Wednesday, February 11, 2015

This Meme Mocking "Fifty Shades Of Grey" Is Just Fantastic

“My desires are unconventional…but my memes are flawless.”


The Fifty Shades of Grey "Unconventional" meme has been on a slow burn on the internet for the last few months. You know the one: Christian Grey leans in and says, cryptically: "My tastes are very...singular" to which Anastasia Steele replies: "Enlighten me, then."


For memeification purposes, the dialogue has been altered slightly (Christian calls his interests/desires "unconventional" and Anastasia responds: "Show me") but the internet does its thing and supplies an incongruous image to go with the supposedly sexy talk. LOLs ensue.



Focus Features


This excellent fowl play.


This excellent fowl play.


Twitter: @saladinahmed




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What's Your Favourite Shade Of Grey From "Fifty Shades Of Grey"?

There are fifty shades of grey in Fifty Shades of Grey, but which shade of grey is your favourite?



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The Fruit Market Gallery


The Fruit Market Gallery


The Fruit Market Gallery combines contemporary art and literature for a high-concept experience.


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If "Fifty Shades Of Grey" Quotes Were Motivational Posters

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Thinkstock



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16 Snapchats Only Snape Would Send

#Snapechat.


Snape doesn't hold back his feelings on #Snapechat.


Snape doesn't hold back his feelings on #Snapechat.


Warner Bros


At all.


At all.


Warner Bros


In fact, he finds his own wit hilarious.


In fact, he finds his own wit hilarious.


Warner Bros


Snape's all about sending the odd #SnapeSelfie from time to time.


Snape's all about sending the odd #SnapeSelfie from time to time.


Warner Bros




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The Emotional BDSM Is The Most Daring Part Of "Fifty Shades Of Grey"

Even though the sex is far from transgressive in the film adaptation of E. L. James’ bestseller.



Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson in Fifty Shades of Grey


Universal Pictures


There are maybe 20 minutes of sex, tops, in Fifty Shades of Grey. That's counting the spanking scene, which ends not with a climax but with Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) smugly declaring, "Welcome to my world."


This isn't a measure I generally take of a movie, but then again, this isn't just any studio romance — this is the big-screen adaptation of E. L. James' monster best-seller, the first book in her Twilight fan-fiction-turned-erotic-novel trilogy about the eternal, BDSM-inflected love between billionaire Christian Grey and recent college grad Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson), the ne plus ultra of wide-eyed ingenues. Sex — kinky sex — has been the central appeal of the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise. It's the reason various groups, from conservative Christian organizations to social media movements against domestic violence, have taken stances against the film, which opens in theaters on Feb. 13, just in time for Valentine's Day. It's the reason Dornan and Johnson have spent multiple interviews elaborating on how unsexy sex scenes are to shoot.


Sex is the main selling point of Fifty Shades of Grey, but the scenes in which Dornan and Johnson get down in Grey's marble-filled Seattle penthouse are, inevitably, the least provocative part of the movie, which is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (Nowhere Boy) from a screenplay by Kelly Marcel. How can they not be? Beneath the bold trappings, Fifty Shades of Grey is a tastefully R-rated adaptation of a book that's really an updated bodice-ripper about a virgin winning the heart of a rake. Its vision of BDSM is monogamous, mild, and reserved for the red leather-lined sanctity of Christian's playroom — Cosmo-style dominance and submission involving silk ties, blindfolds, and ice cubes.



Universal Pictures


Aside from the unexpected and totally welcome presence of pubic hair, there's nothing in the few Fifty Shades of Grey sex scenes that is nearly as daring as what you can regularly find on premium cable. Whether being deflowered or flogged, Anastasia unfailingly and effortlessly achieves orgasm, Johnson gamely tossing her head back and gasping in pleasure as soon as her co-star comes near. Christian lectures his lover on safe words and limits, but we never see them come up. Until the climactic (heh) scene, everything he tries goes over perfectly, even if his partner has no particular investment in his preferred modes of play.


It's in the other 100-plus minutes of Fifty Shades of Grey that the movie really gets interesting, putting its fantasy of emotional withholding up on screen in all its troubling, alluring, and strikingly female-focused glory. Let's be honest: There's nothing audacious about Dornan's picture-perfect appeal when he pulls off his shirt (which he does many times, in an impressive variety of ways) to reveal his sculpted torso with its scattering of backstory burn scars. No, it's how Christian acts when he's not taking Anastasia to bed that's so challenging: He tracks down her place of work just to see her again after they first meet; he traces her to and retrieves her from the club where she's gotten drunk postgraduation; he shows up inside her apartment with champagne when she ignores him; he follows her to Georgia when she travels to visit her mom (Jennifer Ehle), without telling her he's coming, because a few days apart is apparently too much.




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David J. Bertozzi / BuzzFeed


You probably know Pretty Little Liars star Keegan Allen as your beloved Toby on-screen, but the ABC Family star's talent doesn't stop there. He's also an incredible photographer and poet — having been a fan of photography since he was a child — and now you can get an inside look into his world with his brand-new book, Life. Love. Beauty, featuring his most personal photos and poems he's written throughout his life.


Most importantly, his photographic journey takes you behind the scenes of PLL, featuring exclusive photos of the cast and crew throughout the past five seasons. In honor of the book's debut, we had Keegan Allen stop by BuzzFeed's New York offices to give us the story behind some of his most fascinating photos. Here's what went down.


1. Ashley Benson with a co-worker's newborn baby on set.



Keegan Allen


Keegan Allen: It’s a photo with Ashley and this little girl Emma who is our co-worker Tommy’s daughter. I took it cause I really liked how Ashley was very trendy-looking and the baby is just born, so who knows how trendy the baby will dress one day.


Is everyone in the cast and crew super close?


KA: The cast is really close — every single one of us is close with each other. And we all have these moments where we celebrate new life on set with one of our fellow co-workers. So it was a pretty special moment, and I’m definitely glad I captured that.



David J. Bertozzi / BuzzFeed



Keegan Allen


2. Troian Bellisario at the Television Critics Association Awards.


KA: Look at that walk! It was when we were doing the Television Critics Association Awards, the TCAs.


It was pretty amazing because — she just looks stunning all the time — but the light behind her was really pretty, and I was walking, so it was a rangefinder camera and you have to focus manually, so I took I think two or three shots and all of them were out of focus except for this one. She’s stunning — I mean, look at her.


3. Troian Bellisario and Keegan Allen during Season 1 of Pretty Little Liars.



Keegan Allen


KA: God, I feel like we change every time we walk off and on set. This photo was a selfie — it was on a camera, though, it wasn’t on an iPhone. I see myself so much younger in this, but I remember that scene was really funny — it was when she comes up to Toby and opens the door and there’s a chain across his face. She was making me laugh that day. Our friendship has been constant throughout the show. She always makes me laugh.



David J. Bertozzi BuzzFeed


4. A portrait of Troian Bellisario and Tyler Blackburn on set of PLL.



Keegan Allen



Keegan Allen


KA: Oh man, I love these. I love them so much because the lighting was so amazing. What’s really cool is Troian’s photo was indoor lighting from the makeup chair lights, and Tyler’s photo is outside natural lighting from the sun. And it’s interesting — you can see the sun in Tyler’s eyes, and you can see the makeup table arc in Troian’s eyes. But more so, you can see how photogenic these two are. Without even trying to be! And I didn’t pose them. They were just sitting there and I was like, “Troian!” And Tyler was less responsive — he was deep in thought, and I was just like, click!


In your book you say that Tyler is one of the most selfless people — can you give us an example?


KA: He’s just a pleasure to work with on every level. And as far as his selflessness as an actor, he just is, like, a very giving actor to work with, and he’s very focused and just a good guy.


5. Lucy Hale filming the black-and-white episode of PLL.



Keegan Allen


KA: Oh, yeah. That was during the black-and-white episode. And that’s shot through one of those unbreakable windows. That was an interesting day — everyone was really tired, and it looks like it’s daylight, but that was shot pretty much in the middle of the night.


You talk about covering one of her songs and sending it to herwhich song was it?


KA: That song “Rock This Town” — she’s so adorable and amazingly stunning in that video, and I remember I saw it and did a Quicktime video of me playing it and sent it to her.



David J. Bertozzi / BuzzFeed


6. Nolan North on the set of PLL.



Keegan Allen


KA: He does all of the voices for most of the video games. He’s the voice of Drake in Uncharted, and a lot of Call of Duty stuff. I made a joke that he voices the Betty Crocker commercials [in my book]; he does not. There’s one voice that he can’t do that he tries to do — it’s like a robot voice — and my friend Brett Dier taught me how to do it. Nolan can do every voice in the world — he can do Christopher Walken so good that it sounds like Christopher Walken — but he cannot do the robot voice, I have him beat!



David J. Bertozzi / BuzzFeed


7. Lucy Hale memorizing a monologue before her scene.



Keegan Allen


KA: Oh yeah, I remember that. She had a huge monologue to memorize. Lucy comes in and hadn’t seen the scene yet, and she goes — seriously — “OK, let me see what it is.” (Reads the book for 10 seconds.) “OK, got it!” And goes in and nails it on one take. I was like, ahhh. I’m not that quick at memorizing. She’s got a photographic memory. I think all the girls do at this point.


How long does it usually take you guys to memorize?


KA: For that monologue that she had to do? I don’t know, she did it in one look. It would take me a couple more minutes than that (laughs). She just did it in one look — that’s what I thought was so amazing is that moment of her just sitting down.



David J. Bertozzi / BuzzFeed


8. Sasha Pieterse during Season 1 of PLL.



Keegan Allen


KA: That was, like, the first photo I took of Sasha, and she was so young, but she doesn’t act young.


When I first met Sasha she was very coquettishly looking over at me and she’s like, (waves) “Hey, what’s up?” And I was like, Sweet, this show’s great! And then I was like, “What’s up, what’s your name, who do you play...” And she was like, “I play Allison. My name’s Sasha Pieterse.” And I’m like, “Cool, nice to meet you.” And she’s like, “This is my mom.” I was like, “Cool, your mom… Bringing your mom?” And then she left and Ian Harding was like, “Yeah, that’s crazy, right? She just turned 14!” And I was like, Aaaahhh, so embarrassed.



David J. Bertozzi / BuzzFeed


9. All four of the Liars filming the black-and-white episode.



Keegan Allen


KA: I thought it was really cool because Joe [the director of the black-and-white episode] is so passionate about film noir and that genre as well. But what’s really cool is that we were shooting on stages that originally employed Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart and really iconic films like that. So there were spirits among us of epic classic cinema!


We’re there many major struggles or differences you guys had for this episode compared with the others?


KA: Yeah, it was just about really studying movies like The Big Sleep — and not only that, but also understanding the way cinematography was. You know, putting blue filters on the lenses, and the girls in what they were wearing. Had they been wearing that in real, color life it would’ve been jarring, but because of all the monochrome, and Mandi Line designing great textures — it's just kind of amazing all that goes into one little scene.



David J. Bertozzi / BuzzFeed


10. The cast hanging out in between filming.



Keegan Allen


KA: Usually I’m taking photos; Ian is tentatively paying attention to Ashley showing him Instagram photos, probably, or going through her camera roll of things that she did; Troian is sleeping and trying to drown out all the noise around her, and I think that’s Shay’s legs in the corner. Shay's usually reading a book. Or Troian or Ashley or I will be reading a book, and we’ll pass it along to each other. It definitely feels like a book club sometimes.



David J. Bertozzi / BuzzFeed


11. Ashley Benson and Shay Mitchell at the end of their night shoot.



Keegan Allen


KA: That was the last shot of that episode and they were so tired. They have these huge lights because we were illuminating to look like moonlight, and as they were walking through, it was blinding them. But they do look very glamorous — look at their eyelashes, I love it. And what’s really cool is that when this was emulsified onto film when I downloaded it digitally, you can go really close in and see each eyelash, it’s really cool. I’m such a nerd. I don’t know why people put up with this.



David J. Bertozzi / BuzzFeed


12. Tyler Blackburn and Ashley Benson making out on set.



Keegan Allen


KA: This is Ashley and Tyler rehearsing their kissing scene. They mess around so much and they do it sometimes I think just to make people uncomfortable.


There was a bunch of extras on set that day and she was just like, “Hey, Tyler!” And he was like, “Hey, Ashley.” And she was just like (sticks tongue out). And Tyler’s always just like, “All right” (laughs). And they did that I think for the photo and also for the [extras]. They’re just pranksters — I love ‘em.



David J. Bertozzi / BuzzFeed


13. Troian Bellisario during a table read.



Keegan Allen


KA: That’s, like, Troian writing something on her wrist in Sharpie to remember. I think she was writing down coordinates to an Arcade Fire secret show. She’s such a hipster sometimes — she slept I think on the street. But for Arcade Fire, I mean, I agree. It was during their album The Suburbs. But yeah, she was writing coordinates because the band was putting out tweets to where it was going to be, so she was doing some Troian-istic thing.


Is it ever awkward during a table read to have to act out certain things while you’re just sitting there at a table?


KA: Sometimes it is. Sometimes it’ll say, like, "Emily’s running through the woods and she screams, 'Help, Aria! Help!'” So, the way that Shay would say it would be like, “Oh, OK. Help Aria help.” And then everyone will laugh because it’s not in the moment as much because it’s being read in a room full of people, cast, crew, and executives.



David J. Bertozzi / BuzzFeed


14. Troian Bellisario as a member of the A team.



Keegan Allen


KA: I remember I took it and then Marlene King and Lisa Cochran our show producer and developer came over like, “Um, you can’t develop that for a long time.” And then like seven shadowy figures came up behind them like, “You can’t release that!” No, I’m just kidding (laughs).



David J. Bertozzi BuzzFeed


15. Ian Harding, Ashley Benson, and Shay Mitchell at the PLL wrap party.



Keegan Allen


KA: OK, wait. There is an explanation for this! That was at the wrap party for Season 3. Yeah, I guess there isn’t really an explanation, it was just a moment in time in which I was, like, really trying to capture Ashley’s — this is really what happened, and believe me, I know it’s gonna sound ridiculous — Ashley’s fingernails were really cool. And she was like (puts hands up by chest), and then Shay did too, and Ian was like, "Yeah, yeah, let’s all do this.” And I was like, All right! But that’s what I mean, this is why the cast is so fun (laughs).



David J. Bertozzi / BuzzFeed


See even more stunning photographs in Keegan Allen's new book, Life. Love. Beauty, available in bookstores everywhere!


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