#I do like seeing variation in how actors handle a character

[nico-the-overlord]

¨what ppl think acting is like (FAKE tiktok acting) vs actual REAL acting¨ look I´m not an actor, but depending on the situation/character I know that either type of acting can work so stfu

[bizarrelittlemew]

Hi. I’ve been following you for a while and I really appreciate all the OFMD gifs you make and how you add really good image descriptions. I’m pretty bad at social cues and I wanted to know if you have tips for how to thank gif makers? Do you have advice for how to word the thank you without accidentally sounding weird or rude? Is it OK for someone to thank a gif maker in their ask box if the asker doesn’t follow the gif maker? Any sort of advice like that would be appreciated, or sample scripts that are socially acceptable to send. I know gif makers work really hard and I want to say thanks without accidentally breaking unspoken social rules I don’t know about and I felt safest asking you. I hope that’s OK. Thank you very much.

hi anon 💗 first of all this is such a lovely message and sentiment, thank you 🥹 i'd say you're pretty well on your way already!

i think every gif maker i know would LOVE getting a thank you message! as you say it is hard work, and having that acknowledged will always be appreciated 💗 (no matter if you follow them or not)

here is my specific advice on how to thank gif makers:

reblog! we share the gifs we make because we want to share our love for the show/movie/actor/etc. with other people, and by reblogging, you help us do that. adding something nice in the tags, whether it's something like "this is gorgeous!" or "thank you for giffing this moment, op!", compliments on the coloring (like "love the coloring"/"wow you did such a good job brightening this dark scene!"/"these look so crisp/sharp!"), or commentary on what the gifs show (like "he looks so sad, i wanna give him a hug"/"this scene is so funny/heartbreaking/sweet"/"i never noticed this detail before"), or simply emojis (any combinations of 💖, 🫠, 🥹, 🥺, 😭, 😍 or whatever the gif makes you feel), any kind of reaction like that will be very much appreciated - for me, it's the highlight of making and sharing gifs!

as for sending an ask, i think any kind of thank you message would make gif makers extremely happy 🥹 here are some sample sentences - any variation and combination of these would be lovely to receive, i think (some ideas/options in [brackets]): "i love seeing your gifs on my dash" "thank you for [creating/posting/sharing] your gifs, they [bring so much joy/always make me happy to see]" "i love your coloring, it's so [warm/vibrant/gorgeous/bright and sharp/colorful]" "thank you for giffing [character/person/show], i really appreciate seeing gifs of [that/them]" "thank you for adding [alt text/image descriptions] to your gifs, it helps a lot!" "i really admire how [fast/talented/creative] you are at giffing" ok these are just a few ideas but i hope it's helpful! 💗

this is not a direct way of thanking gif makers (as it should be a given), but i wanna add it because it's important to me: give credit if you share our gifs in other ways than reblogging the original post. please please please do not repost/crosspost gifs without credit. if a gif maker doesn't want their gifs reposted/crossposted at all, please respect it. most, like me, will be fine with it if you credit properly. here are some ways to do that: if you want to use a gif in your own post on tumblr, you can use the Add GIF function, which automatically adds credit (and we get a lil notification), or tag the creator and/or link the original gifset in the post (e.g. "gif by @bizarrelittlemew"). if you want to post a gif to another platform, e.g. twitter, these are some examples on how to give credit: "gif by @/bizarrelittlemew on tumblr", "📸: @/bizarrelittlemew", "gif by @[twitter handle]", "gif source: [link]" and variations of these, written either in the post itself or in a reply right below. not only in the ALT text (as that is for, well, ALT text) and not by making a general note on your profile that "gifs are not my own"/"the gifs i post are from tumblr" or similar (as this won't be evident from the post itself and doesn't credit the gif maker). ok that got a bit long but hopefully it makes sense!

also, if a gifset inspires you to write meta or make your own post about what the gifset depicts, we'd also be very happy if you linked it (like "this gifset reminded me of... / made me think about...") OR simply add it in a reblog of the gifset! the exception (for me, others may feel differently) is if the meta/comment "disagrees" with the gifset, like if the gifset shows "[character] being considerate" and the comment is something like "actually, i don't think this is [character] being considerate, i think they're manipulative". then making a separate post would be more welcome (i'd personally still appreciate a link to the gifset if you were inspired by it).

something that would be rude (since you ask how to avoid that) would be somehow criticizing the gifset in the comments/tags/replies, like disagreeing with the composition (e.g. "i don't think gif number X fits with this theme"), or being negative about the editing/giving unsolicited advice (e.g. "wish these gifs were brighter/sharper" or "hey op you should make your gifs slower/faster"), or talking about how you dislike the show/movie/characters (because the gif maker will see your tags/comments and they probably made the gifs out of love for the thing). as long as you avoid that, you should be fine! 💖

once again thank you for this lovely ask and for wanting to show your appreciation for gif makers 💗

[redvanillabee]

Deadpool & Wolverine reactions under cut (spoilers alert)

They should have led the multiverse saga with this movie.

Like, this is literally the only time since the multiverse saga began that I feel like the 'prerequisite readings' were worth it. The comic book roots and the many, many, many variations of Deadpool and Wolverine are addressed head on. We get direct and deep cut visual references: the Scarlet Witch temple, B-15 as a boss in the TVA, like I feel that yes, if I had specifically caught up with Loki TV for this movie, I would feel that effort has paid off. I was getting very tired of those very vague 'ah yes Kang has lived many lives' comments from, say, Quantumania.

And because they are actually leaning into the different branches of Marvel products and now uniting them under the Marvel Studios label, they actually properly acknowledged the legacy of these characters and how people feel about them. I loved those behind the scenes clips of old X-Men movies in the end credits. Properly acknowledge their past and exits. Admitting with their chest that yes, we probably won't see Ian Mckellen as Magneto in the MCU, but damn wasn't that a fun time.

(Instead of all this, oh will Tom Hiddleston return as Loki? We don't know! He doesn't know! He said he certainly enjoyed playing Loki for 10+ years! But we will never actually give this character and actor a proper celebratory exit because what if we want him back for a cameo five years later!)

Lady Deadpool really was Blake Lively. Twitter was right. Lol.

Sweary Chris Evans as Johnny Storm was so fun; it's so refreshing to see him as not Stoic Monologuing Cap in the MCU. It just wrong-foots you enough.

At this point is2g Krzeminski is the anchor being of the Agent Carter universe because how else do you explain the complete death and absense of anything Agent Carter in the main MCU. Did like the entire cast of AC/AOS just swear off Marvel permanently. When can we get at least a name drop. I'm desperate here Feige help.

*Logan starts downing a bottle of Jack Daniel's* Me: my boys are finally in the MCU 🥺🥺🥺

Jokes wise, I think the movie was trying a little too hard with the unserious, jokey social commentary angle. Like that whole 'oh my friend identifies as a feminist' thing. Like, look, I don't know what that achieves. To either side of the political spectrum those jokes just end up sounding very clowny. It's not as if Marvel has ever been considered the pinnacle of progressiveness (cutting out gay Russo in Endgame for certain markets? Throwing CM2 under the bus when it was released during a strike? Letting the fans beg for almost a whole ass decade for a Black Widow movie, only to release it when Natasha is canonically dead?) They really don't need those jokes.

All in all: some jokes were a miss, but handled the multiverse and comic book roots pretty well. 7.5-8/10.

[that-myllesstrauss-guy]

Sigma interacting with his co-workers in talon (with his pills):

Sombra

Sigma: Unh? Oh Hello my friend! I haven't notice you there.

Sombra: Oh! Yes! I finaly made it work.

Sigma: I'm afraid i don't follow. What did you made work?

Sombra: It's a old device from the old times on Dorado. I found on a junkward with only It's hopes and dreams to keep it alive. It's a camouflage exo-skeleton that went missing after that accident of transportation to the moon.

Sigma: That was indeed a terrible incident. It's a queit a riddle of how in the many odds that could've happened.

Sombra: For the brigth side, i gain this little one. Look: It's filled with nano bots, they are soo tricky to control though, too many and too complex even with my current technology; imagine back then when i didn't had none of this! Needed like ten years just to hack 100 of them and on the stage that i found it i was already thinking that it was imposible to make it work. But oh man! Más vale manã que fuerza.

Sigma: Outstanding! And that's one marvel of engineering that Horizon was caring, and as you said: Complicated. I unfortunately had little to no contact with this kind of technology, i only saw when It's was being refined, years away from the current time. Seeing it on this stage shows how your handwork really improved after your studies.

Sombra: Learned with the best.

Sigma: Well, thank you but to be frank you're queit the prodigy yourself. I do not believe a admirer of the systematics of relativity is queit, eh, sharp to thought the control ofd sub atomic non-organic devices.

Sombra: It's true though. Without you, i wouldn't be capable of understand none of that right now, it took years just understand their basic composition. I own you alot, viejito.

Sigma: I appreciated.

Moira

Sigma: Could I go outside today, doctor?

Moira: I'm afraid i can't do that, you're under supervision after that surgery that we passed.

Sigma: Yes, yes, immune system weakend cannot be teased with a little clue of fresh air. But.... By the time that is passed here i don't feel stronger.

Moira: Your diagnoses said otherwise.

Sigma: I mean in pratice. My abilities seemed to increse and i showed more results while i was outside. Hitting the walls, going back in furth, this isn't a natural display of mines here.

Moira: We understand your struggle doctor, but for now you will be just the very thing that you are not craving right now, for the benefits of your health and the full sucess of the experiment. So we stay right here, yes?

Sigma: . . . I understand.

Doomfist

Doomfist: Doctor De Kuiper? The subject sigma, still... Instable? I see, i hope nothing unchracterist happens here.

Sigma: Hello mister Ogundimu! Never thought i would see you in flesh.

Doomfist: Unh hum... Charmed. (Takes a step back)

Sigma: i'm marveled for seeing you here. The doomfist! The title behind It's as heavy as It's sounds.

Doomfist: You know my title?

Sigma: And who doesn't? A man that in a battle killed his own master. Now, i know It's sounds harsh for but for pete's sake you are queit skilled, the cloath needed to be changed, in a way or another.

Doomfist: How do you know this?...

Sigma: Many events happens in many universes, universes that comes with mutiple choices of certain characters, and yours my friend, the universe singed your history and It's happens to be true in this variation. It happens time to time, i can't tell why!

Doomfist: Sure... It was good to see you, doctor de Kuiper. (Goes away)

Sombra: Got em'! Best actor ever.

Sigma: He looked very frigthen.

Sombra: That's what he get's for thinking he is high and mighty.

Sigma: You sure are happy with this.

Sombra: Yep! Oh man his face was priceless.

Sigma: Well, this could've got worst. But guess you handle pretty well.

Reaper

Reaper: Get off the way, doctor.

Sigma: How can one desmaterilize and still be asking for space?

Reaper: The very one is thinking in fill you with bullets. So, Get. Back.

Sigma: If a cologne of protozoa makes It's way for the mind of a fish. This means the fish is now passing for a evolutive process or devoluteve process?

Reaper: What?

Sigma: Has a ant ever thought that the universe that it got It's actually just another particle on the grand scheme of things?

Reaper: Have you lost your goddamn mind?

Sigma: purpose has purpose?

Reaper: (grunts) just get away from me. (He dissapers.)

Sigma: Finally peace. (Smiles.)

Widowmaker

Sigma: (singing)

Widowmaker: Could you please shut up?

Sigma: Oh! Why? It's beautiful day today.

Widowmaker: We wipped out a battalion of soldiers.

Sigma: Oh... So you still knows what compasion is?

Widowmaker: Nothing beyond a distraction.

Sigma: So Gerard was in the wrong since the start?

Widowmaker: What did you say? Did sombra made you say this?

Sigma: No, i just heard about it. Did you miss him?

Widowmaker: It's none of your bussines.

Sigma: If you do, Doctor O'Deorain could've failed on her experiment, if you don't that means she is good on her work, and i will trust her. Which is it?

Widowmaker: ... Don't cross my line of sight again, doctor.

Sigma: I know my answer now.

[dgcatanisiri]

*sigh*

I tire so FUCKING. DEEPLY. of the video game protagonist voice actor war and the way that people get so hung up on who is "better" or, worse even, which is the "proper" performer.

And it gets REALLY irritating when you see the developers very clearly leaning in to it. Like, I understand there's a side of it in the direction of "we need a face to market with" and such, but...

While flawed, I do think Mass Effect Andromeda handled it pretty well overall, giving both default protagonists uses in trailers and marketing material.

And this just kinda hit me because I wrapped out Phantom Liberty and... The prerendered end credits sequence features female V, even though I (obviously) played male V, and it's just... You're showcasing a character that I, the player, did not roll, was not part of the game for me, and...

It just snapped me back to all the bullshit that has surrounded the elements of Kassandra/Alexios and Eivor in Assassin's Creed, where Ubisoft went and said, effectively, by playing with Alexios as the protagonist of Odyssey, I played "wrong," despite marketing the game as "chart your own odyssey," and then putting out content that emphasizes that the version of the game I played both Odyssey and Valhalla, with the male protagonist, is not "right" by having ONLY Kassandra appear in the cross-through storyline, and the "farewell" storyline they patched in putting female Eivor as the only version we get, as if to emphasize that Eivor is "supposed" to be a woman, and that male Eivor is just Odin's image imposed by way of the Animus.

And when I get THAT flashback, I return to the bullshit that's always surrounded the protagonists in Mass Effect and Dragon Age and even going back to Jade Empire and KOTOR, before the voiced protagonists, where I am the outlier not being counted for being involved in fandom space while being and playing male, where people default to using feminine pronouns for the PCs, even when speaking in generic terms of the character, where the fan creations are centered on the female version, not the male.

Which, I know, whine whine, the man is getting a taste of the experience of women in a lot of other places, sure, fine, whatever. I just... I mean, first of all, I could easily argue that this is a problem because it's excluding the queen men in fandom who deserve being respected just as much as the women out there. But secondly, I feel like it's a problem either way, if the fandom is pushing away any segment of people who want to genuinely feel included in fandom, and it's worse when the marketing and advertisement and even the game itself if not impose then... let's take the good faith version of things and say "unintentionally encourage" it with the way things in the game proper put forward ideas.

And I'm also aware that there's the element of, with this specific example of Cyberpunk, how the game was at some point only intended to be centered on V as exclusively female. My issue is that once that changed, there should be efforts made to be balance the handling of the character to respect the variation - everyone who plays will walk away with their own idea of the character as a result, ESPECIALLY when you're marketing your game as an RPG, as a game based in choices.

Like, I've been over well before how isolating that fandom can often be to me as a queer man - I did a big, long, rambley post about it several years back, how the way that the fandom often handles these things is done in such a way that feels like I'm being told that my victories in terms of being seen are "less than" the win of having these variable characters as female, so I should keep my head down and not speak up about what lacks for me.

It's one of those things that I always feel like I'm walking on eggshells to even acknowledge, let alone write out my thoughts and try to process them like I do, when I want to discuss that isolating feeling, and yet know that there's going to be that group of people who will take anything in the bad faith directions.

And, y'know, I am aware that there's always the matter of trying to unpack internalized misogyny because that's part of the world we live in overall, and that I'm aware of an undercurrent of that in some areas of queer male culture, so I'm also dealing with grappling with "is this an issue or is it just that I'm not being catered to?"

But... I think it is legitimate to be uncomfortable when a game, a game marketed as being choice-based and offering variation, is coming across as dismissive of your choice, and when fandom is making you feel like you're feelings of being minimized is not worth being acknowledged.

So... I don't know where I'm going with this, just... needing to word vomit a bit.

[grapecaseschoices]

He is LITERALLY the only one. I know people wnat to include Karlach bc of what Larian did with her features [some people said she was modled after Gemma Chan] but I do not, because her voice actress is white. IDC. She is white. She a white woman who got surgery. Blame Z----l, if it makes yall feel better. She got a fetish or something. But Karlach is WHITE.

I could be wrong, but I think karlachs voice actor is poc since they are biracial (1/2 black jamaican, 1/2 white). I think they talk about it here. ❤️

https://twitter.com/SamanthaBeart/status/1719497675039760821

As for the character herself, you're probably right since most of the characters in this game are white. Like they really said we are not going to give yall any flavour or variety. The body options too are so limited like why is there only two body types and why does every love interest have a supermodel body type. 😭

Lemme not go on about the whole racist plot with the gur and cazador since people on tumblr have already talked about it. I loved Wyll though, it's such a pity he gets such little content. 🥲

Don't get me wrong, I love this game, but imma still rant about the beef I have with it. If only they could give me more than 4 options for curly hair for my black tavs that would be amazing. 😩

See, I had wondered. I hard heard she was Jamaican but I couldn't find a clear response on what she was. Okay, fine, Karlach is mixed race (Though, she is still not Asian. While I don't think Karlach is monolided, I can see the argument of her looking like Gemma Chan. And can definitely see why people are annoyed about the change in her features.)

They are, fr. And barely any variation in skin tone. If there is a brown/black character they are a random background npc or someone with one off importance. Also, it has struck me that there isn't that many variation in character creator -- it has been a minute since I really went through it, but if I recall correctly it was usually two black featured people and one face chosen at random from the entire Asian continent, like if they have a face that seems like it could be from S. Asian, they won't have someone from the ME or E. Asia. Then the rest are white. I'm still mad about Halsin not being a bear bear. Even if you wanted not to give him a full round belly [AND WHY NOT], he didn't need a pack. He couldn't been more of a barrel. Wyll is the only one, other than Halsin, who should have muscles of the dudes imo -- and even then I feel his should be leaner. Like we know you're not eating THAT well consistently, my love.

I think I missed that discourse [though I have heard people's wariness about them being Travelers and how it'd be handled].

I wanted more than curly [coily, give me 4c hair] but I would've settled on more curly for real. And it's weird bc it isn't just poc with curly hair. Is it that hard to draw for a game?

[rhysdarbyarchive]

Rhys Darby Lost(?) Media(??): Trails of Napier

I love how expansive the BNCU (Bill Napier Cinematic Universe) is. Rhys clearly loves this character since he has been incorporating him into his television series, live shows, web videos, and more since (at least) 2006. I want to write a huge post that encompasses as much of this history as possible, but that requires a lot more research and spoons (and DVDs I'm waiting on in the mail) than I can handle right now.

For now, I want to talk about a less-discussed chapter of Bill Napier history: Trails of Napier, the 2010 television pilot featuring Bill.

Trails of Napier was directed by Jonathan Brough (not sure if he worked with Rhys before but he did direct the episode of It's a Date Rhys appeared on in 2014) and produced by Rachel Gardner and MRC Studios (and Dan Schreiber as well? he's credited as co-creator and executive producer on his CV). Here is the description from Jonathan's website:

Fresh from his success as Murray (Band Meeting!) in Flight of the Conchords, Rhys Darby approached me about directing a TV show based on his standup character, gamepark keeper and cryptozoologist Bill Napier. The result was a 12 minute pilot shot in the wilds of New Zealand and Mongolia (that part may not be entirely true), produced by Rachel Gardner and MRC Studios. Watch this space!

The pilot also starred Josh Thomson as Jason and Rachael Blampied as Hayley, roles that they later reprised in the Bill Napier episode of Short Poppies.

I've lost count of the number of interviews from Rhys I've read during this time period where he or the author alluded to a television pilot he was working on, but I'll include two of the more detailed quotes I can find (both from October 2010):

Apparently, he's tipped to replace Steve Carell in the US version of The Office. Darby smirks, but won't be drawn. "Besides the thing you can't ask about, I have created my own show for TV - a cool action adventure comedy show based on the Bill Napier character. There's a bit of adventure in it, a seaplane …'" With his dry, deadpan delivery, it is often hard to tell when Darby is joking and when he's being serious. "I'm always being serious," he says, laughing. "What - you think it's too big, too amazing because I said there's a seaplane in it? Just unbelievable? Surprised we got the budget for that? There's a seaplane in New Zealand, we tracked one down." Compared to a starring role in The Office, it may not sound flashy, but with a wife and two young sons, Darby is keen to stay put in Auckland. "And I can use my own accent there. That's an important thing for me - I don't fancy doing American accents … I want to be myself. And variations of. I don't want to lose the essence of … me," he says. (x)

However, when asked where he’d like to be in a year’s time, he speaks enthusiastically about his own project, based on one of his new stand-up characters, park ranger Bill Napier. "We’ve just shot the pilot," he says proudly. "It’s set in New Zealand, about a ranger who goes around the world on adventures, so it’s a bit of an Indiana Jones kind of thing, but it’s a sitcom. It’s the world’s first action-adventure sitcom." It sounds just about crazy enough to work, and Darby, who would prefer to remain based in New Zealand with his young family, is crossing his fingers. "My dream is for that to come about, to be able to film it here, and to sell it to the Americans – then the whole world can see it.” (x)

Based on this and other interviews, he seemed to want to shoot the show in New Zealand and then pitch it to American networks. But unfortunately it looks like it wasn't picked up by a network.

I'll include two other things that aren't really sourced anywhere else (meaning I don't know how legit they are) but are still interesting to consider in this timeline of Bill Napier-related programming.

Here's a tweet from 2014:

And then in 2017, Rhys did an AMA-type thing on Backstage.com's forum where aspiring screen and voice actors asked questions about getting into the industry. This was in the description about Rhys the website provided:

On the animation side, Rhys is currently producing a pilot presentation for TBS called TRAILS OF NAPIER in which he co-wrote and will voice the lead role of “Bill Napier” alongside Jemaine Clement, Ken Jeong, Linda Cardellini, Glenn Wool and Rich Fulcher. 

He was on Wrecked at the same time so presumably that's related to why he was pitching it to TBS.

And here are a couple more stills from the 2010 pilot pulled from Jonathan Brough's website:

Trails of Napier sounded really cool! I love the cryptozoology angle* (I'm curious why this is only mentioned on the director's website and not in interviews, whether that was an omission on Rhys's or the article writers' part), and I love how excited Rhys seemed to be about this project. I would love to see the pilot and the ideas for where Rhys wanted to go with this series. It also makes me really want for him to write a book based on Bill Napier! Either way, I'm glad he was able to use shows like Short Poppies and Alone Rangers to further utilize this character.

*fun fact: there was a prominent Bigfoot researcher named John Napier. This association may or may not have been intentional but I'm still working my way through Cryptid Factor episodes and don't know if Rhys addressed this there. Napier is also just the name of a city in New Zealand, which probably is even less related but still felt related enough to mention

[qqueenofhades]

did you watch lucifer season six and what are your thoughts pls and ty

Ahaha. Yes. Yes I did watch it. Then I cried for a literal hour and attempted to compose myself, only to start crying again when I lay down and kept on thinking about it. Then I had more feelings. Then I slept like the dead due to emotional trauma. Then I reblogged gifsets and had More feelings. Then @buffaluff and @flynnanimal watched it and also required emotional support due to drowning in their own tears. So, uh... we're all fine here now. How are you?

My main takeaway from the final season was the sheer amount of love for the characters, story, and fans that you could feel shining through all the episodes, and which made SUCH a refreshing change. I had feelings in my tags the other day about how a show about the devil was constantly goofy, hopeful, loving, and uplifting, rather than all the grimdark nonsense they could have easily done with it. (As I said, just imagine it as written by the GOT idiots?? NO THANK YOU.) The writing really loved everyone and wanted to give them a proper ending and emotional journey, and it wanted to show the fans that they weren't stupid for having invested six seasons of effort and emotion into this, and just... that is so much rarer than it should be? Compare all the movies and TV shows that treat their fans like the enemy, that want to outsmart them at all costs even if it means changing major plot elements, that ferociously guard spoilers and think that "shock value" means good writing, by throwing hackneyed cliche upon cliche and making everything Depressing, and just... Lucifer had its hiccups and slow points and missteps, of course, but I am SO glad they didn't do that. The entire show consisted of Lucifer slowly but steadily progressing toward being a better man, despite mistakes and setbacks and sometimes a little too much will-they-won't-they. (Season 3 was the only one where I got bored and skipped over the filler episodes with Pierce/Lucifer/Chloe in order to get to the end).

That is an essentially simple premise, but they stuck to it, and they didn't try to create more drama by randomly wrecking what they had already established. I wrote a fic all the way back in mid-season 2 (In Nomine Patris) that ended up predicting quite a few of the future characters who had not yet appeared on the show at that time, including Eve, Michael, and Azrael, and several plot points, including the very major one of Lucifer returning to hell for the sake of his daughter with Chloe. And while this might mean that I am just that good at guessing TV shows (I would like to think this....) it also means that the writers set expectations, followed through on those expectations, and didn't suddenly derail everything or turn it totally on its head just for the sake of cheap shocks. As we can all attest, they certainly caused PLENTY of drama, anguish, pain, and suffering, but they did it in a way that remained faithful to the overall premises of the story and the characters, and wanted to see them become the best versions of themselves. I cried my eyes out at the end and then thought, "hey, I might want to watch the whole series again," which, if you ask me, is the mark of doing your job right. There have been so few TV endings recently where I didn't immediately swear off the whole thing or have to pretend that canon didn't exist, so yeah.

As I said, it was just refreshing to watch something that had that essential deep generosity at its core, where the message is that everyone is worthy of love if they make the hard and painful effort to change and become better, and that even if earthly things feel small next to all this messy celestial drama, they still matter, and that you are loved no matter what. I loved that Amenadiel became God and Lucifer returned to hell as a choice in order to help all the trapped souls be able to work through their guilt and go to heaven. There were obviously certain echoes of The Good Place in that ending; I don't know if it was something they had planned all along or if the success of TGP, another series asking deep questions about life, death, morality, and human nature within the framework of a goofy heaven-and-hell sitcom, influenced it, but either way, it worked so well. Even if it tore my heart out and stomped on it on the ground, it was fitting and oh so lovely to see Lucifer, once the most selfish being in the entire universe, following in Linda's footsteps and becoming selflessly dedicated to helping other people. Just. Chef's kiss.

And of course, Deckerstar. The Hades and Persephone vibes were IMMACULATE this season, and while it did take Lucifer and Chloe the best part of four seasons to get together, they never significantly backslid, never had third-party issues or cheap cheating storylines once they were officially a couple, and Tom Ellis and Lauren German REALLY killed it this season in particular. It was never easy for them and sometimes the drama went on a little too long over the course of said six seasons, but the love story was beautiful and incredibly meaningful and always true to the fact that the actors and characters and writers (not to mention the fans) all loved it so much. They were so much the emotional heart of this, and when they went to hell together in episode 6x03 (where they turned into cartoons because wHAT even IS this show), Joe Henderson said in an interview that this was to give the fans a view into Lucifer and Chloe's future (after) lives post-6x10, and to offer them a basis to write fanfiction. I mean... the showrunner saying to the fans "here, we love you, have something to write fic about!" is likewise pretty shockingly rare. It's again an example of how this show always audaciously poked fun at itself, never took itself TOO seriously, and was always welcoming its fans and the people who loved it to do so, rather than making them feel stupid or taking joy in wrecking beloved characters or plots.

Obviously, I loved Rory, the badass lesbian half-angel goth Deckerstar child straight out of My Immortal (seriously, she was SO edgy, it was amazing), because of the fact that Lucifer's entire arc was always about feeling abandoned by his father and that he was going to have to face it for himself. Dorky Devil Dad Lucifer trying his absolute HARDEST to bond with his daughter was simultaneously hilarious, adorable, and heart-wrenching, and yet again, the Growth. We all remember when he could barely tolerate Trixie touching him, and now we're here. Also, any variation whatsoever of "this is just a brief moment of time that we must be apart, love is eternal and stronger than death and we will never really leave each other" as a line is guaranteed to make me bawl my eyes out. So that was fun.

I got a big kick out of Ghost Dan running around and trying to get everyone to see him, and had feelings about seeing him in heaven with Charlotte and his beloved Pudding Pops at the end. I had feelings about how they handled Ella finding out the truth (or rather demanding to know why nobody had told her) and of course, I obviously loved Maze and Eve and their goth/femme wedding and the fact that they got a good three-season romantic arc (indeed, I wanted more of them). My god, Trixie is SO BIG, she used to be a tiny little nugget. I love that Linda was the moral and emotional rock all along, from the first episode to the very last, and that Amenadiel was Deeply Vindicated when Charlie's wings appeared at his first birthday party. I love how Lucifer in s6 is absolute thousands of light years from Lucifer in s1. And as ever, Chloe was Perfect. I am happy that I spent six seasons with these characters and saw them become better, and that I was never made to feel like an idiot for trusting the writers to end everything in a beautiful and emotional way. Because, well. They did. Sure, maybe I could go back and pick at a plotline here or a detail there, but I don't terribly feel the need to do so? It might not have been perfect, but it was perfect, and I am so grateful that it existed.

[just-antithings]

You've unlocked the hellish memory that was J*hn B*yega doing a bizarre turn against reylo shippers. The antis crow that it's proof we're racists and harassers, but here's the breakdown. Before tros, John would happily support Kylo and Ad@m Driv3r and like reylo art. After...he made a gross joke on Instagram. "It's not about who kisses her, it's about who lays the pipe" and when some people told him it was gross he went to Twitter to subtweet the entire reylo fandom with a picture of Rey stabbing Kylo and captioned it "Disney romance". A lot of us love/ed John and his character and he'd previously shown support so it felt like betrayal and so made comments expressing that, and some racists took advantage of it all to add to the chaos *cough the fandom menace coughcough*. There was a collage of racist comments going around(without context, I question how many of them were even directed at him and that situation) but if you looked up the handles nearly all of them were either associated with TFM or had some variation of antireylo in their bio. Then he went off the deep end, making an elaborate video of him laughing and "stepping on the racist haters" showing a montage of comments he got with the names unblurred. The ones I could see were to the tune of "I'm sad/disappointed he would say this." And guess what? Those people got harassed. Some of them were teenagers. At least one may have attempted suicide. (Censoring actor names so it doesn't show in their tags, don't want to stir shit again)

yeah at this point I’m sick of hearing about him

[aces-reviews]

The Lecter Variations, pt 6: Hannibal, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the TV Show

Sorry, I’m drooling over this show

When I first read “Bryan Fuller wants to make a Hannibal Lecter TV show”, I died a little. A tv show? About Hannibal Lecter? Ugh. I was not happy.

It was in the post “Hannibal Rising” era (ugh) and there was really nothing happening with the character of Lecter. And now...they wanted TV? Are you nuts? You can’t do killer-thriller TV on NBC!!

The first leaks came out: it take place before “Red Dragon” and focus on Hannibal’s relationship with Will Graham. A small glimmer of hope: maybe we’ll see a touch of RD, that would be cool.

The casting was announced: Laurence Fishburne as Jack Crawford? Hell yeah! Hugh Dancy as Will Graham? He’s not bad. He was in King Arthur! With...wait, what?

Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal Lecter.

As soon as I read that, I immediately checked dates and times to make sure I could watch the premiere. Mikkelsen is one of the best actors working today, and his take on Lecter would be worth the price of admission!

And oh what a glorious show we got in return.

Fancier pants! THE FANCIEST PANTS YOU OWN GOOD SIR

Those who have seen the show know what I’m talking about: a potent mix of story, performance, audio, and visual elements that combine into this amazing and surreal journey into the minds of dangerous people.

I apologize for making your underwear burst into flame

The core of the series is the relationship between Will Graham, a special investigator with the FBI, and his therapist, the affluent and mysterious Dr Hannibal Lecter. Will can think like a killer, and that is helpful in his line of work. But it also puts his mind on the edge of a knife between hero and villain. Enter Dr Lecter, who sees something unusual in Will Graham—himself. Or perhaps, the potential to be...

Will’s boss, Jack Crawford, is concerned. After all, if Will thinks like a killer then maybe it’s not too far off that he becomes the killer...

“I have zero tolerance for your bullshit”—Laurence Fishburne, every frame

The series plays a lot with the lore of Hannibal Lecter. For one thing, it has to—a lot of people forget that Silence of the Lambs takes place in the early 80’s. Hannibal couldn’t be a sexy 40 year old in 2016 and have lived through WW2. Adjustments are made, and for the most part, they work. There are some gender-flips as well: Freddy Lounds the tabloid journalist becomes Freddie Lounds, a young woman who runs a true-crime tabloid website. Dr Alan Bloom becomes Dr Alana Bloom, a woman who knows better than to try and analyze Will without permission (and provides a polarizing foil for Lecter).

Until, of course, it’s too late.

Make no mistake: this show is not about Hannibal “becoming” a killer: when the show opens, we know exactly whom we are dealing with.

It is, however, about two people falling in love and hurting each other because of it. The Hannigram section of the fandom is quite right when they try to ship Hannibal and Will. And it adds a fascinating aspect to everything that occurs.

Side note: this scene in the museum might be the best five minutes of television ever produced.

The show is also equal parts food porn and murder porn. Hannibal, a gourmet chef, prepares exquisite dishes, quite often after killing someone exquisitely.

Obligatory finger foods joke

Don’t get me wrong: the show has its flaws: I personally think the Red Dragon arc was handled poorly, and sometimes it gets a little weird seeing a different gimmicky serial killer every week. But even for those things, it’s one of the best series to hit the networks...well, ever.

It adapts material from Red Dragon, Hannibal, and Hannibal Rising (just for flavor), but since another studio had the rights to Silence of the Lambs and all the associated characters, they couldn’t get into that. And I’m okay with that: the core of the show is Hannibal and Will. Messing with that would dull what makes it work.

Do not sleep on this series!! Go watch it now!! And join us next time for our final installment of “The Lecter Variations” with a thriller from the slick and dazzling 1980’s!!

[raeofalbion]

Couple ships I'd be interested in hearing your opinion on,

Johnlock (sherlock holms/John Watson)

And

(Sherlock holms/ Molly Hooper)

( brutally honest ship meme ) - I have never had an ask trigger my fight or flight response so quickly before. LMAO But it’s cool; I don’t think I’ve publicly talked about either ship since…I wanna say 2019? And never in much depth, so maybe it’s time to do so.

The TL;DR version is: I’m glad they make other people happy, but neither ship is for me. Long, detailed version under the cut.

So a big part of my problem with j-hnlock is that…in general, I’m not a fan of Watson’s character. There are some I like well-enough—YuuMori’s is a good egg and Nigel Bruce’s, David Burke’s, and Edward Hardwicke’s all had their moments where I really enjoyed them (I still quote Bruce’s “certainly not! I’m dead” on a frequent basis). But most Watsons are just…a nonentity for me? Watson’s sorta…there. Which I realise is his purpose in the original stories: he’s the lens through which we see Holmes, so he’s gotta be unobtrusive enough to not interfere with the story while still providing a counterpoint to Holmes’s nonsense. The problem, for me, is that a lot of variations translate that to either making Watson extremely flat or…frankly a bit of an annoying killjoy. (Like…we’re here to see Holmes’s shenanigans. The audience knows what Holmes is doing isn’t appropriate/safe/good/etc. Watson knows Holmes isn’t going to listen to him. But sometimes it feels more like the writer doesn’t realise all this and is more interested in using Watson to preach about how bad Holmes is…which invariably leaves me with the feeling of “why, exactly, are any of us, especially Watson, here?”) That aside, I also really dislike how the BBC version handled Watson’s character and I dislike his actor as a person, so… -gestures vaguely and distressedly-

My secondary problem with the ship is that I don’t enjoy how the fandom has handled it. I tried very hard to like j-hnlock when I first entered the fandom—it was where all the fics were at and I was used to, while reading Fable fics, reading everything in the fandom without regard to if I shipped it or not. But I found myself constantly frustrated that, in every single fic, neither Sherlock nor John sounded like themselves—not even in an AU sense. And I got really tired of seeing Sherlock constantly infantalised and John treated as if he were incapable of doing wrong; it got to a point where I realised I had enjoyed absolutely nothing I’d read for the ship and needed to stop forcing myself to read it. (The way that people who don’t ship them have been treated by shippers is also appalling to me and furtherly ruined any interest in the ship; I just want nothing to do with that kind of environment.) Which is a really ramblely way to say: fic and meta wise, I find it to be an extremely boring ship that seems to thrive more on wishful thinking, and fans demanding that it must happen, than its own merits. I’m sure someone out there has written it interestingly, but I no longer have any desire to find out.

I will admit, I’ve seen some interesting ideas for AUs in the j-hnlock tag, which I desperately wish were for another ship so I could go have a look. And I have a couple prompts for j-hnlock fics I’ve been given that I’m curious about writing—the only reason I haven’t is that I think they’d be a very different tone than what people would expect and I’m not sure how they'd be received or if I want to deal with that.

With regards to sherl-lly, my feelings have really nothing to do with an objection to the ship itself. I’m sure it’s a lovely ship. However, I’ve been in relationships that had their canon dynamic and, honestly, from both sides? It fucking sucked. They were miserable experiences and I never want to repeat them. I ended up blocking the tag cuz, frankly, that’s my issue and something I need to work on, on my own, without getting annoyed at ship content, but it helps me to not see it every time I go in the fandom tags.

Like I said, I'm sure both ships have their good points, but I'm not really interested in either.

[ultrahpfan5blog]

Reflecting on Superman and Lois season 1

Now that the season is over, its interesting to look back at a very stop start season. Its very difficult for a show to hold your interest with the type of scheduling problems this show had, and in its very first season. When the show was announced, I wasn't terribly surprised but I was also not overly excited. There has been a lot of Superman and Superman adjacent material that has come out before and after the announcement so I did wonder about what they could do new. In addition, while I certainly liked Tyler in his guest appearances in Supergirl, in Elseworlds, and in Crisis, he did feel like the inferior Superman in Crisis when he was opposite Brandon Routh's Superman who really looked and felt like Superman, even better than he did in Superman Returns. However, once the trailer dropped, I was sold. It was clear that the show was going for something a lot more cinematic and a lot more grounded than the previous Arrowverse shows. I did have some apprehensiveness over the teenage boys angle because teenagers can become very stereotypically irritating in shows and given that a good chunk of time was going to be dedicated to them, it was going to be vital for them not be so.

Having finished the season, I have to say that the execs and the writers have pulled off an excellent first season. I don't think I would call it the best season 1 in the Arrowverse. I still love The Flash season 1 over any other Arrowverse season and while I haven't seen it in a while, I love Arrow season 1 as well. This may come at 2nd or 3rd place based on further reflection. I do think its has some issues when it comes to the villain storyline and with the big action set pieces, but the film's heart is set at the right place and the characters are all very likable and you want to see conversations between the characters. That's when you know that the writers are doing a good job when you almost feel that the show should go back to the character moments.

Firstly, the idea of a matured Superman is what works wonderfully well. There is something wonderful about seeing Clark and Lois as a couple who have known and loved each other for over a decade. Closer to two decades I guess. Characters don't quite look their age tbh. Lois would have to be in her early 40's at least. But I can honestly overlook that. Bitsie and Tyler were already a very likable couple in Elseworlds and the show has just used that natural chemistry to brilliant effect. But the big relief was that Jordan Elsass and Alex Garfin are excellent as Jonathan and Jordan. I was initially a little worried that Jordan could be a little much, but both of them were excellent and one of the highlights of the season was the bond between the two brothers. Jordan and Jonathan have conflicts but they are brothers and they love and support each other unconditionally.

Jonathan could have so easily been the douchey, jealous brother but Elsass is honestly one of the mvp's of the season. You really care for Jonathan, even though he arguably has a slightly less meaty role in the story. I think Bitsie Tulloch is outstanding all season. She has shot up very high among all my favorite Lois Lanes. She's very different from the other versions and that makes her stand out. One of my favorite episodes was episode 8, which deals with Lois dealing with memories of her miscarriage along with almost losing Jonathan. She is excellent in that episode as is Elsass. Tyler is wonderful throughout. He's a strong Superman but his Clark is even more endearing. Little things like him being so psyched for the Harvest Festival, how he plays young Clark in flashbacks as someone distinctly different, him meeting Lois and working with her for the first time, the adorable "my mom made it" moment when Superman first saves a kid etc... He just embodies everything you know and love from the character. Wole Parks is another terrific addition. Initially you think he's an alternate version of Lex Luthor but it was genius idea to have him actually be John Henry Irons. There was something innately likable about him even when he was fighting Superman and we thought he was Lex. I loved how they handled the dynamic of being Lois' husband in another world and having a daughter. It makes for an interesting dynamic but it never gets into problematic territory because he is mature enough to know that this Lois isn't his Lois, but they also show his difficulty in dealing with that. I liked the bond he seemed to be forming with Jonathan. And I liked how he came along to be an ally with Superman.

The Cushings are ok. They play an important part in the season with Sarah Cushing being Jordan's love interest and Kyle being a big part of the how the villain story begins, with Lana also being a major character in the story. All three actors are excellent but Kyle does have the stereotypical doucheyness which was a little annoying for the first 10 episodes, however he does redeem himself in the final arc. I hope Lana gets to be a bit more active in the show because she does feel like a bit passive as a character. However, I did find that Sarah and Jordan romance actually pretty cute. Both actors did a nice job making them feel like awkward teenagers, dancing around their feelings for each other. Sam Lane is another character who starts out pretty unlikable but I warmed up to him by the end.

Where I think the show doesn't really work at full strength is the superheroic aspect of the show. The character drama in the show is great. I think it works gangbusters. The superhero plot of it all is a little meh. While Adam Rayner is perfectly fine as Edge/Tal-Rho, as a character he's just not that interesting. There is an interesting perspective there that he's sort of a mirror image to Clark where he got mistreated by people when he landed on Earth and that is how his worldview shaped that way, and he longed for family, but there isn't enough done on a character level with him. As a result, the last third of the season was a little iffy. The whole, build Krypton on Earth felt like a variation of Zod's plot in Man of Steel. The method is different but the eventual outcome is the same. I also don't know why all Kryptonians, apart from Lara, are homicidal maniacs, when they are said to be a peaceful race. The arc also becomes repetitive because there are like three climaxes. And I feel the finale was the weakest climax of the lot. Episode 10 or 12 would have served as better finales with a little tweaking. If I remember correctly, the original order was for 13 episodes and it got extended to 15, so this might be an explanation to why it feels this way. The action is fairly by the numbers. While it looks like there is clearly more money on display here than say for Supergirl or The Flash, the action scenes aren't particularly exciting or inventive.

While I am not super high on the finale, I am mostly happy with how things wrapped up. I think they should have had Tal-Rho die tragically because I really don't think he's interesting enough to be brought back again. The arrival of Natalie Irons will surely be a source of some emotionally charged scenes. i hope there is some character bonding between the her and the brothers. Jonathan seemed pretty interested in meeting her when he saw videos of her. I do wonder how the show will continue to incorporate Smallville as a setting. Season 1 obviously had a very specific plot based reason to be in Smallville, given Edge's plot was based in Smallville. But I can't imagine every big bad will have Smallville based plot. But the characters are all settled in Smallville, with the Cushings and Lois buy half the Gazette and running it with Christy. So that's going to be an interesting balancing act that they have to do. I hope they can bring in some traditional superheroics as well because Superman rogues gallery is rich enough. Out of the episodes, I think 6-8 were my favorites, and the flashbacks in episode 11 were incredibly charming. While the season is not flawless I don't think it completely nailed the superheroic heights that it was aiming for, it was a really entertaining season of tv. An 8/10 for me.

[solar-pxwered]

A List Of Norman Reedus Movies/Shows I Have Seen And My Opinions On Them

1. The Boondock Saints

The Best. A classic. Bloody and inappropriate and if I remember my count correctly, contains 194 “fucks” or variations of it (this movie certainly illustrates the diversity of the word). Terrible Irish accents. A KICKASS soundtrack. Willem DeFoe crossdressing. Dropping toilets on people’s heads. Over the top action sequences. Cheesy dialogue. Campy as fuck. I freakin’ love it.

2. The Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day

Some people didn’t like this one as much as the first one, and I admit that I wasn’t as fond of the new detective in this one as I was of Smecker...but, overall, I really enjoyed it and I drove 2 hours to see it in theaters. I love Romeo more than Rocco. The humor was on point. It was nice to see the original actors for Doc, Dolly, Duffy and Greenley. There was more terrible Irish accents, another KICKASS soundtrack, cheesy dialogue, over the top action sequences, still campy as fuck. I freaking love it.

3. The Walking Dead

Cannot even describe how much I love this show. I have ALWAYS loved zombie related shows and movies so this show was right up my alley from the very beginning all the way back in 2010. I watched it religiously every Sunday. I adore this roller coaster ride of a show and I especially adore Daryl, Carol and Jerry. This show has it all: Comedy, drama (hella lots of that), tragedy and triumph...and it never fails to pulls me in and hold my interest.

4. Mimic

Honestly, I saw this a LONG time ago and I hated it because...well, because I have a cockroach phobia, ok?! Don’t judge. Norman’s part was pretty small, not one of his lasting impressions on me.

5. Six Ways To Sunday

This is a weird one. It’s about an overly innocent 18 year (played by Norman) who gets involved in the Mob and develops an alter ego that’s violent and his complete opposite. There’s murder, prostitutes and good ol’ fashioned mother-son incest and it wasn’t a movie I suggest for the lighthearted or anyone with those sort of triggers. 

That being said, I watched the whole thing and didn’t hate it. It was just uncomfortable...as seems to be a theme with Norman Reedus movies.

6. Dark Harbor

This fucking movie...

Ok, so, I’ll be straight with you: I really enjoyed this dumbass movie. It had me guessing right up to the very end and it took me on a very strange ride along the way. 

If watching someone sexually feed a woman a poisonous mushroom, lots of dark eyed staring scenes or Norman Reedus making out with Alan Rickman is your thing, then go for it. 

7. Let the Devil Wear Black

It’s modern Hamlet. What else is there to say? If you like Hamlet, you’ll like this movie. If you like pre-car accident, baby face Reedus with the black hair, you’ll like this movie. I liked it.

8. 8MM

You know what the best thing about this movie is? Nicholas Cage. He steals the damn show no matter what movie he’s in and no one can even deny that fact. Norman’s part in this one is pretty small too but I liked this movie anyway because...well, Nick Cage. Enough said.

9. Bad Seed

I honestly can’t remember how this movie ends, all I remember was that it wasn’t at all how I expected it. I liked this movie because it’s a psychological thriller and that’s my most favorite genre of all time. The movie’s premise is a guy suspects his wife of having an affair and comes home one night and finds her murdered so he goes after her lover (Reedus) to try and kill him because he believes he was the one who killed her. It’s a cat and mouse chase sort of thing...now I need to rewatch it because I can’t, for the life of me, remember how it ends.

10. Gossip

Ok, no JOKE, this is the best movie I ever randomly discovered and I can’t believe how many people have never heard of it! It’s got some big names in it (Lena Headey, Norman Reedus, James Marsden and Kate Hudson to name a few).

It’s a psychological thriller/mystery drama in which three friends start a rumor at their school as a social experiment for their class. The rumor grows, however, and suddenly it’s out of their hands and spiraling out of control. People start getting hurt, reputations get dragged through the mud and then it escalates to the point of someone losing their life. The three main characters {Reedus, Headey and Marsden) try to figure out the truth behind the out of control rumors and discover more than they ever imagined, or ever wanted.

I HIGHLY recommend this movie. I really, REALLY do. The ending is one of the best twists I’ve seen in a LONG time.

11. The Beatnicks

This movie is so weird. It’s like...it’s just really weird. It revolves around two beat poets who find a magic box that somehow magically helps them get good at being poets but it’s like...an evil box and so they decide to only use it once and then get rid of it. Yeah, it’s a weird movie. Not my highest suggestion.

12. Blade II

Ok, if you’ve never seen the Blade Trilogy then I just don’t even know what to tell you. 

My favorite of the three movies, Blade 2 gives us the glorious Reedus character of Scud, the pot smoking, horrible-shirt-wearing, mechanical genius and Blade’s sidekick. Not only is he precious and adorable, the movie in all is enjoyable and has a fun rave-esque soundtrack. 

The one thing I hate? *SPOILER ALERT* Scud’s scummy betrayal.

13. Tough Luck

This is another one of those movies that I liked but it’s just so freaking weird. 

It’s a psychological drama where a down on his luck con artist, Archie (Reedus), tries to rip off a carnival worker and gets caught. As punishment, he’s hired to work at the carnival  to pay off the debt. He gets involved in a scheme to murder the owner’s wife, but falls in love with her in the process.

Things go to shit. He gets the short end of the stick. More plots and lies develop. It’s all twisted until the end and the answers fall into place.

I really like this movie, it’s one that I kept and still have my copy of. 

A word of warning though, never leave this movie on your movie shelf for your father to find and watch while you’re away at college, resulting in your mother calling you and asking you why you have such a nasty movie. Because the sex scene at the end is OUTRAGEOUS. I mean, it is the FUNNIEST fucking sex scene I have ever seen in my life and I can’t ever watch it without cringing and laughing. My mother, however, didn’t think it was funny at all and my father was too shocked to even form a sentence.

I highly suggest this trippy as hell movie.

14. Octane

Ok, to be fair, this movie is actually alright, although Norman’s character gets the shittiest death possible. I mean, imagine dying because some psycho vampire kisses you and bites your tongue out. That’s one shitty death.

But, overall, this is a good thriller. Johnathan Rhys Meyers plays the villain and he’s always pretty quality. The story is basically a teenager has a disagreement with her mom and gets picked up by this drugged up, blood sucking, vampire wannabe cult and indoctrinated joining them. Her mother joins up with a tow truck driver (Reedus) whose daughter was also kidnapped years ago and who has been hunting the cult down ever since. 

It was a cringe filled, yet interesting, movie and I didn’t hate it.

15. John Carpenter’s Cigarette Burns

This is John Carpenter....OF COURSE I liked this one. 

I won’t say what it’s about because that would ruin the story, but it’s part of an anthology and John Carpenter loved Norman’s role so much he STILL talks about it today and suggests Norman to people in the industry.

It’s a good one if you’re into horror shorts or anthologies or the genius of the legend that is John Carpenter.

16. A Crime

I had completely forgotten about this movie until I started making this post, but now that I remember...I REALLY liked this one!!

This is a pretty sad one, but it was very good and Norman’s acting in it is absolutely wonderful. His character’s wife was murdered and the suspect was never found so his neighbor, who really likes him, creates a fake culprit so that he can finally get some closure. 

This is a good one. I suggest this one if you’re in the mood for a strange sort of romance movie that has underlying thriller tones.

17. Moscow Chill

I remember watching this one, and I remember enjoying it, but I honestly can’t remember anything about it except that it’s a Russian film in which Norman plays a computer hacker who gets hired to hack into a Russian bank and gets caught and put in prison. But I honestly can’t remember what happens in detail.

If you like foreign movies with hacking and subterfuge plots, then give it a try because I do remember enjoying it while I watched.

18. Red Canyon

This one is kinda fucked up. Imagine Daryl Dixon mixed with Breaking Bad mixed with Deliverance and you’ve pretty much got the story...

A brother and sister return to their mother’s hometown to settle things and put their horrible past behind them...but upon returning they end up reliving the nightmare all over again.

It’s a good thriller/horror watch, but there are scenes of sexual violence so if that’s not something you can handle, then don’t watch this one.

19. Hero Wanted

This. Is. A. GOOD. Movie.

Cuba Gooding Jr. is the lead and he does an AMAZING job. Gooding’s character is a garbage man who falls in love with a girl who never takes any notice of him. To get her attention, he stages a heist in which he is supposed to jump in, save the day, and win the girl...only the heist turns out to be real and he is shot and the girl is also shot in the process. He sets out for revenge and gets in way over his head.

Norman’s part in this isn’t very big...but HOLY SHIT, was it impactful. His character didn’t have a lot of screen time, in comparison to a lot of other people, but he had a solid backstory and reason for being involved and MY GOD did I cry about it. This was actually the first movie of his I watched AFTER discovering Boondock Saints and it solidified my love for his acting abilities.

A very good watch. Highly suggest.

20. Messengers 2: The Scarecrow

This one is pretty ok, actually, as far as lame horror movies go. 

The plot is simple: Blonde, beardy, corn farmer Norman gets slowly driven insane by the haunted scarecrow in his field that he thinks putting up is a good idea for some damn reason. He starts to get more and more violent and rapey as time goes on until his family is forced to take up arms against him.

It’s not bad. Second part in what I THINK is a trilogy? I’ve only ever seen the first two. If you like horror movies then this one is a good watch. As I mentioned though, there is an attempted rape scene in this one so just be aware.

21: Pandorum

It’s an alien movie. Astronauts run into a species that is stronger and hungry for tasty humans. Shepard (Norman’s character) doesn’t make it out alive. If you’re not in the mood to see Norman get LITERALLY gutted or other characters get nommed by aliens, then don’t watch.

If you ARE, then go ahead and watch, because it was pretty alright.

[thedreadvampy]

I'm not trying to be combative but your most recent post about brown jon really rubbed be the wrong way. Though less common, there *are* black Jons, in my experience, and plenty more south east asian Jons. Though I will admit they are less immediately recognizable, they are still Jon. The biggest difference is unlike the majority of other characters without a canonical race, Jon's default is not white. You can dislike fanon, but you've taken protest with a very specific piece of it.

I didn't say they weren't there, I said I hadn't (knowingly) seen them. I will freely agree that I've picked a pretty bad hill to die on here and I'm struggling to express myself clearly - whether that's because I'm tired and not able to properly focus on what I'm saying it whether it's just that my perspective legitimately just doesn't hold up and I haven't quite come to terms with that yet, I couldn't say.

Fundamentally while I have more of an issue with the fanon version of, say, Martin than with the fanon version of Jon, I a) have seen more variations on the theme of Martin and b) honestly given the past tendency of fandom to normalise at 'chubby-cute short white mlm w sweater vests and bow ties and glasses' I just sort of went 'ugh yeah that tracks'. Thinking about it, yeah, I HAVE zoomed in on Jon partially because it's unusual for fanon to default to something outside of whiteness, but it's not (as far as I'm aware) that I think it SHOULDN'T default to anything but white, I am just surprised by it, which is why I have felt like I'm missing some key piece of information. And a big part of that is that prior to this White Jon conversation, the vast majority of TMA fandom that I individually have come into contact with have been white. Now that this conversation is happening, and now that I'm on Tumblr and just seeing a lot MORE TMA content, I am coming to realise that it was very shortsighted to extrapolate from that to the fandom at large, but my initial reaction was very much in the context of white fanartists. So my confusion and frustration has been - why this character specifically? What am I missing? And because of that it felt very arbitrary, and the more I'm thinking about it and taking about it the more I'm feeling the weight of my irritation with WTNV fandom from back in the day come in. Because like my outsize reaction isn't just in reference to other characters in TMA fandom (grabbing a shovel as I prepare to dig myself deeper) - it's an accumulation of years of frustration that characters that to me were almost explicitly, or actually explicitly, not white have been being drawn as white as standard for years, but all these white fans can agree as an almost absolute baseline that Jon isn't white? and they can make that decision with no canonical backing and often without really knowing why themselves, but FitzChivalry is white and Cecil Palmer is white and Lyra is white and so on despite being explicitly/semi-canonically described as non-white and/or played by non-white actors and/or being more substantially coded as something other than white? So YES the specific frustration behind me making an arse of myself about Jon is not separate from the fact that he's a rare example of a consistent fanon that isn't white for no reason, but my reaction, at least consciously, isn't "he shouldn't be brown because white is default" it's "why is THIS the character that's brown by default when so many characters implied to be people of colour somehow end up white by default?" because as I've said to ME Jon reads as definitely white (and some of that's based on things in actual canon and let's be honest most of that's based on the fact that it's............Jonny......... who's Very White....and for me as someone who came into this as a Friend Podcast that's kinda hard to shake).

so I will say I have handled this pretty exceptionally poorly largely because the uh. the default whiteness certainly is informed by my own bias in that I have assumed I'm talking as a white person to white people which. um. is not so, because obviously it isn't. I'm not about to sit here and pretend I can categorically say how much of this is what I think it is and how much is unacknowledged racism on my part. 🤷‍♀�� I would say I pretty much assume that it's both.

Also I do want to apologise, both to you and to anybody else, for the long rambles. I really don't think in succinct ways and I want to think about this stuff as much as it merits, but I'm aware that I'm largely making the problem worse for everyone when I wrote these big long self-centred answers so. I am sorry about that (I would cut it but I'm on mobile)

[overthinkingkdrama]

Exit Review: When The Camellia Blooms

Synopsis

Dong Baek is a single mother running a small bar called "Camellia" in the village of Ongsan. She is pretty, softhearted and smiles easily, but because of her status and her job she is ostracized and mistreated by the people who live there. Since she's had a string of rotten luck and misfortune since childhood, she considers this pretty much par for course. She's never known what it's like to be treasured, but lavishes all of her love on her son.

One day, simple-minded busybody cop, Hwang Yong Shik, moves back to his hometown of Ongsan from Seoul and falls precipitously in love with Dong Baek at first sight. He then proceeds to make a nuisance of himself around her bar, because all he wants to do is spend time with her and protect her from their nosy, judgmental neighbors. At first Dong Baek is confused and annoyed by all the attention Yong Shik's infatuation brings, but as she spends time with him she finds herself increasingly disarmed by this guileless, straightforward young man who seems to adore her without any reservation.

Complications ensue from all sides, but especially when Dong Baek's ex, Kang Jong Ryul --who since their break up has become a famous baseball player and reality star--shows up in town and begins to show an interest in their son's life.

Oh, and also there's a serial killer for some reason.

Review

Story: The plot of When the Camellia Blooms is unfocused at best, at worst it is completely all over the place. But it was clear from very early on that it had no intention of being a tightly plotted and paced narrative but rather a shotgun spray of character pieces about community, humanity and parenthood scattered across the village of Ongsan. As a ensemble piece I think this drama largely succeeds, although there was a good portion of the characters that I didn't care for or could have done with a lot less of. (Jong Ryul and Gyu Tae in particular come to mind.) However, because of the lack of focus at times the show seems to meander with no clear sense of direction.

I know I harp on tone issues in dramas frequently, and if any drama would at face value seem guilty of that sin WTCB seems like a flagrant offender. However, something about how up and down and everywhere the drama was worked for me in terms of tone. Putting the small town gossip circle right next to the violent serial killer plot almost struck me as a stoke of brilliance. At least I felt like we were on the very edge of an epiphany. Because, in many ways, that contrast may have--and I do emphasize may have--been the point. That petty, shallow, silly people with good intentions and maybe not a lot of brains, live right next door to twisted, evil, calculating people. That all of us are kind of in this together, and as Yong Shik rather brilliantly says "we out number you" you being the evil people. While the bad is always with us, there's a silver lining with it, and a certain humor and absurdity to life that we can laugh at together if we have the sense to see it.

Acting: I think it's really the veteran cast that carries this drama. Especially Lee Jung Eun (who plays Dong Baek's mother) manages to do a lot of the emotional heavy lifting for the drama in a way that I appreciated but didn't expect.

For me, the stand out performance in the main cast was Kang Ha Neul as Yong Shik, a character who, in the hands of a lesser actor, might have been too frustrating for me to watch, but he somehow turned into a really appealing and charming male lead even though he wasn't the smartest or smoothest guy around.

I thought Gong Hyo Jin was just fine as Dong Baek, but I couldn't shake the awareness throughout that I was watching Gong Hyo Jin and that on top of that I've seen other dramas in which I liked her better. Gong Hyo Jin isn't really one of those actresses who disappears into a role. Especially in dramas. She seems to essentially play variations on herself. There's nothing particularly wrong with that, but when that's the case then it's even more incumbent on the writing to give us something to hold on to and to love about the character. I felt like WTCB got a lot of mileage out of how likable Gong Hyo Jin is as a person, and didn't necessarily hold up its end writing-wise to earn her previously banked audience good will. But hell, this might just be me.

All this being said, many of the characters are quite cartoonish and over the top. The drama has a distinctly comedic bent, despite some of the heavy subject matter. This is not a collection of subtle, restrained performances.

Production: WTCB nails the small-town homeliness of Ongsan. I think all the sets look great. A little ugly and rundown, cluttered and lived in, but colorful and alive. From the marinated crab restaurants with their giant plaster crabs hanging outside, to the small town police station, to the baseball pitch, and especially in the shabby warehouse interior of Camellia that Dong Baek has done everything in her power to make feel inviting--with questionable success. This drama has a retro-feel without actually being a period piece. It’s something that I tend to really enjoy about dramas that are set outside of Seoul. I think the feel of the production earned the drama a lot of good will from me. 

I liked the way this drama looked and felt to watch overall. Although I could have done without some of the black and white “thriller” sequences that started and ended episodes in the beginning of the run. I thought they just made the tonal shifts between the humor and the crime elements feel even more jarring.

Feels: WTCB is a sentimental, feel-good show that overstays its welcome. I say this a lot, but this drama could have stood to be shorter. I think 16 episodes would have been more than enough to tell the story they were trying to tell and would have spared the audience some of the more repetitive and frustrating character arcs. (Initially I had sympathy for Jong Ryul’s character, for instance, but then he just wouldn’t go away. And every one of his scenes filled me with increasing irritation.) Some character arcs were artfully handled, but because the show frequently didn’t seem to know what kind of story it wanted to tell, the arcs that were weaker really stood out.

All that being said, WTCB handled a few choice emotional beats incredibly well. Without spoiling anything too much there is an episode later in the run that is structured around a certain character’s last interactions with a series of people before a calamity happens. The audience has already been let in on the secret at this point. We know what’s about to happen, and that lends a poignancy and pathos to this character that they didn’t previously have. Suddenly things that would otherwise be trivial seem significant. It’s a really fine example of television writing, and it’s almost worth watching all on its own. (Hopefully this isn’t too vague to be understood.)

At times Dong Baek’s downtrodden damsel shtick gets a little bit much, and it’s hard to tell if it’s being played for humor or if the writer isn’t actually in on the joke. But it’s satisfying when she stands up for herself and goes after what she wants. The handling of the central romance, surprisingly, worked for me even though I was skeptical of Yong Shik in the beginning. I was particularly impressed by the plot line involving Dong Baek’s relationship with her mother. That was the relationship that I think rang truest and that the drama got the most mileage out of. It was also the only one that nearly made me cry at points. WTCB also has a really exultant and life-affirming finale. It wrapped the whole drama up well and ended it on a high note, which lord knows is a hard enough thing to do in dramaland on its own.

Would I recommend When The Camellia Blooms? It would probably depend on the type of drama watcher I was talking to, but I think for the right kind of person WTCB would be just the thing. 7/10

[fussingoverfassbender]

Michael Fassbender & James McAvoy Interview

Source: Moviestar 02/19 (174) June 2019 (Germany) Interview by Claudia-Janet Kaller Translated by fussingoverfassbender I apologise for any mistakes.

Finally it’s here, we had to wait a long time for it: Dark Phoenix, the story about the final transformation of the young mutants into the X-team as we know it. The dark phoenix let us wait, but comes back with a impact which lets us forget that. After the presentation of the first completely finished scenes, Claudia-Janet Kaller had the possibility, thanks to 20th Century Fox, to talk to James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender for Moviestar in London.

Moviestar: How much of the movie have you seen so far? James: Nothing! Absolutely nothing! I only know the trailer that was released one week ago. Michael: I only know the trailer too. But it’s still very soon, which means they are still working on most scenes. It’s always like that at this kind of film. MS: Okay, but in the trailer you look good! James: (laughs loudly) Fantastic! I actually always look good in trailers, but I love hearing it again! That’s the goal of every film - looking good in the trailer! Michael: (nearly rolling in the aisles) Right! Super trailer performance, James! MS: Does that also count for the trailers in which you gotta wait before the next scene is filmed? Michael: (keeps laughing) Hey, good joke! Trailer and trailer! James: You mean the trailers we hang out in? Michael: (won’t stop laughing) Have you got another trailer; James? James: (chunters) All right! Michael: No, seriously, I don’t like watching trailers! I also dislike reading reviews or summaries. In the end everybody has their own opinion. I may like things that others don’t. I like watching films completely unprepared. I wanna be surprised, wanna discover the film for myself or find it bad. That 100% film experience is very important to me, because I don’t have much time going to the theatre.

MS: How do you pick the movies you’re watching? Michael: I mostly read about who made the film, what kind of film it is, where it’s set, and what else is on. It’s often also the theatre I select. Is it a small arthouse cinema, it’s certain from the beginning that I won’t watch a blockbuster there. MS: Why are you doing it like that? Michael: The reason I do it like that is an easy one. Years ago I’ve read a review about The Big Lebowski. The critics had given it barely three out of five stars. Then the film was released on DVD and I finally saw it. To me, The Big Lebowski would have deserved more than five stars, until today it is still one of my favourite films. James: I agree on that! Many reviews annoy me. Because often the critics haven’t seen the film, but write reviews as if they knew it. Some magazines only rewrite preexisting texts, also not very thorough. There might be many reasons for that, but it rather damages the film instead of helping it. Michael: What I also dislike with trailers is that you already see too many things that happen in the film. People always speculate wildly then. Each shadow or glimmer of light is getting analysed... MS: Let’s talk about this fourth joint movie; is this the movie where Erik Lehnsherr and Charles Xavier go separate ways in the end? James: Wasn’t that already the last one? Michael: No, there I helped rebuilding the completely destroyed house. James: Oh right! Thanks for that, by the way, or else the X-Men wouldn’t have had a house this time. Michael: See, I’m important for the X-Men! James: (laughs again) Yes, so the characters are still talking with each other. We’re in the 90s now, so I probably send Erik e-mails. Michael: (laughs too) No, I don’t think so. WiFi didn’t exist yet. More like letters in bottles from Professor Xavier. MS: It looks like Magneto is repairing cars on a junkyard, doesn’t it? Michael: (laughs) Sure, I love repairing cars! There so much metal in them, it’s one of my easiest exercises. Each twisted car, Magneto bends it back. No, seriously, Erik has established Genosha in the meantime. We - Magneto and other mutants - live in that independent nation for people who feel unwanted or are refugees. As long as those people blend in the group and work harmonically there for the community of Genosha, it is their home. MS: Does that only count for people with special powers, or also for those without? Michael: A justified question, I’ve been thinking about that too. That is surely the shadow-side of Genosha. It’s a pure mutant haven. While Professor X stands more for the mutants integration with the humans, Erik is the one who rather stays among mutants. He has experienced so many bad things with humans, he doesn’t trust them anymore. At this point of time, he has nothing against cooperating with humans, but that’s it. In the end he wants to keep both groups separated. That’s what’s so fascinating about this comic area, we can talk openly about topics such as building walls, separation, etc. In my eyes it’s very important, especially now that everything somewhat starts to separate, dissociate, building walls, etc. It may sound strange, but if there is something those fantasy-films serve as well, it’s surely to talk about such recurring phenomenons and to point the finger at them. One can only hope that many young people will watch that film and understand what such dissociations can cause. We have to watch out what happens to us and how we are being manipulated! To capture that zeitgeist has always been the strength of all X-Men films. I think it’s good we did it again. MS: You’ve known each other for more than ten yours through that work? Michael: Longer! James: If I calculate correctly, it’s been twenty years. But that really does sound like a long time... MS: What was your chemistry on set this time? Michael: Terrible! There barely was any! James: Yes, really terrible! We barely worked together, were almost always separated. I had my school, my mutants, and my problems. Erik had Genosha, his mutants, and his problems. Michael: (laughs again) Yes, we only met during lunch oder between the studios. Short Hello and how are you, nothing more. During X-Men: Apocalypse it was better, we were stuck on a mountain for two weeks. James: (laughs too) Right! You looked like a glamrockstar! While I looked like I had come straight out of Miami Vice, with the light suit and dark shirts. Bald Sonny Crocket! MS: Okay, let’s ask like this: what was the mood like among the entire cast? Any accidents? James: None, actually. Except that I got Josh (one of the doctors in the movie) so badly that his skin broke open. He was bleeding and had to be treated. I got in trouble with his then-fiancée, who is now his wife. I didn’t want to harm him. Unfortunately it happened. She was seriously mad at me. Michael: So you weren’t invited to the wedding? James: Right, I wasn’t invited. MS: X-Men will be part of the MCU now, what to do you think of that? Michael: What is the MCU? I only know MC Hammer and “Can’t touch this”...do we go on tour with MC Hammer now? MS: No, MCU is the abbreviation for Marvel Cinematic Universe; Iron Man VS Magneto or something... Michael: Who might win there? The answer is very easy: Magneto! I will totally twist the guy. That iron guy against Magneto? No fair fight! Two seconds, a very short film! Iron Man will look like a squashed can. James: I wanna see that! MS: What’s the message of Dark Phoenix? Something evil is in everyone of us? Michael: I actually don’t like the word ‘evil’ because I don’t always know what exactly that is. People who achieve the unbelievable can at the same time be horrible psychopaths privately. As an actor I rather orientate myself by positive thoughts or negative views. I can handle that better. I understand that better. I don’t understand ‘evil’ as the umbrella term. It’s a drawer where you put the things in that you can’t or don’t want to explain. If you ask, though, if there are two personalitites in every one of us, then my answer is Yes. To me, there is light and darkness in everybody. In some more than in the others, that’s what makes us who we are. MS: James, you have experience with many different personalities in one person... James: Right! There’s a film of me running in which I give a good sample of when there is a lot of darkness, only a bit light, and that in a lot of variations. But that’s a different film! MS: How did it feel to revisit the 90s? Michael: I prefer the 80s! James: Right, but I found it cool. This X-Men film is down-to-earth. Simon wanted it that way, and I like that. Michael: For example, I don’t wear that superhero outfit anymore. Only the helmet is left. James: Which was great for you! MS: Professor Xavier looks more like a rockstar in the trailer? James: A bit. Charles is definitely more possessed by things, got problems, without telling too much. You can say he is less the leader of a social group, than he is of a politically motivated one. That shows specifically when he sends his family, the other X-Men, into a fight. A fight they actually can’t survive. He is ready to sacrifice his family members for his views and his matter. That’s new and inevitably leads to huge tensions with the other X-Men. MS: Which automatically makes Magneto the man who wouldn’t do that, right? Michael: Right! The man you can suddenly identify yourself with more. I’m not allowed to say more, though!!! MS: So this time Magneto is the one who’s right? James: No, Charles is always right! Michael: Not true! You see, rockstar-attitude! He thinks he’s always right! MS: Alright, I’m getting the sign for the last question. Can you say that the term Phoenix has to be understood mythologically? Michael: Hm. As if the film begins good and then turns into dust? MS: No, more like Jean Grey as a person turns into ash due to the accident in space, disappears. Through which the Dark Phoenix rises, the dark side of her personality gains the upper hand. But during the course of the movie Jean learns throught he other X-Men to deal with her powers, so that in the end the real phoenix will rise from the ashes? Michael: I’m not saying it’s wrong! Mythology is always good! James: I’m not saying it’s wrong, either! I like your explanation!