#I made these by taking their Star Allies icons and playing around with them in photoshop to make patterns

[sweetandglovelyart]

Carved some sworn partner pumpkins tonight 🎃

[accirax]

Disventure Camp All Stars Power Rankings (Round 10)

It's time for a very special episode of the DCAS Power Rankings! Previewheads know what's up.

In case you haven't seen my previous power rankings ( 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9), the Power Ranking Format is essentially a way of ranking how well each player is doing in the game. So, in essence, this is a long form way of predicting who I think will be eliminated from the competition in the next episode. There will be spoilers for last week's episode (obviously) and its power ranking, so make sure to read that first if you don't want to be spoiled on how I ranked our last boot. If you want more clarification on the rules, that first post will help you out as well. Furthermore, I'm going to be spoiling the preview for next episode, so if you want to go in TOTALLY blind, save this for later. Let's go!

Recap - Ashley's Elimination

Current Point Total: 41 acquired / 63 total

Even though I didn't particularly claim a points victory on this one, I am absolutely claiming a moral victory here. Because, I was totally right on the reasoning behind an Ashley boot! Ashley was a challenge threat, a conflict negotiator, and, overall, the most heroic hero. (Alec even said something really similar to that descriptor directly; that filled me with pride.)

As I said, if the villains had a free shot at any one in the heroes "alliance"-- if you could even call it that-- it 100% made sense for them to take out Ashley. And, given the emotional state of our would-be protagonists, they got that without even having to try.

I think Ashley served her purpose in the narrative pretty well, all things considered. Sure, she was mostly playing second fiddle to Jake. But, honestly, who isn't in this season...? She stuck around for long enough to tie up her loose ends from last season-- AKA, eliminating Fiore-- as well as establishing some iconic new relationships with Jake and Ally. And, losing such a likeable compatriot at this midpoint of the game is sure to kick the heroes (especially Jake) into high gear, reminding them just how precarious their position is. They did about as well as they could have with Ashley's character going into this season, in my opinion. I'm happy to lose her in this way.

Trailer Analysis

Another big one out of the way-- we're finally getting our returning camper this episode!!! Gosh, watching the trailer and seeing everyone back and at it again made me so happy. Why do we have to keep eliminating people again? Ah, right-- the drama. And oh, what a dramatic trailer it is.

"I ain't no quitter!" "Ugh, I'm about to... to throw up...!" "This could decide my streaming career..." "Nothing's in our way." "What happened here?" "Do I look like I give a shit?" "Are you okay, Jake?!" "Loser!" "You BITCH!"

We got some bonus dialogue for this episode's preview! I used the color coding to attribute characters as best I could, but for the sake of clarity, the people speaking were Miriam, Gabby, Ally, Fiore, Lake, Riya, Ashley, Yul, and... someone. I couldn't really tell who was saying the last quote; sorry. It sounded like a feminine voice to me, but I couldn't place exactly who. Thoughts on each quote individually: Miriam's quote is pretty standard "get back in the game" type stuff. Gabby could be experiencing nerves or a harrowing physical experience. I assume that Ally is talking about Hunter in some capacity-- we saw in Episode 1 that Hunter has joined Ally on her streams, so if they broke up or something, that would change the trajectory of Ally's career. It could also just be about winning $3 million, though. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that Fiore is talking to Alec, trying to reignite their alliance, although the jury's out on how well Alec will respond to that pitch. Lake could be talking about a physical environment here, but, honestly, I think that quote will relate to how the Cyan Team's social connections imploded after Lake's departure. Riya is being Riya. With this quote from Ashley, I'm more inclined to think that Gabby's nausea was caused by something physically difficult/threatening, to pair with Jake being in danger. Yul is being Yul. That's what I got so far.

Finally, Trevor and Derek are going to talk to each other again! I feel like they haven't actually had a conversation with each other since Episode 1. However, between Derek's smugness and Trevor's surprise, I'm worried that things won't go well for Trevor here. Specifically, I'm theorizing that, before Trevor can confess his feelings for Derek, Derek is going to tell Trevor about his crush on/"date" with Kristal, and Trevor will have to pretend to be supportive. Classic romance trope type stuff.

I missed these guys so much :,)

This entire trailer definitely supports the idea that the eliminated contestants and the surviving contestants will be participating in a challenge together, not just that the eliminated people will be fighting for themselves. Based on this screenshot (and other parts of the trailer), I think they divided themselves into pairs: Ellie and Gabby, James and Yul, Lake and Aiden, Tess and Ally, Connor and Riya, Fiore and Alec, Ashley and Jake, Miriam and Tom, and Hunter and... Grett??? Hunter and Grett being paired together makes the least amount of sense, but I think it's still viable. Let's say that the teams are decided via a schoolyard pick. If, for whatever reason, Grett gets to pick last, Hunter could be the only one left (after Ally picks Tess). I think that the surviving contestants getting to sponsor an eliminated contestant makes sense rather than the other way around because of James winding up with Yul instead of Aiden. And, of course, there's the potential for additional TomJake drama if Tom chooses Miriam before Jake can. We can't live without more TomJake drama. (/s)

THE TEAM EVER!!!! Please don't be smirking because you're about to intentionally screw Fiore over, Alec. She's literally eight (and your daughter).

We need Miriam back for one episode so that she can smack some sense into Jake and Tom. Specifically Tom, it seems.

Oh, hey, I was right about Hunter and Grett being paired together. I forgot this scene was in the trailer when I wrote that other part. Yeah, those pairs are definitely correct.

The girls are fightinggggggg. Forget Alec intentionally screwing over Fiore; I wonder if Riya will be attempting to do that to Connor so that she doesn't have to confront her relationship with him again. Probably not, though-- this is more likely that Riya is going to suggest, like, cheating or something, and Connor will tell her off for it.

So, these teams are going to come into contact at some point. Makes sense, given how close Alec and Riya are.

What the hell is going on in this challenge? We've got running, wrenches, motorcycles, and cliff diving. I've got nothing, honestly. Seems like a pretty physical challenge, though.

"There's no honor among thieves." "Are we stealing something?"

Sounds like Ellie is probably trying to convince Gabby to not continue working with the villains alliance. It makes sense: working with the villains was what led to her own corruption/downfall, she still harbors annoyance towards Alec, and probably doesn't appreciate how Grett treated her girlfriend back in S1. The question that I (and possibly Gabby) have to ask, though, is... what else would Gabby be meant to do at this point? I guess it partially depends on who's coming back.

Power Ranking...?

So, obviously the Power Ranking is going to be a little bit different this week, given that, as far as I'm aware, no one is actually being eliminated. Instead, someone will be coming back into the competition. Whatever happens this episode, I don't think I'm going to score any points for it. If it so happens that someone is eliminated as well, then, so be it.

However, I am going to rank how likely I think it is that each eliminated contestant will be returning to the show! It won't affect my score at all, but I think it'll be fun. I'm going to go backwards, from least likely to return to most likely to return, this time in order to keep up suspense. So, who do I think is least likely to return...?

#9: Ashley

Yeah, I just really don't see this one. Obviously, in a real life reality TV show, sometimes the person who was just eliminated is the one who manages to come back into the game. But, when you control the script of a complete fiction, is reversing the move you just made really the best decision? In this situation, at least. It'd be one thing if, like, Gabby was eliminated and then came back swearing revenge on everyone again, but I would have to imagine that Ashley would behave much of the same. That's not very compelling TV, imo.

Along those lines (but even more importantly), I wouldn't want Ashley to come back because it would likely undermine the emotional moment that she and Jake just shared due to her elimination. The appeal of Ashley's exit was that, now, as a repercussion of his actions, Jake will be truly alone. If Ashley immediately came back, that just wouldn't be true any more. And that would really suck! So, I think that, like she said, Ashley will have to save her farm on another season, and not this one.

#8: Miriam

Although Miriam has the appeal of being one of the earlier boots of the season, meaning that we didn't get to see much of her before she went, she shares the same problem as Ashley of giving Jake a decided ally back in the game. No matter how much farther Jake goes from here, I think a satisfying ending for him will be ultimately succumbing to or conquering his problems on his own, without guidance from Ashley or Miriam or whoever. I fear that Miriam would simply solve too many problems if she were to re-enter the game now.

Also, while it's not a death sentence, it really seems like Miriam wasn't always planned to be in this season. Silly Billy (a DC YouTuber and the voice of Trevor) said in this video that (paraphrased) "there was a point where the first boot of one of the seasons was considered to be included as an All Star, but the winner wasn't." Given that the first boot of S2, Oliver, was almost certainly never considered as a competitor for All Stars, it seems pretty likely Silly Billy was talking about Will, and therefore Miriam. Obviously, plans could have shifted to both put Miriam into the season as well as giving her a larger role in it. However, it likely implies that Miriam was chosen to be included as a minor character in All Stars, especially after the focus she received in S1. I'm just hoping that all that talk about her medical issues doesn't suddenly become relevant in this episode.

#7: Hunter

After receiving a bit more context about what exactly happened to Hunter between S2 and All Stars, I feel pretty confident in saying that they wouldn't want to bring him back. Like, if his and Tess' eliminations were meant to more or less bury that trio of characters, why would they suddenly choose to unearth the most problematic one at this critical juncture? It just seems strange.

Still, I put Hunter above Ashley and Miriam because I don't think his return would bring about any genuine narrative problems. Now that he and Ally have had some time apart, and Ally has developed some other enemies, it could be interesting to see them come back together. Would they grow closer again when faced with external pressures, or would they find that the rough situation only further exacerbates the problems they're having?

Hunter's skill in immunity challenges could also be relevant in preventing members of the villains alliance from gaining immunity at certain points in time. At the very least, it could be an in-universe explanation for why the returning player wouldn't be immediately eliminated again.

There's a lot that I wish the DC writers would do with Hunter, because I like him, but I understand why they might not. I don't think that being paired with Grett is a great sign for his return, either. Not that Grett is terrible or anything, just that it's a signifier of Hunter not having a ton of important relationships (or at least ones that they choose to directly focus on) in this season.

#6: Ellie

Honestly, I'm surprising myself with how low I'm putting Ellie here. The fact that she didn't do a patron reading isn't doing her as many favors as I'd initially assumed. She also still definitely has beef with Jake and Alec which haven't gotten a ton of particular focus this season, which could be expanded upon if she were to come back. Why not Ellie, then?

The thing is, I just feel like Ellie had such a nice sendoff that it'd be really sad to undo it. We came to the conclusion that Disventure Camp is bad for Ellie. In that case, why are we meant to root for her of all competitors to come back?

Having Ellie suddenly re-enter the game would also probably be weird for Gabby's character arc. Somewhat like Jake, I think that Gabby needs to be the one in charge of her own fate at this point. If Ellie came back, there could be an interesting conflict of where the girls would land as a duo (stick with the villains or flip and work with the heroes to get revenge). But, in either case, Ellie would probably become the main decision maker again. Gabby's personal vows to eliminate Tom and Aiden would go unfulfilled-- either the situation would likely read as Ellie seizing revenge for herself, or, with Ellie back in the game, the need for revenge would be diminished.

I'm glad that we have Ellie back for this episode because, much like Miriam with Tom/Jake, I think that this is a good time for Gabby to be able to check in with Ellie and have a trusted companion to confide in. However, I don't think that that moment needs to last much longer than this one episode. Gabby needs to continue to face her fear of being alone.

#5: Lake

I really don't know how to feel about Lake.

On one hand, I understand why they'd bring her back. Lake was eliminated pretty early into the season, so it would be nice to give her some more screen time. She's also really close with Aiden, and could therefore be a useful addition to any moves in which Aiden is looking for numbers (like in a Jake or Riya elimination). Also, she's a definite physical threat. That could give her an advantage in simply winning this challenge to get back in, to the extent that matters.

However... I don't know, the more I think about it, the more it just feels wrong to me. Lake finished her character arc in S2. Other than Aiden (and I guess kind of Gabby), she doesn't have much of any other relationships to further new plotlines with. What would she be doing in this season, really?

Yeah. I don't have much else to say, which I'm taking as a bad sign for Lake's odds. I'm excited to check in with her in this episode, though!

#4: Tess

As the outcry rang following episode 9, there's definitely still more potential to be had with Tess' character. The contestants pointed out that all Tess wanted to do on this season was reconnect with Ally and Hunter, which she didn't get to do. If she got to re-enter the game, she'd get that opportunity, which would be nice. With Ashley gone, Ally is also potentially in need of someone to align herself with (god knows it will not be Jake). Giving her Tess as a partner could be useful in that sense.

Another thing that I haven't discussed much until now is the impact of inserting another person into the current 5 villain/4 hero divide. If you add another hero, you go back to the 5-5 faceoff, whereas adding another villain could cause the villains to further steamroll. The reason why I hadn't brought it up until now is because I think it's a hard metric to determine. Giving the villains even more power seems unnecessary and unfair, but it could also be a good inciting incident for the villains turning on each other. Putting the tally back to 5-5 seems repetitive and therefore silly, but it could be giving the heroes a chance to right the record and eliminate a villain this time.

Tess would certainly be returning to the game as a hero, and a pretty loyal one. She'd be close to Ally, and has a past history of working with Aiden and Tom. Therefore, I think she could be a good addition in terms of unifying the heroes as a group. As a quick possible-but-unlikely Episode 12 pitch, let's say Tess is back, and, I don't know, Tom wins immunity. Alec, Riya, Yul, Grett, and Gabby are all going to vote for Aiden, and Tess, Ally, Aiden, and Tom are all going to vote for Yul. Jake then has to decide on whether he's going to be petty, side with the villains, and vote for Aiden, or take a stand with the heroes and join them in a Yul vote. Then Jake could be heroic and Aiden could take out Yul in a tiebreaker or something like that. As I said, unlikely, but possible. And, Tess could be a key player in bringing that about... even if it wouldn't have much to do with Tess as a character herself.

However, I don't think that Tess will come back, partially because of the whole huntessally debacle. But, more than that, it's Tess' contentment at her elimination that makes me think it wouldn't be her. She was so chill with being eliminated! I know that there are other characters with more of a passion to be back in the game than Tess, so, personally, if she was the one to return, I'd just be, like, "oh." That's probably not the reaction they want. Plus, even though she wasn't literally the last boot, she still got eliminated fairly recently. It could be more interesting to pull from someone who got eliminated a little earlier on.

#3: James

I'm fully willing to acknowledge that I might be biased here just because I miss James so goddamn much. HE DIDN'T GET TO DO THE PATRON READINGS, ALRIGHT?! IT'S A SIGN!!!!

I definitely think that there's some appeal to having the literal first boot be the one to return to the competition. Both in the sense that James has gotten to appear in the fewest amount of DCAS episodes thus far, but also just that it's satisfying to have the competitor that (placement-wise) you would least expect to return be the one who manages to do it. James got a pretty bad tribe draw landing on Magenta, so landing in the merge could be a better way to test his skills on this new season.

Pretty much any positives that Lake was bringing to the table, James could do better. On top of having a stronger relationship to Aiden, he also has connections to Yul and Riya that he could cash in on, as well as this season's animosity towards Jake. I also think it would be interesting to see Tom and James interact after everything that's happened with Tom and Aiden this season. Even if James was generally cool with Tom and Aiden kissing, there've gotta be some weird yet interesting vibes going on there, right? James is also a fan favorite that I think audiences would generally be happy to see come back. Especially if there are jaiden moments in tow. Please, let there be jaiden moments. Even if they're cringe as fuck (affectionate).

However... I don't really know what James would bring from a gameplay perspective. He, too, would be another number to the heroes alliance, and be down to work with Aiden and Ally, at least. But, James would draw an even bigger schism between Jake and the rest of the heroes, which would be... interesting. Would James be re-entering the game just to get voted out again almost immediately afterward? That doesn't seem worth it. There are also still those oddities about elimination order regarding Aiden and James that I described back in Round 7 that I still don't know the answer to. And the looming threat of James' voice actor being too busy to record too many lines for the show.

So, maybe the prospect of bringing James back into the show is too good to be true. I want him back, though. I miss my boy.

#2: Fiore

If my ranking of James was biased, my ranking of Fiore is probably even more so. It's really hard for me to tell how much this placement is an attempted manifestation as opposed to a genuine prediction. I think there are real reasons why it would make sense to have her back, though, so let me explain them.

As a big fan of Alec and Fiore's dynamic, I would be remiss to not mention how this season feels like it's lacking a true, proper conclusion to the conflict that began at the S1 semifinals. Letting them finally be at the same camp again would allow for them to definitively choose whether they're ending their DC experience on positive terms or negative ones. Additionally, Fiore has a lot of potential to develop further plotlines with other contestants! It would be nice to see more of her reactions to what's happened with Grett since S1, and reuniting with fellow Magenta teammates Jake and Ally could certainly bring some spice. Fiore also barely interacted with anyone from S2 other than Hunter and Ally, so seeing further animosity between her and Yul, for example, could be really fun.

Speaking of Yul, Fiore would also be a good choice of returnee from the villains department. I've described how Tess or Lake could make narrative sense as a heroic addition, but I think Fiore would be a perfect choice for the option where they decide to establish 6 villains instead. Namely, this is because Fiore has the potential to possibly break up the villains in a number of ways.

Scenario #1, Alec, securely having Fiore and Riya on his side, feels confident enough to slim down the villains alliance to get rid of some of the extra weight. The ramifications of sending home, say, Yul, could give the heroes an opening to exploit further weaknesses. Scenario #2, Fiore and Riya start fighting over who Alec's number one ally is, causing a schism in the alliance. They refuse to work together, so Alec has to choose whether he wants to return to Fiore or stick with Riya. Scenario #3, Fiore nominally joins the villains alliance, but hates being on the bottom. Thus, she double crosses them to work with the heroes, giving them a secret additional number to work with (maybe alongside Gabby or Alec to flip it to 4 villains/6 "heroes").

In terms of negatives, Fiore has already had a lot of time in the spotlight, so you could argue that other characters deserve that boost in screen time more. However, I would say that the biggest problem with Fiore coming back would be the indirect effect it would have on Ashley. It's a lot easier to feel good about Ashley's elimination when we know that, even if she didn't win, she got to accomplish her goal of getting revenge on Fiore. If Fiore returned to the competition literally immediately after Ashley left, it would make that victory feel a little hollow. If I were an Ashley stan, that would probably upset me. So, in that sense, I'm sort of rooting against Fiore here.

However, I am a Fiore stan, so in that sense, I absolutely want her to return. C'mon! She can weasel her way out of elimination again!!!

#1: Connor

When compiling this list, I kinda divided the contestants into three tiers of three. Ashley, Miriam, and Hunter were my "unlikely" tier; Ellie, Lake, and Tess were my "possible" tier; and James, Fiore, and Connor were my "likely" tier. There was really only one issue with those tiers for me. It was that, if I could, I would put Connor in his own tier for (in my opinion) being way more likely than anybody else.

Let's run through all of the reasons why it would totally make sense for Connor to be the one that comes back into the game. Number one: he was an early boot in All Stars and S2. I wouldn't be surprised if, out of all the DCAS contestants, he has the least amount of overall screen time thus far. Therefore, Connor would merit returning far more than, say, Fiore or James, who were both finalists on their original seasons.

Number two: Connor's elimination feels somewhat unresolved. While he isn't the only one this is true for, it is still the case. Tess accepted her elimination with contentment. Ellie learned to care more about her priceless girlfriend than the three million dollar prize. Fiore might've been mad, but, hey, at least she was a villain! She deserved what was coming to her. Connor was just... sad. He got betrayed by both the person he cared for most from S2 and the new friend he made this season. Giving him a second chance could be a good opportunity for him to turn his story around and achieve some kind of happy ending (even if I doubt it would be winning).

Number three: Connor creates possibly the most interesting camp dynamic out of any contestant that could come back. 'Cause, like, he's a hero, right? He's a nice and friendly guy, and he wants to play the game with integrity. But, also, his closest allies are both parts of the villains alliance. Hell, literally his entire former tribe is in the villains alliance, so if he wants to go back to them, he'd have to join their ranks. ...Does he want to go back to them? They voted him out!

I think that Connor is the closest we can get to a neutral party being injected into the show, which makes him unique and therefore exciting. He could also accomplish a similar thing to what I described in Scenario #1 with Fiore.

Number four: Connor is a fan favorite, in his own weird way. People seem to really like him, even if I don't totally get it. (I didn't love Connor in S2; I thought the "adultescent" thing was kinda overdone and the dynamic of "rich old white guy hits on/saves struggling young POC woman" was a little icky, but I harbor no ill will towards Connor fans. All Stars made me like him a lot more, anyways.) I've seen multiple people cite the moment that Connor was sent home as the moment DCAS "started to go downhill." I'm sure many people would be thrilled to see him come back, and maybe even regain some faith in the show's writing.

Connor coming back has character reasoning, strategic intrigue, and fan support, which is why I think it would by far make the most sense for him to be the one that's coming back at this point. Although, that's not to say that there's no evidence that he isn't. He did already do the patron reads, obviously. If he's paired with Riya for this challenge, I'm not sure what about their teamwork would propel them to the top-- if anything, I feel like working with Riya would decrease Connor's chances of winning the challenge. I do also think there are ways to give Connor a satisfying ending without having him re-enter the competition. One scenario I've been mulling over is if he could be the teammate that helps Alec to win in the finale, getting redemption for how he and Riya flamed out in S2. Things to think about, I guess.

So, those are my predictions! Lower stakes this time because we won't be scoring any points, but also higher stakes because the person that returns can really set the tone for how the latter half of the season will pan out. I can't believe All Stars is already halfway over... or, at least, it will be on Thursday. See you then!

[twistedtummies2]

Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes - Number 10

Welcome to A Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes! During this month-long event, I’ll be counting my Top 31 Favorite Fictional Detectives, from movies, television, literature, video games, and more!

Today, the countdown enters the Top 10!

SLEUTH-OF-THE-DAY’S QUOTE: “The enemy of my enemy is my enemy.”

Number 10 is…Dick Tracy.

Created for a series of newspaper adventure strips by Chester Gould, Dick Tracy has been considered the forerunner to a lot of popular superheroes. However, the actual character isn’t really a superhero so much as a classic detective character. In the comics, Tracy starts off as a member of the Navy, who falls in love with a beautiful woman named Tess Trueheart, and becomes close with her father, Emil. Things take a sour turn when the notorious gangster called Big Boy kidnaps Tess and has Emil murdered. Outraged at the loss, Dick vows revenge, and joins a plainclothes police force. He thus takes down the mobsters, and ultimately saves Tess. Thus begins Dick Tracy's long and dauntless crusade to stamp out crime with uncompromising fortitude: over time, Dick Tracy rises in the ranks. He eventually becomes the head of the homicide squad, before opening his own private detective agency (briefly), and then eventually returning to the force. The comics have sort of been made off-and-on over the years, both in papers and in comic book format, and are still around even to this day.

Tracy himself is essentially an avatar for law and order, as a concept. He is almost obsessively “straight”: he scoffs at bribes, and shows no mercy to most criminals when on the case. And considering he’s facing dangerous thieves, bootleggers, enemy spies, and more murderers than you can shake a skull at, I don’t think you can blame him for being a bit hard-edged. Tracy’s viewpoint of the world is very simple: “all criminals are rats, and should be treated as such.” While at times this is a fatal flaw in his character, normally you can’t really fault Tracy, because the villains he takes down ARE rats. When he’s not on the case, however, Dick is a much warmer sort of person: he’s a devoted (if often distracted) family man, has many good friends he trusts and cares for, and even shows what I can only describe as a jolly side to his character, as upbeat as he is firm and strong. Indeed, despite his own philosophy, Tracy has - on the rarest of occasions - helped some villains reform and redeem themselves, and some of them have become not only allies but close friends. It's probably best to say that Tracy CAN recognize when there's good in a person...but he also recognizes that most of the people he deals with are either too far gone, or there just isn't time to worry about that when lives are at stake.

On that note…if there’s one place where you can definitely see the influence on superhero fiction with Tracy, it’s his villains. The bad guys from Dick Tracy were among the first “supervillains,” as we recognize them today: grotesque and eccentric antagonists with various unique gimmicks, as well as bizarre costumes and/or physical features that make them as eye-catching as they are blood-curdling. The villains of Dick Tracy are a big part of what made and still makes the series popular: from the ever-pestering Flattop Family, to femme fatale Breathless Mahoney, to the soft-spoken but thoroughly psychopathic Mumbles, and so on and so forth. Honestly, a lot of these villains are best experienced through the comics themselves, since while a lot of other media portrayals do Dick Tracy himself decent justice, the iconic villains usually either lack the right amount of grotesque appearance, or the depths of personality and modes of operation that their original sources have.

On that note, most people recognize Tracy for his portrayal in the 1990 film, appropriately titled “Dick Tracy.” This version starred Warren Beatty as the detective, with supporting roles played by Al Pacino, Mandy Patinkin, and even Madonna, of all people! While I do enjoy that film, and Beatty’s somewhat darker take on Tracy, I think my favorite portrayer of the character is a much older actor: Ralph Byrd. He played Tracy first in a series of four old movie serials, which, despite changing a lot of the lore around the character, still captured the spirit of the comics and Tracy himself. Byrd would later reprise the role in more source-accurate interpretations, first in two of four films by RKO (including one where he faces off against Boris Karloff, in the role of “Gruesome”), and then later in a largely-lost 1950s television series, which adapted various storylines from the comics into TV format. While the actual quality of all these outings fluctuated, to say the least, Byrd, himself, was the definitive screen Tracy: he looked, sounded, and felt the part better than anyone else.

Other actors have played Tracy over the years, of course, from radio to films and even to TV. Some noteworthy names worth looking at include Bing Crosby, Morgan Conway, and Everett Sloane. However, the comics are really the only way to enjoy Tracy and his villains to their fullest potential. They’re somewhat hard to track down at times, but if you can find a few good storylines, they’re well worth checking out.

Tomorrow, the countdown continues with Number 9!

CLUE: “How do you think this all works? By being big and being bad.”

[with-love-from-love]

(So let me preface this with the fact that when I wrote this I was in the midst of a mental health crisis, and it most definitely reflects. That being said I’ve read over this letter a number of times and I feel that everything I said was the truth, just take it with a grain of salt. I want this letter and all subsequent letters to be reflections of my actual feelings, the joy and the pain)

The stars that shine, and the stars that shade

(Siouxsie and the Banshees, Dazzle)

So here we are again, another month gone by, more time moving right through me. Unconcerned by my withering corpse, time just keeps on going, and I continue to search for reasons to stay, to remain, to exist. I feel hurt, mostly by myself, I feel like I’m a horrible person, and I know that this may seem like I’m trying to garner sympathy, but fuck it, maybe I am. It’s not that I have nothing in my life that brings me joy, but the emptiness remains. I’m very glad to have stopped looking at instagram, in the past month I’ve only looked at it for brief moments a couple of times, I definitely feel less stressed and less anxious, but I still can’t get a job, and I still can’t make art that really compels me or anyone else. I always want this message to be one of truth, so I would be doing no one a favor by masking how I really feel.

Girl, you are rich even with nothing

And you know tenderness comes from pain

It's amazing how you love

And love is kind and love can give

And get no gain

It's down a rugged road you've come

Though you had every reason

You didn't come undone

Somehow you made it to the other side

You didn't suffer in vain

(Sade, It’s Only Love That Gets You Through)

I really resent being valued for my body, and I know that sounds really selfish, so judge away, please. I’ve caused hurt, I’ve caused pain, mostly to myself, but also to many people who didn’t deserve it. I suppose I’ve always just wanted someone to listen to me, because that was not something I was afforded when I was young. I feel that the only time people listened to me was when I was like, 20 and pretransition. As soon as I started transitioning no one took me seriously, and I feel that happens to a lot of transsexual women such as myself. The cis, straight, and most of the queer world really feigns interest in our pain. Marsha P. Johnson is remembered as an “icon,” yet no one did shit to help her, she was found dead and no one even has a clear answer as to what happened. I really have no right to be this upset, I’m the t****y 1%, I’m white, I’ll probably be fine. Still the pain echoes through me, as I know it echoes through all of us.

I have managed to quit smoking for the most part, and I have two DJ gigs coming up this month, one at gingers on the 17th and one at the pride march in Manhattan on the 25th. I feel really lucky to be playing at such an “important” event. To paraphrase Sylvia Rivera, pride is a capitulation to capitalism, it’s about the almighty dollar, and they want me because I’m a freaky genderfuck and it’s good optics for them. To quote myself, even gay people are straight nowadays. I’ll be really happy to play fun music to a bunch of queers in the hot sun, but I’m not happy that I had to sign a contract and write a bio for myself, I don’t want to market myself, and I don’t want my body to be for sale, but unfortunately, sometimes my body is my number one asset. Jesus this letter is so fucking doomer, but I said I’d be honest.

I guess if yer reading this and you feel pained or challenged by what I’m writing, write me back, come talk to me in real life, I don’t get around too much. If you’re reading this and I haven’t spoken to you in a while, I’m sorry, but right now my spider silk has become very thin, and I might just get blown away by a strong wind. It pains me so much that most people who consider themselves “allies,” know less than nothing about trans experience, especially trans feminine experience. Once, a person who I really kinda despise said they liked me because I’m “well adjusted.” Now, on the list of shitty things this person has done to me, that comment ranks pretty low, but it still stings me today, the implication being that most of us are very poorly adjusted, and what a fucking shock! Who knew it would be hard to be well adjusted when you live in a world where basically everyone hates that you exist, gaslights you, fetishizes you, feels disgusted by your body, and thinks that you are a dangerous pervert. Yet after all of that we still manage to “yaaasss” and “slayyy” and we do it with pride, because that’s all we have. I don’t wanna be a “well adjusted” t****y I want to be a menace to the straight cis world.

If you know me well I’d imagine you are rolling your eyes right now, so let me just say this before I really cancel myself. Pain is double edged, it is neither good nor bad, it’s just gravity. There is no cure for pain, there is only a deep understanding of it. I feel very lucky to have a woman in my life who really loves me and puts up with my ranting and raving, she brings me the most joy out of anything, but we must remember that Goddess cannot be found in other people, we must find her inside, and she is there, in all of us.

This letter really got away from me, but I urge you to continue filling the well that is your life, even in my cursed spiral, I still manage to create. I started making a photobook, it’s just a draft right now, and I’m being harshly critical of myself, but there is a tiny grain of excitement, that maybe I could really capture what little I have to say with my heart. I also have a consultation for FFS coming up this month, which is serving as my beacon right now, I know it won’t fix all my problems, but it will fix the problem of my ugly ass face. In terms of tattooing I don’t really know how much I want to do it anymore. I want to still use it as a medium, but probably just for close friends and dolls who want to feel comfortable. I don’t want to sell my tats, or participate in the clout trap circle j**k that is instagram. Will I be a star that shines? A star that shades? who can say.

“It’s gonna hurt, now,” said Amy. “Anything dead coming back to life hurts.”

(Toni Morrison, Beloved)

Attached are some pictures from the photobook.

With love from love

Sasha Love

Please donate to FOR THE GWORLS, a collective providing mutual aid and support to black trans people. https://www.forthegworls.party/home <3

Also please go subscribe to my best friend’s newsletter. She is an amazing tattoo artist, painter, and writer, as well as a mother to two wonderful cats :) https://tinyletter.com/angelauratat222

Albums to listen to:

The Fragile - NIN

The Velvet Rope - Janet Jackson

Love Deluxe - Sade

Exile in Guyville - Liz Phair

Hyaena - Siouxsie and the Banshees

Stumpwork - Dry Cleaning

The Sun’s Tirade - Isaiah Rashad

[isaacathom]

im meant to be doing ~worldbuilding~ but i just wanna think about how Naielle will react to news about how both the heist subplots went. Since i assume the way we're working around the fact the party didnt know about the results before heading to the Black Star is like "oh, the gunpowder party didnt return to the ship before you left" or "they reported directly to the admiral (or just the commodore) about either/both and he chose not to inform the Officer's Party so they would not be distracted in the event of their very complicated and dangerous mission", right.

now the first heist mission was todays session, which was us stealing a specific artifact for an allied faction in the city. it was a shit show. civilians got involved, a room got set on fire (WE DIDNT DO THAT AND SHE DIDNT TELL US SHE WAS GOING TO), there was a minor flood, and we stole a LOT more than we were strictly meant to. Naielle won't be strictly impressed, but the logic at least checks out. we all agreed that supporting our allies was important, at least politically, so she accepts the principle. the civilian bit, oops. the fire, OOPS. the extra thefts? now the rationale provided by one party member (the truly iconic Fenton Court) was that it would disguise the primary theft and make it seem more general, less targeted. okay. sure. Naielle will accept that, to a point, but she is not happy. (incidentally, this doesnt bother the char i played today at all, since he really doesnt like her anyway. spites a powerful motive)

we've yet to do the gunpowder heist, which is also the way more complicated one. Naielle is against this one on pure principle - the party who have the gunpowder are straight up full on allies, have been nothing but kind, and gunpowder access was the ONE line in the sand. She went so far as to forewarn them about the theft, which has resulted in the heist being brought significantly forward in the timeline bc the faction leader announced her intent to destroy the gunpowder and its recipe. her stance is clear.

and that was when the mission was still just to sneak in. However, by her own action, Naielle has forced the fleets hand. She's made it worse. According to some party members, the admiral basically gave us carte blanche to do whatever it takes to get the gunpowder, and many discussions have been had about going big, going loud, seizing it not subtly but by brute force. she caused that. by an extent, whatever happens is on her.

So if the mission goes "poorly", which Naielle would define as involving significant harm done to the members of that allied faction (be it to their person or their property), then she's gonna be fucking furious at both the admiral, by extension her commanding officer, at the gunpowder party, and herself. this is fun, also, bc one member of the gunpowder party is one of her retainers, a lookout named Darcy who she very much trusts. thats rough.

now i dont anticipate darcy being particularly violent. she's a man for hire, and she has her objective, and she has no qualms about getting dirty in order to survive or complete her objective, but she wont be aiming to. whether she can convince naielle that her part in it was all peaceful at the end is another matter entirely.

if the mission goes "well" (no harm to the faction's people or property, beyond the obvious theft), naielle will be annoyed in a slightly softer angle, directing all her anger solely at the admiral and the commodore (her direct CO), and far less at hired help. i think, anyway. she's not gonna be fucking impressed either way. Naielle thinks the whole mission fucking bites.

if the mission goes "tits up" (failure to get the gunpowder and/or significant harm comes to the party), then naiele will STILL be mad at her command, but now again at herself, for being the reason security was heightened above the normal (whoops).

no matter what she holds the admiral responsible for what happens (given his apparent command to do 'whatever it takes'). whether she blames the commodore depends on the vibe, and perhaps particularly how much shit his retainer gets up to. whether she blames herself depends on how poorly the mission goes for either the faction or the party. whether she blames the party depends on how much damage they cause. this is the vibes. naielles gonna be pissed

also again the fact naielle ratted the fleet out to the faction might complicate all of this further. if that comes to light during the mission, then all bets are off.

That does make the temporality of it all a little difficult, though. bc surely if they found evidence that Naielle had betrayed them, that info would have been forwarded to the Commodore posthaste. And while I know he trusts Naielle decently well, that much? enough to still bring her on the black star mission? now arguably thats not my problem to figure out - thats a matter for his player and maybe the gm to rationalise. eg: naielle's specific expertise in planar matters is too valuable to NOT take on that mission, and any consequences can be delayed until the party's safe return. or that his retainer decides to withhold that information so as not to interfere with that mission. that latter one is unlikely bc the vibe i get is that he would tell vandervest everything, but still. regardless i think about it.

its not even guaranteed itll come to light. its possible it wont. im just excited

[marvelsbanner]

You come here often?

Prompt: Bruce x reader soulmate au where the first words your soulmate says to you appears on your body.

Pairing: Bruce Banner x reader 

Warnings: very slight angst (internal, self-doubt), like one curseword 

Word count: ~1400

A/N: Likes, reblogs, and feedback makes my heart happy <3 Not beta’d, all mistakes are my own! 

**i don’t own marvel** **not my gif** 

It wasn’t ideal, really. But it also could have been worse. He’d seen soulmate marks that were insults, curses- some really downright vile things, so it definitely could have been worse. That didn’t mean looking down to his wrist and seeing the words “That physically hurt me” didn’t fill his chest with anxiety. 

He’s hurt a lot of people in his lifetime. A walking mass of destruction with no limits, a time bomb of green that seemed to go off at all the wrong times. 

He couldn’t imagine getting the privilege of meeting his soulmate only to hurt him or her, to see the utter fear in their eyes that he’s seen in so many others. To cause them pain by his actions, to have to live with himself after it- what if it was bad? What if those were the last words they would speak not only to him, but to anyone at all?

The thought of it alone kept him up some nights- a faceless body puppeteering his dreams, causing him to wake up sweaty and breathless and a little green around the edges.

He usually kept a wristwatch over the words, it wasn’t uncommon for people to keep their marks private. Less likely that someone twisted would try to fake a meeting. The only person he had shown was Tony, who tried his best to calm his anxieties (His own wrist had Pepper’s iconic “Wow, you really are an asshole”  after coming for an interview and finding him half naked and hungover in his office. They had been happily married for two years now) 

So, he tried not to worry- he really did, but every time he would take his watch off to sleep or shower the harsh black words on his wrist made his head spin with the possibilities of what was to come. 

-

He hated parties. Didn’t matter the occasion. Being in a loud, crowded room with warm bodies and fake smiles dripping with complementary liquor- it made him and the other guy incredible antsy. 

Despite knowing how much Bruce despised parties, and the threat that he was putting everyone in attendance in, Tony managed to drag him to nearly every single event he hosted. 

This time it was a charity event, Stark Enterprise making some big donation to a charity to clean up a little of the bad publicity and backlash the last Avengers battle had created. 

That being so, alongside his teammates was a pool of unfamiliar faces. He nursed his drink and surveyed the room, heart pounding as his feet did an antsy shuffle. 

Steve and Bucky were playing pool against Sam and Natasha, Thor and Rhodey were trading stories with important looking men in crisp suits, Pepper was making small talk with some of the women from the charity board, and Tony was no where to be found; ultimately, Bruce was on his own. 

Logically, he knew that, and yet he had the feeling that he wasn’t. He felt a pair of eyes on him from the side, and turned to see a pretty woman sitting at the bar, nursing a drink and stealing a glance at him. 

She gave a polite smile before ducking her head and turning away, clearly not expecting to have been caught. Or- maybe she had wanted to be caught? He wasn’t very good with these kinds of things. 

“That’s Y/N Y/L/N, she works on the head committee of the charity.” Tony says, appearing seemingly out of nowhere and making Bruce nearly spill his drink. “Jesus Tony- don’t sneak up on me like that,” he yelped, running his hands through his hair and trying to calm his raising pulse. Tony simply ignored him and continued speaking.

“Spoken with her a few times- super nice, uses big words I don’t understand. Right up your ally,” he said with a wink. “Go talk to her” he ordered, giving him a slight shove in her direction. 

“No- no! Tony, I don’t.. I don’t think that’s a good idea,” He fought, before Tony interrupted him- “Uh uh, no if ands or buts mister, I’m tired of seeing you sulking at these things.  She’s smart. She’s pretty. You’re smart. You look half way decent cleaned up, go talk to her.” and with a final shove from Tony he decided to give in, blowing out a sigh and downing the rest of his drink. 

He tried to calm his heart rate as ran his fingers through his unruly hair, wishing he had put a little more effort into getting ready today. He slowly made his way to stand by the bar where the woman was sitting, giving her a shy smile as she turned to acknowledge his presence. 

Panic. Panic. Panic. “So, uh, you come here often?” He stuttered out, immediately cringing and wishing he was still in his bed- or curled up in a ditch and dead, whichever would come quicker. God, he couldn’t believe he just said that!

She snorted into her drink, nose scrunching into a cringe and she shook her head at his awful line,

“That physically hurt me. Ouch, oh god you really need to work on your flirting skills, if that’s what that even was.” She started laughing before turning her head to meet his stunned gaze, his jaw practically on the floor.

“You’ll catch flies like that” she chuckles nervously. 

“S-sorry, I just, can you say that again?” He stutters out. 

“You’ll catch flies..?” 

“No no, before that. You- you said I hurt you.” 

“Oh, I meant- I didn’t mean- its just a saying,” she tries to explain before he cuts her off.

“No no, I get that, I just..” He quickly undoes his watch and turns over his wrist, showing the dark black words matching her exact phrasing. Her own jaw drops this time, eyes going wide before her mouth snaps shut and she gives him the smallest smile. She turns over her own wrist, the words reading “So, you come here often?” and he laughs, he laughs with a big dopey smile on his face- almost afraid to believe this could actually be happening.

“You’re not the first guy to say that to me, but you’re the only guy who’s had my words in return” She says with a smile. 

“God I- I’m so sorry you had to go for so many years with that god awful pickup line on your wrist” he laughs. 

“No I’m sorry you had to walk around with my words, I’m sure you’ve gotten some weird looks for that one,” she replies. He gives her an almost sad smile, “I was the only one who seemed to be concerned”

Her face slightly falls before she composes it, holding out her hand for him to shake, “Y/N” she introduces herself. 

“Bruce” he replies with a small smile. 

“So, do you come here often?” She says with a smirk. 

He gives a chuckle, “Yeah, yeah actually. I live right upstairs and am usually forced to attend these things by our generous host.” he says with a chuckle.

“You live in the tower? What are you, an avenger?” She jokes, clearly teasing before his face answered the question for him. “Oh shit, you’re actually an avenger. Are you the one in the star spangled spandex or the big green one?” She teases, but she could see his shoulders tense. 

“Yeah, that would be me. The big ugly green one” 

She frowns at his choice of words and tone, “Hey, I never said ugly. I always thought that guy was ruggedly handsome in a strange, green sort of way” 

He puffs out a breath and shakes his head. 

“What?” She asks, shoving his shoulder with her own. 

“I uh, I have a kind of.. complicated life. I was honestly expecting you to run at the first mention of the big guy,” He took a deep breath before continuing, “I uh, I was always worried that the first words spoken to me by my soulmate would be after he had hurt them somehow.” He finally raised his head to meet her eyes, expecting hesitancy or fear- and yet her eyes were free from judgment. 

“Well, they weren’t. Just tipsy teasing. And I’m not planning on running yet, but we did just meet. Buy me a drink and maybe I’ll change my mind afterwards” she said with a wink, and all he could do was give her a dopey smile in return. There she was, this beautiful, sharp-witted girl that he was so worried he would scare off, subtly doing her best to make sure he was at ease. 

“Yeah, yeah I’ll buy you a drink. On one condition.” He said to her.

“And what is that?” She asked, quirking one brow. 

“Go to dinner with me tonight.” He said smoothly. 

Her lips quirked into a small smile, “I’ll be there” 

He smiled and signaled for the bartender to fill up their glasses as he slid into the seat next to her, brushing his shoulder against hers with a playful smile. 

[ratingtheframe]

10 Films to watch this Valentine’s Day if you’re single as hell.

If anyone or anything is making you feel worthless on the Capitalist Holiday that is Valentine’s Day because you’re single AF, then don’t fret because it means one of two things;

You’re happy enough with yourself to not need anyone else.

You’re allergic to people.

Though mine is both the former and the latter, I can still get down to a good romance movie now and again. Now I’m not talking about those horrendous rom coms that Netflix seems to be churning out every damn minute, but those emotionally invested, earthy and well written dramas that has you ugly crying into your bathrobe for 17 minutes straight (me at the end of Her.). Here is a compiled list of some of the best romance films I’ve seen over the years and how each one doesn’t showcase an abundance of clichés and brands them as “acts of love”.

A Star is Born (2018 or 1953, take your pick)

I’ve found that both the 1953 version of A Star is Born with Judy Garland and the 2018 newer version to be a perfect and well rounded love story. What makes this love story so fierce is the vulnerabilities and downfall of its characters, which even though there are many sad moments, it perpetuates and strengthens the acts of love shown in the film. Both versions are similar in that they follow a woman who’s rise to fame as a performer becomes overshadowed by her jealous partner, who is also a notable celebrity. In the 2018 version starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, Gaga’s character Ally is helped by a country singer, Jackson Maine to become a successful singer and icon amongst the music industry. As she rises, Jackson falls and the character dynamics and intensity between them is a fitting love story. I was thoroughly bawling at the end and I guarantee you will too as Lady Gaga’s rendition of Love Again was the true scene stealer of the film. 

Call me by your name (2017)

I have an incredible bias towards this film and it has nothing to do with the film’s context or characters or even Timothée Chalamet The reason why I feel so connected to this film and proclaim it as my favourite film of all time is because of when I watched the film. It’s almost like seeing a film about a political event right after it's happened; you have this rush and connection towards something that’s actually affected you in the real world. I had the same feeling with Call me by your name after going through a rough and confusing patch whilst trying to get over someone I thought I truly loved. Turns out I didn’t (thank god) and yet Call me your name was almost like a shoulder to cry on. It’s a film that’s taught me to love and love hard but most importantly, not beat yourself up or try to distinguish the pain felt by true love. If you haven’t been fortunate to catch this beauty of a film, it follows two men, Elio (Timothée Chalamet) and Oliver (Armie Hammer) and their brief relationship in the summer of 1983 in Northern Italy. 17 year old Elio lives with his parents and his father (Michael Stuhlbarg) is a scholar who invites students from outside the country for the summer in hope of passing on his wisdom to them. This is when Oliver arrives, a handsome twenty something American who becomes the infatuation of Elio. 

I’ll never forget the first time I heard the monologue that Elio’s father gave his son at the end, explaining to Elio why he shouldn’t feel embarrassed by the pain he felt after loving Oliver:

“We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster, that we go bankrupt by the age of thirty and have less to offer each time we start with someone new. But to make yourself feel nothing so as not to feel anything - what a waste”

That, ladies and gentlemen and all in between, is what love is.

Her. (2013)

Once again, another film about love that had a profound effect on me because of when I watched it. Her. follows the story of Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) and his search for a story using an A.I to help him write. However, after getting to know this A.I named Samantha (Scarlett Johansson) and hearing the way she adapts and shows emotions, he soon falls in love with it. Some may deem this as rather sad (which it is) but I think it speaks to bigger constructs like internet dating and letting go of people you loved thus diminishing the fantasy and world you created for the two of you. This part of the film got to me a stark way as I felt the pain of letting go of not only a person, but a fantasy, just like Theodore had to do in letting his past partners go. Her. is truly beautiful, with some great production design, cinematography and acting.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

The absolute queen of love stories would be Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire, a film about the romance between two women in the late 18th Century. Definitely not a narrative you see every day or one that’s been painted in such a way (pun intended). Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is commissioned to paint the beautiful and stubborn Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) and the portrait is to be gifted to a suitor of Héloïse’s from Milan. But instead of getting the painting done and sending it off, Marianne and Héloïse unexpectedly fall for one another at a subtle and well timed pace that had me gawping at the screen the entire way through. Slow, sensual and moving is Portrait of a Lady on Fire and I would definitely say is one of the best LGBTQ plus films ever made to date.

Broke Back Mountain (2005)

Ang Lee scooped up a BAFTA, Golden Globe and Oscar for his direction on his adapted screenplay of Brokeback Mountain. Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) form a romantic bond after shepherding alone together on the side of a mountain. Once their time herding sheep comes to a close and they return back to their respective lives, it's clear that their bond is stronger than they had anticipated. They live in constant fear of their relationship becoming apparent to those around them, which leaves one of them taking matters into their own hands. A controversial yet extremely successful film of its time, Brokeback Mountain does a fabulous job of showcasing the consequences and despair of love using two of Hollywood’s finest actors.

Carol (2013)

It’s difficult to fully appreciate LGBTQ plus films set in the past as they mostly focus on the persecution of homosexuals as opposed to the love they wish to express. However, this was pretty accurate of the time and it's only very recently that we have begun to accept one another’s sexualities and genders fully so much that we play these stories out on screen without the persecution part. Carol is a film directed by Todd Haynes and stars Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchett. I found them to be an extremely intense pairing whilst they unravelled as their characters on screen. Therese (Rooney Mara) works in the toy department of a department store when one day she lays eyes upon Carol Aird, a beautiful and elegant married woman who becomes the infatuation of Therese. Therese throws all caution to the wind in order to be closer to Carol and because of this and the 1950s society they live in, their relationship is doomed from the beginning. I was in complete awe of the way Carol had been shot and created into this sensual and rich drama set in the 1950s. From the costumes, to the lighting to the acting, everything about Carol held weight to it showcasing the devotion of a truly talented director.

Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind (2004)

Usually I’d pass on a Charlie Kaufman film, seeing as they make no sense, however I felt that it was time I delved into this cult classic starring Kate Winslet, Jim Carrey, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo and Elijah Wood. It’s a really well made film with a clear and distinct message to it that’s represented in some phenomenal filmmaking techniques. The plot line of this film follows a man trying to erase a past lover and his memories of her get wiped away physically before your eyes on screen. It made me wish that I could do the same with people I’ve liked in the past, but the contradictory of this would be the trauma of eventually ending up with someone you had already met in another life. I haven’t experienced a break up nor felt the pain of one, though I could judge that this film tells that experience really well.

Moonlight (2016)

Moonlight is one of few films that I would genuinely worship if it were a religion. It's also one of the films that I outwardly shame people for not having seen, as it is truly a masterpiece and film lover’s film. Deep, emotionally connected, colourful, harsh, moving and eye opening, this film takes you on an emotional rollercoaster through the eyes of Chiron and the three stages of his life that have carved out his essence as a human being. Not only that, but he falls in love with another boy at his school, and when he does, he’s hurt rather badly. Literally. Moonlight is the definition of profundity and was awarded the top prize of Best Picture at the 2017 Academy Awards. 

Loving (2016)

When I think of a truthful and honest testament of love, the film Loving comes to mind which is a fitting title for such a delicate yet strong story. The film is based on a true story of an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred (Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga) being banned from Virginia in the 1950s for choosing to be together. If that ain’t a true sacrifice of love, then I don’t know what is. Choosing someone you love over your own home is an unfathomable thing and certainly shows the strength that this couple had in facing the judgements of others whilst remaining emotionally truthful to themselves. 

The Shape of Water (2017)

The Shape of Water is a strange yet enlightening love story between Eliza, a deaf woman (Sally Hawkins) and a creature being tested on in a laboratory. Awards season went mental for this back in 2018, winning four of the THIRTEEN Oscars it was nominated for. I would categorize it as quite the niche film and wouldn’t usually think that such a film could be garnered with Oscar success. However everyone who worked on this film really pulled out the stops in creating an entire new world and perspective that has many layers to it, as well as an abundance of conflict and dynamics for audiences to lull over. The relationship between Eliza and the feared swamp monster that’s being cruelly tested in the laboratories where she works, is heartfelt and honest, which is strange seeing as Eliza’s virtually in love with a monster. The casting in this was outlandish yet it really worked as all actors in this melded well into the story as their prospective characters. It also has one of the most touching endings to a film I’ve ever seen.

And there you have it, ten Romance films for you to enjoy this Valentine’s Day. Watch them all at once, or maybe just watch one. Whether you watch it alone or with someone, it doesn’t really matter!

Lots of love

Ang x

[shemakesmusic-uk]

Jorja Smith has unveiled a standout new video for latest track ‘By Any Means’. The powerful video (directed by Otis Dominique and Ellington Hammond) shines a spotlight on communities across the UK, complimenting the track’s vital message around social issues and the civil rights movement. As noted by Jorja about the track: "The inspiration behind 'By Any Means' really came from going to the Black Lives Matter protest and leaving thinking, what can I do to keep this conversation going? It’s not just a post on social media, it's life.” ‘By Any Means’ is the first track to be unveiled from a new project titled ‘Reprise’, curated by the team at Roc Nation with the sole aim of bringing awareness to social justice issues. A portion of proceeds will go to funding organisations that support victims of police brutality, hate crimes, and other violations of civil rights. [via Dork]

Madison, WI-bred and Chicago-based band Slow Pulp recently announced Moveys, their self-produced debut album, and shared its first single 'Idaho.' Now the band shares another song off of the forthcoming record, entitled 'Falling Apart.' The track, featuring Alex G collaborator Molly Gemer on violin, is accompanied by a fantastical music video about feeling lost in a familiar landscape. Director Jake Lazovick, places Emily in a transient world, surrounded by flying objects and missing pieces. The clip features nostalgic animations, body doubles for social distancing purposes, and an homage to Massey's background as a ballet dancer. Read more about the song from Massey below: "As we were finishing up writing the album my parents got into a serious car accident and I came back home to help take care of them. A couple of weeks later COVID-19 started getting worse in the US, and quarantine began. Life felt completely surreal, everything had drastically changed and at such a rapid pace. It was especially strange because everyone was experiencing the same thing at the same time, but couldn’t be physically with each other to support each other. I felt like I couldn’t process any emotions I had about the whole ordeal because I had to keep it together to take care of my family. It became easier to stay numb, and create a facade that I was doing ok, than it was to release any type of healthy emotion for a long time. Luckily I did allow myself to have a full on breakdown induced by a stubbed toe and confusion over taxes, sometimes it’s the littlest things that finally get you."

Soap Detox met a party, and somehow their friendship sustained during the lengthy hangover that followed. A frisky Swedish three-piece with a lust for melody and good times, their raucous garage-pop is already making waves in their homeland. A full EP is incoming, with Soap Detox trailing this with their irresistible new single 'Give Me Gore'. A three minute fuzz pop wonder, it's a clanking, cheeky, subversive statement from a group who thrive on such things. The video features their shorn-headed lead singer in full form, accompanied by her band mates. Directed by Evelyn Del Carmen and Ebba Sylvan, you can check it out above. [via Clash]

It’s been a decade since we’ve heard from multi-hyphenate musician and producer The Angel, who last made a splash as a musician in 2009 with her single 'Ultra Light,' which featured the singer/producer Jhelisa on vocals. Focusing more on her career in film/TV composition and music production in recent years, she’s planning to return to recording her own music later this year with a new LP entitled Xtra Sensory Goodness. Now we’re getting the first taste of this project, which is yet another collaboration with the vocalist Jhelisa. “Jhelisa and I have become close friends over the years,” she explains. “There’s a lot of sisterly love and mutual respect between us, so Jhelisa already understood the mournful weight of the track before I asked to feature her. I’m always grateful that she’s willing to experiment with me because it’s not something she does lightly. Jhelisa beautifully channels the essence of whatever emotion needs to come through in the most evocative and visceral way.”  The song arrives beautifully packaged with an entrancing video directed by none other than Mark Pellington (along with co-directors Sergio Pinheiro and Sweeten), known for his concert docs for Pearl Jam, INXS, and The Flaming Lips, as well as an extensive music-videography including iconic visuals for Public Enemy, Nine Inch Nails, and plenty more artists. “I wanted the song to sound like a memory, like you’ve entered someone else’s dream space,” The Angel continues, noting how the video perfectly syncs to the song’s mood. “The emotion is contained, very internal, so I juxtaposed a vocal vulnerability against a driving, incessant rhythm, where you can feel the underlying tension at the same time as experiencing the gentle plea, ‘Where’s my shelter…?’” [via Flood]

A few weeks ago, Ciara gave birth to her son Win. Last night, she shared a video that she evidently recorded while she was very, very pregnant. Ciara’s new song 'Rooted' is a statement of Black pride, a clear statement of solidarity with the protest movement that’s swept across America and the rest of the world these past few months. It’s a hard, kinetic track with vocals from the songwriter Esther Dean. But the song, at least right now, feels more like a vehicle for the video. Like a lot of Ciara videos, the 'Rooted'” clip is built around bodies dancing. In this one, though, one of those bodies belongs to Ciara, who dances with her belly exposed and who looks like she’s about to give birth any second. To watch someone dance this hard while that pregnant is an actual marvel, a near-superhuman feat. The 'Rooted' video is full of Black iconography, and it features the faces of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. All throughout, Ciara presents an image of motherly strength. Annie Bercy directs. [via Stereogum]

Hazel English releases the new video for her single ‘Five And Dime’ taken from her debut album Wake UP! which is out now on Marathon Artists. ‘Five and Dime’ is a woozy, idyllic view into Hazel’s world, which is built on timeless-sounding melodies, retro-tinged soundscapes and a knack for resonant lyrics. The mid-tempo number is reminiscent of the playful love songs of ’60s pop, as Hazel frustratedly muses on a love interest who is consuming her thoughts and detracting from her focus, “Gotta get away cause you’re taking up all of my time / You know I need my space so I’m heading to the Five and Dime.” Speaking about the new video, Hazel says: “'Five and Dime' is about longing for escape and freedom so I thought it would be fun to create an idyllic beach vacation, constructed from a set with cardboard cut out waves and fake palm trees. The idea behind it is that while I'm fantasizing about escaping to a tropical place, it's clear I'm just kind of stuck in this pretend version of it. I wanted to evoke the nostalgia of Hollywood musicals from the '50s and '60s, complete with dance choreography and bright colourful costumes.”

Katy Perry has released her second video for 'Smile,' featuring the pop star playing a video game version of herself as she battles giant spiders, circus trapeze acts and more while dressed as a clown. Much of the video is in CGI, with a live-action Perry playing the video game in her house (while also dressed as a clown). [via Rolling Stone]

Global superstar, Miley Cyrus has unveiled 'Midnight Sky,' a track that showcases a new direction for the always evolving artist.  The song, which was inspired by the past year of her life, is accompanied by a video that Miley self-directed.  In creating the song and video, Miley drew from strong female musical icons, like Stevie Nicks, Joan Jett, and Debbie Harry, who have always been so generous, and have been her greatest allies and inspiration.  The video showcases Miley as her true self: unapologetic, diverse, sexy, confident, experimental, and strong. The video takes viewers through Miley’s creative vision which displays her complete control of the narrative often told through the mouths of the media. Miley is at peace with who she is and has nothing to prove. As a musician she continues to push boundaries and experiment with her sound and look. Miley has proven to be many things, but boring is not one of them.

Chelsea Collins is nonconformist pop singer with a vision. For the captivating new 'Water Run Dry,' a collaboration with rapper, singer and fellow Bay Area-native 24kGoldn, Collins's infectious pop melodies glide over a hypnotic beat. Relatable lyrics about a faltering relationship reveal a depth of experience for the 21-year-old, with a wistful chorus lamenting, "there's no good in goodbye." The Roxana Baldovin-directed visuals for the track are an eyeful — Collins and 24kGoldn play house in an oversized, colorful California dollhouse, interspersed with images of a little girl playing with literal Barbies. The message? "I wanted this song and video to execute the world that's inside of my head — somewhat similar to a weird vintage rom com where at first the drama of love is so toxic, passionate and thrilling but eventually my lover and I have a happy ending," Collins tells NYLON. "Unfortunately reality isn't as fun and it kinda feels like some cranky dude is controlling your path, who's lowkey salty whenever something feels too amazing," she continues. "My intuition will tell me to run, but I'm notorious for acting like a Stepford wife, trying to recreate my past feelings yet they're all super robotic. Maybe one day I'll get lucky and love won't have to be so bittersweet, but until then I'll learn to smile even when things blow up in my face." [via NYLON]

Kali Uchis shared the visuals for her latest single 'Aquí Yo Mando' on Monday. Featuring a verse in Spanglish by Rico Nasty, the single is Kali's first release since her TO FEEL ALIVE EP from earlier this year. The Phillipa Price-directed clip finds the pair on a weapons-filled rampage, dropping bodies in underground parking lots and filming each other along the way. With co-production by reggaeton hitmaker Tainy, the booming track sees Uchis assertively laying some ground rules over trappy 808s. "Haces todo lo que diga (You do everything that I say)," she raps. “Si estás conmigo solo mando yo (If you’re with me, only I call the shots).” [via The FADER]

[super-famicom-star-inactive]

Throwback Tuesday

January 5, 2021

For this week's episode, we will be talking about the sequel to one of the most iconic games of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise (and quite frankly, a personal favorite of yours truly).

Just a heads-up, this is a two-parter as we looked at Sonic Adventure 1 last week! Here’s the post if you wanna check it out!

May I present

Sonic Adventure 2 (2001)

Production History

Original Release: June 23, 2001 (Dreamcast, WW)

Future Releases:  February 11, 2002 (Gamecube, NA), October 2, 2012 (PS3, XBox 360, Windows, WW), November 19, 2012 (Steam, NA)

Developer: Sonic Team USA

Publisher: SEGA

Director: Takashi Iizuka

Producer: Yuji Naka

Artist(s): Kazuyuki Hoshino, Yuji Uekawa

Programmer: Tetsu Katano

Writer: Shiro Maekawa

Composer(s): Jun Senoue, Kenichi Tokoi, Fumie Kumatani, Tomoya Ohtani

Inspiration

After the success of Sonic Adventure, SEGA wasted no time at getting a sequel in order. By this point in time, however, Sonic Team had split into two teams, Sonic Team Japan and Sonic Team USA (which relocated its offices to San Francisco) for Sonic Adventure in order for the USA Team to localize it. Sonic Adventure 2 was made by Sonic Team USA (and it is the first Sonic game to be made by Sonic Team USA as Sonic Team Japan was working on other titles like Phantasy Star Online), who used their new surrounding home of San Francisco, California as inspiration for their level design (The famous City Escape and Radical Highway levels are some of the biggest examples of this) as well as Yosemite National Park for their scenery and game environments. 

Story

In the game, there are two (technically three) story arcs, which are Hero, Dark, and Final Story, which can only be completed once the initial two arcs are completed first.

For the Hero Arc, the story begins with Sonic busting out of a military helicopter and escaping into the city below due being a wanted criminal. His crime? Nothing, as he was framed for a “look-a-like” hedgehog called Shadow, who had causing a ruckus all over the city. He knows that Eggman has something behind this, so he gathers his friends in helping to defeat Eggman and whoever this Shadow guy is...

For the Dark Arc, the story begins as Eggman discovers his long-passed grandfather’s secret weapon Shadow the Hedgehog a.k.a “The Ultimate Lifeform”. Using this new ally, Eggman has plans for world domination and all he needs are the Chaos Emeralds to fire the Eclipse Cannon from the space colony ARK. He brings on Rouge the Bat, world-renowned treasure hunter to help with the Emerald collecting.

For the Final Arc, both sides meet up at the ARK to discover some final transmissions from Eggman’s grandfather himself, and how he wanted to get back at G.U.N. for taking everything away from him, including his ill granddaughter Maria, who was a casualty on that fateful day. He also goes into why he designed Shadow the way he did. Eggman still goes along with the plan anyway to use the Eclipse Cannon. To stop him, Sonic and Shadow both go Super with the power of the Chaos Emeralds. They win the fight but Shadow falls to Earth, assumed to be dead. 

Gameplay

Like the first game, it is a 3D platformer where you run around a specific environment in order to achieve the giant floating ring at the end of the level or the boss fight. In order to stay alive, you have keep up with your ring intake before letting it drop to zero. While not playing the main game, there are other features such as one-on-one mini games and the Chao Garden as well as missions you can complete. 

Reception

Like the first game, Sonic Adventure 2 was well-received by fans and critics alike for the visuals, music, and gameplay. Like the last game however, the camera was still a problem (partially fixed in later ports like the Gamecube port, though the weird 3D camera in a lot of earlier games was a common issue) and the dialogue was a little awkward (it was down to a sound mixing problem). The Gamecube version received mixed reviews when it was released six months later. 

Legacy

Sonic Adventure 2 is arguably one of the most iconic and well-remembered games for the franchise and although it was the last Sonic game for the Dreamcast before it went under, many played the game thanks to the GameCube port, which was more widely available at the time. Also like the first one in its own right, the stellar OST helped pave the way for Crush 40, which would help to create the franchises best known music. It also introduced us to Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat, who would end up being regulars in the series. 

Thoughts from the Head

If you were to ask me what were some of the games that defined my childhood, Sonic Adventure 2 would my first response off the bat. Alongside Unleased, it’s one of my favorite Sonic games to play and replay. I played the GameCube version first (as did many my age since more people had a GameCube than a Dreamcast at this point and this was the late 2000s/early 2010s at this point). Was is a masterpiece? Not quite, but it still holds a special place in my heart even with the awkward sound mixing and the story. 

Despite everything, I would recommend the game to any Sonic fan who hasn’t tried it. The soundtrack is outstanding, the gameplay is great and you will become addicted to the Chao Garden faster than you can snap your fingers (seriously). Which version is best, you ask? For the most accessibility, i would go the one on Steam. It has the best graphics and controls, and it’s $10. Plus with this being a much older title, you can pretty much run this on anything. If you want the console experience, go with the Dreamcast version. The Gamecube version isn’t bad (go for that one if you don’t have a Dreamcast), especially with the extra content, but the graphics aren’t super great and the controls are kinda wonky.

Wanna learn some cool facts about the game and its development? Longtime favorite YouTube channel Did You Know Gaming? has your back with this neat video below:

Check them out, some of the facts might surprise you!

[keiyokoi]

Reflection “Essay” #2

Hey everyone! I just wanted to take some time this week and talk about something that I think is extremely important, so buckle up, because this piece is kind of long.

Activism is something we encounter in our everyday lives, whether it be in social media, the news, or something ordinary like laptop stickers.  Most recently, Black Lives Matter was under the spotlight (as it should) in the wake of America’s track record of police brutality and George Floyd’s death.  Unfortunately, the movement that was fueled by public outcry and outstanding shows of allyship in the early summer months has largely vanished.  

The voices of many celebrities and influencers on platforms Instagram and Twitter have gone silent, moving on as the news turned away from BLM protests despite the thousands of people that continued to rally around the country and the world.  As we wrap up election season and move into December, what the US is focused on now is the soon-to-be former POTUS and other political news.  (My point is that the world of media has largely deemed BLM “no longer relevant” despite the ongoing struggle BIPOC folxs continue to face even after thousands of protests nation AND worldwide.)

To all the people who posted black squares with the hashtags #BlackoutTuesday and #BlackLivesMatter, where are you now?  Where is the support, the public outcry that had been so loud in June?  Why do civil rights only matter when they’re relevant in the media, when you can score easy clout from it?  

I’m sure most of them had their hearts in the right place, but the fact remains true that they fell victim to ‘ally theater’, a term that Anderson and Accomando credit Princess Harmony Rodrigez for coining.  The two authors go on to say, “The concern here is about activists who focus on performing an identity for an audience of disadvantaged folk rather than doing the hard and often unseen work of social change.” (P 713) and “To get out of the surface-level ally theater loop, white people need to challenge other whites about racism—even when no one else is watching.” (P 714) in their article The Pitfalls of Ally Performance.  

That’s where many people fail the first step of being an ally; they mistakenly believe that for a month of sparse posts concerning awareness, they gain the privilege of being an ally.  They forget that allyship is a title that needs to be earned.  It’s not enough to play activist for a month and then move on with your life—to be an ally, you must continue to be an activist, even if that’s something as simple as shopping at BIPOC small-owned businesses instead of Amazon.  (Here’s a little help for those of you who don’t know where to start: 42 Black-owned beauty brands to shop at instead of Sephora, and 108 Black-owned businesses you can check out.)  You have to acknowledge the hard work of POC the exact same way you praise white celebrities and influencers for being ‘woke’.  A fantastic example is Harry Styles.  

For the 2019 Met Gala, Styles showed up to the red carpet in heels and a sheer black Gucci blouse.  This made fans go nuts; they praised him for being a camp icon but glossed over equally stunning outfits like Billy Porter’s golden, winged ensemble (who was carried in on a litter!!! by SIX MEN!!!) or Lena Waithe’s suit.  This year fans ran to social media again, this time to gush over the photo spread of him in a dress, thanking Styles for ending toxic masculinity (yes this was a Tweet I read with my own two eyes), congratulating him on defying gender norms, and completely forgetting about others who did it before him.  

Male and AMAB (assigned male at birth) non-binary stars like Billy Porter, Jared Leto, Ezra Miller, and JVN are only a handful who’ve appeared in public in dresses and/or skirts before, making it unfair for people to heap gratuitous praise onto Styles’s photoshoot.  I’m not trying to bash him or anything and I think that cover was gorgeous, but you can’t be an ally while you idolize Harry Styles for wearing a dress but ignore POC/queer folx who did too.

Now, the second topic I wanted to address: a second helping of fake allyship, this time in the corporate realm.  

I love June, but it’s also a mentally exhausting month queer individuals who are sick and tired of fake allyship.  Cisgenderists crawl out of the woodwork to whine about ‘straight pride’ as if they don’t have enough of it, influencers capitalize on Pride’s popularity to promote their brand, and large corporations break out the rainbow merch to make a pretty penny off the same people marginalize the other eleven months of the year.  

June is for people like me to celebrate our identities together, whether it be at a public Pride event or in the privacy of our own homes.  It is not for big businesses to slap rainbows on their merchandise and boast false claims of LGBTQ+ support when corporations like Walmart and Starbucks have done nothing at all to support the message or the mission of Pride.  

Building an Abolitionist and Trans Queer Movement With Everything We’ve Got by Bassichis, Lee, and Spade writes “transgender and gender-non-conforming people are repeatedly abandoned and marginalized in the agendas and priorities of our “lead” organizations” (P743) and I couldn’t agree more.  The fact of the matter is that under this capitalist regime, queer individuals are just another tool for the privledged elite to take advantage of.

Mega corporations claim to be on our side for a month, playing at queer allyship with rainbow beer cans and happy ads that feature more rainbows and scripted proclamations of LGBTQ+ support, but disappear just as quickly come July.  

Certain celebrities tweet during Pride, garnering the applause of the public and cause people across social media to ‘stan’ celebrities that post “Happy Pride!” just for the shallow allyship it grants them.  And it’s so normalized for public figures to post all month long about Pride, and suddenly stop in July that we don’t question it.

Donald Trump occasionally preaches about his support of the queer community (which we all know is a joke) and how he’s “the first president to openly support the LGBT community” despite the fact that he gutted LGBTQ+ legislation and his terrible track record concerning queer folx.  If he really was a queer ally then why, as Bassichis, Lee, and Spade say, is there “ no inheritance, no health benefits from employers, no legal immigration status, and no state protection of our relationship to our children.”?  

That’s why I want to put the spotlight on a game called The Last of Us: Part II.  It’s a post-apocalyptic survival horror game so it’s the last place you’d expect to find LGBTQ+ representation, but the main character is a lesbian who has a (Jewish) girlfriend and has an Asian (not white!!) transman, along with another character I strongly believe is aromantic and/or asexual.  Their character arcs tie into the story well despite many fans calling out the game developers for pandering to the queer community, and the exhilaration I felt when I saw myself (mostly) represented in a character (who was voiced by an Asian transman!) is unparalleled.   

They didn’t have to include any LGBTQ+ content or accurate representation, could have left the main character’s sexuality presumably heterosexual, but they went where most bestselling games don’t, because they’re genuine allies.  They brought in voice actors who were Black, Asian, and Latinx to voice characters who were Black, Asian, and Latinx.  

That’s what we need more of, not trendsetting celebrities and people who say trans rights just to feel better about themselves.  

[heyyyharry]

Chapter 4: False Alarm

(from the Flatmate Trilogy: Two Hearts, One Home)

…in which their cat’s gone missing and Y/N doesn’t know what to do.

Word count: 3.7k

Chapter 3: Handcuffs - Niall can only think of one way to solve his best friends’ conflict.

Wattpad link

A/N: For those who did not know, I went through a terrible week and couldn't write, so I had to postpone this update until Sunday. This chapter is shorter than the previous ones, but the next will be as long as usual. Thank you for reading! Love, Allie. (Btw, who loves Breakfast At Tiffany’s and Audrey Hepburn?)

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“No, no, no, this is not happening to me!”

When Layla heard Y/N’s scream, she was in the living room watching Breakfast At Tiffany’s. Normally she would just shrug it off because it could be another cockroach in the tub. But as Y/N shouted out her name specifically, she had no choice but to click pause and go see what it was.

Her best friend was sitting on the bedroom floor, back pressed against the closet. Once she spotted Layla, she rose immediately to show her the phone. “I missed my period,” she cried out, looking utterly distraught. “I haven’t checked the app in so long and just now realized I’m two weeks late. I can’t even remember the last time I was late!”

“Okay, calm down.” Layla raised her hands, taking a deep breath. “As far as I know, stress can cause irregular and missed periods, and you’ve been working your ass off lately. No wonder.”

“But I threw up yesterday and this morning too.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that...” Y/N paused, shutting her eyes as if she was afraid if she said it, it would come true. But she couldn’t avoid the thought forever, she had to tell somebody. “I think I’m pregnant.”

“Don’t joke like that.” Layla snorted, but Y/N was quick to seize her arm.

“Harry and I had sex without a condom on our honeymoon once and I forgot that I wasn’t on the pills!” The girl said in one single breath, but Layla could hear every word loud and clear. Her eyes bulged out as her jaw dropped. She took a few seconds to figure out how to react to this news.

“How could you fucking forget, dumbass?!” She raised her voice, smacking her best friend on the arm. Y/N jumped away, rubbing the sore spot as she pouted. “We were on the beach and...and there were stars and...it was very romantic and—”

Layla cut her off by putting up one hand. “Spare me the details, please. I’ve seen enough in the last five years, I’m surprised I’m not traumatized yet.”

Y/N huffed and ignored that joke as she went on, “but the point is, I already took the emergency pill in the morning!”

“Those pills don’t always work you know.”

“I know, I just...don’t know what to do now?” The distressed girl collapsed onto her bed, her face was pallid, and her heart was pounding so hard that her chest might explode. “I can’t...I can’t get pregnant now. My husband is drowning under a pile of work, and I just got promoted.”

Standing with her back against the closet, Layla glanced up at the ceiling. She thought for two seconds and looked back to Y/N. “Have you taken a test?”

Y/N propped herself up on her elbows, frowning as she mumbled, “n-no.”

With no hesitation, Layla jumped right at her and dragged her straight towards the bathroom door. “Do you have one of those pregnancy sticks?” Y/N nodded, her mouth turned into a frown. “Good. Now get your ass in there and pee on it, then we’ll figure out what to do next.”

“But what if I’m really pregnant?”

“Just fucking get in there!” Layla grumbled as she pushed her best friend into the room and shut the door. The problem was temporarily solved. Now it was time to go back to her favorite movie.

Every one of Layla's friends knew how obsessed she was with Breakfast At Tiffany’s. She couldn’t recall how many times she’d watched that film and fallen in love with Audrey Hepburn all over again. So when Y/N asked her to come over for a movie marathon Sunday, she had been so excited, knowing her best friend had never seen this one before. But here she was, watching it alone because Y/N was taking forever in the bathroom with that pregnancy stick.

“You’re gonna miss the iconic scene! Holly is putting on her lipstick!” Layla shouted with a mouth full of popcorn and muttered along the famous line “a girl doesn’t read this sort of things without her lipstick,” while grinning from ear to ear.

“Layla...”

The soft voice pulled her attention away from the TV screen. She meant to scold at Y/N for interrupting her, but as soon as she saw her best friend’s pouting face, she knew something had gone wrong.

“H-How was it?” She immediately stood up and walked up to Y/N, who gave her a slight shrug. Y/N didn’t say a word, still, Layla already had her answer. What else could it be when Y/N seemed this agitated? A positive. Definitely a positive.

Frowning, she wrapped both arms around Y/N to pull her in and lay a kiss on her forehead. “Don’t worry..." she said. "You’re gonna be a great mum."

“But I—” Y/N could barely begin when Layla shushed her with a wave and turned back to the screen. Audrey’s character Holly was now crying in the rain because she’d lost her yellow cat. This was Layla's favorite scene, there was no way she could miss it.

“Cat! Cat!” She mumbled along with Holly, placing both hands on her chest. No matter how many times she had watched this one, she always got emotional as if it was her first. However, her mood was ruined by another scream so loud, that her ears went deaf for a few seconds. She widened her eyes at Y/N, who was now looking from left to right like she was going insane.

“Where’s Treasure?!” She shouted.

It was then that Layla remembered she hadn’t seen the white cat that entire morning. She scanned her eyes around the room, looking slightly concerned. “You told me you were gonna give the cat a bath. But then you screamed, and I came in to see you on your bedroom floor.”

“Right...I was...I was about to give her a bath...” Y/N tried to steady her breath while pacing back and forth. Immediately, she stopped dead in her tracks, her jaw fell slack as she pointed a finger to the front door which was wide opened. “Who opened that door?!”

“You did!” Layla scoffed. “You told me you burnt something in the kitchen, so you let the door opened for the smoke to fly out.”

“Shit...no, no, no!” Y/N wailed, her face contorted. Nam had been cat-sitting Treasure for so long and never had there been a problem. But as soon as he took a day off and let Y/N do the job, Treasure ended up missing. How could she be so careless? If something happened to her cat, she would hate herself forever. Harry would hate her too. She couldn’t let that happen. And so she freaked out and told her best friend, “We need to go find Treasure!”

“Calm down, she’ll come ba—” Layla didn’t get to finish her sentence. Y/N pushed her aside and ran out of the flat in a heartbeat.

“Meow!” 

The sound caused Layla’s head to spin. For a second there she had hoped it was Treasure. But unfortunately, it was from the movie. Holly Golightly had found her yellow cat in the alley, and while in tears, she hugged her pet as soft music began to play. Layla exhaled, rolling her eyes. She knew she’d be damned if Treasure never came back again, and so she paused the film to follow Y/N out of the flat.

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As the girls got to the lobby, they bumped into Ben, who was on his way to visit them. The smile on his face slipped just as Layla screamed “Treasure is missing!” and Y/N pushed him aside to rush towards the door. Confused, he snatched her arm and pulled her right back.

“Let’s all calm down now. Treasure’s a smart cat. She won’t go far,” he tried to reassure the nervous girl, but those words seemed completely useless as she hissed and brushed him off.

“She’s my cat okay? You don’t have a cat, you don’t get it!”

Y/N’s aggressive reaction left Ben confused. Eyes widened, he turned to Layla, shooting her a look of concern as he assumed she would know what was going on. But her mouth snapped shut instead of giving him an answer. Something about their behaviors made Ben think Y/N’s lost cat wasn’t the biggest problem here. He stepped forward, gently rubbing her arm and leaning down so their eyes met.

“Hey, just take a deep breath and—” Y/N barely let him finish. She grabbed his shoulders then shook him violently. “I spent five minutes with my cat and now she’s missing! How am I gonna look after a human baby?!”

“Okay, dude, stop. You’re scaring him.” Layla literally had to drag her away before she ripped off Ben’s shirt. It took the man around five seconds to figure out what she meant, and once realization dawned on his face, he gasped, covering his mouth.

“Are you pregnant?”

“No, I am not!” Y/N answered, but Layla quickly clarified. “She’s still in the denial phase.”

Ben’s reaction to the pregnancy news was entirely different from the girls had expected. He clasped his hands together, bouncing up and down before reaching out to caress Y/N’s belly. His eyes literally lit up when he smiled at her. “Is it a little Y/N or little Harry?”

“Oh my god, does anyone with a dick know how pregnancy works?” Layla cried out as she smacked his hand away, and he instantly shot her a glare.

“Someone with a dick who’s not into dicks might.”

“Enough with the pregnancy talk!” Y/N raised her voice, sounding exhausted and frustrated at the same time. She knew if she let these two argue it would never end, thus the best solution at the moment was to stay calm as Ben had said. There was plenty of time later to worry about being pregnant. “Now.” She sighed. “Let’s split and find Treasure before something happens to her.”

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.

The search had gone on for almost three hours. They had been to every place in their neighborhood where they assumed the cat might be, but it was hopeless. How could they find such a tiny creature in a city as big as London? A child might be easy to spot, but Treasure was a cat. God knew where she might be. She could've been kidnapped and nobody would've cared or noticed. That, however, was the last thing Y/N wanted to think of right now.

Heartbroken and disappointed, Y/N returned to her building, trying to catch her breath while sweat was dripping down from her forehead and soaking her entire back. There she met Layla, who was also in the same nervous state.

“Y/N, I’ve looked everywhere, can’t find her.” Layla breathed, both hands on her hip as she looked around, squinting her eyes. “Let’s just hope Ben returns with good news.”

That didn't calm Y/N's nerves at all. She slowly released a shaky breath and flopped down on the step behind them. Hugging both knees, she muttered, “this is all my fault. How am I supposed to tell Harry?”

Layla could only sigh as she took a seat next to her friend. With both arms around Y/N’s shoulders, she spoke, “this isn’t your fault. It’s just the pregnancy hormones that make you feel this way.”

But Y/N shook her head. Layla didn't understand that response, yet she had a feeling there was something else she did not know. Without waiting for her to wonder, Y/N blurted out, “I...I didn't take the test.”

“What?" Layla’s green eyes shot open. “What the fuck does that mean?!”

“I-I was about to but I got scared...”

“Fuck, dude…” was all Layla could whisper before letting the silence sink in, and they sat like that, both were thinking on their own. It did sound like a bad thing at first. Y/N let Layla and also Ben believe the test was positive, thus they had been worrying all for nothing. But as Layla thought again, she realized this could be better. She tapped her best friend on the shoulder to get her attention. “But hey, it means you might not be pregnant. We still have hope.”

“Actually…” Y/N’s voice was so tiny Layla could barely hear that word. "That’s what I’m afraid of.”

“Huh?”

Y/N sighed, chewing on her bottom lip as she pondered before speaking up. “I know this may sound insane but...we had a pregnancy scare before and...and it was a false alarm. So if it happens again, I think...” She paused right there. Just like before, she was afraid to say something and have it become a reality. But she trusted Layla, and she knew if she was going to confide in anyone other than Harry, it should be Layla.

“What if I can’t have babies?” Y/N spoke at last. Her voice shuddered, and the anxiety was clear in her tone. “I know I said I didn’t want to have kids now...but what if when I’m ready, I still can’t?”

Layla’s expression softened at once. She put a hand on Y/N’s shoulder as a tiny smile formed on her lips. “Hey, don’t be so pessimistic, everything will be fi—”

“You don’t get it." Y/N shook her head fast, her chapped lips pressed together as her eyes swam with tears. “That’s all Harry’s talked about since our wedding. How am I supposed to come back tonight and tell him I’ve lost our cat and I cannot have babies?”

“He’s not gonna leave you because you can’t get pregnant. Harry’s not like that.”

“But he’ll be disappointed…” She shook her head, her eyes were filled with tears. “I don’t want Harry to be sad and disappointed. I want him to be happy.”

“Hey.” Layla exhaled as she cupped her best friend’s face. “I’ve known Harry for five years, and I‘ve never seen him happier than when he’s with you. That idiot loves you. He’s gonna love you if you go bald and lose all your teeth. You think he gives a fuck if you cannot have babies?”

“No…”

“Say it with confidence, bitch.”

“No,” Y/N spoke louder, trying not to laugh as she wiped away her tears.

Layla giggled, rolling her eyes. “And let’s not make assumptions so soon. We don’t know for sure if you’re pregnant, or if Treasure is really missing. Want me to call H?”

“No, don't.” Y/N shook her head slowly, now more relaxed than before. “He’s having lunch with his suppliers...I don’t wanna bother him.”

Layla said nothing else as she nodded. They sat there for a little while, watching people passing by and waiting for Ben to come back, hopefully with some good news. But the thing about living in London was that, one second it was sunny, and in a blink of an eye, it was raining cats and dogs. That Sunday was no exception. It began with a raindrop on Layla’s arm which instantly caught her attention as she lifted her face up. She opened her mouth to warn Y/N about what was coming for them, but as soon as the first sound escaped her lips, the rain came down like a giant waterfall.

“Shit!” She cursed, standing up quickly, yet Y/N was still sitting there, unbothered by the unexpected shower.

“Hey, dumbass, stand up!”

“No, Treasure can’t be out there in this rain!” Y/N shrugged her best friend’s arm away, keeping her hands above her eyes so she could with water was splashing down on them. Layla kept repeating that Treasure would be fine, but neither of them knew if that was true anymore. They didn't want to think of the worst scenarios because it would break their hearts to even imagine. However, the rain turned out to be their stroke of luck. A familiar purr made their heads turned to the other side of the road. This time, Layla was sure it wasn’t from any movie scene.

“Treasure!”

“Meow!”

The white fur ball hopped off the brick wall and ran across the street to jump right into Y/N’s arms. Y/N forgot about the cold as she pulled the wet creature to her chest, giving her soft kisses all over. “I will never let you out of sight again,” she promised, squeezing Treasure tightly.

Standing on the sidelines, Layla ignored the rain pouring down on them three. "My favorite scene," she mumbled, her lips curved into a peaceful smile. The moment was beautiful and warm. But then a yellow cat jumped right out from the bush behind them, causing Layla to scream and almost fall down into the puddle at her feet.

“Tiger?” Y/N raised both eyebrows as the creature approached her and rubbed its face against her leg.

“Jesus Christ, how many cats do you secretly own?!” Layla shouted, making her best friend giggle.

“This one isn’t mine, it's Mason’s.”

“Harry's hot cousin?”

“You mean ‘annoying’?” Y/N snorted. “Yeah.”

That was when Ben came back, holding a black umbrella and looking startled to see the girls standing in the rain. All out of breath, he announced with an enormous grin, “that lady over there said that she saw Treasure with a yellow cat, they were heading to the park and—Hold up!” The man halted when he saw those little troublemakers staring back at him. The look on his face made both Y/N and Layla burst out laughing.

“Okay, Romeo and Juliet,” Y/N sighed as she picked Tiger up with her other hand. “Let’s get you both dry and cleaned.”.

.

.

.

As soon as Harry got home, he dashed into the bedroom. His hair was wet from the rain, but fortunately, his clothes were mostly dry. With a sigh of relief, he leaned against the door, smiling as he saw his wife and their cat snuggling up together while watching a movie. As soon as Y/N spotted him, she cheered, “daddy’s home!” And Treasure meowed in joy when he came in to kiss both of their heads.

He stroked his wife’s cheek in concern. “I ran into Ben earlier. Is everything alright?”

“Yeah, it was a false alarm.” Y/N nodded, pressing her moist lips into a gentle smile. “She was only going on a date with Tiger.”

“Mason’s cat?”

She nodded again, and both of them turned to look at the guilty one.

“Guess I don't have to wait until we have a daughter to worry about her and the boy next door.” Harry chuckled while shaking his head. He expected Y/N to laugh along like she normally would, but instead, she kept a straight face. It wasn’t her not finding his joke funny, it was something else, he could tell.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” Harry asked, eyebrows furrowed in concern as he met her eyes again. Instead of telling him the reason, she responded with a question which left him surprised.

“Did Ben tell you about the other thing?”

He stuck out his bottom lip, shaking his head slightly. “What other thing?”

“That I thought I was pregnant, but I wasn’t?”

Harry felt his entire body go numb as he heard that. He didn’t know how to respond because he couldn’t read her expression, so all he could do was stutter and end up shaking his head. “He um…no, he didn’t mention…Are you okay, love?”

“Layla took me to the hospital. All those pregnancy symptoms were caused by stress,” she whispered and blinked her sweet eyes at him. Harry had no idea why she seemed so sad. She had been rambling on about how they couldn’t afford a child at this point. He thought she should be happy instead.

“Oh, that’s a relief, right? You don’t want to have kids now,” he said while rubbing her back as she scooted closer to rest her head on his shoulder. She was quiet for a while to think before she spoke. It was always bad news when Y/N was quiet. He knew her well to realize when something was bothering her.

“Yeah, well...I...” She hesitated. “Maybe...I won’t ever...have kids.” As she pulled away to see how he reacted, he tried to remain calm, yet ended up gawking at her. She gulped, reaching out to squeeze the hand he put on her lap. Her voice shuddered as she went on. “I have high FSH levels, which means low chances of getting pregnant.”

“Oh” was his instant reply. That was a terrible comment to your wife saying she might never have children, but he wasn’t in his clear mind to come up with something better. He was shocked, yes, but he wasn’t upset about the news, not even the slightest.

“I’m sorry,” she spoke quietly, giving his hand another squeeze.

That was how he knew, she forgot. She forgot how much he loved her, and they were married, and nothing in this world could change the fact that, they were together in this forever.

“No, don’t be sorry, love.” He pressed his forehead against her, watching her eyelids flutter as she held his gaze. “This doesn’t matter to me, you do. Besides, having low chances doesn’t mean impossible.”

"But it’s still unlikely...I’m so sorry," she apologized once more, despite knowing he hated it when she blamed herself for something that wasn’t her fault. Still, she couldn’t help but feel like it was. "We’ve talked about having kids since forever, and now I’m telling you that it might not happen, I—"

“Hey.” He grabbed her face with both hands, forcing her to pay attention to his words instead of her own. “This isn’t your fault. This doesn’t change how much I love you. Told you at our wedding, didn’t I? I’ll love you forever, and that means with or without babies. We can always adopt ours, like Brad and Angelina, yeah? We’ll be a family of ten if that's what you want.” With tears in her eyes, she nodded fast, exhaling a warm laugh that got him chuckling as well. “Let’s not lose hope,” he reassured her. “I’m sure we’ll get kids of our own one day.”

“You believe that?”

“Yeah.” He pressed a kiss to the corner of her lips. “But I’m happy with the way things are now. We’re already a happy family. You, me, and—” Sighing, he turned to Treasure, who was patiently waiting for her name to get mentioned. “And this little lady who left home with the boy her parents had warned her about.”

Y/N giggled, hugging the cat close to her chest and pulling her husband closer to kiss him passionately. The film on her laptop was still playing, and she knew Layla would be so mad that she didn’t watch until the rolling credits. However, everyone knew how it would end, with Holly Golightly kissing her lover Paul while holding her cat.

[wayward-delver]

Made in Abyss X Smash Ultimate:

(DLC Wishlist/Discussion)

This one was just for fun and shouldn’t be taken completely serious otherwise we’re all gonna lose our humanity. As much I’d love to see Made in Abyss somehow miraculously get into Smash, I am well of how impossible it is.

Ok, we all knew what was coming, no bother denying it; you joke about DLC, you might as well spill the beans and say what you really want. I’ll make it clear that of course, I don’t want Waluigi, he’s an assist trophy and at his core a rather dull character in the face of his brother. Steve holds no strong attachment from me since I do not play Minecraft and I feel like his moveset wouldn’t interesting enough to warrant my attention,(basically a 3D G&W). 

Now that’s settled with, let’s discuss who I truly want for DLC despite the stupidity of it:(Left to Right)

1.) Ratchet & Clank: This game holds a special place in my heart for being one of the first game I’ve ever played and one of the only franchises where I faithfully played through every game in the main series, even some of the spin-offs. The amazing characters, brilliant writing, great stories, fun/engaging gameplay, and vast and creatively deadly variety of weapons. I’d go on all day about why I love this series so much and why the movie disappoints me so much,(I will say the remake was fun though). Now to move potential he’s got everything a fighter can ask for: 

His omniwrench would the staple of his melee attacks on both air and ground,(with any one of his shotguns/whips as smash attacks). His dash attacks could incorporate the Razor Claws.

Recovery (Up B) is an easy pick, just use Clank heli-pack to gain sufficient height than slowly glide down for a period of several seconds over a far horizontal distance. Drawbacks being wind-up time and having no defensive qualities.

Grapples would be simple tethers and throws with Omniwrench.

Neutral B would simply a blaster shot with minimal flinch damage that continues fire if held.

Side B would definitely be his signature boomerang wrench throw, homing in on Ratchet on its return and doing decent knockback with either hit.

Down B would have clank throw of his time spheres down talk cause a 5 second AoE that slows down opponents caught in the blast while dealing zero damage or knockback.

Their Final Smash would see Ratchet calling his ship to strike his opponents, sending them hurtling into space to be bombarded by various weapons in their arsenal before getting by clank in his giant form.

Ratchet’s skins can be all of his default outfits through the serious ending with a robot version of in reference to Dr. Nefarious’s evil scheme.

The stage would be Metropolis city on Kerwan.

2.) Rayman: This one is a bit more realistic than the last one seeing the series has had strong ties with Nintendo consoles and even sporting a Rayman Spirit in-game,(take that as you will, at least it’s something). Rayman also falls under the nostalgia factor, but nowhere the extent of Ratchet since I was pretty late to the series,(My favorite game being Legends). No doubt he’s one of the higher picks among Smash players and I can see why; he’s funny, energetic, a great platformer/fighter, and has a truly unique/iconic character design. 

I’m not too familiar with the entire series though, so keep it basic with the moveset:

Rayman is a fast lightweight fighter that primarily uses melee attacks such as fast punches and kicks on both the ground and in the air. His smash attacks would be moderately slow wind-up punches and kicks with exceptional knockback and range. Dash attacks would have him spinning forwards at high speeds with little damage and knockback, but great for setting up a brief stunlock.

His grapple is a far-reaching chain arm tether with decent throwing power.

Recovery is a simple helicopter hair flight with similar mobility to Krool, but deals no damage and goes much higher.

Neutral would have him shooting burning fists at his enemies and can be charged up for increased power.

Side B has him rapidly shooting from his plunger gun, which can be a great edge guarding tool.

Down B turns one of his hands into a guided missile that will extremely powerful, leaves vulnerable to attack.

Final Smash has him uppercut the nearest players sending them to a zone where they’re dog-pilled by all his friends before unleashing a synchronized charged strike sending them flying into the stars.

The stage will be set in the Rabbids colosseum, where the audience holds signs and banners representing characters and series. 

Rayman's colors would be based on the many characters of the series.

His taunt will feature a lum.

3.) Okami, Amaterasu: Ok this is sure to please many fans since she’s quite often requested and very popular on her own. She also has a much higher chance than the rest since she’s a part of Capcom like Ryu/Megaman. Personally speaking though, I want her to join for the sake of how amazing and artistically beautiful the game the is. The mythology, characters, story, music, art style, and the gameplay just screams traditional Japanese culture/painting in the best way possible.

I list the moveset down here, but someone else already did a much better job than I ever could. @panaran

3.) Hollow Knight: Ok this steps far down in terms of likely solely because it’s an Austrailian indie game. Otherwise, this would be one of the biggest crowd pleasures in the line-up. A legendary title for its striking animation, unique world/story, deep lore, magnificent soundtrack, and memorable/diverse cast of characters. I love for all these reasons, but I truly support cause it’d represent to the newest milestone in gaming history, indie studios.

I’d go over moves again someone also solved that problem for me.

4.) Kid Icarus Viridi: Of all the characters, she has the most right to be a playable character. She and her home franchise are so deeply rooted in Smash that they literally are the commentary for the game. Don’t say no moves cause Palutena was never playable in their game, but she still got in. And about her being on a stage, Chrome is a Final Smash and piranha is a stage hazard. Mii costumes also don’t prove anything since many characters have them. This would also be the first in-person appearance she’ll make in any game, something she was denied in her in Kid Icarus Uprising. Personally, however, I want Viridi cause she’s basically the Peridot,(Steven Universe), or the Max,(Camp Camp), of Nintendo. The sassy, cynical, and destructive little gremlin that talks shit to everyone but in end is a complete tsundere with an adorable nerdy side and heart of golden amber beneath her thorny exterior. 

(Not my waifu, goddess or not, she’s a ‘child’ and I am 19, it’d be messed up)

Her moveset would be difficult to decipher since she doesn’t fight in-game, but I can draw up a few ideas

Viridi won’t be as angelic/divine as Palutena, preferring to walk and run in a more grounded manner with a trail of plants sprouting behind her as she moves. She’ll be one of the lightest characters in-game due to her small stature, making her very nimble but easy to launch.

She’ll be more we versed in melee than Palutena, incorporating her staff/agility into her fighting style. Using many fast and disjointed blows at once like Mii swordfighter, but her smash attacks would instead unleash vines from the ground that would strike opponents.

Her grapple would be a vine tether she could use to constrict/launch enemies.

Her Recovery would be another vine tether that goes farther and does higher damage than Ivysaur.

Neutral B she’d fire a lightning blast at her opponents,(a reference to her ally Phosphora).

Side B Viridi would slash forward sending a small twister that can launch enemies,(Slower and larger Mii Sword)

Down B is a parry using Clobbler in a similar manner to Toad.

Final Smash is, of course, a rush down that sends foes into ground-zero of a Reset Bomb strike.

Taunts will be her making witty remarks and poses, often times waving her staff around like a wand.

So that’s my wishlist, do you like and if you have a character for smash. By all means, share it with me in the chat or reblog.

[aion-rsa]

Ghost of Tsushima Review: A Beautiful Homage to Akira Kurosawa

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Ghost of Tsushima is a daring departure for Sucker Punch, who since 2009 has worked solely on the Playstation-exclusive Infamous series. While those games were steeped in modernity, offering sprawling cityscapes players could explore from top to bottom via superpowered “conduits” Cole MacGrath and Delsin Rowe, Ghost of Tsushima’s open world is set in feudal Japan. It’s here that we meet young samurai Jin Sakai, who must defend his homeland, the titular island of Tsushima, from an invading Mongol army.

Right off the bat, the shift in time period and milieu to 13th century Japan is notable because Sucker Punch handles it so brilliantly, especially for the team’s first foray into the samurai genre. Japanese history and culture are woven into every single facet of the game so elegantly and organically that you’d think the team had been developing games set in feudal Japan for the past decade, not sci-fi superhero romps. More than anything, Ghost of Tsushima is a moving homage to Japan, its history, and its people.

The story opens with a massacre. A massive Mongol army, led by the cunning Khotun Khan, storms the beaches of Tsushima and is met by the island’s woefully outnumbered samurai contingent. When the leader of the samurai challenges Khotun to a one-on-one, fair fight, the Khan renounces the honorable gesture in gruesome fashion, literally setting the courageous samurai on fire in front of both armies. The rest of the samurai are obliterated on the beach, while Jin’s uncle, Lord Shimura, is taken prisoner by the Khan. Jin is also fatally wounded but is miraculously nursed back to health by a new ally, a thief named Yuna who needs his help in return.

These opening moments set the tone for the rest of the game. The philosophical conflict between honor and deception is the beating heart of the story and permeates the gameplay in riveting ways. As you fight to take back Tsushima from the Mongols, you can approach enemy encounters in two ways. You can choose to fight honorably, like a true samurai, and challenge enemies to a “standoff,” a quick-reflex mini-game of sorts in which you and one of the baddies face off one-on-one and see who flinches first before one of you slashes his blade through the other. You’ll then have to take on the rest of the enemies all at once, which is no easy task.

The other option is to fight like a “Ghost,” sneaking into enemy camps, killing the bad guys in their sleep, poisoning them, using intimidation tactics to scare them into fleeing battle. It’s an effective way of evening the odds between you and your foes, but it rails against everything the samurai stand for.

Countless games offer the player the option to approach combat either stealthily or head-on. This is far from a novel concept, and in this respect, the combat in Ghost of Tsushima offers little innovation. But what is innovative here is how Sucker Punch has taken the classic device of stealth vs. frontal assault and given it new life by expertly integrating it with the themes of the story.

Jin meets a handful of allies on his journey, each with their own multi-chapter story arcs that delve into their respective backstories. There’s sensei Ishikawa, a master archer whose protege has gone rogue and joined the Mongols. Lady Masako is a warrior and grandmother whose entire family was murdered by the Mongols, though she suspects they may have died after someone close to the family conspired with the enemy.

Each of the characters explores the honor vs. dishonor theme in unique and surprising ways. The dichotomy is most starkly represented in the clash of ideals between Lord Shimura, who is unshakably honorable and would rather die than gain an unfair advantage in battle, and Yuna, who understands that, to beat an enemy who fights dirty, you may have to put honor to the side for the sake of saving your people. Of course, Jin is caught in the middle and struggles to decide what kind of man he wants to be.

Aside from the ties to the story, the gameplay is fun and engaging. The swordplay combines parries and dodging with a more strategic approach to melee, as you try to find ways to build up your enemy’s stagger gauge. You can also use “ghost weapons” to give you an edge in battle, like kunai (throwing knives), smoke bombs, arrows, and more. There are also four stances to master, with each being effective against a different enemy type. Switching between stances is integral to combat and becomes second nature over time. There’s also an insanely cool fifth stance that I won’t spoil here, but it’s spectacularly badass.

Stealthing is strikingly similar to what you’d see in an Assassin’s Creed title (this is a compliment), and the game gives you myriad ways to kill enemies without raising alarms, like throwable wind chimes and firecrackers that allow you to manipulate their positioning or hallucinogenic darts that turn them against each other. Again, this is all stuff we’ve seen before, but it’s pulled off well here.

Release Date: July 17, 2020 Platform: PS4 Developer: Sucker Punch Productions Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment Genre: Action-adventure

Unfortunately, there are little gameplay flaws that needled at me, especially in the later hours of my playthrough (it took me around 45 hours to finish the game). The swordplay requires quick reflexes, and mastering parries and dodging is absolutely pivotal to your survival. The problem with the swordplay is subtle, and a little difficult to explain, but I’ll say it like this: in most games that are particularly challenging, when I die, I feel like it was my fault because I made a mistake, I just wasn’t fast enough, I hadn’t mastered certain skills. But on many occasions in Ghost of Tsushima, I felt like I died because the game didn’t give me a fair shot, like it was the game’s fault that I failed, not mine. It’s possible that I just wasn’t very good at the game, but it felt at times like I wasn’t given a choice in the matter. Your mileage will vary with the game’s difficulty level.

There are other things that bugged me, too, like the unreliable climbing mechanics (I swear, sometimes hopping onto a rope or branch that’s literally right in front of you is way, WAY too difficult). But overall, I had a great time playing the game and felt super powerful by the time I’d filled out my skill trees, which is no surprise considering the game was made by the same folks who made Infamous.

On a nuts and bolts gameplay level, Ghost of Tsushima doesn’t feel all that unique — there is some very familiar open-world stuff here. But on a presentation and storytelling level, the game is out-of-this-world amazing. Visually, the game looks stunning. The late-stage PlayStation 4 graphics really deliver, and coupled with the strength of the art design, Ghost of Tsushima is a true head-turner. The character models look fantastic and can emote on a level that supports the drama of the story. And while the different suits of armor that Jin acquires offer unique gameplay perks, I honestly just collected and upgraded them almost exclusively as an aesthetic indulgence. They look so freaking cool.

But the real stars of the show are the environments, which look picturesque from every conceivable angle. The wind-swept, verdant hills of Tsushima are intoxicatingly pretty, to the point where I’d get caught up ogling for minutes on end at the smallest of details, like the way the moonlight bounces off blades of grass or the way Jin kicks up crimson-red leaves that have blanketed the ground over time. I could go on forever about the dynamic day/night cycle, the beautiful rendering of different fabrics and materials, the horse animations. But instead, I’ll just say that this is the most breathtaking game, visually, that I’ve seen in recent memory.

A lot of love also went into infusing the game with Japanese cultural references, particularly in how the developers pay homage to the samurai genre. Each mission, for example, is bookended by cinematic intertitles that evoke old samurai cinema, Japanese characters, and all. But without a doubt, the most obvious/most amazing homage is “Kurosawa Mode,” which presents the game in black and white, with one of the best film grain filters I’ve ever seen in a game, resulting in an experience that looks almost exactly like a film from the iconic Japanese auteur’s oeuvre, right next to Sanjuro and Seven Samurai. If you’re a long-time fan of Kurosawa, turning the mode on may even elicit an “I’m not crying…you’re crying!” response — it’s that pretty.

I initially intended on playing the entire game in Kurosawa mode but quickly realized that it would be problematic to do so for a few reasons. Some missions require you to “follow the (insert color) flowers,” which is obviously impossible in black and white. And in combat, blockable enemy heavy attacks are signaled by a blue glint, while unblockable ones have a red glint. Combat is tough enough as it is, so…yeah. I only turned the mode on when I was riding on my horse through the countryside and I felt like treating myself to some eye candy.

Taking time to smell the cherry blossoms and have a respite from the game’s many missions and side missions is crucial because Ghost of Tsushima is a long, long game. The missions aren’t overly repetitive — most of them feel really special actually, like when you climb a mountain in freezing cold weather and must race from campfire to campfire on your ascent, or one armor quest comprised of several one-on-one duels with straw hat swordsmen scattered about the map, each with a distinct personality. But 40-plus hours is 40-plus hours, and while the main tasks of infiltrating enemy camps, liberating farms, and searching for special gear can lead to questing fatigue at the tail end of the game, the nice thing is is that you can always slow things down and just enjoy the scenery to break things up. There’s even a nifty photo mode to play with, and if any game warrants a photo mode, it’s this one.

Jin’s story isn’t just a means to an end, or a lazy excuse to drag the player from gameplay scenario to gameplay scenario. The story is incredibly well written and profound in its messaging and imagery, so much so that I believe it’s one of the best modern entries in the samurai genre, regardless of medium. All of the characters you meet and the little tales that unfold across Tsushima are filtered through Jin’s inner struggle with what honor really means and whether or not it’s worth dying for, which gives the story an incredibly strong narrative backbone. Despite the game’s epic scope, Jin’s journey actually feels quite intimate and personal. The same could be said of Kurosawa’s best work, and that’s just about the highest compliment I can give.

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[jq37]

thoughts on this week's ep?

**spoilers for broadway brawl**

***Before we start, I remembered as I was typing this one of the important notes I lost from last week’s recap: Interesting that Christmas seemingly went off without a hitch. I expected Santa to come back into play somehow (like, someone would check on him to make sure Christmas was still on or he’d call them in to help or something) but he hasn’t, at least not yet.***

My guys, my guys, my guys. Was that something or was that something?

I think I am on record as saying that combat is my least favorite part of ttrpgs generally speaking because I’m here for the RP but when a combat episode shines it really freaking shines (see eg: that first combat ep of Bloodkeep where everyone went full Galaxy Brain except for Matt who couldn’t hit a single thing) and this is such a good example. This is easily a top five ep of the season for me, maybe top three so let’s get into it and break down why it was so awesome.

We start right where we left off with Titania and members of her court having come into the theater to beat the tar out of Misty mid-show.

Quick note: At the end of last ep, it was set up so that Misty was thrust on stage right after hearing the mirror was on stage which would place this fight right at the top of Act 2 but at the start of this ep, Brennan seems to indicate that it’s taking place during what would be the closing number. Which would make more sense but imagine you go see a play, the first act is super dope, and then the second act is an insane, minute long fight that’s pretty unconnected to the plot and then a buff, naked, beautiful man tells you the show is over and you should leave. Wild. Anyway.

Pixies with tommy guns in inherently funny.

So one of the things that makes this fight really great is the way it directly ties into the story in a way besides “These bad guys are in our way.” Misty is using this show as a part of her reincarnation spell so if the show is messed up, it fails and she’s on her last life. Brennan has a cool mechanic of making her roll death saves every round at a difficulty lower than her modifier (which is s/t crazy like 11) but that gets harder with damage done to her and performance checks failed by other players who decide to jump on stage. It’s a great way to make the battle feel like it has more personal stakes and it’s my fave original Brennan mechanic since the Family in Flames Sophie’s Choice situation.

(I love that the death save counter is changed for theater comedy/tragedy masks for this. Nice touch.)

Em, Esther, and Wally are also at the fight which is clutch.

Also, Sondheim is specifically here which is an insane detail to add just because.

WILD that no one knows what’s going on with the ritual initially because, as Lou almost does, getting all the civilians out is the smart move and it would COMPLETELY ruin Misty’s plans instantly.

Lou having Kingston take the stairs bc’s he’s 50+ years old and has no time for that nonsense has equal but opposite energy to him doing extra rolls for Fabian to do unnecessary parkour before a simple attack because Fabian’s Like That.

Murph fireblasts the hell out of Titania’s foot soldiers right off the bat from outside of counterspell range which is very cool.

“Give me a performance check for the cockroach.”

“You’re upstaging me bitch?”

Another great thing about this fight is that because of it’s theatrical nature, everyone’s RPing it more than a usual battle ep (or more intensely maybe is what I mean).

Titania hypnotizes Don Confetti and his goons into fighting for her.

“She doesn’t know she’s in a play but she does sing most of her dialogue which is helpful for you.” Titania is just Like That.

Pete drops an erupting earth and drops a sick 37 damage on those same minions Kug got.

I didn’t notice before but yeah, Ally does roll die like a f-ing beyblade champion.

Emily hearing Murph’s low key, offhand comments and cracking up is great.

“Get Sondheim!” (Emily and then Ally: WHAT?!)

Actual living dude Stephen Sondheim being involved in this fight is just so ridiculous and fun and crazy.

We go around to Misty’s turn and she has to beat a 28 (upped from 10) and she fails which feels worse than a normal failed death save somehow.

Lou, in a very good RP move, tells Pete to tell Misty to end the show so she can tell them not to so the group has a valid reason to not evacuate which is a thing they (or at least him and Ricky) would obviously want to do.

Sophie, the madwoman, jumps out of the balcony, grabs a costume, then runs on stage. Emily’s glee at being told that her grabbing the costume will give her advantage is great. She’s always trying to figure out how to make the most of her moves. She is the living embodiment of the concept of method to madness (which is from Hamlet since we’re talking Shakespeare today). 

Ox is constantly dying (Brennan!) but also it’s like, why was he even there before the fight started? I’ve never seen a non-service dog in a theater.

Ricky: Is this part of it?

Oh, forgot to mention that everything that happens on stage is kinda shielded by the Umbral Arcana so everyone watching thinks it’s part of the show, which is a cool plot detail.

Ricky gets fULLY NAKED (Emily, with perfect comic timing: Now do I roll with disadvantage?) and leaps into the fray. He casts Protection from Evil and Good on her which (1) He does by Magic Mike body-rolling on her while he’s naked and considering how much shorter she is that her raises some interesting questions about positioning and (2) is the most clutch use of this spell I’ve seen in a while. It’s a spell I always wanna take as a Paladin because it makes sense character-wise, but I’ve never been able to actually use it because we’re never fighting fiends, fae, or celestial.

Brennan’s dime change change reversal of the critic’s comments on Ricky’s body rolls when Zac re-rolls his 11 makes me glad I never had to face him in a debate team setting.

Ally: What’s Esther’s deal ;)/Brennan: *Esther’s Weapon Stats*

“Your only secret you’ve ever had in your life is that you have a crush on her.”

Wally has a beautiful singing voice and a working knowledge of Midsummer's which is wild.

Lou’s periodic, “My man”’s when Ally/Pete does something cool. He’s very dialed into being Kingston.

Ricky’s aura keeps everyone near him from being charmed and Misty saves everyone else w/ a nat 20 counterspell. Few things in D&D are more satisfying than a well executed counterspell.

Titania trying to get Pete to be her consort or something when he just over the super posh Priya is very funny.

“I mean between me and Sondheim, get Sondheim!”

“DO WE HAVE HOMEWORK TONIGHT?” (“We did have homework.”)

Anyway, Misty has one success now!

Misty tries to use puppet to get Titania to drop her crown and it doesn’t work. Brennan says the crown is Crown of Stars which I looked up and it’s actually a spell, not a physical crown, but I’m assuming he used the mechanical effects of the spell on a physical item.

Brennan doing all these musical/singing bits when he absolutely doesn’t have to. I love it.

I love Ricky and Sophie being the two martial fighting heavy hitters of the group. Like, the two fighters, having the spellcasters’ backs.

I hope the one kung fu fan in the back of the theater never sees another Broadway show again because he’s gonna be so disappointed. 

“I’m just so inspired by that beautiful penis.”

Murph, out of character, verbally acknowledging how insane what they’re doing is. I love when someone pauses in a game of D&D to just recite what’s currently happening out of context so everyone can appreciate how crazy it is. D&D. Gotta love it..

Emily and Siobhan have a quick conversation in the background about whether Sondheim did Les Mis or not (not, that’s Claude-Michel Schönberg) while Brennan and Murph are Ring nonsense.

I also was mildly suspicious of Alyssa so I’m glad Kingston checked her out.

The entire roast of Brennan when he’s selecting D6s is an instantly iconic D20 moment. I can’t do it justice. You kinda just have to see it.

“Someone call Wizards of the Coast!”

Em, Wally, and Alyssa go out when Titania puts out a huge spell that blinds Kug.

“Yummy, yummy, tastes like ass.”

On Misty’s next turn, she rolls a fail which makes it 2 failures to 1 success. Brennan mentions that a nat 1 counts as 2 failures and a nat 20 counts as 2 successes. I’m sure that won’t be relevant later because you can’t foreshadow things when dice rolls are completely random.

Misty fails on puppet again again and Titania goes full Wicked Witch of the West on her and starts Jonesing for those shoessss.

Emily’s Emily(tm) move of the session is doing a flying leap at Titania, hitting her with a stunning strike and having Brennan retract the Box off Doom he was pulling out because she can’t save when she’s stunned. She just plummets out of the sky.

Don Confetti respecting the sacrament of marriage as he goes full Opera ghost and tries to garrote Sophie.

Ricky (still naked) grabs the crown from Titania, tosses it to Misty, and, with some improv and a good charisma roll, makes the show suddenly make sense to the very confused but entertained audience.

I’m so glad that Murph decided to turn into a bear and that they made the Winter’s tale ref. I should have had faith in Brennan and Siobhan, the theater nerds. Exit pursued by a bear y’all.

Lou and Emily bonding over being proud of their die for rolling well when they lend it out for a big roll.

Really wish Pete had wild magic surged in this fight. Just to add that extra bit of chaos. 

With a very good turn (no damage taken, no performances failed) Misty only has to avoid snake eyes to get through this turn. She leapfrogs over that low bar and rolls a nat 20, instantly fulfilling her win condition. At this point, the play is superfluous and Titania is still down.

“Brennan lost and now he knows reddit is gonna eat his ass.”

OK, remember how I said earlier that Misty seems like the kind of character you nudge a little temptation at just to spice things up? Yeah, her killing Titania and getting the crown of the Seelie Fae makes me a liiiitle apprehensive, but we’ll see how that turns out.

“I killed my queen! This is America we don’t have royalty here.”

“Bear, I don’t know who you are, but take me on your back, let me ride on stage.” —creator of West Side Story, Stephen Sondheim

Misty charms the critic at the show to make sure they get a good review which is such a fae thing to do.

Kingston’s clearly not loving attacking Don and Co. post “real fight” what with his whole Do No Harm thing (well, that’s Dr’s but same principle applies I assume) is a good character detail. For that matter, so is Ricky just taking Titania’s crown and not beheading her which he super could have done while she was down but it would have been very incongruous with everything else about him.

Brian “This isn’t Loony Tunes” Murphy throws Sondheim as a projectile weapon at a pixie who snaps the pixie’s neck and then does a monologue at the audience.

I love it when someone rolls low on an insight check and Brennan gives them useless info and then they repeat it in their character’s voice.

4 mins from the end of the ep, Siobhan realizes there are two Perrys in this story for the first time and has a bigger reaction to that than almost everything else in this ep except her nat 20.

Ricky looks for costume faun legs to cover his fully out dick instead of costume pants or even his own pants.

Misty starts glowing with reincarnation energy and she runs into her dressing room for privacy. Also, she still super hasn’t told anyone what’s going on. (ALSO, assuming she’s gonna make the world think she died, it’s gonna be wild for the company of the show to have their leading lady put on the performance of her life and then die on opening night).

“Who am I to refuse a crown when it’s placed so deftly upon my head?”

You know that behind the scenes thing where Brennan is like, “Yeah, I knew Siobhan was gonna steal that book,”? I got some of those vibes during the crown scene.

The implications of what Misty did are gonna be left until next ep but Brennan says something about her creating her own court and it looks like she’s recruiting followers in the promo. IDK how I feel about that (these stories tend to have great power--especially tied to powerful magical items--as a corrupting force) but I am very excited to see how it goes down! See you then!

[ckatmyla]

Elsa’s Girlfriend and the Bottom Line [an essay]

It is safe to say that – even nearly six years on from its release – Frozen is still a phenomenon. Despite its over-saturation and the backlash it inevitably faced because of it, Frozen is still a strong film from Disney with great characters, beautiful songs, and a lovely core theme about the power of familial love.

(its only real stumbling block in this blogger's opinion would be its case of 'twist villain syndrome' but we'll just gloss over that for this post.)

Although it is certainly true that this is a film for every age group, it continues to strike a chord the most with kids. I work in a daycare with children ages three to five (most of whom were not even born yet when Frozen was released) and it is still one of the most requested movies for me to show them. They argue over who gets to play as Elsa and Anna during dress up time, and I have even encouraged some of the young boys that it is perfectly fine to like a 'girl  movie' if you like the characters so much.

Even though both sisters in the movie are integral to the plot, and I tend to speak about them as a unit, for most of the kids in my class it's all about Elsa. Literally, they don't even call the movie Frozen, they just call it 'Elsa'.

It brings back memories of that Christmas season in 2013 when I went to the Disney store and all of the Elsa dolls were gone, leaving most of the Annas still on the shelf (which made me quite sad, since I tend to relate to Anna more myself).

It's not a stretch to say that Elsa is not only the breakout character of her movie, but a huge part of its crazy popularity. Everyone knows her, knows her powers, and knows her iconic  song (whether or not they like it.)

She is an icon to so many people across the world, and as such thee are certain aspects of her future in the Frozen sequel that many people would like to have addressed. Will she continue to harness her powers or perhaps learn from where they came? Will she continue to break down the walls she built up around herself to let her sister closer to her? And possibly the biggest and most controversial question: will she ever find romantic love and if so, will it be with a man or a woman?

While there is something to be said about the fact that Elsa is a strong, independent queen who don't need no significant other of any sort (and as previously stated there are other aspects of her story that need to be addressed just as much if not more so than who she's courting), there is merit in the theory and/or hope a good portion of her fans have that she just might be into girls.

While researching for this post, I read two of the children/middle grade Frozen chapter books: A Frozen Heart by Elizabeth Rudnick and A Warm Welcome by Erica David.

In Frozen Heart, we follow both Anna's and Hans' perspectives during the events of the movie, and during one of the portions from Hans' point of view we learn that Elsa has not only done what we have seen her do (close the gates of the castle to her subjects and isolate herself as much as possible) but evidently turned away any potential suitors looking to court her.

And in Warm Welcome, Elsa an co. travel to the kingdom of Eldora where they meet the queen of that land named Marisol and we see from Elsa's point of view that she finds the queen's name beautiful. Now, one could take that however they wanted, but when I showed that part to my friend she said 'Wow Elsa, how very gay of you.”

Then of course there is the queer-coded subtext of Elsa's story. Being told that she should hide her powers and conceal her true self from the world until she is finally able to accept herself in the now forever-ingrained-in-our-brains earworm.

Now the production team of the movie could have spun her story another way to make the powers more explicitly nothing more with no perceived allegory other than 'being different is okay'. BUT one exchange Elsa has with Anna after they meet up again post-Let It Go makes one wonder. She explicitly says that she left Arendelle so that she could 'be who she is without hurting anybody'. That alone colors her powers in a different light, and makes them far much more than a simple  magical ability and closer to the same type of vibe one gets from the subtext of the X-Men.

So, there is definitely some evidence to support the hypothesis that Elsa could be sub-textually queer, but this blog post is centered around the big question: Should it be overtly canon?

While this blogger would be perfectly happy to continue her headcanon that Elsa is asexual (possibly aromantic) and will make it through the entirety of Frozen 2 with no love interest whatsoever, I can also see the other side of the debate.

Most would agree that a female-led animated film hardly ever has a protagonist not fall in love by the end. And when they do they are usually children and so don't need a love interest (Moana and Coraline to name a couple), but they do happen occasionally. Elsa would still be an amazing paragon of female empowerment if she were to remain single, leaving the romantic love story to that of her sister and Kristoff.

BUT what is also abundantly clear is that we have yet to see a main character in an animated film fall in love with a person of the same gender. It would be a game-changer in the worlds of animation and family entertainment, for sure. And while some would say that that type of thing is unsuitable for children to see, most of those people are perfectly fine with the plethora of heteromantic pairs so abundant in animation. (If the argument is that kids shouldn't see romantic love between anyone that would be a different thing, but I have never heard any outcry about that.)

Were Disney even to approach it, there is also the question as to whether or not Elsa is the right character to make that particular story choice. Yes, she is a prime candidate, but as she is one of the most beloved Disney characters possibly ever, there would inevitably be some backlash to her and with that to the Frozen brand (because remember, Disney is foremost all about making money).

The other option some have some up with -to create an entirely new animated film where we star a same-sex couple – has merit as well. It could potentially introduce not one but two new princesses to the Disney Princess lineup and do all of the things that the LGBTQ community and its allies want out of Elsa while giving us a brand new, possibly totally original new story.

This blogger would be completely on board for that as well, but there is also in this idea the possibility of a backlash, or even a boycott. And if the first same-sex animated feature doesn't do well at the box office or in the merch sales, there might not be another one for a long time - if ever again.

Frozen 2 on the other hand – however the quality of the film ends up being – is almost a guaranteed hit before it even comes out. It is sure to rake in both ticket and merch sales by the boatload, even if they do decide to give Elsa a love interest of any gender.

So, the concluding statement should be in favor of giving Elsa a same-sex romantic plotline, right? If they're  going to actually do it, doing it with this movie would pose the least risk to the bottom line.

There is one more thing to consider, however: The story.

One of Disney's adoptive child Pixar's founding rules is that 'story is king'. That means that whatever will make the story as a whole stronger and the best it can be is what should be done for any film.

(However you feel about Pixar's latest outings, that's still one of their philosophies).

So, the real final conclusion of this post/essay is that when it comes down to it, Elsa should have the storyline that best fits the overall plot and make Frozen 2 the strongest movie it can be. They could always just throw in a girlfriend for her with no real thought other than 'they want representation'. That is what inevitably failed the attempt of ABC show Once Upon A Time when they decided to introduce a same-sex romance.

If the very first female-female romance in an animated film is going to happen with Elsa, it needs to feel natural and integral to the story. It can't feel tacked-on just for the sake of having it.

The same could be said of giving her a male love interest, or allowing her to remain single. As long as it fits the story and Elsa remains the wonderful character that so many have fallen in love with, any outcome would be fine.

I'm all for Elsa opening up her heart to new experiences like romantic love, as a fan I want that for her. I want her to stay close to her sister and become more  confident in her powers, and if the story supports it, find love with whomever her heart desires.

In this blogger's opinion though, anything other than a male love interest for her would be preferable. We already have so very many of those stories told already (even in the same franchise). Elsa deserves something different, something as groundbreaking as she is.

Whatever is in store for our Queen of Arendelle, I can tell you I will have my ticket to the first screening I can find of the sequel in order to find out.

[popentertainment-moviereviews]

BACURAU (2019)

Starring Sonia Braga, Udo Kier, Bárbara Colen, Thomas Aquino, Silvero Perera, Thardelly Lima, Rubens Santos, Wilson Rabelo, Carlos Francisco, Luciana Souza, Karine Teles, Antonio Saboia, Jonny Mars, Alli Willow, James Turpin, Julia Marie Peterson, Brian Townes, Charles Hodges, Chris Doubek, Buda Lira, Clebia Sousa, Danny Barbosa, Edilson Silva, Eduarda Samara, Fabiola Liper, Ingrid Trigueiro, Jamila Facury, Jr. Black, Márcio Fecher, Rodger Rogerio, Suzy Lopes, Uirá Dos Reis, Val Junior, Valmir do Côco and Zoraide Coleto.

Screenplay by Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles.

Directed by Juliano Dornelles and Kleber Mendonça Filho.

Distributed by Kino Lorber. 131 minutes. Not Rated.

Screened at the 2019 Philadelphia Film Festival.

Big news everyone. Bacurau has found a US release date: March 6, 2020.

Adventure-tourism has gone very, very wrong in this chilling, edge of your seat Brazilian film that was my personal favorite of the 2019 Philadelphia International Film Festival.

This two-plus hour film sped by, first with masterful storytelling about the small village of Bacurau. It is a village with a history (are you here to see the museum??) where generations of villagers have grown and left and returned. There is the town medical professional (played by the iconic Sonia Braga), a school, a water truck. There is no need for a police force – the villagers take what they need and nothing more, leaving plenty for their neighbors. They are far from rich, but do not feel poor. Kids run around the village without oversight, without fear, as kids should.

They are a community.

But something bad is afoot. First, there is the real-world issue of water. The town’s water supply is being controlled by the icky Mayor Tony. He is up for re-election, trying to guarantee the villagers’ votes by dumping a truckload of old books off at the school and bringing in supplies of food and medicine.

While the village may be small, its villagers are not small minded, and they are on to this creep. On one of his drive throughs, the villagers “disappear” in the ultimate example of ghosting, completely ignoring him and his attempts at attention.

Second, people are mysteriously being killed off. Picked off. One by one. By a group of true sickos – American tourists, immersed in what appears to be a game where there seems to be some kind of a point system for kills. Human kills. That can only be made by a member of this group, banded together by their love of vintage weaponry. One member tells about the first time she held a tommy gun. You think she’s being ironic. But she’s not.

Bacurau felt original while reminding me of films like Overlord and Get Out. All three get their audiences comfortable with the challenges at hand through humor and all have villains so bad that any gore directed at them feels well justified.

I don’t want to give anything more away, but if you are interested in dark, socially relevant cinema, be sure to catch Bacurau when it releases in the US. I can’t wait to watch it again.

Bonnie Paul

Copyright ©2019 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: October 24, 2019.