#<- me watching the every main character dies on screen show that I've been watching since i was like 10: sure hope nothing bad happens

[mwagneto]

15 revealing that apparently the bigeneration was hugely traumatic and not something he could survive again is already insane but especially considering that when he was with 14 neither of them acted like it was anything other than amazing which makes me think 15 was the only one who felt that it was something incredibly damaging but he didn't wanna tell 14 coz he wanted at least one of them to be happy which is sooo.. ough....

[mendeshoney]

hiiii i just want to say thank you for giving us all these stories, like it really makes my day seeing it on my feed. can you please write something about barzy being the readers boyfriend but also bsf so he gets all the tea every time lol

"You are never going to believe what I just found out."

The door closes and locks behind you at the same time that Mat's head whips around, his wireless headset falling from the force of the turn, and his character dies on the screen.

Faintly, you can hear the protests of his teammates through his headphones, and Mat's immediately scrambling, pulling the headset on and rushing out a quick goodbye. He turns off the game and tosses his headset onto the couch beside him, his whole body turning toward you.

"At 'The Debrief?'" Mat asks. If he were a dog, you would swear his ears would be perked all the way up and his tail would be wagging.

You nod, an excited smile on your face as you head to the fridge and grab the already open bottle of champagne, and when Mat sees it, he flies over the back of the couch and scrambles to grab the glasses from the cabinet.

"No fucking way," he says as he moves, just as excited, placing the glasses down on the kitchen counter in front of you.

"Do you want to guess who it involves? Or should I just tell you?" You ask, pouring the champagne in the glass first, and Mat tops it off with the orange juice he grabbed from the fridge.

"Just tell me," Mat insists. "I've been waiting for this since you left."

This had become a tradition between the two of you over the last six months.

Every two weeks, on a Sunday, you and your best friends gather at a bistro or café and catch up on everything going on in the others lives. You'd been friends with them since you were kids, lasting throughout high school and college combined, and now that you're all adults with your own lives, it's the main way to ensure you keep in touch.

Mat had gone to one of them when you first started dating. You forgot that you'd made plans with him on the same Sunday as what you and your friends liked to call "The Debrief," and your friends had been so excited to meet him that they encouraged you to bring him along.

Needless to say, Mat had never had so much fun being involved in gossip in his life.

"You hear things being on the team," he had told you after you'd left that day. "But none of them are that exciting. It's like watching a reality show unfold in real life."

Since then, he'd begged to go with you each time, but you always had to let him down to remind him that "The Debrief" is a closed event, and that he can't always tag along just because. But he'd been so sad about being told he couldn't be involved, you came up with this compromise.

After every day you went to "The Debrief," you'd come home to him and start what he dubbed as "The Mimosa Memo," where you'd summarize what you learned that morning and Mat could still feel like he was involved.

You take a swig of the mimosa, then lean your elbows on the counter and blurt out "Drea's older sister is pregnant."

Mat's mouth drops open, genuine disbelief on his face. "No! Alyssa? Is the dad the married fin tech dude?"

"Yep," you confirm, and Mat groans out loud.

"She's keeping the baby?!" He exclaims, and when you nod, he takes a swig of his own mimosa, shaking his head. "Andrea needs to talk some sense into her."

"Oh, she tried," you admit, recounting your friend's frustrated face. "I don't think I've ever seen Drea so mad before. Lyss even told Drea she was convinced that this would mean he would leave his wife for good."

Mat scoffs. "Yeah, alright."

"That's not even the best part," you insist after taking another sip.

You laugh as Mat's eyeballs bug out again, and he makes a 'hurry up' gesture with his hands. "Spit it out, I'm dying over here!"

"Fin tech bro?" You begin dramatically, feeling excitement when the anticipation is all over Mat's face. "His wife just found out she's pregnant too."

The gasp that leaves Mat's mouth is both vindicating and hilarious, and you can't help but laugh at his reaction. "Does Alyssa know?"

You shake your head. "We just found out at brunch. We Instagram stalked him, found his wife's account, and she posted a picture celebrating the end of her first trimester literally two days after Lyss found out she was pregnant."

Mat shakes his head, completely flabbergasted. He takes another large swig of his mimosa, and sighs, like he's exhausted by the drama that isn't even his. "What did Lyss say when Drea told her?"

You shrug, and Mat stares at you. "Drea said she was going to tell her when she got home."

"Are you kidding me?!" He pouts. "You're telling me I have to wait another two weeks to find out?"

You smirk, hiding behind the rim of your glass. "Guess so."

His nostrils flare, and his shoulders sag. "If Drea texts you before then you have to tell me about it."

You raise a brow at him. Usually he's eager, but not this eager. "Why?"

A slight flush creeps up his cheeks. "No reason."

"Mathew." You deadpan. "What did you do?"

He stares at his glass like it's the most interesting thing the entire world. "I.....may or may not have told a few people a couple of things I learned from 'The Debrief' and 'The Mimosa Memo' and they may or may not also want updates."

You stare at him blankly. "So you told Tito, Tyson, and Ethan."

"And Lianna," he clarifies. "But that's it."

A groan leaves your lips, and you tip back the rest of your mimosa. "See, this is why you're not allowed at 'The Debrief,' you've got loose lips."

"You're the one telling me stuff!"

"I'm allowed to! The rules extend to significant others, but not beyond that!"

Mat frowns. "So if I can't tell the guys about Drea's sister?"

You roll your eyes, pouring more champagne and head straight to your bathroom to run a bubble bath, ignoring Mat's cries of protests as you retreat.

[andreal831]

top ten non-main (aka not series regulars) female characters in the TVDU?

Top Ten Non-Main Female Characters

These are just my opinions who I consider TVDU's top non-main female characters. Again, I haven't watched Legacies. I've also taken out any of the series main antagonists (Celeste, Qetsiyah, Dahlia, Aurora, etc.) because they just take over the list and they were main characters in their seasons. I can do a list of my top ten main female antagonists later.

Without further ado, here are the side characters that I thought were the best additions to the show. I also cheated and did 11.

11. Lisina

Out of all of the additions to TO Season 5, Lisina was the only one I really felt had any personality or purpose outside of just being conflict for the Mikaelsons. She was the only one that felt necessary. She reminds me of Vincent in the fact that she is fiercely loyal to her faction, but she also understands how important peace is to the Quarter. She has a strong set of morals and is willing to call others out on theirs.

I don't know if Hayley was technically still the Alpha of the Crescent Wolves, but she should have past it on the Lisina since Hayley had minimal to no contact with the wolves after Season 3. The Crescent Wolves desperately needed an Alpha like Lisina. She wasn't afraid of the other factions and could stand up for them, but again, had values she wouldn't waver on. She was the Alpha the pack was sorely missing for decades. I hate that they killed her for seemingly no reason.

10. Rose-Marie

Rose really came into the show as a way to bring the Mikaelson lore, which is funny since she actually knew very little about them. But still, she remains yet another character that died too soon. It was the one ship with Damon that I felt could have been healthy because she was a very self-assured person.

Rose was loyal to a fault. It sometimes made her do problematic things, like kidnaping a teenager and physically assaulting her, but she had a good heart. She quickly grew to care for people and became protective of them. She deserved better than a life on the run.

9. Eve

Eve was one of the only wolves I initially liked in TO. She was welcoming to Hayley without expecting anything from her. She just genuinely wanted to help Hayley find her place. Her death only served to isolate Hayley more. Eve was a kind hearted person to everyone. I also love that she had no fear of the Mikaelsons and was willing to put them in their place when deserved. Eve and Hayley would have done a great job caring for the pack together. I headcanon she was the one taking care of the pack's children while all of the parents were under Marcel's curse since she was one of the only adults we knew who hadn't triggered her werewolf gene.

I will never forgive Oliver for killing her. I've heard people feel bad for Oliver for how he dies, but I didn't have an ounce of remorse. He killed Eve in cold blood for power. She deserved better. We didn't even get to see her funeral or really show people grieving her.

8. Valerie Tulle

I recently wrote about Valerie, but then I rewatched Season 7 and remembered how much I truly enjoyed her character. Her background gave a lot more depth to Stefan and Lily. She had some hard edges, but with what she went through it's expected. But every time someone needed her, she was there. Even when Caroline was being petty to her, Valerie never hesitated to help her.

7. Sage

Sage was such an interesting character that didn't get enough screen time. I honestly didn't really care either way about Finn initially. He was just kind of there. But Sage made me feel like there must be something deeper than the version of Finn we saw. She was willing to wait 900 years for him, even after he left town without her in TVD.

I even loved how they showed that she had become a harder person trying to survive all of those centuries. We were able to feel her character development even with the limited time we saw her. I wish her and Finn had more time together. One thing I don't get is why she didn't seem to try and rescue Finn at any point. I get it would have been going up against the Mikaelsons, which isn't wise. But in 900 years, I feel like she would have been desperate enough to do it.

6. Keelin Malroux

While I hate how Keelin was introduced, I loved her character. She was a strong, intelligent woman who didn't let anyone tell her what to do. Which is why I did find her and Freya to come out of nowhere a bit. But she was a great addition to the Mikaelson family. She definitely leveled Freya out a bit. I also liked that she brought Freya more into the human world. Freya was very isolated in the supernatural world and Keelin showed her there was more to the world.

I only wish we could have seen Keelin in more situations than just with Freya. I wanted to see her interact with the Mikaelsons more or with the wolves.

5. Lexi Branson

I will never forgive Damon for what he did to Lexi. She had one episode in Season 1 but brought so much with her. She showed us that vampires could feed from humans but still be good. She was such a great friend to Stefan and would have been so protective of Elena and her friends. I just loved of free and fun Lexi was.

Every time Lexi was brought back, her only concern was her friend. To the point that she saved Damon, who treated her terribly and killed her, so that Stefan wouldn't lose his brother. Honestly, she should have saved herself. But that just wasn't who she was.

4. Jenna Sommers

Jenna may be pushing it as a "side character" since she was a regular character in the first two seasons, but she wasn't a series regular. Jenna was incredible. She was so young and in school, but she took over caring for her niece and nephew when her sister died. She was one of the best parental figures on the show.

I loved that we got to see all sides of Jenna. She was still young and wanted to have fun, but at the end of the day she put the kids first. She deserved more time knowing about the supernatural world. I wish she wasn't turned, but if she had to, I wish she had more time. She would have done everything to protect Elena and Jeremy and she did. She died trying to save Elena.

3. Sheila Bennett

Another potential main character. But even with her cameos, she wasn't a series regular. Sheila was such a badass witch and I hate that Bonnie didn't have more time to learn from her. Bonnie struggled so much initially because she was doing everything on her own. If it was up to Sheila, she would have been raising Bonnie to learn how to control her magic.

I swear the writers killed her off because they knew she wouldn't have let Bonnie do half the things she did. Sheila protected her granddaughter better than anyone. Also her and Bonnie together would have just been unstoppable. I loved their relationship.

2. Sophie Deveraux

When I first watch TO, I was so surprised by Sophie's death. I thought she was a series regular. She didn't deserve what Monique did to her after she sacrificed everything for Monique. Sophie was very similar to Jenna. She was wild and free, but as soon as her family needed her, she showed up.

Sophie was such a pivotal character in Season 1. The writers moved on too fast from her and Marcel. I wanted to see that play out more. Or even just show everyone react to her death. She deserved better.

1. Gia

This one probably isn't surprising. I love Gia. She was an important character in so many ways. She is the first recruit for Marcel and Josh when they are rebuilding their community. She is pivotal to the rebuilt. To the point that she helps Marcel bring Elijah into the fold. I wanted to see more of their community. Elijah and Marcel were finally on common ground and a big part of that was because of Gia. Gia had an ability to see people for who they are. She saw Marcel and Elijah for who they truly were and what they needed. I also just loved Elijah and Gia.

I loved that the vampire faction wasn't solely revolving around the Mikaelsons at this time. Gia should have lived to help Marcel continue to rebuild. After Season 1 the factions felt very disjointed and I think having main characters in each would have helped. It never felt like the Mikaelsons were a part of the vampire faction. They were their own and the vampire faction just kind of went away until they were needed.

[zee-has-commitment-issues]

En Del Av Dig thoughts! (spoiler notes will be below the cut)

4/5 stars from me. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but some of the pacing could have been better.

- holy fucking shit Felicia is amazing. I’ve been a fan of her for a long time, I watched Heartbeats, I watched Avgrunden, I’ve obviously watched Royals, but this is next level. Her acting is incredible. It’s the kind of acting that makes you have a visceral reaction. The emotional moments made me take pause and her little micro expressions through the whole movie were so amazing. I don’t know how to describe how difficult it is to act like you’re acting, but she did it seamlessly.

- ZARA LARSSON CAN ACT. I’m gonna be honest, when I saw they cast her, especially for such a vital role, I didn’t know how it was gonna work out. It worked out amazing. She is a triple threat, my friends. Another performance that gave me a visceral reaction. THE LAYERS OF HER CHARACTER YALL

- Zara and Felicia together was otherworldly. They played so well off each other and the way they were able to act together and look alike in their mannerisms made me have to pause and second guess which one of them was about to be on screen more than once.

- the real main character was blue eyeshadow

- every song i've heard in the last 24 hours can be an En del av dig edit song if I try hard enough.

Spoilers:

- The fight between Agnes and Noel was insane. Incredible and visceral and I won't stop thinking about it for a long long time. "What, you can't sleep with me if I remind you of her?" and "Do you want me to say she's coming back? She's not. She's dead, Agnes. She's fucking dead." HOLY SHIT.

- Julia was surprisingly deep. Her struggles coming out in the last half hour was wild, but I wish they would have spent more time on it instead of just "oh she might have killed herself on purpose maybe"

- I simply could not take the green contacts seriously. I love Edvin but he looked like a cullen wannabe in that one scene.

- If there's one thing I'll fall for every single time, it's the gay pining best friend trope.

- Actually started screaming "BREATHE. YOU NEED TO COME UP FOR AIR, KIDS" and I choose not to elaborate. iykyk

- I'm really glad that they established that Agnes was into Noel before Julia died. It makes you root for them a little more, knowing there was something there before they lost Julia. They were already playful with each other, Anges was already down bad, and Noel already felt protective over her.

- That however does not excuse the next point which is: I need a full psychological study on Noel because what the hell? Sir? Not one of those decisions was correct. We cannot sister hop after one dies, we cannot leave after sex because of our own poor decisions coming back to haunt us, we cannot undo all the poor decisions by showing up with a single flower. SIR-

- Felicia's acting in the scenes between Agnes and her mother was incredible and, once again, something I will be thinking about for a long time.

- The play and Agnes' monologue tying in throughout the story was really beautiful and even though you could see it coming, it was a really impactful ending.

[mylittleredgirl]

Least favorite Star Trek character in each series?

i love all my children equally how could you do this to me!!!!

slightly more rational answer: i have been thinking about this since yesterday when i got the ask and it's like every time i think i have an answer i immediately go "oh but i love them for XYZ" and they move up in the ranks. ultimately most treks are ensemble shows and removing anybody from the ensemble makes it all fall apart!

gun to my head, though, bearing in mind that i love all of them:

tos: gun to my head it's chapel i'm afraid and i feel bad about it. she doesn't really get to grow much and the other most-static character is probably chekov and i had a massive crush on him. in 1967 when they went "you know this show should add a mop top for the teenyboppers out there" they were talking specifically about me 30 years later.

tng: i would take the bullet for real.

ds9: man i'm going through main characters and then secondary characters and then tertiary characters and how are they all so essential and good????? literally i have gone thru a list of characters and a list of episodes and am coming up blank. even the villains are fantastic. eddington is annoying but he's supposed to be and his episodes are all great. sloan himself is fun it's just what section 31 did to star trek in general that sucks. like????? there's not a single name that shows up in the credits that doesn't make me go YEAHHHHHH.

voy: if we can count recurring characters i'm saying barclay. i liked him a lot as a character in tng and but go "for fuck's sake" whenever i see "guest star dwight schultz" on the voyager credits. i dislike pretty much every earth-contact episode after "message in a bottle" so maybe i don't like voyager-barclay because he just happens to be there?? for main cast it'd be neelix shut up shut up i love him in the ensemble but sometimes when they give him his own episode it's too much.

ent: sorry malcolm lovers this was the only show that was an easy choice. like we SHOULD dig into the fact that essentially his greatest wish is to sacrifice himself and he won't be happy until he dies on the job. klingon behavior but not at all for the fun and glory of it just because he kind of just doesn't enjoy being alive???? archer is terrible in so many ways but he's also much more enjoyable to watch being terrible.

disco: this is actually a very weird show to even know who to choose from. the cast changes every year! we barely even know the bridge crew! who is interesting enough to count as a main character?? of the main title cast i'm kind of hot and cold with adira. i like them but the sheer amount of anxiety radiating off them at all times makes me tense up whenever they come on screen. (i just realized it's kind of ironic to say adira because they're basically a mix of wesley and ezri, who would probably make this list for most other trekkies but are two of my absolute faves.) (i will think long and hard about this)

snw: i don't know that i have enough of a read on any of them? i still haven't finished it. chapel (again?? oh no) is the one i had the hardest time warming up to early on because she seemed the most wink-y and out of place in a franchise that usually takes silly things very seriously, but i did warm up to her!

lower decks: if we can go with guest characters i hate badgey (only one on here that gathers the "hate" rating!!). i don't find him (it??) funny and i know i SHOULD find it funny which means whenever it shows up i am both not having a good time and feel bad about not having a good time. the main characters are all brilliant. gun to my head it's boims but it's a close one i love them all.

i don't even know what other shows we have i've run out of steam???

oh right picard. captain shaw??? why is such a large subset of fandom so horny for him??? and shipping him with seven of nine of all things???? is it just White Guy With Trauma because there are like. a lot of other white guys with trauma in this franchise to choose from.

[nochd]

I re-watched Howl's Moving Castle recently -- first time hearing the dialogue in Japanese instead of the English dub. It's a Japanese movie by Hayao Miyazaki based on an English book by Diana Wynne Jones.

Diana Wynne Jones was born in London in 1934; at the age of five her life was disrupted by the outbreak of World War II, and she was evacuated to Wales to escape the Nazi bombing of London. Hayao Miyazaki was born in Tokyo in 1941; the first four years of his life were repeatedly disrupted by the American bombing of Japan, evacuating from one part of Tokyo to another three or four times in a row.

I've seen Miyazaki's film twice but never read Jones's book. The film, and I gather this is different from the book, is haunted by war; the fantasy kingdom in which it is set is exchanging aerial bombing raids with a neighbour. Wikipedia tells me "Some of Miyazaki's earliest memories are of bombed-out cities," and you can certainly see it here.

The thing that really got me was: here's a story constructed by two people whose early childhoods were both thrown into chaos by bombing raids in the same war.

By the two opposing sides of the same war.

But this isn't actually a post about Howl's Moving Castle.

--------------------------------

I've also recently become a fan of another Japanese movie: a sobering, but ultimately life-affirming, period piece about PTSD and survivors' guilt in the aftermath of World War II.

One of the many things I love about it is how it doesn't let you hate any of its characters. There's conflict, obviously, but the film takes care every time to make you see where both sides are coming from.

The protagonist is a kamikaze pilot who didn't go through with his mission. When he returns to the ruins of his home in Tokyo and his one surviving neighbour berates him with "Look what happened to us because of cowards like you! If you'd done your job, my children wouldn't have died!", you know this isn't objectively true, but you can see why it appears undeniable to her.

But this isn't a post about Godzilla Minus One either.

--------------------------------

I've heard that the rationale in the Japanese Empire for sending kamikaze pilots to their deaths, the attitude that the military regime imposed on the entire population of the country, basically went "The Americans are going to kill you. This is a thing that is going to happen. The only question is how many of them you take down with you."

I'm given to understand that the rationale among the Western Allies for dropping two atomic bombs on Japan -- at least, the one they told the public and taught to children in schools in the following decades -- went "The Japanese are willing to kill themselves rather than surrender, as demonstrated by the kamikaze attacks. Only a show of overwhelming deadly force will end the war and bring peace."

And I would hope most people by now have heard how the United States government treated Japanese Americans during the war, herding them into concentration camps despite their protestations of loyalty. I imagine at the time the argument must have been "well, any one of them could be a spy", but that isn't an efficient way to screen out spies.

I think the real reason goes like this: Pearl Harbour was attacked by a collective entity called "The-Japanese"; we are now at war with the collective entity called "The-Japanese"; these people are also part of the collective entity called "The-Japanese"; therefore we are now at war with these people.

Hopefully you can see how the other arguments here equally depend on the existence of a collective entity called "The-Japanese" who would kill themselves before surrendering (hence the need for the bomb) and a collective entity called "The-Americans" who were going to kill every Japanese person (hence the need for kamikaze).

But this isn't a post about Japan and America in World War II.

--------------------------------

In the other main theatre of the war, in February 1945, the Allies bombed the German city of Dresden. The attack was deliberately timed for winter, when there would be refugees from other German cities seeking shelter there; the intention was explicitly "to hit the enemy where he will feel it most".

But the enemy was the Nazis. They deserved to be hit where they would feel it. But the refugees weren't Nazi soldiers. This was a town full of civilians, including children.

But the Nazis had done the same to cities all over Britain. Yes they had, and that makes perfect sense as a justification if, and only if, you think of "The-Nazis" as a collective entity that subsumed the entirety of the German nation, including the children in Dresden.

Which, to be fair, is a way of thinking that the Nazis themselves eagerly dived into and tried to pull others with them. But maybe that's not a good reason to follow them.

But this isn't a post about World War II.

--------------------------------

It's hard to remember now, but when I was a kid, if you heard a newsreader say the word "Irish" you braced yourself for the body count, the same way you did in the 2000s if you heard them say "Islamic".

I'm not a fan of the British government, and especially not the way it treated Ireland through the twentieth century -- to put it extremely mildly. But that doesn't mean I cheer for the Provisional Irish Republican Army, whose bombing campaigns killed civilians, including children, in numbers not much less than British military personnel.

As well as the bombings, the Provisional IRA and an opposing British terrorist paramilitary called the Ulster Volunteer Force spent roughly thirty years exchanging revenge killings, back and forth. Neither side cared much about hunting out actual perpetrators: the story was always "They killed one of Ours, so now We kill one of Theirs."

(It has become a truism in social studies that no violent conflict is ever about religion, but who counted as They and who counted as We was determined by whether you went to a Catholic or Protestant church.)

We've all heard Zombie, right? The Cranberries song? It's an angry song by an Irish woman, Dolores O'Riordan, about the conflict; but the target of its anger isn't the British, it's the Provisional IRA. It was written in the wake of a 1993 Provo attack that killed two children in England.

It's not me, it's not me, it's not my family. It's in your head. O'Riordan, in an interview about the song, described the bombers as "some idiots living in the past".

But this isn't a post about the Troubles.

--------------------------------

It's not just that people are always people, and people have the right to live, and people don't stop being people just because their group has come into conflict with another group.

It's not just that this is still true even in the rare cases when there's an unambiguous right and wrong side to the conflict.

It's not just that belonging to a group or category does not make someone guilty of wrongful acts perpetrated by other members of that group or category, even if the perpetrators claimed to be acting on behalf of that category, even if that claim was officially recognised.

It's that, when you lump people together as a group and punish the whole group (or random innocent members thereof) for the crimes of its representatives, that creates exactly the kind of conditions that inspires members of that group to lump your group together and punish all of you for doing that to them.

And hopefully you can see how this creates a cycle, a feedback loop that can escalate alarmingly quickly into entirely avoidable mass killings.

And the only way out of the cycle is to do the thing that, in the heat of the moment, feels traitorous and despicable: acknowledge, and appeal to, the humanity of your enemies. Both sides have to do this or it won't work, but it also doesn't work if both sides wait for the other to do it first.

--------------------------------

This has been a post about Israel and Palestine.

After some events that occurred during the writing of it, it's looking like also becoming a post about the United States.

[boredwritergirl]

Day 11 - A Midnight Goose

Hey everyone, this is an edit of an old short story I found. I had initially written it a few years ago and believed it to be lost when my hard drive died, but apparently google docs had a copy. So, since I really don't have the time today, I've decided to just edit this story and count that for the challenge. I was a VERY different person when I first wrote this, but it still brings back good memories, hope you enjoy.

A Midnight Goose

Another day, another unpaid overnight shift. Each night I came home stumbling around the tenement, too tired to focus but too restless to fall asleep. 

This night was no different than any of the others, sitting on the floor with a beer in one hand and a controller in the other. The sole illumination of the tv flooding my pigsty of a living room. I knew I should clean it, but I never had the energy to do anything. All I wanted to do was sit-back, take my mind off things and beat up some virtual baddies to the serene sound of crickets.

Unfortunately, I wouldn’t get my crickets. Through the apartment walls that damn middle aged couple was arguing again. It wouldn’t bother me so much if either knew how to shut the fuck up. As much as I wanted to tell them off, I know all too well that’ll only make a longer and louder argument.

There was only one thing I could do, put in my headphones, turn up the music and focus on landing ten string combos in Tekken. I figured It helped get me through my parents divorce, so it would help me again here.

Time flew by as I mindlessly practiced the same few combos over and over again, only stopping when I heard a strange sound. Piercing through the rockin’ tunes of The Protomen, was something that sounded like a sick, twisted hybrid of screeches and screams. I took off my headphones and looked around, only to be met by silence. 

After an awkward silence, I started to put my headphones back on but stopped as I faintly heard something moving in the shared hallway. I put the headphones back down as I turned my head towards my door. The door slowly creeped open;, it felt like my heart was beating twice for every centimeter the door moved. 

With the bottom half of the door obscured by stacks of old boxes and piles of dirty clothes, all I could hear was the waddling of little webbed feet. A brisk cold shivered down my spine as I felt like I was being watched. My heart took a vacation to the bottom of my stomach as I met the creature’s beady little eyes.

HONK!

The goose let out a mighty declaration of its arrival, a loud, hoarse honk that could’ve woken up the dead. My eyes went dull and my jaw made sweet love to the floor. I sat there motionless as a wild animal started roaming around my four story apartment. The shock induced numbness I felt could only have been matched by the curiosity that the goose must have felt as it started sticking its beak into every little thing I owned. 

My uninvited guest then proceeded to stick its head right into a pile of clothes next to the tv. It pulled and it pulled;, obviously it had either gotten stuck or gotten a hold on something too big for it. 

After a big tug, it managed to pull out a controller from the pile. To my surprise, the goose immediately pressed the “on” button with its beak, connecting it to my console. Does the goose want to play? I thought, still too dumbfounded to speak.

The goose then waved both of its wings at me, challenging me.

HONK!

I could tell, this goose was ready to rumble. 

I loaded up VS MODE, sending us to the character select screen. I wasn’t going to show this goose any mercy; I immediately picked my main, Kazuya. ‘We’ll see how cocky this goose is after taking a couple of Electric Wind God Fists up the ass,.’ I thought.

To my utter shock and horror, the goose immediately picked one of the most overpowered characters in Tekken 7. A mainstay in the tournament scene and overall pain in the ass,  Geese Howard. 

‘Why did he have to pick that character? Why couldn’t he have picked one of the shitty guest characters like Noctis or Negan? Actually, something about a post-apocalyptic brute with a baseball bat is oddly fitting for a goose now that I think about it,.’ I thought. ‘Actually, I should be fine. Geese Howard is an SNK character, meaning that all of his inputs are crazy hard. If they’re that hard for the human hand, then that goose has no chance of doing any of his special moves.’ I foolishly laughed internally.

When the game finally loaded up, I immediately went for the Mishima style signature move, the electric wind god fist. My jaw had another sudden meeting with the floor as the goose countered my attack. This is impossible, how the fuck can a goose even press ←↙↓↘→1+3!!! This thought echoed through my head as poor Kazuya Mishima was picked up by Geese Howard, juggling my character in the air. As the fight continued, the goose dragged my virtual self across the stage and through the many walls of the Howard Estate until it achieved a perfect victory. 

I dropped my controller at the realization that I lost the first round to a goose without even managing to hit him once. I was too shocked to even pick my controller back up for round two. By the time I regained my senses, I had lost the match.

The goose rapidly flapped its wings again. No doubt, it was mocking me.

HONK!

The goose suddenly rushed at me. In a panic I got up and started running away. The damn thing actually chased me out of my apartment, closing the door behind me as I dashed out the door.

‘This is ridiculous, I guess now’s as good a time as any to ask the neighbors if any of them own a goose,’ I thought, right before knocking on the door of my noisy neighbors from before. 

Not long after I started knocking, the door flew open and my neighbor's body fell out the door frame. Her body was covered in cuts and bruises, her mouth was stuffed with eggs. By the look of things, the eggs went all the way down her throat. Naturally, I could only think of those classic three words. What the fuck?

Her body began to shake violently as the eggs suddenly started hatching. I could only watch in terror as little geese started popping out of her mouth. The baby geese deeper in the body were forcing themselves through, creating a massive hole in her chest as they tried to escape. 

As I slowly started to back away from the body, the doors opened from all across the long apartment complex hallway. Flocks of geese were flooding through the halls. I tried my damndest to run away, but my body was swallowed into the ocean of geese. Each goose that surrounded me, taking a bite or two until I was dead.

Soon after my demise, the geese flooded through the city streets. It didn’t take long for the geese to spread. All over the world, Geese were committing mass genocide as part of a ritual to ressurect their ancient gods; Honkthulu, Honkatalth, Nyarlathogoose, ShubHonkaroth, The Goose in Yellow and many more antedelivuan horrors.

“So shall it be at the end of the world, Thy Honks consumed.”

Sir Honkington The Third 13:11

[fizzingwizard]

I just started House season 4. When it first aired, I was really sad about the departures of Foreman, Chase, and Cameron (the ducklings/cottages, depending which forum you got your House news on lol). Now it probably would be obvious to me that they were primed to come back, but as a teen I thought this was good-bye for realsies.

I also remember that from season 4 on, the quality of the show seemed less to me. Not like it tanked, but... Gotta say, I've already seen every episode I could clearly remember in the first three seasons. I can't remember a single episode in the latter ones, except for character plot points, like Thirteen's Huntington's, Kal Penn's (I forgot his character's name) suicide, Wilson's cancer, House driving his car into Cuddy's house and still getting his job back smh...

So I kinda expect from here on the medicine takes a back seat to character drama. I remember as a teen thinking that House was being reimagined as a soap for housewives, because it turned out a lot of housewives liked the show. I also remember thinking, "But if they already like it, why would you change it. Just because of stereotypes of what housewives like?? 'Oh no, housewives are watching us! We better become the kind of show housewives like'" what??? They are already watching! You don't need to change it! You've hooked your audience!

To be clear, I've never read anything where the writers admitted that so ehhh. But there really was a shift towards drama and focusing on character relationships. There had been plenty of drama before, but boy did it kick up after season three. In particular the show began to make more frequent references to House/Wilson, which was a popular ship along with House/Cuddy and House/Cameron, but not taken at all seriously because this was before 2010 and most Americans were still casually, if not outright, homophobic, and gay stuff was just not "done" on TV unless it was sad and everyone died or it was treated as a big joke. Wow TV changed a lot in ten years...

Anyway House/Wilson was a big joke. I'd say it wasn't as bad as some shows were with their token gay ship. Like it was better than Sherlock. *shrug* It would be hard to say whether the jokes were more homophobic because they were jokes, or progressive because they didn't offend the characters. But yeah House/Wilson fans were considered by other fans to be young horny women or old horny women not getting enough from their husbands. They weren't expected to be normal humans enjoying a dynamic on a show, and they definitely weren't expected to be men (gay or otherwise).

So the show ramped up the romance, the drama, and the confusing gay innuendos. Not saying it got bad. It just changed. I really can't remember any medical case at all that didn't directly affect a member of the main cast.

It'll be interesting to see if I feel the same way now that I'm starting season 4 again. But I gotta say, after watching the first couple episodes, it's so, so funny to me how bad the acting is when House starts the competition. The competition angle I think is very funny! But I guess what happens is you now have a huge cast and so everyone can only get one-liners that need to express everything about them, and their screen time is so low that if you're meant to be annoyed for just one scene, as far as the audience knows you're always this annoyed lol.

The one that gets me the most is Thirteen's introduction. First it's just like Olivia Wilde sitting with the contestants. Not that gorgeous women can't be doctors but like... that's Olivia Wilde. Just. Sitting there. buhahaha. And then she's in the OR and another contestant asks her name you know a totally normal question for one colleague to ask another. and in this very tired, put-upon sounding tone she replies "call me Thirteen" because that's her contestant number and she doesn't want to "get attached."

But can you imagine that in real life? "What's your name" "(sigh, not this question again) Just call me Thirteen" x'DDD Like maybe when you're in jr high and trying to be ~*special*~ you might do that, and a few years later realize how cringy it was and start going by Jessica again if you haven't already. This isn't about her using an unusual nickname though. I've had a few friends with unusual nicknames that they got by normally. It's about the personal tragedy and deep resistance to getting close that calling herself "Thirteen" among her colleagues is supposed to represent. IIRC, patients and non-diagnostics team members do call her by her real name. So this is nooot about nicknames. It's about the writers pitching ideas back and forth and someone suggesting with a straight face "What if there was a dying doctor who is really out of this world gorgeous and bisexual and distant because she's got Huntington's and only goes by Thirteen, you know, the unlucky number???" lol

[episodeoftv]

Prelims, BoJack Horseman

The top 2 results will move on to the main bracket

propaganda and summaries are under the cut (May include spoilers)

1.11 Downer ending

BoJack embarks on a project in his typically gonzo style, leading to a drug-fueled revelation.

So I see that some other Bojack episodes have submitted AND THEY ARE ALL BANGERS TOO. But I think this one is a bit underrated when it comes to great episodes of Bojack Horseman. A lot of season 1 gets underrated because it starts off sort of hard to watch & the later seasons get so good that it's easy to forget. But Downer Ending really takes my breath away every time I watch it and leaves me with this feeling of despair and unease. And, unlike the later episodes, I have not gotten that despair fatigue that sets in at season 6 (not dissing it! Still a great season.)

4.02 The Old Sugarman Place

BoJack goes off the grid and winds up at his grandparents' dilapidated home in Michigan where he reflects on his family legacy and befriends another soul haunted by the past.

A clever, contained, sharp look at generational trauma and grief. Uses flashbacks but also lets events overlap on screen so that BoJack's family are literally haunting the narrative. Eddie is an excellent single episode character - his duet across time with Honey is properly heart wrenching. It's also very funny. He said his name was Hambone Fakenamington.

4.11 Time's Arrow

In 1963, young socialite Beatrice Sugarman meets the rebellious Butterscotch Horseman at her debutante party.

incredible portrayal of memory and dementia, adds depth to a character who'd previously just been a fairly one dimensional bad mother but becomes a fully realised person over the course of just twenty minutes, some of the best creative use of animation and visuals in an adult animated series

5.06 Free Churro

BoJack delivers a eulogy at a funeral.

The whole episode is one 20 minute monologue delivered by a cartoon horse and it's one of the most compelling things I've ever seen in my life.

6.15 The View From Halfway Down

BoJack reconnects with faces from his past.

Listen... Bojack has a lot of THAT EPISODE episodes, but this one just takes the cake. It's the penultimate episode of the show, in which the main character (SPOILERS) attends a dinner party inside his own mind with every character who has died over the course of the show. They all have deeply philisophical discussions about what it means to live a selfless, morale life, the value of sacrifice, the role of religion in personal fulfillment. Every background detail is packed with so much symbolism, the shape of a chair, the bridge the characters take a smoke break on. It's got an amazing dream-like quality, every small detail like a wire phone stretching too far, things getting misplaced, characters get older and no one comments on it, ect. But this is also the episode that just RIPS into Bojack as a character (which the show is already pretty famous for) but he's forced to face EVERY mistake, and watch all the people he's lost fade into the darkness (all in ways that mirror how they actually died) while trying to confront his own mortality, and coming to the realisation that - he's dying. He's drowning in the pool and this is all happening inside his own head. Everything everyone tells him, the ways they're acting in this episode, that's not who they actually are, those nice things aren't things they'd actually say, it's just what he WANTS them to be like. And at the end he has to stop running from the darkness that's already taken everyone around him, and just let it take him. Stop fighting, just let go. And then, rather than the usual end credits song, we just hear a flatline that runs throughout the credits. It fucks you up so bad.

Takes place entirely in the main character's mind while he's on the brink of death, genuinely terrifying especially considering the rest of the show is a dramedy, some of the greatest voice acting work I've ever heard, the titular poem performed in the episode is incredibly haunting

[alexilulu]

OK I need to post about Gundam Witch From Mercury or I'm going to just be weird for a few days

It's a fucking crime this didnt get a full order. it's tied with G-Reco for shortest main series (not counting OVAs like 08th MS team, etc or Build which is...it's own weird thing) Gundam show ever produced. fucking AGE got 49 episodes and this got 24.

I also have a lot of problems with the way that season 2 feels like, insanely abrupt. In like...a dozen ways! It's kind of insane how much it feels like they just had to cut entire lengths the story was going to go to. This isn't to be like...hating, necessarily. I enjoyed the ending we got, it was a Gundam-ass Gundam ending in almost every way I can think of, and it's still fun.

But man...I just look at the bones of what they had and it makes me feel like there was another show that didn't get to be made here. With Shaddiq and earth, the mercs, Suletta never once finding out the man who killed her father (sorta, kinda, not really, but also yeah) is the cool fat dude with the side shave, or what in god's name is going on with "war partitioning" or the corporate governance apparatus and everything else. I'd have KILLED for one powerpoint to pop up in here!!!!

People talk a lot of mess about IBO season 2's quality (and they're wrong, but i'm not getting into that) but the fact that it had it at all meant that season 1 got to fucking breathe! 24 episodes going from earth to mars and theres like 8 plots that happen getting there that are pure character time, just great stuff to keep putting shotguns on the mantelpiece about! Every seed of the downfall of Tekkadan in season 2 is almost directly foreshadowed in season 1! I know Mikazuki, the most bizarre, taciturn gundam protagonist in the world, like the back of my hand by the end of season 1, because i watched that dude go through hell!

I don't want to get down on GWitch for pacing because it's really fucking hard to make anime in 2023, i've seen the shit studios go through to put it out right now, but season 2 is where it becomes extremely obvious to me that some more of these motherfuckers should have died in season 1. There's so much shit that happens that just eats screen time for ensemble storytelling like it has time for it, but it absolutely does not. It slays me.

Ultimately, I'm glad we had such a well-received gundam out right now, and I love a great deal about it (elan 5, you're my special guy) but...fuck.

What could have been.

[thebingequeen]

blue beetle brain rot

no bc as a chicana myself, watching blue beetle was so refreshing. First off, the cast being a reflection of what it is like in an actual mexican house was INSANE. Like most of the time, sure they claim a character is mexican, but this? This was absolutely everything. For one of the first times, even for a moment despite Jaime being a superhero, I could see my family and even nuances that I hardly ever thing about just be on a screen. Front and center. The bonus of it all really was that the writer for the movie, the main one, is a Mexican himself. It reflects so much. The spanglish, the actual use of proper slang and the mix that's actually spoken between the family members who immigrated to the first two generations of Chicanx. It was so pleasing. Fuck, even the way they swore was the way I've grown up speaking. I loved every minute of it. Additionally the food!! Made me hungry lmfdfsgkjhdg The way the family interacted and treasured each other was a joy. it was nice to see just how they shared everything which is very accurate. Also seeing them just band together and do things as a unit was so loving. they were written with a knowing love. & Grandma just having random skills that have never been explained before?? Literally so real. AND THE MUSIC!!!! Ohmygod the music added to it so much.

Personally I cried like 3 times. When his dad dies and he's dragged away. Two when his dad meets him in the afterlife to tell him what his purpose was. When Ignacio got his memories unlocked. However I adored the moments that really highlight the experience I've had with my own tíos being smart but it's not as acknowledged because they don't have a degree or work blue collar jobs. So seeing Jaime's Uncle Rudy be able to show that he can just create something so complex and use technical terms while also reverting to slang & layman's terms, giving the tech a good ol' kick was so good. Made me laugh when he kicked the Beetle's board to get it to turn on, too. AND THEIR TRENZAS. I was so happy seeing his sister's and abuela's hair, too. Goodness the movie is so good.

There's so much more to say but also this feels like it fits for how I feel now.

[flootweed]

Top 10 BL Shows of 2022

I posted a lil mini review of all of the 2022 BLs I watched this year but I wanted to infodump about my favorites more. I'm counting shows that started airing in 2021 but ended airing in 2022 as 2022 shows (sorry I need to talk about Not Me & Bad Buddy).

First, though, I wanted to highlight some (dis)honorable mentions, aka shows that are objectively mediocre but I love anyway. Love Mechanics has a wild soap opera plot, but YinWar really make you feel for their characters with their incredible acting and chemistry. Also, I'm in love with War sorry he's just too beautiful. Coffee Melody was watched by 7 people and those that did watch it tend to call it boring. I had no idea this show existed until my recent obsession with the actor Benz led me to watching every show he has starred in (speaking of which... Call It What You Want 😨). The main leads had zero sexual chemistry but the romantic chemistry was SO GOOD. Some of the best flirting I've seen in a BL. The side couple was also amazing. The script was great at one moment and mindboggling at another; I actually skipped most of the C plot stuff about the music company. It's not high art but it's cute and sometimes that is enough. Secret Crush On You was a mess but it was my mess okay. Cringe culture is dead and this show is fucking fun. The mere existence of Daisy as a character puts this show leagues ahead of many others in terms of queer rep. More femme queers in BL please !! The writing is... not the best but BillySeng did the best they could with what they were given. I'm glad they have been getting more work.

10: The Eclipse

I am very picky with shows set in high school but this is a high school set BL that acts as an allegory for political protest in Thailand as a whole. Obviously I fucking loved it. I'm honestly surprised its not higher on my list but I felt myself losing interest towards the end of the show. It just didn't stick with me like I thought it would. I still appreciate it what it had to say as a social commentary, though. It was interesting how it showed the different ways in which people cope with their marginalization. First and Kaotung did great in their roles I love them (though I feel bad because I will always prefer First as Yok).

9: My Only 12%

I have always loved Cooheart but Santa really impressed me in this show. The story itself was a bit slow but SantaEarth kept it from being boring because they really sold the relationship with their chemistry. Looking back on the show though it doesn't really feel like a romance but more of Eiw's coming of age story. The ending also had some issues; they decided to turn the show into an anti-smoking psa at the end so thats fun. Some story threads were dropped and some were completely unnecessary (the siblings). Overall, still very good though.

8: Ghost Host Ghost House

This show was tragic and heartwarming. Such a charming story about grief and love and the effect we have on one another. Seenam and her story fucking broke me. Like I was in pieces, tears and snot running down my face. On a lighter note, congrats to Pluem and Kawin for winning the award for best intimate scene of the year (yes better than cutie pie and lita and kp). They had absolutely fantastic chemistry. Also I wasn't mad at the time skip at the end, you could tell how much they had matured in their time apart.

This show was delightful and I loved it but it is lower on the list because there were so many filming issues. Also I got very annoyed with the script sometimes because very important scenes would happen off screen and the we would just be told about it. Most of the problems I had with it were probably due to budget issues which is really unfortunate.

7: To My Star 2

This. Show. I actually wasn't a super big fan of To My Star. I liked it but I wasn't obsessed with it like some people. It was just lacking a little something. And apparently the thing it was lacking was angst because I absolutely loved the second season. The emotions, the drama, the intimacy, the longing. UGH so good. The loneliness was so visceral I cried twice. Everything about it was just so well done and I felt like I finally understand these characters.

6: Bad Buddy

From here on every show is a 10/10.

The love story of the ages. There's really not much more I can say that basically sums it up. Ohm and Nanon are absolute legends. Also, I will always love this show for giving us milklove. This show occupied my every waking moment while it was airing, like it was an issue. I love how we can already see new shows taking influence from Bad Buddy, its what she deserves.

5: Blueming

Oh Blueming. Oh this darling show. Its so pretty and so painful. The mom scene makes me cry every time, it just hits too close to home. Siwon my darling child. Daun was at risk of being a manic pixie dream boy but the ending came in clutch and showed he actually had flaws and complex feelings we love that. The show itself had the same vibes of the queer indie films I would watch as a baby gay back in the day. The back-lit love scene was just gorgeous the way they just flowed back and forth from one another. Such a beautiful physicality.

4: 180 Degree Longitude Passes Through Us

This is not a romance. Yet it has some of the best romantic and sexual chemistry of the year. Between two people who never even allowed themselves to touch each other. LIKE WHAT !!!??!!! This show is a literal masterpiece. The way it is written and shot is breathtaking; it feels like more of a stage play than a tv show. I just had a constant stream of tears for the entirety of the last episode. I still get so mad when people misinterpret this show or get mad that they don't kiss or it doesn't have a "happy" ending. Wang's actor was absolutely phenomenal I can't wait to see what he does in the future. This could honestly be even higher on my list but its not a romance so I don't really classify it as a BL.

3: Semantic Error

Sometimes you watch an autistic person and a person with adhd fall in love and it is one of the best things you've ever seen.

This is the definition of a well crafted show. I noticed this especially on my second watch; the script is just so tight. Well written, well shot, well acted. It was such a moment, like it literally singlehandedly saved the music career of Jaechan and his bandmates. I prefer my shows with a bit more grit, which is why it doesn't get the top slot but it is just so well done that it just had to be in the top 3.

2: Not Me

In contrast, this show is not perfect but has the grit I love. You could tell there were story threads that were dropped in the middle of the show and narrative threads that weren't followed through with. Yet this show is still god tier. I'm sorry but a show about a gang of gay anti-capitalists deserves all of my praise, even if the script is shaky at times.

Yok is my one true love, the light of my life, my favorite character of all time. First was so good as this character but Gun was definitely the standout actor in this series. Gun is an absolute powerhouse and he really showed his chops in Not Me.

I doubt this is the first time gay marriage is brought up in a BL but I feel like Not Me is really a turning point in allowing BL to be more explicitly political and queer. This show literally changed the game.

1: Triage !!!

Its a medical drama, its a time travel sci-fi, its an (almost) tragic romance. What more could you want. I try not to expect much from BLs with high concepts like this but damn this show blew me away. It takes a lot for me to have a strong emotional reaction to a show and yet I violently sobbed at least three separate times while watching this. Never has a show destroyed me so much emotionally. And it pains me every day that more people have not seen this show, though its understandable bc its so hard to watch for international fans (god bless dramacool). I highly HIGHLY recommend everyone try to get their hands on this show.

[witching-by-the-willow]

hi i see you finally watched wednesday how was it?? tell me everything

Hello, Riri! ❤️

I am so sorry I took so long to answer this...things have just been very busy, and I haven't had enough enough energy in the last few weeks to be able to form a single coherent thought. But here I am, at long last.

So.

Wednesday.

I feel like I was the last person to watch it because everyone was already talking about it akfjangkajdjaf I had filtered the tag, though. So I managed to avoid spoilers. ✨

My cousins were over, so we watched 1.5 episodes one night, and then the next night, we stayed up till 3 am to finish it. 💀

It was such a fun show. I have only seen one The Addams Family film, and that was nearly 13 years ago. So I didn't really have much idea going in. (I am, however, embarrassed to admit that I did not realise Christina Ricci was playing Thronhill akfjajnfja I had a shock when I found out) But I had a great time watching it!

The pacing was good, the characters were fun to follow, the plot was interesting, and I think they did a great job with dialogue writing too. Plus all the little callbacks to the other Addams family media that I've seen being talked about were a nice touch.

I would have liked the ending fight to last a bit longer, though...we had so much buildup to it, but then it was over so quickly....that, plus Weems' death was SO anti-climactic. Like, come on guys, you had Gwendolyn Christie, you can do her better.

and there were a few plotholes that I would like more resolution to, and more development on all their characters. (btw, this is not at all a plot hole, just something that's been bugging me...how did Rowan's mother make that drawing before she died 25 years ago, if he's 16-18, considering they're in high school? Did I hear it wrong?)

I was convinced from episode 2 that Thornhill was suspicious, and in episode 5, I was convinced she would be Laurel, but then they really managed to throw me off by making the therapist blonde lmao. Apparently, I forgot hair dyes exist 💀

I also had an inkling Tyler was the Hyde from episode 3, but man...he really managed to win me over, and I actively ignored all the signs 🤡

I still kind of ship him and Wednesday akndamnfnaj. But honestly, I would be happy if we get Wenclair (which I also ship tbh) or aro/ace Wednesday either.

Btw, that hug at the end was EVERYTHING. 😩🤌

Oh, and for the characters...my ranking for the main group would be:

1) Thing (yes, a hand is my favourite character, what about it?)

2) Wednesday

3) Enid

4) Tyler

5) Bianca

6) Weems

7) Thornhill

We haven't really had enough Morticia and Gomez (episodes 5 when we saw flashbacks of their time at Nevermore has me so hungry more of their past story) and Pugsley for me to rank then, and I would love for that to change. Gimme more of the family, please and thank you.

And on an ending note...I have never seen a Morticia that isn't just straight-up ethereal, and Catherine Zeta-Jones fits it so well. Every time she was on screen, I literally could not focus on anything else. The walk. THE WALK. Just...yes. that.

Anyway, I'm eagerly waiting for season 2!

[communicationmyway]

Film Class Final Essay

Film class was a fun, rejuvenating class that I needed that allowed me to just write. I just needed an outlet that allowed me to write what I saw, get the juices flowing, and film class was great for it. By posting weekly discussion boards, I was able to overcome some of my anxiety by seeing my peers posting too: there was nothing to be embarrassed of! So, here is my final essay that I wrote and had quite a lot of fun doing!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Exorcist vs The Ring Two

The Exorcist was made in 1973 and directed by William Friedkin. The opening scene is very dramatic, with chanting in Arabic and sunlight gleaming down on the sands. When finding something in the dessert, there is brief eerie music before a quick jump cut to a later time of the day, shown by the placement of the sun in the sky. There appears to be a very diverse cast of supporting roles. In the beginning, not much is said, but there is plenty of noises going on in every scene. All the jump cuts are very sudden, it's sort of off putting. The architecture everywhere is very well put together, setting the scene and placement of where the opening guy is. 

Everything about this movie in the opening is very sudden, as if to create a sort of scare. From the cuts of what's on screen, to sudden noises happening, it all goes into increasing anxiety for the viewer, as if they are too panicking. There's this sort of buzzing music noise they have in several parts as well that just adds to the eeriness. 

The color jump cut from the bright Arabian deserts to Georgetown is drastic, with Georgetown being bleak and urbanized. The sound effects turn slightly comical, as they do not sound realistic in this new setting. The diversity is gone, as it appears to be an all-white main cast now. The slow zoom in is an overrated film choice as well, to show the importance of a character. 

The music in the scene of the main female walking home is a nice touch, reminds you that you're watching a horror film. It's slow, creepy, picks up and the high-pitched noises increase some feelings in the person viewing. The home is nicely decorated, very homey with plants and a lot of antiques placed all over. The acting is okay, not the best. They overplay the relationship between the mother and daughter to show how close they are, but the fake laughter and everything is a bit much. 

One of the best lighting scenes I've seen so far is when a homeless man asks the Father for some change and a train passes by, casting quick shadows over his face, but you can still see his beady blue eyes as clear as day. The Father, dressed in all black, hasn't cracked a single smile yet, only a grim look on his face, as you continue to wonder his importance in the whole film. It appears to be a very diverse film in ways, having Arabic, English, and Greek dialogue. This is always a bright side, as it gives the viewer a chance to experience a nice difference.

The first real jumpscare is in the attic, when the mother is searching for the cause of these obscenely fake crashing noises. The candlelight flares and dies out as it's paired with a loud noise. Very classic jumpscare, sudden movements and loud noises. Besides that, it's all just been eeriness up to this point. The scenes have also gotten silent, which adds to the spookiness just as much as music does. It shows the Father boxing to release stress for no reason, with sudden jump cuts still. 

The sudden change in the daughter for no reason is a bit laughable, especially when she starts peeing. There was nothing leading up to her being sick, despite her mother saying that she was. They could've shown the daughter getting sick instead of the Father boxing. The mother then proceeds to jump on a shaking bed to hold her daughter instead of getting the daughter off it, make it make sense. 

The stylistic choice of having the Father speak directly to the camera was also a bit off putting, in that it breaks the connection that it has built up and creates a sense of awkwardness. The spasms that Reagan has is funny, even the cut to her eyes rolling back and her hitting the doctor. It's all comical, not even the least bit scary. 

They mention thematic elements of psychology. from the mother of the Father being put in a mad house to Reagan’s temporal lobe being out of whack, it attacks many things in regard to mental illnesses. They also do hypnosis and bring up the topic of possession and exorcism. They also swear a lot and use very vulgar words, such as 'cunting'. 

The most eerie part is having to stare directly into Reagan’s eyes while she's under hypnosis, she did a good job of making it seem soulless. And when the daughter's head turns around, it's great. It takes an hour and sixteen minutes for the Father to finally meet the mother. For such a fast-paced movie, it sure does go slow at some parts. The make-up and sound effects of the voice during possession were great, as well as the acting of Reagan. Overall, it was a very nicely put together movie. Very scary for its time, with the make-up and sound effects. The camera cuts could've been done better, but it added to the movie’s creepiness.

The Ring Two was made in 2005 and directed by Hideo Nakata. From the get-go you can tell it's newer by the high-quality shots they have of many bodies of water. The music is dramatic. It opens with the general storyline of The Ring, where you have to show someone else the VHS tape to pass off the evil spirit, so that they kill them in 7 days instead of you. The music is intense right off the bat, as the boy is in a panic and the girl reaches the tv. The classic haunting video shows, dramatic clips and eerie, high pitched noises. The effects are grand, showing a well and static, static encasing the surroundings of the boy as he is basically doomed to his death. 

All the colors are kind of dulled with a tone of blue and grey being the common theme. The movie doesn't make much sense off the get go if you have not seen the first one and know what has happened previously to Rachel and her son, but it's not hard to catch on. There has already been several jumpscares, and it's only 15 minutes in, with creepy images and loud music to bring the creepiness to life. 

They have quick jump cuts paired with intense music which pairs pretty nicely together and makes it slightly less disturbing. There was a cool fast panning scene of the street that made it look haunting as the tv flashed on to where you could hear water gurgling. This movie has made me terrified of static on my TV, in fear that Samara would come crawling out of it. 

Despite everything this young boy has been through, he still goes to the tv, too close for comfort and is trapped by Samara as she crawls out of the well. The water effects, tv, and music are plain creepy, especially as the boy is sucked into the tv. 

The acting of the boy is off-putting, not that well but he's supposed to appear a bit odd, so I guess it's fitting. He delivers his lines monotone and calls his mother by her name every other line. The music is to die for, perfectly fitting to the movie, as well as the sound effects which don't sound silly. There is never a perfectly sunny day, always cloudy or dreary. It adds to the color scheme very nicely.

The crescendo in music really aids to the panic as Rachel looks for Aidan, and the scenes with silence surrounding him adds to the creepiness of what you fear to happen next because there's so many cues that something is about to happen. There is a cheap jumpscare after a quick zoom into his camera, with a blinding white light, a clean Samara, and high-pitched scream. The CGI on the deer’s is too unrealistic, making it funny especially as Aidan starts to freak out. Could've been handled better in the animating. The glimpse of Aidan in the deer’s eye is also funny, as his face looks distorted, presumably meant to appear creepy. 

The glimpses of Samara are way too creepy and paired very nicely with sound effects and music. The acting could've been better at times, but it may just be the story and how the actors were told to handle themselves. The music, sound effects, and visual aspects all pair together very nicely to create an experience of fear for the viewer.

In all, the two movies are similar yet drastically different at the same time. The Exorcist relies heavily on makeup and sound- voices- to create an atmosphere causing uneasiness. A masterpiece for its time that dealt with many thematic elements. The Ring Two relies on makeup, CGI, music and jumpscares to create fear in the viewer. There is no doubt in my mind that if The Exorcist was made in later years, it would’ve been better, a more terrifying experience. But from the time it was made to now, it just appears to be comical, especially with the acting and events that happen within. The jump cuts were too much, too abrupt, and the movie was too slow paced and lacking important information. The Ring Two had a color scheme and stuck to it, from the get-go was creating fear in the viewer with jumpscares and creepy noises paired with scenes. The music was better, less out of place in some scenes, and the sound effects did not sound fake, like the crashing in The Exorcist. Over time, obviously, horror movies have become much better, much more willing to put fear into the viewer by creating atmospheres they can’t help but think about in the late of night when they are all alone in their dark room. 

Works Referenced

Friedkin, William, director. The Exorcist. HBO Max, Warner Bros. Pictures, 1973, https://play.hbomax.com/player/urn:hbo:feature:GXdu2RAwNtJuAuwEAADZy. Accessed 28 Nov. 2022.

Nakata, Hideo, director. The Ring Two. HBO Max, Dreamworks Pictures, 2005, https://play.hbomax.com/player/urn:hbo:feature:GXOQxMAjHY4DCwgEAAAAY. Accessed 28 Nov. 2022.

[novantinuum]

top 5 side characters (from anything at all)

Oooooh side characters... that's a good question... I think I'll pick my fav side character from my most recent fandoms, one from each.

5) (Doctor Who) Missy- This incarnation of the Master is always very fun to watch, because her actress Michelle Gomez absolutely spends every second chewing the scenery clear off the walls. I also always enjoyed how they gave her a clear character arc in the seasons she appeared in- plus, it was lovely to see an incarnation of the Master who wasn't clear-cut "evil" as past ones have been, but rather Chaotic Neutral, and just in the game for the benefit of herself.

4) (The Legend of Zelda) Revali. A lot of the gaming community drags on this one, but I think there's a ton of interesting threads one can pull from what little we get of him in BotW canon that lend towards a fascinating picture of an incredibly insecure young warrior who's lashing out against someone (Link) who he sees as gaining everything he ever wanted but never working a second for it, as opposed to his hard, years-long struggle in perfecting his special flying ability. It's sad, in the end- because had he realized that Link was burdened by his own destiny and worked just as hard as he had to himself feel "deserving" of it, I bet they might've been able to find something to connect over, and became friends.

3) (The Adventure Zone) Barry Bluejeans- Goddammnit, FUCK YOU BARRY BLUEJEANS for having such a stupid ass name and making me CRY over you in just one 5 minute prologue! I really, really love this NPC... there's such a deep tragedy to his story- losing his wife and his whole found family and not even being able to remember that they're gone while in human form- and yet, every time he dies and goes back into lich form and remembers it all, still he manages to pick himself up and try again. Work harder. Work smarter. Set himself up for success each time he clones himself and returns to his human form to make his plan work. He fights tirelessly for YEARS without an ounce of thanks just because he loves his family and the world they've entered so much that he wants to make sure they'll all be safe, in the end. What a man.

2) (Gravity Falls) Fiddleford McGucket- For such an otherwise funny but unremarkable joke character back in season 1, it was amazing how the writers were ultimately able to transform him into such a tragic figure, and utilize him to give context to why the whole town literally pays no heed to any of the weirdness going on all around them. He's the sort of character who gives the show amazing re-watch energy- at this point, when I go back through the show, every single appearance he has just makes me feel incredibly sad- AND a lot of his otherwise "random" or "quirky" characteristics start to make a lot more sense. He's a man who lives in the dump, but is capable of building incredibly complex machines?" He's a literal genius mechanic who's simply gone through severe memory slippage. Said memory slippage? Self-inflicted by a memory erasing device he invented himself. Said memory erasing device? Has been used in the years since to purge the town of their memories of the supernatural. His backstory blasts open a whole new door of lore possibilities in this show. Love him.

1) (Steven Universe) Connie Connie Connie Connie Connie- Connie, my LOVE- I feel like by the end of the show she's grown into more of a main character than just a side, but that shows perhaps just HOW much wonderful development she gets throughout her journey. She grew from a timid young girl unsure of herself and her place in the world around her, to a fierce teen who has purpose, ambitions, and has a whole constellation of connections and confidants ready to cheer her on. I'm really proud of her <3

Every single time she showed up on screen for a new episode I got like, indescribably happy and went "damn this is going to be a good one," and basically every single SU reactor I've seen has had the same experience, so I think that alone shows how beloved Connie is, and how well written a character she is too. It's always great to have such a grounded presence amidst characters living in a world of fantasy.

[princessfbi]

Something to think about...

I know the popular consensus is that Owen Strand's screen time and forefront position in the storylines is like the worst and believe me, I wholeheartedly understand. Give me all the Carlos Reyes, all the time.

But one thing I don't think we appreciate enough is how nuanced his main character storyline. Bear with me as I try to put it into words because I've been thinking about this all day. It came to me when the intervention scene was happening at one very specific point.

Owen survived 9/11 and was an active participate that day and the days that followed. I was only a kid that day but I can still remember how wide sweeping and jarring it was. I can remember it like it was yesterday and the days following as everyone was kind of reeling and witnessing life as we knew it, changed.

Owen's character watched a lot of people die including many of his friends in a little under three hours. He survived the event and then immediately went through another event of trying to rescue anyone who could've survived the collapse and then clean up afterwards.

Then he was asked to rebuild a firehouse.

See, Owen was traumatized and given almost no time at all to process that trauma. Because there wasn't time. Because there were thousands of people whose whole lives were upended and changed for forever. There wasn't time for him to deal with his own grief.

Because he was needed.

Remember in the intervention scene when everyone confronted him about being depressed and then TK wanted to know why he pushed the procedure? Remember what Owen said?

"I was needed."

Owen's entire motivation is based on his avoidance of dealing with trauma, of dealing with being alone once again, and his needing to feel needed. It's why his marriage ended with Gwyn. TK and Gwyn, in Owen's mind, weren't the ones who needed him the most. The NYFD needed him. His fire family needed him. And it had taken him years to start to relax that tight fisted grip on needing to feel that. It's why he didn't immediately jump at the chance to go fix the 126. Even with the cancer he was finally starting to accept that he didn't need to be needed anymore.

Until he was triggered again.

When he found TK on the floor of his apartment. When someone he cared, who needed him, nearly died again.

TK nearly dying sent him on a spiral that I don't think has ever stopped. Whenever he was needed, with TK or Michelle or Mateo or Gwyn or Buttercup or Judd... Whoever needed him, he was there. Solving a problem. Fixing things. He got TK out of the city and into therapy. He went and fought the guy who wouldn't help Michelle find her sister. He got Judd into counseling. He fought for his job so that the team wouldn't be fired.

But now we're seeing that he isn't needed as much anymore. For example, TK doesn't need him as much anymore. He's in a good place, in a healthy relationship, and making some positive changes in his life that doesn't include Owen. Cue Owen jumping at the chance to be a father again. Another distraction. Only that didn't pan out. So then Judd's accident crept up again.

"You take the punches. And the moment you stop, you go find some more."

Owen's been putting aside his own processing of trauma for so many years now that he's straight up in denial of even having them.

Everyone has their vice on this show. Everyone has their baggage. Owen is deeply traumatized by what he went through and just hasn't dealt with it.

Owen's trauma response is to find the person who needs him the most in that moment and try to fix them or solve their problems for them. It started with TK and it hasn't stopped since even though he isn't necessarily "needed" that way anymore and all that's left to do is to fix himself.

But he doesn't know how to do that. He was never given the chance.

He's an incredibly flawed individual. He's an asshole a lot of the times. I wish he wasn't at the center of every episode because as much as I love Rob Lowe's face, my eyes are elsewhere Carlos Reyes.

But as a writer... holy shit that's one hell of a subtle detail that they slipped in and I cannot wait to see how that develops.