#I rewatched this movie today after so many years

[flowerytale]

Legend (1985) dir. Ridley Scott

[wiredalienvampire]

straight pride should exist for them and them alone /joke

[lgbtqiapnfreak]

Why I think Byler is endgame

Before we start, you must know I'm really skeptical about theories and all. I like to read and have fun with them, but believe them? It's really hard for me as a 20 years old queer person. Since young I've suffered being queerbaited by mainstream series, Stranger Things wouldn't be the first nor the last to do that.

I know today things are a little bit better, but for the sake of my poor broken heart, I'm always expecting a deception. Yet, I can see byler happening in season 5.

Here we go to the reasons why.

The existence of Robin

I've heard a lot of straight people say, before season 4 and even now, that "Will can't be gay because Robin is the gay person in the show. There is no reason for another one".

Like? The show can have 38272 straight, developed and important for the plot characters, all of them with love interests and happy endings, and one gay character inserted as a comic relief is fine. Two? To much to deal with.

I know, I know, disgusting. BUT what if I say that Robin was not a character added to the show only for a comic relief or identity representation at all? That she was presented for the watchers to consider the existence of a gay character in the show. For them to recognize some queer coded things that, without Robin, they wouldn't be able to?

Robin was presented to us in Season 3. As we must know, the third season of the show is mainly dedicated to character and relationships development. Thanks to it, we got to see the characters way more cylindrically, their fears, mistakes, who they are in their normal daily life. Mike, El, Hopper, Joyce, Erica and Steve gained many new layers in this season, but Will had the most special one: the first explicit hint of his sexuality.

And then, Robin appears. At first we are conditioned to think she likes Steve, the Duffers play a game with the watchers' heteronormativity using the dubiousness of their dialogs. And then, boom! She is lesbian. Not only lesbian but repressedly in love with a girl - at least was - and jealous of Steve.

Thanks to this coming out scene

The interpretation door was open to see this as Will being in love with a boy, repressing his feelings and being jealous of the girl the boy is dating with.

Will's jealousy and feelings for Mike back then stamped the background of everything, it was being slowly built inside the show - but not inside the character, remember the Snow Ball script? It was always there, just unseen.

Until here we are only remarking that Will is gay. But what Robin has to do with byler as a ship?

Well, if she is the queer character created to open this door for Will, created to gain the sympathy of the general public as comic relief character who bonded with two of the most popular characters of the show - Dustin and Steve - since s3, showing the watchers the struggles of a queer person in the 80's in a "light" way and making the viewers to cheer for her love life, of course her character holds a big role with byler building a romantic relationship.

Robin appeared in Season 3 because the viewers wanted Milven to happen in season 2 - thanks to the heteronormativity and kids sexualization I may say - when it wasn't going to, it wasn't scripted like this and it's not going to be endgame. So Robin's creating a scape route for the writers.

The hints given about Will being called a f@g and Mike over protective and supportive behavior with Will were not enough to create this bridge between friends and lovers as we know very well.

Movie Date and Schrodinger Cat

Moving on. We know Will is gay. Okay. What is still uncertain in the show is Mike's sexuality and required feelings towards Will. Here, we are focusing in the required feelings part.

I read a lot of analysis about the "movie date scene". I remember people discussing the blushing frame and the holding hands theory even before s4 coming out and at the time it sounded like joke to me - as I said I'm really skeptical. Yet, after rewatch the part and reading a lot (especially @greenfiend 's one about the holding hands thing), I feel like I finally understood why the scene is so spoken of.

It's pretty simple, it's another open door. Not like Robin who is there to guide us to read between the lines but as something that is open to interpret and rely on when they finally get together. It was made for when people start to question "where did this relationship came from?" and create assumptions like "it came out of the nowhere".

In the scene, Lucas, Max, Mike and Will go to Starcourt's movie theater to watch a horror movie together. When arguing about Mike's behavior, Lucas remarks that he is spending romantic time with his girlfriend by going there. When they are finally inside, lumax and byler sits separately, then things start to get really fishy.

The construction of the whole next part, when they are inside the movie theater, from the beginning of the movie to the black out and end of the scene, are basically hands. Hands everywhere. In the close ups, in the people around them and even in the movie. Why? For us to see it, to think of it, to imagine. To imagine what? It's up to you of course, but we know people hold hands at movie theaters, specially when watching a horror movie, and we also know byler is the main focus on that scene for some reason.

But they didn't show us their hands, did them? No. Because of that, no one can really say they were holding hands, but the same can't be said about them not holding their hands. The construction of the scene deliberately leads us to question the possibility, however there is no true answer. Like the Schorodinger Cat, they are holding and not-holding their hands.

Also, the "are you okay?" Mike says, the camera play and Noah's acting leads us to think that, if they are holding their hands, it was Mike's initiative, not Will's.

The whole scene is purposefully dubious.

Noah looks down at his hand at the end of the interaction, up again, and then smiles. It's there but they don't show us! At the same time, if it was an unromantic moment, they would've shown us they were holding hands as they did before, so why not? Why do they keep the whole thing subtle, calculated, and masked by the MF plot if not to hold a secret meaning behind it all. A secret meaning for us to discover yet.

Like pleaseee, I swear this is some kind of torture for us gay people.

Mike's character construction and Finn's acting

I'm a ST fan since the beginning. I was here when the major public liked Jonathan better than Steve, when Mike was the favorite member of the party, and Finn was treated as one of the best child actors of the show. Looking back, it's pretty obvious things changed a lot since the third season.

Why things changed? In the last two seasons, Finn was accused of being "out of the character" and "having a bad acting". And Mike turned into a douchebag in public eyes.

The truth is: the way the writers had chosen to show us Mike changed. He still is the same insecure, paranoic, loyal, compassionate character who is a jerk sometimes from the beginning, but we didn't get the chance to see his POV since s2.

Mike is a character trapped in the expectations of the viewers. They expected him to date El, to love El as a girlfriend, to treat her the way she deserves - what he can do, but clearly not as a boyfriend. Their relationship wasn't scripted the way it happened, so his character needed to go through some changes to remain himself. And, of course, for mlvn to end, the viewers needed to hate his version with El. Again, it is a scape route.

His character is still the same, but the way we see him is different. The truth is the viewers expected Mike to acts towards El the way he did with Will after they started dating: unconditionally supportive, trusting, and understanding, but guess what? This was never on Mike's character to begin with.

He doesn't understand, trust, or support people unconditionally. They are showing how much he is inflexible and selective in what he wants to believe since the very first episode, we can see that in the relationship with his family and friends. Just remember his fights with Lucas in s1, s2 and s4 and Dustin in s2 and s3, they are his CHILDHOOD FRIENDS, but even them don't have the pleasure of Mike's unconditionally support and trust. The only character he is truly open to is Will.

These changes were made for us to see the difference between Will and the rest of the world for Mike. In season 3, when he appears to be a jerk to everyone, no exception at all, the only person he seems to retract this behavior for is Will. In season 4, Mike fights El and Will, but again, the only one he seems to understand and retract from his defenses for is Will. Again, the only person he is really open with.

Now, speaking about sexuality, the other reason for people to blame Finn's acting is the awkwardness in kissing and intimate scenes - like the first I love you he heard from his girlfriend.

I don't know about you, but for me, it is almost painful to watch them kissing. Not only kissing, the whole dating thing looks like a performance, and it's not a good one, if I may say. But here is the thing, it's on purpose! The same goes for the looks he gives Will's and Eddie's body.

Don't even think that every look, expression, or camera play is not calculated. These people spend so much money in the show for it to be half assed by bad acting or misinterpretation of the script.

[huntermanor]

'Labyrinth' and how trauma makes us search for escapism

Welcome to 'Mikaela please log off' where i talk and overanalyze movies because i'm unemployed. In today's hell of a post, i'm going to talk about probably my favourite movie and one that has shaped me for my entire life: 1986 'Labyrinth', with musical numbers written and performed by none other than Miss David Bowie himself! SPOILERS AHEAD.

Now i've seen this movie more times than i've seen my own face in the mirror. It's a movie i enjoyed in my childhood and certainly one that has shaped me, with how the puppets have a certain uncanny feel to them almost and how crazy and whimsical the whole movie is. It trully is an amazing movie that can be enjoyed by children, but also by adults as well, with many of the movie's themes and meanings being hidden or something you find with experience or relate to later in life. Because the movie is a very clear reference to fairytales like Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, is no surprise to know there are many, many different readings that can be done to it. The firts reading i made of the movie when i rewatched it as an adult was that the movie was a very clear allegory for growing up and maturing, having to leave behind your childhood but also keeping in mind your inner child so that you don't lose yourself in the labyrinth that is life.

While the allegory reading is correct, and i think it's one of the meanings behind the movie and certainly the most obvious theme, it's definetly not the only one. One thing kept me wondering after watching the movie this time: Why is the phrase 'You have no power over me' so important? It's used in the beginning of the film, with Sarah forgetting this line in her book, and by the end, when she's facing Jareth, Sarah remembers the phrase by herself, clearly showing us as viewers the inner power Sarah has over her life. It's obvious this line is meant to represent Sarah's ambition and power, but why is it this phrase? Whi is it You have no power over me and not something else like 'My power lies within me' which could tie to the end of the film, with Bowie's Within you playing? Well, after rewatching it recently, i figured it out: Sarah isn't just talking to Jareth, she's talking to her stepmother.

At the beginning of the film Sarah seems to be, on the surface, a spoiled 15 year old girl who doesn't want to do her chores and just wants to play around, not even wanting to date, something her stepmom wants her to do. Her stepmother wants her to mature and grow, to find love, etc. And Sarah and her obviously do not get along a lot. Two important details appear when Sarah goes back to her room at the beginning after fighting with her stepmother over having to take care of her little brother: her stepmother talks to her dad, telling him 'She treats me like the wicked stepmother of a fairytale', and when Sarah goes to talk to her to her room, he doesn't even bother to open the door or make sure she's okay after the fight. To some people these details seem just normal parent behaviour, but it was very clear to me after the film that Sarah is being emotionally neglected by her father, and possibly made by her stepmother to grow up to fast. Sarah is fifteen and an older sister, and unfortunately is common for older sisters to act as parents for their siblings while also not being taken care of themselves. We see Sarah clinging to her childhood as an escapism from the fact she feels completely neglected, since her dad won't even open the door to talk to her.

When Sarah tells Toby her fairytale, it's a clear depiction of how she feels like: There once was a princess who was basically a slave to her stepmother and she was forced to take her of her baby brother. Sarah takes her rage out on her brother and sends him away with the goblins, and inmediatly regrets it. She's repeating patterns of abuse. She's realizing sending her brother away is the submitting him to the same neglectful behaviour she has struggled with. So she makes a deal with Jareth to get him back.

Jareth poses an interesting character in Sarah's healing journey from her trauma. He's in love with her, in very possessive, clingy way that makes him do anything she asks him too to try to manipulate her to love him, which doesn't work on her, because she's probably used to it. The fact Sarah has a lot of toys and costumes, which makes us feel like she's spoiled, while being simultaneously emotionally neglected, is a very common way a manipulator convinces the victim there's no reason to feel that way. So seeing as she's used to being gifted things, being given 'her dreams', instead of actual emotional support and availability, Sarah is basically inmune to Jareth's advances. This could be read as Sarah's first experience with love outside of her family life, which is also a common thing in the experiences of older sisters: they date men who aren't good for them, repeating the patterns they're used to and being once again emotionally hurt. By the end of the movie, after meeting new friends Sarah loves deeply and grows to appreciate, and by being shown there are people who do care about her and who do love her and respect her, Sarah is able to fight Jareth alone, because she might be phisically alone, but she knows her friends have her back always. The found family trope is used here even until the end when we think Sarah has grown and the people she met in the Labyrinth are gone, and Sarah tells Jareth he has no power over her because she finally has healed, and she knows she deserves better.

By the end, Sarah has matured and learned, not just about herself, but about love and relationships of all kinds. She gives Toby her plushie as a way of showing she doesn't need to desperately cling to her childhood anymore, because she now has people in her life who care about her for real, and also she tucks him in as a way to show she's going to break the cycle, and show him finally the emotional support she didn't get from her parents. She keeps many things in her room, but puts others away, and when her friends from the Labyrinth appear to tell her they'll be there if she needs them, they don't simply say this and go away, but she makes them stay. 'I need you', she tells them, because even if she's healed, her life might still be filled with the remnants of her trauma, and an escapism might be needed. But most importantly, 'I need you', because they're her friends, her found family, the people who have shown her what she deserves in her life.

The movie definetly shows us the many highs and lows in life, particularely in adolescence, and how the journey to being mature can be difficult. But these subtle themes of emotional neglect, trauma, and the struggles of a young girl forced to grow up a little too soon trully give the movie another layer of depth that maybe not everyone might see, but some of us, specially those of us who relate to these struggles, do see and aknowledge, reminding us that we're not alone and that we deserve better, for our trauma has no power over us.

[dropthedemiurge]

Love for Love's Sake | Things You Didn't Notice #9

(okay it's not an episode number this time i just still have many details to point out oops pls let me go)

I swear. I thought I'd stop mentioning small details because I already wrote like 10 posts on Tumblr translating and explaining all the cultural stuff regarding this show and the obsession is already becoming embarrassing, but I rewatched the last episodes again and I've got tiny. Little. Details. That I can't help but point people to once again. Because damn, the amount of thought put into this show!

(trigger warning: first part talks about suicide and depression, next ones are linguistic and cultural)

The Black Suit & The Sea

I would've asked Koreans I know about the significance of such symbolism but they are celebrating Seollal (New Year) today and I don't wanna ruin the festive mood asking about "how would people dress for suicide" x)

But after watching this scene, I recognized some strong parallels in Korean media depicting depression, suicide and one's decision to end their life. One of it is bridges and jumping (if you don't know what Bridge of Life is, ask me and I'll share, so this post wouldn't become too long) but another one is sea.

My interpretation - Koreans wear black suits to funerals, so if someone is headed to the sea in a black suit, it might mean this is the character's attempt to "have" their own funeral before finally ending their life. Why do I think this combination is somehow significant?

Because I remembered a music video one of K-pop artists I like (Kim Hanbin) made, after he experienced the downfall of career, extreme hate and rejection from the public, and severe depression. His whole album Waterfall tells Hanbin's personal story, dark thoughts and his battle to survive during the time when he was gone for 2 years, but in the music video for this album (illa illa) he is seen emerging from the sea in a black suit – metaphorically regaining his music and, most importantly, desire to live. Watch with lyrics!

If we think, this is how you depict suicidal thoughts/attempt in Korean media (of course, Love for Love's Sake was even more blunt in telling us the meaning), then Myungha wearing black suit wasn't just for the pretty or dramatic picture. More than that, we see him wearing the black suit for the whole last evening – especially when he goes to finally meet his mother.

Which tells us Myungha has already decided to disappear from this world, and was determined to do it on that day, and his mother rejecting him and pretending she doesn't know her son might not have been just the last straw... but it definitely could've been Myungha's last attempt to find anything in his life worth staying for, worth not going through with his plan.

Anyway, what a scary but beautiful symbolism.

Let's talk about something happier! More heartwarming!

Do you remember when we talked about the carefully placed movie posters in previous episodes? I payed more attention to the background this time when in Episode 8 Yeowoon ran to the cinema searching for Myungha in his world. And what an amazing discovery! When Myungha starts existing again and calls Yeowoon, the movie poster behind Yeowoon says "Guardian" (보호자).

And I already said in another post that Myungha in previous episodes admitted himself being Yeowoon's "guardian, protector" in the exact same word. But now this word is shown next to Yeowoon! As Yeowoon is the one who changed the main mission and has now declared himself Myungha's guardian and protector and will do his best to make him (his favourite pereson/bias/blorbo) happy. They have now both become guardians for each other. This. Goddamn. Show.

And I also want to shout out the VFX & Production team for this show – all the visual effects are very down to earth, gentle and not over the top but enhancing the series to the max. Like, maybe you wondered where on the screen does it say "Monday, August 14" and "Saturday, August 12"? Well, as expected, you see it on four monitor screens above the box office – the date, the ongoing movies (yep, still our favourite two fake movies) and available dates etc.

But when Yeowoon and Myungha agree to meet each other in the exact system time, they are facing each other without a barrier, and the screens are now counting down the time until the Game End. Instead of normally showing movies, like in the previous shot, it says "Time remaining: 3 hours, 23 minutes, 15 seconds". It was either done with VFX or practically, but still, the thought of incorporating system messages into the actual background is insane and I'm always happy to discover such details.

I don't know how many of you have motivational stairs at your schools, we definitely didn't have this but it's quite a popular thing in Korea. They put popular and uplifting sayings for students on each stair, sometimes they even quote motivational phrases from idols, like this:

And it's interesting that when system gets broken and Myungha is about to disappear, we see the deep cracks coming through the stairs, we see ruined school BUT at the same time the quotes in the show are so obviously in our focus. And they are already written (see screenshots above) in Korean and English, but I'll still write down: one is saying "Stay hungry, stay foolish" and "If you dream it, you can do it, you will succeed". So, perhaps... motivational quotes from sunbae?

And the last moment isn't heavy on translation but I still want to talk about it because cool Korean culture!xD You see the gang grilling meat on the roof (it's called samgyeopsal and it's very popular to have for gatherings), and then Myungha makes a "ssam" and feeds it to Yeowoon – but Sangwon steals it.

Ssam is a wrap, you grill meat then put it on the salad leaf, add other ingredients (like mushrooms, sauces, garlic, green onions etc, there are many side dishes) and then you wrap it in this sort of salad sack and eat it. It's very tasty and unusual combination. But the thing is! There is no way to make it for someone else and leave it on their plate so if you make a ssam wrap for someone and want to give it to a person, you literally have to feed them (like Myungha does with a very fond smile). This is why it's often seen as a romantic gesture (aka feeding someone from your fork etc) and why it's hilarious that Sangwon steals this ssam from Yeowoon (because he wants and he gets Myungha's affection and he's not above being a brat about it!)

I'm sure you can already sense it anyway without me telling you about romantic/close-friend implications, but I thought you guys might wonder why are the guys fighting over the salad leaf.

Another funny thing – Sangwon mentions "There's a saying, 'Don't scold dogs while they eat'". This is a Korean proverb "밥 먹을 때는 개도 안 때린다" ("You don't hit even a dog when it eats") which means that, no matter how annoying you find someone, no matter how angry you are, you can't scold this person while they are eating. Eating is a very important cultural thing in Asia, of course, so do not have arguments at the dinner :D But it's funny how Sangwon uses old proverbs to be mischievous and steal Myungha's love without consequences xD I adore him

I swear, this gotta be my last post about all the details in Love for Love's Sake. There is one more scene with the mirror and a caption, and I'm very curious if it means something because it was seen twice, during system breaking down scene as well, but it's either in Chinese or Japanese and I can't read it.

Anyway! Hope you enjoyed your everyday magazine, I love reading all your tags and thoughts and comments, and if you want to read all my previous translations and pointed out cultural details in Love for Love's Sake, go read this tag!=)

[civetcider]

As a kid I used to get these wild intense feelings about Terk and I didn't figure out that it was gender envy for like 20 years after that. Anyway, that gorilla transed my gender.

yeah it's honestly still really cool to see such a genuinely well written "tomboy" character for lack of a better term, i can only assume that's kinda what they were going for at least? haha, i actually rewatched tarzan the other day since i hadn't seen it in such a long time and she's still SO GENDER esp at the end of the movie where she's sad tarzan is leaving but hides it by pretending she doesn't care and Tantor yells at her for being emotionally constipated LIKE i didn't think i was gonna get called the fuck out but FINE, she is important to me, and it's crazy cuz i really feel like even today you don't see many characters like that in media

tarzan DOES just make me wish we got a movie without the boring hetty human romance and it was all about the gorilla troop drama, like the lion king or the old disney cat and dog movies TBH just my opinion no humans needed in this story just make a movie about gorillas tbh fr

but anyways my favorite character was actually tarzans mom here's my self insert fanart where after tarzans stupid dad dies or whatever i start dating his mom

[dorkynerd23]

Why Green Eggs & Ham (GEAH) Is The Best Dr. Seuss Adaptation.🍳💚 (Analysis)

Hello Everyone!! Hope you're all doing good and well and everything's going well for you all. ♥️ Wanted to come here and discuss about a show, an incredible show that even after it's release and end, it's still a well-made and amazing show that still great all these years later, and the show I'm talking about and referring to is Netflix's Green Eggs & Ham, I'm gonna discuss about how it's the best Dr. seuss adaptation to date.

Now, before we discuss and talk about Green, Eggs & Ham, we need to talk about and mention the past Dr. Seuss adaptations and dive deep into them real quick. Now when it comes to adaptations to Dr. Seuss's work, most of the time it's either hit or miss, mediocre or just flat out terrible and awful. One thing I've gotta mention is that Dr. Seuss beforehand wasn't very open to adaptations to his work, with the reason being that he was worried and afraid that his characters would be used in context for things he didn't 100% and necessary didn't agree with. But that eventually changed when he came to the cartoon adaptations that we all know today and overtime would loosen up his views and allow more adaptations of his work. And the first adaptation of his work was an animated short called "Horton Hatches The Egg" (based on Seuss's book of the same name and this book came way before Horton Hears A Who, btw) which was released back in 1942 and going forward, Dr. Seuss would later begin working very closely with the adaptations to make sure they stay true to the book, to the source material and in 1966, Seuss would authorized eminent cartoon artist, Chuck Jones himself (who was a close friend of Seuss as they also served in World War II together) to make a cartoon adaptation short based on "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" which would become the Christmas classic we all know and love to this day, Chuck would also go on to eventually direct + produce adaptations of both "Horton Hears A Who" (1970) and "The Cat In The Hat." (1971)

Dr. Seuss sadly passed away and died at the age of 87 from cancer on September 24th 1991 and from that point until her own death in 2018, his widow, Audrey Seuss would have full licensing of her husband's work and eventually gave in to the temptations of hollywood adaptations of Seuss's work which would be the movie adaptations. Let's start with "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" which was released back in 2000, so to basically recap this film although I loved it as a kid and still kinda do, I see it as a guilty pleasure (now as an adult) and rewatched the movie not that long ago and I don't believe it's aged very well honestly.

There are some good things to this film such as Jim Carey as The Grinch himself, which is perfect casting and the makeup effects on him are incredible, you truly by him as The Grinch, there are some funny moments, I'll still watch it here and there around the holiday's and the set design is pretty good. But when you take off the nostalgiatic googles you can see the problems with the film, now..as I said, this film does have a good set design, but it's hidden underneath all of this murky colorless filter to the point it looks so dull to look at honestly, like there's not much life. Along with that, the movie is just incredibly meanspirited, almost everyone in Whoville is terrible (besides Cindy) and unlikeable, soulless and just care about materialism which I get is the point of the film, but it just goes against the message of the book, The Grinch shouldn't have to explain and spell out the message for the who's, HE'S the one who's supposed to learn the lesson not the other way around, but the movie just gets it totally backwards.

Now, although this film hasn't aged the best and there are so many issues with the film, there are some good elements to it, it's definitely not the worst Dr. Seuss adaptation and I'll still watch it sometimes around Christmas, but it just hasn't aged the best, but again..It's not the worst Dr. Seuss adaptation, no that goes to the next one we're about to discuss.

Alright, so in 2003 another live action Dr. Seuss adaptation was released, that being "The Cat In The Hat" starring Mike Myers. And I'll keep this short and simple as I wanna get this one out of the way, I also rewatched this film not long ago too and it still sucks years later, there is really nothing good about this film honestly. From the set design, to the acting, (especially from Myers himself) the makeup, especially the makeup and CGI. The jokes are also abysmal and this film doesn't capture anything from the source material and almost feels like a slap in the face and say what you want about The Grinch, at least SOME effort and decent stuff was added in that film, even not done the best exactly. But with this film, it's just awful and bad..you know a movie is terrible when Audrey herself said that her husband would've despised the film and prohibited any further live-action adaptations of Seuss's work because of how bad the film was. This film itself is honestly why Dr. Seuss was so hesitant and nervous to allow adaptations of his work and I still believe there is the worst Dr. Seuss adaptation to date, luckily the next few adaptations of Seuss's work (mainly when it came to the film adaptations) would be done in computer animation instead of live action.

So, after the disaster and failure of The Cat In The Hat, we ended up getting some more film adaptations of Seuss's work which would all be animated and those being "Horton Hears A Who", (2008) The Lorax" (2012) and "The Grinch" (2018) and we've got another adaptation in the works based on Cat In The Hat that'll be released in 2026 by Warner Bros. But for now, let's quickly discuss the other film adaptations and I won't dive super deep into them, I'll just quickly go over as I don't exactly have a whole lot to say about them, honestly. Alright, so "Horton Hears A Who" was the next adaptation and was released back in 2008 and it's the debatably the best Dr. Seuss movie but that's not really saying a lot, and I'll definitely say that it's definitely decent but there's not much to it, there is some charm to it but overall it's just a fine film. It's not bad or god awful, but not all that great either, the film kinda feels all over the place with its story and humor especially but mostly as a whole as it seems to be struggling to turn a short story into a full length film which that's a criticism you can say for the other Seuss movies as well. Sure the animation is nice and often pretty to look at and there are some jokes that land, but this film is just alright and is watchable. I'll definitely say that this film AT LEAST does understand the message of the book and the animation has I said is great and pretty and actually does lend itself well to the Dr. Seuss world, but overall this film is okay, it's definitely better than Cat In The Hat and it's not insulting garbage but there are better films to watch, but I'd say give this a watch if you're curious and haven't seen it.

Let's move on and discuss both The Lorax and The Grinch which were both made by Illumination, instead of giving these two their own sections I'm gonna to just to discuss them in their own paragraph here, so hopefully that's fine, lol! Alright, so when it comes to The Lorax...overtime, it seems to be kinda decisive especially over the years with some either hating, loving it, or just not caring about it. I'm more in the hating and not caring for it category, now in terms of adaptations, this isn't the worst one over what we've discussed so far, but it's still a bad and not very good film. First off, this film clearly has cooperate studio meddling written all over it, and I'm not just talking about the product placement in the film's marketing, (which btw, is counterproductive and goes against the film's message!) but I'm also referring to the big hollywood actors casting and pop songs, and just trying just so hard to hip and not understanding the source material in the slightest, this film kinda feels like it was made so make money and just never to be talked about again, and also feels dated as well too. That's not the only issues with the film, there's also other problems as well from the casting like I've mentioned, and I know star casting has become a huge problem and talkative subject over the years but the casting for this film feels off, I mean you've got Zac Efron playing a 12yr and Taylor Swift, and no offense to these two, but they were very miscasted and you can tell they only got these two to appeal and become they're famous, and not only that, there's also how they wrote The Onceler and just 100% redoing his character and just making him into this emo guitar player, Ect. This film is another Dr. Seuss movie that doesn't understand the message of the book, the book didn't try to oversimplify the environmental message by simply, "Yeahhh, man and humanity sucks, ahhh!!" It just was never that simple, it's NEVER that simple even in real life, and the book did a great job starting a conversation rather than simply pointing a finger at someone. I'll definitely say that the animation is gorgeous and it's colorful and seems to capture some spirit of the world of Dr. Seuss but it just feels wasted on such a weak story, weak characters, a genetic cooperate villain that's there for the film's message and nothing more rather than a fleshed out character, and overall a forgettable experience. Again, although this film is a mixture of bad and mediocre, it's still not as bad as Cat In The Hat.

And now we finally have The Grinch from 2018, which was greenlit by Audrey before her passing. And I'll say that I do remember watching this film in theaters with my mom and thought it was decent for what it was, but after rewatching the film for this analysis, I'll say that while the film has some flaws, it's definitely decent for what it is, the film does leave out some of the best parts of the original book and ended up changing the message of the story in general, it's not like the message they were trying to teach was bad or anything, the intension is there and this film still is fun and very colorful and I can see some heart and decent soul put into it , it's definitely a decent and alright film, and I can understand why some loved and enjoy it and think it's a fine film and think it's a lovely sendoff to the Dr. Seuss movie adaptations. (For now, at least)

ALRIGHT!! Now we finally move on to the adaptation that this whole post is all about, let's finally discuss the latest Dr. Seuss adaptation that's been released out to date, that being Netflix's 'Green, Eggs & Ham' that was released back on November 8th 2019. Now, I'll honestly say that I remember going into this show I didn't exactly have many expectations as knowing how past adaptations have been in when came to Dr. Seuss and his work, I didn't know what to expect and thought this show was be really bad or mediocre at the least, but I remember hearing positive things about the show and seeing images and clips of the show got me rather interested and curious, so I remember going onto Netflix and checking out the show and after watching all 13 episodes of the first season I was pleasantly surprised by how damn good and well made this show is/was, like everything about this show is incredible from it's talented voice cast, from it's animation, (the show looks great especially since tv shows that are based on movies don't have the same budget as the films) from the characters, the story and just everything. You can clearly see all the hard work, love and dedication that went into this show and could tell that the ones working on the show truly cared about Dr. Seuss and his work and wanted to make a show not just for kids but something for almost everyone can enjoy. Everything thing in this world when it comes to the show just looks, breaths and 100% feels like Dr. Seuss, I also love and appreciate the references to other Dr. Seuss books and while the other Seuss tv shows and even the films themselves (except for Cat In The Hat) they were also able to capture nail the look of Dr. Seuss but something about Geah feels different, it truly nails the spirit and world of Dr. Seuss and it's just a beautiful looking show on every level, the animators really poured their love and soul into animating this show.

And it only gets better from here, there's also other amazing things about the show especially when it comes to the writing, characters and the story itself. And with this show, instead of 100% focusing solely on the story of the book, this show instead decided to change the story up and intertwine the original story into this new one. So, in this show, Guy-Am-I (played by Michael Douglas) is an inventor and who's very down on his luck mostly due to his inventions and dreams always blowing up right in his face, after one of his inventions fails his chance to going to Meepville, Guy decides to quit inventing and throw away the towel. Eventually, Guy runs into Sam-I-Am (played by Adam Devine) who's this chipper, loveable ball of sunshine who stole a creature known as The Chickeraffe ("Mr. Jenkins") that intends to return it to its natural habitat and have it reunite with its mother. But after getting their suitcases mixed up and when a mysterious agent duo known as "BAD GUYS" show up and attempt to take the Chickeraffe, this results in both Guy and Sam teaming up together in order to get to Meepville to save Mr. Jenkins and get him home. Now, while this story especially with its main characters, we've seen this type of storyline a million times before as it takes two characters with different personalities and putting them together as they learn to get along and know more about one another, being another typical buddy road trip formula. But it actually works very damn well with this show, throughout the first season, we see that Sam is able to have a huge impact on Guy and his life, in the beginning, Guy starts off as a closed off, grumpy frustrated individual who's very down on his luck and doesn't like anyone. Meanwhile Sam on the other hand, is very upbeat, loves life and is sweet and kind to almost everyone he meets and likes everybody. Again, while we've seen this type of thing many times before, this show does this type especially many other tropes that are shown in this show pretty well, and throughout the first season we actually see the characters grow, we see Guy starting to be more open and confident and even becomes more happier and even starts doing more with his life and trying new things such as inventing, friendship, family, love, ect.

And I think what also makes this formula work is the believable friendship and dynamic between Guy and Sam, it's incredibly well written and you truly do believe in their friendship and their dynamic and interactions is great!! The two clearly have an impact on another one another but Guy especially and while the first season was mainly focus on Guy and his journey, the next season gives a lot of focus on Sam when it comes to him wanting to find and reunite with his mom, but we'll get slightly more on that a little later! But Sam is also another great and well developed character and he's an example of an annoying character done right which can be a very tricky task, he's a character who's annoying but not annoying to the audience. Sam has such a likeable and loveable presence and charm, with some of that coming from Adam's wonderful performance, but I was never at all annoyed with Sam one bit and loved the depth they gave in S1 EP10 and showed his connections with Green, Eggs & Ham which felt powerful and heartwarming. And the Green, Eggs and Ham aren't there just to just be mentioned here and there, and to teach the message when it comes to Guy trying them, but also represents and shows just how important and strong Guy and Sam's friendship truly is. ❤️

There's also other memorable and great characters in this show, we've got characters from the book such as the fox, the mouse, and then you have the goat, in this show they're all changed and are good in their own right. First you have the fox, named Michael, who's this an eccentric guy who's basically obsessed with green eggs and has a huge crush on a green chicken named Sandra, and it's just incredibly hilarious as hell and pathetic in a way but just funny, then you have the mouse who's basically a parody based on "Jean Valjean" from Les Misérables and the running gag with him is that whenever he talks, basically nobody especially Guy and Sam can't understand him and only hear squeaks, he also has this huge song that dives into his backstory and it's supposed to be sad but you can't help but kinda laugh at it. And then you have the goat himself, who's basically this unhinged, nonsense badass bounty hunter sent by Mr. Snerz and will pretty much stop at nothing until he gets and captures the chickenraffe. He speaks with a strong spanish accent and he's kinda like an antagonist but he's extremely memorable and fun, he also this pretty fun and great fight scene with Mr. Jenkins in S1 EP9 up on a snowy mountain and not only does the animation sand out during this scene but it's indefinitely entertainment, it's interesting that a Dr. Seuss adaptation of all things would have things along with other great things in this show.

Let's also talk about the other characters they added in this show, that being "The Bad Guys" and "Michellee and E.B." and the main villain of S1, "Mr. Snerz." These characters weren't in the original book and are entirely new characters but similar to the other characters, they're good in their own right. We've got the agents themselves, McWinkle (played by Jeffrey Wright) and Gluntz, (played by Jillian Bell) we've got Mcwinkle who's the serious guy who's on his last mission and wants to get the job done as soon as possible, while his partner, Gluntz is basically the optimistic rookie and basically the opposite from Mcwinkle. And again, while this show does use tropes that been done to death that get tiring, that's kinda the point and this show does new things and does these tropes well that it doesn't exactly bother me all that much, honestly. Mcwinkle is a good and interesting character, although he might seem cold-hearted and serious he does care about his job and also despite his gruff persona, he does care for animals and others and just wants to keep everyone safe and both he and Gluntz aren't bad people, they're just doing their jobs and are just flawed almost like all the characters. Meanwhile with Gluntz, she's just the absolute and I love the hell out of her, although she can act serious and tough, but she just so fun-loving and chaotic and she's the best girl. Really do love Gluntz though, she's plucky, sweet, and just hilarious and some of her moments of the show are my favorite!

Now we have Mr. Snerz, (played by Eddie Izzard) who's the main villain of the first season and he's basically this famous rich businessman who wants to have the chickenraffe and mount it to his wall, and he doesn't want him dead and want his head on the wall, no he just literally wants him tied to the wall so he can keep the chickenraffe there for the rest of its life so it can never escape, and Snerz did that with all the other creatures he owns. Now, I didn't have many opinions about Mr. Snerz in the beginning and thought he was fine but also thought he was gonna be this typical one dimensional bad guy who wants to steal creatures for money and all that jazz, the same type of villain we've seen before. But, he's not exactly like that, he can be just as funny as the other characters at times and has a interesting solid motive for doing what he's doing and it's shown through his backstory.

And then you finally have Michellee and her one and only daughter, E.B. Now, I'm gonna dive deep into these two the best way that I can especially with Michellee as I feel she's been hated for wayyy too long (especially by some certain shippers and fans in the Geah fanbase) and deserves so much better and I'll show that she's not as bad as some try to claim she is. Now, Michellee is very overprotective and cautious who wants her daughter to be safe and okay, while E.B. is a rebellious kid/teen who wants to explore and have fun and do things that kids around her age do. And again like before, while we've seen this done before, just like the show itself and both Sam and Guy themselves, Michellee and E.B. are great and developed characters and their relationship is very well done, they're also on their way to Meepville only for Michellee to enter a literal bean contest and they end up meeting with our main duo multiple times throughout the first season and we get a nice bond between the four main characters. Both Sam and E.B. form a sibling type dynamic/friendship meanwhile both Guy and Michellee form a relationship of their own, now..I'll definitely say that one of the flaws with this show was the ongoing misunderstanding when it came to Michellee and Guy which became frustrating and repetitive, and it doesn't help that most of Michellee's moments kinda resolve around this and I really do think it could've been handled better.

But the way I've seen some of these fans especially when it comes to GuyXSam shippers, say that Michellee is a awful and terrible person is just frustrating as hell and ridiculous. It reminds me when it came to The Owl House, some tried to claim that Camilla was a terrible mom, which is downright not true and it shows people don't get it. While yes, Michellee was overprotective and her being too clingy only caused her to push her daughter away and feel alone, but the point of the show and the story itself is to NOT judge something or someone before giving it a try, without giving it a chance and these characters DO ACTUALLY GROW AND DEVELOP!! Over the course of the show we do see Michellee slowly learning to get out of her shell and try new things, and allowing her daughter to have fun, we learn that Michellee used to be a painter years ago but when her husband unfortunately died (when E.B was very small) she gave up her dream and moved on and this is possibly why she started to become more protective of her daughter, as she didn't wanna lose her either. Michellee clearly loves and cares about her daughter with all her heart, she's not perfect and she's very flawed (just like all the other characters in the show) and we do see her starting to be more open and by the end of the season, and even through some moments of Season 2, we see she's developed and has grown. Michellee isn't a bad parent, NOT in the slightest, she's a caring and loving parent that only wants to keep her daughter safe but she doesn't realize that doing so only pushed her daughter away and made her feel alone, and I really do by the mother/daughter relationship between her and E.B. and find it believable, like all the other characters, they are very flawed and the point of the show is for them to change, grow and give new things a try! (^-^)

Meanwhile with Guy and Michellee, although the two didn't get along and hit it off at the start due to Michellee being unimpressed with Guy's inventions due to them literally exploding, as the show went on and the more times the two met up one another one they start seeing that they actually have some things in common. Both are quiet, keep themselves, along with being reserved, and despite the annoying and cliche misunderstandings and writing choices when it came to how their dynamic was done in during some points from the first season, the relationship between both Guy and Michellee is honestly rather sweet. It's nothing too deep or groundbreaking, but they definitely are cute, adorable and just wholesome together and you do genuinely believe that the two do love and care about one another, both Michellee and Guy go through the same character arc's only with slight different circumstances, with both characters starting off not trusting the world or anyone around them and wanting to be left alone but both eventually learn the importance of not being afraid to try new things! 🙂🩷

Now, I'll quickly mention the second season real quick and while this season definitely isn't as good and amazing as the first one was, it's still a decent nice watch and there are some elements of the second season that I did enjoy. Firstly the animation is still incredible and well done and there is still clearly effort and love poured into the show even if this season wasn't as good as Season 1. And I did love some of the new characters they added such as Looka and Pam (Sam's Mother) and thought they were interesting and fun enough characters and I did love what they did with Pam. Although, she does follow into a trope we've seen before, what they did with her was still well down and you can clearly tell that she does love and care about Sam and similar to all the other characters, she's flawed just as them and isn't perfect, but she's not a bad parent or a bad person either, and while with Looka, although I don't have a whole lot to say about him exactly, I still really liked him and found his relationship and romance with E.B. very cute and adorable and I really do love their dynamic with one another and ship them, but as for the other characters I do think they could've been handled a little bit better but they're still fine enough characters on their own and I do think the route they went with the story also could've been handled better and could've been a little darker especially as the story they went with for S2, was based and took inspiration from another Dr. Seuss book called, "The Butter Battle Book" which was an anti war book that was written during the Cold war and I think they really could've done something different and make it more darker, but what they went with was fine and okay for what it was, but I think it could've been handled better and now certain characters act and are underutilize was also an issue with the second season, but for what S2 was its definitely a decent effort and they could've done something so much worse, the soul and heart of this soul is still there even if it lacks in some places, it's still a good season and I like it for what it is despite its flaws and issues, I still enjoy it. 💙

Overall, Green Eggs & Ham is an incredible and wonderful show that's very underrated and should be discussed and talked about more, this is a show that truly understood the message of the book and the source material itself. This show took inspiration from a short book and expanded upon the message and fits perfectly to not just the Green, Eggs & Ham but also to the characters as well too as we see them try new things and develop over the course of the show and I think the lesson of the book can apply to all of us as well too honestly. Live life to the absolute fullest as it's filled with many opportunities and about discovering new things but in order to that, you'll have to get out there and do what you love and just give new things a try and don't giving up and keep trying, even when life is tough, difficult or feels rather pointless, keep pushing forward and trying things! You can tell everyone who worked on Geah, truly care about Dr. Seuss and this book and wanted to do the show justice and they 100% succeeded. Even after the show's conclusion, this show is still amazing, delightful and just absolutely wonderful, it's filled with so much love, passion, it's well crafted and it's just a masterpiece honestly and it's most definitely the best Dr. Seuss adaptation!

If none of you haven't seen this show before or even heard of it, I'd highly recommend this show as it's a great and fun watch and it's 100% worth your time. This show is for everyone and even if you aren't that familiar with Dr. Seuss, you'll still very much love and enjoy this show. Please everyone, give this show a try and check it out, it's worth it. 🫶🩷

[whoiwanttoday]

So it turns out Maika Monroe was at the Governors Awards and this is a good thing. It's nice to see her at stuff but in general getting recognition because I think she's a really good actress. Really good in a way that might be hard to parse for people who have only seen her in one thing because it isn't always clear how much of a role someone is playing in just one thing. Anyway, I think she's great and she was on my mind because my friend @wildflagsure watched Longlegs last week and I was excited for her take because somehow one of the best horror movies of the year became very divisive right after coming out. Largely a debate on if it is scary or not (and thus is it a horror movie or not). Horror is the one genre that deals with this, no one ever declared Pauly Shore movies to not be comedies because they didn't find them funny but horror gets this from all sides as people who don't like horror are desperate to tell you why a horror movie they liked and think is good isn't horror because they don't like horror and then you have the horror hounds who will declare things not scary and thus not horror when they have watched 100 horror movies a year for a quarter century and thus find nothing scary anymore. My favorite comment I saw on Longlegs was, "It's not a horror movie because it never even tries to be scary. You just feel dread the entire movie waiting for something to happen". Ah yes, intense dread… not a horror movie. Anyway, I was worried I might not be able to respect @wildflagsure anymore because she already has some pretty problematic takes on beans (she calls them yuck nuggets and satanic mush pellets which feels very performative because it's way more letters than beans but English isn't her first language so maybe it's just a bad translation. Either way she's wrong, legumes of all shapes and sizes are versatile, healthy, and tasty and really can add a lot to many dishes. They are kind of wonder foods). But she liked Longlegs. Also told me it wasn't really scary but I am going to call her out because she had to stop in the middle for a day because it was stressing her out so… seems like bullshit on the scary front. She also showed it to a friend who liked it. Anyway, it has me eager to rewatch it, though I am waiting for my 4K version to arrive. All of this to say I am glad to see Maika Monroe and wish her all the best in her career (that It Follows sequel is still rumored). Today I want to fuck Maika Monroe.

[vaguely-concerned]

Random Assortment of Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle Thoughts

Because I rewatched it today for the first time in many years and it’s one of those miraculous works that not only remaine as magical as I remembered it through childhood eyes, but if anything was even more magical as an adult and in more complex ways. I’ve finally got words for at least some of the things I was processing only subconsciously as a kid, so here we go. 

- The sneaky underlying theme of deeply flawed mother figures in this movie. Drives me nuts. The narrative doesn’t go out of its way to condemn these characters, it takes a characteristically phlegmatic nonjudgemental view of them, but it feels like this is low-key a stealth Mommy Issues story. (Making it go 🤝 with Dragon Age 2 in my head lol) Sophie’s mother does not seem to be consciously malicious but is intensely smotheringly self-absorbed and immature to the point where it has clearly been neglectful, and on the other side of the ‘Overly Permissive/Neglectful to Overly Authoritarian/Controlling’ scale of shitty parenting Suliman is controlling and invasive and heedless of boundaries. (Notice that her real complaint about Howl entering the contract with Calcifer and thus losing his heart seems to be that it means she can no longer control him and his grasp on magic, more than actual worry for him as a person. Her presence in his life is largely, ironically, paternalistic. She even frames it as something he blundered into incompetently — phrasing as him having had his heart stolen, rather than the mutual agreement we see Howl and Calcifer make even if they couldn’t know all the consequences it would have.) In the end Sophie breaks the circle by managing to be an engaged and responsive mother figure to Markl and making an actual home with the people closest to her. 

Interestingly Howl at his worst seems to be much more like Sophie’s mother than like Suliman — he leaves Markl to handle things he really shouldn’t have to alone all the time and is noted to barely be home anyway, in the beginning especially he’s flighty and vivacious and evasive (not to mention aggressively blond haha) in some of the same patterns we see her mom exhibit. Since Lettie is quite like their mother in terms of looks and sociability, we might infer that Sophie takes more after their father (including in choice of spouse lol). But crucially when the chips are down Howl is ready to protect Sophie and their home with his life rather than abandon her, in sharp contrast with her mother. I like that the movie doesn’t vilify Sophie’s mom for what she does, as such, it’s a pretty impossible position to be in for anyone… but it is just an extension of what she’s apparently been doing for a long time anyway, privileging other parts of her life and her own comfort over her daughter’s wellbeing and happiness. (Adds a certain spice and heartache to how scared Sophie is that Howl is going to leave them, too. And her fear that it would be because she’s fundamentally not good enough, beautiful enough, clever enough for anyone to choose her and stay with her. Ooof. Girl he’s been looking for you everywhere girl he thinks you’re the most beautiful thing in the world girl it’ll be okay)

- Relatedly: the unspeakably sinister vibes and implications of Suliman’s fucking… army of little Ersatz Howl page boys. When I was younger I sort of bought that he was just being a coward in refusing to go back, but honestly looking at all those kids with smiling empty eyes like painted marbles — you know what maybe it was good he got out of there when he did and in whatever way he could, huh. I don’t feel like there were wonderful things ahead here. Between that and the Witch of the Waste — who must have been much, much older than him when they seem to have sort of had a thing, since he seems to be like… mid-twenties-ish? at the time of the movie — there’s some really uncomfortable subtext going on if you want to read into it that way. I don’t think it’s the only way to read it by any means, but there’s something icky and clandestine sticking to Suliman’s whole deal that makes some form of grooming feel potentially relevant, especially taken along with the shame and fear that seems to cling to Howl around it and the recurring symbolism of him being stuck at a child state beneath it all — he slipped away from Suliman one day but never really grew up. (I’ll readily admit this is some fully Vibes based ramblings on my part, so YMMV on how convincingly you find this present in the text vs. how much is conjecture in my overthinking overheating noggin lmao)

- The fact that the first thing that allows Sophie to heal is to get to be angry — to finally get to say ‘this is all such absolute fucking bullshit *aggressively scrubs all the shit away about it*’. So much of her arc is about reclaiming the full spectrum of her emotions instead of having to make herself small, to prioritize her own inner experience and expressiveness above the need to be acceptable or pleasing to someone else's gaze. It’s not doing quite the same thing as the book in this regard (which if memory serves does more complex work around societal dynamics around gender and sexuality and aging vs. the more internal personal approach the film takes), but what it is doing is very interesting in its own right. The castle being a space (a home!!!) where all the inhabitants can eventually express themselves freely, including Howl dropping the uncannily imperturbable smiling facade to show the sad wet pathetic drama queen beneath (deeply affectionate) and Markl just getting to be a kid running around having fun. And Sophie makes that home for everyone possible by being herself unfiltered for the first time in her life. What the fuck I’m not crying don’t look at me — 

- The little one-room cottage in the fields being the forerunner to the castle… 

- Something so pleasing about the irony that Howl is said to eat hearts when really he seems to have basically had to tear his own heart out and set it on fire to keep it safe. And then after people have tried to get their hands on it to possess it (the Witch) or dictate how he uses it and who he gives it to (Suliman) for the whole movie, Sophie gives it back to him without a thought at the end; it’s more important to her for him to be whole than to own his heart. Hmnngh. (also so funny that the first thing he does upon waking up is plaintively whining about it fhdasj. Yeah having feelings again can take a person like that) 

- Howl’s bad dye job freakout is still very funny and silly, of course, never change you giant drama queen slime the place down, but there’s something about the fact that he’s apparently been dyeing his hair the colour Suliman seems to favor/uses to mark ‘her people’ all this time even when he hasn’t been able to face her, especially since the flashback shows black is his natural hair colour, and how badly it freaks him out to not meet that standard anymore… Huh. Hm.Hah.

(This time I actually wondered to myself if part of the reason he made the deal with Calcifer was to be able to get away from her and the plans she had for his life (and that he clearly would have hated, if their fundamental philosophical disagreement about warfare is any indication!). I think it says some very sad things that his happiest childhood memory is of a secret place where he got to be entirely alone because it was the only place he felt safe. Howl’s Moving Giant Coping Mechanism Metaphor. You see the castle is the Flight response made. Well not flesh. Timber, I guess. The Flight response made timber. In this essay I will etc.)   

- It hurts me that Howl brings Sophie’s old bedroom into the castle. He wanted so badly to make her happy and he seems to assume that because his memory of childhood solitude is a… if not happy then comforting thing to him, it would be for her too. But to her that’s just a reminder of the stagnancy and loneliness and… indignity? of her life before, and makes her feel like he’s treating her like a housekeeper, relegating her to that tiny room all over again, unwanted and ignored. Augh. At least she seems to understand what he meant to do for her when he shows her the meadow, though, and he doesn’t stop trying to communicate it to her even though his gesture didn’t land the way he’d hoped at first. This movie is so quietly kind about people trying to learn how to understand and love each other. Everyone is allowed to stay at the castle in all their imperfections, even the Witch. 

- Something something the Witch curses Sophie with not being able to tell anyone what’s happened to her… and in the end that doesn’t even really matter because the people around her either grow to understand without having to be told by actually paying attention to her (like Howl) or just accept her exactly as she is anyway, age yo-yoing and all, no questions asked (like Markl). And in the same way Sophie immediately recognizes Howl in his monster form and isn’t afraid of him even when he tells her it’s too late. Suliman warning her about ‘what he really is’ and Sophie immediately hugging him in his full monster form because he came home and that’s all that matters to her. Howl thinks her white hair is the most beautiful thing in the world and worth coming back to the world fully for. Sobbing. 

- The implication that part of the reason Calcifer wants out of the contract (other than just being stuck in the hearth of a place slowly falling into depressing disrepair and neglect around him) is that he’s genuinely terrified of what Howl is doing to himself. There’s something kind of sad and very funny about that. What if you went into a deal with a demon and the demon had to keep telling you ‘uh. Uh bro that’s kind of fucked up you know that right. Hey are you listening to me you’re molting monster feathers onto the carpet Sophie is gonna LOSE IT and don’t come crying to me when she does’. I wonder what would have happened to Howl’s heart if he turned completely — it seems that their contract has kept it safe and unchanged in every other way, if frozen in time, so presumably it would just… keep going the same way? (Calcifer telling Sophie that ‘it’s still the heart of a child’ got me so bad this time around. Bawling all over the place haha.) The idea of being stuck burning around a homeless heart forever is — well Calcifer I guess I get where you’re coming from here

- Of interest only to a very few people, I suppose, but the Norwegian dub of this movie fucking rules, I’m glad to find my childhood self was right about that. Calcifer is so cute in it it almost makes me dizzy sometimes, Aksel Hennie went ham on this one. Also an incredibly calming and charming performance for Howl — whenever I hear the English dub I just start laughing b/c like uh okay that’s Batman, takes me right out every time, that is not my lil guy fhsakjd. (I suspect his characterization is a bit different and softer in Norwegian too, just from the differences in translation I’ve seen?) 

- The first time Howl takes Sophie flying he holds her hand through it the entire time and guides her, the second time he takes her flying he lets her steer the flying machine for a while under his supervision before he goes off to make the distraction (there’s something so sweet about it as much as he’s being a little shit about it, honestly, he believes in her in such a quiet undramatic way even as she’s freaking out), and then after walking away from Howl’s childhood memory she walk-flies confidently on her own exactly like he showed her at the beginning. At the end the whole castle flies, with all of them safe and comfortable within it. Thoughts. Feels. Agony.

- There’s something so… weirdly achingly beautiful about the non-linearity of love in this movie. To properly meet each other as themselves here and now, Sophie and Howl have to flicker through polar opposite ends of life where they’re both stuck: old age and calcified (ahaha) childhood, resigned depression and overwhelmed fear. The promise Sophie makes at the end that is the beginning for Howl and probably kept him going in the meantime — love and a feeling of home that echoes even through the part of your life when it wasn’t there yet, love as hope. He finds her in the future, she finds him in the past, their hearts call to each other across time and space and they both work so hard to be able to actually meet in the now. The castle is kind of a wheezing overwrought monstrosity, the result of having to keep your heart outside of yourself and be constantly running from everything… but how can you begrudge it for it, when it works so doggedly to keep you and all you love safe while you look for that home? (To me Calcifer is basically a metaphor for dissociation, for what it’s worth, and he always has been)

TL;DR One of my fave movies of all times and touches me to the soul, I can't help but be distressingly earnest about it

[featjunranghae]

Idiots in Love - Han Jisung

Han Jisung X FemReader

summary: the title says it all.

No warning? Not proof read.

__________________________

"You're so cute."

"huh?"

"I said you look like a fruit."

"What in the world Han Jisung." yn laughed slapping his arms as she sat beside him on the sofa.

Saturdays were meant for the boys. That's what Han firmly believes in. But when his crush/ girl best friend/ situation ship calls him on the phone for 'emergency' purposes (which somehow involves watching a movie) the boys are no longer the priority.

"You still haven't told me why you called."

"You're trying to change the topic-"

"I'll leave your ass alone if you try to bully me."

yn couldn't help but grin snuggling closer to him, hands wrapped around his biceps and head on his shoulder. "I just wanted to see your stupid face."

"Excuse me- Stupid? I'm gorgeous." Han scoffed pretending to push her off. "Changbin was right bros before hoes. I Shouldn't have come to your aid."

"You know I know that you love hanging out with me." Yn said picking up the tv remote. "You love hanging out with me. And so do i. So here Rewatching Shrek for the- I don't even know how many times."

Han didn't argue as he stared at her. Yn had been one of his oldest friends. They met back in middle school and stuck together since. They've watched each other grow through their lowest and highest points.

And after everything, Han couldn't deny that he wanted them to be more than just friends. Friends don't hold each other most nights while sleeping. Friends don't look at each other the way he looked at yn.

But the problem was. He couldn't confess. He tried so many times over the years to subtly let yn know. But she never took the hint. It was like she wanted him to spell it out for her.

"You're thinking." Yn interrupted his train of thoughts.

"I am."

"It's kinda unusual since Chan does most of the thinking for us all."

Han said nothing continuing to stare at her. His lips curved up at the corner slightly. "I know." He said.

yn paused the movie turning back to him "Seriously Sungie, are you okay?" She asked. "You look lost."

Jisung sighed shaking his head turning around. This was another one of those moments when he wanted to confess. He was here at yn's house. She was in his arms. If he got rejected, then this would be over. He would lose yn. That was the only thing that stopped him from ever saying anything.

His feelings were not worth it. It was not worth it. He'd rather never confess than lose yn.

His bandmates seem to disagree. Specially Hyunjin. "Dude. I'm telling you. I get the vibe that yn likes you too. Go for it."

But Hyunjin was a hopeless romantic. And listening to his advice would be a bad decision for him.

"Jisung." Yn called out again.

"Nothing... I'm just tired from practice."

"You looked fine 20 min-"

"yn. Really it's nothing."

"It's not nothing if its bothering you."

"last night I was bothered thinking about the gold fish I lost when I was five. How will you say that it's not nothing?."

yn knew Han like that back of her hand. He always had a tough time vocalising his feelings. He always considered his thoughts as pointless. "You can tell me later. It's okay." She put her head back on his shoulder.

"I can't."

"Why?" She asked looking up at her. "Does it involve me somehow?"

Han nodded, kissing the top of her head. "It involves me? Wait... Are you actually sad cause I called you today..." Yn pulled back. "I know you were hanging out with the boys but I was just-"

"And they say I'm the overthinker." Han laughed. "I don't hate you yn. It's nothing... I just came up with some lyrics."

"Stop lying."

"What makes you think so?"

"You get crazy when you come up with a song. You're scrambling around for a piece of paper and pen. You have a look in your face." Yn said with a small shrug and Jisung couldn't help but smile.

"Do I?" He asked with a small laugh. He never expected her to notice so many details. "Are you like obsessed with me or something?" He joked pulling her towards him.

"You're making it weird Han."

"How am I making it weird?" He laughed. "I always hug my friends and kiss my homies goodnight."

"I hate you." Yn laughed along. "But in all seriousness. Are you okay?"

"I... Maybe. There's just a lot of things on my mind." Han said with a small shrug. "I don't know..."

"You're confused?"

"Kinda like that. I don't know how to deal with something. Like there's something I want to do. But I'm sacred."

"Being scared is for the losers." Yn laughed. I'm not the best person for advice but. If you want to do something. You should go ahead and do it. You'll have my support no matter what."

"What if it's something very stupid?"

"You're always doing something stu- I'M KIDDING!" She exclaimed when he tried to tickle her.

"And what if I say I like you?"

"I like you too what's the big deal?"

"No. What if I like like you?" He asked again this time turning around to face her fully.

"Hannie-"

"I like you yn. A lot. It's so hard for me to pretend I don't."

"Then... I'd say I like you too."

"I'm not joking yn."

"Han Jisung." Yn smiled. "I like you... Since we were in highschool when you took me to prom. You were always special to me... I just never thought you'd.... You'd like me back..." He voice got quite at the end.

"What- YN! I literally always call you cute. I always spend time with you- Everyone in our friend group knew that I liked you!"

"BUT YOU SAID I LOOK LIKE A SQUID AND YOU'D RATHER DATE SQUIDWARD!"

"YFN THAT WAS A JOKE!"

"HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?!"

Han couldn't help but smile. "We're idiots." He laughed shaking his head. "Do you wanna be my idiot though?"

Yn grinned before pretending to think.

"Ynnie."

"Yes. I'd like that."

"Damn it was that easy? I now have a girlfriend?"

"You're such a loser. But my loser."

[sakurahisuii]

Never Thought I'd Be Grateful for That..🤔

8/12/24

👋🏽Hello Friends!👋🏽

While competing with a gratitude journal prompt, I was tasked with giving gratitude to something that changed my life. I thought about it for a few moments and decided that the best thing that changed my life was my mental health condition. At that moment, I decided that I was going to write about how grateful I am for my mental health condition.

I can exactly say that I never, in a million years, thought I would ever think that because of all the countless pains my own brain has caused me throughout the years.

This is my journal response:

"While my mental health conditions can be overwhelming, intense, and extremely hard to live with...

I am grateful to struggle on this journey (I never thought I'd ever say this), but my mental health conditions make me who I am today.

And I am proud of myself. I think my younger self would be proud of myself. Also, something I never thought I would say.

Due to my mental health, I learned

1. Who I am

2. How to be strong and resilient

3. My passion

4. My strengths and weaknesses as an individual

5. My skills

And for that, I am grateful."

While I thought about what my mental health conditions have done for me, besides giving me emotional pain, it was hard. But I know my mental health conditions (MHCs) are the only reason I am the way I am today. I started to think more and attempt to be more thankful. I took a deep breath and tried to think about what I've learned over the years and how I've changed over the years due to my MHC.

I can say that I am truly thankful for my mental health conditions. Now, don't get me wrong, I would love for it to be treated, but that's a lifelong journey that I'm determined to continue.

Every mental breakdown I had, I survived. I gained strength and resilience.

Learning more about mental health, I discovered my passion and calling.

Going through symptoms and just having the MHC, I gained an interest in psychology, helped others, and started a life that would never be the same again. However, when your 16 or 17, you don't really see it like that.

While I am more than my mental health conditions, they are a huge part of who I am. It helped me be as strong and wise as I am now. It helped me learn how to help others emotionally and how to just be a light for other people. I can say that I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world.

Like I said twice in this post, never in a million years did I ever think that I would say that I'm grateful for my MHC. I think almost everyone with MHCs would say that it's a curse rather than a blessing. It's hard to live with MHCs; it affects everything about you, your life, and everyone around you.

While having MHCs, I have discovered that I gain skills like creativity, empathy, active listening, interpersonal communication, organization, etc. All of these skills are things that I value in myself.

It took many years to come to this realization, and it's hard to be grateful for something that gives you so much pain at the same time. However, when you work along with your MHC, maybe it'll be a little more manageable.

Now, after reading this, I hope you have the opportunity to take a step back and think about how your MHC or even your difficult experiences shape who you are and where you are going.

If you can't, that's more than okay. It's truly not easy, but one day, you'll get there.

After all, in the (x-men) world of Marvel, a lot of mutants think their powers are a curse, but having powers is a blessing. It's up to you how you perceive them and how you use them (of course, with lots of support and resources).

Just think about it.

Until next time, friends!💝

-Jade

P.s. I might've recently seen a certain anti-hero movie and then decided to rewatch certain hero team movies.😂

[lbova]

I wanna take a moment to appreciate one of my most favorite bloggers of all: @fan-burns ✨✨

This is going to be a somewhat long rant about how much I adore this blogger. So buckle up!

It all started when I rediscovered one of my favorite childhood movies called Robots, made by Blue Sky Studios back in 2005. I decided to rewatch the movie and it's safe to say it's a pretty good movie. And ever since I rewatched the movie, I became hyper fixed on it. And what do people usually do when they get hyper fixed on a a movie/show? They look for content about them. Last year, I discovered Tumblr, and to my surprise, there were people that knew about the movie! There were fanarts, headcanons, fanfictions, etc. Of course, the Robots fandom wasn't very large, but that's what made it special. And then... it happened.

I found a Robots blogger unlike anyone I've come across before. And their name was the one the only... Fan Burns! I first discovered them when I found one of their Robots Deep Dives about how Rodney and Ratchet are similar yet different. I thought the Deep Dive was very interesting, so I viewed their blog to see what else the blog had to offer. And wouldn't you know it, they were an artist as well. So I took the time to scroll through their art. And I immediately fell in love with the art. They have this Robots Oc named Harvey, and i love him to death. After looking and admiring their art, I then discovered a fanfic they were working on. Apparently, they decided to write a fanmade sequel to Robots, which is simply called Robots 2. Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to read the fanfic. And do you know what happened after that? I became OBSESSED with the story. It was edgy, creative, and above all, the most amazing fanfic I've ever read in my entire life of reading fanfics! I have seen many fanfics of what it would be like if Robots had a sequel, but Fan Burns... you have outdone yourself. You have managed to grab my attention. Your fanfic made me so obsessed, that I constantly think about it. Every. Single. Day.

Fan Burns. I honestly can't believe how underrated you are. I feel like more people should read your fanfic and appreciate your art. You deserve all the love in the world. You are amazing, talented, creative, funny. And I know that you're also living your life to it's potential. You're doing what you can to just simply live your life to the fullest. So I know it's hard to update your fanfic when you're busy, and don't worry. I will always wait for whatever you have in store in the future. Whenever Chapter 19 comes out, I will be running in circles around my room. But I want you to take your time posting or updating anything. I want you to take as much time as you need. I remember when I asked you to draw Rodney and Cappy together, and the look on my face when you answered my question. I stared at that picture for 2 hours straight no cap. I still go back to that picture to admire it, even today.

Anyway, I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate you. You definitely deserve it. Love you, Fan Burns. If you do read this, thank you for listening to my crackhead self. And thank you to everyone else if you got to this point. Everyone, if you haven't yet, please go check them out! You will not be disappointed.

Yeah I'm posting this at midnight. And I don't care. Bye y'all!!

[foolforharrry]

Darling - Harry Styles Oneshot

Summary: Harry has always felt like something was missing in his life despite the vast fortunes he possessed. Julia has been through hell and back in her young life and all she needs is love and safety. Maybe they're exactly what they need in order to live the lives they were meant to

If you want to check out more of my works, this is my masterlist

I hope you like this 🫶🏻

Harry has always been a level-headed guy.

Never been one to crack under pressure or let his nerves and anxieties affect his work. It’s always impeccable. He wouldn’t be the man that he is today, wouldn’t have the career he does, if he let his fears control him.

And god has he had a lot of times where he’s wanted to let them take the reins. But he can’t recall a time when he’s been shitting his pants the way he is at this very moment.

And it’s all a result of the night he decided he was truly done waiting on life to be perfect.

-

“Are you sure about this, mate?”

Harry looks up from the marked spot on the page to meet his best friend of 14 years' eyes. His own confidence contrasts the cautiousness written all over the otherwise fearless man.

Without letting himself ponder over the decision for a second longer, Harry lets the pen glide over the paper, his name now drying in ink as he exhales through pursed lips.

Will laughed in disbelief, “Well shit. Now it’s done.”

At that moment Harry was convinced that he was making the right decision. No matter how many times he’d been asked if he wasn’t just getting impatient and acting irrational. If he needed help getting laid to get his head back in the game. If he had thought this true.

The truth was that Harry had been thinking about this through and through for a year before he even brought it up to Will.

“Let’s just hope I’m lucky and they don’t give me a little serial killer.”, Harry jokes.

Will smirks knowingly at him, “What would you do if it ended up being one?”

It takes Harry all of one second to reply with; “I guess I would just have to rewatch ‘How to get away with murder’, now wouldn’t I?”

-

Family.

When harry was younger, he saw himself living in a cosy house with a wife that would always make fun of the way he can’t physically bring himself to watch a horror movie without a pillow on hand for when it gets too scary.

Little children. The perfect combination of him and who would’ve been the love of his life running around the house. Their shared laughter and giggles are what would’ve made it at home.

However, as he grew up and started living the life he is with the job he has, that fantasy seemed more and more like just that.

A fantasy.

It had taken Harry quite some time to truly accept that and give up on his fantasy. After countless, failed dates that ended with him spending all night working to keep himself from truly feeling the loneliness fuelled by the hollow space in his heart.

The one thing his empty house and longing house seemed to be craving was the one thing he was being denied time and time again.

Love.

And man did Harry have love to give.

It wasn’t until he was talking to his client about the floorplan they wanted for their new lake house that it clicked for Harry.

And now here he is. Shitting his pants with nerves as he sits in the middle of his large, grey sofa, feet planted on the floor and fingers being twisted by his long fingers. His socked feet are tapping impatiently, the thuds muffled by the soft, pastel-coloured rug that anyone but Harry finds ugly.

His eyes are trained on the clock as if time would move faster if he did.

He really does wish that time would move faster right now.

Maybe he shouldn’t have rushed so much with getting the house ready at such short notice.

Harry had gotten the phone call just as he was about to leave work two days ago. He didn’t even have to think before he was saying yes. The next day the social worker, Ophelia, came over for a short visit to make sure that everything is the way it was supposed to be and talk to Harry.

Ophelia gave him all the information she deemed necessary for now but made it clear that he could call her if he had any more questions.

Is calling Ophelia to ask her favourite colour something the social worker deemed necessary? Probably not. And even though she didn’t know the answer he was looking for, she assured him that all that stuff would work out with time.

Realising that the room he had designated for her would have walls covered in granny wallpaper had made him question whether or not he should try to change his office into a bedroom instead. He’d only put the wallpaper there to piss off Will when he was renovating his home.

Now it’s really come back to bite him in the ass.

Wallpaper might be a weird thing to fret about 10 minutes before your life is going to be permanently changed forever. But that still doesn’t stop Harry from going looking for a prettier one on his phone as if his life depends on it knowing damn well that it’s in vain.

It keeps his mind occupied. And for right now, that’s what he needs the most. Or he might have just lost his mind if he looked at the clock for one more second.

It would’ve been the clock and definitely not by reading about all the worst-case scenarios while running around his house looking for anything he can make look better that would’ve driven him crazy.

“Fuck.”, Harry mutters, his body tenses slightly at the sharp sting of pain from chewing too hard on the inside of his cheek. The sound of his doorbell ringing had nearly given him a heart attack as it is.

On his route through the house, he stops to peek at himself in the mirror, feeling the need to make sure that he is happy with his outfit and that everything looks right.

He went with something simple. A striped brown and white t-shirt tucked into his favourite pair of dark, flared jeans. Black belt to keep the trousers from sagging.

A quick hand through his barely gelled curls and he deems himself good.

It’s with a shaking hand that he’s unlocking his front door before pulling it open. The nerves and excitement feel like they’re about to make him fucking levitate.

Harry is met first by Ophelia. Her face is warm as she greets him with an excited hello. Returning the greeting, he goes to shake her hand when he notices that they’re both occupied. One by a pink suitcase and the other clutched around the straps of a blue children’s backpack.

Ophelia must see the confusion on Harry’s face and the way his eyes are scanning from left to right for the person he was so excited to meet because she is chuckling with a shake of her head. “She’s coming, don’t worry. I think she’s making sure she got all her things from the car.”

“Phew.”, Harry pretends to wipe the sweat off his forehead, finally letting his eyes land on the run-down, grey Toyota parked just outside his gate. It has his brows furrowing. “How come you didn’t just park here?” He gestures to the spot next to his car.

“She insisted on parking as far away from your car as possible.”, Ophelia explains with humour evident in her tone, “According to her I would break a car probably worth more than I make in half a year.”

Harry pretends like he doesn’t know what she’s talking about. “Yeah. Totally. Women these days. Can’t drive.” The extra sigh he added for effect makes it harder for him to keep a straight face than it already was with the whirlwind of emotions that’s been coursing through him like a whirlwind for the past two days.

Ophelia just shakes her head at him, having learnt pretty early on not to take his jokes too seriously.

Just as he’s about to offer to take one of the bags from Ophelia, he spots her half running down the cobblestone driveway.

Harry takes the time it takes her to reach the bottom of the steps to straighten up his posture and wipe the sweat off his increasingly clammy hands against the rough fabric of his jeans.

After reading book after book, Harry thought he would know what it was going to feel like. Going through what felt like a million different blogs where people shared their experiences with the world. All their little tips and tricks. How it was for them.

But boy was he wrong.

Nothing could have prepared him for the rush of emotions going through his entire body when his eyes meets hers. It feels as if the air got sucked right out of his lungs for a second before he can gather himself.

“Hi, darling. I’m Harry.”, he manages to fumble out, hoping this girl doesn’t think he’s a complete idiot.

He’s taking in her features as she replies shyly, “Julia.”

Julia has black, slightly wavy hair that nearly reaches her elbows. Her small face is sprinkled with warm freckles, more noticeable around her nose and below her pale, green eyes.

“Let me take these for you.”, he offers with a kind smile on his face, gesturing to the duffel bag slung over Julia’s shoulder. She thanks him, a faint smile gracing her lips without meeting his eyes. Hers don’t stay still for a second, seeming to be taking in everything around her.

“Do you want me to come inside with you, sweetie?”, Ophelia grabs her attention, her tone almost motherly as she speaks to the young girl. She wraps her up in a short hug when Julia shakes her head no. “You have my number if you need anything.”

“And so do you.”, she points at Harry before she sets the backpack down on the ground. “If there’s anything at all.”

Then she is saying goodbye to the two of them, trotting down the driveway after giving Julia one last hug.

It was obvious to Harry that they were close.

“Do you want me to show you your room?”, Harry asks her, picking up the backpack left on the ground, sliding one strap over his shoulder next to the duffel bag’s.

He takes her small nod as a yes to his question, dragging the suitcase with him inside.

The way she is trailing after him quietly with her eyes trained on the floor has a new kind of anxiousness making his hands clammy again.

“What’s your favourite colour?”, Harry asks her.

Much to his joy, she seems eager to answer, her eyes lighting up and her voice no longer a quiet mumble. “I don’t really have one. Or I do. But it changes all the time. Right now, it’s green. But not like grass green. It’s more like the inside of an avocado kind of green. What’s yours?”

“Last couple of years I’ve loved a deep purple.”, Harry answers with zero hesitation.

Julia stops, tilting her head at him with a thoughtful crease between her full eyebrows. Confused, Harry stops as well, copying her as he waits for her to say what’s on her mind.

Harry didn’t know what he expected to come from her mouth. But what he didn’t expect was for her to simply say, “That makes sense, actually.”

It catches him off guard a bit, but he doesn’t get the chance to ask what she means when she changes the topic. “What do you do?”

“For work.”, she clarifies when he just looks more confused.

Harry doesn’t even bother trying to suppress his smile. “I’m an architect.” He truly loves his job.

“I didn’t know architects made this much money.” Julia says. “I should rethink my career ambitions.”

“C’mon.” He continues their journey through his house, shaking his head with a laugh at her bluntness. “As much as I love being an architect, the majority of it comes from my company.”

Her eyes widen in surprise, “Really?”

“Yup.”, he nods, stopping in front of a plain, white door, “I’ll tell you more about that later if you’d like.”

Julia almost looks disappointed. But that’s quickly replaced by what looks to Harry like shock when he opens the door, “For now, this is your room.”

She slips past him with her mouth slightly ajar as she takes in the room.

“Sorry about the wallpaper.”, Harry starts, staying put at the entrance to give her some space. “I was gonna have my friend, Will come over and take it off before you got here. He didn’t have time but if it’s alright with you, he said he could come by tomorrow to help?”

Gently, she’s feeling the comforter on her bed before she sits down at the foot end of the bed. “That would be cool.”

Harry lights up at that, excited to introduce her to his best friend. “And since this is your room.” He sets the bags and suitcase by the door before he plops down on the small sofa by the window. “We’ll do our best to make it whatever you want it to be, yeah?”

“You don’t have to change anything, Harry. It’s great the way it is.”, Julia insists. Not very convincingly.

He feels his smile falter momentarily. Not because he’s hurt by anything she said. But because he was 99% sure she was lying about it being what she wants to please him.

Instead of taking her at her words, he tells her as sincerely as he can; “We don’t need to change anything if you truly don’t want to. We’ll do it at your speed. As I said, this is your room. However you want it is great. And it’s completely up to you. Even if you’d want it to look like a freaking haunted house, we’d find a way.”

As a final word to assure her, he points to the horrid wallpaper, “To be honest with you? I only used this shit because my friend that I told you about absolutely hated it.”

“Why?”

“He’s an interior designer.”, he says simply. Julia seems to get understand it though because she rolls her bottom lip into her mouth as she nods slowly with a hum. She has an abrupt laugh erupting from Harry when she looks him right in the eye with the most serious expression on her face, “I’ll pray for you. Because this?” The wallpaper. “It’s a crime against humanity.”

They make small talk for a few more minutes before Harry notices her seeming more and more distracted. So he gets up from the chair, “I’ll leave you to get settled a bit, yeah?”

Julia nods. It’s when he’s at the door he hears her ask him to stop, turning around to see her walking towards him.

He’s about to ask her what she needs but he doesn’t get to it as she wraps her arms around his middle, hugging him tightly.

It takes his brain a few moments to comprehend what’s going on, but when it does, he hugs her back happily. His heart might as well swell in size when she says thank you without specifying for what, the side of her face is smushed into his chest.

He just says, “No need.”, and waits for her to let go of him first, pressing a protective kiss to the top of her head without thinking. Already feeling a need to keep this girl safe that he can’t really explain.

Once he’s back in the same spot he sat just 30 minutes ago shitting himself with nerves.

Harry is instead bursting with joy. He was nearly sick to his stomach with the sheer amount of emotions he was feeling for the girl upstairs.

Did he ever see himself taking in a freshly 13-year-old foster child at 28? No. Did he think he would be a single parent? Never in a million years.

But now that Julia is here, any trace of doubt he had has vanished.

It was meant to be.

-

I know this is a bit of an unconventional route to go about with dadrry. But just bare with me, yeah?

In case it wasnt completely clear, Harry is not Julia's foster dad.

Please do let me know your thoughts on these babies.

Ily

[just-the-mage]

Revisiting The Matrix

So I recently rewatched the Matrix with my girlfriend. Fantastic movie of course, but I was struck by several things that I missed or wasn’t aware of when I first watched it as a teenage egg, fully unaware of who I would end up as a decade or so in the future. I’m bored at work right now so…why not talk about it?

First of all, the biggest thing I noticed that I had completely missed, and that I don’t see many people explicitly talking about, was the subject of memories and past experiences in the matrix feeling ‘not real’ after having escaped it and learned the truth. Everyone talks about the red pill and its correlation with estrogen pills in the 90s but nobody mentions how it feels to have memories that don’t really feel like they’re yours anymore. Lana and Lily Wachowski may have been closeted when the movie was released but they somehow managed to capture the idea of living in a body that, for all intents and purposes, hasn’t been yours for most of your life. It feels odd looking back on my own memories most of the time, and considering that I’ve only really been ‘me’ for a few years. I may have memories sat in my head of being in middle school, or of my first time driving a car, or of looking up IGN game guides on dial up internet, but it feels like since then I’ve changed so thoroughly that the memories don’t belong to me anymore. They belong to someone who died a few years back. Someone who was immutably changed by an event that woke them up-so much so that the false persona, the virtual life led by someone whose body I now inhabit, my self who was trapped in the matrix-was gone forever.

There’s a dissonance to it, trying to view memories from that past. Like looking into a translucent glass box, one that obviously used to house something, but which is now empty, full of furnishings and personal touches that I recognize, but don’t necessarily want to pull out, or experience anymore. I can go to the same places I went when I wasn’t me yet, but it’s almost like I’m looking at it with new eyes. Like the past I experienced there wasn’t quite real. Because I wasn’t there.

A lot of people might call that sad-or think of it as such. A whole section of life just missing, in a way. A massive chunk of my life, in fact. I’ll be an old woman before I’ve been myself for longer than I was someone else. But I think it’s happy, too. It’s like shedding one’s skin, but more dramatic. Casting off not only an outer shell, but an inner one as well. The end of the person I used to be means the beginning of the person I am now. It paves the way for new memories, a new understanding of the world as I can see it today. My own personal trip to the last human city in the world of the Matrix-Zion. The air I breathe here may be thick with pollution; the oppression of a greater power may still hold me under its thumb, violence may be horribly pervasive in a world that is terrifying for so many reasons, but its real. In its own way it's beautiful.

After so many years trying to unplug myself from the illusion I had trapped myself in, I’m free.

[digitalgate02]

This video is important, and although it's about Sonic franchise, I do believe it works for a ton of other things imo:

Especially Digimon, yeah. I've experienced this kind of feeling and how the Ni from the 2000s didn't care about "plotholes" or "wonky animation", but nowadays I like rewatching 02 (also Frontier sometimes) and think about the things I couldn't perceive as a kid.

Also our critic sense changes, because you can also watch/play/read something you didn't like at first, and then years later find yourself finding it cool and fun.

If you know me well enough you might have heard me claiming I only started to like Daisuke in 2010 ahead, even if the Brazilian dub was very close to the original version. I wasn't very fond of many characters like I used to, but today I love them a lot. All 12 + movie characters

I also didn't like Takato for a while? I didn't like Tamers at all (it's still a sensitive topic for ages to me, especially *after* 2021), but when a friend streamed it once, i kinda appreciated the characters better.

but the series is not my cup of tea, sorry.

But as a kid i really didn't care at all the details that bugs me now? i enjoyed it! Oh i also loved Frontier! I never had any issue with it! I'm still a big Frontier fan, and nowadays I'm more of a Takuya oshi than I used to be 🤣 (and i love all of the six kids in it too)

My critical reading skills were developed around Xros Wars, and while some people disliked it i was enjoying it, the cast, the soundtrack, the plot, etc. Then Hunters was where fandom echo chamber happened and made me not realize i liked it too.

But i think late 2021 when Ghost Game had first aired, a friend had this idea of watching every first episode of each digimon series to see how they capture the audience's interest. It was a fun night watch!

And it was when I noticed how differently i was perceiving them all.

Hunters had a very strong start and funny to me, Frontier started pretty grim dark in our opinions, we looked at how fast 02's pacing was (and, somehow, a little better than Adv'99), and so other things.

I came to appreciate them all, and see them with another view.

I think I see a lot of love coming from the series once claimed to be the "worst" in the past, and I find it good. Also, some of your "worst series ever" might be someone's first time experiencing the digimon franchise. It could be someone's childhood so their views might differ.

And the first series/stuff we get in touch with becomes something special for us, imo. People who watched, say, Xros Wars as their first digimon series will have a different opinion as someone who's already here since Adv'99 i think?

Even tri. might be special for someone, might be their first time enjoying digimon and going back and thru everything the franchise has to offer. It can have a different view of me, who had... eh, a few issues with it (sorry.)

I think… as long this franchise keeps making new things and being interesting for everyone in different ways, i'll be thankful.

So be kind to the others, and to the new peeps in our fandom. We all have different tastes and opinions.

Thank you for hearing me out (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)

[askew-d]

Hello...Have you watched Haikyuu movies? It's great....And we got lots of Kuroken moments and "that"one Kagehina moment.... So, as Kagehina shipper, have you ever ship Hinata or Kageyama with other character? For me, I have read Kageyama with Oikawa fic (I enjoy it but not really into that ship, all the time thinking of Iwaoi) and Hinata with Atsumu fic (one of my friend love that ship, wrote a fic and asked me to read them). And as much as they're all good, my otp will always be Kagehina. Like they were made for each other and it has to be them...

Do you also have other ships that you love from MDZS and TGCF? Sorry, if you asked me this, I have at least 8 ships in total from those two series, all of them are non canon (Xuexiao, Xiyao, Zhuiling, Beafleaf, Fengqing, Quanyin, Peihuang, Xuyue)....

Sorry for this random and long ask, hope you don't mind....

hello, anon!! sorry i am late for this, hope you understand. life has been crazy, haha. anyway, let us go: i did watch the haikyuu films and recently in was at the cinema with a friend watching the dumpster battle, let me tell you i was OVERJOYED!!! heavens, i could not control my anxiety. though my friend also likes the anime, she isnt as obsessed as me and didnt even finish the last season when we talked about watching the brand new release, so i had the OUTSTANDING experience of rewatching it with her so we could buy the tickets after!! i lost count of how many times i watched it and how many times i made other friends try it out (at some point, i recommended it to even one of my students during a totally unrelated discourse, hahahaha, hope he shares his opinions once this winter break finishes).

since i watched haikyuu about... five years ago? i must have rewatched some seasons more than ten times. its my comfort show! love every film also. about the ships, kagehina is my endgame, but i definitely love kuroken, iwaoi, bokuaka and sakuatsu (though i consume kagehina content much more). of course every ship is valid, i cannot judge anyone, however, i personally cant see hinata or kageyama with anyone else and do not read stories too focused on other relationships :) i can comprehend why fans see something with oikawa and kageyama, or even oikawa and hinata (considering their interaction in rio), but i do not settle with it in my heart. its just profiles and options, anyway! dont mind, dont mind.

i agree with you. for me, they are soulmates through and through. perfect for each other. one is the promise, the other is the anchor. they might be one of the couples i have seen anywhere that matches each other's vibe the best.

about mxtxt works, my favorite side ships are moshang and beefleaf. i can see the appeals in each one you mentioned, but i just never quite got interested to the point of reading about it, sorry!! some of them maybe its because they did not have a finale extra shot, or at least they were not as spoken/seen together as they were individually. for fengqing, though i like them as a side couple in hualian fanfics, i never quite got engaged in their story together, many times they just annoyed me (god, im scared of saying that and people coming at me, but there you go). but i know they have their values and some interactions i could almost forget my light, petty resentment for their actions and laugh along. beefleaf though? mobei-jun and his creator shang qinghua? heavens, i wanted to see more of them.

so, this is it! do not worry about asking whatever and whenever you want to ask. i love coming here to answer them when i have the time. thank you!! hope you can spot a nice sunset and take a relaxing shower today.