#Comedy & Tragedy

[shadewood45]

Amp [from @keruukat] and my Lost Identity guys, Comedy [Heart] and Tragedy [Mind]

[fireemblems24]

Chapter 8 of Scarlet Blaze

Spoilers for up to Ch 8 beneath the cut. This chapter fucking sucked.

Also, I know I tagged this as SB, but be warned this was pretty critical of it. If anyone is actually still browsing tag and thinks I should remove it, I will.

STORY

Hell, yeah, Dimitri was taking names.

This plot is . . . kinda stupid. I feel like Edelgard is just running back and forth the whole time, accomplishing nothing.

LAMO, Omg, she just straight-up blamed all the deaths from the previous battle on . . . Claude 😂

Edelgard really be like "Why did Claude make me hit him!"

I'm pretty sure the writers didn't intend for SB to read like a Monty Python skit, but Edelgard has less self-awareness than Sir Lancelot when he kept apologizing for slaughtering the wedding party because at least that he was aware enough to apologize.

Oh, Randolph. So how many times does he die this time?

So, like, does Shez want people to get executed if they flip sides? He's like, geeze, how dare Claude and Dimitri forgive people.

Shez is like "I don't understand a word you say Edelgard, but I'm helping you slaughter your way across Fodlan because you may rub off on me!" More "SB is a comedy in disguise" fuel.

I wish I picked F!Shez for every route. I like her VA a lot more. Plus, I've seen this personality on a male character in the countless number of shonen anime and manga I've watched/read, but not as much in a woman. And unlike M!Byleth who's gorgeous, M!Shez is alright, but not super hot or anything.

So Lindhart mentioned that the Kingdom and Alliance can rally against the Empire because of the relics and crests. And like, I don't see how killing Rhea will make that power vanish and people not desperately want it. I feel like so much of Edelgard's spiel is an edgelord's power fantasy with no basis in reality.

This soldier is like "Dimitri labeled everyone who sided with his uncle as guilty in the tragedy of Duscur!" Lamo. Except it's true. Would've been interesting if it wasn't and see how Dimitri handled that. I sometimes wish he got more grey situations bc the writing in Hopes so far he's just . . . the good guy. Like straight-up the hero, no questions. Which, I love because at heart that's what Dimitri is, but I wish the writing would corner him anyways.

Oh, fuck. It's Sylvain. Oh fuck. I don't want to fight him. That sucked.

Count Rowe is being a backstabbing moron. I love how it's always the evil ones that side with Edelgard. It's an underrated thing no one talks about.

And now I have to fight Rodrigue :( Feels bad, killing Blue Lions+ members for the crime of defending themselves.

Ok. It's an unquestionable fact that when you find yourself fighting Annette, you are the villain. This is just truth.

Pretty sure this is heading to a temporary truce between Claude and Edelgard. Which, Claude's (and the Alliance's) funeral, I guess, lamo.

SHEZ & PETRA B SUPPORT

Petra's asking Shez about mercenaries. Questions if Shez would work for the enemy if they offered more money. Aww, damn. You don't have an option to say yes. :(

At least it's somewhat based in trust on their employer (and to get future ones) and not just mindless fangasming. I wouldn't want that in GW or AG either.

DOROTHEA & HUBERT B SUPPORT

This is their only support.

Hubert has a letter from the opera company and wanted to talk to Dorothea, so he's giving it to her in person.

Ohhh, he's bringing up how Dorothea hates violence, but stays and fights in the war rather than returning to the opera.

Glad this is finally getting addressed. Letting Dorothea talk.

It's part wanting to fight alongside her friends and part wanting to represent commoners in Edelgard's army. But also to score a rich husband.

Honestly, much better than whatever the fuck their Houses final support was.

HUBERT & FERDINAND B SUPPORT

So other popular ships got amped up (Dimilix, Dimidue, Marihilda - strangely not Sylvix though). So did the gay get turned up here?

Ferdinand is up late and Hubert wonders why. Ferdinand is studying the law to try and get his father arrested.

Oh, Ferdinand brought up the fact Hubert's father died. Putting Hubert to the question about executing his own father and mad he didn't judge his father in public

Hubert argues that his father would never have been found guilty.

God, that was SOOOOO much meatier than "I wanna serve Edelgard the best!" "No I wanna!!!!"

Monica took over the "pathetic Edelgard simp" to Hubert's "competent Edelgard simp" so Ferdinand could finally fucking get to run.

Ferdinand so far is 10000% the best part of SB (I'd say Petra competes, but I like her better in AG so far).

SHEZ & FERDINAND B SUPPORT

Shez thinks Ferdinand is faking enthusiasm. Not like that. Lamo. He's just overcompensating for his father's failure.

Ferdinand feels powerless and useless. I wish he was the MC.

Shez just wants to help Ferdinand feel better.

Ferdinand wants to surpass his father.

It's a repeat of his stuff with Edelgard and Hubert, but it's by far the most compelling part of SB.

PETRA & HUBERT B SUPPORT

Hubert is checking on Petra to make sure she feels comfortable and temps her with staying in the Empire, but Petra's like "naw."

Worth noting that Brigid is still under the thumb of the Empire. So Petra's a hostage basically forced into this war in order to secure the freedom of her country.

And they can't even go public yet, fearing the citizens get pissed off. Man, the Empire must be full of bloodthirsty land grabbers.

Go Petra! She low-key threatens Hubert and forces them to uphold their promises. Nice seeing her have a backbone.

PETRA & FERDINAND B SUPPORT

Ferdinand sung to Petra to ask her to spar. It's really cringe. Like, realllllly cringe. I would've been embarrassed if I wasn't playing alone.

He thinks this is some Brigid custom, but song and dance is only involved with religious ceremonies. Petra calls him out for finding her country so silly.

It's a mistranslation

Petra owned Ferdinand in this support and we are here for it.

FERDINAND & LYSITHEA C SUPPORT

Talking tea. Can relate.

Lysithea was ready to eat the food and bail. Nice.

But Ferdinand wanted to ask her about joining the commoner class. Lysithea insists she's fine with it and wants to.

Ferdinand doesn't know any de-nobled nobles who are happy. Lysithea know he only knows ones who got kicked out, he's not wrong.

Then he's like, you can't join them! Then you can't change anything anymore. But like what is he fighting on Edelgard's side for?

She, of course, doesn't have a future.

MONICA & BERNIE PARALOGUE

Bernie's enjoying her socially isolated life when Monica needs her help with something because there's no one else around.

You can have Shez agree she shouldn't come, and he says he'll slow them down, lamo. Bernie is offended.

They need to rid bandits out of a cave.

So his Duke is part of it. And he's had problems finding the Fetters of Dromini because of a TWSITD spy. It's also related to whoever kidnapped Monica.

So all I get is Shez, Monica, and Bernie. Only Shez has even looked at a battlefield and the other two are level 1 an 2. I can make 1 an adjunct, but not both. Ugh. Gotta go level at least one up.

Oh, hey, Myson.

I forgot how good of a unit Shez is lol.

Seems like Bernie actually has a decent mom. Bernie just wants to hide in the caves though. Monica advises against it.

DOROTHEA & MANUELA PARALOGUE

This one is easier since they're both leveled up already.

Everyone is fangirling over them. Dorothea assures Manuela that time hasn't tarnished her beauty, but she doesn't buy it.

They wanted Shez as a bodyguard because he's not a crazed fan. I wish real life celebrities would just whip out daggers on ridiculous fans.

This one's more entertaining than the last one. Random thieves are fans and if you defeat them with whoever they're a fan of (Dorothea or Manuela) they join you, lamo. Good both of them are already leveled up too.

Aww, Hanneman showed up to rescue Manuela.

The bandits were swarming the town because of the war. It's nice to see more acknowledgement of how Edelgard's war is screwing over the common folk.

Glad to see Hanneman get a nice little shout out despite getting demoted to NPC. Dorothea and Shez basically told them to get a room, lamo.

STORY/MAIN FIGHT

Edelgard is the least effective conquer I've seen in fiction.

"Defeat Dimitri" - How about, no.

I see "persuade Mercedes." Does that mean I need to bring Jeritza? Because it's not like Hubert or Edelgard are masters of persuasion.

"Defeat Dedue." I hate this. Monica's like, "If Dedue's here, then Dimitri is too." Even SB ships them.

Haha, they flipped sides to Dimitri after he was like "I don't want to kill you, please fight for me instead." And like, no shit?

Aw, shit. Now I have to fight Dimitri.

Oh, now I get to fight Ingrid too. Guys, I'm having so much fun right now. It doesn't help at all that SB is boring as fuck.

Oh, shit. Fuck. What the fuck. Ingrid just died. 😭😭😭😭😭😭

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Oh shut the fuck up, Edelgard. "Oh, this is so painful." IDK maybe stop trying to conquer everyone who doesn't kiss your ass. You too, Monica. "Oh, she was loyal to the end."

I'm beginning to remember why I hated Edelgard so much in CF. She's such a self-righteous idiot incapable of taking responsibility for her shitty actions AND has no sense of self-awareness.

Dimitri and Dedue sound so sad 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Dedue and Dimitri both taking the credit, meanwhile prissy ass is like "oh, wow, so sad these people died. No idea why."

Shit, Dimitri just mentioned Glenn. He sounds so broken up. Glad Dedue is giving Ingrid the credit for her own choices and actions.

She died defending everyone she loved.

I bet Edelgard will find a way to blame Rhea for Ingrid's death rather than take any responsibility for all the death she causes.

Only Dorothea fucking cares about Ingrid.

"We are nowhere near achieving our goals in the Alliance or in the Kingdom." - Edelgard. I can't fucking understand how some people argue she's isn't an Imperialist.

At least she's admitting she's fucking stupid with her army leadership inabilities.

I'd tell Edelgard to go fuck herself, but that implies a level of pleasure she doesn't deserve. #JusticeforIngrid #StoptheImperalists

xxxx

[wildfloweronwheels]

Well… here she is! A first clip from Audrey released to Variety ahead of our SXSW premiere this Sunday 🤩 We’re in competition as part of the Narrative Feature Film Category and honestly I reckon our twisted lil’ dark comedy has a shot…

Our Greek tragedy of an Australian cult film has to be seen to be believed and Austin, I can’t wait to show you. What a wild way to pop my feature cherry 🍒

Let’s do this 🍋 https://variety.com/2024/film/news/sxsw-jackie-van-beek-audrey-1235930380/amp/

[thatscarletflycatcher]

Andrew Davies is a weird little man. But I think it is more complex than this.

I definitely care more for his Emma than his P&P and his S&S, mostly for the same reason his NA is well liked: if it isn't humorous, it at least manages to be lighthearted.

The problem with S&S is that it is a story a bit like Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford: it mixes hilarity and tragedy with little to no transition (one of the reasons why I would like to see a Heidi Thomas' S&S); and I feel like 2008 turns it into a heavy tale of doom and gloom, whereas 96 makes it perhaps too much of a comedy.

But also there's the fact that Andy's sense of humor is very different to Austen's: he thinks Mr Collins being greasy is funny. He thinks that Harry Dashwood being fat, short sighted and pale is funny. Basically, Dickens. What he thinks is humorous is not necessarily what the audience reads as humorous.

When it comes to the sex and romance part, I think he's much, much more interested in the sex than the romance, and I don't think at all that the romance is amped up to the sacrifice of humor (that's mainly P&P 05 thing). Like, Darcy isn't made more romantic, he's made more physical and angsty for the sake of what Andy perceives as sex appeal. Curiously in S&S I think at some point he said adding all that about Eliza was a way of making her visible as a victim, as an uncomfortable truth that only exists behind the curtain in the novel. Which I don't think is invalid. You can see the bits of that in the scene where Brandon goes to visit her, or when Marianne asks Elinor "what do men want from us" or something like that. It's just done... very flabbily because overall he seems utterly uninterested in the novel itself. There are a few ideas like that one that are proposed in the script but never fully made cohesive and robust (in general I feel this script feels unfinished and not very focused). IN any case I agree with the universal sense that the way in which the opening scene was filmed was intended to be titillating rather than inspiring any true identification or pity with Eliza.

I don't think the way he horribly messes with Marianne Brandon has as much to do with cheap romance as it has to do with the things he thinks are sexy. We were discussing a while ago with an anon how for example Andy will joke about how Mr Knightley is "a bit of a Humbert Humbert", while at the same time considering and writing him as a sort of heroic figure of the idealized gentleman that can keep the peace in turbulent times not through violence, by through justice, attention and kindness (the whole harvest sequence at the end of Emma is a development of this concept, as is how Knightley is the one that knows and addresses the servants at Heartfield by their names and inquires after their families). The only way to explain this dissonance is to accept that in Andy's mind, the age gap and the power dynamic are kinky and therefore sexy. The taming of Marianne and in general that plotline in S&S are structured around Brandon's sex appeal as dominant and jealous (hence his criticizing Marianne's playing and going into a jealous rage with Willoughby even before he learns about what happened to Eliza).

The rescue in the rain scene is used well in 96 -Brandon's love is the one that alters not when it alteration finds, etc, etc, while Willoughby's selfish abandonment is represented by the cold, dark and distant Combe Magna. There the scene is about the romantic connection between Brandon and Marianne at a symbolic level, even if by that it cannot avoid the "chaser of damaged girls" label (goodness, I have seen terrible takes in this fandom). 2008 lifts it straight from 96, but doesn't really understand what the scene is about; and so it makes it about sex: Marianne goes in the rain apparently to quell the fire of her physical yearning for Willoughby (as we are treated to flashbacks of their touching) and then she's impetuously carried home and almost undressed by Brandon.

Thoughts on an interview about S&S 2008.

Some quotes from Andrew Davies. You can find the interview here, here and here.

About the film itself:

“It will all look very different from the film, which we are pleased with, because we wouldn’t want to come out as, you know, a longer version of the same thing”

Yeah, the very different look of Edward, Marianne and Elinor down to hair color and appearance, the character of Margaret Dashwood, the voice and hairstyle of Fanny Dashwood, the library scene, Brandon’s rescue under the rain… Oh, those were actually the vast majority of things I liked from this adaptation. Shocking. *sarcasm*

About the first scene:

“It’s kind of a teaser, because we don’t know exactly who she is, or who is seducing her, and we found that in the story later on, it’s a very important story”

This isn’t Emma, in which discovering who did this or that is a good part of the plot. That there was a seduction is intended to be a shocking revelation later on.

About Edward and Brandon:

“we were particularly concerned with making the men really worthy of the girls that they get in the end, because that’s is in a way a weakness of the novel (…)  Edward needs to be… kind of more manly (…)  More than a man that he seems in the book (…) I shamelessly tried to think of ways in which he could do more physical things so we got him doing quite a bit of galloping around on a horse and I even wrote him a log splitting scene so that he could show off his muscles (…) Certainly Jane Austen doesn’t give us enough to understand why Marianne should fall for him [Brandon] (…) I emphasized his strong points: that he is a military hero, that he has been a man of action, and that he has got kind of a sad, broken heart story behind him and he has never ever looked another girl since his boyhood sweetheart was lost to him”

Let me unpack this. First of all, he thinks that, so to speak, the girls were cheated, that the men they got in the end were subpar. Why? and this is the important point: because they aren’t MAHNLY enough. What does he think constitutes manliness? Being physical and beefy, dominant men with manpain. That’s it. Honoring the word given? Respecting a lady’s wishes? Loving and caring for someone, even if you don’t think they will pay you back, just because you love them? Being generous, kind, steadfast, loyal? None of those traits seem to be attractive enough for a woman, in Davies’ opinion, nor manly enough.

You cannot write a script about female desires and fantasies disregarding what the original author, a woman, thought and wrote, and do a good work. The whole thing reeks of: “women don’t know what they really want. What they want is what I think they want. They are mistaken. I’ll show them what they really want” M-A-N-S-P-L-A-I-N-I-N-G at its best.

And that’s why (between another reasons) I cannot bring myself to like S&S 08.

[brigittemarlt]

« In the end it was Much Ado that saved me. I was cast opposite Sinéad Cusack, who has this wonderful Irish fire; you have to be on your mettle playing against her. Rehearsals were wonderful – the dialogue between Beatrice and Benedick is so much fun to play. There are huge reserves of energy there: they just keep on chattering away, sparking off each other. It’s almost like they’re having sex, but verbally. We went for the laughs, quite shamelessly. Laughs and romance. Comedy is hard, though: you need a reaction from the audience, and if you don’t get something back you immediately feel off-balance. Tragedy is easier, in a way; if they don’t do anything, you can convince yourself they’re profoundly moved, and that’s why. Possibly they’re just asleep » (Derek´si interview in The Guardian 25/07/2016: https://www.google.fr/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jul/25/derek-jacobi-much-ado-about-nothing-shakespeare-rsc-hamlet)

[jp-hunsecker]

The only thing worse than a modernized adaptation of a Shakespeare play that retains the original dialogue, is a parody of a Shakespeare play that preserves the original temporal/geographical setting but makes the characters say things like “it’s time to make this city great again,” and features a diegetic soundtrack with covers of Roxette, Celine Dion, and Eric Carmen.

Dr. Johnson considered puns to be the lowest form of humor (and he had Shakes in particular in mind), but intentional anachronisms are by far much lower. Also, memo to the filmmakers: the Trump administration ended almost two years ago, and Romeo and Juliet premiered in 1597, so maybe choose targets that are a little more timely next time?

To be fair, Romeo was indeed dumb enough to fall for not one but two Capulet women in the play as written by the Bard; how the makers of this movie, however, could know that defies explanation, since they clearly don’t know or don care about their source material.

In Romeo and Juliet, the character of Rosaline is never seen or heard — a wise choice, assuming she was anything like she’s portrayed in this film. Moreover, she didn’t feel for Romeo the same way he felt for her. Here, though, Romeo’s infatuation is the excuse for the sort of amorous quadrangle that we have already seen a million times before.

It’s like they were going for a Taming of the Shrew sort of thing (they even allude to it), but suddenly remembered that someone had already done that long before and a lot better in 10 Things I Hate About You (which had Heath Ledger in it, a stark contrast to the low-rent Heath Ledger lookalike who plays Romeo in Rosaline).

One of the reasons 10 Things is superior to this drivel is that it never intended to take an apple and turn it into an orange; that is to say, it adapted a comedy into a comedy. It’s not fucking rocket science. With Rosaline, on the other hand, it’s like they thought the original ending was too depressing and just went from there, dumbing the material down from the bottom up.

Again, if the filmmakers had more than a passing knowledge of Shakespeare, they would realize that there’s no need to ‘lighten’ his work. The man wrote 17 comedies, so it’s safe to say he had a healthy sense of humor; so healthy, indeed, that he found room for it even in his tragedies. You see, Shakespeare was no hack; he knew tension must be relieved, and therefore included comic characters even in his more serious stuff; for example, the gravedigger in Hamlet, the porter in Macbeth, and yes, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet.

Now, I’m not saying they should have made Rosaline a comedy revolving around Mercutio instead (expanding a minor Shakespearean character is generally a bad idea; Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, anybody?); I am saying, though, that they should have never made a comedy at all — although, if you think about it, whatever this movie is, a comedy it’s not.

Consider this: Rosaline’s miseducation of Juliet includes having her read from an “erotic book.” Juliet claims “they don’t teach you that in finishing school” (we have no idea what she’s referring too because the film has zero imagination). Rosaline replies “wait till you get to page 74.” Page 74? What about page 69? It would still be crass, but at least it wouldn’t be random. You know you’re in deep shit when your movie makes the audience yearn for the comedic sensibility of Robin Hood: Men in Tights.

Rosaline movie review & film summary (2022) | Roger Ebert The comedy in "Rosaline" is largely due how it thrusts Shakespeare's dialogue into modernity. However, the absurdity of…www.rogerebert.com

“The comedy in “Rosaline” is largely due how it thrusts Shakespeare’s dialogue into modernity.”

What it really does is thrust modern dialogue into Shakespeare (well, as modern as lines like “make [blank] great again” can be two years into the Biden era).

“It gets old quickly when it’s the only laughable effort inserted into the script.”

Actually, the entire script is laughable, which doesn’t mean by any stretch of the imagination that it is funny.

“However, it cuts right through all the formalities of traditional Shakespeare that might not appeal to certain audiences, so it has that going for it.”

That is to say, it has been dumbed down to pander to the lowest common denominator.

Rosaline Review - IGN Intentionallyanachronistic approaches to period pieces are having a bit of a moment in 2022, what with Persuasion …www.ign.com

“The script is an inventive romp through Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet.”

What’s inventive about going back to the same well that has already been sucked dry a long time ago by countless filmmakers and movies before this one?

Rosaline review - Kaitlyn Dever shines in comedic spin on Romeo & Juliet imply by invoking the name Juliet, Hulu's Rosaline, a comic retelling of Shakespeare from the perspective of Juliet's…www.theguardian.com

“Rosaline … understands what makes a good adaptation: a sense of humor at least on par with if not exceeding the original …”

Sure, because Romeo and Juliet was such a laugh riot to begin with.

Rosaline movie review: Slight and overfamiliar Romeo and Juliet remix Kaitlyn Dever is Romeo's jilted ex GF in Rosaline, a sweet but slight new comedy. To Eliza Janssen, the contemporary…www.flicks.co.uk

“ … at this point, tales of rebellious, independent princesses are the standard, not its subversion. The anachronistic feminism of Rosaline doesn’t just ring false — it can barely be heard at this point, over the riot grrl din of past remixed Shakespeare heroines in 10 Things I Hate About You and She’s The Man.”

“ … Rosaline’s obvious love interest Dario (Oscar Isaac-lookalike Sean Teale) is your garden variety YA eye candy.”

Not to mention the Heath Ledger lookalike who plays Romeo.

Rosaline Review: Kaitlyn Dever Is A Winning Lead In Flawed Revisionist Tale Retellings of Shakespeare's plays are as classic as the famed playwright himself. Whether they be a faithful adaptation…screenrant.com

“Retellings of Shakespeare’s plays are as classic as the famed playwright himself … it feels there is virtually no shortage to what filmmakers can do with those iconic stories.”

Watching this movie, you’d swear they’ve officially run out of ideas.

“ … there is initially something jarring about Dever’s Rosaline …”

If by “initially” you mean “all the way until the closing credits,” then I agree 100%.

“While Dever and Teale have genuine sparks, their courtship is a storyline that isn’t entirely necessary.”

Then again, the whole movie is unnecessary.

Rosaline Review: A Hilarious Retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Spoiler Warning is a smart and refreshing modern twist on an iconic Shakespeare tale. The film is a unique and easily…movieweb.com

“Rosaline … makes the story of Romeo and Juliet so much more fun.”

That’s like saying a Passion Play could use more fart jokes.

“Rosaline is funny, dramatic, and relatable that uses 21st-century language and personalities while borrowing elements from the fictionalized story.”

That you personally need to be talked down to as if you were a small child or a Labrador doesn’t make the movie “relatable.”

“Rosaline places the most forgotten Shakespeare characters up front and center.”

Based on the evidence of this film, they should have stayed forgotten.

Rosaline offers an audacious alternative to Romeo And Juliet If the name Rosaline rings a bell, it's because she's the mentioned-but-never-seen girlfriend Romeo was dating right…www.avclub.com

“Adapting screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber have made shrewd, intelligent changes from Rebecca Serle’s book When You Were Mine, on which the film is based, changing the setting and time period from modern day Southern California to Renaissance era Italy. This shift not only provides the proper basis for many of the jokes and comedic hijinks, it smartly disposes of modern trappings, adding a timelessness to the picture and justifying stoner Steve the Courier’s (­­­Nico Hiraga) blessed existence.”

First of all, the only thing for which that shift provides a basis is lazy anachronistic gags, and second, were idiot potheads that common in Renaissance Italy? Because otherwise I don’t see how that character’s existence could ever be justified.

“Maine and her cadre of craftspeople gift her follow-up to Yes, God, Yes … ”

From the truly unique Yes, God, Yes to a movie based on a book based on a play. Talk about diminishing returns.

Rosaline Movie Review: A Fresh Take on a Classic Story Rosaline is a hilariously fun twist on a classic story. Things change where you least expect them to, making this an…mamasgeeky.com

“Everyone knows the story of Romeo of Juliet, but they don’t know this version of it.”

If only there was a way to unknow it.

“There was no need to propel this into modern times and we are thankful they did not go that route.”

Aren’t you forgetting a little something? If 95% of the dialogue can be said to be a little, that is. Oh, but you haven’t forgotten, have you?

“We are also very happy that we didn’t have to listen to the actors speak in Shakespearean for ninety minutes.”

I’ll bet you are.

Rosaline review: Kaitlyn Dever elevates new Hulu comedy | Digital Trends Director Karen Maine's new comedy, , works overtime to find a new perspective in one of the most well-known stories of…www.digitaltrends.com

“Anyone who’s ever caught themselves rolling their eyes at the film’s iconic pair of young lovers will, in particular, likely delight in the ways Rosaline both plays up and pokes holes at their short-lived love story. (That’s especially true of an unexpected homage to The Graduate that Maine, Neustadter, and Weber throw out at exactly the right moment.)”

About that. The movie imagines that Romeo and Juliet would be rather dull together if left to their own devices, but it’s the filmmakers who are giving them a quote-unquote happy ending that no one ever asked for, so whose story is really the one with holes in it?

'Rosaline' Review: Kaitlyn Dever Grounds Fanciful Spin on 'Romeo and Juliet' Before Romeo fell for Juliet, he lusted after her cousin, Rosaline. He exalted her beauty to his friends ("The…www.hollywoodreporter.com

“Directed by Karen Maine, Rosaline recasts the story of its eponymous character as a digestible coming-of-age narrative.”

If by “digestible” you mean that it’s destined to become a turd whose place is in the crapper, you’re absolutely right.

Rosaline Rosaline reimagines Romeo and Juliet's story, offering redemptive thoughts on love as well as problems families should…www.pluggedin.com

“God’s name is abused 13 times, and Christ’s name is abused once.”

That, however, is nothing compared to how Shakespeare’s good name is abused.

ROSALINE: 3 STARS. "a high school story of romance and empowerment in a corset." "Rosaline," a new romantic comedy based on "Romeo and Juliet," alters the dynamics of William Shakespeare's play by…richardcrouse.ca

““Rosaline” is no “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.” Tom Stoppard’s absurdist, existential tragicomic “Hamlet” riff examines the mystery of life.”

But it is absurd in the sense that its very existence is a mystery (in other words, why did they have to go and make this fucking piece of shit movie?).

REVIEW: Rosaline Turns a Shakespeare Classic Into a Forgettable Rom-Com The works of William Shakespeare have remained popular and relevant for more than 400 years, but it seems unlikely that…www.cbr.com

“ … the period setting amounts to little more than dress-up, especially given the modernized dialogue and references.”

“ … it undercuts the impact of the source material — and not in a fun or subversive way. Rosaline turns one of the great works of world literature into an unremarkable teen movie.”

'Rosaline' provides snarky, modern take on 'Romeo and Juliet' If you are looking for another remake of the Shakespeare classic "Romeo and Juliet" fully equipped with Early Modern…www.oswegonian.com

“ … a cast of characters that range in age, race and sexuality is increasingly demanded by audiences, rightfully so.”

Every time I read something like the above I’m reminded of Fran Leibowitz, who once claimed, and I’m paraphrasing here, that art isn’t, or at least it shouldn’t be, a democracy, but rather an intellectual aristocracy. And rightfully so.

Romeo and Juliet Riff Rosaline Has Star-Crossed Intentions and Execution Between 10 Things I Hate About You, the Twelfth Night-inspired She's the Man and 2013's quirky zombie comedy Warm…www.pastemagazine.com

“[Rosaline is] a misguided work that highlights the insincerities that have emerged in Hollywood’s recent charge towards “inclusion” and “diversity.””

[gizkasparadise]

Recs! Top 10 dramas this year

My top 10 dramas that aired in 2020! These are not always Objectively the best, but rather my favorites/ones that crossed off all the tropes. Note that I haven’t seen or haven’t completely finished the heavy hitters It’s Okay Not to Be Okay, Hospital Playlist, Crash Landing on You, and Itaewon Class yet, but they all got high ratings

10. 18 Again | shitty powerpoint

Premise: Remake of the Zac Efron/Matthew Perry movie 17 again. Washed-up, tired husband gets transported into his teenage body and Shenanigans ensue

Highlights: The plot twists being all about how the main guy is actually a v nice man, an entire family ready to fight someone in a parking lot, moments of A+ comedy, so so much dad energy

9. Into the Ring | Review

Premise: local woman tries to take on the corruption of her district politics. her soon-to-be boyfriend says “kick their ass, baby, i’ll hold your flower”

Highlights: quirky sense of humor that stays consistent throughout the drama, one of the best OTPs with really refreshing dynamics, a chaotic good and a lawful good team up to fight crime! and fall in love!

8. Kingdom 2

Premise: zombies in joseon korea somehow don’t stop bullshit attempts to take over the throne

Highlights: Production Value(tm), great acting, great set design, lots of high-paced action

7. The Romance of Tiger and Rose | Review

Premise: A screenwriter accidentally ends up writing herself into her own television show, where she is in the role of a princess who dies by episode 3

Highlights: fucking hilarious, no really, probably the funniest drama i watched this year, a murder cat husband, A+ trope and self-awareness, cute!

6. Twisted Fate of Love | Shitty Powerpoint

Premise: A general travels 8 years back into the past in order to stop an uprising against the emperor and she tries to conduct many assassinations. local corrupt politician--who is actually one of the said uprisers--falls hard and tries to wife it up

Highlights: T H E power couple, anti-hero male lead who actually stays an anti-hero, one of the rare shows where i like the male and female lead equally, this will probably be higher but it hasn’t finished airing yet/being subbed yet

5. Flower of Evil | shitty powerpoint

Premise: a very attractive detective is married to a very attractive artisan who is basically a stay-at-home dad who cooks real well. this is all way too good to be true, and turns out it is, because her husband might just be a serial killer

Highlights: A C T I N G, one of my favorite couples this season, fast-paced and intriguing plot, just a really good time (but not for the characters)

4. Kairos | shitty powerpoint

Premise: a young woman, whose mother is missing, realizes that she’s able to call a man who lives one month in the future at 10:33pm every night. said man has just had his entire life torn apart. the two team up in an attempt to stop the tragedies in their lives 

Highlights: great character development, tight execution, fast-paced, so many WHAT THE FUCK moments, cliffhangers that get you AMPED, great plot start to finish 

3. Love and Redemption | shitty powerpoint

Premise: oh boy. *deep inhale* many years ago, heaven and the devil realm battled in a cosmic shit show, with THE GOD OF WAR being the trump warrior for heaven and THE STAR OF MOSHA being the trump warrior for the devils. THE STAR is defeated and the GOD OF WAR disappears

cut to today: xuanji is a girl who belongs to a warrior sect, and she was born with the inability to understand the 6 senses. she meets sifeng, who belongs to the most dramatic clique you’ll ever see, and he’s forbidden to love. GUESS WHAT HAPPENS.

and oh yeah she’s the reincarnated GOD OF WAR and so so so much shit is going to go down for everyone and it’s all set to a bitching soundtrack

Highlights: this was 100% percent my brand of crack, surprisingly feminist, surprisingly not heteronormative. just lots of pleasant surprises from start to finish on this one and awesome characters across the board

2. Go Ahead | Review

Premise: A slice of life/melo that follows a found family of two single dads and three kids as they all grow up together. as high schoolers, they’re separated by Circumstances, but they reunite 8 or 9 years later

Highlights: you wanna cry? this will get you to cry. probably the best parent/child relationships i’ve seen in a drama, lots of beautiful family moments across the board. all the mains are wonderful. deals with issues such as toxic parenting, emotional abuse, depression, and abandonment in real/respectful ways

1. Mystic Pop-Up Bar | Review

Premise: a shaman pisses off god 500 years ago and to repay she has to solve the grudges of 10,000 humans (i think, idr the actual number). to do this, she runs a pop-up bar where she gets humans magic!wasted and enters their dreams. she teams up with a retired ghost!cop-turned-sous chef and a magical baby young man whose touch gets others to tell their secrets

Highlights: my favorite female lead of the year, my favorite found family of the year, my favorite male leads of the year, my favorite ship of the year, the best  the best

[mermaidsirennikita]

Hello, I hope I'm not bothering you, but do you have any good "enemies to lovers" recs, may they be books or movies?

I neeeever am bothered by people asking for recommendations.  Those are my favorite asks because I am nothing if not in love with my own opinions, lol

Books

Obviously, The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn, the best Bridgerton book, because I’ve been blogging about it lol.  If you haven’t read it, it’s basically “rake tries to seduce the beauty of the ton, beauty’s older sister cockblocks him, he realizes that He Is Into It” 

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne is a classic.  Very light and fluffy contemporary, two people who’ve always hated each other begin competing for the same job and fall in love.

Kate Quinn’s Mistress of Rome series is a saga and the initial big ship of the first book (which you do have to read lol) is not enemies to lovers.  However, the NEXT ship which dominates the last two books of the series (which is four books long, and tbh... I recommend the second book but it’s a prequel and can be skipped technically) is SOOOOOOO GOOD.  It’s really “childhood friends to young lovers to SEVERE ENEMIES still secretly in love” and it’s literally epic lol.  Essentially, the series is set in Ancient Rome and Sabina (very bitchy Roman noblewoman) and Vix (child of a former gladiator, soldier) are friends who I think lose their virginities to each other?  And are in love as kids.  But then she fucks him over and marries the emperor.  Who he actually begins to loyally serve!  But he haaaates Sabina because she.... constantly backstabs him lol.  But he also looooves Sabina and gets off on everything she does.  And she wants him so badly.  And it is delicious.  And I live for it.

Both of the Evie Dunmore books I’ve read, Bringing Down the Duke and especially A Rogue of One’s Own are very enemies to lovers.  In Bringing Down the Duke it’s a bluestocking versus a duke who for political reasons is her enemy.  In A Rogue of One’s Own it’s another bluestocking versus a rake who has known her basically all their lives.  They have to begin working together and fall in looove.

Sarah MacLean LIVES for this trope lol.  Her first true enemies to lovers was Twelve Scandals to Start to Win An Earl’s Heart, in which the heroine is a scandalous young woman and the hero is a duke determined to avoid scandal--and he rebuffed her before the book began, so they hate each other.  But he also has a massive boner around her, of course. 

My favorite MacLean book, A Rogue By Another Name is another “childhood friends turn enemies to lovers”.  The leads, Penelope and Bourne (last name lol) were best friends as kid and he basically fell off after life set in.  Her family now has hold of his ancestral lands, and Bourne essentially blackmails Penelope into marrying him so that he can get those lands, after which she DESPISES him even though they had..... extremely great sex lol.  It’s SUPER GOOD, and it involves borderline voyeurism, which is great.

Then No Good Duke Goes Unpunished is very enemies to lovers.  The heroine was set to become the hero’s stepmother--then he woke up covered in blood with her missing. He then finds out, after years of being despised by society as a presumed murderer, that she is very much alive with a fake identity lol.  It’s WILD.

The Rogue Not Taken is an enemies to lovers roadtrip romance.  The heroine thinks the hero is a horrid rake who purposefully ruins marriages.  He thinks she’s a stuck up brat.  They end up journeying together and he eats her out in a moving carriage.

Theeen there’s Daring and the Duke.  The hero literally thought the heroine was dead (MacLean loves this) and is OBSESSED with her, but she hates him because the man who raised them both basically pitted them against each other after their days of being childhood sweethearts.  It’s very dark and delicious, and there are blow jobs!  Blow jobs don’t happen enough in romances, especially historical romances.  More BJs!  They are fun!

If you’re interested in a dark and BONKERS romance, Desperate Measures by Katee Robert is a retelling of Disney’s Aladdin about a modern Jafar and Jasmine getting together after he takes over her father’s criminal empire.  It’s definitely extremely explicit and a bit fucked up.  The book comes with content warnings; the first sex scene is dubcon.  (Like you’re reading from her perspective and she WANTS IT but she says no.)

Beach Read by Emily Henry is a cute contemporary in which the hero is a literary author and the heroine is a romance novelist.  They find themselves in neighboring beach houses and basically challenge each other to write in the other person’s genre.  Very light enemies to lovers.

A Heart of Blood and Ashes is a fantasy romance by Milla Vane!  Essentially, the hero’s parents were killed by the heroine’s father and he’s out to kill her father and overtake his throne.  Luckily, she’s on board.  But he needs to marry her in order to accomplish his goals.  They do not trust each other whatsoever and torment one another a lot.  For context, within the first fifty pages she gives him a handjob while her hand is covered in her own brother’s blood (and yes, he did kill her brother).  It’s great.

The Worst Best Man is about a wedding planner who suddenly finds herself needing to work with her ex-fiance’s brother... who she holds responsible for her fiance leaving her at the altar.  Very fun and sexy contemporary.

The entire Four Horsemen series by Laura Thalassa.  In each book, the heroine falls in love with a literal embodiment of one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, who is here to bring the end of the world.  VERY heavy enemies to lovers.  Kinda dark at times?  Kinda fucked up at times?  I love it a lot?  It begins with Pestilence; War and Famine have already been released, but Death has not.

From Lukov with Love by Marina Zapata.  It’s a figure skating romance; a down on her luck skater pairs up with a male skater who is extremely successful, and who she’s known for years and hated.  Verrrrry slow burn, but fun.

Movies

The Proposal, of course, starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds.  You’ve probably seen this, but the setup is that she’s his evil boss, he’s her assistant, and she’s about to lose her visa so she bribes him into marrying her so that she can get citizenship.  But ruh-roh, they have to go to Alaska for his family reunion and he’s also got a great body and is like, an Alaskan Rockefeller?  

Obviously, Clueless which is enemies to lovers by way of former stepsiblings, and also by way of the only valid retelling of Emma.  Emma itself is not enemies to lovers, really, but Clueless amps that aspect up a bit.

If you want a super tragic version, warning lol--House of Flying Daggers.  It’s a wuxia movie, so melodramatic to the max.  She’s a blind daughter of the leader of a vigilante group, he’s a soldier who’s gone undercover to follow her to their stronghold.  Many reveals and one of my favorite dramatic love stories ensues.

Princess Diaries 2, duh.  Baby Chris Pine?  Anne Hathaway?  PLEASE BITCH.

365 DNI.  If you haven’t watched yet, watch it and thank me later.  The greatest cinematic contribution of the last decade.

Down with Love.  It’s a delightful take on like, 50s/60s sex comedies in which the heroine writes a book that convinces women to ignore love and men, which makes the hero look bad and makes it difficult for him to get laid.  So he sets out to basically.....  wear a different persona?  And seduce her?  It is one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen, and I adore it.  Renee Zellweger and Ewan Macgregor have great chemistry in it too.

The Thomas Crown Affair, starring extremely hot Pierce Brosnan and Renee Russo.  She’s an insurance investigator, he’s a billionaire who basically is suspected of stealing priceless works of art because he’s bored.  She investigates him and immediately begins fucking him.  Has a scene where she dances with him while wearing a completely transparent dress.  Then they fuck everywhere in his house.  I have never wanted to be between two people more.

The Painted Veil.  A socialite marries a dorky scientist for convenience, then cheats on him.  He finds out and basically forces her to go to China with him, where he is fighting the cholera epidemic, as an extremely long and petty murder suicide attempt.  But they get to know each other!  And the ice begins to melt!  Warning: tragic but lovely.

Casino Royale YES I SAID THAT.  The James Bond reboot movie that explains why he’s such a whore!!!  HE WAS BROKEN!!!  Basically James Bond is not like... a learned man... in this movie.  So he’s a cocky bastard and the Bond girl is impossibly sexy Eva Green as Vesper, who’s the “money man” on his mission.  They begin as bickering assholes and then fall in love.  But also!  Tragedy!

The animated Anastasia movie is one of the finest enemies to lovers movies of any time, I will defend this forever

Anyway....  Hope this gives you some ideas!  Lol

[josiebelladonna]

anthrax fanfic masterlist

i am not currently taking requests at the moment, but i’ll keep you all posted on it, though!

all of these can be found on my ao3, josiebelladonna 💜

smut warnings are indicated by an asterisk*; violence warnings are indicated by three asterisks***

multi-chaptered works:

alone inside my mind - the one that started it all, dated august 5, 2019; an absurdist rashomon style telling of the boys on set of the video for madhouse as it slowly turns sideways. to quote ralphthemoviemaker: “there comes a point something gets so absurd that it becomes funny.”

now it’s dark, split into three volumes (now it’s dark, who cares wins, and be all, end all)*** - my baby, dated september 17, 2019; a sci-fi cyberpunk noir tale featuring joey and lars. eventually lives up to its name.

black diamonds* - dated november 25, 2019; former goth dancer virginia “ginny” goldstein finds herself in an unhappy marriage but finds happiness in the goofy quintet from new york, especially that mysterious singer who reminds her of herself.

a skeleton in the closet*** - dated january 5, 2020; christina moon looks back on the account of tour life back in 1986 as she and her best friend ceecee blackwood (together named “black moon”) supported anthrax and metallica. there’s a serial killer after christina in particular, and no one knows why.

bon appetit* - dated january 7, 2020; danny falls for the cute latina baker at smell the magic. there’s just one problem: she and her colleagues are serial seducers.

tarallucci e vino* (translation: “biscuits and wine”) - dated april 23, 2020; the follow up to bon appetit.

dreaming of you* - dated february 29, 2020; best friends hannah ellsberg and joey belladonna rekindle their friendship through painting and love-making.

midnight dancers* - follow up to dreaming of you: hannah’s got some baggage and joey’s not too happy about it.

here’s to us* - follow up to midnight dancers: hannah, joey, frankie, and hannah’s best friend francine moody spend thanksgiving and christmas together.

the mirror never lies*** (very much so) - dated may 26, 2020. joey and lars keep looking into mirrors and finding flaws in themselves in the wake of something awful (read: the bus crash). based on true things that happened to me.

beautiful tragedy*** - dated september 20, 2020. the follow up to the mirror never lies and a look into my healing mechanisms as well as accepting each other’s wounds even in the wake of relapse.

the artist* - dated june 15, 2020. holly is an artist in the wake of the pandemic and befriends several boys, namely louder than love era chris cornell, spreading the disease era joey, blond dave grohl, and black album era lars. it’s that “i can’t tell my parents we’re dating” but taken a little further. based on my interactions with joey himself on instagram!

amped and wired, parts one and two*** (also quite risque) - part one is dated july 1, 2020; part two is dated october 31, 2020. a black comedy reframing of now it’s dark; it’s like the slightly lighter twin to now it’s dark. now has a webcomic!

six feet under - dated november 6, 2020. scott looks back on a budding forbidden romance with fellow new york musician kristina mayfield 15 years following her death. heavily inspired by one of my favorite fics, darkness taking dawn.

buried alive - dated november 11, 2020. following kristina’s death, she had passed on a “death wish” to charlie, who also got to know her.

the dead of night*** - proposed november 20, 2020; dated december 29, 2020. taken from ao3: When Scott and Charlie met Kristina, she resembled to that of a ghost, and yet she had enchanted them with the grace of her heart and soul. Her death left a hole in their hearts. So when the girlfriend of one of their own goes missing in the dead of night, the lore of Kristina resurfaces with a vengeance, and in the most unlikely of places, and in the most unlikely of times. crossover with rush, too!

the skeleton key - this one actually predates alone inside my mind, c. august 1, 2019, but i’ve resurrected it as of 1/22/21. i still have the first chapter of the original fic (it was going to be about dave mustaine having died and left a massive inheritance to joey, lars, and chris with bit of a southern gothic feel to it, but now it’s dark had too much of a gothic thing going on itself; i also obviously felt now it’s dark to be too strong in story whereas i got writer’s block pretty quick on the skeleton key), but i’ve decided to reframe it as something a little different. one thing i’m bringing in is an actual place i used to live called blackburn manor, which was allegedly haunted by two ghosts - fun fact: those ghosts served as inspiration for the old man and vera in the main trilogy. i’m writing this one in private as a side project to the dead of night. both of those are my “healing my heart and my mind” type fics.

the contest - dated february 7, 2021. lars looks back on a hot summer where his club was the hottest spot in town courtesy of a singing competition (with strings attached). joey’s one of the participants!

blackened - proposed c. february 1, 2021. it’s basically the first now it’s dark book but from lars’ point of view. i’m putting it here because... you know. it’s now it’s dark.

one shots:

creatura della notte / creature of the night* - joey belladonna/female reader

a quiet place* - joey belladonna/ofc

my boy* - joey belladonna/ofc + frank bello/ofc

sex and candy* - (follow up to my boy) joey belladonna/ofc + frank bello/ofc

taken by force - joey belladonna/ofc

lips like sugar cane - joey belladonna + frank bello/female reader

good boys* - scott ian + joey belladonna/ofc

pack of dogs* - (follow up to good boys) all/ofc

arguing with myself* - (just that; joey arguing with himself)

fade and wither* - joey belladonna/ofc

slice of heaven - joey belladonna/ofc

make me laugh, baby* - charlie benante/rihanna (...yeah; consider it a parody of daveighmustaine’s The Silence at this point, too)

cool for the summer* - dave mustaine + joey belladonna/ofc

i’m going hungry* - frank bello + charlie benante/ofc

burning sacramento*** - joey + krista belladonna/ofc

the boy who destroyed the world*** - (non-shipping) frank bello/ofc - this one’s just really demented, gonna tell you this right now

i write mature stuff and erotica, but it’s not like... overly so. i’m more about feeling and sensuality than anything. i like to explore taboos, too, but i know it can be triggering for some people, though; on that same token, i can very easily go wholesome. my stories also tend to have a healthy dose of violence, too, but it tends to sneak up on you. it’s there but it’s not like over-the-top (a skeleton in the closet is like that; as are my halloween stories).

but if i write any more i’ll post them here! 💜

[safarigirlsp]

What movies are you excited for this year? Not just Adam’s movies.

The extent of my info is based on this article that I just googled lol. Inaccuries may be blamed accordingly.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vulture.com/amp/article/2021-movies-the-most-anticipated-films-of-the-year.html

Here’s my list, ranked by my excitement.

1. The Last Duel - Knight AD + Long hair and big muscles + Ridley Scott! (I’m sure no one is sick of hearing me rave about this one!)

2. No Time to Die - JAMES BOND!

3. 65 - It’s not on this list, but I’m telling myself it’s coming out this year! Did you see those set pics? And it’s a thriller!

4. Mission: Impossible 7 - This is one of my favorite action franchises, third only to the James Bond and the John Wick franchises!

Speaking of John Wick, I’ve heard they’re making a 4th! That would absolutely be my number 2, if not number 1, movie if it’s slated for this year!

5. Nightmare Alley - READ THE DESCRIPTION! Guillermo del Toro. Carnivals. Manipulative psychiatrists. This sounds fucking amazing.

6. Sherlock Holmes 3 - I love RDJ and Guy Richie and their Holmes movies are some of my favorites! Very excited!

7. Death on the Nile - Another Hercule Poirot mystery ala Muder on the Orient Express. I’m sure it wil be smart, beautiful, and exotic!

8. Dune - I have high hopes!

9. The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It - I LOVE these movies! The conjuring movies and Sinister are some premium horror goodness.

10. Gucci - The Last Duel in October and Gucci in November?!? AD is really going into Oscar season swinging!

11. Reminiscence - My second favorite heartthrob, Hugh Jackman! Sci fi romance!

12. Jackass 4 - The article’s description was perfect! There has never been a bad Jackass movie. And there never will be.

13. The Northman - The dudes behind The Witch working with Nicole Kidman and Bjork on a Viking tale. Good times.

14. White Noise - The next Adam Driver / Noah B collaboration. Just for the eye candy!

15. Annette - Just excited for AD!

16. The Matrix 4 - Hopefully Neo will be a little Wicked out lol.

17. Top Gun: Maverick - Campy nostalgia fun!

18. The Mauritanian - Legal Thriller.

19. Deep Water - I’m not a fan of infidelity, but dark eroticism with murder just sounds fun!

20. The Tragedy of Macbeth - At least we still have one Coen Bro.

21. Antlers - I don’t know a lot, but Guillermo del Toro always intrigues me.

22. The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard - Goofy Hitman comedy/action. And I always love Ryan Reynolds.

23. Jungle Cruise - This could be catastrophically stupid or a blast! I’m hoping for a blast like Pirates of the Caribbean.

24. A Quiet Place part II - I honestly didn’t enjoy the first movie all that much, so I’m not sure why I’m excited for the sequel, but I am! 🤷🏻‍♀️

25. Black Widow, Resident Evil, Venom Let There Be Carnage, and Fast & Furious 9 - Tied for my ‘It will be Stupid, but fun Stupid’ level excitement.

[mourningmage]

succulent and romcom

Succulent - What are you looking forward to? Getting my own place finally (soon!) instead of sleeping on a couch. im getting healthier and watching myself grow is nice. soon in august a lot of my friends will be back and i can see them again (i love hanging out with isabel rn but i miss my other friends) my weights have been amping up more so by the time the gym is open again i’ll probably be able to go up even higher! 

Romcom - Is your story a comedy or tragedy? i dont think its either i think its a song that when you first listen to it as a kid you dont get it but once you come back to it when youre older it becomes your favorite and you slowly understand what it means. if that like makes sense lol

[thelovers-reversed]

Two femmes living in a little concrete apartment with victorian rugs and round tables, not like knights-of-the-round-table round tables, but like cute little end tables made of dark wood. It smelled faintly of roses in the mornings and patchouli at night, when the two would take turns braiding each others hair, mostly for fun, rarely for practical use; neither of them were very good at it. But they would do it, and laugh at their silly hair, and take it out, and be in bed with each other. They seldom fought, and never for longer than an evening. They would make up and love each other not like adults, but like grown ups. They worked in unison, never falling out of step with each other. They would cradle each other while one did the dishes, the other asked about their day. They drank tea, they often touched. They set lace doilies under their teacups as they discussed the circumstances of their upbringings: mothers with addictions and predilections that wore harshly against their young, callousness that led to rushed childhoods and mature 12 year olds. They would let their eyes and noses get red and watery, brush the tears off the lovers faces and say “but now here we are.” They would be so open as to discuss ex lovers they had been unkind to, and listen to the stories with open hearts and minds, not to pass judgment. They had grown from these experiences and learned to regret their selfish behaviors; they were not those people anymore. They were here and they were themselves. They had healed from unrequited and unhealthy loves to be the two, not adults, but grown ups that they were. The wrote scripts foot to foot on their long, overstuffed, renaissance couch. They would write their comedies together, and their tragedies apart. They would translate their love onto pages of script and read them together, until they were in bed, once again, together. Themselves.

excerpt of my morning writing exercise from a while ago, slightly revised but still riddled with grammatical errors & run on sentences

[stonedgilbert]

melliwell replied to your post: i’m gonna be honest, i’m h e r e for the joker...

a Mood. give me a joker that isn’t leto pls & thank.

also i think that the trailer is Full of Amazing Lines that makes me Hype like “my mother always tells me to smile and put on a happy face” “she told me i had a purpose to bring laughter and joy to the world” “is it just me or is it getting crazier out there?” “i used to think that my life was a tragedy but now i realize it’s a comedy” ALSO THE MUSIC THEY’VE GOT PLAYING?????? I’M HERE FOR IT

[stopandimagineloveforever]

There's nothing like Schitt's Creek—in the real world nor elsewhere on TV. In this fictional town, there's universal tolerance and equality. It's a town where lifelong residents and recent transplants co-exist in near-perfect harmony, and a show viewers have flocked to for comfort.

The show and its fictional setting were designed by father-son creators Eugene Levy and Dan Levy to be a place for everyone. This TV haven has been embraced by legions of fans, picking up numerous awards and nominations along the way. Now in its fifth season, the show is more popular than ever—and it's getting ready to say goodbye.

"I think that was just a happy coincidence," Dan Levy told E! News about the show's heightened popularity coinciding with the upcoming sixth and final season. "It's strange because I think in a way, the commerce of television really affects the creators. I think for us, it's never really been about that. For us, every season, sure it means we're employed for one more year, but really what it means is that we get to continue telling these people's stories."

The series follows the Rose family, father Johnny (Eugene Levy), mother Moira (Catherine O'Hara), son David (Dan Levy) and daughter Alexis (Annie Murphy). When viewers first meet them, they are literally clinging on to the remnants of their once vast video rental fortune. By the close of the show's first scene, they've lost everything except the deed to a small rural town purchased as a joke because of its name. Enter Schitt's Creek.

Forced to relocate to Schitt's Creek and create a new life, the Roses eventually became intertwined with the town. David began a new business and embarked on his first serious—and stable—relationship with his business partner Patrick (Noah Reid), Alexis finished school, started a business herself and also found a loving relationship with Ted (Dustin Milligan), Johnny began working with Stevie (Emily Hampshire) on improving the business of the motel they call home, and Moira got involved in local politics. When they first arrived, the family did their best, but strived to get out of their presumed dire situation. As they spent more time there, Schitt's Creek's overwhelming goodness started to worm its way into the Roses—and viewers along with them.

"I think the audience, the fans of the show, have really come to rely on it as like a safe space in a dark time. And the thought of pushing that past its expiry date [Laughs.] for the sake of just being able to do another season—I care too much about our viewers and about our characters to risk taking them farther than they need to be taken. So, it was always planned that this was going to be the end. And I really had no interest in pushing that any further and potentially compromising a good thing," Levy said.

That good thing, that safe space, includes a diverse supporting cast and LGBTQ representation. Levy's character is pansexual, he has relationships with both men and women, but it's never treated as a "thing." David is not defined by his sexual orientation, that's just who David is. Nobody blinks at his relationship with Patrick. When Patrick serenaded him with an emotional cover of Tina Turner's "Simply the Best" in front of a packed store, no one cared or noticed. It was just a sweet moment of public affection. And in the season five episode "Meet the Parents," written by Levy, Patrick, who had previously never dated a man, struggled with coming out to his mom and dad. He was accidentally outed, and the only reason why his parents got upset was because Patrick was too nervous about how they'd react to come to them and be open. All of this was done by design.

"I sort of feel like as human beings, we learn through experience and what we see. And I'm only going to speak for myself in this capacity, but I don't really take in a lot when I feel like I'm being taught something," Levy said. "I think for me, when it came to the show, I thought, ‘Well, let's not try and make this sort of a lesson show.' I don't want these characters to be, you know, a lesson for people to learn about queerness. I think that the better lesson, what will resonate deeper is just showing people in love. It's really hard to turn away from two people who are falling in love.

"And so, as a result, it was really sort of a mandate from day one that we were never going to paint these characters with a brush that was different than what we were sort of painting our straight characters with," Levy continued. "I think for a long time I was watching nothing but tragedy befall queer characters on television, and the idea of creating a world where, in this particular case two men were falling in love with absolutely no push back, and to be able to depict how much joy that can bring, not just to the characters who are falling in love, but to the community itself who gets to watch it, was important."

Levy said he's received letters from viewers around the world who write to say they've been watching the show with their families and it's had a profound impact.

"Their relatives have been able to understand their lives with a little bit more clarity because they're able to see the minutia of a relationship and not just sort of an after-school special depiction…or stereotype. So, that to me, at the end of the day, it has become one of the most meaningful elements of making this show," he said. "To be able to change a conversation in someone's home just by, you know, writing some comedy, and occasionally the rare emotional, scene is a wonderful thing. And I think just again speaks to how people, when they sit down in front of their televisions, they are their most vulnerable. They're in their homes. They don't have their protective shields up that we put on when we leave the house to just walk down the street. [Laughs.] People are their most vulnerable in front of their television screens. And if you can shine some light and some love into those living rooms, I can't see how that won't help. So that's been our motto, and from what I've read and the feedback, it really seems to have helped people. So, I would love to see more of it."

While Schitt's Creek has turned out to be a safe place for viewers in a fractured world, that's not what Levy and his father initially set out to do.

"I don't think it was that specific, but I do know that we wanted the show to be a family show. We wanted the show to be a show that people could watch with their families, that spoke to people of different age groups. And I think when that's your goal, there are certain sort of universal, not mandates, but just things you need to consider," he said.

Levy looked at the shows about families he loved growing up, like The Beverly Hillbillies, Roseanne, and the Ross and Rachel dynamic on Friends, and saw a common thread in all of these beloved shows. "These stories were all rooted in love. That the conflict, the comedy, any kind of disagreements, ultimately, we're rooted in a place of love and not anything dark," Levy said.

"So that really was our mandate going into this, that this family sort of being put into this, what they considered a terrible situation, will learn that this is going to be quite worthwhile in the end," he said. "And that sometimes the things that you don't think you're going to enjoy will ultimately bring a deeper, richer sense of satisfaction."

Once landing on the story he wanted to tell with the Rose family, Levy said they knew there would be no "major conflict" on Schitt's Creek, aside from the episodic tensions.

"I think from my own experience watching TV, I want to know that at the end of the episode everyone's going to be fine. Unless I'm watching The Americans, and then I don't want to know that at all. But when it comes to comedy…I think I've just been so turned off of really mean comedy. I think there was a chapter for a while where there was sort of this sociopathic, cruelty to comedy and comedic characters on television, where the joke was that you're not supposed to like them in any possible way. And I never understood it and I never liked it, and I never watched it. So, when given the opportunity to sort of create our own thing…It was always sort of—top of the list was that by the end of every episode, let's make sure that our audience knows that everyone's going to be OK."

After five seasons and counting with Schitt's Creek and the Roses, audiences will be more than just "OK."

Schitt's Creek airs Wednesdays, 10 p.m. on Pop and will return for a sixth and final season.