#I love them. the actors are good. but the writers are god awful Even the dialogue is suffering

[b00tyliciousbabe]

da vinci

pairing: dacre montgomery x male reader

summary: just the actor fawning over the abundance in your cultural capital.

request: @gayaristocrat YOU ARE THE VISUSLS BBY! thanks sm for your patience, plus the anon who also requested a while back, i hope you enjoy reading as much as i did writing.

notes: happy pride! after FINALLY handing in my art coursework, this is my projection onto the character of the reader. never will i ever pick up another paintbrush - well…also officially finished my exams now so i am a slut for y’all’s requests! flood my inbox (but more importantly my hole) xx

song rec: naomi sharon - definition of love

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ ⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ ⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅

dating dacre was nothing short of a dream. he always made you feel so at ease. he loved how creative you were - the perfect match to his inner theatre kid. taking him to fashion exhibitions + poetry slams, and the actor inviting you to theatre shows, seeing the world through each others’ eyes made the time together even more precious. you first met at a ballet show. he had been dragged to see it by a few of his castmates, but was more so enjoying the bts view of you with the dancers. you were backstage fitting all the dancers and making sure they were all comfortable in what you styled. he managed to peek behind the curtain and saw your beautiful, so focused on draping the fabric of the lead’s skirt.

fuck, you were fine.

but he didn’t think much of it, just some cute guy, with beautiful eyes, who probably had a boyfriend. he took his seat and watched it with his friends. one of them was engaged to one of the dancers and so took dacre to the dressing rooms after the show. after introducing the two of you, y’all were practically drooling over each other. barely a word was said between you, but your hearts’ communicated greater feelings than mere speech ever could. they say love at first sight is something for the big screen, but your initial encounter rivalled the biggest stories of romance any writer could ever craft.

from that night, you practically were together, with the tabloids plastering the two of you holding hands, yachting in capri. the pop culture side of twitter was OBSESSED with your relationship to the actor and was in constant awe with how perfect you guys were for each other.

y/nsupremacy: you guys make my heart smile

user111: they’d make such cute babies

dacrefanclub6: sexiest couple on the internet

there was even a time where he had to do a nude scene in an upcoming blockbuster and the whole world saw how much your man was packing. in his press tour, the panel of interviewers didn’t shy away from your bf’s HUGE deal, some even made inappropriate comments.

‘god bless bottoms like y/n, he be taking that shit better than a pornstar’

‘poor y/n, how does that thing even fit?’

‘checks out…big booty bitches y/n deserves to be fucked by hung men.’

dacre was afraid that you would feel uncomfortable with the constant media comments on your thickness, but he had nothing to fear. you embraced it, you were said to have the best bod in fashion. as much as he tried to keep his life with you private, he lowkey wanted to let the world know that how much of a good boy you were for him.

dacre: ‘in all fairness i ain’t had any complaints from him so…’

dacre: ‘but…our neighbours definitely hate us.’ he remarks with a devilish grin.

everyone was rooting for your relationship, and what better way to show this than him enlisting the joint troops of your fandoms to surprise you whilst you were working in paris. he had gotten some time away from filming and decided to come and visit your atelier in paris. sprawled out on your desk, with needles and materials adorning the creative canvas of the room, he saw you hard at work. with the same vein poking through your forehead as the first time he laid eyes on your angelic physique, he could’ve fallen in love all over again.

‘hey babe’ he came up to you with flowers. ‘you look ravishing tonight’ rolling his r’s with a tenacity that made you smile. his tone always made you feel so safe.

‘i ain’t even dressed yet,’ you protest, dusting off the loose threads and sequins from your sweats. ‘you’re beautiful in whatever you wear,’ coming closer and gripping underneath your butt, ‘even prettier with less on.’ dacre quips as his lips tickle your ear.

‘dacre stop,’ you laugh out. ‘that giggle of yours is so infectious.’ he crashes his lips into you, the flowers dropping haphazardly onto the desk as he pushed his tongue deeper.

he was wearing the blazer you had designed for his birthday last year, paired with a pendant necklace with the first initial of your name on it. he looked so sexy. ‘can’t seem to keep my hands off off of you.’ he breathed, nudging his jacket off.

‘nuh uh, we have dinner reservations.’ nudging him away.

‘fuck. why’d you gotta be so damn sexy?’ he sounded aggravated but you pecked him again, ‘don’t worry, i am all yours tonight.’

taking you to the balcony of a quaint, parisian bistro, the chill of the capital’s air made the two of you even more enamoured, your hearts burning passionately. whilst eating, you got some sauce on the corner of your lips, as he pushes it back into your mouth. ‘gotta get you used to the feeling of a foreign object in your mouth before tonight, don’t i?’ dacre always loved being dirty in public and you made sure to satiate his exhibitionist kink.

after many glasses of wine, you made your way to the louvre. with your many contacts you managed to snag an after hours tour - solo. you were much more of a lightweight than your boyfriend (the man could drink like a pirate and be even more chipper than before) and you couldn’t walk in a straight line for more than a few metres. he let you go so he could see your figure and admire it from afar, but as soon as he saw you stumble, dacre’s hand on your waist guided you to safety and sobriety.

y’all ran throughout the museum, finally landing and kissing in front of the mona lisa. it was such a picturesque moment. the taxi ride back to the hotel was such a fever dream, y’all were all over each other, your chauffeur knew well to close the barrier and give you two some alone time.

‘have i ever told you how beautiful you are?’ he says slurring his speech.

‘tell me again…’ you implored.

‘the most beautiful boy in the world.’ he reassured, pulling you in as the city of paris lit up, illuminating your eyes.

you called him an ‘eager beaver’ as dacre stumbled the two of you into the hotel you were staying at. he grunts between kisses,‘you know you love me.’ serving you with another peck. he stripped your clothes as you followed suit with his own, leaving a chasm of fabric in the corner of the room.

only your shared jewellery was left to remove. you fell back seductively onto the mattress. as dacre crawled on top of you with a dark lust growing in his eyes, you pulled him by the pendant around his neck.

the muscular man laid atop of you, placing each hand on the bed at dip of your waist, using his palms as a fulcrum to steady himself. you glanced down to see the light reflecting off his abs as they danced on the curves of your body.

‘you’re so beautiful.’ he whispered, kissing your cheek and cupping your face.

he lifted himself from your figure, grabbing your thighs and placing your feet at either side of his head.

kissing your legs softly ‘so fucking soft.’ he moaned into your skin. his dick was throbbingly red, precum glazing his cock as he slowly thigh fucked you. he folded his arms around your plush knees, and kept that pace, your fingers grazing his cock head each time it escaped the warm walls of your inner thighs. to your annoyance, he kept this up for what felt like forever. halting, you felt his rock length graze your hole.

‘dacre, put it in already!’ you said with overstimulated passion, earning a snicker from your boyfriend.

knowing that you were beginning to grow impatient, he caresses the flesh of your abdomen. ‘look who’s eager now?’ he smirked.

shut up,’ stroking his happy trail with an endearment. you looked up at him and bit your lip. ‘I need you, please.’ his mouth agape at you ‘of course baby.’

he laced his fingers into yours. rocking slowly into you. his huge dick stretching you out slowly as the the dimly lit room made his ash blue eyes appear dark with lust.

‘fuck, have i missed this pussy’ rhetorically muttering. dacre began whispering sweet nothings into your ear:

‘you’re doing so well.’

‘taking it like my good little boy aren’t you?’

he made you so hot. lifting himself onto his toes, he angled himself directly into you, placing his entire weight on you. fucking down into your hole, your boyfriend was hitting nerves that had been neglected in his absence.

your sphincter began tightening around him, dacre knew what this meant - your release would soon follow. he started kissing your neck, and circled your left nipple with his thumb, goading your orgasm out of you as he started drilling a bit faster. dacre chased his own high begging you to finish with him whilst slurring his words.

‘take it, baby it’s all yours. UGHHHHH’ he busted strongly inside you. his big balls slapped at your butt one last time, reassuring both of you that he had seeded you deeply. you came all over his chest, as he chuckled.

‘love it when you paint me, that’s that sexy shit i like.’ he praised giving you an eskimo kiss to calm you from my high.

‘y/n,’ he whispered, big spooning you.

‘what’s wrong baby?’ you sounded concerned, cradling his hand.

‘nothing love, i just,’ he paused hesitantly.

you turned back to face him. ‘what is it? you know you can tell me anything.’

‘I just need you to know how much i missed you,’

‘oh dacre, you already did an amazing job showing me.’ You joke ‘I feel so…enlightened right now.’

he lets out a sad deep chuckle, turning to him and stroking his cheek ‘I missed you too.’

he gripped your waist, taking your words as a source of comfort. pushing his tongue down your throat.

‘ready for round two,’ you say, massaging his dick with your palm, getting him ready.

‘always.’ he affirms, spanking your ass and turning you over. the first round was very much for your pleasure and to let you know that he had truly craved your body.

but seeing your coke bottle body all splayed out for him? it was here that dacre’s beast was awoken.

‘ass up for me baby.’ he said guiding you to a more comfortable position. he massaged your thick cheeks and started eating you out. his large hands looked abysmally small in comparison to how juicy your ass was.

‘I ain’t gonna show you any mercy this time, you know the safe word, but i don’t think we’ll be needing it.’ he muttered, kissing down your spine before impaling you.

‘shitttt dacre, slow down.’

‘shut the fuck up and take that shit like the pretty, little cockwhore you are.’ dacre degraded, knowing how much you loved his dom/aggressive nature almost as much as his softer side.

dacre began going ham on your poor hole. he stood up as he began pulling you into him from the edge of the bed. with one hand crossed against your cheek and the other in his hair, he had to compose himself - else he come to quickly.

he fucked into you at a painfully quick pace, but it felt so good having him take control. dacre slutted you out almost unconscious for a bit and you were brought back to earth as he hit your second hole.

‘fuck baby,’ ‘I will never get tired of that ass.’ he said watching your thickness bounce against his abs. you started becoming more active, pushing back onto him for a heightened pleasure.

‘shake it for daddy, theeeere ya go, that’s MY shit baby. FUUUUUUUCK.’

‘oh god, your dick is so good, dacre.’ you moan out , which is enough to send him over the edge.

he came as your ass halted at his base. tightenibg around him he started breathing falteringly. ‘baby d-don’t do that, shiiiiit.’ he started leaking like a faucet. trying to thrust inside with some rhythm (to no avail), he collapsed on top of you.

‘I love you so much.’ you say breathlessly.

‘the feeling is so mutual babe.’ he kissed into your skin.

‘y/n, you’re so fucking wet,’ he spoke under his breath. still inside that filled pussy of yours, his cum and your slick provided a juicy lubricant. as he pulled out, the cum oozing out of your wrecked hole pooled into his pubes and on the duvet cover. the two of you were completely oblivious to the mess, and cuddled in the filth you’d created - a filth you were looking forward to adding to in the morning.

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tag list:

@gayaristocrat

@ghostking4m

@lysanderplume

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - So Many GREAT Kisses!

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

(Please notice I am now using 6 dots in all ellipses because according to Taiwanese BL that's how we queers roll. Who am I to argue?)

Sept 2024 Week 3

Ongoing Series - Thai

Jack & Joker (Thai Mon IQIYI) ep 2 of 12 - A most excellent glow up. And it’s still a great show. And I cannot wait to see the many different faces of War. Bring on the Leverage of One action-packed mess. I'm waiting.  

Monster Next Door (Thai Thurs Gaga ) ep 9 of 12 - I’m gonna say this because it drives me crazy. Why are boys in BL, when out and about the countryside, always dressed inappropriately for Thailand? If it’s hot, takeoff your damn jacket. I don’t mean to be crass or crazy or whatever. But don’t wear a jacket when it’s 90° with 90% humidity. In Thailand, jackets are for malls. Meanwhile, I’m an extrovert and that still seemed like an exhausting trip. Although, I suppose they didn’t show all the drive time in the van, when everyone is asleep.

Meanwhile, why are the sides so frustrating in this show? Authentic friends-to-lovers is always a slog. Finally a kiss! And a decent one.

New character? Aw! Hi Yu!!!! Gosh Putter is so cute.

Where were we? Oh yes, Beer is now heartbroken. Always the great fear in F2L that the friendship will be destroyed as a result. And it’s a decent fear. 

On a completely different note, I cannot help but wonder when somebody’s chue len is Beer, if that is because beer was involved in their conception. Like, it’s the name you give your "oops baby" from that drunken night at the club. Don’t mind me. I’m just over here in the corner being crass.

Battle of the Writers (Sun YT) ep 8 of 12 - That was one of the cutest wake up sequences ever depicted. Utterly adorable. And now he’s blind again? Oh my God this is such a soap opera, I can’t even. Meanwhile, wicked ice prince finally made his move. Gah! Why aren’t we getting more of this couple? I always love the sides best with this production house.

I Saw You in My Dream (Weds Gaga) ep 10 of 12 - I love a hard fraught game of badminton. Even though we actually didn’t see play. YoIng claiming was so cute!!! And their shower kiss was v hot. Yay little show! Also cute use of the punishment trope!

Kidnap (Fri YT) ep 3 of 12 - The weight upon the shoulders of our idiot good guy kidnapper continues to pile up. So does the affection. The dude playing Q has sanpaku eyes. Cool. He’s not a particularly good actor though. Rough because everyone around him is giving their very best.

The problem is. I'm noticing. I shouldn't be noticing all the talent trying so hard. That usually means there is something wrong with the story, or there was something wrong on the set.

I don't know what to say at this juncture except I have the sinking suspicion this might not actually be a good show. (Covers head and cowers. Don't hate me.) I'd loved to be proved wrong, but my faith is GMMTV is only about 50% these days. And it probably should be lower.

Addicted Heroin (Thai Tues WeTV) ep 6 of 10 - I was so confused by how we suddenly got on a trip together, that I went back and re-watched the previous installment. And it still isn’t explained. So I have no idea why our leads are on a trip but apparently that’s the next trope to hit. I also have no idea how they're suddenly boyfriends. I’m just generally confused by this episode. It’s like an alt reality. We skipped over all of the stuff where they actually got into a relationship. In general I wasn’t wild about this episode.

The Trainee (Sun YT) ep 12fin - The most realistic thing about this show is that everybody is everybody else’s ex on any given set. I feel that in my bones. Or do I mean boner?

Frankly, both actors look better after a glow up and I guess pretending to be more their actual ages suits them? Considering what was actually done to invoke youth (a lot of the shine and gloss) aging them was an anti-glow up. A great mattification? Well...... this was a somewhat lackluster finale. (Thank you, thank you, the pun was unplanned. It's a gift.)

I don’t know. I guess I wanted to see Jane suffer? Work HARD to get the kid he abandoned back? I would’ve liked to have seen Ryan a little bit more competent and capable and his job. Maybe dating someone else. But I also do not want any more episodes. This was more than enough. So instead no separation, just boyfriends and a montage of their lives together, getting new and better jobs, moving in together, being supportive and sweet, etc... LOOK: It’s never a good sign when I immediately want to rewrite the show that I just saw.

In conclusion:

A story about a group of interns at a commercial video production company. While I genuinely love OffGun, I’m not convinced this was a good vehicle for them. Is it terrible for me to say, I miss their PickRome days? I don’t think they’ve ever had rolls that suited them better. Still, theirs was the best storyline in this ensemble piece masquerading as a BL, although they still fumbled the ending. Thus, I enjoyed about a 1/3 of it as much as possible, and 2/3 of it less than conceivable. 7/10 and I seriously considered dropping it to a 6/10 so don't push me.

Love Sick 2024 (Thai Sun iQIYI) ep 1 of 15 - Not gonna lie I was very skeptical. But I like it fine. Better than I expected because it’s been changed just enough. But it does need to stay changed. I don’t know what I’m trying to articulate here but…... I guess we’ll see.

Live in Love (Sun Gaga) ep 3 of 5 - It’s cute in a weird disjointed way. I’m enjoying it enough, I guess. I do like how forthright and direct Kla is. 

Bad Guy My Boss (Thai Sun Gaga) ep 1 of 10 - Ah. Bully romance. My old frenemy. Of course making this office based means +10 for workplace harassment. Well well well. This will be red flag party town I see. How VERY old school yaoi. It’s all very Cdrama CEO = dudes in suits walking on parquet (minus all the gay sex of course.) The jumping around between times and unfinished scenes is very strange. Is this Starhunter chaos only applied to a timeline?

Imma say this so they hear it at the back. YOU HAVE TO CHANGE THE HAIR. If you do time jumps: change. the. hair. It's the easiest and best clue if you aren't going to apply a filter or other cinematography tricks. JUST CHANGE THE DAMN HAIR STYLE.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

The On1y One (Taiwan Thurs Gaga) eps 9-10 of 12 - And now we all start using six dots in our……? A new coded way to indicate that one is into BL? I did think we were in a slight mire with ep 9, too much teacher filler. Not enough time spent with our boys. Meanwhile, sports day. Pouty Baby utilizing the power of Ge, in front of all of the classmates who do not realize how hard he is flirting and activating babygirl = one of the greatest things ever to happen on my screen. Essentially this was a version of the claiming trope, only nobody knew it but the two of them. Fucking genius. Yes, I watched it multiple times. Then babygirl is injured, the carrying and the flirting!!!! Gah!

I don’t mean to trivialize the show, but this is me and I can trivialize everything even something as brilliant as this. But that conversation about history at the beginning of ep 10...... Was that about topping and bottoming? Because it sure seemed that way.

And then...... Possibly the best only one bed trope twist ever?

This show is so fucking amazing.

And I am so worried about the end.

Sugar Dog Life (Japan Sun grey) ep 7 of 10 - I love the kinkyness of our baby boy’s fantasy. Where he is the gift and his boyfriend is in uniform. Very nice. Thank you Japan. Never one to let kinky dogs lie. Also, the premise continues: one half thinks that they are already boyfriends and acts like it, and the other half is still trying to become a boyfriend. It’s absurd in that way that only Japanese miscommunication extraordinaire can be absurd. Also could Kyosuke be any more under his boy’s thumb? 

Love is Like a Poison AKA Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru (Japan Tues Netflix?) 1-2 of 10 eps - Shiba is a top lawyer, angular aggressive bespectacled workaholic cat-type (Kitten? Babygirl? Tsundere? Some unholy combination of all 3?) I am reminded I should be more considerate of my potted plants. OMG the teasing and the little tongue sticking out. Haruto is such a flirt. I love this dynamic. What fun! Manic pixie dream boy but MAKE HIM EVIL! Or very high? Or a grifter? I have absolutely no idea what’s going on. But I’m enjoying it. It’s very...... very

First Note Of Love (Taiwan Mon Gaga) ep 7 of 12 - Oh! Good kiss. Smart to have the younger character initiate. I also like that he put a stop to it and then went and had a long conversation with a friend about it. Cautious boy. Also shows how in control of the situation Sea is becoming. It works for this BL since he has the stronger personality. I don't care what the characters say, this is about Sea becoming a rock for Neil.

But the secondary couple is actually winning this show. I want so much more of them. 

Seoul Blues (Korea Fri? YouTube) ep 8fin - I’m not sure that blackmailing and entrapment, especially of your ex, necessarily justifies cheating. Plus I never like it when it’s gays against gays. But what did I expect from this show? This whole series was basically Korea’s version of messy gay. If you liked Only Friends you’ll probably enjoy this bullshit. And they were quite pretty. I, however, am monumentally displeased. 4/10 FATALLY FLAWED but still, basically, BL, however…... do we want to support this kind of behavior?

KOREA PLEASE GIVE US A NEW PROPER BL!! WHERE ARE YOU? WE ARE SAD AND LOST WITHOUT YOU.

It's like now they discovered boys can kiss they can't be happy.

It's airing but...

The Hidden Moon (Sat WeTV) ep 1 of 10 - This is a supernatural romance (my ghost boyfriend trope) by Violet Rain (I Feel You Linger). A man is hired to write an article about an old mansion in Chiang Mai being converted into a café. He sees the ghosts of people who died at the mansion, falls in love with one of them. Was substantially recast. I loved IFYLITA except the ending so I think I'll let this one run it's course you can tell me if it's work tracking down... if they managed to land it. I have my doubts.

Happy of the End (Japan Tues Gaga) - A boy is disowned for being gay, dumped by his boyfriend, and ends up in a dysfunctional co-dependant relationship with his would-be kidnapper. We were due for another messy JBL and it's exactly as expected. I do not like it at all. And ya know what? There is plenty airing. DNF 

In case you missed it

I FINISHED Meet You at the Blossom (China). I ate crow, binged the fucker, and live blogged the experience. I enjoyed it a lot and got quite witty (I think) there are also puns (warning). But if you don't wanna slog though it, here are my final thoughts:

This was undeniably a wuxia and most definitely a BL. Evil stunning princely Cheekbones meets and falls in love with the bisexual disaster Dimples of his dreams. There’s a lot of floaty fighting, tangled plot, and overworked emotions. From start to finish it is exactly as it claims to be, including more than the expected amount of sexual claiming (dubious conscent to the point of rape). I’m not wild about the wuxia genre, but I will tell you what I do like: Very pretty men in flowing robes + eye makeup + hair ribbons wafting about stabbing and kissing each other plus ridiculous soap opera machinations. I also like cheekbones and dimples. AND I love a stupid gay sleeve, okay? There was also truly epic levels of stink-eye, and that too is to be lauded. This show left me grinning like crazy. Was it great? Not really, but it was a great experience and I enjoyed it immensely. 8/10

4 Minutes (Gaga) Ended - Spies reported in to say the ending was not-exactly-unhappy and mostly lackluster. I'm torn over whether to watch. My natural disinclination to binge, meets my dissatisfaction with wishy-washy, is going up against my love of high heat and pretty men. Oh the age old struggle between art and lust.

Mitsuya-sensei no keimakutekina ezuke finished and it’s reported to be solid. Age gap treated with respect. I'm curious, so I'll check it out if I can get hold of non-G-drive subs.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

Still Coming Sept 2024:

9/28 Teenager Judge (Vietnam Sat YouTube) ?? eps - oh I don't know just Ba Vinh doing his thing with pretty boys again.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

I love love love this execution of the punishment trope. What's Ai going to do to you, Yu? Ride you to death?

I Saw You in My Dream indeed.

Sigh. This show. (Addicted Heroin)

All praise one of BL's best-in-show glow-ups. Nicely done, Jack.

James, on the other hand. Never needs a glow-up. Still the prettiest. Has been since Oxygen. (Battle of the Writers)

He's playing the role of Saint in this show, thank you very much. Speaking of which, wouldn’t that be just the most gorgeous pairing in the entire universe? Saint and James? I’ll be in my bunk. 

Taiwan giving us a boop! Reminds me of Be Loved In House I Do, right up there with TharnType as chronic boopers.

Why is he SO GOOD in this show?

All Frist Note.

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a pain.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in its infinite wisdom doesn't like too many at-ings.

[maddyjones2]

On not idolising creative people

In the wake of the various recent allegations involving Neil Gaiman, people have been both very sad that someone who they looked up to as an inspiration has, allegedly, turned out to be something less than entirely admirable, and are now looking to see who is now left that they can rotate into the spot of “the good dude,” i.e., that one successful creative guy who they think or at least hope isn’t hiding a cellar full of awful actions. One name I see brought up is mine, in ways ranging from “Well, at least we still have Scalzi,” to “Oh, God, please don’t let Scalzi be a fucking creep too.” Which, uhhhh, yeah? Thanks?

I have many thoughts about this and I’m going to try to make sense of them here, as much for myself as anyone else, so this may be messy and discursive and long (seriously, 3600 words, y’all), but, well, welcome to me. So, ordered by how these things come out of my head:

1. Stop Idolizing Creative People. Creative people are easy to idolize because they create the art you love, and that gives you permission to feel things, and to see yourself and your desires reflected in that art. That is a powerful thing, and from the outside, it can feel like magic, and that the people who do it are tapped into something otherworldly and admirable. Plus, they often get to have cool lives and get to know other cool creative people. They do things that are removed from the day-to-day aspect of a “normal” life, and they’ll even post about them on social media where you can see them. Sometimes, independent of their art directly, they’ll speak about their life, or life in general, and they’ll seem wise and considered and kind. I mean, what’s not to like?

But please consider that this is all an extremely mediated experience of this person. The art is the edited and massaged result of hours and days and weeks and months of work, into which the work of many others is also added. My novels originate from me, but it’s not just me in there, nor is the final form of the novel an accurate statement of who I am as a person, not least of all for the simple reason that I am not trying to tell my story in my novels. I’m creating fictional characters, and the world in which they make sense, for the purpose of the story.

Despite how it might look from the outside, this is not sorcery. It’s years of experience at a craft. It’s not magic, just work. A completed novel (or any other piece of art) won’t tell you much about the specific, day-to-day life and inclinations of the individual who made it, other than a general nod toward their competence, and the competence of their collaborators. Likewise what you see of their lives, even from the illusorily close vantage of social media, is deeply mediated. Lives always look admirable at a distance, when you can only see the lofty peaks and not the rubble at the base — especially when your attention by design is pointed at those lofty peaks. There’s much you don’t see and that you’re not meant to see. The vast majority of what you’re not meant to see isn’t nefarious. It’s just not your business.

Now, before I was a professional creative person, I was an entertainment journalist who spent years interviewing writers, directors, movie stars, musicians, authors and other creative folks. Since I’ve been on the other side of the rope, I’ve likewise met a huge range of creative people from all walks of life. Please believe me when I assure you that creative people are just people. Richer and/or more famous? Sometimes (less often than you might think, though). Prettier and/or more charismatic? Especially if they’re actors or pop stars, often yes! But at the end of the day they are just folks, and they run the whole range of how people are. By and large, the day-to-day experience of getting through their life is the same as yours. Outside of their own specific field of work, they don’t know any more about life, have no more facility for dealing with the world, and have just as few clues about what’s going on in their own head, as anyone else.

They’re just people. Whose work is making the stuff you like! And that’s great, but that’s not a substantive basis for idolizing them. It makes no more sense to idolize them than to idolize a baker who makes cookies you like, or the guy who comes and trims your hedges the way you want them to be trimmed, or the plumber who fixes your clogged drain. You can appreciate what they do, and even admire they skill they have. But holding them up as a life model might be a bit much. Which is the point! If you’re not willing to idolize a plumber, then you shouldn’t idolize a creative person.

(“But a plumber doesn’t make me feel like a creative person does,” you say, to which I say, are you sure about that? Because I will tell you what, when my sump pump stopped working and the plumber got in there, replaced the pump and started draining out my basement which had an inch of standing water in it, that man was the focus of all my emotions and was my goddamned hero that day. My plumber that day did more for me than easily 90% of the great art I’ve ever experienced.)

Enjoy the art creative people do. Enjoy the experience of them in the mediated version of them you get online and elsewhere, if such is your joy. But remember that the art is from the artist, not the artist themselves, and the version of their life you see is usually just the version they choose to show. There is so much you don’t see, and so much you’re not meant to see. At the end of the day, you don’t have all the information about who they are that you would need to make them your idol, or someone you might choose to, in some significant way, pattern some fraction of your life on. And anyway creative people aren’t any better at life than anyone else.

Which brings up the next point:

2. Fuck idols anyway! People are complicated and contradictory and you don’t know everything about them! You don’t know everything even about your parents or siblings or best friends or your partner! People are hypocrites and liars and fail to live up to their own standards for themselves, much less yours! Your version of them in your head will always be different than the version that actually exists in the world! Because you’re not them! Stop pretending people won’t be fuck ups! They will! Always!

This sounds more pessimistic about humans than perhaps it should be. When I say, for example, that people are hypocrites and liars, I don’t mean that people take every single opportunity to be hypocrites and liars. Most people are decent in the moment. But none of us — not one! — has always lived up to our own standard of behavior, and all of us have had the moment where, when confronted with a situation that would become an immense pain in the ass if we stuck to our guns, or demanded the inconvenient truth, decided to just bail instead, because the situation wasn’t worth the drama, or we had somewhere else to be, or whatever. We all choose battles and we all make the call in the moment, and sometimes the call is, fuck this, I’m out.

Every person you’ve ever admired has fucked up, sometimes really badly. Everyone you’ve ever looked up to has secrets, and it’s possible some of those secrets would materially change how you think about them, not always for the better. Everyone you’ve ever known has things about them you don’t know, many of which aren’t even secrets, they’re just things you don’t engage with in your day-to-day experience of them. Nevertheless it’s possible if you were aware of them, it would change how you feel about them, for better or for worse. And now let’s flip that around! You have things about you that even your best friends don’t know, and might be surprised to learn! You have secrets you don’t wish to share with the class! You have fucked up, and lied, and have been a hypocrite too!

You are, in short, a human, as is everyone you know and every one you will know (pets and gregarious wild animals excepted). And all humans are, charitably, a mess. This doesn’t mean there aren’t good people or even exemplary people out there, since there are, along with the ones that are, charitably, a real shit show. What I am saying is that even the good or exemplary people out there are a mess, have been morally compromised at some point in their lives, and have not lived up to their own standards for themselves, independent of anyone else’s standard for them.

One of the aspects of being an “idol,” I think, is that higher standard that other people expect of you — that in every situation where the aspect they idolize you for is in play, you will act in a manner that is right and correct by their standard, which of course you will likely not know about because you don’t actually know them (or often know that they exist). This is, by definition, an impossible standard to be held to — you didn’t agree to it, or to engage with it — and an impossible standard to hold other people to without their direct consultation. Every human made to be an idol is destined to fail at the job. You don’t even have to have feet of clay! You just didn’t know you were on a pedestal to begin with.

(This does not excuse shitty action. The fact people should not be idols in the first place is not exculpatory for the choices one makes on one’s own. If you’re sexually assaulting people, or being a racist or sexist or homophobe or other flavor of bigot, or using your situational power coercively (as just a few examples), then hell yes you are going to be called out on it. And to be clear, it is not unreasonable, to put it mildly, to expect people not to sexually assault other people, or not to denigrate other humans for being who they are, etc. But this only adds to the point about idols, now, doesn’t it. You don’t know what you don’t see, and you don’t know what you’re not seeing, until it is hauled out into the light one way or the other. If it is hauled out into the light at all.)

I don’t think anyone should idolize anyone, ever. It’s not great for them, and it’s not great for you, they probably didn’t ask to be idolized (and if they did, holy shit, fucking run), and in the end unless you’re so completely wrapped up in their lives that they have no secrets from you — which is never — you don’t know enough to make that call. People do it anyway, and then disappointment happens, but they shouldn’t have done it in the first place. Stop idolizing people. It’s not fair for anyone.

What to do instead? Enjoy their work, if they’re a creative person. Appreciate the kind and good aspects of their life that you can see, and the decent actions they undertake in public, with the knowledge that what you see of them is a mediated and elided version. Understand that we all have a different version of ourself for every person we meet, and that every person we meet has a different vision of ourselves in their head, and very often, those two versions are not the same. Like them, based on what you know of them! Love them, if it comes to that. And when and if you learn something new about them that you didn’t know before, let empathy guide you to a new understanding of them and what they mean to you.

And now, taking all of the above into consideration:

3. Absolutely 100% do not idolize me. I don’t deserve to be idolized because no one deserves to be idolized, but also, holy fuck, I do know me and I’m a mess. There have been lots of things in my life that I’ve done that have not been admirable or kind. I can be petty and shitty and competitive and cruel. I am lazy and inattentive and when I let things slide (which is often), I end up jammed up on my responsibilities, which makes me irritable and no fun to be around. I have a temper which goes from zero to sixty almost instantaneously; if I’m not actively paying attention to it, I can become a sudden, unreasonable rage monster, which is a burden to people I love, and I hate that fact about myself (pro tip: don’t travel with me, the rage monster comes out a lot then).

I can be controlling and demanding but I want other people to handle the details, i.e., executive asshole. I am strategic in a way that can be bloodless. When I’m insecure I brag a lot, which is unflattering. If you cross me, I won’t go out of my way to make your life miserable (that would require effort on my part), but I will absolutely enjoy when you take a literal or metaphorical tumble down the stairs. God knows I’ve enjoyed the failures of the people who have spoken ill of me, almost as much as I’ve enjoyed the fuming, spittling rage they’ve felt when I’ve succeeded. I spent years cultivating a snarky persona online and while that was fun (for me), I’m increasingly aware that when the tally is added up for Who Ruined the Internet, I’m not necessarily going to be where I want to be on that particular ledger.

And these are only the bad qualities of mine I wish to admit to you at the moment. There are others, I assure you.

So, yes: Who wants to idolize me now?

“But you seemed so nice when I chatted with you online/met you at the convention/saw you at that one place that one time.” Well, thank you, I’ve been in the public eye in one manner or another for three and a half decades now and I understand my assignment; my public persona is friendly and engaging and sociable and mostly fun to be with. It’s not a fake version of me — I am all those things! Honest! — but, again, it’s a mediated version of me designed not only to be a positive experience for the people who meet me but also to get my actually introverted ass through a whole day of events at a convention/festival/book tour/whatever. When I’m done I collapse into an introverted hole. When I came back from Worldcon this week, I slept for 15 hours the first day I was home. It wasn’t just because of jet lag or con crud.

I rather famously call my public face “performance monkey mode,” and likewise what I say about my (current) online mode is that I’m cosplaying as a better version of myself, one that is kinder than I used to be online, and more patient than I am in the real world. If you meet me when I am “off” then you will find that, again, these versions of me are me, just with some things dialed up and other things dialed down. But even that is still a different version of me than, say, the version of me which is at home (which is in fact extremely boring; that version of me doesn’t talk much and mostly stays in my office).

Many of you who have followed me over the years are familiar with me saying things like this, of course, and are likewise familiar with me pointing out that there are a number of things about my life that I don’t mention in public, for whatever reasons I choose. But it’s also true that I’ve been actively online for 30+ years now, and people feel reasonably confident that they have a good bead on me and that there’s not much about me that will surprise them or change their understanding of me. So to bring home the point there are indeed things you don’t know, allow me to surface just one previously unaired fun fact:

I have a concealed carry license.

(Or did; it expired this year and I didn’t renew it, because Ohio changed its laws so that you no longer need a permit to conceal carry in the state. These days in Ohio you can just wander about with a handgun stuffed down your trousers without training or licensing because that’s a real good idea, now, isn’t it. Nevertheless, the license is not necessary anymore so there was not much point in renewing it, although if the law had not changed, I probably would have renewed.)

Why did I have a concealed carry license? Well, ultimately that’s not important. The point is I had one. I didn’t talk about it before because, among other things, the point of a concealed carry license (to me, anyway) is that its existence is not meant to be known by anyone other than that great state of Ohio itself. I am aware, and this is a dramatic understatement, that I am not a person most people would expect to have had such a thing. That the fact I had one will cause a number of people to reconsider what they know about me, for better or for worse. Which is also my point. All y’all have just learned this thing about me! Think about all the other things you don’t know!

Oh, God, this is where Scalzi starts admitting to terrible, terrible things. No. I feel pretty confident I live a tolerably ethical life. Part of the reason for this is that I have what I think is a decent operating principle, which is: If I’m thinking of doing something, and Krissy called me right then and asked “what are you doing?” and I would be tempted to lie to her about it, then I don’t do that thing. Because Krissy is the most important person in my life, and I don’t want to lie to her about what I’m doing (I have lied to her exactly once. She knew instantly. I haven’t bothered lying to her since). This is not replacing Krissy’s ethics with my own; it’s me knowing whether by my own ethics, I would be ashamed to tell to her what I am up to. It works very well. As such, the Krissy Test is an operating principle I highly suggest to others, although I’d suggest replacing Krissy with whomever your life is most important to you.

Be that as it may, my ethics are not universal and some others might not find them sufficient, for whatever reason. I am well aware I still disappoint many people, and that there are people who find my life choices, known positions or public statements (or lack of them, as the case may be) problematic, or who simply wish I would be other than what I am. I can’t help them with this, but again, this is the point. Given the fact that I am a fallible human who has an entire stratum of his life not visible to the world — and the strata of his life that are visible cause significant numbers of people to be irritated and exasperated — is it not better just to not hold me up as an ideal person, or the “good dude,” much less an idol of any sort?

I mean, shit. What Would John Scalzi Do? Solidly half the time, I have no fucking idea. I have to think about it, whatever it is. I have to think about whether I know enough to do or say something about it. I have to decide whether it’s something I want to engage with at all, and whether my engagement with it is something that would be of value to anyone, me included. I have to decide whether engaging with it is worth the shit I will get for it. And then I have to figure out what it means that I am engaging with it, since like it or not I’m a Dude of Reasonable Significance in My Field. I try to be a decent human, when people are looking at me and especially when they are not. But I also know me, and all my flaws and weaknesses and compromises.

What Would John Scalzi Do? The best he can, in the moment. Is that sufficient? For me, yes, most of the time. Is that sufficient for you? That’s up to you.

The point to this all is that people are just a big fucking mess, including the ones you might for whatever reason find admirable. I am no different than anyone else, and you should not be under the illusion that I am anything other than a shambling collection of flaws embedded inside a human form, which also, in its defense, has some pretty excellent qualities as well. We’re all this way! You too!

And while I want you to like my work, and to enjoy the version of me that you see here and elsewhere, don’t put me, or any other person, on a pedestal. Pedestals are wobbly and and don’t give actual humans a lot of room to move. We will inevitably fall off. Keep us with our feet on the ground. That way, when we stumble, there’s a chance we can get back up, and keep going.

— JS

[audiodramayearbook]

A compiled list of all the polls!

This will be updated as new categories go live.

Show that is begging the world to please stop making their fictional torment nexuses a reality. (AKA the Stop One-Upping Us Amazon Challenge award)

Listening to this show is cheaper than therapy.

Fuck I missed an important thing because I was listening to this show. (AKA the Do Not Listen While Driving award)

Best show a listener might not like at first, but really picks up to be something special after you give it more then three episodes and leaves you wanting more.

They warned us about this show but we didn't listen and now everything hurts.

I listened to the whole thing and still have no idea what’s going on. (AKA the It's Been A Wild Ride award)

Character most fully unaware of the genre they’re in.

Please just let us take them home and feed them soup (aka the Wet Cat Award)

The character that left us too soon.

The character that didn't leave us soon enough.

We hate them, but love every second they’re on air.

This character is entirely too pure for the show they're in (aka the Cinnamon Roll Award)

The most character of all time.

Actor most likely to jump-scare the listener (aka the Wait, they’re in this too??? award)

Look, all we want to know is when do they breathe. (aka the Pacing And Lung Capacity Award)

The actor whose voice wraps us up in a warm blanket.

If this actor was wearing pants, they acted them off. (aka the Scenery Chewing Award)

We heard their voice exactly once and immediately started daydreaming about who we wanted to hear them play (aka The Fan Casting Award)

Best blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo

What do you mean it’s not punny? (aka the Highest Form of Humor Award)

Most likely to have detailed notes for expansive worldbuilding & backstory that doesn't appear on screen (aka the There's More Lore Than Script Award)

Writing this show is cheaper than therapy

Writer most likely to be lovingly bullied by their actors & fans.

Best made up word(s) even the writer can’t pronounce correctly (aka the Yes, But is It A Conlang Award)

Enemies-to-Lovers arc but it's you and this show's writer.

Is this a stock sound or custom foley????? (aka the We Do Not Deserve the Priceless Treasure That Is A Good Editor Award)

Longest credit sequence (aka the Award for Most Times Looping The Outro Music)

Most likely to make you say “Wait, This Wasn’t Recorded Live, In Person???” (aka the It’s Like I’m There Award)

Creator of the most artfully-awful misaphonic nightmare. (aka the Oh God It Squishes Award)

This soundtrack is a banger. ( aka the That's What the Kids Say, Right? Award)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

And remember, any and all shows that released an episode in 2023 can be submitted to the Yearbook! Do that here!

[booktomoviebrawl]

We are not judging how bad the movie is, we are judging which adapted the book the worst. There are good movies that are bad adaptions.

Propaganda below the cut (spoilers may apply)

The Witcher:

Henry Cavill, mostly. Also awful hair and makeup dept.

What they did to Geralt is straight up character assassination and they destroyed his friendship with Dandelion. I will never stop being bitter

completely disregards the themes the books represent and Anglicizing the eastern european literary traditions present. they cast actors who were a poor fit for the roles and the writers expressing open disdain for the books. there is no point to putting work and effort into adapting a media you hate.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children:

While Miss Peregrine was one of my favorite books as a kid and incredibly unique in the way the story is written (The author basically took a box of weird antique photographs and created an underlying story behind a handful of them) the movie is incredibly boring. Like seriously I can't remember a single goddamn thing about the movie besides my extreme disappointment with it after leaving the theatres. It's probably because the original is a trilogy but they didn't want to make it a trilogy for the movie so they just scrapped the ending of the first book and rewrote a shitty climax where they threw snowballs at the nightmare child eating creatures or something. I remember THAT scene perfectly because it was so, so dumb. It was so stupid oh my God- ALSO, thank God I have a copy of the book from before the film came out because new copies don't have one of the photographs that the actual book uses as a base anymore and instead have the shitty movie poster! We truly do live in a society.

Changed way too much so it doesn't feel like the same thing. The main characters are these kids with different abilities (called peculiarities) and the movie switches around their powers and changes almost everyone's age. Emma and Olive switch powers so that Emma now floats (they also added that she can kind of control air to some extent) when she's supposed to have fire powers to match her fiery personality. Olive can make fire now and she's also aged up from an eight year old to a teenager and put her in this weird romance with Enoch. Enoch is also aged up from a grumpy thirteen year old to around the same age as Olive. Bronwyn, one of the older kids in the book and sort of a motherly figure to the younger kids, is now one of the youngest kids. Hugh and Fiona are aged down and basically have no interaction at all in the movie, even when their book counterparts had such a good relationship. The only one they didn't really change was Horace and Jacob. They also added these gorgon twins that do like two things. The antagonist in the movie is Mr. Barron who honestly isn't super memorable and isn't in the books whatsoever. The ending of the movie is weird too because they manage to turn back time somehow so Jacob's grandfather isn't dead and then he hops through loops so he can be with Emma and the other peculiars. I guess the problem of wights and hollowgasts is magically eliminated and we do not have to deal with the consequences. It took six books to fix everything. I appreciate that the movie engaged me enough to read the series but once I did, I could not believe they did my kids that dirty.

Yikes where to start. The 3 girl characters are all mixed up. There are 2 teens, one who's super strong and has a brother (I'll get back to him) and one who controls fire and is the love interest named Emma. The third girl is a child called Olive who floats. She's lighter than air.

In the movie, strong girl is the child, olive is now the fire girl and is for some reason super introverted, and Emma the love interest floats and gets given a super breath??? Power?? Like she rises a sunken ship by blowing in and keeps a man blown against a wall by blowing air at him. He makes a remark that she'll run out of breath eventually, which happens here because plot convenience, but not when she's blowing in the sunken ship.

The enemies in the book are terrifying Hollows. Creatures who have lost themselves and devour souls of those with powers... The movie decides they eat eyes now. And turn human again. And get busted up in a fair for the final act of the movie. Ugh.

The movie also decides randomly that time travelling through the loops is a thing; a loop being a pocket of time that replays the same day over and over. But apparently this means Main Character can travel back in time and stop his grandfather dying??? What?? His grandfathers death is the whole start of the movie and motivation for the character.

The movie undermines many of things that made the book amazing and even decides it's not a trilogy anymore!! Fuck the other 2 books, right?!

Tldr; it is terribly hollywood-ised and t tim Burton ruined a franchise by trying too hard to make it quirky and fun when the books already had a brilliant sombre and interesting tone to them.

[icyaslack]

!! Spoilers for The Umbrella Academy Season 4 !!

I just bingewatched season 4 before work and it's late but I need to write a little something. The season as a whole is overwhelming and I'll need to watch it again when I'll have the force to do it. It doesn't answer a lot of questions and the characters own storylines are not explored enough at all (only 6 episodes) and let's be honest the writers don't have a good track record for that...

But watching the ending while crying my eyes out, I just couldn't think of anything but : It's just so fucking unfair!!

It may be an unpopular opinion but the relationship between Five and Lila didn't bother me. I never shiped them but they do have great chemistry and it's logical that loneliness and desperation would bring them closer together. I saw people outraged by that and really that's for me one of the only logical thing in the script. Don't forget Five has been alone for 45 years, he knows what loneliness does ; ffs he even had to imagine Delores in order to keep his sanity! Now nearly 7 years in what must seems an impossible situation with no way to win, of course they would fall in love. I was happy Lila and him had each other and in the end I found their relationship sweet (not that I forgot Diego, just I understand why they would do it).

It's the aftermath that isn't enough, I really felt sorry for Five during the last half of the last episode, to at last find happiness with someone just to having nothing in a matter of minutes, it's more than cruel. And on top of that when minutes later he understands that they'll have to sacrifice themselves, what he desperately tried to avoid his whole life, it just broke my heart (kudos to Aidan Gallagher for the acting, my God he just tore my heart out).

The ending, them sacrificing themsleves and being totally erased from not only the timelines but everyone's memory, is beyond cruel and unfair it's just purposefully horrific. They all deserved better in the end, they all did, for many different reasons. I'm biased because Five's my favourite but let's be honest, Luther and Klaus and all the others got cheated this season (where's Sloane ? where's an appropriate ending to their stories? and where's Ray while we're at it? not even an explanation), I guess they didn't had time. but stil...

It's just such an easy way for writers to wrap it all up in the infamous "erased character" ending (looking at you Marvel)! I know they have obligations with Netflix and a budget and all that but I can't help being disappointed with some of their choices. It's very unfair for your characters and the story.

So yeah, I'm writing in the heat of the moment and I missed many things but I needed to vent.

In the end, the actors acted with their hearts and souls out and I'm really grateful for them. I hope they do other things together in the futur.

Now I hope the fandom will not be awful (it's still better than the Game of Thrones ending come on guys), I really understand the frustration and I'm sure with the days passing I'll feel all sorts of emotions concerning this last season but it's never an excuse to turn on the cast and crew. It's still fiction vs reality.

[mislamicpearl]

Thoughts about Ninjago DR S2 episodes 14-15:

Spoilers everywhere below the cut.

Awwww that flashback needed to be longer! God I miss seeing all the OG ninja together. And with Wu no less!

Glad Jay's voice actor is continuing to make his voice deeper!

Oh God, that whole scene of Wyldfyre talking to Roby was CRINGE!! What have they done to her?? Listen, I'm a defender of the straight ships in this show despite some people in the fandom saying they're badly written, I think Jaya, Pixane and Kailor are all adorable, and I'm not against the idea of Wyldfyre getting a boyfriend, though I don't think she needs one... but so far it seems all they're doing with this ship is actively TRYING to give the fandom a badly written straight ship, because COME ON! Who is this person acting all silly and awkward and simpering for this shady salesman guy?? Cause that ain't Wyldfyre! I'm not discounting the possibility that this could grow into a good ship with more time, but this is a really bad and forced start, probably the worst out of any in this show.

It really seems like they're planning on retconning the whole "elemental powers are only passed on through family members" rule, cause I don't think that mech was Lilly's. I mean, we already knew Zane's powers weren't inherited of course... maybe they're finally going to explain that?? Now that would be something. (I won't hold out any hope for it though).

Oh, doi, of course Arin's friend's master is Ras, I'm an idiot. And yes I already forgot his actual name because it's stupid, I had trouble even hearing it right in the previous episodes.

Nya has both Kai and Jay's pictures put up like they're dead asdfjkh

I already ranted in a separate post about Zane, but seriously: what the actual FRICK is the writers' problem with Zane?!?!

Love that Cole immediately decided that couldn't actually be Jay because he wouldn't ever forget them.😭

Nya finally tells Jay she loves him!!! Out loud and to his face and everything!! UGH MY HEART😭😭😭 Please let her say it again when he gets his memories back!

Dang, they really brought Jay back just to let him walk right out of the show again ahahaha!

But dang, where's he gonna go?? And without powers now! Lloyd you had better keep that promise to find him later!

BAHAHA CINDER ANSWERING THE DOOR!

"She'll be there when we need her... she always is." AWWWWWW LLOYD'S SOFT SMILE WHEN HE SAYS THAT! Totally giving me Hunted flashbacks. If DR can claim to have done at least one thing right it's the RGB siblings!

Elemental power of balance? Really? Sure, that's at least very useful in this VERY specific rigged game.

Dang Sora, of all the ways you could've used your power on this tech-ridden obstacle course, you chose to make a balance pole?

This race to stop themselves from being disqualified feels like it's just for eating up screen time, and possibly (likely) to promote another set.

"Sounds like we need a vehicle. One problem. We don't have a vehicle." OMG that was one of the most adorable Nya moments we've gotten since the scene of her with the "bunch of little fish" and "I'll show you how I go!" XD

Aw yeah baby it's happening, corrupted evil Arin arc let's gooooo! I am so for this, it would do wonders for his character. It'd be crazy if he managed to learn proper spinjitzu from Ras, he'd become like Lloyd's own Morro.

Oh.. my... GOD. FREAKING WUUUU! THERE'S SOMETHING HE HASN'T TOLD US!!!! WHEN WILL WE LEARN???

[zalia]

Stop telling people we're dead...

I wasn't gonna say anything but I keep seeing it in fan spaces for various pieces of media after there's layoffs and it's driving me nuts. I may regret this since social media is where nuance and reading comprehension go to die but....

It's this sentiment people express that boils down to 'Well X person is gone so it's all terrible now/nothing good can be made again'.

The game industry especially fucking sucks right now for people who work in it (unless you're an executive for a big company :) ). It sucks for everyone laid off absolutely! I'm fucking angry and gutted on their behalf. The whole industry needs a massive overhaul. And unionisation. And for executives to be held accountable. This shit has destroyed lives.

It also sucks for everyone who is left behind after layoffs.

You know what makes it suck even worse? Seeing fans and the community of the thing you work on (and it's often something that you, the person working on it, care deeply about too) say that basically nothing you do matters. None of the hard work you put in over the past months or years counts or is any good, and nothing you make again can be any good. Often it comes with the addendum of 'this is because X person is gone'.

And X person is usually just the most publically visible person (and it is not in any way their fault! I'm so fucking angry on behalf of those people too! None of this is their fault). But dear god it fucking hurts to see people acting like everything you've done is worthless.

Trust me, the people left behind are just as, probably more, angry and upset than you. They've lost good coworkers, good teams, often good friends, and are having to pick up everything while worrying for their future job security. All while executives take home fat paycheques and often bonuses because they don't give a fuck as long as line goes up. Like, be angry, be pissed off at the executives and shareholders and fucking Bobby Kotick or whoever because they're garbage. But can we stop talking as though the people staying behind have never and will never again make anything that is good or enjoyable? That they never actually contributed anything to that thing you love?

Most games are not made by a single person. Most of them are a team effort, and losing any part of the team is awful. But it also means that everything you like and that is good about a game was a team effort. And a lot of the people who made the thing you like are still working hard to make the thing the best they can while they're angry and grieving and scared.

Acting like nothing they have done or will do matters or was part of the creativity that you loved just makes that harder. It fucking hurts.

Any script will usually have had multiple people working on it - writers yes, but also editors giving multiple rounds of feedback, people who make the script usable for recording. Someone who books the actors is not any less important than the actors themselves, or the sound editors. A soundtrack needs composers and musicians and sound engineers and they all contribute to the creative product.

I don't think anyone saying this is doing it maliciously, or really even believes it – it's a reaction to shitty circumstances and absolute garbage decisions by people who will always have too much money while doing very little, if any, creative work. It's people voicing their frustration, and I get it! I have said the same thing even when it was me, one of the people left behind, I was disparaging.

But god, every time I see it said my heart sinks, and it gets a bit harder to feel like anything I do is worthwhile.

And because social media is where nuance goes to die - no I'm not saying you have to keep loving/playing the thing! If it killed it for you, if it isn't giving you that spark of joy anymore, then stop! I encourage that! (There's a lot of people I can think of who could really stand to step away from things instead of playing until they burn out and can't distinguish between 'this is not bringing me joy anymore' and 'this is irredeemably bad'). But just... stop talking as if, for a piece of media made by a team, only certain members of that team actually count, and the rest are creatively bankrupt, were not part of the thing you loved, and are incapable of making anything good ever again.

[arabellasleopardcoat]

My thoughts after tonight's episode. SPOILERS AHEAD.

I intend to take notes through each episode to save me the pain of looking up the scripts or rewatching while I write. Also good to make sure the characters are charactering. Here goes the first episode (16/06!! Belated bday gift)

No comment on Cregan Stark. Very honorable, original Starks but amped up by ten. Awful wig.

Alicole!!! Oh god, oh god!! That man on his knees!! Implied to happen before. Nasty bussiness, but Criston's hair looks nice.

Rhaenyra's grief. Perfect. Emma D'Arcy deserves their Emmy for this episode alone

Parallels between Rhaenyra and Rhaenys. Nicely done. Grieve the same.

Corlys missing Luke :((( Also Alyn!!! Who seems to be older.

Aegon trying and failing to rule is pretty endearing. His smugness is funny, too. Tom Glynn Carrey knows his thing. I saw him in Dunkerke before and I wouldnz't think it is the same actor at all. He and Aemond compliment each other a lot, both move in very distinctive ways.

"He only wishes to please" Damn right Otto

Daemon and rage. My favorite combo. The scene with Mysaria? The hesitation? Then wanting to send her to the cells? Ser Erryk calling him out on his bias? Excellent. Same for Rhaenys. Overall, Daemon seems unable to see or understand anyone that doesn't react as he does. Everyone must grieve as he. Lovely insight. Also him ready to follow his Queen's orders for revenge? Delicious.

Jace with Rhaenyra!!! Luke's funeral, Baela and Rhaena stealing the show with just a second of screentime. My crush on Harry Collet got worse after seeing him with Joffrey.

Alicent lighting candles. Meh. The episode makes it harder to empathize with the Greens which is either bad writing or the writers have an agenda. She got on my nerves in this episode a bit, which us strange because I loved her last season.

Mysaria being dignified even in rags, very regal and I love that she is set on being her own woman. Good for her.

Daemon in the city bribing Goldcloaks, which were always his, in his little murder cape. Ugh. Blood and Cheese but he orders them to find Aemond and off screen kill the kids?? Yup, writers love him. Confirmed, they have an agenda.

Aemond plotting with Cole, both absolutely bloodthirsty. Both very dumb here, I think. Funny that Aemond and Alicent assess each other in the same way, both are "Angry" The cadence which they deliver the lines is even similar. His mother's son. Even in their choice of company. Cole.

Otto versus Aemond, interesting. I like the tone of voice of Otto's actor (Rhys, I think?) Very well spoken, and calm. I feared he was going to turn into a Tywin and I am glad he hasn't. I found Tywin terrifying. Otto may be, but he is less rude about it.

Aegon getting shitfaced on the Iron Throne, in a not so ergonomic position, yet without being cut.

Blood and Cheese. Fun. They are trying to murder each other, poor dog!!! I underestimated them, they are terrifying. Poor Helaena, always drawing the short stick. She told Aegon and he saw them pass, while getting drunk. At least they didn't taunt her so much. The sounds were sickening on their own, thank god it was off screen. Cole in the bed with Alicent!!!! When poor Helaena comes for help!!! ENOUGH. ENOUGH. THIS IS MURDER. It can't end there.

Final line: I came prepared for GOT'S levels of violence, I am glad it wasn't like that. I was ready to skip those, but it was nice that it wasn't necessary. Most of the things that made me uncomfortable in GOT (And why I never finished it) were the sexual violence scenes. Poor Dany.

Final final line: I leave with a new crush on Harry Collet, Matt Smith and Fabien Castel.

[shesnake]

sab season 2 thoughts

sooooo. overall in itself as its own story, i think the show is good. alina's story is in an excellent place. nikolai's story is now presumably bearable because he and alina are sharing this now. it's good if you don't care about the books but can also only be understood with the books so idk what that really means.

crooked kingdom was butchered to hell. the crows duology is so meticulously structured and they threw that out the window. it's all out of order. it's all too fast. the groundwork for all the characters development and their epiphanies was Not there in this season. seeing the same end result is so jarring and just not as satisfying. the actors are so good I could enjoy the individual scenes but the speed-run to get to those points was awful. it's nowhere near as bad but for some reason I felt what I felt watching the cowboy bebop remake like seeing all my favourite scenes repurposed/appropriated for totally different contexts god I can't believe just frankensteined them like that.

I also just have no idea how good the ice court heist could possibly be without the stakes, which have all been resolved this season far too conveniently. I'm especially upset about how they nuked everything between kaz and jesper. jesper knowing about pekka in season 1, the fact that kaz should've already known jesper was zowa because he was the Only one who knew. that's all gone now. can't imagine the "ask me why, jesper" and "what does my forgiveness look like jordie?!" scenes making any sense now. can't imagine the "stop thinking of your pain as something you imagined" scene hitting either. jesper's sudden "you know what I'm gonna start loving myself and embracing who I am" 180 is great but that only came from dreaming about his mum, in a very "okay I'm gonna be normal now" way which just sucks because he and alina's (also abandoned) arcs of self-repression were so good..

and then there's the fact that we have no idea if the show is even going to come back for season 3 and/or crows spin-off... there's so many moments in this season that feel like the writers going "we're going to give the fans this in case we don't get to come back" including the kanej hallucination (which I ate up regardless). god i don't know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[anonil88]

Under the bridge (hulu) finale liveblog/reaction

- Jo is an asshole and Kelly is just stupidly vile as hell.

- I will say these young actors are all good as hell and have acted their be hinds off.

- I couldn't be in a gang cause I would roll my eyes so fast and just leave before one speech.

- Oooo "Mercy Alone" is a cold ass title. Pop off writers.

- He really became like a little brother and she is wrestling with getting wrapped up in the momentum kind of like Warren did.

- Thank god this house is getting shut down even though I'm sure they did goor and I appreciate that we finally see Cam in this house. We never saw her as a teen in the house and only an outsider looking in. But, now she's in it.

- Sigh they shouldn't have lied about that.

- Fuck you Kelly.

- Lmfao she said "ain't you a cop?" but this isn't just cam the cop this is cam the former 7 oaks girl. Kelly set them all up the minute they got to that police station knowing none of those girls had options or legal resources except for her. She was an awful friend if they can even call her that and did an evil action. What amug ass, fuck.

- Good job Cam, her relationship or not, its not yours to manipulate the hell. That's her symbiotic relationship.

- Well he ain't wrong Becca, you involved yourself the minute you walked into seven oaks.

- The more realistic non hear say versions of the fight is horrible. Teenagers are led by their short impulses and peer pressure. Easier to say "I don't know" than no, and thats not an age thing that I'd a human thing.

- Again these young actors are fan fucking tastic. I hope and wish them all to get many roles post this show. So nice to see budding quality talent.

- It's just a case to her dad but to his daughter it's her life. It could have been her if it was 30 years before. He sees what he wants to see but not the reality outside of his own. You're her dad but this is something she will now wrestle with her entire life and could've been prevented. There's other ways like as soon as she's in your care tell her about where she came from and ask if she'd like to establish a relationship or connection with her family and community. Delayed her sense of self, for what?

- Grief has finally hit her mom, Suman, whereas it hit dad the minute his daughter was missing. The minute the cops showed up he knew it in his gut. I hope the real Virks have gotten so much healing and peace in their life since then. The grief will never leave any of them and it is likely embedded into every moment, but I hope they have found some peace.

- The right person. Whew great direction here 👏🏾.

- A little kindness goes a long way and can change your entire life. I say it often but a lot of crimes no matter the age of the assailant are made by very angry children. Some are trying to inflict the same pain onto others or release their own. Others well others just are too angry to do anything outside of anger.

- Insanity plea? No, she's just got no kindness in her heart.

- What a sweet baby, sigh he doesn't really understand why they're all dressing up.

- Cam looks great out of a uniform.

- 5 years, in actuality she got way more later, and he who feels remorse for what he did got life. I'm talking about the initial rulings, not what occurred after of people gettibg more time or getting paroled. Kelly here only feels upset that she was caught.

- Sit with a bunch of fuck ass dickheads. No. Ayyyy cam out of uniform !!! We love to see it!

- I love that they end on a cordial note and found the beauty. The beauty of giving yourself mercy and trying to forge a new path.

- Becca's shoes and jeans look like a little kids. He really did just slip 😢.

- Jo and Kelly. Nah Nicole and Kelly, them real hoes are birds of a feather. I hope someone calls them cunts to their faces at least once a month. From prison cell to 9-5 them two are nasty pieces of work. Took Kelly another infraction and two kids to go huh okay let me finally admit my guilt now. Now that my fate is sealed.

- Ooo that end got me, i aint cry but ooo i teared up as soon as the cd skipped. R.i.p Reena Virk, i wish you had better friends. Real friends.

Final thoughts:

- Fantastic end to this show and phenomenal acting from everyone involved. Not just this episode but the entire season the acting has been metered so well even if i missed it at first. The soundtrack and editing in every episode has been so good. Timing of certain tracks and score was really effective in swallowing the viewer these last 3/4 episodes. Absolutely fantastic finale.

[slashingdisneypasta]

What are some things you like about Jim? :3 please absolutely feel free to gush about him ❤

My friend- my friend- there are so many things!! XDD

All the Jim love-under the cut:

He's so many tropes I like crammed into one character!! ^^ :

Creepy/pervy old man ('Maybe I'll come back for ya, huh??' // 'Girls, I got guns.' // Oh god- ).

Lesser of two evils villain (From the 'Plot twist' villain in Final Chapter to the 'Comedic relief' antagonist in Vs Anaconda).

Main villain to fan favourite side character pipeline.

Villain Version of another character (Reba. They shoulda gotten so much ore screen time together for this reason!! ahh)

Crazy old man / Old Loon / Loony tune-ish (Goes 'Here kitty kitty... ' to giant crocs and laughs when he's being hunted by them 😅) / 'Nutbag'. ('What's this- what's this... 'nutbag'... is that what they're calling me in town, now?- ')

... gilf...

'Played by Robert Englund'

Also:

Flannels

SO! MANY! EMOTIONS! AND VIBES! Most characters I notice have a 'resting vibe' that the actors stick with almost the whole time but Jim goes through moods like the weather. One moment he's bashful and guilty, then the next he's intimidating or defensive or threatening, then he could get all excited. I love that! That's so much fun to watch!

For example in Final Chapter when Chloe's accusing him of being a Poacher and he goes through like 10 personalities in one interaction?? He goes from 'Alright fine you got me- i'm a greedy old fart' (Defensive), to 'But right now I'm just trynna save Dennis sorry tree huggin ass and I could really use some help here' (Almost sympathetic). And then two seconds later he's all excited, going on about how he's gonna be rich- then abruptly cuts it off with a glare and that 'You with me??... giddyup.'

ALSO!! When Reba's like 'Can I call you Jimmy?' and he gets all bashful like *shrugs* aw, yeah sure then immediately switches to upset when she calls him a nutbag 😅😅

(Basically, he's crazy)

This is catnip to me XDD The writer in me wants so badly to write characters like that!!

How he talks is so much fun! I love characters who I can read their lines and hear exactly how they were said in my head (Reba is the same here! :D )

He's terrible... but he's also not that bad?? Like, yeah he's a greedy poacher and he may threaten people with a gun now and then 😅😅 But he's kinda nice to Max (Apart from threatening to shoot him 😅😅), going like 'yeah, even you son. in you go' or something when he was putting all the teenagers (?? Eighteen year olds I guess?? I dunno) in the house. And also he thinks Murdoch's crazy for having such little regard for human life. MAN- this means he has SOME!!! good in him!! I'm very excited about this XD Do you know how rare that is in Englund characters?? 😂 Even rarer in characters I like-

He looks right at a giant angry crocodile and says shit like 'Your babies are omelettes now'. I'm sorry, but that was hot-

HE'S CLEVER!

*Gets attacked by a falling snake skin* *Gets left behind by group* *... struggling to get up and brush himself off, absolutely startled and also deeply offended he was just left like that* "... I'M FINE! JUST FINE!" That was the funniest part in the Vs Anaconda XD

When he threatens to sue Murdock?? Like my man, you already tried to sue Nathan and it didn't work, haven't you learned?-

He's also so handsome ^^ <3

[agentem]

Emily watches "Shazam! Fury of the Gods"

I think Zachary Levi is aging out of this role (because Asher Angel is aging into it). It's weird Billy doesn't keep his same body when Mary does and she was the same age as him in the first movie, I think. Or maybe they will just recast Billy instead?

There would be a real logistical challenge to making the third one hinted at in the second post credits scene.

Spoiler cut

Love Helen Mirren as a goddess. Maybe that goes without saying.

I kept thinking the random women saved in bystander scenes were Billy's biological mom. I don't know why. I guess I only remember she's a white lady with blondish hair and that is EVERYONE they cast as extras. SPOILER ALERT: None of them are. We don't go back to that well of pain for Billy.

I think it was wise to revive Djimon Honsou as the Wizard. I think he was underutilized in the first movie. And this time we got to see his biceps! So that's a plus. (Him removing the splinter from under his finger nail was tough for me though.)

I thought the scenes with him and talented-despite-being-a-nepo-baby Jack Dylan Grazer were some of the best.

Although, I did not really believe Rachel Zegler was into him. Like maybe she liked him as a friend and respected him as a person. But them like living together at the end? That's insane male writer fantasy shit. As a disabled person who loves superheroes, I would also totally do what Freddy does and turn into his "good" body all the time. But I think that needs to be examined and questioned, which Billy wants to bring up but it never gets addressed further. Not rewarded with hot immortal goddess love. Like the actors are very good and she does a lot in her performance to make it convincing, but I have concerns.

I was glad my fave Darla was able to see unicorns. But I thought the CGI was bad. I really wanted them to look like Lisa Frank cartoons after they ate the PRODUCT PLACEMENT. That would've been such a better choice.

Love Helen Mirren as a goddess. Maybe that goes without saying.

Very happy everyone is cool with Pedro being gay.

I thought seeing Billy's broken body was kind of dark. I mean, I guess the first one had that scenes where the Seven Deadly Sins attack a board room of people, but you don't see much. And even the bad guy lives at the end. Here there are deaths (and resurrections), I guess.

Diana is the real hero of the DC films. I think we all know that, right?

I wasn't a fan of the post-credits scene. Two characters from "Peacemaker" show up and ask Shazam to join the "Justice Society" that Amanda Waller is putting together. The two tones don't really match. And like is Black Adam's Justice Society the same one Waller is building here? Is this all going to get fucked around in Flash, probably.

I want to talk to some fellow nerds about Flash too. I don't know if I can go see it in good conscience. I know a lot of actors are problematic but... I feel kind of awful being like "lol it's got Michael Keaton so I don't care about Ezra's behavior anymore".

Is anyone else conflicted??

[loisroo]

8 shows to get to know me

i was tagged by @tiffanylamps forever ago (sorry 🤦🏼‍♀️) and more recently by @evil-moonlight (thank you my beloved evil 🖤🖤).

btw none of these are in order because i can’t choose favorites and most of them are recent shows that I’ve watched and not all my favorites over the years.

1. the untamed — y’all i’m a basic bitch and i wish I could say i loved this for wwx and lwj relationship, the darkness and the sacrifice, the pain that comes with being known, the grief of losing the one you hold dear and all the wonderful, wonderful things this show is about… but in reality it’s because of this idiot:

2. beyond evil — this show has consumed me for like two years now and i’m still writing fic for it and I watch it multiple times. the plot is amazing, the actors are phenomenal, the writer and director are both women. they care about the victims on this show and allow vulnerability to exist while also keeping you at the edge of your seat and so fucking confused. the characters are dynamic and nuanced and so very real, it makes you feel for them so much. but if I’m staying honest then it’s mostly because of these two idiots being in love:

3. we are lady parts— i didn’t even know i needed this show until i watched it. it’s so fucking punk, the whole show just oozes pink vibes and the music ughhhhhhhh. i’m neither muslim nor from the united kingdom but i resonated so fucking hard with aspects of the characters and fell in with the whole show. it’s empowering and fun, i highly recommend this to everyone.

4. what we do in the shadows (wwdits) — this show is just… one of the best comedies ever. the writing, the acting, the character development…. this show might honestly be one of the best i’ve ever seen even outside of the comedy genre. it’s so much more then it actually leads you to believe at first. plus the gay, can’t forget about the gay because literally the whole show is queer and i love it. and the plus sized rep is also super wonderful!

5. good omens — i recommend this show to everyone because it’s wonderful in so many ways, and the two leads are just *chef’s kiss* but i also love this show so much because it was written by my brother’s favorite author (@neil-gaiman) and he loved this book (and american gods) so much, he talked about it constantly. now that he’s gone whenever i watch it, i feel closer to him and connected to him, it’s a really nice way to handle my grief sometimes. plus i know he’d be pissed that he missed the show too. lol

6. ted lasso — this show was super surprising for me, i don’t mind watching sports and some games but I was like 10 episodes about sports? Mmmmm maybe not. but then my sister begged and begged for me to watch it so i did. it’s second to wwdits with comedy but this show has the healthiest characters, the greatest character developments, they call out toxic masculinity and sexist ideals, and it’s so heartwarming. i rarely stop smiling while watching it, top notch writing and top notch acting.

7. derry girls — i struggle to pinpoint the exact reason i adore this show so much. maybe it’s the teenagers that act like actual teenager, or the inclusion of parents in the story line without them being dumb or the main characters or ignore their children. maybe it’s because they are a light in a dark time, living through something awful and scary while still trying to live their lives. maybe it’s the wonderful characters that make you smile and laugh… maybe it’s sister george michael.

8. the equalizer — i fucking love queen latifah. she is awesome as the man badass lead in this, she’s smart and resourceful and she uses that to help people in her community and make things right when the law falls short. most of the main cast are black women and a lot of the guests and secondary characters are also people of color and women. ohh also gay auntie saw whatttttttttttttttt. i know this show doesn’t get the greatest overall ratings and people really judge it often but it’s a show about the injustices in the world with a dynamic and diverse cast, I really really love watching it.

thanks for the tags! 🖤 no pressure tags: @killerandhealerqueen @l-tyrell @tardis--dreams @ah-ragehappy @cafedecanela @magicaldreamfox1

[wheresurboytonighthelookslikeenj]

Opinion on Watt's relationships with Milo Strange and Jack Walker?

who are you and why are you after my blood

theres a read more. look what youve made me do. this is a long detailed rant on why i dont like the watts plot in s15, including some good old fashioned resentment for jackwatts. proceed at your own risk

jack was really nice at first, i shipped them, i wrote a short fic or two even. of course he was bland but like the entire fandom held on to the idea that he'd eventually be developed slowly as the episodes go by right. right. idk i think it's the love of a soft and reserved and "normal" love interest for our guy whose life has been so much turmoil, so far from "normal" for so long. but we never really got good jack development did we, the most of his character being mostly made up in the fandom's heads. (ive skimmed aios, really good fic, murdoch fandom staple, like im at least somewhat cultured).

and then well it happened, ministry of virtue, everything goes to shit, their relationship has hardly been anything onscreen and now its over and i lose my mind because i'd been so hopeful. like i didn't sleep well that night because Murdoch Mysteries Is A Show. in a vacuum the whole marriage thing was an interesting way for the plot to go, jack bringing up how watts's profession clashed with so many other parts of his life was really good and i fucking love it, but hardly of it was built up to or worth it and before during and afterwards it never got the attention, screentime, etc, it deserved. dear god. and then they got back together but then next season jack's kind of a jerk now? much of it is warranted because of the awful things hes been through but "some things are worth the risk" had been such a staple line for him and their relationship and it was just. not romantic anymore. and importantly watts wasn't happy anymore. and it was just such a weird direction for the writers to take the ship.

also there was the funnies with the well lit kisses lmao and then milo strange happened?????? god i love milo i think theyre very funky and lovely and the weirdest character the show's made technical-wise because he kinda doesn't need to exist and the fact that he does ends up as just an insult to watts's story, milo the character, and his actor. like. ok. we have an issue: wonderbread barbie prince ass white boy jack walker being boring and now being too afraid to be out with watts. how does the show seem to try to fix it? flamboyant polyamorous black poet named milo strange who's as out and proud as you can be in edwardian toronto without getting arrested or killed. he's devastatingly lovable because of his whimsy and opinions and how easily they make watts smile and even laugh. not the most characterization but somehow more remarkable than jack ever was, at least before ministry of virtue. he and watts were very nice together and though i don't ship it much anymore because the show hates me i still have an ongoing fic with them but thats mostly just because i'm slow and forgetful.

anyways. then we get into the really bad shit. like. um. jack's wife dies. and this shit sent me off the edge like. this show is so bad? fridging the wife is like one of the first things people tell you not to do when they teach you how to Not Write Like A Misogynist/An Idiot In General? dude??? watts and jack fight about it and its devastating but you kinda knew the relationship was going there after all this. and then jack kidnaps the baby and escapes to greenwich and i was happy because the writers committed a misogyny but at the very very very least jack walker is gone and i am free from this stupid hatecrimes plotline.

right????

right???????

BUT NOOOOOOO like now we get into how watts himself was at his worst in season 15. like daniel maslany's acting is always so good but his writing. was bad. at the beginning he was not the best at communicating, letting his problems (the love triangle) be solved for him instead without any effort from him--like. this point has been hammered into the ground recently but love triangles if done well could symbolize for different values different choices that one can make right? like the famous one is the hunger games agressive gale vs softer peeta but like even the george-nina-louise triangle was a better example, like george made an active choice to go back to nina because despite louise being a more proper partner with similar values in wanting to settle down some day george chose nina's loyalty and kindness. but with watts? idk hes just really confused and i know watts has the personal emotional skills of a potato but narratively it sucks. because he doesnt make a decision. the decision is made for him when jack's wife is killed by her ex. what was the point? why couldn't they have made him at least a bit more active in all of it?

ohoho but it gets worse. because the plotline's not even done yet we still have half a season. watts spends time with milo and they're very sweet but watts comes to the realization that milo is polyamorous. like. milo has talked about this before. they make it pretty clear. and maybe it's my own brainworms, believing watts would have been more open or at least more understanding to it because of his open nature, but watts gets frustrated, he tries to convince him to change, he calls milo greedy. like hey man that may not be your thing but thats so uncalled for. and is that not out of character? watts, who has always been so sympathetic and understanding, especially for those who are different? even under all the duress. i dont know. it might be more reasonable in other interpretations. the worst part is that he never properly apologizes. but we'll get to that.

and they continue to stay together in some sort of limbo until the end of the season and watts gets shot. and watts goes through this shit every tuesday but that mustve been a lot for milo to go through in a minute. and watts gets back up like nothing happens and milo later expresses that he's willing to change his lifestyle, willing to become monogamous for watts. thats. thats not a light statement. but fucking guess what watts receives a letter from jack???? and i guess theres a lot of apologizing and sappy stuff in the letter but we never see or hear the contents so all we have to process for now is that watts once again is letting his problems being solved for him? like as a character it sucks that it takes all these conveniences to switch him around to choose and narratively all these conveniences are bad in the first place. ugh. he tells milo to not change who he is and embarks for new york. and we. we never see milo again. and i am going to set something on fire.

and the thing is after the season premiere's homophobia of the season watts's conclusion is really good, like ive talked about it before him quitting the force and leaving to find himself was such a satisfying decision after all his moral and emotional turmoil! and i'm hopeful that jack is not coming back. but.

milo was done. so dirty. because we're back at the point about watts's arc. because regardless of the way you see it it's shitty. if jack was always his first choice and milo was only a rebound he didn't care as much for, not only is that just. bad taste. but its also shitty to milo, watts seeming to be so keen on being together but only on his terms then ditching at the first chance of being back with his old boytoy; not only is it a shitty thing for watts to do but in writing a character it's stupid. and if watts actually did care for milo and genuinely want to be with him, only to go back is even more confusing and again begs the question of the point of it all. why was milo introduced? why did you get us invested in a relationship that went nowhere and can be cut? watts and jack couldve still split, all homophobia and misogyny and kidnapping intact, and watts could have still come to his conclusion that he needed to be on his own, but instead of the polyam hate we couldve just had him wandering off on his own for half a season instead, and when he received the letter and went back to jack he couldve realized that hey. i was actually feeling good by myself, like i was going somewhere by myself. or something. i don't know. i love where watts's character is at currently but i hate how he got there.

and it's utterly devastating because milo was a lovable character! they were so fun! but he was doomed from the start and it's fucking awful. it never amounted to anything. his own little arc wasnt even allowed to finish properly, while jack's technically was? we never get a conclusion to milo strange but we know that jack's still doing ok with the baby in greenwich after brackenreid ended homophobia there ig /j

anyways. in conclusion i dont ship either anymore but at least i still like millewellyn because i resent jackwatts for what it represents

[angelofverdum]

The Good Wife

I finally watched The Good Wife, and I LOVED it. When I put this show on my watchlist I think it was on season 6 and a lot of things happened and I couldn't watch it, but I finally did and I'm so happy.

Also, I think I have never been happier to never have read a spoiler about a show.

First, I love Alicia. Lead characters are usually so boring, and even tho she was The good wife, she was growing, so we literally saw her go from wife to badass lawyer.

Julianna Margulis is a really good actress. I haven't seen a lot of her work, but she nailed it as Alicia Florrick. I always find it refreshing when the lead actor is good at their job.

Now, even tho I loved the show because some episodes were amazing (Looking at you, season 5). It had these storylines that they started and ended abruptly.

Characters disappear without explanation. The best example was Robyn. They knew they needed to replace Kalinda, so instead of sticking with Robyn, they forgot about her then they brought Jeffrey Dean Morgan to play Alicia's new love interest.

They also loved to go in circles. The whole plot about Alicia's campaign was a waste of time. The Lemond Bishop thing ended up with Kalinda just leaving, which doesn't make any sense to me.

The political plots were so boring. Anything that involved Peter was boring. Seasons 6 and 7 were awful. They focus too much on Aliica's love life.

For me, Alicia's most interesting relationship was with Peter. Not in a romantic way, I think Will was the right one, but how their relationship worked.

They should have made them friends. I know Peter sucked, and he was an asshole, but in the end, he was the only one Alicia didn't betray. I don't know; I liked their dynamic.

So the reason that I was so happy to never read anything about this show: Will's death. I was SHOCKED. I didn't even like him that much, but I was sad that he was gone.

The one thing I knew was that Archie Panjabi and Julianna Margulies didn't get along, and they couldn't be together in a scene.

So, when I saw the first season and Kalinda and Alicia's friendship started to develop, I knew I was en route to a lot of frustration.

When I met Archie she was doing the Fall (Gillian Anderson's best performance, btw), and I read about the thing with Julianna, but I wasn't expecting that she would leave the show.

I thought she finished the whole show, and that remarkable last scene between Alicia and Kalinda at the bar was one of the last scenes of the show.

Kalinda was my favorite character, and the way she was treated by the writers was terrible.

It annoyed me how they dressed her. She was an investigator working on the street. Wearing high-heeled boots and short dresses didn't make sense. Look at the way Robyn and Jason dressed. But of course, Kalinda was a sexy and mysterious investigator.

And the hair? In all 6 seasons, she let her hair down once, ONCE. Insane. Even in some sex scenes, she was having her hair up.

I wish they developed more of her character.

And I can't believe that Julianna and Archie hated each other so much that they couldn't suck it up and work together for the sake of the show. And they had a lot of chemistry, the way Kalinda went soft for Alicia only? Crazy. She got rid of her abusive husband because Alicia felt threatened.

And Kalinda and Lana? They had me giggling and twirling my hair every time they were together. Thank god I didn't watch this live because I could've died of frustration. I wanted more.

Look at this shit. I have watched her scenes together like 300 times.

I saw Eli was a fan favorite. He was ok to me, sometimes way too much.

Cary was also a favorite. Pretty privilege I guess.

Diane. I mean, how could you not love Christine Baranski. I think I have never seen her play a serious character before. I really liked Diane, but some plots were boring to me because I knew about the spin-off. So, some things weren't possible.

Last season was a drag. It was just so boring, and I couldn't wait to finish it. But seasons from 1 to 5 were fun. I was so invested in the show. I couldn't stop watching.

I find it funny how Jason ( who everybody loved bc JDM I know) was exactly Kalinda but male version.

P.S Alicia and Kalinda had one of the most devastating break up on tv

I'll watch the good fight now.