#Also this was inspired by the concept of them fistfighting

[haunter-geist]

so..Vegas?

[physalian]

9 Years Yearning: A Gay Fantasy Romance | Review

By @topazadine!

This was such a fun departure from my usual reads. A fantasy story with a war backdrop and child soldiers sets you up for an action-heavy drama with a romantic subplot, but so much of the details surrounding the greater conflict at large are the background. What’s left is a series of insights across nine years of a relationship and for what I thought would be a standard enemies/rivals to lovers ended up being so much more.

If you’re a fan of high fantasy, 9 Years Yearning drops you into the world immediately, serving up a steady stream of little immersive details and fantastical terms without heavy exposition dumps, letting the reader marinate and draw their own conclusions without everything being spelled out for them.

The character descriptions and names are fun, too, if not intentionally inspired by anime. It’s so distinct from the usual western-based British fantasy with standard features for the human characters. For example, the hair colors of the main duo fit the classic “blond/brunet” dichotomy, except it’s the inverse of green and red, which I thought was a nice touch paying homage to a very old trope without making anything too foreign to alienate readers who might have not read too much fantasy before this. While the names are just a touch outside something easily pronounceable, I leaned completely into it to embrace something unique and not “Americanized”.

As a writer and reader who adores fast pacing, the framing style of this already short story cuts out a lot of the fat that might be spent on superfluous fluff and redundant introspection, skipping ahead one year at a time per chapter and picking, what I think, are solid moments from their lives to focus on without leaving readers feeling like there’s a crucial deleted scene somewhere. The framing also means that the plot doesn’t rely on “if” something will happen but “how” without wasting time trying to fool the audience, which was fantastic to experience.

The main duo themselves, particularly early on, reminded me of Mike and Sully in Monsters University—which was such a cute movie! Their dynamic of the “shorter non-gifted student who has to work extremely hard to gain clout and recognition and who wants very badly to graduate with acclaim and the job of his dreams” vs “taller gifted entitled student who can succeed effortlessly and is all the teacher’s favorite and the ‘cool’ one everyone else looks up to and aspires to be, but also has his own demons to fight when having the world handed to you on a silver platter isn’t quite the blessing it looks like.” But, you know, gayer.

Despite having such fast pacing, little character nuances and behavioral ticks are packed in to make them feel like real people and not cardboard cutouts. It still flies by without feeling rushed, deliberate but not pedantic.

Nor is that to say that while the action is in the background, it’s not at all lacking. The variety of action scenes, from fistfights to bigger engagements, all perfectly stay their welcome if action isn’t your genre, and are vivid enough to hold your attention and not get lost if fantasy wartime is your bread and butter.

The poetry, too, the perfect amount and complexity that fits right in with the rest of the narrative. When I read that the sister would be a poet, I fully expected the prose to dance around the inclusion of any actual poems, but there’s a couple and they do feel like they were written by different people for different audiences and they were great, and not just there to be there. The whole concept of poetry is woven into the very lore of the world.

Uileac himself is not without flaws, and while they sure are frustrating, they’re realistic as he goes through his teenage years, fraught with teenage drama, making teenage mistakes. The story doesn’t waste pages on forced miscommunication or manufactured drama—the drama is realistic and makes sense when it takes place and is fitting for their characters.

—

I read the whole thing in just a couple hours. It’s a short, sweet read about two queers spending nine years pining, both assuming their feelings are unrequited, in a fantastical setting that gladly lets them have a happy ending presented to you in the very first chapter.

[hoardlikegoldenirises]

okay i lied, i sketched him up anyway.

The Scorpion/Carnorpion (lmao)

more info/closeups under the cut:

tfw you get your dna spliced with a scorpion and all it does is turn you into vin diesel make you beefy and bald

the stuff for this isn't fully written yet (so, not posted on ao3 yet either lol) but if I can get some of the kinks (not that kind of kink) (...maybe a little) hammered out on this wip he should show up... soonish...? i plan to include a flashback to him beating the tar out a teenaged peter with that sword whip too, but his main role will be to fistfight doc ock and get worms

also considering giving him a motorcycle just for funsies (not like Peter's little Yamaha though, something big and rumbly)

(ah... fuck i accidentally made him hot)

Big inspiration for this armor design from Tradd Moore's take on the Scorpion in Venom #150 (highly recommended just for the art alone) but taking some other little cues from various sources + my own personal design sense and habits (i feel like it's pretty obvious how i tend to design armor, which is, like literal plate armor LOL) and trying to make sure the Carnage one doesn't look too much like Agent Venom lmao

Metroid Halo lookin ass...

idk how clear it is in this rough sketch but the stripes next to the visor are lights lol

tbh I'm not sold on the mechanical pincer design as it is but if i think of something i like better i can always just change it. or, you know, just not use it at all.. honestly with a few exceptions I just don't like the Scorpion's pincers in general XD so it's not surprising i'm not quite satisfied with them. They're technically auxiliary to the claws anyway. i like the claws better. really the tail is the most important part.

as far as carnorpion goes

also i just realized i drew the blade on his tail differently for carnorpion but you know what i can just say the curved blade is just the new version to go with the special symbiote-interface armor 🤷 that's honestly pretty likely lol it's already a new version of the armor anyway so... it works.

i like these pincers. peak weirdo. better than the mech ones. maybe he only has pincers as carnorpion (or venorpion, like i said i still don't entirely know what i'm doing with this plot cause oscorp and symbiotes are giving me some ... problems)

also the jaw scars

afaik that was a superior spider-man thing but i just like them?? i always liked them, so I decided that fisk could probably rip his jaw off and then have the carnage symbiote put it back on but, being a new slime, not quite all the way there in terms of healing yet. then again i could also have ock do it when they fight. we'll see.

(he also fluoresces under a black light after being mutated)

-

drawing this like teehee beefy tall symbiote host—what? what was that? edward? no i don't know him,

(jk jk lol but amusingly despite prominently featuring in the very early concepts for this AU he uh. well. i kind of wrote eddie out completely. lol. sorry ed boy.)

[sleepy-seal]

Leucas

Does h3 ever stop hugging Acher when h3 gets h1s new body?

In general what does ocean think about the textures of the outside?

Is Leucas affected by the same kind of virus that Acher is?

What are all of th31r abilities?

Do you think when Leucas and Swap!Moth meet . that's it what might happen at that point

Same with Swap!Gale that's gotta be awkward

What type of minecraft player is Leucas?

Has Leucas ever tried to fistfight someone for the fun of it

Did you expect Leucas to become an important plot element?

Why a hologram instead of a robot?

What was the thought process behind Leucas getting attached to Acher?

..this one's super self-indulgent, but can we get what Leucas thinks about moth, gale and or acher

What are Leucas's Overload Questions? same or different to Acher's?

Any plot points you wanted to do with Leucas but couldn't?

PART 2 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO GUYS

- [news reporter voice] the story is still developing as we report. some sources say never

- leucas is Enthusiastic. th3y probably spent a good hour or so touching literally everything th3y can get th31r hands on like a toddler. once h3 got over the feeling of overwhelm, glitch was actually Very excited to feel textures. h1s favorite at the moment is cotton candy

- who knows ! :)

- as a hologram, th31r primary abilities deal with being a figure of literal light. so th3y can't pass through walls, because that's just not how light works. but because h3 is not restricted by gravity, th3y can hover and even run faster! these abilities, alongside wardrobe change and change in height, are limited to h1s code when th3y are connected to the Big Box. with the adapter a lot of the fun stuff is just not included to save room for the functionality of the hologram. it also makes leucas look considerably more distorted, whereas with the box it's easier to hide.

- stay tuned for that ;3

- i do have an idea for that though! not in the immediate future, but still something. it would include a talk with each other and sale congratulating leucas for th31r agency and also overcoming the Murder Phase. leucas initially resents sale for their recklessness and also a fundamental lack of connections but th3y grow past it and appreciate sale for learning and also thanking them because h3 wouldn't be who h3 is now without him.

- leucas (lore leucas at least) is more of a fighter, and also a collector. h1s favorite thing to collect is Anything Pink (and flowers)

- yes. it was acher

- NO LMAO 😭 leucas was a funny haha because orpheus was doing things with drew but now th3y are a major part of the story and also fundamentally altered Several people's arcs. i tripped and now leucas is a main character

- that's because of the substitute from puppet history!!! acher was also inspired from him but less so since he was a robot. leucas, when i thought of the initial concept, was a more direct inspiration off of the hologram. that's why h3 also ends up desiring corporeality (that last part was unintentional actually it's pretty funny)

- um. that was Also unintentional. at first it was just a silly meet up like Wow these murderous ai get along well! that's so neat!! but then the emotion stuff happened and now they are glued to each other.

- gale: blue!!! a little apprehensive but gale is nice to th3m and even gave h1m some clothes that didn't fit shell anymore. overall pretty good vibes

moth: very cool! it was pretty weird at first because at some point leucas actively avoided th31r final mission by just refusing to go near swoth but th3y couldn't do that. turns out that they have a bit in common!!! moth is nice to th3m, that's all h3 cares about [:

acher: BUDDY!!!!!!!!!! favorite guy ever. h3 loves it so so much and would do basically anything for her. would definitely give him poppies and rose bushes in minecraft

- they are pretty much similar to acher, but if you asked glitch to list all the digits of pi, probably around the 100th digit vi will start to spazz out.

- lore gale and leucas conversation :( they probably would have talked together about things and leucas' currently unresolved mental issues before gale introduced th3m to minecraft, but it never came to fruition

[jamieroxxartist]

So I have had an idea for a while now about AI that is directly inspired by H.P. Lovecraft and his Cosmic Horror genre. It annoys my science fiction writer friends but not as much as a few scientist and computer friends I also have. :) Anyhow when / if true AI synthetic consciousness happens, the general trope most times is that of Skynet ala the Terminator movies. It'll perceive mankind as some sort of threat to the planet and take steps to destroy them. Wipe out the humans!

My thought about this is simply, "Gee! We sure do think a lot of ourselves, don't we."

Why would it care about the Planet at all? Let alone us. Humans are always so petty and egocentric when it comes to Humans. And I get it, we have a few million years of evolution on this particular rock. It's always been here (to us) and we have been on it.

But a synthetic consciousness would not have any of that egocentric perspective anchoring weighing it down. In fact it could possibly (and yes this is speculation, as is all talk of AI synthetic consciousness) perceive itself in the really, really, really big universe and not even notice us at all. Sorry but in that perspective, much, bigger, better at the very least, more interesting things are afoot, than any of our little Human BS.

I mean we Only take notice of a virus or a bacteria if it affects us in some way. How many times today have you given much thought to those little animals munching on the dead skin around your eyelashes right now? I'm guessing not much thought about them at all. Hate to remind anyone, but at any given time there are literally trillions of little creatures on you and in you and you don't notice or care about any of them, useless they make you take notice by making you sick.

So an AI synthetic consciousness most likely won't give 2 thoughts about us either. Now my concern isn't with it, it's our (humanity's) reaction to such a thing. Could we deal with such a rejection? And really I think rejection is not a good word. Rejection implies way more importance than we will probably have. To this concept and knowledge of simply being overlooked. Ignored. I don't know if humanity could handle that at all.

People were getting into fistfights about hygiene, and honestly, it hasn't been an eyeblink in time since we were throwing gals into volcanoes thinking that might give us a good crop harvest.

And I get it, Damn It! We are important. Beethoven's Fifth and the Sistine Chapel Ceiling, The Beatles, the Back to the Future Movies, Taylor Swift etc. We are important! ... but honestly only to us. Compare any of that (or anything or everything we have ever done) to the universe. We just ain't that important, we just ain't that big.

And are we going to be impressive or at the very least even noticeable to something bigger than us? Or will it just not care about us at all?

And like H.P. Lovecraft so elegantly pointed out with his cosmic horror, that is pretty terrifying.

[rockislandadultreads]

Criticism & Literary Interpretations

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders

For the last twenty years, George Saunders has been teaching a class on the Russian short story to his MFA students at Syracuse University. In A Swim in a Pond in the Rain, he shares a version of that class with us, offering some of what he and his students have discovered together over the years. Paired with iconic short stories by Chekhov, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Gogol, the seven essays in this book are intended for anyone interested in how fiction works and why it’s more relevant than ever in these turbulent times.

In his introduction, Saunders writes, “We’re going to enter seven fastidiously constructed scale models of the world, made for a specific purpose that our time maybe doesn’t fully endorse but that these writers accepted implicitly as the aim of art—namely, to ask the big questions, questions like, How are we supposed to be living down here? What were we put here to accomplish? What should we value? What is truth, anyway, and how might we recognize it?” He approaches the stories technically yet accessibly, and through them explains how narrative functions; why we stay immersed in a story and why we resist it; and the bedrock virtues a writer must foster. The process of writing, Saunders reminds us, is a technical craft, but also a way of training oneself to see the world with new openness and curiosity.

A Swim in a Pond in the Rain is a deep exploration not just of how great writing works but of how the mind itself works while reading, and of how the reading and writing of stories make genuine connection possible.

A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib

A stirring meditation on Black performance in America from the New York Times bestselling author of Go Ahead in the Rain At the March on Washington in 1963, Josephine Baker was fifty-seven years old, well beyond her most prolific days. But in her speech she was in a mood to consider her life, her legacy, her departure from the country she was now triumphantly returning to. “I was a devil in other countries, and I was a little devil in America, too,” she told the crowd. Inspired by these few words, Hanif Abdurraqib has written a profound and lasting reflection on how Black performance is inextricably woven into the fabric of American culture. Each moment in every performance he examines—whether it’s the twenty-seven seconds in “Gimme Shelter” in which Merry Clayton wails the words “rape, murder,” a schoolyard fistfight, a dance marathon, or the instant in a game of spades right after the cards are dealt—has layers of resonance in Black and white cultures, the politics of American empire, and Abdurraqib’s own personal history of love, grief, and performance. Abdurraqib writes prose brimming with jubilation and pain, infused with the lyricism and rhythm of the musicians he loves. With care and generosity, he explains the poignancy of performances big and small, each one feeling intensely familiar and vital, both timeless and desperately urgent. Filled with sharp insight, humor, and heart, A Little Devil in America exalts the Black performance that unfolds in specific moments in time and space—from midcentury Paris to the moon, and back down again to a cramped living room in Columbus, Ohio.

The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland by Angela Youngman

Although the children's story Alice in Wonderland has been in print for over 150 years, the mysteries and rumors surrounding the story and its creator Lewis Carroll have continued to grow. The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland is the first time anyone has investigated the vast range of darker, more threatening aspects of this famous story and the way Alice has been transformed over the years. This is the Alice of horror films, Halloween, murder and mystery, spectral ghosts, political satire, mental illnesses, weird feasts, Lolita, Tarot, pornography and steampunk. The Beatles based famous songs such as Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and I am the Walrus on Alice in Wonderland, while she has even attracted the attention of world-famous artists including Salvador Dali. Take a look at why the Japanese version of Lolita is so different to that of novelist Vladimir Nabokov - yet both are based on Alice. This is Alice in Wonderland as you have never seen her before: a dark, sometimes menacing, and threatening character. Was Carroll all that he seemed? The stories of his child friends, nude photographs and sketches affect the way modern audiences look at the writer. Was he just a lonely academic, closet pedophile, brilliant puzzle maker or even Jack the Ripper? For a book that began life as a simple children's story, it has resulted in a vast array of dark concepts, ideas and mysteries. So step inside the world of Alice in Wonderland and discover a dark side you never knew existed!

Huck Finn's America: Mark Twain and the Era That Shaped His Masterpiece by Andrew Levy

A provocative, exuberant, and deeply researched investigation into Mark Twain’s writing of Huckleberry Finn, which turns on its head everything we thought we knew about America’s favorite icon of childhood. In Huck Finn’s America, award-winning biographer Andrew Levy shows how modern readers have been misunderstanding Huckleberry Finn for decades. Twain’s masterpiece, which still sells tens of thousands of copies each year and is taught more than any other American classic, is often discussed either as a carefree adventure story for children or a serious novel about race relations, yet Levy argues convincingly it is neither. Instead, Huck Finn was written at a time when Americans were nervous about youth violence and “uncivilized” bad boys, and a debate was raging about education, popular culture, and responsible parenting — casting Huck’s now-celebrated “freedom” in a very different and very modern light. On issues of race, on the other hand, Twain’s lifelong fascination with minstrel shows and black culture inspired him to write a book not about civil rights, but about race’s role in entertainment and commerce, the same features upon which much of our own modern consumer culture is also grounded. In Levy’s vision, Huck Finn has more to say about contemporary children and race that we have ever imagined—if we are willing to hear it. An eye-opening, groundbreaking exploration of the character and psyche of Mark Twain as he was writing his most famous novel, Huck Finn’s America brings the past to vivid, surprising life, and offers a persuasive—and controversial—argument for why this American classic deserves to be understood anew.

[joot-aro]

thanks araki for talking about my favorite jojo and my favorite minor villain i will inject this straight into my brain

(image id under the cut)

[image 1 id: a screenshot of the jotaro page in jojonium where araki talks about his thoughts on various different characters. it reads:

"The idea of making the main character of Part 3 Japanese was something I had thought of doing around the end of Part 1. I had originally planned Jojo to be a trilogy, and thought it would be appropriate to have the final, fated confrontation take place in present-day Japan, but I didn’t want it to be a tournament-style affair, like what was popular in Weekly Shonen Jump at the time. That’s when I had the idea of having the characters head for a specific destination, like a road movie, taking inspiration from Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days. Years later, a certain TV comedian took a trip across Eurasia along a similar route. Just like with Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken) coming out before Bizarre Stories in This World (Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari), I'll say that for the record, Jojo did it first (laughs).

Clint Eastwood, who I love and respect as an actor, served as the model for Jotaro. Jotaro’s trademark pose where he points his finger actually was inspired by Eastwood pointing his .44 Magnum. Even details such as Jotaro’s catchphrase being “good grief” take inspiration from parts that Eastwood played, where he'd have lines like “A bank robbery? You have to be kidding me...” That’s why Jotaro seems a bit “rougher” compared to other Jump protagonists. Joseph might be a little easier to get into from a Weekly Shonen Jump perspective, but Jotaro actually fits my image of a hero to a tee.

My image of a hero is that of a loner. As opposed to someone who does the right thing looking for compensation or attention from others, my idea of a hero is someone who is an unappreciated symbol of justice. There are times where taking the correct path leads to loneliness. I also think that heroes shouldn't be in the business of making friends. Jotaro goes on his journey while keeping his feelings bottled up inside because he’s a “lone hero.” He doesn’t celebrate in an over-the-top manner when he defeats an enemy. For him, a throwaway “good grief” is plenty.

Jotaro has become big enough to function as a synonym for JoJo as a whole. I’ve actually based subsequent JoJos on his visual design and differentiated them from there. My original vision for Jotaro was having him journeying through the desert while wearing his school uniform, and with that, fantastical and bizarre things would happen to him during his day-to-day life. On top of that, it’s not your everyday uniform. He's got a chain hooked on to his collar, two belts... I played around with his design quite a bit until I got something that conveyed just the right amount of rebellion. Speaking of teenage rebels, you know how guys used to have chains hanging from their pants, connected to their wallets? I drew Jotaro with his chain on his uniform first (laughs)! Let's add that to the record as well." /end id]

-

[image 2 id: a screenshot of the elder d'arby page in jojonium where araki talks about his thoughts on various different characters. it reads:

"Given the evolution from the Hamon to Stands that came with JoJo entering Part 3, I wanted to include some battles that didn’t just boil down to fistfights. I mentioned this in the Hol Horse retrospective, but I wanted to keep the face-offs between the Joestar party and DIO’s minions fresh by switching back and forth between one-on-one battles and team battles, and as part of that, I needed to add some variance to the Stand abilities themselves as well. I actually did a “gambling battle” in Cool Shock B.T., but I wanted to try doing it again differently as a Stand battle. D’Arby came from my desire to do that.

I think of gambling as something where you bet your own soul and pride as part of the process. To me, the money and chips you actually use at a real casino are just a representation of your soul. So it felt natural to have D’Arby take the souls from his opponents once they lost. Well, the fact that I can depict it the way I did is all thanks to the concept of Stands (laughs). As far as gambling is concerned, you can only win or lose—there is no in-between. With D’Arby as the sole challenger, I wanted to give him the mental fortitude and strategic cunning to give Jotaro a run for his money, as well as be able to instill some fear.

I had D’Arby face off with the Joestar party in a few different ways. I like coming up with ideas for gambling because you can turn almost anything into a bet. Bets involving animals are particularly interesting to me. It’s hard to predict what they're going to do, so it works as a bet. I like situations where it doesn’t seem possible to cheat, but maybe they actually are somehow. It’s also important for the bet to feel like it fits JoJo. Poker is pretty mainstream, so I assume many of you have played it before, but the key point to winning at it is perfecting the “bluff.” It’s less of a surefire way to win the battle, and more of a battle of wits between you and your opponent, testing just how much you can fool them along with just how gutsy you are, so I think it was appropriate for the final face-off between Jotaro and D’Arby. I really enjoyed drawing the D’Arby battle, so I introduced his younger brother before the final showdown with DIO. I didn’t want to give readers yet another poker match, so that time I had them play video games instead. Video games have all kinds of genres, like baseball or racing, so I had plenty of ideas to play around with, just like with the gambling theme.

Looking back on it now, I think introducing the D’Arby brothers and the Oingo Boingo brothers in Part 3 separated Jojo from other manga, because it allowed me to add just that much more variation to the battles. Jotaro and D’Arby’s gambling battle led to Josuke and Rohan’s dice battle in Part 4, and in JoJolion, which is being serialized right now, Josuke and Jobin’s beetle fight. Battles in JoJo can be both fistfights and battles of wits. I think the D’Arby battle might have been the starting point for that." /end id]

[rogerdeakinsdp]

Academy Award Winners for Best Cinematography: 2011 — Wally Pfister, ASC Inception (2010) Directed by Christopher Nolan Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1

After reading the script for Inception‘s hotel scene, where dream-thieves fistfight in zero-G as the walls twist and tumble around them, Pfister jokes even he “had to have an immediate meeting with Chris to figure out what the fuck was going on.”

”Nolan’s concept: build a 360-degree rotating hallway, inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s sets for 2001, complete with hidden tracks in the carpet for upside-down camera moves and lighting fixtures strong enough to withstand actors falling and running over them. When he described how we’re going to physically execute the rotating set, I got very excited in trying to figure out how to light and shoot it,” Pfister recalls. “I wanted to create a specific warm orange color palette, but Chris also wanted to have ‘normal’ camera movement in there even though the whole set was rotating around.” 

From the beginning, Nolan wanted Inception‘s dreams-within-dreams to feel as real as any earthly environment. “Our mantra was, ‘dreams feel real,'” Pfister says. To that end, he spent months in preproduction shooting still photographs of real locations in England, Paris, Japan, Canada, and Morocco, then manipulated them in Photoshop to create otherworldly-yet-believable looks — from metallic blue for the rainy van chase to stark whiteout for the ski battle. “Each dream has a different color scheme so Chris could cut back and forth without confusing the audience,” Pfister explains. Even the haunting setting of “limbo” is based on Pfister’s photographs of an actual half-built housing project in Morocco. “We wanted the surreality of the dreams to come from these strange but credible settings, rather than from any weird lighting or camera movement. Limbo is right outside of Tangiers where Chris discovered these wild white buildings where streets hadn’t been paved yet. We shot those buildings there, and it was enhanced by the crumbling CGI structures in the shoreline.” — [x]

[costeausunset]

Games I played this month :

Hue, 2016, developed by Fiddlesticks and published by Curve Digital:

The game follows the story of Hue a little boy trying to find his missing mother. Hue is a puzzle-platformer whose system relies on the use of colors. You start the game in black and white and, as you progress in the game you collect more colors. You will find these different colors by solving puzzles who involved the use of, well, colors! Indeed each color allows you to see something different, and you need to find the right combination to progress through each level.

Let’s start with what I liked in the game. Everything that touched to the artwork and sound design is simply marvelous. There is no kind of bug or lag. However, the biggest problem for me that led me to not finish the game, is the level design and the gameplay. 

The idea to use different colors is a good one but in the game, it takes some time to retrieve the first few colors. This means that at the beginning the game is a bit bland. Overall the puzzles are easy to solve the first time. There are a few challenging moments, but they are few and far in between. 

I wouldn't say I passed a bad time on this game but I didn't have a good time either. I think this game is more suited for a family experience, or for the ones of you who want a relaxing time.

L.A Noire, 2011, developed by Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games:

Had a hard time installing it on Steam but man was it worth it! We follow the story of the detective Cole Phelps, in this, well, detective game. You need to resolve different cases to rise among the ranks of the LAPD. The cases go from solving auto theft, to murder, to drug deals. Each case takes between, 40min to 1hour to complete.

The game still looks really good today. I love the Film Noir, Neo-Noir inspiration even if I think they could have gone further with it. I love the soundtrack who really gives a neo-noir vibe and some punch to the action phases.

The gameplay offers several versatile phases: research, interrogation, fistfight / gunfight, pursuit on foot / in a car. In my opinion, each part of the gameplay is well executed except for the car phases (the car works more like a big truck). But the one that stuck out with me is the interrogation part. They are based on the clues you find during the case and on the reaction of the characters to the question you ask them.

All and all I really liked this game, the pacing is good, the gameplay is versatile, most of the cases are interesting, with some more than others. Totally recommend this game!

God's Trigger, 2019, developed by One More Level and published by Techland:

It's a hack and slash where you control a demon (Judy) and an angel (Harry) who are trying to prevent the end of the world by getting rid of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and by killing everyone they stumble onto while they are at it! But the story is not what interests us in a hack and slash, it’s the gameplay!

The gameplay is really fun and nervous though it takes a bit of time to master it. You can switch between Harry and Judy as many times as you want through the level. Each of them has different weapons and special abilities to unlock and improve (stop time, mind control, teleport…). The game is also based on the concept of die and retry, most enemies die in one shot, but so do you! This forced you to think before you stroll in a room full of enemies.

There again the artwork and soundtrack are really good, especially the music which in my opinion goes very well with the gameplay! Definitely recommend this game for our friends who like a good challenge!

[aion-rsa]

Why Wonder Woman’s Real Origin Story Lies in First Wave Feminism

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This holiday season, one of the few bright spots for families unable to go to theaters—and even those who did—was Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984. An ambitious and vibrantly colored celebration of heroism in all its forms, including those that don’t end in fistfights, it’s a superhero movie that’s won as many fans as detractors. But while basking in the new spectacle is well and good, it’s also worth considering how it came to be. For even in this HBO Max tentpole, one can still see how the feminist movement of the early 20th century is grafted into the very DNA of the Wonder Woman character, her origin, and even her most contentious iconography… something that rarely gets acknowledged in the broader comic fan community.

The character of Wonder Woman was created by Dr. William Moulton Marston in 1941. A psychologist with an eclectic career, Marston went from inventing the lie detector test while still an undergraduate at Harvard in 1914 to being essentially blacklisted from academia by the age of 33. But of course his most enduring legacy came afterward; it came when he engineered a superheroine intentionally designed to be a great role model for girls and boys.

As Marston famously said, “Frankly, Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who, I believe, should rule the world.” However, the actual political and sociological influences on Marston and the women who helped him create Diana are often overlooked, even as the character has come to dominate pop culture.

Marston, rather infamously nowadays, lived a polyamorous lifestyle with his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston, and a second partner named Olive Byrne. Byrne is often credited in the 21st century as the inspiration for Wonder Woman (instead of a wedding ring, Marston gave her two bracelets that are identical to those worn by Diana Prince). Yet it is very likely that Holloway Marston had just as much influence. After all, she was a lover of Greek antiquity and until her death kept a book of Sappho’s poetry from the island of Lesbos within reach.

Still, it is Byrne’s influence that historian and esteemed Harvard professor, Jill Lepore, most untangles in her riveting portrait of the Marston family, The Secret History of Wonder Woman. Lepore, who holds the title of David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of History at Cambridge, zeroed in on Byrne’s relation to the early feminist movement at the turn of the century and its impact on Marston, recasting Wonder Woman as a bridge between the suffragist movement and the generation who grew up reading Wonder Woman comics before fighting for the “women’s liberation movement.”

Olive Byrne was born in 1904, the daughter of Ethel Byrne and the niece of Margaret Sanger, the latter of whom founded what became known as Planned Parenthood (Margaret also coined the term “birth control”). In 1916, Ethel and Margaret opened in Brooklyn the first United States birth control clinic, and received jail time at a workhouse for their trouble. There Ethel nearly starved to death while going on a hunger strike. During this time, a 12-year-old Olive Byrne was being raised in a Catholic orphanage because her father and grandparents had died, and Ethel Byrne was not interested in raising her daughter.

Despite their absence, Olive held her mother and aunt’s politics in high regard. And those ideals would reverberate in Wonder Woman comics too. They were thoughts informed by the circle of New York intellectuals and early 20th century socialists Margaret and Ethel interacted with in Greenwich Village. Among their contemporaries were Upton Sinclair, Emma Goldman, and a very notable Lou Rogers.

Lou was actually named Annie Lucasta Rogers, but because she was told she couldn’t get work as a woman cartoonist, she initially submitted her work as “Lou” via the mail. Her historic drawings of women being able to finally break off the shackles of patriarchy by using the right to vote are echoed throughout Marston’s Wonder Woman comics, just as much as the author’s own fascination with male and female domination and submission.

In the 1910s, feminists and suffragist literature was rife with Amazonian imagery that would live again in the pages of DC. For example, Max Eastman published in 1913 a book of verse called Child of the Amazons and Other Poems. In it, an Amazonian girl must confess to her queen that she has fallen in love with a man. Yet Amazonian law forbids any warrior to marry or bear children until she has produced significant change in the world. Thus the young Amazon abandons her romance, stating she won’t seek love again until “the far age when men shall cease / their tyranny.” This is echoed in Wonder Woman comics as Diana repeatedly, and flatly, refuses to marry Steve Trevor.

In one classic Marston story, a dopey Steve whines, “Angel, when are we going to be married?” Diana coolly fires back, “When evil and injustice vanish from the Earth!”

More appropriate still is Inez Haynes Gillmore’s Angel Island. Published in 1914, after Gillmore co-founded the National College Equal Suffrage League, Angel Island envisions five American sailors who are shipwrecked on an island that’s crawling with “super-humanly beautiful” women with wings. Driven mad by lust, the men capture the women and cut off their wings, leaving them helpless as none has ever walked with their feet. But eventually one of the angels leads a violent revolution “with the splendid, swinging gait of the Amazon.”

This too echoes early Wonder Woman stories of the heroine being chained or rendered powerless by men who would wish to dominate her in every sense of the word. It is, after all, the fate her mother Hippolyta had to free the Amazons from in bloody battle.

Men trying to chain Diana or rob her of her powers by either bounding her bracelets together or removing them was also a common occurrence in ‘40s Wonder Woman comics, particularly those authored by  Marston. In one memorable Marston story, a man unaware that Diana Prince is Wonder Woman even chains her to a stove so she cannot leave the kitchen. Diana retorts with a smirk, “How thrilling! I see you’re chaining me to the cookstove. What a perfect caveman idea!”

The year of 1915, meanwhile, saw the publication of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland, another feminist tale of an uncharted utopia of only women. For thousands of years, this lost paradise’s women have reproduced asexually, not unlike how Diana is born to Hippolyta in the comics after the Amazonian Queen sculpts her out of clay. These women of “herland” know nothing of fear, war, or even basic concepts of property. Unfortunately, three male American students find them and fall in love, each marrying one woman. But then each is thunderstruck that they cannot consummate their relationship whenever they want. In this thinly veiled allegory about the need for birth control, two of the men are banished when one tries to rape his wife, and another expresses confusion as to how rape can be a crime in marriage.

“The women [of Herland] are Amazons because, in the nineteen-teens, reporters routinely used the name to describe suffragists,” Lepore said in a recent article in The New Yorker. “So did suffragists themselves in both the U.K. and the U.S., including Elizabeth Holloway.”

The writers of these stories were also contemporaries and even sometimes neighbors of Olive’s mother, Ethel. And just as Olive helped introduce a worshipful admiration for her aunt Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood to the Marstons, with whom she built an unorthodox home, so too did she seemingly inform (along with Holloway Marston’s love for antiquity) what became the Wonder Woman origin story, which was recently given new life by Jenkins and Gal Gadot in 2017’s Wonder Woman.

There is of course the question of whether the new movies fully embrace these legacies. Lepore, for one, is skeptical, writing in 2020 that “Patty Jenkins seems to be interested in history… But she’s apparently not at all interested in the history of women: it’s got no place in either of her two ‘Wonder Woman’ films, even though they both take place during major inflection points in that history.”

However, the hard-won victories of that history, and how Marston seeded the ideals of its first wave into his comics, is still inextricably linked to Gadot’s Wonder Woman. We see it when she stands with a near divinity over Chris Pine on a beach in the 2017 movie, unaware and undisturbed by the preconceived limits a patriarchal society would place on her; and we see it when Wonder Woman can defeat villainy and greed in Wonder Woman 1984 without having to throw a single punch.

So for whatever bondage iconography that also clearly seeped its way into Marston’s creation, there is a definite through-line of a century’s worth of feminist ideals that connect the fantasies of the suffrage movement to the icon of female empowerment that the women’s liberation movement claimed Wonder Woman to be when she was placed on the cover of Gloria Steinem’s Ms. magazine in 1972. And a hundred years later, it lives on like Amazons and angels on the big screen.

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The post Why Wonder Woman’s Real Origin Story Lies in First Wave Feminism appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[cyberramblings]

Sonic & Tails: Ideas for a new Sonic Plot and Partner System

So, first off, there is a game called Sonic & Knuckles. It is basically just the second half of the overly ambitious Sonic 3. It is not Sonic 4, but it is a standalone game. Anyways, there isn’t a game called Sonic & Tails yet, so let’s make that happen.

Regardless of that, I wanted to talk about my vague conceptualizations of a Sonic game plot. I WANTED to continue my thoughts on other Sonic characters, but my stupid brain can’t stop thinking about “what if Sonic and Tails fought?” Again, this is getting into some borderline fanfiction territory, but I write the blog AND the rules.

Piggybacking off my previous post detailing my thoughts on Tails, I had said that I liked the idea of Tails taking over Robotnik’s lab after he is defeated once and for all (or temporarily, I don’t expect Sonic Team to kill off the main villain, as much as I’d pseudo-ironically love Sonic Adventure 3 to open with Eggman’s funeral while Sound of Silence plays like the overly edgy funeral scene from Watchmen 2009).

Now, this is also getting into some serious Marvel Civil War or Batman v. Superman territory, but stick with me. I feel like one of the most underutilized aspects of Sonic as a series is the cast of characters. Maybe it is just me, but I feel like Sonic fans want to see their favorite obscure character return or see as many characters as possible. Even the most trivial characters have a cult following in the weird Sonic fandom. It was really cool to see the obscure Sonic the Fighters characters return for a boss fight in Sonic Mania, even if they were just an illusion. I am proposing a Sonic game where nearly every characters returns to make up the boss fights.

Now, the first issue with this idea is that typically the “rival” battles in Sonic are a bit hit or miss. Fights against playable characters in the Adventure IMO felt pretty flat and uninteresting. Now, 2D Sonic has some better boss battles against the likes of Metal Sonic and Knuckles and the same goes for Generations, so maybe those could be emulated. Regardless of gameplay, I’d like to see all the weirdies like the playable cast of Sonic Heroes, The Fighters, Emerl, Blaze, Gamma E-102, etc. return at least as boss fights, if not as playable characters, even if they are just piloting the mechs that would typically be piloted by Eggman. I get zero excitement from fighting Eggman anymore, but just put Rouge’s model in the cockpit and suddenly its way cooler with more potential for unique boss dialogue.

So far I have proposed a Civil War-style plot where Tails goes a little bit off the deep end and a Sonic game where the boss fights are all the beloved recurring characters. It should be obvious how these two parts fit together. Perhaps the dual story structure of Adventure 2 is overplayed by this point, but obviously it would fit in with these ideas.

To get into the nitty gritty and provide an example of what I am imagining, consider Metal Sonic. I can easily see a plot that starts with Tails reconfiguring Metal Sonic to be “good”. This bring back a classic character in a new way and allows for a lot of angles for the plot to go, of course borrowing from various Iron Man plots and the Buffy-bot from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

One idea from Sonic Adventure that I would really like to see return is the ever-evolving nemesis concept. Even if Sega never really brings back Chaos, I’d love to see a rival that increases in power as the game goes along. This could totally tie in with my previous idea, with Metal Sonic becoming more powerful over the course of the game, possibly with the acquisition of the Chaos Emeralds like Chaos does. Metal Sonic already has been shown to take on a few different forms, such as at the end of Sonic Heroes.

Another story beat that I’d like to see replicated is the end of Adventure 2 where Sonic and Shadow have to team up. Now, in this hypothetical Sonic & Tails game, that would obviously be Sonic and Tails teaming up, but I’d also love to see them bust out Mecha Sonic as a kind of retconned prototype of Metal Sonic from Sonic 2/3 as a last resort too.

I also love the story beat of all the playable characters at the end of Sonic Adventure bringing the depleted Chaos Emeralds to Sonic for the final fight. I would love to see something like this but a little more weighty. I have a clear mental image of something like the Breath of the Wild loading screen that shows your level of progress though the game, but instead with Sonic endlessly walking towards the camera as the game loads, surrounded by more and more characters walking towards the screen as you rescue/recruit them.

Personally, it seems like Sonic games struggle to balance multiple playable characters, so I’d settle for something like Advance 3 where you pick a partner that enables new moves. I would prefer to find a way to include every possible character as playable, but I would settle for a 3D Sonic game where Sonic (and maybe characters that control near identically like Metal Sonic, Shadow, Silver, Blaze, etc.) is the only playable character, with characters like Tails, Knuckle, Amy, Big, etc. are relegated to the partner role, but swappable.

Playable Characters:

Sonic: Everything normal

Metal Sonic: Just make him control like he does in Adventure 2: Battle, so faster than Sonic but with less moves. I don’t think Metal Sonic has ever been canonically playabe, only appearing as a boss fight or playable in racing games or bonus modes, so that would be my biggest request.

Shadow: Just Sonic but slipperier and please give him a teleport instead of a homing attack

Silver: Again, just Sonic but make his double jump more offensive to represent his telekinetic abilities

Blaze: Her name is BLAZE and she has FIRE POWERS in Rush and Rush Adventure, so please just make her control like Sonic but with a fiery homing attack or her fire hover from Rush

Espio: Just give him some kind of limited invisibility or maybe the tornado attack as a reference to Heroes

Mighty: He could probably be thrown in with his moves from Mania, but this is reaching

Jet: Probably asking too much, but he’s never been playable in non-racing game, so even seeing him with his board in a main game as a kind of joke would be cool

Assist Characters:

Tails, Cream, Charmy: Obviously, limited flight with slightly different characteristics. Cream could alternatively have the Chao attack from Advance

Knuckles, Rouge, Tikal: Either a limited glide or the digging

Amy: Piko Piko Hammer as an attack or as a big jump. She could also maybe be a Sonic-like characters, but I feel like she was shoehorned into the speed role in Heroes

Big: I just like seeing this dumb idiot return. It seems like asking a lot for the fishing rod to be used as a grappling hook, so maybe he could just have a big area attack

Fang/Knack, Bark, Bean: I mean, maybe just show up and fistfight some enemies?

Vector: Something music based, realistically

Chaos: Again, this is reaching, but maybe this ties into Tails taking over Eggman’s research

E-1XX Alpha, Gamma, Omega, etc: It is asking a lot to have all the robots return, but I’d love to see them all as slight variants of “shoot a bunch of missiles” or limited hovering

Omochao: Personally I’d love to see this little guy as an assist who just never shuts up, maybe with some hidden secret-unlocking potential

Vanilla: She doesn’t have a lot of game appearances, I’d take anything

G.U.N. Commander: Again, I just think this would be kinda funny. He could summon robots or just fire missiles

Eggman Nega: Not sure why he would help the main characters, but I’m always rooting for weird stuff like this

Wave, Storm: They could function like Tails/Knuckles or grant a temporary board for tricks or whatnot, maybe like the skateboard powerup from Sonic Generations

Tails Doll: This is dumb, but it would be fun to see as a little throwaway easter egg

So, that was a bunch of random nonsense directly from my brain, but you probably get the idea: find a way to include a lot of characters in the plot and the gameplay. Do I expect any of this to ever happen? No. And honestly, I’d prefer to see another game where I can actually play as characters like Rouge, the robots, Amy, and Cream.

ONE LAST THING: There should really be a Sonic rhythm game. They have so much music, both the classic songs as well as the Crush 40 songs, with tons of remixes of both already existing and even more possible. It would fit perfectly with the gameplay of Sonic, you could just have the notes appear as obstacles or powerup boxes. There are a million different ways to slice it, but it just makes too much sense to ignore. I don’t have enough ideas to make a separate post, though. Maybe I’ll make a playlist sometimes of songs I’d like to see included, but the issue is that it would be way too many songs. As with the main point of this post, I would love to see many different playable characters with very slight changes to their properties.

ONE LAST LAST THING: Since Sega hates localizing Puyo Puyo games, they should just make a new Mean Bean Machine with HD graphics and all the various Sonic characters represented somehow and then release it internationally either as Mean Bean Machine or just Sonic Puyo Puyo. Again, I didn’t have enough ideas for a whole post.

FINAL FINAL FINAL RAMBLES: I kinda wanna play Sonic 06 since I actually just recently found out that Rouge, Omega, and Blaze are playable, but the disc is 20 bucks at gamestop for 360. I also kinda wanna play Unleashed, but not enough to buy it. I really get more excited when more characters are playable, which makes me wish I enjoyed playing Sonic Battle more. I also have my eye on Chronicles if I can ever get the patience to actually sit down and play it. At this point, I should just make my own dang original game or story inspired by the things I like about Sonic.

[onestowatch]

John-Robert Is the Small-Town Teen Poised to Become the Next Big Singer-Songwriter [Q&A]

From a town in Virginia of about 1000 people, the new Nice Life Recording Company / Warner Records-signee, John-Robert, has been working on his music in near-total isolation since childhood. Playing at county fairs and local open mics since age nine, the songwriter learned to single-handedly create arrangements of his favorite acts, using live instruments, looping pedals, and (eventually) Garageband and Logic.

Working in a vacuum allowed the young writer to craft his own style and become entirely self-sufficient. With writing most akin to early Ed Sheeran, Glen Hansard, and Damien Rice, John-Robert’s latest single, “Urs,” feels familiar enough but distinctly his own. Taking the purity of singer-songwriter works of the early 2010s and mixing it with busier, left-of-center production, John-Robert’s “Urs,” produced by Grammy-nominated Ricky Reed, turns the traditionally minimal production of the singer-songwriter into an exciting collage of dissimilar elements.

Ones to Watch got a chance to ask John-Robert about how his upbringing influenced his music, his obsession with Swedish Fish, and what he has been doing to prepare for COVID-19.

Ones To Watch: You grew up in a very small town. How do you feel that growing up in Edinburg, Virginia has impacted your music?

John-Robert: There weren’t many places to play outside of cafes and county fairs where I only had an acoustic guitar and no backing tracks, it really made me focus on my storytelling and songwriting.

Who have been some of your musical heroes growing up?

Ed Sheeran and his work with the Boss RC 30 looper station was incredibly inspiring at a time when I couldn’t form my own band or work with any producers. I was also exposed to Chicago and Queen at an early age. I deeply appreciated their backup vocal work and progressive arrangements. David Foster’s work with Chicago is unmatched.

What was the process of recording your latest single “Urs” with co-producer Ricky Reed?

Plants, Kombucha, rugs. The space is vibey, and Ricky is a calm and collected mad scientist.

You recently opened for Ethan Gruska at The Echo, and it seemed you have a lot of songs that you haven't released yet. Can we expect an EP or LP from you in 2020?

I have a lot of songs, like a hefty grip of tunes. Don’t remind me. Some of them will be on an EP coming out in the next few months.

What is the story behind your Swedish Fish obsession? 

I was sifting through pseudonyms to go under and during that search I posted a SoundCloud demo, where the cover art featured a pic of a Swedish fish movie theatre candy box taped to my face, and deep-fried in the negative filter. I’ve been fascinated with the candy as a concept and just enjoy snacking on em, and sharing em.

How have your plans changed for this year, following the spread of coronavirus? 

I was planning on playing SXSW for the first time and touring the country. Now, I’m planning on curling up at home, toying around with plug-ins, and connecting with people from a CDC regulated distance.

What are your essentials for coronavirus quarantine/isolation?

I’ve been microdosing different viruses to build up a tolerance in anticipation of the next outbreak. Been doing crunches and pushups to fistfight the germs and friends that fracture my baby deer ego. So two 20 pound dumbbells.

Who are your Ones to Watch?

First person that comes to mind is Junior Mesa. He’s my housemate and I’m constantly hearing his music through the roof. He makes me insecure as a musician and there's no limit to his creativity. Kate Bollinger is also fantastic. She’s based out of Charlottesville, her producer John makes cute lofi beats that knock, and Kate has a flow of her own. And lastly GOLF. Unapologetically bedroom pop, and I personally have a lot of memories tied to their tunes.

[kristallioness]

Being patient

Summary: An impatient Aang suddenly becomes a patient.

Word count: 2,134

Author's note: This one's a reminder to myself that if writing a fanfic isn't self-indulgent, then what's the point? In other words, I've been trying to relax after 2 very stressful/exhausting months (I'm glad it's over and I feel much more cheerful now). So last Saturday evening, I was simply surfing on the web (doing the things that make me happy/give me pleasure) when at some point before going to bed, I had this idea. The concept of Aang spending time with Suki was inspired by the ongoing "Imbalance" trilogy. Also, I imagined they look exactly like in the "Old Friends" poster.

----------x----------

"..And then Suki punched me right here in the ribs. I felt like I lost my breath for a couple of seconds. She totally caught me off guard!"

Aang proudly pointed at the invisible bruise under his arm. Katara gave him a slightly unimpressed glance, turning her gaze back to the open folder in front of her nose on the desk.

"Well, you should count yourself lucky she didn't break anything. Cause that'd mean more work for me. I'll give you a nice healing session as soon as we get home, okay, sweetie?"

The airbender grinned at that suggestion. He laced his fingers and laid his hands on his belly, his grey eyes staring up at the near-white ceiling of Katara's office.

"I never realized how dangerous sparring can be. Especially with her."

"Are you saying I'm going soft on you?"

He stuttered, one hand coming up to the back of his head to scratch it in an awkward manner as his cheeks turned crimson.

"Umm.. well.. compared to her-err.. I mean, we use bending when we spar. Water can't really knock you breathless."

"Unless I drown you."

Aang gulped at her deadpan reply.

"Good point. Maybe you'd like to spar in a fistfight some time? No bending of any kind, just the two of us against each other, one-on-one?"

Katara giggled.

"It's a fight date."

She turned her attention to the paperwork and continued filling in the last form among that particular patient's file.

Meanwhile, Aang opened the third pill bottle she'd given him earlier, and picked a single tiny, round, yellow vitamin from the inside. This one tasted sour, like lemons, but he liked rolling it around on his tongue until the sweet outer layer melted off.

He put the cap back on and grabbed the other two bottles, swirling them around above him using his special marble trick. He sent them flying across the room with a miniature hurricane and they landed back in their proper cabinet, after which he airbended another slice of wind to shut the cabinet door.

"Are you done sh-oon?" he wondered as he chewed the last vitamin to pieces before swallowing.

"Almost. I just need to fill in this last form. Only a few more lines, I promise."

Aang groaned and bended his knees up to have a look at his bare feet. Apparently, dirty shoes of any kind weren't allowed on the examination table. Taking them off had it perks, such as giving his feet some rest from the constant squeezing, or the chance for his toes to sink into the short, but soft fur of the long, white carpet on the floor.

He could still see the other big bruise on the outside of his right shin, from the time Suki tried to literally sweep him off his feet. He wiggled his toes and had a look around the office. According to Katara, it was supposed to be at room temperature, but his feet felt otherwise.

"Hey, could you hand me a blanket?"

"Blankets are for the bedridden, Aang."

"Well, what am I lying on right now?"

"That's an examination table, not a bed," she insisted in a playful tone. Aang pouted and crossed his arms in annoyance, taking a couple of deep breaths to warm himself up with firebending.

Katara stifled her laughter as she stood up from her armchair and unbuckled her belt, pulling her short-sleeved coat over her head. After she'd tidied up her loose hair, she approached her husband from behind and surprised him by flinging the coat in the air. She let it land on his upper body and her fingers began tickling him as she attempted to tuck him in.

"But my coat isn't for the bedridden. Here you go, sweetie."

Her size was so small that it barely covered his chest and stomach, but Aang appreciated the gesture nonetheless. He gave her a loving smile.

"Thanks, Katara! Mmm, it's still warm!" he claimed, slipping one hand in through the furry collar. She hummed in delight and kissed the arrow tattoo on his forehead, then returned to her desk to finish the paperwork.

The airbender stretched himself and released a loud yawn, folding his arms and resting his hands on the pillow under his head. When he pricked up his ears, he could hear the scratches of her pen against the pieces of paper. The way the armchair rubbed against the rest of her clothes whenever she moved or fidgeted in her seat.

His "bed" was kind of stiff, but much more cosy than what he and the air acolytes were used to sleeping in. He couldn't help it if Katara's office was so quiet and practically begging him to doze off. The silence was killing him and slumber did seem very appealing.

"How much longer?" he asked drowsily, releasing another yawn in the end.

"The more you bother me, the more it'll take."

Aang heeded her advice not to bother her anymore. He simply shut his eyes and waited for sleep to conquer him.

Katara took another five minutes before she happily dropped her pen in the pencil holder and put the papers back between the patient's file. She opened the lower left drawer and placed it between all the rest in correct alphabetical order.

"Done! We can go home now, sweetie."

Her husband didn't budge.

"Aang?" she repeated, slowly getting up from her armchair to check what's wrong since he didn't answer.

Katara sighed in relief once she walked up to him and saw that he'd fallen asleep without her noticing. She couldn't blame him for Suki being such an early bird and having their sparring session so early in the morning that he had to hurry out of the temple just to meet up with her in the city on time.

"Oh, sweetie.."

She perched on the edge of the examination table, steadying herself with one hand. She tenderly stroked his head with the other one before she adjusted his makeshift blanket. He seemed so tranquil that she would've felt guilty for waking him up after making him wait for so long.

Katara noticed the nasty bruise on his shin, which reminded her of the alleged one over his ribs. She stared at the two big pots of clean bending water on either side of the window. If already equipped, why not have the healing session right then and there? After all, what would be a better place for doing it than a healer's office at the hospital?

She summoned a big blob of water and began waterbending it over his body to scan for any more injuries, starting from the soles of his feet. Katara healed Aang's shin and, slowly but thoroughly moving upwards, she detected the impact from the punch on his left side, right above his ribs like he'd described. Luckily, none of the bones seemed to be broken and she was pleased when she couldn't find any more bruises.

She waterbended the remainder of the used water into the sink and got up to go fetch a tin of salve. She smeared it over the bruise on his shin, hoping it'll do the trick and the lesion would disappear within a day or two.

Her fingers ran along the wrinkles of his sash before she spun around to bring the tin back into the cabinet. She wanted to be certain that his lungs weren't injured from the blow either. After she'd washed her hands, Katara stepped over to her desk to grab her stethoscope, then joined Aang on the examination table.

Before taking a seat, she leaned closer to his face and kept her ear near his open mouth for a minute. Outwardly, he didn't seem to have difficulty breathing.

She hopped back up on the bed and put the medical instrument into her ears. Next, she pulled the makeshift blanket down to his waist so she could press the chestpiece against his side to listen. From what she could hear, there was no reason for concern. Apart from the fact that his stomach growled.

"Aww, you poor thing!" Katara murmured to herself. She slid the diaphragm down, a bit closer to the waistband around his middle to check the sounds coming from his empty stomach. If finding food was their biggest problem, she was fine with it.

Aang probably hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. Sparring with Suki in the morning and attending a council meeting with Sokka around noon didn't leave him with much spare time to grab a bite to eat. He'd flown Appa straight to the hospital as soon as the meeting ended, and he'd been there for her to keep her company since.

In order to prolong his nap, Katara decided to listen to his heart too while she was already at it. She tucked the stethoscope under his sash, in hopes of hearing the subtle beats through the fabric of his red vest and the yellow robe underneath. She smiled, the rhythm was as steady and calm as ever.

Her eyes grew wide when suddenly a loud purring sound reached her ears and she couldn't hear his heartbeat properly. He was snoring. Katara released a short giggle since he'd unintentionally managed to scare her so easily. Also, she had an old trick up her sleeve to make him stop.

If she ever woke up in the middle of the night because of Aang's snoring, she'd kiss him. She'd used this trick several times throughout the years. He'd usually kiss her back instinctively or turn on the other side afterwards, which would cease his snoring. At least for a couple of minutes, long enough for her to fall back asleep.

Katara leaned down, close to his face, and tenderly brushed her lips over his own first. Then she pressed them together to kiss him. It was no surprise to her that he stopped snoring and seemed to be returning the kiss through his sleep.

She understood that he was awake when one of his hands came to the nape of her neck to pull her in deeper, and the other one pulled out the earpiece from her right ear.

"Mmpmh.. Katara, what are you doing?"

"Oh, you know.. just checking how healthy you are and finishing your healing session. Did you enjoy your nap?"

"Yeah, I did. You gave me a healing session? While I was sleeping?" the airbender wondered while he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"See for yourself," Katara said proudly, patting his right knee. She pulled the other earpiece out of her left ear and placed the stethoscope around her neck while her husband sat up to check her work. Aang believed her story since he could smell the salve a mile away.

"Thank you, Katara! That was really nice of you. And you said you also gave me a checkup?"

"Mhmm," she hummed, nodding in agreement as one of her hands ran down the rubber tube of her second necklace. Her other hand landed on his heart and tenderly stroked his chest near the spot she'd healed.

"What's the diagnosis?"

"A handsome, 22-year-old young man, who had a couple of bruises on his body from today's sparring session with his sister-in-law. Whose breathing is still pretty much as even, controlled and beautiful as an airbender's should be.."

Her compliments were interrupted when his stomach growled again.

"..and who's in danger of dying from hunger. We're not going anywhere until you've had a bite to eat. So that's why, as your healer, I'm prescribing you with 50 grams of hematogen. Wait here!"

Aang didn't say a word and simply watched how she dashed to the other side of her desk, opened a drawer and picked up something. Katara brought him a tiny nutrition bar that reminded him of chocolate. She unwrapped the top of the wrapper and handed it to him, doing the same with her own.

"Eat up!"

She sat next to him to enjoy the light snack together. Aang knew better than to argue with a healer's orders, so he followed her example and began nibbling on the bar of hematogen.

"Mmm! This is really good! What's it made of?"

"Sugar, grape sugar.. uhh, powdered milk, palm oil, vanillin and processed moo-sow blood."

He stopped chewing and nearly wanted to spit it out, but Katara laid her fingers on his mouth to stop him.

"It doesn't contain any real blood. There's this special protein called albumin that's been taken from a moo-sow's blood. Completely safe for vegetarians to eat."

"Oh, okay.. That's good to know. Thanks for explaining, sweetie!"

He kissed her on the cheek, leaving a few crumbs behind. She started laughing when he pecked them off one by one. Their pet name "sweetie" really lived up to its name.

[tumblunni]

Rambling about my new watchholder oc Mallory

* absolute gremlin child. Eats dirt. Probably more of a monster than most of the yokai.

* at the same time tho, she is like super sunshine friend! She looks kinda gloomy ominous but her personality is actually super bubbly and her biggest priority in life is making new yokai friends and loving them forever. Like, creepy in a wholesome way? She does indeed love horror movies and creepy crawlies and could probably fistfight god, but that doesnt mean she's evil!

* kinda always bored but also easily exciteable? One of her biggest recurring jokes is just ignoring the normal or sane solution to a thing and doing something more fun even if its more difficult or dangerous. Actually i guess its more "fearless" than bored? Or bored of fear, lol. Fearless and doesnt really give a shit about any rules. But again not in a mean way, she doesnt break rules because she wants to piss people off, just like "im not gonna believe this if nobody bothers explaining why its supposed to be so important". But not exactly phrased like that cos that would be rude, lol. So uhh more like just relateable autism feel of not grasping social cues but mixed with a personality thats quite outgoing and uncaring of being judged poorly for not being normal, as opposed to me who's always worried about what people think.

* oh wait thats the word for it!! Free-spirited! Trickster! Like a peter pan type of trickster tho, more than loki. Like just "i am naturally outside the obligations of normalcy" rather than "i am intentionally trying to prank/illusion/manipulate people cos its funny". Or uhh i guess "manic pixie dream girl" but without all the stupid shit that trope has got associated with.

* pretty much just wish fullfillment of "what if i was confident enough to not care what people think and just act like myself no matter what"

* anyway in summary she likes to climb trees n stuff and her reaction to yokai being real is "yay" and her reaction to seeing an undefeatable giant kaiju is to run at it and try and suplex it with her bare hands. She's kind of a badass! Tho lol also her biggest character flaw is her badassness, cos she can be reckless due to the lack of fear. But then also sometimes when everyone is hopeless she really does manage to save the day no matter what, and help inspire everyone else to be brave too!

* though i'm thinking of maybe a character arc where she starts off seeing this as just a fun adventure with no stakes, and it doesnt matter if you take risks cos nobody's gonna get hurt anyway. Like a "this isnt really real, its just my hero's story" sort of thing? When things start getting more dark and she faces things she cant just defeat with simple optimism, it kinda stops being fun anymore. And she has to realize that even if she doesnt care about her own self preservation there's consequences that could happen to her friends and family. And maybe she's already made mistakes that she can't take back, and now she's neck deep in a conflict thats a lot bigger and more insurmountable than she thought. You can't just fistfight something like the abstract concept of hatred for humanity which will continue to be perpetuated as long as the idea keeps taking root. And maybe even yokai you befriended could start to believe it too, after all you've kinda been treating them as just fun toys and sidekicks on a story that's all about you, and dragging them into danger with your recklessness. Even though you're fighting the villains, are you really doing it because you actually care about saving the day? Do you even know what you're saving it from...?

* and similar to her unflappable victoryness being shaken, i think her fearlessness and confidence could also be deeper than they look on the surface. I feel like maybe as the story goes on it could be revealed that its less being fearless and more just not caring about her own safety. You start to see her get more actual consequences from her fights, and it starts to become sort of concerning that she keeps brushing it off as no big deal. Laughing it off. Wondering why her friends are even sad that she got hurt. And maybe she isnt really happy all the time and 100% secure in who she is, she just tries to hide any signs of doubt because she feels like nobody would care. And that she has to always be the funny class clown or else nobody would want to be her friend. And like.. She doesnt even really believe that she's great, believe that she's fine as she is. She's more aware of her weirdness than she lets on. She's constantly, paralyzingly aware that everyone thinks she's a freak. She did use to try and change herself to fit in, but she kept failing at it and it never helped her get any friends. Or when she did think she made a friend they'd turn on her whenever she slipped up and showed a crack in her mask of the perfect normal person. The perfect normal person they wanted her to be.. Constantly changing into WHATEVER anyone wanted her to be. The only reason she doesnt do that anymore is that she lost all hope in it working, not that she actually gained confidence in her true self. And even when she's npt conciously doing it she's still subconciously trying to be what people want her to be. She has to always be funny, always be fearless, she has to cling to the few parts of her weirdness that people dont seem to hate. And now she has to be the hero. She has to carry all the dreams of everyone she's met along the way, while never letting them know when she's scared she wont be able to help make them come true. She's always just laughing it off and never being fully open with any of her friends, because she's scared they'll hate her. ..

* so uhh.. Yeah. Personal experience of that. Personal experience of trying to fit into negative stereotypes of autism because thats what everyone saw me as no matter how hard i tried, and also it was the only form of autism theyd treat positively, somehow. Like just be the "funny one" and dont challenge any of their assumptions ans they'll leave you in relative peace. Put up with some degree of degredation to avoid the even worse version. And i was doing all of this at a very youbg age before i even knew i was autistic or what autism was, but i could still feel how people treated me differently and how i had to friggin agree with it or else they'd never let it go. Gahhh.. It was all way too complicated and dark for a kid to understand!

* so yeah anyway her story arc is going from being a badass funny to being a funny badass? Like she just becomes more genuinely tough and cool when she's not always winning and the stakes dont seem so low and comical AND most importantly you know her real feelings and see that she will indeed continue fighting even when she's scared. And she doesnt try so hard to be cool all the time so it just lets her be more genuine. And form actual relationships with everyone with genuine feelings. So its less "she is badass because its funny" and more "she is a badass because she's a badass". But she's still funny, just in more varied ways than simply "the only reason she won this fight so fast is because jokes". Fighting legit threatening enemies in fights that arent over in five seconds. So they can contain... SEVERAL joke..!!! And also some actual fighting for once!!

* hhh i dunno i am very tired im probably not explaining this well

* oh and i think possibly she has a bit of a complex of feeling she's nothing without her yokai watch? Like the yokai are her first friends who never abandoned her. And she always felt like she was useless and it was her own fault that she didnt have any friends. She first started off being all irreverent and goofy when she got the yokai watch cos she was well into her "i dont care anymore" phase of depression and felt certain these new friends would all realise she was awful eventually and leave, so like.. Why get attatched? Just have fun while it lasts. So maybe actually she shows early signs of her depression by trying harder to be normal whenever anyone shows her friendship. Maybe something where she starts straigjtening her hair or dressing more feminine and then you just see this look on her face like her heart has shattered when someone agrees that she does look better now. (Maybe a new yokai she recently caught who was like super cool and she wanted to impress them?) And she gets compulsively obsessed with it, exaggerating it to a ridiculous degree and starting to change other parts of her appearance and everyone goes from giggling about this weird circumstance to getting REALLY DAMN CONCERNED! And in the end something something the yokai who was an asshole abput her needing to be more feminine slips up and shows his true assy colours to the other yokai and theyre like IT WAS YOU and he's like "what? You should be thanking me for fixing your shitty trainer!" And Then Everyone Beats Him Up Forever. Etc etc moral that real friends accept you for who you are and anyone who tells you you have to change to impress them is not worth impressing. Also maybe some aspect where the yokai dude thinks that mallory is trying to impress him cos she has a crush on him, and thats the moment that manages to snap her out of her depressive funk. Self hate overrided by sheer EWW NO IM A LESBIAN, DUDE i just liked ur cool hat, geez. (Wait was that entire plot idea just an excuse to find a way to foreshadow her getting a crush on hailey in yw3...?)

* and maybe i dunno some sort of dramatic episode where she loses the ability to use the yokai watch and is faced with her self worth issues all at once and its super fuckin sad and we all know eventually she will get to see all her yokai friends again cos the plots not gonna end before finishing all the games but still MEGA SUPER SAD MOMENT ANYWAY (also tearful reunions!)

* also i just heard theres a yokai called furgus thats a big adorable hairball that gives people big hair. So maybe that could be one of the comically easy victory episodes? He uses his power on mallory but her hair is already too fluffy to be floofed! Maybe it backfires and turns his own hair into a boring bowl cut, lol? And then maybe a sequel where he returns for revenge a million episodes later but it just so happens to be during the maddiman boss fight and he accidentally cures his balding. "Noooo dont thank me nooooo" *is forced against his will to become a popular advertosing mascot for hair cream* *like straight up just gets sucked into the nearest bottle and sealed like a genie* *cursed forever to fame and fortune and a million dollar salary*

* lol i dont think im as funny as the actual yokai watch writers but i have a few ideas at least. This will be fun to draw!

[littlebundleofbolts]

Have you been able to form any bonds of camaraderie with any of the other weaponformers?

There had been many opportunities for the newly modified rifle-former to socialise with her fellow weapons, ever since she bonded with her Targetmaster and was transferred from her holding cell to more suitable accommodations on the ship. The Minibot Deck, or The Armoury as they jokingly called it, was the one place where LS was free from Cyclonus’ overbearing scrutiny and able to escape into her own head.

She was currently sitting in the common room, where the other weapons hung out during their down time. Straight away it was very clear who had willingly undergone the change and who was here by force.

Fistfight was their unofficial leader and partnered with Shockwave, the one responsible for their current forms to begin with. He was a sadistic rifle with a disturbing intrigue in dissecting other automatons. Second to him was Wingthing, a manipulative bat/cannon hybrid and Soundwave’s partner.

LS learned very quickly to stay out of their way.

The other Weapons seemed to have found their own click. There were the Nebulans, a weird bunch of bots who were the oldest among their ranks and apparently somehow responsible for the creation of the Targetmaster concept, but she couldn’t recall ever hearing of such or planet or the language they spoke in private.

She liked a few of them though, like Caliburst, who secretly loved acting and had this strange obsession of keeping in character. Tip-top who used to be part of a travelling circus, playing the part of the “strong man”. Singe is a hopeless romantic and Sunbeam likes surfing.

Next was a unique breed of hydrobots who could combine together to form the unstoppable Piranacon. They all shared a love for hunting their prey, causing mayhem and drinking highgrade.

Lastly, you had the Beastformers. They were the most alien to LS, even more so than the Nebulans. They seemed to have no difficult bonding with their new masters, and quickly adjusted to this new life style. Perhaps it was because they saw the bond for what it was on a primal level, a worthy beta submitting to a strong alpha. They were also the most dangerous of the weapons, as nearly all of them indulged in cannibalism, and everyone pretty much avoided them whenever possible.

The orange femme had been advised by the others to not invade their territory, but she slowly learnt each of their designations by eavesdropping and asking enough questions. First there was Gatoraider; a black and green cannon who is actually an alligator, Razor-Sharp; a semi-automatic crab who can claw her way through any metal, Chro; the ever loyal crossbow who is always perched on his Targetmaster’s shoulder, and Cutgut; a panther with a particle cannon on his back.

There were a few other Weapons who had split off into small groups, but those were the main three. LS originally stuck close to the minibots she arrived with, but was slowly drifting from them and becoming increasingly disturbed by how they were slowly adjusting to their imprisonment and sympathising with their captors.

She contemplates why that might be when large talons landing on the table she is sitting, causing her to cry out. The claws pierce the thick material like styrofoam and a veil of the midnight sky engulfs her as the pair of wings stretch out and fold in on themselves.

“You have yet to find a flock.” Chro trills. His blood red optics observing her intently, like a hungry hawk spotting a field mouse.

“Believe me I’m not usually this reserved.” She smiles nervously as the crow settles in front of her, preening his feathers. “It’s easier for you guys, you’re just naturally drawn to each other.”

He was not listening to her. Lifting his pointy helm up and looking her over, quickly zoning in on her faceplate.

“You upset your Master.” He tuts, jerking to the fresh dent on her frame.

She flinches and covers her burning cheek. “We had a disagreement.”

“You have many disagreements.” He states simply. Her rebellious nature was not news to any of them. Talk was already beginning to spread about the disobedient weapon and her operator who was doing a poor job of disciplining her. “You’d best learn to behave or your Master will throw you away.”

“Why wouldn’t I want to be thrown away?” She quails. “I don’t want to be here, I don’t want to be a Decepticon and I don’t want to be someone else’s property! I don’t even like him. He’s cruel and horrid and vile!”

It really says something when her most pleasant experience since being here was when Cyclonus forgets she even exists.

“There is no such thing as a bad Master only a bad Drone.” Chro whispers, optics glowing. “Do you know what happens to unwanted weapons? They get recycled.”

The femme freezes and a cold wave washes over her as the avian gets right up in her energy field and cocks his helm to the side curiously. His penetrative stare bores right into her gentle blue optics and into her spark, as if trying to deceiver a mystery.

“What is your power?” He asks instead.

“My what?” She blinks and leans back, feeling very small and very vulnerable.

“Your special ability.” He elaborates, following her movements. “What is it that makes you so special and your antics tolerable? Tiptop’s blast de-stabilises anyone caught in it’s range, Sunbeam’s charge blinds his foes, Seawing inspires fear in his opponents. Everyone here has a unique ability. Now, why were you chosen? Why were you singled out from the rest of the runts in that cell. What is it that makes you so special?”

She gawks up at him, speechless.When Cyclonus handled her she saw no difference in her performance than that of a regular rifle. Shockwave did not construct her with any special modification or any sort of personalised ammo only she could use. She was ordinary in every aspect.

“I don’t know.” she eventually admits.

“Disappointing.“ Chro sighs bitterly. “You are a disappointment. A burden on your Master. If you do not improve in your training then you will not be able to protect him.”

LS rises to her pedes and slams her fist down on the table, dentae bared and soft baby blue optics hardening into a chilling storm that matched her roaring energy field at how Chro dismissed her own injury but felt entitled to scold her for not wanting to protect her captor.

“Am I suppose to care about his well being when he shows little concern for mine? You may find enjoyment as a slave but I was not forged to be a mindless drone!” She screams. Silence falls and all helms snaps towards them as the femme lets out all the frustration she had been feeling since her capture. “I will not play the role of a singing bird in a decorative cage!”

The avian flinches at the sudden backbone but does not move from his perch as the femme stands over him, the very space around her crackling with traces of transwarp energy.

“Maybe.” He hisses darkly, with a tilt of smugness in his vocals. “But even a caged bird is allowed out every once and a while if she can prove herself trusted enough to return to her owner.”

Large wings like cloaks of shadows snap out and Chro takes off, flying for the exit and not once looking back at her as he passes the fresh hold that she herself cannot cross without an escort or her Master’s permission. The rest of the weaponformers observe the orange femme with a mixture disapproval and pity. One by one they turn away from her, either going back to their conversations or following Chro’s example and walking freely out of the Armoury.

Isolated, the femme gets up and retreats to her personal quaters where she will sit and wait until one of the guards comes to collect her for one reason or another, or until her Master finally returns for their next training session.

[mdwatchestv]

American Gods 1x01: The Bone Orchard (That’s What She Said)

Welcome mortals to the “American Gods” recap/snarkfest/gif party/ramblings/whatever this blog is! This Sunday was the first of the 8 episode first season of “American Gods” based on the novel penned by Neil Gaiman, and brought to roaring blood-soaked life by Bryan Fuller and Michael Green. I have mourned daily at the alter of my “Hannibal” shrine ever since its cancellation and have been counting down the days until my eyeballs would be blessed by his unique weirdness once more. And blessed they were oh lord! Hallelujah!  BLESSED.

The original novel of “American Gods” is a beloved genre classic and a seemingly insurmountable work to be adapted to a visual medium. The nearly 500 page tome is filled with hundreds of characters, tangental subplots, fantasy dream sequences, thousand year flashbacks, and all topped off with a healthy serving of general weirdness. However the massive scope of the “American God”s story actually lends itself quite well to television (in the right hands of course). The world and vision of Gaiman's novel is large and many of it's rich characters merely cameo in the story’s main action. This creates a magical sandbox rife with gaps to fill in, and character's to play with. For the right creatives who understand the tone and nature of this world, the possibilities for storytelling are nearly endless. Yes there is a through line plot to the novel, but as a road trip story at heart, it's more about the journey than the destination.

But that being said, manifesting complex fantasy worlds in the space of a television hour can be a daunting task. Not so however for Mr. Fuller and Mr. Green who spaketh: "Order me one thousand gallons of your finest, maple syrupiest blood and once thou hath poured that blood upon our earthly vessels bring unto us the finest character actors in all the land, set the scenery in their mouths and implore them to feast upon it." I mean, I'm 99% sure that's how those concept meetings went. Because while there is a lot to praise in the first episode, the crowning achievement is it's cast.

After a blood slinging fiesta flashback of vikings bringing their mythology to the shores of America, we are introduced to our hero, ex-con and fresh widower Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle). A role like Shadow is a deceptively challenging one. As the audience's way into the story the character lacks the obvious flash of some of the other characters, and must also remain grounded while being barraged by gargantuan performances from some of the best acting talent in the world. Shadow's humanity is the very core of the show, and he must hold balloon strings of believability for the audience. He must be a rock in a rushing river of- okay you get it. No shade to Ricky Whittle’s body of work, but it was unclear if he would be up to the task. But trust and believe if he didn't rise to the occasion. While Shadow doesn't get any super powers, or even any of the snappiest one liners, Whittle keeps him just as compelling and sympathetic as any of the supporting cast. Also have you seen the ARMS on that guy? GOOD NIGHT!

I feel like it's pretty worthless of me at this point to expound further on how Ian McShane is one of our greatest television actors. How his performance is an effortless joy, and every second of his screen time is a masterclass in performing. It would be insulting to even bring up what a difficult and make-or-break character Mr. Wednesday is because Ian McShane has never felt a lick of anxiety in his life. He has already rolled up, gotten it in one, and blazed off into the sunset. Praise be. Hallelujah. 

But the greatness doesn't stop there oh no. This is a show that has BETH GRANT in essentially a costar role. This is the base layer we are building from. BETH GRANT is the base coat, Ian McShane is the rich color, Ricky Whittle is the smooth preserving top coat, and Jonathan Tucker, Betty Gilpin and Pablo Schreiber are the textured glitter you sprinkled on top because you DESERVE GOOD THINGS.

Real quick though, let's break down what actually happened in the first episode. Shadow Moon has just gotten out of prison to find his wife has not only died but spent her last earthly moments cheating on him. With no where else to go he agrees to work for the mysterious Mr. Wednesday and thats when things START to get weird. First Shadow gets into a fistfight with a seven foot tall leprechaun and wins a gold coin which he then throws onto his wife's grave (for plot reasons I promise). Then he gets kidnapped by millennial Draco Malfoy who lives in a VR headset, beaten up by Droogs, and finally lynched.

The aim of the “American Gods” novel is to explore what culture, in a culture defined by it's composition of other cultures, is distinctly American. For example the way the very nature of the road trip story is American, or the exportation of media and technology is American, or in this case, the way lynching is American. Although on its surface a fantasy story, the book delves deeply into the mystery of the American experience and the elements that make it up. Our country's history is both inspiring and grotesque, full of soaring achievements and unconscionable failure and the novel grapples with this duality. The TV incarnation of the saga seems every bit up to the challenge, and I think more than ever we need art that is unafraid to investigate and pull apart our culture. This scene is as much about our biracial lead pulling the noose from his own neck as it is seeing him brutally strung up. 

That was all very serious I know, but I also want to assure you that above all this show is FUN and it's FUNNY. Seriously. Bryan Fuller has long proved himself to be master of complex tonality and this show is no different. Like how “Hannibal” was about horrifying cannibalism but also never failed to make you a little bit hungry. Or like “Pushing Daisies” was about the most precious and pure hearted romance between a boy and a girl that he was in danger of murdering at any second. Fuller is a master of the sublime, and with the help of Michael Green, American Gods is shaping up to fit into is oeuvre (film school word) nicely.

So that's “American Gods”! A bold, expansive, extremely promising new show of consummate insanity and weirdness. Let's meet back here in a week to talk about episode two!

XO MD

Hahahaha just kidding, did you REALLY I wasn't going to talk about it???? Did you think I was going to ever, even for a second, skip over THE scene to END ALL SCENES? Did you think I was just not going to address this MAN EATING QUEEN.

FUCK. I went to a preview screening of this episode and during this scene there were a few nervous titters and bursts of shocked laughter that petered out into a slack jawed silence. If you have read the book this scene is seared permanently into your brain. Upon learning of the intention to make a show this image is likely the one your mind immediately and graphically supplied. "Are they going to do it? How are they going to do it? What will it look like? What will SHE look like?" Relative newcomer Yetide Badaki is completely enthralling and totally fearless in this career making role. It would be so easy to make this scene exploitative, but Bilquis is a complex and poignant character and Badaki captured both her strength and desperation.  

Sorry I'll calm down. Something else I admire about Bryan Fuller's work is his willingness to alter works to be more inclusive. For example “Hannibal” was cast largely color-blind, and several characters who were male in the original books were made female for the small screen. Despite boasting one of the most memorable scenes ever put to the page, Bilquis' story line in the books is tragic, short, and somewhat unsatisfying. Fuller and Green have promised to expand upon the storylines of several female characters and I for one am ready to see this old god truly let loose.

Ok XO for real this time.

;)