#❝ —— visuals 》the activator ; jessica.

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

Disclaimer: This isn't actually a disclaimer I just wanted to start this by saying Jessica Drew is mother. She gave birth to me. That's my mom. Anyways.

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Friendly reminder:

Jessica helps Gwen at the end of ATSV.

At the end of the movie, we see Gwen leave to go get Peter.

She's leaving Miles apartment, and goes up to the roof to open the portal so his parents don't see.

Jess sees this happening.

And she absolutely knows it's Gwen, for two reasons.

1) Gwen is one of the only people who knows Miles' exact address - so it's either her or Peter.

2) Hobies portals look distinctly different from Miguel's. The visuals mimic Hobies universe, which Jess would recognize.

Considering Gwen is one of the people he's closest to - not Peter - Jess can probably guess that's Gwen up there.

This gives Jess SO MUCH information.

Now we know that Jess not only knows that Gwen is alright and not in her universe, but is now the ONLY enemy that knows of Hobie's ability to recreate watches.

She now knows that Hobie has his own technology and that him and Gwen are working together.

And knowing Hobie, those is obviously a premeditated idea.

He made the watches after all. If Gwen has one, Hobie absolutely has one of is own, and if he can make two, why wouldn't be make three, or five, or a dozen.

This one thing tips her off to a much bigger operation than Miguel is completely 100% unaware of. That's huge!!

But as far as we seeee, she doesn't call it in. She lets Gwen go.

And that's the last we see if anyone in The Society. After that, Gwen recruits Peter - while Miles G. confronts Miles.

There's no scene of Miguel being enraged at the fact Hobie has basically bested him in every way imaginable, because I think he doesn't even know about Hobie's watches, not yet.

Because Jess didn't rat to him.

That's perfectly in line with her behavior. Jess NEVER told on Gwen. She doesn't even threaten to send her home (but people misconstrue her words and assume she did - I'll write on that one day. Maybe.).

Jess doesn't tell Miguel she sent Gwen to Mumbattan, he only finds out when Miles disrupts a canon event and the Spot opens a huge hole there.

Even in the scene where Miguel is yelling at Gwen and Miles, he's yelling about Miles worrying about Spot and Gwen letting him get away.

If you ask me, looks Jess changed sides already, all by herself. She didn't NEED a teenager to come to her house and invite her like SOME PEOPLE (*cough* Peter *cough*)

But what do you think?

I wanted to add the third in one specifically because I think Jess is in a particularly interesting place.

We can see she has sympathy for Gwen, and she has a HUGE opportunity to help her out.

Peter is now on the outside, but Jess is still directly with Miguel - and in still in his good graces. Now that she knows what she knows, she could massively throw Miguel off Gwen's trail.

I don't think she'd actively entirely sabotage Miguel. Jess knows better - but she does have a huge possibly of nudging Miguel in a different direction if she thinks he's getting too close to Gwen's location, or finding out about Hobie's watches.

Anything from calling false alarms on Miles' wearabouts at the 'worst' time, to - if Miguel begins to suspect Hobie's plan - acting as if it's ridiculous and impossible.

In her position she can either do this, or choose to go completely AWOL, seeking to find Gwen herself or outright leaving the Society.

But I wanna hear y'all thoughts cause !!!!

People be sleeping on my mama!!!!!!! She about to do BIG THANGS!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE JESSICA DREW!!!!!!!!!! YOU'LL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS!!!!!

[earl-grey-orange-tabby]

my aftg fan cast

disclaimers:

a lot of these, especially in the next part, aren’t actors, so this is less a fancast and more of a “i have a horrible imagination and need to visualize characters so they feel more real to me” list

if they don’t look like what you picture, agree to disagree! i love seeing other ppl’s perspectives of what the characters look like and i hope you do too

without further ado,

neil josten - benjamin wadsworth

okay listen just because i picked the most used neil fancast DOES NOT MEAN THE REST OF THIS LIST IS BORING!!! he’s just so neil-coded to me in deadly class! i even put him into a photo editing app to change his hair and eye color and he still fits!!! plus the top right pic is exactly how i imagine a nathaniel smile.

andrew/aaron minyard - vlad konoplev

i’m gonna give credit to @kalu_aftg on tiktok for this, because i saw this actor in their tik tok. he’s in a russian series called my biggest secret (i watched a couple clips but i haven’t seen the show)

but come on!!!! this is andrew minyard!!!! and always with andrew fancasts it’s difficult to see them as aaron but i feel like this could go both ways, especially in the bottom right pic. identical, but different vibes, yk?

dan wilds - kiersey clemons

i first saw kiersey clemons in new girl as kc and she feels so dan! then i saw the pic on the top left and i was like YES! this. is. dan. she seems very sweet and friendly but i know she could give a great game face.

nicky hemmick - conor husting

even his pics give off major nicky vibes. he also has a very similar hair length to what i picture nicky with. fun fact: he’s also half-mexican on his mother’s side which is strangely accurate lol!!

allison reynolds - jessica lord

i’m gonna be honest i just searched up “blond actresses 20’s” and that top left photo popped up and it was just so so so allison!! i included a couple pics of her in the ballet movie “find me in paris” because i couldn’t find a lot of pics of any of these actors in active wear and this felt close enough.

kevin day - nicholas galitzine

honestly i got this idea from an instagram live he did where he was yelling about being 6 foot and my brain was like “that is kevin day IN THE FLESH”. i originally saw him in bottoms and he totally cracked me up.

matt boyd - daniel ezra

like come on!!! his smile is so bright and inviting, it gives off such strong matt energy. he played spencer james in all-american and i haven’t watched it but ive seen ppl say good things. bonus: he’s the only one i could find with any form of a face guard (even tho nick galitzine also played a football player in bottoms lol)

renee walker - sydney park & lana condor

okay SO my criteria was soft-looking people that can look sharp in other pictures, and i came up with these two! it’s kinda hard to picture renee without the pastel/white hair but let’s suspend disbelief.

seth gordon - young david beckham

speaking of suspending disbelief, LMAOO. just hear me out, okay. seth was a fifth year, slightly older than the rest of them, so i was looking for that + blond buzz cut and this is the result!

and that’s all! i have more so i’ll probably make a part two, but im having trouble finding a nathan because it’s so hard NOT to picture nathan as a redhead but that means he probably won’t look like benjamin wadsworth.

[jessaerys]

ok finished utopia uk. many mixed feelings about season 2, mainly about the quality of the writing. obviously the show never got finished so there's a chance that it could have all come together if the story had wrapped up, but so much of the middle of season two felt very written off the seat of their pants. meandering? throwing spaghetti at the wall. sooo many new characters introduced and discarded, so many main characters extremely underutilized, so many main characters playing reactionary roles rather than active ones. even though it's trying to be, for a lack of a better way to put it, hardcore with all the onscreen violence we see, it was difficult for me to take it seriously and i can't quite put my finger on why... season 2 felt VERY underbaked under the shiny surface (the gorgeous, visually stunning surface) so the themes of "do the ends justify the means or perhaps killing people... bad?" felt really stretched thin in a way that makes everything cartoonish if you so much as stop for a second to think about the logistics. which is fine, many great shows have asked for that level of suspension of disbelief, but what annoyed me about it is that it kept introducing high stakes situations (we have to find this one guy we know absolutely nothing about!) and resolving them frictionlessly in the same episode. also the "just kidding, the interesting, non-violent genocide is out, an actually straightforward violent genocide is IN" twist was really emotionally anticlimactic. to me. very that "satan's scarier older brother's friend's neighbor" vibe that people make fun of supernatural for. you get the feeling that the writers have a kind of childish morality underpinning the entire premise that robs the concept of all of the philosophical nuance it could have. i desperately wish i cared more about becky and ian but s2 felt like they were the main characters merely out of obligation. oh christ alive there's a 7 (seven. seven?!) hour video essay with millions of views on youtube i guess i'm watching that. anyway i love jessica and pietre with all of my heart wish i could pick them out of the narrative and like, actually develop their personalities. hilariously i now feel like rewatching mr robot because at least those characters did feel like real people who are not just puppets without lives when they are off-screen. sorry that's really mean to reiterate i REALLY liked the show fgjkdfgjkgjkdgkjdgkjdfgkjfdgjgdfdfgdj if i didn't i wouldn't be so frustrated with its shortcomings. also the soundtrack fucks tremendously. it has got to be said

[adamsvanrhijn]

did some snooping about Princess Arthur who is listed on the da 3 imdb and there was one who was a ww1 nurse who kept nursing for a bit after the war and ended up winning a prize for a paper she wrote on eclampsia which all points to a sybil link and either a ghost or flashback sybil (but as she's listed as branson maybe more likely some kind of ghost thing)

Downton Abbey 3 IMDb Cast page for reference

Ok so. My thinking is:

We have never had visible ghosts in Downton Abbey

We have never had visual flashbacks in Downton Abbey

Imdb is not always reliable with things like names and appearances before a film is actually out

For reference, Jessica Brown Findlay in her Lady Sybil era, Fifi Hart (Sybbie aka Sybil Branson) and Rose Galbraith (DA3 "Lady Sybil Branson") look like this when next to each other:

As another anon called out, both Princess Arthur (IRL YOB 1891, played by Lisa Dillon according to IMDb) and John Bevan (IRL YOB 1894, played by Nathan Wiley according to IMDb) (obviously could also be a case of accidental name recycling which is less likely w/ Princess Arthur) did have notable activities during WWII, and their actors on IMDb are both likely of playing age of mid ~40s :

(Lisa Dillon's photo from IMDb, Nathan Wiley's photo found on his website.)

While this doesn't negate ghost or flashback, it does potentially indicate that we might spend time on WWII, in which case we would be more likely to need an older Sybbie than an on-screen flashback to Sybil.

Which could mean nothing!

[pochapal]

I'd like to ask about something you mentioned very early into your readthroughs - Ushiromiya Shannon being too obvious to be real. Specifically, how you point to the tattoo of the one-winged eagle on her thigh (incidentally linking it to sexuality through visual signifiers where Eva's being on the arm would arguably link her relationship to The Family more to ideas of actively changing the world around her - see also her establishment as a martial artist, and the values she promotes in George's Adultsona) as marking some special relationship to the family, and speculating on it making her a vessel for resurrecting Beatrice. Do you think given this, and Battler's early sexually charged antics around Jessica, that Umineko is concerned with the cycles of abuse it portrays being in some way incestuous? I'd also point out relevant to this question is Natsuhi's valorisation of Kinzo, use of 'father' as honorific for him, and complexes around her use of the Ushiromiya name.

(cw for incest and sexual abuse)

your point about the eagle tattoo positioning is interesting and something i've not really thought about! eva's being in a place of pride vs shannon's being in a place of "shame" is rife with interpretive meaning.

i hesitate to say that what's going on in the ushiromiya abuse chain is incestuous in the literal sense but there is a certain kind of metaphorical psychological quasi-incestuous dimension to the dynamics we see. one strand of this is how kinzo is chiefly motivated by a lust for beatrice and how that forms the underpinning of his existence as the ushiromiya head, thus tinging the abuse that springs forth with this lens. i wonder if there isn't legwork to a semi-freudian look at the misogynist abuse in particular and how what it does more than anything is work to turn these women simultaneously into echoes of kinzo's beloved beatrice but equally his perfect subordinate and heir. natsuhi strives to both be kinzo's perfect successor but also a perfect mistress of rokkenjima - in one sense every victim of the ushiromiya family simultaneously aims to emulate both krauss and beatrice (save for the men, who already have Being Krauss granted to them in some form and thus instead angle towards Being Kinzo instead) (i also use krauss as the benchmark instead of kinzo because there is a certain hesitance within this psychodrama to actually surpass kinzo - they want kinzo's approval more than they want to be kinzo), which grows complicated and unsettling when thinking about the duality in relationships that those two represent.

when you consider that the twin ideals of being krauss and beatrice are imprinted onto the psyche of every ushiromiya adult, i think it can be helped to shape specifically the conformity-based abuses we see happening. rosa tears into maria because maria through her neurodivergence fails to be beatrice-like (quiet enigmatic sexually attractive woman whose strength is only as an accessory to kinzo's patriarchal fascist power) which is a reminder that rosa herself as an outcast woman low on the pecking order (with a failed relationship) is also far-removed from the beatrice ideal. jessica's struggle comes from the fact that her destiny is to be A Beatrice for someone else's Kinzo and every part of her rightfully recoils at that outcome (hence her boyish affect and the way she doesn't let battler's weird jokes about her slide unaddressed) but because of her position she can't actually see a concrete way out for herself since everything around her only works to reinforce this fate - being a krauss isn't an option for jessica, so it's either become a beatrice or flee the structure altogether.

george's adultsona is very much an attempt at turning him into a reincarnation of krauss (eva's an interesting wrinkle in this because her becoming-desire is to end up as A Kinzo and not A Beatrice, which eschews the strict gender essentialism in these roles) and the struggle thus comes from the fact that you can't be a healthy normal empathetic human if you're throwing yourself into one of these simulacra. on a vaguely related aside i suppose this adds another uncomfortable layer to his relationship with shannon - he engages with this relationship through his adultsona, meaning that on some level what's happening is that sayo runs the risk of being ripped out of the shannon role only to be forced into a beatrice role instead.

re: ushiromiya shannon under this model i think shannon not being related to the ushiromiya bloodline is even more important since it allows the incestuous psychological fantasy of the beatrice-successor to be played out to its natural terrible conclusion without the actual literal incest part happening (kinzo hates everyone in his family because while they can all be successors they can never fully fulfil the role of beatrice - his disdain therefore would take on an edge of sexual impotency). if shannon becomes beatrice then she can be beatrice all the way by being a perfect vessel to grand kinzo his desire of a union between himself and the witch on the level of the flesh instead of merely the level of the financial. beatrice giving kinzo the gold several decades back is a kind of suggestive act of insemination where the "offspring" of the union is the financial empire under kinzo's name. everything in his life except for his own kids are the fruits of his interaction with beatrice - the one thing he failed to do was actually procreate with the golden witch. which i guess then recontextualizes his "oooohhh beatriceee i only want to see your smile" breakdowns in that his sexual fascist delusion of a bloodline springing forth from that which he desires above all else supersedes his interest in material wealth - he is only flesh and blood, and flesh and blood needs to perpetuate itself somehow. of course the real beatrice is dead and gone and all this witch stuff is a phantasm so if this is to mean anything he needs to extend his delusion onto a suitable target that can play the role of being someone kinzo can have intercourse with for the express purpose of producing a kinzo-beatrice child. in other words you need a "perfect vessel" that is fit to "receive beatrice's spirit".

kind of tangential but this model makes the function of beatrice within the context of the murders deeply interesting since the murders are being carried out by servants choosing to adopt the persona of beatrice. i'm thinking here about genji, of someone taking on the moniker of the pinnacle of kinzo's sexual desire and how this man with unnatural levels of devotion towards kinzo so readily and absolutely is able to step into the role of beatrice (perhaps this is indicative that this whole time genji has wanted nothing more than to be beatrice for kinzo and then his role in the murders is at least in part a manifestation of queer desire?). there's also something to kanon wearing the mask of beatrice, as someone who would be aware of the depths of the abuse towards shannon in the name of said identity. is there a kind of ironic victory in kanon parading around beatrice's name after kinzo is dead? not quite reclamation but perhaps perversion of some kind - there has been subtext in that one chapter where kinzo treats kanon with bizarre grandfatherly affection. in the event of kinzo failing was kanon to play the role of kinzo to shannon's beatrice in another incestuous act of cruelty, passable only because kanon and shannon are not in fact blood related? if so then perhaps there's something additional to kanon donning the persona of beatrice and then choosing in his final moments to reject both her and kinzo.

all of this is something i've not really thought about due it being a subject matter you're not inherently inclined to want to consider so a lot of this post is more me thinking things through for the first time so sorry if some of this post is a little incoherent or meandering lol. i do think there's some merit to all this, but i'm not sure how deep or literal it goes in the text. definitely a very interesting framework that's worth keeping in mind moving forward as another way of contextualizing what's going on with the abuse in the ushiromiya family though!

[sagebaileyspeaks]

It’s been a hot minute since I’ve been so moved by a piece of media (good or bad) that I just had to write about it, but that’s where we are this evening with Across the Spider-verse. 

There isn’t much I can say about this movie without delving into spoilers, so I’ll begin by saying that visually this movie is unmatched. There’s a reason that animation exists as a medium and that is because you can do things with it that you cannot achieve in real life. As much as I love No Way Home and that original Spiderman trilogy, the fact of the matter is, none of those films —no matter how spectacular—is doing what Into the Spider-verse and Across the Spider-verse have done. 

And while I could gush about the art style all day, the second most impressive thing is how this sequel manages to build on almost everything that was established in the first. Rio and Jefferson (Miles’ parents) have so much more to do here, they’re active characters who aren’t simply there to provide Miles with obligation and tragedy; Gwen, whose background was waved by in the first movie, has almost the same amount of screentime as Miles; and speaking of Miles, this movie allows him the chance to stand as Spiderman without Peter Parker. 

To be clear, I love Peter Parker as a character. In particular, I like what Into the Spider-verse does with Peter B. Parker because it’s really the only story that allows Peter to grow up. Much as I like Tom Holland’s take on the character, I’m very much tired of teenage Peter Parker and teenage Peter Parker problems. I want to grow with him, I want to see him advance to the next stage of life, which here: means divorce, reconciliation, even a child (who we’ll get to later). That is the Peter Parker I want to see. 

After this, I’m going to go into spoiler territory, but honestly my overall take from the film is that we have a Spiderman, an Afro-Latino Spiderman, who is standing his ground and making it clear that he is not Peter Parker. That’s not his struggle, his destiny or his story. Across the Spider-verse is making the statement that Miles Morales is here and he is here to stay on his own terms. And skeptics, well, they just have to accept it or move along.

And now….

First of all, Hobie is the fucking best. I am not exaggerating. He’s one of the first (and only) Spiderman to not necessarily be on Miles’ side but also not be against him. He warns him upon entering Spider society that he shouldn’t become apart of something without realizing what it is, helps him break out by telling him how best to use his power and then gives Gwen the tool necessary to further assist him.  

To that end, with the exception of Jessica Drew, Miles is assisted almost entirely by the Black Spiderpeople who have known him less than a few hours. . .as opposed to Gwen and Peter B. who knew him a couple of days. I’m not saying that I no longer like their characters or even that they’re somehow intentionally racist, but there is something to be said that Gwen and Peter joined this society made up of mostly white Spiderpeople and then decided to side with said establishment over Miles who they had known personally (and who saved their lives). 

Migel O’ Hara, aka Spiderman 2099, is a terrifying Spiderman and honestly his canon logic is flawed. He’s essentially surrounded himself with Spidermen who prove him right, which feels like confirmation bias but also, if you even think too hard about the established “canon” of Spidermen, it falls apart. In No Way Home (which the movie establishes is canon) all of the Peter Parkers rehabilitate their villains and while we’ll likely never receive confirmation, I’m fairly certain that those universes didn’t fall apart after they did so. Gwen’s father in this very movie, quits being Captain which means that he has avoided this canon. Peter B. tells Miles that it’s because he met him that Mayday (an absolutely ADORABLE future Spidergirl) exists. Not to mention…the Spidermen from No Way Home would most certainly not agree with that, “let one die to save many,” considering their actions and I’m fairly certain there’s a number of other Spidermen who wouldn’t. 

The villain in the movie, or the main villain I should say, is named The Spot and things escalate there in a hurry. He seems relatively harmless at first but it takes ONE time for Miles to write him off as insignificant and this man loses his mind. Decides to take it incredibly personally and show Miles that he is a worthy foe. Kodos to the team for making a joke villain legitimate.

The ending where Miles goes to Earth-42 and meets Miles Morales is EPIC. I honestly cannot tell which way Prowler Miles will go considering when our Miles told him that their dad would die, he said, “your dad.” Miles isn’t necessarily a threat to him at all and maybe he’ll want to see Miles’ universe, but I can’t say one way or another.

Which is, I suppose, the best part of the movie. While I was able to call that that wasn’t Miles’ room and that Miles was probably the Prowler, there is so much more that I didn’t see coming. I don’t know how Miles will get out of the situation he’s in (though it seemed like he was going to use his venom strike) and I don’t know if he’ll be able to save his dad, it’s such a good cliffhanger because the only given at this point in time is that Miles Morales will return.

All in all, I give the movie ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ out of 5 and I am counting the moments until Beyond the Spiderverse comes out next March.

[argumate]

so I finally watched Dune (Villeneuve's) and it was entertaining, pretty much what I expected, I'm glad I watched it.

it has some good visuals, some decent actors, a dramatic score, possibly over-dramatic but that's appropriate.

the space scenes were excellent, cold and inhuman like 2001, vast geometric shapes moving in unnerving ways.

I liked the blocky solidity of the palaces, the theatrical effect of the empty spaces and the subtle decoration in the rooms.

that damn bull though -- they kept cutting back to it but what did it really signify? it represents the cruelty and capriciousness of the Old Duke, a trace of which should be visible in Duke Leto, but I don't think we see that at all in this film, perhaps it just represents another bold gamble taken and lost.

I imagined the fief on Caladan as being more like the Mediterranean, Aegean, or Indian Ocean in character, more suited to the Greco-Roman, Byzantine, and Persian influences that you imagine would describe the Atreides, but somehow it ended up more... Scottish?? the Atreides legions fight like a (distressingly undisciplined) hoplite phalanx but march out to bagpipes, maybe it's supposed to be an example of traditional Greek bagpipes, I don't know

at any rate the cliffs over the sea are dramatic and it's fun watching Paul stalk about dressed like a goth Victorian schoolboy as his father comfortingly tells him that he doesn't need to take on the burden of the family legacy if he doesn't want to (while the tombs of a dozen generations of his ancestors watch on in silent reproach)

I felt that the drama and pageantry of the introduction faltered a little when they reached the city of Arrakeen, which was a disappointing muddle of generic computer generated dusty metal that seemed very slapdash and poorly thought out compared to all the other settings, undermining the battle over it which was to come.

(and the battle was uninspiring, watching the feared Atreides legions run out in their pyjamas in disarray to face foes they didn't even notice were coming until after they arrived)

I'm quite familiar with the Dune books so it was interesting watching the movie and seeing how the sheer number of characters made it impossible to give many of them any meaningful characterisation or emotional development.

I was very pleased to see Chang Chen playing Doctor Yueh, but he is given no time to demonstrate his affection for Paul and Jessica nor the helpless compulsion that drives him to betray them, while Gurney and Duncan chew the scenery as best they can but can't quite convince you that they actually serve any purpose in the story (Paul's son is going to bring back a thousand clones of Aquaman?) and the Reverend Mother does a good job but has lost the nuances she had in the book ("I must have wanted you to fail").

"the Beast" Rabban portrayed by Dave Bautista (love that guy!) was one stand out I thought, mostly because this brute of a man comes across as nothing but a scared child next to his uncle, providing an excellent contrast for the nihilistic menace of the slug-like baron.

the baron is-- absurd of course, I mean he's even more absurd in the book, a corpulent flamboyant cackling caricature of a man, you could say this take is boringly toned down or you could say it's ludicrously over the top (he bathes in black sludge? seriously? you have to admire his commitment to the aesthetic, even if that's a Shrek move) but it's basically impossible to film a guy like this in a believable way and you just have to go for it.

the scene that sold the baron for me is when he's tucking into a solo banquet with his semi-conscious cousin Leto draped naked over a chair at the other side of the crazy long table, then when Yueh is brought in he activates his suspensors and silently rises into the air like a squid and drifts across the table towards us in a ghostly blur, all while the camera stays fixed on Leto's frozen rictus; the lack of focus echoes what Leto must be experiencing and is devastatingly effective.

the Fremen and Atreides and Harkonnen and Sardaukar have their own languages which is very cool (and Yueh speaks some Mandarin!) but why do the bad guys sound like they're using bad voice filters, they're being portrayed like literal orcs to the point that it begins to feel weird.

ornithopters are stupid but you have to admit these dragonfly contraptions do look pretty cool.

the worms get a lot of build up -- and I was surprised they preserved the harvester scene from the book almost verbatim, it felt like it consumed a lot of time -- but it's very satisfying when you finally see them rippling through the dune sea, it brings home the shifting danger of the desert sands in a way I wasn't expecting.

Paul has visions of the jihad but he never says the word "jihad".

splitting the movie in two is obviously necessary but the split is awkward, and it's really not helped by clunky lines like "this is only the beginning".

Chani gets a lot of vision time but what can you even say when you meet the teenager with whom you can precognitively remember several decades of future marriage?

still, bookending the movie with Chani is consistent with the book, that begins and ends with the women in Paul's life: Chani, Irulan, Jessica, something that always seemed like an interesting choice.

there is a lot more I would say about Dune but it would mostly be about the book rather than movie; this was a decent adaptation given the constraints of the medium, hopefully it won't be the last.

[dangerously-human]

Because I'm having feelings about my own WIPs but they are, alas, in progress, and I need to holler about them a bit, here is a list! This is just the Lockwood & Co stuff I'm actively working on at the moment; I've got prompts and other lingering projects for SGA, Fringe, Farscape, Community, and Endeavour that I haven't forgotten about, but for now, L&C has fully taken me captive and I'm not complaining. Mostly I'm posting this because I'm not ready to post any of the fics themselves yet and I wanted an excuse to yammer on about them to myself, but this is certainly an invitation to ask questions or request snippets while I work on these projects, too.

Living With the Ghost of You (ch. 3): Scrivener title "unsteady (drunk lockwood fic)", aka the drunk Lockwood angst fic. I've legitimately made myself cry multiple times with this one; everything about the time between The Hollow Boy and The Creeping Shadow hurts. Next and final chapter is Holly POV, and continuing to stretch my ability to bridge plot points without infodumping. This fic has had me digging deep to wrap my head around canon, which is awesome, because I had no idea just how much I was missing on first read-through (especially taking Lucy's impressions at face value). I'm also considering a happier post-canon companion fic with Lucy and George teasing Lockwood for being a total lightweight at a DEPRAC party or something...

Not Even a Doorknob Between You: Scrivener title "jessica necklace," aka the conversations with Jessica fic. Started out as me pondering how I would go about filling a suggestion I saw on here for a 5+1 fic of the skull overhearing Lockwood talking about Lucy, and I was like, okay, but when would Lockwood actually admit anything out loud to himself for the skull to even overhear? (I do still love that prompt, I'm just probably not the right person to tackle it. I love reading Skull snark yet have no skills for it myself.) Then I thought, "Oh, I bet Lockwood told Jessica he was going to give her necklace to Lucy, and was all, 'Listen, I do remember all those times you yelled at me not to touch your stuff, but this is different,' and it's like he's asking her for forgiveness and permission to move on piece by piece." And then I had feelings again about that "In the House With No Doors" poem as being the exact vibe after Lockwood first invites George and Lucy into Jessica's bedroom, and I wanted so badly to use that as a title that this tiny oneshot spiraled into a 5+1 fic instead, and I made myself cry with it a couple times but I've also made myself giggle a bit and I think it really encompasses a surprising range of emotions + The Sibling Experience.

Woke Up in a Safe House Singing: Scrivener title "locklyle library," aka the couch cuddles fic. Title is not set in stone yet, and I know that's an overused lyric title, but come on, for a fic that is equally about Portland Row itself and a discussion of marriage, what could fit better? This one is pure cotton candy to write, no tears, only squee. It is a return to Lucy's POV (my beloved), it's a little bit silly and a whole lot of sweet, and I love it so much. I wrote this purely because I have no visual art skills and my mental image of Lucy and Lockwood reading on the sofa together and occasionally poking each other with a fuzzy-sock-clad toe had to go somewhere.

[dojae-huh]

Anon as someone who works I agree most times ppl who work with you are just colleagues but you do build friendships on the way too. I've had colleagues help me financially (giving me loans when I needed it) to help me find someone to take over my responsibilities for 2 months when I needed holidays the most a few years back. There are a few ppl I would never be alone with but Ive also built friendships that have lasted me to this day even if they left the place I work at.

Most SM idols are very close, they all meet outside work and even years after they worked together unlike others. SES and also girls generation still meet (other than Jessica though). Same with tvxq we have pics of yunho and jaejoong chatting and sitting with eo parents and family. 127 are a male group so believe me when they're angry at someone they fight and resolve it, unlike women who have been programmed to be competitive with other women and so never even get along well with their sisters. Women compete for attention, snsd talked about this very well in the beginning of their career.

As for 127 you could clearly see the cracks in the band or the groups very clearly a few years back. It's still there but it has become alot better since 2022... Either they all talked out what each members wants to do or members have accepted that changes will be happening.

As for taeyong and doyoung, doyoung built this friendship. Doyoung used to get irritated with tae and even talked to his manager about it but ultimately they learned to live and become very good friends through it. Dotae are so similar to my fav ship from shinee minkey, to this day they keep arguing and fighting but they also do everything together.

We build most of our relationships both platonic and romantic and dotae is very much built on mutual respect and love so it's not fake at all, Doyoung smiles fake but never cries fake, he hates being emotional so why would he cry for the fans.

Dowoo, johndo, johnwoo even johnjae are very much collgues... Just look at BTS videos and who are usually sitting together... But they're good enough colleagues to be good work friends

Yes sometimes over the top ships are fake, like markhyuck but markhyuck are very close and depend emotionally and spiritually for strength to continue with their work in 2 bands. Mark kept haechan active last year but ultimately I've a feeling 127 hyungs asked haechan to just take a break so he sat out of the tour. Same with ppl not realising that haechan is very close to jisung and jeno... He closest to them along with renjun

Random but renjun is the very social and I as a NCT fan never realised it, the boy has friends who are 10 or more years older than him in SM. He's making good relationships as he gets older. From what I've seen his friendships are close enough for him to make fun of a hyung who is 9 years older to him

Also as groups grow older most groups stop selling we're family, shinee and 127 never sold the idea of good family or siblings. They are very open about being colleagues who got together but both these bands have very strong bonds... Super junior always talk about them only doing stuff for the camera but their families go on vacations together. The Siblings of the members are on friendly terms and so are the parents... The boys even live together still (at least eunhyuk and kyuhyun lived together in a flat a few years back)

As for 127 crying, army changes alot of things... Eunhyuk was the most funny member and the member with the most work but after army he hasn't found a permanent gig that's popular. Same with suju being limited to their own fandom. Shinee got a boost of new fans thanks to superm but most have left or prefer being taeminnie fans

Taeyong isn't a singer, he is the visual and the face of 127. He might be worried that fans would be bored and leave the fandom. It's tough waiting for 3 or 4 years for the band to be back together

It took shinee almost 4 years and believe me it was tough although we got so many solo albums in between this army period but the band together is more fun and the reason most ppl are in the fandom.

I get why taeyong cried and I get why doyoung supported him... Also you have to realise not everyone can cope with army. Taemin had to leave in the middle of his service coz of his mental health deteriorating too much. He did his last year as a public service person, it must be tough thinking of the future where you're expected to follow rules and regulations harsher than even idol industry. Btw fans have left fandoms in the army period alot of times... Even if youre in the fandom sometimes you stop following everything and not know half the fandom jokes or fights (me with shinee fandom atm)

I prefer to buy 127 albums instead of shinee ones now, I still don't have physical copies of key solos, And he's my ultimate fav K-pop singer

P.S. as a teacher I can tell you anon that all work places are fake, I also smile and small talk with ppl I won't trust.

Idol industry is normal life but on steroids, all these things happen in real life too, but most times you don't realise it until you're in the job.

A workplace is a place to meet people. Whether those people become friends or not depends on your personal compatibility and events that help you to know each other better. Like when I work in the field I live in the same room with others, we see each other in underwear, cook for each other and go into the night to spend hours in a dark forest. In such conditions people with suitable characters naturally become close quickly (and the opposite happens with difficult people as there is no room to breath, no personal space really). On the other hand, working at a cafe or a store offers very little to help bonding. Everyone is tired, pissed at managers and hate their job.

The anon's reasoning is correct for many idol groups, it doesn't mean it applies to each one of them. Also, I myself think that families are often less close than good friends, that they are kept together by blood, tradition and responsibilities. Thus I find comparing a band to a family very fitting actually. As one can't choose relatives, one can't choose bandmates (in most cases, sometimes older A-list trainees invite their friends into the agency and then debut together).

[hasaniwalker]

Hey Mr. Walker! I've been a huge fan of your Doris Doodle webcomic for a long time! As you might remember or not lol, I've been making fanarts and fan animatics and am still in the process of creating my OCs to coexist in your little "Doodleverse" (as I've liked to call it 😂) but I hit a bump in the road while working on fleshing out the world-building on my OC Daisy's interactions with other Toons (that's why my fan content has been on writers block/artists block hell for a few months). She would've interacted a lot with Betty Boop (Mentor figure/VIP member of FxF) and Jessica Rabbit (Mom figure/FxFManager) but I've realized I can't further develop the story accurately and up-to-date with ur posts if I can't use these characters because of your whole copyright issue you went through and the fact that you're rewriting the whole story with your own characters for the Doodleverse. So basically my question is, should I continue writing the story with Lana Lamb and your other original characters in Doris' universe or stay true to the source material and still feature Betty or perhaps cameo Betty and Lana in the same scenes kinda like a visual language cinematographic type way to show the viewer they're one and the same character or something? Idk if I'm explaining that correctly lmfao?? Sorry if this is long-winded 😅 I just wanted to mention all of this before I lose the courage to aaaannnnddd because you seem to be actively posting more Doris &Dawn content once more 😁😊

Thank you for your message! The Doodleverse, I like that! I do wish I could've at least kept Betty Boop in the story as a main friend, but yeah, my attempts at talking to the rights holders never went anywhere. Once the book comes out, that's going to become the Canon story. However, other cartoons will still exist in the world (I can't have them as side characters or really have their image, but characters will still mention them now and then). So Dawn still has her Mononoke poster and sailor moon merch. Doris will still know nearly everything about the looney tunes. And well-known characters will still show up in the short comics I post online. They just can't appear in a published book. So when you make stories for your characters, you can still include Betty Boop and others. In the end, just have fun with it! Thank you so much for being a fan of these characters!!! I really appreciate and love your fanart!

[electricbluebutterflies]

Jessica/Leto + Wild, breathless kisses brought on by a heartfelt gift.

Early-era, PG-ish, also on ao3.

It doesn’t seem significant at the time.

There are only so many ways to get someone to open up, and Leto is quickly running through them. Attempted conversation on any level, borderline disaster and one-word responses unless she thinks he’s making a terrible mistake and that’s happened maybe twice in the past year. Intimacies, she’s at least figured out he wants her to be comfortable and he’s pretty sure he’d get maimed if he did anything she couldn’t at least tolerate, but their communication isn’t any better in bed than it is anywhere else. Tiny presents…

There is something feral about that woman, like a small bird taking whatever shiny things wash up on shore, and if that’s the way into her heart then he is more than willing to try to work with it.

Even this approach offers opportunities for failure. Doing too much too soon, for instance – any of the family heirlooms, most of them too noticeable for her taste, most of them-

It is distinctly challenging to try to figure out a woman who he’s starting to suspect doesn’t understand herself either, and out of that he worries. Is the general goal of romancing her wrong? Would it be easier to live in peaceful separation and just let her… oh, he hasn’t the slightest idea what she’s supposed to be doing beyond intimacies, and even that’s questionable, and-

They are in each other’s lives, for better or worse. Damn him for wanting to turn that into something.

He watches her as months pass, watches her… not quite bloom, that would be too kind a word, but at least acclimate. Tries to keep the pressure low and justifiable – there are only a few formal events in the year that are truly unbearable without some kind of companion, and his vulnerability is enough to get her into a dress that can only fit one of her in an actual color, and-

It is an hour before such an evening when he slips into her spaces, a routine he’d like to think they’re developing. Easier to directly give fair warning – who he’d rather not speak with and why, any other petty drama he suspects might go over her head – and lately the only time he goes looking for her. Otherwise she just appears, as if aware that her presence is wanted, as if-

“May I add to that?”

She looks breathtaking as-is, unusually light-green silk, enough attention to detail that a casual observer might have no idea of her origins and oh what if that’s what she’s trying for and-

“That depends on the details,” she replies, and this too is progress. The less compliant she gets, the more like an actual normal human being…

“It’s just a small necklace. And you can take it off if you don’t like it.”

That’s apparently tempting enough to make her pull her hair out of the way and offer her neck. So still as he puts the piece on her, and it really is delicate, only visually interesting up close and-

“Comfortable?”

She moves away, towards a mirror that must’ve been acquired at some point since the last time he had reason to be in her spaces, and her expression is… not actively unhappy, he can’t pin any closer than that but at least-

“You’re learning.”

Something in her visibly breaks, and next thing he processes she’s cleared the distance again and tilted her head up for what feels like the most genuine kiss she’s ever attempted, something raw and real and beautiful in it and-

“You don’t owe me-“

“Does this really look like…” Something sparkly in her eyes, adoration and frustration, maybe she’s going through the same confusion he is at all times and-

“You should have pretty things,” he murmurs, taking a step back before things escalate further than they should right now. “I want you to have pretty things.”

“I’m not… used to that. But I could learn.”

“If it’s against your codes-“

“I was taught to be adaptable,” she says, glancing away for a moment. “I was never told that anyone might find me beautiful, but…”

“You run delicate,” he interprets. “Understood.”

“Perhaps. I don’t know yet.”

He knows what vulnerability this is for her, how challenging to admit her uncertainty, and… there’s something brave and defiant about her, something he may be falling in love with, something-

“Do let me know when you figure it out.”

She takes another kiss, deep enough to decide how the evening will end before it begins. “You do something to me,” she breathes against his skin. “I’m not sure what it is, but I like it.”

He slips away again, before he can say things he’s not sure of either, before this can actually get weird. “See you in-“

“You do want me close, yes?”

“Always.”

[wendyliddel]

The Little Mermaid (2023) review

I saw The Little Mermaid (2023) today, so I wanted to write a review while it was fresh in my mind.

The Good

Basically, the visuals and the performances. The film was visually stunning. Halle was born to play a Disney princess. Her voice, her face, her entire personality made her perfect for this role. Jonah was great as Eric, and I enjoyed Wild Uncharted Waters, even if he doesn’t have the strongest singing voice, He did well. From her voice to her attitude, Melissa was clearly using the original Ursula as inspiration for her performance, and I think Pat Carroll would have loved it. Jessica Alexander really made me want to see more of Vanessa.

The Bad

I understand that they wanted to use Halle’s voice as much as possible (who wouldn’t), but her new song was unnecessary and pretty forgettable. Somebody should have stopped Miranda from putting Scuttlebutt in there. Awkwafina clearly had fun recording, but I just didn’t find her character funny. I know Triton is not the most active character, but Javier really could have put some more energy into his performance.

The Mediocre

A lot of criticism has been made of the design of Sebastian and Flounder. I myself was not happy when I first saw the design of Sebastian. I made a post about it. Neither character was as bad as I feared, but neither was that impressive either.

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | Stealth (Cohen, 2005)

I’d been meaning to check this out after the Corridor Crew YouTube channel featured a scene in one of their videos that I thought looked kinda fun. The fact that this has numerous scenes of the evil robot plane blasting nu metal that it illegally downloaded from the internet while blowing things up left and right means that in some ways this represents the apotheosis of nu metal cinema. The way I judge garbage like this is whether it moves fast enough that you don’t have to think too hard about what’s happening. Whether it gets my synapses firing, as I may have said elsewhere. It’s the only genre better suited to being watched while sick.

Unfortunately I was feelin’ fine while watching this and found it pretty boring. While the cropped transfer on Tubi probably didn’t help, this is paced like death, doesn’t have enough visual flair to make any of this look cool, and has the smugness/charisma ratio of the heroes severely out of whack. Only Jessica Biel is tolerable because she doesn’t seem to be actively douchey, but the absence of unlikable qualities does not mean the presence of likeable ones. It’s a little sad to see Sam Shepard holed up in the control room trying to do some actual acting, but I’m sure he cried all the the way to the bank. Probably funded a few more plays with his paycheque.

I will say that there are times when the effects take on an accidentally psychedelic quality, and there are frames from this that would look great taken out of context by one of those “one perfect shot” social media accounts. Nobody is tripping over themselves to make a case for Rob Cohen these days, and with good reason. But it’s a little surprising that a decade ago, when a certain strain of online critic was busy jerking off Paul W. S. Anderson and the like, that none of them went to bat for this garbage. But I guess some directors are too lame for vulgar auteurism. Like there’s no piece titled “The Dystopia is Now: The Dismal Visions of Andrzej Bartkowiak”. Nobody hammered out an essay like this:

“Cohen reconciles the inherent contradiction at the heart of militaristic cinema - admiration for the courage of the warrior class and a jaundiced view of their leadership and American foreign policy - with the technological fetishism of the 2000s mass market blockbuster, offering a more skeptical and nuanced alternative to the giddy, uncomplicated Bayhemian visions dominating the cinematic landscape during the decade. Its critical and commercial failure only proved his thesis correct, as the truths his film offered were too raw for audiences to swallow.”

Anyway if anyone is writing a piece about Stealth, feel free to quote that out of context.

[shinchan1221]

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[deezdesign]

Is Jez Design the Future of Fashion

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