So everyone else on the team had people from their past showing up.
In Archie we met the person who introduced and trained Parker for a life of crawling through tight spaces, gymnasticing (know that’s not a word, don’t care) through moving laser traps and rappelling down extremely tall buildings.
With Eliot there was his first love Aimee. There was Moreau. And there was Vance.
From Nate’s past we got to see his ex wife Maggie, his ex-best friend/kinda frenemy Sterling, his childhood best friend Father Paul and his dad Jimmy Ford.
Even Sophie, whose past and identity will forever be veiled in mystery got like four. Marcus Starke from The Two Live Crew Job, who she worked with at some point. Tara, who owed her an apparently pretty big favor. That Russian hockey player who helped her steal the Stanley Cup. And auntie Countess of Kensington.
And I don’t think we ever got even one person from Hardison’s past.
What I’m trying to say here is that we need a Leverage movie and it should be about Alec’s Nana and how the trio pulls Sophie and Nate out of their “retirement” to help bring justice to whoever it was that did her wrong.
But it should also include embarrassing baby pictures, a bunch of Hardison’s foster siblings, and at least one scene that showcases both where Hardison got his good heart and his fierceness from.
After hearing how vehemently others put down and devalue YA, I think it’s important to remember that the antagonists of almost every YA novel are adults who stifle young people from being exactly who they are, who think they know what’s best for them, and who don’t take the time to listen to or try to understand them and their viewpoint.
Nearly every year, for the past thirty years, Frances Goldin has gone to New York City Pride holding a sign that reads, “I adore my lesbian daughters. Keep them safe.” (x)
“Since the beginning of the parade, I’ve been going and waving my sign,” Goldin said. “It sort of hit a nerve with people, particularly those whose parents rejected them. The response to the sign is always so great — it urges me to keep going.”
“Everybody would come running up to her and cry, kiss her, and say, ‘Would you call my mother?’ or ‘Would you be my mother?’” her daughter, Sally, explained.
“She’d take down names and addresses and write letters to these kids’ mothers!”
When asked about all the young LGBT parade-goers who have begged her to speak to their own mothers, Goldin replied, “I think I changed a few people’s minds and I’m glad about that. Everyone should support their gay and lesbian children, they’re missing a lot in life if they don’t.”
I’m all for political satire, but I feel like it was kind of disrespectful to portray clinton debating against a paper bag with one of those recordable greeting card chips stuffed inside.
I have been informed that was the first national presidential debate.
I’m here for the girls who unwillingly consented to sex or sexual acts because they were in a situation where they didn’t feel as if they had the right to say no and now feel violated but don’t feel like they can say they were raped or molested.
this is probably one of the most important text posts i have ever seen because i feel like this is a HUGE issue among teenagers especially young girls in today’s social culture and nobody talks about it. nobody tells you that you were in fact abused and sometimes it takes you years to finally realize what happened to you was wrong, and it’s really scary and confusing! we need to teach each other that “rape” or “molestation” can happen in many circumstances and not just the ones we are taught!!!!
2) why does he look like mustacheod Mads Mikkelson
III) what is happen
?) ARE THEY BOYFRIENDS?????
AHEM! *dons his lore cape*
This is Biggs Darklighter, Luke’s best buddy growing up on Tatooine. There was a big chunk of story cut from A New Hope where Luke looks up at the sky, sees the Star Destroyer and Princess Leia’s ship shooting at each other in orbit, and jumps in his landspeeder to tell his friends like an excited puppy.
He arrives at Tosche Station (from the infamous line “But I was gonna go to Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!”) and is surprised to find Biggs there, who had just gotten his certification from the Imperial Academy (mentioned in the line “That’s what you said when Biggs and Tank left” when Luke was trying to coax Uncle Owen into applying). Luke drags everyone outside to look but by that time the two ships have stopped shooting, so they write it off as Excitable Dumbass Luke getting his dumb hopes up again and go back inside.
It’s worth noting that Biggs takes the first look through Luke’s binoculars and says it’s probably just a freighter refueling. Having been to the Imperial Academy he’d know damn well what a Star Destroyer looks like and that having one in orbit over Tatooine means Srs Bsns is afoot. But he doesn’t mention this and lies, probably in an effort to keep Luke from going “ZOMG ADVENTURE!” and trying to get involved.
When everyone else inside, Biggs and Luke go for a walk and Biggs lets Luke in on a secret: he and a bunch of other Academy grads are going to mutiny and defect to the Rebel Alliance the first chance they get. Luke basically goes “GEE WHIZ!” and Biggs shuts him up. He explains that this is stupidly dangerous and is going to make him a wanted man if he survives, so this is the last time the two are probably ever going to see each other. Luke still doesn’t Get It yet and is mostly envious of all the excitement and adventure Biggs is about to embark on.
Fast forward past: Luke discovering real and innocent people get murdered by the Empire (courtesy of Uncle Owen & Aunt Beru’s smoking remains), finding out that dashing rogues can really just be selfish, trigger-happy assholes thanks to Han Solo, and watching the man who opened his eyes to a bigger universe get killed by the monster who Luke thinks murdered his father. His boyish naivety has taken quite the beating. But as he gears up to help attack the Death Star, who should he run into but his best buddy Biggs! How bad can war be when your best friend is at your side?
… oh.
Biggs gave his life to protect Luke, physically blocking Vader from shooting his best friend for as long as he possibly could. Between that, the reassuring words of Obi-Wan, and the timely return of Han (who Chewie threatened to tear the arms off of if they didn’t go back), Luke learned a critical truth: the universe was a lot darker than he ever realized, but no matter what there is always hope.
Wow, that actually adds a TON of emotional depth to that sacrifice, too. I never knew that.
reblogging for this amazing commentary
There is something to be said for reading the novelisations of the movies because those were written after the scripts and contain those deleted scenes.
One of the reasons it’s cut is because it destroys the pacing of the opening (it comes interspersed into the opening action which is one of the most perfectly edited sequences ever without it) and because Biggs himself causes huge problems with the timeline as written.
In this scene Biggs tells Luke that he’s going to go AWOL at the first opportunity and join the Rebellion. This is why Luke is so excited when Threepio mentions the Rebellion later, btw. The problem is that this scene takes place basically three days before Luke himself leaves the planet. So in the same space of time that it takes Luke to rescue Leia from the Death Star, Biggs has shipped out, mutinied, found a Rebel recruiter, joined their starfighter squadron, proven himself trustworthy enough to be assigned to their top secret main HQ, and gotten enough of a reputation to convince the squadron leader to let Luke fly with them.
He’s had an even busier week than Luke has!
but look at that mustache
with a mustache like that, i can believe he can do anything in any time he wants
Hey! Internet! Where's the gif of Hillary's little victory dance at the end there? It's been almost an hour now!
Wherein someone tries to overcompensate. Someone named Trump.
I have better judgment than she does, there's no question about that. I also have a much better temperament than she has, you know? I have a much better... She spent, let me tell you. She spent hundreds of millions of dollars on an advertising, you know, they get Madison Avenue into a room—oh, temperament, let's go after. I think my strongest asset, maybe by far is my temperament. I have a winning temperament. I know how to win.
can we stop shipping real people. can we like not do that anymore ever
Um…why?
Because real people are not characters. These people are complete strangers to us, and not all of them appreciate strange kids (and even adults) invading their private lives to get the newest scoop on who they’re dating or drawing explicit hardcore porn of them and their partner/friend without taking their feelings into consideration.
Unless someone has explicitly stated that they don’t mind being shipped/have fanart made of them in a romantic or sexual fashion, don’t do it. It’s creepy.
I’ve seen a lot of YouTube stars have to come out and ask people to stop the massive shipping campaigns for them because it made them/ their partners uncomfortable.
You wouldn’t do it to a stranger on the street, don’t do it to a stranger behind a computer screen.
Besides, it’s the strangers’ version of your great-aunt Irma wanting you to marry every other guy she finds for you… no-one likes that.
Except in this scenario, great-aunt Irma is also drawing graphic pictures of that guy humping you. And then showing them to you and everyone else in your family.
“I compiled pictures of you both in bathing suits so I could get the most accurate proportions of your naked bodies,” your aunt Irma explains before giving the skeeviest wink you’ve ever seen. Everyone is uncomfortable. You are considering a restraining order. Irma looks proud.
This poor little kangaroo was found in his dead mother’s pouch after she was hit by a truck. It was then taken to Cue Police Station and named Cuejo. But this kangaroo’s problems didn’t end there: while recovering, the orphan was attacked by a vicious Wedge-tailed Eagle. However, constable Mason rushed after the predator which had landed a short distance away. Another eagle joined the action, but Scott scared them away and brought Cuejo back. Now the baby kangaroo continues his recovery with his saviour until he can return back to the wild. Meanwhile, it thinks the cop is his mother and uses his shirt as a pouch!
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is pursuing his favorite hobby this week: taking political hostages while racing toward a cliff. This case revolves around the September 30 deadline for passing a government funding bill. The fact that there's an election in just 43 days hasn't seemed to cause him any undue concern, other than to make him even more partisan. The funding bill he's put forward gives funding to flood-ravaged Louisiana, but ignores a long-suffering American community:
Flint—a majority African-American community—has become a living, breathing symbol of inequality in the country as residents there bathed in and drank lead-poisoned water for two years. Voting against Flint just six weeks ahead of the election would not only send a message to Flint, it could also send a message to African Americans that Congress doesn't care about them.
"It helps you understand some of the frustration in this country when the Republican-led Congress singles out the poisoned children of Flint for exclusion in its disaster aid proposal," said Adam Jentleson, a spokesman and senior policy adviser for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).
Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI), who represents Flint, was shocked and angered Thursday when he saw Flint had been left behind in the spending bill.
"It sends a pretty strong message," Kildee said. "What is it about Flint that distinguishes it from these other places that rightfully qualify for help? I support helping the people of Louisiana. I am all in. What I cannot accept is a bunch of excuses, a bunch of irrelevant excuses that again leave Flint behind. It is a poor community. It is a majority African American community. It is very difficult to believe that if the conditions in Flint had occurred in a much more affluent community. ... I have no doubt in my mind that the response would have been different."
Since racism is already running rampant this election season, McConnell must have felt emboldened to pick this particular fight and achieve new lows.
That thing, in particular, was a thirty dollar Barnes & Noble gift certificate. I was still too young for a part-time job, so I didn’t have this kind of spending cash on me, ever. I felt like a god.
Drunk with power, I fancy-stepped my way to my local B&N. I was ready to choose new books based solely on the most important of qualities…BADASS COVER ART. I walked away with a handful of paperbacks, most of which were horrible (I’m looking at you, Man-Kzin Wars III) or simply forgettable.
One book did not disappoint. I fell down the rabbit hole into a series that proved to be as badass as the cover art promised (Again, Man-Kzin Wars III, way to drop the ball on that one). With more than a dozen books in the series, I devoured them. I bought cassette tapes of ballads sung by bards in the stories. And the characters. Oh, the characters. I loved them. Gryphons, mages, but most importantly, lots of women. Different kinds of women. So many amazing women. I looked up to them, wrote bad fiction that lifted entire portions of dialogue and character descriptions, dreamed of writing something that the author would include in an anthology.
This year I decided in a fit of nostalgia to revisit the books I loved so damn much. I wanted to reconnect with my old friends…
…and I found myself facing Mary Sues. Lots of them. Perfect, perfect, perfect. A fantasy world full of Anakin Skywalkers and Nancy Drews and Wesley Crushers. I felt crushed. I had remembered such complex, deep characters and didn’t see those women in front of me at all anymore. Where were those strong women who kept me safe through the worst four years of my life?
Which led me to an important realization as I soldiered on through book after book. That’s why I needed them. Because they were Mary Sues. These books were not written to draw my attention to all the ugly bumps and whiskers of the real world. They were somewhere to hide. I was painfully aware that I was being judged by my peers and adults and found lacking. I was a fuckup. And sometimes a fuckup needs to feel like a Mary Sue. As an adult, these characters felt a little thin because they lacked the real world knowledge I, as an adult, had learned and earned. But that’s the thing…these books weren’t FOR this current version of myself. Who I am now doesn’t need a flawless hero because I’m comfortable with the idea that valuable people are also flawed.
There is a reason that most fanfiction authors, specifically girls, start with a Mary Sue. It’s because girls are taught that they are never enough. You can’t be too loud, too quiet, too smart, too stupid. You can’t ask too many questions or know too many answers. No one is flocking to you for advice. Then something wonderful happens. The girl who was told she’s stupid finds out that she can be a better wizard than Albus Dumbledore. And that is something very important. Terrible at sports? You’re a warrior who does backflips and Legolas thinks you’re THE BEST. No friends? You get a standing ovation from Han Solo and the entire Rebel Alliance when you crash-land safely on Hoth after blowing up the Super Double Death Star. It’s all about you. Everyone in your favorite universe is TOTALLY ALL ABOUT YOU.
I started writing fanfiction the way most girls did, by re-inventing themselves.
Mary Sues exist because children who are told they’re nothing want to be everything.
As a girl, being “selfish” was the worst thing you could be. Now you live in Narnia and Prince Caspian just proposed marriage to you. Why? Your SELF is what saved everyone from that sea serpent. Plus your hair looks totally great braided like that.
In time, hopefully, these hardworking fanfiction authors realize that it’s okay to be somewhere in the middle and their characters adjust to respond to that. As people grow and learn, characters grow and learn. Turns out your Elven Mage is more interesting if he isn’t also the best swordsman in the kingdom. Not everyone needs to be hopelessly in love with your Queen for her to be a great ruler. There are all kinds of ways for people to start owning who they are, and embracing the things that make them so beautifully weird and complicated.
Personally, though, I think it’s a lot more fun learning how to trust yourself and others if you all happen to be riding dragons.
Mary Sues exist because children who are told they’re nothing want to be everything.
A girl making herself the hero of her own story is a radical act. Stop shaming girls for doing it. Stop shaming yourself for it.
Robert W. Coleman School in Baltimore sounds like the best school ever. Why? Because there’s no such thing as detention at the Baltimore Elementary.
Show Full Text
Yep, you heard that correctly. Instead they have a Mindful Moment Room, a brightly colored “oasis of calm” that looks about as far as you can get from the windowless detention rooms typically used to punish unruly kids. It’s part of an after-school programme called Holistic Me, an initiative that teaches children to practice mindful meditation and breathing exercises while encouraging them to talk to behavioral professionals. The programme works in partnership with a local non-profit called the Holistic Life Foundation, and the results so far have been pretty impressive. In fact, since first taking part in the programme two years ago, Robert W. Coleman hasn’t issued a single suspension.
