#I don't know what it is about the line delivery but it made me crack up so bad

[sbd-laytall]

[chiarrara]

the core idea i'm working with concerning the jjk finale discourse is that people are mad about the wrong things.

I have had serious problems with the writing in jjk since at least shibuya, and I even found criticism in the hidden inventory arc and the sister school exchange arc (though the main problem there is that it was boring pre-disaster curses and the characters suck).

Similar to Game of Thrones, some people were criticizing the broken writing choices as far back as seasons 3 and 4 while most people were glazing the series until the cracks in the foundation caused the entire story to crumble right at the end, leaving most of the fanbase confused how it "suddenly" got so bad.

The commonly held sentiment is that JJK fell off after Shibuya. I disagree. I think it fell off during Shibuya where the entire worldbuilding, power system, and plot broke irreparably.

HOWEVER where JJK never fell off was in character writing, relationship writing, and the overall themes of the story which were all consistent, had strong throughlines, were well integrated into the action (another strength), and were in my opinion, the core appeal of the the entire project.

And yet, most of what I hear people complaining about is either a) missing or dissatisfying character moments and a lack of satisfying exploration of the themes, or b) contradictory outrage over plot and worldbuilding elements not lining up as if these issues haven't been there from the start.

I know a lot of people don't operate this way, but when there are fundamental problems with the storytelling, but there are other parts of the story that I find incredibly meaningful and impactful, I find it really easy to glaze over those problems and even justify and rewrite them in my head so they make more sense. When good character writing shows up in JJK, I stop caring that the plot sucks.

The finale chapters of JJK had amazing character writing, delivered on the main themes of the story, and made literally all the broken plot elements, lack of focus, and shoddy worldbuilding secondary concerns for me. They don't break the important parts of the story, I don't care that they aren't wrapped up because I didn't like them in the first place, and their lack of exploration just cedes more ground to fan creation allowing the story to thrive for years into the future.

If you were reading JJK for the complicated plot, complex scheming, or intricate worldbuilding, I can see why you're upset, but you made a mistake a long time ago because that stuff has sucked for ages. But I know most of you fuckers on this website were reading for good characters, impactful themes about love, and yaoi bait, so why are you mad????? I really don't get it.

Who cares that the shittily written American Military subplot didn't come back? The fucking basis of the power system doesn't make any sense and isn't well thought out, so how was it ever going to deliver on the solution/potential for cursed energy? You're mad that the random New Shadow School subplot was randomly thrown in at the end, I've been mad since that random fucking grasshopper showed up in the fucking subway!

And some of you are literally admitting YOU DIDN'T EVEN READ THE TRANSLATED CHAPTERS so how would you KNOW if the story themes and character writing had been delivered on? based on summaries? that is the absolute worst delivery system for a story, you have to know this. you're getting mad at machine translations of out of context pages like WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT.

In conclusion, most of you are mad at the wrong things and none of what I wrote up there is really about what the things you should be mad about are, because they don't matter. The point of a story is to mean something and JJK did. It was always good at what it was good at, and I wish people were engaging more with the story in it's own domain instead of being mad it wasn't exactly what they wanted it to be. The finale delivered on everything that made me care about this story. It made me love it even more, and I'm never going to regret spending so much time on this series. Everything else is just criticism for fun.

[theflyindutchwoman]

Alright, time for a new question: what are your favorite Tim Bradford quotes/lines of dialogue?

Ooooh I love and hate this so much haha! I just know I am for sure going to miss so many iconic lines…

. "You can choose to see that tattoo as your greatest failure. But I see it as proof that you're a survivor. It wasn't your day of death, Officer Chen. It was the first day, of the rest of your life. And no one can take that away from you". (2.12) I could quote the whole scene really, but that part is just so beautiful. From the way Tim was opening up about his own scars to his words of encouragement to Lucy, trying to empower her… to give her a new perspective and make her see herself through his eyes… This will forever be one of my favourite moment ever.

. "You know me so well. Too well." (2.11) Did you all really think that I wasn't going to quote Day of Death? Come on. That line is iconic and I absolutely love that it has been repeated one way or another throughout the show. This sums up Tim & Lucy's relationship perfectly. (Bonus - "What's a BTS?")

. "You don't let anyone ever tell you you can't do something. Not even me." (3.09) Again with the empowerment… it was the perfect way to end this chapter of their partnership for me.

. "I found you because of your ring, okay? You saved yourself." (3.01) In the same vein… I had to add this one to the list. I just love how Tim always make sure to remind Lucy how she saved herself, how she is a survivor. She wouldn't have made it out alive without the team but they wouldn't have found her in time without the clue she left behind either.

. “For what? Doing my job?” (1.11) I just love how this was one of the first times Tim showed Lucy his softer side… and the way she was able to throw back his line at him later on was simply perfect.

. "I’m who I am in spite of you. […] The Tim Tests -- those don't make me like him." (4.09) I was so worried for a moment with this storyline, that the writers were going to have Tim forgive his father so that line was exactly what was needed. And Eric's delivery was so powerful. I could really feel all the anger, the distress, the grief… and the fear, the need to hear the confirmation that he really isn't anything like his father.

. "Unless it is" (5.08) Tim being ready to take a leap of faith despite all the previous hurt was really something amazing to watch (and this hurts so much now).

. "Are you ashamed of your baby? […] Okay, then who cares what your stupid friends think? Show off that baby belly. Wear what you feel confident in." (3.10) That scene was so amazing for so many reasons but that part is one of the best lines from the show.

. "You could never disappoint me." (6.03) Lucy needed to hear these words so much after everything… And while I am sad that there was no real follow up, I'm glad that we still got that little scene.

. "You deserve to be recognized." (4.18) This one hits even harder after that whole detective exam… but it still is one of my favorite scene.

. "If you get dispatched to a loud party, make sure they know you're not the stripper" (4.05) Sorry Tim! But this one never ceases to crack me up! What I wouldn't give to see this scene play out in the show…

. "We accept Wesley because we fear Lopez." (4.15) Somewhere Angela was nodding along…

. "I am unwilling to let fear make me do something I’ll be ashamed of in the light of day." (1.15) It was such a great insight into Tim's character.

. "Hunkiness? That's not even a word." (2.17) Oh Tim… Jealous, much?!

[jacksprostate]

f Narrator wanting to murder maim mutilate m marla.. or marla/ male marla and narrator/f narrator worsties/besties. or marla/male marla and tyler… or anything with marla/ male marla..

Marlon called me, interrupted me at work, and he said he had a bruise. He said I needed to come and look at it right away, because he needed to know.

This was him, asking me, pounded flank steak, to look and tell him the nature of his bruise.

Marlon hasn't had health insurance in years, so he tries not to think about it, usually. It's easy, since there's no difference when you have health insurance. It's old hat.

But today, he thought about it.

And he noticed a bruise.

So I'm walking up to the Regent hotel after work, and he's in the lobby in his limp little tank top. He'd call it a wifebeater and imagine himself in place of the wife, I'm sure. I wonder if he isn't cold all the time. Mr. Marlon Singer, such a masochist just so he can show off his skeletal body with all the cigarette burns I have to hear him and Tyler laughing over.

I am Jane's abnormal hemorrhoid development.

He doesn't mention what Tyler and I stole from him, even though I think it was all the cash he had. Even though just three days ago he tried to chase me around the house and beat me with a broom. He made me and Tyler go sleep in the junkyard. Buried under our furs, howling at the moon. Maybe I can't fault him for that.

He couldn't keep it here where the guys he brings back could get at it, he said, and sure. But he should've known better than to tell Tyler about it, because now it's bags upon bags of lye being kept in the driest room in the house.

I work on grinding cracks into my remaining teeth as he grabs his neighbors Agatha and Dianne's Meals on Wheels kits. The delivery lady remarks on what a good young man Marlon must be, helping out these old ladies. Oh, yeah. A real, upstanding, mummified rat of a man. Maybe he helped them into the ditch. He yaps at me the entire walk up to his room, and I don't hear a word as I methodically rip up the skin around Tyler's kiss on my hand with a broken nail. It's been infected since Tuesday, and the ring of puffy red flesh makes the ghost of her lips white like the center of a neon tube. Always buzzing.

We get to his room, he says to me, "One of these boxes is for you, you know."

I think about all the women who bother to use what little time they have to operate charities that keep the poor and destitute alive enough to want to kill themselves. All that time spent cooking mac and cheese en masse and putting little packets of powdered milk next to little cartons of the liquid, like they get at schools and prisons, packets that can only be opened by the nimble fingers of caring relatives these elderly recipients do not have.

Sure.

Tyler told me I need to be eating at least two meals a day, or she'd steal a blender and make me drink raw chicken. So I eat the Meals on Wheels box. Sorry Agatha. I rip open the powdered milk packet, dump it into the carton, hold it closed, and shake it. Twice the calories. A recipe for palliative care.

Marlon's sitting there, quiet, eating Dianne's latest last meal. All the urgency is gone. Sucked dry. He's got pallor like a hospice heart failure. When dogs get treated for heartworms, the worms die, and sometimes, not all of them break apart. Sometimes, there will be thin, dead cords of necrotized nematode strung through their heart waiting for the right beat to fall apart and clot a vital artery. This can take years to happen. Your pet recovers perfectly from treatment until seven years down the line, you give it a doggy cupcake and a pulmonary embolism for its tenth birthday.

Marlon looks like he's had his first melarsomine injection and his owner is thinking about taking him to a dog park instead of bothering with the second. If you let a dog get its heart rate up too high when getting treated for all the parasites you let grow in it, its heart will explode. Or all the worms will clog its lungs. Whichever one it is, it's happening to Marlon here in this room. On this bed.

He says he'd found a bruise, a while back. A nasty little thing, like the crush of a plum under your thumb. Near one of his ankles. And Marlon Singer knew he couldn't afford any novel treatments, and he'd seen too many people rot from the inside out from them already. He did not go to the clinic down the street that gets its windows broken in often enough that there's just big black billowing sails of trashbags over their storefront more often than not. Marlon says he once saw a rat nailed to the door, which is something you'd think would be too neat and poetic for real life. He didn't go to the clinic because he didn't have to. And maybe if he was fucking guys he wanted to he would be a bit more cautious, but the men Marlon Singer gets to fuck are the type to have given him those bruises in the first place. They're the reason there's single mothers visiting that clinic, like half melted wax getting scraped out of the picture. He says he shouldn't feel guilty.

I tell Marlon about where I got the idea for poisoning all the food at the Pressman hotel.

He asks me what I mean by that, and I tell him about my first boss at the company I work for now.

When I first started there, I was selling our cars to companies. Bulk orders for work vehicles. My job was to not fuck up any contracts we already had. Marlon is probably aware, but the type of man involved in that sort of thing, he knows he's got you on a collar and chain. You and him both know he'll be renewing the contract, but you have to do the song and dance for him. Pretend you like how close he gets to you. Pretend you don't want to rip his testicles from his ballsack when he leans in sweaty and tells you how he likes your hair, did you go and do all that just for me?

Because he knows. And you know. But enduring this is what you were hired to do. If you were a man, you would've been hired to create a sense of the old boys club with this guy. But you're not.

There is so much pretense in the world.

Anyway, my first boss, call him Joe — whenever I'd return from those trips and dinners, Joe wouldn't pretend that it wasn't a shit job. He'd commiserate and wish me luck with the next one. He didn't overstep, he wasn't creepy, he kept his distance. The best you could hope for. Thirty days on the job, they asked me how I was doing, and I told them I was doing great. The job was amazing, I felt embraced by the company, my boss was great. One of those things was true to me.

And when Joe got his promotion, for being such a great regional manager, he cornered me in my cubicle and informed me he'd been jerking off into my nicely labeled thin salad lunches each time they showed up in the office fridge. He told me this with the same smile he'd always worn.

Marlon, he's next to me, and he leans closer like we're having a nice little confession. My skin itches.

It was before the 90 day clause kicked in my health coverage, so I had to wait at one of those free clinics like Marlon's, and I was surrounded by a lot of young men, wispy mangled pears. What little flesh was left was soft. When I told the nurse what happened, I watched myself die in her eyes. Dappling up with rashes and bruises until I was all painted and sunken like a bog body.

For the longest time, I wondered if I'd become the oral Mary. How many times I vomited in that office toilet, I don't know. I stopped bringing lunch.

The thing is, I couldn't see it in his face. Joe's, I mean. Not even when he told me. I couldn't see it in anyone. So I stopped eating out. Stopped eating altogether, really.

Marlon, his response was to go to the support groups. His tragedy was that it was a slow death, coming for him. Best to wriggle into the pile of dying bodies, see what it's like. Maybe that could muster enough suicidal impulse.

I tell Marlon, of course, I couldn't go to HR. I was a new hire with no evidence and previous record of liking my boss. I didn't want to tell my mom. I didn't want her to know. Those uncomfortable dinners became absolutely, wretchedly unbearable as I thought about the food I was being forced to share.

When the option came up for a dead end job in the least loved department in the building, I put on the best performance of my life to get the part. Best aspiring Compliance and Liability head and sole department employee, that's me. My new job was to keep secrets. It was, already, old hat.

For months I thought about waking up from a narcoleptic fit at my desk, with Joe leaning over the cubicle wall and asking if I was alright. I watched my stomach like it was nuclear. Every extra second it took until I bled like usual slid me closer to buying myself a shotgun and pumping a slug or two into my brain.

It's an unavoidable fear, I tell Marlon. You can't do anything about it. Once you know, you know. At some point, you have to find the peace in it. Imagine yourself, a balloon popping with meaty chunks flying apart, splattering onlookers and raining viscera.

For a month, six months, I had cancer. Worse than cancer. Every time I eat out, I get it again.

Marlon is looking at me, melting stained glass, drowning in that sort of shared pity you build together with someone who's dying.

I don't want Marlon to feel guilty.

I tell Marlon, that's why I poison the food at the Pressman hotel. Someone's got to do it. Blood in the tomato sauce, spit on the steak. Imagine what you could do to a soup. The men who go to the Pressman hotel, they're the kind that leave Marlon bloody and walking around Paper Street calling for Tyler to come out and burn more holes into him. They're the kind that get promoted from regional manager. They're the kind that lean in close, pull your wrist towards them, and say there's one way they know you could secure the contract renewal. The kind that almost ruin it in a temper tantrum when you don't, resulting in an upper management intervention on the 24th day of your new job. They're the kind that hear that shit and say you should've been more appeasing. More polite.

Don't feel guilty, Marlon.

I hope all of them rot so everyone can see the maggots eating their insides.

Marlon isn't smiling. I am unavoidably bad at distracting him. There's something final in it, when he sighs, and takes off his tank top. He says it's on his back, and I should just tell him.

I look. I see it. Black hole, botfly, necrosis. There's so many things these broken blood vessels could be. Withering, snapping apart like mummified heartworms. I imagine driving the two inch melarsomine needle deep into the muscles bunched upon his spine.

I look.

I press my hands into him, and I grip like I'm trying to rend my fingers through his skin, deep into his body cavity to rip out his guts. Like I'm trying to grab the rope of his small intestine and strangle him with it. Marlon's yelling at me and trying to hit me, arms flapping like a chicken, and I am bruising ten deep circles into the soft pearskin of his abdomen. It's the only place left on him that's mealy, that isn't frayed rope under worn out leather.

I tell him, you've got bruises. They look mostly normal, to me.

Don't worry too much about it.

And Marlon, he leans into me, and I let him.

[mermaidsirennikita]

I watched Pretty Woman when I was around 12. Which, first of all, my mom let me watch and read anything.

It pretty much encoded in my brain. It also played an important role in my fascination with older men with silver hair. And I love everything about it. I know it's problematic and stuff. But it's so good. Everything is perfect, casting, music, story, acting, cinematography. Romantic movies don't commit like this. I miss the beautiful, curly hair and the romantic ballads. It feels as if Hollywood is allergic to romance now.

I'm suffering from lack of good romantic movies. Please recommend some good movies.

If it makes you feel any better, I was probably younger than 12 when my mom like MADE me watch it with her lmao

And I agree so much with everything you have to say about it. Pretty Woman is, to me, the Iconique romance movie. It feels more like a romance novel, to me, than most movies. And it's sooooo sexy.

For other romantic movies, I'd recommend:

Brown Sugar (2002). This one is really fun because both of the protagonists make really bad choices sometimes! He marries the wrong person, she gets with the wrong person, it's friends to lovers the way it should be done (ie with a lot of angst). But you still root for them to get together! Also, Taye Diggs gives an absolutely perfect line delivery (like several) in this clip.

(We gonna celebrate--what? *clink clink* MY DIVOOOOOORCE!)

Always Be My Maybe (2019). Another example of friends to lovers done right, though it's really one of the things I love in books too, which is "childhood friends to strangers to lovers". So good. Also, the single best usage of a celebrating playing themselves ever with Keanu Reeves.

Imagine Me and You (2005). A sweet sapphic romcom with a bit of a moral quandary in the premise... A woman is walking down the aisle to her husband, looks over, sees florist Lena Headey, and understandably falls in love with florist Lena Headey. But like, she didn't even know she was bi, let alone that florist Lena Headey existed, so--what now? Cheesy in a very sweet way. Actually plays with infidelity in a manner that movies kinda don't as much at the moment (Brown Sugar does as well). Yet it remains heartwarming.

Faraway (2023). Nobody ever talks about this movie, even though it has so many things we always say we want—like a woman over 40 who isn't stick thin falling in love with a man over 40 who also doesn't have this insanely ripped body (and he remains hot, to be clear). In this one, a woman finds out her husband is PROBABLY cheating on her on the day of her mother's funeral. She also finds out that her mom had a secret house in Croatia! And when she goes to that house to get away from her family, there's Some Guy squatting there! And now she's kind of in a love triangle with Some Guy and a younger real estate developer who wants to buy the property...? It's delightful. I need to rewatch it.

Hit Man (2023 though let's be real it's a 2024 movie). Anyone who hasn't seen this yet--it's a romcom. It's a whole romcom. With sex in it. It's very funny, it made me attracted to Glen Powell against my will, he eats this girl out a kitchen island (and she thinks he's a hit man she almost hired to kill her husband). It's definitely got a touch of darkness, but everyone who suffers deserves to because they're like, abusive husbands and racist predatory cops. Hell yeah.

Amelie (2001). I'm sure everyone has seen Amelie by now, but if you haven't, watch Amelie. It's everything it's cracked up to be.

Argylle (2024). YEAH. YEAH. I'M PUTTING THIS ON HERE. Everyone shat all over Argylle, and I was like oh shit, what even is Argylle??? I don't wanna spoil too much, but did you know that Argylle pretty much ends on two people making out as they speed away from whimsical chaos??? Did you know that Argylle has like.. AN AMNESIA ROMANCE PLOT??? It's goofy as fuck and it is delightful.

Lisa Frankenstein (2024). Another recent one that is actually so romantic. And the monster uses a giant Hitachi magic wand on Lisa Frankenstein. Good for her.

The Through My Window trilogy I will always cite as Euroteen romance movie excellence. Like, the second movie is kinda rough, but the third makes up for it completely. It is soapy, it is ridiculous, it is EVERYTHING a good Wattpad movie should be except there's also like, an actual earnest heart to it. Ares is a king among men. Raquel is batshit insane but gets away with it because she is That Girl. I love it.

Anyway, this is far from a complete list, but try these for like, the heart feelings.

[28dayslater]

Please talk more about how you hated Deadpool 3, your sharp-witted hot takes sustain me.

Love you lots x

I probably wouldn't have been so irate about it if I didn't like the other deadpool movies. Like they're stupid and annoying but I do like them, I really like deadpool 2 I think it's genuinely well made. This was not.

So there were actually several things I liked:

Hugh Jackman seems like he's genuinely trying and I thought his character was, at the start, reasonably compelling. Like he's this total failure got all his friends killed depressed as fuck and doesn't even want to fight. Unfortunately he then becomes Generic Marvel Hero (personality variation: grumpy) and all that is lost

Emma Corrin is decent as the main villain and her outfit is cute

Matthew Macfayden is so good, this is him operating at 5% of his powers but he's genuinely so funny, his line delivery is amazing

I cracked a smile at one (1) joke (Wolverine very flatly saying "we don't know that guy")

Here's a non exhaustive list of complaints

Emma Corrin and Matthew Macfayden despite coming off well are given absolutely nothing interesting to do

Every line of dialogue has "fucking" shoved in at some random interval, has zero effect and just comes off like WHOA GUYS LOOK... THEY SAID THE BAD WORD IN A MARVEL MOVIE... ARE THEY ALLOWED TO DO THAT????

Deadpool's annoying dialogue is even worse than usual, we need to shoot Ryan Reynolds in the street like a dog. People were hooting and hollering in my cinema. Why. It's simply not funny

I hate scenes where the hero(es) go up against a thousand random indistinguishable goons and kill them all in one hit, there are approximately five hundred of those and they all last what feels like hours

I hate scenes where the hero(es) go up against someone exactly as strong as them and just punch/stab/shoot each other for ages and do no lasting damage so what was even the point, there are approximately five hundred of those and they all last what feels like hours

The emotional core of the movie is absolutely non existent, it's that Deadpool got dumped by Vanessa for not caring enough about saving the world or whatever so he's trying to prove himself as a superhero?? This is not compelling

I am not a fan of massive scale "we have to save the universe" stuff in general and where I think the previous two movies benefited from being a lot smaller scale (we have to beat the bad guy bc he is evil, we have to stop this boy killing someone bc then he'll become evil) this is like THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE IS AT RISK IT'S GOING TO BE OBLITERATED which essentially means there are no stakes at all. Like that means nothing. Who gives a shit

I also hate the stupid multiverse shit and I might have turned a blind eye had it not been so egregious. They get sent to this dimension where all the superhero rejects go and every minute of the film after that is like "look it's Elektra from daredevil 2003! Remember her? Look it's Random Xman #59! Look it's doctor strange's magic ring!" Ohhhhhhhh my god who CARES

There's this bit where he's trying to join the avengers and Jon Favreau gives this whole speech about how important they are, it's just five minutes of Kevin Feige sucking his own dick cumming into his own mouth and swallowing

NO CABLE NO DOMINO NO RUSSELL.... WHATS THE POINT

Why was "Shatterstar" there at all

[lifeofkaze]

You can never have too much soup! Until you do and then you get sick and okay I'll stop

Oh I loved this one. I know it might not look like it, considering how long this took me but trust me - I did.

Characters featured (both fully and in mention) belong to @the-al-chemist @thatravenpuffwitch @kc-and-co and @slytherindisaster

“Trust me, this is going to be funny.” “I’m not sure I share your perception of funny, old chap.” Bradford Elijah Pendleton IV swallowed uncomfortably. Nervously, he glanced to where the object of their current conversation was sitting in the shade with her friends. “It sounds dangerous, if anything.” "I must say, I agree," Jim Hexley butted in from the side, sounding as nauseous as Brady himself felt. "There's people you don't trifle with." He couldn't have said anything more wrongly. Rising to what he perceived a challenge, Lysander Mercury got to his feet from their spot in the cloisters of the clocktower courtyard and cupped his hands to his mouth. "Oi, Iceberg!" The shoulders of the witch his words were aimed at stiffened, her already pinched-looking face growing tighter still. Sighing heavily, she put down her book and shared a meaningful look with her friends. "How can I help you, Lysander?" "Go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?" Carolyn Pendleton froze, the only indication that she had heard him a slight twitch in her sharply outlined eyebrows. Next to Lysander, both Brady and Jim shifted in their seats. "Pardon me?" "You head me right." Lysander grinned, stretching his arms above his head. "You, me, the Three Broomsticks. Sounds marvellous, doesn't it?" Caro inhaled deeply, a smile forming on her face that was so sweet it made Brady fight the urge to duck his head. "I'd rather dip my head in a boiling cauldron, strip down naked and run around the Black Lake in a hailstorm but thank you anyway. It was sweet of you to consider me." Lysander grimaced. "Oh, what a shame. I shall not be able to continue to live, having suffered such a blow. Except..." Screwing shut his eyes, Lysander's face began to change. His smooth skin grew deep lines around a suddenly hard mouth. His hair, golden in the sunshine, darkened to a deep brown streaked with lines of silver. Wrinkles appeared between his now bushy brows, and a stubble as well as a close-cropped beard was covering his cheeks. He cracked his neck from side to side, the long scar running from the top of his hairline to the corner of his mouth shimmering subtly in the light. His transformation complete, the image of Potions Master Aesop Sharp wiggled his eyebrows at the gaping girls. "How about now?" Caro's cheeks flashed an alarming shade of pink, pinker than Brady had ever seen them. One of her friends giggled into her hands, biting her lip upon receiving an icy look from Caro. Then, she turned her steely eyes onto Lysander. "If you, for one sliver of a moment, think..." "And what would be the meaning of this?" Lysander froze, and so did Brady, Jim, and the girls in the shade as a shadow fell over Lysander - a shadow that bore a striking resemblance to the features the young shapeshifter's face had taken. Swallowing, Lysander's face returned to its normal form in less than a heartbeat. "Nothing, Professor Sharp. I was merely trying to brighten these lovely ladies' day." "Of course you were, Mercury." Professor Sharp gave him a long look, then turned his attention to the girls, who all of a sudden sat up straighter than they had a moment before. He nodded at Caro and the witch sitting right next to her. "Nyberg, Selwyn. With me. I have need of some competent potioneers to help me catalogue the latest delivery of nightshade and moondew." Brady could have sworn the Potions Master's eyes had grazed him on the word 'competent'. Across the courtyard, Caro and her friend Adelia Selwyn almost - almost - scrambled to their feet, whispering among themselves. Brady didn't think he had ever seen Carolyn Nyberg this flustered. As the two of them hurried past Brady and his friends, Lysander couldn't help himself. His eyebrows turned dark and bushy once more, wiggling as he whistled lowly through pursed lips. If possible, Adelia and Caro walked even straighter and with their heads held high but the flush climbing up their necks was undeniable as they hurried away.

[vickyvicarious]

3 October, part 2

I am already so worn out

oh I love the several individual flicks of paper. The frustration and rage and deliberateness of him moving one page at a time to get to the right spot

"As I must do something or go mad," I. I........

"The teaching, big or little, could not have landed Mina or me anywhere worse than we are to-day." I AM SO SAD

their voices together...

THE WAY HE ASKS WHAT END

oh my god his little sniffle before "to work!"

NO I FORGOT ABOUT THIS we get to hear Renfield yelling agggggh I was not prepared at all and now I'm crying again

"the very first thing we decided was that Mina should be in full confidence; that nothing of any sort—no matter how painful—should be kept from her." I love how you can hear the rage at himself and determination to never ever ever fail her this way again

the fear, the trembled edge as he says "her eyes shone with the devotion of a martyr"

I love the way she says "I shall die." perfect delivery, gets across the 'like a fact' so simply and so well

"I would; if there were no friend who loved me, who would save me such a pain, and so desperate an effort!" She looked at him meaningly as she spoke." she is so good at manipulation. Something about the way she says this is perfectly pointed, so deliberately calm and not requesting but absolutely requesting and framing it as love and friendship and what is deserved

I really love the way he says "you must not die!" each and every time

"you must struggle and strive to live!" this sentence has such a good sound

"She was pleased with the prospect of anything to do" oh Mina

"Until it sets to-night, that monster must retain whatever form he now has. He is confined within the limitations of his earthly envelope. He cannot melt into thin air nor disappear through cracks or chinks or crannies. If he go through a doorway, he must open the door like a mortal." I think this is new vampire lore, that he cannot change shapes or anything during the day. It makes sense but hasn't come up I don't think

"the minutes and seconds so preciously laden with Mina's life and happiness were flying from us" I just love this phrasing

the house in Piccadilly that Jonathan hunted down. so, so, so glad he did

the way Jonathan says "the precious, precious time!"

"Don't - wait - more than need be..." he is trying so hard

van Helsing is so good at knowing how to get away with breaking the law <3

I wonder if this story about the guy who sold the stolen house is based on true events

van Helsing's laugh at the story is so nice

the way Art says "I can be of some use here" he is trying so hard to help. this is the only time he's wrong because his carriages are too fancy richboy for the situation

Jonathan not mentioning Mina's pointy teeth...

van Helsing's "do you forget" is SO king laugh. oh my god

the way Jonathan says "did I forget" lkadjsflkdjsf;kds

"I shall not forget, for it is well that I remember" Mina's hoarse voice...

the way Jonathan sighs when saying Mina was the most cheerful

MINA'S SCREAM AND THE MUSIC HOLY SHIT

"my poor darling" the way he says this

fuck, the way she sobs "Unclean" and "polluted flesh", how her voice cracks on "before the Judgement day"

JONATHAN CUDDLING HER INSTANTLY

"For a few minutes our sorrowful hearts beat together," this line

the way Jonathan says this line so softly: "There was hope in his words, and comfort; and they made for resignation."

~holding hands while pledging to save Mina~

HERE IT IS

"To one thing I have made up my mind: if we find out that Mina must be a vampire in the end, then she shall not go into that unknown and terrible land alone. I suppose it is thus that in old times one vampire meant many; just as their hideous bodies could only rest in sacred earth, so the holiest love was the recruiting sergeant for their ghastly ranks." this line. and the delivery. almost soft at the end, but completely resolute.

van Helsing has at minimum 56 holy wafers left. and that is after his antics at Lucy's tomb. he really just took a giant sack I guess

Jonathan waving to Mina in the window <3 and her waving back <3

Art looking out for Jonathan's future <3 and utilizing his privilege and title

oh I love the frustration as Jonathan snaps "Eight boxes only out of the nine, which we sought!"

god, the description of Jonathan. love the music on "he is like a living flame"

oh I have always been pronouncing it "skolomance" in my head

"He is experimenting, and doing it well;" I love the delivery of this line

"Do we not see how at the first all these so great boxes were moved by others. He knew not then but that must be so. But all the time that so great child-brain of his was growing, and he began to consider whether he might not himself move the box. So he began to help; and then, when he found that this be all-right, he try to move them all alone." I really don't think this is the case. I think he didn't feel the need to move them all by himself at first, not that he didn't think he could

"He has just now, 12:45, come from Carfax hurriedly and hastened towards the South." the USEFULNESS. the PRECISION ABOUT TIMJE

"Now, God be thanked, we shall soon meet!" and "I would sell my soul to do it!" Jonathan is AFLAME

the delivery of the "w- for him" when van Helsing is scared they literally destroyed the boxes is so funny

oh I love the way van Helsing figures out his movements and the music as he does so

THE MUSIC AS DRACULA ARRIVES AND THEY FIGHT

so exciting kill him kill him

the slice!!!

the loot drop!!!!

again the disgust as JAck describes Dracula

I love the window breaking noise so much, not only just for itself but for what it means. Dracula is reduced to ungainly flight. he's snatching money off the floor and jumping out a window, tumbling to the ground. He's still losing money when he gets there!!!! (the ting is so good). Meanwhile Jonathan will skitter after him no problem at all

the way he says "You!" all scoffing but with a little edge to it. This whole speech. He is trying so hard to sound in charge and unbothered and terrifying and he is failing

Jonathan had no problem with the window but sadly a locked door yet again defeats him :(

Mina still finding time (and blood) to blush at descriptions of Jonathan's love for her <3

THE WAY SHE SAYS "Jonathan." so much love I cannot handle it at all

Mina speaking of pity for Dracula now... it's about herself as well of course. She is trying to sound so calm and compassionate but she is also so so so afraid here.

Jonathan's hatred for Dracula <3

"I, too, may need such pity; and that some other like you—and with equal cause for anger—may deny it to me!" Jonathan thinking well that will never happen because I will never let it.

The way she repeats "my husband". The way her voice shakes. I imagine her touching his hair as she talks about it...

The way he says "This, I know." The way he cries as he talks about how much more he loves her. I can't....

"I am not sleepy myself, though I am weary—weary to death." God, the way he says this line is agonizing. And how he gasps into his next breath... gahhhhh the way he starts to fall asleep as he writes

Mina's fear at someone in the hall is SO GOOD. And Quincey's so so so gentle "go back to bed. It's all right..." I love them so much I am crying about it, literally

oh SHIT there's music

OH YOU FUCKER YOU ABSOLUTE JACKASS

I literally tensed every single muscle in my body as I hear Dracula start to sing. Oh my GODDDDDD every line is so good and so inFURIATING holy shit the smug bastardddddd

the music is. so CHEERY. fa;lkdfjas;kdjlas god he is so delighted with himself this is. I cannot. ASJKDFLKDDJ DRACULAAAAAAAA

this song is amazing. with every single new line I. I- incredible.

[cacw]

miscellaneous civil war thoughts. word count 1214

Ok first Ant-Man is annoying in this one. Sorry. Not really. The airport fight is also annoying. I feel like it should have been taken a lot more seriously considering literally everything that's supposed to be happening. And like most of these movies, there are a few lines and deliveries that are just embarrassing to watch. Tiny guy is big now makes me want to kill myself. But on the other hand Spider-Man throwing a chunk of wall at Bucky did make me almost cry laughing.

On the other other hand I deeply and truly hate 15-year-old Spider-Man's entrance and overall presence here. What a joke.

The Steve and Sharon moment is also a joke mostly because the writers completely abandoned her character for 5 years afterwards. Steve never got her that pardon. I don't think anyone even mentions her again. If there's one thing Marvel hates more than gay people it's women.

It's beyond unfortunate how little of Steve and Bucky we actually see in this one and throughout the remainder of the MCU (which is another topic for another day, but you already know what I mean). We're shown again and again through Steve's words and actions that Bucky is his most important person and that nothing will stop Steve from trying to save him. But they're hardly allowed to even touch each other. The reason for this is so glaringly obvious it would feel a little redundant to even spell it out but it really does make me feel kind of sad. Hollywood is evil. Disney is evil.

That being said, their relationship is still deeply heartfelt and personal and it's so obvious in what we do see. Steve's intake of breath before he asks if Bucky knows him. Bucky smiling at Steve for the first time since 1945. The little nods and the ways they're still able to communicate without words. The way Bucky somehow always manages to drift to his left. Steve looking to Bucky again and again only to find Bucky looking right back. Dropping the shield for him, again. I feel like it's easy to forget that the first shield Steve ever picked up for Bucky wasn't even made of vibranium.

And speaking of relationships, it is also beyond irritating to see Tony lash out at everyone who doesn't completely agree with him. Natasha attempts to reach out multiple times, and the outcomes involve him either shutting her down or talking straight shit. Natasha gives him a hand, and he pushes her away, and it's clearly a big reason why she helped Steve in the end, because he trusts and knows her in a way Tony can't.

In a similar vein, there's another scene that is absolutely crucial to Steve and Tony's relationship. When Tony is trying to get Steve to sign the accords, he ends up mentioning his father, and Steve says he's glad he eventually got to settle down. Tony is quick as ever to make a crack about hating hearing about Steve while growing up, and you can see Steve's face fall immediately. Steve, like Natasha, is always willing to reach out a hand to those who need it, but Tony's ego makes him incapable of taking it. Steve and Tony are not as close as the audience is supposed to believe; they are not family. Like this scene alone is incredibly telling. And I feel like the point of a lot of these scenes is that Tony IS in the wrong for doing this to them, but it feels egregious and it's almost painful to watch him do this to himself, hurt others in the process, and get away with it every time.

And while I'm talking about people who actually feel and care for Steve I have to bring up Sam and Natasha's roles in this one. Sam doesn't have too much screentime but he stands out in every scene he's in. He's an incredible person and character and I wish he had been utilized more. He's always by Steve's side and their friendship is genuinely sweet to see, especially compared to some others. He went with him to the funeral and that alone speaks volumes! He's willing to give it all up to help Steve (he spent 2 YEARS helping look for and save someone he believed to be dangerous just because he believes in Steve), but he's also doing all this because HE believes it's the right thing. It's so good. I'll have to dive more into my Sam thoughts another day.

One more thing about Tony and I was really trying hard to sound unbiased here but he deserved to die just for knocking Sam to the ground. He's a bitch. And sidenote a lot of people try to justify his anger and outbursts in this movie and some of it is reasonable to an extent sure but he just keeps doing all this shit and getting away with it and no one has a problem with this. He brought a high schooler to fight Captain America. Come on. And that's not even mentioning Sokovia.

Natasha's character in this movie gets a lot of flack sometimes and I can understand why, but I think people who say so aren't really seeing her for who she is. It's not that she was with Steve all along, or that she couldn't make up her mind, because it isn't really about Team Cap VS Team Iron Man; she's with her whole team. Everything she does is for her team, whether it's SHIELD or the Avengers, because that's her family. She went to meet Steve at the funeral because he is a part of that family and she didn't want him to be alone. She doesn't want any one of them to be alone! And she is good at genuinely listening to people, so she manages to hear the thoughts of Steve and Tony and everyone else in a way others struggle to do. And in the end she chooses to help do what SHE believes is right, not just her team. Staying together is important to her, but not if it means giving up everything else that makes her who she is.

I want to end this with something positive. I think Bucky is very cute. His hat and his Henley are cute. His hair tucked behind his ears was cute in those 2 scenes. What a sweetheart. That post-credit scene was stupid as hell.

Actually I do have to mention how dumb that is. I don't understand why they had to figure out a way to fix his mind. That doesn't even make sense. It's all conditioning and there's no hack for that. That is not how that should work. Maybe I'd be more understanding if they hadn't kept him in Wakanda for the next 2 years but it's bad and it's lazy and it sucks and this is the hand Bucky is going to be dealt for the rest of time.

Steve is a great character. I just wish this movie had been fully about him.

So all in all Civil War is a pretty pitiful excuse for a Captain America movie and I honest to god don't understand how some of this made it through the writer's room. Whatever.

[sirendeepity]

For the fanfic writer ask game:

♥️👻📗

Nikiiiii, my love, it's so good to see you here! <333

❤️ What is your favorite line that you’ve written in a fic?

So, this one's tough. Not because I have the hands of Midas, but because I simply... Have no idea? I did skim through metanoia, though, because if that's where the good stuff is, and I found a few because I'm physically unable to choose just one I really liked, two of which are quote quotes

“I gave him the power he thinks he has now, and by not agreeing on meeting with him we’re just proving his point: that he has something, that he’s worth something. I’d rather die than give him the satisfaction.”

That night was not for deep, belly laughs. That night was for healing what others had broken. To build anew.

while the third is more of a context quote

What caught her attention the most, tho, had been the fact that Rhysand had been ready to put so much of himself, of what he’d been through, at stake. For her. Nesta shifted in her seat, not stomaching the starlight violet any longer. She felt Night caressing her mental shields, purring, asking to get in. She let it. You’re worth the risks. She turned, the bones in her neck cracking with the fast motion, and stared speechless at Rhysand. She’d let him in her mind, yet the voice wasn’t there. He’d said those words out loud, had made sure the stars heard them too.

👻 What is your wildest headcanon?

I answered this one here, bUT I'll give you another one, which is also a spoiler for a possible future multi-chapter fanfic I've been thinking about for a while and recently I'm entertaining the idea of actually try to write it? We'll see. Anyway I have this idea that the Valkyries (well, Nesta, at least, since she's the one who's part of the Inner Circle) will "give up" their citizenship? And they're not members of the Night Court anymore? Or they're just a private citizen like any other? I still have to think this trough, but they're going to do all that because they are going to tour around Prythian to recruit and train more females and officially revive The Valkyries, and make them an army for the people: basically, there will be a base in every Court and legions/battalions for each, but overall they don't belong to a single Court but rather all of them, but really, if you think about it, none at all. They're like an independent army, the "neutral party" which will not stay so neutral if things get dirty. They'll stand for equality and freedom, they'll protect the innocents, and by not "legally" belonging to any Court they won't have a High Lord or High Lady that can order them around and such, so they'll be like an Eight Court of sorts without really being a Court at all. Does this make sense?

📗 Do you want to write something outside of fanfiction? If so, what about?

Oh bestie I'm so happy you asked this because y e s. Yes. Yes, I do. And I am completely cool about it. Not acting weird at all.

I'm almost done with the first draft of this personal project of mine that I've been working on and off for the past ..year..s? But I keep procrastinating so I've been "-10 chapters!!" for the past week, but still. To keep things sweet and short, I'll make you a list, because we love lists on this blog:

Crown of Thorns (4): (high?) fantasy; reluctant found family where each and every one of them is "in it" for their own personal gaining, but what started as a shallow "they took my crown from me so now I'll take it back because I can? and because I'm petty and hold grudges" will turn into "I have to stop the Lord of Darkness from coming back from the dead and destroy the world as we know it, and maybe start a revolution while I'm at it". It's messy, and sometimes I think I won't be able to pull this off the way I intended to (good intentions, bad delivery, you know?) so don't ask me to tell you more than this because I really don't know how without spoiling the entire thing;

Cursed Goddes/Blessed God (2): CoT spin-off that is actually a prequel and kind of explains/shows the events that led society to become the way it is in CoT and yes, I really did dig my own grave with this whole series, but now I'm in too deep to stop so down we go;

Kill Your Darlings (1): dark academia-ish, paranormal vibes and a hint of mystery, too? Think House of Anubis, but everyone is gay and mentally ill. That's it, that's the plot.

The Haven Island series (3): contemporary romance, interconnected standalones following a group of friends navigating life in their 20s, where every story is meant to represent a different aspect of girlhood/womanhood (aka toxic/abusive relationships, motherhood, sexism and mysoginy, etc.)

I'd also like to write something in the dystopian sub-genre, because who doesn't love that feeling of impending and unavoidable doom? But I have absolutely nothing in my hands if not some sort of relationship dynamics that for the sake of logic and coherency I had to cut out from the CoT plot, so, yeah, we're really basing it all on vibes at this point

Ask me a question!

[breadvidence]

At the end of the first part, I'm not sure I know what '72 is trying to accomplish. Politics, sure. For every actor to have their chance to shout a line, for sure. It feels as if I've watched four different shows, of four different qualities, two of them quite good, one mediocre, and one bad. Many thoughts, moving in reverse:

The Gorbeau ambush occupies the last third (I would mark the start just after 1:15:00 [when the Thénardier girls drop their father's beggar's letters in the street, which are then retrieved by Marius], and the run time is almost two hours). Thénardier occupies center screen for a high percentage of this forty-five minutes—I'd argue he's the main character for this time, though the show tries to split its attention between him and Marius. He's erratic, raving, furious, violent. He's very broken in this iteration of the character, and while it is difficult to call him pitiful—he's too much of a threat—he's distinctly and peculiarly sympathetic in a manner that I don't read in the book and haven't seen in other adaptations. He's too fucked-up to be playing a game when he speaks of suicide and the unfairness of the world; his imprecations against society are not ploys to garner attention but a real expression of pain. "Sympathetic" not here at all synonymous with "likable", to be clear; again: he's a threat. A villain. Abusive. Only, the watcher is forced to ask: why?

Alain Mottet's delivery of the line "Oh! je mangerais le monde!" is as close to understated as he's capable of acting, flat and bitter, and quite effective. It is contrasted against the letter he is writing, from which he reads aloud a line pulled from III.VIII.III, "La vertu de la clémence et pitié est celle qui unit plus étroitement la société"—the intent and tone are different (and more comedic) in the novel, but here you get the sense of a man who is debasing himself before others to be allowed a place in a society he'd rather chew to pieces. Solid.

"Voulez-vous mon chapeau?" and Javert's good mood hits a different note—the show has been so goddamn grim for forty minutes that the abrupt tone shift grates, and seems cruel. Which I'm fine with, as an effect. It's unfortunate that Bernard Fresson is a little dead behind the eyes and plays a bland Javert, or in any case seems bland in comparison to a very emotive cast, and doesn't carry the scene well.

Speaking of emotive, holy shit, Hermine Karagheuz, what're you doing? Move aside, Suzanne Nivette, here's a feral Éponine. It's too pitchy of a performance for me to find it effective per se, though I'm not sure how much of this is acting conventions in '70s France.

Before we shift gears into the Gorbeau ambush, Marius sulks out of the Musain; he meets Enjolras on the stairs, and while we only see Jean-Luc Boutté in profile he's got an open, pleasant expression on, he's looking at a real bro, his "You are leaving?" is disappointed, his "When will we see you again?" hopeful. Cracked my shit up. Enjolras, why do you like this guy so much?

With apologies to fans of this adaptation, the entire flashback sequence is godawful. Occupying about thirty minutes starting at the ~50 minute mark, we do a speed run through Jean Valjean's bread theft, sentencing, escapes, encounter with Myriel, success as Madeleine, interference in Fantine's arrest—we're only at the ten minute mark, hang on to your hat—a combined punish me m. le maire/"Une tempête sous un crâne"/courtroom self-denunciation that all occurs as a continuous sequence in a cobbled street with a black backdrop—finally meeting Cosette, and fleeing into the convent. A narrator connects the narrative dots for us. Choices have been made.

Georges Géret plays an interesting Jean Valjean: expressive, desperate, sweaty from arrest to his encounter with Myriel and during the turmoil of the Champmathieu sequence (inasmuch as that exists here), self-possessed when confronting Javert over Fantine and saving Cosette from the wood, then utterly dead as Ultime Fauchelevent. I know he's capable of turning a facial expression, so this is deliberate. The tenderness I expect from his relationship with Cosette is utterly lacking, there are no smiles between them, no gentle touch. The impression becomes that of a sexless Bluebeard—I believe that this is, as the narrator tells us, a virginal relationship, but I don't buy it as love. Interestingly we get a quote here all the way from IV.XV.I, "il aimait Cosette comme sa fille, et il l'aimait comme sa mère, et il l'aimait comme sa sœur; et, comme il n'avait jamais eu ni amante ni épouse, comme la nature est un créancier qui n'accepte aucun protêt, ce sentiment-là aussi" etc.; I personally think this is a key to their relationship and tip my hat to the adaptation for pulling it, but the repetition of aimait, aimait, aimait—well, you're telling me about it, but I don't see it.

I enjoyed all the Amis sequences—they're charming, they're fun, the contrast with Marius' grim boy sulk is comedic. Also, Jean-Luc Boutté is no Thetis, but those eyes and lips make him a more suitable Enjolras than some, eh?

Combeferre's "être libre" is delivered with zero mercy, but in his defense, Marius shouted in his face.

Shoutout to Lucien Nat as a solid Gillenormand, or "Gillenarmand" per the credits. His behavior is per the Brick, and where the novel softens his abusiveness by describing unexpressed love for Marius, the narrator of '72 does not chime in, and we are left with what we see. BBC 2018 and '25 chose to alter Gillenormand's behavior to reflect his interior state, which I think is a fair choice, but I prefer '72 on this. Marius' temperament, his explosiveness and depression, are a logical result of being raised by this man. In a way the grimness of this Gillen(o/a)rmand echoes the utter grimness of the '72 Thénardier.

The first ten minutes or so gave me an entirely skewed idea of where this show was going. We begin in IV.I.V—revolution! And we move right into the Amis at their most political, sending out feelers for support, Enjolras fanning the flame of unrest. I was confused, but on board. What happened, '72?

Obviously I'm invested and engaged—I wouldn't have taken the time to write so much if I weren't—but this is a wildly uneven adaptation. I'm quite anxious to continue on to part II and see what weird fuckin' choices are upcoming.

[carverl]

I've been rewatching the Indiana Jones films and decided to rank them from least favourite to my absolute favourite, I'd like to note that despite what negative things I may have to say I don't think there is a bad movie in this franchise which is kind of a miracle. I love all of them to some extent, this series means the world to me, and I feel the entertainment industry is lucky to have it.

5. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I really love the first two acts of this movie; the 50s setting is fun, Harrison Ford is great as ever, Cate Blanchett plays a great villain, the action is fun and energetic, and despite how much of a shitty person Shia LaBeouf is his performance as Mutt Williams is honestly really great. Then they get to the jungle in the second half and it all starts to fall apart. The car chase is pretty terrible, the giant ants are creepy but kind of just meh and the conclusion feels very underwhelming. I will say that I don't agree with the criticism that there being aliens is a bridge too far, it's about as plausible as any of the other supernatural stuff so it doesn't feel out of place to me. Overall a fun movie just a bit messy in its third act. 6/10

4. Dial of Destiny

I was so anxious to watch this one, all I'd heard from people was that it was terrible and another wasted legacy sequel, so imagine my surprise when I sat down to watch it and found it's actually brilliant. It feels like a proper finale to the series and does a lot of interesting things with Indy and makes him more compelling in this film than he's been since Last Crusade. Mads Mikkelsen plays my favourite Indy villain in Jürgen Voller, who is intimidating yet ever so slightly campy. I love him, and his plan is so bonkers and off the wall it's amazing. Helena is a brilliant supporting character, and I love how she's kind of like a young Indy with her own version of Shortround. The overall message of the film plus how it deals with Indy's age and the ending made me cry, I felt it was truly something special. That being said, I didn't like the CGI young Harrison Ford at the start of the movie, as well as how a lot of the once practical stunts are now completely CGI, but that aside I love this film. 8/10

3. Raiders of the Lost Ark

The classic that started it all, I'm not gonna say much about this film mainly because I feel like out of all the films I have least to say about this one. It's really great with phenomenonal action, music, acting, and pacing. An adventure for the ages, everything that could possibly be said about this movie has been said. It's a masterpiece. So why is it not at the top? Mainly cause I like the next two more, nothing against this film but I feel later entries improve on what's already there. Still the most quintessential adventure film of all time. 9/10

2. Temple of Doom

My hot take is that Temple of Doom is better than Raiders and I will die on this hill. This movie is a thrill ride from start to finish with some of my favourite characters in the whole franchise; I love Shortround and think he's a great sidekick to Indy, I love Willie she's such a great comedic foil and her line delivery never fails to crack me up, Mola Ram is basically the devil himself with how genuinely evil he is compared to the other bad guys he seems to be relishing in his evil. The camp fun of this movie mixed in with genuine horror imagery and elements make it utterly unforgettable to me, I know for some people it's too mean spirited but I kind of love that about it. Harrison Ford is so great here too, he is an absolute delight in this movie in every scene. The action is unmatched in the rest of the series here with the mine cart chase and bridge collapse being series highlights for me. Overall, it's just a brilliant bit of fun that while not being very deep has such great entertainment factor that I adore it. 9/10

1. The Last Crusade

I must have watched this on VHS so many times as a kid, I was constantly rewatching Last Crusade so I have a nostalgic bias for this movie, but so what? This movie means so much to me personally, its themes of obsession and fatherhood are beautifully executed. Getting Sean Connery, James Bond himself, to play Indy's father was a genius move by Spielberg the presence of Henry Jones sr elevates this film to the stratosphere for me. The story and characters are absolutely perfect, the action is as great as ever, the character of Indiana Jones himself is at his peak in this movie with how we learn so much about his past with that incredible opening sequence with young Indy. My only slight criticism is that the main villain, Walter Donovan is the weakest of the series, but even that's made up for by Elsa, who plays the role as both villain and love interest brilliantly. I love this movie to death. 10/10

"Indiana, let it go."

[researchercase]

Found a statement on my desk today. I gave it a read and it relates to that storm a few days ago. don't know why it was on my desk since it was given yesterday but I'll post it anyways

-Casey

Statement of Morgan Hayes, regarding the unusual storm that sunk a ship she was on. Statement given June 29th, 2024

I never thought I'd be back here, making another statement. But here we are.

As you probably know, I'm a reporter for the BBC, sometimes for on site weather reports, or gathering information for someone else's article cause they cashed in a favour, i.e. that article on the man who jumped into a river.

That's exactly what I was doing when I ended up on the boat. With the floods that happened a few days before, James was making an article about how it would affect fishing businesses in the local London area, since deliveries would be hard to make. He should've done it himself, then he'd probably be the one making this statement, but he cashed in a favour I owed him from a few years back, so I had to go interview in his place. The prick.

I drove down to London's Royal Docks, on June 26th, and asked any fisherman around if I could interview them about how the flood was affecting their business, with the promise that it'd appear on the BBC news. I didn't specify that it would just be an article and not on air, but one fisher group didn't seem to mind. They were however about to leave for Wales, so I hopped on. That way James would then owe me a favour after it. Certainly wasn't worth it though.

The crew looked like those you'd pass on the street and pay no notice, but there was one on the ship that didn't seem like she was apart of the crew.

A woman, around her mid 20s it seemed, with brown curly hair, grey eyes and glasses. She had a long raincoat on which made sense considering the weather the past few days, and she seemed pretty normal but there were three things about her that stood out to me. An almost white streak in her hair, odd scars that seemed to creep up on her jawline from her neck, and her glasses. They were cracked, in a line that I wasn't sure what it looked like. I asked the captain and he said that she was just a passenger who needed a boat ride to a nearby dock on the way to Wales, so I decided to pay her no mind and continue my job.

I interviewed the crew on that fishing ship, of course asking what they did, how the floods affected the business and their lives, and what they think would happen if the floods continued, etc etc. Only took two to three hours to interview the whole crew, and once I was done, I asked that they drop me off at a dock close to London, which they were happy to oblige.

I stepped out onto the deck, looking out onto the sea, when I felt it began to rain. I wouldn't have been surprised considering the days before, but this felt different. The other rain was still, not moving, no wind, no lighting. With this rain however, the wind picked up, it started as a gentle breeze then changed drastically to a force that almost knocked me over.

I clung to the railing of the boat as this happened, the rain began to pour faster and harder. The crew members that weren't on the deck came out to see what was happening, while those of us that were already out there were holding onto anything so we wouldn't get blown away by the wind. Then the waves got rough and began to crash against the boat, rocking it more and more with every crash.

We went to try go inside but that's when a big wave hit the boat, the water crashing onto the deck. Those of us who hadn't been able to grab onto something, were dragged into the water off the boat, and I don't mean that the wave was big enough to bring them under, no. It was like the water grappled them and then dragged them down. They screamed as they went.

The wind picked up again, I looked up and could see the storm clouds swirling around us. Then, those who had let their guard down even for a second of a moment, where lifted off, into the air, picked up by the howling wind, up and up into those swirling dark clouds where you could hear the thunder rolling in them, and see the occasional lightning strikes that lit them up. They screamed too.

The rest of us where able to get back inside, and I was about to follow suit, but then I noticed her. The passenger. Throughout all of this chaos, this tragedy, she wasn't affected by it. She wasn't dragged underneath by the waves, she wasn't lifted off into the clouds by the wind, no, it full seemed like she wasn't being affected, or targeted by the storm. In fact, she didn't look scared at all like the rest of us.

Something about her changed as well. The first time I saw her, she looked almost exhausted, weak. Now, in that moment, she looked healthy, energised, alive. Like she was fuelled by the Storm. Was she the one who caused this?

I called out to her despite the overbearing noise around us. I called out and asked her "Why are you doing this?", as loud as I could. She turned to me, and in that moment I realised that the crack on her glasses was looked more like a lightning strike. She spoke to me, and do you know what she said?

"I was hungry"

Before I could question her more, the others pulled me inside with them and closed the door, and we thought that maybe we were safe. Then a wave hit the boat again, a big one, and it finally capsized.

For the moments we where under the water in the boat, you could see out into it through the windows, and there was nothing but endless blue.

We escaped the boat, I remember, we managed to get a dingy boat, swam up as best we could, then did our best against the storm. I passed out however though. When I woke up, it was maybe an hour or so later, and I remember a coast guard boat driving up to save us.

Once we were one dry land, we were questioned about what happened. Since I was the one of the few who were out on the deck when it started, the one of the few who survived, I was able to give them the best recollection. The cost guard questioning me had a look on his face but I couldn't be bothered to ask what was wrong. I just wanted to go home.

Of course I was admitted to hospital but not for long. When I went back to work, 1. I found out that Finn was the one write the article about the incident and not me, and 2. I was called into my boss' office immediately.

My boss, and her higher up were there, along another I didn't recognise. They asked me about the incident and I once again gave my best recollection about it. I was given no response and instead was handed some papers. An NDA of sorts. They described it as "Section 31 but for the News".

It felt like a joke. I didn't want to sign it, I wanted others to know what had happened, but I was given no choice. Either I signed it, or I was fired. So I did. Now I'm stuck doing private reports on the strange and supernatural. It still feels like a joke. Like a sick joke against me.

Even though it's only been a few days, I still think about the storm. I think I'll always think about it. When my mind wanders to that incident, a quote from an excerpt of the Great Storm of 1703 comes to mind, when I looked at the storm, the swirling dark clouds, the rolling thunder, the lightning strikes, pouring rain and crashing waves, I think of the letter by Miles Nobcliffe.

"We are all left here in a dismal condition, expecting every moment to be all drowned: for here is a great storm."

There was nothing we could do against it. A part of me wonders, where us three survivors left alive because of The Passenger's moment of benevolence? Perhaps.

But I think, If I ever encountered her again. I would not go home.

[sinceileftyoublog]

Madi Diaz & Jack Van Cleaf Live Show Review: 3/6, Lincoln Hall, Chicago

Madi Diaz

BY JORDAN MAINZER

"I've got these purple shoes--they're very cool," Madi Diaz shared Wednesday night at Lincoln Hall as she tuned her guitar. Someone in the audience replied, "Tell us more!" Diaz didn't hear them, but the crowd member's response was apropos of Diaz's open-book nature as a songwriter and performer. Over her past two albums, 2021's History of a Feeling and last month's Weird Faith (Anti-), through her unflinching honesty, Diaz has created a solidarity of self-expression, anthems out of moments and feelings we might otherwise be ashamed of (loneliness, crying in public). She's put to song the peaks and valleys and beginnings and ends of relationships with others and herself, the non-linear nature of realizing that she loves, hates, feels a burning desire, and in turn deserves to feel it all. Turns out, a lot of other folks have had experiences similar to hers, making it easy for them to sing Diaz's words back to her and feel a palpable connection.

Diaz

Diaz walked out to Cass Elliot's "Make Your Own Kind of Music", a fitting sentiment to introduce a show in which she laid bare her vulnerability and created an atmosphere for others to do the same. Truth be told, she knows how to start a song, an album, and a set; "Same Risk" confronts a love interest about a level emotional playing field. "What the fuck do you want? Cause I'll give you all that I got," she sings on the Weird Faith and set opener, each subsequent line one-upping the prior in terms of frankness, culminating with the question, "Do you think this could ruin your life?" and the admission, "Cause I could see it ruining mine." Though the album version has the proper canyons of space to give room for Diaz's heavy confessions, the live version was comparatively stripped-down. On stage, Diaz played guitar and sang alongside multi-instrumentalist Adam Popick, who played drums and synthesizer, sometimes simultaneously. Though Diaz's lyrics are often diaristic, conversational, and clear, that they were less obscured by instrumentation as on the album made them all the more in-your-face. As such, a song like upbeat strummer "Everything Almost", wherein she wonders whether she's doing and saying the right things in a burgeoning relationship (and she's even doing the wondering out loud, in real time) is borderline like watching theater: At one moment, she cracks up at the thought of being a needy pregnant partner, and at the next, cowers at the idea that her parents might not be around to meet their grandchild.

Diaz

Diaz's unbridled outpouring can be jarring, but it's undoubtedly powerful. On Wednesday, huge-sounding songs like "For Months Now", "KFM", and "Resentment" transformed into intimate singalongs. "Hurting You", performed solo on acoustic guitar, became an even more hushed ode to picking yourself back up after a heartbreak, learning how to move on from grief. And though Kacey Musgraves didn't show up to duet "Don't Do Me Good", the crowd's belting of the all-timer country chorus was as stubborn as the song's protagonist herself.

If Diaz has grown as a songwriter over time and as she's penned for pop and country stars, it's clear that her time opening for the likes of Waxahatchee, Angel Olsen, and Harry Styles has allowed her to understand that, when performing, just because a space is big doesn't mean it always needs to be filled. The subject matter of her songs could be constantly cried out, but she belted only for maximum impact, contrasting the dulled tom thuds on "Get to Know Me", or holding a single note on "Crying in Public". For the most part, her vocal delivery was subtle, especially when she harmonized with Popick on "Girlfriend" and delved into fatalistic tricks on the unreleased "Worst Case Scenario", a song that tests her "theory of imagining the worst possible thing happening" so that it won't happen, or "expecting nothing and then being pleasantly surprised." At one point, on "Worst Case Scenario", she exclaimed, off-beat, "I'm gonna think of it!" over chugging drums and barn-burning riffs, recalling the tossed-off singing of Jason Molina.

Adam Popick and Diaz

Where Diaz finds ultimate peace is not in fatalism or nihilism but a sort of existentialism. She spends a lot of Weird Faith looking for meaning in giving your all to someone, and even weather patterns. But on "Kiss the Wall", she proclaims, "Nothin' is a waste of time," connecting the most boring moments when we're waiting in line for something to one's own legacy, perceiving that we all make tiny changes to earth. During her encore, Diaz said she didn't believe a mere two years ago that she could spend time on stage singing about such a raw period in her life. As she wrote Weird Faith "on the backs of mantras," she started to believe in herself. It's clear, now, that one of those mantras is that every moment carries weight. She ended the night performing the title track on acoustic guitar, visibly emotional as she left the stage. As the house lights went up, we were graced by none other than Limp Bizkit's cacophonous cover of George Michael's "Faith", a reminder that even the cruelest of jokes can be earnest expressions of the universe's necessary chaos.

Jack Van Cleaf

Opening was Nashville-via-Chicago songwriter Jack Van Cleaf, an acoustic guitar picker whose songs and performances, like Diaz's contain heart-to-heart chatter. Lines like, "Love is like a rattlesnake / Before it bites, it tries to warn ya," from "Rattlesnake" were perfect bedfellows to Diaz's "Same Risk". And perhaps it was a mix of Van Cleaf fans and Diaz fans attuned to storytelling, but I was wowed by the audience's reaction to his songs as much as the songs themselves. On the unreleased "Using You"--which employs drug metaphors to explore how people use each other for attention during a relationship--the audience reacted with every lyrical twist and turn, despite likely never before having heard the song. After performing it, Van Cleaf asked those taking videos to tag him on Instagram, not for clout, but so he could watch it and fine-tune the song. Yes, such symbiosis carried seamlessly into Diaz's set, but for Van Cleaf in a vacuum, it's easy to see how another unreleased song like "Piñata" came to be given his appetite for feedback. It wasn't just the words themselves but the way he delivered the line, "I'm full of sugar / I'm full of niceties / I'm full of shit," that hit harder than a candy bar after too many edibles. Next time Van Cleaf comes to Lincoln Hall, he might be the headliner making people cry.

Van Cleaf

Van Cleaf

Van Cleaf

[osiriabud]

Xiantober Day 9 ❅ Training

Wei Ying spewed coke all over the table. Jiang Cheng voiced his intense distress, but Jiang Yanli just reached into her purse for a tissue packet.

"A triathlon?!?" Wei Ying sputtered as he ripped open the tissues and mopped up the coke.

"My brother was interested in trying it. Nie Mingjue will be away for work the weekend it's being held, so he invited me to do it with him." Lan Zhan opened the container of his perfect, diagonally-sliced whole wheat avocado lettuce tomato sandwich.

"And you said yes?" Wei Ying's voice rose several octaves. Jiang Cheng glanced around the liberal art's building lobby and shushed him. Wei Ying waved him off.

"With what time?" He cried "You are taking nineteen credits this semester, have orchestra and tutoring."

"I trained for the marathon last year without any issue." Lan Zhan pointed out.

"But," Wei Ying snapped his mouth shut while putting some real thought into why he felt immediately opposed to Lan Zhan completing in a triathlon. "Your bunnies will miss you if you are too busy."

"Oh!" Jiang Yanli exclaimed, "Would you look at the time. We have dinner with our parents to get to. Lovely to see you Lan Zhan. Take care A-Xian!" She hauled a confused Jiang Cheng to his feet and pushed him toward the exit.

Lan Zhan watched them go, then turned to Wei Ying. "If you are worried about not spending time together, why don't you train with me?"

"What?" Wei Ying scoffed, "No, I said the bunnies. Besides, I'm way to busy. They started scheduling me for a few more hours each week, which I asked for, but..."

"Are you worried you won't be able to keep up with me and Xichen?" Lan Zhan said as Wei Ying trailed off. Wei Ying's mouth fell open. Lan Zhan calmly took a bite out of his sandwich.

"Are you kidding me?" Wei Ying leaned forward, "Keep up with you? I'll leave you in the dust!"

"I grew up in Yungmeng, swimming all summer long! I'm the fastest swimmer there is. And I'll have you know that I'm a pretty fast runner too! I'm always outrunning people's dogs when I deliver their food! And, speaking of that, I'm the fastest delivery person they have!"

"My bike even beats people in cars sometimes!" Wei Ying huffed, "Just you watch."

Lan Zhan finished his sandwich and wiped the corners of his mouth, "So you'll train with me?"

"Of course, Lan Zhan." Wei Ying grumbled as they gathered up their things.

He did not realize when he agreed to this that it meant meeting Lan Zhan at five every morning to go for a run or a swim. He dragged himself out of bed and complained the whole time, but was secretly grateful because it meant their training time didn't eat into their move nights.

Plus he enjoyed any extra time he got to spend with Lan Zhan even if it was before the crack of dawn, when he kept embarrassing himself by showing up to the gym as a half-asleep mess while Lan Zhan looked refreshed and perfect.

And it started to be the perfect excuse to spend the night at Lan Zhan's place. Why bother going home after they hung out when he had to come right back to the campus gym next to his apartment. Staying over meant extra time harassing the bunnies and his favorite person. So, all in all, he didn't mind waking up so early and spending his free time working on cardio.

The day of the race came. He and Lan Zhan and Lan Huan all stood together at the beginning. A sense of anticipation and challenge gripped him.

They dove into the lake together and hit the other side at the same time. Lan Zhan made sure Wei Ying's helmet was properly secured before they hopped onto their bikes and raced down the winding roads together. When they pulled on their running shoes, Wei Ying teased Lan Zhan about double-knotting his laces.

Lan Huan kept pace and threw them warm glances the whole time until they reached the sprint, then he pulled a head and secured second place overall.

Lan Zhan and Wei Ying crossed the finish line hand in hand in the top ten. The Jiang's and Nie Huaisang screamed and waved their signs. Wei Ying threw his arms around Lan Zhan's shoulders then gave him a big, sweaty kiss.

"See," he panted, "I beat you by a whole two seconds."

"Mn." Lan Zhan agreed, drawing Wei Ying in for another congratulatory kiss.

[housewarningparty]

3, 15, 55! and also please identify the most gothic powerful vampire song on it. the people need to know

edited to do this GAME RIGHT bc i forgot it was about lyrics :')

3. Direction by Mat Kerekes (feat. Anthony Green) - so this is a track off the debut solo album of Mat Kerekes, singer of beloved emo band Citizen. The guest vocals are by Anthony Green of Circa Survive. But what I really wanna talk about is the production, bc this is the first record I listened to that really made me aware of Will Yip. This is an acoustic record, really stripped down and organic sounding, and Kerekes plays all the music except for some percussion provided by Yip - it all sounds so bright and airy. The guitar tone has this gorgeous twangy pop, the percussion sounds like someone slapping a pattern out right next to your ear. Admittedly, this is probably so high up on the list bc it was on a playlist i made when i went insane and wrote a 90k word fanfic earlier this year, but still - love this song, love this record. The Anthony Green verse at the end is so dramatic and good "I could be anything that you wanted / I wouldn't mind if you handed me a loaded gun / Crack a smile while you turn the safety off / I'll destroy anything that you want me to / Help me try and understand what you're going through"

15. Ladders of Supremacy by Coheed & Cambria - I'm not here to convince anyone to listen to Coheed bc I don't think anyone should. They just happen to be my favorite band (derogatory). However, in their extensive catalogue this track still manages to stand out - by being the exact thing they do really, really well. It literally always works on me. I'd consider this song the first part of a three part suite that closes out the record (a concept album, per usual). There's an incredibly sexy bass line on this song, a great chorus, kinda filthy bluesy guitar work, and a shockingly jazzy drum performance from Josh Eppard. It's just peak Coheed prog bullshit and I'm so weak to it. So, this Coheed album is the second part of a record that came out in 2019 and it's about a kid who uhh perceives all of time at once? And also his parents who are sci-fi bank robbers/theater performers? Who the fuck cares. "Stay down, boy, see, ya got clowned, boy" is Typical Claudio Nonsensery but the delivery is so fun. Down BWAAH see ya got clowned BWAAAH

55. Wear U Down by Teenage Wrist - I Am Not Immune To Shoegazey Alt Rock. Actually I was surprised tracks off this record weren't higher in my play count this year, bc I feel like I listened to it a lot? I don't have as much to say about this - great fuzzy guitars, love the snare tone. "I'll wear you down, down down" is not a very articulate or impressive chorus, but it sure is fun to sing along with in the car. There's a great lyrical book end in the first verse and the last that goes "Stomp me out / I'm burning red but now I'm done" and then later "Stomp me out / Before I burn another hole" and who among us hasn't poorly ashed a cigarette and found this relatable?

out of these three songs I'd say the biggest gothic powerful vampire energy is probably teenage wrist. but that's grading on hard curve.

out of my whole top 100, biggest gothic powerful vampire energy is When Will God's Work Be Done by Unto Others. This is a GREAT song - big Sisters of Mercy But Heavier vibes. Very goth adjacent imo. This vocalist is incredible. He makes all kinds of great noises - OUGHHHH! HUAAGHH! AUUH! GAUGHDD! WHEN WILL GOD'S WORK BE DONE! Anyway very vampy lyrics + a great evil laugh at the end - "Working all night in the burning dark" / "When a man dies, I feel alive" / "Death, such sweet release" / "Make sure the first bite is the last bite" - yeah! easy win.