#I truly appreciate every single one of you

[cazshmere]

Astrology Observations Pt. 8 🦂

materialist🔖

DISCLAIMER: These are just my personal observations and are meant for entertainment purposes only; it may not resonate with everyone due to the nuances of astrology. Please respect my work and avoid copying or stealing it. Enjoy reading!! 🦂

🦂 I think people who have their chiron in the 3rd/7th or 11th house may experience significant insecurity about posting on social media and being in front of a camera, or even commenting under various posts online. They often overthink the things they put out online/the things they were going to post online 😭 and also if they post pictures/videos they might rewatch the picture/video 984726261 times and often find a SOME tiny fault and convince themselves to delete whatever it is that they have posted. This placement can create a deep-seated fear of judgment and a tendency to second-guess every public interaction

🦂I have noticed that scorpio moons and capricorn moons have very involved and critical mothers/parents, exhibiting behaviors typical of helicopter parenting. For instance they could micromanage every single thing you do or have some sort of comment to make about every little thing you do (also applicable to aries and virgo moons). I also feel that cappy and scorpio moons may find it the hardest to detach from their generational trauma because their parents may have instilled strict principles/beliefs into them and they end up carrying forward all these beliefs which in return makes them more susceptible to repeating toxic patterns which then ends up causing A LOT of trauma to these individuals ❤️‍🩹

🦂 honestly taurus placements aren’t always mindful and demure, despite being ruled by venus. Most taurus placements (esp sun,moon and mars) are NOT afraid to call people out on their bs and are extremely straightforward and direct. The type to insult you straight to your face if you annoy them or smtg 😭 and you’d be like ouch, what was the reason for that??💀. They can come across as arrogant and rude sometimes BUT this all makes a lot of sense as a lot of them tend to be sidereal aries placements after all🙏😂

🦂 speaking of sidereal placements I wanna talk about how virgos can be super playful and child-like (esp with the people they are comfortable with) because they’re leo placements in sidereal + virgo placements also really crave attention, sometimes way more than Leo’s tbh✨

🦂 aries and scorp moon/venus women often attract guys who initially start off as wanting to be/being their “friends” BUT the only reason they wanted to be their friend in the first place is because they see potential for a romantic/sexual relationship with them. It’s sad because literally every guy friend you have/had TOTALLY had other intentions that weren’t platonic 🥲

🦂 having placements in the 2nd house (esp if there are no harsh aspects) just mellows down the intensity of the placement. For instance moon in the 2nd house people can regulate their emotions much more stable and easy manner. Having placements in the 2nd house is such a BLESSING.

🦂 if you think you know someone with a scorpio moon, moon in the 8th house or moon-pluto native, trust me you DON’T😭. no one will ever KNOW every single part of them. They remind me of onions yk? SO MANY LAYERS to them and no one will ever truly know everything about them

🦂 also idk if I’ve mentioned this before but CAN WE JUST TAKE A MINUTE TO APPRECIATE HOW FUCKING FUNNY/HUMOROUS CANCER PLACEMENTS ARE???? literally SO SO witty and make you laugh till your stomach hurts😭🫶🏻

🦂 with age, saturn in cancer natives can look a lot like their mothers 💗

🦂 shadow traits are often expressed through the moon and mars, as these planets govern our raw emotions and drives. For example, an aries moon’s may react with impulsive outbursts and frustration, while a scorpio mars might exhibit controlling, obsessive, or manipulative behaviors to maintain power. These primal reactions tend to surface under stress or vulnerability. To work on your shadow self, it's helpful to focus on your Moon and Mars placements, as these often reveal where you're repeating or expressing toxic behaviors. By understanding how these signs influence your emotional reactions and drive, you can better recognize and address patterns that need healing.

banner/pic credits to the rightful owners

© cazshmere 2024 [All Rights Reserved]

[elysiansparadise]

Sun as the ruler of the Composite Chart

This is possible only if you have Leo rising in the composite chart. If the Sun is one of the dominant or strongest planets in this chart it can resonate to some extent, that is, if the Sun is highly aspected, if there are many Leo placements or 5th house placements.

This is a relationship between people with a strong sense of identity. They both have a strong value and appreciation for themselves, so it is important to them that their and their partner's individuality is respected and cherished. This couple will always encourage their partner to show themselves as they are, not to hide any side of their personality and they will show genuine love to each part that makes up the essence of their partner. They like the idea of ​​being clear with who they are, “if you like it, you stay… If not, you can leave.” They do not intend to change themselves or their partner, and I am not talking about not wanting to improve, but rather wanting to change traits in their partner that make them who they are.

Just now that I mention it, this couple will always have in mind wanting to constantly improve, progress together and be proud of each other. They will celebrate each other's joys and achievements as if they were their own. There will be mutual adoration, admiration and dazzle for the other, and they may have fallen in love with each other from the beginning. Both easily catch the other's attention and not only that, but they know how to maintain it. Together they make things fun in the relationship, they are playful, daring, authentic and very witty.

With this relationship, both will know sides of their personality that they might not be aware of, likewise, they will find in each other a lover or friend [or both] who will love them just as they are. They will be warm with each other, affectionate and demonstrative. They will know the fun side of connections with another person, a more lighthearted, less gloomy side in which they will not have heavy burdens on their shoulders or where they will not feel judged or singled out 24/7. Both of you can be taught to have fun and let go easily, not to demand too much of yourself, and to truly and constantly embrace and love each other. Both can have a confidence boost and even a glow up, in general they will feel more attractive and self-confident.

Being with each other will bring you a strong sense of warmth, you will feel immediately happy when you find the other's eyes looking at you. Smiles will appear in your faces and you will find yourself loving every part of the other's face, personality and heart. They can more easily awaken the emotion and joy of the other's inner child, they feel that they are young again next to each other. They will alternate between the most passionate lovers to the most playful and childish ones. They feel alive, excited, entertained and even excited about not only the relationship, but life.

🖤With the Sun in the 1st house, this couple will seek to be dynamic, they will want to experience amazing and incredible things together. They will seek to be warm with each other and connect by being genuine and authentic with each other. They don't need to prove anything to anyone, or show everyone what an amazing couple they are, they focus on showing each other the enormous love and respect they have for each other. They want and desire to bring beautiful and positive things to each other's lives.

🖤Sun in the 2nd house makes them want to seek stability and create a trust formed by actions that show their devotion and affection. They want to constantly show the other how important they are in their lives, how much they care about the other and the love they feel. They want to be that stable pillar for each other, someone they can trust and rely on if necessary. They will always seek to give their partner their place, respecting them, not hiding them from others and taking them into account.

🖤When the Sun is in the 3rd house, both will focus on communication being direct, honest, fun and clear. They want to be each other's confidants, they want and are excited to know how the other's day was, to hear what's going on in their mind or simply to laugh at their jokes. They want the other person to feel appreciated for what they have to say, truly heard. They will love the idea of ​​getting to know each other through meaningful, long, heart-to-heart conversations.

🖤Sun in the 4th house indicates that they want to be each other's safe place, the place they go when they want to feel safe, loved and accepted. There is a beautiful quality between you, as you seek and manage to deeply love the deepest sides of each other. There is adoration, care, and a sense of protection of the other's heart. Tensions and stress disappear in the arms of others, those who provide them with warmth and affection. They want to be intimate and loving with each other.

🖤Sun in its domicile house, the 5th house shows a couple who wants to have fun and live a beautiful relationship together. One in which they do not place expectations, but adore and are adored as they are, from head to toe, inside and out. They focus on accepting and appreciating the other in their entirety, without idealizing. They want to laugh, live, enjoy and love next to each other, they want to be themselves together. They want to give each other the romance they deserve.

🖤Sun’s presence in the 6th house makes the couple naturally appreciate the small details that the other has with them. They have no problem understanding, adapting and improving together, every effort in the relationship is valuable if it leads to a future together. They do not bring more questions or doubts into each other's lives, this couple resolves, supports and progresses. They value their efforts and always recognize each other's actions. They focus on constantly improving the relationship.

─────────────✧─────────────

🖤Sun in the 7th house shows a couple that stands out for being reciprocal. Both people give what they get and it is never a problem for them to love the other with everything they have. They are an unstoppable team, they are a support in each other's lives, a reliable lover but above all an equal, here no one dominates over the other. They focus on having and enjoying a relationship where they feel equally loved, one that cheers them up when they are low and that makes them see love in a better light.

🖤Sun in the 8th house makes this couple's focus on creating a relationship where they can be intimate with each other in every way. From enjoying and connecting in the sexual area to knowing the depths of the other and those facets hidden from the public eye. There is a strong desire to be with each other, to connect together like never before like anyone else. This relationship is not superficial for either of them and can become an unforgettable one for both of them. There is a deep fascination with the other and great attraction between them.

🖤When we find Sun in the 9th house, we deduce that they focus on living and experiencing life together. They will travel and discover great things together from the literal to the metaphorical sense. Both focus on living intensely with each other, on forming that healthy relationship that fills them with happiness and positive teachings. They want to grow together and it genuinely gives them happiness to imagine a future together. They will want to explore each other's inner world and get to know each other deeply.

🖤Sun laying in the 10th house shows that they are both focused on the relationship having a clear direction and that you are both working together to make things work. This couple thinks a lot about the future and decides to invest time, love and energy in the relationship to give it the necessary strength. They face obstacles together, unstoppable and very oriented towards their path together. They focus on being each other's pillars and guiding each other when fears or insecurities lurk. Strong admiration for the other.

🖤Sun’s presence in the 11th house makes them create a relationship in which they do not limit each other, they appreciate the individuality & independence of the other. They want to show themselves to the other as they are and have no problems completely accepting their partner, because they feel a genuine fascination and intrigue for the other. They both want to fulfill their goals and dreams together, and support the other no matter what. They do not seek to control the other or impose expectations.

🖤And finally, Sun in the 12th house makes both seek to support and care for each other, there is a genuine desire to see the other well and help each other when things are not going well. Both feel attracted like magnets to the other, possibly from the beginning. They may be able to read each other like a book from the early stages. They want to create a relationship in which both can be themselves and express themselves without fear of judgment or demerit. There is a strong emotional and spiritual connection.

[danthropologie]

The adhoc team photos from Singapore. This is so, so, so heartbreaking. To bow out of your career without been shown the littlest bit of respect and grace. So much of an afterthought that they hadn’t prepared ANYTHING! Sitting with his head down in the cockpit in the dark. For the first time in 13 years, choking up so hard during an interview that he can barely force out a word. Going around the paddock, saying his own goodbyes with whoever he could find. But i assume most driver and teams had left due to how bad the conditions got from the race. Walking out that paddock for the last time alone in the middle of the night. Tears me up every time. I knew it was over when he was photographed the next day in the airport with a hat but it was not the redbull one that was glued to his scalp all these weeks. Mclaren giving him a better send-off when he believed this was not the end of the career for him, while his so called home/family decided to leave him on his own once the race was done, when they all knew he definitely just drove his last race. They had the balls to ask him for that FL to ensure one single point against norris for their golden boy. Oh you special human being, you truly were born to give your heart out to the worst of people at the worst of times.

Yes he had a career to be proud of, and there’s nothing to feel too sorry about, but in no world does he deserve to go away without a peep with everyone around the paddock walking on eggshells around him. He got the coveted farewell wrapped up in 2 posts in the two teams account, both of which started posting the new driver within minutes. Heck redbull had a whole ass video of liam’s journey prepared from previous footages…and all he got was a photo dump. His old TP aka self-proclaimed father figure who nursed his “shell of a man back to health” thanked him for 13 years of service while the three other drivers just remained silent. Yes, this includes Max too because while half the grid posted him, all he did was a comment and then went on to stream. My heart weeps for him. Robbed of the last few glorious moments of his career and for what? Not even god knows atp what rbr is chasing after.

i will defend max a little bit here because i think that for both max AND for daniel, there are things more important than some performative ass post (not saying all posts were performative but yk). he was there when it mattered, glued to daniel's side the entire weekend and saying all sorts of nice things about him, not just as a driver but as a person. he commented on daniel's post, where he knew it would be seen and appreciated. and based on the info we just got about max being on of the only people to reach out to daniel earlier in the year, you can sure as shit bet there are conversations happening between them privately now too. knowing the type of person max is, i would put money on all of those things being wayyyyy more meaningful to daniel than a social media post ever could be.

but other than that: FUCKING RETWEET!!! SAY THAT!!!

[nouverx]

Hey, in case I forgot to share it with you, here's the fic I wrote as a continuation of this comic of yours: https://www.tumblr.com/nouverx/749763482887585792/proceeds-to-drink-the-whole-bottle-yeah-alastor

https://archiveofourown.org/works/55860895/chapters/141837688 . Specifically the first chapter is the conversation they have afterward! And sorry if I already sent it and just forgot I did; COVID wrecked my memory so I just really cannot remember if I sent it already!

It's ok you didn't send it before! Sharing this for more people to see 👆

[dnangelic]

whenever dark's life/existence as the niwa's curse gets equated to a living nightmare i fall over

[eureka-its-zico]

Hi there!!!! I love you Chaos in Their Bonessss. It's definitely become one of the reasons I want to wake up the next morning. It's a little piece of my safe haven from the bullshit from my job, family, and friends, and for that I truly think it's a beautiful art what you're doing.

My intention is not to pressure you in the slightest. But I believe in showing love and gratitude for those who make our lives a little more enjoyable. So thank you lots for this ;)

<3 <3 <3

Thank you for being absolutely adorable! You are so freaking sweet and I hope you know how much this ask means to me. I’m incredibly humbled that something I’ve written can be an outlet for you when you need it most. 🖤🖤

I am forever grateful to the love that you all show this story and I hope you can feel that appreciation with each chapter I post. 🖤🖤 I hope you have a wonderful weekend, Nonnie. Much love

[the-far-bright-center]

‘Revenge of the Sith may be the greatest work of art in our lifetimes...’

(an excerpt from a long-deleted blog post, archived here)

“Revenge of the Sith is still (and probably always will be) the greatest thing that will ever come out of the Star Wars franchise. I always go further, in fact, and say that it’s the greatest thing that will ever come out of big-budget, action/fantasy cinema at all. George Lucas’s final contribution to his Star Wars legacy—2005’s final prequel offering—was not only an artistic, cinematic and operatic masterpiece, but it was the ultimate, consummate manifestation of everything Star Wars was capable of being and, for that matter, everything that big-scale cinema is capable of being.

It literally does not—and probably can’t—get better than this ever again.

Lucas, who himself pretty much set the standard and invented the genre in 1977, had now taken us to the absolute zenith of what that genre of film-making could produce.

Epic, ambitious, stunning, moving, nuanced, and everything else, it was the glorious completion of Lucas’s original Star Wars saga that I had been waiting for—and something for which I will always be immensely grateful George Lucas came back to film-making to give us. I have already made the case at length for why Revenge of the Sith was an absolute masterpiece of staggering proportions, so I’ll refrain from re-stating here all the ... reasons I eternally bow at the altar of that film and its unfairly maligned architect.

People who didn’t get it or still don’t get it probably never will get it.

I’ve given up arguing with those on the tedious backlash bandwagon, those who join in with the Lucas-bashing for the sake of YouTube channel views, or those who, like [spoilt children] throwing a tantrum, bitterly disavow George Lucas and whine about how the prequels ‘ruined Star Wars’.

Someone who did get it, however, was the noted author and social critic Camille Paglia: she of course famously declared a few years ago that George Lucas was the greatest artist of his time and specifically that Revenge of the Sith was the greatest work of art in the last thirty years.

The respected, if often controversial, academic Paglia didn’t argue that Episode III  was merely the best movie of the last thirty years… but the best work of art in any genre and in any medium.

[...] Predictably a lot of people either assumed Paglia was being sarcastic or they simply pooh-poohed her conclusions. Paglia, however, was not trying to be ironic, and she has reaffirmed and defended her position over and over again and with a passion—Lucas’s final Star Wars film, she maintained, is the greatest work of art in the last three decades.

[...] I cannot think of any film in any genre that has been as absorbing or as immaculate (or as ambitious). Even just conceptually, what Lucas tried to do with the prequel trilogy was staggering and is without any parallel. And while we could argue that the execution was off-the-mark in certain places, the sheer visceral power and broad artistic value of what he did manage to create—even with its various failings—puts Lucas’s saga (and ROTS in particular) into a different stratosphere entirely.

In her own view of it, Paglia especially focuses on the final act of the third prequel—the climactic finale centering on the extended Anakin/Kenobi lightsaber duel against the dramatic lava backdrop and the extraordinarily powerful way that the birth of the Skywalker twins is juxtaposed with the ‘death’ of Anakin and ‘birth’ of Vader. That latter sequence, by the way, in which the death of the mother coincides (and even feeds into) the birth of the ‘dark father’, all of it underscored by John Williams haunting, gothic choral/hymn composition, is just one example (among many) of Lucas’s extraordinarily acute and nuanced levels of vision.

‘The long finale of Revenge of the Sith has more inherent artistic value, emotional power, and global impact than anything by the artists you name,’ she said in this interview with Vice. ‘It’s because the art world has flat-lined and become an echo chamber of received opinion and toxic over-praise. It’s like the emperor’s new clothes—people are too intimidated to admit what they secretly think or what they might think with their blinders off.’

Speaking to FanGirlBlog, Paglia continued her celebration of Lucas’s final masterwork, saying, ‘I have been saying to interviewers and onstage, "The finale of Revenge of the Sith is the most ambitious, significant, and emotionally compelling work of art produced in the last 30 years in any genre—including literature".

Paglia’s assertions flowed from her 2012 book Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars, which in part addressed the problem of modern cultural ignorance and the author’s worries that 21st century Americans are overexposed to visual stimulation by the “all-pervasive mass media” and must fight to keep their capacity for contemplation.

In the book, Paglia discusses twenty-nine examples of visual artwork, beginning with the ancient Egyptian funerary images of Queen Nefertari, and then progressing through various artistic works, including creations from Ancient Greece to Byzantine art and Donatello’s ‘Mary Magdalene’.

She explained, ‘Lucas was not part of my original plan for Glittering Images, which has 29 chapters crossing 3000 years. My goal was to write a very clear and concise handbook to the history of artistic styles from antiquity to the present. When I looked around for strong examples of contemporary art to end the book with, however, I got very frustrated. There is a lot of good art being made, but I found it overall pretty underwhelming. When I would happen on the finale of Revenge of the Sith, I just sat there stunned. It grew and grew on me, and I became obsessed with it. I was amazed at how much is in there—themes of love and hate, politics, industry, technology, and apocalyptic nature, combined with the dance theater of that duel on the lava river and then the parallel, agonizing death/births. It’s absolutely tremendous.’

Paglia also entirely recognised the sheer scale of Lucas’s creation and the value of even its various constituent parts as important or worthy works of art. ‘The fantastically complex model of the Mustafar landscape made for the production of Revenge of the Sith should be honored as an important work of contemporary installation art,’ she argued. ‘And also that Lucas’ spectacular air battles, like the one over Coruscant that opens Sith, are sophisticated works of kinetic art in the tradition of important artists like Marcel Duchamp and Alexander Calder. No one has ever written about George Lucas in this way—integrating him with the entire fine arts tradition.’

The problem is that Lucas and the prequel trilogy have become so widely misrepresented as ‘bad’ that most people don’t know how to deal with someone like Paglia sincerely proclaiming “Nothing in the last 30 years has been produced—in any of the arts—that is as significant or as emotionally compelling as Revenge of the Sith…”

[...] In fact, contrary to widespread misconceptions about how the Star Wars films are viewed, a Rotten Tomatoes poll ... found that Revenge of the Sith (and not Empire Strikes Back) scored as the best-regarded of the [Lucas] movies according to aggregation of archived reviews. So the idea that everyone dismisses the prequels seems like a misconception; but it is fair to say that a substantial body of people —including a lot of people who, rather incongruously, regard themselves as Star Wars fans—do completely dismiss this film along with its two predecessors.

As I said at the start, people who didn’t get it or still don’t get it probably never will get it.

But what has always struck me as pitiful about the whiny ‘Lucas Ruined Star Wars’ attitude is that it seems to flow from the premise that Lucas—a man whose stubborn commitment to his own singular vision gave an entire generation from the late 70s and early 80s unparalleled joy—somehow ‘owes it’ to those same people to do things precisely how *they* deem acceptable. That’s essentially what it comes down to—that he, as the artist, should make the art that the fans or the public want and not follow his own creative vision.

What people don’t realise, however, is that if he had done that from the beginning, there never would’ve BEEN an original Star Wars trilogy at all—and arguably all of these huge blockbuster SF/fantasy films that people spend their money seeing today wouldn’t exist either. What a lot of people also don’t realise is that Lucas was never setting himself up to be a populist or even mainstream filmmaker. On the contrary, he was the avant-garde film geek, the rogue, the outsider. The fact that Star Wars spiraled into a billion-dollar behemoth was an accident; and when the first Star Wars movie was released in 1977, it was an oddity that no one in the film industry understood or believed in.

But Lucas had stuck to his own creative vision—a vision that was largely incomprehensible to everyone else at the time the film was being made—and his singular vision hit the mark big-time and accomplished something unprecedented.

By the time of the endlessly-maligned The Phantom Menace in 1999 and everything that followed, Lucas was still doing exactly the same thing—following his own vision, trying to create something extraordinary and largely ignoring contemporary trends or opinion. The only difference was that the vast fan-base he had acquired from the original films were older now, far more jaded and over-saturated with blockbuster movies (most of which were influenced by Lucas’s pioneering work in the 70s) and they essentially didn’t *want* something new, creative or challenging—they just wanted the same thing they’d had when they were kids.

In effect, they weren’t interested in Lucas the artist or Lucas the pioneer—they only wanted Lucas the Popcorn Movie dispenser. But Lucas the Popcorn Movie Dispenser had never existed—he was simply an illusion created by the extraordinary commercial success of the Star Wars Trilogy.

What Lucas had in fact envisioned—and created—with the prequel trilogy, especially Revenge of the Sith, was something that transcended the whole summer blockbuster ennui, transcended genre, transcended the very medium of film itself, and could be discussed in the same breath as Shakespeare, Virgil and the Aeneid, Julius Caesar, and a number of equally fascinating and endlessly debatable works of serious and complex gravity.

But there was an audience of millions who were instead looking for something that could be discussed alongside Jurassic Park or Terminator 2. Which is fine—Star Wars of course can also be discussed just as validly in that latter context too; but it also exists in a stratosphere beyond it. And because Lucas’s process and vision was in that higher stratosphere a lot of the time, there was a frequent disconnect that occurred, whereby a lot of people were unable to meet him halfway or relate to the films on those kinds of levels.

But Lucas pushed on with his long-envisioned trilogy; and by the time the final installment of his Star Wars saga arrived in 2005, a sizeable proportion of the old fan-base had either departed or were by now just coming to the party for the thrill of seeing Darth Vader one last time. Some dismissed the film the same way as they’d dismissed its two predecessors, some were full of scathing mockery, while others were ambivalent. Some were suitably entertained, but didn’t take it much further than that.

Another group, a smaller minority—myself included—had just seen something of epic, overwhelming proportions and had the greatest cinematic experience of their lives.

But great art is like that.

Great works of art divides people, provoking endless debate [...] An argument could be made that the greatest artist will go all-out to create something special and substantive, even if it won’t appeal to everyone. Said artist would follow his own creative vision and not compromise it to the committee of consensus or demand.

Lucas, it should be borne in mind, never made ANY of the Star Wars films with film-critics in mind—even the Original Trilogy movies were not critically approved, despite becoming cultural landmarks. And interestingly, the hang-ups of many of those who were scathing about the prequel movies—ROTS included—were virtually identical to the hang-ups of the critics in the early 80s who either just didn’t get those original Star Wars films or were unwilling to praise a rogue filmmaker who was rebelling against Hollywood at the time and who was making something entirely out-of-step with contemporary trends and sensibilities.

Fittingly enough, the Lucas who was out-of-step with the sensibilities of the time during the late 70s and early 80s is the same Lucas who was equally out-of-step with sensibilities and trends at the time of the prequels too. In both eras, Lucas rebelled against the sensibilities of contemporary cinema and carved out his own piece of utter magic according to his own stubborn vision—the difference is that so many of the same people who adored what he had done in the first instance couldn’t understand what he was doing in the second instance.

Even though what he was doing was essentially the same thing.

For that matter, I always suspected that one of the main reasons so many people failed to appreciate (or in a lot of cases, to even understand) this film is precisely because it isn’t contemporary. That’s a key thing to understand about the Star Wars prequels—they were not made in a contemporary style.

Lucas doesn’t make contemporary cinema. Both of Lucas’s Star Wars trilogies are written and designed specifically to NOT be contemporary, but to have a more timeless quality, steeped in traditions from the past.

Lucas, you have to remember, has never been a contemporary or generic filmmaker, but a more avant-garde artist and experimenter who foremost specialises in tone and impressionism. The fact that he invented modern blockbuster cinema is purely an accident. As he himself once said, “None of the films I’ve done was designed for a mass audience, except for ‘Indiana Jones.’ Nobody in their right mind thought ‘American Graffiti’ or ‘Star Wars’ would work”.

 [...] They were not contemporary or generic at all—consequently, a lot of people didn’t understand or relate to what they were watching: because they couldn’t find a point of comparison in popular culture.

To really understand these films, you have to go back to some of the historical epics of the fifties and sixties, particularly films like Ben-Hur, Cleopatra or Spartacus. If you watch any of those films (and all three are timeless, truly marvelous cinematic works) and then watch the three Star Wars prequels, it will suddenly make much more sense. The acting style, the dialogue style, the themes, the epic scope and settings, the vast mythologizing, the way the films are scored, even the intricate costume design—all of it.

There’s nothing surprising about that. After all, it’s easy to overlook the fact now from our current vantage-point, but the original Star Wars trilogy movies weren’t contemporary in style either—they were stylistically based on things like Kurosawa, Flash Gordon and the Saturday matinee serials of the 1930s and 40s. The original trilogy films made no stylistic sense in terms of contemporary cinema or sensibilities in the late 70s or early 80s—they were, in style, a homage to a long-gone era.

So too were the prequels—just a different homage to a different era.

[...]

When you look at everything that makes up Revenge of the Sith, the scope of vision along with the degree of artistic nuance and juxtaposition is breathtaking.

There’s lots of action, yes, as you’d expect; but the action, like so much of what Lucas was doing by this stage, is almost transcendent. Sure, the acting or delivery is off in a few places; mostly due to some of the actors having to perform in non-existent CG environments—remember Lucasfilm and ILM were breaking new ground technologically in these movies, which we take for granted now with all our CG and digital filmmaking, but which at the time were bound to cause some teething problems. But Ewan McGregor is superb in this film, while the maligned Hayden Christensen....in fact does a solid job in any number of key scenes.

And there’s everything else. The special effects aren’t just good, they’re actually often beautiful in a way that most special effects don’t aspire to be. The level of detail and artistry in the visuals mean you could turn the sound off and still be captivated. Some of the backdrops could make extraordinary paintings that could hang convincingly in art galleries. And Lucas is the absolute master of the establishing shot and the scene transition, turning it into an art every bit as nuanced as in a piece of music.

For that matter, the music is extraordinary—and actually if you look at how underwhelming or non-existent the music is in the post-Lucas ‘The Force Awakens’, it becomes clear that Lucas and Williams had a collaborative process that really influenced how these films were scored (and which is now no longer the case). Lucas himself said that the music was 50 percent of what mattered in these films and that is certainly evident.

Much of it, particularly the climatic Kenobi/Skywalker duel and that final act with the birth of the twins, death of Padme and creation of Vader, almost isn’t cinema at all—but opera. This could’ve been something Wagner was composing if he had ever existed in the cinema age.

In fact, the final few scenes of the film don’t even have any dialogue, but are purely musical and visual. Even some of the most stirring parts earlier on in the film are without dialogue; take, for example, the breathtakingly beautiful sequence of Anakin and Padme trying to silently sense for each other across the exquisite, sunset cityscape—it’s all visual, tone and subtle music, pure emotion with no dialogue. A scene like that could almost be part of a silent movie; and it’s also like an impressionist painting in motion.

Even that Kenobi/Skywalker duel itself is more than just an action sequence. With Williams’ epic, stirring, choral score, it too is opera. But it’s opera married to performance art: the level of intricacy, fluency and speed of Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen’s dueling is insane, having required an immense amount of prep and practise. The choreography takes it onto the level of dance; of true performance art as opposed to disposable cartoon violence or cheap blockbuster action.

Everything here—to the last detail—is choreographed like a ballet and it is spellbinding.

Yet while other filmmakers would try to sell an entire movie on such an exquisite centerpiece, for Lucas all of this—all of this poetry, opera, dance, music, visual art and everything else—is ultimately mere constituent part to a greater whole: a Shakespearan epic of a tortured fall from grace and a Greek tragedy... wrapped within an even larger epic about the fall of a Republic, the fallibility of religion and the genius of the Devil and failure of the angels.

[...] What Lucas created in fact was the ultimate expression/culmination of the art of the epic itself—fittingly enough, in order to conclude the defining epic of our modern times (what Brian Blessed once described as the Shakespeare of our age). The Shakespeare comparisons aren’t trivial. The evident Star Wars/Shakespeare resonance has even prompted things like Ian Doescher’s book William Shakespeare’s Tragedy of the Sith’s Revenge: Star Wars Part the Third—a retelling of Revenge of the Sith as if it had been written by William Shakespeare for real.

[...] Various observers, including academics, have noted the obvious fact that Lucas’s story is also a retelling of the fall of the Roman Republic and birth of the Roman Empire. Lucas himself admitted this, pointing to how Revenge of the Sith in particular is partly a story about democracies become dictatorships and citing the historical stories of Caesar and Augustus. You can quite easily watch the prequel trilogy alongside I, Claudius or something like HBO’s brilliant Rome series.

But none of those references or allusions are the important part. Even the fact that the prequel trilogy—and again, ROTS in particular—is quite clearly in part a story about false-flag wars, banking conspiracies, the corporate and military-industrial complex, the Bush administration and the Iraq War, etc—isn’t particularly relevant to the issue of why it’s such an epic work of significance.

Lucas is the author and architect of our preeminent modern mythology—as interviewer Bill Moyers asserted during his fascinating and revealing 1999 interview with Lucas (for the release of The Phantom Menace). Partly inspired by his friend Joseph Campbell’s thoughts on mythology, but moreover informed by his own careful distillation of elements from various cultures and civilisations (what he has referred to as our collective human ‘archaeological psychology’), Lucas is every bit as influential as Virgil, Homer or Shakespeare were in their respective times, and has crafted out the ultimate mythological saga.

Revenge of the Sith is the final, completing piece of that saga—the piece that gives the saga its full scope and true soul, and the piece that makes every one of the other films count for so much more.

And it does it so well—with such vivid and breathtaking quality—that, even having written an article as long as this one now is (and another before this), I still don’t feel like I’m adequately able to explain its full brilliance.

Neither could Lucas himself, I suspect. I’m not sure Lucas even realised how masterful it was; but, as Paglia and others note, the guy is so mild-mannered and self-deprecating that it simply wasn’t in his nature to boast about his own work. Instead he just took in all the abuse and mockery with mild bemusement, shrugged his shoulders and walked off into the twin sunset, knowing that with Revenge of the Sith he had finished what he’d come back to do.

In fact, what Lucas did was so extraordinary, so complex and so nuanced that it may take another decade or two for people to even appreciate it properly—assuming they ever do. As film experts like Mike Klimo have noted, some of what Lucas did in ROTS and the prequels may have been so sophisticated that he deliberately didn’t talk about it, but just left it there, not knowing that anyone would ever even notice.

This, as I said earlier, goes beyond cinema, and possibly even beyond Star Wars itself. Lucas genuinely outdid himself, and it is unlikely anyone will reach that height again—firstly because no one is going to be in the position Lucas was in again in terms of total ownership of a property, and secondly because no one is going to have that kind of ambition again, especially having seen how much of a backlash Lucas received from the legions of popcorn munchers, YouTube profiteers and ungrateful fans who were really looking for something much more in keeping with a generic, formulaic, standardized blockbuster formula.”

[iwanttobepersephone]

Ok, so, I wanted to do some art for today, but I never got around to it, so I guess what I'm doing for day 30 is just a positive rant about this community and how awesome it is

Day 30, Home

For my whole life, I've felt most at peace in nature. I don't quite know why, but I know it makes me feel safe. I'll go on 3 hour long bike rides that are really just 1 hour of biking and 2 hours of sitting by the river. I'll sit out in the prickly, hot, uncomfortable backyard just to be near a tree, and I'll do anything to just stay still on a forest path and slowly watch nature return to how it was before I came.

And I think that's why I love Rangers Apprentice so much. The whole vibe of the books, of the universe, is so familiar to me. It's also taught me things that I view as necessary, like how to properly watch someone who might be trouble without them knowing I am, or how to become as unobtrusive as possible in a crowded room. The universe and the community just feel so much like home to me, so safe and kind, that it's hard to imagine anything but my actual home making me feel so happy.

This is the part of the post that I'm a bit iffy about including cause I don't wanna bother people, but here we go: some of the best people I've met online have been in this fandom, they're just so sweet and kind and everytime I get a note from them with a message I smile.

@artsysurvivor , I'm like 90% sure you were the first person to ever reblog one of my posts with a message of some kind. You're so sweet and uplifting, and you were honestly a major help when I asked people for Irish lullaby recommendations. You're absolutely awesome and amazing, and one of the reasons I love this fandom as much as I do.

@crowleymeratynranger17 , this one is kinda harder to explain, lol. I've been trying to find a post that you've like left a message on and stuff but I can't find any sadly, but the way you are pretty reliably the first person to interact with my posts has made you a kind of reminder that even in tough times, there are still people who want hear what I say. If you feel uncomfortable with being on this list, I can totally delete this section, but I still just wanted to include it

And most recently, @an1d10t ! Dude, your headcanons and general attitude are so awesome. The way you focus on the little things and the implications and the sweet things is just so refreshing to see, even though I love the angst and all that. Also, you're just generally so cool! And kind! And nice to interact with! You've been really making this entire community feel like a community for me. Thank you!

And also, thank you to literally everyone else. I may not have specific things to say, but if you interact with this fandom at all, I really do appreciate you. This is the most welcomed I have ever been in a community, and I can not over state how much the people here mean to me. If it was possible to have a true home on the internet, it'd be this community! Thank you, everyone, for making this place feel like home!

[krokaxe]

Alright it's time for some October Creation™ Comments highlights

[daily-keyboardsmasher]

Day 1400

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[beeapocalypse]

dont say this enough but i truly appreciate all of you. thank you for every moment shared

[swingstep]

i’ve been trying to figure out how to say it for days, and hopefully this will do, but... i recently passed 1000 followers on this blog!! and thats!! Bonkers!! i sincerely didn’t think we’d ever reach this point ever since i started several years ago, so i sincerely want to say: thank you all so so so much for your support!!!

unfortunately, i’m just a bit too frazzled at the moment to properly celebrate like i want to, (even my little daily doodles are keeping me busy..!) but i didn’t want to go too long without acknowledging it! i definitely want to put up a raffle or something once i can (maybe we can do an ask/art game in the meantime..?), but until then... for every interaction, every nice tag or comment, and every flip-flop of my silly little fixation brain: thank you for sticking with me! have a lovely day, folks!! <33

[gourdkeeper]

Ok so at first it was just one single request touching the topic and it wasn't too bad (if you sent the request asking for Jamie reacting to reader getting pregnant, please don't feel bad, it was a very normal request and I might still do that one because it sounds kinda cute), however I got more pregnancy, breeding and children related fic requests and I'm sorry but I'm denying them completely.

I'm super flattered that you like my writing, didn't expect anyone to even read my stuff or send requests and I've gone from posting 1 fic to having 15 requests, clearing 2 and getting 5 more djfkskfk which is fine, keeps me busy when I'd be otherwise bored and I like doing it! It flatters me a lot and I'm happy to make friends through this as well but for my sake, I've added a "No's" list of stuff I just won't write because I've 1) received requests containing that already and 2) it just makes me uncomfortable.

For convenience I'm adding the list here as well;

Won't write:

Pregnancy;

Anything related to children;

Breeding, scat, vomit, zoo, amputation, mutilation and death fetishes.

[usedtobecooler]

I love that you read and reblog fics by authors other than your mutuals. That’s so rare for bigger/well known blogs with a sizeable following. I know us lesser known folk really thrive on it.

Please, don’t ever change. Stay Gold, Ponyboy. 🤟

omg i don’t even know what to say to this it’s so sweet 🥺 the stranger things writers on tumblr are so incredible we all deserve the love!

[autism-corner]

erm

[brendleellipsis]

you know who i am, but i’m too afraid to tell this to you to your face. it’s difficult for me to do so. it always has been. but know this.

you are loved. you are loved for who you are. your existence is one that is cherished by so many. you are worth every little bit, in every little way.

the universe can be harsh. it can be cruel. it always has been for you. but the universe contains those who love. and those who love, love you.

words cannot heal the injuries of the past, not fully, but I hope that you’re given the chance to. I hope you are given the chance to heal, and to thrive.

stay safe, and know that you are loved.

...the weird thing is, it says "you know who I am", but because it's anonymous... I kind of don't? I have a few guesses, but. I dunno.

Instead of choosing to believe this makes me a bad friend, I think this might actually prove you right? The fact that I can't quite pin down the person who sent this has to mean that I matter, at least a little bit, to at least a few people. Maybe that can be enough, for now.

Thanks, whoever this was. I really needed this, I think.