#I prefer just like…regular film footage

[thatskindarough]

My actual only request and probably unpopular opinion for season 3 is that they tone down the color grading. I think season 1 looked a lot better. Season 2 was way to saturated. Crowley’s skin looked orange.

[billysjoel]

gif tutorial

i was asked to make a tutorial for this set i made, so let's get right into it!

first things first, i downloaded the music videos from youtube in 1080p using 4k video downloader. unfortunately, the quality of youtube videos always seems... not great, to put it simply. plus these music videos are from the 90s, so they've been upscaled to 1080p after the fact. all of this works against us, but i've definitely worked with videos of lesser quality than these, so at least there's that!

when i gif, i import video frames to layers rather than screencapping. this comes down to personal preference. after everything has loaded, i group all my layers together and set the frame delay to 0.05. i then cropped my gif to 540x500.

the next step in my process is sharpening. i did play around with my settings a bit given the quality of the footage and the dimensions of the gif. i compared both @hellboys low-quality video gif tutorial to my regular sharpening action and my vivid sharpening action and in this case, i preferred my normal vivid sharpening action. i used this tutorial to create the action for myself, and you can find other sharpening tutorials here. this action converts my frames to video timeline and applies sharpening.

once my gif is sharpened and i'm in timeline, i begin coloring. i wanted to simplify the amount of colors used in these gifs, again because of the video quality -- i knew it wasn't going to have the crispness i would normally like for my gifs. here are my coloring adjustment layers and their settings (not pictured: my first layer is a brightness/contrast layer set to screen) (explanation in alt text):

all of these layers and their settings will vary depending on your footage and its coloring (and obviously, feel free to make the gradient map whatever colors you like if you aren't going for this exact look).

pretty basic coloring, especially with just slapping a gradient map on top (my beloved), but at this point, i still didn't like the quality of the gif, so i added a couple textures/overlays.

i put the left one down first and set the blending mode to soft light and the opacity to 8%. depending on what look you're going for, you could increase or decrease the opacity or play around with different blending modes. i like using this texture with lower quality footage because even when it's sized up a bit, it adds some crispness and makes things feel more defined. for the second texture, i set it to overlay and 75% opacity. we love and respect film grain in this house.

now for the typography! sometimes i really enjoy typography and other times it's the bane of my existence for the sole reason of just how many fonts i have installed. anyway, here are the settings i used for this set:

make sure the color of your font is white and then set the blending mode to either difference or exclusion. i can almost never see a difference between the two, but for this set, i used exclusion. below are the blending options (double click on your text layer to bring up this menu or right click and select blending options).

now we have to add the warp effect. with your text tool still selected, click this icon at the top of your screen:

from the dropdown menu, select twist. these were my settings, but feel free to play around with different warp options and their settings. the ones i use most often are flag, fish, and twist.

this last step is completely optional, but it's an effect i use in most of my sets with typography. duplicate your text layer (select the layer and ctrl+j), turn off the layer effects (click the eye icon next to effects), and set the blending mode to normal. right click on the layer and select rasterize type. right click on the layer icon itself and choose select pixels.

at this point, you should see the moving black and white dotted line showing that only your text is selected. then go to edit > stroke. here are the settings i almost exclusively use.

this is what your text should look like now:

using ctrl+T, move the layer off the canvas so you can't see any of the text anymore. you should be left with only your outline. click anywhere on your canvas to de-select the text we just moved. use ctrl+T again as well as your arrow keys to nudge the outline over to the left 2px and up 2px. this is personal preference as far as the positioning, but i almost never move it any other way. you can leave it like this, which i sometimes do, or you can set the blending mode to soft light like i did for a more subtle effect.

and that's it! rinse and repeat for each gif in your set or use a different warp effect on each gif to switch it up! if you have any questions about this tutorial or would like me to make one for anything else, please feel free to ask any time!

[luxscape]

🍰 for kinktober for Maito Gai, Kisame, and Madara because I know you love him. Please and thank you ;)

i do. i love all three of these men

🍰 just a sweet fantasy

Maito Gai

Unsurprisingly, a large number of Gai’s fantasies revolve around something related to athletics!

The most recurrent one, the one he’s just fixated on, is hooking up in the middle of sparring with someone.  The imagined progression of it all really gets Gai going: a slow build from dodging one another’s blows, taking the light impacts of blocking, until finally, maybe the blows are beginning to take a turn for the tougher, so he grabs their fist and whirls them into a fiery kiss...... yeah, that really does it for him.

The ideal setting for the aforementioned spar-hookup is on a gym mat in front of a giant wall mirror. Gai, the freak that he is, wants to watch every second of the action. He wants to get a burn on that mat, he wants you both to feel it afterwards.

Body worship kink, his favorite dirty talk is always praise! Gai is a giving partner and the bedroom is no exception, but he really gets off on receiving that praise. Gai loves to be ridden, fingers exploring his muscles, as his partner whispers and moans of how perfect his sculpted body is. That sensation of fingers digging into him, you gripping him everywhere, telling him how perfect it all is.... euphoric!

Kisame

He is into body worship but only through submission.  When Kisame envisions a lover lying in wait for him, it makes his breath catch in his throat a little bit.  It’s hot, to think someone wants him, wants to be touched and devoured by him—the vulnerability of submission or desire, it drives Kisame to verbal praise. To keep him fantasizing of you, simply be genuine in your need for him.

In that same vein, Kisame loves the organic spontaneity of sex with a regular partner. The thrill lies in the unpredictability. He is an opportunistic exhibitionist—if the mood strikes, he pounces. Common sites include beside bodies of water and bathhouses. Something about nudity and natural progression...

Circling back around to point one, Kisame's fantasies are consumed with themes of dominance and submission. He can respond well to initiation, but he prefers to lead. If Kisame asked you to get down and suck him off while he recorded, chances are he won't even watch the footage right away—it's the way you don't even hesitate, the way you take him all the way in without question, that's what he wants. You're in for such praise during filming, but watching the video is an entirely different type of excitement. He just wants to see that you'll do it.

Madara

In the same way I said Kisame likes to dominate? That's Madara to the maximum, baby! He just wants to see that you'll do it. You had better do it, if it's come to the point where he is asking. Madara is dominant without ethics or morality. If you're with him, you're with him because you knew the type of man he was. And if that's the case, you already know fully well that you're going to get down and suck.

He's not going to praise you. You're doing what you're supposed to do for him, and so what if you're good at it? Everything he has is supposed to be the best—including you, and anything you provide to him. When you take every inch of Madara without complaint, he's going to thrust his last into you, and kiss you good night from behind. There is your "thanks."

When he wakes up stiff and agitated, it's hardly ever a sex dream and almost always a violent dream. He fights constantly, even when he is supposed to be resting. Aggressive morning romps with Madara is not uncommon.

Bondage KING. The ultimate form of submission in Madara's mind comes in the form of rope suspension. He doesn't even impose painful sensations, he just teases and observes. Greater than vows exchanged at an altar, is a hogtied and suspended pose. A partner that would allow him to do that, he considers loyal and obedient and nothing gets his dick harder than those two adjectives.

[adultswim2021]

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job #32: “Snow” | February 9, 2009 - 12:30AM | S04E01

Hey! It’s a show I actually love a lot, how about that? Season three was a rough patch for the show, but I remember season four being an improvement. Not every sketch in this one hits it out of the park, but I feel this episode is pretty strong, and that it’s better than most season three episodes.

First, the most boring thing first: the DVD presents the episodes in a slightly different order, which is reflected in the episode number preceding the episode title on these posts. It doesn’t matter, and I honestly prefer to think of this one as the true season premiere, but DVD order trumps broadcast order unless I have some compelling reason not to do it that way. It doesn’t matter that much. It might not matter at all. None of this might!

We open with D-Pants, a disgusting sketch that essentially pitches a long-legged diaper that lets you fill up both your pant legs with liquid stool. This one memorably ends with the visual where the D-pants burst open and make a mess. The season four DVD blooper reel ends with additional footage of this if you’re a true sicko.

Tairy Greene continues to spread itself pretty thin. I don’t mind these very much, and they make for fine filler. I love Zach, but they probably could have made him look a little better if they used less of this footage. This version has an awkward line about sticking your tongue in a burrito that involves cutting away to a kid reacting as if to say “this guy’s crazy!”, which is not something I like to see in a Tim & Eric sketch. There is additional footage for this sketch also found in the aforementioned blooper reel. The blooper footage is more-or-less indistinguishable from what’s already on screen. This one has some okay qualities, but is basically an inoffensive dud.

Another sketch that’s not that great: introduced as Tim & Eric’s first video, it’s called Dumpers. It’s just Tim & Eric in red jumpsuits doing stomp stuff on a street corner. I wonder if this was repurposed from something else, perhaps the Hamburger episode? You know, the footage that also made its way into the opening of Tim & Eric doing the dance-off? I think the title refers to Humpers (link has no audio), which I’m not sure is technically their first video they made together. Without doing proper research, it might be a college video they made about how VHS is better than film.

David Liebe Hart does a song about e-mail, which devolves into crazy guy “rhyming” where repeats the word “e-mail” until he’s saying “ying yang”. He’s with his erstwhile puppet Albert Herman and he’s just as weird as the big guy. I enjoy gawking at this man. This is one of his more memorable songs, in my opinion. I think of him saying “YING YANG! E-MAIL!” maybe once or twice a year, minimum. 

This episode has a special guest star in Alan Thicke, who pitches the Napple. The Napple is a regular apple-tree apple covered in sleep sauce and injected with bowel irritant so it’ll knock you out cold for a 15 minute nap only to wake you up with gastro-intestinal distress. You may want to wear your D-Pants, the ad warns, which is a very impressive bit of synergy. Thicke looking into the camera and jerkily saying “me so sleepy” is another highlight. 

I really like the framing device on this one. It’s almost like proto Beef House. Tim & Eric have riffed on sitcoms before, and it’s well trod territory at this point, but there’s enough in here makes me laugh and smile and say things out loud like “ah yes, now this is enjoyable”. It approximates the cliched sitcom thing of being broadly appealing with spoon-fed inoffensive humor while also being weirdly vulgar and ill-conceived.

The plot is that it’s snowing outside, and people keep showing up to Tim & Eric’s house for various snow-related reasons. They decide to throw a snow party and also introduce sketches. Tim pees in a jar “in case the pipes freeze”, and leaves it out and about. DLH is handed the piss jar but doesn’t drink from it, which is probably him literally being too scared to drink what he believed was real piss. Ben Hur winds up drinking it, and he doubles down on the stuff, because his brain is dying. It’s maybe a little funnier if nobody drinks the pee, but I think it works as a precursor for the finale, where all the awful men in Tim & Eric’s house just start devolving into an ape-like state and just start grunting and drooling on themselves. 

EPHEMERA CORNER

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! - Season Two DVD (February 10, 2009)

All of the Awesome Show releases are “nice”, and this one is no different. This one has the usual extras (deleted scenes, extended scenes, promos, etc). This one sadly lacks the audio commentary tracks that season one had. I imagine they were churning out so much content at this time that sitting down to record commentary for it must’ve seemed like an especially not-fun proposition. It would be incredible if they did full season watch-alongs or recorded podcast commentaries now.

This one does have one really cool extra: a live-show with the Tim & Eric Not Live web series edited into it. It’s worth your time if you can find it around.

MAIL BAG

I watch Robot Chicken almost every day. You don't seem to like it, but I watch it almost every day.

It is patently not my sense of humor, but I'm happy for you for liking it. I do worse shit on a daily basis, so please keep doing what you're doing and go with god.

[lildohnut]

squishmoon gif making tips & tricks 🌙

this is a basic tips & tricks post for how I make my gifs. I am sure there are probably easier and better ways to do things, but this is how I have been doing it and I am lazy so I've basically got it down to a few clicks by setting up actions to do most of the work so if that sounds like something you might like - read on!

I use windows and photoshop cc 2022 for making my gifs. I also use caps (captured using potplayer and in jpg format) so once you have your caps ready, just import them into photoshop as normal.

RESIZING YOUR GIFS

the first thing I do when I import my caps is crop it down - and as I said, i'm lazy so I have all of my regular sizes saved so I can just select them. as you can see - they are all +2px larger than the tumblr dimensions and that is because if you ever see that weird little white border you sometimes get when making gifs? if you remove pixels off you won't get that so when cropping it's essential to add some pixels so that you have some to crop off (I hope that makes sense!)

these are my settings for scaling my images down.

MAKING YOUR GIF

as i said, i'm lazy - so once I have cropped my caps to whatever size I want, all I do is click on my action and let it do it's thing. I have it set where it sharpens and converts back to timeline with the 0.05 time delay so you don't have to reopen your gifs in photoshop again and save them.

the two windows that pop up are to allow you to adjust the settings if you wish - if you like it just click ok and it will continue on.

you can download the action pack here (you can just add more actions for resizing to suit your dimensions or do it manually by going to canvas and -2px when you are done making your gif before saving) there are two settings - one for 4k/HD and the other for HD where the sharpening is a little softer.

obviously, the higher quality the source footage, the better your gif looks. i tend to work with 1080p downloads and I rip my own blurays and save them at around 4GB per 40 minute episodes and 12-15GB for films. sometimes more depending on the length of the film.

external hard drives are your friends. if you are going to be giffing stuff often, keep them saved there. I have a ton of externals (which are in dire need of organisation) but it's so much quicker to have stuff at hand than needing to download each time you want to gif.

as for trailers - you get far higher quality using the trailers posted to the apple trailer site than youtube. so check there if you can get it. i use this site to download them and it does make a difference.

SAVING YOUR GIF

it's all down to personal preference what you like - but I use these settings when saving my gifs. you can play around with diffusion, pattern and noise etc to find what you think looks best for you. just remember that your gif must be under 10MB or else it won't upload to tumblr.

EXAMPLES

here are some examples of more gifs made using the sharpen action.

and this is the above moon knight gif, but using the slightly less sharper setting. sometimes it's best to test out both on footage you haven't used before to see which you prefer.

i hope this helped and if you have any questions my askbox is open! a like if you download the action would also be very appreciated.

[sailorspazz]

Remote 10 Dance Ball 2022

Following 2021’s exclusively remote streaming version, 2022 brought the return of a live Real 10 Dance event, which was held April 24th in Tokyo. At the event, it was announced that they would be also creating a version of it for streaming, featuring both content that was included in the live version, as well as additional segments filmed exclusively for the online stream. I found this very exciting since Japan is still very limited in who they’re allowing to visit the country, so even though I would have loved to go to the live event, it simply wasn’t possible. The streaming version went live on June 25th and was available to view for 3 days. Like last year, the cost was 1,000 yen, and there were options to give additional 1,000 yen tips to the production committee, the dancers, or Inouesatoh herself (last year I just gave to Inouesatoh, this year I spread the love around to everyone but also gave even more to her specifically haha). The bonus for the additional tips is that you also receive a link to a 16 minute making-of video of the event, including footage from rehearsals beforehand and backstage on the day of. All virtual attendees received a code that could be used at convenience stores in Japan to print out an illustrated postcard to commemorate the event. I’d guessed before that it would be the colored version of a panel from chapter 38 that Inoue shared in celebration of the live Real 10 Dance, and I was right! Below is the version I had printed out by friends who live in Japan, and under the cut you can find my full report of this year’s Remote 10 Dance Ball.

(There’s a preview video for the event if you’d like to see some of the action instead of just reading a summary with limited still images)

Following still shots introducing all of the dancers and listing some of their individual accomplishments, next up was vlog made by Kouichi Nishio (one of the pro consultants for the manga). It chronicled a trip he took to England, and included content such as him visiting dance studios, going to a supermarket and showing some of the local snacks he likes, and a trip to the famous Winter Gardens venue in Blackpool, which has been featured in 10 Dance in parts such as the World Championships chapters.

A host for the event gave introductions and information between each segment of content. First up was an intro dance to “Another Day of Sun” from La La Land featuring all of participants in their regular partnerships (and even the mascot character Steppy gets in on the action!). A wide variety of both standard and Latin dances were showcased during this number.

Next up were some segments titled “the real world of competitive dance”. The first one was about costumes, starting with a standard couple. The woman talked about how her dress features layers of different colored and textured fabrics that will reveal different glimpses as she moves around, and additional ribbons hanging from her wrists that create more movement. These days, it’s also common for performers to have masks that match their dresses. The man helpfully described his suit as just “It’s a suit” at first, though went on to say it’s specially designed for dance to have more elasticity and for the shoulders not to rise up when he’s in hold; it feels soft and easy to move in. His tie was just a cheap one from Daiso (a 100 yen store). For competitions standard men usually wear a tux and tails, but he personally would like to compete in suits more. The couple then performed a waltz demonstration.

The Latin couple was up next, and the man said he prefers a simple look. His outfit included a long sleeved satin shirt with the option to shorten the sleeves and button them into place, and high-waisted pants with a wide belt to make his legs look longer. The woman likes having something colorful, with her skirt featuring fluffy purple feathers that add a lot of volume, yet are light enough that it’s still easy to move. Her outfit also featured fringe on her torso to create additional movement. The couple then demonstrated a cha-cha. Following this segment, the host mentioned that Inouesatoh attended many competitions to observe the costumes, and it helped her come up with ideas for dress designs to use in the series.

The second “Real World” segment featured some of the pros giving tours of the dance schools they run, which helped show the sort of work they do when they’re not competing, and also served as advertisements for viewers who might be interested in taking lessons.

Next the host mentioned how Suzuki competing in the Japan Open in volume 5 was described as him only using basic steps throughout yet still wowing the crowd. This led into two couples demonstrating the basic steps for the rumba and showcasing how the steps can be varied. They first performed a basic rumba as “simple”, then added the criteria of “emotional” the second time they did it. Afterward, the couples talked about how they create those variations while performing the same steps. The first style is more restrictive and forces them to stay on the exact beats. When doing it with more freedom, they can keep the end point of the beat but reach it in a different way. Adding variations imbues the performance with more energy and allows for a starker difference between soft and hard, and the dancers feel they can be more expressive.

The panel from chapter 35 that shows the contrast between Norman’s and Sugiki’s styles was the inspiration for the next segment, with an explanation and demonstration of how those differences are achieved. Norman’s is a classical, traditional style that conveys a softer image, while Sugiki’s is modern and dynamic. The connection point between the dancers’ bodies is higher for Norman’s style, giving the image of the following partner being gently enfolded when they perform an oversway. Sugiki’s style conveys more power, featuring a lower connection point that grants more upper body freedom, and feels more like the lead is controlling the follow.

The next segment featured the pros giving their rapid-fire impressions of all ten of the different ballroom dances, followed by demonstrations and voiceover commentary for each type. There were several rapid-fire answers for each dance, and the pros sometimes gave adjectives to describe the mood (passionate for tango, elegant for foxtrot, romantic for rumba), features of the dance (spinning for Viennese waltz), various nouns (swan for the waltz, thighs for the cha-cha, carnival for the samba, Elvis for the jive), or short phrases (like being on top of a frying pan for the quickstep, a battle with your life on the line for the paso doble).

The last segment before the main show was a roundtable discussion among four of the dancers about their favorite scenes from the series, with Kiyomi Takashima, Takashi Kajiya, Jun Motoike, moderated by pro consultant for the series Ai Shimoda.  Takashima started off by saying she likes the princess waltz from chapter 4. When she first started dancing, the waltz was her favorite, and reading this made her remember the feelings she had back then of being moved by that dance. It’s something one can forget in the course of many years of training, and sparks the desire to seek out that feeling again. She felt like the scene really conveyed to readers just how good dancing can feel.

Kajiya was up next, and his first comment was just marveling at the Latin hold the Shinyas are shown doing in chapter 3. The positions of the arms and hands were perfect for the style, with the arms being directly on top of each other, as opposed to standard where the follow’s arm floats above the lead’s. He wondered how she knew to do that, since at this early point in the series she didn’t yet have consultants. Shimoda commented at this point that when she first read the manga before getting involved as a consultant, she thought, “was this written for me?” when she noticed all the attention to detail such as what Kajiya described. Kajiya continued on to talk about another scene, at the end of volume 2 when the Shinyas dance at the park for the first time. Even as a Latin dancer, he was moved by the full body shot of the two of them coming together, with Sugiki’s scarf flying out and seeming to mimic a woman’s long hair.

Motoike brought up Sugiki’s vision of Suzuki as the God of Dance from the Tango Notturno bonus chapter. He pointed out the solid body lines, and said it reminded him of being back in art college and studying plaster busts, with Suzuki looking like Apollo in a godly pose. He then jumped ahead to where the God of Dance returned in volume 5, saying that it really doesn’t seem like you’re reading a dance manga anymore when looking at panels like Suzuki holding a pulsating heart in his hand. It shows a great sense of imagination, and he wondered what sort of references she used to draw something like that, where the heart looks like it has tree branches sprouting out of it. He then went to the whiteboard where he earlier sketched a copy of Suzuki’s face, and proceeded to analyze some of the finer points of Inoue’s style.  He said that the way his smirk is drawn feels natural, and he likes his pretty fluffy hair (though it’s a pain to draw, so he didn’t include too much of it). He demonstrated how many eyes are drawn in manga, quite large with a lot of detail, while the eyes Inoue draws are simpler yet still feel like they have depth. There are lines that are fully drawn, but also lines that are implied and remain undrawn so the final drawing doesn’t feel so confined, making it seem more three dimensional. Some series have excessive sound effects to the point where they become distracting (calling out a couple manga not by name but by their signature SFX, such as ざわざわ and ゴゴゴ lol), but Inoue uses them fittingly. Shimoda chimed in and said that subtle things like showing the sounds of dance shoes squeaking on the floor makes her take notice of those things in real life, and adds to the immersion of the scene. Motoike finished up his analysis by saying Inoue doesn’t use action lines unnecessarily, and that basically the things that a lot of artists commonly do are the things she doesn’t do.

Next was the Real 10 Dance show! I’ll list the song, dance style, and share an image from each performance below.

“Masquerade”, Viennese waltz, group dance featuring one female pair plus three male pairs

“Butter” by BTS, cha-cha

“Calmi Cuori Appassionati”, rumba and samba

“All That Jazz”, ladies group slow jive

“Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet”, waltz

“Up All Night” by Charlie Puth, rumba

“It’s Time to Dance” from The Prom musical, closing group dance

The final segment was a virtual art exhibition featuring storyboard art from many of the panels in chapter 35.

Like last year, I was very happy that I had the chance to watch this despite not being able to go to Japan. Since they had the live version, I didn’t really expect they would also offer the virtual one, but I’m glad they did both this time! And the various segments they put along with the dances were interesting as well, I especially loved hearing a group of pros talking about their favorite parts of the series (according to a tweet I saw from Shimoda, the full discussion was an hour and a half long! The edited version that was shown was about 20 minutes, so I’m curious how the remaining hour of that talk went). Everyone seemed in awe at the amazing things she can pull off, and I love the statement that she doesn’t do the things that everyone else does. Gives more insight into why this manga feels so unique and different from other series.

And the dancing portions were just *chef’s kiss*. The Romeo and Juliet waltz was especially good for a few reasons. First, my biased belief/prediction that we’ll get a “Romeo and Romeo” chapter title at some point now seeming like a firmer possibility lol. There were also portions of the dance where they switched lead and follow positions seamlessly, I just loved how smoothly they did it when it seems like something that would be difficult to pull off in the stricter standard hold. Also it was just goddamn beautiful, like the music and the movement just made me wanna cry, and yes I watched it multiple times because I like to torture myself with the feels. The duo who did the rumba/samba number were also very good (they did the dramatic rumba that was my emotional punishment of choice last year lmao), I loved how even though there’s quite a height difference, the shorter man was still given the chance to lead. The whole show was just amazing, and though I’d still love the chance to catch it in person, getting to watch from home has its own benefits. Hopefully they’ll put on another show next year!

[dukeofonions]

Lucky Puppets

Y’all ever think about how we only got Learning New Things About Ourselves almost through pure luck?

Like thinking about how this video actually came to be is just wild. It’s one of my favorite episodes but the more I think about how it actually was put together the more I realized how lucky they were that things worked out the way they did.

Like at first they wanted to do something with the Sides as animals, and they couldn’t figure out how that would work so they decided to do puppets because that would probably be easier.

Well it wasn’t. Like they were really gonna try and make the puppets themselves, only having Logan’s puppet commissioned, and then it just so happens that the guy they got to do the one puppet preferred to make all the puppets that would be used in a project and so asked if he could and they were just like, “Sure okay!”

Which how funny would that have been if you had Logan, the one guy who was against the puppet idea from the beginning, be the one to have the professionally made puppet while everyone else’s was handmade. I imagine they could have done something funny with that bit but I adore how the puppets came out so I’m glad we got what we got.

But then it came down to trying to figure out how to puppet these puppets, and they had Thomas practicing with just a regular hand puppet while he and Joan were also taking online classes from a professional puppeteer. Then they try to actually go and film the puppets and it’s a disaster. Like, if y’all saw that behind the scenes video they did for this episode you saw how exhausted and frustrated they looked. 

It really makes one appreciate the art of puppeteering huh? Like, those people have skills.

So now they’re at a point where they’re not sure if this video is ever gonna be made, but then it just so happens that Nate Begle (the guy who was teaching them how to puppet the puppets) just so happens to be working close enough to where they can reach out and ask for help making this video and guess what? The dude knocks out all the puppet scenes in one day. 

Like how flipping lucky can ya get?

If he hadn’t been around to do the puppeteering in that episode I wonder what would have happened? 

Would they have tried doing it themselves anyway and just going with the best footage they got? Find someone else in the area that they could have hired to do the puppet bits? Would they have just abandoned the puppet idea altogether and just reworked the episode to be done with the Sides as themselves (or even just have the Sides using their puppets) or scrapped the entire video altogether?

So yeah, they really got lucky on this one and I do wonder what their plan would have been if things hadn’t worked out with Nate.

[jazy3]

Thoughts on Grey’s Anatomy: 17X1 & 17X2

MAJOR SPOILERS!!!

My mind is blown! I am shook! Never in a million years did I ever expect that we would see McDreamy again! Or that Meredith and Derek would be reunited like this. Oh my god. I literally can’t even. I think this might be the best season opener Grey’s Anatomy has ever done. Hands down. They came to play and they did not mess around. I thought something was off when they showed the opening sequence with Meredith on the beach because the pier walkway was way too long, but I never expected the surprise to be what it was.

The implication at the end of the episode is that Meredith has contracted COVID-19, is currently unresponsive, and will be battling this for the foreseeable future. I’m interested to see if that is in fact the case or if it’s something else. I did not believe that she was going to be the character that got it so I am super shocked and surprised. As some eagle eyed fans noticed over the summer the IMDB page for Grey’s Anatomy was updated recently with the appearance dates of many of the original cast members being updated to 2020.

I have to admit when I first saw that I didn’t think much of it because Season 16 overlapped between the years 2019 and 2020 and since they mentioned and used archival footage of past characters during seasons 15 and 16 my initial thought was that the actor’s profiles were updated to reflect this for contract reasons. But now that the McDreamy Derek Shephard himself has reappeared anything is possible my friends!

Literally anything and I am so glad. It looks like there are more dream sequences and possible afterlife sequences to come. My guess is that more of Meredith’s deceased loved ones will appear on that beach. I’d love to see George, Mark, Lexie, Ellis Grey, Doc the dog the list goes on. I’d also love to see Cristina, Alex, Izzie, Callie, Arizona, and April all make appearances either through dream sequences or over Zoom.

I’m also wondering if they’re going to have Meredith code and then do a reprise of the elevator hallway sequence where the elevator doors open and Meredith’s dead loved ones and important people in her life greet her and tell her it’s only temporary and she’ll back in the land of the living soon. Oh gosh. What if they have Ellis tell her she’s extraordinary?!?! Now I’m crying! She so deserves to hear that! Oh my gosh. The possibilities are endless.

The Station 19 episode wasn’t much of a cross over to be honest and I’m okay with that. My best friend and I watched it for context, but you could have totally gotten everything you needed to know just by watching Grey’s and those are the cross overs I prefer. In the Station 19 episode we got some additional Bailey and Ben content (always nice) and we learned how the kids who wound up with third degree burns became injured. That’s it really.

Richard had some snaps in this episode! He had all the best lines in my opinion! He was hilarious. His exchanges with Bailey and Catherine were hilarious. It’s great to see him back on his feet and throwing zingers. Bailey was a boss ass bitch in this episode. I loved it! She laid down the law and I thought they did a really good job of showing subtly how the COVID situation is impacting her because of her OCD. I really liked that they wrapped up DeLuca’s storyline because as long time readers will know I was not a fan of his mental health storyline and the last two seasons have really made me hate his character.

I thought they did a good job wrapping that up giving the confines of COVID, both real and fictional, and that we got closure there. At this point they’ve wrapped up his storyline to the point that DeLuca is back to being a side character and just another doctor who works in the hospital and for that I am glad. A fun little aside, when DeLuca asks Meredith if there is a specific patient she wants him to check on she tells him to check on the patient in room 1702 which is the episode number.

I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t get as many Meredith and Hayes scenes as I would have liked. Hayes wasn’t in the first half of the premiere at all and his scenes with Meredith in the second half were briefer than I would have liked. However, that might be because they weren’t able to film scenes with the actor before COVID shut everything down so I am hoping that we will see more scenes between him and Meredith, especially him at her bedside, going forward now that both actors are full time regular cast members.

I really loved the scenes that we did get. They felt authentic and natural. That natural comradery that the actors have was there in full force. We got to learn more about both characters quarantine situations with regards to their kids and we got to learn a bit more about Hayes’ past and their developing relationship which was nice. Also I really want to hear that story he alluded to about hoping an electric fence as a teenager to see his girlfriend. I loved the aside where Meredith commented that his mask was falling apart and he told her that he gave his new one to a nurse who needed it more than he did. He’s so caring and compassionate and kind I just want to reach through the screen and hug him.

Meredith deserves someone in her life who is kind like that and who thinks of others the way she does. Who puts the job and her patients and her kids first over everything else. Who gets it and thinks nothing of showing that kind of compassion. She’s never really been with anyone like that before. No one who was a doctor anyway. I also thought it was very significant that Hayes invited Meredith to have a drink with him in his office after work and then was the one that found her in the parking lot at the end of the episode.

This appears to be a call back to the fact that he asked her out for a drink at the end of last season and she accepted, but asked that they do a rain check because she was so exhausted and the fact that they are growing closer and he wanted to check in with her and see how she was doing. The fact that he was the one to discover her I think is also very significant because at the end there I felt liked he looked towards her car to see if she was there to talk to her or to see if she’d gone home and I love that he was looking out for her in that way.

Also, the fact that he was the one to find her and call for help and that led into a dream sequence where she was reunited with Derek the love of her life feels very significant. The fact that Hayes calls out to Meredith and tells her to stay with him, in the present and in the land of the living, and then that transitions into the dream sequence where Derek is calling out to her on the beach feels significant to me. 

My best friend that I watch with commented that she could see them doing a scene where Derek tells Meredith it’s okay to move on and fall in love again the way Abigail did with Cormac in the flashbacks we saw in the Conference episode last season. And that based on that Meredith makes the decision to formally move on and actively pursue something with Hayes now that she knows she has Derek’s blessing and that her ex DeLuca is doing okay and is back to work.

I think both of those things could free her to truly give Hayes a chance and build a life with him. He’s really the only post-Derek love interest for me who really checks all the boxes and who I could see her building a life with in a way that would respectfully honour what her and Derek had. It also just occurred to me that because they established that both Meredith and Hayes are quarantining at hotels because of their COVID work and are away from their kids there’s a potential storyline there in that once Meredith is better they could quarantine together and spend some sexy time alone without breaking any of the necessary restrictions. I’d love to see them quarantine together.

Something else that I realized after watching is that the episode establishes that Amelia and Link are quarantining at Meredith’s house with Scout, Zola, Bailey, and Ellis and that Maggie has been coming by to watch and visit with the kids from a safe distance while Meredith has been quarantining at a hotel because she’s working COVID command. The fact that they set this up early on in the episode becomes important later when you realize that something is wrong with Meredith and she’ll be hospitalized for a while and could die so it sets it up that her kids are okay because they’ve got Amelia, Link, and Maggie, people that Meredith trusts, looking after them.

Also we find out that Meredith’s house has a backyard for the first time! So that’s neat. Maggie and Winston are officially the cutest! I love them! I’m calling it now they’re endgame. They’re soulmates. I thought at first the long distance thing was going to be super boring and dull, but they found a way to make it really sexy and fun and I love that! We finally found out what Amelia and Link named their baby! As many had predicted they named the baby Scout! His full name is Scout Derek Shepherd Lincoln! My heart! Derek would be so so proud of Amelia. She’s come so far. I loved the scene with Meredith, Amelia, Link, and Scout. I really felt like that was missing from the Season 16 finale so I’m glad we got to see it in flashback.

About the only thing we didn’t get to see in this episode that I would have liked to have seen is a scene with Richard and Meredith catching up and either operating or treating a patient together. They haven’t had as much time together recently and I’ve missed that. Although considering that Meredith is about to hospitalized I’m guessing were about to see a whole lot of that. We did get to see Jackson spending lots of quality time with Richard and we got to see Maggie stand up for him with Catherine this episode so that was nice. This episode changed my mind about Catherine and Richard. 

At the end of last season I really wanted them to separate and go their separate ways because I felt like they were bringing out the worse in each other and that was the only way they could find peace. But this episode we saw Catherine apologize really apologize and she made Richard Chief of Chiefs to make up for what she did and I thought there reconciliation was really quite sweet. Teddy and Owen wowza. Teddy was god awful and a terrible human being this episode. I was completely on her side last season, but this episode changed that for me. I hate Owen as a character most of the time, but damn if this episode didn’t make me feel for him. Oh boy. Teddy lied straight to his face multiple times when given the opportunity to tell the truth.

I don’t think there’s any way that they can come back from that personally. Which is a shame because for the first time in the show’s run Owen is single and is not hung up on someone else. Cristina is in Switzerland living her best life. She’s happy. That’s long over. Amelia is with Link. They have a child together. Her and Owen are happily co-parenting Leo and there’s no way that Owen, horrible as he can be, would do anything at this point to split Amelia and Link up or come between them because that would mean separating Scout from his father and having lost his Dad at a young age Owen would never knowingly do that to someone else’s child. At least I don’t think he would.

Plus, he got what he wanted in that he did get to parent Betty and Leo with Amelia and they still share in the parenting of Leo. I also thought there was a good call back there to when Owen cheated on Cristina. I hated that plot, but it’s nice to see them acknowledge his relationship with Cristina because it was so instrumental to the show in those early seasons. I’m glad that we got a reference to Amelia and Owen co-parenting Leo because I feel like that’s been missing lately. I get that Teddy is scared of being happy, but the way she treated Owen was just horrible. She was so awful to him in this episode I actually felt sorry for the guy and that is truly a miraculous feat because I rarely do because of how horribly he treats all of the women in his life.

Side note: His line where he told his Mom to tell Leo that the broccoli and carrots needed to be reunited in his stomach was both hilarious and horrifying! I loved Owen’s lines and how he kind of played Teddy while giving her opportunities to tell him the truth. I thought that was hilarious in a funny not funny kind of way. I’m curious to see what Teddy, Owen, and Tom’s storylines will be going forward. We didn’t see a lot of Tom in this episode and at the end he was fired and demoted to being a Neurosurgeon. There’s no indication of him and Teddy getting back together so I’m curious to see what they do with him.

Owen seems 100% done with Teddy and her nonsense and at this point I can’t blame him. I would be too. I’m interested to see where this goes. Will Owen end up with someone else? Will he stay single and continue on as a single parent? What will happen to Teddy? I’m starting to really like Levi as a character I have to say. Nico not so much. He treats Levi horribly and the guy deserves so much better. I loved seeing the intern from Pac North who called Bailey an icon last season checking temperatures. Amazing.

Richard’s idea on how to sanitize the masks with the purple light was really cool. I loved the moments between him and Bailey. I get why she’s worried about him, but as Richard says Grey Sloan is his life. It’s his longest and most successful relationship and as he says he will find no peace without it. Bailey and Ben have my whole heart. They are so cute. They’re the best. I loved the small moment that they had at the beginning of the episode where Ben did the “going through the motions” count with her because he knows it helps her. It was also a great call back to Jo teaching that to Bailey after she got out of treatment.

Also oh my god Jo and Jackson! Wow! I have to say when I saw fans speculating about that online before the show came back I thought it was the dumbest idea ever. One, because those two characters rarely have scenes together and aren’t that close. And two, Jackson has Harriet and is a single parent. Jo has been decidedly luke warm on the idea of having kids. She only considered it because of her relationship with Alex. That being said, after this episode I could go for it. I liked the twist that she went to Jackson and asked him for a favour and they were going to hook up and have a one night stand and then Jo got drunk on the way over and wound up crying because she wasn’t ready.

I have a feeling that they’re going to have them go back to being friends for the time being and then pick that storyline up later when Jo’s had a chance to heal possibly in the second half of the season. I also like that they wrapped up the storyline between Jackson and Vic and that we got to see Harriet for the first time in forever! Yeah! Vic isn’t ready or wiling to be a step parent and I liked that they established that Jackson needs to be with someone long term that is. Jo isn’t at that stage yet, but at least she’s open to the idea and has been married and had a successful adult relationship with someone in the past. Jackson’s been married, divorced, lost a child, and is raising a child.

With time and proper communication I think they could actually be a great pairing. Never thought I’d say that. Not wanting to be a parent is part of what broke Jackson and Vic up in the first place. They never addressed the issue with Maggie, but in retrospect that was never going to work out because Maggie is so involved with Meredith’s kids. They’re her main focus kid wise. We should have known that they weren’t going to work out when they failed to address that.

With April what broke them up was her devote faith and his complete lack of belief coupled with the different ways they dealt with the death of Samuel. While I did like April and Jackson as a couple I was happy with April’s write off in the sense that she got to be with someone who shares her faith and dealt with the trauma of losing someone close to them in a similar way. Her and Jackson never had that. Jackson found God in the wake of almost losing April, but by that point it was too late.

The damage was down. There was nothing either of them could do to repair what had been broken. With Jo he has the opportunity to start anew and lay all of that out on the table and vice versa. Although I imagine that the conversation Meredith would have with Alex about that would be pretty weird. I thought they did a really good job of showing the realities of COVID in hospitals right now. What the disease does, how deadly it can be, and how hard it is on all the health care workers and first responders. 

I have family members and friends who work in health care and it’s a scary time. Levi’s comment that they had lost 100 people in one day and that he’d had to tell 100 people’s family members that their loved one had died was chilling. It’s also real. This is not something they are sensationalizing for the sake of television. This is really happening to real people everywhere and it is heartbreaking.

In this episode we saw Meredith have her first breakdown in quite some time. The last one I can remember was after Derek died and that was a while ago. She was upset that so many of her patients had died and I’m sure that reality is something that a lot of healthcare workers are going through right now. This episode felt raw in a lot of ways because of that and I’m glad that a show that has worked so hard to reflect the realities of our time is taking the time to honour and showcase that.

Also I think having Meredith Grey the show’s titular character and star for over 16 seasons potentially contract COVID and collapse from working too hard and not taking her own advice is the ultimate example of it can happen to anyone and anyone can get it. The show did not have to go as hard as it did, but they did and they delivered and I respect the hell out of that. The tagline for this season is “Sometimes we all need saving.” Apparently they were being literal about that as that includes Meredith freaking Grey. What a twist!

I honestly believe that this will be the show’s last season. Because when I look at the storylines and the ways in which they’ve set up the characters starting with last season I can see where they could go with it and how they would wrap everyone’s storylines up in a satisfactory way. Plus I don’t think they’ll ever be able to top this season and it’s opener. Also we’ve got main cast members coming back because those actors are normally so busy they’ll probably never get another opportunity like this to bring them back and they’d be foolish not to take it.

The promo for next week teases more scenes with McDreamy (!!!), Meredith battling COVID literally, and Hayes visiting her in her hospital room. I’m excited!

Until next time!

[aaronmaurer]

TV I Liked in 2020

Every year I reflect on the pop culture I enjoyed and put it in some sort of order.

Was there ever a year more unpredictably tailor-made for peak TV than 2020? Lockdowns/quarantines/stay-at-home orders meant a lot more time at home and the occasion to check out new and old favorites. (I recognize that if you’re lucky enough to have kids or roommates or a S.O., your amount of actual downtime may have been wildly different). While the pandemic resulted in production delays and truncated seasons for many shows, the continued streaming-era trends of limited series and 8-13 episode seasons mean that a lot of great and satisfying storytelling still made its way to the screen. As always, I in no way lay any claims to “best-ness” or completeness – this is just a list of the shows that brought me the most joy and escapism in a tough year and therefore might be worth putting on your radar.

10 Favorites

10. The Right Stuff: Season 1 (Disney+)

As a space program enthusiast, even I had to wonder, does the world really need another retelling of NASA’s early days? Especially since Tom Wolfe’s book has already been adapted as the riveting and iconoclastic Philip Kaufman film of the same name? While some may disagree, I find that this Disney+ series does justify its existence by focusing more on the relationships of the astronauts and their personal lives than the technical science (which may be partially attributable to budget limitations?). The series is kind of like Mad Men but with NASA instead of advertising (and real people, of course), so if that sounds intriguing, I encourage you to give it a whirl.

9. Fargo: Season 4 (FX)

As a big fan of Noah Hawley’s Coen Brothers pastiche/crime anthology series, I was somewhat let down by this latest season. Drawing its influence primarily from the likes of gangster drama Miller’s Crossing – one of the Coens’ least comedic/idiosyncratic efforts – this season is more straightforward than its predecessors and includes a lot of characters and plot-threads that never quite cohere. That said, it is still amongst the year’s most ambitious television with another stacked cast, and the (more-or-less) standalone episode “East/West” is enough to make the season worthwhile.

8. The Last Dance (ESPN)

Ostensibly a 10-episode documentary about the 1990s Chicago Bulls’ sixth and final NBA Championship run, The Last Dance actually broadens that scope to survey the entire history of Michael Jordan and coach Phil Jackson’s careers with the team. Cleverly structured with twin narratives that chart that final season as well as an earlier timeframe, each episode also shifts the spotlight to a different person, which provides focus and variety throughout the series. And frankly, it’s also just an incredible ride to relive the Jordan era and bask in his immeasurable talent and charisma – while also getting a snapshot of his outsized ego and vices (though he had sign-off on everything, so it’s not exactly a warts-and-all telling).

7. The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)

This miniseries adaptation of the Walter Tevis coming-of-age novel about a chess prodigy and her various addictions is compulsively watchable and avoids the bloat of many other streaming series (both in running time and number of episodes). The 1960s production design is stunning and the performances, including Anya Taylor-Joy in the lead role, are convincing and compelling.

6. The Great: Season 1 (hulu)

Much like his screenplay for The Favourite, Tony McNamara’s series about Catherine the Great rewrites history with a thoroughly modern and irreverent sensibility (see also: Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette). Elle Fanning brings a winning charm and strength to the title role and Nicholas Hoult is riotously entertaining as her absurdly clueless and ribald husband, Emperor Peter III. Its 10-episodes occasionally tilt into repetitiveness, but when the ride is this fun, why complain? Huzzah!

  5. Dispatches From Elsewhere (AMC)

A limited (but possibly anthology-to-be?) series from creator/writer/director/actor Jason Segal, Dispatches From Elsewhere is a beautiful and creative affirmation of life and celebration of humanity. The first 9 episodes form a fulfilling and complete arc, while the tenth branches into fourth wall-breaking meta territory, which may be a bridge too far for some (but is certainly ambitious if nothing else). Either way, it’s a movingly realized portrait of honesty, vulnerability and empathy, and I highly recommend visiting whenever it inevitably makes its way to Netflix, or elsewhere…

4. What We Do in the Shadows: Season 2 (FX)

The second season of WWDITS is more self-assured and expansive than the first, extending a premise I loved from its antecedent film – but was skeptical could be sustained – to new and reinvigorated (after)life. Each episode packs plenty of laughs, but for my money, there is no better encapsulation of the series’ potential and Matt Berry’s comic genius than “On The Run,” which guest-stars Mark Hamill and features Laszlo’s alter ego Jackie Daytona, regular human bartender.

3. Ted Lasso: Season 1 (AppleTV+)

Much more than your average fish-out-of-water comedy, Jason Sudeikis’ Ted Lasso is a brilliant tribute to humaneness, decency, emotional intelligence and good coaching – not just on the field. The fact that its backdrop is English Premier League Soccer is just gravy (even if that’s not necessarily represented 100% proficiently). A true surprise and gem of the year.

2. Mrs. America (hulu)

This FX miniseries explores the women’s liberation movement and fight for the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and its opposition by conservative women including Phyllis Schlafly. One of the most ingenious aspects of the series is centering each episode on a different character, which rotates the point of view and helps things from getting same-y. With a slate of directors including Ryan Bowden and Anna Fleck (Half-Nelson, Sugar, Captain Marvel) and an A-List cast including Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, Uzo Aduba, Sarah Paulson, Margo Martindale, Tracey Ulman and Elizabeth Banks, its quality is right up there with anything on the big screen. And its message remains (sadly) relevant as ever in our current era.

1. The Good Place: Season 4 (NBC)

It was tempting to omit The Good Place this year or shunt it to a side category since only the final 4 episodes aired in 2020, but that would have been disingenuous. This show is one of my all-time favorites and it ended perfectly. The series finale is a representative mix of absurdist humor and tear-jerking emotion, built on themes of morality, self-improvement, community and humanity. (And this last run of eps also includes a pretty fantastic Timothy Olyphant/Justified quasi-crossover.) Now that the entire series is available to stream on Netflix (or purchase in a nice Blu-ray set), it’s a perfect time to revisit the Good Place, or check it out for the first time if you’ve never had the pleasure.

5 of the Best Things I Caught Up With

Anne With An E (Netflix/CBC)

Another example of classic literature I had no prior knowledge of (see also Little Women and Emma), this Netflix/CBC adaptation of Anne of Green Gables was strongly recommended by several friends so I finally gave it a shot. While this is apparently slightly more grown-up than the source material, it’s not overly grimdark or self-serious but rather humane and heartfelt, expanding the story’s scope to include Black and First Nations peoples in early 1800s Canada, among other identities and themes. It has sadly been canceled, but the three seasons that exist are heart-warming and life-affirming storytelling. Fingers crossed that someday we’ll be gifted with a follow-up movie or two to tie up some of the dangling threads.

Better Call Saul (AMC)

I liked Breaking Bad, but I didn’t have much interest in an extended “Breaking Bad Universe,” as much as I appreciate star Bob Odenkirk’s multitalents. Multiple recommendations and lockdown finally provided me the opportunity to catch up on this prequel series and I’m glad I did. Just as expertly plotted and acted as its predecessor, the series follows Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman on his own journey to disrepute but really makes it hard not to root for his redemption (even as you know that’s not where this story ends).

Joe Pera Talks With You (Adult Swim)

It’s hard to really describe the deadpan and oddly soothing humor of comedian Joe Pera whose persona, in the series at least, combines something like the earnestness of Mr. Rogers with the calm enthusiasm of Bob Ross. Sharing his knowledge on the likes of how to get the best bite out of your breakfast combo, growing a bean arch and this amazing song “Baba O’Reilly” by the Who – have you heard it?!? – Pera provides arch comfort that remains solidly on the side of sincerity. The surprise special he released during lockdown, “Relaxing Old Footage with Joe Pera,” was a true gift in the middle of a strange and isolated year.

The Mandalorian (Disney+)

One of the few recent Star Wars properties that lives up to its potential, the adventures of Mando and Grogu is a real thrill-ride of a series with outstanding production values (you definitely want to check out the behind-the-scenes documentary series if you haven’t). I personally prefer the first season, appreciating its Western-influenced vibes and somewhat-more-siloed story. The back half of the second season veers a little too much into fan service and video game-y plotting IMHO but still has several excellent episodes on offer, especially the Timothy Olyphant-infused energy of premiere “The Marshall” and stunning cinematography of “The Jedi.” And, you know, Grogu.

The Tick (Amazon Prime)

I’ve been a fan of the Tick since the character’s Fox cartoon and indie comic book days and also loved the short-lived Patrick Warburton series from 2001. I was skeptical about this Amazon Prime reboot, especially upon seeing the pilot episode’s off-putting costumes. Finally gaining access to Prime this year, I decided to catch up and it gets quite good!, especially in Season 2. First, the costumes are upgraded; second, Peter Serafinowicz’s initially shaky characterization improves; and third, it begins to come into its own identity. The only real issue is yet another premature cancellation for the property, meaning Season 2’s tease of interdimensional alien Thrakkorzog will never be fulfilled. 😢

Bonus! 5 More Honorable Mentions:

City So Real (National Geographic)

The Good Lord Bird (Showtime)

How To with John Wilson: Season 1 (HBO)

Kidding: Season 2 (Showtime)

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy Vs The Reverend (Netflix)

[lelliefant]

Spoiler Alert!

The following photo set includes images that contain spoilers for the Loki TV series.

We’ve got new behind-the-scenes photos from the Loki series set! You know what this means...

It’s Time for More of Lellie’s Wild Speculations Based on Minimal Footage!*

Goody!

Now...what have we here?

Observations:

Loki (played by Tom Hiddleston) and an unknown character (played by Owen Wilson) are walking across a parking lot in the rain, surrounded by several uniformed soldiers or guards of some kind, who are wearing helmets and body armor. Owen’s character wears a raincoat and Loki wears a short rain jacket that does not cover his legs, so his pants are totally soaked in the rain.

Loki’s jacket and pants are the same beige as the shirt he wore in the Super Bowl ad for Disney+ that came out earlier this year, where he was in a jail cell of some sort and apparently wearing a prison uniform.

(Opinion: Loki would normally not be caught dead wearing beige. )

Both Owen’s coat and Loki’s jacket appear to have the orange TVA (Time Variance Authority) insignia on their chests.

In some of the shots, Tom/Loki has his hands in his pockets, and in others he has his hands gripped together in front of him.

In some of the shots you can see that the soldiers are holding some kind of stick or wand, rather than guns.

In some of the shots, the soldiers are laughing and smiling.

In all of the shots, the soldiers are somewhat scattered, rather than walking in tight formation around Loki.

There appears to be a massive shopping cart in the background to the right of the group, along with one of those cart stalls you see outside the grocery store. By “massive,” I mean the cart appears to be at least six feet tall, unless the size is a trick of the camera’s telephoto lens.

Speculations:

This scene takes place on Earth, in the parking lot of a strip mall or big box store where shopping carts are used. (I’m going to assume the oversized shopping cart behind Loki in one of the photos is a trick of the camera lens.)

The scene takes place within the last 30 or so years of history—since those stalls for shopping carts in the parking lot weren’t invented until the ‘70s or ‘80s. (People used to walk their empty carts back into the store themselves.) Or the scene could take place in the next few decades ahead of us, before shopping carts and cart corrals become obsolete for some reason or another (like, robots do all the household shopping?).

I think some of these photos show the actual scene while it’s being filmed, but others do not. The shots in which the soldiers are laughing may be from a rehersal or other off-camera preparation. (I would not expect military troops to smile and laugh while they should be on alert.)

The soldiers surrounding Owen and Tom are TVA troops. (If you look closely at the ones in back of the group, you can see the beige TVA outfits under their body armor.)

Those funky wands the troopers are holding are their weapons. The wands could be electric shockers or ray guns, but I would expect something a little more unusual. Like, maybe they can use those wands to freeze time in a selected area or something like that.

Owen’s character appears to be a senior TVA official or authority of some kind. He is definitely with the TVA.

I speculate that Loki is voluntarily leading Owen’s character and the troopers to something hidden somewhere inside the mall/shopping center.

The troopers are not guarding Loki closely (as the SHIELD troops guarded him on the helicarrier in Avengers1). Their more relaxed formation seems to indicate they do not see Loki as a threat. They are probably primarily a protective escort for Owen’s character—not there to restrain Loki.

Since Tom is gripping his hands together in front of him in some of the shots, Loki may be wearing handcuffs. However, I’m guessing he’s not, because he has his hands in his pockets in other shots.

I think Loki is cooperating with the TVA, but he is not actually a TVA agent, as some have already suggested. For one thing, Loki is not a team player. He is an agent of chaos. He would revel in the disorder the TVA is trying to control. On top of that, Loki is a prince and a god. Can you imagine him working—for a boss—at some agency?

Knowing Loki, he is probably working with the TVA here because they have something he needs/wants, and vice-versa. Loki will not hesitate to turn on them if necessary.

I think the TVA have some sort of technology that prohibits Loki’s magic—otherwise they would not have been able to incarcerate him in the scene from the Disney+ Super Bowl ad. (That said, it’s always possible Loki was pretending to be captured for his own reasons—as in Avengers1.)

If the TVA is able to restrict Loki’s magic, that would explain why Loki is wearing those hideous beige clothes that appear to be standard-issue TVA gear—when we know he would prefer to wear a Gucci suit. If Loki had his powers I think he’d dress himself differently. In any case, Loki is incognito, masquerading in human clothing rather than wearing his Asgardian armor (except in one noteworthy photo, which I’ll come back to).

Maybe Loki’s threat of “burning the place to the ground” (from the Disney+ Super Bowl ad) was idle—he really was captured and powerless in the scene from that clip (and probably pissed about it). So, he had to find another way to get out of jail. Maybe he struck a bargain with the TVA to get them something they want or to show them something important.

What might the TVA want that they can’t get themselves? If they can go anywhere, at any time they want, nothing is inaccessible to them—as long as they know where it might exist at any point in time.

For example, if the TVA wants to stop a bomb from going off in a shopping mall, they could go back to anytime the bomber was making the bomb or setting it up. If they want to prevent an assassination on the President, they could capture the assassin at any point in his lifetime. The TVA would have extraordinary power over the universe.

Suppose what the TVA wants is the Tesseract. Remember, in Endgame, Loki took it out of it’s proper place in time/space, creating an alternate reality. The TVA—an organization that tries to control time anomalies—probably didn’t like this. Perhaps the existence of Loki’s timeline threatens the regular time-space continuum. Suppose the TVA needs to secure the Tesseract in order to end or eliminate Loki’s alternate timeline.

What if the TVA was chasing Loki and managed to capture him—but not the Tesseract? Maybe Loki stashed it...in a shopping mall, of all places. Maybe Loki convinced the TVA to let him go in exchange for bringing them to the Tesseract.

I would think that normally the TVA could just find a good place in the timeline to take the Tesseract from Loki—but none of this is occurring in the normal timeline. We’re in Loki’s timeline, which isn’t supposed to exist. Perhaps the TVA can’t travel or see forward in Loki’s timeline. This stands to reason because Loki’s timeline is uncharted territory. It should not be, so the normal rules of time and space don’t apply. (What a perfectly chaotic environment for the God of Mischief!)

It looks to me that the time travel in the Loki series will happen through the use of whatever technology the TVA uses—not through the Time Stone (Infinity Stone).

So, in this scene, Loki has to work with the TVA to win his freedom and get his powers back, while the TVA needs to work with Loki to get the Tesseract. But their interests probably sharply diverge from there. The TVA will probably be trying to eliminate Loki’s alternate timeline because they can’t control it. Meanwhile, Loki will be trying to keep it going because if the timeline ceases to exist, so does this version of Loki—unless he can escape into the regular timeline first. Thus, both parties will be struggling for power over the Tesseract while racing to stop or save the alternate timeline.

Finally, there’s this:

Confirmation of a Lady Loki! She is definitely wearing Loki’s Asgardian armor. I can’t wait to see how she fits into all of this! If she appears in this particular scene in the parking lot, which seems likely, I imagine Loki gets his powers back during the scene.

Or all of these ideas could be completely incorrect. Once again, these are just my wild speculations, based only on these new photos and my problematic knowledge base on MCU Loki.

I’m working through some further theories regarding time travel in Loki’s timeline, but they’re still simmering. I’ll share them if they wind up making any sense!

Special thanks to Torrilla for sharing these photos from the Loki series shoot!

*Note: Lelliefant’s speculations are sometimes uncannily correct but occasionally way, way off base. Lelliefant claims no responsibility for any lost bets or dsmaged otherwise incurred by Tumblr readers, stans, or mutuals resulting from adherence to the aforementioned speculations.

[watching-pictures-move]

Put On Your Raincoats #4 | A Woman’s Torment (Findlay, 1977)

The movie opens with a fairly awkward sex scene while the ballgame is playing on TV. It looks a tad one-sided, to put it tactfully, something confirmed moments later when the woman corrects the man when he tries to cheer her up. They didn’t make love, she insists, “you just masturbated inside of me.” Ouch. The man and woman are husband and wife. The wife suspects the husband is having an affair. The husband, a psychiatrist, is eager to get to a party, the host of which is his close friend, whose wife with whom he is indeed having an affair. (Or was. “An affair is not like a marriage. It ends.” This is said moments after he calls her a “cock-stirring sight.”) This husband, on top of being a lousy friend and lousy husband, later wears a denim sportcoat, is audibly disgusted when crab meat and sour cream is served as hors d’oeuvres, announces that he’ll be delivering a lecture on breasts, and eventually declares himself as the world’s worst psychiatrist when he tells someone “Right now I think you need a man's body next to you, more than all the therapy in the world.” Anyway, back at the party, his friend tries to talk him into offering his services to his wife’s stepsister, who’s been staying with them for weeks but hasn’t said a peep. This character, played by Tara Chung, is the main character.

Indeed, this character doesn’t say a word until around a third into the movie. After the party, she packs up and retreats to a beach house, where she spends the rest of the movie. She’s not the only one here. A repairman (Michael Gaunt) shows up, initially as a sympathetic presence, although things don’t pan out. A nosy neighbour drops by, alarmed that all the lights are on (”Haven’t you heard about the energy crisis?”), but her presence is not well received. A couple spots the house from a boat and thinks it would be a great location for a tryst ( "It looks like all the lights are on." "No, no, that's just an optical illusion." "I've never made love in a deserted house before." "It is rather kinky, isn't it?") and...let’s just say if I found strangers fucking in my house, I’d be pretty pissed too. In between all of this, we cut back to the two couples, who drunkenly sing “Beer Barrel Polka”, fight, fuck, and worry about the poor stepsister all alone in that beach house. Eventually, the psychiatrist decides to drop by to check in on her, and I won’t spoil what happens exactly, but let’s just say it involves an ashtray resting on one’s navel while wearing a speedo, as well as the marvelous advice I mentioned above.

A Woman’s Torment is a pretty strange movie. On one hand, it’s pretty obviously a pornographic take on Repulsion. On the other hand, it keeps cutting back to the domestic squabbles, which play like a sitcom about bad marriages or a parody of a soap opera. It’s an odd fit conceptually, and Roberta Findlay’s direction is not the smoothest, but the contrast between the film’s different textures makes it cinematically compelling. I was unimpressed by the one other film I’d seen by Findlay, The Oracle, but while this shares a similar artificiality in style and crude scenes of horror (candy red blood and disjointed editing figure in both), the notes of soap opera and pornographic content make this feel dynamic in ways that movie didn’t. This also has the benefit of an evocative location in the coastal beach house setting, which provides an eerily calm counterpoint to the violence, sex and melodramatics. It brings to mind the use of similar locations in such films as J.S. Cardone’s The Slayer and Agnes Varda’s Documenteur, and the three films might make an interesting triple feature.

The movie gets much of its power from Tara Chung’s performance. It’s not a good one, exactly, but her presence is ungainly and distinct enough to carry the movie. If it feels more like a disjointed collection of tics than a complete performance, that’s because Chung ran off with a gaffer in the middle the production, leaving Findlay to stitch together her character from the available footage and even stepping in to put on a dress and a wig and play the role during a murder scene. I don’t think the movie is worse off as a result, and Walter Sear’s soundtrack, full of distorted voices and dissonant sounds, also helps put us in her fraught, unstable headspace. There’s also some comic relief courtesy of Jake Teague as the psychiatrist and Marlene Willoughby as the neighbour, who go all in on the respective bozo and dowdy qualities of their characters. I’ve said enough about Teague’s character, but my favourite moment of Willoughby’s is when he takes off her shoes and dumps sand all over a table and then chastises the main character for being a poor housekeeper. (“You’re not very neat, are you, dear?”) This is after stealing a lightbulb.

The film exists in both softcore and hardcore versions. I suspect the former is Findlay’s preferred cut, as she notably found shooting hardcore sex scenes to be distasteful. (Her trick for getting through them? Grab a telephoto lens, find a halfway interesting angle and move the camera up and down until you’ve eaten enough runtime.) Some of the sex scenes here are indeed shot in a pretty perfunctory manner, and the softcore version also has the benefit of added story elements and dialogue scenes, the highlight of which in my opinion would be a moment where Robert Kerman discusses Fellini in a brief cameo. (I’m beginning to develop a similar affection for golden age hardcore that I have for Italian horror, where the mere presence of certain regulars brings me some joy. Kerman benefits doubly given his work in both industries.) Yet I can’t deny that the explicitness of the hardcore footage gives the themes of sexual repression a certain charge, and Chung’s scenes in particular carry a real tension thanks to the instability of her performance. The ideal version of this movie would keep her sex scenes in their full, explicit form and trim the others (and of course keep the Kerman dialogue). As is, either version is still well worth your time.

[purplesurveys]

1047

What’s the most historic thing that has happened in your lifetime? I can think of a few things. There’s 9/11 though I was barely conscious then, Osama Bin Laden’s death, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, 2011 Japan earthquake, and the H1N1 and Covid pandemics. In my country, there were typhoons Ondoy and Yolanda, the Manila hostage crisis, and the Hello Garci election corruption scandal. Out of these, though, I’d say the heaviest ones to bear have been 9/11 and Covid.

What happens in your country regularly that people in most countries would find strange or bizarre?

We use a spoon and fork to eat and only really fancy shmancy restaurants give you a knife and a fork. Many eat with their hands as well, though this is way more common in provinces.

Everyone is late to everything and punctuality isn’t a thing, which is a big culture pet peeve of mine and I still like arriving early/on time anywhere.

This applies to Asia in general lmao, but shoes typically aren’t allowed or at least frowned upon if they go beyond the main entrance of houses.

We start Christmas as early as September, and we end it by the last week of January

When families get together, aunts/uncles will usually greet their nieces/nephews by asking if they already have a boy/girlfriend and/or telling them that they got fat. Horror relatives will greet you with both.

People generally like to keep to themselves, so striking a friendly conversation with strangers even if you have the pure, genuine intention to be simply friendly will just lead them to think you’re being a creep lol

What has been blown way out of proportion? The effects of video games and the question of it increasing violence among kids. Sure there’ve been gruesome accounts and no one’s invalidating those, but the overwhelmingly vast amount of people who play video games end up okay. I had so many killing binges on GTA but to this day I can’t even look at a real gun without shuddering, lol. When was a time you acted nonchalant but were going crazy inside? This is me every morning at work. 9 AM-11 AM is always the busiest period and it’s a lot of shit happening at the same time and a lot of morning deadlines to meet, but unlike college I can’t exactly call for a timeout whenever I want and have panic attacks anymore.

What’s about to get much better? I hope my fucking life is next in line. I’m tired of being tired of being tired.

What are some clever examples of misdirection you’ve seen? Probably all the times WWE would mislead viewers on a rumored return or debut of a big name by saying they’re in another city, implying that there’s no way they’d be appearing on a WWE show. This happened with Ronda Rousey and it was so fucking exciting when she finally showed up, haha.

What’s your funniest story involving a car? I don’t know, really...I don’t try to be funny when I’m on the wheel lol. Probably the time I let Angela use my car on campus, and when she needed to make a u-turn she ended up doing an awkward 90º turn and had an SUV nearly crash towards us. She had only driven a handful of times at that point so she was a little clumsy, but neither of us had any idea she’d fuck up a simple u-turn as badly as she ended up doing lmao.

What would be the click-bait titles of some popular movies? I can think of more clickbait posters than titles, but I can’t seem to remember what those films are called right now.

If you built a themed hotel, what would the theme be and what would the rooms look like? Themed hotels generally make me cringe. The most theme-y place we ever stayed at was the lodge in Sagada and it was really just more homey than anything. I’m not into themes when it comes to hotels as I find it a little cheap lol and I’ve always preferred a straightforward experience in the places I stay at for vacations.

What scientific discovery would change the course of humanity overnight if it was discovered? A way to live forever. < This is a good one. Also, maybe a huge asteroid or meteor bound to hit the planet that will make widespread extinction a certainty? I can’t even begin to imagine the panic that will rise from something like that.

Do you think that humans will ever be able to live together in harmony? I doubt it. It sounds difficult especially when you realize we’re 7 billion in total.

What would your perfect bar look like? As long as there aren’t any annoying younger college kids, who are almost always the loudest crowd and not in a good way, I’m okay with any kind of bar.

What’s the scariest non-horror movie? Some shots in 2001: A Space Odyssey are freaky as fuck. There were several scenes that included sudden HAL shots, and I did not enjoy those. How the fuck Kubrick managed to make a computer scary is beyond me. I’ve also always skipped the vortex scene with the creepy face shots after seeing it once.

What’s the most amazing true story you’ve heard? This is a really vague question... a few months ago I watched this video diary of parents who had a child born at like 25 weeks. Just way too early, basically. And they recorded the kid’s weekly progress, how she kept fighting, and her journey of being transported from one machine to another while she still needed them. It was beautiful to see her get bigger and plumper with each week that passed and it was just such a feel-good story to watch. I was so relieved when they showed footage of her as a normal, healthy toddler by the end of the clip.

What’s the grossest food that you just can’t get enough of? I know balut is pretty unpopular in the Western part of the world, but I’ll gladly eat a dozen of them in one sitting. In general Asian street food is usually considered gross - pig intestines, chicken intestines, chicken feet, pig ears, etc., but all are normal in the culture I was raised in.

What brand are you most loyal to? It’s annoying and I can’t help it, but Apple.

What’s the most awkward thing that happens to you on a regular basis? I try not to make it regular, but sometimes a mistake on my end will slip through in an email I’m sending and I have to send another email correcting myself and apologizing for the oversight. One of my least favorite parts about work.

If you had to disappear and start a whole new life, what would you want your new life to look like? I’m not wishing for much. I just wish it was easier to remove any trace of me on social media sites and have it be as if I never existed because I think that would make it easier for me to move on from...well, you know what. I still have trouble verbalizing it and I don’t feel like mentioning it tonight.

But idk, I like staying connected to my family and friends, so idk if I can ever achieve that. And that said, I think I’m bound to always keep seeing her around.

What movie or book do you know the most quotes from? I memorize a pathetic amount of dialogue from Love Actually, Twilight, Titanic, and The Proposal.  What was one of the most interesting concerts you’ve been to? I guess Coldplay? They gave assigned lightsticks for each section and the crowd looked amazing when the production crew activated the lights for certain songs. I still have some of the clips because I posted them on Snapchat, so I’m really glad I did that; otherwise I would’ve lost the videos forever.

Where are you not welcome anymore? I’ve felt pretty unwelcome around her. How she could do a 180 and just not be interested in having anything to do with me is really soul-crushing.

What do you think could be done to improve the media? Fact fucking check, please. Also keeping sources balanced, avoiding clickbait headlines, being more objective than neutral, and don’t fucking sensationalize. How timely that this landed on a journalism graduate, hahaha.

What’s the most recent show you’ve binge watched? Start Up but I haven’t continued in the last two weeks :/ I think it’s because I know I’m nearing the finale and I subconsciously just don’t want to run out of Start Up episodes to watch lol but yeah, I still have four episodes left and I have no clue when I’ll watch it again.

What’s a common experience for many people that you’ve never experienced? Being close with their mom and considering them as their rock.

What are some misconceptions about your hobby? I don’t know enough about embroidery to know misconceptions about it.

What did you Google last? 2001: A Space Odyssey because I needed to be sure of the scenes I planned on citing in the question above that made me mention the movie.

What’s the dumbest thing someone has argued with you about? Not being able to find a restaurant to eat at. The backstory is a little complicated but it’s the same fight that led my younger brother to slap me across the face, and what subsequently led me to stop speaking to him.

If money and practicality weren’t a problem, what would be the most interesting way to get around town? Probably a tank.

What’s the longest rabbit hole you’ve been down? It’s always the ones on Wikipedia lol. I find weird and interesting articles on there all the time; there’s always something new to read.

What odd smell do you really enjoy? The rain, though sometimes it can be too overpowering when the humidity has been high. I like it for the most part, though.

What fashion trend makes you cringe or laugh every time you see it? Streetwear is so fucking dull to me. I never saw the appeal.

What’s your best story of you or someone else trying to be sneaky and failing miserably? Hahahaha this happened just a few weeks ago actually. My parents and I were headed out to have some ramen, and I opened the car door to hop onto the backseat. They didn’t prepare beforehand and they left the Christmas gift I asked for - a corkboard - in the backseat, so I was able to see the whole thing, unwrapped and with price tag and all. Their mortified faces knowing that their secret’s been blown were hilarious. They had no choice but to just give it up, and the corkboard has been on my wall since.

If you had a HUD that showed three stats about any person you looked at, what three stats would you want it to show? I guess the stability of our relationship, their general mood for the day, and erm how badly they need a hug because I’m always willing to give some.

What’s the best way you or someone you know has gotten out of a ticket / trouble with the law? My mom fake-cries her way out and it’s always been hilarious to see a grown ass woman do it and pull it off every time.

Tear gas makes people cry and laughing gas makes people giggle, what other kinds of gases do you wish existed? I don’t really want to manipulate people’s action in this way, so pass.

[damagedsmile]

here is how I choose to write my Arkham verse & using actual institutional laws, I design the world which has played such a part in forming Joker’s opinions on said instituitions

Like many (if not all) institutions for the criminally insane, Arkham segregates genders (mainly due to the fact that no one wants a rape or murder /assault to be committed, particularly by the cons who prefer female victims) but the exercise yard is split down the middle by a wire fence where the male wing can see the female wing (this fence is, like all the fences, manned by armed guards in their towers).

Arkham is a place for the criminally insane; therefore a serious crime must have been committed for someone to be placed there (plus a court order stating this in trial along with a given period) & a rigorous psychological investigation will occur before sentencing. Occasionally a felon will be point-blank certified insane, thus beginning the investigation etc, even if they do not choose to plead insanity.

You do not get to commit yourself to these places for help nor does your family (if they deem it best for you), &  you do not get to walk free when you decide, as you would in a general institution if you have voluntary committed yourself. These places are not in use to give aid to people suffering with general mental health issues, they are specifically for the criminally insane, a different class altogether.

Usually how these sort of institutions work is that a felon is sent there to receive therapy & if (a big if in some cases) a felon proves to be ‘rehabilitated’ just enough during their sentence, they will undergo an intense assessment (like a parole hearing); if they happen to be deemed fit & able enough, they will then be re-allocated in to an actual state prison to serve out their sentence.

So basically the running of an asylum for the criminally insane is like that of a prison: there is a scheduled routine in place for every inmate that runs like clockwork. You have a set time for waking up, being let out of your cell, & being put back for ‘lights out’, having a shower, eating meals, recreation, smoke breaks, therapy sessions, everything. Here are some titbits from research I choose to play by:

Showers are communal & supervised, as is grooming (things like shaving)

There are classes in place so to keep inmates ‘calm’, like art classes for example (art therapy) & lush grounds, or a botanical garden like Arkham has, where they can help upkeep the environment

Inmates deemed fit are given duties in the cafeteria serving meals or cleaning, or doing the laundry

Jewelry, make-up, perfume, dye, etc are not permitted

Medication is given daily with meals & often inmates are forced to take them if they refuse to

There are guards, doctors (those who give therapy, those who work with medications, & those within the infirmary), interns, orderlies, & nurses; all of them have different roles to perform

Inmates are thoroughly frisked after meals or working in the kitchens to ensure they have not hidden cutlery on their person but some violent inmates are often given plastic cutlery

Therapy is designated in to one-on-one sessions & also group sessions. They are always supervised (either by guards /orderlies within the room, outside the door, or watching through a two-way mirror) & occasionally a panic button is allocated to the acting doctor in charge of the session

There are different wings on the grounds which are designated according to the level of treatment an inmate needs - violent inmates (max. security), less violent inmates, inmates who are beyond rehabilitation, etc - & a portion designated to housing the infirmary, offices, the visitors’ centre, etc

Inmates are allowed visits on usually a monthly basis (orchestrated between loved ones & a person in charge of overseeing appointments) &also visits from lawyers & local law enforcement working on tying up the inmate’s crime. I don’t think there are conjugal visits allowed though. It is illegal to remove an inmate’s visitation rights.

Inmates are allowed to send &amp; receive mail, although it is read before being posted/given to the inmate just in case of plans of escape etc

Padded cells are in-house as are straitjackets & other uses of restraint for violent inmates; an inmate sent to a padded cell is being sent for a period of ‘solitary confinement’ as punishment, usually for being extremely violent or having broken a major rule. When this happens, their privileges (mail, visits, smoke breaks &amp; recreation time, etc) are suspended until both the assigned doctor, the Asylum Director, & the Warden are in agreement that they can be reinstated once an inmate has shown enough good behavior

If necessary, & deemed so by the asylum authorities & the legal system, an inmate can be ‘doped up’ on medication to keep them docile

Some modern asylums do still practice electroshock therapy & Arkham is one of them; some of them (Arkham included) allow for interns or famed doctors of psychology to conduct research for papers by permitting them one-on-one interviews. They do not permit anyone but the staff (doctors & asylum authorities) access to inmate records or therapy session notes/filmed footage

Recreation time is made up of access to the rec. room (where inmates can converse, watch TV, read, play games, etc) & access to the exercise yard where they may walk, converse, play baseball or other sports, work out, smoke as much as they like outside of smoke breaks

Specifically, Joker is a much detested regular inmate for the staff &authorities of Arkham (alongside his fellow inmates) for these reasons:

He costs the asylum a lot of money in repairing broken furniture & lawsuits for staff / doctors / inmates assaulted

He is often the one criminal people think of when they think of Arkham’s publicity as being a system that actually ‘works’ for rehabilitation (due to the shit he’s done over the years); aka he’s bad publicity for them

He treats most people like absolute dirt & makes their jobs harder than they need to be

He’s both hated & feared by everyone because of his reputation but concerning fellow inmates, he often makes them jittery & harder to ‘keep calm’ just by his name / arrival being mentioned, while also purposely starting fights or goading them in to bad behaviour

The only reason why Joker is allowed walk free of Arkham every time is that they are legally obliged to release him in to penitentiary care when he passes the ‘parole hearing’ previously mentioned & of course, they do look for reasons to get rid of him this way (such as having him legally declared sane once upon a time). After that, it’s up to the court if he is to be released in to prison, & much of the time they are easily convinced to allow it by Joker, his lawyer, & the desperate authorities in Arkham who want him gone. That is, if he hasn’t already escaped by the time such hearings are organised.

Joker’s long-standing tirade upon Gotham City is allowed go on because Gotham does not have the death penalty in their legal system otherwise he’d be long dead by now.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Can we have the tea on why firefly getting cancelled was a good call tho?

My confidence on this website grows in direct proportion to my follower count, and thus the opinions I post get steadily more controversial.  I actually got a mostly-positive response to my pro-Twilight post, so [glances around nervously] [dons fake beard] here it is:

IMHO, the producers were right to meddle in Firefly after its pilot, and they were right to cancel it after 12 episodes.

I enjoy Firefly.  I’ve rewatched “Safe” and “Out of Gas” over a dozen times, I had a Serenity poster on my wall in college, and I’ve got Mal’s quote about statues as an epigraph in my current NaNoWriMo project.  However.

First: they were right to kill the pilot.  (And I don’t mean Wash.)

The biggest problem with the first first episode, in a nutshell, is Mal.  He’s a potentially intriguing character, but he’s not likable, he’s not competent, and he’s not entertaining.  No antihero has to be all three, but every antihero has to be at least one, right off the bat.  A couple examples of antiheroes that got whole shows:

Dexter Morgan (Dexter) is a literal serial killer, so definitely not likable, but the pilot showcases that he’s terrifyingly competent with cellophane and also has an entertaining interior monologue.

Greg House (House MD) is questionably competent, and not that likable, but he’s highly entertaining because he immediately makes us laugh.

Jed Bartlett (West Wing) is largely incompetent at social matters, and he’s not funny at first, but he’s immediately charismatic and likable.

Frank Castle (Punisher) isn’t classically entertaining, and he’s not likable, but he’s shown as highly competent from minute one.

Malcolm Reynolds isn’t funny at first.  He responds to insults by punching Simon in the face or throwing Jayne out of the room, barely tolerates Zoe’s fond teasing, and doesn’t joke around much.  Malcolm Reynolds isn’t likable at first.  He acts openly contemptuous toward Book’s and Inara’s chosen professions, seriously considers killing Simon for trying to protect River, loots corpses, and ignores Kaylee.  Malcolm Reynolds isn’t competent at first.  He fails twice to find a fence for the protein blocks, fails to detect either Simon’s or Dobson’s lies, gets himself and his first mate shot in a bad deal, and barely escapes with his life.  He tells Simon that any day where he manages to keep his ship in the air counts as a success.

I don’t want to watch an entire show about this guy after seeing just the pilot, and I sympathize with anyone who feels the same way.  The only moment in 120 minutes of screentime that intrigues me is the smash cut between Mal announcing to Simon that Kaylee died and Mal roaring with laughter with the rest of his crew over a prank well-pulled.  It’s competent, funny, likable, and enough to make me want to tolerate this guy long enough to see what he’s going to do next.  I don’t blame the producers for demanding that we see Simon-pranking guy more, Simon-punching guy less.

The other tone or setting inconsistencies in the pilot — the characters riding horses when they’ve got a faster-than-light ship, the dirt and platinum constructions, the Chinese vendors offering street meat made out of dog, the heroic depiction of the vainglorious Confederate Browncoat cause, the crew all being fluent in Mandarin but not having a single Asian character in the whole cast* — make it hard to get a sense of what the show is meant to be.  The different elements just don’t make sense together.

Contrast that with “The Train Job,” the second first episode.  There are undeniably Western and sci-fi elements, but they actually make sense together: instead of characters inexplicably swapping land speeders for horses, there’s a spaceship swooping low over a bullet train.  Crow uses frontier weaponry, but it’s an intimidation tactic, and he does own a blaster.  The Asian-influenced elements make a lot more sense, appearing mostly as background details that hint at a melding of cultures.  Mal is warm and affectionate with his crew, willing to joke around to entertain the audience, and at least 43% less misogynistic toward Inara.  Niska plays an important role in plot and character, setting up the possibility that we haven’t heard the last of this plot and also acting as a foil to the Serenity crew, who might kill the occasional unarmed prisoner but at least do their best not to poison entire towns.

Is “The Train Job” as unique an episode as “Serenity”?  Nope.  Does it do a better job at getting someone who’s never heard of this show before to want to tune in next week?  I think so.

And then the cancellation.

Obviously, we’ll never know if people would’ve kept on turning in, because the series got less than a single season.  And I think that was the right call, from the producers’ point of view.  Firefly as a show might not have had the budgetary demands that, say, Game of Thrones did, but even an amateur like me can take one look at that series and go “damn, that looks expensive.”

There are NINE (9!) main characters, with series-regular salaries.

CGI was a lot more expensive and time-consuming in 2002, and literally every episode includes some exterior footage of the ship.

Every single episode involves the characters, or at least the cameras, leaving the ship and going to different phantasmagorical settings.

Even “Out of Gas” and “Objects in Space” had to take the time and money to build the junkyard and Jubal Early’s ship, respectively.

“Trash,” “Serenity,” “Jaynestown,” “The Message,” and “Heart of Gold” each introduces (and requires a build for) an entirely new fake planet.

Every single episode involves minor characters, and over half of them involve crowd scenes that require hundreds of extras.

Horses.  And cows.  Cost money.  As Wash says, shoulda gone with the counterfeit beagles.

The Serenity set itself was built to scale.  That’d save money in the long term, but in the short term required more camerawork to actually film in partially-enclosed locations.  When you add in the fact that the on-planet shots always required dollies, cranes, and similar equipment, it adds up.

On a similar note, “the Firefly shot” (as it became known) requires days of planning followed by hours of shooting to include all of the characters in one single extremely long camera pan (almost five minutes long, the second time it happens).  As a stylistic choice, it was a pricey one.

If Firefly had been spectacularly successful right from the start, it might have been able to justify its enormous budget.  The fact that it was modestly successful didn’t justify the amount of money it was sucking from other projects.  Over 90% of shows that make it as far as network deals never even get a pilot; over 90% of shows that go so far as shooting a pilot never make it past that first episode.  The network decided to spread the love (and the budget) around, rather than sinking it all into a single project currently taking the place of maybe a dozen other potential shows.

Not only that, but Firefly didn’t have a ton of options for cutting its budget down.  It could use fewer camera tricks, but that wouldn’t change the need for CGI just to convey the basic premise of the show.  It could cut a character or two, but the cast would still be unusually large.  It could have fewer on-planet scenes, but there’s only so much one can do with the characters if they’re cooped up inside their ship the whole time.  Firefly was also leeching resources away from that team’s two other enormously successful projects – Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel — and the low ratings of Buffy’s season 6 and Angel’s late season 3 into season 4 reflect that fact.  If it’d been allowed to continue, Firefly ran the risk of killing both those golden geese without ever getting to the point of producing eggs itself.

Do I wish there was more of the show out there?  Yes.  Do I wish the show had had time to evolve, hopefully into something with fewer problems of casual racism?  Hell yes.  Would I have pulled the plug as well, if I’d been in the room when it happened?  Probably yes.

*I am aware of the theory that, given the heavily Asian-influenced settings in the “Safe” flashbacks, the popularity of “Tam” as a Chinese last name, the choice of dark-haired light-skinned actors, and specific elements of the family’s pressure to excel but conform, that the Tams are meant to be Chinese.  Given that all four actors are white, and that there are already ample problems with anti-Chinese racism in this show, I strongly prefer not to ascribe to that theory.

[vanessakirbyfans]

After breaking out in Netflix’s hit global series and stealing scenes in 'Mission:  Impossible' and 'Hobbs & Shaw,' the British actresses about to display her range with frontier romance 'The World to Come' and gut-wrenching drama 'Pieces of a Woman.'

Vanessa Kirby was two days away from shooting Mission: Impossible 7 in Venice — reprising her role as the glamorous gunrunner known as the White Widow — when Paramount halted production. It was late February, and Italy had just recorded Europe’s then-worst outbreak of the novel coronavirus, at the time not officially labeled a pandemic. Tom Cruise’s billion-dollar blockbuster franchise had become the first major Hollywood casualty.

Seven months on, and with the film industry appearing irreversibly changed, Kirby is preparing her return to Venice. But it’s not for Mission: Impossible (she starts shooting that later in September). With The World to Come and Pieces of a Woman, filmed almost back-to-back in late 2019 and early 2020, the British star, 32, has the rare honor of having two films compete against each other in the Biennale, the first A-list film festival to physically take place since cinemas — and much beyond — shut their doors.

Appearing alongside Katherine Waterston and Casey Affleck in The World to Come — a frontier romance set against the rugged and patriarchal terrain of the mid-19th century American Northeast — Kirby plays flame-haired Tallie, who sparks an intense and liberating affair with a farmer’s wife, played by Waterston.

But it’s Pieces of a Woman — also heading to Toronto — and her quietly powerful and gut-wrenching turn as Martha, a woman dealing with towering loss after a home birth that goes wrong (shot in one hugely impressive yet frequently hard-to-watch half-hour take), that marks yet another new chapter for the actress, who already has condensed what many would consider a lifetime’s worth of career milestones into just a few years. A critics’ favorite on the British stage; Emmy-nominated and BAFTA-winning for her global screen breakout as Princess Margaret in the opening seasons of Netflix’s smash hit The Crown; part of two of the biggest action franchises around (she also appeared in Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw last year); and, for her next act, independent cinema’s newest leading lady.

Even before the reviews come in, Pieces of a Woman — also starring Shia LaBeouf, Ellen Burstyn and Sarah Snook — has found a fan in Martin Scorsese, who recently came aboard as executive producer.

“I haven’t stopped smiling,” says Kirby, speaking from the south London home she shares with her sister Juliet (a theatrical agent) and two close friends. “It’s such a mind-blowing thing.”

The actress was originally shown the script in L.A. by filmmaking couple Sam and Ashley Levinson (Ashley is producing the film for Bron Studios). Within 24 hours, she'd jumped on a plane to London, then Budapest, to meet director Kornél Mundruczó. “You know when you’re supposed to do something. ... It felt so right,” she says. “I wanted to show up and tell Kornél face-to-face how much I loved it and how much it touched me.”

Mundruczó, a Cannes regular who won the top prize in the 2014 Un Certain Regard sidebar for White God, also was taking something of a career leap, Pieces of a Woman marking his first English-language feature. But he found the right partner with whom to “take the big risk together,” likening Kirby to his favorite screen siren, Catherine Deneuve. “She’s someone who can express emotion for the unseen, and that’s very difficult,” he says. The World to Come director Mona Fastvold is equally praising of her star, describing her as an actor “who can truly disarm us” and their work together “one of most fulfilling creative partnerships I've had so far.”

Kirby, who cites Gena Rowlands as her cinematic idol (she has a photo from Rowlands’ 1980 drama Gloria in her room), says she had been “biding her time” waiting for such an opportunity: “I felt ready to lead a movie for a long time, but to actually do it was such a gift. Now that I’ve done it, it feels like a new stage for me.”

While there were few thespian genes in her family (her father is a top prostrate surgeon and her mother once edited Country Living), an 11-year-old Kirby caught the bug after watching a production of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. “I suddenly realized the power of telling these stories is that they can make you feel differently about yourself when you leave,” she says. “And I think that’s always been a goal for me since.”

Countless school plays — including an all-girl Hamlet (Kirby as Gertrude) — would follow, continuing on into college, where spare periods and evenings would be spent relentlessly rehearsing and putting on shows with friends (including Alice Birch, who recently adapted Normal People for TV). Audience numbers didn’t matter – several struggled to make it through a four-hour Eugene O’Neill adaptation, while there were definite walkouts when a group of them took Shakespeare's Julius Caesar to Edinburgh (“Why would you take Julius Caesar to a comedy festival?” she laughs).

It was all for the discovery, experience and thrill, which is why — just a few years later — when Kirby received her first paycheck, having picked up an agent and signed on for her first three professional productions, it felt strange.

“I still have the vision in my mind of holding that white paper and being like, why are you paying me? Someone’s paying me for this? Because I’ve done it so much.”

Performances of As You Like It, Edward II and A Streetcar Named Desire and collaborations with directors like Benedict Andrews would quickly establish Kirby as one of the U.K.’s hottest stage talents in the early 2010s. But by this point, screen had already come calling. BBC drama The Hour — a small part as a troubled young aristocrat alongside a pre-Bond Ben Whishaw — was her TV debut in 2011, landing four years before being cast in her most famous role to date.

The Crown creator Peter Morgan recalls going “rogue” when he chose Kirby, overruling the other show execs’ preferred choice for Princess Margaret. She had turned up to the audition looking like what he describes as a “catastrophic mess”; fake tan smeared haphazardly on her shins and hands stained orange (she’d forgotten to wash them after applying the tan).

“But she had an electrifying presence. ... You realized you were in the company of a rare and special talent,” he says, adding that her chaotic appearance plus visible nerves evoked the essential vulnerability he was looking for. “It was very Annie Hall.”

Subsequent screen tests — and the public reaction — confirmed what Morgan first saw, that Kirby was a “high-impact booking,” much like the royal she was taking on. “There was no room in which you were not conscious that Princess Margaret was there.”

To craft her Margaret, in which Kirby laid the largely unknown foundations that would support the royal’s more brash and defiant public persona in later life, she absorbed everything she could, seeking out footage where the princess thought cameras had stopped rolling, plastering her walls in photos and even listening to her favorite music on repeat (including a version of “Scotland the Brave” played on the bagpipes, much to her housemates' dismay).

“It was so exciting to play someone that was so complicated and so conflicted, who was really struggling with a sense of who she was,” she says. “But I also had to chart this journey carefully, across 20 years of a person's life, and try to make it believable and also set her up for the rest of the seasons that were coming.”

Mission: Impossible came off the back of The Crown, sometime in the middle of season two. “I think Tom had watched it, because he watches everything,” says Kirby, who was surprised to be warmly welcomed into the “Mission Family” during her first meeting with Cruise and director Christopher McQuarrie. “On my way home I rang my agent going, ‘I think I got the job, I’m not sure.’”

Hobbs & Shaw arrived via another route, Kirby approached by creative duo David Leitch and Kelly McCormick after she led a 2018 summer run of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie at the National Theatre.

While different adrenaline-fuelled vehicles, Kirby used both blockbusters to creatively “subvert” the usual expectations for female characters in action films, particularly within the typically masculine Fast & Furious world. “I was like, I don’t want to have to be saved ever, I don’t want to have to wear anything compromising, I want her to have her own emotional journey.” Her efforts were rewarded when a journalist wrote that Hattie — Kirby’s fearless MI6 operative in Hobbs & Shaw — had been her son’s favorite character. “How cool is that?” (She found the writer’s email to thank her).

As Kirby waits to start on Mission: Impossible 7 (and also 8 — she says the White Widow will likely “float in and out” of upcoming storylines), and for audiences in Venice and Toronto to see her first lead role, this philosophy is set to continue into what could be yet another career progression.

Alongside a daily film club with her housemates (with titles ranging from a list she found of the Dardenne Brothers’ favourite films to the cult so-bad-it’s-good hit The Room), Kirby has also used the months of lockdown to consider her next creative step and dream: setting up her own production company.

“I feel so excited by the thought that there’s so many female stories that haven’t been told. And so many that have examined the psychology of a man in a particular situation, but not the woman,” she says. “I feel like there’s so much opportunity for that and that we do actually have a responsibility. Changing that space is very important to me.”

[charlenelouise-gdc]

3.4 — FMP:

Fan Culture: FMP Development

After much thought, more research and further exercises, I came into the conclusion that I would like to pursue my third FMP idea revolving around fan culture. Even though I am passionate about all the subject areas from the other ideas and the way I plan on executing them, I feel like this is the right one to pursue at this stage of my creative career. I would like to use London as a resource to find content, as well as use the studio facilities available.

Overall, I think the project covers a topic that is both equally fun to do, but also something insightful and offer interesting commentary (on women, society and community). I like the challenge of bridging “low art” (pop music) and “high art” (documentary filmmaking). More so, documentary style filmmaking is one of my stronger skills as a creative, as proven by my FMP in Year 02, and is something I would like to build on. This project would allow me to level up my skills on this technique/style of filmmaking. I think there’s something comfortable as well as challenging in this project. 

The following bellow details some development I made on the idea, as the laying foundations for the project...

RECAP FROM THE EARLIER BLOGPOST:

“Fangirl” Culture

Like I said earlier, I’ve always wanted to champion women or pursue female centric stories in my work. Out of all the things out there regarding the feminine experience, nothing speaks more of it other than boybands and fandom culture. Its always been a persistent part of girl culture; whether it’ll be a pop band or a rock band. I think this would be an interesting world to explore.There’s already a preferred narrative around fangirls - the rabid, crazy kind. Although that is true in some extreme cases, it would be unfair to only present this as the only side of the story. I would like to show the other, more wholesome side. Fandom culture goes beyond the band and the music; in fact, they are only mere catalysts. Fandom culture is ultimately about identity and community; through the band and music, many young girls across the world is given the opportunity to own something and begin to have a good sense of themselves - ultimately forming an identity. Also, its about community; they’re able to connect with others and form strong bonds simply because of the band/music. You can see this, in the queues before gigs or the excitement they discuss their favourite member. Above all, it speaks about a different kind of joy that is often belittled.At present, a lot of the coverage around fandom culture are often done by people outside the community (with negative preconceived ideas which already suggest a bias). It would be interesting to see it from the people in the community themselves. I want to give the girls the voice and and let them reclaim the narrative. Ultimately, tell it from a loving lens. Also, I believe this is quite telling on how female passion is portrayed and what is acceptable, depending on the demographic. Football fans chanting? Perfectly fine. Girls screaming at concerts? Insane. This is aligned with women’s negative and dangerous relationship with hysteria throughout history. I think there is an interesting window to explore the social implications around fan culture. Additionally, I like the challenge of taking something from pop culture and considered as low art, and give it context and background. After all, it deserves to be studied carefully as much as its high art counterparts (From Stuart Hall’s theory Representation: feminine taste = low art, Masculine taste = high art). Above all, I think it would be equally as fun as well to do. It’s would be cool to celebrate fan culture, where its alive and present. Not just through a nostalgic lens. References: BTS’ documentaries: Bring The Soul (2019), “I used to be Normal” Documentary on fangirls across the ages (2018). 

FMP Development

I would still like to focus this project on BTS and their fans specifically. They’re the biggest boy band in the world right now and their fans are ones of the most active, both online and offline. I want to be able to document a part of this culture, while it is still happening and its best (rather than through a nostalgic lens). Most importantly, their work and music are monumental in many ways; they’re crossing boundaries, not only in the music but in race relations, toxic masculinity etc. Their global influence must not be undermined. 

Documentary Style

For this project, I would like to mix both real life footage to stylised setting. My main point of stylistic reference is Roxy Rezvany’s “Little Pyongyang”. She used a stylised set for her interviews, while also having real life, observational shots of her interviewees natural habitat/form. 

I think this would be a good technique to use for this documentary. 

I would like to build my own “teenage bedroom”. After all, this is one of the main touch points for fan culture and feminine culture in general. We learn so much about our tastes right there; this is evidenced in the posters on our walls and the CDs we used to collect. This is referenced a lot in Teen/Coming of Age films. I feel like this would an interesting setting for my interviews to take place. Anyway, it would be harder to film into people’s individual bedrooms. It would make filming easier if I can take my interviewees into one place, rather than going to theirs with my crew (setting up and wrapping up in all of them). More so, I think this is a good opportunity for me to use and improve my art direction skills (see image above for reference). I would decorate the set, referencing the 90s, personalised to a Kpop fan’s perspective (see reference above).

Content

The narrative will be crafted from the content being produced; the interviews will play a crucial role into this and will be the key part of this project. From the emotions to the personal anecdotes, it all stems from this. Therefore, I need to craft the interview questions I’m going to be asking, to trigger the “right” answers or reactions. More so, I really need to pay attention on the actual filming day, so the rhythm/energy of the interview is kept and the questions isn’t answered twice/already embedded on what they formally just said. More so, a technique I was taught/learned from my old FMP was to keep silent in some parts of the interviews, as the interviewees would naturally fill the silence themselves and bring their own thoughts onto the table. 

In terms of content, London is rich in terms of resources. It hosts so many hot spots for this fan culture and explore it in real life, in real time.

Some ways this can be executed:

Recall past major events (e.g. BTS Samsung AD that played in Piccadilly Circus that garnered so many fans).

Fan Hang-Out Places (e.g. Gaza cafe, specialising in Korean dessert, in Soho decorates their stores when members of the boybands and make special one-off desserts to commemorate their birthdays. A tradition among fans has then been developed where they make a pilgrimage to this place, to celebrate their favourite members’).

Replicating their steps (e.g. when BTS visited London in their last tour, they took pictures around London when they went exploring in their own time; fans replicated the pictures they took). 

Regular Kpop dance classes are held (e.g. BASE studios near Vauxhall).

BTS has an upcoming tour for their latest album, Map of the Soul:7, which includes London as one of their stops. There will be fan-led events leading up to the concert to celebrate their return. 

Potential Interviewees

There are few interviewees I think would be good options. Twitter was a good resource to look into, as it is one of the main hot spots for this culture to exist in. In particular, I would like to interview the following:

Lucy Ford (@lucyj_ford) - social media for Netflix

Ellie Bate (@eleanorbate) - buzzfeed reporter

Ikran (@ikran) - buzzfeed reporter

These girls are all what I call “professional fangirls”... They all have media jobs and respected in their profession, yet have unapologetic enthusiasm for BTS and their community (they have good followings on their social media too). They offer insightful but also equally fun things on the day to day through their twitter accounts; I think they would offer the same in a personal interview. Most importantly, they’re all close friends. I think they would have excellent chemistry on screen and their natural friendship would light up the interview. 

I would like to interview fans too, of all different backgrounds and races, inquiring how the band has impacted their lives. I want to achieve something similar to this, but communicated in my own personal style and design (rather than the typical, point and shoot interview). The content I want to capture is definitely there (in what they’re saying, how their band affected them personally, their community)...

Note: Professionally, I would like to only involve fans who are 18 years old and above, so it doesn’t interfere with filming; if I choose people who are 16 years old, it would require a legal guardian to sign a consent form and they have to be on set as we film - this could be a lot of hassle. Even though I’m not getting a full scope of the demographic this way, I think this would be the more sensible option. In addition, I feel like leaning towards the older end will give me more articulate, in depth answers. I think it would be a good idea to contact those who already has a platform, whether its a Twitter account with a reasonable following or a Youtuber who post videos. In a way, I feel they would feel more at ease at being in front of the camera and good at expressing opinions/feelings. I feel like I would do less teasing out of information during the interview if they naturally bring the information themselves.

I also plan on getting in touch with some UK based fanbases to help me boost the idea and find people to interview. This includes:

@BANGTANUK  @BTSUKUNITE @UKBTSARMATION @BANGTANSCHOLARS

____________________________________________________________

I look forward into narrowing this project further and progress onto fully forming the project. It feels very much my own and I’m ready to take care of it. 

Next steps:

Create proper pitch deck to send to interviewees*

Compile list of potential interviewees and rank them

Contact and introduce myself to interviewees

Create skeleton structure of the documentary*-

Create draft for interview questions*

Run a test interview (to check which questions work)*

Refine Set Design with accurate measurements*

Prop Buying

Contact potential Builders for the set

* urgent tasks - just because the film is non-fiction, planning is required and I must recognise where the beats of the film should be. This is something I failed to do in the D&AD project. Although I am crafting a narrative from non-fiction pieces of information and is dictated by the content of the interview, I should’ve known where to place them in advance.