Suits

I’m very aware that I’m behind the times when it comes to this show. It aired from 2011 – 2019. I know that a few years ago I started the show and got through the first season. I can’t remember if I started the show before or after I moved to Los Angeles. The show was recommended by a friend, and I know Megan was dating Prince Harry by the time I started the show, which made me interested in watching. Also, any time I see actors from Whedon shows, I’m down to give the show a try, and Gina Torres was Jasmine in Angel. Plus, I loved Cleopatra 2525, Firefly and Alias, so I’ll watch anything she’s in.

I was hooked from the first episode. It’s a really great premise. The main character is Michael Ross. He’s a college dropout, who just happens to be a genius. He has this ability to remember everything he reads. By chance, he ends up meeting Harvey Specter, who’s a hotshot lawyer looking for a protege associate. Mike always wanted to be a lawyer, and despite not graduating from law school, Harvey takes him under his wing. For most of the show, it is Harvey and Mike trying to keep Mike’s secret.

The first several seasons where riveting. I loved the characters and I loved the drama. Even characters you were meant to dislike (maybe even hate) felt somewhat likeable, and that can be a really hard thing to do. Even when I disliked what a character was doing (looking at you, Luis), I could still see where they were coming from, for the most part. Around season five, I started to get bored, which may be the fault of binging the show more than the show itself. However, season six or seven, I can’t remember now, took a much needed dramatic turn, and I was pleasantly surprised.

You may or may not know this, but The O.C. was a HUGE part of my teenage life, and I reference it when I discuss shows, even now. There is something I’ve coined (maybe someone else said it, but if they did, I never heard it) the “Ryan Chino” dilemma. If you didn’t watch the show, or don’t remember, a lot of times, especially in the earlier episodes, the drama was, is Ryan going to stay in Newport or return to Chino. It got tired after a while. I felt the same way with this, is Mike’s secret going to be exposed or not… and that dilemma lasted much longer than Ryan’s, let alone the show The O.C. itself.

I won’t go into spoiler territory, but the last two seasons deal with dramatic cast changes, and I was again pleasantly surprised. One addition to the cast that I really enjoyed was Katherine Heigl. I think the last thing I saw her in was Knocked Up (I’ll have to do a post about that film and This is 40, because from what I understand, people hated Debbie and Alison, but they were my favorite characters.). The whole Grey’s Anatomy drama had left a bad taste in my mouth. Having finished Suits, I may need to rethink my opinion of Katherine.

For any Angel fans out there, Amy Acker also has a few appearances on the show… and I just realized as I typed this that both Amy and Gina were on Suits, Angel and Alias. I was disappointed that they didn’t interact in Suits. I think they interacted in Alias… it’s been a long time… and I assume they had to interact in Angel.

I feel like a remember a few people from PLL being on the show as well. I know Patrick J. Adams, the actor who played Mike Ross, married Troian Bellisario, who played Spencer on PLL. So, both were on each other’s show… But I feel like I notice PLL cast members in everything. The actress who played Charlie/Charles was prominent in the first season of Suits as well.

Moving on, despite the show being rather formulaic, though I suppose all shows will develop some rhythm that seems formulaic, it was still enjoyable. There would typically be some impossible situation, usually a case, and just when they thought they couldn’t figure it out, while talking about something else, an idea would pop into someone’s head (usually Harvey’s or Mike’s) and they’d save the day. Their bond was my favorite part of the show. I may be reading into it, but their relationship felt more romantic than mentor/protege. These were two heterosexual male characters, but sometimes they bickered like a couple would.

I also loved all the women in the show. It was very rare that you saw one being a damsel. They were all badass and took charge. Not to mention, for most of the show, Jessica (Gina Torres’ character) is the one running the firm. There were some times when the women’s scenes seemed to only exist to talk about relationship drama, but that didn’t happen too often.

I often say the series finale can make or break a show, and I felt the series finale did the show justice. It was also nice to see some cast that had left return for the finale… Speaking of, something that bothered me, and I could have overlooked it, but I rewatched it twice to make sure… Amy Acker is in the finale, but it was literally a blink and you miss it shot.

It was also funny that I went from Scandal to HTGAWM to Suits. I wonder what law show I will watch next…

Internet Offended Culture

I try to avoid broad blanket statements because you’re bound to offend someone. I try not to offend people in general. This is one of the reasons I don’t engage in arguments online (despite my love of lurking through them) and why I don’t post on YouTube or TikTok. I suppose eventually someone will be upset about something I say in one of these blogs, and this may be the blog that does it. I never thought the day would come that I would think/say this, but I think people are too easily offended these days.

I don’t want to feel like the offense police, nor do I think it is my place to tell someone what they should/shouldn’t be offended by any more than someone should tell me… That being said, some things make me think… do you not have better things to do with your time?

I’ll give an example. A TikToker I follow made a video about how she doesn’t have friends under a certain age (I watched her reaction video, not the video that caused the “controversy”). I think she said she doesn’t have any 26-year-old friends. She is 38, and she said she is in a different place in life. Fair. Apparently, a bunch of 26-year-olds flooded her comments upset about this. It made me think of a time years ago when I used to engage in social media posts. I was a part of a Gaymer (gay gamer) Facebook group, and I might still be a part of the group. I assume people were talking about dating and age, as I posted a comment stating I wouldn’t date a guy under the age of 21.

I got SO much backlash for that. I explained my stance, as I was newly 21 and most of my social life was spent at bars (even now, 13 years later…), so I’d want a guy who can go to the bars with my friends and I. Even now, I couldn’t see myself seriously dating a guy who is under 30. I never say never, but I do see how someone in their 20s is in a different place in life, more than likely. The comments I got were as if I were personally rejecting these guys. I wanted to be like, “well, damn, are you saying you wanted to date me? Why are you so mad?!?”

The other day, I also saw people offended about this whole Lea Michele can’t read thing. In case you don’t know, there is this conspiracy/joke going around (that has for years) that Lea Michele can’t read. Any time she is in the news, it resurfaces. I was going through Facebook comments on a post about it and saw a bunch of parents who were upset. They were upset because they have children with learning disabilities (dyslexia, etc) and apparently saying Lea Michele can’t read equates to making fun of their children. Again, I don’t want to be the offense police, but this feels like a stretch. I could maybe see if someone was making fun of people with learning disabilities, but, for the most part, I don’t see anyone actually making a stance on whether her being able to read or not is good or bad (though I suppose in general, our society views illiteracy in a negative way), people are just making the statement that she can’t read.

It reminds me of a meme I saw. It basically said you can post online that you love apples, and someone will be in your comments saying you hate oranges. I’ve even seen people argue about math… and I’m like, how do you argue math… it’s math… either it’s right or it’s wrong (in this case, they were saying 5 x 0 is not 0, but 5, which made NO sense… and they argued for MANY comments about how they were right, despite everyone telling them they were wrong.) The internet is a very wild place. Sometimes, I think it is just trolls, but sometimes there are people who genuinely are upset or offended, and I just want them to spend less time on the internet.

Retro Review: Dead Or Alive

I used to LOVE fighting games. I’d play them all the time. From time to time, I’ll play now, but not as much as when I was growing up. Like many fighting game enthusiasts growing up in the 90s, my first loves were Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. Around the time I was getting into video games, the Mortal Kombat films came out… and I was obsessed. Sonya Blade was my favorite in Mortal Kombat, and Cammy was my favorite in Street Fighter. (As you read on, you’ll learn my favorite in a fighting game will typically be the blonde bombshell) I don’t remember my introduction to the Tekken series, but I recall fond memories of playing Tekken 2, and I’ve owned every game, at least every game available on Playstation consoles, since then. In the second game, Michelle Chang was my favorite, but between the second and third games she died or disappeared, and her daughter, Julia, replaced her. I didn’t like Julia as much, so I switched to Nina Williams… another blonde bombshell, in fact, that is the. name of one of her moves. In hindsight, I enjoyed fighting games up until Tekken, but I LOVED the Tekken series. I believe my introduction to the Dead Or Alive series was through GameInformer. I want to say that I had a subscription from my preteen years up through my mid to late twenties. Back then, there wasn’t social media or YouTube showing me new games, I either saw them in stores, read about them in magazines, or heard about them through friends. At the time, I was also very much into reading strategy guides. I don’t know if people buy strategy guides anymore, but I’ll still buy a collector’s edition here and there. I like to collect them more than anything else, you can use an online guide or YouTube these days. Anyway, I remember going to the mall on weekends and spending my time at arcades (another story) and/or reading strategy guides. The look of Dead Or Alive is what pulled me in. It looked so different from the other fighting games I had played. At the time, I had a PS2, and the fighting game I was playing all the time was Tekken Tag Tournament. I was OBSESSED with that game, partly because it was my first PS2 game and partly because it brought back characters from previous games, such as Michelle Chang, and introduced characters like Unknown. There were so many theories that Unknown was actually Jun, who also disappeared/died between the second and third games. It wouldn’t be until years later that said theory was confirmed with Tekken Tag Tournament 2. I believe that game was on PS5. Anyway, the first DOA game to come to PS2 was Dead Or Alive 2: Hardcore, and I purchased it around Christmas time. The first thing I noticed was how fast the game was, not that the other fighting games were slow, but they weren’t as fast as this. This also started my love of costumes in games. Mind you, on this PS2 game, each character had 20 costumes… free, no DLC, already in the game costumes (that’s important for later). You had to do different tasks to unlock different costumes, like play story mode on different difficulties, defeat a certain number of enemies in Survivor mode. It was a lot of fun. Now, DOA has a reputation of being a series catered towards young men. To be fair, most video games, then and now, were catered towards teen boys. With this game, the higher you set the age of the player, the more the boobs bounced. The costumes were a bit risqué at times, and it was not uncommon to get a panty shot when the characters were wearing skirts or other skimpy outfits. I didn’t care about any of that, I loved seeing the different costume designs. There was also an art gallery. It played this song called “Deadly Silence Beach” and there were different 3D renderings of the girls of DOA. A lot of them were in bikinis and other skimpy outfits, very much how I imagine a men’s magazine to be. No nudity though, which was fine by me. I’d spend hours listening to that song and drawing while looking at the renderings. It really helped me create an artistic style… I would later have to edit that style because DOA was about big boobs, so my drawings all had big boobs too. When DOA3 was announced as an Xbox exclusive, I, the Playstation fanboy, was devastated… but I went ahead and bought an Xbox (more accurately, I had my mom buy one for me) and I got DOA3 and DOA: Extreme Beach Volleyball. The volleyball series is going to need its own post, as will my days as an Xbox fanboy while I owned my Xbox and Xbox 360. I don’t believe DOA3 or DOA4 had as many costumes as DOA2 did, but they were faster, and the graphics looked better. In between the third and fourth games was my first experience of a remastered/remade game, which was Dead or Alive: Ultimate. It was the first two games, but now on Xbox. I think each character may have still had 20 outfits. I do remember all the girls had a black and green Xbox outfit, which I thought was cool. Dead or Alive: Ultimate came out the same day as Halo 2. I remember my friends thinking I was crazy to buy it instead of Halo. While I enjoyed Halo, and would eventually get the second game, I LOVED DOA. DOA4 was on Xbox 360. By then, I was 18 and in Phoenix. Eventually, probably around 19 or 20, I bought an Xbox 360. I still loved Playstation 3, but Xbox 360 had achievements and I was obsessed with them, so I played it more than my PS3 at the time. Playstation eventually developed their equivalent of achievements, called trophies, and DOA5 was the triumphant return of the series of the Playstation console, which was perfect, because in the age of the PS4, I had yet to purchase the Xbox One. DOA6 was also available on both Playstation and Xbox, but was not well received, and we haven’t heard of a new DOA since, and there may never be one. DOA 2: Hardcore and DOA: Ultimate are my favorite games in the series, and honestly, they are both the same game, one is just a remastered version of the other. They were fun and I could literally spend hours in Practice mode. I enjoyed DOA5, but it had its problems. For starters, the series introduced DLC. The DLC came in the form of characters, but mostly costumes, and each pack, for lack of a better term, was called a season, and each season was $92. I bought almost all the seasons. As I said before, this game developed my love of in-game costumes, and I wanted them all. I also had a lot of disposable income at the time, so I was fine with it. Not to mention, this came out to maybe $2 – $3 per outfit, whereas I play games today where a single outfit is $10… looking at you Dead By Daylight and Marvel’s Avengers. I believe there were 3 releases of DOA5. DOA5, DOA5: Ultimate, both on PS3/Xbox 360, and finally DOA 5: Last Round, which released on PS3/Xbox 360, as well as PS4 and Xbox One. With the different versions, I bought them all, and the DLC, I’m sure I spent at least $1k on the game during its lifetime, but as with the other games in the series, I played it pretty regularly. DOA6 I barely spent time playing, and I only bought the deluxe edition when it was recently on sale for $20 something. It still has DLC, but it took a shift towards more in-game purchases, and fans were immediately turned off by it. Also, you couldn’t unlock costumes like normal. I don’t remember exactly how it works, because I didn’t play it, but completely tasks would unlock pieces of costumes, but the pieces may not even be for the character you were playing as. It was a big mess, and that’s probably why we haven’t seen a new DOA since, which makes me sad. I’d love for them to go the remaster/remake route and remake DOA2 again. The series meant so much to me and I’d had to never see it revived.

The Little Mermaid

I woke up this morning and stumbled through Facebook posts and their comment sections, something I don’t recommend doing, and came across a post about The Little Mermaid. It is set to star Halle Bailey… and the fact that she is black has some people losing their minds. I’d like to say I’m surprised, but I’m not, as this isn’t the first time people have lost their minds over a traditionally white character being played by a non-white actor… And every time this argument comes up, my blood boils, because any way you slice it, this argument is seeped in ignorance, both regarding race and the history of media.

I’ll start with the argument I see the most… “The author wrote her as white…” We are talking about a book by Danish author, Hans Christian Andersen from 1837… I’d be very surprised to learn there were many white writers writing about protagonists of other races, so this argument holds little weight with me. White was the default then, and still is now, so it doesn’t add anything to the character.

This brings me to the next argument… “What if (insert Black fictional or REAL person) was played by a white actor?!?” This is a disturbing argument, because why would anyone think it is ok for a REAL person to be played by someone of another ethnicity… (not to say it hasn’t happened, because it has.) But, that brings me back to the topic of white as default. Typically, and I’m sure someone can find an exception, a character’s whiteness doesn’t add or take away from the character, it is just a default setting. When a character is of a certain religion, ethnicity, race, etc. it typically influences that character. I’ll give an example using two of my favorite X-Men characters, Emma Frost and Storm aka Ororo Munroe.

What makes Emma Frost special isn’t the fact that she’s white. Her powers and personality traits make her special. You could tell the same story whether she was white or not. You can’t tell the same story w/ Storm not being black. For anyone about to argue, I mean, the SAME exact story, without making any changes to fit the change of race. A lot of Storm’s backstory is about being a descendant of African goddesses. Her race is as much a part of her character as her powers and personality.

The next argument is… “Why don’t YOU PEOPLE make your own characters/shows/movies”… Well, there is nothing new under the sun when it comes to things like art and stories… and despite evidence to the contrary, it is still widely believed that if a film doesn’t have a white lead, it will not do well, and Hollywood is a business (which is why we see so many remakes and reboots right now. Those entities have a built in audience, so they are less of a risk than brand new IPs.)

In the year of 2022, it just baffles me that people can be so upset about a fictional character not being white… while still trying to say our society doesn’t have a race problem…

Retro Rogue – Midnight Club

Since I can remember, I’ve always loved cars. As a child, I had a huge Hot Wheels collection. Anytime I would go to a toy store, I would leave with at least one new car. I was also obsessed with car wash sets, especially the ones that allowed you to actually wash the cars with soap and water (I also had an obsession with watching clothes in the washer… though never the dryer, but I digress…)

I also felt safest in a car. When I was a kid, my mom would take my sisters and me on mini-road trips on the weekends. We’d usually stop at a toy store on the way out of town (on these trips, I’d get an action figure, rather than a new car), get some snacks for the road, and be on our way. I LOVED being in a car, driving somewhere, and listening to music.

My love of cars naturally made its way to my love of video games. For the most part, these games were more traditional racing, like Gran Turismo 3. Somehow I got a code or something that unlocked all the cars and gave me a bunch of money. It was SO much fun (I was a kid and didn’t want to invest the time to unlock everything.) Sometimes I would race around, but sometimes, it was just a place of pretend of me. I’d pick a place on the track and pretend it was a house, and just pretend there were places for me to drive.

After watching The Fast and the Furious, my love of cars shifted to street racing cars… and my video game preference shifted as well… Enter Midnight Club. I don’t remember how I discovered the game, but I remember loving that it was an open world. It made it easier to play pretend. Now I could actually pick a building to be my “home” and I could drive around “running errands” and whatnot. I had an entire imaginary life. Don’t get me wrong, I played the game as intended too… but once I unlocked everything, I needed something to do. I remember unlocking this car that was like a spaceship. It went SO fast. I loved it.

When the 2nd entry in the series came out, it was a no-brainer that I would buy it. I don’t remember much about the second game though. The first one I remember vividly. It’s weird, but there are some songs I associate with games, despite having nothing to do with the game. Example being Hottie by Ashley Ballard. It is from the Spyder Games soundtrack (a story for another time…), and I remember listening to it while playing the game. I can’t think of one without thinking of the other.

Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition came out sometime when I was in high school. The game is BY FAR my favorite racing game. Not only did I get to race around in an even BIGGER environment, but I got to customize the cars like never before. If you wanted your car to look like something out of The Fast and the Furious, you could absolutely do that. I spent so many hours customizing cars and even more hours just driving around. The soundtrack was INCREDIBLE too! My introduction to M.I.A was via this game. I wish there was a remaster of this for the current gen consoles.

Midnight Club 4: Los Angeles was, unfortunately, the last game in the series. I haven’t played it in a while, but I do remember playing it shortly after moving to Los Angeles. It was interesting to see how the city was translated into the game. I love it for its depiction of Los Angeles, and because I was loyal to the series… but 3 was better.

I’m not sure why there hasn’t been another Midnight Club. Rockstar, also the company behind Grand Theft Auto, has made references to Midnight Club via Grand Theft Auto Online. I hope that means it will someday make a return… but I’m not holding my breath. It is interesting to me though that Grand Theft Auto Online now has more street racing elements. There is even an event, or maybe a trophy called Midnight Club.

There have been a few mumbles of a revival of the series. My fingers are crossed.

Retro Rogue – Bust A Groove 2

This idea came to me the other day when I was working out. See, I make a playlist each day I work out. I feel it helps motivate me to actually work out and I like having a theme. The other day, I was inspired by my Bust A Groove 2 playlist, and my workout was all songs from that game. I figured, why not make a series where I talk about retro games? So, here it is.

I don’t know if anyone will know this series, I only know it by chance. See, I had a cousin who was a big gamer (when I say cousin, don’t think someone my age, he was an adult… not that it really matters to the story). It was Christmas time, I was maybe 9 or 10? I was at my Nana’s house and my dad came over with this big trash bag full of games… a literally big, black trash bag. Why in a trash bag, I don’t know. Anyway, my cousin just got a Dreamcast and rather than keep his Playstation and Playstation games, he was getting rid of them… which may explain why they were in a trash bag… I guess my dad happened to be there, so rather than let them get thrown out, he took them and gave them to me.

This bag of games would be my introduction to the Darkstalkers series. There was also a Star Wars fighting game that I loved… but everyone else hates… and Bust A Groove 2. I’ll do my best to describe the premise of the game. It is unlike anything I had played before… or since. There are a series of characters, all with their own stories… and unique dance styles. If I remember correctly, they are in a dance battle for a prize of some sort… Anyway, each round, two characters battle and you can actually use attacks on each other. During each battle, there is a part where each dancer gets a solo, so if you time your attack the right way, you get your solo and you get to take your opponent’s solo.

Much like with PaRappa the Rapper, you gain points by entering the command you see on the screen. With Bust A Groove 2, everything is on a 4 count. There is a rectangle where a series of commands will be, and you can enter those at any time during the first 1 – 3 counts. Next to it is a square, and that one button must be pressed on the 4 count. If you enter the command correctly, and on the count, you get points. This was VERY confusing to me when I first started playing, and I hope I explained it correctly here… I’m sure there are YouTube videos of gameplay if you are curious to see how it works, but I got better as time went on. As the battle progresses, the commands become longer and more intricate. I remember thinking the game was cheating when I was first playing… but now I could play it and win every time because I learned how to play (I felt the same way with another Rhythm & Music game, UNiSON… but that’s a story for another time.)

The music still makes me want to dance and I love the characters. My favorite character is called Kitty-N. From what I remember, she is an actress. Her stage is a film stage (oh yeah, each character has their own stage that has its own song.) She has more ballet dance moves and is dressed in a… well, catsuit. Despite her being my favorite character, my favorite stage is that of Shorty’s. If I remember correctly, Shorty is the daughter of dancers or choreographers. She’s called Shorty because she’s just a kid, and she has a pet animal in her backpack while she dances. With her stage, you are on a raft of sorts going down a river… but it is more like a water ride at an amusement park, and it is taking you through a “jungle” and the song is called Happy Hearts in Sunshine.

I forgot to mention a part of the “battle”. Each combo successfully done adds to a meter. There are three, Cool (green), Chillin (pink), and Freeze (blue). The meters start on different levels at the beginning of the battle. As the battle goes on, and you do successful combos, it allows you to do more moves and get Cool to end the combo, doing those well lets you get Chillin when you successfully end the combo and then Freeze. If you line up all three meters, the stage will do something special. For instance, with Shorty’s stage, the tour will stop at and inside a tunnel and you’ll see animals dancing around you. Also, if your score is high enough Shorty’s pet, Columbo, who is also an unlockable character, will jump out of her backpack and dance alongside her.

This game was such a part of my childhood. Listening to the songs takes me back. I’d love to own it again… but I don’t want to pay $90 for a Playstation One game… at least not right now. This game makes me think of when I’d go to Babbage’s with my allowance in hand, and purchase whatever used game I could afford that looked interesting. I know there are still indie games out there, but I feel games don’t take as many risks as they used to. I’d love to see a concept like this revived today.

American Horror Stories

I’ll start by saying I’ve been a fan of Ryan Murphy since before I even knew I was watching Ryan Murphy shows. See, back in the day (how old did I just make myself sound…) I was a fan of a show called Popular. It came out in 1999, shortly after I turned 11. Despite being in 6th grade, I was OBSESSED with this show about two girls in high school who hated each other but had to tolerate one another because their parents married and they became stepsisters. Back then, I wasn’t interested in media to the extent I am now, so I didn’t pay attention to things like creators, directors, producers, and writers… (though I still would remember actors and I still recognize actors from Popular in shows and films I see today.) If I had, I would have realized I’ve been a fan of Ryan Murphy since 1999.

I believe the first Ryan Murphy show I watched knowing it was his show was Glee, and even THAT took a minute. I’m never one to watch a show/film just because it is popular, no pun intended. I was aware of Nip/Tuck, but never got around to watching it. And honestly, I think I knew about it more because of Julian McMahon, Cole from Charmed, than it being a Ryan Murphy show. Glee started in 2009, 10 years after Popular started airing. Despite being 21 and hanging around a bunch of 21-year-olds, a lot of my friends were Gleeks. One year for Christmas, my roommate got me something Glee related. I can’t remember if it was the first season or their live concert… or maybe both. I was sick, so I decided to watch. Mind you, I also watched performances on Youtube, so I had an idea of the show. I think seeing Naya Rivera perform Rumour Has It / Someone Like You was what made me finally decide to give the show a shot, and that was at least 2 years into the show’s run… but I’m getting off-topic, one day I’ll make a Glee post.

I don’t think I watched American Horror Story when it first came out, maybe I did… I can’t remember. I do remember watching the third season, Coven, weekly with my roommate, at the time, and bestie, still, Nicole. We’d have our food and wine ready every Wednesday and watch and make commentary. We thought of making a YouTube channel… I wonder where we’d be if we had. Anyway, something about me, I’m a horror fan through and through. Some of my first memories of cinema are horror films. My writing is influenced by horror, so American Horror Story was, and is, right up my alley. I’ve watched each season at least once (seasons 1 – 5 I’ve watched at least three times.)

I’m not sure what made me think of it, but I was on Hulu over the weekend and realized I hadn’t watched seasons 9 and 10 of AHS. Side note, I LOVE that Leslie Grossman has reunited with Ryan Murphy, as I will ALWAYS remember her as Mary Cherry from Popular, though she now appears regularly on American Horror Story.) I had nothing to do, so figured this was as good a time as any to watch them, so I did. I LOVED season 9 and the first part of season 10 (another story for another day), and then remembered American Horror Stories, so I watched that too. American Horror Stories inspired me!

So, I’m an aspiring screenwriter (I know I should just say screenwriter, but I still say aspiring screenwriter because it has been a couple years since I even wrote a draft of a script… again, another story.) Horror is my thing, as I said before. Something that has been a bit overwhelming for me is the idea of writing a feature-length script after years of not practicing. The thought of a short film didn’t work either because I didn’t think I could fit a concept into something so short… American Horror Stories showed me a couple things. 1. I need to stop forcing limitations on myself. I can write a short film that is longer than 30 mins. 2. I have a bunch of different ideas and they don’t all have to be feature-length (and for some, it is probably best they aren’t.)

In case you aren’t aware, unlike American Horror Story, which has a (more or less) self-contained story per season, American Horror Stories, has self-contained stories per episode (again, more or less.) Each episode is around 45 mins or so, your standard for an hour-long show, and some of those stories were SO great. I enjoyed them all for different reasons, but my favorite two were Ba’al and Feral. There were so many twists and turns, while still telling a complete and satisfying story. It was just what I needed to see as I am getting back into my writing groove. A series that shows you can tell a great horror story in under an hour. And I’m sure there are others out there, but this is the first I saw and it just spoke to me at a time when I needed a writing pep talk.

Funny enough, I timed it just right. I watched American Horror Stories on 07/19 (I also watched Clueless, as it was the 27th anniversary… damn I feel old) and tonight, 07/21, is the premiere of the 2nd season of American Horror Stories. I’m excited to see the new stories this season and how they can further inspire my own writing.

How to Get Away With Murder

Like with Scandal (and most popular shows/films), I was late to the party when it came to watching the show. If I remember correctly, I started the show in 2016 or 2017. At the time, Netflix had the first two seasons. I binged them and damn near had a heart attack each episode. It was so suspenseful, and I felt on the edge of my seat the entire time. Then… there were no more episodes available, and I moved on to watching other things… and forgot about the show.

Rewatching Scandal reminded me that I never finished How to Get Away With Murder. Since I’ve been reading pilot scripts, I read the pilot before I started watching the series again (unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find more than just the pilot, so if anyone can lead me to more, I’d be grateful). Seasons 1 and 2 weren’t as shocking this time around. Though it has been five or six years, I vaguely remembered bits and pieces of the story and twists.

Season 3 and beyond was a WILD ride. It felt how the first two seasons felt when I initially watched. I loved Connor and Oliver instantly. Now that I think of it, there wasn’t really a character I didn’t like… Even though there were times when I didn’t like what the characters were doing, I enjoyed all of the main characters. They had great chemistry, they were all different, and they all had great storylines. Annalise was an INCREDIBLE main character. Viola Davis is a POWERHOUSE. Despite Annalise being deeply flawed, I still cared for her and wanted her to succeed in her endeavors. That being said, by season 3, they had all worked a nerve at some point or another.

When I got to season 5, I was ready for the show to be over. The show was still interesting… but I wanted the crime (or whatever) to elevate. These characters were dealing with the same types of crimes/murders… but they weren’t getting any better at handling them. There were so many stupid mistakes being made. Season 6 I powered through… and that season finale really got me.

I think the series finale is one of the best I’ve seen (despite me being a die-hard Buffy fan, I have to admit this finale was better.) I’m not going to give anything away, but I do like how we got to come full circle from the start of the pilot. It also felt like the best use of a time jump I’ve seen in a long time. Also, I always thought the show was created by Shonda Rhimes, but it was created by Peter Nowalk. It makes me want to look into more things that he’s done (I know he worked with Shonda Rhimes on Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal). This show is definitely one of my top 5 favorite shows, and that doesn’t come easy.

Lurker – Tip Culture

Many moons ago, I discovered I’m a lurker. If you don’t know what that is, it is someone who is in forums and discussion boards, but rarely engages in conversation. In real life, I can be that way too… I tend to be more interested in listening to the conversation than engaging.

I used to be a person who would argue with people on the internet, but many moons ago, I realized that wasn’t a good way to spend my time… I still lurk though. This may or may not become a series, as it is a way to get my thoughts out without having to engage…

I don’t want to say people are dumb or stupid… what I will say is… it doesn’t make sense to me to argue… on the internet, where one has access to a wealth of information… from an uninformed place. Nonetheless, I see it ALL the time.

For today’s Lurker, I will talk about “tip culture”. There are ALWAYS arguments about tipping and it frustrates me. I was never a server, though I did have some food industry jobs when I was younger (think fast food type stuff.) I’ll start with a few things.

The minimum wage in this country absolutely needs to be higher (though that may be another post of its own.)
In my opinion, if you are going out to eat unless you have absolutely terrible service, you should tip AT LEAST 20%

Naturally, there are a lot of people who disagree with this sentiment… for some reason or another.

From what I can tell, a lot of people don’t think they should be obligated to tip. They say the restaurants should pay their employees more and it shouldn’t be their responsibility to pay the employees. I agree with that… to an extent. In a lot of other countries, customers don’t tip… but we don’t live in other countries, we live in America, where servers rely on tips as their primary income. Unless it is the customer’s first time going to a restaurant in America, by stepping inside, sitting down, and ordering… I feel you are entering a social contract of sorts. It is unfair to say the employer should pay more… but still dine there and not tip, you are exploiting the workers… just like the employer.

I never tip under 20%, even for these expensive ass WeHo drinks at the bars. I think employers should pay more so their employees don’t have to rely on tips, but until that happens, I will abide by the terms of this social contract.

Some people say their tip amount is determined upon the service (some people have a whole rubric like it’s grade school), I am not one of those people… unless it is TERRIBLE service. I’ll give an example. Years ago, I went to brunch with some friends. I don’t remember the name of the place, and I suppose it doesn’t matter, but they had those long, cafeteria-like tables where multiple parties would sit at the same table, but with chairs as dividers (this is important to the story.) Our server greets us and lets us know breakfast will be ending soon. We all wanted breakfast, so we start looking at the menu right away.

We decide what we want pretty quickly, but we can’t find out waiter. He finally pops up, but he is on the other end of the table chatting with his buddies. We are trying to get his attention (thankfully no one snapped their fingers or anything) but he is just chatting and chatting. He finally comes back to us and we start ordering, and he tells us we can’t do breakfast anymore. We ask if an exception can be made because we were ready to order, but we were waiting on him. I don’t remember exactly what happened after that, because we didn’t end up staying.

See, despite my Type A personality, I am very go with the flow when it comes to a dining experience. If they don’t have the thing I want, I’ll just get something else. If they can’t substitute something or add something (which I rarely ask them to do anyway), I’ll take it as is… so I would have just ordered lunch and went about my business… but my friends were pissed. I know we didn’t eat there, and I know one of my friends talked to the manager and got some kind of voucher for their next time there. I think eventually we got drinks, so we paid for that and left. That is the only time I can remember not tipping.

There was another time when a friend of mine tried to not pay his bill. We were at a Denny’s or IHOP or something. There was a big group of us (at least 10 – 15). We all had separate checks (mind you, this was a good 10 years ago, before things like Venmo and CashApp). Naturally, it was chaos and a flurry of pens and the bill holders. He just put his unpaid receipt in with someone who had paid and signed… but I noticed. So, I took it and had the waitress run his bill with mine. I don’t think I said anything to him about it, but I didn’t want the waitress to get stiffed.

I say all that to say, I go out to eat probably once a week (I’m a Sunday Funday brunch kinda girl) and the only bad experience I can think of at a restaurant is that one time some odd years ago. I’m not saying I’m a model customer, I’m sure I do things that annoy the workers that I don’t even realize, but I don’t treat them like they are beneath me because they are serving me… and I think a lot of people against tipping have that mentality. For me, it is the opposite, I treat them with so much respect BECAUSE they are serving me. I could have stayed at home and made a meal of my own (I’m not the best cook in the world, but I’m not the worst)… instead I opted to go out and be served… and for me, that demands the upmost respect.

This also applies to delivers. Before the pandemic, I rarely had food delivered to my own… That changed (and my weight can attest to that.) Always 20%, minimum. When I have groceries delivered, they only offer 5%, 10% and 15%, so I double the 10% and round up to the nearest dollar (that is typically what I do at restaurants too, 20% rounded up to the nearest dollar.)

Some argue that some families/people can’t afford to tip… to which I say, in the most respectful way, go somewhere else, or order something less expensive. When I was a broke college kid, I NEVER went out to eat, unless my roommate’s parents took me to dinner with him (and they graciously paid… because I was a broke college kid.) I survived off Little Caesar’s $5 Hot and Ready pizza mostly, or I’d take what little money I had and go to the grocery store and make food.

To me, to go out to eat and say you can’t afford to tip, or shouldn’t have to tip, is saying you are better than the people working there. There is no way someone can explain not tipping to me that will make me think otherwise. Call me crazy, but I don’t want a restaurant worker to go without because I wanted a nice experience.

So, in closing… if you don’t tip (or tip well)… I think you’re a bad, selfish, greedy person.

Grief

This one is a little more personal, but it’s how I feel in the moment and I feel inspired to write it.

I moved to LA in Feb 2016 to pursue a career in screenwriting (a topic for another post) and in late April I got a call that my mother had passed away. I was devastated. We hadn’t been close for a long time. Right after graduating high school, I took off to Phoenix, Arizona. I spent my 18th birthday on a Greyhound bus. I saw my mother one more time after leaving home. I saw her that Christmas… and I was violently ill the entire time I was in her home, I felt fine before and after, and I vowed never to return, so I didn’t. But I had this idea in my head that we would reconnect when we were older, and I was successful, and we could be close like we were when I was younger. That didn’t happen.

I was reminded again last night, that we don’t have as much time with those we care about as we’d like to think. My roommate let me know that he saw a post about a friend of mine passing away. At first, I was numb, and then I just felt an overwhelming rush of guilt. See, this friend texted me Monday saying he’d be in LA soon and wanted to see me. What I didn’t realize was he meant that day. I was a little taken back because it was so sudden and I was just relaxing at home, I didn’t want to do anything or see anybody. I asked when he was leaving and he told me he was heading north Tuesday morning. I had Tuesday off, so I figured I’d text him that morning and get breakfast or something… only I forgot to text him. And now I can’t.

I wish I would have just gone to see him. I don’t know if it would have hurt more than it hurts now, but to know I had a chance to see him once last time and I didn’t take it…

All these memories have been flooding back. I tend to associate people with music. If you’re a friend of mine, you’ll probably get a drunk text or DM from me with a screenshot of a song that makes me think of you. For him, it was #GETITRIGHT by Miley Cyrus. He was the one who introduced me to the song and I instantly loved it. Or I think about the time he came to LA to visit for the weekend. He stayed with me and he just hung out, talked, and watched movies. We went to an ice cream shop and they had jawbreakers. I was so excited, I hadn’t seen a jawbreaker since I was a child, so he bought it for me.

Last night, I was crying myself to sleep and I randomly thought of that jawbreaker. I still have it, so I got up and grabbed it out of my nightstand. I held it in my hand while I went to sleep and it gave me solace, however silly that may sound. I just hope he knows that I’m sorry for not seeing him one last time and I hope he knows he is loved.

And to anyone reading, spend time with your loved ones, tell them you care, because you never know when they’ll be gone.