beautifulgazelle

[beautifulgazelle]

One of my favorite parts of Phineas and Ferb is how Venessa and her parents divorce is represented.

I remember reading an interview with Dan Povenmire where he talks about how they had to fight to show divorced parents in the show, and when one of the executives asked “how do you think a child with divorced parents would feel if they saw this?” To which he just replied: “I think they would feel seen.” And he was so right.

My parents got divorced when I was 14 so I hadn’t watched the show for a while at that point, but I was staying with my grandma over the summer while they finalized everything and happened to catch a Phineas and Ferb marathon; and just seeing doofenshmirtz‘s divorce treated so casually rather than some big deal really helped me work through my emotions, I think it especially helped that Venessa was around my age so seeing her indifference towards it made me feel like it wasn’t as bad as it felt.

[beautifulgazelle]

Shoutout to modern fanart of silent horror films fr, gotta be one of my favorite genders.

[beautifulgazelle]

I’m very conflicted on how Ellen is portrayed in the new Nosferatu (SPOILER WARNING) (TW: Grooming)

I’ve already made a post about what I dislike about the movie but didn’t really go into the characters and story since I didn’t really have an issue with those elements at first, but the more I think about Ellen’s character and the way the actors and director talks about her in interviews, along with the online discourse surrounding her, the more concerned I get.

The general consensus Ive seen with the people who worked on the movie and the fans of the film is that Ellen is responsible for contacting Orlock and was in full control of the situation, and I would agree with that….if it wasn’t for two details.

One, I don’t remember there ever being a point where it’s stated she contacted Orlock, it has been a few weeks since I’ve seen the movie so maybe my memory is a bit blurry but I don’t remember that even being implied, in fact the only thing I remember regarding that is it being stated that Orlock CHOOSE Ellen, which would imply the opposite (though if my memory is wrong on that feel free to correct me).

Two, what I very vividly remember from the movie is it being stated that the connection between Ellen and Orlock formed when she was a child, and implying that a child has any control, let alone full control, of a sexual situation with an adult is very concerning to me. I don’t think that’s what the director or actor intended when they said she was in control, but it is still a problematic implication intentional or not. A lot of online discussion also tends to treat Orlock like some mindless animal who just responded to Ellen’s call when…no, he is mentally speaking an adult human capable of choice, his choice to pursue Ellen even though she was a child when they made contact was very much his choice.

another concern I have with how the movie is discussed online is that whenever someone says they interpreted Orlock as grooming Ellen, which was my initial thought, they get attacked almost instantly. The reason I interpreted the situation as grooming is because I was groomed and a lot of what was depicted in the film tracked with my experience, an experience that took me years to come to terms with because I constantly blamed myself for being the one to initially reach out to the person who groomed me.

[beautifulgazelle]

So, I didn't like the new Nosferatu movie a whole lot. (SPOILER WARNING)

There were a lot of elements I liked, the cinematography was amazing, the costume and set design were great, and many of the actors (particularly Willam Defoe) gave fantastic performances. Still, if I were to put all the Nosferatu films on their list (excluding Shadow of the Vampire, as I've yet to see it), the 2024 movie would be last.

The main issue I had was that it didn't really scare me. My favorite Nosferatu movie is Nosferatu: The Vampyre from 1979 and what I love about it is how tense it is, there are so many long scenes that emanate this amazing sense of dread I never really got with this movie. I think the main reason for this is the weird pacing.

Nosferatu movies all have a bit of a pacing issue in the fact that the scenes can drag on a lot. However, the 2024 movie is weird in the fact that it has that issue in scenes where I feel like it could hurry things up a bit but moves way too fast in scenes I think would have benefited from being a bit slower. A good example is the scene when Thomas is in the castle, and Orlock approaches him, it moves so fast that I don't really feel any tension before it cuts to the next scene. I feel it would have worked better if we had gotten a long shot of Orlock approaching the audience until his cloak completely covered the camera in darkness, then a cut to Thomas' terrified face as the Count's shadow grows closer until he is consumed by it.

As much as I loved the film's dream-like editing, I think it was a bit much at times to the point of eliminating some of the horror, an example would be the scene of Orlock's shadow opening Ellena's door. In the original, that scene was great because it was basically just two long shots of his shadow walking up the stairs and reaching for the door handle. I think if the new movie has done something similar; like having a long shot of Orlock's shadow slowly ascending the spiral staircase before transitioning into the scene of his shadow opening the door (which was a really cool piece of editing), I think it would have worked better.

The movie honestly kinda grossed me out more than it scared me, it had a lot more sex and violence than the prior movies (not necessarily a complaint as both the other Nosferatu movies and the Dracula novel had a lot of sexual undertones it simply expanded on, and the lack of violence is likely in large part due to the era they were released in.) but because it didn't scare me those scenes just felt...weird. If it had the tension of the 79' movie, I feel those scenes would have worked a lot better to elevate the horror rather than trying to induce it where it was lacking. Even the few attempts and jump-scares didn't get me, I think the only one that made me actually jolt a bit was the scene on the ship.

The last (but probably least) of my issues was the pretty divisive design of the count himself. Obviously, the mustache is a bit weird, and while it does have a precedent from the novel, I personally am still mixed on it. What annoyed me more than that was the weird tuft of hair they gave him. I did like how they made him very corpse-like as it makes sense with him being undead and all, and the burns and scaring on his body gave his character a good sense of history like he had been in hundreds of battles over his long life. I remember seeing a piece of concept art where they made him completely hairless I think would have worked WONDERFULLY. But overall I thought his design was still good and Bill Skarsgard did a great job with his acting.

This is a little bit of a side note, but a lot of the scenes had a weird, CGI-iy feel, even when I don't think CGI was used. I feel like the movie may have gone through a bit too much post-processing.

I almost feel bad about the fact that I didn't like it as it clearly had a lot of heart put into it, and a lot of people online really seem to enjoy it, which I'm glad for! But I think I still personally prefer the 1922 original myself

[beautifulgazelle]

Inktober day 3: boots

[beautifulgazelle]

I definitely didn’t forget Inktober was a thing and totally did not rush these out at the last second…

Day one prompt: backpack

Day two prompt: discover

A little messy I’ll admit but eh, whatcha gonna do?

[beautifulgazelle]

The damnation of intelligence.

In a place of inky darkness and pale stone exits a lowsome being who some may call a goddess, but these people would be wrong; for this creature cannot create, nor can it even conceive of the concept of creation. No, this creature is a brute.

But one day the brute found something rather curious within her little kingdom: a city. A bustling metropolis built upon the islands she had dismissed as useless hunks of rock, constructed and inhabited by wonderfully creative beings who seemed to make new advances every passing hour; a sanctuary of joy and inspiration within an otherwise blank void.

And she hated it.

The wretch could not understand how creatures more intelligent, more lively, or more capable than her could ever exist. She could not comprehend how they turned what was to her useless stone into an entire civilization of love in a place where non such love existed, and so she destroyed them. She melted and unraveled their minds until the poor souls could only feebly mimic their former glory, desperately moving pieces of earth into incoherent obelisks of melancholy: a once noble civilization reduced to shambling peons for her to control.

But it was not enough. No, for she could see lands beyond her, places where the same spark of passion had set aflame; and so she sent her new army forth through reality to snuff them out. One by one they fell, ancient empires built over millennia subjugated to ruin within a few years, centuries of knowledge crushed beneath the weight of ego overnight. The only remaining intelligence splintered into tiny, squabbling factions who dare not grow out of fear of destruction, doomed to slowly decay into the oblivion of ignorance.

There are rumors, passing prophecies which pervade the realms that describe bygone heroes that would one day free consciousness from the shackles of hatred beset by the brutish queen; but these are likely nothing more than the desperate prayers of dying breeds. 

[beautifulgazelle]

The more I think about the Minecraft movie the more pissed I get.

When I first saw the trailer I just went- “aw man, that kinda sucks.” But the more I mill it over the more angry I get about it.

I remember being a little 6-year-old and beating the ender dragon for the first time and getting my dad to read me the ending poem because I didn’t know how to read yet on account of my dyslexia. Afterward, when he shooed me off to bed I just kept repeating the phrase “and the universe said I love you because you are love” over and over in my head. I was a pretty existential kid and would often have crises that brought me to the point of tears, which were not helped by the fact that my Sunday school leaned a little more on the Old Testament “fire and brimstone” style of teaching; so being told that the universe wasn’t some cold and uncaring void or a wrathful god but rather a loving and beautiful thing that I had the privilege to be a part of made me just ecstatic.

And you’re telling me some corporate ass-hats turned that, that beautiful memory that forever changed the way I look at existence into a corporate cash grab? Fucking bullshit.

[beautifulgazelle]

Breaking news: fucked up lil bro is still fucked up.

(this is meant to be an enderman btw, I just didn’t have to motivation to color em)

[beautifulgazelle]

I fought against wind

Knowing I’d be it someday

Left without a trace

[beautifulgazelle]

It's fine

[beautifulgazelle]

Welcome Home Theory: Consumption and Goo.

So recently I’ve been thinking about what the black goo that seems to have infected the merchandise and thought of something: we’ve known for a while now that whoever is running the site doesn’t really seem to like uncovering Welcome Home, at least not anymore, and is only doing it because of some insatiable desire to do so; it’s a bit unclear what caused this desire, but I’m willing to bet it was exposure to the goo.

The reason I think this is because in the commercial video there’s a (pretty unnerving) part where we hear Santa absolutely gorging himself on cookies even after he starts choking on them, I’m willing to bet those cookies contained the black goo and were forcing him to continue eating; if we go by this it would seem the goo forces people to continue “consuming” content even when they don’t want to, this might explain why it specifically permeates the merchandise as it would force consumers to buy even more of it.

If this is the case then whatever entity is behind the show (likely Home) and is creating this black stuff probably wants attention, or maybe even feeds on attention like a sort of deity. While the drawings containing religious imagery has been de canonized, I think the idea of a deity-like being looking for attention may have carried over in the form of Home- the fact that Christmas in the Neighborhood has basically been re-branded to be all about Home kinda reinforces this idea.

This would also explain why the show had so many brand deals, as while some of them make sense for a kids show, like the toys, cereal, etc, others are a bit odder such as the sleeping pills and cigarettes; this could just be poking fun at the loose health regulations of the 70s, but it would also make sense that if “Home” does feed on attention that they would want to expand their influence even further via these brand deals.

And if this is the case, then by even viewing the site we’re doing exactly what Home (or the entity behind it) wants, giving it attention.

(Idk if anyone thought of something like this already, I only recently started interacting with Welcome Home again after a few months so sorry if I’m just repeating something already said haha.)

[beautifulgazelle]

A while ago I made some Welcome Home sprites that were very loosely modeled after sprite limitations of the Atari 2600, but now that I've (finally) been getting back into WH I decided to re-make them to be much more accurate to the console's actual limitations! Aren't they just so impressive?

[beautifulgazelle]

I Live on an ol’ sailing ship, because that be what me sea-faring ancestors intended

5 scurvy dogs break into me vessel in the dead of night- “The el’?!” I say as I grab me blunderbuss and tricornered hat. I open fire on the first bastard, tearing him clean in half; I draw me double barreld flintlock on the second bastard, first shot don’t even go off cuz I ain’t cleaned the thing in months, but the second shot nails him right in the heart. I gotta resort the the cannon loaded with random trash atop the stairs-“Say hi to Davy Jones for me, lads!” I holler as two of the buggers are blown to shreds, the shrapnel sinking me neighbor’s boat. I draw me trusty cutlass and charge at the last bloke, slicing his belly open with one slash. Can’t even call the authorities cuz I ain’t paid me taxes in over a decade.

Ey, just as me ancestors intended.

[beautifulgazelle]

Atari 2600-style pixel art of the Welcome Home cast!