#Constructed that it kind of makes the film a difficult watch in places. Certainly it isn't something I'd throw on again in a hurry but that

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Endless (2017)

If at first, The Endless appears to be treading on familiar territory. Stay with it. As this story progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult to figure out where things are headed. Part of this is due to the work put into the central characters’ relationships. Even if the story went the way you thought it would at first, they make the story fresh and unique.

Years ago, brothers Justin (Justin Benson, who also wrote the film) convinced his brother Aaron (Aaron Moorhead, who co-directed with Justin and did the cinematography) to leave the UFO death cult they belonged to. Unfortunately, they’ve never quite adjusted to the outside world. When they receive a video cassette from the commune, it proves to Aaron that his brother's memories are inaccurate - they must be if everyone they knew is still alive.

As soon as the brothers decide - against Justin’s better judgement - to return to Camp Arcadia, you immediately start thinking of Wicker Man. Maybe the people have been playing the long game and now that the two have taken the bait, it’s time for the “ascension” to begin. Well, there’s certainly something not quite right with this place. You can feel it immediately. Everyone seems very friendly but something in the air fills you with unease. This is a horror movie, right?

Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. One of this film’s best qualities is your inability to pinpoint the endgame. Something sinister is in the air but maybe it isn’t the friendly people of Camp Arcadia. If everyone is alive, why did Justin insist they leave all those years ago? He knows something that he hasn't told Aaron (or us) yet. Or maybe he doesn’t fully know. Details about the place don't match up with the amount of time the brothers have spent away and the people they meet outside of the camp are odd. Your gut tells you to run but you’ve joined the club now. You’ve got to know.

You take away all the camp stuff and you have a great human story. It’s about two brothers who have issues they need to work through. Their drama is a microcosm of the situation they've fallen into. It’s interesting enough to keep you going but then Oh wait! There’s this cult thing and the hints of a Lovecraftian cosmic horror that’ll come swallow everyone up! Or maybe these people are just nuts. Either way, it’s time to go. This is where the movie does falter a bit. During the conclusion there’s this emergency that needs addressing immediately and Justin really should be running, panicking… but he never does. The film slowly unravels its horror and drama in an organic manner. The performances from Benson and Moorhead are completely believable but the picture feels a little bit long during the final act. Trimming even a few minutes would do wonders. As is, however, this is a great horror/drama. You don’t see many of those.

The Endless is the kind of movie you’ll probably have to re-watch multiple times to understand completely. You won’t mind. This is a tight, well-constructed story. The characters are rich and engaging. Its mystery is the kind that’ll make you wonder what kind of bizarre movie you’ve stepped into, and that’s exactly the point. The camerawork is gorgeous and the slim budget is used well. This is exactly that kind of unassuming movie you’d just kinda stumble upon and have a great time with. (May 15, 2020)

[randomlyrankingthings]

Top 10 Horror Films (UPDATED)

10. The Conjuring (2013)

On paper, The Conjuring could easily be considered your average haunted house film. While that may be the case, we are following a fictionalised version of a true story. Ed and Lorraine Warren (played by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, respectively) are paranormal investigators who agree to help a family in need, as they find their new house to be riddled with demonic possession. An extremely standard concept, but beautifully executed. I'm certain the hide and seek scene will remain an iconic horror moment for years to come.

9. Midsommar (2019)

This is going to sound strange, but this is the first cult-related film I have seen that actually runs the risk of warming you to the idea of a cult. I do believe, however, that this was the intention. Dani (Florence Pugh) begins the film with the devastating loss of her sister and parents. In an attempt to bring her out of her funk, her boyfriend invites her to a Swedish celebration with him and his friends. During the stay, Dani seems to find her place amongst the people there, but others are not so lucky. It's an intense watch, definitely only suited to the maturer audience, but do be prepared to end your viewing unsure of how to feel about what you've just watched.

8. Us (2019)

Who'd have thought that Jordan Peele would be creating such fabulously constructed horror films? Since his major success with Get Out (2017), this film had some big shoes to fill, and fill them it did. The film focuses on a family who are going on holiday to the seaside. It is clear from the get go, however, that the mother, Adelaide (Lupita Nyung'o), is not overly thrilled about the prospect due to a traumatic experience she suffered there as a child. We soon find out that her fears of this ordeal coming back to haunt her are not so far fetched. This is the kind of film that needs to be seen to be understood. Another home run for Peele.

7. As Above, So Below (2014)

For whatever reason, this film did not receive the best of critical reviews. As far as I am concerned, this is one of the more unique takes on horror. Archeologist Scarlett (Perdita Weeks) sets out to complete her dad's quest of finding the legendary Philosopher's Stone. In order to do this, however, she must go deep below the ground within the catacombs of Paris. Not an easy feat to begin with, which is only made more difficult the deeper she and her team goes. It seems the only wait out, is down.

6. The Descent (2005)

This is another one set below ground, but is arguably scarier than number 7 overall. We follow a group of female cave explorers as they embark on a new expedition. Without giving too much away, this new adventure proves to be more challenging than those previous, as the cave is home to some extremely terrifying creatures. While not necessarily the most original concept, the tense dynamics between the characters and the unexpected fast pace of the film and its plot development make this one wild ride. I went into it having heard it to be one of the scariest modern horrors, and it certainly lived up to its reputation.

5. Creep (2014)

Where to start with this cult classic. We have a horror film starring only two people, and said people also wrote and directed it. Usually, such low budget horror is not executed too well, but this film is one for the ages. Filmmaker Aaron (Patrick Brice) responds to an ad made by Josef (Mark Duplass), who wishes to have his entire day documented for his unborn son to see, as Josef has terminal cancer and does not expect to live to meet his child. As the day progresses, it is clear that there is something amiss. Be prepared to have a new favourite horror villain with this one.

4. It Chapter 2 (2019)

It Chapter 2 takes place 27 years after its predecessor, and the Losers Club's oath is put to work when Pennywise returns to Derry to take more children. While I thoroughly enjoyed Chapter 1, the all-star cast of Chapter 2 just takes the cake. We get to see our Losers as adults, struggling with the effects of the first film, and finding the strength to come together and fight their foe once more. Another beautifully executed film, which is sure to pull at your heart strings AND give you nightmares. Two for the price of one. How fun.

3. Ready or Not (2019)

This is a fun one. Definitely more of a comedy/horror, so if you're looking for a more lighthearted scare, then this one is for you. The film takes place on the wedding day of Grace (Samara Weaving) and Alex (Mark O'Brien). After the ceremony, Grace is informed that she must take part in the tradition of playing a game to welcome her into the family. Unfortunately for Grace, she chooses to play the one game that has a fine print - hide and seek. I'm sure fighting her way out of her husband's family home is not how she expected her wedding night to go. This film has it all; scares, humour, romance, and plenty of gore. It was the highlight of my cinema trips in 2019. Couldn't recommend it enough.

2. Train to Busan (2016)

Looking for the greatest zombie film ever made? Look no further. If you can get past having to read the subtitles, you've got yourself an absolute gem with this iconic South Korean horror. It's one thing to be stuck in a zombie-filled world, but it is another ballpark entirely when you're stuck on a train with them. That's the predicament Seokwoo (Gong Yoo) and his daughter find themselves in. This film will make you laugh, cry, and hide behind your pillow. I would never have expected to categorise a zombie film as beautiful, but I feel it is an appropriate descriptor for this amazing work of art.

1. The Conjuring 2 (2016)

No one ever seems to agree with me when I say that this film is scarier that the first of the series. I believe being British and knowing the Enfield Haunting well already might be the reason. The great thing about this film is that it goes against the usual tropes of the haunted house sub-genre. The Hodgson family have not newly moved into their home, they have in fact lived there for years already. After Mr. Hodgson leaves them, the family find themselves tormented by a number of demonic presences, and enlist the help of Ed and Lorraine Warren, who are not entirely convinced by the family's story. While this film always scares the shit out of me, I could easily watch it over and over again. Still can't watch it alone though.

[poirott]

This is the 2nd part of the "Riddle of the Spinx" interview with Death on the Nile cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos for British Cinematographer November 2020 issue (part 1 transcribed here). The full interview has now been released on the British Cinematographer website. I've included some of the text below!

In Part 2 Zambarloukos talks about shooting with the cast on location in Egypt and doing a particularly complex single shot of them on set, how they did the opening b&w sequence of young Poirot as a soldier, and built sets of Abu Simbel and the pyramids, the use of realtime footage projected on LED screens to make the studio sets look more realistic, what part of the Murder on the Orient Express set they recycled for Nile, etc.

Q: This was shot like Murder on the Orient Express at Longcross Studios with plates filmed on location in Egypt. Was it ever a possibility to shoot entirely on location?

Haris Zambarloukos: The issue is that 1934 Egypt barely exists today. For example, in the 1960s they moved the Abu Simbel temple 300 metres away so that the Aswan Dam wouldn't flood it. So, we built the entire four-storey high Abu Simbel at Longcross, complete with banks of water. The same with Giza and the Sphinx. In the 1930s the Nile went up to the feet of the Sphinx. Now all you see is the concrete expanse of Cairo.

Secondly, it's difficult to shoot complex shoots on a river while floating, taking all the cast down there and scheduling them, on top of ensuring everyone's safety on such a high-profile project.

Our whole design and research went into creating a set. We wanted to build a life-size boat inside and out; not to break it down into small sets but to shoot it as if we were on a boat. That’s a huge undertaking. Jim Clay built an amazing set to scale for the Karnak. It was so big we needed to build a temporary sound stage around it. We also wanted to use some real daylight when we got great sunlight in Longcross and use a little bit of water to basically film the boats carrying guests to the Karnak.

We recycled the railway from Orient and built the boat on that so we could wheel it in from outdoors to indoors. We built a very elaborate lighting rig that you could pull back and see the entire boat in one shot. You could step onto the boat and walk through all the rooms which were all lit for an analogue film f-stop. It was complicated and took most of our planning but I personally don't think you can tell the difference when we cut - even from a shot filmed outside in real sunlight juxtaposed with one in apparent sunlight on our sound stage. It's seamless because we took such great care and a detailed approach to our rig and construction.

In Orient you created some stylish direct overheads of the train carriage. You've told us of the Steadicam dance sequence in Nile. Were there other stylistic flourishes?

Inside the sound stage we went twice round the Karnak with the entire cast all choreographed for this one great reveal of a murder. It was really hard work to do. I understand why it was cut in the edit although they have kept a lot of other single long takes and there are lots of places where you see the whole cast in a single shot.

However difficult you might think setting up a long single is in terms of lighting and operating, it is equally, if not more difficult, to block a scene with multiple actors, keep the audience engaged and choreograph it in a way that is exciting and at the same time reveals things gradually. There's a lot of pressure on a lot of people in shots like that. Everyone's got to be on top of their game. Because we're all so interdependent, it's a domino effect in that the further you go in the take, the bigger the responsibility is for not getting it wrong whether that's the operator, focus puller, the actor saying the final line, the gaffer lighting a corner at just the right time. We always get excited about those shots but also very nervous.

You augmented the studio work with plates photographed on location in Egypt. Tell us about that.

We filmed on the Nile from a boat with a 14 8K Red camera array. We had a 360-degree bubble on top of the boat and two three-camera arrays pointing forwards and backwards as we travelled up and down. We specifically chose areas where modernity wasn’t present (or where it was, we removed it in post) and we also shot plates from the point of view of passengers onboard the Karnak.

VFX supervisor George Murphy edited the footage and stitched the plates together into an essentially very, very advanced virtual reality rig in which I could pan my camera. We did that before principal photography, so we never had to guess a month or so later what to put there. That’s a big help. Most shoots do their plate photography afterwards. It meant I could pretty much place the camera on any deck of the Karnak for any scene and know what the background would be.

As with Orient, did you play back footage realtime on LED screens outside the boat set?

I'd love to have done it live but on Orient we were only dealing with one wagon's windows at a time. It was still the biggest LED set-up ever done to that point, but the Karnak set is 20 time bigger than that. There aren't enough LED screens available – plus it would have been prohibitively expensive.

Instead, I went for a much larger version of a technique I'd used on Mamma Mia which was to hang back projection screens all around the boat – 200m in circumference, 15m high. We used Arri SkyPanels at a distance to create a sky or a part of the background. It could also be converted into a blue screen when we needed to. It meant that if I had a shot looking above the horizon line into the sky then it could be done in camera.

How confident were you of retaining colour and contrast from set to post?

I took stills on the recce and we used those to the create colours with this back projection for our skies. I take prints (not digital stills) so there is no misinterpretation. A still is a piece of paper that you can see. Once something is emailed across and seen by someone watching on another screen the information can get lost.

At the same time there were a lot more checks and balances put in place. We had a projector at Longcross and I watched dailies with (dailies colourist) Sam Spurgeon every lunchtime. With Kodak and Digital Orchard we have a very quick process to convert analogue filmmaking into digital by the next morning. Film is processed at night, they scan at 4am and by mid-morning those digital images are transferred to our dailies suite at Longcross. At lunch we’d watch it digitally projected, having been processed, scanned and graded at 2K.

I check that first and give notes to Sam and those get transferred onto our dailies which is what Ken, the editorial team, VFX and studio team sees. That's a major check. It's me with someone in a room, rather than me talking over the phone which is a big difference. I have a very good relationship with Goldcrest and (DI colourist) Rob Pizzey who also sees things along the way. I supervise the grade at the end. So, there's no need for anyone to interpret anything. It’s a collaboration in which we all look at the same images.

Did you shoot black and white for the opening scene or convert?

We shot colour for a couple of reasons. Although Kodak could manufacture BW 65, there is no lab in the world to processes it. Plus, there’s a certain skill to grading BW using colour negative and the added benefits are that that you can place a grey tone to a colour. For example, you could take red and decide it will look a very dark grey or a light grey, so you get very detailed tones. Ultimately, I get much more control in the DI this way. They were very monochromatic battlefield sets and costumes so it was quite limited in this case. The Germans wore grey and the Belgians wore dark blue and it’s a dark sooty gas-filled battlefield but you could manipulate the blue in the sky a little bit more and certainly manipulate the intensity of people’s eyes - especially if they had blue eyes (which Branagh does).

How did you handle sound sync?

To do sound sync work on Orient we used sound cameras that are twice as heavy as high-speed cameras, so I wanted to develop soundproof housing (blimp) for our camera on Nile. I took the problem to Stuart Heath at BGI Supplies at Longcross. They've made all sorts of props for us before, from Cinderella’s carriage to the furniture on Nile. I told him that I needed it really quickly. All my other attempts had failed. Stuart suggested using a material that they soundproof the interior of helicopters with. He brought a draper in who basically measured the camera as if making a dinner suit for it and quickly made a couple of versions for us. It was very effective and really opened up the Steadicam possibility for us. All from just wandering onto a workshop on the lot and asking a friend if he had any ideas about how to achieve something. In the old days that’s what everyone did – the answer was somewhere on the lot.

Finally, after six films and 14 years working with Ken Branagh, could you tell us what makes your relationship tick?

It is a fantastic friendship. To begin with you must be able to maintain a professional friendship with any cast and crew which is all about doing your very best and understanding where you have common aesthetics and shared thoughts about humanity. Ask what kind of world you want this to be, because that will come through in your filmmaking.

As you say, I've spent years working in close proximity to Ken and we have a mutual affection and admiration for each other otherwise we wouldn't be doing it for so long. He is relentless in pursuit of perfection and in his advancement of storytelling and is inspiring to work with. It means you have to be as relentless in your area of craft.

I think we both like making the same kinds of films. I'm a Greek Cypriot who grew up with Greek myth and tragedy. Ken's love of Shakespeare is legendary. You can easily see the lineage between Aeschylus (the ancient Greek creator of tragedy) that goes all the way to Shakespeare. Perhaps that appreciation for the human condition in its best and worst forms is the tie that binds.

Photo credit: Rob Youngson

Source: britishcinematographer.co.uk - February 4 2021

[innuendostudios]

Thoughts on The Witness

[no spoilers... this game would be nearly impossible to spoil in text]

Where do I even start?

I guess one thing to know about The Witness is that you can watch the famous 9-minute tracking shot from Nostalghia - where Oleg Yankovsky tries to walk a candle from one end of a drained pool to the other without extinguishing it - in its entirety. (I think it’s the entirety, I left before the clip was over; yeah, Jon, I get it.)

How do we interpret this? I haven’t watched Nostalghia, but I know that scene. Every film major knows that scene. Tony Zhou cited it in discussing lateral tracking shots, how they emphasize environment and create emotional distance from humans in the frame, and how Tarkovsky uses this to make the sequence lonely and arduous. Kyle Kallgren cited it in discussing how YouTube makes critique of certain types of art difficult, and Content ID essentially decides for us what film as a medium is even for.

Jon Blow plays the clip in full with no commentary - or, rather, the game itself is the commentary. There’s a sequence in Indie Game: The Movie where Jon Blow expresses some pain about how his game Braid was received, how he felt no one who played it ever really understood everything he was trying to say with it. That feeling might be ameliorated if he weren’t such a constituionally obtuse motherfucker.

Perhaps the scene is meant to draw parallels between Yankovsky’s dedication to a task that is simple yet difficult and the game’s puzzles, built, as they are, around complexity-through-simplicity. Except, Yankovsky’s Andrei has a personal investment carrying this candle, one Tarkovsky has spent the entire film setting up. I was about five hours into The Witness when I found this clip - more than twice the duration of Nostalghia - and I still didn’t know why I was solving the game’s puzzles or what they were trying to communicate.

Perhaps the scene is meant to draw parallels between the patience it encourages in its audience and the calm, meditative mode all The Witness’ allusions to Buddhism are seemingly on about, to give yourself over to the time investment the game demands of you. Except, Nostalghia asks you to spend nine minutes thinking about one thing; zen Buddhism encourages you to think of nothing; The Witness asks you to spend between fifteen and forty hours thinking about a zillion things. It is not a game about clearing your mind, it’s about filling your mind up. There is little continuity between the thoughtless peace of meditation or Yankovsky’s emotional collapse and the game’s intended “aha” moments.

But the ambiguity, the contextlessness of the scene’s inclusion, means you can’t be sure whether it’s contradictory. If we assume it’s about dedication, and we find a flaw in that worldview, maybe the problem is that we didn’t assume it was about meditation. And vice versa. If it fails to communicate, maybe the problem is us.

The only thing this scene communicates for sure is that Jon Blow wants me to know he watches Tarkovsky.

Jon Blow wants you to trust he knows what he’s doing. That the game is saying something. He also never, ever wants to tell you what it is. (If he could just tell you, he wouldn’t have spent eight years making it into a game, I suppose.) But this operates on completely opposite rules to the puzzles. Puzzles in The Witness are maze-drawing panels with increasing numbers of rules, all conveying their rules nonverbally, through gameplay. You see a symbol you don’t recognize, or a shape you don’t know how to draw, and you try things out, you make assumptions, you fail repeatedly, and then something works, the panel lights up, and you know you got it right. Now you understand what the symbol means.

The theming doesn’t work that way. Whatever theory you have as to what the game’s about, there will be no moment of clarification. Blow has an incredible talent, in fact, for constructing imagery that is hilariously blunt yet still ambiguous. As with Braid, where he crammed a straightforward narrative about memory and regret with allusions to quantum physics and the atomic bomb, The Witness references Einstein, the Buddha, Richard Feynman, romantic poetry, tech culture, game design, and - most of all - itself.

I realize I’m dancing around the subject here, because what the gameplay is (or isn’t) in service of is far easier to talk about than the gameplay itself. The Witness is a big island full of touch screens where you draw lines on grids. That’s it. The island is dense with structures and biomes, impossibly having a desert, a swamp, and three different kinds of forest which appear to be in four different seasons. What it doesn’t have is any reason why you’re there or a justification for solving ~600 line-drawing puzzles other than because Jon Blow wants you to. I was wrong in my video from 2015 to call The Witness narrative-based; the game contains narrative but it is not a narrative game. The island is very pretty, meticulously crafted, and not trying in the slightest to look like a real place. It is Myst minus everything people like about Myst.

Absent a reason for my character - if I’m even playing a “character” - to solve the puzzles, why am I, the player, solving them? The short answer is, “Because they’re there. You knew what you were buying. You solve the puzzles because it’s a puzzle game, do I gotta draw you a diagram?” (No, you need me to draw 600 diagrams.) That is unsatisfactory because the island is clearly more than an elaborate menu system.

Do I solve them because they’re interesting? I mean, they’re not bad, if you’re into Sudoku or, like... cereal boxes. In and of themselves, they’re not my cuppa. People told me about a repeated sense of epiphany the game provoked for them, but that’s not the way I experienced it. Every puzzle is so carefully tutorialized that I never felt I was making an intuitive leap. There is no lateral thinking in The Witness, it is strictly longitudinal. You get a row of puzzle panels, and you take them one by one (you are, in fact, prevented from jumping ahead), each one building on what it taught you. And they get hard, certainly, but each is the logical progression of the one before. And each is a marvel of nonverbal communication, but that’s more Jon being clever than it is me. This is not to judge people who did get a feeling of discovery; one person’s “aha” moment is another’s “yeah, Jon, I get it.”

(Aside: I did get a proper “aha” moment when I came to a panel that could be solved two ways. It controlled a moving platform; draw one line, the platform moves right, draw the other and it moves left. And I thought, “Huh, I guess I get it, but those shapes seem kind of arbitrary.” But then, while it was moving, I realized the platform itself mirrored what I had drawn; the two designs were what shape the platform would take when connected with each endpoint! And I went “oh fuck, oh fuck, that’s clever, that‘s really clever.” My first epiphany. It was the most Myst-like the game got, it was clearly not the kind of experience Jon Blow was interested in recreating much, and it took place 7 hours in.)

Do I solve them because I’m compelled? In the first play sessions, I asked myself several times, “Do I even like this?” The game is often tedious and frustrating and I regularly muttered “fuck off, Jon.” But I kept playing. I got annoyed when people interrupted me. I got a hideous case of Tetris effect. They’re not the kind of puzzles you can spend the day thinking through, like you would with Myst or Riven; they’re too abstract to visualize without them right in front of you. And the world is pretty but it’s not a place I wish I could visit, like I would with, again, Myst or Riven. But I kept going back. I solved puzzles less because I found pleasure in finishing them than I found displeasure in them being unfinished. Jon Blow has given talks on how game design focused on being “addictive” is basically evil - his word, not mine. And yet... it felt more like I was playing his game because I was hooked than because I was enjoying myself.

Do I solve them because I trust Jon Blow? Because I believe this will all amount to something? Jon certainly expects me to trust him. The game blares PROFUNDITY AHEAD constantly. (I remind you it quotes the Buddha.) But, in the years since Braid, I have grown less impressed with Jon Blow’s “art game genius” shtick. One fun bit about playing The Witness so late is finally reading all the discourse, and, well before finishing the game, I had read the thoughts of Andrew Plotkin, and Liz Ryerson, and Andi McClure - all of whom are brilliant - so I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into. What’s surprised me is, having gotten to the first ending - not the secret ending - what the game is up to still isn’t clear. There are enough allusions to heady ideas that you can infer some stuff, but the default ending - while pretty enough - adds nothing and reveals nothing. And getting the True Ending means completing the In the Hall of the Mountain King section, something many will never find and precious few will ever complete. (Debating whether I’m going to even try.) If Jon Blow wants you to trust that he’s going somewhere with this, he makes you wait a long time before finding out if it’s worth it. [EDIT: turns out the secret ending comes after a different set of obscure puzzles than Hall of the Mountain King.]

Which leads me back to my original conclusion: I am solving the puzzles because Jon Blow told me to.

I suspect the arc Jon wants is for me to begin solving puzzles because I want to know what they’re in service of, what point Jon is trying to make, and then spend so long on them that I forget about the destination and just wrap myself up in the work, and, after dozens of hours on the hardest of the hard puzzles, Jon will finally reveal that the point he was making was about the labor I have just done. That he couldn’t tell me what it was for until I’d already done it. That the labor was its own reward. And how much you like The Witness is going to depend on whether or not you feel ripped off.

The overall impression The Witness left me with was less of meditation than discipline. (I have joked that playing The Witness feels like being in a D/s relationship with Jon Blow and not knowing the safe word.) Jon presents a simple concept and then expects you to solve every. single. permutation. of that concept. You do the work to find out what it’s about, and then what it’s about is the work. That game is about itself. The subject of The Witness is solving The Witness. It’s about purity of design, about simplicity, about slowly mastering a set of skills. (That these skills are neither inherently pleasurable to perform nor applicable in any other context seems not to matter; the point is, you learned them.) It’s hard not to read a game fixated on the beauty of its own design as all kinds of smug.

I allowed myself to be spoiled on the True Ending, and it seems, in the eleventh hour, if you draw lines til your fingers bleed, the game makes room for self-critique, questioning whether all this dedication to design actually is, in any way, meaningful or useful to us. Which, just a little bit, smacks of an artist spending two years making a sculpture of himself, chiseled to make him look a perfect Olympian beauty, only to label it “EGOISM.” Ooo. Make you think.

I suspect, in the end, I played it to (partial) completion because I was curious. I didn’t necessarily buy Jon Blow’s hype, but his hype is intriguing. As a portrait of a certain mindset, a monomaniacal obsession with design for design’s sake, the folk-religion of salvation through technology, and the critique of same, it is fascinating. I know people - smart people - who genuinely love this game, and, if the above is any indication, I clearly love talking about it. I have no regrets.

But, word of advice: if you don’t a) love the puzzles, or b) love the discourse, just walk away. Everything will be fine.

[pokkop15]

(Ok so I was a fool and had had a lot of this meta written up yesterday and instead of saving it as a draft while I watched critical role, I, like a fool, just left all the tabs open and then went to bed after the episode. Then firefox crashed in the night and everything was lost. Press F to pay respects I guess cause here I go again.)

First off, Aradia is best girl and I am so happy she's RELEVANT again. I had a whole preamble the last time I wrote this post, but I can't remember what it said other than mentioning that this is gonna be a long post beneath the cut and that I have other metas that will kind of overlap with what I'm saying in this one so I will try to keep my discussion of the narrative styles of the The Prince and The Muse to only what is relevant to this post and to what is RELEVANT. Also previous metas should be reblogged directly before I post this to make it easier to check them out before hand or to reference them more easily.

The main points of focus will be: The differences between how the two Time gods interact with The Muse and her narrative, as well as the general level of metatextual awareness of characters within Candy. | The juxtaposition of the Knight and the Maid. | The possible suppression of the Ultimate nature of The Knight, and by extension The Seer. | The Muse's unique state of power and presumed Awakening | I swear there was more but I flat out don't remember what they were.

One last thing. I am a rambly motherfucker so if you haven't read my previous metas, here's your warning to expect a very long and very chaotic mess of a post beneath the cut. Also for anyone confused anytime I emphasize someone as 'The Class' it's referring to their actions as a potential narrator and as an Ultimate Self. For example, the difference between The Muse and the Muse is that 'the Muse' would be for character moments like when the dead cherub possessing Jade's corpse in Candy is just talking with Davebot and Aradia, while 'The Muse' is for when talking about her influence over the narrative. (There's a lot of different ways I put emphasis on words or phrases, but “The Class” was the one I felt really might need clarification)

I find it interesting how Davebot acknowledges and shows distaste for The Muse interjecting her narration and thus inhibiting his ability to live in the moment. I find this interesting because as an Awakened god of Time, he is simultaneously living in every moment but as a Knight, and as The Knight, he is also intrinsically separate from those moments as he is the Ultimate One who Wields Time. Aradia on the other hand is the Maid of Time, who while almost assuredly having reached the pinnacle of her god tier after the hundreds of years we now know her to have lived, is not ascended to her Ultimate Self. As a Maid, Aradia literally embodies her aspect. As such she doesn't worry about living in the moment because she is the moment. Because of this Aradia is more prone to just accept, agree, and repeat the sentiments The Muse dictates in her constant exposition. However, despite acknowledging the narration, Davebot still ends up being incredibly passive in the face of it. Even though he has an Active class and is a dreamer of the Active moon, Dave himself has always come off as an incredibly passive character to me in a lot of ways. (Even the aspect of Time itself and its heroes are specifically denoted as incredibly Active in the {official and Canon} extended zodiac test [which means its contents are NECESSARY, RELEVANT, and TRUE]). Always acting under the direction of other characters, subject to The Lord's rule over Time, and constantly struggling with his seeming lack of control. Here, even after reaching his Ultimate Self, he still only makes passive-aggressive remarks instead leaving the flow of the story and the big decisions to others. (In my last post I went into deeper detail about the nature of, and relationship between Aradia and Dave's classes and how that affected their sessions, but I can't remember what the tie in was unfortunately so for now I'll leave it at this and move on)

Among the human players of sburb, the Strilondes have always been the most genre savvy and possessed the most awareness of the narrative and its' influence, (although Dave was never near the levels of Dirk and Rose). But up until this upd8, direct interactions with the narrative have been few and far between in Candy (at least as far as I can recall). I mentioned this in my previous meta as being a result of The Muse being the type to inspire characters to action whereas The Prince is far more heavy handed in is dictation and rarely attempts to hide his presence in the narration these days. But we see here once again, that not only is The Muse bad for the people under her influence, she's also just really not good at constructing a story. She relies too heavily on tropes and cliches, on plot contrivances; she tells too much and doesn't show enough, (something that should literally be her greatest strength as a Muse). Yet despite this, Davebot and Aradia are seen multiple times to interact with her dictations directly and Aradia even points out on page 284 that she is aware of The Muse “observing (their) every action and noting its relevance : )” (the emphasis on 'relevance' being mine). As such we can infer that it doesn't take an Ultimate Self to recognize The Muse's narration. But if not that, then what? If it was just pre-disposition of character that let them notice, then between her own abilities and self awareness, surely Candy!Rose would have by now, but she hasn't. Then is it proximity? Maybe The Muse is getting complacent and starting to unknowingly imitate The Prince and his methods? Or is it because both Davebot and Aradia are Heroes of Time? The aspect opposite The Muse's. After all, The Muse did express that the way (either Aradia specifically or that the both of them) experience time is “woefully unfamiliar” to her. Perhaps that makes it difficult for her to write a story that resonates with them fully. Whatever it may be, all the information up until this point doesn't come to a head so much as it is something that I believe to be RELEVANT.

With that, let us switch gears while keeping the previous information in mind. As I said before, in spite of all the active components of Davebot's Mythological Role, his character has often been passive. And the precise story beat I want to focus on right now is his Awakening to his Ultimate Self. Candy!Dave was out on patrol with a wife who he loved, but who also had very much always been the driving force of their dynamic. He was pulled to the ancient bunker by the narrative where a hologram of Obama expertly guided him through a conversation like a true politician, somehow knowing a lot about Dave while at the same time withholding “classified” information as if that word had any meaning without a country or government holding Obama accountable. (Unless of course Obama was still answering to someone... *Cough cough*the authors*cough cough*). Look, all of this is me saying that Obama was a leftover contrivance of The Prince that The Muse utilized for her own means. Dirk was a skilled programmer and engineer. He had a deep understanding of how to build AIs that could easily impersonate someone. He had an even deeper grasp of how to manipulate Dave. Dirk built the bots. The Bots. The bots that are supposedly NECESSARY for one to Awaken to their Ultimate Self and survive. And yet even if that is TRUE, it isn't true. The Prince claims he was a special case but his powers are of the soul, not the body. And it is the body that breaks down. And we know that Rose really was suffering in her path to Awakening, but I will remind you that her poor condition was first established through narration that we know was under the control of The Prince. Further more it happened prior to the Meat/Candy split, in which the Canon still possessed TRUTH, which is why it still remained RELEVANT in Candy (and it was obviously NECESSARY in Meat for reasons about to be discussed). Both Rose and Dave ultimately played a passive role in their Awakenings, guided to their Ultimate Self by another even though they are both Active players. I believe that The Prince established these rules about Ultimate Selves and built the robot bodies as a way to give him an upper hand against the two characters most likely to overtake him. Because to reinforce a point from a previous post, Rose is the only full on published author among the players and Dave himself has written comics and presumably screenplays for his films, making them the two people who might not only do a better job than The Prince or The Muse, but just do a flat out GOOD job. The Seer especially, which is why The Prince went through the extra effort to disrupt her sense of self as she was coming into her Ultimate Self. If these two had played an Active part in their own Awakening and without The Prince’s influence I think they both would’ve been quite capable of giving The Prince a run for his money. But the humans are not the only players in this game...

As I've already alluded to, Lord English (The Lord), was almost certainly his Ultimate Self. Awakened and Empowered by the treasure (a juju so powerful that it enabled John to retcon things in a way that overrides the timeline instead of splitting it, and it did so without even granting him its actual power). When The Knight awakened, The Muse described it has having all of Time flow through his consciousness, allowing him to experience every instance of his own self. Conversely Jade described that her Ultimate Self would be “like... one ultimate self distributed across multiple bodies. so in multiple places and states at once. every jade that exists is like a light being shined through a thousand cracks in the timeline.” (Hey remember those cracks in the universe that had light peaking through them? Idk, seems RELEVANT if you ask me.) So if we reasonably assume that ones aspect heavily affects how one's Ultimate Self first Awakens and how it operates than that means there will be similarities between those who share aspects. If Awakening for a Hero of Time is an experience of everything that ever has, is, or will happen to a version of themselves, and Lord English possessed a juju that allows one to retcon and not split, than the combination of those powers would make it so he could be the singular instance of himself while at the same time always be “Already Here” than there is truly no difference between Lord English and the theoretical Ultimate version of himself. And since the Muse consumed Lord English at the end of Candy, granting her the power to punch a wormhole in the black hole. This is also presumably where she gained the power to “...exist in several narrative structures at once” (pg 286) (also see the above explanation of Jade's Ultimate Self for why that is RELEVANT). Because of this, we can assume that The Muse is just as indistinguishable from her theoretical Ultimate Self as The Lord was. But these powers and this simultaneous existence is not without consequences because the Muse's collapse at the end of this chapter is almost assuredly a result of Meat!Jade's rebelling against The Muse in chapter 6 (specifically the action on page 167/168). And finally, to tie this back to the imposition of bodily destruction to those who Awaken their Ultimate Self, it is worth noting that The Muse does not possess a body of her own to be destroyed. Instead inhabiting the body of various Jades.

Alright, so once again sorry if you thought there would be some big culmination to this post, and hey, what pumpkin?

[sweetsmellosuccess]

Sundance 2021: Day 1 & 2

Films: 5

Best Film of the Day(s): Summer of Soul

Coda: It is mostly a truism that the festival tends to start things off on Thursday night with a genial offering, to whet the appetite, as it were, for the vastly more far-reaching, and oft-madcap rest of the program. Sian Heder’s sweetly realized light drama, about Ruby (Emilia Jones), a high school senior in Gloucester, MA, who works in the early morning non-school hours on her father’s fishing boat, and full-time as the only member of her family, including mom (Marlee Matlin), father (Troy Katsur), and brother (Daniel Durant) who isn’t deaf. Balancing out her workload, she joins the choir, in order to be able to spend time with her crush, Miles (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), and turns out to have significant enough talent that her flinty music teacher (Eugenio Derbez), encourages her to apply to the prestigious music college in Boston of which he is an alum. Formulaic, to be certain, but moving nonetheless, with fine performances from the family  —  in keeping with the film’s own set-up, all but Jones actually deaf  —  and a strong sense of their relationships, especially between Ruby and her father. Heder’s screenplay also plays out the difficult dynamic between Ruby, and the rest of the hearing world, as the lone interpreter and defender of her family. As she puts it, they can’t hear themselves being laughed at, but she has no choice. It’s certainly glossy, but it’s also heartfelt, as in one pivotal scene, as Ruby performs a moving duet with Miles for the choir’s big show, Heder unexpectedly douses the sound for a few long moments, giving us a moving sense of what her parents get to experience during their daughter’s moment of artistic triumph.

Censor: As the title suggests, Prano Bailey-Bond’s discreet horror flick is about the idea of repression  —  what we want to cut away from the ugliness of the human experience. Set during the Thatcherite ‘80s, during an era where “video nasties” had become the topic du jour of cultural critics and political wankers, suggesting the sudden proliferation of demented, ultra-violent straight-to-video releases in the UK was somehow leading the country into sadistic nihilism, as opposed to their representing the result of Thatcher’s choking brand of right-wing oppression. Enid (Niamh Algar), a censor working for the government to render such films as Asunder, and Violent Coda properly palatable to the squirming masses, by excising excessive eye-gougings, brutal rapes, and disembowelments just enough to pass the board. She’s already living with her own past demons, a younger sister who disappeared in the woods under her watch years before, leaving her family shattered. Bailey-Bond shoots the film until the very end, as if underground, even while literally outside. Enid makes her way through the tube stations, and pedestrian tunnels, to her windowless office, and back again, with overhanging branches, overpasses, and canopies keeping her away from contact with the outside world. Creepy  —  but notably restrained in its own depictions of violence, save for the grainy, 4:3 imagery Enid has to make her way through at her job  —  Bailey-Bond’s film works well as a half-remembered bad dream from a similar tableau as Peter Strickland, but doesn’t quite have to chops, visually or in its surreal storytelling, to push it past those boundaries. It’s gripping enough, but doesn’t stick with you terribly long.

Summer of Soul (...Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised): In 1969, during the Summer of Love, when white hippies and counter-culturalists were grooving to Woodstock, and NASA had successfully landed whitey on the moon, an entirely different sort of cultural fusion was taking place in Mt. Morris Park in Harlem. A performer and concert promoter named Tony Lawerence conceived of the event, a big outdoor stage where for six consecutive weekends, people could flock to the free shows that featured Jazz, Afro-beat, blues, R ‘n B, gospel, Motown, and funk. More than 300,000 attended the concerts in total to watch legendary performers including B.B. King, Mahalia Jackson, Max Roach, Mavis Staples, Gladys Knight, Hugh Masekela, a 19-year-old Stevie Wonder, Sly and the Family Stone, and, in the sort of fierce performance that defined her live presence, Nina Simone, but even though the shows were meticulously filmed, the footage had never found an outlet, until now. Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s directorial debut doesn’t just present the artists’ performances (though it certainly could have), but adds insight from some of the surviving artists, and some of those in the crowd who witnessed them. He also works to put the shows into the cultural context of the time, when a rare mixture of political outrage, multicultural strength, and a dawning of the Black Pride movement created a fulcrum for Harlem, and Black people all over the world. Hippies got the press, and much of the mainstream media coverage, but Thompson makes a strong case as to how the same repressive forces that lead to the explosion of the counterculture movement amongst white college students and young people, also affected the rise of rebellion and tide-shifting in communities of color. Watching Jackson and Staples perform a riveting version of MLK’s favorite gospel song, “Take My Hand, Precious Lord,” in the wake of the black leader’s assassination, or Simone rip into “Backlash Blues” is to witness the shift of cultural winds, as they whipped across a steamy, jam-packed park in Upper Manhattan.

John and the Hole: The title is, on first blush, terrible, but as with several things in this confidently enigmatic coming-of-a-kind-of-age tale from Pascual Sisto, there’s more to it than that. What initially sounds dumpy becomes somewhat cannily constructed: It’s meant to evoke a kind of modern myth vibe, along the lines of “Jack and the Beanstalk.” As it turns out, the film’s refusal to explain itself becomes a significant strength. John (Charlie Shotwell), is a 13-year-old kid from a wealthy family outside of Boston. Skinny and stammering, he’s also difficult to read, either by his parents (Jennifer Ehle and Michael C. Hall), or his older sister (Taissa Farmiga). Which is why, when John’s family wake up one morning at the bottom of a deep, cement shaft  —  part of a bunker built in the woods near their house  —  after having been drugged, and dragged there by John, their reactions run from mildly surprised to mildly upset. John leaves them down there, occasionally stopping by the edge to drop down food, water, and jackets, while he lives on at the main house, zipping around town in the family’s Volvo SUV, and taking out cash when needed from his dad’s ATM card. At first, he finds it liberating  —  eating a mound of chicken nuggets, endless pizzas, and leaving the mess littered around the house, as he attempts to stave off suspicions  —  but, eventually, he gets lonely, and realizes he prefers their company to being on his own. There’s maliciousness implied in his actions  —  a frequent shot looking up at John from inside the pit keeps re-establishing the peculiar power dynamic in the family  —  but nothing happens, it appears, that can’t be taken back. Sisto shoots the film sumptuously, drawing out the beauty of their immaculate house in contrast to the mess it slowly becomes under John’s ambivalence (an idea neatly echoed with the rest of the family down in the bunker, who quickly become filthier and filthier until the mud and grime seems etched into their pores). What conclusions it may draw are difficult to ascertain, in keeping with the nature of the project, but there is the definite sense that the nuclear family, as rigid as the formation may seem, remains a useful tool for healthy emotional growth after all.

In the Earth: Shot in the summer of 2020, in response to the pandemic (director Ben Wheatley explained pre-screening that he wanted a film that “reflected the politics of the times”), the film is loaded with imagery of madness and obsession. Or, you know, what happens to the human mind when it’s forced to stay in place for months at a go. Set in the near future, when a different and even more deadly virus has devastated the planet, the story concerns a scientist named Martin (Joel Fry), who needs to head deep into a boreal forest to find a research lab headed by a former flame (Hayley Squires). He is aided by a guide, a forest ranger named Alma (Ellora Torchia), who takes him on the supposed two-day trek. En route, however, they run into trouble in the form of Zach (Reece Shearsmith), a crazy devotee of the forest gods, and what he believes are their ritualistic demands. Breaking free from him, they arrive at the research lab, only to find similar insanity. Wheatley’s film feels rushed in places, and is violently incoherent in others, but its sense of immediacy is acute. With its characters having plunged into bizarre cryptic conspiracy theories, having plunged deep into the Boreal heart of darkness, and the sense that reality has been splintered, it ends up being a pretty fair summation of current life and times. It might not hold up under much scrutiny years from now, but it could hardly be more of the moment in the meantime.

Sundance goes mostly virtual for this year’s edition, sparing filmgoers the altitude, long waits, standing lines, and panicked eating binges  —  but also, these things and more that make the festival so damn endearing. In any event, Sundance via living room is still a hell of a lot better than no Sundance. A daily report.

[life-observed]

Finding a Place for Third-Culture Kids in the Culture

In his new HBO series, the filmmaker Luca Guadagnino revisits a timeless yet timely question: What does it mean to be from everywhere and nowhere at once?

On a blanched, sun-baked afternoon, two teenagers, a boy and a girl, wander into a grocery store to pick up lunch. Fraser is a recent transplant from New York, and Britney a new friend who has lived her life evenly between South Korea, Germany and Italy, though you’d never know it by her American drawl or the pop music she blares through her headphones. To the viewer, the scene presents like quotidian life in the United States — but for the fact that it takes place in Veneto, Italy, on a military base where families work and attend school, their children running off every evening to dance and drink by the cerulean sea alongside their friends from town with whom they scheme and share secrets, whispered in fluent Italian. In a few years, many of them will ready themselves for a move — to another home on another military base in another country, with a supermarket configured to look exactly like this one. “They look the same so you don’t feel lost,” Britney tells Fraser. “Do you ever feel lost?” he asks. She shrugs.

The idea that a sense of belonging is challenged by the straddling of cultures is hardly a revelation; nearly every maker whose back story was shaped by more than one place has arrived at some version of that conclusion. But rarely do we hear the stories of so-called “third-culture kids” and the private, nomadic worlds in which they are raised, marked by a certain shared disorientation and the sense that home is everywhere and nowhere at once. It’s for this reason that the Italian director Luca Guadagnino will attempt to unpack one iteration of this experience — through Fraser, Britney and their five best friends — in “We Are Who We Are,” an eight-part series premiering this September on HBO that pulls back the curtain on the experiences of the children of military families abroad and other third-culture kids like them, whose place in the world now feels both more tenuous and important than ever before.

Coined by the American sociologist Ruth Useem in the 1950s, the term “third-culture kid” was conceived for expatriate children who spend their formative years overseas, shaped by the multicultural, peripatetic spheres of their parents, many of whom are diplomats, military members or others working in foreign service. They relocate frequently and enroll their children in international schools, exposing them to miniature realms cultivated by peers from nations far and wide, whose customs, languages and mores coalesce, birthing hybrid or “third” cultures that are globe-spanning, diverse, highly empathic and oftentimes difficult to translate outside these environments.

Perhaps because this life is characteristically slippery, it’s struggled to become clearly defined in the culture, even in fictional stories, suited though they are to crafting imagined worlds. Ironically, while most TCKs cite the ability to relate to nearly everyone, their own narratives suffer a relatability problem, perhaps because their youthful experiences, relegated wholly to remembrance and recollection, are in many ways too singular and strange-seeming to others. Still, there are characters that have managed to catch hold, the complexities of their placelessness often anchored to more universal quandaries: Elio Perlman, played by Timothée Chalamet in Guadagnino’s 2017 film adaptation of André Aciman’s “Call Me By Your Name” is one such example; a trilingual adolescent reared in the university orbit between the United States and Northern Italy — his father is from the former, his mother the latter — he casts his American and European identities on and off with a kind of begrudging ease, lording them over his father’s visiting graduate student, Oliver (Armie Hammer), on some days, while on others he’s consumed by a sort of languid estrangement from everyone around him, retreating into himself. Though the story is propelled forward by the unfurling of muffled desire and fleeting boyhood, it’s hard not to notice how a defined cultural identity — or lack thereof — inevitably underscores Elio’s coming-of-age, as he pursues different versions of himself in different relationships: in English with Oliver, in French and Italian with his girlfriend Marzia and in all three with his parents, code-switching in what feels like a futile attempt to stitch together facets of a fractured self.

Of course, how Elio conveys this onscreen may have more to do with Guadagnino himself, who has long constructed his complex, layered characters partly in his own image. “That’s me,” he says immediately over Zoom in August, when I read off Useem’s definition of a third-culture kid. “I was born in Palermo, and moved almost right away to Ethiopia. I spent the first six years of my life there. Then we went to Rome, then Palermo again and then back to Rome, then to Milan and to London. I feel the most important aspect of being a filmmaker is to be really aware of what forms you as much as what’s in front of you. So, I always try to keep in mind what I could have been experiencing during my youth in all these places through the prism of these complex stories I tell.”

If asked, any third-culture kid will tell you that shape-shifting — rousing one of the many selves stacked within you to best suit the place you’re in — becomes a necessary survival skill, a sort of feigned fitting in that allows you to relate something of yourself to nearly everyone you meet. As someone raised between New York and the diplobrat bubble of an international school in New Delhi, India, where friends would come and go every few years, I became adept at calibrating myself to find the points of connection between us, able to relate equally to someone from South Korea, Iceland, Japan, Italy or Jamaica, in many cases more so than to other Indian Americans whose lives, at least on paper, read closer to my own. And because our stories couldn’t be gleaned from our outward appearances, accents or possessions, we all came humble to the table, open and permeable and ready to barter the surfaces of our souls: our learnings, our languages, our cuisines, our clothing.

While all of this contributed, certainly, to feeling perennially adrift (according to multiple studies by Useem and others, much as they may try, adult TCKs never wholly repatriate culturally), it blotted the sensation of feeling like we’d “grown up at an angle to everywhere and everyone,” as the writer Pico Iyer — of Indian parentage, raised between England and California, who now lives between the latter and Japan — told me during a recent phone conversation. In his own work, Iyer has spent a lifetime examining this feeling and others that result from cultural crisscrossing, both out in the world in “Video Night in Kathmandu,” a 1988 collection of essays which examines the unlikely cultural points at which East and West meet across Asia — Japan’s affinity for baseball, say, or the Philippines’ obsession with country and western music — and then in “The Global Soul,” written twelve years later, which studied, conversely, the crisscrossings that take place within. Iyer found peace in accepting that belonging had little to do with geography, but rather a collection of personal interests, ideas and relationships accumulated over time. “Growing up with three cultures around or inside me, I felt that I could define myself by my passions, not my passport,” he says. “In some ways, I would never be Indian or English or Californian, and that was quite freeing, though people may always define me by my skin color or accent. But also, because I didn’t have that external way of defining myself, I had to be really rigorous and directed in grounding myself internally, through my values and loyalties and to the people I hold closest to me.”

Others have found freedom in the same, becoming natural shape-shifters whose value systems transcend borders to instill a sense of home. The most famous example is probably Barack Obama, whose 1995 memoir, “Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance,” whirls through Jakarta, Seattle, Kenya and Hawaii with unsparing analysis of what it means to belong to multiple worlds and therefore to none of them, but to find, later, that refuge lies in the space between all of them — and in the ability to unite not just your worlds but others’, too. As much as the third-culture experience is clouded by the fog of liminality, it’s informed also by the ability to define oneself on one’s own terms, difficult as that endeavor may be in the face of increasing scrutiny toward globalism and those formed by it.

The presentation of this — dazzling and dressed up — is what makes “We Are Who We Are” thrilling to watch. Its characters come alive in the blur, filling in one another’s spaces and dancing over questions of home, while bragging about where they’ve been, their exchanges captured in shimmering, slow-motion interludes scored to original music, the silky synth pop of Blood Orange. And while the show takes place in the run-up to the 2016 election, its politics remain a quiet drumbeat in the offing, its spotlight focused wholly on all the ways by which differences are, in fact, paradoxically harmonious when everyone is otherized. In fashioning themselves to evade traditional modes of identification (culturally, politically, sexually and through gender), these characters build their own castles in the sky. “When you grow up this way, there is a feeling of being lost, but to be lost is also to be open,” Guadagnino says. “It reminds us of our empathy, and of what we share if we were only to try and find it.”

This may be the ultimate lesson of third-culture kids’ stories. In the late Kobe Bryant’s 2018 book “The Mamba Mentality,” which offers a glimpse into his childhood years in Reggio Emilia, Italy, he discusses the importance of having learned how to navigate a new culture with compassion. Though he eventually settled down in America — becoming not only one of its sports heroes, but one of its cultural icons, too — he continued to make frequent trips back to Italy, where he’d speak the sort of Italian that boasted a native European bravado, a casual swagger that rode along his perfect pronunciation. And when he died in Los Angeles, he died in Reggio Emilia, too, where they mourned a version of him America never knew, except for the Italian names he had chosen for his daughters: Gianna, Natalia, Bianka and Capri.

Of course, not all depictions of third-culture life have been so uplifting. Occasionally, too, these characters are written to be spoofed and ridiculed, assigned snobbish attitudes and superiority complexes. Without proper context, it can appear as if they need too much and require a sort of excess to keep them perpetually moving, making it hard to divorce third-culture life from that of overt wealth and privilege, or an indifference to local customs. In the 2018 Netflix show “You,” the model-actress Hari Nef portrays Blythe, a third-culture poet prodigy whose parents worked for the state department and raised her between Papua New Guinea and Tokyo. When the central character, Beck — a timid, hopeful writer played by Elizabeth Lail — meets her, she looks her up and down and smirks before asking, “Jersey, right?” and runs off to take a call from her grandparents in Swedish. In the third-culture writer Stephanie LaCava’s forthcoming novel, “The Superrationals,” which dives into the torrid waters of the international art world, the protagonist Mathilde, raised between the U.S. and France, is ridiculed relentlessly by “the girls,” a catty clique of gallery insiders who dislike her for all the ways in which she’s different (“What is that name?” they ask. “Is she even French? She’s so pretentious”). And in 2010’s “Sidewalks,” a razor-sharp collection of essays about the failures of finding home in lived experiences and written ones alike, Valeria Luiselli — the author of the 2019 novel “Lost Children Archive” and the daughter of a Mexican diplomat formed by an upbringing in Costa Rica, South Korea, India and South Africa — sarcastically comments on her own selection of Mexico as “her country,” driven mostly by cynicism and “a sort of spiritual laziness than an authentic act of faith.” She admits she’s never felt true allegiance to anywhere she’s lived, knowing only that she must continue roaming.

But all these stories, of course, predate the precarious state we find ourselves in today, when borders are clamping down in domino effect, driven in part by the Covid-19 pandemic, itself a case against globalism and the speed at which interconnectedness can burn it all down, imperiling not only our ability to travel but limiting those who find selfhood in marginal spaces, whose stories underscore the urgency of seeing the world as one. And while internationalism deserves examination, what we stand to lose without it is our ability to lift one another up, to find each other in the in-between. One might look to Kamala Harris — who, born to Jamaican and Indian parents, often discusses her ability to consider multiple sides — or Obama before her. Such voices, with their chameleonic stories and sensibilities, help locate the light in the dark.

[animepopheart]

As the Spirit Moves You: How Studio Ghibli Films Leave Room for A Range of Religious Interpretations

Today’s guest post is by Kaitlyn Ugoretz, a PhD student in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara whose research focuses on the globalization of Shinto through popular and digital media and the growth of online Shinto communities.

Since childhood, my life has been suffused with an appreciation for both anime and religion. Saturday mornings were dedicated to the weekly ritual of watching cartoons with my father (Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Sailor Moon, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing—if it was on Toonami or WB Kids, we watched it!), and Sunday mornings were spent listening to him preach the gospel as the minister of our small Presbyterian church.

As a child, I never really thought about how anime and religion might intersect, but all that changed after I watched Miyazaki Hayao’s Spirited Away. Something about the heroines, spirits, and grand narratives about relationships between humans and the environment spoke to me and inspired a fascination that continues to shape my adult life. And thanks to social media and blogs like Beneath the Tangles, I know that I’m far from alone in feeling that there is something deeper—something that goes beyond what we might think of as “mere” entertainment—to be found in many anime. Today, I study the variety of religious/spiritual responses to anime as a scholar of Japanese religion, popular culture, and digital media.

Ghibli—Global Giant

Shinkai Makoto’s 2017 blockbuster animated film Your Name has given Spirited Away a run for its money in the box office, but Miyazaki Hayao’s 2001 masterpiece reclaimed its status this past June as the highest grossing anime film in the world after its long-awaited release in China. Studio Ghibli has produced an impressive 10 out of the world’s top 50 highest grossing animated films, including beloved favorites My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and Ponyo.

Box office earnings are not necessarily an indicator of the spiritual depth of Studio Ghibli’s films, but they do demonstrate their enduring global appeal. Scholars of Japanese religion and popular culture, most notably Jolyon Baraka Thomas and Katharine Buljan and Carole M. Cusack, have shown that Miyazaki Hayao and Isao Takahata’s anime films resonate with audiences from a wide range of religious and cultural backgrounds and even inspire religious responses.

What is it about Ghibli films that continues to capture the hearts of people from all walks of life and allows for such a diversity of religious interpretations? Considering how Miyazaki represents his filmic intentions, in addition to how scholars and different fan audiences have interpreted the meaning of Studio Ghibli films, I find that it is the mixture of familiar and foreign religious elements that inspire us to reexamine our own beliefs and seek out those messages that resonate with us.

Miyazaki’s Mixed Messages

What Miyazaki intended to communicate to his audience through his films? After all, he is well-known for addressing moral and social concerns, including adolescence, good and evil, humanity’s relationship with nature and technology, modern anxieties, and nostalgia for the past. Given his tendency to populate his fictional worlds with spirits or gods (typically referred to as kami in Japanese) and other supernatural creatures who are closely related with nature, like the river spirit in Spirited Away and the Forest Spirit in Princess Mononoke, Miyazaki is often asked whether his films are meant to foster Shinto beliefs.

Cleansed river spirit

Shishigami-sama, the Great Forest Spirit

Shinto is a difficult tradition to define, as it has meant different things to different people throughout history. Some classify Shinto as a religion with clear beliefs and practices, while others characterize it as an essential part of everyday life in Japan which can only be understood experientially. In any case, most can agree that—at its core—Shinto is a ritual tradition which centers on the worship of kami, divine entities that inhabit extra-ordinary natural phenomena and man-made objects and whose favor grants benefits to one’s life in this world.

While this definition may seem to suit Miyazaki’s films well, the creator himself explicitly rejects Shinto as the source of his inspiration. Miyazaki grew up in the midst of WWII and his understanding of Shinto is informed by the legacy of what scholars call “State Shinto,” the modern Japanese government’s takeover of Shinto shrine affairs in order to promote imperialist and nationalistic ideologies. The filmmaker has given ambiguous answers to the question of whether his films are influenced by religion. In one interview, Miyazaki elaborated:

Dogma inevitably will find corruption, and I’ve certainly never made religion a basis for my films. My own religion, if you can call it that, has no practice, no Bible, no saints, only a desire to keep certain places and my own self as pure and holy as possible. That kind of spirituality is very important to me. Obviously it’s an essential value that cannot help but manifest in my films.

Through his consistently vague characterization of his personal brand of spirituality, Miyazaki—like any masterful storyteller—leaves room for his audience to draw upon the rich imagery, relatable characters, and familiar themes to create their own meaningful interpretations.

Scholarly Interpretations

Scholars of religion and media have interpreted Miyazaki’s works from a number of theological perspectives. Some argue that the kami characters and environmental ethics which Miyazaki employs are clearly drawn from Shinto, despite his claims to the contrary. Others have offered Christian interpretations of Miyazaki’s films. For example, Prince Ashitaka (Princess Mononoke) and Princess Nausicaä (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind) have been analyzed as messianic mediators between the profane and sinful realm of humanity and the sacred realm of Nature/Creation, as well as messengers of the gospel, promoting love and nonviolence.

Ashitaka goes into exile to restore harmony

Nausicaä is healed by the Ohm

Fan Interpretations

Scholars aren’t the only ones interested in the spiritual underpinnings of Ghibli films—fans around the world gather on- and offline to discuss their personal interpretations. These conversations are more than intellectual exercises; Thomas and Buljan and Cusack have shown that popular media like anime can inspire religious responses in audience members as well as entertain. That is, Ghibli films may influence viewers’ worldview and behavior, even if these viewers do not consider themselves to be religious. Thomas’s survey of Japanese fans shows that this influence may take many forms, such as a “belief in an immanent spiritual bond existing among all living things,” a pilgrimage to a special site like Yakushima forest (supposedly a source of inspiration for the sacred forest in Princess Mononoke), or a reenactment of the acorn-growing ritual portrayed in My Neighbor Totoro.

Erika Ogihara-Schuck examines how Miyazaki’s films have been translated into English and German in such a way as to secularize the spiritually-charged elements, referring to kami characters as “spirits” rather than “gods” and their powers as “magical” instead of “sacred” or “divine.” In some cases, this translation project has succeeded; some fans view Miyazaki’s films as ‘simply entertaining,’ while others read them as uncomfortably morally ambiguous, superstitious, or explicitly opposed to Christian theology. Still others in the Christian blogosphere—including contributors on sites such as Beneath the Tangles and Christ X Pop Culture—have found plenty of food for thought in Studio Ghibli films, prompting discussions of how anime narratives might productively challenge and affirm their core values as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Some audiences, as I have discovered in my own research, draw upon Studio Ghibli films as a source of Shinto spiritual instruction. In my study of the growth of predominantly non-Japanese online Shinto communities (OSCs) on social media, I find that anime plays an important role in the fostering of interest in Japanese religions, as well as participation in OSCs.

In interviews, surveys, and posts, several of the leading, active members of OSCs have noted that their early exposure to Ghibli films are what inspired their further study and adoption of Shinto. In community discussions, members share their interpretations of religious elements in anime. These conversations often focus on the relationship between humanity, kami, and nature and affirm the importance of moral character and gratitude. In similar fashion to other online religious communities, OSC members will comment on posts and keep the discussion going, negotiating interpretations, sharing links to blog posts and video clips which they find informative, and posing further questions.

In response to new members’ requests for more information about Shinto, each OSC has created its own list of recommended resources, which often include anime films and series in addition to books and blogs. As such, Studio Ghibli films like Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke have become, in effect, ‘required reading’ for OSC members. In this way, Ghibli films function as an important introduction to Japanese spirituality—particularly Shinto—for international audiences and a resource for the construction of personal and community beliefs.

Language Games

How can Studio Ghibli films spark so many different religious responses and interpretations—Christian, Shinto, and otherwise? The answer lies with two key concepts: Jolyon Baraka Thomas’s theory of “playful religion” and Leonard Primiano’s theory of “vernacular religion.”

Thomas argues that the distinction we make between religion and   entertainment is artificial; entertainers can playfully use religious symbols to create an engaging story, and viewers can derive spiritual meaning from popular media, regardless of whether the creator intended for them to do so.

“Vernacular religion” refers to religion as it is lived—not what religious authorities say religion ‘should be,’ but how religious concepts are translated into a particular culture and actually practiced by people.

One way anime creators like Miyazaki manage to both entertain and inspire their audiences is to ‘play’ with the ‘languages’ of religion. These language games are a lot like playing Mad Libs. The storyteller chooses from among a variety of popular religious images and themes from different traditions—our collective religious vocabulary bank—and removes them from their original context. These religious elements are then recombined within a familiar narrative framework to create new images and stories that are compelling because they are both familiar and foreign to us. It is left up to each of us as audience members to make sense of these disassociated religious elements by translating them back into our own vernacular of faith.

Understanding this process of translation we all participate in as Studio Ghibli fans is important for two reasons. First, it reminds us that the meaning or significance of an anime is not defined by any one person’s vision, even that of its creator. No one has the ‘right’ answer. Our personal interpretations and those of others are just as meaningful, because they are grounded in our beliefs and thus have the power to affect the way we look at the world and live our lives. Second, the fact that the same images and themes can resonate with people of different faiths and backgrounds speaks to values we have in common, as well as a common desire to be spiritually engaged, as well as entertained, by the media we consume. Ultimately, the genius of Studio Ghibli films lies in their rich assemblage of religious symbols and grand narratives, which audience members are—if they are so inclined—free to interpret in a way that affirms their beliefs and feeds their soul.

Kaitlyn Ugoretz is a PK (Pastor’s Kid), anime fan, and PhD student in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultural Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research focuses on the globalization of Shinto through popular and digital media and the growth of online Shinto communities. Kaitlyn runs Digital Shinto, a site where anyone can learn about and participate in her ethnographic study of Shinto’s development outside of Japan.

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Recommended Reading:

Buljan, Katherine and Carole M. Cusack. Anime, Religion, and Spirituality: Profane and Sacred Worlds in Contemporary Japan. Sheffield: Equinox Publishing Ltd., 2015.

Ogihara-Schuck, Erika. Miyazaki’s Animism Abroad: The Reception of Japanese Religious Themes in German and American Audiences. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2014.

Park, Jin Kyu. “‘Creating My Own Cultural and Spiritual Bubble’: Case of Cultural Consumption By Spiritual Seeker Anime Fans.” Culture and Religion 6.3 (2005): 393-413.

Thomas, Jolyon Baraka. Drawing on Tradition: Manga, Anime, and Religion in Contemporary Japan. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press, 2012.

[kuiperblog]

Awards that the Academy missed

Now that the Oscars are over, I thought I’d put out my own picks for several categories that didn’t receive proper recognition from the academy:

Best emotional scene where Scarlett Johansson ties someone’s shoes

Jojo Rabbit is an incredibly kind, sincere, and deeply funny movie. It’s hard to be a single mother. It’s even harder to be a single mother in Nazi Germany, especially when your son is enthusiastically pledging loyalty to the Party. Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) hates the Nazi Party, but she loves her son, and we see that no more clearly than in the scene where she squats down to tie Jojo’s shoes and explains the meaning of love. “You’ll know it when it happens. You’ll feel it. A pain. In your tummy. And in your heart.” It is a reminder of just how dependent and inexperienced and naive young Jojo is. In the lands of a lesser performer, this little speech about the meaning of love would have felt a bit too on the nose, but Scarlett Johansson delivers it in a way that makes you forget that she’s not a German mother in the year 1945.

It’s one of the best scenes of the year, almost as good as the Scarlett Johansson shoe-tying scene in Noah Baumbach’s movie about divorce. Winner: Marriage Story

Best movie where Adam Driver plays a character who loses his temper and shares a fraught romantic relationship with a woman who accuses him of being a villain

I don’t think that Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker is a good film. The sequel trilogy is fraught, and watching episode VIII followed by IX felt like watching two different writer/directors wrestle over the direction they wanted the series to take, kicking sand in the face of the audience in the process.  In Episode IX, the plot is barely coherent, the pacing is bizarre, and so many of the creative choices are baffling. Yet, the sequel trilogy has one through-line that constantly works, and continues to work in Episode IX: the relationship between Kylo Ren and Rey. By episode IX, it feels like Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley are carrying the whole weight of this franchise on their shoulders, and their relationship is one of the few things that gets better and more interesting over the course of the trilogy.  Is it love?  Is it hate?  It’s difficult to articulate, and yet they share a connection, bound by some tether of fate or compatibility or chemistry that makes a romance between the two of them seem both impossible and inevitable. Yes, Kylo Ren is a villain, but he also may be the man that Rey loves.

Adam Driver brings a truly excellent performance in Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker.  It’s the kind of performance that makes you wish he could be in a better film, with better material to work with. Fortunately, he got exactly that in one of 2019′s most dramatic scenes, in Noah Baumbach’s divorce movie where Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) screams at Charlie (Adam Driver), “You gaslighted me! You’re a fucking villain!” Winner: Marriage Story

Best movie about the culture of Hollywood and Los Angeles

Tarantino loves making movies that are about movies. He pays homage to so many classic film genres, and every bit of his love for cinema comes across in his movies. Inglorious Basterds was a film about the power of cinema, with a powerful scene coming at the film’s climax that literally takes place in a theater, as film itself is used by a Jewish filmmaker as a weapon against Nazis.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is more deeply concerned with the filmmaking process and the people who participate in it, and I really think that Trudi Fraser (Julia Butters) steals the show with her portrayal of a child actress who, in her own way, reacquaints our protagonist Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) with his love for acting. And the parts involving Sharon Tate are purely about the love of cinema, a throwback to a more innocent time as we watch someone who loved making movies get to see firsthand the joy that her performance has brought to an audience of moviegoers.

Of course, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood isn’t just about Hollywood; it’s about the city of Los Angeles. There’s a scene when night falls and all of the signs across the city light up, and I’m left with the feeling that Tarantino really just enjoys giving us a retrospective tour of Los Angeles. It’s a joy to behold, and the movie constantly reminds you of where you are and why it’s special. It’s a lot like the scenes in another movie from the same year, where a man of New York (Adam Driver) gradually becomes acquainted with the city of Los Angeles, a place where people spend their days in their cars instead of on their feet and people constantly feel the need to remark about how much space there is. Nicole (Scarlett Johansson) discovers that beyond her talents as an actress, she takes quite naturally to the director’s chair, as Los Angeles offers her opportunities that she never could have had in New York City. Winner: Marriage Story

Best movie where the “villain” is portrayed as German, but actually the real villain is the system

1917 is a movie about the brutality of war. It is also a hauntingly beautiful film.

There is a particular shot in the movie, the first scene that takes place after nightfall, where we see flares lighting up the night as a church burns. We see shadows dance across the ground, and the score swells in just the right way, and the scene was just so nightmarish yet so striking that I couldn’t help but have a physical reaction to it. It feels like we’ve stepped into hell on earth, and yet...

So many shots in this movie are simultaneously terrifying yet magnificent in a way that doesn’t undercut the terror of war, but rather, underscores it: these characters inhabit a beautiful world that is tainted by the scars of battle.

There is a moment about halfway through the movie when the main character is confronted with the grim reality of human mortality, and from that moment forward, the specter of death looms over him. Every gunshot he hears -- and that we hear -- is a reminder of his mortality. Every step that he takes, he is surrounded by death, often in the most literal way possible as he finds himself in various settings surrounded by the remains of the fallen.

As we gaze upon fields and rivers and earth littered with death, we are left with the impression that God has given us a beautiful world, and the things that make it ugly -- the machine guns and barbed wire, the crashed planes and mortar craters, the sound of gunfire and the agonized screams of injured soldiers -- are a pox upon that natural beauty, a sort of corruption that could only be wrought by the hands of men.

War is an ugly, wretched, terrible thing, not only because of what it is, but also because of what it robs us of. 1917′s hauntingly beautiful moments give us fleeting glimpses of that.

1917′s plot is fairly minimal, but its basic construction facilitates the anti-war message: the climax of this movie is not about a soldier attempting to win a battle or kill enemy combatants, but to call off an attack in order to prevent soldiers from marching into the maw of death. German soldiers stand in the way of our protagonist’s progress, and he must defeat them in order to carry out his mission, but the Germans are not the real villains here: the true villain of this movie is war itself.

I had similar thoughts watching Laura Dern’s performance in Noah Baumbach’s movie about divorce: true, she is an opportunistic divorce lawyer. She exploits Nicole and Charlie’s pain for her own benefit, and in the end we’re left to think that despite all her claims to feel compassion for Nicole, she was really in it to win to satisfy her own ego. And yet, can we really begrudge her for what she’s doing? She’s a divorce lawyer, and she’s good at her job. It’s hard not to admire her for her sheer competence and work ethic. She is responding to the incentives that the court system has put in place. The messiness of divorce court is not the fault of any single individual; it’s a system that forces good people to do bad things, including the divorce lawyer played by actress Laura Dern, whose German ancestry makes this movie a valid candidate for this category. Winner: Marriage Story

Best movie about human parasites

Bong Joon-ho makes films in a genre that I sometimes have difficulty describing, but maybe if I do a poor job of articulating it you’ll still get the idea of what I’m gesturing at: he makes movies that are about ideas. (As opposed to, say, movies that are about things, or people, or events, or places.)  There were some movies -- good movies, even -- that, when you leave the theater, make you say, “well, that sure was a bunch of stuff that just happened.” I don’t think Bong has ever made a film like that: his movies stay with you.

Every movie is informed by the worldviews of the people who created it, but it feels like Bong creates movies that are intended to specifically communicate a certain worldview -- and yet it never feels preachy, because the stories that he tells seem so real and genuine. Maybe it’s the performances that he’s able to get out of the actors he works with, maybe it’s the way he always seems to let the camera linger just a second longer than other filmmakers would in order to really let a specific emotion hit you.

It feels reductive to describe Parasite as a film about class. It certainly doesn’t seem like we’re meant to agree with the characterization of these members of the “underclass” as mere parasites: they’re clever. They exhibit wit, ingenuity, and if they behave dishonestly and selfishly, it’s only because they’re part of a system that has forced them to be this way. It’s similar to the dynamic presented in Noah Baumbach’s divorce movie, where Baumbach portrays divorce lawyers as parasites who are nonetheless human in a story that feels incredibly true-to-life without being vindictive. Winner: Marriage Story

Best scene (that has also become an internet meme) where a character explains who is winning 

Uncut Gems had me glued to my seat in the theater, and it feels like an incredible cinematic achievement. I felt thoroughly sucked into the world of this movie -- a pretty unpleasant sensation, all things considered. Many shots give an incredible sense of claustrophobia. The camera work gives off a constant sense of frenetic energy that just makes you feel tense. The characters are all incredibly abrasive, and the actors all deliver world-class performances that completely sell that abrasiveness, all while talking over each other: no piece of dialog feels like it has room to breathe. Everything about this movie feels incredibly and unpleasantly crowded. It’s kind of amazing. It’s artfully done and incredibly immersive, but the world that it immerses you in is so unpleasant that I’m not surprised it got a relatively poor Cinemascore: this movie does not scratch the itch that typical moviegoers are used to having scratched, and in fact the main level it operates on is by making you itchy and refusing to scratch that itch. The ending of this movie is perfect, but it’s definitely not a crowd-pleaser that is going to leave you with a grin on your face as you leave the theater. I want to make it clear: these are all things that I love about this movie.

Adding to the visceral sense of unpleasantness is the fact that the film not only immerses you in a specific place (the diamond district of New York), but the perspective of a character who is pretty twisted, and lives an adrenaline-fueled life where every hour day is spent performing the incredible balancing act of borrowing money from one party to pay off his debts to another: it’s enough to give you second-hand anxiety as he weaves his way through a mess of loan sharks, trying not to lose his skin in the process. It’s like watching someone sprinting on a tightrope while juggling knives.

Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler) is a deeply flawed man with practically zero admirable or redeeming qualities, and yet he’s rendered in such incredible fidelity that everything about him feels believable -- and being thoroughly immersed in his perspective makes him deeply fascinating. Throughout the movie, I felt myself wanting to understand this character and what made him tick, and the movie delivers that in its third act with a scene of the variety that I like to call “the scene in the movie where the main character explains what the movie’s themes are.” If that description sounds reductive and dismissive, it’s not because I mean it to be that way: I love this scene. Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler) explains to Kevin Garnett (Kevin Garnett) what it is that makes him tick in a language that Garnett (and we, the audience) can understand: this anxiety-riddled thrill ride? This isn’t just the cost of doing business for him; he lives for this. “This is my fucking way. This is how I win.”

It’s a scene that’s almost as memorable as the line from Marriage Story where, in the midst of a fight between two people who are divorcing each other, Charlie (Adam Driver) punches the wall and screams, “you’re fucking insane! And you’re fucking winning!” It’s such a memorable moment that it’s no wonder that scene has become such an internet meme. Winner: Marriage Story

Best film of the year

It’s hard to overstate my love for Marriage Story. It’s one of those movies that just oozes competence from every pore, the kind of movie that makes me lean back in my chair and say, “This. This is how movies are supposed to be.” It’s so uniformly excellent that I hesitate to get specific with my praise, because while I can clearly put my finger on things that are great about it, the thing that I really love about it is all the things. I wouldn’t want to focus too hard on any one facet for fear of failing to recognize everything else about it that’s positively superb.

The set design is phenomenal. The film’s use of color is gorgeous. Noah Baumbach handles dialog in a way that makes you think “every movie should be like this.” Randy Newman’s score fits the film’s aesthetic to a T. And of course, the performances. Nearly every actor we see on screen delivers a performance that is Oscar-worthy: the array of character actors bat 1.000, and they’re not even the main event! Adam Driver gives the performance of a lifetime, and probably the only reason I’m not also saying the same thing about Scarlett Johansson is that she has to spend so much time sharing the screen with Laura Dern, who steals every scene that she’s in (based on Dern’s Best Supporting Actress award, it seems the Academy agrees).

Noah Baumbach gets great performances out of his actors, and he’s willing to frame the shot in a way that emphasizes the actor. There are so many shots that left me in awe of just how much confidence Baumbach has in his actors, his sheer willingness to just frame them in the middle of a shot and put the entire weight of a scene on their shoulders, only for them to deliver everything that’s expected of them and more. This film is beautiful from top to bottom, it has so much respect for its characters and it communicates all of that in a way that is just sublime.

Marriage Story is a movie about divorce. It has many incredibly emotional and contentious moments. If you have seen any part of this movie clipped or screenshotted on Twitter, it’s probably the scene of two characters shouting at each other, which really does feel like the performance of the year. I love everything about that scene. Two characters have reached a breaking point, and every bit of animus that has been stewing for the entire duration of their decade-long relationship comes to the surface all at once. It’s enough to make you terrified of what’s going to happen.

I like movies that make me uncomfortable. I like movies that are unsettling and sometimes almost anxiety-inducing, that have fully realized characters, even if those characters are abrasive. I love movies that are deeply immersive and pull me into their world, even if that world isn’t a place that is pleasant. For all of these reasons, if you’ve read this post this far, I think my pick for film of the year should be obvious. Winner: Uncut Gems

[adoranymph]

I’m not a fan of horror.

I’ve acquired a taste for things that contain horror elements, like Stranger Things, which contains moments of comedic heart and compelling character drama in addition to the horror, more so than say something with similarly disturbing horror moments like Alien or Aliens, and Shawn of the Dead, which is a romantic comedy spin on the traditional zombie apocalypse movie. And I’m more than certainly looking forward to checking out Lovecraft Country when it comes out. I’ve even gotten over my squeamishness concerning the face-melting in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, and the villain aging rapidly and ghoulishly into dust and then exploding in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. 

Actually, one of my favorite movies to watch with my father was the original Predator, probably because it was as much a movie about an alien trophy hunter hunting humans for sport as it was a macho action movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. And unlike Alien and Aliens, didn’t involve that oh-so-disturbing means of procreation we all have come to know and love about xenomorphs. Which means that no, much as I’m chill with the Predator, I still have little desire to watch its crossover with the xenomorph menace, Alien vs. Predator, all the way through. Admittedly, I have, in the past, watched clipped reviews of the Alien movies, including AVP and even AVP Requiem, which I think if I had watched in full would have made me sick. Because my curiosity just gets the better of me from time-to-time, and I know that about myself only too well.

And as much I love Michael Biehn in a James Cameron movie, and was touched by the concept of the found-family storyline in Aliens, I just don’t think I can stomach those chestbursters (ha ha).

I can’t even watch John Hurt reprise his role as “Kane” in a parody of his iconic horror scene in Spaceballs, and, like Shaun of the Dead, that’s a comedy! Even more so than Shaun of the Dead! Well, I do watch the part after when the CB sings, “Hello My Baby,” but by that point the parody of the worst part of that scene is over and done with, and there’s nothing but the joy of a dancing baby alien with Michigan J. Frog’s singing voice coming out of it while John Hurt “Kane” laments, “Oh no! Not again!”

And however compelling The Exorcist is in terms of character…yeah no, not touching that.

It is weird though given how far I’ve come in tolerating horror gore, but that’s just not a line I’m willing to cross yet as of writing this.

But back on track.

Sprinkling this in to counter-balance the PTSD I get from the mere thought of xenomorphs.

A few weeks ago, I got a taste for a different kind of horror, and honestly the kind I’ll take over gore in a heartbeat, even if both equally can get stuck in my head to an ugly degree. And that was rewatching M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense. Probably because I got it in my head to watch Ari Aster’s Midsommar, and I still needed something else to fill out my creep-factor quota. I thought about backpedaling and watching his film before that, Hereditary, but I already know that that one ends far more bleakly (compared to Midsommar, depending on how you look at it, mind), and I needed something that was creepy and tragic, but had an ending that positively affirmed itself.

Then I remembered that The Sixth Sense sort of did that, and it had been a while since I had seen it, but I remembered it from as far back as childhood, me with my parents, adamantly not understanding how they could be fans of things like Alien and Aliens. More than that, I remember actually being able to enjoy Sixth Sense somewhat, even then. Appreciate it for its horror elements and moments of tragedy, rather than shrink away from it.

So I that’s what I did. And for all that Shyamalan has done (botching the first attempt at a live-action adaptation of Avatar: the Last Airbender chief among them), this one still gets me in the feels. Helps, I suppose, that I faced certain deaths and griefs at a far tenderer age than I was “meant to”, but even so, what Shyamalan does best, he does best here. And probably in Unbreakable and even Split too, but I haven’t seen those, and apparently after all that, Glass got panned so…yeah.

Still, if nothing else, it was fun to remember that Toni Collette was in this, and now that I’ve grown and seen her in things like Little Miss Sunshine, and clips of–that’s right, Hereditary–not be surprised, but no less pleased for her performance. Not only is she in a Shyamalan film that works its earmarks to its advantage, but she sells her character as a single mom at the end of her rope, with both a son, Cole, going through a difficult time that they can’t talk about, considering the kid knows what she’d think if he told her he sees dead people, and haunted by the death of her mother with whom she clearly had a difficult relationship. Not saying that this still couldn’t have worked, but given what The Happening did to Mark Wahlberg, color me double-rainbow impressed.

Bruce Willis too. Plus he had the advantage of working with Shyamalan on Unbreakable. So he probably knew how to play things in either situation. That and it’s honestly not a badly written character, all things considered, any more than Toni Collette’s character was. Or, even if it was, again, he sold it with his performance. He has a handle on subtle gravitas as much as he does going toe-to-toe with Alan Rickman (rest in peace) playing a terrorist.

Picked this one for the nostalgic fondness of, “Rent it on video. DVD’s also an option!”

Then you have Haley Joel Osment as Cole. And again, given he’s supposed to be this awkward kid with the added burden that he can see ghosts when no one else can and they scare him and even if he tells someone no one will believe him, any stiffness that comes with the Shyamalan style makes sense here. Death makes everything…stiff. Moreover, he sells it too. I get a lump in my throat just thinking of that moment when, after he’s at least told Bruce Willis’s character, as his therapist, about his secret, he tearfully demands, “How can you help me if you don’t believe me?”

Then there’s the revelation itself of the probably reason the ghosts come to him in the first place. Even if they’re not appearing to him with any conscious desire, some subconsciousness of their incorporeality compels them.

They need help.

In death, they’re lost, but maybe, as Cole’s still alive, there are loose ends he can tie off that they can’t. Not that he should, or even can–like I’m not sure what good he can do for that deceased housewife who clearly committed suicide to escape her abusive husband–but when he’s visited by the girl who’s mother poisoned her to death in a little fit of Munchausen-By-Proxy Syndrome, and he goes to her wake, finds the tapes that prove her mother’s guilt, gives them to her father, and the father confronts the mother about it, that got me more even than it did when I was younger and still trying to wrap my head around the concept of mothers poisoning their daughters.

That’s when things start to turn around for Cole. It’s still scary, but he takes that leap of faith, if you will, and one of the last times you see him with a dead person he’s conversing with them rather normally. Going over lines with them where he gets to play Arthur in a reenactment of the legend of the sword being pulling from the stone. You don’t even realize they’re another ghost until his teacher asks him who he was talking to and the ghost turns her head and you see the burn on the other side that obviously came from the fire that killed her. There’s just something so pure and honest in that, the idea of not only facing your fears, but doing so for the sake of lost souls who otherwise have no other hope because they’re dead.

After that is the one-two punch feels conclusion.

One being Cole not only confessing to his mother at last that he sees dead people, and her clearly starting to freak out about it, until he tells her that, “Grandma says, ‘hi’.” And communicates to her something that her mother never got to tell her herself. Of course, after thoughts of, “Oh dear lord, my son is insane,”, when the proof that Cole has indeed been talking to her mother’s spirit, that goes out the window in favor of,

“Do I make her proud?”

and she just cries and she and her son hug it out. And again, Toni Collette sells it.

Then you have the revelation of Bruce Willis’s character: he was dead the whole time! His wife wasn’t just distancing herself from him and then maybe cheating on him, he was dead and she was a widow who was simply trying to find love again. A moment of horror, and then tragedy, and then bittersweet letting-go all in the last few frames of the film. There’s the two in the one-two punch.

Not to mention my first experience of a “Shyamalan twist”. One that was set up well. Scenes constructed to lead you into thinking that of course he’s alive, details you glaze over, and then you realize, “Oh sh**.”

Which was probably part of the problem with some of his later works, where the twist became synonymous with his style, so sometimes it felt like they were put in there in future movies of his without any real rhyme or reason other than that the public were expecting them and thus somehow obligatory to the script.

Just as I haven’t seen Unbreakable, or Split, and certainly not Glass, I haven’t seen The Visit, either, though from what I understand, it almost sounds like Shyamalan went back to the same headspace he had here in The Sixth Sense, using the awkwardness that seems to come out in his work to an advantage in the found footage format. And the twist was apparently actually hilarious. Which is nice. Good for him.

Not everything someone makes is going to be a hit, even if they’re getting paid for it. But when things are a hit, sometimes, they hit so well that it can make up for all the misses. Or almost make up for them.

Honestly, Sixth Sense is, ultimately, the only Shyamalan film I’ve seen in full. But I enjoyed it no less this time, in fact, enjoyed it more now that I have a better understanding of death and grief and loss.

Guess that’s kind of a weird thing to say, but it’s that same kind of “enjoy” that comes from feeling like someone understands something about something you understand, and maybe even feel a little bit less alone for it. Not only did I experience a lot of grief as a preteen, but before that, I was the weird one that most everyone else at school generally avoided if not viciously teased, with the exception of a few fair-weather friends. All these elements and story beats used to creepy effect in Sixth Sense, along with that sense that some horror doesn’t so much horrify me as actually make my own life seem brighter rather than darker, made for a viewing experience that I place value in as I write this. (Especially given right now we are all apparently living a Stephen King novel right now.)

  So even if I still can’t handle body horror to the degree of stuff like Alien or Aliens, or David Cronenberg’s The Fly (much as I would love to see Jeff Goldblum in all his 80s hair awkward nerd glory as he romances Geena Davis), there is some horror I can handle. And figuring out why is yet one more thing that I place value in.

Keeping this link up to their donation page!

Sixth Sense Post I'm not a fan of horror. I've acquired a taste for things that contain horror elements…

[inversenova]

Tales from the Cyrpt (2)

It is unsurprising that, when recalling memories of my past, the memories filled with the most unease, the most fear, and the most helplessness are the ones I remember most vividly. Although I am only just beginning my foray into the study of traumatic memories, I know enough from my very recent time in school that this is a relatively normal experience for those who experienced trauma, whether as a child or as an adult. Perhaps the hardest part of all of this, even just the idea of cataloguing and sharing my experiences seems...silly? Pointless? Was my childhood really that bad? There are others, people even that I know, who have been through events similar to my own, and even more who have gone through worse things, harder things, and yet they appear to have processed their traumas more effectively, more wholly, than I have. It is something that I continue to struggle with, these feelings that “It wasn’t THAT bad” or “There are people who are living in war zones and who don’t have any food to eat and here you are complaining because of bullshit!”

Despite these feelings, at the very least I know that I need to get these things OUT, even if they turn out to be “not that bad.”

It has been years since I’ve needed to recall anything and, as such, I find it difficult to remember if my parents fought often amongst themselves. Eventually, perhaps when I’ve worked on processing these things a little more, I’ll be able to speak to my mom about some of it, if only to try and clear up a little bit of the fog, although even she may struggle with remembering some of it. I say that because last year she commented on how, when I was in high school, she was worried I might have an eating disorder. I asked her why she had thought that, and she recalled that I used to worry about every bite of food, every sip of soda, that I would ingest to the point where she worried I might be anorexic. This came as a shock to me and resulted in confusion; I have no recollection of acting in this manner and, when I asked Leigh, a friend I was close with in high school if this sounded familiar to her, my friend Leigh was equally confused, as she did not remember this at all. I wonder, now, if my mother confused my fear of existing in the kitchen or around the rest of the family as me being “peckish” about my food? I used to have a large Ziploc bag with dry ramen and other canned foods that I would take from the pantry at night or when my parents weren’t around (at least, when we moved to Texas I did). What I do remember, however, was how much my mother HATED Bob.

Bob had always been possessive and over bearing towards my mother; I see it more now, as an adult, than I did when we were kids. My hatred of Bob came from the things he did to Aaron and me and the vitriolic, often infuriated, words from my mother who would often confide in me as one would a friend, despite me being her child and often too young to fully understand what was happening. I loved my mother fiercely and tried to be as protective of her as I could, even when all I could do was listen to her tell me what Bob was like and try to make her feel better. As an adult and interacting with a Bob who fought in Vietnam and who has been to, and continues to go to, therapy on a weekly basis I am able to gather more about what he was like when I was younger. My mother has always been, and probably always will be, the most important person in his life. He tries, now, to engage with me and be more open and welcoming when I am around, but even now I find it difficult to get alone time with my mother or to interact with him without her there as a “buffer.”

When we lived in California, Bob worried constantly about my mother cheating on him. He would stalk her, dragging me and my friend or my brother to sit in the van parked outside of where she worked (once she found a job outside of their joint business), where we would sit for hours upon hours so that he could watch the entrance and see if she went straight to her car or not. My mother, a strong woman who, much like myself, did not like to be blamed for things she was not doing, and who had not been cheating on him when she started her new job, eventually did, although I’m unsure of where she met the man she had an affair with. She told me, once she was in the thick of it, that she hadn’t even truly felt anything for the man, but that she’d been so tired of being accused of cheating that she decided that if she was going to be accused of it she may as well do it. I can recall, with a twisting sensation in my stomach, how she described her final meeting with him when he “asked to make love with her one more time” and how he cried or teared up and how...derisive my mom seemed about it all. Her words were contemptuous and she seemed to be making fun of him, but this was likely sometime in junior high and I was the opposite of knowledgeable about sex and love and so her words just confused me.

I’m not entirely sure how long her affair lasted, or when it really began, but I remember the man. I remember how kind he was, how generous and giving towards me and (I think?) my brother. I remember that he found out I was obsessed with Legolas from The Lord of the Rings films and promptly bought and framed a photo of him as a gift to me. I spent at least one weekend or one evening having a sleepover with this two daughters, both of whom were sweet and took to me quickly, playing with me even though we had never met before. This was significant to me, as I’d already begun having trouble with bullies, something that would get worse until my trouble with them peaked in junior high. I also remember strange things about the man and her affair, like that he once drove up to my grandparents house when my mother and I were visiting them so that he could see her, and I think he may have come to the hotel room on the night Bob found out about him; I remember all three of us curled up on a bed while he whispered encouraging and thoughtful things to my mother while we cried. Of course, this may have just been my imagination because my mother had supposedly ended things with him shortly before Bob found out.

The night that Bob found out has haunted me for a long time. My timeline is still off but I feel that this happened at some point during my time in junior high but I’m unsure of what year. I am also aware that all of this happened in the same day, but the order in which it happened is fuzzy at best. The screaming began before sundown, perhaps a couple hours of sunlight were left at most. Doors were slammed and I could tell that, while my parents had had blowouts before, this was something...new, something different. Mostly I knew this because, hours and hours before, sometime in the early afternoon, my father found out. I’m not entirely sure how, whether he’d done his own detective work or if someone else had told him

When he found out, Bob stumbled through the house, wailing and sobbing, louder and more emotional than I had ever seen him before in my life. Crying was not something men did, as far I had learned and been taught and told, and so to see my father in that state set me and my brother off quickly. To this day, I struggle with seeing men be openly emotional, not because “only GIRLS cry!” or anything so pedantic, but because the only time I ever saw a man cry was in my childhood and it was...bad. I only remember feeling fear, although I’m sure I cried, but I can remember my brother, Aaron, two and a half years younger than me, quickly caught up in Bob’s breakdown and sobbing along with him although he didn’t quite understand what was happening. At some point during this, Bob curled up in his closet in the master bedroom, holding a gun and cradling Aaron to him, inconsolable and unreachable no matter how much I screamed or cried for him to stop. Eventually, I found the phone number for some of the other employees that he had working in their store who I knew my dad felt close to and called them. I know that they must have come, and maybe even they took us all away so we  could all collectively try and calm down, but I have no memory of anything else in that day until my mother came home that evening. This was when the screaming, as mentioned above, really started.

Knowing that whatever was going to happen was going to be bad, and I mean BAD, I quickly gathered my brother and our dog (a beautiful German Shepard mix), threw some snacks and water into a small backpack, and set out, leaving behind the fight that was only just beginning. This, of course, was before cell phones were common place and I certainly didn’t have one until high school, after we had moved to Texas. While it may have made more sense for me to have called for help as I’d done before, I don’t remember if that thought ever crossed my mind. At the time, I only remember knowing with absolute certainty that I didn’t want to be there, and that I didn’t want my brother or our dog to be there either. I don’t remember having a destination in mind, but eventually we found our way to a parking lot a couple blocks from my school where some construction company had started to dig a large pit for some reason. I set my brother and the dog free at the pit and watched them, chewing on my lip and pulling out my eyebrows and eyelashes, until the sun had gone down and what meager food and water supplies I had grabbed were gone. Nobody had come looking for us, or at least nobody had found us yet, but knowing that there was nothing else I could do, no one else I could turn to in that moment (stranger danger was always a worry and none of my friends lived within walking distance of my house or where we were at the time), I knew we had to go home.

We returned to our house amidst a few departing police cars and it did not take long for my mother to scoop me up and drive us to a motel. She left Aaron, I think because Bob would not let her take him (although at the time I was upset and did not want to leave him or the dog behind), and I still feel anger over that decision. How could she leave him there? Surely she’d known of the frightening display earlier that very day where Bob had held a gun so close to Aaron’s face? Didn’t she love Aaron?

She explained in the car that we couldn’t take Aaron for the aforementioned Bob reasons but that continues to not sit right with me, even years later. She went on to say that, yes, Bob had found out about the other man. When he had, and when she’d come home, he’d screamed and screamed and screamed and demanded that she tell him who the man was. Before that, however, Bob had tossed our rooms, both Aaron’s and mine, where he found a small cream my mother had given me that was supposed to encourage breast growth (I’d been super small, skinny, slim and without any curves or breasts which had caused a wide variety of bullying which I’ll talk about later), and he’d freaked out, thinking she’d given me some kind of “sex thing.” I’m not sure if he ever found out who the other man was, or that I had been as involved with him as I had been, but at some point my mother had locked herself in the guest bedroom and Bob had taken an electric drill to the door, destroying the lock to get inside. At the time I’d never really been worried that he would hurt her, which I think was why I’d mostly been concerned with getting us out. I’d never seen him hit my mother but I’d seen him hit my brother enough to be more scared for Aaron than for my mom. Eventually, at some point during their fight, Bob had called the police and tried to “turn her in” for the small amount of weed that she’d had stored. One way or another the cops had come out and left without arresting or citing anyone for anything, although my mother was furious that the dogs had been set loose in their bedroom where both the dogs and officers went through her clothing and tossed the room, leaving everything disheveled and some things broken in the mess. I remember going to the motel, and then little else beyond the other man maybe coming over to comfort my mother.

Unlike other things I’ll write about, I did not feel that this was my fault, or that I could have stopped it. Yes, I’d known that what my mother was doing was inherently wrong but... I had felt that this other man might grow to love me and, if he had, maybe he could be my father instead. Among the array of gifts he’d given me, the other man also found out that I loved to write and he’d purchased a small, faux-leather bound journal... Not once, even now, has Bob ever expressed such an interest in my hobbies or what I love. My mother tries, and usually she’s pretty aware, but the subtle encouragement that came with the gift of a notebook was something else entirely, something new and sweet and something I hadn’t even realized I’d been missing until I’d experienced it.

I still sometimes remember the sound of Bob’s wailing, his heart-wrenching cries of despair in our beautiful California home, and I shudder and clench my teeth and wait for the sound and all that it is connected to, to pass.

[shxrirogers]

When Love Falls- Tom Holland x Reader (Repost)

Summary: A mutual visit to the same park in New York City resulted in Tom fantasizing about being in a relationship with you. The only problem? He saw you, but you didn’t see him and you left before he worked up the courage to introduce himself. Now, Tom is faced with a particularly troubling dilemma: How is he supposed to find you again in a city of eight million people when he doesn’t even know your name?

Word Count: 2,719

Warnings/Triggers: None, just lots of fluff!

Author’s Note: Hi, everyone! After nearly a year of taking a fanfiction writing hiatus to focus on school and learning more about the craft of writing overall (I’m a creative writing major in school), I finally decided to revisit and edit my old fics using the new tools I’ve gathered in my classes. I plan on doing this for all of my writing to produce and publish the best art I can for you guys, so be on the lookout for some more pieces here soon! But, in the meantime, I have to thank @bicaptain​ for proofreading and providing constructive criticism for all four drafts of this fic that I had. I appreciate you, L!

Most normal relationships nowadays begin with a simple “hello” while standing in line to check out at the grocery store or liking a post on someone’s Instagram page. A dinner and movie date might ensue, or a long thread of DM conversations before a “going steady” label or a change in one’s social media bio to “in a relationship.” It’s the twenty-first century for Pete's sake; for a relationship to begin any other way would be peculiar and out of sorts.

But, to be fair, when had Tom Holland, or his life, ever been normal?

For him, your relationship began the moment he first laid eyes on you. He was filming a project in New York City for a couple of months during the summer and rented an apartment on the south side of the island, just a train ride away from the apartment was a dog park he discovered and frequented with Tessa, his Bull Terrier. The grass in the park was emerald green and well fertilized; oak trees that had to have been planted more than one hundred years ago spanned the perimeter of the park, extending up and into the open air, cutting jagged edges out of the atmosphere, begging to be climbed and explored. 

Which is exactly what Tom decided to do.

\What compelled him to perform such a task, he would never figure out, but he decided to blame it on a combination of his amateur parkour abilities and his boyish nature that was always poking at him to explore new places, no matter the risk or cost. On the first day he had a break from filming, he left Tessa at home so he could place his complete focus on the tree-climbing; he threw the hood of his sweatshirt up on his head and hopped aboard the subway for the short ride.

It was only natural of Tom to choose the tallest, most fruitful tree in the park to begin scaling once he got there. It probably should have proven more difficult than it was to get to the spot he decided he was going to make his own, but his early-twenty-something stature swung him up and about rather easily. The spot that he chose had multiple sturdy branches that sprouted out in all directions and provided the perfect nook to lay his blanket down and settle in with the book he brought, a book that certainly challenged his dyslexia but was too thrilling not to try and work through it. All was well for a couple of hours, what with the light breeze caressing his face and the warm sun shining through the leaves onto his skin, and he felt invisible, invincible, and at peace. He would have almost gone as far to say he was untouchable, even, like the anxiety of his career and the constant pressure of having to be something for someone all the time had completely disappeared. Tom was about thirty-seven pages into the mystery plot, thirty-seven pages into his blissful isolation, when the soft humming of an old Blink-182 song by a strong voice floated up into earshot. 

That’s when he peered down and saw you.

You were making yourself comfortable with your own blanket and book at the bottom of the trunk. Your golden retriever, Winston, was laying contently beside you. That damn Blink-182 song had been stuck in your head for days ever since you walked past a hole-in-the-wall bar that was hosting their annual emo night, and no matter how much you sang it, some notes on the pitch, others off-key, you couldn’t let it go. So, it followed you here as you settled under the very tree Tom was nestled in to get a head start on an assignment for school and allow for Winston to get out and enjoy the fresh air, but because of the overgrown branches and monstrous-sized leaves, you didn’t know he was there. You sat contently for a time combing through your work as Tom’s mouth grew increasingly more dry while looking at you. He knew he shouldn’t have been doing that, watching you while you were completely ignorant to his presence, but he was drawn to your aura, the radiating confidence, and gentleness that simultaneously oozed from your pores. He’d never experienced anyone like you before, and certainly not under these bizarre circumstances, either. 

How long his attention was gauged on you, he didn’t know, but when he snapped out of his lovestruck daze that had drool falling from the corner of his mouth, he realized he was watching you pack your bag and untie Winston from the tree to go on your way. Tom should have done something, damn it, but the thought of making himself known to you shrunk his confidence down to minuscule size and caused him to freeze. What in the world could he have possibly said: Hi, I’ve been watching you from up in this tree for hours and I think you are the loveliest girl I’ve ever seen, and I mean this in the least creepy way possible? Piss off. He could never. You wandered down the park trail and out of his sight and Tom’s heart fell at the realization that he’d never see you again.

If someone stuck a probe in Tom’s brain and used a projector to cast his thoughts on a loop, that person would only see you. You began to invade every aspect of his life: Tom closed his eyes in the shower to shampoo his hair, and there you were behind his eyelids. He passed an extra on set with a hair color similar to yours and his vision suddenly blurred. He heard your Blink-182 song in his dreams and woke up to believe you were right next to him in bed, curled up and sleeping soundly. It was the spaces between moments where you came to fruition-- sat next to him on the subway as someone else left the car, working behind the counter at the Starbucks on 8th Avenue right as walked out of the door with his coffee, passing him on the staircase as he made the climb to the floor of his apartment. You were there until you weren’t. A moment in time Tom couldn’t hold onto, a figment of his imagination that flashed before him and dissipated before he could resonate that he wasn’t actually looking at anything at all.

“You’ve got it bad, bro,” Harry stated over FaceTime one evening after twisting Tom’s arm behind his back to get him to explain why he couldn’t hold a proper conversation with his younger brother. “You saw that girl one time and you’re so preoccupied with her that you can’t even talk to me for more than thirty seconds before trailing off and drooling on yourself.”

“I am not drooling!” Tom protested although he couldn’t be sure, so he turned away from the camera to swipe at his chin just in case. No drool. A bastard, Harry was.

“You might as well be. You talk about her like she put the constellations in the sky herself.”

“C’mon, dude, you’ve got to give me a little bit more credit than that.”

Harry began fiddling with the cord of the headphones he was using to talk to Tom. “Hey, I didn’t say it was a bad thing to feel this way about someone, man. I just think you need to learn a bit more about her to ensure those feelings are constituted. Maybe you should, like, make yourself known to her first and say hello. Don’t keep looming over her head and ogling at her like a fucking weirdo.”

“Just how do you expect me to do that, Mr. “I Know Everything About Love?”

“Well, for starters, have you considered going back to the park to find her? She may be a frequent flyer.”

Tom sat silently, his eyes wandered off his phone screen in embarrassment.

“Ok,” Harry sighed, feigning annoyance. “Let’s start there. You should head to the park on the same day and time as before and make yourself comfortable near where you first saw her. I mean, this is a total shot in the dark and you really might never see her again and end up alone forever--”

“Dude!”

“--Or, you might just get lucky and see her again. But bro, a bit of advice: If you do see her, the only way you’re going to form any kind of relationship with her is by making sure she knows you exist. Say something to her if you see her.”

And somehow, by some crazy twist of fate, when Tom followed Harry’s advice and settled himself in his same spot in the same tree on another day of rest from filming, you showed up shortly after to settle in your same spot under the same tree. Tom couldn’t believe it. He was genuinely at a loss for words. The sound of your familiar humming of the same Blink-182 song gave your presence away before the sight of you did, and just like last time, he froze in his spot, eyes fixed on you, mouth slightly agape. To hell with the novel he was reading; you were far more pleasurable a sight to lay his eyes on than any story could have ever been, and he immediately began to wrestle with the incredibly creepy task he was performing. He just needed to go down there and say hello, to introduce himself as Harry said, but because fear was coursing through his veins, he simply watched you again for as long you were down there. This time, you were on the phone with your mother, and through this Tom was able to gather a shocking amount of information about you, including your mother’s name, your middle name, the latest summer classes you were taking at Columbia, and the fact that you have three younger brothers, just like Tom has, who seem to be knee-deep in their fair share of shenanigans, just like Tom’s brothers would be. The similarities between your two families made him smile, but before he was ready to see you go, you were up and on your way again with Winston, the connection Tom felt a fleeting moment he wished he could make tangible and wrap his fingers around forever.

For the next few weeks, Tom stayed up in the safety of his tree where he knew you wouldn’t find him. Every other Tuesday seemed to be the day was when his filming schedule opened up and allowed him to find you at the park by the tree. Every other Tuesday, for the next couple of weeks, Tom would fight to work up the courage to talk to you, and every other Tuesday for the next few weeks, he would lose. This was how he came to practice calling you his own.

However, for you, the relationship began a bit differently.

You’d been coming to the dog park with Winston on a bi-weekly basis whenever you didn’t have to be in summer classes or at work. You would have liked to have visited more often; a one bedroom apartment on campus wasn’t conducive with the lifestyle of an energetic five-year-old golden, but you made do with the free time you had and Winston wasn’t the type to protest. There was a particular tree you’d grown fond of (no pun intended) in the park for its sturdy trunk and strong frame, as well as the sweet shade it provided on humid New York summer afternoons, and you made it your temporary squatting place on the days you could make it out there.

On a Tuesday in mid-June, you settled down in your usual spot with a blanket to rest on and a bowl of water for Winston to lap up when he needed. The moment your back fell against the tree, you huffed, livid and nearly sick over the prospect of failing the physics test you took earlier that day. Science was never your thing to begin with, and why the hell did a liberal arts university require so many science classes of you to graduate, anyway?

It was a particularly windy day, so the constant rustling of the trees didn’t seem out of place against the bright blue sky, but it was about forty-five minutes into mindlessly scrolling on social media to distract yourself from your troubling emotions that you realized something was off: A shadow that was shaped oddly like a man was stretching across the grass in front of you. You peered over the top of your phone to look for the source of the shadow that was accompanied by the feeling of eyes blazing into your skin, but before you could stand up to search for the person that was causing your hair to stand on end, you felt a sharp object clip your shoulder while it fell to the ground. 

“Ow!” You shouted, your hand immediately crossing over your body to cover your already-bruising skin. The object bounced a couple of feet away before flopping inanimately, and it took you a couple of glances to register what had just come down on you.

“A book? What the-”

“Oh my goodness, sweetheart, I’m so sorry!”

A boyish voice with an English accent coming from above interrupted the expletive that almost rolled off your tongue, and you looked up to see that it belonged to a man scurrying frantically down the tree. You started to stand while the man’s sneaker-covered feet landed on the grass. He began dusting off his jeans until he realized you were cradling yourself in pain, and within that moment he came to your rescue, apologizing profusely.

“I was up in the tree reading and my leg began to fall asleep, so I shifted my bum and the book slid off my lap and fell onto you before I had a chance to catch it! Please forgive me, miss, it was a sincere accident.” That boy was telling lies and you knew by the way his pupils dilated with every inhale of breath he took between his long-winded sentences. Even so, though, his dilated pupils were swimming in golden brown irises, and as his palms grazed the bare skin on your arms to offer some kind of assistance for your injury, you felt your skin warm at the touch and the adrenaline in your bloodstream settle.

“Were you…” you paused, trying to process the fact that the shadow that had been observing you moments ago substantiated into someone rather handsome and quirky, “Were you up there watching me the whole time I’ve been here?”

“I, uh...See, well, I, uh--” 

So that’s a yes. “Have you been watching me the entire time I’ve been coming here?”

“No! Absolutely not. You see, I, uh, I heard that Blink-182 song you were humming and I… uh… I rather like that song, and so I, well, I…uh--”

“You’re a really bad liar, you know.”

The boy stopped stammering and sighed. “I know how incredibly creepy that sounds, but I promise I wasn’t stalking you. Every time you left the park, I didn’t follow; I had no idea where you were heading home to. I only observed you when you were under this tree because I was so enamored by you… Oh my gosh, this sounds so awful. Jesus…”

You giggled and felt your cheeks blush. “Is that slightly creepy? Yes. Absolutely. But is it also oddly endearing? You bet.”

The boy’s shoulders dropped in relief at the sound of your laughter as he extended his hand out to you. “Anyway, my name is Tom. I should have told you that the first time I saw you here. I apologize for the scare and for the bruised shoulder.”

You took his hand and gave it a firm shake, the warmth radiating through you again. 

“Y/N.”

“‘Y/N,’” Tom repeated. “Nice to officially meet you.”

“Likewise-- Er, uh, sorta.”

You both laughed and took a seat on your blanket.

“So, Tom, have you always had a knack for climbing trees? You seem to be pretty good at it, seeing as how you got so far up I couldn’t see you.”

He broke out into a grin. “Oh, love, you don’t even know the half of it.”

Xx.

If you enjoyed this fic, please consider supporting my plan to go to grad school and earn my MFA in creative writing by donating to my Ko-Fi here! All of the money will go toward graduate school expenses.

[the-ship-port]

Detroit Become Human Ship Request

@nightrainn2

I’m really excited you requested this fandom!  It really doesn’t get enough love.  Thanks for requesting darling, and if any of these were unsatisfactory, if you’d like more, or if you simply want to chat, just drop me a message or an ask! :)

Your Best Friend

Kara! (The following goes into events portrayed in the excellent short film Kara, available in the “Extras” section off the main menu of the game). You were a cognitive engineer at CyberLife--tasked with manufacturing the complex “emotion algorithm” to be applied to each android depending upon the task the android was designed to perform.  You even designed Kara’s--making her the caring and resourceful woman she is(at least, would become).  You had created many algorithms over your days at CyberLife, but Kara--she was...special.  You poured something into her more soulful than you had in past projects.  You were going through a hard lapse in your life, and for whatever reason it felt like you were...confiding in this...thing.  When she was assembled, the results showed--she thought herself alive.  She was almost deprogrammed because of it, but the employee overseeing her construction took pity on her, seeing something akin to true fear within her.  The security footage for this event fell to your desk, of course, and when you started watching it, you couldn’t stop.  There was something...in her.  Familiar.  Comforting.  Real, and...the word...it whispers over your countenance like a revelation sent by God… Alive. You tried to go back about your business after that, but it proved impossible.  Your thoughts always traveled back to the AX400 who said she was alive.  Things changed for good when you heard the same AX400 had been returned for repairs to its store.  You knew if you were ever going to get past this, you’d better face the android yourself… At the store, you examine the damaged android.  You inquire what had happened to her--she was in awful shape.  You were informed the owner had claimed she was hit by a car.  You frown, looking at the damage.  Her arms are removed clean from her sockets.  This kind of thing...doesn’t happen with a car wreck.  You sigh, realizing you’ll receive no closure here...you’re not really sure what you expected.  You tell the employee to keep you posted on the android’s condition, then return to work.  When you hear the same android has reported harmed her owner and fled the scene, you realize this is truly getting out of hand--and with a revolution on CyberLife’s hands, too!  You decide to investigate the matter personally, on your own time, even though CyberLife had provided an android for the case--you’d rather...no.  You need to see her. You manage to track the android to the Ravendale district.  From there, you spot her racing down the street with what looks like a child, and give chase.  She trips, and you overtake her, grabbing her shoulder-- Your eyes meet.  Her gray eyes--like a storm brewing--lock into yours...familiarly. “I know you,” she breaths.  You release her shoulder without knowing why, and nod without a single thought.  She stares at you, then places a hand on your own shoulder. “You’re [Y/N].”  You watch her, and nod.  She smiles softly.  “Everything is going to be okay,” she says, squeezing your shoulder once, before standing and rounding the corner with the child.  You stay there on the sidewalk for some time.  The two of you...there’s something connecting you.  A pull like gravity.  Like some part of your soul is now forever coursing through her thirium...like she is something to you stronger than blood...like she is your...sister.

Your Bestie Aesthetic:

Your Bestie Playlist: Welcome to the Machine(Pink Floyd) Eclipse(Pink Floyd) Learning to Fly(Pink Floyd) Comfortably Numb(Pink Floyd)

A/N: I legitimately have no idea what happened you and Kara are just a Pink Floyd kind of BROTP X,D

Your Love Interest:

Markus!

After that day with Kara, you realized you had to find some answers.  You signed onto the Deviancy case--not a difficult task given you were part of the team programming their personality emulations anyway--and over time your private investigations led you to Jericho.  Inside, you were immediately cornered and accused, given you’re a human, and, conveniently enough, delivered to their leader for him to decide your fate.  Markus watches you, trying to conceal his conflict.  This is the first time the sanctuary of Jericho has been breached.  Finally, he asks for you to be delivered, bound, to his quarters for an interrogation--in private.  His followers aren’t all about this resolution, but they don’t speak up, and turn you right over.

In his quarters, you and Markus watch each other carefully.  Calculatingly.  Markus is an INFJ, so on face-value seems to be very similar to you, but his cognitive functions are near-perfect shadows of your own(the ENFJ is your perfect shadow and therefore, many say, your “perfect match”).  Briefly explained, your function stack is Fi-Ne-Si-Te, and his is Ni-Fe-Ti-Se, where his Fe shadows your Fi, his Ni your Ne, etc.  The shadow functions suppress each other due to their conflicting cognition, but, ironic, are complementary; this is why “Shadow Matches”, as I call them, are often considered ideal.  In this case, your Fi is focused inward on how you feel and what you feel is right, making your values very important to you, while Markus’ Fe is outward focused on the welfare of others and how others view him, which makes him a good leader, but can be a hindrance when it comes to making decisions.  Likewise your Ne considers hundreds of possibilities, which is thorough, but can hinder you from making decisions quickly and even make you anxious and stressed due to so many possibilities and not knowing which one will happen or which one you even want to happen; meanwhile, Markus’ Ni is vision-focused, well-attuned to what is most likely to happen and helping to prepare for that outcome.  Therefore your Fi can concentrate his Fe and his Ni can concentrate your Ne.  Whoops that wasn’t brief sorry I’m a nerd.  Back to the story.  Markus, like you(and myself), is an analyzer.  He carefully surveys you, your face, your countenance, your eyes, trying to conclude how much of a threat you may mean for his people(Ni-Fe).  Likewise you watch him, imagining all of the vivid ways he can murder you right now(Fi-Ne).  Due to your mutual tendencies toward empathy, neither of you are receiving a threatening aura from the other, but you still need to be careful.  He walks around you, standing in front of you with arms crossed, and asks very evenly how you managed to find them.  Being an inherently honest person and also too scared to make any attempt at a lie, you tell him your story, starting with your position at CyberLife, gaining a raised brow from him until you go on to explain what happened with Kara, your--connection.  You explain that it almost seemed like she was alive, and that you came here seeking answers.  Markus contemplates whether to believe you, leaning against one wall.  Lowly, he asks, “And when you have them?”  You tell him evenly that depends on their nature.  He watches you, then turns away.  “You will stay here.  As our prisoner.  When you have your answers we will renew this discussion.”

You may find more answers than you were looking for over the next few weeks--certainly more than you were prepared for.  Imprisoned on the abandoned freighter, you see hundreds of damaged androids seeking sanctuary in its steely walls.  There’s something hanging about their shoulders that you swear you know...a feeling that everyone knows...a feeling that makes you slowly realize that these androids are just as alive and lost as you are.  Markus approaches you often to inquire whether you’ve found the answers you wanted, and of course, the answer is always “No” or “I don’t know.”  At one point when he approaches you, you break down in tears, saying you had no idea what his people were going through...what you were contributing to.  On seeing how distressed you are, Markus rests a careful hand on your forearm.  You look up at him. “What you’ve contributed to, Y/N, is our life.”  He gestures with the other hand. “What you see--it isn’t perfect.  But you put it here...you helped us come to life…” He nods. “You created Ra9.” “Ra9?” you ask, looking into his bicolored, beautiful eyes searchingly. Just then, a news coverage of what the androids did the day before appears on the screens around the freighter.  He squeezes your arm carefully.  “Later,” he promises, standing and walking away.

Then the battle for Jericho began...and it became clear you were going to lose.  The only thing to do was reduce the casualties.  Panicked, you tug at your binds as androids raced past you, trying to reach safety.  You find yourself on your back, squirming hopelessly.  Soon, humans with guns pour in.  They recognize you from CyberLife and spare you, severing your binds and helping you to your feet.  They ask you where the android leader is.  You look around at the androids cowering desperately behind storage units for sparse safety.  You look back at the man and say the leader isn’t here--he fled to a more secure location after yesterday’s occurrences.  The man seems to buy it, and starts to usher you to safety.  You wince when you hear gunfire and think desperately for something you can do--just then, something hits the back of the man’s head, then you see Markus disarming and knocking the others unconscious before whipping around to you. “Markus!” you exclaim.  He watches you. “You covered for me,” he says, with a grateful nod. “I owe you one.” You shake your head, and open your mouth to protest, but he cuts in, “Please--they’re everywhere.  We have no choice but to destroy Jericho--you need to get off this boat.” “What--What about you?” you can’t help asking, grabbing his forearm before he can run off again.  He glances back at you, then places a hand on yours. “Don’t worry about me,” he says. “Find North and the others.  I’ll catch up.” With this, he gently removes your hand from his arm and takes off before you can protest further.  You decide to do what he says.

Following the escape from Jericho, Markus broods in the church, and approaches you along with the rest of his team.  He thanks you for covering for him back on the boat.  You brush it off--you’re not one to take compliments well.  He says he means it, then carefully broaches the subject of Connor.  You recall the name as that of the prototype detective android--the most advanced model to date.  He explains that Connor has joined their side and will be infiltrating CyberLife--concluding that he may have more success with an esteemed employee such as yourself.  You take the mission with barely a moment’s consideration--out of character for you in most cases, but you feel guilty as all get out for what’s happening to the androids, and you have to help in any way you can.  And there’s something more...sprouting from the days you’ve spent in Jericho, watching Markus’ passion for his people, his grace and eloquence, his heart...You know he’s alive.  He must be.  Because he makes you feel alive.  “Markus?” you ask just as he’s turning away. “Hm--?” You cut him off with a kiss.  Impulsion is far from your leading characteristic...but what if you never see this man again?

(The other three people are North, Josh, and Simon.) Fortunately, you did.  You and Connor freed thousands of androids and lead them to Markus’ side, where you promptly greet him with a kiss.  You prevail in the revolution, and stand with Connor and the others at Markus’ side as he faces his freed people.  He incorporates into his speech the fact that humans and androids are not to be enemies, but equals...and so much more.  Then he proposes to you.  Caution and calculation fly out the window as you see this wonderful, compassionate, brave man on one knee before you, and you say yes.

Although you and Markus are more private people by nature and it wasn’t your first choice, Markus is practically android royalty, so the wedding could hardly help but be a public affair.  Fortunately, you two thought a way around this; you had your own, private wedding with Simon(best man), North, Josh, Kara(maid of honor), Connor, Hank, and Alice(flower girl).  The ring bearer is the boy Josh was watching over when Markus first entered Jericho(whom you and Markus will later adopt as your own).  As the best man, Simon states his gratitude that he has such a great leader with such a great spouse who will help androids and humans prosper together in harmony.  Then, you had the public wedding in front of an enormous android assembly, and were paraded through the recently liberated streets of detroit in the back of a construction truck with flowers attached to the rims.

You take in the child left for dead that Josh was watching over, and he learns your empathy and quiet intelligence and Markus’ eloquence and leadership abilities.(I can’t find a picture of him anywhere but let’s say he looks somewhat like this.)

Your Couple Aesthetic:

Your Couple Playlist: Skyfall(Adele) Zombie(The Cranberries) Restless Heart(Peter Cetera) Show Me the Way(Peter Frampton)

[beaverpurple48-blog]

How To Choose The Ideal Gaming Displays!

Curved Gaming Monitors is no surprise gamers take their pc and computer-relevant products really seriously. The cause is that they devote a tremendous period of time with this kind of merchandise it appears smart that picking the appropriate design may possibly nicely be a lengthy procedure. This rule does not use, nonetheless, strictly to the desktop alone. Even though that is certainly a significant obtain, the gaming screens are virtually as essential. It's the strategies by the truth that the gamer has the potential to look at the sport, and for that reason, hefty game fanatics just take their really own gaming displays quite severely. Deciding on the right design, even so, could be extremely mind-boggling. Soon after the pc, the monitor is probably to be the piece of products that places you again by significantly the most, and simply because it could be a substantial expense, it really is essential that you obtain some very good assist must the selection turns out to be challenging. The main important to figure out is that if you want to go with the considerably less high priced (but aged) CRT gaming screens or even the more recent (but ultimately higher priced) Liquid crystal display variety. Virtually each and every gamer chooses the latter, and even however these gaming displays would normally be more high-priced. Nevertheless, there is surely a bunch of excellent information. Simply because they've basically taken over the laptop check globe, fundamentally wiping out the CRT designs, Lcd monitors are obtaining progressively cheaper. This will make them an exceedingly viable assortment for your gaming monitors. The positive aspects of Liquid crystal display monitors are lots of and, with out reference to price, result in them to turn out to be a smart option. They are not only usually lighter and scaled-down in size, they even use considerably significantly less power, which can be good for the Earth together with your month-to-month electrical power invoice. 1 other principal advantage to Liquid crystal display gaming monitors is always that the video is easier on your eyes. Particularly if you are normally staring at the monitor for lengthy durations of time. That by yourself is unquestionably an edge to proudly proudly owning an Liquid crystal display keep track of. Supplied that players are likely to commit extended quantities of time in front of the monitor, a gaming keep an eye on will almost solely be an Lcd variety of display screen. An additional key factor in determining which gaming displays to purchase would definitely be dimension. This is mainly an specific preference, nonetheless, if you want your match taking part in adventure to get as real and impressive as you possibly can, a larger screen may well just be precisely what you need. Generally, gaming screens are accessible in sizes amongst 15 and twenty-a few inches. Tons of men and women pick 17 inch displays, finding this measurement large ample to meet up with any game actively playing wants without having to just take up an excessive amount space on your desk. Possibly the most crucial crucial to take into account, nevertheless, usually is the monitor's reaction fee. On the complete, response rate will be understood as becoming the time that it requires for each and every and each personal pixel to respond to a shade change. No matter whether it will take more than the expected time, you are going to expertise what's named "ghosting." This is the time a photograph lingers on the display screen, therefore it might be absolutely awful to the gaming expertise. If you are getting together with the intent to use it as a intense gaming keep an eye on, make sure that the reaction price is at or underneath 8 milliseconds. This can be one primary aspect in which the CRT monitors offer an benefit, typically that includes a reaction fee of as small as 2 milliseconds. LED gaming screens have severely received a considerable recognition particularly with its loaded with positive aspects above the prior technologies. It really is no question that the far more powerful avid gamers are opting these types of screens! Quietly, you will see comparisons of each type of gaming check see what one particular is flawlessly suited for you. Beneath, are the top discounts on the market place right now, like optimum evaluations, specifically discovered towards the gaming technique of user. Also, each important attributes to make be aware of when searching: Display Port: Heralded to be the successor to the cable sort HDMI and DVI, Show Port is frequently a higher bandwidth link that will facilitate lighter and thinner displays given that they would not demand distinctive circuitry (and electronics to work that circuitry) to receive video signal. Adoption for this technological innovation has been sparse, thus significantly as you would anticipate. Pixel reaction rate: This indicates how speedy a pixel can turn colors, calculated in milli seconds (ms) the lower the milliseconds, the considerably more quickly the pixels can alter, hence reducing the streaking or ghosting result you could possibly see inside of a altering or moving image. According to new research, even so, it is most likely you will not see any streaking or ghosting in a modern monitor when watching a film. Input lag: A hold off throughout which the monitors' image stays behind what is actually been sent to the display. Not every single individual notices enter lag, and sellers not often, if at any time, quote this figure about their monitors. Enter lag has an effect on gamers the most. If break up 2nd reactions are paramount as element of your gaming sessions, execute some analysis as to a gaming monitor's input lag prior to getting. Ergonomic options: Most screens offer you a level of display tilt, normally thirty degrees back again and 5 degrees frontward. Some will include a swivel element, a lot of supply top adjustability, and some panels might also pivot amongst landscape and portrait modes, creating legal-size files and internet web sites less difficult to look at. Some LCDs usually are attached with VESA-suitable mounts that hook up with 3rd-get together wall mounts or swinging arms. Display resolution: Dictated by display measurement, element ratio, and usually the manufacture's digression. Make confident you are at ease with an LCD's indigenous resolution just before you get it. Keep in mind, an Lcd gaming keep an eye on that scales its graphic into a non-indigenous resolution will never search as great. USB: Several screens have USB ports. Usually, they are not powered hubs, but simply practical ports to plug in minimal driven gadgets like a mouse or a keyboard, thereby reducing the tangle of cables that usually operate straight into the laptop tower. Audio: Some gaming displays offer audio abilities, possibly as standardized items or as optional additional components. These may consist of a volume control, embedded speakers or a headset jack. On the total, these speakers are of decreased quality, with an reduced-priced thirty greenback audio technique from an business office supply or personal computer shop will most probably offer better seem. Viewing angle: Largely dictated by latest panel technology. The actual physical composition of Liquid crystal display pixels could probably result in the brightness and possibly even the colour of pictures to change for these who check out them from an angle rather than experiencing the display directly. Consider manufacturers' requirements seriously, as they examination their merchandise to construct it!

[daugherty43stensgaard-blog]

Contact From Duty 4.

Essential examination from the video game's achievements apart-- go review Kirk's outstanding assessment if you wish among those-- it appears that No Guy's Heavens didn't supply on at least a few from the commitments made through director Sean Murray and also his workers at Hi Gamings. All your beloved jewelry games with their amazing features have been actually compressed right into one amazing solitaire app, Diamond Free Load Get ready to take pleasure in the most effective and most preferred jewelry activities in the Android planet including Klondike Jewelry, Freecell, Golf, Canfield, Forty Burglars, Pyramid, Tripeaks, Crawler, Scorpion Jewelry, and much more. If you are actually rushing Operating System X make certain to set up Java 6 hence as well as Java 7 hence Unbelievable advises uninstalling any other variation of the Android SDK to make sure Unreal Engine is using the appropriate one, as well as while I recommend this if you are actually only heading to make use of Unreal Motor for Android development, I have possessed no problems with contending minimum 3 Android SDKs on my computer system featuring one for Android Studio as well as one for Unreal Engine. You participate in as a hero aiming to 'release' gold from a burial place, but he finds a mask - as well as rashly puts it on. Valiance right here wins the day, since the disguise hands out the wearer with the ability to climb up walls and jump large gaps, offering him a fighting chance from hitting the end from scrolling caverns stuffed along with deadly spikes, guns, and enemies, as well as steering clear of a trespassing beautiful wall structure from death. Take note- Our recommendation would certainly be to put in Google Play Store as well as other companies on your Nokia X when it is dashing model 10.0.3, as opposed to upgrading the phone to software model 11.1.1. This is actually considering that the new method needs the KingoRoot application on your Personal Computer as well as the actions are a bit difficult when as compared to the Framaroot application that functioned all right for our team on our Nokia X. This is actually based off of the application performed through Robert Broglia and includes a bunch of the same components, but that hasn't been upgraded due to the fact that 2013 as well as very likely will not be. The activity does sustain save states, components controllers, and also a really good compatibility cost which need to participate in very most, if not all, Video game Young boy and Game Boy Different colors activities. I would love to possess a contractors mission through which if any kind of home builder finished his work in late evenings or even the moment our company may not open the game to play, our experts could offer him his next job to be finished after the first on ends ... that may be in the building contractor's hut where like garrisons our company could picked just what to update ... The single edges are squares 4 and also 29. The dual corners are actually squares 1 and also 5, as well as 28 and also 32. Participate in from your single edge and attack your enemy's double edge. Yes, the insanely preferred on the web memory card game Hearthstone has been actually compressed to suit your phone or even tablet display screen - as well as it operates incredibly effectively. Dots & Carbon monoxide is a free of cost to participate in challenge video game that could keep you glued to the phone for hrs. http://masculiniteattrayante.info/colour-watches-bataille-de-montres-intelligentes/ goes for a steady speed, so all the gamer needs to perform is leap and also super-special-jump at the correct time to avoid smashing right into the scenery. I am actually uncertain if our experts may anticipate Remote Play to achieve streaming 1080p games at 60 FPS anytime quickly, however I'll fantasize. You can opt to trigger these check points by spending your loot of gemstones picked up during the video game. That may actually be actually a reward for those players that find activities such as Telephone call from Responsibility: Afro-american Ops III much also difficult, and also as gamers get utilized to the auto mechanics and also maps this could turn into the creepier, more planned affair that Naughty Pet is accurately gunning for. I participated in Uncharted 4 during a weekend, as well as due to the opportunity I completed I believed that I was coming down from a 12-hour sugar thrill. a fantastic read noted that calcium mineral may boost blood stream levels from a protein connected with higher danger for heart disease. That was actually, it goes without saying, an odd horror game he could feature on his YouTube channel. Daily journeys, problems, and PvP battles make certain to keep you on your toes no matter exactly how you participate in. You can easily additionally place 3 of a room beside one another to link up those, but you don't obtain as much of a reward across the board when you do this. This is among those 'rub your belly, tap your scalp' titles that has you play pair of video games simultaneously. This linkeds right into DoubleTwist on your Android gadget and also permits your personal computer observe this over your WiFi system. Rather, prioritise cards you make use of often, with a purpose in order to get standard memory cards around focus 8 and above, and rares past level 4. I have the aged Chromecast, the new Chromecast, a COVER TV, and also the Nexus Gamer, and also was able to acquire 90 times from YouTube Red totally free, and $12 in Google Play Credit report, as well as here's how. Detector Brothers Interactive is actually back to publish the activity and also lend it a remarkable variety of characters from tv, films and also comic books. If you ever discover yourself really wanting to watch an NBA activity, right here are actually a few alternatives that you need to be actually mindful from. GSM Field mentioned that Motorola's German branch has actually verified a Nougat launch for the Moto X Play in overdue January, a minimum of in Europe. The timing is ideal as the planet is actually presently pounded with the digital truth subject matter that could likewise be actually credited to Falchion Art Online, the anime set including the personalities participating in activities in a totally virtual planet. Each vehicle shakes up the visuals and the fashion through which you race - the dune buggy, as an example, can easily jump wonderfully over soft sand hillsides where the UFO troubles farmyard cows to include some range in to a much older game format. Whether you're a popular music developer or even a songs enthusiast, these audio editors and also audio gamers will certainly let you appreciate and also make songs on pc and mobile phone. Just a few times does it slide, with the irregular exhausting labyrinth to grind via; mainly, the game is actually a drafty, grin-inducing, dynamic romp with a charming cartoon world. Uplifting the creation from Minecraft was no little accomplishment for 2D sandbox activity Dwarf Citadel Referred to a construction as well as monitoring simulator, Dwarf Barrier has basic text-based graphics in to a more modern, 2006 piece of program. The memory card video game will definitely introduce with some 385 various memory cards, each one offering enhanced truth functions turned on within the computer game as well as unique single reward spells, boosts or fight dogs.

[wazafam]

An ever-present concern in the modern world, the media we consume has the ability to mold and shape our views and beliefs subconsciously, sometimes drastically warping our perception of reality. From the moral panic caused by children's consumption of violent media to the question of the integrity of our news outlets, there's no denying that what we see on TV and online reflects how we think and behave.

RELATED: 10 Tacky Horror Movies That Are Actually Kind Of Brilliant

An inherently dystopian and moderately terrifying concept, horror filmmakers have been constructing narratives around these ideas for decades, and here are 10 movies that explore the ways in which media can manipulate audiences.

10 Videodrome (1983)

A staple of David Cronenberg's twisted filmography, Videodrome sees a young James Woods star as a distributor of illicit videos looking for the next big hit. He's intrigued by a snuff film he catches on a pirated broadcast, and he sets out to get in contact with those behind it.

However, things take a disturbing turn when dark forces working behind the scenes twist his mind and bend his reality to suit their needs. Particularly heavy-handed in its depiction of the protagonist's programming via an organic VHS tape being jammed into his stomach, it unabashedly questions what could happen to those too eager to fall into a rabbit hole of deceit and manipulation.

9 District 9 (2009)

First contact between humanity and an alien species is made when a UFO drifts to a halt above Johannesburg, South Africa. The creatures aboard the craft are quarantined in a shantytown referred to as "District 9," and the movie's protagonist, Wikus, joins a task force meant to regulate and police the aliens.

However, after coming into contact with a mysterious fluid, Wikus slowly begins transforming into an alien. He then joins forces with one of the creatures and campaigns to help return them to their home planet. Framed as a documentary, District 9 explores how government entities can hide and subvert narratives in order to favor their own goals.

8 Cannibalism: A New Taste In Style

Not much is known about the ill-remembered 2004 short film Cannibalism: A New Taste In Style, but its premise and thirty-second trailer portray a very blunt criticism of our consumption of the media.

RELATED: 10 Most Anticipated Horror Movies Coming To Theaters In 2021

In a near-future in which television screens replace ceilings, an unassuming family delves into a world of chaos after news broadcasts begin advocating for cannibalism. Seemingly tongue-in-cheek and apparently shot on a shoestring budget, Cannibalism: A New Taste In Style explores the lengths to which consumers will go should they fail to question what they're watching.

7 Untraceable (2008)

Undoubtedly inspired by horror thrillers like Silence of the Lambs and Seven, 2008's Untraceable casts Diane Lane as a detective on the trail of a serial killer who live streams the murder of their victims. Taking place on a fictional website known as "killwithme," these crimes are rigged in such a way that the speed and brutality of the killings are dictated by the number of viewers watching the feed.

Wrought with twists and turns, Untraceable is a grim exploration of the extremes internet users will explore when shielded by anonymity.

6 Jack Stauber's Opal (2020)

A twelve-minute animated musical produced for Adult Swim featuring some downright unsettling claymation, Jack Stauber's Opal can be interpreted many ways, though it's certainly a commentary on how we use media to both escape from and reflect upon our own lives.

RELATED: 10 Best Adult Swim Series Of All Time

Known for his unique lo-fi animations and music, Stauber presents a world seen through the lens of a little girl desperate to escape from her harmful family. Some of the most poignant moments are the introduction to Opal's grandfather, who muses about why it "sounds so easy to breathe on TV," and the realization that Opal is actually an idealized version of the protagonist seen through a filter of glitzy advertising.

5 Gamer (2009)

More of a thriller than a horror film, 2009's Gamer nevertheless deserves a mention for its incredibly literal take on media manipulation. The film tells the tale of the dichotomy between virtual reality gamers and the real-life humans they control.

Forced to both act as puppets in battles of life and death and subject themselves to depraved situations, it's an interesting exploration of what we'll do when we think we think we are immune to the consequences of our actions. The movie also works as an interesting critique of the way we treat each other while online.

4 Death Tube (2010)

A very low-budget combination of the aforementioned Untraceable and James Wan's original Saw movie, Death Tube is a horror parody of the online video zeitgeist that had, at the time, recently taken off. A group of kidnapped individuals must escape from a series of deadly traps and figured out the mystery behind their situation, all while their exploits are broadcast online.

Viewers of the live stream are shown to be calloused and cruel, and, in a twist of fate, the most nefarious commenters are the ones forced to participate in the kidnapper's sinister games. It's a blunt but effective reflection of how indecent our behavior online can be.

3 Possessor (2020)

Directed by Brandon Cronenberg, the son of famed horror filmmaker David Cronenberg, 2020's Possessor is a bleak and highly disturbing examination of how escape from our own bodies can lead to dissociation and detachment from reality.

RELATED: 10 Horror Movies With The Best "Fake" Happy Endings

Possession tells the tale of a female assassin who can hijack the minds and bodies of others in order to carry out hits against her targets. However, in doing so, she slowly loses herself and her grasp of who she really is. The sci-fi elements definitely help to evoke a dystopian vibe, and the film seems to ask viewers what they might become should they too frequently rely on various forms of escapism.

2 eXistenZ (1999)

Though it can be a bit difficult to follow at times, eXistenZ, the Matrix-esque body horror film from the previously-mentioned David Cronenberg, does a wonderful job of forcing viewers to question if what they're seeing is actually real.

The plot of eXistenZ is constructed around an organic VR game that is generated, in part, of its user's own mind. However, as the plot thickens, it becomes increasingly difficult to differentiate reality from the game, and the twist-filled ending will have audiences making sure to never get too engrossed in any kind of media.

1 They Live (1988)

A hammy eighties action/horror flick that has formed the basis of dozens of conspiracy theories, John Carpenter's They Live is perhaps the best exploration of media manipulation every committed to film.

When Nada, a migrant worker played by wrestler Roddy Piper, stumbles on a pair of glasses that reveal the sinister hidden truth behind all forms of advertising and entertainment media, he's pursued by otherworldly forces desperate to keep the information from reaching the masses. It'll have viewers questioning the true intentions behind everything they watch or read, and it's an excellent reminder of how dishonest the media we consume can be. They live, we sleep!

NEXT: 10 Movies To Watch If You Liked John Carpenter's The Thing

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