#(ironically there's a different story where he's *almost* 12 and it is funny to imagine they take place within a year of each other)

[maemil]

Extremely funny bit of Dark Knights of Steel I have not seen anyone mention is that by the timeline we are given, Bruce has to be 17 at the oldest for everything??

Dark Knights of Steel #12

Makes his relationship with the Robins even funnier, that is not Bruce and his gang of children, that is just a gang of children, full stop.

[reversemoon255]

(This is the final of a three-part series chronicling the development and ideas behind “Dungeons ‘n’ Dragonites,” a Pokémon DnD campaign. This last entry will be about the final string of encounters, some of the later ideas for story elements, and a deep dive into the overarching themes of the campaign’s Starters. Speaking of, the fantastic art of them, along with many of the other original Pokémon seen here, was done by @extyrannomon on Twitter, and I highly suggest you check them out.)

Dungeons ‘n’ Dragonites - Phase 3: Fauxchemine

Like the Queen Durant, the Steelix/Glacix fight would have been a transitory battle between phases of the campaign, taking place right before the Starters were about to evolve for the final time. Glacix was an idea I came up with early in development. As Rock, Steel, and Ice have a relationship throughout Pokémon, having Onix evolve into a specially tanky Ice-Type rather than the physically tanky Steelix made sense. This was also a design I put a lot of work into the actual proportions, like stretching its face vertically as Onix is circular, and Steelix is horizontally stretched. Also, as Steelix has two long spikes on every other segment, Glacix has four smaller spikes in the same pattern.

Glacix was also the first of the four penultimate boss encounters before the close of the campaign, each representing one of the four sacred beasts of Chinese mythology. I thought it would be a pattern that players could recognize and possibly plan ahead for. Glacix was always planned as the Phase 2-to-3 transitory boss, but I actually had roughly prototyped the other three before I realized Glacix fit into role of the Azure Dragon (which I was missing).

The second of the bosses, representing both the Black Tortoise and Rare Variants, was a Dire Torterra. The idea was this Torterra was symbiotic, housing a Sudowoodo instead of a tree, and hiding its identity was a shiny Altaria capable of Mega Evolving thanks to the Key Stone that had replaced one of Torterra’s stone spikes. This was a rough concept, and I’m sure it would have changed drastically by the time the players would actually encounter it.

Third, representing both the White Tiger and Ultra Beasts, was Shora (from Shodo and Tora, the Japanese words for calligraphy and tiger). A pure white tiger that paints floating, metal stripes above its body with its brush-like tail. This was an idea I was very happy with, though I lacked the artistic abilities to render it effectively. If I remember correctly, the markings above its shoulder were based on the Kanji for Tiger. I also hadn’t settled on an ability for it, which was key for depicting Ultra Beasts in this campaign.

And the last of the penultimate bosses was Phanic, being a second Ultra Beast and representing the Vermilion Phoenix. Sadly, I had little planned for this guy apart from some concept designs, like the rest of them. I was working on these as the campaign was starting, and didn’t pursue finishing them after its premature conclusion.

Phanic (from Phoenix and Panic) is actually an Ostrich. If you picture a phoenix, you typically imagine great plumes of feathers around the head, wings, and tail, which are all things Ostriches specifically lack, and I wanted to subvert that typical depiction. I liked the idea that when it was startled, it would scatter its feathers resulting in an exclamation point forming using the spot on its face. It was supposed to seem unassuming compared to the many larger and more imposing bosses, though just as dangerous. Also, it was Electric-Type because it is frequently “shocked” *Ba-dum-tish.*

=====

Let’s talk about our players. One of the backstory elements our Grass Trainer, Ethan, had was that his parents’ restaurant was struck by lightning and destroyed some time before he went to school, and saw a Pokémon at that time. This left him with a fear of lightning (ironically picking an Electric-Type Starter). With this knowledge, and as I was using Ultra Beasts, I altered his backstory slightly so that it was caused by a Xurkitree, and would eventually encounter one during the campaign with his victory over it (probably with a lot of Wisdom Saves) curing his phobia.

Johnny, our Fire Trainer, had a goal of becoming an entertainer, but was vague about what kind. I had an idea for a “Streamer” Trainer Class he could run into. Someone who uses their Rotom Phone to live stream battles and get reactions and advice from their chat. (Let’s face it, if Pokémon were real, this would totally be a thing.) There was also DJ Tomomitsu, who runs Stelopy City’s Trainer Radio, and was a Gym Leader. The idea was to present a bunch of different Pokémon-based entertainment ideas and professions and have him decide which ideas he liked and wanted to pursue.

While our other players were aiming for careers, Orion, our Water Trainer, was more interested in exploring his relationship with his family. His father in particular; both he and his wife being high-ranking executives for Silph Co., and raising their children to also be successful. However, Orion had always wanted to be a Trainer, and it was his parents that prevented him from adventuring. I had it that his father was so against the idea was because he, too, was a Trainer in his youth. But not a successful one, failing many more times than he succeeded, and didn’t want his son to suffer the same disappointments as he did. His partner was Rhyperior, btw.

Lastly was our Fairy Trainer, Arthur. He wanted to be a Gym Leader, and cited specific interest in the Galar League. He also mentioned in his back story that his father was belligerent and against the idea. While the Leaders of the Galar League are entertainers by profession, if you look at the list of Gym Leaders and Kahunas in US equivalent regions, almost all of them have a profession and run Gyms on the side:

(Restaurant Owner, Museum Curator, Artist, Model, Business Tycoon, Pilot, Actor, Teacher, Rock Star, Mayor, Shop Owner, Police Officer; 12/15)

It felt like a hobby, rather than a career, and I ran with this idea as it seemed like Arthur and his obsession with the Galar League hadn’t noticed this fact (nor had his player), but his father had and was pushing him into a sports-based career (one that is usually lucrative and has off-seasons) so he could have a well-paying job and time on the side for his interests, similar to Orion’s father.

Though, no DM can control their players, and even by the end of our fist session I could tell I would have to change some things. It’s just good to have some idea of where to lead everyone, and adjust as you go.

=====

There’s one more Pokémon I want to talk about before we get to the Starters.

This is Necrotiti (Combining Necro with the Egyptian God Nefertiti), an evolution of Cofagrigus, evolving if it’s holding an item called the “Ceremonial Jar” (literally a jar filled with Yamask’s human intestines). It was meant to evolve from the Yamask they could catch during their museum field trip. The reason it exists is... silly. It’s another instances where I wanted to surprise my players, and giving the “Gardevoir Treatment” to what I consider the creepiest Pokémon was funny (which I feel is a reason I cite a lot). And I was really happy with this design, which is why it got commissioned.

A lot of the original ideas I had for this campaign were meant to either surprise or creep out my players. Everyone I was playing with knew Pokémon very well, so I had this fear that if I presented them with a standard adventure they would either become bored or be able to easily predict where things were going. Having a Pokémon adventure within a single city, having it be more a mystery than a collect-a-thon, and using new Pokémon were all ways I came up with to keep interest high and have them guessing as to what would happen next.

Back to Necrotiti, despite having a sarcophagus Pokémon, we didn’t get a mummy. I wanted to make the body effeminate without being overly so, which is why her body is very geometrical in specific areas. For the mask, I went with a typical Egyptian Nubian motif mixed with some of the overall design elements and basic lines from Yamask, and the colors and patterns from Cofagrigus. But despite how much I like it, I don’t know if I would have used it. It didn’t match the Mutant Evolution concept, with its only similarity being that it’s a rare occurrence.

Onto the Starters: Epipesis has evolved into Drachenura (from Dragon, Lichen, and Meganeura). Grass Starters are typically based on extinct animals, and Flymph’s line is based on a Meganeura (an ancient species of giant dragonfly). Apart from some bulking out and additional colors, the lichen sacks in its tail are now yellow, as the plant matter has evolved with it. It supplies it with so much energy that it has to constantly move while the sun’s up to burn it off. Its tail tip is also based on the X-15, the fastest aircraft to date, as it was designed to be the fastest Grass-Type.

Steared has evolved into Auradiat (from Aura, Auroch, and Radiate). Now a Fire/Ice-Type, it’s based on an extinct species of cattle found around the time of the Ice Age. Its ability to absorb energy with its horns has become so powerful that they have frozen over. When I was originally designing it, I was actually trying to base it on the phrase “Irish Bull” (meaning a paradoxical statement), but as I kept working on it, it became more and more Minotaur-like, so I kept the Fire/Ice-Typing and dropped the more abstract elements. As I did, I actually made it more bull and less Minotaur since all Fire Starters are bipedal, and I wanted to try and avoid that.

Knaval has evolved into Chivalazuli (from Chivalier, the French word for knight, and Lapis Lazuli). This was probably my favorite example of features naturally changing as it evolves, with the antenna growing longer and the shield and lance growing harder (going from carapace, to stone, to crystal). Some of the things you might not have noticed at first glace were his forelegs becoming sub-arms on his chest, him gaining the lobster nose and it becoming a face guard, and how his eyes recess into his head. Also, almost every Starter is symmetrical (apart from patterns), with the only exception being Torterra, so I designed it to be asymmetrical throughout.

And Uteteo has evolved into Makutah (from the Aztec naming scheme used for their Gods of wealth and abundance and Utahraptor). He’s Fairy/Flying, with the gold adornments that first appeared on Uteteo now on his head and arms, giving him a more bird-like appearance. The idea was to have him naturally evolve from a Dinosaur into a bird, with the leg bands making them look more like talons, and the face mask giving him a beak. Also, he starts out with the singular sickle toe raptors are known for, and gets a new one every evolution, ending with a full set.

The thing that sets these Starters apart from ones you’d find in the games is that these are designed to be a team. As such, there are a few themes they all share to help reinforce that. (This ignores Utaw, but) All the Starters, throughout their evolutions, have a distinct yellow detail on their heads (eyes, nose ring, and antenna). Furthermore, once they reach their final stages, they share colors between them, with Drachenura having red on its extremities, Auradiat having blue neck fur, and Chivalazuli having flecks of green in its gemstone. And on top of that, they also all have two overarching themes. First is they all represent different time periods, with Drachenura being pre-humans (Precambrian), Auradiat being prehistoric humans (Ice Age), and Chivalazuli being more modern (Medieval Period). Secondly they all represent DnD, with a Dragon(fly), Auradiat filling the role of a minotaur and its connection to a labyrinth/dungeon, and the adventurous knight who traverses them.

There’s also reasoning behind their types, as all three’s secondary Types are also strong against their usual counterpart (Grass and Electric are both strong against Water, Fire and Ice against Grass, and Water and Rock against Fire). Furthermore, Electric, Ice, and Rock are all strong against Flying, which is the reason behind Makutah’s Type (a joke against the player who joined late).

Makutah does fit into these themes, but more loosely as it was created later. Utaw and Uteteo lack the yellow facial details (though they do have yellow eyes), only really achieving this during their final evolution. He also doesn’t share any colors, as Fairy is outside the usual threesome. It does somewhat fit into the themes of the others, but not as cleanly. Utaw, being a Dinosaur, is still pre-humans, but closer to them than Flymph is, and having Aztec themes puts him past Medieval and closer to the Renaissance in terms of human history, but is very close compared to the other time gaps. Also, the gold was partly to fit him into the DnD theme, representing treasure.

=====

One of the first things the players were told at the beginning of the campaign, and was reinforced throughout, was that Pokémon from outside the Wellou Region were mysteriously popping up all over the place, with the Ultra Beasts being the most extreme example. As to the cause, there were a number of red herrings. Silph Co. employees could occasionally be seen in areas where UBs were with strange equipment, Tomomitsu could occasionally be found before something would show up, and there were a few other strange characters like the Regional Champion or Silph Co.’s president. The only definite thing they would know was that there was a strange, creepy, grey Charizard that would occasionally appear when they took something down.

However, it would eventually be revealed that the above were only trying to understand what was going on, and prevent the appearances of such dangerous Pokémon, like our heroes. And as a massive Ultra Wormhole appears above the city, they come face-to-face with the true mastermind. Not an evil team, or a lone conqueror. Merely a single, twisted Pokémon. And our heroes have interfered with its fun long enough.

“You stare up at the now familiar form of the grey Charizard, which stares back with unblinking, dead eyes... Its mouth stretches wide, wide enough to swallow you whole, and a hand appears. And another. And another. Four skeletal hands pry its maw open from the inside, stretching it until its skin falls down to settle on its hips. What looks down on you now, with a single, glowing eye, is a monstrous form made of bone and rotting flesh. And witnessing the four of you before it, it lets out a high-pitched, chilling laugh...

“‘Fofofofofo...’“

Fauxchemine. A sadistic Ultra Beast capable of warping time and space to its will. All the disturbances throughout the town, all the strange creatures that have appeared, all the monsters sent to terrorize our heroes; all the result of its twisted sense of fun, and the consequences of getting in the way of it.

So there’s a running joke among my friends that we all “hate” Charizard. Not actually, but it’s always pushed in marketing with new forms and such, even though its popularity has been dropping steadily over the years. As such, I thought it would be somewhat cathartic to have the big bad they have to beat up at the end be related to Charizard. ‘Chemine’s skeletal nature comes from trying to cinematicly picture the encounter in my mind, with the eerie image of the mouth stretching open from the dialogue earlier. With bone white and rotten greens, the skin wasn’t meant to reflect Charizard as a shiny, but rather with all its color drained from it, as it’s more a puppeted skin than an actual part of the Pokémon. And as many Pokémon draw inspiration from Kaiju, ‘Chemine does, too, specifically calling back to an Ultra-Kaiju named Greeza with space warping abilities.

It’s Steel/Dragon with Thick Fat. When planning encounters, especially this late into the game, Auradiat made things tough since its offensive Typing is insane, and that combination made it resistant to all of the Starter Types except Fairy. This was supposed to be the toughest fight in the campaign, so I wanted to build a Pokémon that would be difficult to deal damage to. A swift Pokémon able to warp around the field, summoning Ultra Beasts or other versions of Charizard as adds or for specific attacks, I wanted this to be memorably difficult.

Oh, and the name? It’s meant to rhythmically sound like “Pokémon,” with the ‘faux’ symbolizing its disguise, and the ‘mine’ representing its personality. Everything in this world is its to play with.

But that giant Ultra Wormhole wasn’t just for show. Part-way through Phase 2 our players were sucked through a Wormhole themselves, both they and Fauxchemine bearing witness to a titanic creature as they did, and upon its defeat, it is let loose upon the city:

Standing over 100ft tall is Wreknarogg (from wreck, to destroy, Níðhöggr, a massive world-ending creature from Norse mythology, and Ragnarok, the end of the world). A massive symbiotic group of four Pokémon from a dead world, the whale-squid Bayleige, the parasitic Serrasite, and the barnacle Rhizocano. This was actually the first symbiotic Pokémon I designed, and its creation sparked the others like Shiinotic and Torterra so this wouldn’t be the first time our players encountered one.

Whales are the largest creatures on Earth, so using one as the base for a kaiju-sized Pokémon fit. It also helped that the prototype designs for the Cloverfield monster were based on a whale, so I had something to go on. Secondly, I really like a lot of the eldritch design philosophy, and a lot of those are based on sea creatures, which is where the combined squid elements came from. Also, when I was prototyping the design and trying to make it creepier, a friend suggested having a parasite coming out of its blowhole, which is what sparked the creation of Serrasite and Rhizocano (as whale’s are known to have such parasites in real life).

This was a design very inspired by the world it was supposed to inhabit. Coming from a desert world where they are the only living things remaining, they symbiotically support each other to stave off their own inevitable death, with Bayleige able to create rain with its ability and Rhizocano able to make artificial sunlight to feed Serrasite. Serrasite then gives energy to Bayleige to allow it to keep moving, and Rhizocano takes energy from Bayleige. It’s an incomplete system where energy is slowly lost over time.

Stage 2 of the final boss wasn’t supposed to be as intense as the last one. A gimmick for this fight was, at the start of every round, I was going to roll a D100, and an event would happen. They would be things like their friends showing up with healing items, trainers they knew joining the battle, wild Pokémon they’d befriended getting in pot shots, etc. It was meant to be a fun, celebratory, “you’re at the end of the campaign” fight rather than an intense one off the back of another. I was even considering having everyone use their full parties.

But after it’s defeated, a thick, dark haze enshrouds everyone. With their allies gone, and left with just their Starters, our players are alone in a dark void. I did say there were four Pokémon earlier...

And the final encounter is Wreknarogg (Core). The Pokémon who brought the three titans together, and controls them while siphoning off some of their energy to survive. Similar to Phanic, this was another unassuming Pokémon. Designed to resemble a virus while calling back to aspects from mythical Pokémon like Jirachi or Manaphy. I understand it might not feel as climactic as there wasn’t any set-up compared to ‘Chemine, who was shown throughout, or the previous Wreknarogg, who was foreshadowed, but I wanted a 3-stage boss fight, and this felt like a good way of concluding it.

While stage 1 was supposed to be difficult, and stage 2 was meant to be fun and call back to the long journey, stage 3 was an un-losable, cinematic fight with a somewhat somber tone to it. It was the final fight, the end of it all, and there’s a certain level of sadness that comes with that in accordance with the jubilation of completion. It was also meant to see how much everyone had grown; how would they handle this encounter? Fight it? Catch it? Persuade it? Maybe I haven’t listened to enough DnD finalés, but in how many can you beat the final boss by being nice to it and calming it down?

=====

And that’s the end. There would be some sort of epilogue, picking up with our characters some months or years later, but that’s not something I could write without witnessing the actions of the players. I was debating having everything that came from an Ultra Wormhole be sucked back in after Fauxchemine’s defeat, including the Starters (pull a Digimon Tamers), but as Wreknarogg came from a dead world I thought that a little cruel.

And to end things how I usually do; Overall, despite not getting off the ground, I was very happy with this project. I’m the type to pick up and drop projects frequently, and the fact that I stuck with and continued to work on it for months was something I was really proud of. It was also a great learning experience on many levels. And who knows; maybe I might do something like this again in the future...?

[shyrose57]

3: Over time people have found a way to make potions last longer, but theres also a way to make them permanent until a different potion counteracts it, but its very hard to do this and most people die trying to do it because the potion gets highly unstable that even a simple tap can make the potion explode. Raq knew how to make a potion permanent, so after managing to successfully make a permanent one, he just had to throw it on Ran and wait until he was left alone to get him. 

4: The fishermen have made a pretty soild plan to follow when this reaction to touch is suspected to be happening. First they of course ask him if touch is ok, and if he says no then they just stay by and give him a blanket. If he cant/doesn't respond then they decide to not touch him incase it causes a bad reaction. And still remain nearby, but they also attempt to comfort him more directly by sitting as close as possible and repeating comforting words and sentences to him. 

10: Oh definitely, in fact the fact that Ran is blind almost starts a fight when Asidi reaches to grab Ran and Grievous gets in the way, yelling at him to back off. Which gets not only Asidi mad but also makes Ran afraid. Which just ramps up the tension ten fold. To the point there may be a full out fist fight, until Lucia thankfully notices Rans predicament and manages to get them inside for the antidote, with Siren stepping up to talk to Asidi. A antidote for a permanent blindness potion would consist of a mix of water and milk, a fermented spider eye to temporarily weaken his immune systems so the antidote can get fully in, a Ghast tear (regeneration so slowly allow the sight back as to not overwhelm the person), and a golden carrot (its a vision based ingredient in general), and glistening  melon (healing to help push the blindness out while also just numbing the person in general). Then a day later or when signs start to show of the vision coming back, a potion of strength to help the immune system strengthen back up and help get the last bit of the blindness potion out hopefully. Most potions do have a counter potion, but it's only the really complex or permanent potions that have a deemed antidote (difference is the counter is just 1 potion and 1 or 2 ingredients. A antidote is a mix of multiple different potions and ingredients making it more complex). It takes Ran longer than he'd like to admit to get used to it again, he has to do small practices like walking around or running around a room, picking up a pencil and writing, just doing simple hand eye coordination exercises to get used to sight again. But at first when his sight starts to slowly come back he starts to relax a bit more, he's still scared and clings to someone until its almost fully back though. And then he just starts having Watson or Benjamin around to help him get used to it again. He is deeply embarrassed when he learns how he acted when he was blind, and it takes a while for him to regain his confidence/get used to the idea that everyone saw him like that. But they help him feel better by telling embarrassing stories about themselves so he doesnt feel like he's alone and the gladiators have a one on one session with him saying how their proud of him and feel like their closer now, to which Ran does agree. And when it comes to Ranbob, the two aren't super close yet, but close enough they can be close toghere and alone toghere without anything happening. So when Ran learns Ranbob was the only one able to truly comfort him, he isnt super happy, but is almost like satisfied or content. He doesn't mind and it even gets him thinking a bit. 

12: That was funnier to me than it should've been

13: You didn't do anything we just love to cause chaos when given the chance. And I did tell them that and they were very happy and just said "Ima Little gremlin 😈😈😈😈😈😈😈" then disappeared for the rest of the day. 

14: All of the above. But mostly because of curiosity. The idea that theres a immortal god just out there is incredibly fascinating to them and Jackie especially really wants to meet him. Watson and the fishermen are more hesitant to the thought of meeting Foolish. Mostly because he is a god that could easily kill them, and maybe trespassing onto his property isn't the best idea? But Jackie isnt taking no for an answer and he will forcefully drag everyone with him. They wouldn't know but you did give me a idea of what if Raq has a totem and when Raq blinds Ran they think that they killed Raq, but instead he slips away. And no one notices til its to late.

15: Oh yes, Edward is mid telling of how Ranboo was always so socially shy and tried his best to seem invisible, as Ran and Ranbob throw snowballs and agure in the background. And Edward is telling of how Ranboo was so scared of destroying Technoblades property as he was scared he'd get kicked out as Ran and Jackie are just hasitly digging up the ground in the background in a race. He does also tell them how much Ranboo used to go mining for fun, so often he went mining that he actually became the richest person in the SMP and beyond all because he was bored. While on the way there Cletus and Isaac where complaining about how much they had to mine just to get a few bits of iron. Edward also shared how little Ranboo knew of his enderman side and how he suffered because of it, making the brothers thankful that they had a enderman hybrid mom, and even teachers who took time to teach them about their enderman side and how to please it and its limits. It also gets embarrassing when Edward asks for stories about Ran and Ranbob. Especially when Watson jumps up to tell an embarrassing story about Ran. Even the brothers get in on it and share stories about Mizu. Jackie, Isaac, Charles, and Ranbob all sit around Edward when its time to tell stories about the SMP. And Edward has actually started private lessons with the brothers to teach them the enderian language after he finds out their enderian is extremely rusty and out of date. 

Also I wanted to include this in my timeline submission but I forgot to so have it here. Although I said I want this to be a primarily Tales focused au I just can't help but imagine Phil, Karl, Ranboo, Tubbo, Techno (plus maybe Quackity, Bad, and Sapnap) being sucked into the future by a failure from Karls watch and them having to work with the gladiator and fishermen groups to find their way home. But that would probably be another au.

3: Oh, interesting. So Raq managed to corner Ran? How did he do that? How did everyone feel about them getting split off from Ran only to find him blind and terrified?

4: That sounds really nice of them, actually. I’m glad he’s got a good support system. If the gladiators ever had to deal with it themselves(maybe the Fishermen got temporarily separated, or something), how would they go about it, and how would they fare?

10: Aww, they’re protective of him. Good, he needs someone to be! It’s for the best that fight never really started, that definitely would have made things a lot worse, huh? Antidotes sound really interesting, honestly. Definitely off track of your AU, but if you ever have the time, what kind of antidotes would your world building use for other potions, and which potions could be made permanent? Very glad he gets his sight back though. He’s content with it? Curious, curious.

12: I’ll do it, don’t make me!

13: Yeah, that fits the bill alright. They are a gremlin, and it’s good that they’ve acknowledged that. Also, you saying they just disappeared for the rest of the day makes it sound like they just poofed out of thin air until midnight for feeding time. 

14: Jackie wants to see god, and so he will. Maybe fight him too, but that’s up for debate. And also ‘until it’s too late’? Anon, what happens? What’s Raq gonna do? Which of the poor children are gonna suffer from this?

15: FGHJK-

Edward: Ah, yes. That Ranboo. So polite and well-mannered. 

His descendants: *screaming in the background*

Edward: So, so well-mannered. 

Also, I want funny stories about Ranbob and Ran. Can I have funny stories about them? Please, Anon?

Them ending up in the future actually sounds pretty interesting, especially considering the group and who they end up with. Honestly, if you’re up for talking, I’d love to hear about it. Maybe you could make it like a spin-off from this AU, or something? Not canon, but a fun idea? I think, I’m not entirely sure how spin-offs work, if I’m being honest.

[madara-fate]

Hey, Maddie! I appreciate your blog a lot, but this is the first time I'm sending an ask to you. The reason of my ask i's abt a thing that is bothering me a lot: the "war" among Skr and Ssk fans between the SS fandom. How can I start that? Okay, after years of the heavy angst inherent of the ship, the hateful content of the ASSes and the almost 6 years of cannon, I never expected to see the fans bashing each others for like Ssk or Skr more. Cont (1)

Cont (2) But I'm noticing that there are more Ssk fans complaining abt the "awful" side of the SS fandom than Skr fans, so I thought it would be good to show how the things aren't not so simple. To see Skr more popular among SS shippers nowadays is a big surprise for me. I'm of the time when Skr was treated as nothing but an object that exists only for Ssk's pleasure and joy (sex, children and love). Cont...

Cont (3)I may was rude with my words and I feel sorry, I don't want to hurt others Ssk's fans feelings, but as a huge Skr fan, I got a bit upset in how some Ssk stans are playing victims of this whole situation. Look, there are a lot of people who call themselves "skr fans" and really hates Ssk, we can see it more clearly comes from KS/NS fandom, but there are a lot of skr hate from Ssk fandom too. Cont...

Cont (4) And the reasons they hates Skr is even worse like "She has no big boobs", "Ssk should make a lot of strong babies with Karin/Hinata/Ino, bc Skr comes with a normal family, so she's trash", "she's a obsessive bitch". Some Ssk fans are so cruel that like projects a distorted image of Ssk being evil (only with skr) and got pleasure a lot from that. Even though these things harms Ssk's character as well, I rarely see Ssk stans complains abt that. Cont...

Cont (5) It seems like Ssk became treated like the way Skr was always been treated by many people in the ss fandom hurts some Ssk's fans feelings. But, as a huge fan of both(together and individually), it hurt me 10 times more. I see the main problem in the way many people who like SS just because think they are hot together or are biased by the fanfictions standards(that in most cases are pure ooc),not because their cannon story. Cont...

Cont (6) I don't mind if they like them only bc of these reasons, but I got rly upset when they try to put fanon stuff into cannon stuff. In the middle of all that, as I always talked with my friends, it's indispensable to understand the character as a whole, not thinking abt romance. And I think I find another problem: some people follow some series just bc of ship. Again, I have no problem with it, I made it a lot of time before. Cont...

Cont (7) But these people need to understand that in a Shounen manga like Naruto, the main focus isn't Ssk and Skr living a sweet romance and, tbh, the obsession with romance make many fans lost a lot of good content, even between SS. For ex, in the chapter 181, Sakura say to Sasuke that "he always hated her". Cont...

Cont (8) OMG, it hurted me a lot, bc this same guy was dispose to die to save her from Gaara, he associates her with his dead family two times in part 1 and hear her talk as if him don't care about her probably was awful. But at the same time, we can see how much Skr feelings changed (for better). Cont...

Cont (9) Even in that moment with 12 yrs, she doesn't want make him hers, she knew him deeply(he isn't her old childish fantasies… He is much better than that, but also full of pain…)and saw how lonely and broke he was, but also saw the good things inside him. Even in that time, she didn't want see him become that man we saw in the Iron Land. Cont...

Cont(10) Meanwhile some people prefer to reduce the whole context in "Sasuke been an idiot once again", the true fans can see the connection between them. The fact that they know each other so well always touch my heart.  And abt MultiSaku and Ssk hate, I have been analyzing how many of these "multisaku" fans are only self-insert. Cont...

Cont (11) They like imagine themselves involved in some fetishism like "student and teacher", "old man and young woman", etc. It is why I would like some Ssk stans be careful when they claim that "SS fandom only cares abt skr", it isn't true at all. Many so called "fans" even don't know the cannon Sakura. Cont...

Cont (12) It is pretty funny, look: we know that Skr(as all other Naruto women) could be much more active in battle if Kishimoto himself isn't insecure of write women as he write abt men, but there are features that Skr has in cannon and some fans put them in fanfictions like if it was something new. XD And abt multisaku shippers hate on Sasuke, I got so tired of it. Cont...

Cont (13)They use the moments where she looks sad for Ssk's bad actions and contrast it with Nrt makes her smile, etc. There are also the idea of a man like Lee is much better than Ssk bc he never was afraid of show his feelings for her. Seeing by this perspective, we can almost forget that Ssk isn't the badboy who gets pleasure from Skr's pain, he is a survivor of the biggest genocide of the shinobi world. Cont...

Cont (14)One of the most interesting thing I love abt SS is how they aren't just the stereotype of "bad boy x good girl/fangirl", in fact they are a deconstruction of that and it could be even better if Kishimoto wasn't so shy or if these two belonged to a seinen manga. And speaking by skr side, I also noticed that most men who has no "afraid of showing their emotions to her" are just her fanboys. Cont...

Cont(15) They think she's pretty and want to be with her. They don't know she deeply for treat her like a queen as some people argue. It's like a female version of Ssk. XD And Maddie, I've reading your texts and I also agree that Skr don't want to be treated like this. What she wanted was to be acknowledged as a full human being/shinobi. Skr had a big inferiority/ superiority complex and to be in the same team with Ssk and Nrt made it even worse than her time with Ino. Cont...

Cont(16)Although this aspect didn't received much attention from the author like her teammates issues, it was still there and it is the one of the roots of her sadness, not the simple fact of Ssk's existence as many haters and KS/NS shippers say. And speaking abt that, one of the most enjoyable things I found in SS is that Ssk never saw her in a idealized way(like "that pretty, perfect girl"). Cont...

Cont (17) He saw her flaws and told her abt them face to face (and it made her improve her behavior), but he also showed sensibility to see her heart (when he cheered her up in front many people or the way he compared skr with his family). Cont...

Cont (18) All of this is away better than the idealized "queen" worship, bc he is seeing her heart and not the surface. I also read an excellent analysis abt how Ssk see skr as the same way he saw Itachi (like as if her was a bother to him, which is untrue) and it could help more people understand him.  Cont...

Cont (end) To finish this long ask, there are a lot of fake ss fan in the fandom of both sides and it isn't a new thing, but we, the real fans, will overcome that issues. Our ship is already cannon and they are in the new phase, some people need to grow up with them, too.

To describe that as simply a “long” ask is one hell of an understatement Anon, holy fuck. I usually include screenshots of the ask if it spans more than one part but I wasn't gonna crop and edit 18 different screenshots, lol; Copy and paste will have to do in this case.

Now having said that, yes I agree with the basic gist of what you said ^_^

[bestworstcase]

So I'm going to ask for a vague, spoiler-free version of this question, but I noticed that Donella, Hugo, and Cryus have tags for Moonless Air. Are they going to relate to an arc just for Varian or relate to the Saporia arc overall. Also will it be fair to assume that Nuru and Yong will have a role too.

there are Some very light spoilers here but i tried to be as vague as possible!

- donella and hugo get involved during what i call the azoth arc (cyrus does not, except insofar as a he works for don, and i could have sworn i didn’t tag him akdkgjsk are you sure?) and the equivalent like... “section” of the story is like peril on the high seas/curses/eye of pincosta. (the plot events of this arc bear NO resemblance to those episodes, but it’s like. s2 and moonless air both roughly follow the following sequence: vardaros -> character growth and lore -> stranded, weird shit happens -> trying to get back on track -> nightmare tree -> house of yesterday’s tomorrow -> final stretch of the journey -> dark kingdom/aphelion. the azoth arc is the trying to get back on track arc. 👍)

- hugo is a year older than varian so. he’s 16ish. he’s also not super important plotwise in moonless air and i will be honest that he’s mostly there because i think donella bringing her horrible bastard of a teenage son along for her part in this is funny aldkfbdldh he has more to do in blooms and sings tho

- unlike hugo for nuru and yong i decided *not* to tether their ages to varian’s (which would make them like. 13 and 9 rn akkfjdjsh) so they’re 16 and 12 a la pure v7k. nuru gets…a very small appearance in moonless air and yong shows up in blooms and sings.

- for moonless air p much nobody gets an arc that is wholly just “theirs,” because they’re traveling together in SUCH close quarters. varian’s stuff with don and hugo is all intertwined with cass’s stuff and rapunzel’s stuff and adira’s stuff and moira’s stuff etc with them. but in terms of like, overarching plot arcs, there’s the Team Corona arc of “we are questing for the moonstone” and the Team Saporia arc of “zhan tiri is causing problems on purpose” and while those are closely interrelated donella and hugo are primarily involved with the Team Corona arc.

- the Team Corona quest is not “follow the rocks to find out what’s at the end,” bc they already know. instead it’s “figure out how to unite the sundrop and moonstone” right from the beginning…which means they need to, to an extent, retrace demanitus’s footsteps and track down the assorted threads of his research. this motivates a lot of the detours that they end up taking. (if they sailed straight from alcorsīa to umbrae, the aphelionese capital where the moonstone is, the zampermin could get them there in approx. 10 weeks—the ship is A LOT faster than traveling by land. but the actual trip stretches out about one year and four months, due to their various detours to gather information/try to figure stuff out + several uh. major unanticipated delays.)

- the Plot Elements of v7k are almost nonexistent in the bitter snow narrative (there’s no…seven trials to create portal to the library) but insTEAD all of the v7k kingdoms—aphelion (dark), azoth (iron), tarazed (air), aberdinon (fire), marne (water), volkan (earth), and obv corona (light)—have A Connection to demanitus, generally in the form of A Structure that he left behind

- the “eternal library” equivalent here is the labyrinth/library built by demanitus in tarazed, mentioned by adira and xavier at the end of benighted; a big old legendary pile of his old work. bitter snow donella, like her pure v7k counterpart, has a History with that place. (so does bitter snow ulla, who unlike her pure v7k counterpart has no bio relationship to varian). that History is what instigates her role in the plot. hugo gets dragged along because he’s her son kfkfjdjsk

- donella and hugo continue to be loosely involved in blooms and sings

- i have (because i have no sense of moderation whatsoever) a handful of ideas/sketches for like… oneshots/short continuation fics set after the end of blooms and sings and a v7k-style team up of varian+hugo+nuru+yong would happen there, albeit under totally different circumstances. but that’s like a LONG way out and definitely not something to expect in moonless air or blooms and sings

- you didn’t ask but while i’m here: i do ship varigo but varigo doesn’t happen in moonless air or blooms and sings; they’re teenagers / i think hugo would have to mature A LOT from how i imagine him being at 16 before varian was even remotely interested in him amfkvjdbfkvhd. see previous note re: horrible bastard teen hugo lmao

[mittensmorgul]

Just read your post where you said that s4 went almost exactly how Chuck might have wanted it. Had a horrible thought: what if it was HIM that changed Dean's voicemail msg to Sam calling him a monster? That voicemail has always been a huge sticking point for me (does Sam even know Dean never said those things???), but now I guess I can blame it on Chuck instead of Ruby or Zach or whoever?

Heck... I mean, I think (ironically now, knowing how much Zachariah disdained Chuck when he didn’t know he was God all that time) it’s amusing to think about now that *we* know he’s God... I get a kick out of thinking now that all of Zachariah’s plots, all of his schemes, his direct threats to Chuck-- showing him visions of what will happen and telling Chuck to write, and even the role he cast for Chuck in his awful end!verse as the inventory manager of their camp with little other influence in anything-- were just so... petty in hindsight. Aah, if only he’d known the guy he disregarded so badly was actually the one writing all those idiotic plots for Zachariah. :’D

Full disclosure: I wrote about this in a fic once... and suggested in that fic that it was Zachariah who changed it, because he is just that petty. There’s also a strong argument that it could’ve been Ruby, but I never thought she had that kind of power. Then again, maybe she did, when push came to shove maybe she could’ve altered a voicemail. But we do know it is within the power of angels to do that, because Cas has done it before, too... in 4.15. Or I should say, we don’t know if it was a voicemail or just a phone call he faked as having come from Bobby, but either way it amounts to the same result-- voice faked over phone. The only demon we’ve ever seen do something similar was Asmodeus, and that was only because he’d stolen and been consuming Gabriel’s grace... But who knows what powers Ruby may have had at her disposal for doing her job to bring Sam to kill Lilith? So I’ve always figured it didn’t matter much one way or the other in canon, since plot-wise it was equally likely to have been BOTH of them. Especially since we would learn that Heaven and Hell were both working toward the same goals of starting the apocalypse.

So now, in a world where we KNOW Chuck was God, that he wasn’t just writing down his “visions” but actively guiding the story as he wrote, it’s incredibly amusing to imagine that neither Ruby nor Zachariah even knew about the altered message, and that Chuck had just changed it as a bit of insurance to make sure his plot came to fruition. Because that’s DEFINITELY something that’s within in his power. And he is just that manipulative.

Here begins the Shameless Self Promotion portion of this reply:

(for reference, I wrote about this in the sequel to Revenge of the Subtext, called These Are Words In A Script. I wrote that fic back in 2015, during the post s10 hellatus, just for reference purposes on where it fits into canon... but I’m still lol’ing at the title in this post 14.20 world, even though it’s a line from 6.15 The French Mistake, since TFM is the premise for what’s happening in this fic series-- zapped to a world where they’re actors, but a very DIFFERENT alternate universe than the one in 6.15 (Jensen and Misha are married in that universe, there is no explicit cockles anyway, even if they aren’t OUR Jensen and Misha)... and the follow up fic is Sam having to protect Jensen and Misha for three days while they’re trapped in the Supernatural Universe. This bit about Zachariah having changed the message was one of the things they told Sam about, that they believed he deserved to know about his own life. It’s in Chapter 5: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5437508)

(or read the whole series if you’re interested, it’s about a Supernatural convention Dean and Cas have to pretend to be their actors at in an alternate universe, so... fun if you enjoy SPN cons! :”D: https://archiveofourown.org/series/327056)

Funny enough, in that fic, one of the things they also tell Sam was that some folks seriously believed that Chuck had been God all along... because I wrote this before s11 began airing. The fic didn’t post until 12/17/2015 only because the original fic was a dcbb, so I couldn’t post a “sequel” to it until after the dcbb had completed that year. and heads up to anyone who does go read it? I wrote it, so the premise is destiel, but the fic is set in a completely different alternate universe, like the one from 6.15 but one where Misha did not get murdered by a rogue angel, and not *our* universe... just fyi...

[th3okamid3mon]

JoJo Rabbit, a well thought and heart-wrenching satire [SPOILERS]

Even in a comedy you can´t help to cry, there´s no way you can talk about any war without crying or feeling such a deep horrible feeling of fear and distraught.

(I´m gonna be disclosing a lot of SPOILERS, which include the ending and several key points of the story.)

Sinopsis:

Johannes Breztel is a 10 year old german fanatic who wishes to become a good nazi soldier. He goes to a military camp where he has to learn everything you need to know about being a good soldier and make Hitler proud. JoJo, with his imaginary friend Adolf, began their adventure to becoming a better German for their homeland and fighting against the evil plaguing it: jews. 

Writing and Characters:

I heard a lot about Taika Waititi, haven´t watch Ragnarok since I´m not exactly a huge fan on superhero movies (Watched most of the MCU movies mostly out of duty, in a ¨God, please just end it¨ kind of way. Loved Iron Man, hated the 3, Thor was boring, and etc, etc.), I heard how awesome he is, how good is he at also acting and such. This is a huge and great example for his brilliance to shine. 

Every story about WW2 is really predictable, you know people are gonna die and people are gonna be miserable or happy at the end of the war. Waititi does a flip by using dark comedy and the perspective of a child, which a lot of people seem to not want due to how disturbing it can be (once you get all the comedy out of the way). 

You follow Johannes ¨JoJo¨ Betzler, a 10 year old who is, as the character of Elsa says is:, ¨just a little boy playing to be a soldier with a funny costume trying to get in a club¨. We see he has blind devotion towards the evil Adolf Hitler and is really excited to participate in a training with the hopes of becoming a soldier or better yet, Hitler´s personal body guard. It is disturbing to think a young child, or any child by any means, want to become part on the worst human activity there is: war, and not only that, idolizes the worst and evilest bastard who could have ever been alive. Of course, JoJo is not good for war at all. No kid has the killing instinct in their blood, it´s not something you inherit its something they learn or, in this case, brainwash into believing. He gets into a hilariously portrayed accident that involved a hand bomb that exploded his left side. 

His character is the most developed in the entire movie, we follow his steps, we see what he sees and we feel what he feels. His mother tried very hard to taught him how awful war was, he saw Elsa hidden in a tight spot where she had to keep quiet or she and the rest could get in serious trouble, he saw the military before and after going to war. He began to understand how awful can war be, but it wasn´t fully absorb until several traumatic events happened that no child ever had to see in their young life. It´s a very likable child, you are never angry at his devotion he was literally taught from infancy how he had to serve a dictator. The fault falls in the regimen, his actions, the things he does and acts are his only responsibility and thanks to his child innocence and wonder and compassion we know he is a good person in the inside just a bit confused. 

Rosie Betzler. If you didn´t like Scarlett Johannson for his previews acting on the fucking MCU movies (like me, GOD I hated her), well I bet you are gonna like her in this one. I mean... SHE SMILES? WOW, DIDN´T KNEW SHE COULD DO THAT. Seriously, the directing in the heroes movies fucked her seriously. She is a brilliant actress and is so wonderfully funny in this one. A kind mother with brutal honesty trying to raise her now beloved child alone (since her husband is at war and her older child died from influenza, I didn´t exactly got that from the movie) while keeping certain secrets to keep him safe is hard enough, but during NAZI GERMANY while being part of the jewish resistance is IS ANOTHER LEVEL OF HARD, ITS LIKE NIGHTMARE MODE IN FUCKING OUTLAST. Badass character, keeping a balance between trying to make her child feel like a child and also keeping the orphan Elsa a secret. She didn´t had a huge development and she didn´t need one, we only needed to see what secrets she was hiding and damn... They cost a lot once you knew them all. 

Elsa, brave and aggressive Elsa. Of course anyone would act the way she did if she had to be quiet to avoid being sent to a concentration camp. The girl has a lot of knowledge in popular culture, telling JoJo about different artists who, not only were writers or musicians, but also Jewish (to the dismay for poor, silly JoJo). She didn´t have a huge development, she begin to understand JoJo deeply as well as Rosie, since both where there for her (even if they had different and opposite motivations). Elsa is like an obstacle for JoJo except she doesn´t do much and wouldn´t do so if it meant putting herself at risk. We can see she is really brave once the Gestapo stop at their home, brave and smart that is. Without her quick thinking the movie would have ended then and there. I can´t imagine how deeply horrifying it would have been to do that and how awful and sad her life was after not only loosing her fiance to tuberculosis but also watching her family getting in a train and leaving to a place where no one returns. She acts aggressive and is harsh because she needs to survive and when she begins to trust JoJo, their bond become strong and deep and become like siblings. 

Capitan Deertz is a very apathetic and silly capitan, the guy is really tired of the war and doesnt really want anything to do with the children at the camp, not because of a moral compass he just doesnt give a fuck. You get this character and you laugh at his commentary and at how Rosie can easily threaten him. And then you see more of his character, he seems to care at certain some points. He cares about Finkel, who is a second in command. Every time they appear in screen they are literally whispering stuff at each other or have certain looks, clearly a gay couple. At that time period it was EXTREMELY dangerous to show any type of love towards another man and this two werent that subtle about it but since they were high in command guess no one actually care or said anything (considering most of the people in their command were children, no one would probably even care). Finkel was just this goofy guy who follow Deertz and show a deep appreciation. Not the main thing to focus, it´s just there and it´s funny and its normal. They dont have to look or act in ¨gay way¨, they are just there and they do their work and such. Which is fine until you get the war scenes and then you want to bawl even more (Because when you get at the war scenes you already should have bawled your eyes out due to a lot of sad circumstances). He also cared about Rosie and JoJo, even when he seem not to. When he saw Gestapo in Rosie´s house he helped JoJo save Elsa and when he was trapped by the Allies he helped JoJo again by ripping a nazi jacket off of him and shoving him to the ground while screaming at him. General jerk is actually a caring character, cliche move but man, does it always fucking works. 

The dialogues were impressively well thought, no one felt out of place and they made sense. The way they make fun of the whole blind fanatism and how the military views boys and girls it´s all in your face and its hilarious, it is presented as that so please no one start saying how sexist or how wrong it is for saying the things they say. It´s a SATIRE. It´s a MOVIE. ITS COMEDY.

I cannot thought of any kind of plothole, I´m sure it has or it probably has but the story is so well thought and so well acted you are absorb into it. Your whole attention is in what will happen next, the story of WW2 can be predictable, but this story is always at 2 steps of ripping your heart and then replacing it and hoping it pumps blood normally and when it does pump blood normally it rips it off again. It´s a rollercoaster, and it´s capturing. Your attention is in the story 100% of the time, and you gotta pay attention to the details because they foreshadow so much good and so much PAIN. 

Directing and Acting: 

I almost go off in the other section about Scarlett´s acting, now here it comes: MY GOD. I hated her so much in Avengers. The mot disliked character for me was her, and I always forget it was the directors fault. Here´s a note: When an actor acts bad, it´s not always, if not NEVER, their fault. Most of the time is the directors fault, you have to give straight and good orders and to maintain a communication with them if not the story falls. When Black Widow was shown in Iron Man, I was like ¨Wow, I like her! She is really good and badass!!¨ and then Avengers happened and it fucking fall all over the fucking lava floor. And IT WAS A FUCKING SHAME. Scarlett Johansson is a really good actress! She portrayed an excellent character, even if it was a minor character, she did it perfectly and shown so much emotion with the looks and the words she said and the actions she did. She was a mom in this movie, and it showed! THIS! THIS CHARACTER MADE ME LOVE JOHANSSON! Please dont go to shit directors ever again, my god. Avengers was a fucking toxic relationship and SHE GOT OUT AND SHE IS BRILLIANT. 

Taika Waititi is such a great director, he really put his love and passion into this project and it shows. It bleeds passion, it fucking tastes passion. I dont understand, he needs more money to make more works. GIVE THIS MAN MORE MONEY. 

The kids? Holy- How old are th- 12!?!?!?!? ROMAN GRIFFIN DAVIS WAS 12?!?!?! How old was- HIS SIBLINGS ALSO WORK IN THIS?! Ok how old is the othe- 11!?!?!??! ARCHIE YATES IS 11!??!?!  Ok, as you can see, I am very impressed by this child actors. It can be a challenge to direct them because sometimes there are a lot of different needs they have and they also can´t work as much as the adults and such, this means there´s less time to work with them and maybe they have school and other child responsibilities. Waititi must have had a lot of patience and a really big understanding of their work hours, not over pressuring them and knowing how to explain the whole script. That doesn´t mean they dont have talent, though. This kids are EXTREMELY talented, they are funny and they show a lot of emotion, even when one is comic relief you can sense and see how exhausted he is while saying ¨I´m going to see my mom, I need a cuddle¨ LIKE... THIS ARE KIDS, THEY SHOULDNT BE AT WAR, WTF!? 

The actors protrayed their respective characters in such a way, deeply understanding what emotions go in each scene and making the scene so heart wrenching. 

[BIG SPOILER, SKIP IF YOU DON´T WANNA KNOW] There´s a scene I enjoyed a lot by how it is presented, it´s a good sequence and the punch hits you really hard. During the movie you can see a couple scenes where they only show Rosie´s feet, dancing or just moving while JoJo sees amused or not. Anyway, the scene I´m talking about is when he is following a really pretty blue butterfly that is flying at floors level. He walks towards it and smiles, he squats to take a better look at it before it flies away. And when he stands up again, he is next to a pair of legs, and not any legs, they have a specific kind of shoe, and they have a specific blue coat. Oh no. You dont have to see the face, there´s no need to see the face. You dont have to see the expression you only need to see JoJo. And this is where I have no idea how this kid did it, but his expression goes from wonder to horrifying sadness and desperation. I dont know what direction, what mental image did Waititi told him but he manage to portrayed a really raw and deep sadness and heartbreak you can only see in people who lost someone. And the kid is just holding his mother´s lifeless legs and crying and desperate trying to tie her shoelaces and then giving up and hugging her again. And then he is just broken, looking at her hanging with other people who might have been with her or not. The realization of how harsh the punishment is and how awful life is that day at that time. And he can´t believe it, he doesnt want to believe and maybe if he had acted differently she would have still been there but no. It wasn´t his fault, he had nothing to do with it. He later was explain what possibly happened. She was with the resistance, her husband was with the resistance in Italy. She was against nazi´s but she never told him to protect him and to protect herself. She sacrifice for other people, she put herself in danger for other people and for a better future for her son. JoJo wouldnt have known, he couldn´t know and now that he knew he just loved her so very much and it hurted him. It wasn´t the jews´ fault, it wasn´t his fault, it was the people of the regimen he was following, the regimen who promised a bright future for him and the other children. 

Sound design: 

It was delightful. Dialogues kept at their respective volumes, background noises were there and not overbearing, the sound of steps, something being dragged, the sound of bombs and artillery. Not a single time was any sound out of place, it was as if you were there, it immersive. The sound played a huge rolled into being capture in the story, with such detail at every sound that could be played at the scene. The silences where used perfectly, only backgrounds and atmospheric sounds plagued the scene, and when the moment hit you there was still no music until the realization was made. Perfect timing.

The soundtrack was beautiful, endearing and melancholic at their respective scenes. When there was music to dance on, the music played, when there was a hilarious montage the music exaggerates the ridiculous situation they are presented in. It was wonderful. 

Art design: 

They went all off!!! The clothes, the cars, the food, the plates, everything! I wonder how much investigation did they had to do to fully dress up an entire cast and also to do the little details. One thing is getting the clothes that, to be entirely fair, thanks to photos from those times and more investigation from books, you can figure out the type of clothes and materials they used, but the details from the streets, the kind of bikes and the inside of a house its an entire story:

Investigation is not entirely what you need to do, you have to consider what colors go well, what makes the character pop but also make sense, how the decor should be done and what kind of table and chairs are in a normal house. How do the hidden rooms worked and how where they hidden at plain sight, how do you make it work and how will it look. All has to be thought out, everything has to have a purpose, even the smallest change can be a whole new set. Make it look pretty but make sure it makes sense to the era. 

Photography: 

Let´s talk photography, shall we?

Look at how the colors vary, look at the highlights and shadows. Look at the saturated colors. I LOVE saturated colors, not many photographers used them out of fear, the colors can be very bright and distracting, but Mihai Mălaimare Jr. made it work! His shots are spectacular, they work perfectly to capture whats going on and how the characters feel. 

JUST LOOK AT THE CONTRAST. In the first picture there´s a big open shot, both Rosie and JoJo are in the very left corner while you can see the bright green grass. They are free from everything when they are out of town, they can be happy or enjoy their time while being there, even if JoJo likes to pretend to be mature and to still want to be a soldier while his mother is trying to make him understand how life has to be enjoyed while it last and how war has ruin that for everyone, including the nazi germans. The second shot is at the town, look at how grayish it looks. Everyone is miserable. There´s no such thing as a good war, and whether you believe it or not, even the nazi germans were suffering, the ones who werent fighting were frighten to be attacked, hungry because the food was not enough or was given to the soldiers, no one was happy at that point in life. The color palettes help tell a story, and influence how you look at the lives of the characters. It´s visual storytelling and you can feel the fresh air, the relief from the first shot and then the limited, claustrophobic and fearful atmosphere from the second. 

What a better representation of what war is. Kids going to get killed for an evil regimen disguised as the savior for their homeland. JoJo who finally sees that horrors of war, a kid who has lost so much now, who knows heartbreak but never fathom the idea of horrifying, raw, disturbing and sickening war is. How you loose more than you gain from fighting, how you see your friends being send like pigs to a slaughter, how the military blindly follows orders for a falling regimen. The look of utter disbelief and horror contrasting the he blind joy of dying for your country. This shot is everything and in motion is even more epic yet disturbing. 

Conclusion:

I might be too blinded by how well it was made that I don´t see any problems in it. I would have to watch it again to see if there´s some inconsistencies but going by the first watch I have to say it was really good. The plot was understandable, it had high points and slow points, but those were well made. It was smooth how the story evolve, the turns were expected but maybe not in the way they were presented. What i mean is, it can be predictable but you dont expect HOW it is presented. With War stories death is at every corner, it´s the manner that you don´t expect or hope to happen to anyone. The acting was phenomenal, the star was totally Roman Griffin, all the actors were amazing but you gotta give the kid credit, THIS WAS HIS DEBUT and he NAILED IT! 

By the looks of the trailer you expect so much and it gives you that and more. To the eyes is a delight, to the heart is a pain and comfort and to the ears is a melody. To the soul is a story that has to remind you history, war is not a good thing and so many people get more damage by it than saved. No kid should ever be put in that situation, and yet there are kids suffering in this world. This movie could potentially be an Anti-War movie, because it literally shows how awful it is. Wars are awful in general! It´s kind of ridiculous we need to be reminded of that but here we are. 

We are shown a cruel environment with a humorous tone to get the message straight into our heads and it works perfectly. Give it 3 watches and then watch another 3 times, every time you feel like everything is going down, remember there´s still hope even in the darkest more horrifying places and times. We have the choice to make good, humans can be evil but can be extremely brave and compassionate. Never give up being a good person, it can be hard but it is more rewarding. People need kindness and compassion. We need to be those compassionate people for others. It always starts with one brave person. 

The last thing you leave the theater is with a verse from Rainer Maria Rilke: 

                                      Let everything happen to you.                                                Beauty and Terror.                                                Just keep going.                                               No feeling is final.

Sincerely moved, T.O.D

PS: Fuck Hitler. 

[pnwswiftie]

I felt owned by an employer once. He was sexist and baited me into working for him only to turn the tables and gaslight me. And to be honest I’ve never pin pointed the feeling that has sat in my gut about him until recently; until watching my idol go through the same thing on a large scale in front of the world, until what has happened, what has been happening to Taylor Swift in her industry.

Mine was a veterinary surgeon whom I worked with in the past. I left the veterinary field and started a new career. The Vet (we will call him) moved away and when he came back he contacted me with a new idea to start his own practice.

He painted me a beautiful picture of what this clinic would be like. He said he couldn’t do it without me and promised me the world. I still remember the phone call where he said the words- “you will be my practice manager, my right hand, you could run the show and have a handsome career, I’ll make sure you are set for life, you will have an opportunity to buy into the company as well, to profit share.

He offered to pay me whatever my current job paid me. I didn’t jump at saying yes. I worked so hard to be where I was and this was a big risk. My now husband was hesitant and didn’t trust him 🚩 but supportive of whatever I chose (love him). Well, im the only one of me so a month later I took the jump and put in my notice. I trusted him.

I was hired on with one other person. A male, roughly my same age, overall a nice dude. We will call him Sam. I was in charge of all operations of the front desk and all aspects of the business side of things. I started every excel sheet for income tracking, taxes, inventory. I created every document, I created the scheduling program, I set up every vendor accounts. I scanned every piece of paper that came into the clinic doors, I set up our benefits. I answered phones I handled every single client. I visited clinics and preached to people our vision, so they would refer to us (we were a referral based clinic) on my days off. I did it ALL. I also scrubbed into surgery with the Vet and Sam, as there were only 3 of us running the entire show. If the phone rang, I would answer on a headset under my face mask and handle a client or clinic call right there, scrubbed in. I didn’t mind, I felt proud to show off my multitasking skills. He would give a little wink and a joke and the validation felt nice, like I earned his approval 🚩 when I did something above and beyond.

About a year went by and I was rolling in hard earned money, that’s for sure. I was working 7 am to 10 pm some days so I always had overtime. Sam was responsible for 1 thing- patient care, and I was responsible for LITERALLY everything else you could possibly think of. 🚩Needless to say I was getting worked to the BONE 🚩 . I was cool with it tho, this is what I signed up for right? We were growing and successful and getting BUSY!

One day I accidentally found out the pay gap 🚩between myself and Sam. I had been completely naive to the fact that we were not equals, nor was I getting paid “management” but that he made SUBSTANTIALLY more than me. I gave it some energy for a couple days and vented to my husband, then I let it go. Sam was nice, it’s not his fault. 🚩Maybe he’s just worth more than I am to the company, I told myself. 🚩Maybe he has a past history I didn’t know about that made him more valuable. It definitely should have been my red flag 🚩

My relationship with the Vet was kind of like a daughter and father but 🚩 only on his terms. Fun and playful and lots of “your our boss lady!”. It would also take very odd turns, 🚩 having to do small tasks outside my morals. In the office he would call me “the office manager, the boss, it’s all up to you, hospital administrator!” yet on the phone would call me 🚩 “the front desk person” 🚩“my receptionist” to other veterinarians. It bothered me, a lot, but I pushed it away. 🚩Who am I to be that nit picky over a title? 🚩He probably didn’t mean it or misspoke, I thought.

The tricky part is that I only have little under the radar examples of his abuse. 🚩 The ones you can’t QUITE put your finger on, that you can’t QUITE justify quitting on the spot but make you feel 🚩 worthless. They continued every day. He was incredibly sweet and funny, and then 🚩condescending and cruel. It was a roller coaster to try to please him constantly. It wore on me. I came to work and to deal with it I would make lists on scratch paper. Lists of why I was starting to hate my job. Lists that I would read in the car and cry. If I wasn’t cheerful he’d come in with 🚩“PMSING TODAY?” .... I’d laugh n bite my tongue. 🚩 That’s just being friendly playful right, he knows me well enough to say that to me, we’re like family, right? But every day I felt awful. And I needed my job now, more than ever. 🚩 He knew I needed this job, too. We had just put an offer on a house and surprise! we’re now expecting a baby.

Being pregnant changed things. I couldn’t assist in surgery and xrays like I used to. 🚩He would scoff when I would have to leave for prenatal appointments. 🚩 He would be caring and kind one minute, giving me hand me down baby clothes and gifts, and then cold and dry the next. 🚩Sam could and often would sleep in and no call/no show. He would roll in at noon and jump into surgery, acting like nothing happened, they’d joke together about women in front of me and being hung over. I was 5 min late once because of a traffic jam and had to have a “sit down meeting” about attendance. 🚩 I felt so ASHAMED and EMBARRASSED. 🚩 I had never once, NOT EVER, had work problems, attendance problems, behavioral problems, in my entire history of working. This job was my LIFE. 🚩 Was something seriously wrong with me???

The last straw came when I was 6 months pregnant. He claimed that everyone was having a private “check in meeting”. He told me at mine that 🚩him and Sam talked 🚩 and agreed that I’m not the happy bubbly girl I used to be. I sat with him in the shade of a big oak tree in the grass that has since fallen in a wind storm (ironically. He said I would be getting a $1 raise and that he wanted me to take on MORE responsibility since I could no longer assist in surgery and listed basically anything he could possibly think of to tack on to my job to make up for that $1. 🚩 all I could think was... how???? I was already drowning. I finally got courage this time and said NO. My lip quivered and tears ran down my face with 🚩 stress. I brought up valid arguments but looking back I wish my voice wasnt so timid. Or that I had the courage to call out just one, ONE instance of his inappropriate behavior. But lastly, 🚩 I asked why is my title “FRONT DESK PERSON” when Sam is now “Lead Surgery Operations Director (Who Does No Wrong)??

His response sticks with me to this day. It was painful and degrading and I will never forget it. After working my ass off and building this place from the bottom, the long nights and everything I gave them... I also will never forget his 🚩 smirk . “Well you see, giving you a title like that would be like rewarding a BAD DOG with a BONE” 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

🚩I was devastated. 🚩And confused. 🚩I’m a BAD DOG???

I stuck it out for the remainder of my pregnancy, working the 12 hour days up until I went into labor at work. I trained a new girl on every process, excel spread, schedule I had developed and created. I put on a fake smile and wrote my scratch lists and re-read my lists on the way home and cried. I couldn’t just quit. I couldn’t let my family down.

We had our baby and stared at his tiny toes and fingers and cried every single day that I may have to go back to my hell job. I interviewed for different clinics while on leave. I was desperate. The vet was on a sweet streak- 🚩 sending us gifts, having his wife cook us meals and checking in on us all the time. He frequently asked what date I was coming back. He informed me that when I came back I would need to take the later shift and give the new girl my current shift. 🚩She needed it, he said. He said we could discuss the title of “lead receptionist” now and could 🚩 continue to work towards my goal of hospital manager. 🚩 I accepted but I felt sick. 🚩 I felt like I had to go back to work for someone who I couldn’t trust. I felt like he owned me in the worst possible way. (At one time he even tried to tell me I had half of the PTO that I actually had saved up for maternity leave, another 🚩🚩🚩 but I saved my paystubs as PROOF)

Today I work for the clinic that we shared the building with. When they heard I left they immediately offered me a position. The Vet left to purchase his own facility. He acted shocked and surprised and in disbelief that I wasn’t returning. At first it was tough, not gonna lie. We literally ate noodles for a year because I went down to part time. But the bravest thing I ever did was RUN ♥️ I now LOVE my job and they treat their employees wonderfully and equally and have real life morals.

I actually didn’t intend for this to be a novel LOL but even if not a single soul reads this, it’s therapeutic for me to actually get my thoughts down after almost 6 years now. My advice is to ALWAYS trust your gut. TRUST THE 🚩 RED 🚩 FLAGS. Don’t let anyone make you question your character. Never EVER ACCEPT being controlled and manipulated against your morals. Choose the future over time spent in the past (thanks T @taylorswift) and work somewhere that respects you. That pays you FAIRLY. Don’t be afraid to TELL your story too because this has to STOP (I’ve almost deleted this whole thing 13x) If it happened to me I can’t imagine how many other women it happens to. Anyway if you read this then holy shit here’s a hug and CHIN UP YOU ARE WORTHY, YOU ARE NOT A BAD DOG. ♥️

[snowkatze]

Normal Guys

This is for the Carry On Countdown 2017 (@carryon-countdown) Prompt: Social Media (Day 2) Genre: angst, fluff Word Count: 2118 Summary: Baz texts some guy on a dating app online and tries to forget about his love for Simon Snow.

Factually, they're just lines. A machine could be programmed to write lines like that; yes, he might not even be human. It might just be an illusion that has been granted to me. He might not be who he says he is, he might not be anybody at all. They might be lies, because lying is easy under the cloak of anonymity and online, where there's no eye contact, no mimics, no sounds to give you away. I know that it would be easy and that life might be cruel enough to fool me into believing someone would be able to love me. I know they're just lines. But despite all that, I can't help but look at these words and feel like they're not just lines, but hope.

And they make me think that even I could love again, someone who is not Simon Snow. For that, it is not important whether this is real at all, whether anyone could be capable to love me at all, because after all, I am nothing but lines, too.

Sconeslove2 02:12 am: lol r u a vampire or smth

NormalHuman 02:12 am: May I remind you that you texted me first? Sconeslove2 02:13 am: yeah but i'm disfunctional, what's your excuse?

Sconeslove2 02:13 am: btw ur so posh Sconeslove2 02:13 am: u talk like old people

Sconeslove2 02:13 am: cause ur an immortal vampire

NormalHuman 02:14 am: I am a normal human. It literally says so in my url. And of course, I lie, too.

Sconeslove2 02:14 am: which is suspicious in itself!!!! NormalHuman 02:14 am: What about your url? I can honestly not believe there is another imbecile on this earth who would call himself 'Sconeslove'. So why the 2? Sconeslove2 02:15 am: don't try to distract me!!! ur trying to seduce me aren't u NormalHuman 02:16 am: If I was a vampire, you would be the last person whose blood I'd drink. Sconeslove2 02:16 am: aaaaw because u love me so much? NormalHuman 02:17 am: because your blood would taste disgusting, idiot

Sconeslove2 02:18 am: how do u kno? can u smell it.. cause ur a vampire with super senses? NormalHuman 02:18 am: sure. i kno exactly which smell belongs to ur blood under all the 7 billion people whose blood i can smell at the exact same time

Smelling every person on earth, that would be hell. It's hard enough with the person sleeping across from me every night. Sconeslove2 02:18 am: ahjdaldakl u didn't use perfect grammar. r u tryin to get down with the kids to conceal ur vampire identity

NormalHuman 02:19 am: You simply don't deserve this eloquence. I don't respect you enough. Sconeslove2 02:19 am: it's just my bad influence, isn't it

Sconeslove2 02:20 am: I know you're not a vampire btw

Sconeslove2 02:20 am: My room mate is one and he's ToTalLy different from u

Sconeslove2 02:20 am: TOTally

Sconeslove2 02:21 am: He is the epitome of evil!!!

NormalHuman 02:21 am: And I'm just the nicest person on the planet, aren't I? Sconeslove2 02:21 am: well no but ur not planning my demise, r u? Sconeslove2 02:22 am: or the downfall of literal mankind?!?! NormalHuman 02:22 am: Once again, it is shown how little you know about me. As a matter of fact, both of these things are on top of my priorities.

Sconeslove2 02:23 am: u have a list, don't u

Sconeslove2 02:23 am: a priority list

Sconeslove2 02:23 am: u seem like a person who has lots if lists

NormalHuman 02:24 am: Stop double texting me. Sconeslove2 02:24 am: U FOOL

Sconeslove2 02:24 am: i dont just double text Sconeslove2 02:25 am: I tRIPle text

Sconeslove2 02:25 am: I QUAdriple txt

Sconeslove2 02:25 am: I Sixtriple text

Sconeslove2 02:26 am: Septribble NormalHuman 02:26 am: sTOP Sconeslove2 02:26 am: Octave

NormalHuman 02:27 am: Go to sleep

Sometimes it scares me how much he acts like Snow.

Sconeslove2 02:27 am: why? are u concerned for my wellbeing?

NormalHuman 02:27 am: no NormalHuman 02:27 am: It's just like you're sleep-drunk or something

Sconeslove2 02:28 am: hey

Sconeslove2 02:28 am: is there a reason you're still awake? NormalHuman 02:29 am: just couldn't sleep

Sconeslove2 02:29 am: did you have a nightmare?

And it's almost like somebody actually cares about me. Sconeslove2 02:29 am: again? NormalHuman 02:30 am: yes

Sconeslove2 02:30 am: Do you want to tell me about it? NormalHuman 02:30 am: i'm fine

Sconeslove2 02:31 am: Don't lie to me

Sconeslove2 02:32 am: it's okay, you don't have to tell me

Sconeslove2 02:32 am: I just wish you were alright

NormalHuman 02:32 am: me too

Sconeslove2 02:33 am: Just imagine I'm hugging you Sconeslove2 02:33 am: really hard

Sconeslove2 02:33 am: until you're not sure any more whether I'm trying to show you that I love you or trying to kill you

I can't remember the last time somebody hugged me like they meant it. Nobody ever touches me. Nobody dares to touch me.

Sconeslove2 02:34 am: You know, I'm sort of really good at protecting people

Sconeslove2 02:34 am: I'm exceptionally good at slaying monsters Sconeslove2 02:34 am: And I'll slay your nightmares too

Sconeslove2 02:35 am: until you're happy again

Sconeslove2 02:35 am: I can be your knight in shining armour

NormalHuman 02:36 am: And I can be a normal guy

Sconeslove2 02:36 am: ha

Sconeslove2 02:36 am: I can't imagine anything nicer

Sconeslove2 02:37 am: don't worry

Sconeslove2 02:37 am: You and I, we can be normal guys

That would be nice, wouldn't it?

NormalHuman 02:38 am: Promise me we'll run away together Sconeslove2 02:38 am: of course

Sconeslove2 02:39 am: It'll be the cheesiest love story

NormalHuman 02:40 am: I don't know a lot of love stories

Sconeslove2 02:40 am: How about Romeo and Juliet

Sconeslove2 02:40 am: You know that one for sure

Romeo and Juliet? Been there, done that. But of course I can't tell him that.

NormalHuman 02:41 am: You know they die in the end, right? Sconeslove2 02:42 am: You're a vampire tho

Sconeslove2 02:42 am: You can't die

NormalHuman 02:42 am: Then I'll just lose you

Sconeslove2 02:42 am: Fine, then we'll be a different love story

Sconeslove2 02:43 am: Twilight?

NormalHuman 02:43 am: fuck off

Sconeslove2 02:44 am: You're smiling though, right?

I'm not smiling. I'm crying. Because this is just a dream that I'll never have. Because he doesn't know that my life is actually a pretty crappy novel, and I really do die at the end. Because he doesn't know that I'm the monster in someone else's love story. I don't reply to him for a long time. NormalHuman 02:58 am: yeah

NormalHuman 02:58 am: I'm smiling

He doesn't answer me after that.

I suppose I'll try to go back to sleep, too, then. Tomorrow I'll have to return to Watford, go back to face him. But maybe it's true that one day, I'll be rid of him. (Except maybe I'm only fooling myself; maybe, in reality, I'm pretending like I'm texting Snow, and not some stranger, and that means that, actually, I'm not making any progress at all.)

The problem is that it doesn't help at all. I like Sconeslove2 (Though, really, scones? It's almost too ironic). But I still love Simon Snow, no matter what I do.

In a very, very low moment, I created a dating profile and there he was. Sconeslove2, who seems to understand me better than anyone has before. Sometimes I think he's just as broken as I am, which should make me sad, but somehow only comforts me (Another indication of what a terrible human being I am. Or rather, vampire being.).

We've been talking for weeks now, yet I still don't know his name, and he doesn't know mine. I like it too much to give it up. For once, I can disguise myself as someone else.

When I arrive at Watford, I realize that I have a few new messages from Sconeslove2.

Sconeslove2 01:16 pm: hey

Sconeslove2 01:16 pm: I'm sorry. I lied to you. Sconeslove2 01:17 pm: I don't think we should keep texting.

I stare at the messages, trying to grasp their meaning. He lied to me. I knew it. I knew he couldn't be real; that no one could ever be serious about liking me. It seems like a physical impossibility of the universe. And even though I gathered that something sketchy was going on, I can't help but feel hurt, like I can't breathe any more.

It's okay. I was lying, too. I'm not a normal guy.

He never would've liked me if he had known who I was.

It's okay. NormalHuman 02:23 pm: ok Sconeslove2 02:24 pm: no I'll explain Sconeslove2 02:24 pm: I just don't want to lead you on, ok? NormalHuman 02:25 pm: No it's alright

Sconeslove2 02:26 pm: Remember when I told you you weren't like my room mate at all? Sconeslove2 02:26 pm: That's what I lied about. You and my room mate are actually really similar. NormalHuman 02:27 pm: … NormalHuman 02:27 pm: So you hate me?

Sconeslove2 02:28 pm: no

Sconeslove2 02:28 pm: that's just the thing

Sconeslove2 02:29 pm: I really really like you

NormalHuman 02:30 pm: Then what's the problem? Sconeslove2 02:32 pm: The problem is that you're really similar to my room mate

NormalHuman 02:34 pm: ? Sconeslove2 02:34 pm: that made me realize Sconeslove2 02:34 pm: I think I like him

Sconeslove2 02:34 pm: Romantically NormalHuman 02:35 pm: The epitome of evil? Sconeslove2 02:36 pm: unfortunately

Sconeslove2 02:36 pm: he'd kill me if he knew

Sconeslove2 02:37 pm: he'll kill me one day one way or another

NormalHuman 02:37 pm: Maybe you're wrong about that

Sconeslove2 02:37 pm: You aren't mad?

NormalHuman 02:38 pm: No

NormalHuman 02:38 pm: Actually, I'm in love with my room mate as well. NormalHuman 02:39 pm: And if your room mate is anything like me, he's really good at pretending. So your chances might be higher than you think.

Sconeslove2 02:40 pm: Wouldn't it be funny if we were actually room mates? NormalHuman 02:40 pm: That wouldn't be funny, that would be a fucking miracle.

I smile down at my phone. Maybe at least Sconeslove2 can be happy. He wouldn't have been happy with me anyway. Not once he'd met me in real life.

Sconeslove2 02:44 pm: I'm going to miss you.

NormalHuman 02:45 pm: Me too

Sconeslove2 02:46 pm: Goodbye then, vampire boy

Sconeslove2 02:46 pm: Thank you for helping me find myself

NormalHuman 02:47 pm: Just one question before you go

I can't help it.

NormalHuman 02:48 pm: Is your name Simon? Sconeslove2 02:49 pm: yes???? wtf

I drop the phone. I can hear the glass shattering, but I don't care. I start running. That's too many coincidences to ignore. I make my way up the steps and only stop shortly in front of our door. Then I take a breath and open the door, my heart fluttering nervously.

Simon is lying on the bed, his phone in hand. He doesn't even have the time to look up before I've snatched the phone out of his hand.

The chat is still open.

Sconeslove2 to NormalHuman.

I'm a fucking idiot.

“Hey, give that back!” Snow shouts, but I ignore him and scroll through the chat to convince myself it's still there. Snow stands up and tries to take the phone from me, but I push him away. “I like him,” I hiss. “Romantically. That's what you said.” Now he recoils and blushes. “I – I -” I won't listen to his stammering. I push him against the door with my arm and hold him there.

“Did you mean it?” He avoids my gaze. I press harder. This is important.

“Did you say it just to mess with me?” And he looks up. He looks scared, but I can't tell what of.

“No,” he whispers. I hold his gaze. He doesn't look away.

He's telling the truth. I can tell. It's a lot harder to lie in real life than online.

“You like me?” I ask stiffly.

“Yes,” he mutters and drops his gaze.

“So... You're NormalHuman?”

“Yeah.” “Weird that that's the name you would give yourself...” “What? Because I'm a vampire?” My gaze is dark, and he looks up at me again.

“No... Because you're the most extraordinary human I've ever met.”

“I didn't lie to you about my room mate.” He looks at me sheepishly and I see that he's trying to hide a smile.

“So we both like our room mates.” “A miracle...” “It is a bit funny though, isn't it?” I smile at him. “Yeah... It is.”

[katelynrushe26]

Rereading “Remnants”

I want to start this review by adding to an idea from my Everworld review. I speculated that the Scholastic Corporation had been afraid to promote a young adult book series from the late 90's called Everworld, due to it being written by the same authors as Animorphs but possibly being too mature for the same audience. This seems all the more evident now that I've reacquainted myself with Remnants, a third book series that K.A. Applegate and Michael Grant also wrote together. The beginning of every Remnants book features a list of the pair's other Scholastic titles, and while that list includes Animorphs, it doesn't include Everworld.

This could be forgivable, since Remnants was also geared towards a younger audience than Everworld, but the final Everworld book actually promoted Remnants. The finales of both Animorphs and Everworld presented a full-page ad and a chapter-long excerpt from the first Remnants book, and yet only one of them got a shoutout in return when Remnants came out. I still can't say anything for certain, but this one-way "cross promotion" really suggests that Scholastic wanted readers to forget Everworld and embrace Remnants as "the other K.A. Applegate series" instead.

This is ironic for two reasons. The first is that despite its lack of adult content like swearing, sexuality, and alcoholism, Remnants is actually way darker than Everworld in tone. Multiple gruesome character deaths occur in almost every book, and most of the proceedings have a bleak, humorless, mean-spirited vibe to them. The second reason is that despite all of this favorable treatment from its publisher, Remnants really didn't fare much better than Everworld. It only ran for about two years with fourteen books, fell into obscurity afterwards, and has very little information about it available today.

And as someone who tried reading it once before as a teen but didn't get halfway through the series, I have a pretty good idea why.

Remnants tells the story of eighty humans who escape from Earth right before an asteroid destroys the planet. After five hundred years in hibernation, they wake to find they've landed aboard Mother, a deserted alien spaceship that can simulate any environment. The catch is that Mother currently has no operator, and three hostile alien species are fighting the humans to seize control of it. Totally unarmed, the humans have to dodge perils at every turn as they wander the ship's patchwork of environments in search of the command bridge.

At least that's what the first half of Remnants is about. The second half centers around the humans, now more or less in control of Mother, rediscovering what's left of Earth and trying to return to it so they can rebuild the world they lost — all while three mutants in the ship's basement try to overthrow them and use Mother to conquer the universe.

Notice that I didn't mention any character names in that summary. That's because when you get right down to it, Remnants isn't really about its characters. Unlike Animorphs, which was almost entirely character-driven, and Everworld, which was more setting-driven but still had an interesting main cast, Remnants is mostly plot-driven. It's about weird things happening and other weird things being done to resolve them. The characters' emotions are largely glossed over, and while some of them do grow and change throughout the series (at least the ones who survive), their primary role is just to witness and carry out all these bizarre happenings until the main conflict changes again.

To be fair though, here are some of the core characters. The main one is Jobs, a fourteen-year-old computer wiz and romantic idealist who just wants the group to have a home again. There's also his best friend Mo'Steel, a fun-loving adrenaline junkie with an easy-going, can-do attitude; 2Face, a girl with a half-burned face who wants to be a strong leader but is too aggressive, manipulative, and paranoid for her own good; Violet, a sophisticated, no-nonsense art expert who always does her best to help; Yago, a selfish, entitled bully who constantly tries to divide the others so he can control them more easily; Billy, a quiet Chechnyan orphan who goes mad during his hibernation and is the only human able to control Mother; and Tamara, a Marine soldier who gave birth to a creepy, possibly alien baby in hibernation that is now mind-controlling her to do its bidding. Like I said, bizarre happenings.

I should point out that unlike Animorphs and Everworld, which were written in First-Person with a different narrator for each book, Remnants is written in Third-Person with numerous shifts in perspective throughout each book. It could be that this different writing style just makes the Remnants characters seem less personal since it's not what I'm used to from these authors, but I also think that having a lot fewer characters would have done this series a world of good. Most of the characters that I didn't list above are either red-shirts who are just there to get killed or seat-fillers who have nothing to do half the time. Some characters die offscreen in between chapters or even in between books, and one who manages to live through the whole series doesn't get mentioned in the final book's epilogue. The story just seems to forget about him.

The most engaging characters are probably 2Face and Yago. We never quite get the full details of how 2Face got burned, but she sees her disfigurement as sort of a scarlet letter for the "ugly" side of her persona. Eventually, that inner ugliness alienates her from the group, and she becomes so desperate to redeem herself in their eyes that she'll stoop to any low towards the end of the series. She's tragic and despicable all at once, much like her supervillain namesake.

Yago, in contrast, is so over-the-top slimy and egotistical that it kind of gets funny after a while. You can actually love to hate this guy at times, especially in Book 6 when he makes Mother simulate a world where he's the president of the United States. Surprisingly though, the series manages to give him an arc towards the end that leads to some of its few legitimately poignant moments.

But since the plot is the real focus of Remnants, how does that hold up? Well, it holds up fairly well for the first half of the series. The mystery surrounding Mother, Tamara's baby, and the various alien species is all kind of intriguing, and we get just enough answers in each book to keep it that way. Other developments, such as Billy learning to harness Mother and some of the other humans learning that they've gained mutant superpowers, can also make us curious about where the story is going. The climaxes of Books 5-7 are imaginative and exciting, and while the characters don't quite resonate enough to give us an emotional connection to anything, the end of Book 7 still feels like a satisfying achievement.

The second half of the series is where the real trouble starts.

Again, I can't say anything for certain due to the lack of info, but I get the sense that sales for Remnants really started to drop halfway through its run. Books 1-8 have fancy, embossed, metallic lettering for their titles on the front covers, but Books 9-14 have flat, standard printing for theirs. The cover art also starts to look more slapped together after Book 8, and the books themselves start to get shorter on average. It feels like Scholastic saw the writing on the wall and started doing whatever it could to cut corners and wrap up the series as quickly as possible.

But getting back to the plotting, Books 8 and 9 are about the same in quality as the previous ones, even though Book 8 starts with a three-month time jump from the end of Book 7. Book 10, however, is hands down the worst book in the series.

See, Book 9 ends with a mid-battle cliffhanger, and instead of picking up from there, Book 10 jumps ahead another three months and just gives us a summary of how the battle ended. We find out that two somewhat important characters died in the fight, and then a third, more important one also dies pretty much offscreen with little fuss during the events of Book 10. We get two more massive time jumps over the course of the book as the humans sail Mother back to Earth, and then shortly after they land there, a fourth character who was finally starting to get interesting also abruptly dies. And then the book pulls a surprise twist that effectively throws everything the series was about into the garbage. I don't blame K.A. Applegate or Michael Grant for this, since I suspect Scholastic was starting to tighten the vice and I'm fairly sure Book 10 was ghost-written, but reading it made me furious.

Books 11 and 12 have the opposite problem; they try to slow things back down to establish the new characters, setting, and conflict, but they go too far and just drag. I was pretty much ready to pan the entire rest of the series after this point...but then Book 13 came along.

I've heard that this one was also ghost-written, but out of all the Remnants installments, Book 13 feels the most like Applegate and Grant's usual writing style. It's told almost entirely from the perspective of a girl named Tate who got separated from the other humans in Book 10, and it deals with her fighting for survival against the new villain trio in Mother's basement. Survival also happens to be the book's official subtitle, by the way.

This is a character piece first and foremost. It still has a lot of the weird, otherworldly elements you expect from the series, but we're allowed to single in on just one protagonist's view of them and see how she gradually comes to grips with them. The focus is on how those things impact her character, not on the mere fact that they exist and that they're weird. We also get to explore the protagonist's backstory in an open, honest, and meaningful way, and the things that we learn about her from her memories actually factor into her decision making throughout the book. Best of all, the ending throws more of those mind-bending Remnants twists at us, and while they could stand to be better explained, they have a genuine emotional resonance because the book let us properly get to know the character that experiences them. One of Tate's big discoveries at the end of the book even lends emotional weight to the entire scope of the series and makes us understand why it's so important for the characters to try and start a new life on Earth.

Book 13: Survival has Animorphs Chronicles levels of pathos. It's easily the crown jewel of the whole Remnants series, and I wish the rest of the series had been more like it. So it's only fitting that this wonderful exception to every complaint I've ever had about Remnants...is entirely skippable.

I'm not kidding. Everything that Tate accomplishes and discovers in Book 13 gets reexplained to the other characters in Book 14, so you don't even need to read Book 13. Good news for the superstitious readers, I guess.

Book 14, the finale, has the same problem as Books 11 and 12, plus it barely ties up any of the loose ends from all the mysteries that the series built up. One character gets a thought-provoking ending to their arc, another major one dies offscreen, and everyone else gets an ending that's earned, I guess, but the tone of it doesn't feel consistent with the overall series. In fact, I question if it was even Applegate or Grant's idea.

Despite this, I am glad that I finally went back and read all of Remnants. There was a gem or two in there, and when the series was imaginative, it was extremely imaginative. However, I think it's more interesting as a case study in how constant corporate deadlines and pressure can wear down a project. At least that's what I have to deduce it's a case study in. I'll always have the utmost respect for K.A. Applegate and Michael Grant, and while I do believe that Remnants could have been better under more ideal circumstances, I'm willing to view the series itself as the ultimate testament to its thesis: that no matter how disastrous things get, there's always a chance of something good surviving.

But seriously, Everworld is better.

~

[bthenoise]

Q&A: Anthony Raneri Relives 20 Years Of Bayside Ahead Of Upcoming Anniversary Tour

In the year 2000, in the bustling streets of New York City, an emo-leaning punk rock band named Bayside was formed. 20 years later, after the release of eight fantastic albums and thousands of shows played all across the world, the highly influential act is gearing up to celebrate their latest accomplishment in a major way.    

Starting in late May, Anthony Raneri and Co. will be embarking on a massive 20-year tour (presented by The Noise and Violent Gentlemen) with their friends Senses Fail, Hawthorne Heights and Can’t Swim.

As you can imagine, the band is eager to get things started.

“Everybody on the tour, we go way back with,” says Raneri. “Senses Fail, we've toured with -- not including Warped Tour -- we've done like two or three club tours with them and we've done like two or three Warped Tours with them too. So we’ve spent a lot of time together. And Hawthorne Heights, we've toured with a ton of times. We were together at the inception of both of our bands. We really came up together. We went through a lot of stuff together. They're like family to us. So it's really the perfect package.”

To see Raneri dive into more about the band’s upcoming tour as well as their nostalgic Bayside Museum, be sure to check out our in-depth Q&A with the vocalist/guitarist below. Afterward, make sure to grab tickets to see Bayside out on tour here.

Before we get into the tour, we hear you’re a big baseball fan?

ANTHONY RANERI: Yeah, I'm a huge baseball fan.

Well then, what are your thoughts on the upcoming season with the Astros’ cheating scandal and everything else going on?

I'm excited. I don't think the [Astros'] punishment was harsh enough because they're still the favorites in their division. Like, they're probably still gonna win their division. So what kind of punishment is that? That doesn't even set them back at all, you know? So there's that. But I also kind of think there's going to be a lot of distractions and negativity around that team so I think that will be their punishment. I think that's going to play a role in how they perform. But I'm a big Yankee fan, so I'm happy. We had a good offseason.

Getting Gerrit Cole to be your starting pitcher is never a bad thing.

Yeah, huge. I think the team looks good. It's sort of an embarrassment of riches right now. We have some positions with more talent then there's even room for so it's pretty exciting.

Back to the Astros, how many times do you think they'll be hit by pitches intentionally this season?

You know, I saw the Vegas odds said like 84 or 85 [times] or something like that, right?

Yep. Over/under 83.5.

I saw that and I was like, “okay, that's ridiculous.” You know, that's every other game. I can't imagine it's going to be that much but then watching spring training it's happening like almost every game. So I'm like, “maybe that 80-something number isn't that far off!” [laughs]

They kind of deserve it at this point but we'll see how the players handle it.

Yeah, it just depends. I mean, obviously, nobody wants to see anybody get hurt over a game. So you know, we'll see. I also think the MLB will put a stop to it before it gets too crazy. I think there will be a lot of people thrown out of games or suspended pretty quickly. Which is ironic if the punishment is harsher for that than it is for cheating [laughs]. But I'm sure that's what's going to happen. They have to protect people, you know?

Totally. Last baseball question: What is your World Series prediction for this year?

Yankees vs Dodgers. I think it's the dream World Series for MLB, Fox, and everybody who stands to profit off a World Series that a lot of people will watch.

The ratings would be insane. But who would you pick to win it all? The Yankees?

I think so. I mean, I think it'll be [close]. I think the Dodgers have looked good for years and they just got even better.

So diving into Bayside's upcoming 20-year anniversary tour, what's it been like for you personally getting ready to celebrate 20 years of the band? We're sure it's been kind of crazy looking at some of the old photos you guys have been sharing and whatnot.

Yeah, there's definitely a lot of funny nostalgic stuff swirling around in our camp. It hasn't all quite hit the public yet. Before all this sort of old nostalgia stuff hits [the internet], it's hours of us going through old pictures and old video. We just got like a multi-terabyte drive of video from Victory, our old label, of like the making of our first couple records and some tour stuff from like 2004-2005. We're starting to sift through that. It's wild. I mean, I know it's cliché but it really does just seem like yesterday as cliché as that sounds.

In regards to your guys' setlist for this tour, will you be bringing out a few older songs?

With all of our shows, we try to make everybody as happy as much as we can -- which is impossible to do but we try our best to keep everyone happy. So these shows are going to be pretty big and we definitely recognize that there will be a lot of people coming to the shows who just know the singles 'cause that is sort of what happens. The bigger the show, the more likely there are going to be a lot of people who only know the bigger more popular songs. When we play smaller shows -- like when we play the kind of underplay, more intimate stuff -- it's usually the real diehard fans who kind of get on it and get the tickets early. So that's where we're able to really stretch out the setlist and play the real kind of deeper stuff. So the bigger the show is, the more we have to lean towards the hits. With that said, we're definitely going to have the deeper cuts in there and the older stuff in there. It'll be a good combination of the hits, some deeper cuts and some stuff we never play. So a combination of trying to please the fans who probably haven't seen us in 10 years and are going to come out because it's a special event but also like the diehards that have been to 30-40 shows.

Another cool thing you guys are doing along with the show obviously is the Bayside Museum. Without giving too much away, what sparked the idea for that and what might people expect?

We just thought it would be fun. I mean, it's nothing crazy really. We're going through old memorabilia, old photos, artifacts and stuff like that. We're just going to put a bunch, mostly just photos, with explanations and maybe little stories and we're gonna hang them around the lobby of the venue and fans at the show can walk around the lobby and look at the pictures, read the stories, and kind of get a little added experience.

It must be pretty crazy for you guys to go through these things but it will be great for the fans to see and experience it firsthand as well.

Yeah, there's so many -- our first record came out in 2004 -- so there's so many fans that have been with us since then, even some that have been with us before that first record. So you know, it feels like just yesterday to us but I have to imagine it feels the same way for them too.

Another exciting thing about this tour is you guys are bringing out bands that have either been around for or close to that 20-year mark with Senses Fail and Hawthorne Heights. How great is it going to be to celebrate 20 years with people that you've known for a pretty long time?

Oh, it's perfect. I mean, it's really the perfect package for this. Senses Fail, we've toured with -- not including Warped Tour -- we've done like two or three club tours with them and we've done like two or three Warped Tours with them too. So we’ve spent a lot of time together.

Including your 15-year anniversary tour too.

Yep. And Hawthorne Heights, we've toured with a ton of times. We were together at the inception of both of our bands. We really came up together. We went through a lot of stuff together. They're like family to us. So it's really the perfect package. And even Can't Swim, their manager is a good friend of ours. He actually used to work for us. He's toured with us. So we go back with their manager. And Chris, the singer, we go back with him too. We've known him since his early bands. We used to play with some of his earlier bands before he started Can't Swim. So yeah, everybody on the tour, we go way back with. It's a perfect, perfect package for this.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Bayside (@bayside) on Feb 3, 2020 at 12:27pm PST

Talking about all the history you have with all these bands and your own, when you look at this music scene over the past 20 years, what are some things that stand out to you the most nowadays?  

The scene is certainly different than when we first started the band. It's definitely different than it was when I was younger, even like before the band. I mean, it used to be that if a band who was compared to bands you liked came through town you went to the show. Like I went to so many shows when I was younger, bands I had never heard before, but I knew they were on the same label as a bunch of other bands that I liked. So you went to the show. Those were our social events. We would try to go to as many shows as possible. So you know, that's changed. Definitely, the trends within the scene, the style of music has changed a lot through the years. But the one thing that's really consistent is that the cream rises to the top and I think it always has and always will no matter what sort of like sub-genre is happening within this scene and whatever's popular at the moment. There are bands that are sort of cashing in or just good enough to ride the trend and they'll have their minute of success and then there are bands that may be part of those trends but are actually great bands. Those are the bands that last. There are bands from 20 years ago that are still popular. There are bands from 25 years ago that are still popular. There are bands from five years ago that are still popular and then there are bands that aren't. So that's the one constant and it's that the cream rises to the top. Trends come and go but I think you actually got to be a pretty good band to really make it.

Looking ahead at the future of Bayside, after this 20-year tour, what excites you most about the band moving forward?

I mean, I think we're at a really comfortable place where we've earned the right to write our own ticket. That's really what's exciting. We're excited for a future that is as long as we want it to be, doing tours that we want to do and making records that we want to make and making them when we want to make them. We can tour with who we want. Like, we really earned the right [where] there's nothing that we have to do anymore. We could do or not do anything we want and that's what's most exciting about getting to this point.

A prime example of that, not that you guys strayed too far from what you normally do, but your latest album Interrobang is definitely a little bit outside of your comfort zone. Do you see Bayside going more in that direction in the future?

Sure. I mean, I definitely think we're having fun playing aggressive music right now. That’s definitely fun. So certainly, with Interrobang being like the most aggressive and heaviest record we've ever made, as I said, we have the freedom to do whatever we want musically or otherwise in business. So you know, we're just going to do what's fun and the heavy and fast stuff is what's fun for us right now.

[kiaronna]

YOI Fic Rec ROUND TWO

Hi friends. I put out a fic rec list a while back, and since then I’ve read a lot more, cried a lot more, laughed a lot more. So here’s another fic rec list for YOI! Most of these are different authors, in an attempt to spread the love. 

As before, it goes fewer bookmarks -> more bookmarks, in a very blatant attempt to give exposure.

THE SECOND LIST:

Resting pulse by cafecliche: I’m crying all the time, when I read this fic. It’s amusing and witty, while capturing the Victuuri characterizations perfectly, and also THERE IS PINING. This author’s other fic also address anxiety beautifully, so go forth. Go read all of the cafecliche. Do it for your wellbeing.

Kiss, You’re On Camera by Ashida: THIS IS SO SWEET. They’re at a baseball game, and Yuuri’s neighboring seat gets taken by an attractive stranger. God, it’s cute. Please check it out.

Stay the Night by Shadow_sensei: Your heart won’t be ready for the twist at the end of this. You could never be ready. This story is haunting and I mean that pun in all the best ways—it’s also got a beautiful dreamlike, fairytale (more like scary story) feel to most of it.

Shall We Skate (Through Time) by counterheist: counterheist has written MANY quality fics (also see BREAKING NEWS: Local Man Would Like to Date Other Local Man), most of which have me laughing. God, counterheist is great. This time travel AU also INVOLVES PHICHIT, my man, deals with consequences and, finally, provides great plot.

Yuri Plisetsky Saves the (Figure Skating) World by Dawn on ICE (Dawn_Blossom): Yuri Plisetsky’s interpretation of Viktor running off to “coach” Yuuri. It’s so canon compliant it HURTS—like hurts your stomach, because you’ll be laughing. Also the author is a darling.

A Heart of Paper Cranes by missmichellebelle: Besides being a fantastic human being, this author handles fluff, first time meetings, and anything your heart could desire with aplomb. I love this fic to pieces, and I love the sweet honesty of the Victuuri in it. *swoons*

Meet me halfway (in the future) by MissSpock:  I LOVE THIS FIC?? I love MissSpock, who I discovered and promptly blazed through all the fic of. This excellent time travel fic explores jealousy in a ironic but honest way.

Nuclear Hearts Club by butterbeerbitch:  The best of mutual pining and high school. I think I recc’d butterbeerbitch on my last list too, but I need you to listen to me. This fic has beautiful musings on childhood, which are giving me nostalgia in ways nothing else I’ve read has, and it is heartbreakingly gorgeous. This is poetry, it is prose, I cannot believe this is a real human being writing this. While they have stunning imagery, they also aren’t scared to make gross, hilarious comparisons. Please read this. Do it for me.

Like a design by jinlian: Canon-verse, and very sweet and humorous.

Life Unwoven by rougeandtonic:  TIME TRAVEL AU. WHERE YUURI TIME TRAVELS… BOTH WAYS. You get double the Victuuri, all of the pining, all of the miscommunication being healed, and just… oh. I love this fic. I think about it constantly. I’ve totally already screamed a lot about rougeandtonic on my Tumblr, but I. Do Not. Care. Like, this author probably hates me at this point, but I can’t help it.  Please read their work: kokoro no kaze is another of my favorites.

Lullaby of Birdland by Orchids_and_Fictional_Cities: Yuuri is a figure skater and Viktor is a jazz pianist. It doesn’t hesitate to deal with heavy topics, and the author knows. Their. Jazz. I’m drooling over this fic as we speak. Listen. I don’t understand how this has only 142 bookmarks at 7 chapters. I DON’T UNDERSTAND.

Meet Me by the River by c0rnfl0wer: do you want Slavic mythology and traditions handled masterfully and presented along with high quality love and pining? Then read this fic! Also, check out c0rnfl0wer’s other works, I can’t imagine how much research and effort he puts into his writing.

The Way to a Man’s Heart is Through His Stomach by futuresoon: I can’t figure this mystery fic out for the life of me. IT DOESN’T MATTER. Do you like mythical creatures? Do you like mysterious and handsome men? Do you like food? Check this out. This quirky, supernatural fic leaves you curious, and ironically hungry for more. Might be on a hiatus, as a warning, but word on the street is that it’s not abandoned.

I see the universe in your eyes by fangirlandiknowit: Oh god. From Yuuri’s POV, and it’s so descriptive, so emotional. This was written a while back, but I just discovered it and it is quality.

(offer me) that Deathless Death by melonbug: VIKTOR IS DEATH in this beautiful and moving fic that’s wrapped up in mystery and prose, but which I want to continue reading forever. There’s some phenomenal life observations in here, too.

Shut up and let me hold you by shysweetthing: I’ll never be over shysweething’s writing. I KNOW I recc’d this author on the last list, but you have to understand that it has brilliant dialogue, clearly understands YOI and episodes 11 and 12, and presents what was absent/only hinted at from them in a way that simultaneously soothes and breaks your heart.

These Frozen Nights by viciously: GEEZ so Yuuri can see ghosts, and Viktor doesn’t know… This fic is just ethereal and shocking, but still domestic and the Victuuri is sweet.

Taking the long way home by thankyouforexisting: Vicchan doesn’t die (so you already know this is gonna be good) and Yuuri doesn’t get drunk, so this fic explores how things change. It’s just… lovely. The dialogue is hilarious and magnificent, the AU is a great idea, and I’m loving this slow build.  NO, THANK YOU for existing, thankyouforexisting.

cover story by fan_nerd: Every frickin time I think back to my pre-AO3 account days, I remember a great fic and have to search for it. Every time I do, IT IS BY FAN_NERD. I love fan_nerd. This is a roommates AU, and is top notch.

Just Like a Stranger With the Weeds in Your Heart by MooseFeels: This ABO fic is just. Just. I tend to obsess over rhythm in my writing, and this fic has rhythm in excess. It just slides smoothly into your head, and astounds you.

Prove Me Wrong by homsantoft (tofsla): I started reading this and thought, oh, another soulmate AU, it could be decent. BUT I WAS A FOOL. This is not any old soulmate fic—it is beautifully handled, and I am unworthy of this and the one other fic by this author for YOI. PLEASE READ IT.

America goals by magnetic wave: Phichit is probably my favorite YOI character that isn’t Viktor or Yuuri, and this fic captures him so well. It also is a fic where you can see a perfect Phichit and Yuuri dynamic, without having to rely on Victuuri at all. I am in love.

Singularity by springsoldier (ladydaredevil):  I think I also recc’d this author on the last list. Do you care? I don’t care. You have to see this. It’s a STAR WARS AU. It’s so understated, and glorious, and hilarious. The Yurio is excellent, and the storyline is handled realistically. Finally, a Star Wars fic that shows you how a good Jedi deals with love.

A Lesson in Wanting by awesometinyhumanbeing:  I AM FANNING MYSELF. I love this fic! I love the trope of being in love with someone you’re married to, but being unable to deal with it. Reading the lines here just make me want to cry, and by the time things are finally resolved you will be incredibly invested in their happy ending.

Butt Stuff by Plumpie:  Yuuri gets an invasive… butt procedure. And Viktor is his nurse. Every moment in this is amusing.

At Home by SuggestiveScribe: SuggestiveScribe is pretty prolific, or was back a few months ago, and all of their works are breathtaking. Please check them out. This one’s fluffy, domestic despite the travel, and fun.

Katsuki Yuuri: Ascended Fanboy by Defiant-Dreams (DefiantDreams):  I’M LAUGHING SO HARD. Yuuri is a commentator, Viktor is still a skater, and everyone is exposed to their mutual and very obvious crushes in this great comedy.

Blackbird by sixpences: If you read nothing else I’ve recced to you but you still read this fic, I will be happy. This extremely well thought-out and planned fic showcases Yuuri and Viktor as intelligence operatives during WWII and the Cold War, and is brilliant in its complex portrayal of the issues at the time. Also, they’re ridiculously cute together even in heartbreaking circumstances. There is homophobia in-universe, but the handling of it is sublime and it’s there for a reason. I JUST UM. DEEP BREATHS EVERYBODY. THIS FIC IS SO GOOD.

Aria: Stammi Vicino, Non Te Ne Andare by exile_wrath:  Okay so listen. I am a very sensitive kid. This fic made me have a LOT OF FEELINGS, and is sublime. I will say there is definitely some violence, but it’s handled as well as this author handles everything, and the story as a whole transports you to this whole other Beauty-And-The-Beast but darker world! It’s very imaginative.

Constellations (Things You Left Unsaid) by DasWarSchonKaputt: I love Yuuko, and anytime she shows up in this fic I scream. This fic is just hilarious and deals with Yuuri’s feelings of inadequacy quite well. A+ role reversal AU!

Take Hold by Lavender Prose: Have I ever mentioned that I’m a complete sucker for soulmate AUs? I am, and this one is stunning and thorough in its worldbuilding. Also, check out the author’s tumblr for short but effective drabbles.

Kings in Couture by slightlied: I think a lot of people have also heard of this one, but I don’t care. The first two chapters are excellent, and accompanying drabbles for this universe can be found on the author’s tumblr, and they are also engaging. Just visit the author’s tumblr—it’s a lot of quality content of all kinds, and she’s bursting with ideas.

Now When Arrows Don’t Penetrate, Cupid Grabs the Pistol by ken_ichijjouji (dommific): AHAHAHA this fic, it’s funny. Also, it stars Phichit and almost every possible couple in YOI, so you know it’s going to be an exciting ride!

Worthwhile by surveycorpsjean: People like to watch Viktor suffer, but it’s always from pining. This fic handles the concept that Viktor can have major insecurities and struggles too, showing through heart-rending metaphor. And of course, it shows that Viktor can still deal with these things while having and deserving a loving relationship. Ah, homophobia warning here, but it’s a fic dealing with a lot of real world issues.

Twenty-Five Hours by 0lizzybennet0: Listen here. This is my favorite identity reveal fic. Somehow this author takes a plane ride (normally a terrible experience for all) and makes it into a rollercoaster of good times and cuddles and wrenching revelations. I love this Viktor, and this Yuuri, and the pacing is just right, as well as the Viktor/Yurio dynamic.

Beside the Dancing Sea by lily_winterwood and MapleTreeway: probably a fic that everybody knows, but it’s so well planned and such a great take on selkies that I can’t help but recommend it. There’s actual poetry in here, folks, as well as great prose—dream scenes, sweet romantic getaways in bays, CUTE SEALS. And, for a time, a mystery! Just… read this fic, if you’ve somehow missed it.

Centripetal force by braveten: Braveten is pretty well known, so you’re probably like “kiaronna why are you showing us this, of course we all know this fic” but this is my FAVORITE OF HER FICS and it’s going to get recommended, dang it. If you somehow missed this adorable masterpiece and like college fic, check it out. One of the chapters also made me hide in a bathroom for a while to deal with my freakout about emotions.

 Unfortunately, because of life, I haven’t had as much time to explore the tag... or much time in general. so if you’re one of the works I love but I missed you, I’m sorry! 

Hopefully you readers will share my enjoyment of these amazing works!

[alittleroseandhoneyblog-blog]

Moving Mountains

This mama let loose this weekend and after fighting so many different emotions I had ranging from excitement to anxiety over what I was going to wear I am going to admit something- it was one of the most rewarding and fun nights that I’ve had in a really long time and so different then the bar nights I’ve had in the past, you know-before becoming a “wife” a “mom” and a “boss” before responsibilities and excuses -I feel like those three words have defined my very existence this past 7 years (which Ironically as I am writing this, is my 7 year anniversary being married) I mean let’s go back exactly 7 years today -I got Married and within 24 hours I was in early labour and days later Colton was born- 6 weeks early, but absolutely perfect and within a week of one another I not only became a wife, but I became a mother and to say I was not prepared was an understatement –I got used to having everyday with him,  you spend every second of those 12 months off work catering to that child’s every need (just as you do becoming a wife, I think they call it the honeymoon stage) but when you’re a mom,  your life becomes about changing diapers, freezing breast milk, rocking them to sleep (night after night), Multiple loads of laundry daily and if you’re lucky you get about 4 hours of broken sleep a night while your significant other sleeps soundly beside because you’ve been up nursing your baby back to sleep…(for the third time) But with that being said, it is one of the most amazing experiences and I am grateful for it.  But at some point, life shifts- suddenly that 12 months is over, many of us forced back to work, our kids go to daycare for someone else to take care of and then you find yourself in this cycle where everything and everyone is on your plate, but you!

You don’t even realize the sacrifices you make –

I don’t know about you mama’s but I LOVE my kid – like over the moon, to the ends of the earth (watch him while he sleeps) I would do anything for him kind of love and I have never experienced that kind of “obsession” over someone before – but let me tell you that love is real, I mean how could it not be I carried the kid for 7 months- we went through hell together, we bonded for 12 months, 24 hours a day …for 365 days and then my time became limited with him and someone else got it – I want to selfishly spend every second with him I can- its totally unhealthy, I know-but a reality for me. I am a mom with anxiety, a mom who almost lost her baby, who cannot have another baby, and to be honest I kind of just wing it and now I am just a mom who never feels like she is doing enough – the pressure is as a real as the love is– obsessive. So when I tell you I went out, without guilt for the first time in probably 7 years you have to believe me when I say it was kind of a big deal- This mama took shots!....

I have never really been a drinker, (and for those who have seen it, thankfully don’t have video proof lol) but I can remember in my 20’s I was never really into the whole bar scene, I had more guy friends then girl friends and spent more time playing pool and poker, because the guys I hung out with never really wanted to go out and “shake it” the same way girls do, I was just never one of those girls who grew up with a huge group of “girl” friends (I maybe had 2) and it wasn’t until my 20s that it started to change, but by then Matt and I were in a serious relationship and bar nights were becoming none existent without one another attached at the hip, but I think that is common– couples don’t do things separately, because it isn’t normalized – and I think as we get older the idea of actually going out to the bar sounds unrealistic and exhausting – I mean,  we are too old for that shit right? The bars are full of 20 something year old’s who really only want to get drunk and go home with one another and to be honest the idea of having to stay up past 9pm on a Friday night is what sounds exhausting, and are you going to have fun if you don’t drink like you did in your 20s? and if you do, remember how much hangovers in your 20s sucked, think about how much worse they are now at 32 – so we don’t, we talk ourselves into staying in and we settle for wine tasting on our couches or pints at the local restaurant while we over eat and feel shitty after about 30 minutes of being there, when all we really want to do (and maybe I only speak for myself as an overworked wife and mama and boss) is to get out and let loose – without responsibilities!  

A couple months ago my life changed, the table flipped and admittedly I was in a really bad place, I knew that the one thing I needed to keep in my life was fitness – whether it was weights or Zumba, so I joined Planet Fitness and I have to tell you how much I fell in love with the people (the members and the staff) – how comfortable they always made me feel, how clean it was- and well managed- it feels like home! But I want to talk about a few people specifically – the first person I met  when I joined was this beautiful soul named Shanice (aka Sunshine/Baddie 1) she is the face I see every morning when I walk in after dropping Colton off at school –she is sweet and genuine-with a heart as big as the sun, she has such an old soul that I could listen to her tell me stories all day long, she has become apart of my mornings and it feels so weird to not see her – she’s all smiles, all the time and it’s contagious!

Then we have Jenny, oh sweet, funny Jenny (AKA, The GM lol, Baddie #1 lol) – just badass… you can jut say it like it is and she GETS it -all of it, there are so many similarities in our lives that I feel like I can tell her anything and she won’t judge me. I cannot even put into words how much she has contributed to the personal growth I have had or if she even knows how much she means to me!! What she thought was the littlest thing meant the world to me- for those who know me, know how much I love to dance, Zumba owns my heart and when I left my job I left any opportunity to dance – Jenny went out of her way to have the furniture moved around at the gym for me to dance so that I didn’t have to miss a beat – and she has talked me off some pretty tall ledges.  

– and then Andrea (Baddie 3), I stalked her on Instagram for months before we finally got to meet (as every great relationship starts, right?)  – it was one of those right places, right time kind of things where I fan girl’d a little, and when I realized how down to earth she is, we instantly clicked- she inspires me everyday to get moving to follow my heart– she is not just fitness goals she is life goals- she’s an entrepreneur, smart as hell and always in my corner-you can’t fake her kind of genuine.  

How lucky am I that when I am at my worst I meet 3 powerful women with 3 powerful personalities and powerful stories that in return has made me feel powerful- I truly believe that your tribe will dictate how you view your days, how you set out to conquer your goals, how you own your mistakes, – the amount of laughs that have come from being around these 3 outweigh the universe – I can almost guarantee you that these girls have changed my life- and not that I didn’t have the support of some incredible women up until meeting them, My best friend, Kayla means the world to me, she has been my compass for the past 3 years, our boys met in Jr Kindergarten, they happen to be 5 days apart and best friends themselves–Kay is the girl (and I say girl not friend, because she would give the shirt off her back to a total stranger) but anyways she is the girl that would pick up the phone at 3am when you just cant sleep and need to talk or offer to sleep over when your husband is off working nights and you feel a little lonely – I could not do life without her, she has that whole beauty and brains thing going, sassy and incredibly confident in what she brings to the table - she actually made me realize (as she has said many times before) that a soul mate does not need to be a “relationship” – it can be the people that you surround yourself with on daily basis that fuel your fire- that make you feel that along side your tribe, you can climb any mountain- Kayla has been climbing them for years and the difference here is that her girl tribe is fierce and in return she is fierce, I envied that- I wanted that! 

Imagine that though, women supporting women without expecting anything in return.  These 4 women, among my mama, sister and mother in law (and many other strong ass women) have been without a doubt the most supportive people I’ve had in my life right from the day I’ve met them and supportive all for different reasons, but this week specifically I needed a night out and these girls delivered on a silver platter, short of dancing for 3 hours straight, friday night was about us girls it was about empowerment and letting loose and being the mama’s that we all are we had to adjust to not putting our babies to bed, or being in bed ourselves- we allowed ourselves to be “selfish” for one night and let me tell you, it was kind of badass Lol – and sweet little Shanice, wasn’t sweet little Shanice when bootylicious came on and Jenny needed to block baby gap from sneaking a peek! It wasn’t about going out and getting “lit” – it was just straight up fun and even though I wear a few different crowns I am still allowed to have a little fun without feeling guilty or like I am abandoning my job post and honestly what better day to do that then on International Women’s Day – where not only where we VIP but treated incredible by the staff, why you ask because we happen to know another badass woman whose son owned the bar, so let me tell you again how empowering that was – and completely the right women to spend my first “girls” night out in years with.  I met these girls (and Miss Alexis Martha (baddie 4)) for a reason- my last post I mentioned that I always felt like I was putting this 1000-piece puzzle together and I am realizing now that they have been such a huge piece of it – of my healing… my personal growth, my strength … And suddenly these past few months I have felt like I am more then just a wife, mom or boss- I feel human and as important as everyone else is and what they have made me realize is that I can still be the best wife, mom and boss and still be a baddie (lol)

I am not saying that you should grab your closest girlfriends and spend every Friday night at the closest bar what I am saying is exactly what Kay has taught me, your soul mate doesn’t have to be a man – it can be your girl tribe- whether it’s a wine tasting on your couch, a slumber party, a movie or just Appys and sangria make the time! – go out and enjoy every second of it- it isn’t selfish to do things that make you happy with people who set your soul on fire- surround yourself with it, because in the end you will move mountains too!  

[hashtagblogfan]

10 Writers Who Have Done Funny And Strange Jobs Before Triumphing With Their Books

The post Hashtag3r Magazine | Creative Art | Creative Photography | Creative Painting - Photography & Art Creativity | Creativity | Creative Painting and Illustration Art 10 Writers Who Have Done Funny And Strange Jobs Before Triumphing With Their Books appeared first on Hashtag3r Magazine | Creative Art | Creative Photography | Creative Painting.

10 Writers Who Have Done Funny And Strange Jobs Before Triumphing With Their Books

  Their books sell like hot cakes, even posthumously. Some of them give lectures about the art of writing, and others present their writings at major events. We see them on social networks interacting with millions of subscribers, and their works have been adapted to film and television. They write (or have written) in various genres, and their stories are very different from each other … But they all have one thing in common: their writers have almost all occupied very strange professions, or few before becoming famous and publish bestselling books.we created a list of the strangest works that have been done by ten known writers before they can live on their books.

  1. Stephen King / Employee in an industrial laundromat

Known to be the author of planetary bestsellers, such as Ca, Shining, The Light Child, Carrie or The Green Line, Stephen King (born in 1947) has struggled for many years to live the art of living. to write. After graduating from the University of Maine with an English Language License, King attempted to work as a high school teacher, but places were scarce and he could not live stories he published in local magazines. It was in the 1970s, and the economic crisis was not over. The “thriller master” has had to resign himself to finding part-time jobs in order to meet his economic needs. That’s how he found a job at the industrial laundry “New Franklin”.

According to his words in his autobiography,his mission to the laundromat was to put the laundry in the machines and then lay it out when it was ready. He was mainly responsible for restaurant linen and hotel bed linen. If the work seemed monotonous and boring, according to his words,that did not stop him from being inspired to write one of his most famous novels, “La Presseuse”, which tells the story of an ironing machine that takes the life of those who operate it or who are near her.

  2. Charles Dickens / Paranormal Investigator

Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870) is the author of many tales and short stories, including Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Great Expectations and The Christmas Tree. But in addition to these very famous works, the author has written about twenty news about ghosts and paranormal facts. This passion for the occult and the supernatural has meant that in addition to writing about it, Charles Dickens will be part of the “Ghost Club”, a London-based organization founded in 1862 that still exists and dedicates its efforts to investigating paranormal phenomena in an objective and critical manner. One of the most recognized English writers in the world spent his time doing seances where a medium made the connection between our world and that of spirits. At a time when belief in paranormal entities was widespread in society, Dickens was no stranger to it,despite the maintenance of a certain objectivity and the critical look on this subject.

  3. Franz Kafka / Worker Accident Expert

Writers Who Have Done Funny And Strange Jobs

The writer Franz Kafka (1883 – 1924) is known worldwide for his most famous novel, The Metamorphosis,which is one of the most studied works of literary criticism. Although he has only written three books, he is nevertheless the author of many tales which, until today, are still popular, and his work is subject to permanent analysis because of its existentialist character. . It is difficult to imagine a writer so profoundly working in another field of activity that would not be related to letters. But nevertheless, the case of Kafka is an example perfectly illustrating the fact that living literature is difficult, or almost impossible.

After graduating in Law in 1906,he entered as an unpaid trainee in an Italian insurance company, a job he kept until 1908. That same year, he found a job rewarding him generously in another German insurance company, where, among others, he wrote reports on workers’ compensation for work-related accidents. He practiced this profession until 1922, and as many years of experience allowed him to establish his authority as an expert in the field. This work, moreover, served as a source of inspiration for a large number of stories.

  4. J. R. R.Tolkien / Lexicographer

J. R. R. Tolkien (1892 – 1973) is one of the most widely read authors in the world, even though he enjoyed the height of his popularity well after his death. The saga of the Lord of the Rings is one of the most sold, its cinematographic version has exploded the box office,gathering more and more fanatics each time. The same can be said for the novel The Hobbit, also adapted to the cinema, which tells the story preceding the story of The Lord of the Rings.

After spending a good part of his life serving in the British army, returning from the war,Tolkien worked as a lexicographer for the Oxford English Dictionary for its first edition. His activities were to study the etymology of words of Germanic origin and then add the new information to the already recorded data found in the dictionary. It may also be from there came this ability to create the Tengwar, the Elvish writing system that appears throughout the work.

  5. Bram Stoker / Dublin Castle Official

Even though Bram Stocker (1847 – 1912) gained world recognition long after he died,the celebrity he has gained has reached a level that he himself could not have imagined. His best known novel, Dracula, has been translated into many languages, and has been adapted to film, theater and television in various formats and versions. Bram Stocker was, unwittingly or not looking for it, an inspiration for thousands of terrifying stories whose protagonist was a vampire.

If the name of this Irish writer is associated with romanticism and one can imagine Bram Stocker describe Count Dracula in a comfortable chair by the fireside,Stocker’s life was like that of any other mortal who has to pay his bills. Thanks to his father, who had an important job at Dublin Castle (the seat of the Government in Ireland), the young Bram began working there as an administrative officer and even managed to get the job of inspector after a while. It is not difficult to suppose that so many hours spent at work have made the spirit of the famous author work and inspired him to invent the home of the most famous vampire.

  6. Diana Gabaldon / Research Scientist

The case of the author Diana Gabaldon (born in 1952) is contemporary, but no less interesting. Her best-known work, Outlander, remained at the top of the charts, but on top of that, she was a hit on television with three seasons. This history of time travel in Scotland in the eighteenth century is constantly attracting more and more fans around the world, especially thanks to its protagonists, Claire and Jamie.

But before dedicating herself completely to writing, Diana Gabaldon was an exemplary student and a renowned researcher. She is a graduate of Zoology She holds a Master’s degree in Marine Biology and a PhD in Behavioral Ecology. When she got a job as a professor at the Center for Environmental Studies at the University of Arizona, she realized she had a real passion for research, so she specialized in databases. This led her to write technical and analytical articles for various academic and scientific publications on the subject, and she even founded her own magazine, “Science Software Quarterly”. A curious piece of information is that Diana Gabaldon wrote Outlander with the objective of experimenting herself with the writing and research process in which it consisted. As a good scientist,she chose the historical novel because it was the kind that allowed her to gather data and information before writing it.

  7. Dan Brown / Pianist and composer

Recognized for his talent at creating religious conspiracy stories,Dan Brown (born in 1964) is particularly popular with his novels based on the adventures of Robert Langdon, whose major works Angels and Demons, Da Vinci Code and Inferno, have been adapted to the big screen.

But Brown’s artistic abilities are not just about literature, but about music,because he began his artistic career as a pianist and singer-songwriter, a passion he probably inherited from his mother, a famous composer. Dan Brown has recorded several records and founded his own music recording business. One of his discographic works was called Angels and Demons,title that he later picked up for one of his novels.

  8. Jack London / California Fishing Patrol Officer

Jack London (1876 – 1916) is the author of classics such as Croc-Blanc and The Call of the Forest, among many other novels and novels. He was a very prolific writer and his work is really vast, but his life was very complicated before living his stories.

After spending eighteen hours a day working at a canning company, he bought a small boat and fished oysters illegally,but it did not last long because his boat broke down and it was impossible to repair it. Knowing the work of the pirates “like his pocket”, Jack London did not think of a better option than to engage in the California Maritime Patrol, to chase the illegal fishermen.

  9.Chuck Palahniuk / Author of Truck Repair Manuals

Chuck Palahniuk (1962) is another of the authors who came to the height of fame when one of his novels was adapted to the cinema. This is the case of Fight Club, which has been a great success,especially thanks to the great stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter.

Before his career as a writer took off and he was able to claim decent economic incomes, Palahniuk worked as a diesel mechanic in the Freightliner truck business. he was offered the opportunity to write at his workplace, and that’s how he was. But we are not talking about novels this time, but about truck repair manuals.

  10. Kurt Vonnegut / Public Relations

Although Kurt Vonnegut’s novels (1922 – 2007) were not adapted to film or television, they are no less popular. His best-known works, such as Abattoir 5 or The Children’s Crusade, or The Breakfast of the Champion, have been bestsellers for a long time, and in fact,the first of his books is considered one of the best novels of the twentieth century.

After returning from the war, Vonnegut remained inactive for a period of time, but in 1947 he obtained a position at “General Electric” as an officer of the Public Relations Department. This is where he wrote articles about home appliances from the company’s line. In addition, his workplace had a news agency that functioned as a corporate newspaper. The author has always believed that this type of work has influenced his direct and unadorned style.

  Read Also On Hashtag3r.Com : 

More By Categories : Lifestyle , Psychology , Travel , Photography , Creativity , Art , Illustration & Art , Funny Pictures

Hashtag3r Magazine Is About : Photography | Creativity | Art | Photography & Art Creativity | Creative Painting and Art

Strange Paintings Art and Sculptures Explore The Deep Psychology of Childhood

This Wildlife Photographer Makes Stunning Shots

30 Funny Illustrations About Homophones

25 Pictures of Beautiful Russian Army Girls

A Photographer Shows a Woman’s Body After Pregnancy And That’s Not What we See in Magazines

  Hollywood Movie Stars When They Were 20 Years Old

Those People are Getting so Much Luck Without Much Effort

10 Useful Tips For Sleeping Well That Really Work

20 Men Who Will Do Everything to Take The Perfect Picture For Their Girlfriend

15 Hollywood Stars Began Their Career in Small Movies

18 Ideas For a Sublime Makeup That Will Earn You The Title of Queen of The Party

Scientists Say Couples Who Argue a Lot Really Love Each Other

13 Images Perfectly Represent What we All Felt But Never Knew How to Express

20 Disguised People With Make Up You Would Not Like To Meet In The Street

10 Sad Movies Make You Cry Even If You Have A Stone Heart

50 Top Beautiful Weird Funny Pictures Part 7

Beautiful or sexually attractive whichever you choose ?

45+ Hallucinating Photos of Mother Nature You Never See Before

These 8 Male Things That Attract Women Like Magnets

For Dog Lovers This is What Dogs Look Like From Underneath

25 So Beautiful Streets That Everyone Would Like To Live There

Clean Your Eyes With These 26 Perfect Photos Ever Taken

  10 Writers Who Have Done Funny And Strange Jobs Before Triumphing With Their Books

The post Hashtag3r Magazine | Creative Art | Creative Photography | Creative Painting - Photography & Art Creativity | Creativity | Creative Painting and Illustration Art 10 Writers Who Have Done Funny And Strange Jobs Before Triumphing With Their Books appeared first on Hashtag3r Magazine | Creative Art | Creative Photography | Creative Painting.

source https://hashtag3r.com/writers-who-have-done-funny-strange-jobs-before-triumphing-with-their-books/

[lighthouseofthewanderess]

Death

Did I tell you I was supposed to die at 10? My stars stated it. Then it became 20. My universe swore by it. My grandma fretted about it every year. She used to tell me secretly whenever she visited me. Said that the minute she found problems in my mother’s marriage, she checked out my kundli too. And it wasn’t good news. It stated I’ll be living on borrowed time in an interval of 10 years, throughout my life. Every decade the time will come when I either just brush past death, or submit to the design of the cosmos. I am not a bit religious, but this is a thought I was invested in. Not because it was about my time running out. Just because it made me realize how I feel about it inside and how I go about its counterpart, life, knowing that bit. Death wasn’t a big scary monster to me, it was always right around the corner. I see people take time to get where I am, and that’s okay. Maybe they’ve been scarred, maybe it is a distant worry. But I’m very aware of it. You just know, that when it’s time, it’s time. Kind of like Final Destination.

Mala Mami was a friend of my mothers. We met at a bajan party; they were more about networking than the music. I would tag along as well. Her family had been living in the US for about 10 years. In that stretch of time, they had bought a beautiful house at the end of a cul-de-sac. Here is where I first learnt to fold a saree -- in the basement with Mala Mami in one end instructing me with yards of cloth in between. Here is where I was awestruck by solar lanterns.They way they saved up light to shine in the dark. I want to be a solar lantern. Every time we visited, I would pay special attention to the walkway, saying hello to the lanterns on the way in.   Mala Mami’s husband could be a hero in a movie. He scrapped bits to make his education work here. He put his mind to it, pushed on, and on. At the end of that struggle, he made it into Boeing and gave the life he wanted to his wife and two kids. I still remember how his wife spoke about him, doted on what an amazing life they’ve built. Through the long introduction, I found uncle stand on the backyard porch, watering the garden with a hose. One arm was locked on his hip and he scrutinized the flowers in the afternoon light. Hmpf he used to go when the flow of water was interrupted. His belly would stick out more at that. He didn’t like a single thing to go differently than expected. And when he laughed it sounded like it was coming from a distant place, heaven maybe. This was a Friday.

The next Friday we met them, I couldn’t see uncle on the porch. He was like clock-work, it seemed unusual. Mala Mami opened the door and ran off to finish off some chores. Inside sat uncle, wrapped up in a blanket. He had been diagnosed with cancer. His wife waited on him at all hours, and his two children tried to process that their perfect life would now have a wrinkle. The third Friday, Mala Mami’s face looked like she had tanned horribly. Her little eyes had lost the spark and her frizzy hair framed her into a look of dissonance. She smiled too wide - Thank god you’re here. Come see my husband. I didn’t know if she was relieved, or happy that we made it in time to see him. It looked like both. Uncle was on the bed, he couldn’t even get up a little to see who had come visiting. And the fourth Friday, well, they weren’t even home. The solar lanterns came on while we waited, and then we left. He had gone into coma. Mom called up to find out and Mala Mami was barely keeping herself together. She said her kids weren’t with her and she felt alone for the first time in her life. She cried over the phone that God didn’t give her enough strength for this part. The next Friday, was the last time we would see him. We went to the hospital, my mom holding my hand and tightening it every now at then. I could see the apprehension on her face. I was too young to see this, but what was she going to say instead? That people just switch to a new world? It was always tough love with her, always the bitter truth. It was better finding out years later that the stork never delivers the baby. That death isn’t the last stop on the bus ride.

The doctors were counting minutes. A group of 6-7 people were with him. All the painkillers had been given to make sure he was in no pain. The amount of weight he lost was shocking. The bed looked too big for him. His dark, frail body was just the same as a breathing corpse. Mala Mami still searched for her kids but they were nowhere to be found. He died without knowing. His wife returned home. Only now, it was a big scary building. The garden was browning, the weeds had grown out over the 2 weeks. The solar lanterns were the only things that looked like they had life. We were with her then. Inside, the house felt cold. Mala Mami sat down beside the table lamp. Her daughter walked in, said hello to us and walked right off to her room. She didn’t even look at her mother. The long silence that followed was broken by her son. As he crossed us he mumbled to her ‘get drunk, it will help’. Those last words got to Mala Mami who was holding herself strong for this whole time. She wallowed in memories, of how her kids had no heart, how there’s no place for her in their life anymore. In all of a month, her life had taken a sudden turn. We saw the woman before us curl into a child and cry night after night. Others saw a rich widow who could live out her days without having to work a single day. They were oblivious to the cold-carpeted floors, children who became strangers, and a dead garden. All they saw were the solar lanterns that lit up cheerfully. I have seen what time can do. It heals, it breaks, it teaches. I see it in the stories  the people I’ve crossed paths with, I see it. The 4-year old twin who was bitten by a snake and couldn’t reach the hospital in the right time. The boy who crossed a pumpkin patch at the wrong time. The life of a suicide survivor. Of a simple slip in the bathroom ending up in organ failure. An existence that lasted all of 12 minutes. In all of it, I see how wrong we are about time. It isn’t a human-invented thing. Sure, days, years, and minutes could be. But a moment to the universe is the same as any other moment and if something is meant to happen, it just will.

Towards the death of my first relationship, I was standing on my balcony with a phone in hand. Crying to a boy I thought was my life. And if he wasn’t mine, I didn’t want my life either. No, I’m not that person anymore, that girl was plain stupid. Anyways, I stood near the railing, half climbing as I waited for him to say something, anything. The midnight air was cool on my tears as I started shivering. I tried to imagine my body hitting the gate below, or getting scratched by the rose thorns on the 3rd floor first. Would I just be a broken body or would I die? Who would find me first, the watchman or my mom? What would others say about my selfish decision? I was nearing 20, it didn’t mean anything. But if I were do to it, I knew it would work. My mom heard my sobbing, got the door open and pulled me in. She tried to save the relationship for me and then after the call ended she looked at me dead in the eye and said ‘this isn’t the boy you’ll marry. I won’t allow it.’ It wasn’t anything unexpected but the shame of having her find out, of seeing me in the balcony all made me wish I could disappear at wish. Borrowed time ticks from now. The next year, I was on my bike in front of my gate. I was fishing out my phone from the bag when my earphones fell out. I heard a grumble and saw that a truck with iron rods was reversing straight into my back. I quickly accelerated and at the same time the truck braked. I sent a prayer up to whoever made my earphones fall out. Not a long time from then, I took the stairs up because the lift wasn’t working. It was when I left home, odd. I had gone to buy eggs to make myself some nice breakfast. Mom wasn’t at home, I was free to do whatever I wanted. I misplaced my left foot. The floor was wet from the morning cleaning. I slipped and fell 4 steps backward, hitting my skull on another stair. I saw stars, gathered myself up and felt my head. It was perfectly fine. The eggs however, had broken. Borrowed time. Everything started feeling like it could be the end of me. Doing ballet in the bathroom, well that’s risky. Me standing on a chair putting up mango leaves for festivities. Why go that far, even crossing the road is a potential suicide mission. What can anyone do? You certainly can’t live in fear, within 4 padded walls and bright light. Well, my way was to accept it. Yes, I might just die today. What’s my next plan of action. Live today like there’s no tomorrow? Not particularly. In case I do die, when they find me, let me wear my Sunday best. The days I put effort into my outfit are the days I feel a funny bone go ‘tick-tock’. Then the face people remember seeing the last wouldn’t be that bad as me on a normal day with zero cares given. Yes, I dream of dying very often. My grandpa butchering me with an axe in the backyard, in the moonlight. Blood draining into the clean chlorine water from a cannonball gone wrong. And yes, sometimes in the middle of what I’m doing I look up and check the time. Maybe it’s that one vulnerable moment where something could happen. I try being alert and true enough an odd thing would occur. Someone randomly handing me a peanut shake when they knew I was allergic. A coconut crashing and splitting open right after I take a pause.

The good side of borrowed time is that it is true to everyone. You’re never singled out -- for good or worse -- in the eyes of the universe. And embracing it has made me grateful for people, things, and feelings almost every day. To sit at a bus stop and see the city run about. To step out when the first drops of rain hit. To just look at the person in front of you and take them in your memory. What if this is the last thing I see, worth seeing? It makes me leave a note on someone’s desk just to tell them I miss them, that they’re pretty, that it’s going to get better. It makes me send that text without overthinking how I’ll face them the next day. What if I don’t get to tell them? Multiply that into 100 and that’s a good enough reason to haunt people after my unexpected yet inevitable death.

[deborondi]

10 movies I see differently after growing up

10 movies I see differently after growing up

¿Español? Lo tienes más abajo

From time to time, I love to review how much I evolved while growing up: Likes & dislikes, hobbies, ideology… Most of it changed over the years. On one of the things I notice it the most is when watching again movies that I watched on my childhood and left their mark. As we can expect, I see many of them differently after my maturity and sometimes I change my unconditional love for a blatant abhorrence, but sometimes it happens on the contrary. Today I picked a few movies that I see completely different now and will explain you why.

Child’s Play

To be honest, I don’t remember having watched that movie when I was a child, but I do remember a paralyzing fear of Chucky and dolls in general because of it. Seriously, I feared dolls, a lot. I wasn’t even able of watching it again until I was almost 20 and because I watched before a documentary about how it was made. And I am glad I did, because I think that’s one of the worst scary movies I’ve ever seen, so much that I spent the whole movie laughing.

Notting Hill

I remember watching it on my early teens and thinking “Wow, this love story is so beautiful”. I loved it so much that I saw it again several times in about three months and for years I remembered that movie as one my favourites romantic comedies. Finally I watched it again a few months ago and I regretted it a lot. I hate Anna Scott’s behavior towards William Thacker when she reappears, and for that reason couldn’t loathe it more.

Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire strickes back

OK, it wouldn’t be fair saying I changed my mind about this movie. In fact, there’s only a scene I don’t like: the one where Han Solo harasses and forces a kiss to Leia. I know you might think that’s a stupid and without any importance scene. But hey she is saying no and he keeps insisting and well, don’t forget that they end up together. So that’s a message I loathe, yep. As you can imagine, I didn’t see it that way when I was little, I even found that scene romantic haha.

Forrest Gump

Again, another movie that I still love despite of finding something that I don’t. That movie is touching, I know, and I also know that what I’m about to say I hate is part of what makes that movie touching. But the truth is I cannot stand how Jenny takes advantage of Forrest’s love.

The Princess Bride

One I adore even after growing up, albeit in such a different way I did when I first saw it. When I was watching it as a child I loved it as the fairy tale I thought it was. But over time I got to understand how ironic and comical this piece is. So, even though that movie has been one of my favourites since I was a child, it is now for different reasons it was then. And I have to say it, I love laughing hard while watching it.

Matrix

I must confess: I didn’t understand a thing the first time I watched it. Not the references, not the story, NOTHING. I just liked Keanu Reeves (I might say he was one of my first crushes) and everyone on TV was saying that movie was spectacular. But the truth is I always hated not to understand things and this movie was hard to follow for a 12 year old kid, or at least for me. So I didn’t enjoyed much. It wasn’t until a few years and several viewings later that I understood what people was talking about that movie. It took me some time, but now I love it.

Titanic

Funny information: I was a corny child. Seriously, I was. I loved pink clothes, romantic movies and cheesy lines. That’s why I loved a movie like that, even with its sad ending. Fortunately my vision of romanticism changed over the years, now there are few romantic movies I love. In fact, I hardly choose to watch a romantic film because I usually hate them. There’s no exception with Titanic.

ET

What would you think if I told you that I was scary AF of him? Yes, I feared ET as much as I feared Chucky and I’m not sure why. Might it be because he died and then he lived again? I’m not sure. Anyway, I now think what everyone else: ET is one of the cutest characters in cinema’s history.

Kickboxer

Let’s see, I always had a thing with martial arts performers: Steven Seagal, Bruce Lee, Jean-Claude Van Damme… I loved their films and I specially loved them. This movie was one of my favs. Now I cannot stand watching it hahaha. The story is very weak, the script horrible and the protagonist’s performance lousy. The only thing that I like is the martial arts scenes. So, wouldn’t say that I hate this movie, but I don’t think I’ll be watching it again for a long time.

Pocahontas

You know how kids have a film they watch over and over again? This was mine. I loved it so, so much. I wanted to be her, she was my Disney princess. Then years went by, and I didn’t see it again until I was almost 25. Oh man, that was a torture. It’s not that I don’t like the movie but they sing too much. I remember asking: crap, why is she singing again? Couldn’t there be more dialogue? So I still remember it fondly but mostly because I was in love with that movie as a child.

This is it! It was fun to share something like this. How about you? Is there any film you see differently now? Just leave a comment and tell me about it!

10 películas que no volvieron a ser lo mismo al crecer

De vez en cuando, me gusta reflexionar sobre lo mucho que evolucioné durante mi crecimiento: gustos, aficiones, ideología… Gran parte cambió a lo largo de los años. Una de las cosas donde más lo noto es al revisionar películas que dejaron su marca durante mi infancia. Como cabe esperar, no opino lo mismo de ellas después de haber madurado un poco: a veces cambio mi amor incondicional por aborrecimiento, y a veces todo lo contrario. Hoy escogí unas cuantas películas cuya opinión cambió completamente y os explicaré por qué.

El muñeco diábolico

Siendo sincera, no recuerdo haber visto este largometraje de niña, pero si recuerdo el miedo paralizante a Chucky y los muñecos en general. En serio, tenía un miedo espantoso a las muñecas. No fui siquiera capaz de revisionarla hasta casi los 20, y porque vi un documental de como hicieron el rodaje.

To be honest, I don’t remember having watched that movie when I was a child, but I do remember a paralyzing fear of Chucky and dolls in general because of it. Seriously, I feared dolls, a lot. I wasn’t even able of watching it again until I was almost 20 and because I watched before a documentary about how it was made. And I am glad I did, because I think that’s one of the worst scary movies I’ve ever seen, so much that I spent the whole movie laughing.

Notting Hill

Recuerdo ver esta peli con mi recién estrenada pubertad y pensar “Uau, esta historia de amor es preciosa”. Me gustó tantísimo que la vi varias veces a lo largo de tres meses y, durante años, la recordé como una de mis comedias románticas favoritas. Hace unos meses, la volví a ver y me arrepentí al momento. Detesto el trato de Anna Scott hacia William Thacker al reaparecer, así que no puedo aborrecerla más.

Star Wars – Episodio V: El Imperio contraataca

Vale, no sería justo decir que cambié mi opinión sobre este film. De hecho, solo hay una escena que no me gusta en toda la película: Esa en la que Han Solo acosa a Leia y fuerza un beso. Lo sé, puede parecer una tontería sin importancia. Pero pensadlo, ella está diciendo que no y él no deja de insistir, y bueno, no olvidemos que al final terminan juntos. Así que sí, odio este mensaje. Como podéis imaginar, de niña no pensaba lo mismo, la escena incluso me parecía romántica. XD

Forrest Gump

De nuevo, otro largometraje que sigue encantándome, a pesar de encontrarle algún pero. Lo sé, la película es conmovedora, y también sé que lo que estoy a punto de desvelar como un gran pero es parte de lo que hace esta película tan conmovedora. Sin embargo, debo admitir que no soporto la forma en que Jenny se aprovecha del amor que Forrest siente por ella.

La Princesa Prometida

Una que adoro incluso después de haber crecido, sin embargo, lo hago de una forma muy distinta a como lo hacía de niña. Al verla por primera vez, de pequeña, me encantó como el cuento de hadas que pensé que era. No obstante, con el tiempo fui entendiendo la ironía y comicidad que se esconde en ella. Así pues, a pesar de ser uno de mis favoritos desde la infancia, lo es ahora por razones muy distintas. Y lo confieso, adoro reír a carcajadas mientras la miro.

Matrix

Vale, lo admito: no entendí nada de nada la primera vez que la vi. Ni las referencias, ni la historia. NADA. A mi, me gustaba Keanu Reeves (puedo decir sin reparo que fue uno de mis primeros crushes) y todo el mundo hablaba en TV de lo espectacular que era el film. Pero la verdad es que siempre he odiado no entender las cosas y esta película era difícil de seguir para una niña de 12 años, o por lo menos para mí. Así que no me gustó. No fue hasta pasados unos cuantos años y revisionados que entendí sobre qué iba la película. Me costó un tiempo, pero ahora me encanta.

Titanic

Dato divertido: De niña era muy cursi. En serio, lo era. Adoraba la ropa de color rosa, las películas románticas y las frases empalagosas. Y por eso adoraba una película como esta, incluso teniendo en cuenta su triste final. Por fortuna, mi visión del romanticismo cambió con el tiempo, y ahora hay muy pocas películas de esta temática que me gusten. No hay excepción con Titanic.

ET

¿Qué pensaríais si os dijera que me aterraba ET? Sí, me asustaba tanto como lo hizo Chucky y aún no estoy segura de por qué. Puede ser por su resurrección? No lo sé. En verdad da igual, ya que ahora pienso lo mismo que el resto del mundo: ET es uno de los personajes más adorables de la historia del cine.

Kickboxer

Veamos, desde bien jovencita que tengo algo con los actores de artes marciales: Steven Seagal, Bruce Lee, Jean-Claude Van Damme… Me encantaban sus películas y sobretodo, ellos. Esta era una de mis favoritas y ahora no soporto verla XD. La historia es pobre, el guión horrible y la actuación del protagonista malísima. Así que la única parte que me sigue gustando son las escenas de artes marciales. No diría que la odio, pero os puedo asegurar que tardaré un tiempo en revisionarla.

Pocahontas

¿Sabes como los niños tienen una película que miran una y otra vez? Esta fue la mía. Me gustaba tantísimo. Quería ser ella, ella era mi princesa Disney. Luego el tiempo fue pasando, y no la volví a ver hasta casi los 25 años. Oh madre mía, fue una tortura. No digo que no me guste el film, pero cantan demasiado. Recuerdo preguntarme a mí misma: mierda, ¿por qué está cantando otra vez? ¿No podría haber más diálogo? Así pues, aún la recuerdo con cariño, pero la razón es porque estuve enamorada de esta peli durante mi infancia.

¡Esto es todo! Ha sido divertido compartir con vosotros este post. ¿Qué hay de vosotros? ¿Hay alguna película que veáis con otros ojos ahora? ¡Dejad un comentario contándomelo!

The post 10 movies I see differently after growing up appeared first on Una taza llena de estrellas.

from WordPress http://deborondi.com/2018/04/02/10-movies-different-thoughts/