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Thread started 03/13/03 8:05am

jnoel

Donnie Darko

Sorry if there was already a thread about this movie, I 've seen it only recently wow!
I almost cried at the end, David Lynch meets John Hugues in the Twilight Zone,but it's even better than Lynch , in Mullholand Drive and Lost Highway there is no really compassion , Lynch is a puppet master, here you can feel the nostalgia and the empathy even towards the characters, even the less interesting ones, even at the end, towards the one played by Patrick Swayse - this Richard Kelly is so talented , the cast is great esp Drew Barrymore, last movie in which I saw her was the dumb Charlie's Angel and I have forgotten the beauty of "The Killing Moon" too
Tatu's cover of "How Soon Is Now? " brought tears to my eyes too but not for the same reasons...
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Reply #1 posted 03/13/03 8:29am

wellbeyond

Um...yeah...lol...Kinda lost me in the middle of your post...:O

But I agree that Donnie Darko is a great, great movie...Richard Kelly is a first-time director as well, so it's even more impressive knowing that fact...I gotta disagree witcha, though, with Drew Barrymore...I didn't like her acting at all in the film...luckily she was the ONLY one I didn't like..everyone else was damn near perfect...especially Mary McDonnell (Donnie's mom)...when she's sitting with Donnie on his bed and he quietly asks "So how's it feel to have a whacko for a son?", her response of a hesitated, teary-eyed "It feels wonderful..." is such dead-on perfection it's scary...
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Reply #2 posted 03/13/03 8:48am

IceNine

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Just a great movie...

You must watch the DVD extras in order to really understand it, but it is really GREAT!
SUPERJOINT RITUAL - http://www.superjointritual.com
A Lethal Dose of American Hatred
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Reply #3 posted 03/13/03 8:50am

IceNine

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wellbeyond said:

Um...yeah...lol...Kinda lost me in the middle of your post...:O

But I agree that Donnie Darko is a great, great movie...Richard Kelly is a first-time director as well, so it's even more impressive knowing that fact...I gotta disagree witcha, though, with Drew Barrymore...I didn't like her acting at all in the film...luckily she was the ONLY one I didn't like..everyone else was damn near perfect...especially Mary McDonnell (Donnie's mom)...when she's sitting with Donnie on his bed and he quietly asks "So how's it feel to have a whacko for a son?", her response of a hesitated, teary-eyed "It feels wonderful..." is such dead-on perfection it's scary...


I agree with you WellBeyond... I didn't dig Drew Barrymore either, but I just don't like her acting in general.
SUPERJOINT RITUAL - http://www.superjointritual.com
A Lethal Dose of American Hatred
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Reply #4 posted 03/13/03 8:52am

wellbeyond

I understood it pretty well without the extras on the DVD (I saw it when it came out in theatres)...a few of the things that occurred with the therapist were confusing, tho...lol
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Reply #5 posted 03/13/03 8:54am

wellbeyond

IceNine said:

I agree with you WellBeyond... I didn't dig Drew Barrymore either, but I just don't like her acting in general.

Mary McDonnell deserved an Oscar, she was brilliant...watching the DVD just showed me how amazing her performance was, down to even the slightest bit of body language and the smallest facial expression...Her slight shaking of her head and saying "I don't...recall him ever...mentioning a rabbit..." when talking to Donnie's therapist was both perfection and fucking hilarious...lol biggrin
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Reply #6 posted 03/13/03 8:57am

wellbeyond



worship Donnie Darko worship
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Reply #7 posted 03/13/03 8:58am

jnoel

I don't want to understand, things are cool like this
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Reply #8 posted 03/13/03 9:04am

wellbeyond

jnoel said:

I don't want to understand, things are cool like this

I agree completely...When I checked out the deleted scenes on the DVD, I was amazingly happy that those scenes were deleted, because they attempted to be too direct and literal as where the existing scenes were more hazy and alluded to conclusions instead of providing them...I'm more than fine in not having everything spelled out for me...loose ends are cool...lol
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Reply #9 posted 03/13/03 9:07am

IceNine

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wellbeyond said:

I understood it pretty well without the extras on the DVD (I saw it when it came out in theatres)...a few of the things that occurred with the therapist were confusing, tho...lol



Did you get all these things:

Manipulated dead
Manipulated living
The living receiver
The artifact and the living
Etc., etc.

I understood the general idea of the movie, but I did not get all the underlying philosophy. It was not something that you just figure out.

biggrin
SUPERJOINT RITUAL - http://www.superjointritual.com
A Lethal Dose of American Hatred
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Reply #10 posted 03/13/03 9:12am

jnoel

I will check the deleted scenes on the DVD of "Dumb and Dumber" I've heard that it was first a a tragedy about Russia during WW2 but the producer force the director to cut all the dramatic scenes and to change radically the plot for commercial reasons confuse
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Reply #11 posted 03/13/03 9:14am

wellbeyond

IceNine said:

Did you get all these things:

Manipulated dead..No
Manipulated living..yes, kinda..lol
The living receiver..yes, definitely...this was actually touched upon in one of the reviews I read before seeing it for the first time...
The artifact and the living..not even sure what this is...lol
Etc., etc...the etceteras I got..heh

I understood the general idea of the movie, but I did not get all the underlying philosophy. It was not something that you just figure out.

biggrin
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Reply #12 posted 03/13/03 9:56am

wellbeyond

By the way, just to toss out what I'm assuming you mean by "manipulated dead" and living reciever and all that crap (lol), lemme give my .02 cents, and see if it makes sense..

"Manipulated living" I kinda sorta assumed would refer to those people (or events) which propelled Donnie towards where he needed to be and what he needed to do??...(I remember thinking that the "cellar door" scene didn't make too much sense, that it was put in there specifically to help guide Donnie, cuz it was somewhat ill-fitting with the rest of the seamlessness of the movie)...I guess "Manipuated dead" would be those people who have died or events which have already happened??...(which might make sense, since "Frank" was dead, I suppose...but he was actually still alive, so that might not work..lol)

"Living Reciever" I took as meaning that Donnie was able to, for lack of a better way of saying it, "see" and "detect" the realities of what was actually occuring in both life and time that the rest of us could not (possibly because he was schizophrenic, or cuz of the medication he was taking, though that proved to be placebos in one of the deleted scenes)...I understood it to basically mean he "recieved" the truths about reality and the universe, the truth about time travel, the messages from the "future", etc, etc...maybe when we all die, we "recieve" these truths with ease, but while living we do not...unless we're a "living reciever"...just guessing here, but that's more or less how I percieved it when I saw the movie for the first time...

The rest, like I said, I'm not sure what you're referring to...I do know, though, that the jet engine played a significant part in causing everything that happens in the movie (the repeating of the "metallic craft of any sort" statement at the end of the movie more or less confirms this...I'm guessing it created the portal, or something like that)...

Am I close??..lol
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Reply #13 posted 03/13/03 10:09am

Neversin

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jnoel said:

I almost cried at the end

It's a good movie, but... come on... it's not THAT good...

David Lynch meets John Hugues in the Twilight Zone,but it's even better than Lynch , in Mullholand Drive and Lost Highway there is no really compassion

Yeah right...
Lynch actually makes you think about what you've just seen...
"Donnie Darko" is not a movie that actually makes you think about it since there's nothing really interesting or difficult in the movie that makes you ponder on it...
It's still a good popcorn movie though, just not anywhere near as amazing as a David Lynch movie...
But it's just the first "big" movie of this Richard Kelly dude...
I'm pretty certain that he's gonna make some really cool stuff...

Neversin.
O(+>NIИ<+)O

“Is man merely a mistake of God's? Or God merely a mistake of man's?”

- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
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Reply #14 posted 03/13/03 10:10am

wellbeyond

And just to add more:

-Donnie awakes at the beginning of the movie at the very place he drives to at the end of the movie to "reverse" time and the events which took place...I'm assuming "Frank" (or something) directed him there during one of his sleepwalking episodes...

-"Frank" drives by Donnie at the beginning of the movie in the very car that he will later kill Gretchen with...the fact that the camera stays on that car, with the loud engine sound being its calling card, becomes evident when you watch the DVD...

-"Frank" is also shown to be Donnie's sister's boyfriend when she's dropped off at home after their date, and the same loud car engine noise is heard just before she closes the door...

-Everything the "daylight hallucinations" directed Donnie to do leads to his eventual deciding to go back in time and allow himself to be killed...(does this make Donnie one of the "manipulated living"??...still not sure if I understand what you're referring to...)

-When Donnie asks "Frank" why he made him flood the school, "Frank" only says "they are in great danger"...what did he mean??..

Gawd, I could go on forever...lol
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Reply #15 posted 03/13/03 10:16am

wellbeyond

And lastly, what the HELL does the chinese girl symbolize or signify??...lol...Why is she important??...Everyone else I can figure out their importance...but not her...
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Reply #16 posted 03/13/03 10:58am

Natsume

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wellbeyond said:

And lastly, what the HELL does the chinese girl symbolize or signify??...lol...Why is she important??...Everyone else I can figure out their importance...but not her...

nod
I mean, like, where is the sun?
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Reply #17 posted 03/13/03 11:14am

IceNine

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wellbeyond said:

By the way, just to toss out what I'm assuming you mean by "manipulated dead" and living reciever and all that crap (lol), lemme give my .02 cents, and see if it makes sense..

"Manipulated living" I kinda sorta assumed would refer to those people (or events) which propelled Donnie towards where he needed to be and what he needed to do??...(I remember thinking that the "cellar door" scene didn't make too much sense, that it was put in there specifically to help guide Donnie, cuz it was somewhat ill-fitting with the rest of the seamlessness of the movie)...I guess "Manipuated dead" would be those people who have died or events which have already happened??...(which might make sense, since "Frank" was dead, I suppose...but he was actually still alive, so that might not work..lol)

"Living Reciever" I took as meaning that Donnie was able to, for lack of a better way of saying it, "see" and "detect" the realities of what was actually occuring in both life and time that the rest of us could not (possibly because he was schizophrenic, or cuz of the medication he was taking, though that proved to be placebos in one of the deleted scenes)...I understood it to basically mean he "recieved" the truths about reality and the universe, the truth about time travel, the messages from the "future", etc, etc...maybe when we all die, we "recieve" these truths with ease, but while living we do not...unless we're a "living reciever"...just guessing here, but that's more or less how I percieved it when I saw the movie for the first time...

The rest, like I said, I'm not sure what you're referring to...I do know, though, that the jet engine played a significant part in causing everything that happens in the movie (the repeating of the "metallic craft of any sort" statement at the end of the movie more or less confirms this...I'm guessing it created the portal, or something like that)...

Am I close??..lol



Here is the funny little breakdown:


The Philosophy Of Time Travel



Foreword

I would like to thank the sisters of the Saint John Chapter in Alexandria, Virginia for their support in my decision.

By the grace of God, they are:

Sister Eleanor Lewis
Sister Francesca Godard
Sister Helen Davis
Sister Catherine Arnold
Sister Mary Lee Pond
Sister Virginia Wessex

This intent of this book is for it to be used as a simple and direct guide in a time of great danger.

I pray that this is merely a work of fiction.

If it is not, then I pray for you, the reader of this book.

If I am still alive when the events foretold in these pages occur, then I hope that you will find me before it is too late.

Roberta Ann Sparrow
October, 1944

Chapter One: The Tangent Universe

The primary universe is fraught with great peril. War, plague, famine and natural disaster are common. Death comes to us all.

The Fourth Dimension of Time is a stable construct, though it is not impenetrable.

Incidents when the fabric of the fourth dime(n)sion becomes corrupted are incredibly rare.

If a Tangent Universe occurs, it will be highly unstable, sustaining itself for no longer than several weeks.

Eventually it will collapse upon itself, forming a black hole within the Primary Universe capable of destroying all existence.

Chapter Two: Water and Metal

Water and Metal are the key elements of Time Travel.

Water is the barrier element for the construction of Time Portals used as gateways between Universes at the Tangent Vortex.

Metal is the transitional element for the construction of Artifact Vessels.

Chapter Four: The Artifact And The Living

When a Tangent Universe occurs, those living nearest to the Vortex will find themselves at the epicenter of a dangerous new world.

Artifacts provide first sign that a Tangent Universe has occured.

If an Artifact occurs, the Living will retrieve it with great interest and curiosity. Artifacts are formed from metal, such as an Arrowhead from an ancient Mayan civilisation, or a Metal Sword from Medieval Europe.

Artifacts returned to the Primary Universe are often linked to religious Iconography, as their appearance on Earth seems to defy logical explanation.

Divine intervention is deemed the only logical conclusion for the appearance for the Artifact.

Chapter Six: The Living Receiver

The Living Receiver is chosen to guide the Artifact into position for its journey back to the Primary Universe.

No one knows how or why a Receiver will be chosen.

The Living Receiver is often blessed with a Fourth Dimensional Powers. These include increased strength, telekinesis, mind control, and the ability to conjure fire and water.

The Living Receiver is often tormented by terrifying dreams, visions and auditory hallucinations during his time within the Tangent Universe.

Those surrounding the Living Receiver, known as the Manipulated, will fear him and try to destroy him.

Chapter Seven: The Manipulated Living

The Manipulated Living are often the close friends and neighbours of the Living Receiver.

They are prone to irrational, bizarre, and often violent behaviour. This is the unfortunate result of their task, which is to assist the Living Receiver in returning the Artifact to the Primary Universe.

The Manipulated Living will do anything to save themselves from Oblivion.


The Manipulated Dead

The Manipulated Dead are more powerful than the Living Receiver. If a person dies within the Tangent Dimension, they are able to contact the Living Receiver through the Fourth Dimensional Construct.

The Fourth Dimensional Construct is made of Water.

The Manipulated Dead will manipulate the Living Receiver using the Fourth Dimensional Construct (see Appendix A and B).

The Manipulated Dead will often set an Ensurance Trap for the Living Receiver to ensure that the Artifact is returned safely to the Primary Universe.

If the Ensurance Trap is succesful, the Living Receiver is left with no choice but to use his Fourth Dimensional Power to send the Artifact back in time into the Primary Universe before the Black Hole collapses upon itself.

Chapter Twelve: Dreams

When the Manipulated awaken from their Journey into the Tangent Universe, they are often haunted by the experience in their dreams.

Many of them will not remember.

Those who do remember the Journey are often overcome with profound remorse for the regretful actions buried within their Dreams, the only physical evidence buried within the Artifact itself; all that remains from the lost world.

Ancient myth tells us of the Mayan Warrior killed by an Arrowhead that had fallen from a cliff, where there was no Army, no enemy to be found.

We are told of the Medievel Knight mysteriously impaled by the sword he had not yet built.

We are told that these things occur for a reason.
SUPERJOINT RITUAL - http://www.superjointritual.com
A Lethal Dose of American Hatred
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Reply #18 posted 03/13/03 11:16am

IceNine

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wellbeyond said:

And just to add more:

-Donnie awakes at the beginning of the movie at the very place he drives to at the end of the movie to "reverse" time and the events which took place...I'm assuming "Frank" (or something) directed him there during one of his sleepwalking episodes...

-"Frank" drives by Donnie at the beginning of the movie in the very car that he will later kill Gretchen with...the fact that the camera stays on that car, with the loud engine sound being its calling card, becomes evident when you watch the DVD...

-"Frank" is also shown to be Donnie's sister's boyfriend when she's dropped off at home after their date, and the same loud car engine noise is heard just before she closes the door...

-Everything the "daylight hallucinations" directed Donnie to do leads to his eventual deciding to go back in time and allow himself to be killed...(does this make Donnie one of the "manipulated living"??...still not sure if I understand what you're referring to...)

-When Donnie asks "Frank" why he made him flood the school, "Frank" only says "they are in great danger"...what did he mean??..

Gawd, I could go on forever...lol



All I can say is that TIME TRAVEL is involved through alternate universes connected by water and metal. :puzzled:
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A Lethal Dose of American Hatred
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Reply #19 posted 03/13/03 11:40am

JediMaster

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jnoel said:

Sorry if there was already a thread about this movie, I 've seen it only recently wow!
I almost cried at the end, David Lynch meets John Hugues in the Twilight Zone,but it's even better than Lynch , in Mullholand Drive and Lost Highway there is no really compassion , Lynch is a puppet master, here you can feel the nostalgia and the empathy even towards the characters, even the less interesting ones, even at the end, towards the one played by Patrick Swayse - this Richard Kelly is so talented , the cast is great esp Drew Barrymore, last movie in which I saw her was the dumb Charlie's Angel and I have forgotten the beauty of "The Killing Moon" too
Tatu's cover of "How Soon Is Now? " brought tears to my eyes too but not for the same reasons...


Well, I disagree that this film is better than Lynch's stuff, but it is quite good. Wellbeyond reccommended it a while back, and I thought it was amazing. The soundtrack is also quite stunning, especially the rather haunting cover of the Tears For Fears classic "Mad World".
[This message was edited Thu Mar 13 11:41:06 PST 2003 by JediMaster]
jedi

Do not hurry yourself in your spirit to become offended, for the taking of offense is what rests in the bosom of the stupid ones. (Ecclesiastes 7:9)
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Reply #20 posted 03/13/03 12:02pm

jnoel

Neversin said:

jnoel said:

I almost cried at the end

It's a good movie, but... come on... it's not THAT good...,
It's one of my favourite movie ever
David Lynch meets John Hugues in the Twilight Zone,but it's even better than Lynch , in Mullholand Drive and Lost Highway there is no really compassion

Yeah right...
Lynch actually makes you think about what you've just seen...I love Lynch but his movies don't make me think it's an "experience" they lack of something, heart, compassion ...I don't know (& I don't talk about Elephant Man or the one about the old man who wants to see his brother before dying)
"Donnie Darko" is not a movie that actually makes you think It made me think about my life, my adolescence that doesn't end still... the options that you take in life and when you've made a bad decision you can't "erase and rewind"
about it since there's nothing really interesting or difficult in the movie that makes you ponder on it...
It's still a good popcorn movie though,rolleyes err
just not anywhere near as amazing as a David Lynch movie...to quote The Smiths: Lynch's movies say nothing to me about my life
But it's just the first "big" movie of this Richard Kelly dude...
Yeah and "A Hundred Years Of Solitude" is just the first "big" novel of GG Marquez, this sentence means nothing since like everyone I suppose I was expecting nothing from this guy, I have never heard about him before last week


I'm pretty certain that he's gonna make some really cool stuff...
you want absolutely to sound cool, don't you?
Neversin.[/quote]
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Reply #21 posted 03/13/03 12:49pm

Neversin

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jnoel said:

Neversin said: "Donnie Darko" is not a movie that actually makes you think

It made me think about my life, my adolescence that doesn't end still... the options that you take in life and when you've made a bad decision you can't "erase and rewind"

Fair enough...
But I don't think the average movie-goer needs a movie to come to that conclusion...

to quote The Smiths: Lynch's movies say nothing to me about my life

Well, I don't watch movies to tell me something about my life... I watch movie to be entertained...

Neversin said: But it's just the first "big" movie of this Richard Kelly dude...

Yeah and "A Hundred Years Of Solitude" is just the first "big" novel of GG Marquez, this sentence means nothing since like everyone I suppose I was expecting nothing from this guy, I have never heard about him before last week

I'm just trying to say that this guy'll probably only get better and better...

Neversin said: I'm pretty certain that he's gonna make some really cool stuff...

you want absolutely to sound cool, don't you?

...
Uhm... Yeah... Ok...
Read whatever you want in it man, I'm just saying it how I see it...

Neversin.
O(+>NIИ<+)O

“Is man merely a mistake of God's? Or God merely a mistake of man's?”

- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
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Reply #22 posted 03/13/03 1:43pm

jnoel

I 'm too lazy to display all the contradictions in your posts
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Reply #23 posted 03/13/03 2:01pm

AzureStar

Great movie and one that I have watched more than once and will do so again!
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Reply #24 posted 03/13/03 2:33pm

wellbeyond

Ok, I just read all that stuff IceNine posted...well, fuck, I get it even better now...lol biggrin...That's a trip to think about, gotta share this with my sister and brother, cuz they were asking me questions I didn't really have answers for...but do now... nod
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Reply #25 posted 03/13/03 2:35pm

wellbeyond

JediMaster said:

The soundtrack is also quite stunning, especially the rather haunting cover of the Tears For Fears classic "Mad World".

nod..Completely agree, the music in this movie was used superbly...especially "Under The Milky Way" during the party scene...
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Reply #26 posted 03/13/03 2:36pm

wellbeyond

AzureStar said:

Great movie and one that I have watched more than once and will do so again!

I've watched it about 4-5 times so far... mr.green
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Reply #27 posted 03/13/03 2:55pm

jnoel

So no one has heard the butchery of How Soon Is Now? yet? the worst is that it might be a hit...
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Reply #28 posted 03/13/03 2:56pm

2the9s

Did you have to start a thread about this sorry ass movie jnowl? lol
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Reply #29 posted 03/13/03 6:15pm

ScarLett

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all i have to say is EWWW... hated it...

they should have just played the last 5 minutes and called it a short story!!!
~Live Free ... Be Wyld~AlwaysOnlyMakeBelieve - LiveUrLyfe... laissez le bon temps rouler...vivre sans être sauvage...हमेशा ही बना विश्वास ~Change and do so CONSTANTLY...
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