you can learn to fly on the way down.

A Southern girl who writes for a living and for fun. Sarcasm is my superpower. OTPs: Caskett and Hinny.

[loysen]

ARIANA GRANDE HINNY E ROMIONE STAN

[alwayswritewithcoffee]

she's brilliant and he loves her aka tell me you read the books without telling me you read the books.

[buckyandnattogether]

I mean, no wait. I at least thought the Democrats would keep the House. I never imagined the Republicans would take everything like this. What?

Honestly, watching the U.S. election, I felt that the Democratic Party was being complacent. The values they stand for are, of course, incredibly important. But using 'we’re the good guys, and they’re the bad guys' as a main slogan, even if true, is not a winning strategy. The Democrats needed to acknowledge, at least to some extent, what Republican supporters want. Sometimes, they need to compromise and be flexible. The Democratic Party completely failed to read the spirit of the times and the direction in which the American people’s sentiments are moving. Otherwise, how could they lose both the Senate and the House and fall behind in the popular vote?

[alwayswritewithcoffee]

I work in (political, gulp) journalism but live in a red state and can co-sign this. One of the biggest things I hear, living where I do, is that Democrats don't care about me but Trump does. Now, I find that insane because Trump knows nothing about being a blue-collar worker who lives paycheck to paycheck, but he has successfully tapped into the rage and frustration that these people feel. Rural areas feel unheard and unseen by Democrats (these days called the 'liberal elite') and Trump not only saw them, he convinced them he'll make it better. Nevermind that he's done it in highly questionable ways; he's reaching out to them and saying 'I get it, I'm gonna help.' With Biden and Harris, the message was 'well, we aren't Trump.' The man tanked his race multiple times, it shouldn't have been close, but Democrats never owned up to the things they indeed failed on or suggested that they would do anything different. They thought not being Trump was enough, but time after time there was evidence that independents/young voters/Latino and Black voters cared way less about his character than Democrats. The fact is that when you can barely feed your family or keep a roof over your head, you care less about someone's character and more about surviving. Trump won on the economy, in no small part due to the fact that people remember having more money when he was in office last (there are a lot of YES, BUTS to that sentence, but that's a separate post). Democrats were always playing defense on economic numbers and pointing fingers instead of offering solutions. Perceptions and feelings on the economy will defeat almost every other issue on a ballot. Money, especially a lack of it, freaks people out.

[alwayswritewithcoffee]

[alwayswritewithcoffee]

How do you think it would have changed or affected the course of Castle and Beckett's relationship if Beckett at the end of the pilot, thinking it would be a one-time thing and they would never see each other again, had agreed to go on a date with Castle, they had slept together and then Castle would have started following her?

Wow, so I suck. This has been in my inbox for a long time and I either never got the notification, or I looked at it and thought I'd answer later and forgot. But it's (over a year) later!!! So here we go. The short answer is: it'd be messy as hell. I think she spends all of season one incensed that a guy she slept with as a one-time thing is following her around like a puppy, while Castle keeps trying (and failing) to convince her to engage in a repeat performance. Sorenson's appearance — and Beckett being completely enamored with him — is enough for Castle to get the message, and I think he chills out. But I also think they don't have a close enough relationship for him to poke at her mother's murder as early as he does in the show. In my mind, he finds out the details when they get the Dick Coonan case. He's been shadowing her for long enough that there's a begrudging (on Beckett's part) partnership and a burgeoning friendship. Castle's like 30% in love with her already and doesn't hesitate to pay the fee for info on the killer, and he's there to prop her up and help her through it when it all goes to hell. So by the time the serial killer case arrives and Kate's apartment blows up, there's a legit friendship. Enough so that when she moves in with him, Castle gets that repeat performance and it stirs up his hope that there could be something more. There isn't, of course. Demming appears and she latches onto him as a distraction from the awkwardness and regrets of letting her guard down with Castle. He goes to the Hamptons for the same reason and in the fall, he doesn't come back. He has no intention of coming back, and he's in and out of the precinct throughout his relationship with Gina. He does shadow Beckett sometimes, but mostly does book promo stuff and keeps his head down. I don't think they grow closer as they do in season three. He's hurt, and she keeps him at arm's length, but they do have moments where the possibility of more is right there — in LA when Royce dies, after Jerry Tyson assaults Castle and Ryan — and when Beckett is shot, Castle thinks 'God, I could love you' but he doesn't say it. He dives in front of the bullet, and he begs her not to die, but there's no deathbed confession. When she shoves him away to recover he works the case with the boys but accepts that, once again, she's telling him she doesn't want or need him like he wants/needs her. Coming back to the precinct, it's her olive branch that breaks the stalemate. Like Castle, there are feelings there, but not the depth that they are in the show. But she convinces him to come back and work full time, and that year is the one where they REALLY become friends and partners. Kate pieces her life back together, occasionally shares some of it with him after her therapy sessions, and when he asks her not to throw her life away -- she listens. She doesn't nearly fall off a roof, she goes to Alexis' graduation and holds Castle's hand while he cries at his daughter's speech. They have their movie marathon night and he invites her to the Hamptons for a week in July, which Kate accepts. But there's still the deal that Castle cut with Smith after her shooting. Beckett is still digging into her mother's murder when she has time, but she's also spending time outside work in and out of Castle's loft, getting to know Martha and Alexis. They dance around the possibility of dating for a few months, but when Tyson tries to kill Castle they throw caution to the wind and just go for it. So when they stumble upon the info that helps them ID William Bracken (remember, no rooftop fight. No file recovery in this universe), Castle is forced to tell Beckett about the deal he cut for her safety. She's apocalyptic with rage, breaks up with him, and throws him out of her apartment and the precinct. She still confronts Bracken, but this time it is because she's been offered a job in D.C. and wants to do it without his shadow hanging over her.

A couple of years go by. Alexis takes a job at a nonprofit in D.C., and Castle bumps into Beckett at a random coffee shop. He's stopped writing Nikki Heat books, she's rising through the ranks in the AG office, and they talk. It's awkward. There's hurt and feelings on both sides, but they don't reconcile. He goes back to NYC. She goes back to work. A few years later, William Bracken's presidential run ends when he's arrested by one of the most promising members of the Secret Service. Beckett isn't on Bracken's detail, but her security clearance and tenacity, as well as a ton of connections in law enforcement, have helped her build the case. She arrests him for her mother's murder and fends off offers from dozens of companies and agencies to take a job at the training academy. A few weeks after the arrest, she gets a note in the mail. It's Castle, congratulating her on solving her mother's murder and saying he will be in D.C. for a book signing for his latest novel -- a political thriller. He invites her to dinner but understands if she doesn't want to see him. She agonizes over what to do in the week that follows but, ultimately, Kate finds that the sting of betrayal has evaporated. When she thinks of Castle, it's mostly the months when he made her so happy. So she puts on her favorite dress, curls her hair, and meets him in front of the restaurant at 7:30 sharp. And they talk for hours over delicious food, a bottle of wine, and cups of coffee. When the restaurant apologetically kicks them out, Castle offers to walk her back to her place and quips that it's not unlike the first time they had dinner together. But this time, Kate invites him inside. This time, it sticks. They get married a year or so later, two weeks before Kate's 40th birthday and four months before she's tapped to run for the US House of Representatives.

[hp-confessions]

Ginny Weasley is so so hot. Her haters can’t fathom she landed the hero, and he would choose her over everyone and anyone else.

~

[alwayswritewithcoffee]

10/10, no notes.

[alwayswritewithcoffee]

Truly, I think journalism has ruined my creative writing abilities. I'll get an idea, start writing it down, and then the absence of verifiable facts or some bit of missing logic trips me up and it all goes to hell. I miss writing, but my brain just won't let me.

[dream-with-a-fever]

the fact that not a single book!ginny scene made it into the films after chamber of secrets makes me want to set myself on fire like what the fuck were they thinking

[alwayswritewithcoffee]

too busy hyping up Hermione and a trio love triangle that no one needed or wanted.

[stevenrogered]

Daniel Radcliffe wins the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for "Merrily We Roll Along"

[alwayswritewithcoffee]

Between FF.Net and AO3 shenanigans, I'm thinking fics just get posted on Tumblr from now on.

[resumbrarum]

No, Fanfiction.net is not safe.

Okay, hang on, folks, we gotta talk about how domains are registered, because the fanfiction.net thing is, actually, almost as bad as it looks.

Keep reading

[alwayswritewithcoffee]

Important for all my fic readers/writers. With that in mind, I'll work on moving what I've got that is complete to AO3 so it still exists somewhere else.

[alwayswritewithcoffee]

Have you read Crashing Heat? What do you think of it as the last book in the series? It's the only Nikki Heat book that I didn't read and I don't know if I should buy it, because I didn't read very good reviews (they didn't even translate it into Spanish like all the previous ones), but on the other hand, Heat Storm had so few interactions of Nikki and Rook and I didn't feel like they had an ending as such. Could it be said that they has one in Crashing Heat?

I mean it's.....fine? It requires you to ignore that Hinesburg died previously in the series, and a few other continuity mistakes that annoyed me. The story is at least something different than another presidential candidate being a bad guy (seriously can't believe they wasted two books on that crap) and there are callbacks in the plot to season seven and season eight (and one with season six) that, depending on how you feel about them may make you eye roll or giggle. There are more interactions between Nikki and Rook, but not much character development. The theme of the book for them is basically 'we're mad, let's have sex' or 'i missed you, let's have sex.' But it's miles better than Heat Storm, so that's something I guess. Personally, I wouldn't buy it. See if you can check it out from a local library or something. Not unless you just want a complete set of the books. It's not a must-have in the series to me by any means.

[nicola-coughlan]

TED LASSO 3.06 | Sunflowers

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[alwayswritewithcoffee]

More about 3x01: Although Beckett "punishes" Castle for the hurt he did to her by leaving with Gina and the consequent summer of silence, do you think that, on some level, she knew that she was also partly to blame for what happened at the end of 2x24?

Well, yeah. Espo tells her in 2x24 that Castle's leaving because he isn't gonna stick around and watch her date someone else. She kind of blows that off and doesn't really say anything in response, but it gets her thinking enough that she acts on what she was already feeling -- that as nice as Demming is, he's just not what she wants. And you see it in her face when he asks about Demming in 3x01. She doesn't want to tell him they broke up. She basically broke up with the guy because he wasn't who she wanted, she's been single for months by this point; the hurt in her eyes isn't because she misses Demming. It's because she's embarrassed to admit it, because she thinks it makes her vulnerable because Castle might figure out she's got feelings for him when he's dating someone else, and because she feels that she drove him away by not being honest with herself and with him about how she felt. I don't think she set out to hurt him at all. She just connected with this guy and got swept off her feet. Just like I don't think Castle meant to hurt her with Gina. He was just lonely and sad and jumped in with both feet. But do they both know they're in part to blame for the sticky situation? Absolutely.

[chaztalk]

The people that are pleading to the HP show runners, insisting that the tv series adds non-canonical scenes of positive Ron, Ginny, and canon pairing scenes are subconsciously admitting that Ron and Ginny aren’t who they think they are in the books, and that the canon pairings are mid at best in the books if they need a lot of added sustenance. If there characters are so great, why do the show runners need to add scenes of them that aren’t in the book?

[alwayswritewithcoffee]

Non-canon scenes are going to happen, and I feel people hoping this tv show is going to be an exact play-by-play of the books are going to be vastly disappointed. They're calling this a "faithful" adaptation. Technically speaking, the movies are faithful. They follow the overall story laid out in the books; no one lives who should die, and no storylines are dramatically altered. What people are asking for is that some characters -- specifically the Weasleys -- be treated like their book counterparts. So Ron is more than comic relief, that Ginny has an actual personality and that the development of Harry's eventual feelings for her are more than staring up at her in a window and shoelaces. They've got the full set of books to work with., so I would hope they avoid a situation where they're piecing it together as they go. A good showrunner is going to plot out the whole thing before they ever start. Determine the needs for the overall show over however many seasons it's supposed to run and put those pieces in place now (if it were me, I'd write an entire death scene for James and Lily and film it season one and have it ready for season seven or whatever when I need it). That includes defining moments that maybe aren't physically in the book, but alluded to or needed to fill plot holes or to advance relationships between characters. Ginny is a prime example. We aren't smashed over the head with the relationship development between her and Harry in the books until Harry -- our fearless narrator -- realizes that shit, he is kind of mad for this girl. She's on the fringes during OOTP, Harry notices her but he doesn't know why. He's too consumed with Cho and Sirius and Umbridge. But as an audience, we need a few scenes to establish that she will be important later (the movies are shit at this because it was Hermione or bust in terms of girl power) and also to offer a contrast for Cho so, when that situation falls apart, we understand that Ginny has been there the whole time. We don't have access to Harry's thoughts on screen like we do on the page, sans near constant narration (which I hope no one wants because it's annoying IMO). Another great example: when Percy and Mr. Weasley get into a fight and Percy leaves. There's a high chance you'll see it happen on screen in some form because it is so informative for the audience regarding how the Ministry is treating Harry and Dumbledore and how even people who typically like both of them are falling for the propaganda. And it reinforces the stigma Harry faces from Seamus and his other classmates once he's back at school. Scenes with Ginny and the fight between Mr. Weasley and Percy aren't strictly canon. There are mentions in OOTP of Harry seeing Ginny with her friends or speaking to her, but they don't play out word for word. Just like we don't see Percy and Mr. Weasley fight, we hear about it later from Ron. But those things help inform us for later on in the story and provided needed context and character/relationship development. Trust me, you don't want a line-by-line, super faithful adaption of books that are told largely from the POV of one person. It's boring, it's a terrible storytelling device for television or movies, and significantly limits the scope. Especially for a story with as many moving parts as the Harry Potter books.

[alwayswritewithcoffee]

I saw that one of your favorite Castle episodes is 3x01, A Deadly Affair (I love it too), could you explain why? (just because I really like reading your analysis 😊)

So, the caveat to this is that it's been a minute since I've watched this episode and I'm certainly going to forget some of the things that I like about it because of that. However, the biggest thing for me is the layers. Beckett's hurt, the boys are hurt, Lanie's mad, so is Montgomery. Castle waltzes in like he truly doesn't understand what he did, which has always been interesting to me because, while I think he does know he hurt Kate, he never seemed to consider that the others would side with her and protect her. Kind of a rookie mistake because, at the end of the day, Castle is the outsider and the interloper. You see that time and time again when something goes wrong, he's the one who gets shoved out because he's not an actual cop. The interrogation scene is just great dynamics. Two people who care about one another but who are dealing with a lot of hurt and not an insignificant amount of emotional baggage firing all kinds of shots at one another to say a bunch of things they wouldn't otherwise. Kate knows Castle didn't kill either of the victims, but she justifies putting him through his paces because that's what the rules say she has to do. But by the time they get to the second victim -- she's just screwing with him with the handcuffs and that whole interaction where she shoves him against the fridge and just motions for him to stop talking. She knows he didn't do it, but she's still wounded and annoyed at him, and it's her way of getting back at him but also keeping him close because there's no way Richard Castle is gonna leave it alone if he's being implicated in a crime he didn't commit. The other thing is that she cottons on to what's actually going on fairly early. It's played very lightly -- the goal was for the audience to invest in the bet, not her pulling the wool over Castle's eyes and letting him back in -- but it's there. Long before she sets him up to figure out that they're printing counterfeit bills, she knows (at least has a hunch) that is what's happening, all the other steps are Kate trying to prove it and let Castle figure it out himself. Which is just sweet to me. She doesn't want him to go away, but she's not brave enough to say it because he hurt her, albeit unknowingly. It's just a lot of layers. It's a fun case. Every time I watch it, I see something new. Those are always my favorite episodes.

[writerboylikeme]

Awesome review, as always. An interesting thing to me is that Beckett found out so early what was going on in the case. She is a brilliant detective, we know that, but until then the most usual thing had been to see Castle as the one who found the key that made the story made sense, so it was refreshing that this time it was the other way around and that she let him believe that it was him who discovered it. 

And the interrogation scene... man, could be the best interrogation scene in the series, because it's one of the few interrogations where Beckett lets the personal stuff get in the way of being professional, you know:  Why didn’t you call? Oohhh, so you and Mrs Santori were in a relatiooooonship… Tell me, does she -Gina- makes you do everything in a deadline?  Very subtle, Beckett, hahaaha. 

Although I hurt for Castle, it was also nice to see how everyone, Espo, Ryan, Lanie and Montgomery closed ranks around Beckett. After all, it’s probable that they were not only sympathizing with her pain, but also upset that they hadn't heard from Castle during the summer either and they were also his friends, especially Espo and Ryan. 

Another thing that is worth to talk about is this: do you think that Castle didn’t call Beckett just because he wanted to get away and not interfere in her relationship with Demming or because he didn't know if Beckett really wanted him to call? Kate had that approach with him at the end of 2x24 where she was honest and told him that shed had a great time working with him and asked him if he would come back, but I feel that at that time their friendship was still a bit tentative and that Castle was not sure that she really wanted to know about him. (Certainly, Kate could have called too, not wait for him to do it, but well, I understand that if he was the one who left, in Kate's proud mind, it was him who should initiate the contact). 

And related to this, do you think Castle intended to go back to the precinct with Beckett in the fall if he had never bump into her because of his friend's murder? I remember that at one point in the episode he mentions to Martha that he intended to do it after the Naked Heat tour was over, but right now I'm not sure. In my opinion, I think he would have, eventually. It seems to me that by the time of 3x01 Castle was able to heal a bit from seeing her with Demming and he had also missed her a lot, so even thinking they were still a couple, he would have returned. 

PS: If you ever do those breakdowns for every episode in a possible future rewatch, I'll be here to read them too. In the meantime, for someone who didn’t know about the existence of a Castle tumblr fandom until just a couple of years ago it's a pleasure to be able to ask you questions about the show and comment the answers with you :)

[alwayswritewithcoffee]

I think he didn't call because he was trying to accept that she didn't having the kind of feelings for him that he had for her. He was trying to give her space to be with Demming and himself space to accept that she was with him. Cause, remember, he's surprised when she tells him they broke up. He expected to come back and find them happy and content, and I think his delay in returning is directly tied to that. Hard to say if he would have gone back -- I tend to believe him when he said he wanted to wait till the tour was over. But, at the same time, there's a scenario where the idea of Beckett in a committed relationship still smarts when the tour is over and he just doesn't go back. Both are easily plausible to me. Re: breakdowns for every episode -- I certainly have thoughts about them all, but I don't know that I'd just freely ramble. But you guys can obviously ask me whatever you want to know about specific eps. I'll do my best.

[alwayswritewithcoffee]

Oh prev anon again! I misread your post! I thought you ARE trying to start a debate! Missed the 'not' at the begining, sorry!! Ignore previous ask i didn't mean to be intruding or anything just misread the whole thing!

No it's fine! I don't mind people weighing in about why they like whatever season they like. I just am not gonna respond to people being rude about it. We're like a month away from the show being off the air for seven years, the U.S. is a dumpster fire of politics, etc. and I just don't have the energy for that stuff. Like what you want to like, but don't bully people into sharing your opinion. That was all I was saying.