#( a modern day romance movie wow

[rose-tea-and-strawberries]

A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes

How Ace and Deuce Fantasise About Their Crush, The Prefect

Reader/Yuu is female

Masterlist

Ace Trappola

Deuce is his biggest rival so usually his fantasies involve you choosing him over his fellow Heartslabyul first year

Usually he would be goofing off ‘studying or doing homework’ and his thoughts would inevitably turn to you and he gets hit  with the visual of your beaming smile and shimmering eyes lighting up in adoration as you praise him over his marks on a test like “Wow Ace! I can’t believe you got all of this right - you’re so much smarter and stronger and more handsome and better than Deuce in every way!” and he’d be filled with determination to actually study so you would kiss praise him

Sometimes he would daydream about you wearing his basketball jersey to one of his matches and cheering him on (which you do already anyway - the cheering, not the jersey wearing) and during a tense sports anime worthy match with fast action and slow motion and reaction cuts where your gazing at him admiringly (this boy is literally filming an episode of Haikyuu in his mind) and the scores are neck and neck and he’s about to throw the winning shot and he looks at you winks and is like “this one’s for you” and gets it in, single handedly winning the game and his teammates are freaking out and everyone on the stands are cheering his name and he’s handed the trophy as he’s lifted onto his seniors' shoulders and then you’re there (abandoning Deuce and Grim at the stands) and you congratulate him and you’re kissing him and he’s woken up 🙁

He’s the type of guy to daydream about you in a cheerleading outfit, waving around pom poms and cheering him on - not in a creepy, weird way but more in a cute, endearing way

During the Ghost Bride incident™, you were dressed in a wedding dress to match with all of the suitors’ groom suits and his mind did an application.exe has stopped working before rebooting and immediately got flooded with visuals of you and him getting married

Since he did punch Riddle on the reader’s behalf and flip out at Malleus over Malleus’ completely harmless ‘prank’ during the Spectral Soiree (real king behaviour, what a man *wipes tear*), he does feel protective over them so I think he’d these fantasies where he’s protecting you from danger and bridal carrying you away and you’re swooning over him like ‘my hero ♡’ and peck his cheek

He really does like writing Ace x Reader fanfic in his head, doesn’t he?

I think many of his daydreams would be more ‘what-if’ scenarios where he would lay awake in bed at night, the lights are off and his dormmates are dozing off on their own beds around him, and his mind wanders into how the events of the day would’ve played off if he actually did have the courage to act on his own desires, if he actually did admit he found your smile beautiful during lunchtime, if he actually did hold your hand on your way to class, if he actually did confess his feelings…

If the legends of old are true and that whatever you wish for, you keep, he really really hopes that he gets to keep you

Deuce Spade

It’s canon that he’s a romantic since he has an admiration for the King and Queen of Hearts’ relationship so his fantasies are very reminiscent of classical romances

I headcanon that his mother loves romantic movies and shows (both period and modern) and he loves to watch them with her (he prefers period films/shows over modern ones since he’s been a sucker for fairy tales since he was five)

Even though his fantasies of you are super innocent, he still feels super guilty over having them over his best friend. He thinks it’s wrong to think of kissing someone so kind and sweet when they only see him as a friend and he kind of hates himself for not hating the visions his mind cooks up.

He’s very protective in nature so his daydreams usually feature him saving you à la traditional fairy tale or classic silver screen damsel in distress and her dashing hero or knight in shining armour (not because he sees you as a damsel in distress - you don’t just fight off overblots and live in Twisted Wonderland without being the strongest person ever in his eyes - but because he likes the idea of being strong enough to protect you from danger or you knowing that you can always rely on him to protect you). This, though, also kind of stems from his inner guilt at not being able to save you from the harm you’ve already undergone.

He likes to imagine the two of you stargazing, your figures draped in moonlight as you kiss each other, or the two of you on a white marble balcony, surrounded by doves and baby pink blossoms falling from the trees around you, or the two of you dancing in a ballroom, or kissing in the rain, or giving you piggybacks, or picking you up and twirling you around as you laugh in pure joy, or giving you his jackets or every other cliche he wants and yearns so badly to have with you

Sometimes when he does something good like finish his dorm chores or come first in track club he imagines your voice cheering him on like ‘I knew you could do it, Deuce’ 

He loves it when his daydreams get domestic. His favourite one is when imaginary you and imaginary him are in a chicken coop, surrounded by baby chicks.

Whilst his fantasies are very idyllic and so flowery they could put a florist out of business, he does like the ones that tap into his past as a bad boy where he takes you joyriding on his magical wheel, your arms wrapped around his torso and head resting between his shoulder blades, or he impresses you with his mechanical skills as he fixes a car, or your patching him up after a fight (a fight that happened because imaginary you was being harassed by gang of goons and he came in and saved the day like an action hero)

When he was a stargazer, you were the one who earnestly gave your full support in his dreams and your belief that all of his wishes will inevitably be granted so would you mind terribly if he told you his hearts’ greatest desire

[fictionadventurer]

Figured if I was going to go on the Snow White rant, I needed to actually rewatch the Disney movie.

The opening credits are much more interesting when you know some of the names. The only women who got on the list were Dorothy and Hazel, but it was nice to see their names at least and know who they were.

That book is gorgeous. All the details of the calligraphy and illustrations and binding.

Wow, the Queen is so much creepier than I remember. The fact that using the magic mirror involves summoning a "slave" trapped in the mirror? Don't like that.

That peacock behind her throne, though? Stunning, fantastic, no notes.

I kind of love how the Queen forces Snow White to be a maid, and Snow White just...doesn't care at all. She's just scrubbing a floor and totally fine. Queen's obsessed with Snow White every minute of the day and Snow White doesn't think about her at all.

Sorry, I don't buy the romance at all. I know it's a fairy tale, but one song does not a life-changing romance make. (There was a version of the scene where the prince was going to rejoice over the fact that she loved him, which might have been too much, but it at least would have helped sell it.)

The scene of Snow running through the forest and then collapsing in tears did make me feel for her.

It seems like Snow White and the Queen are from a completely different movie from the dwarfs. They've got this whole high fantasy feud going on, meanwhile these guys are living in a sitcom.

The dwarfs were the best part. Forgot how cute those guys could be.

There was not enough story here. 75% of the running time is them trying to stretch this paper-thin story to feature length. There's a big long cleaning sequence. A big long sequence of the dwarfs figuring out who invaded their cottage. A big long introduction sequence. A big long washing-up sequence. Multiple extended gags involving a fly. All fun to animate, I'm sure, but not at all up to modern pacing standards.

(I'd kind of like to compare this to other escapist '30s musicals--is this kind of structure common for movies where the point is just to show up and escape the Depression for 90 minutes?)

As a kid, I had one of those sing-a-long videos with a bunch of Disney songs, and I did not realize that I had a deep emotional connection to it until "Heigh-Ho" made me instantly happy and the Silly Song unearthed memories I didn't even know I had.

A lot of the other songs kind of stink, ngl. There's a reason the washing-up song is not in the public consciousness.

Kind of out-of-line for Snow White to just show up at their house and treat them like misbehaving children.

The skeleton in the dungeon reaching for the water pitcher? Can't believe the movie went there.

(Then they drew too much attention to it and kind of wrecked it. But wow.)

I like that they give a valid reason that the Queen thought True Love's Kiss wasn't going to be a problem.

But the queen cackling over the fact that Snow White's going to be buried alive? When it comes to showing this movie to children, I'm not hesitating about Snow White as a female role model, I'm hesitating because it's dark.

(But also--why not just poison her? I get that living death/buried alive is a worse fate than just plain death, but if she's not actually dead, how does the Queen count as fairest in the land? Especially since she magically made herself as ugly as possible?)

They carved her name in the coffin! Just like the bed! They finally get to make her a bed and it's to lay her to rest! It's almost enough to make me tear up.

The castle in the clouds makes me think of heaven/resurrection imagery, which ties in interestingly to my take on it.

There is so much potential to flesh out this story in a live-action version. Since you can't fill up the runtime with comedy dwarf antics, there's so much space to flesh out the relationship between the prince and Snow White, and give texture to the feud between the Queen and Snow White, and to dig deep into Snow's sweet character and how it affects the dwarfs, which is why it stinks that they're going for just another Not Like Other Girls update.

[yarrayora]

Idk how to explain properly, but I’m a really big fan of the dynamic you portray between Marcille and Falin. I’ve always loved . idk how to say.. divorce? trouble-in-paradise? arcs/portrayals that look at problems in otp, and yours is super interesting. Sorry if this is weird just wanted to say :)

not weird at all! im flattered, thanks!

i wasnt really into farcille at first, mostly i was just impressed an f/f ship managed to be the fandom's no1, basically proving that when two female characters in a mostly male dominated cast are allowed to bond with each others and be their own characters people will latch on to them

mostly though aro touden siblings is still my no1 and even back then i didnt care about shipping because any type of romantic relationship in dunmeshi is less interesting than the potential of political intrigue the worldbuilding set up (yes, even chilchuck's failing marriage is less interesting to me than how living in the dungeon was safer for the orcs than being neighbors to human civilization) (shocking, i know)

but it all changed when i saw the daydream hour about marcille thinking falin looks cute in feminine clothing while falin herself is obviously uncomfortable with it

i can't sleep. i have to think about this. i have to think about how it's their first love and their first relationship and one is going in blind while the other set up her expectations based on a harlequin romance novel. they are NOT in the same wavelength at all and neither of them are particularly good at communicating their intention, with falin who grew up a convenient kid because she thought it was the least she could do for her family and marcille who frankly speaking was used to being treated as someone superior back at the magic school

thank god kabru exists because who else is going to give them a real advice for their very real relationship? chilchuck will be like "okay just break up" while not seeing the mirror to his own relationship with his runaway wife. senshi, wise as he is, is never in a romantic relationship. laios would be like :((( you guys are fighting? and gets stressed out on his own which makes it even more stressful to the girls. namari is like. "i, uh, please talk to kabru."

anyway theres also the bonus comic about falin inviting marcille to watch daltian clan's opera adaptation and while there is something to say about marcille thinking the humans playing elves doesn't fit her aesthetic (and the difference of societal expectations of dressing up as a different race in dunmeshi universe compared to in ours) all i can think of is that in modern day au where daltian clan has a movie adaptation marcille has a tumblr blog where she posts Hate on the daltian clan movie tag and calling it criticism which it is but also not the place, girl, go to rotten tomatoes for that

falin also has a tumblr and she and marcille had no idea the other is a tumblr user. falin made a post like "just watched daltian clan with my gf i get why shes really obsessed with it now" and marcille, against her better judgement replies to the post like "really sorry that you were misled by your girlfriend like that, you should read the novels instead, it's way better."

laios who sees falin looking shocked at her phone asks whats up and then after receiving the answer says "wow sounds like a real jerk! just block them"

anyway thats my modern day farcille when there's no high fantasy problems involved

[tibby]

there's a moment in the harry styles rpf This Time There's A MILF movie where anne hathaway breaks up with Not Harry Styles because she needs to put her daughter first (her kid is getting bullied for reasons that are obvious based on the premise of this movie) and he's like "i can quit everything. why can't you fight for us?" and for a moment it was like there could have been a message in this movie. like, if we're working with the idea of it being a romantic drama in which we root for the characters and not a relationship with multiple power imbalances. if we're working with what this movie wants to be, then this moment could have presented an insightful reflection on how young people view love vs how older people view it. this desire to fight for a romance where you can make these grand gestures, this idea that romcoms and disney channel raised us on. and then contrasted with the realistic perspective that the single mom character has, in which those grand gestures and the idea of fighting for love! just isn't reasonable anymore. and i was like, wow, could this movie make a point?

but then i remembered that not twenty minutes earlier a character said the line "how could you break up with a talented, kind-hearted feminist?" and i realised that this movie was no terror train 2 (a surprisingly scathing commentary on modern day true crime culture and how the desire to turn real life tragedies and people’s trauma into a career and social media clout is doing incredible damage to victims) and it would offer me nothing of value. i also realised i should probably stop watching movies when high.

[hausofmamadas]

MURDER HUSBANDS | Wind them up and watch them go (love letter to NBC’s Hannibal)

♫ To the tune of Climbing Up the Walls by Radiohead (with overture by Bruno Battisti D’Amario) ♫

✧

Wow

So I feel like I say this every time. But Mary mother of god, this was a behemoth. By a mile the hardest vid I’ve ever made joke’s on me bc I’m the fucking crackerjack who decided to tack on an whole ass other song as an overture bc why in the name of all cocks would I decide to make anything easy like it’s funny bc I always have an impression of how easy a vid is going to come together when I get the idea, right. And this duo with this song just pbj. So ngl I thought the shit was gonna edit itself. But guess what yall? Radiohead like … makes some intricate, complex-sounding shit stunning revelation, almost as if that’s what they’re fuckinfjsbs known for

HOWMEVER, the day has come, it’s arrived and I’ve looked at this thing for so long now, I sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, cannot tell if it’s good anymore. My last vid, I took a long break so by the end, I had enough time away from it to remember it was at least good. This? This could be visual gobbledygook, mush for your eyes, the equivalent of that shit brown shade you get when you mix too many water colors together.

But likehopefully it’s not and you can pls enjoy this love letter to one of the greatestqueer romances in modern media, which is a bold statement whatever fight me but I can’t think of a queer ship before this in tv/movies where the romance unfolds like any other hetero relationship and queer identity isn’t the focus, which even though I think is important, lbr there’s more to gays than being gay. Like it’s kinda visionary, despite the fact that neither character is explicitly queer, when it becomes clear that they’re in love with each other, no one, in-universe, is pearl-clutching all: EGAD! But Will’s never been with 😱a man😱 before?? How in THE DICKENS could he be in love with Hannibal when I don’t have definitive proof he’s even touched tips with another man let alone been balls deep!!!!!!!! How dare he not have this big, gay awakening for us all to gawk at applaud for!!!!” ?

No, literally every character: Jack, Alana, Bedelia, Margot, Mason, even Will’s wife god bless I cannot remember her name but she deserved better *shakes fist at Will* etc., all acknowledge the transcendent romantic bond btwn them and no one questions it. Well, no one questions it thru the lens of performed queerness. Tbf ppl had a lotta questions about the like probable impending multiple murders which validsisjwh

These are just 2 ppl who’re in love with each other to the point of being uncontrollably homicidal Which like … goals? Like I’ve really wracked my brain and can’t think of another queership that unfolds like every other hetero ass love story. That is to say, where fluidity is more the default, at least to the extent that no one talks about the orientation of either players within the show’s universe. Regardless of whether Bryan Fuller intended that from the start which tbh I don’t think he did but I also don’t think it’s fair to call it queerbaiting. I think he let the story unfold and realized kinda with the rest of us that this was a magical!realism romance and not a crime procedural and by S3 leaned tf into it doesn’t really matter bc the universe in which these two exist to truss each other up like Christmas turkeys aka foreplay symbolizes so much more to me than whatever it was initially invented to be. And if it’s not art, folks, idk what is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ofc I mean the show is art, not the vid. Vid=potential gobbledygook

✧

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taglist: @tofuwildcard @narcolini @ashlingnarcos @drabbles-mc

[oh-cawsh]

9 people to get to know better

thanks for tagging me @ghostradiodylan !!

1. Three ships: Rylan my beloved they do no wrong. theyre the epitome of awkward bashful and honest gay summer teen romance with the perfect contrasting note of horrific life threatening monsters which is unsurpassable genre peak. and yeah ngl its pretty rare that i get behind a ship but two others i can think of are amity/luz from the owl house (but mostly in season 1 because they do cute anxious crushing stuff and after that they just kind of turn into supportive gf A and supportive gf B), and legosi/louis from beastars because how do you just gloss over neurotic homophobe slut ptsd theatre twink x weird brooding puritan loser freudian pervert and the fact that it does WORK too like hello

2. First ever ship: i wanna say gregg and angus from night in the woods?? i remember i was in that weird sexual orientation puberty where you literally know you're gay but it's not like a consciously meaningful part of your identity so i remember seeing them and thinking wow that's cool that they're boyfriends i guess idk. also i'm inexorably drawn to their existence for some reason and my lockscreen is them cuddling with the lazy morning light peeking through the curtains

3. Last song: My Kink is Karma - Chappell Roan, im a sucker for moody electronic pop and that album DELIVERS

4. Last film: i watched the first three movies in a pirates of the caribbean marathon with some friends which ngl after the first one feels like trying to suck sugar water out of a sock 😶 the last film i personally chose to watch was the 1976 Carrie! it was nice being able to watch it and appreciate it as an adult with an education and not a teen recluse going "yeah carrie you show those villain highschoolers what's what"

5. Currently (re)reading: Shakespeare's Twelfth Night! i have my old copy from highschool open next to me and the 2012 shakespeare's globe production up and i just sit and sift between watching and reading and analysing it, just like when i first learned it in class. i'm not really sure why i wanted to reread it again in the first place, but i find it kind of soothing to read older texts where the language and culture's a little ways off from its modern successors. i find it calming to kind of pull those stories back in a way we can understand with its old contexts and writing, and see more and more of that timeless human experience shine through. sudoku for english nerds i guess LOL

6. Currently watching: my watcher's stamina has actually gotten so shit im ngl like i actually haven't watched a show in months 😭😭😭 the last show i watched was bluey (which was pretty good! (and pretty indicative of the kind of attention span ive got these days 😂👌))

7. Currently consuming: this horrible like nutraloaf nightmare bowl i made because my appetite was really poor today and at 5 pm or so i was like ugh well id better eat something quick and dense if im not gonna have a proper meal so i insulted God and put together reheated smashed potato (in the microwave so they lost all their crunch and flavour) + dried roasted edamame beans + peanut butter + regular butter + cheddar + yoghurt + whole salted almonds in a bowl and had a slice of walnut fig cake as a side. that thing needed a censor bar like i was in the trenches trying to get that down im ngl. eating that meal took more energy out of me than what it gave back like i knew i made something unholy and then immediately paid for it like it was so frankenstein and his monster right there on that kitchen counter

8. Currently craving: literally anything after that like god damn 😭😭😭😭😭 otherwise ive been hankering for a good chana masala and naan combo cus there's literally never a day where i'll turn south asian cuisine down like aw man i shouldve just gone out and got some of that to eat today ugh god damn it

also im ngl i don't really know who to tag cus i only started having a presence on tumblr like barely a month ago and ive only meaningfully interacted with like 3 people since then so um!! whoever's out there lurking around on my blog if ya wanna participate feel free! and either way, thanks for readin my ramblings regardless :)

[archerygun]

James Bond movie concept

James Bond. Unsurprisingly, another one of my hate obsessions. I know an absolutely unreal amount of Bond trivia for someone who hates the films. But I’ve formed a sort of Stockholm Syndrome about them, and part of that revolves around my obsession with how I’d make them good (or just personally appealing to me as a piece of cinema).

LET’S GO.

So, back in the 60s-maybe 70s if we’re pushing it (because I know Roger Moore is an icon - HE NAMED GEORGE LAZENBY AS A TOP THREE BOND, LOOK, I GIVE HIM MY RESPECT FOR THAT AT LEAST), James Bond is called to tackle another villain who’s built a mysterious machine believed to be a superweapon MI6 isn’t totally sure about yet. A mixture of recon and destruction.

Bond fights the villain, he’s about to win, but Villain (nameless cos I’m lazy) activates the machine. 007 is officially pronounced missing.

Flash forward to the modern day.

A man turns up at MI6 headquarters, demanding to see M. He says he has important information for him, and claims to be ‘007’ - a sign that definitely doesn’t belong to him. They look the man up, probably to send him home, but they can’t find a single thing about him ANYWHERE.

The documents on Bond, and what he was fighting against, have all been super duper sealed, and everyone in his MI6 died and took the knowledge with them. He’s been wiped from history, pretty much. We’re a good nation at hiding things. So while MI6 work to unseal old documents, they reluctantly assign Bond to the mission of taking down Villain, who has also mysteriously reappeared and is being a massive Pain In The Arse.

(The machine in question somehow freezes the two in stasis; the level of threat posed to the world and villain’s motivation? You decide.)

Cue average time-travel comedy beats (mostly contributed by my friend who I bounced this idea off of).

“Wow, Q! You’ve really outdone yourself! What is this astonishing machine!?”

“Bond, this is an iPhone.”

Can:

Kill anyone within a mile radius

Speak several languages fluently

Fiddle with specialised equipment

Fly a jetpack

Can’t:

Coffee machine

“You’re telling me you disarmed a nuclear rocket and you need help because you changed your phone’s language to Japanese and can’t change it back.”

“THE ROCKET DIDN’T HAVE TOUCH-SCREEN.”

Bond still operates on what was considered ‘inconspicuous’ in 1969 and shows up to an undercover op in full florals and flares. “You said it was a party. I’m just trying to blend in!”

M is going to be losing her mind. Q might die of frustration. It would be glorious. Lean into the weird family dynamic MI6 has in older Bond movies. Hell, no romance. Just 2 hours of “What do you mean, ‘CPR’?”

[morphogenetic]

Mediaposting 2023, #35: Banana Fish (anime)

[said while vibrating very quickly and typing out like 20 different bullet points] i like this series a normal amount

okay so. non-spoiler thoughts:

step 1 YOU SHOULD READ/WATCH THIS. it does have content warnings for literally everything you can possibly think of as needing a common content warning (drug abuse, sexual assault, racism, and thats absolutely just the tip of the iceberg) but my fucking god. no wonder it's been such an influential piece of media on literally every jp anime/manga crime story (especially the BL ones) written since

for a series that is literally one of the early genesis points of BL as a genre i was ABSOLUTELY expecting more actual BL than was in this LOL. not that i'm really upset, bc honestly i really like the way that ash and eiji's relationship is written in a shoujo-y "they obviously care about each other a lot but it's not going to be outright romance" kind of way. bc like, honestly? that makes it way more emotionally satisfying (and devastating). i think it would actually make less sense if anything more happened In the story (though more happening in the epilogue wouldnt hurt LOL)

how the FUCK was this published in a shoujo magazine

the time period change to modern day from the mid-80's has both helped and hindered this series bc like. on one hand. much easier to do everything with a phone. also the update to shorter's character design was excellent,10/10 no notes. on the other hand. the Everything About It makes it so obvious that it was written to be a product of its time.

speaking of ^ ash turning from A Guy Who Knows How To Use A Computer into a hacking genius is so. why. i mean you can update it for sure but Why Like This

god i wish this had more room to breathe sometimes bc the exposition goes WILDLY fast sometimes. why did they try and do 19 volumes in 24 episodes. the 39 episodes that the director wanted would have been so nice to have

that said: the emotional moments that i actually give a shit about and that make up the core of the weight of the story are given what they deserve. at least up to volume 5 they are. gestures at ep 9? and 22 with a pained smile

i literally could write an essay about why it works so well as a spin on the american-style gangster story even while it definitely has flaws. and how its influenced so many fucking things. my god.

it has flaws for SURE but the rest is so good that i don't care. which is rare for me (gestures at nirvanai/neo twewy being other examples)

spoiler thoughts under the cut (like full-very-ending-of-series spoilers) but YEAH UH I LIKE THIS THING CAN YOU TELL BY HOW MUCH I WROTE ABOUT IT.

it does kind of annoy me that literally all of the canon-MLM (probably gay but you know) guys are horrible people lol. like wow love how the gay predator stereotype is on full display here. feeeeels baaaaad. i know i know asheiji homoeroticism i am ON THAT TRAIN

however yut-lung being feminine out of a wish to carry on his dead mom's legacy is kind of a slay. ive seen people go "ugh it sucks that one of the villains is a feminine man' but while he is definitely not a good person hes one of the less terrible villains, just like. as a person. hes also a teenager in shitty circumstances just with way more power and sway

here's the part where I admit that I was spoiled on the ending so it didn't hit as hard for me OOPS. however. the anime DOES leave it open-ended and it fucking irritates me that anime-only people are like "boo i hate the ending bc ash dies!!!" when it is LITERALLY AMBIGUOUS. i have heard that the manga is less ambiguous about it but :') oh well. anime-onlys what are you doing

speaking of ^ i actually like the ending. like i think a lot of people who absolutely hate it must not have a lot of familiarity with gangster movies as a genre bc it is a genre convention that the Main Gangster dies in the end. granted this was a hayes code thing which the manga definitely did not have to do LOL but its definitely supposed to feel unfair bc ash's damn LIFE is unfair.

however i'm glad the anime makes the ending ambiguous bc that feels like a more fitting end. like ash's life was always in limbo, considering what he was doing, so making his life in limbo at the end too? Good. Yes. Do That

the fucking. everything with shorter and the sa-yo-na-ra bit. i die. that shit is so emotionally painful

i know this sounds weird but i kind of wish they dragged out the "what the hell does banana fish mean" thing a LIIIITTLE longer but by that i mean like, halfway point of the series. like they could have used a little more time to figure out what it is. also that would have let shorter live a little longer ay lmao that said this criticism also almost definitely applies to the manga soooo. you know

[everythingsbetterunderthestars]

Any good queer movie recs? As✨GAY✨ as possible! 🏳️‍🌈

Oh boy okay here we go

- Fanfiction: it came out like a week or two ago on Netflix and it’s sooooo good like why is no one talking about it😭 trans + gay rep (TW mental health)

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- Elisa & Marcela: such a gorgeoussss movie, it’s about the two first women who got married in Spain in 1901 even though it was illegal

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- But I’m a cheerleader: probably one of my all times favourite queer movies, it’s absolutely adorable and hilarious, it’s a comedy about a girl who gets sent to a conversion therapy camp (and that’s how she realises she’s a lesbian) (edit i rewatched this a couple of days ago and it really is awesome, even better than I remembered I absolutely love it bfkzidjskdk)

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- Pride: now this one doesn’t have a main romance but it’s only gays and lesbians and miners striking against Thatcher AND IT IS SO GOOD IT’S MY FAV MOVIE EVER PLEASE GO WATCH IT SO I CAN TALK ABOUT IT WITH SOMEONE please you have to it’s soooo good like so so so so good you have no idea

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- Carol: this one is pretty famous but it really IS a very good and iconic lesbian romance

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- Prom: this one is a musical, it’s not for everyone but I personally really enjoyed it, it has lesbian teenage romance and several other queer characters (if I remember correctly)

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- Imagine me and you: also a very very very awesome amazing sapphic movie that I absolutely love, basically it’s about a woman who’s getting married to her boyfriend but falls instantly in love (literally during the wedding) with the woman doing the flower arrangements

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- Fear street: this is a horror trilogy (so careful if you don’t like scary/bloody movies) and it is AWESOME I actually don’t usually particularly like horror but I’ve watched these twice they were so good (with a main sapphic ship)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

- Wish you: I watched this with one of my friends who loves everything Korea related cause we thought it sounded gay and it actually is gay!!!! So yes it’s a pretty sweet boy love

⭐️⭐️⭐️

- Call me by your name: I know this is like everyone’s favourite queer movie but I actually didn’t love it that much- don’t get me wrong it’s definitely a very good movie and I get why people love it but I guess it’s just not for me, but as that’s just my personal opinion I do recommend it anyway!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

- Portrait of a lady on fire: this one is also pretty famous but it really is that good! Beautiful sapphic love story

⭐️⭐️⭐️

- Love, Simon: based on the novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, it’s really good and there’s a spin-off show (Love, Victor) that I personally love even more! (Currently rewatching it)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

- The half of it: it’s basically a modern and queer remake of Cyrano de Bergerac and it’s really really good

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

- Crush: I can’t remember much about the plot cause I watched this quite a while ago but it’s a fun high school romantic comedy but make it sapphic :)

⭐️⭐️⭐️

[edit: thought of a couple more :)

- Alex Strangelove: don’t remember much about the plot (I tend to mix it up with Love, Simon for some reason) but I do remember liking it, it’s a fun, gay rom com (I think?) wow maybe I should rewatch it if I’m so unsure about the story lmao

⭐️⭐️⭐️

- Beats per minute: (it’s French, the original title is « 120 battements par minute ») absolutely incredible mind blowing beautiful heart wrenching stunning amazing perfect emotional raw educational masterpiece. Cannot recommend this enough. (I watched it for the first time a couple of days ago, it had been on my list of gay movies I need to watch for years and I am so happy I finally watched it) anyway it’s about the aids crisis and it’s so so so so so so so so so so so so good please watch it

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️]

That’s all I can think of for now! There are obviously lots of other queer movies (I really need to watch more, but I must admit I like watching series more)… also if you have Instagram I recommend the account queer cinema archives which posts really interesting analyses of queer coded or explicitly queer scenes in the history of cinema, and there’s also an account called lesbian cinema which posts recommendations of sapphic movies and shows!

Anyway I hope this helps :) I really enjoy making these lists, if you guys have other requests don’t be shy!

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this Week # 149 (Year 3/Week 45):

Between 'Mean Streets' and 'Alice doesn't live here anymore', Martin Scorsese made the documentary ItalianAmerican, which is basically a home movie. It features his parents bicker and talk at their apartment, remembering the old days of their families.

🍿

2 with teenager Scarlett Johansson:

🍿 Re-watch: Sofia Coppola's Lost in translation, while waiting for her latest 'Priscilla'. "Sleepless in Shinjuko". Sad and vulnerable 17-year-old Scarlett Johansson, a 'stranger in a strange land' is having a 'Brief Encounter' moment, with less-asshole-than-usual Bill Murray. (Photos Above).

Another melancholic exploration of a lonely young woman, who finds herself captured in a privileged gilded cage. An exceptional, subtle masterpiece. 10/10.

🍿 The horse whisperer starred 14-year-old Johansson as a horse-lover who becomes emotionally stunted after a riding accident that caused her to lose part of her leg (all in the first 10 minutes of the film). It's a sloooow, traditional 3-hour-long story about healing, told mostly in beautifully-cinematic Montana. But it worked for me, in spite of the well-shot sentimentality. 7/10.

🍿

My first 2 by German auteur Christian Petzold, both with Paula Beer:

🍿 Afire - a tremendous, complex drama about a vain, immature writer on a working vacation. The little summer cottage close to the Baltic sea, is soon encroached by a forest fire, as does his self-centered world view of himself and his art. It starts at one emotional point, and skillfully moves to a completely different, tense level. 9/10.

🍿 Petzold wanted to make a series of films about the 4 elements. Undine refers to the myth of 'water nymphs', so rivers, industrial diving, large aquariums, and drowning in a pool are all part of the story. It's a lovely, simple romance, which eventually turns into a dark fantasy. My 5th film with Franz Rogowski. 4/10.

🍿

3 More of Claude Chabrol’s Hitchcockian thrillers:

🍿 “… You like meat?…”

Le Boucher, a low-key, atmospheric thriller about a single woman who befriends a village butcher, who's also a serial killer. Fantastic snapshot of the people at 'the country' (Dordogne) at this time. 9/10.

🍿 The ceremony (La Cérémonie) is a similar dark story, set in a solid bourgeoisie family. Isabelle Huppert & Sandrine Bonnaire becomes friends and eventually decide kill them all. Like 'Stanley & Iris' from last week, the protagonist is illiterate. 6/10.

🍿 The Unfaithful Wife, another terrific, low-key, civilized study of a French bourgeois household. A loving husband discovers that his loving wife is having an affair, and ends up killing her lover. I liked it so much, and thought it would be a very good candidate for a modern remake. Then I remembered Adrian Lyne's 'Unfaithful' with the luminous Diane Lane in the Stéphane Audran role. Maybe I should watch it again! 8/10.

I discovered Chabrol late, and have only seen about 10% of his 74 movies. Now I have to see them all!

🍿

Milf, another film with Virginie Ledoyen, a soft-core sex comedy. Three older women looking to hook up with boys 20 years younger. A similar concept to the Naomi Watts film 'Adoration'. I only watched it because it is directed by a woman and had 13 on the Tomato score. Better than Zalman King.

🍿

Wow! After 4 months of anticipation, the venerable bio-pic Oppenheimer finally hit my free streamers. I watched all 3 hours of it but left completely underwhelmed. This is the seventh of Christopher Nolen's praised big-budget epic films that I saw, and so far none of them had floated my boat. Okay, so I'm not a big blockbusters fan.

It's not very hip to rail against McCarthyism in 2023. Twenty-twenty revisionist vision, mambo-jumbo pseudoscience, overwrought endless, loud soundtrack, and basically the usual biography of a "Great man", which is always a boring subject for a movie. 4/10.

🍿

3 by regular Fincher screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker:

🍿 On the other hand, David Fincher’s new thriller The killer was a thrill ride that was a joy to watch. A cold blooded professional assassin, laconic and super-human, flies around the world ruthlessly killing people. Mesmerizing (but predictable) suspense with an effective Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross score. I could do without the inner monologue that replaced conversations in the story. Also, a great comic book knock-out fight after an hour and a half of deliberate, slow go. 7/10.

🍿 In 2001, BMW produced 8 short films by famous directors as "Branded Content", i.e. advertisements. Called 'The hire' they all featured Clive Owen driving Beamers around the world. AKW wrote two of them:

The Follow was directed by Wong Kar-wai, and was about an aborted diamond heist.

Ambush was directed by John Frankenheimer, and was about a woman being followed by her husband.

The other shorts were by John Woo, Tony Scott, Ang Lee, etc.

🍿

5 more Danish films, 3 with Henning Moritzen (The patriarch from ‘Celebration’) and 2 with Mads Mikkelsen:

🍿 Tænk på et tal (Think of a number), a 1969 old-fashion, enjoyable Danish 'Krimi' with an enduring theme song. A meek bank teller finds a discarded note from a bank robber, and gets involved in a lethal game.

This story was later remade into the Elliott Gould caper 'The silent partner'. I love such slow and delightful dramas, and I love Bibi Andersson.

it’s funny how movies that used to be throwaway entertainment products 60 years ago, gain completely different meaning today. I should start exploring the many Danish Noir from the 40's and 50's. 7/10.

🍿 50 years later, In the Oscar-nominated short The pig, Moritzen is old and fat, and is being hospitalised for some tests. There he lays and finds comfort in a simple picture of a pig jumping over a fence. Delightful!

🍿 On the other hand, Now is another Danish short (from 2003) starring Mads Mikkelsen. But it's an artsy-fartsy, humor-less, word-less "Art film", shot in black & white, with a constant baby crying. Like 'An Andalusian Dog' but without the charm and the magic… 1/10.

🍿 I was surprised to realize just now that my favorite Danish screenwriter Anders Thomas Jensen directed only 5 features and 3 shorts. (but he wrote 59 scripts!). Wolfgang is an early short of his, and not his best. Now I've seen all the movies that he directed.

I can't wait for his upcoming 'Monster of Florence' with Antonio Banderas and 'Back to reality'. Yeah!

🍿 So I took in one more viewing of his sentimental After the wedding, maybe for the 10th time. So full of emotional twists, old-fashioned melodrama, Sigur Rós score and peak Sidse Babett Knudsen.

🍿

Budapest Noir, a Hungarian murder mystery, set up in anti-semitic 1936. A hard boiled crime reporter investigates a murder of a beautiful prostitute, like a Jake Gittes named Zsigmond. Very strong 'Chinatown' vibes, including a smokey jazz score that tries to recreate its haunting atmosphere, and even the final line of dialogue "This is Budapest". 5/10.

[This is the 115th woman-directed film I've seen so far this year!].

🍿

Dumb money, the first enjoyable Reddit movie, about the 2021 GameStop short squeeze. Compelling Class War rhetoric with Seth Rogen as the billionaire 'heavy'. Up-to-the-minute updated drama of the 1% Vs. the unwashed masses. I think it will endure as another worthy addition to the sub-genre of 'highly entertaining explanation to boring real-life financial story', just like 'The big short' and 'Margin call'.

However, it used an Artificial Intelligent editing model that color-corrected the whole movie into a weird, fake, washed up look. 8/10.

🍿

First watch: Kurosawa's bleak Drunken Angel, an early post-war Yakuza film, and the first of the 16 collaborations between him and Toshiro Mifume. An alcoholic doctor befriends a young hoodlum suffering from tuberculosis. Located around an open sewer in a seedy neighborhood, still suffering under the American occupation.

🍿

Ikarie XB 1 (Or 'Voyage to the End of the Universe' as it was called in American), an influential and ambitious 1963 Czechoslovakian science-fiction saga, based on a Stanisław Lem novel. "Futuristic" space decor and story, very much in the Star Trek style. Cultish 1960's popcorn philosophy, but nonsensical and not a serious world building. Not for me - 1/10.

🍿

Thank Dog that the third season of Tim Robinson’s 'I think you should leave' was so short. The first season was outrageously different. The second season was a 'repeat on a theme'. This one was just cringey irrelevant. Absurd, awkward, confusing situations, exploding rage at small mistakes. No!

🍿

My first (and last) stand-up by comedian Nate Bergatze, The greatest average American. Average stories of 'relatable' everyday nitty gritty were hardly worth a chuckle.

🍿  

(My complete movie list is here)

[romantamsxiangshi]

Translation of Roman Tam's and Jenny Tseng's 1983 鐵血丹心 (Iron Blood, Loyal Heart) from The Legend of the Condor Heroes

Jin Yong is hailed as the finest wuxia (martial arts) novelist of modern China, and is one of the best-selling Chinese authors of all time. His hit 1957 series, The Legend of the Condor Heroes, is set in the warring Jin/Song Dynasties (early-mid 1200's), and follows three generations of the Guo and Yang families. LCH was adapted into a TV series by Hong Kong's Guangdong TV Station in 1983. The show became an international sensation, and featured the breakthrough of stars such as Barbara Yung (who played Huang Rong). My dad, who grew up in the mainland, remembers entire streets emptying when the show was running; whole neighborhoods without TVs would crowd into shops or bars to watch. Since then, LCH has been remade into myriad shows and movies, but the 1983 version is hailed as a classic of Chinese and HK cinema.

I just started watching the 1983 LCH, after a lifetime of listening to the soundtrack, and I've fallen in love with its earnest dissection of legacy, lineage, and loyalty. I'm especially wowed by the embodiment of these tensions in the relationship between Guo Jing and Huang Rong. Huang Rong--who runs away from her heretical father and cross-dresses as a beggar--is a character I relate to on such a visceral level. She rejects her own lineage/parentage, yet is desperately resentful of Guo Jing and Yang Kang for upholding theirs. She is genderqueer, in both the novel and the show (cross-dressing, refusing to be called Brother or Sister, carefully and perfectly imitating various gender roles to get attention/power). She scorns human attachment and idealism of all forms, yet is fascinated by Guo Jing's caring and principled nature.

The slowburn of her romance with Guo Jing is one of the most beautiful portrayals of queer love I've seen in Chinese media; although Guo Jing is smitten with her from the beginning (buying her meals and saying he feels like he's known her his whole life, asking her to be his sworn brother, confessing his love to her, rejecting his shifu for her, offering her both the betrothal sword given to him by Genghis Khan and the sword with Yang Kang's name), it takes her a very long time to be honest and vulnerable enough to reciprocate. Just as Guo Jing helps her believe in and act on a commitment to a greater good, Huang Rong helps him step away from the expectations placed on him since birth and realize what he really wants (which is, and I quote, to live a peaceful life of anonymity). They are the original queer girlboss/malewife power couple, and the theme song of the 1983 LCH is a duet by Roman Tam and Jenny Tseng that captures their love. This duet is the first of four in the official OST, which I will translate in the next few days.

Song:

Translation:

JT: 依稀往夢似曾見 I've dreamt this only vaguely before, JT: 心內波瀾現 The sorrow that now grips my heart in waves. RT: 拋開世事斷愁怨 Let go of worldly worries. Together: 相伴到天邊 Come with me to the ends of this world. (1)

RT: 逐草四方沙漠蒼茫 We'll chase the plains; the deserts are vast. JT: 冷風吹 天蒼蒼 The wind's so cold; the sky's so blue. RT: 那懼雪霜撲面 We fear the snows; we'll face our fears. (2) JT: 藤樹 相連 All these wildernesses are but one. (3) RT: 射雕引弓塞外奔馳 I'll raise my bow to shoot; we'll ride free beyond the Great Wall. (4) JT: 猛風沙 野茫茫 These winds and sands are beastly. RT: 笑傲此生無厭倦 In this life, I wish only to smile without weariness. JT: 藤樹兩纏綿 We are but two wild things clinging to each other. (5)

JT: 應知愛意是流水 You ought to know that love is meant to flow like water. RT: 天蒼蒼 野茫茫 The sky is so blue, so vast and wild. JT: 斬不斷理還亂 Reason cannot stem what's meant to be free. (6) RT: 萬般變化 The world will always change around us. Together: 身經百劫也在心間 My body has been taught both violence and scripture (7) Together: 恩義兩難斷 Still my heart has kept its goodness. (8)

RT: 逐草四方沙漠蒼茫 We'll chase the plains; the deserts are vast. JT: 冷風吹 天蒼蒼 The wind's so cold; the sky's so blue. RT: 那懼雪霜撲面 We fear the snows; we'll face our fears. JT: 藤樹 相連 All these wildernesses are but one. RT: 射雕引弓塞外奔馳 I'll raise my bow to shoot; we'll ride free beyond the Great Wall. JT: 猛風沙 野茫茫 These winds and sands are beastly. RT: 笑傲此生無厭倦 In this life, I wish only to smile without weariness. JT: 藤樹兩纏綿 We are but two wild things clinging to each other.

JT: 應知愛意是流水 You ought to know that love is meant to flow like water. RT: 天蒼蒼 野茫茫 The sky is so blue, so vast and wild. JT: 斬不斷理還亂 Reason cannot stem what's meant to be free. RT: 萬般變化 The world has always changed around us. Together: 身經百劫也在心間 My body has been taught both violence and scripture Together: 恩義兩難斷 Still my heart has kept its goodness.

Together: 身經百劫也在心間 My body has been taught both violence and scripture Together: 恩義兩難斷 Still my heart has kept its goodness.

Translation notes:

(1) A more literal translation is, "come with me to Heaven's side," or "the edge of the sky."

(2) A more literal translation is, "why should/must we fear the snows?" I thought it sounded better as a two-part statement, when placed in relation to the two-parters above.

(3) This and (5) are one of those cases where I interpret as I translate. A literal translation of this line is, "trees and vines are all intertwined." But I chose to translate it in a way that would best match (5), as I think this metaphor is ultimately about their love, and the tension between their commitment to good and their desire to be free.

(4) A more literal translation is, "I'll bend my bow to shoot a condor." This just sounds a bit clunky--also, the "condor" in the title of LCH is disputed, given how condors aren't native to China. Although "condor" is most commonly used, a more accurate translation might be "eagle."

(5) To reference back to (3): this line translates more literally to, "two vines/trees are intertwined." However, 纏綿 also bears connotations of emotional attachment and commitment. Given this line's weight as the end of this stanza, I'm almost positive it's about Guo Jing's and Huang Rong's commitment to each other as two people who aren't/don't wish to be bound by traditional norms of gender, legacy, or patriotism. I therefore chose to give myself more creative liberty, both with "wild things," and with "clinging to each other."

(6) A more literal translation would be, "reason tries ceaselessly to cut, but still chaos remains." Given the earlier reference to flowing/free water, I thought that the object of reason's cutting would be love--fitting, as almost everyone around Guo Jing tries to dissuade him from loving Huang Rong, mainly by appealing to reason (she's not a good fit for his mission; she'll probably betray him and the country; her bloodline's bad). I think it very beautiful that chaos, love, and water are connected throughout this stanza: that the unreasonableness/irrationality of love isn't a bad thing at all.

(7) Others have translated this line to, "I have faced trials and tribulations," which sounds better in English. However, the individual characters of 身經百劫 refer to, 身 "body," 經 "endurance/scripture/holiness/tradition," and 劫 "sufferings/disasters." 劫 also has connotations of being taken by force, implying how a body that has been committed to enduring and upholding traditions/legacies is left with little agency. The use of 百 "hundred(s)" in this phrase also refers to the multitude and duration of these things--I therefore translated the line to include "know," a verb that implies a process of learning (quite literal, when it comes to the martial arts) and the duration of said process.

(8) 恩 "gratitude"/"loyalty" and 義 "righteousness"/"commitment to good" are both concepts Guo Jing is praised for, and are commonly found in Chinese classics as standards for good children. As much as Huang Rong helps Guo Jing grow away from the immense expectations of revenge/patriotism, I still think his arc is about finding what these things mean to him--whether that is refusing to kill (it's Huang Rong who kills Yang Kang, Guo Jing's fated enemy), or throwing caution to the wind to care for Huang Rong and those close to him. I therefore chose "goodness" as a more general term--one that doesn't carry the connotations of parental/generational/cultural expectation, but is still very Guo Jing.

In general, I think this translation is less faithful than my others--mainly because I feel so strongly about the love between Guo Jing and Huang Rong, and will therefore take as many creative liberties as possible for others to understand why.

[ghost-proofbaby]

🧡sunset orange

bit of a nerd here, mostly music(I play 4 instruments, learning the 5th).

also a huge bookworm, but I'm the most insane reader I know cause I'll go from murder mystery to happy romance to the saddest book you'll ever read.

also also an ABBA stan. dunno what that has to do with anything but thought it was worth mentioning. don't like Mama Mia! though.

btw congrats on 1K literally so proud of you and next thing you know we'll be back for a 5K celebration! <3

thank you so so much!!! <3 and gah 5k??? i can't even picture it oh my gosh. absolutely wild. no way.

you already know i think you're one of the coolest people on here and that ily, which is why i'm trusting you with the heart of none other than steve harrington.

ya know the drill. don't make me say it. okay i'll say it let me explain-

so here's the thing - we know steve harrington has a type. i've touched on it before i'm almost positive. he likes the nerds, he loves to listen to rambles and be left in lovesick shock. he'd listen to every rant about every book you read no matter the subject matter. but what really got me is that you're an ABBA stan but don't like mamma mia. because i headcanon steve as an ABBA stan as well, and modern steve would be a menace about mamma mia. he loves it, it's a comfort movie. as a matter of fact, your first conversation with him would probably be an argument because he defends it with his life, and it's just not your cup of tea. and steve knows it's fine, even as he goes red in the face defending the movie, and when he left the argument somehow still smiling despite the personal offense he should have walked away with, he figured he might just be smiling at the opportunity to talk about his favorite movie.

it wasn't the movie. it was you.

you didn't leave his head for days, and when he finally gets the nerve to ask you out, he's a goddamn mess. stuttering over his words, completely flushed pink, just... a mess. a beautiful, sincere, hopeless romantic of a mess. he's never been happier to embarrass himself in such a way, because in the end, it all worked out. now, he gets to spend his days watching you play your instruments, listens to you try to explain the mechanics of the instrument as it goes in one ear and out the other. he's never been good with musical ability - he's never had very good hand-eye coordination, he can never quite catch on when an instrument is a smidge out of tune, and he just frustrates himself to no end when trying to learn them. but you're patient, and you wow him endlessly, and it's a sacrifice he's willing to make. you keep on his toes; from that first conversation, you challenge steve harrington, and he'll never tire of it. and if you offer to teach him some ABBA on one of his instruments, how can he say no? he's got a smile on his face the entire time, absolutely glowing even though he knows he's not hitting most of the notes, and he doesn't miss the way you cringe when his instrument is ever so slightly out of tune, something he didn't even notice until you reacted. it's awful and could be taken as pathetic, but that afternoon with you becomes one of his absolute favorite memories.

the song you attempted to teach him, why did it have to be me?, becomes yours and his song. and in steve harrington's defense, he may not be able to play the song worth a shit on an instrument, but boy oh boy, does he get to have a field day with it when you two decide to pick it as a duet for karaoke night with the gang.

1k celebration - requests for this are now closed, but you can still send in general requests! just check out my rules first <3

[purpleparrot]

wow sunday already

tv/movies

-watched mean girls 2024 and had fun the whole time but how did they miss all the good jokes from the original movie

-watched texas chainsaw massacre and wow is it different from modern horror films

music

-if you don't know have u even been paying attention to my posts the last few days

-i did also listen to Renee rapp's album after watching mean girls and its good she's very talented

books

-all i've read lately are kindle unlimited romances with cheesy titles that i will not be re-typing here lol

[autumnrose11]

iloveeddieredmayne:

David Colman: How’s Budapest?

Eddie Redmayne: I spent the day in trenches. We’re filming a World War I miniseries, and, to be honest, I haven’t seen much of Budapest. It’s been head-down working, so I’m hoping to get a weekend at some point soon and have a proper scout.

Colman: How long have you been there?

Redmayne: About three weeks. We’re shooting an adaptation called Birdsong, from a British book by Sebastian Faulks. It’ a beautiful love story set in France - the guy goes out to fight in World War I and comes back to Amiens and finds it completely different. It’s the first time I’ve played a soldier, so we get to have guns and bayonets and things like that.

Colman: But you had some practice - you know, killing Julianne Moore like you did inSavage Grace.

Redmayne: I did have some practice killing Julianne, that’s true.

Colman: You’ve done a lot of period films, haven’t you?

Redmayne: Yeah! I feel like I’ve worked my way through the Medieval period into the Elizabethan period, and now having done My Week With Marilyn along with Savage Grace, I’ve done the ’50s and ’60s. I was just on a film in North Carolina, and it was set in the ’80s. I’m sort of, step-by-step, working my way into the modern day.

Colman: Is there another time you could see yourself living in?

Redmayne: I kind of loved doing the Marilyn stuff set in the ’50s. One of the great experiences was shooting in Pinewood Studios. Michelle Williams was in Marilyn Monroe’s dressing room, and we were shooting in the studio where The Prince and the Showgirl was shot. In the studios next door, you had [the production of the fourth] Pirates of the Caribbean, and you wandered down this long corridor, and you would literally see a dismembered pirate come out of one door and some turn-of-the-century French something-or-other come out of another.There was an eclectic romance in shooting there. It also really reminded me of the romance of working in this industry where you meet all these people and become very close very quickly, and then you all spin away again three months later. That makes for some intoxicating friendships. None of my family works in this world, and they always question that side of it. I always try to describe making movies like summer camp, or some holiday where you spend all day, every day with a group of people whom you kind of love and then never see again.

Colman: You were living in New York when you did the play Red on Broadway. How was that?

Redmayne: I’ve got to say, I had the most spectacular time of my life. I was living in the East Village in a great little flat by Astor Place, and I’d always had this romantic dream about living in New York at some point. When I was living in New York, I had this slightly wannabe bohemian existence and took up painting, at which I’m appalling. I also bought several guitars.

Colman: Wow, the whole nine yards.

Redmayne: I figured if I was going to live the cliché, I should probably live it all the way.

Colman: Did you start smoking hash?

Redmayne: No. It doesn’t work for me. But I did end up trying to fly back to London with an absurd number of guitars.

Colman: You live in London now, right?

Redmayne: I live just near the River Thames, down by the South Bank. But I haven’t been there much. I’ve been living out of suitcases.

Colman: How do you do that, living out of a suitcase?

Redmayne: When I go to these new places, I leave with crap that I didn’t arrive with, and I’ve actually invested in a load of bags that fall apart about five minutes after you use them. So I’ve ended up with that incredibly depressing scenario where you’ve landed at Heathrow and your bag comes out with that clear film wrapped around it. 

Colman: Like Saran Wrap?

Redmayne: It’s happened at least twice, and I always feel like it’s a metaphor for my state of mind at the end of a job. It’s this battered, barely-put-together thing.

Colman: So how did you come to this Marilyn Monroe project?

Redmayne: Originally, when the script came in, I read the book and I was fascinated by this character Colin Clark. He’d grown up surrounded by people like Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier and Margot Fonteyn, who were friends of his parents, but he wasn’t intimidated by their fame. He went on to become a runner in the film industry. The film industry is incredibly hierarchical, a bit like Eton [College], which is where Clark went to school - and also where I went to school. But as a runner on a film set, despite the fact that you’re the lowest of the low, you also have access to everything, so what was challenging for me was that guy is kind of an observer and a cipher.

Colman: Were you a Marilyn Monroe fan going in?

Redmayne: I have to put my hand up here. I’m getting better, but I remain one of the most ill-educated filmgoers in the world, so it was a wonderful excuse to watch a lot of Marilyn Monroe movies. What’s amazing is this whole movie is about how she was going through this incredibly desperate, dark time, and was a nightmare from all accounts - and yet when you watch The Prince and the Showgirl, she has this lightness and frivolity and this kind of sexy effortlessness.

Colman: She does that sort of effervescent quality - especially in Some Like it Hot [1959],The Seven Year Itch [1955], and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes [1953]. She was such a brilliant comedian. It’s interesting in this movie to watch her go to such lengths to be seen as serious - you know, having Paula Strasberg there on set the whole time. And it’s not that she’s a bad actress, but everyone just sort of wants her to do that thing that’s so amazing.

Redmayne: I know. “Do that thing!” “Be sexy!” - It’s such a damning moment when Olivier says that to her. It can be a miserable profession , acting, because you always want what you can’t have.

Colman: I just watched Savage Grace last night. You were amazing.

Redmayne: That was a really special project for me, which I chased and chased and chased, and finally got, thanks to Tom Kalin, the director, and to Julianne. It’s one of those scripts that you read and you become sort of embarrassingly protective of it, like, “Please don’t let anyone else get this!”

Colman: I can see why - It’s such an amazing role.

Redmayne: It is, but it’s also the kind I love. In England we have this saying about Marmite: people either love it or hate it. That’s like a lot of the movie work I’ve done. People either find it repulsive or find it really interesting and get engaged in it. 

Colman: Incest tends to do that sort of thing. Either you love it or you don’t.

Redmayne: And now, in this film Hick I’ve just done, I play this Texan meth-addict pedophile with a limp …

Colman: Oh, is that all? No skin conditions? Teeth missing?

Redmayne: He does have all his teeth - I thought about getting a few knocked out, but no. I remember a friend was curious as to whether I was going to do it, and they were like, “Well, maybe the subject matter’s a bit intense,” and then they were like, “No, he’s doneSavage Grace! He’s done incest - come on.”

 Interview Magazine, September 2011

Eddie Redmayne Interviewed by David Colman

[billconrad]

Writing Saved My Writing

    I was miserable four weeks ago. It started with bad news about my father. He has Parkinson’s, and the disease is getting much worse. My friend has diabetic health issues and is not doing well. One of my big weekly highlights is to go to the swap meet. I discovered that the land was sold, and their last day would be December. I enjoy watching movies, and the Netflix DVD service ended that week. The final straw was a critical book review. From the text, it was clear that the reviewer did not read more than a few pages, but they still left a dreadful review.

    It was a miserable time, and I moped around for two days. Fortunately, I had a solution. When I get down in the dumps, I have developed a routine. It involves bike rides, hiking, walking, and talking to friends and family. This self-analysis inspired me to make a significant change.

    It was time to stop writing. It had not succeeded and was taking time away from essential activities. As I grappled with the logistics of shutting down my writing empire, I realized it was Tuesday. On Wednesday, I typically publish an article.

    I was in no mood to create something epic, and I tersely edited a mostly ready article. (We Don’t Have to Write About It). The resulting article was not my best, which confirmed that I should stop writing entirely.

    This line of thinking upset me further, and I got into a tangent about an old grade school friend, Marco Zirino. “Wow, I should write something about that guy. But this is not a usual topic.” I put my negatives aside and wrote all about Marco. The words flew onto my screen, inspiring me to develop many new topics.

    After four solid hours, I noticed something unexpected. I felt better. What about my father and friend? I was not happy about their situation, but I was no longer depressed. And that painful review? It hurt, but I created something from thin air (the Marco Zirino article). How many people can do that? Was it good? The article received many compliments, proving it was a solid accomplishment.

    Writing was supposed to be a hobby and not a lifeline. Yes, it is creative, but I never expected it to be a lifesaver. That was something new. What was going on? The same thing that has always been going on. I like to write. Why? It provides a great sense of freedom, is rewarding, and is an excellent outlet for my thoughts. Plus, I learn from my mistakes and grow as a person.

    The core of my problem was that I had been treating writing time like a job. This meant I had expectations, goals, and deadlines. This experience taught me to take a step back and get more enjoyment. This will help my mental outlook, readers, family, and friends.

    You’re the best -Bill

    November 01, 2023

    Hey book lovers, I published four. Please check them out:

    Interviewing Immortality. A dramatic first-person psychological thriller that weaves a tale of intrigue, suspense, and self-confrontation.

    Pushed to the Edge of Survival. A drama, romance, and science fiction story about two unlikely people surviving a shipwreck and living with the consequences.

    Cable Ties. A slow-burn political thriller that reflects the realities of modern intelligence, law enforcement, department cooperation, and international politics.

    Saving Immortality. Continuing in the first-person psychological thriller genre, James Kimble searches for his former captor to answer his life’s questions.

    These books are available in soft-cover on Amazon and eBook format everywhere.

[randomingoftherandomness]

I have mixed attitude towards c-dramas, i don't really like them, however there are such gems of a pairings sometimes - like Jiang Cheng and wwx, or scorpion and his yifu. They often have intrigueing premise and idea, and absolutely DON'T follow it through. The only chinese drama i enjoyed throughly, without ignoring a mess (because there wasn't any mess) is "Ruyi's love in the palace". It was amazing not because of brilliant acting, or costumes, even tho it did have all of that. It was amazing because every word had a weight, and every action had a consequence, every issue was addressed, and there wasn't even a hint of 'modern values'. characters felt real. real people of different time. And human feelings are universal. 99% of ancient puppets genre c-dramas fail to deliver that. I know they aren't historical they're fantasy at best and idol cosplay show at worst, but they don't even try to create athmosphere of 'old times'. I guess they really are made for teens, but when i was a teen i also couldn't watch it without cringing - they were too juvenile for my taste. They don't make me care about anyone as a viewer - any wounded will heal, any thousand years old evil will be easily defeated by rag tag team of boy band members, they bleeding from their mouths and go about their day. They constantly talk about immense sacrifices like waiting for a lover for billion years, meditating for another billion, but it's so unrealistic and impossible to take seriously especially when characters never deny themselves anything even on small-scale everyday level. 1)

MJTY is also guilty of this. FL is supposed to be villain protagonist yet they're so afraid for her to be treated like a villain. When she gets discovered her targets start defending and saving her? This craziness alone turned me off of this show. Yet GSJ and GYZ get accused of all crimes for breathing. They're doing and saying the right thing in majority of scenes but everyone looks at them like they are demons. The director loves BL and incest (considering his previous works) so it's given that shangzhi is his faves. So evil angle they get probably is for fetish fuel reasons, to make their hotness too hot to handle. And still, i hated that. They're treated like enemies in their own family for working hard on its prosperity and actual enemies get love and protection. YWS never openly renounced her evil ways, never asked for forgiveness, she just acted like nothing happened, her spy and killer nature is swept under the rug. It's a big fail of the show. All other characters are just fools who want to destroy their own clan. That's what it looks like. Now, as i gather from weibo, they're testing the waters for second season and milking the second cp. Obviously, there's nothing more stupid than to make qian someone's housewife, and as if shangjue will bring home such devious and morally corrupt person to play happy family with (the very home she worked hard to destroy, to the people she worked very hard to hurt). That's murder and disrespect of their respective characters. Betraying everyone and yourself for insane "love" is a good plot for a tragedy, but it has to be perfectly written. there wasn't love between these characters and they're both level-headed people so logical possibility of that storyline is zero. But they will be molded into meaningless happy end romance, with everyone cheering. In my opinion, the ending of MJTY is satisfying as it is. Does anyone really need baby drama and love brained shangjue? That's the opposite of what he's like and why he attracted fans in the first place 2)

My brain is empty because wow that is one wall of text lol

I'm not saying that this is a 'reason' or an 'excuse' as to why certain promising premise falls through in cdramaland, but honestly speaking, censors and cash play a VERY big role in what ends up on screens and this isn't something we can deny. How many shows and movies have filmed scenes/scripts/sequences/storylines that were completely dropped at the Nth hour for "reasons"? Profit pays a big role in what gets aired, and from the get-go, cdramas aren't the places to be if you're looking for morally grey/villain MCs that allowed to be morally grey/villainous/unrepentant (or in YWS's case, allowed to work for redemption). That's not the way it works. Which sucks, admittedly if you (like me) enjoy that kinda of stuff.

In response to your statements regarding 'Does anyone really need baby drama and love brained shangjue?', I may be kicking the hornet's nest here, but just as I was the intended audience for Word of Honor, I am not the target audience for The Untamed. And that's okay :) Your Mileage Will Vary when it comes to what's 'good' and what's 'bad'. Someone will enjoy the baby drama and love brained shangjue, though that someone will not be me and I am thinking it won't be you too.

And again, that's okay. As long as you're not going around being a dick to people who would and will enjoy that content, you'll be fine.

After all, as I've heard said by some people who say it with their whole chest with no regard to how entitled it can come across, variety is the spice of life :)