#I didn’t quite incorporate 60 as well as I should have | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

shih-coulda-had-it · 4 years ago

Note

8 and 60 any bnha ship

8 (Hospital AU) & 60 (Poorly Timed Confession) | any bnha ship [Shizenji]

A/n: inaccuracies are possible, but not with the tug-of-war over surgeons!Nana and Chiyo’s favorite OR RN: Sorahiko. I’ve been told that surgeons will privately confer with charge nurses to rearrange the roster according to preference.

The whole affair could have been avoided if Sorahiko simply did not work at U.A. General Hospital.

Shuuzenji Chiyo, Chief Surgeon in residence, would not be furiously pining after her fellow doctor if Torino Sorahiko did not exist.

“That’s unfair,” said Sorahiko, OR registered nurse. He was seated across from Chiyo in a corner booth of the cafeteria. The contents of his plastic tray resembled hers, except he had produced his own plastic-wrapped taiyaki from seemingly nowhere.

“It’s not unfair. Any time I think I’ve got an opening to ask her out for a date, you’re in the background silently judging me!”

“Because you suck,” he responded eloquently. “At pick-up lines, specifically. We all worship you at the operating table, Shuuzenji-hakase.”

“I have more game in my pinky finger than you do in your entire body,” Chiyo shot back.

“Then why haven’t you asked her out yet?”

“Ugh!” Chiyo popped open the lid of her bento and retrieved her chopsticks from their paper wrapping. She did not have a good answer for Sorahiko, who politely did not gloat over his victory. This was the real trial, she thought glumly. Because while she and Sorahiko were bosom break-buddies, Sorahiko and Shimura Nana were childhood best friends.

One would think that with Sorahiko as a mutual friend, Chiyo wouldn’t be having a communication issue.

“If you asked me,” said Sorahiko modestly.

“I haven’t.”

Silence fell between them, save for the crackle of Sorahiko opening his beloved treat and the soft murmured conversations of other people in the cafeteria. Chiyo gritted her teeth. She would not be the first to give in; the potential result of Sorahiko’s smug face at her tacit concession was too aggravating to bear.

She poked at her bento’s serving of cold chicken breast, caught a glimpse of the pallid vegetables beneath, and resigned herself to a terrible lunch.

“See,” Sorahiko said, “this is the first problem.”

“Is this your patronizing voice?”

He ignored her acerbic tone, if only because Chiyo hadn’t explicitly told him to shut up and change the subject. “You’re not letting yourself cool off. You need to take a step back and re-evaluate the situation, and then try and ask Shimura out on a date.”

“If I take a step back,” Chiyo complained, “then she’ll never respect me as a fellow surgeon who can go toe-to-toe! She already towers over me! I need my monumental stubborn streak to be unquestionably present!”

“Trust me, it’s undeniable,” he muttered.

Chiyo decided she had to let that comment slide, because Sorahiko was the unfortunate victim of a tug-of-war between her and Shimura. It started months ago, when Shimura was first hired by U.A. General and reunited in the workforce with her best friend. Chiyo hadn’t known anything about it, other than ‘new surgeon, likely capable,’ and wouldn’t have cared if it wasn’t for the sudden absence of Sorahiko from her operating room.

Sorahiko was a good intra-op nurse; he lent a certain focused calm to any surgery, and could always be trusted to provide a helping hand without panicking.

Chiyo hadn’t liked the fact that some uppity new hire had snatched Sorahiko from her hours, so she got him back. Without doing Shimura the polite courtesy of a head’s up. Chiyo had justified this rude action to Nezu, the Dean of Medicine, as: Shimura did it first.

They had yanked Sorahiko back and forth between their teams for a straight week before Chiyo finally got her first glimpse of Shimura.

Blatantly! Talking! To the charge nurse about rotating Sorahiko’s hours yet again!

She bitterly resented Shimura for all of three seconds, because by the fourth second, Chiyo had intruded on her personal space and been overwhelmed by the woman’s sheer presence. Shimura had said, with a toothy smile, “Ah, Shuuzenji-senpai. I was just asking Futaba-san about switching Torino-san’s placement for the next week. You don’t mind, do you?”

Inwardly, Chiyo had screeched about losing Sorahiko from Mr. Morimoto’s heart surgery.

Inwardly, Chiyo’s breath had caught in her lungs, her heart had stuttered, and the very unprofessional thought about wanting to be pinned down and ravished by her fellow surgeon crossed her mind.

That’s my favorite nurse, you can’t just yank him out of rotation and shuffle him where you will, Chiyo wanted to say.

“For a surgeon like you?” she said instead. “By all means.”

It was an unintended slight. A double-edged compliment. One that hinged on vague implications of flattery and insult.

It didn’t help that Chiyo had to tip her chin back to stare Shimura in the eye; it didn’t help that Chiyo had visibly registered Shimura’s generously-endowed figure before yanking her eyes up and up and up--

Of course, rather than accept this graciously, Shimura’s smile had widened into a triumphant grin. As Chief Surgeon, Chiyo couldn’t accept that, so the tug-of-war continued. Futaba became accustomed to being accosted to adjust Torino’s hours, and Sorahiko tried pretending nothing was happening. Occasionally, Chiyo saw Shimura chatting with Sorahiko and laughing, and Chiyo had to pretend she wasn’t a gremlin.

All this to say, now Sorahiko was attempting to give Chiyo dating advice, as though Chiyo hadn’t been trawling the sea for fish since she graduated medical school.

“Just say you like her to her face,” said Sorahiko.

“Where’s the art in that?” she demanded.

“Because,” he opined, “you two are in some serious miscommunication troubles, and it’s in the hospital’s best interests that you aren’t feuding anymore.”

“It’s not a feud.”

“The other nurses think you two are fighting to date me, you know.”

“Would you be open to a threesome?” Chiyo gave Sorahiko a critical once-over, just to cement her views of her favorite nurse. He was tall, like Shimura, and he was crabby and crotchety when he wasn’t forced to be professional, like Chiyo. She didn’t feel any intense desire. Just a certain fondness, cultivated over the inevitable losses in the OR and their shared gallows humor.

Sorahiko considered her right back. Then he said, “No, I think we’d be a nightmare for HR to deal with.”

“HR,” Chiyo grieved. As Chief Surgeon, Chiyo had to maintain certain boundaries between herself and her colleagues. Dating your technical underlings was highly discouraged, and Chiyo’s stance was that she had to be untouchable in order to maintain respect.

There was a reason the other nurses were in awe of Sorahiko.

“Maybe you should leave it alone,” he suggested. “It being, trying to date her.”

“Sorahiko, genuinely, I will beat you over the head with my lunch if you cockblock me,” said Chiyo. “You’ve seen your best friend, right? I have been keeping my nails clipped short ever since I entered medical school, but now I’m this close to asking her if she owns a strap.”

“Don’t,” said Sorahiko, pained by receiving too much information.

“What? What? Are you losing all your respect for me?”

“Keep using me as an outlet for your failed flirtations, and I really will,” he threatened.

“Maybe I should send you back to Shimura’s team, with a note that says, ‘Do you like me? Check yes or yes.’ You can be the peace offering. Is it pimping you out if you manage to sweet-talk her into having lunch with us?”

“Pimp me out?”

“You’re very high-value,” Chiyo reassured him. “You’re worth a cease-fire.”

“I should be the one filing a complaint to HR,” Sorahiko muttered to his bento. “No compensation is worth bearing witness to this.”

#bnha #shizenji #shuuzenji chiyo #recovery girl #torino sorahiko #gran torino #shimura nana #shih.txt #asks #anon #I didn’t quite incorporate 60 as well as I should have #but I was agonizing over how to write this overall #call that a 6/10 on execution

7 notes · View notes

maxwell-grant · 3 years ago

Note

If someone were trying to make a new character inspired by pulp heroes, but the new character had to be a teenager, what existing pulps heroes should they look to for inspiration?

I'm not exactly in touch with the yoof so I could be off the mark here, but let's talk about teenager characters for a bit.

Now, I could just tell you to look for characters that appeal to you and use them as a baseline and that's probably the best advice here, but if you want the essay and history lesson: American pulp fiction didn't used to market much to teenagers. Teenagers as a consuming market haven't always been the all-encompassing force they are considered today, and the pulps were largely marketed either towards young boys, or for working class men, mostly the latter. This is part of why teenagers tend to show up in these stories largely as sidekicks, which was something carried over to comic superheroes, and part of why Spider-Man was such a breakout hit, because he was a teenage superhero who was not a sidekick.

The biggest pre-1950s traditional pulp hero I can of who was a teenager would be Jack Harkaway, an 1871 penny dreadful adventurer who would go on to be published overseas, one of those characters who was big enough in his day to inspire imitators a plenty but didn't quite make it past a specific time period. Comic strips had plenty of kid or teenage protagonists who are a bit closer to pulp heroes, like Tintin or Terry Lee, one in particular I'm highlighting above is Ledger Syndicate's Connie Kurridge, arguably the first female adventure hero of American comics. Overseas you can find a couple of prominent examples of teenage adventurers published in what we call the pulp era, the biggest and most influential of which being The Famous Five, but as I stated in answering whether Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys were pulp heroes, these were not published in pulp magazines, instead their direct opposites in glossy and reputable paperbacks.

There are other examples of pulp heroes who were teenagers and not sidekicks, but nearly all of them are very obscure and you will probably not find much material for them. And the thing is, these characters were not made for teenagers. They were made, for the most part, by grown-ups, and for grown-ups, and I can't say any of them ever really grabbed a teenage audience. Usually, it's the 60s as an era that really starts to pander to and include teenagers at the forefront of storytelling, so a good start for you might be to look at what was going on in the 60s-onwards worldwide in the realms of pulp and pulp-inspired works, which probably means you're going to have to look outside of the US.

Another word of advice would be to look up characters that are beloved by teenagers. I don't think "teenager" is a great baseline trait to start building a character, but if that's the number one priority to you, then ideally you should look for a good baseline of what appeals to that demographic, what appealed to you at that age and why. You're probably going to wind up with a lot of anime anti-heroes in your research though, because teenagers are deeply miserable creatures and few things appeal more to them than characters who are miserable but they act cool and badass and edgy about it. Teenagers are forced to live with the miserable reality of being teenagers with little to no upsides, so I think teenage characters could benefit more from being based on the kinds of characters teenagers would ideally want to read about.

So, "cool, badass and tortured character super popular with angsty teenagers", "rooted in and subverting older storytelling traditions for a fresh new audience", and "60s pulp hero". I think Elric is probably as good of a place as any for you to start.

Elric wasn't just popular, he wasn't even just popular with teenagers (boys and girls alike, which is also quite the feat), he was "cool". He was avant-garde, he was the hip new thing on the block. He wasn't Conan or Bond or Batman, and you'd hardly mistake him for a hero. He got the rock albums and fans tattooing him. He was penned by the guy who was openly called the "anti-Tolkien". Elric was Loki before Loki, the edgy anti-hero before them all. The emaciated warrior with white hair and black clothes and a demonic sword who suffered in a cool way, cool in his uncoolness. When I think of pulp heroes who achieved a substantial popularity among teenage audiences, Elric is definitely the first that comes to mind.

Another good example might be Captain Harlock, easily one of the premier Pulp Heroes among manga and anime due to how heavily Leiji Matsumoto incorporates pulp space opera into everything he does. Not only directly influenced by it, Matsumoto even has actual pulp credentials as an illustrator for C.L Moore's Shambleau, Northwest Smith and Jirel of Joiry. The space pirate, while not created in manga and anime, is one of Japan's premier pulp hero archetypes, and Harlock's as good of a baseline to work with as any.

The most popular pulp-inspired works nowadays among teenage or younger audiences are definitely the ones derived from pulp horror, several creators have been getting a lot of mileage these past decades out of plundering and remixing stuff from it. The big ones are Lovecraft and related works like The King in Yellow, but because they soak up all the attention, it also means that people are sleeping on authors like John W. Campbell, William Hope Hogdson, Clark Ashton Smith and Karl Edward Wagner, Nictzin Dyalhis and Olaf Stapledon, and many, many more, which gives you a lot of narrative real estate to work with should you take this direction.

Additionally, one thing that you could consider is that, for a very large portion of the history of pulp fiction, a significant amount of the most popular stories and characters were those that were based on celebrities and real life figures. The biggest of dime novel protagonists was Buffalo Bill, and following him was Nick Carter, a literary equivalent to Eugen Sandow (the Schwarzenegger of his day). Thomas Edison inspired an entire subgenre of dime novel fiction, even Jack the Ripper was a pulp protagonist in Dutch magazines, because sometimes the term "pulp hero" doesn't take the "hero" part much into account.

The precedent for celebrity stories is older than pulp fiction itself, but it was in the dime novels and novelettes and pulps that the idea really found it's footing. The Shadow's exploits took a lot from Gibson's own experiences with Houdini (who himself starred in fictional stories, one famously penned by Lovecraft). Doc Savage was visually modeled after Clark Gable and supposedly inspired on Richard Henry Savage. Eddy Polo, Charlie Chaplin and Tom Mix were the protagonists of several pulps and comic strips across the world, as well as Al Capone (who starred in pulp magazines in Germany and Spain), who fought Nick Carter in a Brazilian story guest-starring Fu Manchu (reportedly based on real figures Sax Rohmer claimed to have met) and Fantomas. Today obviously there are much greater restrictions at play concerning celebrity images, but if dime/pulp magazines were around today, we would have quite possibly seen figures like Keanu Reeves, Tilda Swinton and Lil Nas X either star in their own magazines or be used as models for rising protagonists.

So I guess one other way you could go on about creating a pulp hero, who's either a teenager or appeals to teenagers, would be the route of taking a look at some celebrities that either are, or appeal to those demographics, because if pulp magazines had stayed around unchanged past the 60s and 80s and whatnot you definitely would have seen the likes of David Bowie, Will Smith and Dwayne Johnson get their own magazines. I don't know much about what celebrities are popular with teenagers these days and I'm not about to start caring now, but you could take a look at some icons you like, or liked when you were younger, and think about what made them appealing to think about as characters, and how you could apply that to something closer to a pulp story.

A word of advice would also be that, if you want to make a character inspired by pulp heroes, if you want to create a convincing modern pulp hero, you might want to look less at the pulp heroes themselves and instead those that they were inspired by or working to defy and stand out when compared to. You take the building blocks and rearrange them in a different way. If you have a specific character you want to design yours in reference to, you can send me an ask or a DM about them and I'll dig into my files to give you a few pointers, and what kind of history or cultural predecessors they have that you could take a look at to make something more genuine.

#replies tag #pulp heroes #pulp fiction #jack harkaway #captain harlock #elric of melnibone #bloodborne #darkest dungeon

101 notes · View notes

thebrownssociety · 4 years ago

Note

Hi, so I was wondering about the toons getting an education. You said that they didn't know how to read or write at the begining. First of all, when did they learn to read and write? And second of all, when they started learning those things, how did they do it? Did all of the toons go to school, you know, like kids do? Did they have classes and classmates, different subjects, different teachers? Or did they have private tutours?

So, first things first, thank you Ana for giving me one of my most complicated asks yet! That's why it's taken me so long to answer, I need to first of all sort through the strands of my brain in order to find the answer, and then translate it so it can be understood by normal people.

This headcanon is LONG, I hope you lot enjoy.

the majority of the toons [about 90 percent] are NOT created with the ability to read and write. In the olden days it was generally assumed that they didn't have the ability to learn either.

The other ten percent DID. They tended to be toons that were created to be doctors, lawyers or other professions that need the ability to read and write. Or members of royalty because the creators made the decision that royals would have been taught to read and write and so incorporated that into there designs. This is why Porky Pig is unusual, because he has the ability read and write, but he's not royalty and he doesn't have an official profession. Technically Porky is an anomality, it just happens that his anomality has helped him more than hindered him.

Moving onto the villains, it tends to follow the same rules as above. Grimhilde [wicked stepmother] has the ability to read and write because the creators assumed that as the now queen she had to be a princess before, therefore fit the rules.

Maleficent however, couldn't read or write [much to her frustration] because she was a villainous fairy and although she was [I think?] royalty of some sort within the fairy world the creators decided she didn't need the ability.

You might be getting an idea of the timeline from the movies I mentioned. I headcanon that the toon began campaigning to get an education during the 60's. They did this largely via peaceful means [mainly because one thing that has always been acknowledged by humans is that Toons are quite powerful and they aren't to keen to annoy them massively. The toons for their part don't want to cause massive distress to humans - they want to make them laugh! - so it actually works to a degree. During the 60's though the Toons decided something needed to be done.

The directors and other higher-ups had been promising to change the rights for the last decade and it hadn't happened. In 1965 the Toons decided enough was enough, they would start peacefully protesting. They adhered to the riles of there contracts to the letter. The LT's contract for instance says they have to arrive at least five minutes before filming starts, so they arrived five minutes before filming started when previously they'd been arriving half an hour so the director could run through everything with them.

They also left straight after seeing as there contract said they were free to go after the filming ended.

The LT's were also contracted to be available should WB ask them to do anything like help in the kitchens, but they only gave to do that for a set amount of hours each week. They worked those hours to the letter and went straight after. A few of the more devious toons even reasoned the contract just says they have to show up, not do any work, so they didn't. At first the studio got round that by asking toons who they knew would do the work properly, but it didn't take the toons long to figure out that was happening and then the 'good' toons wondered why they should bother when the 'bad' toons were being allowed to get off scot-free?

Eventually no toons was doing any work to help the general running of WB at all.

The above, I should mention, did not happen overnight. It took around 18 months, and it wasn't just happen at WB. Although Disney didn't have the exact same contract, they ran on the general principle of arriving at a set time and leaving straight after, so the toons just adhered to there contracted times.

18 months later and the companies decided enough was enough. They were having to go overtime to film the cartoons/movies now the toons weren't doing extra [previously unpaid] hours. [Which they did because the majority of them are perfectionist when it comes to the cartoons and wanted them to be the best they could be.] They were also having to pay the Human employees extra to cover the hours, often at extremely short notice. And unlike the toons they weren't contracted to come in just because the company wanted them to.

So anyway, the point of me detailing this is to explain the circumstances that meant that the companies were at there wits end and ended up petitioning the president to give the toons rights. Mickey Mouse also helped out enormously here as well. Walt Disney had died a few months earlier and Mickey was now running Disney. Which also meant control of the theme parks. Mickey decided that seeing as Toons clearly weren't valued enough to bother educating [despite being proven as intelligent] they shouldn't bother providing entertainment at the parks either.

The Disney toons also had it worked into there contracts that they had to make periodic appearances at Disney's parks [kinds like the people dressing up as the characters do now, except it's the actual toons] and are on a rota basis. Unless they're doing an events [like Halloween for the villains or valentines day for the princes and princesses] then each toon does at least one 12-hour day at Disney per year. It was this bit that Mickey was putting a stop to.

It had a real knock-on effect as, as well as the rides, most people went there hoping for a glimpse of there favourite toon. Without that...

As much of an absolute business-killer as this idea was, Mickey was more than happy to explain to anyone who would listen [read: most of the world news] exactly WHY he was doing it. With all this pressure it was really just a matter of time until the laws changed and the toons were able to gain an education. This was in 1968.

Now as fast as things work in Toontown, this was such a complicated area that it took a full 2 years for the various schools to be built, staffed and a curriculum drawn up (which followed the same basic guide as human education, but with some added stuff and some stuff taken out. It basically followed a 'would a toon actually need this in future life?' and went from there.

Here's were it gets slightly complicated. Because I mentioned before that toons age in a weird way. But the main thing is they go up and down in there age on a day to day basis until they are about 20. This makes educating them quite difficult, to say the least.

The studios solution to this was to bring in Human teachers to teach them at the grades human children would go through. So Kindergarten, Grade 1 ext. The thing was that a lot of the toons had learn some of th education already, like identifying shapes and coulors and things. And of course the ones who were professionals [Like Ludwig Von Drake and Gus Goose] already had a college-level of education, they just needed to prove it to the teachers.

The end result of this was that it wasn't unusual for a toon to be in a class for only a few months at a time while they did the work [don't forget, they only need 4 hours of sleep as well, so they could study for longer if they wanted]

It did eventually even up though and the toons ended up spending 9 months if the right class. For example, Porky Pig aced Kindergarten all the way up till 4th grade and then found he was struggling with 5th grade. This was a shock to him after spending 21 months in education [excluding holidays], to suddenly need help. Porky was forced to realise that he had centred a lot of his identity around being 'the one who can help his friends/family read.' and hadn't expanded his personality much beyond that.

So yeah, as an average most toons took about ten years to complete Kindergarten - end of high school.

Then a few of them took college courses, which lead to them getting degrees, which led to a couple of them getting teaching degrees. The majority of the LT's you see in Tiny Toons [excluding Foghorn, who decided he didn't want to be a teacher, and Elmer who took a undergraduate degree in law until 1992] did their teaching degrees from 1988 - 1992.

There's a couple of you who might had realised that they were filing Tiny Toons at the times and learning how to be parents at the same time. That was partly why they wanted to do it then, they realised that after Tiny Toons had finished the kid would need educating. Although the human teachers had been alright, they'd found it slightly difficult to cope and the LT's didn't want their kids to go through that particularly. Also, what's the point of building a school just to got rid of it after?

So here's the main schools: (After the toons gained teaching degrees)

Disney Elementary - Kindergarten- Grade 5.

Hanna-Barbara Middle School - Grade 6_8.

The Looniversity (the name stuck after the TV show) Grades 9-12.

So the Tiny Toons finished filming in 1992 and had it promptly explained to them that they would be attending school the next August [Tiny Toons were created in 1987, so were 6 by the end of filming.]

Toons don't do pre-school because there doesn't seem to be any point. Loads of Toons have coped without preschool for decades now, why would they start now?

So the TT's started Kindergarten at Disney Kindergarten, run by Snow White and helped out by Cinderella and Fairy Godmother. Kindergarten is the only school year where the toons have to do an entire year in it, the logic being they'll have longer to get adjusted to school if they're there for a year as opposed to three months.

Then it was decided which was the toon would go. Would they move upwards into Disney Elementary school, run by the Three Good Fairies? Or would they be taught by human professors? Or - the final option - they could be privately educated. [It's mainly royalty or the children of famous toons like Micky and Minnie that go down this option. The TT's were unusual in that all the LT's opted to send there kids to Disney Elementary with the hope it would help them make friends with other toons outside the LT bubble. Whether it did or not remains up for debate.

Anyway, they then go to Hanna-Barbera Middle School, which is then followed by the Looniversity. Now, despite what was shown in Tiny Toons, The Looniversity does not focus solely on Toon Physics and the like, the kids have to study the curriculum. They have options to take Toon Physics class if they wanted to, but they don't have to.

The Toons technically don't HAVE to finish High School, but they're strongly encouraged to. College is another matter, it's quite hard so only Toons who the adults know will stand a chance of passing are encouraged to do it.

Toontown University focuses primarily on The Performing Arts and Toon Physics. As well as those subjects, it offers Art, Physical Education, separate courses of Dance, Drama and Music and LAMDA.

If a Toon wants to study the likes of Maths, English and Science they can either be privately educated [A lot of the adult toons have ridiculous amounts of money due to there cartoons and the fact that until the 50's Toontown didn't exist and all there expenses were being covered by there respective directors/studios] or they could join one of the smaller colleges that specialised in what they want to do.

Push comes to shove, they find a Adult toon [over the actual age of 25] with a degree and try to mentor under them. This happens a lot.

#Looney Tunes Headcanons #Looney tunes headcanons #Looney Tunes #Asks #Education #Porky Pig #maleficent #Grimhilde #tiny toons #Mickey Mouse #Minnie Mouse #Kindergarten #Education is so complicated #Education is so important #Disney Parks #Education is highly valued by the toons #It took them long enough to get it

21 notes · View notes

paperanddice · 4 years ago

Text

Ephemeral Swarm

A ghostly swarm of rats floats silently and eerily along the ground, creeping closer. Their bodies appear diseased and decayed, some reduced to nothing more than bone and gristle.

Artwork by Rafael Garres Cervantes, copyright Wizards of the Coast. Accessed from the Monster Manual III art gallery here.

Mass destruction of pest animals such as rats, cats, bats, spiders, and many other vermin can create a well of animal rage and pain, drawing in and trapping the souls of those creatures and creating a horrific swarm of ghostly echoes of the animals. Cities that are incautious in their attempts to quell these pests through the use of extermination may find themselves instead facing a far more deadly infestation. Ephemeral swarms travel unrestrained, passing through all mundane barriers and traps, and their prey is now the fundamental life force of the living rather than the scraps of society. It’s not a good trade off.

The shape of the swarm reflects the creatures killed and the method by which they were destroyed. If a plague ripped through a cat population, the swarm will consist of diseased cats and kittens. A host of rats destroyed by a fireball spell will take the form of charred, smoldering rats.

5th Edition

Ephemeral Swarm Large swarm of Tiny undead, unaligned Armor Class 14 Hit Points 85 (10d10 + 30) Speed 0 ft., fly 30 ft. (hover) Str 2 (-4) Dex 18 (+4) Con 16 (+3) Int 2 (-4) Wis 11 (+0) Cha 18 (+4) Saving Throws Wis +3 Skills Perception +6 Damage Resistances acid, bludgeoning, cold, fire, piercing, slashing, thunder Damage Immunities necrotic, poison Condition Immunities grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 16 Languages - Challenge 5 (1800 XP) Incorporeal Swarm. The swarm can occupy another creature's space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Tiny animal. It can move through creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn inside an object. The swarm can't regain hit points or gain temporary hit points. Actions Bites. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 0 ft., all creatures in the swarm's space. Hit: 14 (4d6) necrotic damage or 7 (2d6) necrotic damage if the swarm has half of its hit points or fewer, and if the target is a creature it must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or deal half damage with weapon attacks that use Strength. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a successful save.

13th Age

Ephemeral Swarm Huge 3rd level spoiler [undead] Initiative: +9 Vulnerability: holy C: Ephemeral bites and claws +8 vs. PD (1d3 nearby enemies) - 15 negative energy damage Natural 16+: The target is also weakened (save ends). Flight Ghostly swarm: The swarm has resist damage 16+ to all damage except holy and force damage. It consists of hundreds to thousands of separate ghostly creatures, though their concentrated rage binds them together so they’re treated as one creature. The swarm can move through solid objects, but can’t end its turn inside them. AC 19 PD 14 MD 16 HP 105

I considered for quite a while on whether or not to make the swarm a huge creature by 13th Age design. Eventually I decided on it because I really feel that an encounter featuring one should really center the concept of the swarm as a whole, rather than having it be a minor part, or having to include multiple of them to get that feeling. It’s a problem I see occasionally with 13th Age and 4e monsters where the story given is that the monster never works with other creatures and hunts alone, and then it gets a standard stat block rather than one designed to fight a party solo. I didn’t want to replicate that.

Inspired by the ephemeral swarm from the 3.5 Monster Manual III. I guess this week is just going to be swarm week, since the Monster Manual III has a couple other good swarms. I did the dread blossom last time, next time will be the shimmerling. If you like this post, consider following my Patreon to get access to content like this a week ahead of everybody else, plus updates on other projects I’m working on! I just released a short 13th Age adventure, Rampage of the Map Backed Spider, available to backers of any level.

#D&D #DND #Dungeons and Dragons #5th Edition #13th Age #my homebrew #monster #undead

10 notes · View notes

boldly-ho · 4 years ago

Text

Another Life - Chapter 16

Fandom: What We Do in the Shadows

Pairing: Vladislav x Reader

Series Rating: E

Word Count: 1982

Chapter Summary: You ask some innocent questions about hypnosis, and Viago and Deacon grow suspicious.

A/N: Same shit as always: it’s on AO3.

“Good evening, Y/N,” Viago greeted you cheerily as he entered the lounge. He was definitely a morning person. Evening person? Whatever.

“Hey,” you shot back in a monotone. You sounded about as good as you felt. Not very.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” you answered, though you were sure your tone was doing nothing to convince him. “I’m just exhausted.”

“You didn’t sleep well last night?” He asked, concerned.

“Not really. I was in and out of sleep. I think I was having nightmares.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. What about?”

“No idea,” you answered honestly. Your sleep was fitful, and you felt uneasy and disturbed upon waking, but you couldn’t recall your dreams.

“Then how do you know they were nightmares?”

You shrugged. “I could just tell.”

Viago nodded in understanding. Making his way over to the ancient green couch where you sat lengthwise, taking up every cushion with your outstretched legs, he asked, “May I sit?”

“It’s your couch.” You lifted you legs just long enough for him to sit down, then laid them to rest on his lap. He set his hands on your shins, giving you a gentle squeeze as he settled.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

You offered him a gentle smile. “That’s okay. There isn’t really anything to talk about, since I don’t remember the dream. Thank you, though, I appreciate it.”

“Of course.”

“Do vampires get nightmares?” you asked. “Do you still dream?”

“Oh yes. Vampires dream. Our dreams are a lot more vivid than human dreams, though.”

“That must make the nightmares a bitch, huh?” you joked.

He nodded, without any humor. “It does.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

He shrugged it off. “I don’t have nightmares too often anymore.”

“What do you dream about?” Viago paused, and you blushed, realizing that was a very personal question. “Sorry. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s fine. My dreams are much the same as they were when I was alive, just more vivid. They’re usually quite nonsensical, just flashes of scenes, mainly. Though, I’ve dreamed about the sun much more often since I’ve become a vampire.”

You supposed that made sense, him not having seen the sun in hundreds of years. Though, with the sun’s effect on vampires, that sounded more like a nightmare than a dream. Maybe it was. You asked him, “Dreams or nightmares?”

“They’ve been both. But they’re usually good dreams. I can go out and feel the warmth on my skin and not burn. It’s nice. Though, I’m not sure it’s right anymore. I’m not sure I remember what sunlight actually feels like after all this time.”

Your heart ached for him, and for the rest of your flatmates. Petyr hadn’t seen the sun in over 8000 years. You couldn’t even begin to imagine. They had all gained so much. Transformation, teleportation, immortality. You hadn’t thought about some of the little things they’d lost. Not being able to eat human food and having to kill to survive had crossed your mind, obviously. And you were aware, of course, that they were nocturnal, but you had never really thought about their having to give up sunlight.

“Is there any way, indirectly, that you could at least look at the sun?”

“We watched a video of a sunrise when Stu was teaching us about the internet.”

“That’s nice,” you offered.

“I suppose so. It was a bit hard to enjoy. Seeing the sun pass the horizon filled me with fear, even though I knew it couldn’t really harm me.”

If your heart had already ached for him, now it had broken.

“That’s awful, Viago, I’m so sorry.”

He smiled gently. “It’s not really a big deal. Most of the time I don’t miss it, anymore. We’re supposed to be talking about dreams, remember?”

You laughed. “Oh, right. How could I have gotten so off topic?” you teased.

“What about you? What do you usually dream about?”

Deacon loudly clamored down the stairs. “Are we taking about dreams?”

“Ja. Y/N had a nightmare.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know,” you said. “I can’t remember.”

“Vampire nightmares are especially realistic.”

“I know. Viago mentioned that.”

“Move your legs so I can sit.”

You rolled your eyes. “Fine, but I’m putting them back after you sit.”

You swung your legs out of the way while Deacon sat down, waiting for him to get situated before you put your legs back across both of their laps.

“I had a really freaky dream the other day,” Deacon said.

You and Viago looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

“I was being chased by a giant rat. It eventually caught me and I could feel myself being chewed up alive in its enormous teeth.”

Viago gave him a sympathetic look.

You shot him a look somewhere between dumbfound, disgust, and disbelief.

“Uh…” You had no idea what to say to that.

“Your nightmare couldn’t have been that bad, Y/N.”

No, probably not. So at least there was that.

“Is Vlad awake?” Deacon asked. “He made me promise to move a body with him this evening.”

The woman from last night. The one he’d hypnotized. He’d slept in the same room as a corpse? How horrifyingly macabre. You thought back to the dirty cereal bowl on your bedside table and wondered if that was comparable.

“No, he hasn’t been down here yet,” Viago answered.

“I met her last night. The body.” You winced a bit. “The woman,” you corrected. “She ran down here and Vladislav hypnotized her in front of me. Can humans get hypnotized by proxy?”

“By proxy?”

“Yeah. If someone gets hypnotized in front of me, could I also get hypnotized? Even if I’m not the one being hypnotized…? Or spoken to? Or whatever?”

They were both looking at you, seemingly puzzled.

“Did you get hypnotized last night?” Viago asked.

“No!” Your face heated, both from answering too quickly and strongly, and from the memory of last night. You tried again, more calmly, hoping they hadn’t noticed. “No. Just hypothetically. If a vampire is hypnotizing someone, could a nearby human also get hypnotized?”

Deacon, either not hearing or choosing to ignore your explanation of this being hypothetical, asked, “What did he hypnotize her about? Did you end up doing the same thing?”

“Nothing! He didn’t- It’s just an example. I was just curious.”

Deacon gave you a suspicious glance.

“Well, vampires can hypnotize multiple people at once, but it’s extremely difficult,” Viago explained. “Vladislav is known for his hypnotizing abilities, and can hypnotize entire crowds on his better days. But it takes effort; you can’t accidentally hypnotize anyone.”

You nodded. That was good. Not that it mattered. You weren’t hypnotized. You couldn’t have been, because you didn’t- Well, because you just weren’t hypnotized.

“Besides, if you are hypnotized, you usually don’t remember it happening.” Viago told you this in a tone that was probably meant to be comforting, leading you to assume that he also didn’t believe you were dealing in hypotheticals.

You knew you weren’t hypnotized; you should have just kept your mouth shut.

Thankfully changing the subject, Viago asked, “What are your plans tonight, Y/N?”

“I have no plans. I’m just going to order food because I’m lazy and tired, and then go to bed early. Why?”

“I’m trying to plan an evening. Nick says he knows a good drinking game, and we have some alcoholic blood in the refrigerator.”

Deacon perked up, officially moving on from your previous line of inquiry. “Yes!”

It was a bit jarring to see Viago, looking and dressing the same now as he did in the hundreds of years old portrait behind him, discuss throwing a small party of drinking games and getting pissed. It was astounding how they managed to incorporate aspects of so many different time periods into their personalities at once. You decided, though, that that was not the most interesting thing to take from Viago’s statement.

Instead you asked, “Alcoholic blood?”

“Ja,” Viago affirmed. “When humans drink, the alcohol enters their blood. If they’re very drunk, their blood can can get vampires drunk.”

“Huh.” Interesting. Logically, that made sense, you’d just never thought of it before. A lot of things about vampires made sense, if you’d only think of them before they were brought up.

“It works with things besides alcohol, too,” Deacon said. “Anything that can get into the blood. Like drugs. A few years ago, when psychedelics were big…” He trailed off, making a blissful facial expression.

“Were psychedelics big a few years ago?”

Deacon nodded. “Oh yes.” His face grew more pensive before he added, “I think it was a few years ago. It could have been more.”

“Are you talking about the ‘60s?”

His face lit up. “Yes!”

“So, more than a few years ago, then.”

He shrugged.

“Well, either way, I’m not up for getting drunk tonight, but I’m very up for seeing you all get drunk at some point, so keep me posted.”

“I’ll find a night when everyone is free,” Viago said.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve heard the expression ‘three’s a crowd.’”

Three heads turned up towards the top of the staircase, to where Vladislav now stood.

“You know there are other places to sit in the lounge, right?”

You gave him a sour look. “We’ll, I’m comfortable.”

He smirked down at you. “You might be the only one.”

“Just how heavy do you think I am?” you asked, feigning offense.

“Actually, I am feeling a bit cramped,” Deacon admitted.

You sighed, swinging your legs off the couch and sitting upright, letting Deacon migrate from the couch to an armchair.

“Hey, Vlad,” Deacon called as he settled in his new seat, “Did I hear you with a human down here last night?”

You froze. What did he think he was doing?

“Yeah,” Vladislav answered. “Her hypnosis lapsed. She realized what was happening and tried to get out. I met her down here and brought her back up before she left.”

“I hate when they do that,” Viago muttered.

Ignoring him, Deacon pressed on, “What did you do? Hypnotize her again?”

“Yeah.”

“What did you tell her?”

If looks could kill, Deacon would be dead twice over. If he saw your heated glare, he ignored it.

Vladislav shrugged. You had hoped he would find Deacon’s question too invasive or too strange. It didn’t seem as though he did, however, as he answered, “I told her she wanted me and wanted to come back up to my room. Just normal stuff.”

“Oh, right,” Deacon replied.

To his credit, he didn’t turn to you, or give you a strange look. Unfortunately, you caught a side eyed glance from Viago.

You thought about getting Deacon alone and throwing your necklace at him, or singing a hymn, or-

“Am I the last one up?” Vladislav asked, effectively moving the conversation past Deacon’s prying.

“No,” Viago answered. “Petyr hasn’t come up here yet.”

“Someone had better wake him up,” Deacon said. “If he sleeps too late, he’ll be up all day, just standing in his tomb. And I’m not doing it,” he added quickly, before anyone could ask him to.

“I’m not doing it either. I do it all the time, and he’s nasty when he wakes up.”

“Well, I’m not doing it,” Vladislav said, leaning forward onto the banister. “Besides, Deacon and I have something to take care of.” Disposing of the body.

Three heads turned to look at you.

“What, me?” you asked, surprised.

“Why not you?”

Because he’s apparently ‘nasty’ when he wakes up? You didn’t voice that concern. Instead, you rose from the couch, and headed downstairs to wake up your fourth flatmate. It was better than helping someone transport a corpse, you supposed, and certainly better than remaining up here in uncomfortable silence with Viago.

You sighed. At least you could go to sleep in a few hours.

#wwdits #what we do in the shadows #vladislav #vladislav x reader #another life #al fic

32 notes · View notes

starr-fall-knight-rise · 5 years ago

Text

Humans are Weird “Movie Star”

Ok, so funny story, I can’t help but notice that as soon as school started, all of my stats went up, so I see you there browsing tumbr in class when you should be paying attention. Ha ha :)

I promised I would start writing more, so here it is the next story. It was a funny idea that I have had for a while, and I hope you like it, or at least find it entertaining.

The mass operation to move UNSC’s military headquarters had begun shortly after first contact with the Galactic Assembly. They had originally deemed it prudent to move the base completely off world and out of the zone between Mars and earth orbit. So, they had set up headquarters orbiting Europa, which in turn Orbited Jupiter. They had done this mostly for its proximity to the fueling station based on the surface of Europa, and the particle collection operation harvesting from Jupiter’s upper atmosphere.

The U/N.S.C Harbinger landed shortly after operational sunrise using Jupiter’s gravity well as a way to slow itself down and conserve the fuel used to travel over moderatly short distances. The ships short-range engines used fusion technology to power itself, but required a specific type of hydrogen ion to properly fuel the ignition process, so it was more than a good idea to keep their largest store of space vessels so close.

The crew unloaded all their cargo while Commander Vir took Sunny and Krill to report to the Admiral and other officials on the success of their current orders. He wore his uniform, light grey, pinned at the sides with the wings that signified his ran. He even wore the cap, which is something he tended to avoid wearing. Sunny walked at his right wearing the ceremonial armor that she had inherited from her father and the war staff she had taken as prize from her defeated mother. Krill floated at his left shoulder propelled by a backpack with a small attached motor, worn over a white lab coat he had taken to wearing after the fashion of the humans.

The base itself was teaming with life, men in women in a plethora of uniforms colored to signify their use. Brown coveralls for engineering and maintenance, grey for janitorial. Scientists wore light grey lab coats while medical staff wore blue scrubs, paired with white coats when the doctors were involved. Commanding officers wore the standard military uniform in light grey.

They caught quite a bit of attention as they passed by despite the occasional glimpse of another alien lifeform working with the crews. Most of the time they would be tesraki, but he occasional Drev could be seen carrying boxes at the direction of a human officer.

They passed through a set of doorways that hissed open with the pressure difference, and into a steel grey hallway that lead down into the administration offices. The place was as austere as the military had preferred for thousands of years. The only decoration could be seen through open doorways and into offices, usually UN flags hung next to metals pinned into velvet backed glass cases and pictures of the officer shaking hands with someone important. Commander ir had a similar office on the base decorated with an old US flag tattered and scruffy next to the pristine white of the UN logo on the other side. His purple heart and bronze star hung above the desk. For all purposes, it looked like any other office of any other commanding officer in the fleet…. Accept for his desktop background which held a screenshot from the cult classic series Replication, but no one had to know that.

They made it to the admiral’s office in good time, and the door was already open and waiting for them. She lifted her head as she heard them approach and stood from her desk holding out a hand. The commander took it with a greeting and stepped back as she greeted sunny with a nod of the head, “General.” before looking at Krill, “Dr.”

Sunny seemed pleasantly surprised that the Admiral had used her title, standing up just a bit straighter. Commander Vir’s fingers brushed over her forearm as if to say see, what did I tell you?

“Admiral.”

“I hope you have good news for me Commander.”

“Only the best, ma’am.” The man responded, “There have been no serious issues to report. All orders are going well, and our men have retaken the prison and returned all the inmates to their cells without complication. A few people died, but I am told most of them were lifers waiting on death row, and despite my slight disagreement the GA does not consider it a great loss.”

The admiral sighed deeply and spun in her chair to look out the window. A magnificent view of Jupiter’s powerful red rings rose up behind her, and Commander Vir couldn’t argue with the aesthetic nature of the image..

“I am glad to hear things seem to be going so well aboard…. To be honest things are…. A little strained here…”

Commander Vir tilted his head in confusion, “In what way?”

She threw up her hands in exasperation, “It is that ongoing issues with the LFIL and the GA. If we want to maintain our good graces with the GA we have to take their side in the issue. Personally, I don’t mind what people choose to do as long as both parties agree.” Her eyes moved across Vir and Sunny quickly, “But as things stand the GA disagrees with my sentiment, so we continue to remain neutral. However, our action, or lack thereof, has caused some issues planet-side. Our recruitment has gone down by almost 60% in the last month. People are shipping off on those Tesraki cruisers for their fill of space rather than join.”

“I am…. Sorry to hear that Admiral, but I am not entirely sure what I can do to help.”

The woman sighed and stood, coming around the front of the desk, which she parked herself partially seated against, “Before I tell you, I want to make sure you know that you are in no way obligated to agree to this if you don’t want to. We can find some other way to get things done and I wouldn’t blame you, but it would be an unbelievable PR move.”

Commander vir looked on nervously, “Go on.”

“We got a call from an agency on the west cost….. And they want to buy the rights to your life story.”

Sunny would have sword she could hear Adam’s jaw pop out of place as it hinged itself open. He sputtered and gasped for a few minutes “My…. my life story…. Why would they…. What would they want that for?”

The admiral raised on dark eyebrow, “Come now, Commander. The man who flew on the first manned mission into interstellar space, made first contact with an alien race, fought in the Drev War, and then became Commander of the first interstellar fleet. You’re life story is striking media gold.”

“What agency in California?”

The woman shrugged, “Hollywood Incorporated.”

He nearly choked. Hollywood Inc. was the biggest film cooperation that side of Earth, named for the infamous strip of land which had, two thousand years ago, produced some of the greatest actors of their time.

“I…. I don’t know ma’am.”

“Well, that’s entirely your decision, but I would suggest heading to their Martian office and talk to the director because he is going to keep pestering me until he gets an answer.”

***

The Hollywood Inc. Office was located just towards the edge of the gravitational strip in the largest city on Mars. Because of its location, the gravitational field was slightly weaker. The children who wandered about where unusually tall for their ages, a fact that Commander Vir couldn’t help but notice as he opened the glass fronted doors and stepped inside.

The interior of the room was gaudy and over the top, lined with hundreds of vintage posters spanning the last two thousand years. He thought he might have seen a batman poster in the far corner that had to be at least two thousand years old encased inside a climate controlled glass case. It must have cost a couple thousand dollars if not more. The rest of the room was decorated in a similar fashion with hundreds of priceless moments of the entertainment industry from years long passed. Another climate controlled case held at least one of the costumes used in the original pirates movie. The thing should have been mostly ash and dust by now but somehow it had maintained its shape.

The three of them stepped up the nauseating checkerboard floor and up towards the reception desk. The woman who sat there looked like the Victorian era had thrown up all over her. He was surprised she could fit behind the desk, or even sit with the sheer amount of petticoats she must have been wearing underneath. He had to clear his throat a few times before she looked up, and when she did she looked positively board, “Can I help you?”

He rubbed his hands together awkwardly, “Um…. i was told to come here…. To meet someone.” She didn’t look particularly impressed at his explanation, so he cleared his throat, “Uh, my name is Commander Adam Vir from the UNSC….” He was cut off quickly as the woman leapt to her feet with a yelp.

“Yes, Yes of course, right this way, he’s been expecting you.” In the next second, he found himself grabbed by the hand and dragged bodily through a door behind the desk, and into a long, and even more lavish hallway. They hurried past a few rooms before she made it to the door, which opened for them, “Mr. Clayton Ellis, He’s here, he’s here.”

“Wait Clayton E-” His voice trailed away slowly as he looked towards the end of the room and found one of the greatest directors of their time sitting at a horrible tacky golden desk in an overstuffed zebra chair wearing something that made him appear as a prohibition gangster, a powder blue suit with shoulder pads and matching fedora.

This couldn’t be real right? It explained the extravagance though, the man was known for being way over the top even as far as directors and movie producers go. The man stood as soon as he saw them a massive smile playing over his face as he made his way around the desk arms held wide, “Look who it is, the man of the hour, the star, the light at the end of the tunnel.”

“Uh.” Adam said as the man caught him by the hand shaking vigorously. Sunny and Krill exchanged a confused glance. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Ellis.”

The man waved a hand, which glittered with enough rings to satisfy a king, “Please call me Clayton.” He stood back arms still held wide, “And just look at you mmm mmm perfect main character material, I mean who doesn’t love an eye-patch, just the kind of little piece of personality I would add, you know.”

Commander Vir stood there in bewilderment, “I’m sorry sir, I don’t”

But the man had turned his attention away towards his companions, “And look at this. The quintessential alien sidekicks to our roguish human protagonist….. What a story what a set.”

Sunny couldn’t hold back a snort of derision, “Sidekick, excuse me.”

He turned his head eyes lighting up, “Check that, how about Love interest.” he spread his hands wide above his head as he said it, “Think of the publicity. With all the LFIL stuff going on this would be perfect.” He made heart with his hands and framed the two of them in it, “I can see it now, the roguish space captain falling in love with this aesthetic exotic-

“Wow…. just hold on a second.” Commander Vir barked, “I haven't agreed to anything just yet, and I thought this was about my life story, about accuracy.”

The man waved a hand, ‘Right, right, right, but let's be honest reality is often disappointing. Sometimes film requires a bit of dramatization.”

Commander Vir crossed his arms, “I beg to differ. Unless you consider being almost brainwashed by sentient-space-vacuum dwelling humanoids boring.”

The man’s eyes flashed greedily, and he hopped up on his desk legs dangling over the floor, “Ok, I see you clearly aren't kidding around here, so I will make you a deal.” He raised his right hand, “I swear to be as accurate as possible, do my research and everything, but you have to understand, you are a national-no planetary hero, no interplanetary. You have the ability to be a role model for thousands of young minds who just eat up this media stuff. You and I can do some real good together.”

Commander Vir shifted his feet on the floor running a hand through his hair. He knew what his family would say. His father would tell them to shove it, his mother would want him to do what made him happy, his brothers would kick his ass if they knew he turned down an offer like this, and well….. The contract he could make with them, the things he could do with the money.

“I would have a few conditions.”

“Of course you would, of course you would.”

“I get royalties, and i'm not talking a measly ten perent, I am talking about thirty, and all of it better end up at a charity or you can color me gone. Plus this isn’t just some excuse to do some intense super action space thing with a ton of drama. I consult, and this thing better be accurate, or I am also gone, and my life story comes with me. Plus, don’t ask about things that are classified because I won’t tell you. Push me and I am gone.”

The man sighed, but waved a hand, “Alright, alright.”

He took another deep breath, “I’m not pausing my job for this, so you are going to have to have to talk to me on my free time. Try to underhand or backstab or go around any of these agreements and consider your ass sued.” Sunny champed her beak together for emphasis, shifting in her massive plate armor. Clearly she had a different idea of litigation than he did, but he would talk to her about that later.

Clayton took his seat back behind his desk again, “You drive a hard bargain there, Commander, but a deal is a deal. I will get the contract to you as soon as things are formalized.

“How long have you been thinking about this?”

The man shrugged “Long enough to have started the casting process. I even hired the man who will be playing you, isn’t that exciting.”

“You have?”

“Yeah here let me call him out. Keith! You can come out now.” There was a shuffling from behind some of the stuff, and a man made his way out from the other side of the room.

Krill wasn’t particularly impressed, but by the way Adam took a step back it seemed as if he was, “Keith…. J-Jenning.” The man stammered.”

Sunny gave the human a once over, and immediately didn’t like the casting choice, sure they had similar builds with blond hair and a charming smile, but this guy was….. Well he was a total Deva…. Not that she followed the gossip magazines…. Too much. But just looking at him, with his manicured nails and perfect hair, it just didn’t seem right. She much preferred Adam, rugged, useful, confident in his work, but also not a massive ass.

The man held out a hand, “Commander.” He looked him up and down eyes falling on the eye patch, “How the hell do you see out of that thing.”

Vir paused in his fan boying to look confused…. “Uh…. I don’t, that’s sort of the point.”

The man turned to look at the director, “Do I have to wear one, It would cover like half my face.”

Vir frowned, “No it doesn-”

“Look Keith poles say that women find a man with an eyepatch at least ten percent more attractive than men without one”

The man glanced over at Adam and frowned, “Well…. I guess I’ll need all the help I can get.”

Adam frowned, but before he could say anything a large blue shape had cut in front of him, grabbed the man by the front of the shirt, and lifted him to eye level, “Look here you little weasel, Adam is twice the man you are, and has more honor in one of his little toes than you have in your entire body.” She poked him in the chest with a free claw, “So I would shut the hell up and learn some respect before I reverse the typography of your face.”

A hand grabbed her by the elbow “Sunny, put him down.”

“Why he's got insurance on his face.”

“Sunny, that’s an order.” She let him go with some hesitation grumbling the entire way.

Keith hit the ground with a hand around his neck . From behind them clayton began to clap slowly, “Bravo, bravo, what a show, what an act, such emotion, such loyalty. That really was deeply moving , you feel that Keith, you feel the sexual tension.”

“What.”

“Hey-”

The two men ignored them as keith rubbed his neck ,”I felt SOMETHING alright.”

Clayton stood walking in a slow circle around sunny prodding at her armor, and her carapace, “Now ths, this is interesting, quick do something else intimidating.”

Sunny growled.

“Oh yes, I have the perfect casting choice for you Rita Ortiz.”

Sunny tilted her head thoughtfully and couldn’t help but nodding. The actress was mostly known for her roles in action movies somehow managed to dodge the romantic arcs that film still can’t let go of. She was cool, Sunny liked her.”

With a critical eye the director turned to look at Krill, who watched, uninterested and unimpressed, “How about you little fella.”

The Vrul remained standing arms crossed, “I think this is stupid, i think you’re stupid, and I thinnk he.” Pointing at Keith, “Is especially stupid. IF you just look at his eyes you’ll know he is a terrible casting choice. I mean look at him you can hardly expect someone with the pain threshold of a ballsack to play a decorated war hero.”

That didn’t really get the response Krill had intended and had the man in stitches laughing on the on his desk, “The comic relief, I get it now.” “Wait, no I’m not-”

“We will be in touch commander, I look forward to working with you and your hilarious friends. Come on Keith, lets go call the studio, this is going to be big.” Commander Vir barely had time to react as the two men left them standing in the center of the room with confused expressions.

“This…. This is going to be a disaster.” Krill commented in the following quiet.

Sunny gave a sigh, “That should be the title of your autobiography.” She said nudging Adam on the shoulder.

“Yeah and yours should be Sidekick.” He said smugly.”

“Hey!”

He sighed then.

“You’re probably right though, this is going to be a disaster.”

483 notes · View notes

pass-the-bechdel · 4 years ago

Text

The Good Place season two full review

How many episodes pass the Bechdel test?

100% (twelve of twelve).

What is the average percentage per episode of female characters with names and lines?

49.49%

How many episodes have a cast that is at least 40% female?

Ten, six of which are 50%+, one of which is 60%+, and one of which is a 70%. Nice.

How many episodes have a cast that is less than 20% female?

Zero.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Seventeen. Eight who appeared in more than one episode, four who appeared in at least half the episodes, and three who appeared in every episode.

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Twenty-two. Eight who appeared in more than one episode, four who appeared in at least half the episodes, and three who appeared in every episode.

Positive Content Status:

Solid average; it’s decidedly not offending sensibilities, but it’s also not making specific efforts to be forward-moving. It is, at least, forward-facing (average rating of 3).

General Season Quality:

Still a lot of fun, and plays back better than I had expected. However, there are some pacing issues, and sometimes it feels like the plot is treading water and not sure where to head next. Still delightful watchin’, though.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) under the cut:

Ok, so the good news is, the season actually plays out in a more coherent fashion than I felt it did on previous viewings, so I was less frustrated by it overall than I expected to be. I’m trying not to get too far ahead of myself in my hopes for season three (which I didn’t hate the one and only time I saw it previously, but I didn’t much care for it, either). That said, the issues that bothered me before definitely still exist, and they come mostly in the form of the show feeling...kinda directionless, in totality. The part of the season that has direction (the end portion, with the escape through the Bad Place et al.) sparkles because it has both purpose and aim, whereas the first two thirds of the season essentially have neither. The first season always had direction because of Eleanor’s constant problem of trying to blend in where she thought she did not belong, but that’s not a genuine issue in this season, nor is it really treated as such (hiding their knowledge from Vicky is more of a narrative conceit than a complication). The only thing that actually matters, plot-wise, in the bulk of the season is that Michael is good now, and while of course it is important to solidify that across the season, ideally that should be happening at the same time as (and buoyed/contested by) plot. And again, it’s only once the Good Place ruse is up that Michael is genuinely challenged to show how he has grown (by foregoing everything he ever wanted, and ultimately, sacrificing himself for his friends). Everything before that is really just playing with ideas, but not taking them anywhere.

Playing with ideas is fine so long as those ideas are pointing somewhere (if not for hard plot reasons then at least for character development), and while Michael’s development is good stuff, the focus kinda leaves the rest of the characters out in the cold. Beyond a bit of romantic entanglement, nothing really changes for the rest of the cast, and part of that is the fault of the resets at the beginning of the season (this is also a big part of my problem with season three). Since the characters were reset, none of their development from the first season exists anymore - they literally didn’t even experience it, so the first season is basically nullified. What we saw there can be used as a template for what we might expect from these characters now, but it’s not a part of their actual history, which means everything has to be redone, or can simply be changed in a whole different direction. Indeed, the iteration of the characters that we spend most of the season with was only supposed to be one week in on their ‘Good Place’ experience, so we can’t even presume that they had mirrored most of what we saw in the first season anyway, since it hadn’t had time to happen. Their character development has been almost completely erased, but the show doesn’t want to waste time on making them go through the same developments as before, so it just kinda...handwaves it and acts as though the development happened anyway so that the characterisation won’t be jarringly different. At the same time, it can’t build upon non-existent development in an obvious way because it would draw attention to the inconsistency, and so instead the characters are stagnating in the background of Michael’s development. It’s...not a fatal flaw at the moment, but it’s not good either. It’s gonna get worse.

Aaanyway I feel like I keep coming back to how the troubles with this season are compounded in season three, and that makes me think I should stop projecting into the future and just get there already. Despite my gripes, season two really isn’t bad and is, perhaps, mostly good (again, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT HAS AN ACTUAL PLOT). The characters (even when they aren’t developing particularly) are still super fun and interesting and different, and the tone of the show is still refreshing and thoughtful. The philosophical aspects of the show (considerable as they are) don’t mesh quite as well as they did the first time around without stronger plot to drive them, and sometimes it feels like the writing is working too hard to incorporate a morality question that isn’t really suitable to the moment or relevant for the characters to consider, but overall it’s still a novel approach and well worth the watch. I really hope to still feel that way by the end.

#The Good Place #The Good Place season two #Bechdel Test #female representation #full season review

10 notes · View notes

qtsp00k · 4 years ago

Text

I heard from a friend and they said that they were trying to find a corned beef and cabbage meal to bring over to my place so we could have traditional Irish feast together and I was like oh my gosh I was just going to go to Conroy's by myself so if you want to go with me to Conroy's we can go out to eat if you're up to it cuz I'm up for it feeling great aside from my headache which is technologically induced so as long as I avoid technology I will continue to be feeling relatively well right right.

And so we headed to Conroy's but we got to Conroy's and they popped in and found out that it would be an hour and a half wait and they were like dude I'm just like calling Nub's pub and seeing what the weight is there like we can wait here but if Nub's pub is doing traditional feast and the wait time is shorter would you be okay not going to Conroy's and I was like dude my heart is not set on Conroy's it was just where I was trying to make plans with other people that fell through so I was just going to go by myself after all the plans fell through but calling Nub's pub they had a 20 minute wait which is exactly how long it took us to get there so we get in the door and our table is ready and I had a root beer and they had a Guinness and we feasted and it was delicious like really really good good corned beef and cabbage meal and sadly Alaska and I was like prepared to eat Irish soda bread with raisins in it which is a common preparation which I never do with my father never did I don't think I've ever eaten Irish soda bread with raisins in it in my life actually but I digress there was no Irish soda bread and so for dessert we split a creme brulee which I took like two bites of before I was like this is making me sick already and they were like yeah it's making me sick too and then proceeded to Wolf it down.

dinner conversation was delightful and my now intoxicated from one Guinness friend was much fun so we popped over to Walmart and hung out at Walmart looking at toys and clothes and I was like where's the St Patrick's Day clearance and we immediately turned the corner and there's just like a rack just a loose rack on Wheels just like hanging out just the road there and it was like well asking you shall receive and on that rack was like plenty of shirts but I have I think six St Patrick's Day shirts which is all I will need for the rest of my life I'm pretty sure because one of them is pizza I believe one of them is a tuxedo tea which I live for tuxedo tease I have several of them and I love them dearly and one of them is a luck o meter like if I was an Irish robot like oh man that one's really good and then I have the one I was wearing which is from 6th grade and I have the shirt from when well from one of the years my dad was almost always in our local Saint Patrick's Day parade and I have one of the first years that I remember seeing my dad on the float wearing that shirt I have that shirt and I'm about to cry just talking about it and I didn't find it I really wanted to wear it but I didn't find it and there's no way that it's like that it was lost or I don't have it it just has not been located since the move.

So even though there were some nice shirts I was most excited about the green leopard print leggings that have shamrocks like stealthy incorporated into the pattern OMG I cannot believe what I'm seeing unfortunately the only size options available were extra large or even bigger and I am nowhere near an extra large like I just told you I wear child shorts so I now have a pair of St Patrick's Day leggings that are super soft and comfy like those nice Walmart leggings you know like the only other pair of nice Walmart leggings that I have like this are my black and white Halloween bat pattern and the like sweater pattern Halloween that's traditional like purple orange green black white like skulls and whatever but I actually thrifted in like brand new condition and was really funny because I was trying to decide between that pair and the black and white batty very cartoon simplistic design like I would totally design those legs like I would be capable of like drawing all of those things on those leggings and slapping them on there and pushing them out into the world you know and I guess that's ultimately why I settled on that legging but it was really hard for me to decide between the other ones so when a couple of years later I came across them practically brand new at a thrift store it was like oh the heavens have smiled upon me.

I know one that have been funny if I had made the other choice and then come across the leggings that I owned and in fact could even be wearing them as I stand in a thrift store because what I do when I go to a thrift store is where the tightest clothing that I can so I can try on everything right there in the aisle which usually just entails a tight tank top and leggings.

Since we were at Walmart and I need a phone and I had money for a phone I decided to get a phone and this is a very interesting story because I talked to you several employees of several stores electronics areas to try to determine which phone I needed and I have also Google searched and ask people and try to figure out what phone I can get that will just go off Wi-Fi and we'll just play animal crossing pocket and I thought that you know I had found that and I got the phone I get it home and it turns out it's like one of the only phone that is not compatible with animal crossing pocket camp and dude dude dude mother-effing dude how we know this is my friend just like popped on to Google and the first time they ever search for this information this information that I've been trying to obtain ever since pocket camp updated to the freaking AR camera thing which knocked me out of the game it's just a list of all the phones that are compatible like like they just put in the exact right like set of words and I think that like one of the reasons that this friend gets so frustrated with me not being able to find stuff on the internet is that they don't come from an English speaking household and like somehow like that is really conducive to Google searching it is like so weird that like I'm like dude I looked for it and then they're like you're just an idiot like here it is dumb dumb and just like a list of it so I now have that list and it's not a big deal like I freaking just like collapsed when I got home and like could not get animal crossing on my phone but not a big deal I'm just going to go back to Walmart and exchange the phone for one that will work now that I have that list so that's really cool.

So really like again like synchro thing that happened is that while I was getting that phone I got a text from one of my best friends and it turns out that they are legit like contacting me to consult me about whether or not they should purchase animal crossing for the switch and like what so like after I go through this whole like oh no and then the acceptance and like it's not a big deal of my animal crossing kind of debacle on St Patrick's Day I get to talk about animal crossing for the switch and it's still all of its virtues and like I really could not think of any negative thing to say about it. And they are like oh my goodness spending $60 on a video game Mindy I don't know about this and and I'm like I really feel like it's worth it but here's what you can do to get an idea of what the vibe is like the aesthetic of playing like a very cartoony and like the interactions and just how chill it is if your phone is compatible just download the free Pocket camp one and if you like that then you will absolutely love the switch version and being able to play both of them is like heaven on Earth and that's where I'm going I'm going to heaven on Earth because as soon as I'm able I'm going to go get a phone and I'm going to be able to play Pocket camp so the next time I have a day where I cannot move any muscle in the right side of my body I cannot get up from my seat and in fact just urinating myself and my adult diaper all day in excruciating pain I will be able to play animal crossing Park camp with my left hand and only my left hand and it'll never give me a headache unlike the version on the switch does whether it's handheld or on a big TV so like I'm just like over the moon about absolutely everything and even though the day started off really rough St Patrick's Day with none of my blood family and my dad and my brother and my mom and like everything just like like that aching and that family trauma that like hasn't been cleared yet the day ended on like the highest note connecting with one of my favorite people to end my day with honestly so it was just amazing and I what did I do oh yeah I put on leprechaun 5 and I put a green filter on my TV and I tried to watch The matrix but like it kicked me back out of the app as soon as Trinity got kicked and had not gotten back up yet yeah that happened that seriously happened like that thing that I say to myself like to encourage myself through life ever since seeing that movie get up get up Trinity get up get up Trinity yeah movie gone before we even got to that line I was just aight we just rollin wif it.

right now I honestly don't even remember what I put on to fall asleep to at all which just tells you how fast I fell asleep after my head hit the pillow and my cat curled up in my arms.

No sleeping no portendum actually even and yep I slept great and I woke up today and I feel pretty great I mean I'll have to take it easy pain is a little problematic I had quite an outing yesterday but possibly because it's early enough I could I could get a second win and and be able to go get my animal crossing phone.

So that's awesome.

the level of socialization that I'm doing is like exhausting and like it's a lot but I really love it and I've never had so many friends in my life there's like maybe like seven or eight people that I want to connect with every day and that like every time I'm doing anything you know like yesterday like I want all of them right there and I don't know how to make that happen but I promise you I promise you all I'm going to get on discord I'm going to figure that out my understanding is that we can then like watch stuff together or like you can tune in to like me watching stuff or something I don't know but it's going to be more interaction with me than what you've had and I'm very happy for you of course because I know how much you love me and I know how much you miss me and I wish that I was not such a debilitatingly disabled person that I could you know be like a shining YouTube star celebrity interaction like I'm not able to juggle all of that but I love the attention I love your love and even though it it's an overwhelming amount of appreciation I am not upset about it at all and the stress that I feel of producing content and interacting with my fan base like it's a pressure that I welcome in my life because it's a motivating factor to be social and you know for my personal self is why I put my entire life online or on paper.

I don't know if you know this but for whatever reason like probably as a result of my traumatic brain injury combined with being erroneously mistakenly over medicated with antipsychotics when I was wrongfully institutionalized I kind of just like forget everything recent that happened like once I go to sleep the day before is just like almost completely gone like an edge of sketch erasing.

And that's why I document everything that goes on in my life for myself and and that's how I'm able to be even in your lives because I'm doing it for myself and my story and my life just exist as this inspiration and this motivation and this light in all of your lives the enriches me AND you so yo I've been online doing this sharing my life 100%. No such thing as TMI N D whY??!

because you need the full story of the highs and the lows and of My darkest hours and of the moments where I feel cradled in the loving arms of creation and in our intelligent creator in order to properly appreciate my story.

Instagram has been fun but as you may you're not know Instagram is something that I created solely for myself and it is entirely curated to be all of those moments where life is worth living so that when I feel like life is not worth living and become terribly suicidal because again I experience untold pain chronic debilitating disability and emotional suffering like you would not believe I can go to my Instagram scroll for like 30 seconds and then see that how I feel in the moment that that there's only darkness is not the reality and and that if I just hang in there through that darkness I'll come out of it and I'll be bouncing around on Instagram in no time soon.

those of you who know me from there like there's very little mention of any hardship in my life and that's why and it is not that I ever was trying to conceal that from you or that I ever stop my full disclosure intention that I've been here on the internet doing since 2005 and really really doing since 2008-2009 detailing the journey of my chronic invisible illness issues with chronic lyme disease traumatic brain injury endometriosis schizophrenic symptoms bipolar diagnosis borderline personality disorder diagnosis you know like the whole enchilada the whole enchilada has been here since 2009 solid.

So I'm not sure how I should go about like separating my Tumblr or tagging it really like I just want to figure out how to tag it so that I can pull up all the good stuff and all the bad stuff and kind of keep them separate but I mean that's kind of the thing of tumblers that I don't have to like do that and as long as I do decent tagging so that I can find what I'm looking for and and you can find what you're looking for then I've done my job.

I love you also much and I don't remember exactly what my follower count was on my ladyluvlee account before it was hacked & deleted(close to 5K) but I would really like to still produce the t-shirt designs that I created as appreciation for your appreciation and just with my cutie spook handle instead of Lady lovely.

I really really think we're getting close to the point where I'm going to be creating merchandise with my original drawing designs on that merchandise so be excited cuz I'm excited and thank you for hanging in here with me.

I could have done it without you because I can do anything under any circumstances but I would not want to do it without you at all because after all my years as a lone wolf sociopathic weirdo I truly believe that life is an experience that is better when it's shared.

Even when and if we don't particular like it or agree with those perspectives.

I don't seek to change your perspective I just seek to expand it and the more people sharing their experiences of life the more puzzle pieces we have of the bigger picture.

And life is a picture so big that no one person could possibly comprehend it, so we need all the perspectives we can get!

#qtsp00k returns #ladyluvlee #qtsp00k update

1 note · View note

introvertguide · 5 years ago

Text

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969); AFI #73

The next film for review is one of my very favorite Western style films, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). This is an incredible film that is directed by George Roy Hill and stars the charismatic colossi Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Katharine Ross. The film won four Academy Awards including Best Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Score, and Best Song. The AFI ranked the male duo #20 on the 100 Greatest Heroes list and the movie was ranked the 7th greatest western despite arguably not really being a Western but a semi-biography that is set in the Old West. As American as this film is, it actually did the best at the BAFTAs where it won 8 awards from 9 nominations and swept the major awards including Best Film, Best Direction, Best Actor (Robert Redford), and Best Actress (Katharine Ross). Before singing any more of the accolades for the movie, let me break down the plot. Of course that means...

SPOILER ALERT!!! THIS MOVIE IS GREAT AND DESERVES TO BE WATCHED AND NOT SPOILED!!! STOP READING AND WATCH THE FILM IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY!!! IT IS GREAT TO WATCH FIRST AND THEN COMPARE TO HISTORY AFTER SO GIVE IT A TRY!!!

The film is set In 1899 Wyoming, and begins with a quick sepia toned introduction to the characters. The major players are the quick talking Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) and the quiet and short tempered Sundance Kid (Robert Redford). The color corrects and the two are riding together back to see their gang and it turns out that one of the other men wants to take over. Butch wins in a fight for the gang leader position by cheating along with the help of Sundance keeping the others at bay. Butch retains his job but he does like Harvey’s idea to rob the Union Pacific train. This robbery takes place with a comical interaction between Butch and an accountant/safeguard named Woodcock. The robbery goes well and the two celebrate at a whore house while watching the local sheriff try to enlist men for a posse.

This is the end of act 1 and it is punctuated by a musical number. This happens throughout the film. Butch rides a bike around to try to impress the lover of Sundance, Etta Place (Katharine Ross), after stealing her away in the morning before the Kid wakes up. It is quite unusual and stands out from the rest of the film as Butch is not the love interest of the woman and the bike does not show up again. The music number is “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” by Burt Bacharach with an almost Benny Hill style circus outro. It really exemplifies the experimental nature of the film as the scene would likely have been cut today.

The train robbery went so well that the gang tries it again, but this time everything seems to be going wrong. Woodcock is coincidentally guarding the safe again and one of the passengers starts mouthing off. Butch is able to get into the safe car, but the safe is much thicker forcing him to use a bunch of dynamite to break it. He uses too much and blows up everything sending paper money blowing around in the breeze. To make matters worse, another train pulls up releasing a posse hired by the owner of Union Pacific. This posse kills two of the gang and chase Butch and Sundance into the mountains and the two can’t seem to lose them. They finally are able to jump off a cliff into a river and escape back to Etta. The two are worried that the posse is still coming so they take Etta and go to South America. Cue the end of act 2 so we have a fun musical travel montage.

This is a travel montage shown through sepia tone still photos of the three going to New York and seeing the town before catching a boat south. Again, the music is far out of place for the genre and only works because of the overall experimental feel of the film. It is a very short interlude in slide show format and carnival music, but it does the trick and brings the group to Bolivia.

On arrival, Sundance is not impressed at the conditions. They try to rob banks and are at first held back because of an inability to speak Spanish. Etta teaches them and the two men rob banks becoming known as Los Bandidos Yanquis (American Bandits). Here is another music interlude of all the successful robberies set to pleasant choir music that sounds like something out of an industrial instructional film, which tells the audience the mood is again about to change. After a while, Sundance becomes paranoid because he sees a man that looks like the leader of the posse that drove them out of America and the two decide to go straight and get jobs guarding the payroll instead of robbing it. Unfortunately, the are held up on their first job and Butch is forced to kill which he reveals he has never had to do before. Butch wants to have one more big score and Etta heads back north, sensing trouble with a return to crime, while Butch and Sundance complete a “jungle robbery” of the payroll.

The robbery is a success and the two take the money and the mule to carry it. This is a mistake because a local kid recognizes the brand on the mule and tells the police who also inform the Bolivian military. This is bad news for Butch and Sundance as they are pinned down in a small church by what seems to be a hundred Bolivian men. Butch makes a run for the ammo but both are shot in the attempt and it seems there is no way out. The two continue to banter about going to Australia after leaving Bolivia, but they both know they are done. They load up their guns the best they can and run out into the massive volley of fire and the frame freezes not revealing the final fate of the two. Roll credits.

This seems like a strange way to end a movie, but it mirrors the unknown fate of the real Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The whole movie is pretty historically accurate as far as what is known about the lives of the three main characters, but the musical interludes and the quippy dialogue make the film feel much more fictional. The movie is also split into definitive chapters with music breaks so it really has good pacing. Fine visual story telling.

There is a strong connection between Paul Newman and Robert Redford, which is apparent throughout the film. Paul is the amiable people-person who likes to talk and be friends with everyone while Robert liked to keep to himself and was all business. It just worked well. Director George Roy Hill used this dynamic again when he had both men star together in The Sting, which was even more successful and garnered 7 Academy Awards. A great connection and an example of a cinematic “bromance” in which two lead male characters act almost like a married couple.

The film seems to be strongly inspired by the works of Sergio Leone like A Fist Full of Dollars; For A Few Dollars More; The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly; and Once Upon A Time in the West. It takes the western film and gives a more complicated plot, more stylized cinematography, and great soundtrack. The Leone films were shot in Italy and didn’t have all the restrictions that American films had in the 60s, so Hollywood looked to these films for content ideas when the Hayes code was finally replaced by the MPAA rating system in 1969. The major difference was American film makers had access to big name Hollywood actors and the actual American west. Also, Leone hired Ennio Morricone who used period piece instruments to give each character a theme while Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was scored by a hipster and then shot in a way to try and incorporate the music.

In American film history, the year 1969 was very experimental with the Civil Rights movement and the “free love” hippies affecting the box office draw at the same time. The former group preferred a more realistic filming approach while the latter wanted a more psychedelic fantasy. Many of the films blended both and America ended up with The Wild Bunch, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Midnight Cowboy, and Easy Rider. It was a year of genre mixing and experimentation that makes for some fascinating film watching. Really embodies the turmoil of the country and the new age of Hollywood films.

So should this film be on the AFI 100? Of course. It was experimental, influential, fun, and fascinating. It was perhaps the first “bromance” in Hollywood and a well established part of Americana. It also showed that context is completely unnecessary for a song to work in a film. Would I recommend it? How could I not? It is one of the few films that I have seen more times than I can count and still have not had to check the time while watching it. It is fun from beginning to end (sometimes weird, sometimes funny, sometimes dramatic action) and gorgeous to look at. It is a little anachronistic and abrupt with the music interludes, but engaging and enjoyable throughout. Definitely a film on the list that is more than just a time capsule or a lesson in film making (although it is that as well).

#paul newman #robert redford #katherine ross #butch cassidy and the sundance kid #westerns #1969 #hollywood #introvert #introverts #bromance #best song #Oscar winner #afi films

25 notes · View notes

hoochy-coo · 4 years ago

Note

Have you seen Kendall Jenner’s Architectural Digest cover story? And if you have, what did you think of her interior design?

I’ve actually seen bits and pieces of Kendall’s house on random KUWK clips and other than thinking that her place looks amazing, I’ve always been reminded of my mother’s own taste in interior design. Fast forward to the AD article, I now realise that she’s got the same taste as my mum (a mix of coastal and mid-century modern with a dash of rustic and florentine decor) parts of my childhood home looked almost identical to parts of her house lmao. Like we had a really similar kitchen and bathrooms.

But to get to the point, her home is amazing! She’s def got the best-looking home out of her whole family - except maybe for Kris. I know this is a weird way to put it but her place is like a rich RICH person’s home. By that I mean, those type of houses where you walk in, take one glance around and you immediately know the owner is made of money. I also love that she managed to make the space (cause like the KarJenner’s home are always BIG) appear cosy and I think that’s what a home should be. I also love how she incorporated her art pieces (obsessed with the way she displays the Barbara Kruger piece) into the interior - she still made them centrepieces of each room but it complimented the overall palette instead of sticking out like a sore thumb. One thing that I think is really special about it is it’s still quite avant-garde in parts? The bathrooms are extra af (and the floor of her art room, which I dig a lot) but it still works with the rest of the house. Which really shows that her team of interior designers know how to pick their moments instead of just cluttering the place up with sporadic maximalist decor (looking at you Gigi). The only room that I didn’t love (and I still like it a fair bit) is the sitting area of her master bedroom. I was thinking the pink neon writing on the wall was a bit “I’m basic and shop at UO” but then I realised it’s a Tracy Emin’s piece (with a really interesting backstory) and thought that was quite a cool touch since it added a bit of character to the room. Also, it’s nice of Kendall to implement those doors that Kris got her from Italy but that room can do without it lmao. My only complaint is that she went and got those super cool 60′s record/radio player but stacks the records on top of them like that. I hope she only laid the records out like that for display and knows how to stack them properly in the drawers because I’d assume that some of her records are very expensive (and old).

On a completely unrelated note, I don’t usually say this about Kendall but she looked GORGEOUS in the AD video. I really like her with the slightly lighter hair, I think it suits her colouring more and brightens her complexion. She should really consider keeping it that shade. I also love the Gucci matching set that she had on (assuming it’s vintage?). That outfit in itself goes with the overall vibe of the house as well. On another unrelated note, her closet (and fitting room) has all sort of amazing pieces in them...? All those different colours, the textures, the fifty million pair of shoes and she still dresses basic on the daily? I’m so confused, why does she not wear them?

#ask #answer #kendall jenner #interior

6 notes · View notes

copias-thrall · 5 years ago

Note

Do you have any headcanons for the papas and copia having a stripper s/o?

Hello, anon! I had to ruminate on this one, but let’s jump in, shall we?

Papa Nihil - Is no stranger to a sinuous wiggle or skimpy dress on a dancer, but it takes some patient explaining on your end the difference between your job and the Go-Go dancers he hung out with in the 60s. Despite being the Senior Clergy, Nihil isn’t very authoritative (let’s be honest Sister Imperator is the one in charge), so if you want to get anywhere, you’re going to have to drive that initiative. If you wear your costumes around him, he’s inclined to pinch your ass with a rude noise, but you find he’s all bark and no bite—any time you turn his lecherous overtures back at him, he backs off and gets all fidgety. You tried to give him a private show once: about a quarter of way through, he asked you to stop, face red from embarrassment. He stressed that he wasn’t one of your customers and you didn’t have to be “On” for him. The man is like teflon for seduction. He’s all too happy to spend a Sunday afternoon reading to you from his lore books and showing you cat videos on YouTube. His only reservation with your job was that he thought the club you worked out was way too sketchy. With the church connections he was able to get you a position at an upscale establishment. You’re annoyed he didn’t ask you first—all your friends are at that club!—but you can’t deny the extra safety of the new place and a certain prestige that’s been associated with you through the rumor mill.

Papa I - Telling I that you’re a stripper is like telling him you sell insurance; to him a job is a job—though he does see yours as a way you honor the teachings of the Church, so he approves on principle. He’d never outright ask you for a private show, but he wouldn’t stop you if you were to perform for him (it’s just how you honor the Church, right?). You make it your personal mission to ruffle this stoic man’s feathers—you’ll keep the heat up in his quarters so you can prance around in your skimpy outfits and so he’ll be obliged to take off a robe or two; lap dances tend to make him flustered, a fact that you enjoy exploiting by always sitting in his lap when he’s trying to read you scripture. He’s always reverent when touching your body to the point that you’re often rolling your eyes and placing his hands where you want them. If you want anything done, you’re going to have to do it yourself, since he’s quite content to shuffle through his paperwork while you practice your routines. More than once you’ve crawled over to him on hands and knees to warm his cock and instead you’ve found yourself on the receiving end of one of his ideology thought experiments, one he’d like to incorporate into a sermon. It’s actually kind of a refreshing change to have a partner who doesn’t have any preconceived notions about who you are based on your job, and you find yourself engaging with him often over the Church theology.

Papa II - Your occupation is literally the reason you met. You walked in on him snorting blow off your coworker’s ass in the backroom of the strip club. You were about to apologize and hightail it out of there, but he caught your gaze and it was as if he saw right to your very core. He basically whisked you away to the Church that very night (well, you spent about a week on the tour bus fending off the band Ghouls, but you were on your way to the Church). II has devoted himself singularly to helping you reframe your experience as a stripper into an expression of Church teachings. He’s so devoted that he even had a pole installed in his private rooms so you’d have a place to practice your routines free of distractions from the other Sibling and the Ghouls. He’s magnanimous enough to always insistent that you use him to hone your lap dance technique. Intellectually you know you should be feeling kept, but he makes you feel sexy and that there must be something special about you for this high-powered man to have singled you out. You continue to let him think that it’s you—and not him—that is wrapped around a little finger. The only thing you need to be careful of is his possessive streak. People at the club who get aggressively handsy have the tendency to disappear …

Papa III - You would think he’d be annoying about it, but he’s the last one who would fetishize your occupation. Don’t get him wrong, though!—he loves to put your body isolation techniques to the test when you’re in bed together. Sure, you’ve done the odd seduction strip for him, but you’re more likely to find him trying to strip for you. And he’s. Well, he’s terrible at it. So bad. There’s a reason his signature move is a mummy thrust. The man is all jerky boxes and no sinuous curves when he tries to do a wiggle. And he’s made it his mission to find and wear the most ridiculous “sexy” costumes for you. The last one was “Sexy Finding Nemo” with coordinated face paint. It always makes you laugh and that’s really all he’s going for. He knows intimately how physically demanding performing is and can only imagine how mentally taxing dealing with customers is. Outside of sexy times, he’s happy to slip into something comfortable (and expensive—the man likes his thread counts) and read you [dirty] poetry. In your past, others have been aggressively condescending about your safety, but III trusts that you can take care of yourself. And if you thought you saw a Ghoul out of the corner of your eye one night as you were leaving the club late, you can admit it if feels nice to be cared for.

Copia - He’s always looking at you like a [sex] bomb that might explode. For all his own lechery on stage, he’s nervous to treat you like some of his fans treat him. Don’t they understand it’s just a performance? He tends to overcompensate by doing activities with you that he feels are far removed from your occupation: a picnic; stargazing; the Church’s box seats at the opera … On one memorable occasion he took you to a vaudeville show and was flustered when the burlesque dancers came out; he was stammering and apologetic the whole time, and you had to shush him so that you could admire their techniques. The worst part for him is that he does find it alluring that you get on stage and perform titillation with your fit body for a crowd. He’s something of a voyeur and you’ll often see him at your club in a dark corner. Just. Watching. He never approaches you when you’re working, but you always feel the weight of his attention on you. It makes for some steamy dirty talk as he urges you to confess your “sins” for his absolution. Despite his devotion to the Church—and his studious academy—he never wants to discuss his work with you. At first you were insecure that maybe he thought it over your head, but he soon explained that when he’s with you he’d rather the two of you just enjoy each other; he spends quite enough of his time mired in theology, he’d much rather talk to you about Anything Else, thankyouverymuch.

#asks #headcanons #no real thirst tbh #apologies #papa nihil #papa i #papa ii #papa emeritus iii #cardinal copia #gender neutral

88 notes · View notes

theritualofourexistence · 4 years ago

Text

Odes to Old Gods

I started this year intending to journal about things I survive. Then at the end of the year, I could look back on my challenges and think about them in a more positive way--wow, look at what I overcame! The plan was to document everything, both good and bad, so that I could think about them more as experiences and lessons learned than as... good and bad.

Needless to say, I stopped keeping track of those things in April.

Earlier this month, I pulled out the journal again to update the list. I ended up quitting on that too.

I do think, though, that in a less chaotic year, thinking about my life this way would be good practice. So, here I am, sharing my list with you in the form of an end-of-year, wrap-up blog post.

A few quick caveats:

This year was hard for literally everyone except maybe Jeff Bezos.

It is not healthy to compare challenges or struggles or suffering.

I am not sharing this because I am looking for sympathy... I believe that being vulnerable is a very important part of the human experience but we can all also use a reminder that we never really know all of what anyone is experiencing. We shouldn’t need that reminder to treat others with love... but the older I get, the more I think those reminders might be necessary.

Things I have survived in 2020:

- A bit of a stalking experience in January which has since been resolved.

- Losing my job, hunting for a new job, securing a new job, training for the new job.

- My first Harry Potter tattoo for my ten-year tattooiversary.

- The fires in Australia.

- An absolutely wonderful trip to NYC with my dad when I got to see both Beetlejuice and Hadestown and have an enormous strawberry cheesecake milkshake from Junior’s.

- Losing Kobe Bryant.

- Parasite absolutely CRUSHING the Oscars.

- Having a really, really good visit with my grandparents in March before all hell broke loose.

- Weinstein being convicted and sentenced.

[Everything after this point happened during a global pandemic.]

- Losing Grandmom. I was unable to attend her funeral and still have not had the chance to grieve this loss with my extended family.

- Losing my health insurance.

- A Zoom party for my Grammy’s 80th birthday.

- Losing Breonna Taylor. And George Floyd. And so, so many others. This is the first year I have really committed to understanding the current race-related issues this country faces and BOY, do we have work to do.

- The stress but success of orchestrating a safe family trip so that I didn’t have to go an entire year without seeing my brother.

- Losing my shifts at my primary job due to virus-related concerns.

- Countless other family happy birthdays over Zoom.

- My 60-year-old mother returning to work face-to-face with a student population that largely ignores all virus-related guidelines despite her working tirelessly for months this spring to offer UHS providers an adequate work-from-home option.

- Being diagnosed with hypertension.

- A nightmarish friend trip. Despite our best laid plans for a safe and healthy visit, Mother Earth decided to trap me 90 miles north of my best friends for 4 days. I eventually got to see them for about 12 hours and honestly, it was worth it. That is the only time I’ve gotten with them all year.

- Losing Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

- The selection of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

- Our sweet girl Clio being diagnosed with a seizure disorder and then coming down with a life-threatening upper respiratory infection.

- Learning that my grandmother would be voting for Trump in the 2020 election.

- The actual election.

- Losing Rooster, my sweet, sweet boy.

- Learning that my uncle has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer.

- Missing Thanksgiving with my extended family.

- Getting really excellent holiday gifts for my favorite people.

- Missing Christmas with my extended family.

- Safely spending some holiday time with my immediate family.

That is FAR from everything. But I don’t have the energy? Capacity? Time? to sort through everything.

Here are the things from this year that I am still currently surviving:

- A global pandemic! And all the associated chaos. With my asthma and high blood pressure and obesity, I am considered high risk and am still not able to safely return to my primary job.

- Hypertension! More on this later.

- Grieving Rooster. In the days after we said goodbye, I wrote a memorial that I will eventually share here. Psychology has recently analyzed data suggesting that losing a pet can be equivalent to losing a relative... I have never felt grief like this. It’s been over a month. I cry every night.

- Managing Clio’s health. She is still adjusting to her seizure medication, which she gets twice a day, and is still on medication to help with lasting symptoms of the respiratory infection. She is fussy about food and her weight fluctuates a lot week to week. She is also a feral rescue who has only ever been handled by me, my mom, and our vet. If mom and I are ever going to vacation together again, we will need to find someone who can manage catching and pilling her twice a day... no easy feat. Fortunately, at the moment, vacations aren’t really a thing for either my mom or I and I am working hard to approach these concerns in a cross-that-bridge-when-we-come-to-it way.

----

This year has been overwhelming. The last two months alone have been overwhelming. And they would’ve been overwhelming without the added spice of a global pandemic. The number of Americans we have lost to this virus has doubled since I last posted here in mid-August. Some time this week we are likely to reach a point where we’re losing 4,000 Americans per day. PER. DAY. This year has been overwhelming.

----

There were some good things this year, of course. I am so, so thankful for all the time I got with my immediate family and the very brief but vital time I got with my friends. Fortunately I am only ever a text away from my closest friends and we are able to message pretty much every day. I am also extremely glad to have found a place in the fantasy enamel pin community. The family I’ve found in pin-land has carried me through some of my lowest points this year. I spent more time in view of the ocean than I typically do in a given year... even though much of that time was still riddled with anxiety. I did art this year. I read books this year. Some really important ones, in fact. If you read nothing else in 2021, read The New Jim Crow. I also got tattooed! I’m going to include those here because I think the significance of each reflects something interesting and important about all I have survived and am surviving this year.

----

In January, I got my first Harry Potter tattoo! My favorite quote from the entire series is delivered by Hagrid during the Triwizard tournament:

”What’s comin’ will come, and we’ll meet it when it does.”

I got that incorporated into a tattoo. In January.

Also in January I got a “Prisoner of Donuts” tattoo... because life just wouldn’t be manageable at all without donuts.

In March, I got a bird of prey carrying a book to represent one of my all time favorite poems, “On Thought in Harness” by Edna St. Vincent Millay. The final lines of that poem:

“Soar, eat ether, see what has never been seen. Depart, be lost, but climb.”

In July, I was able to safely navigate getting a tattoo that symbolizes the saga told in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. LOTR is my first and oldest fandom and the story is still so, so important to me today. The lessons I learned from Tolkien when I was a kid also carried me through some of my hardest moments this year.

Also in July I got a Plumpy tattoo. That’s right. Plumpy. From Candyland. If you haven’t played the game in a while, you may not remember Plumpy. He’s one of the first characters you meet on the game board... and one of the worst cards to see when you’re close to winning the game. You could be three damn squares from the finish line and pull the Plumpy card and back to the beginning of the board you go. Plumpy is a really great reminder that even when we have no choice but to lose ground, we can gain that ground back again. And hey, once you pull the Plumpy card from the deck, you likely won’t see him again for a good long while.

In October, I was able to safely navigate getting my second Harry Potter tattoo. Neville has always been one of my favorite fantasy characters and I chose to carry him with me permanently. His courage, despite so, so much bullshit, inspires me every day. I also got a nautical tattoo for my mom’s ancestors who came to this country and fought in the Revolutionary War. Just as my family has a long and proud history of fighting for what matters, I too will carry that banner, even if it looks very, very different in the modern age. My third tattoo of the appointment is a cuckoo holding playing cards, a nod to one of most important stories I’ve read: Ken Kesey’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” This book has informed not just my personal journey with mental illness but my passion to work in the field as well. My final tattoo of my October appointment, less than a week before the 2020 election, is a weeping Lady Justice.

----

This year has made me look critically at things I very comfortably ignored for a long time. I would hope that it has done the same for most of you. Very little if any of this year was easy for me... but the most important lessons are never easy to learn. I’ve spent this year more worried and more angry than I’ve ever been before... and all I hope to do moving forward is use that fear and that anger to make this country, this world, a better place. Miss me with your resolutions this year. Every single day we should prioritize surviving and treating others with understanding and active love. I worked hard to do that this year and I will continue to work hard to do that every day. I’m proud of the work I’ve done. And in case it wasn’t clear, I’ll be dragging as many of you as I can on this journey with me. If you really feel the need to make a resolution this year, resolve to learn. Resolve to understand. Resolve to read The New Jim Crow and then TAKE ACTION. Take action with your votes and your voices and your money. Resolve to act.

----

This year wouldn’t let me escape it without being put on blood pressure medication, despite my best efforts to lower my blood pressure without it. Although I had gotten back down into a healthy range for a few weeks, RBG’s death and the landslide of utter shit that followed that completely wrecked all the progress I had made. I’m not happy about adding a new medicine to my regimen. I’m not happy about adding a new chronic diagnosis to my already lengthy laundry list. I did not expect 30 to look like allergy pills and three daily moisturizers and foot stretches and Metamucil and acid reducers and migraine medication and iron supplements and six prunes a day and chronic pain and blood pressure medication... but here we are. I’m exhausted from working so hard to be healthy just to have all that work not be enough. I feel very much like my body is giving up on me... and that is a feeling I am struggling with a lot right now. My soul is a vibrant but powerless passenger in a car speeding towards the edge of a cliff.

I’ll keep trying though. I start my new medication tonight. Hopefully it helps. Hopefully the side effects are manageable. I don’t really feel like I can handle much more... but I guess we keep going until we can’t.

----

I have no expectations for 2021 to be better. I don’t have much hope for it to be better either. This vaccine will saves lives and that’s really good news. But a lot of other things will be difficult, will stay difficult, will become difficult. I’m going to try to keep fighting, and I hope you do too.

“What’s comin’ will come, and we’ll meet it when it does.”

1 note · View note

hmel78 · 5 years ago

Text

In conversation with Raphael Doyle ...

A few weeks ago my attention was drawn to a video in which Tom Robinson [Tom Robinson Band / presenter on BBC radio] spoke about a project he’s working on with his old friend, Raphael Doyle. Now, Crowd Funding has become the ‘in thing’ and many people pay it no mind, but this pledge was different. And why? Because there’s real a story behind it - This is not just about a band expecting their fans to donate money in return for a signed photo, or a cheesy ringtone, thus ensuring the next album is made. From what I’ve heard, the album is going to be something special musically - but not only that, this album is a genuine work of LOVE; not for profit. but for the sake of creativity, for the music ; it’s about old friends, and new, coming together to be a part of Raphael’s album - And they’re against the clock (for more than one reason) which makes it all the more compelling. I was, of course, interested to know more about Raphael, who along with Tom Robinson and Hereward Kaye in the late 1960’s, formed the trio ‘Cafe Society’.

I should imagine you’re already familiar with Tom, and perhaps Hereward too [from his days with The Flying Pickets], but Raphael has clearly managed to remain off the radar - until now! Born in Northern Ireland, Raphael absconded to England when he was 15 - An unconventional teenager, but a keen songwriter and poet - he found himself at Finchden Manor in Kent, before carving a career, one way or another, in music. ‘Cafe Society’ enjoyed a relative amount of success but it was short lived, and following the break up of the band in 1976, Raphael’s biography states that he was, at that time “Painfully short on confidence and increasingly dependent on drink”. By the time he was 19 Raphael had already married Rose. Over 40 years later, through thick and thin, and with a clan of four children, they’re still going strong! When I first spoke to him he was telling me about his return to living in the North East of England, having been lucky enough to buy back the very same house he and Rose had lived in as a young couple ; add to that his return to making music, and it would seem that there are many aspects of his life that are coming ‘full circle’. “Never Closer” is the title of the album - Raphael sings us through a number of extraordinary tracks inspired by “a messy life encompassing darkness and recovery pain and love”, but at the end of it all, quite contentedly concludes - “The whole journey has definitely been worth it” ... You can keep up with Raphael’s story, and the pledge campaign, as it unfolds via his website and social media, but in the meantime, we thought we’d attempt to extract some more of his memories about those early days as a musician.

HR : If you’re open to talking about it Raphael, I’d like to go back to 1968 - to Finchden Manor**, where you met up with Tom Robinson - what was life like there?

Raphael Doyle : Well, I was 15 when I arrived at Finchden. I'd come from Northern Ireland where I'd had unhappy fallings out with a couple of schools. I was clashing with the conservative, Catholic environment of my upbringing, and I was a fledgling hippy in the world that didn't like that. Finchden was like another world entirely - suddenly you found yourself somewhere where you weren't in the wrong all the time - where you could be yourself. It was very unstructured. Your time was your own.

HR : Were you encouraged to be creative?

RD : It wasn't so much that you were encouraged to be creative, but more that you were given the space to be yourself. So some people got into making things, some got into gardening, lots of us spent a lot of time talking. And there was a great spilling out of creativity, whether music, art, pottery, poetry. Whatever people had in them. Just in the time that I was there, there was Matthew Collings scribbling away amazing cartoon-like drawings, who has gone on to become a very highly regarded artist and art critic. There was Mike Medora who was playing searing blues guitar and he went on to do the festival circuit with Global Village Trucking company. There was Danny Kustow, still a much loved guitarist, who became famous beside Tom Robinson in TRB. There was the amazing and eccentric Robert Godfrey who went off to form the Enid, a legendary prog rock band, and he took with him a bunch of other boys, notably Francis Lickerish, another brilliant guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. And there was Tom and me, writing songs, putting groups together- and I guess we were encouraged, yes. We used to be brought out to play to visitors… I remember us being taken off on long journeys in George Lyward- the founder -in his old car to visit Lord and Lady somebody or other in a mansion, and he would give a fundraising talk, and Tom and I would sing a couple songs, and then wander outside where we chanced upon this old guy in ancient corduroys tending a rhubarb patch, who turned out to be the Lord himself. Very PG Wodehouse!

HR : Actually it sounds like fun, despite being a difficult time ... There’s a great quote from Hereward [Kaye] about your songwriting, he says “The lyrics were all his own and smelt of trouble. How I longed to be deeply troubled like him!” What was it about music, and songwriting that engaged you? Is it fair to say that without music, you may have strayed onto a very different path?

RD : Well, Hereward was right. I was a troubled young man. We all were at Finchden. But even before I went there, back in Northern Ireland, music and writing had become my escape valve. I came from a little seaside town, and a Scottish wild card called Colvin Hamilton took over the swimming pool cafe and turned it into a venue - The Scene - and he would bring down bands from Belfast. This was at the height of the early 60s R&B boom. ‘Van Morrison’ and ‘Them’ were the big name. I was too young to be let in but I'd spend the weekend nights with my ear pressed to the blacked out plate glass window, listening to that raw, rough earthy music. And at home, and in friends’ houses, I was listening to Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Nina Simone, Ray Charles, Buddy Guy, Robert Johnson, John Mayalls blues breakers ... So Music was already my landscape. It didn't stop me getting into trouble though! So it was arriving at Finchden, having a place of respite , the chance to heal and grow, and there to get together with Tom and start honing my musical instincts - that's where my direction became set. I became a musician at Finchden.

HR : It was Tom who introduced you to Hereward, in Middlesborough - what happened in the interim before you eventually moved to London and formed ‘Cafe Society’?

RD : Tom's family were living in the north-east and I went up there with him for a holiday. A neighbour of his decided to introduce us to some other arty young folk she knew of from Middlesbrough, and that's where Hereward came in. We just clicked - it wasn't so usual then to meet others passionately into writing and making music. Hereward in Teesside and Tom and I in Kent would make reel to reel revox recordings of each new song and post them to each other, then when we'd meet 2 or 3 times a year and we'd have long sessions playing the songs to each other and trying out harmonies. So then when we finally got together in London it was natural to get into a bedroom or a cellar and just spend hours playing and arranging and practicing.... We were buzzing on it.

HR : From what I’ve read, many people were buzzing about it, including Alexis Korner. You had a really strong connection to him - how did that come about?

RD : Alexis had been at Finchden in his youth - he was an 'old boy'. While we were there his daughter Sappho stayed for a while ... I remember Alexis and Sappho singing the country blues song “Trouble In Mind” together. This was when Tom and I would be wheeled out to play for visitors and there were some powerful times when Alexis and us would play in a packed Oak Room to visitors and wild eyed disturbed adolescents ... So Alexis got to know us and became something of a mentor. HR : Alexis was really big on the music scene, especially with ‘Blues Incorporated’ - how connected were you to all of that?

RD : I remember staying at his place in Queensway and meeting John Mayall - I was a bit dumbstruck. It wasn't that long before that I'd been standing in the dark in a blues club in Belfast watching the ‘Blues Breakers’ with John Mayall and the new guitarist Peter Green playing stunning music, and here was the man standing before me. I don't know what I mumbled but I think it was embarrassing. Another time I was sitting in Alexis' front room with Andy Fraser who was someone Tom and I both loved very much. We'd been to see ‘Free’ at the Redcar Jazz club - the place of been jampacked and heaving and the band were incredible. And here was Andy talking to Alexis about what to do now Free had broken up. He put together a band called Toby. A little while later Hereward and I nicked his drummer Stan Speake, for the band we were putting together while we were waiting for Tom to come to London.

HR : So when Tom arrived, and ‘Cafe Society’ formed properly, what attracted you to the folk scene above any of the others?

RD : We didn't really choose the folk scene. It was just that we were three guys with acoustic guitars, a focus on harmonies, writing our own songs. In those days you either put together a band and played places like the hundred club, or you went to the booming folk circuit. So we began there ...

HR : You landed a residency, as a 3 piece, at The Troubadour coffee house - what do you remember about those first performances?

RD : As far as I remember we had a residency at Bunjies first. We were playing around a lot of clubs- The Rising Sun in Tottenham Court road was a good one. But the Troubadour had the cachet; it had a more serious reputation. We used to go down there and do floor spots on other people's nights and gradually we were building up a following. So then we got a night of our own-Tuesday nights. It was a wonderful time, a very atmospheric place to try out new songs, to practice our harmonies. We had a captive audience in a little space and it became a shared experience. I think we had a very distinctive blend. Tom was serious about the nuts and bolts of arrangements and song structure. Hereward was a showman, flamboyant in his songs and performance, and I would escape into the music and let my soul pour out. It made for a dynamic blend. And we were all fans, we all loved music, for us the people we listened to were our heroes and we wanted to join them. HR : And it wasn’t long before you did, was it? RD : No - By now we were trying to get a deal. That was the big Next step in those days. First you build up a bit of a following, then you got management, then you got a deal. We got a manager. Hereward knew John McCoy who ran music venues in and around Middlesbrough where he came from. John went on to become Chris Rea's manager and got him signed and started on his career. We used to go up and play at the Kirk, the most happening club on Teesside at the time, which John owned and ran. He listened to our stuff and wasn't quite sure what to make of it but he agreed to manage us, and one thing led to another and it resulted in Ray Davies of ‘The Kinks’ coming down to the troubadour to check us out. It was the same night Alexis was headlining for us so there was a real buzz in the air. Ray did a bit of a floor spot with us standing alongside not quite able to believe what was happening. Ray saw something in us, I think, that chimed with his own sense of song. He signed us up to his new indie label Konk -the first one in the country-and he himself produced our first album.

HR : Presumably that opened a few doors?

RD : Sure. From playing the London folk clubs, suddenly we were getting support act slots on national tours. We supported ‘The Kinks’ a whole bunch of times, which was a bit odd because we were this very well mannered acoustic trio in the middle of the stage set up for this raucous pop rock band and the audiences were kind of looking for a good time. But we went down surprisingly well on those tours. HR : Didn’t you also open for Barclay James Harvest? RD : Yes -That was a bit weird because they were a full blown prog rock band with colours and smoke and atmospherics and everyone took the whole thing very seriously! I think for some of them a support band was just a necessary evil so we felt a bit sidelined. But luckily a lot of their audiences were the listening kind and enjoyed what we did. Also I have to say that Woolly Wolstenholme was a really sweet guy and he was always very encouraging and would make time for us. We learned a great deal on all of those shows. Sometimes it's when you're not doing your own show, but having to make your mark in someone else's, that you can learn most about holding true to yourself and standing firm as a performer. Then I remember we did the Alan Hull solo album tour. Alan was big at that point as the singer songwriter of Lindisfarne so it was a much better match for us as an acoustic trio. He did the whole tour solo and the audiences were great for us. Mind you the dressing room was a place to be .... A parade of beautiful people hobnobbing with the latest thing ... Eh, that'd be him, not us!

HR : So as things progressed, and you were having this amount of success as a trio, what prompted you to add more members and form a ‘proper’ band, changing the dynamic, and presumably the sound?

RD : Well, as I said, we weren't really a folk group. We did love people like Neil Young, Paul Simon, Dylan... We used to finish with a James Taylor song “Lo and behold” . Tom always really liked Richard Thompson. I remember at The Troubadour we used to sing the Fairport song 'Meet on the Ledge'. But really our folk credentials were accidental. We always saw ourselves as a band. Hereward and I had both been in blues bands, and played the raunchier end of R&B pop. Tom's musical interests ranged really widely. He was a big fan of early ‘Manfred Mann’. He and I were besotted with ‘The Band’, “Music from Big Pink”. So really we were just waiting for the chance to expand and go electric - unfortunately it happened just as Ray Davies was making the first album with us. He signed an acoustic trio, but while Ray was supervising recording us at Konk, a process in which we didn't feel we had much say, we were off down the road when not needed in the studio, doing our own demos in a little place in Holloway with a drummer and a bass player and a keyboard player. We abandoned the folk circuit and started to play the pub scene. The Golden Lion in Fulham, The Three Kings in North End Road where the unknown Elvis Costello was forcing himself on the attentions of a bemused audience! Upstairs at Ronnie Scott's. There was a new buzz around and we wanted to spread our wings. So with one thing and another the Konk relationship fizzled out.

HR : ‘Cafe Society’ were dubbed band of the year by Sounds magazine in 1976, but the same year saw the arrival of ‘The Sex Pistols’ and a whole new scene - what impact did Punk have on you and the rest of the band?

RD : We had built up an expanded following as a band and it felt like we had lots to do. But Ray Davies brought in a production team to work on our second album, who were nice guys but they were not about new music. We were trying to make a go of it with them, and Hereward and I were both newly married and putting a lot of time into that side of things - so the impact of punk, for me at least, Was Tom turning up one night to visit me and sitting down in the front room and telling me how he had been going to the hundred club and seeing this group - ‘The Sex Pistols’ - and that everything was changing. Tom was going out nights and seeing them and ‘The Clash’, the new bands, and he knew that the album we were recording was redundant. And he did the right thing. He went off and he dived into the deep end of this new wave. A few short months later Hereward and I were standing at the back of the Lyceum on the Strand looking in disbelief at this mass of thousands of people all with their backs to us, Facing forwards, arms raised and yelling to the rafters for TRB. We didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I think we did both, but very proudly.

HR : It seems at that point, Tom was destined to go a different route - did you and Hereward plan to continue?

RD : When Tom announced he was leaving I didn't want, for myself, to carry on. But Hereward really wanted us to finish the album, which was looking more of a Hereward album anyway. So we continued. But it was without any real sense of ownership or involvement or hope. Really, it was over when Tom left.

HR : What direction did you take musically after the band broke up for good?

RD : I put together a band doing mostly my songs and some of my favourites. There was still a healthy pub rock circuit in London and we were playing places like the golden lion in Fulham and the Stapleton near Crouch end where the Jam were making their mark. There was a buzz - EMI were interested. Robert Plant came down to check us out. But the truth is my confidence was in bits ... I would be sick and need a drink before going on. I couldn't handle the business side - promoters, A&R men. Aargh. It freaks me out just remembering it. You either have the balls to be a good self promoter or you don't. I didn't. I carried on writing songs and playing in many different settings - clubs, in pubs, in schools, and made a couple of albums with a gospel rock band in England and in the states. Later I returned to the blues with an old friend Paul Davey on guitar. I always loved Paul's playing and he has a quality to him which is very authentic. He is not flashy, he's like The early Peter Green I saw all those years ago in Belfast. But essentially I think I'm still what you might call a soul/folk singer. I love to make contemporary music that is now on the surface, but plunging deep into the timeless in the feel

HR : Some 40 years later there seem to be a lot of things that are coming full circle in your life ... in music particularly ...

RD : Yeah - Really when I look back my life has been about life, but music is a thread that runs through it either in the actual doing of it or in the yearning for it. I absolutely love making music. And that special magical thing of making music with really good musicians, where an unspoken understanding happens and creates a platform on which something even better then you know how to make, actually suddenly happens. A moment outside time. I remember seeing an interview with a very respectable English poet John Betjeman - he was old and in failing health and he was asked rather respectfully if he had any regrets. And he said "yes. I wish I'd had more sex ". That's how I feel about that level of music making. And that's why am so blown away with what's been happening. Everything I've hungered for has come to me this year. Making a new album, working with great people, and a really special night at the Troubadour. HR : Oh yes - the show at The Troubadour - how did it feel to perform there again? Was the atmosphere the same?

RD : Actually, the atmosphere was even better than before! I've just been listening to a recording of the opening song, “Give Us A Break”. It's a song of Tom's he and I used to do back at Finchden and we did it acoustically to start the night and it was magic. Then a series of great artists doing floor spots, then me with a spot-on young band, and Tom and Hereward getting up to join in. It was a 10 course meal by candle light! And the audience .... They might as well have been on stage, we were all so involved together.

HR : You remained friends with Tom, and Hereward - as you say they played with you recently, and have teamed in for your Solo album “Never Closer” - how does it feel to be back in their company on a creative level?

RD : Well you know we haven't been strangers to each other.

Hereward and I are brothers in law as well as friends so there's always been opportunities for us to get the guitars out and play together. My song “Feet on the Floor”, on the new album, wouldn't be the same without Herry's harmonies. And he's put a lovely, subtle keyboard part on “Kiltermon”, one of the most important songs for me. Tom though, his part in this has been crucial. He says he sees himself as executive producer, just making sure it happens but leaving the music up to me. The truth is he is much more than that. Looking back to the beginning, I wouldn't even be a serious musician but for Tom. And so to be doing this album in partnership with him is just fantastic.

The sense of coming full circle, of completion, of fulfilment is really strong in my life this year. This album is a big example of that, and Tom and Hereward and myself getting up on stage together at the troubadour, and being in the studio together looking into each others eyes, listening to each other, singing together, is deeply wonderful for me.

HR : You’ve said recently, that the recording process took the magic out of the music in the early days, so what has changed for you with this solo record?

RD : The heart went out of the music in the recording process in the 70s for us because it was an artificial environment and a rather autocratic structure. Music is about musicians sharing from their souls together, and that sharing combining, meeting in the air and combining into something extra. That just can't happen in a compartmentalised and splintered and structured and often rather heartless recording process. It's not always like that of course, but too often it has been. We need to get back to the magic of creativity. With this album it's very different. I suppose it's not too strong to say that this album is an act of love. And everybody involved in it is acting with creative integrity and with mutual regard. It's a great thing to be part of.

HR : What was your inspiration for putting these songs together, now?

RD : Back in the spring I noticed that I couldn't grip the plectrum when I was playing the guitar. That led me to check some things out, and I was diagnosed with motor neuron disease in April. I've had a good long summer since my diagnosis, holding the condition at arms length, and it's been great - But it is increasingly something that I am living with day by day so it is a big part of the reality of this stage of my life, and will only continue to be so, and more so ... So it's true to say that all this has come about in response to my diagnosis: Tom and my son Louis started looking at the songs that had never really seen the light of day, and talking about making an album - they were both very much spurred on to bring this about with me because time is an issue. I wasn't sure ... I certainly didn't want to make an album just for the sake of it. I wanted it to exist primarily as a piece of work in its own right, and have not wanted my health issue to be a dominant factor in what I've been doing - but the reality and beauty and urgency of this project has come about in trying to get these tracks down while it is still possible. Every stage of this process, of building this album, has been full of surprises. It's incredibly alive. It's the story of a life. And it's a great collaboration between creative artists - not just me, but Louis, the brilliant Gerry Diver, Tom and everyone who's contributed..

HR : As you say there, the album also features your son Louis - what does it mean to you to be able to have this creative relationship with him, and your other children?

RD : It's been brilliant doing this with Louis. I always say he outstripped me musically a long time ago. The work he's done, from his early band the Cadets, to Slides, and now the Spare Room is often amazing. When he and I started looking at the songs for this album we started to get some of those shivery moments, like I used to get rehearsing in the cellar in Clapham with cafe society. I remember the rehearsal before the troubadour, we got the band together at the Music Room in New Cross and I had Louis on one side of me and my other son Jess on bass guitar on the other side, and we were all blasting out harmonies and it was like something in me just took off and flew up into the air. To be doing this together, at The Troubadour, and in the studio, and at such a wonderful high standard, is something that it's hard to explain. It's just beautiful.

HR : When are you hoping for it to be released?

RD : We are making the album with crowd funding - pledge music - so people are pre-ordering their copies and that helps pay for the cost of making it. The aim is to release it in January - hopefully on the 6th, my birthday - when I'm 64!

HR : And what can listeners expect? RD : Well, the answer to that changes every week and every time we go back in the studio. It was going to be a good album, but there is all kinds of magic brewing in the cauldron. What can I say. I'm blown away by some of the things we've done. Gerry Diver is doing some extraordinary work on arrangements and production. Louis has written some great music, played brilliant guitar and found lovely musicians and I, I promise you, am singing my heart out. I tell you, I'm a happy man. But there's lots of previews on the PledgeMusic page, with some videos of different songs from the album or the Troubadour - keep watching. It's at http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/raphael-doyle-never-closer , and my Facebook page raphaeldoylemusic

https://www.facebook.com/raphaeldoylemusic/?fref=ts

“I Come From Ireland” - a spoken word track is currently claiming worldwide acclaim, having made it to a feature in the Huffington Post!

The album - Songs Of Experience - can be found here http://www.raphaeldoyle.co.uk/

[Sadly Raphael passed away in March 2018. It is with huge thanks to my friend Ian Donald Crockett, that I had the pleasure of knowing Raphael for that short time].

#tom robinson #bbcradio #pledge music #motor neurone disease #hereward kaye #raphael doyle #cafe society #finchden #alexis korner #london

2 notes · View notes

phoenix43song · 5 years ago

Text

Little Women [2019] Film Review and Analysis

I have been reading the Little Women series since I was a child and I grew up on the 1994 film version that stars Winona Ryder. I have also watched the 1933, 1949, 2017 (mini series), and the 2018 modern film adaptation. I have watched and enjoyed the web series The March Family Letters on youTube, which is another modern adaptation take on the story, though unfinished. I have a graphic novel and a novel called Meg and Jo that are also modern adaptations. I love the songs from the musical, and I wish to play Jo one day (after I get my singing voice back). You can say I am a bit obsessed, though it has been quite awhile since I last read Little Women and did research on Louisa May Alcott. When I heard Greta Gerwig was going to be making another adapation I reread the whole series. The research I have done on Louisa, and the research that I have read from other fans and scholars has made reading Little Women all the more interesting. I try to be a writer, though I've only ever written novella's and short stories and short films. I love the theatre, acting, and now I am directing for the first time. I have so many story ideas for novels, series, and for feature films (maybe even TV). I've also always loved art, though without praticing much since adulthood my skills have dwindled. I identify with Jo and with Amy and I am really glad that this version of the book did these character justice...well Greta went wayland on Jo a bit.

The character of Jo in this adaptation is fully realized, three dimentional, however she is made to be have way more of a temper when she's an adult, unlike the book. Jo has this Peter Pan mentality where she wants to keep living in childhood and never grow up. She is in denial of her feelings, and she doesn't understand romantic love fully until the end. Greta decided to really incorporate Louisa herself into Jo. Louisa wrote the book loosely based on herself and her sisters growing up because she was pressured in writing a children's novel. She didn't want Jo to get married: she wanted Jo to remain a spinster like herself. Louisa was pressured to marry Jo off so she did. And then she continued to write two more novels after Little Women (technically Good Wives): Little Men and Jo's Boys. She created Friedrich Bhaer for Jo, who was the perfect choice for her...and most readers can't seem to see why Jo fell in love with him when, based on the research that I did and others did, Louisa created him off of men she had crushes on. Yes Louisa had crushes; she most likely had a few short lived romances, but we'll never know because if she wrote any of this down in her diary or in letters they have been destroyed.

Friedrich Bhaer in Greta's Little Women is not Friedrich Bhaer. He shares but a few qualities. Louis Garrel did an amazing job with what material he was given and he understands his characters and Frieidrich's relationship with Jo far better than Greta does. Based off of interviews and other comments that Greta has mentioned Greta hates Friedrich and can't stand that Jo married in the end. She doesn't understand him nor their relationship. She took away everything that Friedrich is, how Jo became friends with him, the courting he does, and one of the most romantic proposals in classic literature. Greta decided on an ambiguous ending for her movie and I absolutely hate it. The umbrella scene is rushed, hurried, and not romantic at all and it's edited in a way that this only happens in the novel that Jo writes because she is pressured, or somewhat forced, to marry off her heroine. Then there are cuts where we see Jo at her school for boys and girls, where her family presents a cake for Marmee's 60thbirthday and we see that Friedrich is there. This is cut where Jo is watching her book being made and she hugs it to herself: I really enjoyed this part of the ending, but the ending could have still followed the book more and not edited and written in a way where Jo's love for Friedrich and marriage isn't fiction. I mean Greta even had Amy and Meg drag Jo to go after him when Friedrich leaves and claim that Jo loves him. This is a change that...it destroys the characters in a huge way.

Friedrich isn't German in this film, though we do see him go into a German Beer Hall with his friends. I did love the dance scene in the Beer Hall and him dancing with Jo. He's French because Louis is French. Part of me wishes Greta would've gotten a German actor because Germany in it's people and culture was a huge part of Louisa's life and German is scattered all over the book. But I love Louis Garrel so this aspect of Friedrich didn't bother me that much. However...we don't get to know him and we don't get his backstory in this film. He doesn't play with the children, his immigration and carring for his orphaned nephews isn't mentioned, and him bringing Jo to intelletual gatherings isn't seen. Him giving Jo Shakespeare is in the film, but it's not done in person. He helps Jo with giving honest feedback on her stories and Jo doesn't take constructive critism well at all and yells at him. Friedrich likes Jo and you can tell. It's even shown that Jo likes him as well, but we sadly don't get to see their friendship: hell they don't really have much of a relationship in this movie. When Friedrich comes to visit Jo at the March house, we can see that Jo is surprised but pleased. I really do love how the family really likes him and gets to know him, and that they can see that the two love each other but that Jo is in denial. Except...Jo isn't really in denial in the book. She blushes when she realizes that Friedrich has come to court her. Jo in the book feels more mature by this point then she does in the movie.

Jo also tries to make herself love Laurie by writing him a letter because she's lonely. She never does this in the book. She does have one mention of a what if scenario but she stands by what she always thought: that she only loved Laurie like a brother. I really loved the scene where Jo rejects Laurie when he proposes because she's telling the truth and we even see in the movie that that have this special commarderie that's close but platonic, and not romantic. I do love how Greta explains and shows different kinds of love and growth in the sisters. But this seemed to degrade Jo a bit when it comes to actual full realized growth. I just don't understand where Greta was going with this and why she doesn't seem to understand Jo and Jo and Friedrich together. She put way too much of Louisa into Jo when Jo is a fictional character and not 100% Louisa. It's made to look like the umbrella propsal is fiction and that Jo did end a spinster. I am so upset right now at this that I will talk about what I did love and more of my analysis from a filmmaking aspect. (I doubled majored in theatre and in film in college and I do know that there will be changes in adaptations. However this doesn't mean that you can change characters and relationships to fit your own idea of how they should act and how they should end up. When you adapt a story you have to keep who the characters are and Greta doesn't do this with Friedrich nor with Jo in the end with her as a character and the relationship between the two).

So. This film is gorgeous. Beautiful cinematography, direction, costumes, acting, score, and editing. The only thing that I didn't like was how the characters read their letters to the camera. It took me out of the story and didn't fit in at all. The editing of present to past was well done, and I loved how it went with parallel themes. Each sister is three dimentional and real, and the different takes on money and love was really interesting. Beth's sickness and death was well done and so heartbreaking poignant. I loved how she got Jo to write again, and I loved the montage of Jo writing her novel. Mr. Dashwood was hilarious, and Meryl Streep had a blast playing Aunt March. Laura Dern made a capible Marmee but she didn't feel like Marmee to me sadly. Mr. March was barely in the film, but he's barely in the book so that was ok. The scenes between Mr. Lawerence and Beth were beautiful, and the scenes between Mr. Lawernce and Jo were good as well. I liked seeing Meg wanting riches, her feelings about being poor, but her love for John was a lot stronger and she made sacrifices. Amy was great, espeacially as an adult in Paris.

Laurie...I have a lot of thoughts on how Laurie was protrayed. I liked how his Italian ancestry was mentioned a lot and that Laurie could never sit still. I liked how he was represented as a drunk and ladies man until Amy talked sense into him. I like how we got to see how Amy and Laurie fell in love, and how Laurie realized that his love for Jo wasn't of the romantic nature either. He does love Jo and you can diffinitely see that, but at the same time they're best friends. Yes it's good to want to marry your best friend but at the same time you need more than just physical attraction ( and that's where Friedrich comes into the pitcuture). But there was something off about how he was represented. I honestly think it's because that Tim looks way too young for the adult version (even though he is an adult in real life), and that he's too skinny. Sorry I said it: Tim needs to put some meat on his bones.

This film does deserve awards and it bothers me that the film wasn't nominated for a Golden Globe (though Saoirse being nominated for Best Actress was a choice well deserved) or for an SAG awards. I hope the film is nominated a lot at the Oscar's at least. I would give this film somewhere between a 2.5 to a 3 out of 4 stars. This would've been a perfect 4/4...I know a lot of critics and fans love the ending, and that's there's only a minority of us that understand and love Friedrich, and Jo/Fritz together. At least we have other film adaptations and the musical – love the musical! - and I am really tempted to write my own version of a Little Women feature or mini series. I want to do more research on Louisa and write a biopic. I even have my own modern adapation ideas. This is a beloved book and I wish more people will read it, along with the rest of the series. To understand Jo/Fritz you have to read the last two books. This isn't really an essay or full on anaylsis, but more of me rambling, but let me know your thoughts in the comments. I would love to discuss Little Women and hear your thoughts and opinions. (Also sorry for spelling and grammar errors: I wrote this up really fast and didn’t bother to edit as I’m rather busy).

#little women #friedrich bhaer #jo x friedrich #little women 2019 #movie review #book to movie adaptation

30 notes · View notes