil War era USA. Marvel Cowboy AU.

Preface: Your home is attacked by the Hydra gang and you are rescued by Steve, Bucky, and their group. The government agency, known as Shield, wants them captured and Hydra wants them dead. With nowhere else to go, you join their ragtag group and set out on the adventure of a lifetime. Helping those less fortunate along the way, your small group grows and so does your affection for these two rough and tumble outlaws. When the chips are down, will you all be able to escape unscathed? Or will the boot drop and leave you heartbroken and alone again?

Song: Wild Horses by Natasha Bedingfield

Previous / Next

Chapter Seven: Wild Horses

Riding peacefully through the forests together, you observe the snow-covered spruce trees and the evergreen firs. Little birds are flitting about through their snow covered boughs, creating an ethereal winter wonderland that takes your breath away.

Bucky leads the way with Sergeant as you and Steve follow close behind. Bodaway and Star seem to enjoy the short trek through the snowy trails, riding close enough to have your knee brushing against Steve’s occasionally.

You hear Bucky shift in his saddle and peer up to him. He’s fully turned around in his saddle, looking between the two of you as Sergeant gently walks ahead, a beautiful smile is plastered on Bucky’s face. “You two are gonna love this place. I guarantee it.”

“Can’t you just spill where we are going, Buck?” Steve is grinning from ear to ear, thoroughly enjoying the ride and surprise his best friend has planned, but that won’t stop him from teasing. He nudges your elbow, urging you to join in on the good-natured ribbing.

Smiling at Steve’s antics you join in. “Yeah, Bucky. The suspense is killing me.” You and Steve giggle together when Bucky huffs a massive sigh, hanging his head in exasperation.

“Hold your horses, you two, we’ll be there soon.” There is a clear smile in his voice and you shift your eyes from his back up to Steve’s eyes. He shrugs and you decide to just enjoy the rest of the ride in peace.

The sound of water pulls your attention back to the trail ahead of you. Steam is rolling through the trees as Bucky pulls Sergeant to a stop and hitches him to a nearby tree. Steve follows suit with Star as Bucky helps you dismount from Boda’s saddle.

His grin is huge when you gape at your surroundings in disbelief. He gently pushes your chin up, closing your mouth with a click of teeth and laughing when you pop him across the shoulder with your good hand. “How the hell were you lucky enough to find a hot spring?”

Rubbing his arm, as if your hit actually hurt through his thick coat, he grins like a wolf as a mischievous twinkle enters his eyes. “Guess I’m just lucky, but don’t judge yet, you haven’t even seen the best part.”

He turns you around and walks you slowly towards a giant cottonwood tree with Steve following close behind him. The tree looms over the edge of a fairly large spring pool with an even larger clearing just to the other side of it. You all take a seat at the base of the tree, the steam is warm and relaxing at your back, birds are chirping and you have to admit, its amazingly beautiful.

When you open your mouth to tell Bucky how amazed you are, you hear a rustling in the snow-covered brush of the forest that causes you to pause. Your body becomes tense, fearing that something would attack you, but Bucky places his hand on top of yours and the calm reassurance in his gaze is enough to have you relaxing again. You are safe with them, and Bucky would never put you in danger.

The rustling comes again, accompanied by the distinct sounds of hooves over rocks as the first wild mustang steps from between the trees. After a moment, the large stallion calls into the trees and others soon join him. Beautifully sleek mares of every color imaginable walk calmly through the trees to graze through the brambles and foliage, followed timidly by their young foals. Tears begin to form in your eyes as you turn to look at Bucky. His thoughtfulness touches your heart and you only wish you could get him something as special as what he has given you in this moment.

A loud crash pulls you back from those thoughts when four older foals come running through the underbrush at top speeds, chasing each other, frolicking and kicking at the air with excitement. It reminds you of the many times you played with the foals on your father’s ranch growing up and you giggle a bit at their antics.

You all sit happily together and watch the horses play and eat together. Bucky and Steve, more than happy to sit and see the joy filling your features with every minute they sit here together. They watch together as one particularly rowdy colt attempts to drink water dripping from a large icicle; you giggle endlessly when he gets his little pink tongue stuck to the ice and ends up prancing over towards his dam, holding it in his mouth like a prize. The expression on the mare’s face is priceless as she shakes her head, as if to say, “What ever will I do with you, silly boy.”

When the horses move on, you finally turn back towards the hot spring and glance up into Bucky’s blue eyes. “How did you find this place?”

He smiles at you, a blush slowly creeping into his cheeks as he looks down at his lap shyly. “About a day after Soldat started sleeping in your room, I woke up before dawn and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I decided to go on a hunt to clear my head. I had absolutely no luck near camp so I went a bit further and ended up here. It was about midday and Sergeant was tired, so we took a break here.”

Bucky raises his head to stare into your eyes his blush growing hotter on his face, tinting his ears red as he rambled out the rest of his story. “I was thinking about you and wondering how you were faring back at camp, worrying that you weren’t going to get better, even though Bruce had assured me you would. That’s when I saw their herd wander through and it brought me so much joy to see it.”

Reaching over to you, he pulls your hand into his and grips it tightly. “I just… I just had to show it to you, then I got back to camp and saw Steve sleeping with his head in your lap and I realized he was just as worried as I was. So, I decided to bring both of you because you both needed a little dose of happiness after everything you had gone through.”

The shy smile on his face is so sweet and pure that you can’t help yourself when you pull him into a hug. Wrapping your uninjured arm around his shoulders, you feel his shock at his current position. Steve watches from beside you as Bucky’s eyes widen in disbelief, he chuckles, nodding at his friend when he hesitates to hug you back.

Bucky’s arms wrap around your waist, careful not to jostle your injury as he finally relaxes into your embrace. Steve soon joins in and wraps his arms around the both of you causing you all to laugh as they sandwich you between their warm bodies.

You all pull back at the same time and relax happily by the spring. The bare boughs of the cottonwood tree sway gently above you as a winter breeze caresses them. A familiar sound, like wooden wind chimes, echoes in your mind as if they are pushing for you to tell them the rest of your story, the story your grandmother told you. The story about your life to come.

Glancing between the men on either side of you, you take a cleansing breath to mentally prepare yourself for the story you are about to share.

“My grandmother was a spiritual woman, following the old ways even after being forced to live in 'white man’s society’. She was a medicine woman of sorts, providing healing and spiritual leadership to others willing to listen. Soem of the townsfolk would even attend her story tellings, though you would never hear them admit it.” You giggle when you catch them smiling at you, your grandmother seemed like a person they would have loved to meet. Bucky, having already met the woman, seemed to like what little he got to learn about her.

“She said, when I was born, that I was destined to have a hard life. I would face many hardships, not unlike her own when she was a young girl.” Closing your eyes, you remember the sadness in your grandmother’s eyes as she told you of the prophecy the spirits gave you, but your grandmother had also been hopeful.

“On the day of my fifth birthday, she gave me my second name, Dark Horse. She didn’t explain what that meant until I was much older.”

You smiled as you repeated her words. “ ‘One who is a free spirit in a world where freedom is challenged. A beautiful woman who will exceed all expectations despite her hardships. That is what it means to be named the Dark Horse.’ She said I was the one who would win in this game called life, but I could not do so alone.

She said, I would lose the ones I love before their time and when the last loss was tallied, it would force me to make a decision. To give up, or to trust in the spirits and fight for the freedom they promised me.” Tears began to pool in your eyes as you remembered your brother’s death at the hands of Hydra. “He died… my brother died and I wanted to give up. I fought like hell, but they still captured me and I didn’t know what to do except beg the spirits to help me, to save me and then you guys showed up and I remembered her words.”

“ ‘If you choose to stand and fight, Y/N. Even after all hope is lost, if you choose to trust the spirits to save you, you will be blessed with the opportunity to meet others like you.’ ”

“The two most prominent figures she spoke of were that of a white wolf,” you looked at Bucky when you heard his intake of breath and then turned to look at Steve before continuing, “and a golden eagle.” Steve cocked his head to the side, reminding you of the very same bird your grandmother named him to be, it made you smile as you continued your story.

“I was young and I didn’t believe her, preferring to think of it all as, just another bedtime story meant to entertain. I wanted to be free, not tied down by some prophecy I didn’t wish for. As she said, I was a free spirit, so I didn’t understand why I couldn’t just be free like that. But, then she spoke of her meeting with the white wolf.”

You looked to Bucky again, speaking to him personally, hoping this part would clear up a few things for him. “She said the spirits had led her to the clearing to wait for you and your guiding spirit. Said you were injured and exhausted, but there was determination in your eyes when you spoke of looking for your friend. Apparently, she told you the way back to find Steve just as you were falling asleep but the fire, leaving that little bit of a thought in your subconscious for you to remember in the morning. She was tricky that way.” You all chuckled at that. “Until the other night, when I listened to your story, I never imagined that her story was true. I didn’t believe that she had truly met you.”

You sigh a bit in frustration, leaning your head back against the cottonwood tree as you look up to the blue sky above you. “I feel like such a fool because now I am here, with both of you and its just so surreal and unbelievable. I feel horrible for brushing her off, for not believing in her.”

Steve takes your hand in his, running his thumb across your knuckles. “I’m sure she never blamed you for not believing, it seems to me like her story was meant more as a guide for you than an absolute list to follow.”

Bucky nods his agreement when you turn your head towards him.

You sigh sadly, as you have reached the last portion of the story your grandmother shared with you. “Thank you, but there is a bit more if you will listen. I think this last part was meant for you two as much as it was meant for me.”

“My grandmother was on her deathbed when she told me the rest of the prophecy.” You remember sitting at the end of her bed, holding desperately to her hand as tears rolled down your face.

Taking a deep breath, you willed the tears away, as this portion of the story was meant to be happy, even if it came at a time when you were so terribly sad. “She said that the wolf and the eagle would save me from peril. That you would lead me into a world of unimaginable beauty and on exciting adventures the likes of which I have never seen before. It was like those final words from her started it all for me. They struck a chord in my chest, making me believe every single word even after so many people tried to warn me off from what she said. They just chalked it up to a senile old woman’s ramblings from her deathbed, but I knew better and here we are.”

Turning to them, you looked deep into their eyes as the tears you had held back began to escape. “So, I am vowing from this moment on, I will never give up. I will trust in you and walk with you. I will have your back, just as you had mine when I needed it the most. We will succeed in the battle against Hydra and against Shield, because I am the Dark Horse and that is my fate as long as you are willing to have me along for the ride.”

Determination filled their faces as you made your vow to them. There was truth and courage in those words that they would have never denied or brushed off as a falsehood. If you believed it then they had no choice but to believe it as well. Fate had many plans for you all, and it was clear that this was only the beginning.

Looking up at the sky, you noticed that it was much darker than before and you all decided to head back to camp, unwilling to be caught in the dark forest at night. As you rode through the forest, you thought about the last thing your grandmother had told you. The one thing that you didn’t divulge to the two men riding along behind you.

You will find a family with them, my Dark Horse. A family and a love so strong, a love that will move mountains and cross seas to be at your side. Others will join you along the way as well, others who will strengthen that bond and make you all stronger than you could ever imagine being. You will finally be free from heartache and sadness, you will run with the wild horses in a land far from here and you will be happy beyond compare.

Boda gave a haughty snort, pulling you from the memories of your grandmother as he stopped short in the middle of the trail. A few yards away stood a large brown bear. He appeared to be walking from one side of the trail to the other, but had stopped when Boda alerted you. Motioning for the men to stop with your hand, you never took your eyes off the bear. There was something familiar about it, something you remembered from long ago.

Star and Sergeant looked on with a bit of uneasiness but Bodaway was strangely calm as the large bear stood on his hind legs and met your gaze. There was a white patch of hair on the bear's chest that caught your eye and when you looked back up into his eyes, you saw your brother’s eyes looking back at you from the bear’s face. You smiled a watery grin as it slowly lowered its body back to all fours and began to lumber away into the misty forest.

You heard Bucky and Steve take an audible sigh of relief from behind you. Quickly, you wiped your eyes so you would not worry them as they walked their own mounts around you and took the lead for the remainder of the ride.

As you passed the place where the bear had disappeared, you looked into the forest and smiled for there were no footprints left behind, confirming that you had indeed witnessed your brother’s spirit animal.

Thank you, my brother. You are always looking after me, even in the afterlife. I hope you have found peace and happiness with our family in the spirit world. It seems I will not be joining you for a a remarkably long time; I hope you will continue to watch over me as I continue my journey.

Pushing Boda into a swift trot, you quickly caught up to the men. With a high-pitched giggle, you urged Bodaway into a canter and raced the rest of the way back to camp. That night, you settled down into peaceful sleep with the promise of adventure waiting on the horizon to the east. Back to where it all started.

#Dark Horse #marvel #Marvel AU #Marvel MCU #reader fic #steve x reader x bucky #western au #cowboy AU

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jtsodergren · 4 years

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The Best of 2019

2019, what an exceptional year for movies! A great way to close out the shittiest decade! Here are the 50 best films I saw this year... click on the title to go to the IMDB page, and I’ll try to post a link to where you can see many of them. Also for the first time this year, I’m including MOM WARNINGS! My mom reads this list and sometimes actually watches these movies... so to save her some grief, sadness, or general concern for my psyche, there will be a NOT FOR MOMS!! warning where applicable... here we go!

50. STAR WARS - EPISODE IX: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (Amazon)

People really hated this movie... I actually really liked it! Aside from the horses running around on the outside of spaceships (which makes no fucking sense... didn’t Leia get all space frozen exactly one movie ago??), it was a satisfying conclusion to a franchise I guess I don’t really care about as much as other people, so I was into it!

49. JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 - PARABELLUM (Amazon)

Quickly becoming one of the more well produced action franchises of all time. Probably two too many machine gun shootouts in this one for me (I get a little exhausted with gun violence), but the hand-to-hand stuff is brilliant and bloody and badass! Not to mention the deepening of the mythology and Halle Berry and her dogs. It’s a fun time, a welcome addition to the series, and I can’t wait for number 4.

48. QUEEN & SLIM (Amazon)

Billed as the black BONNIE AND CLYDE and from first time feature director Melina Matsoukas, this atmospheric tragedy is gorgeous to look at, delivers a pair of standout lead performances, and proves to have one of the more stressful final 30min of any of the films I saw this year, even if you know the inevitable conclusion is just around the corner.

47. UNDER THE SILVER LAKE (Amazon PRIME)

A wild Los Angeles noir story from the director of IT FOLLOWS. Plays like if David Lynch directed THE BIG LEBOWSKI, a weird, screwball whodunit. It’s a little long, and there are so many loose ends that seem to be thrown in just to fuck with the protagonist (and the audience), but it’s a really fun time and you’ll want to stay to the end to see it all play out. LA looks gorgeous too.

46. KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE (Netflix)

Truly inspiring. Really shows how if you put your mind to something, believe in yourself and that you can make a difference, you can accomplish anything. Regardless of your political leanings, or how you feel about AOC personally, this is well worth your time and it has a great message for young people, especially those young women of color who might not think they can achieve great levels of success. It made me cry the happy tears.

45. LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (Amazon)

Best known for it’s remarkable 59min-3D final take, this hallucinatory journey through memory and dreams is mind-blowing and breathtaking. Hard not to leave this one feeling like you’ve been put though some kind of experiment that you don’t fully understand, but you’ll want to experience again. Highly recommended if you have access to 3D, or simply have some killer edibles and want to be thrown for a loop.

44. CLIMAX (Amazon PRIME)

NOT FOR MOMS!!

Speaking of being under the influence, holy shit is this film nuts! From Gaspar Noe, who if you’re aware of his work, you kind of already know what you’re in store for here. It’s been described as “FAME directed by the Marquis de Sade”... incredible dance sequences and audacious camerawork that slowly but surely devolves into hell. It’s a blast!

43. HAIL SATAN? (Hulu)

A fresh and funny documentary about a group of smartass Satanists exposing the hypocrisy amongst bible-thumping Christians who’d rather stomp their feet and be the loudest in the room than listen to anyone else’s perspective. Frustrating and entertaining in equal parts, this compulsively watchable film makes you want to scream at these Jesus freaks as much as you want to laugh along with the antics of these harmless, intelligent and organized troublemakers. An excellent time well spent.

42. FIRST LOVE (Amazon)

(Probably) NOT FOR MOMS!!

Director Takashi Miike’s yakuza action-comedy is the most accessible of his films I’ve seen (he’s now made more than 100 movies, which is insane), but that doesn’t mean it’s not a gonzo wild time at the movies. The violence is here in full force, but unlike AUDITION or ICHI THE KILLER, you don’t need a barf bag close by to enjoy it. It’s often hilarious and moves at a breakneck speed. Super fun!

41. THE DEAD DON’T DIE (Amazon PRIME)

Jim Jarmusch’s star-studded, droll zombie-comedy came and went from theaters without much fanfare, but provided me with plenty of laughs. It’s also the second of 3 Adam Driver vehicles to be on this year’s list. Bill Murray and Driver lead the way along with plenty familiar faces in cameos throughout (including the RZA in one of my favorite scene’s of the year). Classic Jarmusch... a meditation on death and mortality in his vintage style.

40. EL CAMINO: A BREAKING BAD MOVIE (Netflix)

Dude, Aaron Paul is a legit GREAT actor. Picks up right where the show left off, and I was on the edge of my seat and filled with anxiety just like I was during the best moments of the now classic series. It was good to hang out with my old friends again.

39. DOCTOR SLEEP (Amazon)

A box office flop due to poor promotion and a title people weren’t familiar with, this sequel to THE SHINING is based on the Stephen King book of the same name, which I read, and I can’t recommend it more. Great suspense, and fantastic performances from both Ewan McGregor and (especially) Rebecca Ferguson. It’s a dark and scary film that is a fun trip back to the Overlook Hotel... provided you wish to return there...

38. THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO (Amazon PRIME)

About 90min into this beautifully shot film I was ready to lock it in as a possible Top 5 contender. Then the bottom fell out for me the last quarter of the movie and lost my confidence. No bother, it’s still wonderful enough to find a spot on the list and carry my recommendation. Young men and women watching their city change before their eyes, and wondering what the concept of “home” really means is a real challenge facing many people here in the Bay Area. This film does a fantastic job conveying that, for most of the film anyway.

37. THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON (Amazon)

A bonafide crown-pleaser of a movie, and another example of the true talent Shia LeBeouf has and is capable of (more on him later). A young man with Down Syndrome escapes his assisted-living facility to track down his wrestling idol the Saltwater Redneck with the help of an outlaw and a social worker. Sweet, funny, and heartfelt... a feel good surprise.

36. A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD (Amazon)

I didn’t cry nearly as much as I did during the excellent documentary WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR from last year, but if you’re a Mr. Rogers fan, you’ll still shed a few during this heartwarming film. Tom Hanks does his thing, and even though this movie is guilty of borrowing a little too much from the previous doc, it’s still a great showcase for the truly selfless and beautiful force of nature that Fred Rogers was. Bring tissues anyway.

35. CARMINE STREET GUITARS (In Theaters Now)

A love letter to both New York City and the art, joy, and love that goes into honing and maintaining one’s craft. Meanwhile the looming doom of gentrification hovers over the proceedings, never letting you get fully enrapt in the sweetness that these artists (and their many famous customers) exude when talking about and playing their one-of-a-kind works of art. A stunning and lovely piece for musicians and talentless fans of music alike.

34. HOLIDAY (Amazon)

NOT FOR MOMS!!

A tough, cold film with nary a character to actively root for... until after about an hour of icy behavior comes (no pun intended) a scene so shocking in its graphic and disturbing nature, people left the theater without staying for the final resolution. First time director Isabella Eklof pulls off the bold and audacious maneuver, all while making it seem like she doesn’t care whether you like her characters (or her film) at all. It’s a very fine balancing act, executed to perfection. But be warned... it’s rough.

33. AVENGERS: ENDGAME (Disney+)

What can I say? You saw it. It’s good. A bunch of Supermans fly around and blow shit up. A satisfying end (until the next 20 films).

32. MIDSOMMAR (Amazon Prime)

NOT FOR MOMS!!

A disturbing slow burn of a gothic horror film. Characters do hallucinogens while ritualistic religious murders and tribal mating practices threaten to ruin everyones existence. Florence Pugh is phenomenal (more from her in a minute) in a very trying roll. Doesn’t pack quite the punch of the director’s last film, HEREDITARY, but it’s still well worth the watch. But yeah, it’s disturbing.

31. APOLLO 11 (Hulu)

A fascinating look at the first moon landing from rarely seen archival footage and audio. Seeing it on the IMAX screen was intense and exhilarating, unlike narrative pictures like the severely overrated FIRST MAN. This isn’t my favorite documentary of the year, but it is an absolute lock to win the Academy Award for Best Doc of 2019. It’s a must see, a must experience.

30. HIGH LIFE (Amazon PRIME)

NOT FOR MOMS!!

French auteur Claire Denis’ bizarre, erotic sci-fi mindfuck about isolation and humanity is not for everyone, but is a brilliant take on the genre, and is yet another showcase for Robert Pattinson, who is quietly becoming one of my favorite working actors. Juliette Binoche also is on fire here and has what one critic calls “the single greatest one-person sex scene in the history of cinema.” So it has that going for it.

29. TRIPLE FRONTIER (Netflix)

A fully loaded heist film with no real bad guy, but instead a group of recognizable badasses in a Netflix-released action thrill ride. There’s absolutely no reason this should’ve worked, or even been half as good as it is, but boy is it good! Compulsively watchable, and rewatchable. If this were on Showtime as much as DEN OF THIEVES is I’d have seen it 30 times by now. It’s one of the most pleasant surprises of the year.

28. 1917 (Amazon)

An unbelievable visual achievement from cinematographer Roger Deakins and director Sam Mendes. The story isn’t the greatest war story ever told (are there great war stories?), but it’s shot to look like one continuous long take, sustained for 2hrs. It’s really an unbelievable feat, but doesn’t come off as gimmicky or distracting. It’s intense, beautifully staged, and sad. A big screen spectacle.

27. TOY STORY 4 (Amazon)

Woody and the gang are back, and the films continue to keep the dust from collecting. It’s still so much fun to hang out with this group of misfit toys. There was talk that after the incredible TOY STORY 3 this was just a money grab and was labeled unnecessary, but I found it to be a sweet, charming, and nostalgic trip I was glad I took.

26. HONEYLAND (Hulu)

My pick for documentary of the year comes from the mountains of Macedonia, where a woman named Hatidze lives with her dying mother making a living cultivating honey. When a family of shitheads moves into a shanty next door, what seems like a fix for her lonely existence becomes catastrophic as they disregard her teachings and threaten her livelihood. I was an emotional wreck throughout the experience and it goes without saying it’s a must-see. Gorgeous and heartbreaking.

25. LITTLE WOMEN (Amazon)

I have never read the book, nor seen any of the film adaptations, so I went in blind to this lovely film. Director Greta Gerwig follows up the phenomenal LADYBIRD with this Altman-esque rendition of the widely beloved literary classic. I found it exceptional in its execution and performances, including the previously mentioned Florence Pugh, who is a knockout. A wonderful addition to the ever-growing stable of Christmas films I look to enjoy during future Decembers.

24. GREENER GRASS (Hulu)

It’s as if Tim & Eric made BLUE VELVET. Bizarre, outrageous, gross, and a guaranteed future midnight movie favorite. My sides hurt. A satire skewering upper-middle class suburban soccer moms and dads alike. Babies are given away. A boy turns into a dog. Everyone has braces. There’s a creep on the loose. It’s wild and flat-out hilarious literally from start to finish. Almost too many jokes to keep up with. Watch it! Bring weed.

23. RELAXER (Amazon)

NOT FOR MOMS!!

Speaking of gross, this film is disgusting, but in a good way. A satire about lazy consumerism and self-destruction. It’s a short hang, thankfully, but if you can stomach it to the end (remember, it’s nasty) you’ll be rewarded with not only a hilarious dark comedy, but also an unexpected haymaker of sadness you didn’t see coming. It’s a pretty impressive feat, and an overall success. But, yeah, it’s fucking gross.

22. AD ASTRA (Amazon)

APOCALYPSE NOW in space starring Brad Pitt. If you need more information than that, I don’t really know what else to do for you.

21. SLUT IN A GOOD WAY (Amazon PRIME)

(Probably) NOT FOR MOMS!!

A black-and-white raunchy French arthouse teen comedy that gives a middle finger to the double standard set by the equally raunchy teen-boys-will-be-boys genre. It’s so much fun, and honest, and the actors are such natural talents you forget the subject matter is at times shocking (only because of said double standard) and just go with it. I think it’s just wonderful. Seek it out!

20. US (HBO)

Jordan Peele’s excellent follow-up to GET OUT. Doppelganger home invasion terror with a killer twist. To describe more would be to risk giving something away. I’ll just say that Lupita Nyong’o is my pick to win her second Oscar, this time as Best Actress, here in a dual role. She’s incredible. If you haven’t seen it, try to go in blind, you’ll be rewarded.

19. THE FAREWELL (Amazon PRIME)

A heartfelt homecoming film about family, culture, and how the things we don’t say can be just as strong of a show of love as the things we do say. It’s sweet, tender, and bursting with personal flare and emotions from director Lulu Wang. Awkwafina also curbs her more manic and loud tendencies as a performer for more quiet, thoughtful, and somber choices. She’s phenomenal.

18. KNIVES OUT (Amazon)

A clever ensemble whodunit that’s just as funny and smart as it is mysterious. Everyone across the board delivers as the assorted motley crew. The film rewards repeat viewings and Daniel Craig knocks it out of the park, stealing every scene he’s in, reminding us all what a fantastic actor he can be when he’s not sipping the Vespers.

17. BOOKSMART (Hulu)

The female SUPERBAD is the elevator pitch, but this coming-of-age gem is really unlike any other example in the genre. They’re privileged, uber-smart, and have never partied. Yet they have the same neuroses as any other teen scared to death of what to do next or how to be normal. It’s also fucking hilarious. You wanna hang out with these girls and at the same time bury your head under the covers because you feel their pure terror/embarrassment. It’s a blast.

16. THE MUSTANG (Amazon)

Starring Matthias Schoenaerts, one of the finest actor’s working today, this understated and emotional drama about rehabilitation and redemption floored me upon first viewing. It is a gorgeous film. You’ve probably seen stories similar to this before, but rarely is one told with such compelling conviction. A borderline masterpiece.

15. HONEY BOY (Amazon PRIME)

Remember a few years back we had the McConaissance, where everything Matthew McConaughey did was solid gold after years of middling bullshit? I’m calling it right now: Shia LaBeouf is about to have the same thing. He wrote the script and plays a version of his own father in a brutal version of his own fucked up childhood as an up-and-coming child actor. It’s heartbreaking and absolutely riveting. I’m hoping he gets an Oscar nod, but regardless I implore you to seek this film out, he’s incredible.

14. MONOS (Hulu)

(Probably) NOT FOR MOMS!!

A bizarre, bewildering, chaotic, and unsettling film. Some of the most beautiful photography I saw on the big screen this year, yet some of the most surreal and disturbing imagery as well. It’s a militarized, Latin American LORD OF THE FLIES with commentary on tribal behavior and violence. It can be a tough sit, but boy is it beautiful.

13. DOLEMITE IS MY NAME (Netflix)

What a wonderful, welcome surprise! Eddie Murphy in an awards caliber performance as Rudy Ray Moore, the multi-hyphenate performer who created the alter ego Dolemite, spawning a film franchise and many legendary comedy albums. It’s obviously hilarious, and a great behind-the-scenes biopic, but also shockingly sweet and heartfelt, even between all the cuss words. I even teared up a couple times. The 3rd best thing Netflix released this year (more on that in a minute).

12. JOKER (Amazon)

You already saw this.

11. THE IRISHMAN (Netflix)

It’s far too long. It could’ve done with being cut as a three part miniseries or special. There’s about 45min worth of scenes that are quintessential DVD bonus features (I’m looking at you Action Bronson), but goddamn if it’s not Scorsese doing his Scorsese thing. It’s a gangster film, but it’s also a meditation on aging and death. Pesci is incredible and Pacino steals the show. Sure, the de-aging thing is distracting, the curb stomping scene is embarrassing. But still, I mean... IT’S MARTIN SCORSESE!

10. PAIN AND GLORY (Amazon)

Pedro Almodovar’s most personal work to date, a tale about making art and the loneliness of love. If you are unfamiliar with his work, this is a great jumping off point. His movies can be challenging and dark, but this film has such joy and hope amongst the heartache. The final reveal, while not earth shattering on paper, is nonetheless so moving it left the screening I attended without a dry eye in the place. It is his best film yet.

9. THE LIGHTHOUSE (Amazon)

From the director of THE WITCH comes another type of gothic horror, this time with the legendary Willem Dafoe and the (already mentioned) brilliant Robert Pattinson marooned on a lighthouse rock alone to drive each other completely insane. It’s hallucinatory, violent, disorienting, and flat-out brilliant. If it weren’t for another guy we’ll get to in a minute, Dafoe would be a lock for Best Supporting Actor here. It’s a slightly challenging film, with the period style mariner dialogue, but it’s just as funny as it is terrifying.

8. JOJO RABBIT (Amazon)

A beautiful, touching, funny, crowd-pleasing comedy about a little Nazi whose imaginary friend is Hitler. Yep, your read that correctly. There are about a million reasons this should absolutely not work. Yet, it’s one of the best theater going experiences I had this year. A must see... ESPECIALLY with Mom!

7. MARRIAGE STORY (Netflix)

The best written and acted film of the year, and the third Adam Driver vehicle to appear here. Sad but honest. Touching but brutal. It’s awkward and a bit of a bummer, but there’s such great work being done here, in front of and behind the camera. Noah Baumbach is a force of nature, and has yet to make a film I was even iffy about. He’s the real deal and this might be his masterpiece.

6. WAVES (Amazon)

Speaking of auteurs, Trey Edward Shults is now 3/3 on features after the brilliant KRISHA and IT COMES AT NIGHT. Here he follows a middle-class black family, led by a domineering father, through a tragic moment in all of their lives. The first half deals with the son’s story, then abruptly switches to the daughter’s life post said event. It shouldn’t work, yet somehow manages to be one of the most emotionally affecting pieces of art I saw this year. The camera never stops moving, constantly swirling and whirling and you can’t help to be sucked up into it. It’s a beautiful tragedy.

5. LONG SHOT (HBO)

The biggest and most pleasant surprise of the year. An opposites-attract rom-com with more brains, bite, social commentary, and laughs than it has any right to have. Easily the most fun you’ll have with (almost) the whole family... there’s a lot of cum jokes. But don’t let the vulgarity dissuade you! It’s a total riot with just the right amount of sweetness to balance out the saltiness. I love love love this movie.

4. THE ART OF SELF-DEFENSE (Hulu)

What starts as a strange, dark comedy morphs into a FIGHT CLUB-esque thriller with allusions to disturbingly toxic masculinity and an offbeat take on what it takes to “be a man.” It is laugh-out-loud hilarious, and expertly made, while really having something to say, and it says it in a way I’ve never really seen before. It’s not surprising this didn’t get more attention, the characters are truly difficult to relate to, let alone root for, but as far as originality goes, you’d be hard pressed to find anything this year much better than this.

3. UNCUT GEMS (Amazon)

(Probably) NOT FOR MOMS!!

The cinematic equivalent of being locked in the brain of a lunatic having a cocaine-fueled anxiety attack. If that sounds like fun (AND IT IS!!!) then this is the film for you! Oh, and Adam Sandler is going to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor. For real. It’s a chaotic, stress-filled masterpiece.

2. ONCE UPON A TIME... IN HOLLYWOOD (Amazon)

My favorite filmmaker’s 2nd best film. A personal story about the love of film during the late 60s, a time of dirty hippies and Charles Manson, as well as the passing of the torch from old Hollywood to the “golden age” of cinema. It’s a fairytale of sorts, with Tarantino’s trademark flare for spontaneous violence and mining multiple genres to make his most mature work since PULP FICTION. I’ve been rewarded with new takeaways upon each subsequent viewing, and my love and appreciation for it only grows and grows. Brad Pitt is a lock for Best Supporting Actor, he’s magnificent. It was always going to be my #1 with a bullet no matter what, because it’s just that great...

1. PARASITE (Amazon)

...but then Bong Joon-ho, the master of new Korean cinema unleashed PARASITE. Not only is it the best film of 2019, it’s one of the best films I have ever seen. Like EVER ever. He is in such astonishing control of his craft it’s hard not to sit back and marvel and the sheer skill on display. You can be laughing one moment and then recoiling in horror during the same breath. He’s using multiple genre tropes, incredible set design, pitch perfect acting/writing, and such exquisite planning you can’t possibly know what’s in store for you from one scene to the next. It is an absolute masterpiece and if it doesn’t sweep every category it’s nominated for at this year’s Oscars, it’ll be a travesty. If you have even a passing interest in film as an art form, the power it can wield, and the messages it can convey, you owe it to yourself to see this film. It’s perfect.

Well, there it is. Thanks for reading any part of this. Now go see PARASITE. I love you.

#movies #top50 #2019 #movies of 2019

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doggendoodle · 4 years

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New Horizons Status Report #19 (Day 10)

Session 1

oh my God Isabelle is so cute. Anyway, morning announcement: the campsite is up and running! Construction has also finished on the suspension bridge and started on the Able Sisters' shop

I found an ankylo tail fossil (new!) in the bamboo forest, and retrieve my shopping from the mailbox, as well as thank-you letters from everyone

Flick is in town and he's geeking out about bugs, aw. I sell some bugs I had on me, and then go get my emperor butterflies out of storage to commission him

ok maybe geeking out wasn't strong enough of a word - he's basically worshipping them... it's kinda adorable

The bugs supplied Jeremiah with another DIY recipe, this time for a garden rock. I take a copy for myself, and also found a recipe from "Ed" for a decoy duck

Then I go fossil hunting - I find a mammoth skull (new!) on the east coast, a a tricera torso (new!) on the cliff near the orchard, a loom from a balloon (not a fossil, just wanted to mention it), and a stego skull (new!) at the picnic spot

I finally manage to give Pinky her windflower wreath and she gives me 936 Bells in exchange :)

I make and customize a few decoy ducks - one mallard, one spot-billed and one common pochard. I keep the mallard, give the spot-billed to Boots (in exchange for a layered shirt :O) and mail the pochard to a friend

Session 2

I visit Resident Services, and Tom Nook says that the campsite is blowing up in popularity, and we should expect visitors soon. I access the Nook Stop real quick, sending a gift to a friend and buying the ACNH Switch, and then talk to Isabelle about the town flag. I change it to a flag depicting the day/night cycle, with a crescent moon against a red beaming sun.

And now, with its town tune and flag, Ryland is finally a home away from home :D

Paula gives me a pair of triangle shades, and I find a floor sign in a tree

Paula and Jeremiah have a conversation in the plaza. Jeremiah is surprised that Paula knows about flowers, and to strut her stuff, she tells me about roses. Yellow roses mean friendship, and orange mean trust. Jeremiah wishes he could have an orange rose, so that's my first plan as soon as I get some (second plan is giving red roses to Boots, third plan is giving the girls roses too)

Speaking of flowers, I buy some hyacinth and pansy seeds from Nook's Cranny and plant them in my flower garden. I do so much gardening I attract an emperor butterfly. I also shoot down a recipe for a bamboo-shoot lamp, and added one to my collection of bamboo-related items, surrounded by bamboo fencing, since most of their recipes are listed as "seasonal" and I don't know what that means, but I know that if the recipes disappear in summer, I want to at least have all these items made

Session 3

I spend some time watering my flowers, and Paula teaches me how to Laugh! I shoot down a balloon containing 5,000 Bells, another one containing a colourful wheel, a third one containing a cute sofa, and a fourth one containing 5,000 more Bells. I also found out you can hop between wharfs, if they're close enough, and dig up a few manila clams to make fish bait

I spent 1,500 Bells on a fax machine for a TikTok idea, and purchase and redeem another Nook Miles Ticket. I end up at an island with a koi pond. I spend a long time there, catching fish that are going away in April, emperor butterflies, plenty of koi and goldfish, and some trash because I have recipes that require trash

Earlier, Paula wanted to talk to me, but forgot what about. When I get back, she remembers and gives me some square glasses while... blushing?

I find Flick in the bamboo forest, and sell him all my emperor butterflies for exorbitant amounts. I then sell most of my fish to Nook's Cranny for an even larger amount, except for one goldfish which I keep as a pet. I make so much money off my trip to the island that I can pay off the final part of my house loan. I get to remain debt free for longer than usual, as I decide to hold the ceremonies for the suspension bridge. Then I go straight back to Resident Services and upgrade my house again because I desperately need the storage, especially since the Able Sisters are opening tomorrow too, and I have ways of making money quickly *cough99000BellMoneyTreescough*

Session 4

I shoot down *another* 5,000 Bells while hunting for sturgeons and stringfish. Aurora compliments my humble sweater and gives me some traditional suteteko pants to go with them, so this is now my outfit, sorry honey I don't make the rules I just happily enforce them

Boots tries to flog a sleeping bag to me for 1,400 Bells. I've got plenty of Bells for it from all the occult stuff I've been doing with Flick, but he seemed really worried about not being able to sell it before I talked to him. He really likes the vest with binoculars that I gave him, though. I place the bag at the campsite

I'm getting tired of the ladder, so I pop into Resident Services and talk to Nook about an incline. I pick the natural one and head to the west coast to place it, picking up a reply letter & gift of a mounted blue marlin from my friend on the way. I cut down a tree to make the path to the incline more clear, but I discover a wasp's nest. Thankfully I manage to escape to the museum in time. Then I make a small contribution to the incline fund, since it isn't as critical as the bridge was, and go back to sturgeon-hunting

I redeem another Nook Miles Ticket and head off to a waterfall island, so I scale the falls to head to the top. I head down when I see there's a river mouth, and what do you know, I catch a second, third and fourth sturgeon! The first one being the sturgeon I have at home

Apparently Paula used to live in a rural town, but came on the Deserted Island Getaway Package for a change of pace

#ryland island #animal crossing new horizons #animal crossing #new horizons

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stevenuniversallyreviews · 6 years

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Episode 81: Same Old World

”I’ve got nowhere to go.”

It’s impossible to overstate how important Mirror Gem was in redirecting the entire series from the daily adventures of a magical kid to a long-term story about (among many other things) how sins of the past loom over the present. But I’ve certainly tried! I’ve gone on about the episode’s impact at length in multiple reviews, but it bears repeating again here, because Same Old World is where Lapis Lazuli finally starts to shift from Important Character to regular fixture.

For someone that leaves such a lasting impression, we don’t see much of Lapis until Season 3. After she flies away healed in Ocean Gem, we catch a glimpse of her in The Message, where she once again has a huge impact for her small amount of time on screen. This frantic, confused version of Lapis is what we’ll get in The Return and Jailbreak and Chille Tid, but we see her get angrier with each appearance as she’s forced to face trial after trial. Her suffering was supposed to be over, but it keeps happening, and by the time she’s finally free again it makes sense that her first instinct is to get the hell off this planet.

But the saddest thing about Lapis isn’t her horrible luck, even if her ordeals are arguably more intense than any other character’s. It’s that she’s had to face these ordeals alone. The Crystal Gems and the Off-Colors are ragtag teams of outcasts, but they still have each other. Homeworlders like the Diamonds and their underlings, even the wandering Jasper, fit in just fine with an established society. Peridot makes a relatively smooth transition from the latter to the former. But Lapis’s comfort zone only exists in a past that will never come back. Steven may be the only Gem with parents, but the tragedy of Lapis Lazuli is that she’s an orphan. Only in Spinel do we meet another Gem cursed with such abandonment.

Why does Lapis attach herself so strongly to Steven, to the point where she’s willing to risk everything to protect him from Homeworld? For the same reason she eventually latches onto Jasper despite knowing that it’s toxic: because she has nobody else. And that isolation, rather than the specific injustices she has faced, is the trauma she’s actually forced to overcome starting in Season 3, beginning with Peridot in our next episode. But for now, Same Old World does a brilliant job establishing who this character is (a lost, lonely soul) and what she needs (a home and a family) so that she can make a change. And it does this not by showing her wallowing, but rather, for the first time since Ocean Gem, by showing her happy.

It says everything about Lapis that she sincerely enjoys hanging out with Steven. Despite her antisocial tendencies, she doesn’t hate people, she just doesn’t trust them (and for good reason). By freeing her in Mirror Gem and healing her in Ocean Gem, and by bonding with her in both episodes through open-hearted conversation, Steven earned her friendship. And an arc where Lapis finds the strength to open up to others benefits from our knowledge that she’s already capable of doing so, so that’s what Same Old World does. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and knowing this makes it even harder to watch when she stumbles, but all the more rewarding when she starts to come out of her shell around more people.

Lapis’s newfound exuberance is best conveyed by Aivi and Surasshu, who modify her theme (still my favorite) from its typically haunting or mystical tone to a breezy, adventurous anthem. Lapis began as a source of wonder for the audience, so it’s great to see her actually feel that wonder herself as she learns more about the planet that held her prisoner for so long.

Steven’s narration gets funnier and funnier as they travel from the woods to Empire City to Jersey; even a show this sweet can’t help but make fun of New Jersey. While Empire City is a clear blend of New York and Paris, with a little Vegas thrown in judging by the town motto, and this universe has locations like Delmarva and Keystone and Aqua Mexico, I love that Jersey is just...Jersey.

Further signs that this is a setup episode are found in the Empire City segment, and not just because we go back there in Mr. Greg. We’ve already seen Peridot living it up in the barn, and soon enough she and Lapis will be roommates in the way Steven foreshadows here. But more importantly, he’s using the language of television, which Lapis might not understand now, but very soon will.

Of course, an episode where Lapis is chipper throughout would be disingenuous, and boy does Same Old World deliver on the inevitable gut punch. We get one last moment of whimsy as the two head over the ocean, but the gleeful variant of her theme fades away as they encounter the Galaxy Warp.

Considering the way Pearl left Steven hanging in Rose’s Scabbard, there was a very real chance Lapis would drop him here as she has a minor panic attack, and the suspense allows us to feel all the weight of Lapis’s problems rushing back after a day of fun. It might not sound like a big deal, but this episode needs us to switch from happy and peaceful to antsy and pensive within seconds to keep the pacing solid, and it’s amazing that it does so without giving us even a hint of whiplash.

The return of Lapis’s hollow eyes is a nice touch, and leads us into a flashback that efficiently and stylishly shows us the depths of our hero’s misfortune. She wasn’t a Homeworld zealot but a noncombatant, and her cracking was a complete accident caused by a nameless, unidentifiable Gem. There’s no twist or big moment, simply a series of events outside of her control that built upon each other to ruin her life. This isn’t to say we don’t get lore—the Gem who poofed Lapis is our first glimpse at a bismuth, perhaps the Bismuth, and we see the Diamonds’ corruption attack with a quick taste of their theme—but the message here is that Lapis’s fate served no great purpose, and wasn’t even an intentional punishment. Sometimes life just kicks the shit out of you for no reason.

Lapis is clearly used to it at this point, shrugging off how horrible her life has been before she tries to leave at the beginning of the episode and rejecting Steven’s sweet offer to take a minute at the end of it. This isn’t to say she isn’t upset, but there’s a sense of acceptance that her life will continue to be miserable no matter what, which is why it’s so important that Steven doesn’t just tell her that she’s welcome on Earth, but that Earth is a place that allows change. He tells somebody who had no control for ages, then went on a power trip as soon as she had the opportunity to dominate somebody else, that she finally has the opportunity to make a healthy choice. And she takes it.

Peridot obviously becomes a bigger factor in our next episode, but she’s established quite well in the first act so that her “surprise” appearance at the end feels earned; why would she have gone away in the day or so that Steven and Lapis went exploring? Lapis’s petulant reaction to sharing her new home with Peridot gives us one last bit of foreshadowing for her arc: her adjustment to Earth transforms her into an angsty teen.

I can imagine this characterization disappointed some people; certain fans are bound to insert their own concepts into a character as mysterious as Lapis, which of course makes any divergence from this headcanon a disappointment. But the idea that Lapis’s Daria Phase comes out of nowhere is baffling to me. Really, what better way to portray someone whose life feels like one crisis after another inflicted by forces beyond their control than as a teenager?

Lapis Lazuli rarely displays overt happiness after Same Old World, and will quickly develop a sardonic sense of humor that genuine playfulness occasionally escapes from. But it nonetheless sets the stage for her potential before Barn Mates wisely reminds us that her journey towards trusting others won’t be a walk in the park.

(And then we get a walk in the ballpark. Season 3 picks up quick once it gets rolling.)

Future Vision!

I already mentioned Empire City, Bismuth, and the Diamond Corruption, but it’s also quietly sweet to rewatch this episode after we learn Lapis actually held onto Steven’s leaf in Beta.

I hinted at it a little, but there are definitely echoes of Lapis’s story in Spinel’s, with the major difference being Lapis’s series of misfortunes versus Spinel’s single act of betrayal. Both endured thousands of years of solitude, both attack others on instinct as a result, and both are moved by Steven preaching the power of change.

If every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn’t have inconsistencies…

It’s weird that there’s never any follow-up on Lapis’s poofing, considering she starts hanging out with Bismuth after Change Your Mind. Even if it was a different bismuth, that’s still worth a joke or something.

We’re the one, we’re the ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!

Such a great Lapis episode. If it had a song it might be even higher up, but it still holds its own through great characterization, great music, and awesome setup for her new arc.

Top Fifteen

Steven and the Stevens

Mirror Gem

Lion 3: Straight to Video

Alone Together

The Return

Jailbreak

The Answer

Sworn to the Sword

Rose’s Scabbard

Coach Steven

Giant Woman

Winter Forecast

When It Rains

Catch and Release

Chille Tid

Love ‘em

Laser Light Cannon

Bubble Buddies

Tiger Millionaire

Lion 2: The Movie

Rose’s Room

An Indirect Kiss

Ocean Gem

Space Race

Garnet’s Universe

Warp Tour

The Test

Future Vision

On the Run

Maximum Capacity

Marble Madness

Political Power

Full Disclosure

Joy Ride

Keeping It Together

We Need to Talk

Cry for Help

Keystone Motel

Back to the Barn

Steven’s Birthday

It Could’ve Been Great

Message Received

Log Date 7 15 2

Same Old World

Like ‘em

Gem Glow

Frybo

Arcade Mania

So Many Birthdays

Lars and the Cool Kids

Onion Trade

Steven the Sword Fighter

Beach Party

Monster Buddies

Keep Beach City Weird

Watermelon Steven

The Message

Open Book

Story for Steven

Shirt Club

Love Letters

Reformed

Rising Tides, Crashing Tides

Onion Friend

Historical Friction

Friend Ship

Nightmare Hospital

Too Far

Enh

Cheeseburger Backpack

Together Breakfast

Cat Fingers

Serious Steven

Steven’s Lion

Joking Victim

Secret Team

Say Uncle

Super Watermelon Island

Gem Drill

No Thanks!

5. Horror Club 4. Fusion Cuisine 3. House Guest 2. Sadie’s Song 1. Island Adventure

#same old world #steven universe #su #steven universally #review

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stylessemantics · 6 years

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VII-3: Oh, Marcel AU (part III)

Also called: The Marcel Smut (Read part one here || read part two here )

Shout out to @legend-waitforit-harry and @harryysutequila for being absolute dolls when it comes to Marcel. And also thank you to the latter for beta reading :) te quiero.

ALSO THIS IS 6K WORDS LONG UHHH SORRY?

Prompt: Harry, pitifully called Marcel as a sour joke, is a nice, young, straight-A student, with a bully that hates him on a personal level and he now knows why, and what he thinks is an unattainable crush on his bully’s ex, who he’s started to tutor and befriend and get impossibly closer, specially after they both decide to get tattoos, igniting a new spark in her, and a slight confession of his lust.

In which Harry and Y/N get closer over chemistry, bruises, stories of her past with Jonathan, tattoos, and Harry’s slight pain kink.

When y/n met Jonathan, they were young – or at least younger – and they got along fairly well from the first moment. By the time Jonathan asked her out on a date they were somewhat friends and the looming fear that accompanied deciding what college to go to was over every senior’s head, but they gave it a shot nonetheless. It would be like a last refreshing adventure before the typical “spreading your wings and flying” that every adult assured them college would be. They made a cute couple, him in the football team and her being the student council president and overall nice girl, and contrary to anyone’s belief that they would split up before college, they got to stay together after realising they had chosen the same university. It was like a sign from heavens.

Until it wasn’t.

Y/N didn’t get to tell the story in full to Harry that night. She had started way back, and much to Harry’s heartache, Jonathan sounded like a very nice boyfriend from what y/n did get to say before Tommy, one of the monitors, came knocking announcing girls were no longer allowed in the boy’s quarters for the day. Tommy was the more strict monitor, the one that stayed until the girls left, so y/n was forced to pick up her things and leave with the promise that they’d get together to study in the library the following day, and she could tell him the rest of her story, but it was too late, Harry already had a peek and interest for what could y/n have possibly meant that it was her fault, and he couldn’t catch much sleep afterwards.

He wanted and hoped that he would get the rest of the story straight from her lips, and not from another shove by Jonathan, but life wasn’t fair to ‘Little Marcel’ these past few days, and so a shove is what he got. He came face to face with Jonathan in the middle of a somewhat empty parking lot in campus, terrible mistake for Harry to walk that zone alone, for Jonathan jumped like animal after its prey and caught him off guard. Harry’s fists tingled, he wasn’t back into the whole boxing thing enough just yet to square up a good punch back to Jonathan, but the latter was surprised when Harry seemed angry and grabbed his shirt collar the same way he had his in his hands, nostrils flaring. Harry was angry. Not a lot of sleep, the suspense of a story keeping him on edge, and overall being fed up with Jonathan’s antics had been the perfect formula for Harry’s sudden courage flare.

“Oh, want to fight back, don’t we?” Jonathan almost spat in his face, shoving him against a wall in his tight hold. Harry shuffled, trying to break loose from his grip and get the upper hand by pushing him away, but he struggled. His mind wasn’t into it. He was annoyed that all he knew of the story consisted in this… this beast being an actual decent boyfriend and he can’t even wrap his head around how that could have been a thing, ever. This man once treated the girl he likes really well, and it angered him that the prospect of him ever being anything but wonderful to her was going to be hidden somewhere in the ending of the tale he was going to get in a few hours. It just didn’t settle right and Harry wanted nothing more than to punch him, even if just for the doubts of whether or not he’d hurt y/n in any way. But all Harry could manage was to remember his breathing exercises from all those years he accompanied his sister to yoga, and strike right where he wanted the most. “Why, Jonathan?” The phrase caught the tall strong man off guard, allowing Harry to push back and get a better grip at him. “Why do you hate me?”

In all the time Harry’s unpleasantly known Jonathan, he’s not sure he’s seen him with the expression on his face the question triggered. A mixture between anger, regret, and something close to pity or sadness, he couldn’t tell. Specifically towards what, he’ll probably never know, but whatever it was didn’t stop Jonathan from taking in a short breath and change his look to only anger, as he thrusted Harry’s body back against the wall, scraping the backs of his shoulders with the rough material, surely leaving cuts and scratches. Harry waited for a punch in the middle of his weakened grip due to the burning sensation of his skin scratching open against a wall, but Jonathan let go, leaving him to squirm in pain, and walked away, not before spitting his way and murmuring through gritted teeth. “You took her from me”

In his dreams Harry had y/n’s hands over his body in more ways than one, and certainly after the last incident with Jonathan she had been very handsy when making sure his bruises didn’t get any worse. But this was a whole new level. Even with the hovering tension of a heavy story left unfinished, Harry was sat on y/n’s bed not long after she’d ran into him following his encounter with Jonathan, shirtless and hissing every time whatever she was using to clean his cuts touched his open skin, and trying to make his hormones calm down. Focus on something else, he kept thinking to himself. Focus on anything other than her hands touching your skin, the slight pleasure that spurts from the pinching pain, or how naked you feel in front of her. Focus on anything else. He’d mentioned how Jonathan reacted when he asked him… the thing and y/n’s eyes immediately welled up with angry tears. “Harry…” she started in a whisper, making goosebumps raise on Harry’s skin where her breath hit. She was kneeled behind him, cleaning off little rocks and blood from the cuts. He knew what her tone meant, she was about to say how sorry she was for Jonathan’s doings, once again. “Don’t… Let’s just… ignore that” he sighs, fixing his glasses on his nose and taking a sideways glimpse at her frown that somehow made her impossibly cuter. It was a wonder to see how her cheeks only got prettier every time he saw her. “No, let’s not…” she grabbed his arms making him turn slightly on her bed to face her fully, breath caught in his throat from how close she was. “This is my fault too” “Y/N-” “Listen to me” her stern tone surprised him. The story she had to finish telling him sat at the tip of her tongue and she decided to get it over with and rip it like a band-aid. Part of her was scared her theory was true and with it that Harry would also think it was her fault and hate her for something she didn’t know how to control anymore.

In short, the story was more of a theory, and Harry was glad when she started with that. She breezed through the details of how Jonathan was always more the type to solve issues with punches, but thankfully it never came to it much, since he had football to throw his problems in. As he played with his frames on his face, Harry found none of that hard to believe, from however long he’s known Jonathan there was no way all that anger came just because, and he figured it’d be a helpful thing for the sport to some level. Surprising even to himself, Harry found it in him to feel happy for the Jonathan y/n was talking about. He seemed aware and had some sort of coping mechanism that worked.

The whole ordeal wasn’t as bad but still his parents and y/n worried he would carry the anger from a game to outside the field, and she tried to stick around and help, even made sure his coach always talked to him as if they had small therapy sessions before any game, to keep him in check. Harry understood completely, settling more comfortably on her mattress in eagerness to hear the rest.

The same way they seemed to have a good relationship, until it wasn’t, Jonathan was coping great with his slight anger problem, until he wasn’t. College rolled around and his scores weren’t good, he scored a good deal that soon went away because of his and causing him to be ineligible for a sports team, and to top it all off, Jonathan closed off, saying he didn’t need anyone to talk to, he just wanted to play, but couldnt, and it wasn’t that y/n didn’t think he’d get any better or his grades could come up and he could try again, it was more so that Jonathan didn’t want to get any better or didn’t think there was anything wrong in the first place.

Before she knew it, it felt like they had both given up, like they were together because it was there, and not because they felt anything. Jonathan started doing things and acting certain ways that would only push her away. He’d never talk to her about his day, and he had started bullying random kids for random reasons whenever he was more irritable than the previous day, and no matter how hard y/n tried, Jonathan didn’t want anyone to battle this with, and that was obvious.

Harry was afraid to ask if he’d ever hurt y/n in any way, and she could see it in his eyes that he worried. “I was fine. It’s nothing like that” she whispered and Harry’s sigh of relief was plenty audible. “He just… It wasn’t Jonathan anymore…” Harry nodded, understanding that to her he’d become the exact opposite of what she once knew.

Y/n met Harry at around the same time her and Jonathan were at their worst. Harry was nice, he seemed smart and she could remember that Harry made her laugh the first day of chemistry class, saying it back to him, not knowing that Harry could never forget that the gorgeous girl that had randomly sat next to him was giving him her attention and he’d made her laugh the prettiest laugh he’d ever heard. He cleared his throat and nodded. “I remember” he added smoothly. “Yeah” she blushed slightly, clearing her throat as well. Harry didn’t know but y/n couldn’t forget that either, not because she thought anything of Harry in the same way he thought of her that first day, but because that one joke was the only good thing she experienced that day. Not long after, she found out that Harry was one of those random kids her boyfriend bullied, and something inside her bubbled over. It was the last straw. She liked Harry, and she could see them being friends, and so she confronted Jonathan about it.

It didn’t go well.

Harry confidently placed a hand on her hand, not knowing where the courage had poured in from, but riding it for as long as he could. Y/n look tired remembering every detail and playing it back like a movie for him to get a glance at. All he could do was remind her he was there, and that she could stop and take a second if she needed one. But alas, she pushed through, and there it came, her brilliant theory.

She had defended Harry, and every guy Jonathan bullied, but Harry specifically because it was a face she now knew. It was a face she wanted to see more of, and preferably not bruised. She was tired of her boyfriend’s antics, of him not wanting help or acting like nothing was out of place, and trying to justify all his horrible actions with excuses that were empty. She was exhausted, and that night she ended it. Jonathan was shocked, as if all the anger he carried didn’t let him see that he was doing something wrong. And as y/n walked away and he refused, all he could see was anger and a face. Harry’s. “I think that’s w-why…” “That’s why he said I ‘took you’ from him” “Yes and I feel so guilty. I feel like he’s doing this to you more than anyone else because of me”

Tears threatened to fall down y/n’s cheeks and Harry sighed, taking both her hands in his and facing her fully. He didn’t think this was her fault. In fact after knowing the full story he didn’t really care for someone to blame. Even if there was some truth to her theory, Harry could never blame her for anything that was happening. Jonathan needed an excuse, and it turned out to be Harry, but that only meant Jonathan needed the help he was refusing to get, he needed closure, and that was it. To Harry it didn’t mean y/n had done anything wrong. And so he told her.

Harry removed his glasses and focused on her, making her look him in the eye. Her cheeks were puffy and her eyes were sad, something Harry never wanted to see on her. He gave her a comforting smile. “None of this is your fault.” “But-” “Shh, it’s not. I know the whole story now and I don’t blame you for anything, okay?” he concluded, figuring she needed to hear those words come from him. She needed to hear she was innocent from his mouth, and maybe she could start to believe it. Her arms wrapped around Harry’s figure without a warning, and this time Harry hugged back after shrugging off the surprise. He rubbed comforting circles on her back and whispered “it’s okay” to her ear for as long as they kept each other close.

Harry didn’t know what he would do about Jonathan, but he didn’t care. He hoped that now that he knew he could find a way to slowly talk to him, or gently get him and y/n to speak, or whatever it took so that Jonathan could find the help he needed. He didn’t know what the next move was, but he decided that starting with y/n and their friendship came at number one for now. He decided there was no use in plotting some master plan or causing himself or y/n a headache with more of this talk that made her uncomfortable. He wanted everything to go back to its normal state, and with time, whenever the Jonathan bridge came, they’d cross it.

Pulling apart they smiled at each other. The electricity in the air hard for Harry to ignore, but he kept his distance, instead of following his tingling instinct and closing his mouth on hers, no matter how much he wanted to.

“So… chemistry?” he asked, finding the relation of how he felt chemistry with her in his head funny but dismissing it quickly, reaching over for his shirt and sliding it back on as y/n groaned. “Nooo please” she whined clutching a pillow to her chest “not yet.” “What do you mean not yet?” Harry chuckled at her childish behaviour. “I wanted to ask you something” Harry’s head tilted as he slid his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, urging her to continue “tell me about your tattoos” “My tattoos?” she nodded excitedly “what about them?” “Well… I’ve been kinda wanting one… for a while” the smile on her face was shy and adorable, and Harry couldn’t really see her with any tattoos on her body, but the more he looked at her pointedly and the more she smiled as she poked his tattooed arm, the more he could see exactly what style of tattoo would go with her personality, regardless of how little he actually knew of her. She continued to trace the words inked on his skin over and over, enthralled by the art.

“Do yeh, now…?” he arched an eyebrow sitting next to her once more. “What d’yeh want?” she shrugged. “Hmmm is that so. You wouldn’t happen to draw something a lot?” Harry placed his index finger on his chin, tapping it in fake thoughtfulness. “Ok fine, I sort of know…” y/n doodled a lot of things around her notebooks and Harry had noticed. Mostly hamsas, lotus flowers, suns and moons. Things of the sort. He laughed having caught her in her feeble lie. “I want a little moon on my forearm and a sun on the other, or maybe a lotus on my shoulder, I haven’t decided” “Well–” he stretched, pulling his arm out of her grip, stopping her from tracing anymore of his tattoos, the butterflies were getting too unbearable– “I’ve an appointment this weekend, yeh can come along if yeh want, see what it’s like” Y/n’s eyes lit up like a kid in christmas’s. “Really?!” Harry shrugged as if it was no biggie. “That’d be awesome! Thank you!” She gave him another hug and he chuckled. Before she could pull away he asked. “So. Chemistry?” And laughter exploded from his chest when her response was a deep long groan and a slap to his shoulder.

The weekend rolled around fast, and y/n was excited to see the tattoo parlor, but Harry was sure a lot of her commotion also came from having aced a chemistry lab practice the day before. She giggled with glee, as she tugged Harry’s arm when they turned the corner on their walk to the place, and she finally laid eyes on the parlor. His friend and ex roommate Nick Grimshaw was the artist he was going to see, and Harry knew that surely with a quick text he could arrange it so y/n watched the whole process and got to talk to an actual tattooist about what she envisioned without a previous date. Nick had agreed, not before teasing him if this was the same y/n Harry usually spoke very smitten about, and congratulating him for it with a cheeky grin Harry could read from the simple blue bubble of words in his text app.

“‘Arry!” Was the first thing Nick said when the man waltzed in with y/n close behind, eyes dancing around the place and the wonderful art plastered on the walls. Tattoos drawn on paper, waiting to be inked onto skin, and photos of happy clients posing with their latest work. She marveled at the idea of being on that wall, but she liked the simple thought of just having her own tattoo a lot more.

“Nicholas!” The two men hugged and swayed from side to side as two brothers that had gone long without seeing each other, even though Harry saw Nick pretty much monthly, whether at the parlor, the gym, or the bar he would rarely visit but Nick frequented. Nick proceeded to pinch his arm at the name. He hated being called Nicholas and Harry always did it, to push his buttons. Harry giggled, adjusting his glasses on his face, and y/n blushed. She didn’t know why she did, but she couldn’t help it after finding Harry’s little laugh cute. It was a strange feeling. Not necessarily bad, but strange nonetheless. She dismissed it. “Hi. ‘M Nick.” “Y/N” she said, shaking the skinny man’s hand and looking at the sprinkle of tattoos that laced his arms. “What will I be doing for yeh lads today then” Nick hopped – literally hopped– behind the counter, pulling out a folder with Harry’s name and handing it to him. She peaked when he opened it. It was full of designs, some she’s seen on his body, some new. Harry noticed her intrigued but confused look. “Nick compiles art he thinks I’ll like, fo’ when I come in without a clear idea” she nodded in silence, having decided to just watch and learn for the time being. “What can I say” Nick shrugged “I’m a good foocking friend” Harry rolled his eyes and sighed “Yeh wish.” He closed the folder and sighed, tapping his fingers on the folded paper. “Think it’s time fo’ the tiger” “Oooh” Nick clapped in excitement, leaving y/n completely lost. They obviously talked about this a lot, and Nick probably tattooed Harry all the time, so of course they had some sort of inside talk that y/n was not going to understand. Harry took a seat while Nick fished the design. It was a wonderful tiger, the details impeccable and of a decent size. Y/N was left to stare in shock, mouth agape, when she saw Harry rolling up the basketball shorts he’d donned for the day, immediately understanding why he wasn’t in his usual slacks or skinny jeans. He was clearly thinking about this tattoo for a while. Nick cleaned and prepared the area and after a short conversation about size, position and other details, the buzz of the tattoo gun and Harry’s faint, short hisses every once in a while, filled the silence of the empty parlor.

Somewhere around an hour and a half, Nick pulled back, examining his art. Harry’s eyes were red and his face showed a slight discomfort as y/n sat there, all she could do was stare. She had asked minor questions here and there, like if it was hurting Harry to which he said it wasn’t so bad, and things relating to herself getting a tattoo, like where should she start to avoid the most pain, how does the whole process work and so on. She even found herself staring at some of Nick’s tattoos, and when he noticed, he laughed. “If yeh’re looking at the ugly penguin there, ‘Arry did it, tha’s why it’s foocking gross” causing Harry to complain and smack Nick across the head, the parlor filling with their laughs “Watch it! Who’s got the gun ‘ere, huh?”

“Ok miss…” Nick started after taking a long sip from his water bottle and stretching from his hunched position. Harry let his shorts down, covering the wrapped thigh and moved from the chair. “Yer turn, I ‘spose?”

Harry fixed his glasses on his face, thinking maybe y/n might be scared of doing this today, on such short notice, and he was ready to give her his speech about how if she had even the smallest of, doubts she should leave it for another day, but was surprised when she pulled out her phone and turned to Nick, showing him what he could only assume was inspiration for what she wanted. “So that, but… maybe this style? And this size?” she murmured. Every time Harry tried to get a peak she’d move and Nick pushed him back jokingly. He got the drift. It was going to be a surprise for both of them, it seemed like. “Tha’s sick! Love the effect.” “Yeah? It’s so wonderful, right? Think you can do that?” Nick gasped, faking offense. “Harry why is she doubting me?–” He asked while giving y/n a playful glare and making them both laugh– “Lay on the chair doll, DaVinci will drop dead again when I’m done”

It was Harry’s turn to be shocked when y/n laid face down and removed her shirt. He tried his best to remain calm despite the obvious deep red shade his cheeks had taken. He swallowed back a grunt and gave Nick a death glare when the man, behind y/n’s back, insinuated at Harry with a look that screamed ‘hot damn, look at that’ to him.

This was a bad idea. Y/N was getting her back tattooed and Harry didn’t dare to look. Both because she obviously wanted to surprise herself and him with the final result, and also because he didn’t think he could stand there in the tingling pain from his own freshly inked tattoo, looking at her bare back – bra straps open and down her shoulder – for long without collapsing or needing a cold shower. It was all he could do to stifle in a moan or keep from imagining her, face down on his bed as he sank himself…

That was enough.

He turned around, fidgeting with his glasses on his face to keep his hands busy.

Harry always knew Nick was good. Great even. The work he did on y/n was amazing and she kept giggling over it as she arched her neck to try and get a better glimpse. “Oh my god” she kept repeating in whispers “I am in love with it” she hopped up and down in excitement making Nick smile proudly. It was some of his best work yet. The tattoo wasn’t in itself complicated, with much detail, or of a big enough size to take hours and hours of work, but it was the simple fading and style of it what made it so unique and hard to master. He took pride in his good work, mentally patting himself on the back. “Make sure t’take care of it. Harry can help yeh. ‘S a hard spot to reach” he murmured, slyly winking in Harry’s direction who just took to rolling his eyes at his friend.

Y/n and Harry were almost out the door after smiles and goodbyes, tips for tending a tattoo, and more praise over Nick’s work when y/n snapped out of her seemingly post tattoo haze, stopping dead in her tracks. “I have to pay! Oh my god” she exploded in a fit of laughter, turning around to Nick to ask how much she owed. “No no. No need” He assured her as Harry fidgeted behind her figure. “What? No way. Let me pay, you can’t give me this for free” “Oh, ‘s alright darling” he winked at her, pushing her out of the parlor, not before nodding his head in Harry’s direction and giving her a small wink, whispering “It’s all covered” before sending her off.

Y/n whined Harry’s ear off the whole way back, and even when he sneaked into her room past the allowed hours – not without getting flustered over it before – she continued to do so no matter how many times he’d promised her it was okay. “Let me pay you back” “No, it’s fine” he chuckled, sitting on her bed and letting out a sigh. The area of his tattoo was still covered and just slightly itchy. Y/N dismissed him, turning to look at her new tattoo in the mirror and silently plotting ways to pay him back some day when he least expected it. She wouldn’t let that nice gesture pass, and he was already doing entirely too much.

Harry decided to play a little game he’d played with her before and quiz her on her test she had the day prior and all the other knowledge he’d been helping her with, in a way to keep her memory fresh with the concepts. Y/N groaned at first, not wanting to study on a saturday at all but complied, and so the tossing of a random plastic toy she kept in her room began. Harry would ask, the throw getting more difficult as the questions got tougher, and they walked around her room to keep her on her toes and active. “And that is?” “Thermochemistry” “Who’s the father of it” “Uh, trick question?” “Hmmm, wrong y/n.” “Hess? Laplace? Both?” Harry shrugged “Come on!” “Fine, trick question. It had like 6 fathers. Now-” He motioned at her to toss him the little toy before she interrupted. “Fuck off, Harry” She exploded in a fit of laughter, which he joined in soon after, falling back on her small couch, throwing it back at a distracted Harry with a bit of force given her laid back position. “Ow!” Harry bit back when the somewhat sharp and hard edge of it smacked him in the side of the jaw. “Oh, fuck! Sorry!”

The hard toy had left a red spot on his jaw, right at the side from his chin, surely to cause a little bump in the future and its sharp edge drew the tiniest bit of blood that he caught on his fingertips when he touched the skin. Y/N immediately piped up, rushing to him, apology after apology slipping through her lips.

It seemed like lately y/n had turned into his at home doctor, as she had tended for his bruises and cuts more than anyone ever, in just the past week. Harry found himself sat on the edge of her bed, once more being taken care of by her delicate fingers, chin pulled up and jutted out, as her other hand kept his head in place. She continued to apologise even though he’d repeatedly said it was all okay, quickly falling silent after she assumed a knelt position right in front of him, practically straddling him as her legs perched on either side of his one recently tattooed thigh. “How’s it look?” he asked timidly. “Well…–“ she sighed dramatically– “You have a magnet for injuries, Harry, but-” he laughed at her statement, a deep, small laugh, brain too fuzzy over the fact that she was this close. Again y/n blushed when he did so. She had found it that she liked it when Harry smiled or laughed. It could be either cute and giggly which made her very giggly back, or it could be a very deep, very manly chuckle that had her feeling something she couldn’t quite place but had come to like, quite a lot. Whatever it was, she wanted more of it. Whatever it was she wanted more of Harry’s smiling face in her life.

In the time she’s known Harry she had to admit she wanted to poke his dimples whenever they came up, and now her hands were so close she couldn’t stop herself from reaching up and placing her finger on the small dip. Harry was surprised, back immediately tensing at her action. Their eyes met; him looking down from his upturned chin and her looking up to catch his curious eyes, giving him a smile Harry couldn’t return. Behind him, his arms extended towards the sheets, he took them by the fistfuls to try and keep some grasp of the real world. God, she didn’t know, he thought to himself, she didn’t know just how fast his heart was running, where the blood was rushing, where his mind was wandering.

Y/n was confused. She never wanted more of Harry than what he was already giving to her. Granted that was a lot, for he was always there and so helpful, but she thought it was what he allowed, and now she was tingling for just a little more. She was itching for the closeness, and she didn’t know why or when it started. Her fingers had gone from just poking his dimple to fully cradling his cheek, both their faces levelling to look at each other from a better angle, time slowly pulling back. Harry’s breath hitched. “It looks good” she whispered, careful that her nose didn’t crash against the tip of his, as his eyes glistened with something she couldn’t decipher. “I–” Harry swallowed. She was talking about his small injury but he’d be lucky if he remembered his own name at this point. He wanted to push just the slightest bit, to reach forward and end the weight that had taken over his chest. What was she doing? What was this? His brain ran a million thoughts at the same time and he couldn’t focus on a single one. And then she made them all stop in the most electrifying of ways.

Her knees started to give out as she relaxed into the feeling of being so close to Harry and whatever it had settled on the pit of her stomach. It wasn’t butterflies, but they tingled just the same. She was buzzing. It was close to that feeling when she was overheating with desire, but she refused to call it that. There was no way she felt that way for Harry. There was no way she felt any way for Harry. Right?

Harry was already having a hard time after his tattoo – the buzz that he always got from the slight pain doubling thanks to the fact she had also gotten a tattoo with him and she was now like this on him – and in his mind it wasn’t fair that she could make him feel like this so easily. It wasn’t fair that she had him at the palm of her hand. He was already about to give out, every emotion overflooding inside him. The courage he had for a lot of things was gone for this one, until he couldn’t hold anything anymore.

Her weight came down on him just the smallest of fractions. On his inked thigh, where he was most sensitive right now besides between his legs. His eyes closed shut as he swallowed back a hiss and his hands jolted. Y/n didn’t understand what was happening, she just stared at his face, contorting in something that resembled pain, but he hadn’t cried out for anything. She sank just the tiniest bit lower, putting more pressure on him, making his imagination run wild and he just couldn’t keep it to himself. Harry audibly gasped, the shadow of a moan caught in the back of his throat as his hands jumped to hold the sides of y/n’s waist. He pushed in, just holding her in place, as if trying to make her stop sinking onto him any longer, despite his deep urge to dip her down to ride his thigh. Stop Harry, stop, he kept trying to make himself recover his sanity, but y/n, sweet, gorgeous and forever torturing y/n, either was so lost her naiveness just sank her further, or she knew exactly what she was doing.

Harry figured it was a mix of both as she whispered his name and sat lower on his thigh and her fingers grabbed the back of his neck as he let out a longer moan, head rolling back lightly. “F-fuck” he whispered at the sensation of her moving slightly forward, sliding up his leg. His hips rolled forwards as well, making her bite her lip and shut her eyes closed. Harry felt his rational mind slowly slip away, the same way the whispery words slipped without permission out of his shaky mouth “G-god, please, just let me fuck yeh” his fingers digging into her skin, pulling her down onto him.

Y/N jolted at the feeling, as if suddenly awake, placing her hands on his shoulders and looking at him with widened eyes. Harry did the same, shock and embarrassment running through his features before they were painted over red. Y/n sat up on her knees once more, pulling away from his thigh and his hands let go of her frame, immediately slapping against his babbling mouth. “I- I’m-” “Harry…” she whispers. His hands drop back to her waist, only to pry her off his body and onto her mattress as Harry makes it his task to pick up all his things in a hurry. He has to leave, he has to run out of there and never come back, he’s ruined it all. “I shouldn’t h-have- I didn’t- F-fuck. I m-mean- I’m sorry- God- fuck” He’s cursing under his breath, ruffling his hair in nervousness, his glasses in his hands and he can’t stop wiping at them in embarrassment. “Harry, listen” she tries to get him to stop but he’s stuck like a broken record. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I am so terribly sorry” he continues to say, face red and chest heaving up and down, anxiety filled tears ready to run down his cheeks. It’s suddenly impossible for him to catch a breath.

Y/N is up on her feet, nervous and red as well – she can’t believe what just happened– but before she can reach forth and grab his arm to try and calm him down, he’s bolting out of her room and she’s ripped of the chance to explain herself.

She’s left alone in her room, confused and upset. Her door slowly shutting close as she lets her body flop on her bed, a hand touching her hot cheek, the other sprawled on her chest feeling her rushing heartbeat, soon making it’s way down her body where she can feel her arousal that was cut short, cupping her womanhood over her clothes in frustration.

She was ripped of the chance to tell him that the only thing that jolted her out of the trance wasn’t the tingly feeling his warm hands gave her over the fabric of her clothes, or the heat pooling between her legs, or her own hitched breath. What snapped her out of it were her own surprising thoughts that she wanted more and more and more.

And now she fears she’s not going to get it.

THAT’S THE TAT BUT ON HER BACK? LIKE UP LIKE CLOSE TO HER RIGHT SHOULDER BLADE?

Thanks for reading! FEEDBACK IS GREATLY APPRECIATED PLEASE!!! I want to know what you think of this AND ALSO INPUT YOUR THOUGHTS ON WHAT PART FOUR CAN BRING AFALKSJDFHASLJFHD

I can’t leave y’all with Harry never getting sex so there WILL be a part four whahaha. Anyways, do let me know what should happen next what you thought etc etc! please! I Beg!

Smooches Iv. XO.

Masterlist || My Ask

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thisweekingundamwing · 6 years

Text

This Week in Gundam Wing Apr 1st - Apr 7th

Another week, another roundup! Special thanks to all who submitted works, both for themselves and others.

As a gentle reminder, we’re here to highlight any new content from the previous week. If we missed a submission, we’ll be happy to update our post or carry it over to the next week, but if we tried to include everything beyond a week, we’d never get a post finished!

Thank you so much!

--Mod Rem

Fanfiction:

A Little Piece of Gundam Wing

The archive is being ported to AO3! Check it out!

AerisEithne

The Snow Queen

Days after the incident that nearly sparked a new war, Relena returns to the Sanc Kingdom to contemplate her future. She can’t help but wonder which path the perfect soldier will choose… and whether their destinies will continue to collide.

Pairings: 1xR

Warnings: Gundam Wing: Frozen Teardrop, Preventers (Gundam Wing)

@the-indomitable-bhg, Morbidbirdy

Animus

A ghost of Heero's past takes possession of his life, relationships and his identity.

Pairings: 1x3, 2xH

Warnings: Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Post-Canon, Psychological Torture, Blood and Violence, Explicit Sexual Content

@claraxbarton , @kangofu-cb

Bad Company

"The only hell and the only paradise are the ones we build ourselves." - Unknown

Years after the wars, Preventers has decided to tackle one of the most powerful and oldest of all the Terran crime syndicates. Embedded dangerously deep in an undercover operation targeting the violent and bloodthirsty Sinaloa Cartel, Trowa Barton is pushed beyond even his flexible morals - and when his new "partner" arrives in the very unexpected and unwelcome form of Duo Maxwell, the one person he'd been trying to protect at all costs, both men must deal with the realization that preserving peace for humanity is turning into a bloodsport.

What follows is race against time to uncover the evidence they need to bring Sinaloa, and its beautiful but deadly leaders, down - all while keeping each other alive in the process

Pairings: 2x3

Warnings: Violence, Post-Canon, Undercover Missions, Undercover as a Couple, Implied/Referenced Torture, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Human Trafficking, Gang Violence, Explicit Sexual Content, Moral Dilemmas

CosmicAether

Untitled GW Resistance AU

When their communicator breaks down, Duo and Trowa must survive the night before attempting to rendezvous to their extraction point. Duo confronts Trowa about their relationship that night and vow to be more honest with each other, they need only to make it home first.

Pairings: 2x3

DarkDanc3r

April Writes Playlist Challenge

30 days, 30 songs from a Spotify playlist. Characters and pairings will be at the start of each chapter.

Warnings: Tumblr Prompt, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Fix-It of Sorts, Damnit Prowl Lives

GlassAlice

The Pictures He Drew

Hiatus is over! Last chapter will be up in two weeks. Re-write of a fic posted to 1x2 yahoo groups I wrote forever ago and lost. Only the bare bones of this fic have anything to do with the first one. Hopefully this one is a bit better. Originally posted under name Duos_hallelujah. Simple get together fic with Duo being an artist.

Pairings: 1xR, 1x2

Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Song Fic Kinda, Rape/Non-con Elements, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, these boys are messed up, they need therapy, after war, the pilots trying to live their lives, 1x2, 2x1 - Freeform, 1x2x1, 1xR non con, 1x2 end game, we're back from hiatus, boys just trying to figure shit out, relena is kind of the bad guy, Sorry Not Sorry, i'm anti relena, so expect her to be treated badly, bullied duo, attempted suicide, Homophobia, Homophobic Language, language trigger warnings, a bit dark, Angst

Lithle

Like Oxygen

Five years after the war, Wufei seeks Duo out for one more mission. But Duo has his reasons for wanting to be left alone. As Wufei and Duo grow closer, so do Duo's memories of the war, and with them, the old scars and dangerous thought patterns that make even breathing seem difficult.

--Note: Originally published on FF.net, this is my 'Editor's Choice' edition. It's been edited and slightly rewritten for flow and cohesion.

Pairings: 2x5

Warnings: Unhealthy Relationships, Post War Trauma, Suicidal Thoughts, no EW, Post-War, Post-Canon, POV Duo Maxwell, Explicit Language, Sex, Duo is Broken, Wufei is Pretty Broken Too, Gritty, Get Together

Luvsanime02

Just One Day

Relena gets a surprise on her birthday.

Warnings: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Light Angst, Family Issues, Cocktail Friday

Maldoror

The Source of All Things

Center, a planet where magic and technology blend. Or more accurately, fight tooth and nail. A planet of Sources, holes in our boring dimension letting through arcane power, chaos and pseudo-deities. In this hot-house of myths and very real dangers, Trowa and Quatre find a mysterious man at the end of a shamanic voyage. Portents suggest this Heero Yuy is crucial to Center’s survival. He’s important enough to have some interesting enemies after him, at any rate: a devious killer and thief called ‘Shinigami’, and a very irate Dragon. Beyond them looms an even greater threat. Indeed, the greatest of them all.

Pairings: 3x4, 2x5, eventual 1x2x5

Warnings: Violence, alternative universe, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Plot Twists, fairly graphic depiction of sex, Mild description of self-harm, Mathematical Magic, weird science, crones - Freeform, Magic and Technology brawling and eventually screwing, Eventual Threesome, Kinda, Insanity of arcane origin, The universe is a pile of marbles and other dubious allegories

Two Halves

The two kingdoms of Sanq and Lin were at war for years; a conflagration involving magic, armies and political murder. The conflict left both nations devastated and strewn with refugees. The king of Sanq finds his infant son, lost at birth, among the death and the ruin, a miracle he barely dared to hope for. But there isn’t just one boy, there are two, clinging together like two halves of a whole that cannot be separated. Decades later, the truth behind that second child’s existence will put a hole in the world, or possibly save it.

Pairings: 1x2

Warnings: Fantasy AU, medieval setting with magic, starts with our heroes as children, Cousin Incest, sort of, eventually, being royalty this is in fact the norm and rather expected of them, Canon-Typical Violence

Margaret_Armstrong

Queen’s Rook

Rook; definition:

1. a gregarious Eurasian crow with black plumage and a bare face, nesting in colonies in treetops.

2. a chess piece, typically with its top in the shape of a battlement, that can move in any direction along a rank or file on which it stands.

Queen's Rook; definition:

(chess) A rook on the queen’s side of the board at the start of the game.

Truly, a female bodyguard is just what the Vice Foreign Minister needs. There are dangers about.

Pairings: Canon Relationships, 3x4, 2xH, 1xR

Warnings: Violence, Women Being Awesome, brothers in arms, everyone protects Quatre except Quatre, L2 forever!, The Past Never Stays Buried

@noelleian

The Pact

After seducing Quatre, the other four ex-pilots brave the uncharted waters of their new abilities and learn to cope with the unintentional gifts they were given. But as always, power requires responsibility and the humbling acknowledgement of humanity's weaknesses. The struggle to stay true to themselves becomes a dangerous and terrifying endeavor as they skirt the boundary where conscience bleeds into chaos and the dark abyss of temptation.

Pairings: 1x2x3x4x5, 3x4, 1x4, 2x4, 4x5

Warnings: Smut, Porn With Plot, OT5, Fluff, Humor, Fivesome - M/M/M/M/M, Angst, Newtypes, Possessive Behavior, Alternate Universe - Dark, Non-Graphic Violence, Alpha/Omega, Omega Verse

Green Olive

Duo's had a rough day and needs to unwind, but this time he's in the mood for some company.

Warnings: Friendship, Bromance, Underage Drinking

@noirangetrois

Cocktail Friday

This will be a collection of my Cocktail Friday snippets.

Pairings: Various

Warnings: Cocktail Friday, Alcohol

The Story of Wrong

Duo recounts his experiences during the war in order to explain... well, why he was wrong.

Pairings: 1x2

Warnings: Violence, Major Character Death, Duo POV, Angst, Drama, Tragedy, slight AU, Spoilers, very dark, Heero and Duo don't die, I promise, Yaoi, slowburn, Mental Instability, Mental Health Issues, Mental Breakdown, If those are in any way an issue for you then go ahead and skip this, Eventual Smut, VERY eventual, this is mostly canon-compliant but I've changed a couple things here and there

Outrightmight

MCU One Shot Series: After Colony 195

"It took Bucky a split second to get his bearings. The portal had spit them out into an aircraft hanger. The make and model of the one and only small jet was unfamiliar. He would have said it was of Soviet make, but the 50-foot robot idly standing in the middle of the hanger was making him second-guess himself."

Warnings: Natasha Romanov (Marvel), James "Bucky" Barnes, Steve Rogers, Duo Maxwell, Sam Wilson (Marvel), Heero Yuy, Canon-Typical Violence, One Shot

@remsyk-blog

Souls for the Bayou

For Trowa Barton, exploring the bayou is the ultimate adventure. Drawn to its borders since before he could walk, he spent his childhood learning its paths and uncovering its secrets.

But a chance encounter sets him on a path that spans across time, challenging everything he thought he knew, plunging him deeper into its mysteries than he ever thought possible.

Pairings: 2x3

Warnings: Supernatural - Freeform, Fae & Fairies, Fae Magic, Bayou, Cajun, Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Mystery, Slow Burn, Technically Speaking, Young Love, Use of accents, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, I don't want to give it all away at once, Fandom Trumps Hate, Time Jump, Suspense, Quatre is a great friend, Mentions of Children Disappearing

Shenanigans

A Collection of my shitposts from Tumblr.

Enter looking for a good time. Expect the tags to change as more installments are added

Warnings: chat fic, shitpost, Professor!Trowa, Cooking, Pinterest, Pancakes, Exercising, Tumblr Prompt, Originally Posted on Tumblr, In depth analysis of riding dick, New Year’s Eve, Jenga, Stupid Dares, Just Heero Things

ShenLong

Bound, Bonded and Betrayed

Heero is the eldest son of the King of Colonia. His 21st birthday is approaching and as tradition dictates his betrothed is soon to arrive. However he is also bound by tradition to select his own personal slave. The events that unfold lead him down a path that not only tests his sanity but his humanity and love as well.

Pairings: 1x2, 1xR, 3x4, 13x11

Warnings: sap, Angst, Bondage, Slavery, Yaoi, Lemon, Lime, Het, Violence, Fluff, AU, OOC. - Freeform

@softnocturne

P.S. I Miss You

Quatre is missing Trowa who is off on a month-long mission.

Pairings: 3x4

Warnings: Fluff, Angst

StarLove18

Believe in Yourself

Children will live what they learn. Pain is costly, until one incident sparks a new flame of hope and a promise to persevere.

Pairings: 1&2&3&4&5

Warnings: Original Character(s), Bullying, Comfort/Angst, School, Minor Violence, Loss of Parent(s), Alternate Universe, AO3 FB Challenge

Thai_tea_addict

Abyss

Duo's not in a good situation when he falls in love with the man next door, and it goes downhill from there.

Pairings: 1x2, 2x3x4

Warnings: Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-con, Alternate Universe - Dark, Dark Character, Abuse, Stalking, Murder, Sadism, Infidelity

Warnings: DARK – please don't read if you think any of the following subject matter could hurt you: depictions of abuse, sexual assault, stalking, murder, sadism (not the fun kind).

Whenpigsfly84

Doormat Babe

A mysterious child is left with Duo one morning. As he seeks for answers he'll have to face his past and prepare for a haunting future he'd never expected. Will he be able to reconnect with old friends or will he lose all those he loves?

Pairings: 1x2, 2&H, 1x2x5, 3x4

Warnings: Violence, Drama, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death, Swearing

White_fox

Life is a Highway

On an impulsive plan to travel from California to New York City to propose to his longtime girlfriend, Heero Yuy did not plan to pick up a hitchhiker in nowhere Texas. Faced with some setbacks and a growing attraction to his passenger, Heero goes through more challenges than he planned on facing.

Pairings: 1x2, 1xR

Warnings: light slash, Fluff, Road Trips, Dubious Morality

Snippets:

@lifeaftermeteor

Duo’s Apartment

@noirangetrois

Ladies Night

@weiclown

WIP

Headcanons / Meta / Discussions:

@remsyk-blog

Gundam Wing on Ao3 - Breakdown of Fanfiction stats

@terrablaze514

Ladies of Gundam Wing

Secret Magic Heero Yuy

Four Months after Mariemaia

Fanart:

@noelleian

Zero Three Zero Four

Hipster Quatre

@remsyk-blog

Duo Maxwell Hip Hop

@showtime-eric

Trowa and Quatre, Sandrock and Heavyarms

Crackposts:

@the-indomitable-bhg

BDSM

Calendar Events:

Cocktail Friday

https://gwcocktailfriday.tumblr.com/

A new prompt every Monday!

Submissions should be posted Fridays between 3 and 5pm EST, and tagged with @gwcocktailfriday

Interview with a Creator by @remsyk-blog @interview-with-a-creator

Remsyk has created an online interview for fandom creators to fill out and then she features one each week so that everyone in the fandom can learn a bit about each other.

This week features @scacao

If you haven’t filled out her interview, go! do! now!

#thisweekingundamwing #gundam wing #weekly roundup

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bacondriver55-blog · 5 years

Text

Ten Thoughts on the NFL and the Chicago Bears

1) The Chicago Bears vs. Green Bay Packers season opener is still looking like a lock to kickoff the NFL’s 100th season from Soldier Field on Thursday, September 5, but now another high profile Bears game is rumored to be on the table.

John Ourand of Sports Business Daily is reporting that the 2019 Thanksgiving games will feature the Bears and the Detroit Lions again, with the Miami Dolphins traveling to play the Dallas Cowboys in the other traditional afternoon game.

Ourand also reports that all the network executives (CBS, ESPN, Fox, NBC) met during Super Bowl week to discuss the types of games they want from the NFL and here are a couple interesting nuggets.

The NFC slate of games are expected to be better this year, so CBS could get some ratings-grabbing NFC games cross-flexed to them.

Some of the network requests are the same every year. Every network wants reliable ratings performers like the Cowboys, Patriots, Packers and Steelers on its schedule. For this upcoming season, the networks also showed a lot of interest in the Chiefs, Bears and Rams.

The Bears have always done good ratings thanks to the Chicago market — even during the bad years — but now coming off a 12-4 record with a likable head coach and players, I’d expect the Bears to be all over prime time.

2) One more thing about that expected Bears vs. Lions matchup. After Aaron Leming tweeted his quick thought on the game, Chicago’s Taylor Gabriel responded with an “Easy W don’t worry.”

Gabriel has since deleted the tweet, but you you know the Lions are grasping for any extra motivation after getting swept in 2018.

3) One more on the Lions, their general manager Bob Quinn, on a recent Q&A with season ticket holders, didn’t rule out drafting a quarterback in the first round.

“We’re in a position now with the eighth overall pick that the whole draft board is really wide open to us. We’re not going to really eliminate any prospects.”

“There’s a few more players that are going to be available and if there’s a quarterback out there that we deem could help us this year or in the future, we’ll never close the door on that.”

If they do draft a QB, that would likely signal an end to the Matthew Stafford era. Not immediately, as cutting him this year would be $49 million in dead money, but dumping him before the 2020 season would save them $11.5 million and that could be an option for the rebuilding Lions.

4) It seems like 30-year old Antonio Brown has zero intention to go back to the Pittsburgh Steelers after Tweeting out his goodbye.

Technically, he’s still employed by the Steelers as his contract runs through the 2021 season, but realistically there’s no way they don’t trade him as soon as possible. I can’t see Pittsburgh moving him in the AFC, so my guess is he ends up with the San Francisco 49ers, but don’t rule out a desperate Green Bay Packers to make a splashy move to fit Brown in under their cap.

5) The Cleveland Browns are taking a chance on running back Kareem Hunt by signing him to a one year deal.

There’s likely a suspension looming, but once he’s able to play, he’ll definitely help the team. The Browns have second year back Nick Chubb coming off a fantastic rookie season, and they also have pass catching Duke Johnson in the mix. From a football standpoint, this three-headed tailback monster is going to be a terror on opposing defenses.

6) Speaking of a three-headed tailback monster, I think the Bears could go that route in 2019 by keeping Jordan Howard, drafting (or signing) a rookie that is more of a system fit, and letting Tarik Cohen keep lining up all over the offense.

The Bears’ running backs ran the ball 23 times a game last year, with Cohen only getting 6 carries per game. If Howard stays (and I still think the Bears would move him in the price was right), his role may be reduced with his free agency coming after 2019. The Bears could get a rookie in place to take over the Cunningham/Mizell role while learning the ropes and playing when need be.

7) And speaking of Hunt, we ran this poll on our Twitter account.

Those results were surprising considering how many voted that they wanted the Bears to take a chance and sign him. Last month we asked our Twitter, Facebook and WCG audience if they wanted the Bears to sign Hunt and the results all came back yes, with 62%, 63%, and 72% respectively.

8) Quarterback Kyler Murray, who won the Heisman Trophy after his stellar 2018 season with the Oklahoma Sooners, has finally decided to pass up the chance to play major league baseball with the Oakland A’s, leading some to speculate that he has a good idea that he’s going in the first round of the NFL Draft.

One rumor as the Arizona Cardinals as a possible suitor with the first overall pick, which would likely lead them to trade last year’s first round quarterback, Josh Rosen. This wouldn’t so much as the Cards giving up on Rosen after averaging an interception a game as a rookie, but more that new Arizona head coach Kliff Kingsbury views Murray as a better fit for his offense.

I can’t see him going first overall, nor do I think he’ll be the first QB picked, but he’s a electrifying prospect.

Some internet scouts are already knocking Murray’s 5’10” frame, but we’ve seen plenty of shorter quarterbacks find success if given a chance. Plus, with the way QBs are protected it’s even more likely a smallish player can thrive in today’s NFL.

9) I think Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins is going to be the first quarterback off the board, and any mention of Haskins requires pointing out what a dumbass Stephen A. Smith is.

10) SB Nation recently released their NFL Future Power Rankings, with the following question in mind.

Which team is the best set up to win not just in 2019, but 2020 and beyond?

And here’s how they have their top five.

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Los Angeles Rams

Chicago Bears

Houston Texans

The Colts are led by veteran, but still only 29-year old, Andrew Luck at quarterback, and the other four teams have QBs that are either 23 or 24.

Here’s their specifics on the Bears.

The Bears’ roster probably isn’t going to change much this offseason. The team doesn’t have much cap space and doesn’t have a draft pick until the end of the third round. On the plus side, the roster is already damn good. Chicago went 12-4 with arguably the best defense in the NFL and an offense that finished No. 9 in points scored. That earned Matt Nagy the Coach of the Year Award in his first season as a head coach. It’ll be on Mitchell Trubisky to take the Bears over the hump in 2019 after he finished his second season 20th in the league in passing yards, 14th in passing touchdowns, and 16th in passer rating.

Sports Illustrated recently gave their picks for the Super Bowl winners for the next five years, and the Bears garnered a couple mentions from the ten writers they polled. The Bears were the only NFC North team mentioned.

Source: https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2019/2/12/18222135/antonio-brown-trade-rumors-ten-thoughts-on-the-nfl-chicago-bears-detroit-lions-draft-matt-stafford

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

0 notes

rs-gs-archive · 7 years

Text

Genuine Stardust. (Act 3, seq. 1)

Not a trace was left of the party from earlier that day, and three remaining faces wore the same forlorn expression.

"Well… should we let Benson know we've cleaned everything up?" Rigby broke the silence.

"I don't think he's gonna care about that now, Riggs"

"Let's check up on him at least", Skips concluded.

Benson hadn't left his office anymore since the earlier incident. He just stood there, vacantly looking out the window, into the early evening sky.

"Benson?", Skips began, "We're really sorry about what happened".

"Is there anything we can do for you, buddy?", Mordecai added.

Not turning around, Benson heaved a sigh. "Guys, it's fine.. it's okay". His employees looked up in surprise at this response.

"It was a mistake after all. It was never meant to happen, remember?" No reaction from the crew. He slowly lowered his head then, and something could be seen held in his hand.

"But you know…", he suddenly continued, "I would have loved her in the end, I really would."

The object in his hand appeared to be one of the goofy polaroids that were taken during the party. "More than I've ever loved anybody…", his voice cracked.

The crew members could tell their boss could not hold back his tears, so Skips quietly guided them out the office.

"You gotta get her back, guys!" Skips demanded as they walked down the hallway.

"Get her back? From where?", the two youngsters asked, surprised this was even an option, apparently.

"I can't tell for sure, but it might not be too late yet. She could still be somewhere in the WishCorp. depot, before.. she'll be reduced back into stardust." Mordecai and Rigby shuddered at that thought.

"But where is WishCorp. located to begin with?"

"…- and the latest developments in regards to Space Sequoia!", the tv in the livingroom blared. Del Hanlon informed the viewers of the latest project, meant to connect good old Space Tree to an additional base directly on Earth. Surely this would roughly take a couple of decades, but the foot end of it was coming together just great. In fact, Space Sequoia Mall had been opened to public just now! Margaret was reporting on the spot, not only showcasing the gargantuan size of the construction, but also mentioning names of stores and companies partaking in the project. Each and everyone to be featured in a series of interviews with the journalist cardinal bird. And low and behold; today's interview would be with the CEO of "WishCorp.". Skips gave a meaningful look at the boys as he turned the tv off.

Once they stood outside, Skips pointed a finger into a certain direction. Looking in that direction, the blue jay and the raccoon widened their eyes in awe as they saw the gigantic pedestal of the to-be Space Sequoia looming in the distance, its top half disappearing into the clouds. Was that always right there? They hopped onto the cart and headed for the ludicrous work-in-progress.

"Uuuughh, how are we ever going to find the depot in this place?!" Mordecai groaned, eyeing the immense ground plan and the hundreds, if not thousands of company names with their respective floors and areas.

Rigby looked up, and up, and up, to the point of falling backward.

"This is hopeless!", he whined along.

While he stared into oblivion upside-down, he thought he recognized a certain someone. Swiftly turning right side up, he called for his friend.

"Mordecai! Isn't that the wish-kid?!", he pointed.

And right he was. The lamb walked, or rather, stumbled out of a fancy-looking coffee bar, balancing multiple trays with stacks of coffee cups, most likely filled too. The boys immediately ran towards her.

"What did you do to Benson's baby?! Where did you leave her?!"

"Don't hurt me!", the girl screeched, quickly raising the trays of coffee in front of her face for protection. "I don't have her! I, uh.. I only sent her back to the depot, before anyone would notice what I had done!", she cowered. "I'm so sorry, I was just afraid of getting expelled and failing my internship, and.. and..", she grossly sobbed.

Mordecai and Rigby relaxed their tensed up bodies and seemed to feel sorry for her.

"But you know what?", she suddenly changed her tone. "Screw those guys, not like they would respect me or anything… Look at all this coffee they just ordered me to get for them, all the way down here!"

She snorted, before adamantly stating she was going to help the guys out. The two buds were pleasantly surprised with this new ally.

"Right this way!"

It was a long, very long elevator-ride up to reach WishCorp. While they were letting the elevator carry them to the right floor, Avery rebeliously took a swig from one of the coffee cups she had brought along, meant for her colleagues.

"Good stuff!" she deduced. "Here!" She handed her travelmates a cup each too. "It's gonna be luke-warm by the time we're there anyway..."

"Thanks! … 'A very'?", Rigby tried to read the sheep's name tag.

"Avery", she corrected him, toasting her coffee cup against his.

WishCorp. appeared to be located near the current top of Space Sequoia, for now at least. The unmanned cranes and scaffolds indicated there was much more to come. The boys got some Space Tree vibes from this environment, being surrounded by infinite darkness and stars again.

"We're here!", the sheep intern exclaimed, opening the doors to the depot.

Mordecai and Rigby were bewildered by the things they saw in there. Some sort of star-filled, luminating screen kept all objects in place. Objects that were not meant to exist, and therefor returned to the depot. But would they find Benson's child among them too?

"Dude! Check this out!", Rigby suddenly cried.

"Did you find her?", Mordecai looked up in suspense.

"No, but look at this thing! That's something I could have wished for when I was young and stupid!"

Rigby almost drooled at the sight of some remarkably bizarre vehicle. It looked as though someone had mashed up a jet ski with a miniature Concorde into something out of this world.

"That's not what we're here for!", Mordecai growled.

Yet Rigby couldn't resist reaching for the wondrous vehicle... but he yelped in dread as his arms seemed to morph like some glitched up video game render. It also gave him the mighty unpleasant feeling of his limbs falling asleep, so he quickly pulled them back. The jaybird then dragged him along, there was no time for this.

"There she is!", Mordecai eventually gasped, pointing upwards. The tiny gumball child floated dormantly in suspended animation behind the mysterious screen.

"I'll boost you, and you get her out of there, okay?", Mordecai suggested.

Rigby was not eager at all to do this, remembering what the screen did to his arms earlier.

"Dude! Don't be such a baby and grab her already!", Mordecai impatiently got hold of the raccoon and lifted him over his head.

Rigby let out multiple whimpers of discomfort as he, once again, stuck his arms into the starry film and gripped the baby. He turned his head away, not having to look at the horrible morphing his arms underwent while inside the screen. But he succeeded. The little girl blinked as she was released from her suspended animation-prison. Recognizing her uncles, she happily started to coo.

"Rigby Junior!", Rigby cheered, cuddling the retrieved infant.

"Yeah, you wish!", Mordecai responded sarcastically, yanking the child out of the raccoon's hands. "Let's savely return you to your daddy!", he talked to the child in his doting-uncle voice.

That was almost too easy…

#fanfiction #regular show #genuine stardust

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reignbowandarrow · 7 years

Text

Slavery, Stanford, and Student Loans

i want to share a story with y'all. a story about being in debt. it's my story, one i don't often talk about because i have been conditioned to believe that money problems are personal problems, problems i should feel ashamed about. and i do feel ashamed. even as i write this, i am nervous about how it will be received, especially with all the other things happening in the world. but i have to get it off my chest.

i worked my ass off when i was young to get into an elite college. i was accepted to stanford university against the odds - my high school was underfunded, there weren't many extracurriculars to choose from, and i got into a lot of trouble in those days, including suspension and run-ins with the police. but i maintained a 4.2 gpa, i was captain of my volleyball and basketball teams, even prom queen, and i graduated as valedictorian. i was over the moon when i got into stanford. it was my chance to start over.

stanford was amazing, and also terrifying. i went from being the top of my class to being surrounded by people at the tops of their classes, not to mention the immense wealth and privilege that so many students had enjoyed their entire lives. it was intimidating. but i was up to the challenge. stanford was where i was determined to belong.

then my financial aid was taken away. my father retired from the army my freshman year and got a higher paying job. i no longer qualified for tuition waivers. i didn't even qualify for most subsidized government loans. but my dad's salary wasn't enough to cover the $50K per year that it cost to attend stanford. i freaked out, because i didn't want to let go of my dream of being a stanford graduate. my mother, wanting to support my dream, signed me up for a bunch of private loans with high interest rates, promising that she and my dad would help me pay them back after graduation.

but shit happens. long story short, my dad lost his job, my parents were sold a predatory loan and lost their house in the foreclosure crisis in 2011, and they recently divorced. neither of them can afford to help me repay my loans anymore.

while at stanford, i became politicized. that's not atypical of many college students, but my politics became part of my identity rather than just a short phase of student activism. i came out as queer, i struggled with my internalized anti-blackness, and through my solidarity with the immigrant rights movement, i became aware of the oppressiveness of capitalism and neoliberal ideology. these were things that i committed to doing something about.

so after college, i didn't go work at a hedge fund or at some silicon valley tech company, like so many of my peers. i went into community organizing, first with a labor union, and then with an amazing organization doing anti-gentrification and immigrant rights work in san francisco and oakland. and organizing is the work i have been doing and supporting for the last 7 years.

but my debt is still looming large. i owe over $250,000 in student loans. that's over a quarter of a million dollars, piled on me before i was even 22. my loan payments are almost $1500 monthly. and small lefty non-profits are not well-funded (surprise!), so one entire paycheck goes to my loans, and i'm still barely making a dent in repaying them. i'm struggling, every day. i lean very heavily on my wonderful partner, but i feel guilty about it, and i hate asking for help. even with their support, i am barely making ends meet. it definitely doesn't help to live in new york, but even if i lived in a less expensive city, saving for the future is incredibly daunting. forget ever owning a house, or having a child, even a pet! the money just isn't there. so now i have to consider leaving organizing behind, leaving my political homes behind, leaving my identity behind, to make more money and get sallie mae/navient/department of education off my back.

before you try to offer solutions, know that i have consolidated, refinanced, and signed up for income-based repayment. i have the lowest possible monthly payment, and because i have private loans, which are not subject to federal loan repayment regulations, they could go up at any time.

and all of this makes me so sad and angry. why should i feel like an indentured servant in the country that was built on my ancestors' backs? this country owes my family reparations for all that black folks were/are forced to endure. i shouldn't have had to pay anything for my education after my great-great grandmother, and her mother before her, and her mother before her, weren't allowed to learn to read. my dad, and his dad before him, served in the military, fought in racist wars to continue the plunder of the american empire. yet my dad has to live off a tiny half-salary pension while members of congress get to retire with a full-salary pension and never have to experience the trauma of a war zone. the injustice of it makes me feel so enraged.

i try to remind myself that if my ancestors could survive slavery, if my grandparents could survive the jim crow south, if my mother could deal with all the micro aggressions being one of the only black women in white spaces, then i know i can survive this, with my dignity intact. i have their example and their determination in my blood. this too, shall pass, i know. it doesn't make it easier, but i'm doing the best i can.

thanks for reading and witnessing. i know so many of us are struggling with our own stories, and i see you too. i support you too. if any of my more privileged facebook friends want to support and help me make rent next month, my venmo is @paigekmm. thank you to all my comrades, friends, and family who make my struggle more bearable by being by my side. no matter where i end up, i know i won't get there alone.

#studentloans #debt #blackstudents #untilweareallfree #stanford

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nflfanpointii · 6 years

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Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints Facing Most Challenging Season Since Katrina

Drew Brees is chasing records as father time slowly gains ground. Sean Payton went through a Jeff Fisher-esqe 7-9 spell before last season’s surprise division title. Mickey Loomis is still building a defense while Mark Ingram fights for a pay raise before serving a suspension. With NOLA’s reputation as a football town being challenged with increasing NBA viewership, the Saints are facing pressure from all sides to make a Super Bowl run. The Saints offense is usually the headline when missed tackles do not doom the Saints to defeat. Brees’ pursuit of NFL records and the Saints redemption for last year’s playoff heartbreak will shape the narratives early through the preseason. However, the Saints will face the most scrutiny this year than any season since Katrina and perhaps beyond.

Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints Face One of Their Most Challenging Seasons in Years

Drew Brees Facing the Undefeated Father Time

Brees’ championship window is closing, but not as quickly as Brees is closing in on the NFL all-time passing yards record. It may take a few extra games to achieve the milestone, but Brees is on track to eclipse Peyton Manning this season. Behind an offensive line that could go to the Pro Bowl as a unit, Brees should have ample time to pick his spots.

In those gloomy 7-9 years, Brees’ arm was wearing out at the end of seasons. Ingram andAlvin Kamara solved the problems of overuse. No more games of 55 passes and 30 being mid-range out routes and long post. The Saints balanced their offense and found some game-changers in the draft over the last two years. Now they play with and defend leads instead of wearing out Brees’ arm playing catch up.

“The efficiency aspect of it is, I think is, very key being that you know you never know from week to week how it’s going to play out,” Brees said at organized team activities. “I mean, listen, I hope we can run the ball as well as we did last year with the complement of Mark [Ingram] and AK [Alvin Kamara] and whoever else might be in the mix because that just adds balance to your offense.”

There were dozens of articles or television segments addressing the lack of a plan behind Brees. The questions of succession should have ended with the draft. No one in the Crescent City is so drunk as to be oblivious to the fact that if Brees goes down so does the Saints season.

Sean Payton Seemingly Settled?

Payton has been increasingly mentioned as a target for other teams’ coaching vacancies. Possible trade scenarios were floated even after contract extensions. In 2016, Payton signed a five-year, $45 million contract extension. After that season there were reports of the Rams putting in an offer. With an extension not due for another year or two and Brees career winding down, the Payton watch will be on again next off-season regardless of the teams’ record.

Mark Ingram’s Superdome Swan Song?

Ingram came in at 43 in the NFL Top 100 list, but that was before his suspension. Michael Thomas and Kamara look more than capable of carrying an offense captained by Brees. These missed games due to suspension will cost Ingram millions.

Players that miss games do not meet contract incentives. Suspended players are not likely to make any Pro Bowl or All-Pro team. Endorsement opportunities vanish quicker than the lost game checks. Not only is Ingram less rich, the suspension likely cost him an opportunity to re-sign in New Orleans.

A slow start to his career, a breakout season, then a season of touches split with Kamara. Ingram’s looming contract talks kept him away from team activities so far. Any further distractions past this suspension may sour even the most loyal fan. There already aren’t many fans of a contract that is more than two years and $10 million. That would be a slight pay raise with an option to cut bait on the other side of 30.

The Saints need Ingram to come back in shape and ready to perform. The Saints have arguably the toughest schedule against the run. From Week Three on the Saints face the Atlanta Falcons, New York Giants, Washington Redskins, Baltimore Ravens, Minnesota Vikings, Los Angeles Rams, Cincinnati Bengals, Philadelphia Eagles, Falcons again, Dallas Cowboys, Tampa Bay Bucs, Carolina Panthers, Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Panthers. Every team was in the top third of run-stuffing categories last year or is known to be a historically tough defense.

Michael Thomas: The Next Great Saints Receiver?

Thomas should get half of every dollar Mickey Loomis saves from letting Ingram walk. As a rookie, he hauled in 92 catches for over 1,100 yards and nine touchdowns. His sophomore campaign saw Thomas announce his intentions to be seen as elite. Thomas took over games, compiling 104 passes for 1,245 yards and five touchdowns.

This while sharing touches the Ingram-Kamara duo. The first four games will be an experiment into what the team could be sans Ingram a la the Pelicans and DeMarcus Cousins. Both teams could use those stars, but at what price does the risk outweigh the rewards. Crossing that line due to sentimental value gets teams in trouble.

I love my players, but I want my general manager to do business like Marlo Stanfield, a man not known for sentiment. If Cameron Meredith can work outside the hash marks, it would allow Thomas to work from the slot. Thomas destroyed defenses when allowed a free release. It allows Brees to target him with a whole field to work with.

Is the Defense Built Yet?

Loomis still needs to prove he can build a defense. Former coordinator Greg Williams‘turnover heavy scheme was a one-hit wonder. Was last year’s draft class? With an off-season to find weaknesses, the Saints will need to sustain the improvements of last year instead of regressing like previous inconsistent squads.

Alex Anzalone only played four games last year. The Saints 2017 third round pick will serve as much needed depth behind free agent signing Demario Davis and Craig Robertson. If Anzalone can show improved coverage skills he would allow the Saints three linebackers and a full complement of swarming safeties on third down passing situations. If he cannot, the Saints will need Manti Te’o or a sixth defensive back to step up. New Saint Kurt Coleman has not been the best-rated safety in coverage in his nine years of experience.

Marcus Davenport cost the Saints assets to move up in the draft. First round picks are usually under pressure to perform but doubly so those who teams traded up to draft. Davenport will need to provide immediate pressure to take the focus off of Cameron Jordan. Working on the other side of David Onyemata and Sheldon Rankins will isolate Davenport on the edge.

If Davenport can grab a few sacks and prove he was worth the draft capital, Davenport will give the young secondary chances to make plays. If Davenport needs time to adjust coming from UTSA to the NFL, last year’s third-round pick Trey Hendrickson and Alex Okafor will provide depth.

Can the Saints Cover Anyone?

The secondary may be the strongest position group for New Orleans after years of being the weakest link. Patrick Robinson is back in the Big Easy, now sporting new jewelry. Marshon Lattimore has shown the skills to be the premier shutdown corner in the NFL. Vonn Bell and Marcus Williams will serve in the roaming safety spots. Coleman is solid against the run and has the closing speed to chase down routes in the flat.

Williams must come back from arguably the worst defensive blunder in Saints history. He is talking the redemption talk. Questions will remain until he walks out and proves it is in his past. Playing with a ghost makes a player slow. He needs to play without hesitation to maintain his top five NFC safety level. If the Saints play up to expectations, there will be late January football played in New Orleans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOwtQ9Ll-oE

Who Will Coach Special Teams?

Also of note: Coach Mike Westhoff faces the biggest challenge. Any issue that is debilitating, paralyzing and could potentially be life-threatening take priority. Payton and the Saints convinced him to come out of retirement for the special teams job. His changes paid immediate dividends, and fans around the league have sent their best wishes. Grayson Hill (?) and Alvin Kamara most notably rewarded his faith.

#saints #new orleans saints #nfl #lwos.com

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eddiejpoplar · 6 years

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One Week With: 2017 Audi RS3

Four hundred horsepower in a four-door, all-wheel-drive sedan not even 15 feet long? Yes, please.

The RS3, from Audi’s Sport division, is the trim, Euro-flavored sports sedan Audi enthusiasts in America have been dreaming of for years—and late last fall their wishes were granted at last: the RS3 finally made the long voyage to the U.S. (The test car you see here is a 2017 model, but the 2018 is virtually identical save for a few modified options packages.) Everything the turbo four-cylinder S3 isn’t, the turbo five-cylinder RS 3 is. The latter’s engine sports an aluminum block instead of the S3’s cast-iron unit, saving 57 understeer-inducing pounds up front. Port and direct fuel injection (and an added cylinder) help boost output from the S3’s 292 hp to a sizzling 400 hp at 7,000 rpm. In fact, the RS3 shares the same platform and uses the identical powertrain as the racy TT RS coupe; essentially, it’s a more practical, “everyday” version of its two-door Sport division sibling.

Two words that immediately popped into my brain when the RS3 rolled up: “aggressive” and “quality.” The rakish front grille (which looms within wider front fenders) looks like it could chew up a crocodile—and it’s beautifully set off with “Matte Alu-optic” brushed-metal trim (the side mirrors get the Alu treatment, too). Nineteen-inch, titanium-finish alloy wheels wearing Pirelli P Zero PZ4 summer performance tires (part of the $1,450 Dynamic package) bulge within the wheel housings. And the optional Catalunya Red metallic paint ($575) unquestionably asserts: “Get outta my way, bub.”

The “quality” part is evident in the RS3’s finely honed exterior lines, but it truly stands out when you climb aboard. Few automakers can compete with Audi on cockpit beauty, and the RS 3 is no different. Everything looks clean, artfully modern, finely crafted. The three-spoke steering wheel with shift paddles is wrapped in a supple suede-like material; the console shift knob wears an Alcantara grip. The S sport seats are trimmed with rich Nappa hides and diamond-pattern stitching. Wheel- and console-mounted controls are smartly laid-out and intuitive to use. And right before you (in my test car, at least) lies Audi’s magnificent Virtual Cockpit (part of the $3,900 Technology package). Your choice of vehicle info is available on the glorious 12.3-inch high-res display. If you like, you can dial up a color Google satellite map of your nav route right between your virtual speedo and tach.

Its compactness makes the RS3 feel taut and nimble even before you’ve pushed the starter button. Visibility is excellent all around, the controls are within easy reach, there isn’t a lot of excess bodywork on view from the driver’s seat. This car, you can tell, will cut and run like a halfback. The downside: The rear seats are barely roomy enough for full-size adults. If you put grownups back there, keep the trip short or they’ll start to complain.

Anybody who rides with you should call themselves lucky, though—the RS 3 is a performance beast. Mash down on the throttle, paddle shift your way through the 7-speed dual-clutch transmission, and you’ll hit 60 mph in barely 3.5 seconds. The standard Quattro system means no wheelspin, no drama—just an explosive blast of acceleration. Opt for the Dynamic Plus package ($4,800), and Audi will even lift the electronic speed limiter from 155 mph to 174 (you also get a fixed RS sport suspension—instead of standard adaptive magnetic ride—and front ceramic brakes with that deal). I didn’t have either one along for comparison, but I’d happily wager that the RS3 would devour a BMW M2—and probably a Mercedes-AMG CLA45, too. This Audi is easily one of the class standouts in matters of velocity.

It’s pretty damn sweet through the curvy stuff, too. That extra nose width and the cut in engine weight give the front end a welcome added bite; roll the steering wheel right or left, and the RS 3 turns-in pronto. The car has plenty of grip, too—more than you can judiciously use on a public road. And with the optional carbon-ceramic front binders on board to sop-up all that kinetic energy, the RS 3 stops as good as it goes. You’d be hard-pressed to find a tidy four-door as much fun to hurl around as this one. For Audi-loving Americans, the wait was definitely worth it.

The RS 3 is assuredly a premium machine, so it should come as no surprise that it commands a premium sticker. Base price is just over $55K, but add the options and the total climbs fast. My tester carried all the extra-cost packages mentioned above, adding such equipment as a carbon-fiber engine cover, Audi MMI navigation, blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic sensors, a superb 14-speaker Bang & Olufsen audio system, a sport exhaust, and RS carbon-decorative inlays ($600). Out-the-door cost: $66,775.

That’s a big outlay for a relatively small car, and some buyers may simply walk away saying, “I can get something bigger and comfier for that much.” If you’re regularly ferrying three passengers with you, that’s a valid assessment. A bona-fide enthusiast, though, will see the RS 3 for what it is: an unfailingly refined, spectacularly fast sporting machine that just happens also to boast a wealth of luxury conveniences and the added versatility of a trunk, a rear seat, and four-door access.

Choose a more subtle exterior shade—say, Nardo Gray—and you can even play “Find the Hidden TT RS” when the highway killjoys come prowling.

2017 Audi RS 3 Specifications

ON SALE Now PRICE $55,450/$66,775 (base/as tested) ENGINE 2.5L DOHC 20-valve turbo I-5/400 hp @ 7,000 rpm, 354 lb-ft @ 1,700 TRANSMISSION 7-speed dual-clutch automatic LAYOUT 4-door, 5-passenger, front-engine, AWD sedan EPA MILEAGE 19/28 (city/hwy) L x W x H 176.3 x 70.9 x 55.0 in WHEELBASE 103.6 in WEIGHT 3,550 lb 0-60 MPH 3.5 sec (est) TOP SPEED 174 mph (governor limited)

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#IFTTT #Performance Junk Blogger 6

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jonathanbelloblog · 6 years

Text

One Week With: 2017 Audi RS3

Four hundred horsepower in a four-door, all-wheel-drive sedan not even 15 feet long? Yes, please.

Choose a more subtle exterior shade—say, Nardo Gray—and you can even play “Find the Hidden TT RS” when the highway killjoys come prowling.

2017 Audi RS 3 Specifications

IFTTT

#IFTTT #Performance Junk Blogger Feed 4

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themastercylinder · 6 years

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Development

The man producer Richard Kobritz called upon to get him his vampire in SALEM’S LOT is Tobe Hooper, the director of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and the last person one might expect to find directing a glossy production for a major studio much less one intended as a television miniseries. Yet the hiring of Tobe Hooper is only one incident in a production chronicle almost as complex as the story of SALEM’S LOT itself, which comes to TV November 17th and 24th on CBS. Stephen King’s 400-page novel of vampirism in contemporary New England was acquired four years ago by Warner Brothers, who intended to produce it as a theatrical feature. At the outset, King and the studio agreed that he would not write the screenplay. He was busy with his own projects as a novelist (in less than a year, King’s career would begin to soar). So Warners was left with the task of finding someone to adapt King’s brilliant but complicated plot into something manageable as a normal movie and without sacrificing the elements that made the book so powerful. But over the course of the next two years, the studio was unable to come up with a satisfactory screenplay. Stirling Silliphant (who had adapted IN THE HEAT 0F THE NIGHT and more recently THE SWARM, and was also producing for Warners), Robert Getchell (ALICE DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE) and writer/director Larry Cohen (whose independent feature IT’S ALIVE was a surprise sleeper for Warners in 1974) all contributed screenplays all of them rejected by studio brass. SALEM’S LOT was becoming not only an impossible project, but a source of frustration: CARRIE, a King novel filmed by Brian DePalma, was released in late 1976 and began racking up enormous profits. Warners was sitting on a potential goldmine, but could do nothing with it.

“It was a mess,” King recalls. “Every director in Hollywood who’s ever been involved with horror wanted to do it, but nobody could come up with a script. I finally gave up trying to keep a scorecard.” At one point, if only because Warners was running out of writers and directors to consider, Tobe Hooper’s name was mentioned in connection with the SALEM’S LOT movie. But by then, interest in the project at the theatrical division was beginning to flag. Finally, it was turned over to Warner Brothers Television, in the hope that a fresh approach and the possibility of financial interest by a network would revitalize it.

Enter Richard Kobritz. Kobritz was the 38-year-old vice-president and executive production manager at Warner Brothers Television who had hired John Carpenter to direct a striking 1978 suspense telefilm, SOMEONE IS WATCHING ME, starring Lauren Hutton. As a genre buff with an eye for new talent (Carpenter went on to direct HALLOWEEN three weeks after finishing SOMEONE. . .), Kobritz at least stood a fighting chance of making some sense out of SALEM’S LOT. Kobritz began by reading the already completed screenplays. “They were terrible,” he says. “I mean, it isn’t fair to put down anyone’s hard work, but the screenplays just did not have it and I think some of the writers would probably admit that. Besides, the book is admittedly difficult to translate, so much is going on. And because of that, I think it stands a better chance as a television miniseries than a normal feature film.” So the decision was made to turn SALEM’S LOT into a miniseries and thereby lick the problem of its unwieldy length. Actually, though the production is technically labeled a miniseries, it is basically a four hour movie (31/2 hours, figuring commercial time) scheduled for successive nights. Emmy winning television writer Paul Monash was contracted to write a new, first-draft teleplay. Monash had created the landmark dramatic series, JUDD FOR THE DEFENSE (about a flamboyant lawyer in the F. Lee Bailey mold) during the late ’60’s, and as a producer was responsible for the features BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE, SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE and Brian De Palma’s CARRIE. Monash had also been producer of the mid-60’s TV series PEYTON PLACE, a credit that Kobritz, who has referred to SALEM’S LOT as “Peyton Place turning into vampires” was aware of. Clearly, one key factor in a viable teleplay would be an intelligent combination of the huge number of characters in SALEM’S LOT. Monash pulled it off.

“His screenplay I like quite a lot,” King offers enthusiastically. “Monash has succeeded in combining the characters a lot, and it works. He did try a few things that weren’t successful the first time. In one draft he combined the priest, Father Callahan, and the teacher, Jason Burke, as a priest who teaches classes and it just didn’t work, so he split them up.

“Some things were left out because of time, some because it’s television,” says King. “My favorite scene in the book is with Sandy McDougall, the young mother, where she tries to feed her dead baby, and keeps spooning the food into its mouth. That won’t be on TV, obviously.”

Other changes were made by Kobritz, who takes a strong creative interest in the films he produces. His three major alterations to Monash’s first script were: To characterize the vampire, Barlow, as a hideous, speechless fiend, not the cultured villain carried over from the novel, to have the interior of Marsten House, which looms over the town of ‘Salem’s Lot, visually resemble the vampire’s festering soul and to keep Barlow in the cellar of his lair, Marsten House, for the final confrontation with the hero (in the book he is billeted in the cellar of a boarding house once his mansion is invaded) a concept Kobritz would later say, “works in the book but wouldn’t in the film.” Kobritz also pushed the killing of an important female vampire to the climax, to give her death more impact and provide the film with a snap ending.

With the example of such turgid, dramatically impotent “evil in a small town” miniseries as HARVEST HOME before them, Kobritz and Monash were determined to make SALEM’S LOT work despite the television restrictions against frightening violence. The project would be designed as a relentless mood piece where the threat of violence, rather than a killing every few minutes sustained terror. And it would be cast with an eye toward good actors first, and TV names second.

But still, there was the matter of all those stakings, and a relentless murderer with no redeeming virtues. “CBS worried about a few things in the screenplay,” King explains. “They worried about using a kid as young as Mark Petrie is in the book, because you’re not supposed to put a kid that young in mortal jeopardy, although they do it every day in the soap operas. “Paul Monash finally sent them a memo that I think covered it. He pointed out, for one thing, that CARRIE which was a CBS network movie was the only movie that ever cracked the top five in the weekly ratings.”

Casting

Next came casting. From the instant Barlow was designed to symbolize “the essence of evil,” Kobritz had in mind Reggie Nalder whom he remembered from Hitchcock’s THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, and genre buffs recall from that film, Michael Armstrong’s MARK OF THE DEVIL and Curtis Harrington’s THE DEAD DON’T DIE. Kobritz’s idea was to recreate the Max Schreck vampire from Murnau’s 1922 NOSFERATU.

In a quirky touch, Kobritz also hired genre veteran Elisha Cook, Jr. (HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL THE HAUNTED PALACE) and former B movie queen Marie Windsor to play Weasel, the town drunk, and Eva Miller, the landlady with whom he’d had an affair years before.

“That was an inside joke we threw in right from the start,” Kobritz concedes. “I’m a Stanley Kubrick buff, and on purpose we’ve reunited them 23 years later after THE KILLING. In the script, it says Eva and Weasel were at one time married and then got divorced, so it was funny to think of that same couple from THE KILLING, 23 years later, now divorced, but still living together. It was also the first time since then, I think, that they’d worked in a movie and had scenes together.”

The rest of the casting was less frivolous, and reflected the seriousness with which Kobritz wanted the whole enterprise to be regarded. Kobritz sent James Mason a copy of the Monash teleplay, offering him the role of Straker, the European antique dealer who has Barlow smuggled into Marsten House and whose character had been expanded in the absence of a speaking Barlow. Mason loved the part and agreed to make his first appearance in a television drama since the medium’s early days (several years earlier, he had not been told that 1974’s FRANKENSTEIN: THE TRUE STORY was not intended for theatrical release).

Key supporting roles went to Emmy nominee Ed Flanders (Bill Norton, a composite character who became both the heroine’s father and the town doctor), Lew Ares (Jason Burke, the local teacher) and Geoffrey Lewis (Mike Ryerson, the gravedigger). Bonnie Bedelia, an Oscar nominee 10 years ago for THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON’T THEY?, was cast as Susan Norton, who is on the verge of leaving ‘Salem’s Lot before she meets Ben Mears, played by David Soul.

David Soul? Though the hiring of Soul may shock or disappoint readers of the book who know him only through STARSKY AND HUTCH, it marks a shrewd move by Kobritz (which is discussed at length in his interview). Soul’s acting ability may sometimes have been concealed in STARSKY AND HUTCH, but it wasn’t in the telefilm LITTLE LADIES OF THE NIGHT, which happens to be the highest rated TV movie ever made. His presence therefore guarantees an audience. “I think the casting of David Soul is fine,” says King. “I have no problem with that at all.”

Soul also offers a strong counterpoint to Lance Kerwin (who starred in the well reviewed, but poorly rated-1978 NBC series, JAMES AT 16), selected to play Mark Petrie. Kerwin has a brooding presence that undercuts his superficial physical resemblance to Soul, and the two actors, who join forces to destroy the vampires at the end of the film, project a strange chemistry when seen together.

Production & Direction

SALEM’S LOT was budgeted at $4 million, about norm for a prestige miniseries, with financing split between CBS and Warner Brothers and a European theatrical release was planned from the start. It would, naturally, be shorter than miniseries length, but it would also contain violence not included in the TV version for example, the staking of vampires would not occur below the camera frame, and one death in particular Bill Norton’s impalement on a wall of antlers would be seen in graphic detail, while shot in a markedly restrained fashion for television. Because of his oft stated goal of having SALEM’S LOT like a feature, not a TV special (whether it was to be released theatrically or not), Kobritz and his staff handpicked production personnel capable of providing the right texture and depth under deadline pressure. Jules Brenner, who had shot the impressive NBC miniseries HELTER SKELTER, signed on as cinematographer; Mort Rabinowitz, a 23-year veteran of the film industry who was art director for Sydney Pollack’s CASTLE KEEP for which he and his staff built a castle in Yugoslavia) and THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON’T THEY?, was hired as production designer; and Harry Sukrnan, an Oscar winning composer (SONG WITHOUT END), who wrote the excellent music for SOMEONE IS WATCHING ME and whom Kobritz describes as “a former cohort and protégé of Victor Young,” was contracted to score SALEM’S LOT. And Tobe Hooper was enlisted as director. Following a chain of events Kobritz describes at length in his interview, Hooper was deemed the only appropriate person to direct SALEM’S LOT. Kobritz had screened for himself one recent horror film after another usually films by highly praised neophyte directors. Some of the features Kobritz found intriguing. Others, like PHANTASM, he remembers with a shudder of disbelief. None impressed him like THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. Hooper was called in for a meeting with Kobritz, and was signed.

It is important to note that the selection of Hooper did not signify an attempt to mimic the intensity of TEXAS CHAINSAW in a television show, which would be frankly impossible. Kobritz was searching for a filmmaker with a confident visual style, a mastery of camera movement, and an ability to follow a script and adhere to a tight schedule. There was, apparently, never any concern that Hooper would not be able to direct a film that did not contain a large quota of violence. “I think it goes without saying that if a man has a strong visual style and is also able to meet those other qualifications, his skills encompass more than the making of violent movies,” says Kobritz. “I knew Tobe was our man from the day I met him. And he’s come through like a champ.”

Hooper was signed in late spring of this year, and one of his first tasks was a field trip to the location that would be used for most of the exteriors of ‘Salem’s Lot. In 1977, Tony Richardson had directed a Warner telefilm, A DEATH IN CANAAN, which was supposed to be set in a small, contemporary Connecticut town. Ferndale, a northern California town 16 miles south of Eureka, and 75 miles south of the Oregon border, doubled perfectly as a bogus Connecticut location. Anna Cottle, associate producer for SALEM’S LOT, had been Richardson’s assistant. She remembered Ferndale and particularly the cooperation of the local inhabitants. After a brief scouting trip, Ferndale was chosen for SALEM’S LOT.

But in all of Ferndale, there was no house which could be used as a double for Marsten House, so Rabinowitz and his staff were dispatched to Ferndale to build one. They found a cottage on a hillside overlooking Ferndale and the Salt River Valley; it was decided to build a full-scale mock up of Marsten House around the existing cottage complex, complete with a stone retaining wall and several misted, dead trees. The family residing in the cottage was paid $20,000 and guaranteed all of the lumber from Marsten House once shooting was completed. The filming of SALEM’S LOT began on July 10 in Ferndale. “It took 20 working days to build Marsten House from scratch,” Rabinowitz recalls. “We put the last touches on it very late at night before shooting was to begin. I remember, my assistants and I were up there painting, and someone drove on by the road just below us. All of a sudden, he slammed on his brakes and backed up, got out of his car and just stood there staring at the house. ‘My God, I’ve lived here 25 years,’ he said, `and I never noticed that house before!’ I played along and just said, ‘Gee, I don’t know we’re just tourists.'”

Rabinowitz estimates the cost of the exterior Marsten House mock up as $100,000. Another $70,000 was spent constructing the interior of the house Kobritz’s rotting embodiment of the vampire’s soul back at the Burbank Studios. The interior rooms and passages of Marsten House posed the more difficult challenge for Rabinowitz and his staff. For one thing, there was the problem of creating atmosphere without going overboard.

“It’s a very difficult line,” admits Rabinowitz. “By the nature of the writing, you’re going into a theatrical abstraction, and you must take it further than normal, but not too much further. It’s trial and error. When I designed the interior, the first shots were way over, which I knew they would be, and I had to be careful in bringing them down not to lose all the gory description and so forth. When it’s that fine a line, I’ll intentionally go overboard and then gradually shave it back and back. I’d say it was two weeks from the first still photos and testing of the color lighting to the final result.

“I used a lot of plaster, no I could make huge craters all over the entire set and furniture so that it looked as though it was pock-marked, and from some of these larger openings in the walls I put a kind of epoxy or resin, and let it drip as if it were oozing from the interior, as if it were an open wound. We wanted a rotting, sick appearance, almost as if in discussions with the director and producer, we were looking into the body, the heart of the vampire. It reflects his whole being more so than just a decayed house. So we decided to go for an abstract image.

“Then,” Rabinowitz continues, “in front of the camera, we took the same material in medium shots and close ups and just loaded it up so it would ooze and pour right in front of you. Sometimes it’s very clear and at other times it’s not too obvious, just a little glistening in the background. “There’s a dark, greenish tint to the interior. We put down glaze after glaze after glaze, for the proper amount of sheen, and then various shades of green, mixing it up with other colors to that it wasn’t solid green.”

Two other important duties for Rabinowitz were the building of the antique shop (Strakers business front) and the small South American village where the beginning and end of the film are set.

“The Latin town was shot on the Burbank back lot and the San Fernando Valley Mission,” says Rabinowitz. “We used the interior of the mission church, and I built an adobe style native but on stage.

“My decorator, Jerry Adams, who is fantastic was responsible for most of what you see inside the antique shop. Ninety percent of what you see is his taste initially directed by me. But the individual pieces all Jerry Adams. I also have an assistant, Peter Samish, who is only 28 but is brilliant. He’s the son of Adrian Samish, the producer and former head of CBS who was not popular among many people. So Peter has not gotten where he is because of papa, he had a very rough time. But he was just to creative and inventive on this picture.”

Rabinowitz, a stickler for accuracy, found that one of his most perplexing assignments was to come up with a coffin for Barlow. “It was designed special,” he notes, “because there was no way to find anything like that. The research was difficult to come by, it’s a 400 year-old coffin but once I did find it, our cabinet shop and our antique shop here is so superb that they gave me exactly what I drew up, right on the nose. If I’d had to work at another studio, I don’t think it would have come out as well, because they are superb—just the finest in our business.”

Rabinowitz tries to be a perfectionist. A professional painter and sculptor, he has taught at UCLA and USC, and spends six months of each year at his Santa Fe, New Mexico studio, painting and sculpting for galleries. At 53, he is still excited by what he terms “that marvelous madness that is Hollywood,” and he still finds his work there a challenge. For SALEM’S LOT, in the rush of production for television, there are things he would do over if time allowed.

“There is one interior of the Glick boy’s bedroom,” Rabinowitz confesses “where I overdid the color and blew the gag. I absolutely telegraphed it by making the room a somber brown, so when the scene opens you’re in that mood already. Then, when the vampire arrives, it’s not as big a surprise. It’s still a very effective scene, but I’d have toned down my part of it more.”

In his interview, Hooper speaks of Rabinowitz with genuine awe. Rabinowitz worked closely with Hooper, and feels he developed an understanding of his personality. “He’s very good natured, extremely so,” says Rabinowitz, “very warm, but very laid back. He’s quite shy. But once he gains your confidence and you gain his, that stops. Was he articulate? With me, yes. He was very articulate. With others, not so much. It took time. It’s a personality kind of thing. But he knows exactly what he wants.”

But getting what he wants was another matter entirely for Hooper, particularly in the case of David Soul, who was also under pressure to perform. According to Soul, Hooper was articulate in relating to him what he wanted.

“I believe he is a good actor’s director and I believe he will be even more so,” observes Soul. “I think the problems of this film, which were primarily the special effects, the vampire obviously, and the fact that we were shooting out of continuity, made it difficult for him to spend the kind of time with the actors he’d have liked to.

“Many, many times we’d pull each other aside to talk and he’d say, `Goddammit, David, I’m sorry we can’t spend more time working out these relationships, but this just isn’t the time to do it so just hang in there.’ He was concerned that everybody on the set was happy. He’s a very gentle, very, very bright man. This picture, if nothing else, will seal his future, as an important director along with the Steven Spielberg’s, the John Carpenters, the John Badhams people like that.” Soul, who was cast two months before the start of production, was able to make suggestions that helped define his character a little better, but he feels some inconsistencies remain.

“Yes, there are a lot of inconsistencies, built into the script because the producers felt that since it’s television, there needs to be this reiteration of the fears on Ben Mears’ part so the audience is constantly aware. That for me is not giving the picture everything it could have. There are only so many times Ben Mears can say, ‘Did you ever have the feeling something is inherently evil?’, you know? There are a million other ways to say that same thing. I much prefer the scenes such as the entrance of Straker with his cane, which comes far closer to creating true terror than dialogue can.”

The scene with the cane the first meeting of Mears and Straker, helps illuminate Soul’s working relationship with Mason.

“There was a certain kind of awe to my working with Mason,” Soul explains, “and I used that for the relationship between the two characters: Mears is intimidated by Straker. It sounds simplistic, but it works. I did not try to get to know Mason better, so it was as if, in my early scenes with him, this imposing stranger could be the evil coming from the house. And only as we got further into the picture did my curiosity as David Soul—and certainly as Ben Mears—manifest itself in a kind of relationship with the character. So I kept away from him in the beginning. Also, the may Tobe staged our scenes heightened the element of surprise. The scene where I meet him as he’s walking with the cane is very well staged by Tobe, because I’m staring at the house and feeling all those disturbing sensations and memories and I back out almost out of the shot and then” Soul gasps “there he is behind me. These kinds of cinematic devices helped a lot, and that’s Tobe.

“I was impressed by both Tobe and Mason. There were a lot of impressive people on this film, actors especially. Lew Ayres was the same as Mason in a way, though he was a little difficult to crack. He’s a very orthodox and tough actor. He was a matinee idol, and he considers himself still to be a star. But once that was broken down, it became a very warm relationship.

“Mason is fascinating. He’s better than most TV actors and he’s also a personality. He’s got a mystique that he’s built up forty years and that’s what you’re watching also, and what you’re playing opposite. I was surprised to find out how organically he works, he had a whole history for Straker. His conversations about the character were very intelligent.

“How did I change my own TV personality and still play a hero? It’s a good question. I don’t have a pat answer. Obviously, they’re different characters. I think the accouterments changed me somewhat the glasses, the clothes. Also, I cleaned up my speech pattern a little bit. I sound like a writer, a man who’s at home with words. In STARSKY AND HUTCH, it was always dip-dip-dip, sort of half-finished sentences, a street jargon and repartee. This time, I stuck with the lines and the discipline of a well written script. There’s also a mysterious quality to Ben Mears and I tried to work with that. I didn’t socialize a lot. It was a rough part, and in a sense, I let the neuroses that were building up in David Soul because of the pressure work for the character.

“That’s one area in which Tobe was very helpful and understanding. He listened. “Have I seen THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE? No, but I do want to, very much, after working with Tobe.”

Hooper, who’s career literally reached a standstill a year after his arrival in Hollywood, is a living testament to the difficulty of maintaining a career in the horror genre. Shortly before he was approached by Kobritz for SALEM’S LOT, Hooper had even met with Italian producers over the possibility of directing THE GUYANA MASSACRE, before his agent blew the whistle on the project (“God bless him,” Hooper now says). Hooper openly admits that SALEM’S LOT pulled him from obscurity.

“Look,” says Hooper, “this is a quantum leap for me. SALEM’S LOT is my best picture, and there’s no question about it. It’s a major studio production, I’m working with a fantastic cast and crew. And Kobritz is wonderful. This is a first for me.” But is it the same Tobe Hooper in SALEM’S LOT that we saw in THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE or even EATEN ALIVE? Can the same audacious spirit run through something created for television? “Oh, I think so,” Hooper replies. “For one thing, my style is ingrained in me. It does not change. It improves, perhaps, but it does not change. Also, SALEM’S LOT does not rely on the same kind of dynamics as CHAINSAW. It is scary, it is atmospheric, but in a different way. I do not have to cheat the audience to bring it to television.

“The style of my films is not their violence. Violence has sometimes been an ingredient in them, but because I shoot it a certain way, people may have thought that is the style all by itself. You know, I made a number of short and feature films before I entered the genre with TEXAS CHAINSAW, and they didn’t contain violence, but my style was developing nonetheless in each of those films. “Part of the idea of SALEM’S LOT is to bring the audience into the movement, in a way the camera moves almost constantly. I am leading the audience on, but I’m satisfying them too, I’m not cheating them. They’re not going to expect a dollar’s worth of scare and get 75 cents worth of talk. And you can do that without slicing someone up with a chainsaw.”

In fact, there is relatively little dialogue in SALEM’S LOT. The narrative is advanced primarily in cinematic terms through camera movement and editing, and through scenes that establish perspective in a strictly visual way. Kobritz’s desire for this effect, and his need for a director who could add to his and Monash’s ideas, not just catty them out was the main impetus behind the hiring of Tobe Hooper.

One of Hooper’s most striking scenes of barely glimpsed violence is the murder of Dr. Bill Norton by Straker, who picks him up and heaves him across a room into a wall embedded with antlers. Hooper’s camera carries the audience right along with Norton, holding on a dose shot of Norton’s horror struck face up to and including the moment of impact. Because the actual impalement is not seen in a wide shot, the scene is technically acceptable for network TV, and Hooper’s surprise trick of dragging the audience along on the victim’s death ride assures both shock and terror.

In another sequence, Hooper and his special effects team employ a coffin’s eye view of the inside of a grave, to involve the audience in the resurrection of one of the Glick brothers. In his interview, Kobritz explains the mechanics of two of SALEM’S LOTS most elaborate effects: the vampires’ contact lenses and the shot in reverse levitation scenes. Hooper discusses their emotional quality. “I invented those,” Hooper says, “working with the makeup and special effects people. The one with the eyes has to do with hypnotism. I was going for an effect that would implicate the audience again, I guess it’s my interest in psychology rather than have them walk out of the room for a drink when the vampire turns to hypnotize someone. Those are generally very boring, predicable scenes.

“I studied what I had been exposed to as a film student and moviegoer, from the old Universals all the way up to the Hammer Films. No matter how you try to explain those away or make allowances, it’s always just Chris Lee with those damned bloodshot eyes. I knew our hypnotism would have to be something that is not easy for an audience to comprehend. Well, we’ve all had bloodshot eyes. So what we came up with was a kind of contact lens that just glows and glows and follows you, and is obviously not an optical done in the lab, and is therefore strange and fascinating to look at. The result is that it makes you look in his eyes, too, and you just wonder and look and look and look.”

And the levitation scene, in which the vampires float through the window to prospective victims?

“Well, I’m sorry they told you so much about that. Damn! That’s the kind of thing that should also make you guess, no you’re riveted to your seat. It’s one of those devices that ought to be revealed after you’ve seen the picture. But since they’ve told you. “The business of bringing the kid into the room on a boom crane eliminates the use of wires, and if you keep the camera in a certain position, keep the kid moving so you’re distracted from guessing or trying to guess how the effect was done, which is unlikely anyway and you cut properly, it’s very disturbing. It’s just obvious there are no wires. I also had an ectoplasmic mist surrounding him, and issuing in a kind of vacuum from him to his victim and back again.” The levitation effect was also enriched by shooting in reverse, which made the ectoplasmic fog swirl in an eerie way.

Jack Young – The Vampire Look

“We wanted something like the Nosferatu Of Murnau’s 1922 film where the vampire was walking death, ugliness incarnate, a skull that moved and was alive. “

– producer Richard Kubritz

‘Creating the image Of the vampire was a little like a fishing expedition, ” admits makeup man Jack Young, who in his 30 years as a makeup artist has worked on films from The Wizard of Oz to Apocalypse NOW changed the at least six time,” he says displaying a small card with Polaroid shots of each of the six renditions in his lab on the Warner lot. “We tried him with light pink on his face but he looked phony, burlesque. We finally came up with the light gray which is dead and bloodless. “Reggie Nalder (who plays Barlow) has such a wonderful face; he always plays some pretty grim so We just put ears on him, made him bald, put gray horrible makeup on him and used his own lips. For the teeth I made impressions of his, created a false set and then aged them by airbrushing shadows on them. They yellow and like they have cavities.” The eerie look of the vampire Barlow’s eyes are created by contact lenses almost like half a ping-pong ball—light green in color with red veins—that fit over the eye and can only be worn for 15 minutes at a time. The pupils reflect as do the eyes of the other vampire characters in the film, an effect created by yellow screen-like contact lenses. “They spark when the light hits them,” says Young with a devious look in his eye. “It looks awful, like they have searchlights coming out Of their eyes.”

In the scene near the end of the movie when Mears is driving the stake through Barlow’s heart, Barlow’s claw-like hand flies up and grabs Ben’s wrist. “For the claws, ” says Young, “I made a composite you can form with your hands. Ifs like a clay you can hake but it has flex. It wasn’t originally made for nails but that’s what I used it for. It’s all part of the attempt to get away from the stereotype Dracula. ”

As Ben continues to drive the stake in, Barlow’s head starts to rise from the coffin to meet Ben’s. Then suddenly the flesh seems to fall from the head, revealing a ghost-like skull. “I had to make the head about four or five times to get it to come out right, ” admits Young. The final one is hand-carved out of plaster then covered with a composition of wax that would sag , not drip. “I got the skin to appear to fall away by turning a heat gun on the completed portrait head,” adds Young.

But how will all of this look on a big screen? With everyone involved with the production stressing that SALEM’S LOT is a feature, not just a television special, it seems a logical question.

“This piece was not made with a lot of concessions to TV, beyond the obvious limiting of the use of violence,” Hooper replies. “There has been some second unit shooting, about five days I think, for some of the special effects. These are physical effects, as you called them before, not opticals there are no cheap opticals designed for the TV screen. The photography is very good, Mort Rabinowitz’s art direction is just remarkable, SALEM’S LOT will look like a feature.”

SALEM’S LOT wrapped shooting on August 29. Hooper assembled his rough cut within a couple of weeks after. CBS has already begun to promote the miniseries, and will air it on too successive nights during either the November ratings “sweep” (when network ratings are closely monitored to determine future advertising rates and the best specials are consequently televised) or a date soon after.

And way up in Center Lovell, Maine, the author of SALEM’S LOT is awaiting the production’s telecast like the rest of us.

“I thought THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE was a great movie, and I like the screenplay they’ve come up with for this, so I’m looking forward to it,” says Stephen King.

“What I’d really like them to do is send me a videotape of the European version. I’d be very into that.”

– Bill Kelley Cinefantastique – Volume 9, Number 2 (Winter 1979)

From “On the Set of ‘SALEM’S LOT By SUSAN CASEY” (FANGORIA Issue 4)

(Available at Amazon) Salem’s Lot 1979 Blu-ray

SALEM’S LOT (1979) RETROSPECTIVE – Filming Horror for Television (Part 1) Development The man producer Richard Kobritz called upon to get him his vampire in SALEM'S LOT is Tobe Hooper, the director of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and the last person one might expect to find directing a glossy production for a major studio much less one intended as a television miniseries.

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iloveyoupittsburghpirates-blog · 7 years

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What An Escape, Pittsburgh Pirates

My Dearest Pittsburgh Pirates,

That did not turn out the way I expected it to and I couldn’t be happier. After the return from the All Star break, you had an important three game series with the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park. Friday looked like it was going to be one of those typically frustrating games. It was a tie game in the 9th inning and you had 15 men get on base in the game and only two runs. In that past, especially against the Cardinals, you would rip your fans’ hearts out by losing on a solo shot in the 13th inning. Instead, Josh Bell hit a walkoff three run homer in the bottom of the 9th to get the weekend off to a great start. Saturday night, Jameson Taillon didn’t have his best stuff, Lancy Lynn did, and you got shutout 4-0. The rubber match on Sunday saw you get off to a 1-0 lead before the Cards tied it. Max Moroff hit his first major league homer to go up 2-1 before the Cards tied it again. In the 8th inning, Yadier Molina led off with a solo homer against Juan NIcasio and it looked like you were destined to lose while the Brewers had a lead. If that held true, you would have been nine games out. An inexplicable decision in the 9th by Cards’ manager Mike Mattheny to allow a lefty to face Jordy Mercer with the tying run on second led to a game tying double. After an intentional walk to Freese, Adam Frazier singled up the middle to win it. Around the same time, the Brewers gave up a a grand slam to the Phillies which loss them the lead and eventually the game. A two game swing puts you at seven out with the Brewers coming to town. Biggest series of the season starts today.

Josh Bell’s ceiling keeps rising and rising. Friday, Bell had arguably the best game of his professional career. Aside from the walkoff three run homer, Bell was 2 for 3 with two walks, a homer, and four RBI’s. He was on base four times. Bell currently has a .798 OPS which would be higher if his OBP was better than .328. He’s also only batting .238 after an 0 for 4 game on Sunday. It’s exciting because that’s the part of his game I had confidence in. I still believe Bell projects as a typical .275 hitter with the potential to put up a .360 OBP. I thought maybe he would only be a fifteen to twenty homers a season type of player but he already has 17 homers this season and there are still seventy games left. There was also the looming concern of whether or not this guy could legitimately play any position on the field at all. Would he be another Pedro at first? He hasn’t been perfect (a ball he should have had cost you a run yesterday), but he has been good enough. Far better than Pedro. He can at least make a throw to second base and he doesn’t drop balls thrown directly at him. Between his burdening power, his plate discipline, and his acceptable defense, this guy might be your number four hitter for the next five years.

Is the bullpen actually improving? Somehow your bullpen currently ranks fourth in the NL in bullpen ERA which almost doesn’t make sense. A big reason for that is Felipe Rivero’s silly low ERA of 0.74. But there has been legitimate improvements. Over the last month, Tony Watson has a 1.54 ERA though still a high 1.37 WHIP. He has looked more comfortable recently and has managed to get a little of his velocity back that seemed to disappear. Daniel Hudson’s last month has shown improvement as well. He’s still sporting too high of a WHIP (1.32) over that time but does only have a 2.16 ERA. This is far from a dominant relief corp but they are at least decent. Their OPS against and WHIP fall about middle of the pack in the NL. That’s obviously not great but it wasn’t too long ago that we would have said this is the worst bullpen in baseball. Rivero is the glue that holds this all together. There aren’t a lot of teams that have dominating middle relievers. As long as you have a dominant closer, which you most certainly do, I feel like that can make up for the weaknesses in the rest of the bullpen. Nicasio has been a solid eighth inning guy and, with Bastardo finally gone, the options of Watson, Hudson, LeBlanc, Marinez, and even now Schugel for those middle innings don’t seem insane. It’s far from perfect but I do think this bullpen is good enough to hold wins for you down the stretch.

I gave you my whole rant last week about how you need to sign Cutch to an extension. I still believe that though I do admit some of that comes from how disappointing of a season all of our top prospects are having. Regardless, I’d still be happy if you did it. After hearing Neal Huntington talk about it this week, it seems like the chances of that are slim to none. Huntington did say trading Cutch and Cole now wouldn’t be fair to a team that can still compete. He also mentioned they have allowed players to hit free agency before without trading them like Liriano or Nova. The one thing he didn’t mention or even hint at was a possible extension. This makes sense knowing Huntington. He never likes to sign players anyway but especially not one who is in his thirties and is coming off a year and a half slump. Maybe they would consider extending him next season if Meadows continues to struggle or gets hurt again but that seems like a long shot. What happens if you extend Cutch, he slumps again next year, and Meadows goes off in Triple-A? Then you would be kicking yourself. All of those things don’t seem terribly likely. I know you have to be more cautious as a small market team but I also still don’t understand why you can’t spend more money. If Cutch is gone after this year or next, what would your payroll even be? 75 million? That’s not even competitive. We will see how this all plays out but it’s obvious that it’s won’t be the way I prefer.

I’ve already mentioned it but I can’t overstate this enough. Today starts the most important series of the season and I can’t believe it’s against the Milwaukee Brewers. They still sit in first place with a seven game lead over you. These four games at PNC Park could decide the rest of this season. Sweep them and you are three games back. Get swept and you’re eleven back and the season is all but over. There’s a lot on the line. You follow that with the trip to Colorado to face the Rockies, currently holding the second Wildcard spot. These are the only two teams you face with winning records for the next month. If somehow you can put together a great week, you could be back in this thing before you know it. The Cubs are starting to play better too and after their acquisition of Jose Quintana this week (in his first start for them yesterday he went seven innings, with zero runs, and 12 K’s), they still seem like the favorites to win this division. You have to keep pace with them too. This week needs to be the start of something great and you can build off that over the next month against a mediocre schedule. This is it. It’s now or never. I hope we aren’t talking about you being sellers next week. Good luck and beat that Brew-Crew.

Your Surprisingly Hopeful Hubby,

Brad

P.S. Starling Marte’s return couldn’t happen at a better time. He will return this week in the midst of this very important Brewers series from his 80 game suspension for PED use. I assume Marte will be slotted in the number two spot in the lineup with JHay moving to leadoff. I think the plan for the second half will be to give David Freese more games off so don’t be surprised if we see more Adam Frazier at 2B with JHay at 3rd or even some more Max Moroff if he can start hitting more like he did yesterday with that homer. They said they want to keep Marte in the same position in the order so if that’s not second, I would imagine leadoff with be the next option. We will know this week. Hopefully he’s done being an idiot but it is nice to add someone of Marte’s talent back to this lineup.

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