#THERE'S MORE I CAN SAY ABOUT THE WHOLE FIRST 25 MINUTES OF THE MOVIE

[daxaster]

HEY how come no one told me that in Final Frontier; Kirk, Spock, and McCoy literally go camping together and talk about how good friends they all are and enjoy spending time together and then try to fuckin sing campfire songs and Spock is roasting a marsh melon and then they all go to bed and say good night to each other one at a time???

[coddda]

Hiiiiiii. Episode 25/26 lawlight analysis rant thingy here. I don't know how to write an intro for this so let's just get to it LOL

I think one of the reasons that the rain/foot scenes stick out so much (the. Sheer insanity of a Foot Massage Scene in an anime revolving around two guys trying to kill each other aside 💀) is the fact that the anime specifically suffers a bit in terms of adapting a few of the "emotional" moments in death note.

And I don't mean "emotionally impactful" exactly. For example I think the adaptations of scenes like Raye and Naomi's deaths were very impactful and the atmospheres of their final scenes were great, but I mean more from a characterization standpoint (if that makes sense). Being more focused on mind and logic games, Death Note as a whole isn't as invested in individual characters' deeper feelings as it is in its action (which isn't necessarily a criticism per say, it's simply part of the nature of a mystery thriller series). But just because they're fewer and farther between doesn't mean there are none at all. In the manga we do get to see, for example, how much Light actually cared for his family and especially Sayu, and how he actually felt more conflicted and suffered lack of sleep/appetite when he first used the Death Note.

The anime specifically as an adaptation is pretty good at adapting the main mind fuckery and action of Death Note, but its lacking in properly adapting scenes like the ones I mentioned above is a criticism I see somewhat often, and it's pretty fair imo. Compared to all the other adaptations, it certainly seems to fall short on an emotional level: the musical has entire songs going in depth about the characters feelings and relationships, the 2015 jdrama is. Insane and has its emotional moments in spades (because it's a TV drama, which are more focused on portraying emotional conflict and the like), even the 2006 movies has its emotional beats and L Change the WorLd is. Well. Oh Man.

Anime Light to a lot of people is like. Light but he's "already evil" (which I have my own thoughts on but I digress). Light but after using the Death Note for like 2 minutes he's already like "fuck yeah time to kill criminals". Basically the anime doesn't take as much time to delve into his less cynical sides or really delve into his already vague and harder to decipher feelings in general, he is noticeably colder from the get-go here, etc.

But that's part of why I think episode 25 manages to stand out so much tonally (apart from it being, y'know, the episode L literally Dies). I love the episode so much and could probably rant for hours about how much I love the artistic choices made in it but what I'm trying to get at here is that it's one of the very few moments where the show tries to go deeper into specific character's emotions, and one of the very few moments where the show Attempts (emphasis on "attempts" because, well, you'll see in a bit) to get more in-depth into Light's feelings apart from his cynicism/apathy/justice. ness.

L in these two scenes in episode 25 is, well, pretty damn open about how he feels. It's usually interpreted as him knowing that he's going to die, and you can see it. He visibly looks/sounds lost, somber, etc. He never really had much to hide around Light to begin with (since he doesn't really care about hiding himself the same way Light does) but especially not now and it Shows, and I personally thought it was pretty cool to delve into his thoughts/show how he feels this way. The somberness can be felt throughout the entire scene, even people who don't already know the plot of Death Note from the manga could probably tell that he's about to die.

In the manga, once L starts suspecting Misa again and Rem realizes what Light is trying to do, it goes straight to Watari and L's deaths, but the anime instead gives a distinct and unexpected pause in the middle of this where L contemplates his own death. It's fucking great, and the shift from straight action to slower emotional weight makes these scenes stand out a lot, since, like I said, the show usually focuses more on the former. But it's kind of ironic, too.

Not only does the anime open up L's feelings more in these scenes, but it also tries to dig deeper into Light's feelings as well through L. And it's really funny honestly because while, yes, these are the more "emotionally open" scenes of the anime Light still manages to be Incredibly avoidant and contribute almost nothing to the entire ordeal.

L is visibly upset -> "Yeah Ryuzaki, you're not making any sense at all" (Not addressing the obvious conflict from L)

"Tell me, Light. From the moment you were born, has there ever been a point where you've actually told the truth?" -> "[The most stale, over-explained, avoidant answer to a "yes/no" question that you could ever hear + blatant attempts to reframe the question]"

(L's half-smile here kills me) "I had a feeling you'd say something like that" -> [Nothing]

"I'm sorry" -> [Nothing]

"It'll be lonely won't it? You and I will be parting ways soon" -> [Nothing]

^ From this point Light continues to say literally Nothing for the rest of the scene. I'm not even joking, from then on the rest of Light's voicelines are reduced to nothing but vague noises of confusion.

Everytime L calls Light out as a person ("Has there ever been a point where you've actually told the truth?" / "I had a feeling you'd say something like that." / "Won't it be lonely?") he doesn't actually acknowledge anything. Out of those three lines, he only answers verbally to if he's ever told the truth, and even then it's the most blatantly people-pleasing answer ever, as it usually is with Light. And I don't think it's because Light just. Doesn't care about any of what L's saying at all, or that he doesn't know what the hell he's talking about (questioning Light's authenticity as a person, saying it would be lonely when they part), instead he's choosing not to acknowledge any of what this means about himself or him and L at all. He's like a fucking wall.

And like, for the truth question in particular, the show makes sure that you know it's not something that Light just. Doesn't care enough about to answer. The hard cuts to silence are a very rare but extremely effective way that the show conveys an extremely important moment (see: Light regaining his memories, Matsuda noticing Light opening the warehouse door before he escapes (not as much of a "direct" cut to silence but still)), and cuts to multiple angles/framings/zooms of the exact same shot are also used for the same purpose (see: Light hugging Misa when she was crying, Matsuda aiming his gun to shoot Light, Light regaining his memories Again). Just like the scene where Light gets his memories back, the moment L's question finishes the show utilizes both. That question cut Deep. There's is a solid Almost 5 seconds of silence before the sound of the rain gradually starts fading back in, and honestly that should be telling enough as is (but of course Light doesn't actually admit that. Or anything at all really, so). Oh also another fun detail! We do not see Light's face At All (except for the shot where you can see his mouth moving but not his eyes), for the Entire time that he's going on his spiel to L. We Will Be Revisiting This Later, by the way. This is not, in fact, the first time you're going to see this detail from Light.

The only sort of reciprocation that we see from Light during Any of these two scenes is when Light dries L's hair while L dries his feet. Biblical meanings/references aside it's interesting because it's the only time he directly does anything "for" L in these scenes, but even then he doesn't try to pass it off as anything meaningful really the same way L does ("You're still soaked", a purely neutral and factual statement. It doesn't Add Anything compared to L's. Sin atonement loneliness grieving stuff. While Light is showing his own reciprocation to this more personal moment he also tries to keep it impersonal enough that it doesn't actually have to mean anything deep). And when L says "I'm sorry" after he once again gets no response from Light. It's also after this that L gets that pained look on his face, like he knows that at this point he's not actually going to get anything meaningful from Light (again, very significant and rare from L in the show. We've seen him in distress (see: when Ukita died, hell, when Watari dies), but even then he mostly manages to keep his usually neutral expression), we never see him "look sad" like he does here):

I just think it's interesting that this is one of the few scenes in this particular adaptation of Death Note where they try to open up the character's thoughts/feeling (especially considering the fact that they. lowkey blunder in adaptations of original scenes from the manga), and L himself is being rather open (not that he ever really tries to hide what he thinks nearly as much as Light), and yet all Light contributes to it in return is like. Actually nothing. Bro fumbled it. There is no resolution to any of this, to any of what L asks at all, to any of the many opportunities for a meaningful conversation, and the only thing even relatively close to an answer that you can get from Light is what you can infer from how he acts in the episode after L dies, where he's just going through the motions, but hardly acting as if he's actually living at all.

(Honestly I think the transition from this scene with the taskforce to the subsequent scene with Misa says enough on its own. Light's expressions and tone says everything:)

(Oh sidenote but. This shit again:

"Light, this is our first date in forever. can't you enjoy yourself a little more?" ('Why don't you seem happy? We can finally be together since L is dead') -> No response, Light instead changing the topic to him wanting to move in with Misa without changing his mannerisms at all

Also there's that one detail again. You pretty much don't see Light's expression when he speaks here at all, except for one shot of his eyes, which is quite literally the exact same shot they used when he "saw" L, just altered for the new setting. You have No idea what he looks like when he's responding to Misa, although it's probably fair to assume that it's the same empty stare he has for the whole Two Shots where you can clearly see his whole expression in the entire scene.

Something something Light Yagami bad at feelings I think you get the point though)

I guess Light's Kind of showing what he's feeling now? He'll admit to himself that it's boring without L, but no more than that. Light never actually admits to anything "significant", and L's dead already anyway, so what would that even do?

And then we get, uh. Basically nothing from Light. For the next 5 Years. Except that he joined the NPA, so, uh, yay? Good job, Light you totally nailed it! Thank you for allowing us as an audience to delve deeper into your inner thoughts and feelings as a character so we can find out more about you as a person! Very helpful! Thank you for not sabotaging one of your few dedicated opportunities to look into yourself as a person and reflect on your relationships with others and being 100% honest with yourself! We stay winning guys.

Anyway, this got way too long for a scene that's over a decade old, and I've probably just said everything that everyone else has already said in this fandom before. But unfortunately this has been living in my head for way too long and I must scream. I just think this episode's neat is all :)

tl;dr Part of the reason why the rain/foot scene (tbh episode 25 in General) stands out so much is because the Death Note anime specifically was a bit robbed in terms of its more emotional character moments compared to the other medias, which makes more somber/introspective scenes like the ones in episode 25 stand out a Lot in comparison. But it's also incredibly ironic because it's one of the few moments where the show (or specifically L) tries to look deeper into Light's character, but because he is so avoidant for the entire duration of these two scenes he adds basically nothing at all. It's almost funny. Mostly sad. It's also very gay. Aand post

Okay actually nevermind one more thing I talked about how the jdrama is supposed to be more emotionally in-depth because it is a TV Drama and just for the record, same thing happens there! I could probably do an entire analysis of the Blue Scene in this context like I did with episode 25 but I'd literally be here forever, so uh, just take this iconic line as my main example:

Same Thing. L's statement "I wish we could have met some other way" is personal. It's his own wish, his own regret that he is expressing to Light. While Light's reply obviously has that same regret implied it's also phrased in a specifically impersonal way. It's closed off. "This is the only way we could have met" it closes off the topic and simply renders L's wish as ultimately futile. Light does not say that he Also wishes he could have met L a different way even if it was likely impossible, instead it's a cold statement of cynical fact.

Idk just. Something something L being able and Willing to be more openly sentimental/emotionally open towards Light/about Light vs. Light's inability to be honest with anyone including himself and his own nature preventing any form of meaningful reciprocation. Something something self-sabotage, y'know the drill. God don't even get me Started on how sincere L's tone is when he says "It'll be lonely won't it?"(at least in the eng dub) in the anime I could talk about his tone in that scene for ages. Also yes all of this relates to L Change the WorLd too by the way. Don't ask how it just does okay.

I do think that scenes like these (rain/foot scene, The Blue Scene. Uh. L Change the WorLd The Novel Adaptation) show, at least in those adaptations, that L does genuinely care for Light, and show that he values him as a friend not just in the mindgame-equal sense but also just like, a more sincere sense you know. Idk if that made any sense and that's a whole other topic for another day but you guys just have to believe me on this one alright please please believe me buries head in hands. Okay post over finally thanks for coming to my tedtalk hope you enjoyed my very-unnecessarily long analysis of the week

[darkshrimpemotions]

There's no way I can be even REMOTELY coherent and putting under a read more to make EXTRA sure I don't spoil anyone but MY GOD. OH MY FUCKING GOD. (so many spoilers below the cut, I cannot overstate this lmao)

This episode. This fucking episode. First of all, me and some friends watched The Warriors (1979) - the film Colin references at the start of the episode and the inspiration for the episode's overall plot and premise - a few weeks ago and I have been feral ever since at the Implications and Possibilities. But in the end, I knew they couldn't give us EVERYTHING that a 90-minute movie gave in 25-30 minutes. There are the things I desperately wanted, in order of most to least:

Guillermo being confronted with the vampires and his slayer family and choosing to go with the vampires once and for all.

Guillermo and Nandor argument while broken away from the group that ends in a feverish kiss (yes, I knew this was a very remote possibility, but it was a nonzero chance, Swan/Mercy is SO Nandermo coded!!!).

Guillermo fight scene, Nandor fight scene, OR Guillermo and Nandor fighting back to back against a horde of vampires.

The death of fucking Jerry.

Either no Guidor at all or a solid rejection from The Guide.

A bunch of themed vampire covens facing off with our beloved Staten Island vampires.

Just a big wide-lens look at vampire society overall, maybe with some cool cameos from other vampire media again.

Fun costumes and direct references to the movie beyond just the plot, whether in filming style, music choices, specific lines, etc.

And here's the thing. This episode gave me MOST of what I wanted, some of it in ways I didn't expect, and the only thing it DIDN'T give me that I desperately wanted was the Swan/Mercy parallels with Nandermo. But then...it honestly kind of did still? It was SUCH an episode.

Like I said NONE of this is coherent but once again, Colin Robinson being the MVP of little asides that are so fucking funny when you catch them. Nadja killing spree my ABSOLUTE beloved. More Ladja talking through some of their issues and being thee married couple of all time. THE GOOD GUIDOR i.e. Nandor finally tries to make a move and gets shut down SO hard, with the Guide EXPLICITLY positioning herself as just another check in Nandor's long-standing pattern of chasing after relationships that won't ever work long-term.

And all the vampire family talk! First, Nandor saying Guillermo isn't part of the family anymore (HELLUVA WAY TO FIND OUT HE EVER WAS LMAO) and the rest of them chiming in and egging him on about how he's made it SO clear he wants nothing to do with the vampire world. And what I love is how soundly it reads as utter bullshit. OF COURSE he's still part of the family. They all know it, and so does he honestly.

That's why he doesn't even hesitate later when he says Nandor's his best friend. That's why they immediately call him when they need help, and he of course immediately runs to help them. If anything, that was ONCE AGAIN Nandor trying to get Guillermo to insist on his place at Nandor's side (a la THE LAST THREE SEASONS) and this time the whole family backed him up on it and Guillermo STILL didn't take the bait. Because Guillermo doesn't need to insist on it, he knows where he really belongs and fits. He practically said it himself when he was talking to Miguel about Familia.

And then Nandor being so delighted to meet Miguel...having heard and remembered stories Guillermo has told him about Miguel...saying Guillermo's family are their family and of course Nandor and the others would never hurt him.

AND THE RETURN OF SLAYER MEMO. The way Nandor looked at Guillermo when he killed that guy with a fucking No. 2 pencil. The way they all not only trusted that Guillermo could handle it without them, but also were having such a great time watching and calling out encouragement (Colin again my beloved).

GUILLERMO TELLING MIGUEL ABOUT VAMPIRES AND MIGUEL BEING COOL ABOUT IT. Miguel being ride or die for his primo despite clearly thinking he's lost his mind.

EVERY SINGLE FUCKING OUTFIT. YANA CAMEO MY BELOVED. ALEX SKARSGARD. ALL THE VAMPIRE GANGS WERE SO FUNNY AND PERFECT. FUCKING JERRY IS FUCKING DEAD.

They gave me basically everything I wanted except Nandermo making out in a tunnel as a train rushes by them. But like. I always knew that was Unlikely lol (still, I do have Thoughts and Feelings about it but. Eh...I'm not going to let it ruin my enjoyment of the episode, not with Nandor and Guillermo giving each other all those fucking heart eyes and basically reaffirming that they're family, and Nandor MEETING YET ANOTHER MEMBER OF GUILLERMO'S FAMILY AND BEING ACCEPTED. Introducing his bf in increments).

And the Baron being absolutely on top of his shit, the hair, the robes, the plan, the several kids and a doting husband at home...He is Everything.

Just a great fucking episode! And after last week's very cute fun little episode! I feel like I could lift a bus. No idea how I'm going to sleep.

[selkie-on-land]

I tried to watch avengers assemble (the animated series). At first I wanted to watch it for Black Widow but I'm so disappointed and angry at it. She's an avenger, one of the first one actually, she built the team with Fury and Coulson but as always, it's a male only show : all the characters are exclusively male, and sometimes for a few seconds, when they need a damsel in distress, there is a woman screaming or she finally appears! Only to be there for at most 2 minutes in the whole episode (25 minutes) and only maybe 2 or 3 episodes. Even the new guy who is not an avenger yet but is becoming one get more screen time and line and everything actually than her an actual avenger.

This is infuriating! Not just about her character lack of screen time, she often doesn't talk either, just appearance time to time, she is so invisible and reduce as a poor damsel in distress.

I'm so so so sick of this !!! Of this male only society, the entire planet is already practicing separatism, everything is male only. And if you dare create one female character even if she has one second of time screen then all the trash are screaming and crying that they are erased and replaced by those *Misogynistic insult*. It is truly sickening to live in a world where you are not supposed to even exist but your people is the one creating the entire humanity.

I crave to have shows where there is not a single male in it !! But if you dare say so, you're a terrorist blablabla. The entire world is already like this and it doesn't bother anyone! But when it's about the invisible humanity, females, then it's an outrage to the world ??? Having female representation is categorised as hatred or hate speech. 💀

''How dare you allowing those things to be there in our things and to show that they actually exists!!?''

The entire society is applying DARVO on us, this is gaslight, this is manipulation. We are not the one who genocide half the humanity that birthed us just because they exist. Male are. Every media, every movie, every song they create is built on their hate towards us, every thing they do is created only to full their hate speech Agenda.

The only few shows dominantly with females characters are the Barbies ones, the animated movies.

In all the Disney etc movies, the ''princess'' or female lead doesn't have any female friends, her only possible friends are all male. (Except some rare exceptions)

In the 101 Dalmatians, the only female one is only there because they needed a mother role to birth all of them !! That's her only purpose 💀

In the aristocats, the strays one should be all females, the male one are very similar to the humans too, the female too, they tend to bond and to live together with their kittens and the male are excluded. The adult males don't bond they fight eachother, they kill eachother. So a made up family of Stray cats can only exists if they are all females.

Same in the Lion King, the male are excluded and not the leader or king of anything. The lionesses are the Queens.

Female friendship or sisterhood is inexistant unless it's for serving the sole purpose of misogynistic agents like peak me etc.

If you know movies or shows centered around women and girls please comments/share it !

I hope it's not the dystopian movie where there is no man left on earth ... Like we deserve to have representation, real one, not post apocalyptic one ...

So far I've got :

Barbie's animated movies

The Tinkerbell movies

She Ra (the reboot I didn't watch the original)

Marvel Rising saga

Supergirl (it's not exclusively female but the accent is put on them, minus for the TWAW speech)

Agatha All Along (even tho the only boy got more attention and get to have an entire episode focused exclusively on him while the other women including the main character have to share the few minutes of the episode 🙄)

Tell it to the bees

Portrait d'une jeune fille en feu

Ocean 8

The L world

[schlong2]

latest fix rant time

none of my friends want to talk to me about monkey movies and then i remembered i have a whole blog dedicated to my latest fixations so. i've watched Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes two (TWICE ✌️) times in theaters. this was after watching the newer trilogy (Rise, Dawn & War) and the first 1968 original in prep.

things (SPOILERS!!!):

Kingdom's run time is 2 hours and 25 minutes. this is incredibly long for a movie. compared to 1968's 1 hour and 52 minutes, that's a half hour difference. Infinity War was 2 hours and 36 minutes for reference. that's a whole marvel cinematic convergence, but ape. the run time isn't exactly the issue i've seen talked about. it's the pacing. sitting twice through this movie was not a problem for me. i sat there engaged all the way through. on the second watch, i tried to be mindful of times in which it might have been dragging for the average person, and i like, literally couldn't find any. pretty much every scene had meaning and didn't drag imo. which is something these newer movies do extremely well. Kingdom is pretty equally split between verbal communication and sign language compared to the first three before it. the apes use both verbal and visual cues to talk. but because they don't talk every single time, it makes every moment that they do feel special. it reminds me of the Quiet Place concept, where most of the movie you only hear a human voice a few select times when it's safe to do so. Rise, Dawn, & War were kind of like this, as Caesar only really spoke when he was trying to make a point or communicating to humans, who are mostly speaking in those movies. he speaks more as he gets more fluent, and by War, he can speak very well. we see other apes like Koba, Maurice, Blue Eyes, and Bad Ape also speak English. these moments are rationed pretty well throughout Kingdom, making the dialog more select and meaningful. this makes every time these beasts talk feel like it means something and isn't just fluff to fill your ears. every other scene feels like it's building or showing a side of a character we hadn't seen before, and the scenes between those advance the plot or are like, really action-packed. i just don't see why some people say it has pacing problems. it's just long. i understand the average person's attention span is super short, but when you're sitting down to watch two and a half hours of movie, you gotta know there's gonna be downtime. moments where they're not fighting or advancing the plot. and i think that's GOOD man. but im also not one for action/adventures very much so maybe that's it? i think a lot of people maybe watch these apes for the violence and conflict rather than their introspection, genuinely thoughtful world building, and complex characters. and hey, that's completely fine to enjoy, but POTA is originally about morals and asking the audience questions and posing dilemmas to popular beliefs at the time. ok

Raka. he's great. Peter Macon has this butter smooth voice that's just perfect for the kind of character he plays. you can't help but like him. but he dies like 1/3 into the movie and is really only there to religion dump about Caesar (ape jesus) and then he's swept away. people are complaining that that's all he was really there for. to explain the real values of Caesar and provide a foil to Proximus. and i agree to some degree. i really hope he's not actually dead. his presence and death are felt throughout the movie, as both Mae and Noa (mostly Noa vocalizes it, Mae just silently shares in his loss and i think cries at one point?) seem to mourn him, saying shit like "if Raka were here..." and especially at the end when Noa gives the Caesar pendant to her. it's the shared memory of Raka and what he devoted his life to. but they never really like, actually linger on his death. there's a moment after he's swept away, and the shot stays on the rushing waters, Raka no longer visible and plays some sad tunes, but like. C'MON. he's not really dead. he isn't please tell me he isn't PLEASE

Noa isn't Caesar. i honestly do not get why you would want otherwise. of course, he isn't Caesar. we don't need another Caesar. he had a whole three movies to be the center of. i would be extremely disappointed if they just made a carbon copy of him or made Noa like a direct descendant of him or whatever. i hate that Chosen One bullshit. Caesar was just a guy that wanted peace for his people and that got him killed in the end. Noa is also a guy who wants peace for his clan. they're both leaders and have good hearts, but like. they're different characters. i LIKE that Noa has no relation to Caesar, i LIKE that he's his own character with his own ideals and purpose. Owen Teague does a wonderful job making the character his own. i mean Andy Serkis is Andy fucking Serkis. pretty big shoes to fill and i think Teague has the right foot size you know. i heard one guy say like "we've had our time to mourn Caesar" and yeah. we have. let's accept that and move on

WHERE MY APE DIVERSITY AT. we get a fuck ton of chimps, ONE orangutan, ONE gorilla, and ONE bonobo. what the hell. i mean. what is with the bonobo villian. Koba i fucks with because bonobos are some of the most playful, nonviolent apes out there. that humanity and its cruelty could twist a naturally peaceful creature into what Koba became.. i mean, that's great. but again with Proximus? maybe trying to evoke some of the same energy and nuance Koba had? ALSO. GORILLA PSA they are like so sweet. all that muscle is there to protect their families, and they're strictly vegetarians. i feel like Rise, Dawn, & War portrayed this better with most of the gorillas getting bodyguard jobs because of all their bulk. especially when Luca tucks that flower in Nova's ear. man. and Red going out like he did. gentle giants. in Kindgom we just have Sylva. gorilla henchman for Proximus. that's it. then we have Raka, the one orangutan character that i saw. wise and knowledgeable, guides and accompanies Noa and Mae then dies. at least we get one female chimp character that's more than just wife or mother. wikipedia lists Soona as Noa's love interest, which i can totally dig, like it's there. he takes her to the telescope at the end of Kingdom, which is more than what we saw romance-wise between Caesar and Cornelia. and the only other important chimp female is Dar, Noa's mom. in Rise, Dawn & War there was usually only one of each species of ape assigned a main role, but we saw much more diversity it felt like. maybe that's because there were smaller in numbers and have since spread out in the last 300 years? also like, bonobos are known for having female-female & male-male sex. dont know about the other apes. my friend mentioned that Raka said something about having a male companion and promptly searched reddit. all they had to say was: gaype?

the visuals. dear god the visuals. this movie is just visually stunning. absolutely breathtaking. they did a great job. i mean Rise, Dawn, & War are all triumphs of cgi and are excellent examples of the animation style done right. i did hear some guy say there is a loss of texture, as mostly everything in Kingdom is cgi, from the characters to the landscapes. but there's an explosion of texture in this film. there's one point where Noa is covered in the ash of his village and you can see it on his fur. there's quite a couple water scenes where the moisture clings to the apes' fur. It's all very impressive. great work

the references!! Rise especially has a ton of them (IT'S A MADHOUSE!!! & GET YOUR STINKIN PAWS OFF ME YOU DAMN DIRTY APE), and names like Nova and Cornelius, but Kingdom... i picked up on at least three main instances, but im sure there are more. there's the scene where the apes are rounding up the feral humans, and its very reminiscent of the scene from 1968 where they're doing the same thing for sport. there's the scene where Mae is running in the field, and she jumps on that log structure to get to Noa, which is nearly identical to a similar scene in 1968. the scene when Noa, Soona, and Anaya are exploring the human bunker and they come across an old classroom. one of them picks up a doll that says a distorted "Mama" which was huge in the original because that was evidence that once man did speak, why else would he make a doll that talked? superb call backs to the og. respect what was there before

SCHLONG THEORY

here me out guys. the starring ape-human relationship in Rise was between Caesar and Will. this type of love is called storge and describes the love a child has for a parent as well as the love a parent has for their child.

the starring ape-human relationship in Dawn was ultimately between Caesar and Malcolm. which i believe is truly philia towards the end, the love between friends and allies. just two dudes trying to keep peace in the world.

in War, i mean Caesar well and truly hates the Colonel. like more than he's hated any human in his life before. close to mania, obsession. anyways it's a study on this type of relationship between an ape and a human. true, all consuming hate.

SO in the newer movies we've explored familial love, platonic love, and hate, between an ape and a human.

in Kingdom the main ape-human relationship is between Noa and Mae. and their relationship is complex. not really that friendly and certainly not familial. no trust. some kind of begrudging respect maybe? i just think it would be neat if in further installments they explored a romantic love between a human and an ape. ok.

i KNOW Noa and Soona are probably going to get ape married and they're never going to touch on the subject but i just find it hard to believe that in the last 300 years or so that's NEVER been heard of. apes have the same level of intimacy between each other as humans do in this universe and can willingly consent. what are you so afraid of wes ball

after all, the whole franchise is about how apes, when given intelligence, compare to humans and begs the question: how different are we really?

is it possible for an ape and a human to fall in love?

[dearausten]

just rewatched pride and prejudice 1995 and i loved it, even more than before! here are some thoughts:

- the best thing about this adaptation is, to me, the performance of jennifer ehle as elizabeth. honestly, she nails everything about her character, in my opinion. from lizzy’s wit and sense of humor to her firm resolution in rejecting darcy the first time and dealing with lady catherine, while also displaying all her conflictimg emotions not only during the whole wickham affair, but also when she found herself longing for darcy’s good opinion (who knows why!). she was absolutely charming and one can’t help but root for her.

- this might be obvious, but i love how it is pretty much the same as the book! it’s very clear that having six episodes worth of screen time instead of two hours as you get in movies played in their favor.

- i love the bennets! i love seeing the sisters interact! i love seeing them in their daily lives and watching their dynamics. i also think they got almost all of the characterizations perfectly. lydia, kitty, mary and mrs. bennet were all on point! however i do feel like they toned down mr. bennet’s flaws and only focused on the funny/sarcastic side of his character. other than that, i liked him too :)

- i’ve seen many people who don’t like this mr. collins but honestly i really enjoyed him. he was ridiculous and absurd, and he annoyed the fuck out of everyone, which is accurate lol. i do wish they’d made him age appropriate bc... that man is not 25 lol. anyways, i actually thought this collins was more accurate than 2005!collins.

- oh, caroline, you sneaky thing! i have nothing to say about her, really. i think she was portrayed very accurately as well. and they included the hursts!

- mr. bingley was good too! love me some golden retriever energy

- and, of course, how could i not talk about colin firth as darcy! he was DISGUSTED to be around common gentry people. he looked like he’d rather hang himself from the ceiling than be in those goddamn social gatherings for one more minute. he was so displeased with everyone and clearly thought they were nothing but a pain in his ass, and i love that lol.

- but OH MY he’s a simp! he can’t stop staring at elizabeth for the life of him. istg he is so fascinated by her. that scene at rosings when lizzy is talking to colonel fitzwilliam and darcy just stared at them while she roasts the fuck out of him????? top tier

- one thing i adored about his performance was just how miserable he looks when she isn’t around! and mind you, this is DARCY we’re talking about.

- the lake scene was great, but CAN WE TALK ABOUT THAT LOOK THEY GAVE EACH OTHER IN THAT ONE SCENE???? YES, THAT LOOK. YALL KNOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT. IT MAKES ME WEAKKK

- the ONLY note that i have is that i wish he smiled more, especially when they meet after the letter (but before that too)

- honestly the only bad thing i have to say about this adaptation is that the second proposal felt a little... underwhelming. it’s supposed to be this big emotional moment why do they look like they’re talking about the weather 😭

my conclusion: i’ve worshipped 2005 since the first time i watched but i feel like i’ve just become a 1995 stan, it was just so so good and so faithful to the book. and yes, i finished it two days ago. yes, i’ll be rewatching today.

[gothicprep]

so, apparently marvel is in disarray. ahead of the marvels coming out this weekend, variety dropped a bomb on the studio's somewhat dire state of affairs, as the franchise has hit its first real rough patch since the release of iron man 15 years ago. among the issues: jonathan majors, whose domestic violence arrest continues to hang over marvel's plans to make his character the thanos-like heavy for the next sequence of movies, the weak box office projections for the marvels (which some have said is tracking lower than recent bombs like the flash), the unending flood of hashtag content on disney plus which is overwhelming audiences who are finding it harder to keep up with the interlocking stories that have served marvel so well over the years, shoddy visual effects, spiraling budgets such as the reported $25mil an episode for she-hulk, a show that looked terrible because of the shoddy effects work aforementioned, behind the scenes chaos as kevin feige works to slash budgets and kill projects that aren't coming together. one movie at risk is the forthcoming blade reboot with mahershala ali, which has gone through rewrite after rewrite including reportedly one draft in which blade was the fourth lead in, quote, "a narrative led by women and filled with life lessons".

that last line has provided a lot of laughs for people like jay gothicprep, and critics who insist that marvel's efforts to diversify the lineup have led to much of this disaster, indicative of disney's overall failure with things like indiana jones and the dial of destiny or animated projects like strange world or lightyear. while this is potentially true (i guess, it's possible) it doesn't seem true because this certainly wasn't the case when black panther and captain marvel were both cracking the billion dollar mark a few years ago. rather it just seems, more simply, that marvel has run its course. marvel was hit by a double-whammy of endings. the thanos storyline that'd dominated the first ten or so years of the project came to an end. at the same time, the pandemic began and disney plus started flooding the zone with content, creating a natural break point for audiences that had no desire to watch hours of tv to understand 1.5 plot points in whatever the next movie that's coming out is.

this preamble is getting kind of long, and i have a lot more to say, so i'm going to continue to thought dump about this under a cut.

first of all, i'm still laughing like a week later at the women led life lessons description. no one has disputed that it happened. that description is the funniest thing i've ever read in a trade industry report possibly ever. what in the hell, my friends. did a writer even talk to a producer about what blade was? it's a movie about a guy with a sword who kills vampires! it's pretty straighforward! that sounds like something i want to see! there were three of them already, and two of them were pretty good!

anyway, i think you can take that incredibly ridiculous description of a draft that maybe wasn't the main draft – this movie has been through tons of writers and directors – and see some of the real problems with marvel's creative direction, which is that they've stopped making movies that highlight the core concepts of their characters. there are other problems as well, but when's the last time they put out a movie that was like, "iron man. he's a guy in a metal suit and he fights a bad guy." or "spider man. it's a guy in a spider suit with spider powers. he's got girlfriend problems and he fights crime around manhattan and maybe there's dr octopus." they don't do that. their recent stretch of movies have all been these impenetrable multiverse stuff with ties to tv series that you haven't seen and maybe won't ever see. there was a whole 25 minute section in black panther 2 that was setting up armor wars and ironheart. and like. who needs that sequence, which was boring and looked like total garbage? and now armor wars is being redeveloped lol. they've just departed from a lot of the core concepts that powered their earlier films.

they have some other problems. they've leaned into a slate of characters that is not all that well-known or inherently super popular, even for marvel being able to deliver on making billion dollar films out of guardians of the galaxy and such. maybe with the exception of spider man, which they don't get a full cut from because sony owns the actual movie rights. then there's the fact that the streaming series, by all accounts, aren't great but you *feel* like you need to have seen them. they're all real big problems. marvel needs to go back to making movies that are named after a character who's a superhero with a clear concept. guy with spider powers fights crime in his neighborhood. even though those movies got kind of repetitive, they did well enough because they didn't stray too far from the character concept.

i think, too, as a viewer, when you have a studio churning out so much stuff that's not good, you get the impression that the superhero industry feels entitled to your time and entitled to your money while not delivering.

this summer also represents an interesting counterpoint to what's happened with marvel and dc. the sheer amount of stuff that you devote every waking minute to keeping track of the damn things got exhausting and made movies stop feeling like events. this summer we've had barbenheimer and the eras tour, and those have been both big events and felt exciting. barbie was a chance to be campy, oppenheimer was a chance to see something serious and cinematic, the eras tour was exciting for fans of taylor swift who couldn't afford to spend $3k on taylor swift. and they felt this way because they were all unlike anything you'd seen at the movies in recent years. they had a high standard of quality, and going, it genuinely felt like people were there because they wanted to be, not because they were being force marched by a cultural behemoth to be there. you can't summon that same kind of energy for a marvel movie when it both feels obligatory and you expect it to be bad.

it also feels like there's a certain contempt for the audience where it concerns quality problems. i mean, i don't think that this is the intention. marvel isn't saying "we can deliver this stuff that's garbage and people will see it anyway". but one of the things i thought was the most damning about that variety story was the fact that, on some of the marvel tv shows, the final effects were inserted after the shows were released. so if you watched the show on opening night, you probably didn't see the final effects work. the arrogance involved in that is insane. it speaks to a total vanished pride in putting out a good product.

even some of marvel's better regarded films were heavily edited and heavily worked on right until the end, in part because kevin feige would come in and fix things, so stuff would have to get reworked. that's why effects deadlines were super tight and people were always crunching at the very end of this. there was that incredible quote from sam raimi from a couple months before the second doctor strange came out where he was like, "i think it's done but i'm not sure. marvel, they work on their movies until the very end." the director didn't even know if his own movie was locked or not because he clearly wasn't the one making the decisions about what the final print would look like.

that can work if you're making two movies a year and have a supervisor that comes in during the process and says, "i need you to redo this, in this way". but when you stretch that out to three movies a year, plus god knows how many episodes of television, there's no way to do that and make it a high quality product.

an instructive lesson comes from the book "disneywar", which chronicles michael eisner's time at disney. and one of the things in this book was the development and deployment of "who wants to be a millionaire" in america. bob iger is head of abc at this time. the guys making this show do it for a week. audiences love it. it's putting up huge numbers. everybody is excited. it's crushing it in the ratings. and the people who made it wanted to keep doing special week or two week long engagements that people would show up for. and iger was like, "no. i want this every week, three times a week, forever." and audiences got burnt out on it quickly, because it was something that only really worked as a special that ran for a week and disappeared for a few months. that's what the disney plus strategy feels like with marvel.

[vinnystarman]

EDDSWORLD LORE ANALYSIS BUT I'M ABSOLUTELY DERANGED!!!!

"Wait this thing has LORE????" Yes!!! IT HAS LORE

I just rewatched eddsworld for the 2334idfk443th time in a row and realized I haven't seen (not that there isn't I just haven't seen) people talking about the fact that the series seems to have a really weird (and quite frankly fragile) canon, this goes to some minor details like differences between the stages of the series (retro, classical, legacy and beyond) and other stuff like how I think we actually kind of know what in the actuall hell was Tord even doing in those 8 years between his original departure and the end in eddsworld legacy BUT I'M GETTING AHEAD OF MYSELF before we start I want to make some points clear for the sake of clarity:

☆ I will be talking about the series and it's characters specifically in the context of the series, for example: I know why Tord the irl person left the series but I would be speaking only about Tord's (the character) departure, the same goes to any other irl event that had an impact on the series

☆ keep in mind this is only what I think (even though I think i'm absolutely right about everything) so if you disagree in any of my points that's absolutely fine!

☆ I will be speculating about future stuff so take all of those bits with a grain of salt because i'm a great observer but (unfortunatelly) not god so I can't acurrately see the future lolz

so…. how do we start?

well… we could start strong by one of the most interesting points I thought about!

as ridiculous as it sounds, i'm pretty convinced that Tom always knew about Tord's laboratory! and I have proof of it actually

one of the most solid proof I have appears in the episode "The Snogre" to be fair, that episode is gonna come up A LOT in this so you might want to re watch it first :3

in the minute 1:57 Tom apears with a "snow tank" that he uses to defeat the snogre, later, him and Edd have this exchange:

How'd you build that snow tank so fast?

Snow tank? (the snow falls off the ACTUALL TANK TOM CASUALLY IS OPERATING???)

this tank has the (i don't know how to call it so let's just say) serial number "CDT-01" which at the time was a nice little nudge to "moving targets" since it's the same tank the guys use in that episode but in this post "The end" world it should be noted that the "CDT-01" tank also appears in the minute 3:25 meaning up to that point the only way to access the tank was getting into Tord's laboratory and figure out what to press to get it (This tank might also be the one portrayed in movie makers but it's most likely that they are the same tank since they have the same serial number and in moving targets, this tank is stolen from Paul in that same episode AND THIS IS RELATED TO SOMETHING ELSE THAT I'M GONNA SAY HERE SO IT'S NOT A PLOT HOLE OK? BARE WITH ME)

the second one is that the lab was in Tom's room aka Tord's old room, this is the primary reason why Tord came back anyways, to get back to his laboratory (OR IS IT)

This is what I think happened:

Tom found a really suspicious button behind two frames (or one) maybe when he was moving his stuff into it and painting the walls (I highly doubt Tord had blue walls on his room), made a little mess trying to figure out what the actual fuck was going on, realized what it was and decided not to tell the guys because well… as we can see they LOVE pressing buttons and Tom knew it was gonna end up in catastrophe and shut his mouth because of that

that aside of ourselves, my second point:

The real reason why Tord was so hostile to Tom in the end wasn't (or at least not exclusively) because of his rivarly with him but more so because Tord wanted to capture monster Tom!

what do I mean by this? well to understand my point we need to understand how (i think) Tord and his army were operating at that time:

The red army as a whole has only been described once at this point in time and it was in the episode "Fun Dead" in the second 0:08 by the news lady as "Armed vigilantes" that were controlling the Zombie situation (that they [even though accidentally] caused) this meaning that as for now they aren't seen as a threat, on the contrary! They were helping the population! and maybe i'm giving Tord too much credit for this but I bet THAT (beeing seen as vigilantes and not some terrorist group) was intentional, you see, Tord is smart and a little manipulative, the most "evil" thing to do was letting the zombie infection run free and then take control of the post apocaliptic, in shambles world but he didn't, Why? you may ask; because he is more treacherous than Judas, that's why, maybe i'm looking a little too much into this but if this is the route he is going he would need more than one threat right? this is where monster Tom comes into play, I DON'T KNOW WHY ANY OF YOU HAVE EVER ASKED IT BUT WHY DID TOM BECAME A MONSTER RANDOMLY IN POWEREDD? I know it was hinted before that maybe he is half demon somehow??? BUT LIKE… MAYBE I'M DUMB BUT THAT'S WEIRD. And as the scientist he is (why don't I see more scientist Tord fanart?) Tord asked himself the same question, we know that because when we took a look into his laboratory we saw that he was studying monster Tom as it's shown in the end part 2 in the minute 2:42 (THIS GUY'S LAB IS SO MUCH TO UNPACK) this indicates that it isn't crazy to assume he was trying to take Tom out of his senses to get to monster Tom, because as we can see in that same episode he is wanted by the authorities for a large amount of money, probably because they got caught doing some sketchy stuff so, in an attempt to hype up his organization's reputation once more he tried to cause another problem for them to solve

this is what I think happened: Tord somehow knew about monster Tom and realized he could use him not only as another way to make his organization look like heroes to the public eye but also for studying (and maybe experimentation but not really sure since at that point Tord already had that weird chemical that gave life to stuff and converted people to zombies) he assumed the way to get to the monster was making Tom furious so that's what he tried, that's why he was specially hostile to Tom, that's why he was so surprised when Tom left the house (because i've seen people assume that was his objective but if it was then why did he looked so taken aback?)

continuing with Tord my next point is: We kind of know what Tord was up to all along and i'm not so sure he created the red army

WHAAAT???? VINCENT YOU ARE CRAZY FOR THAT ONE!!! WHAT MADE YOU THINK THAT TORD DIDN'T CREATED THE RED ARMY? THAT'S LITERALLY HIS TRADE MARK!!! HE IS THE RED LEADER, EVERYWHERE HE GOES THE RED ARMY SYMBOL APPEARS!!!

well yes, that is true but just because he later on becomes the red leader it doesn't mean he created the red army as it is.

let me explain: in the episode "moving targets" not only do we are shown Tord's fondness of militaristic activities but also in the minute 6:12 we see Paul and some unnamed enemy base guard (that i'm pretty sure had a fanon name but I completely forgot oh well) and you may ask "ok so what?" ... Sir that's Paul, this openly states that before he joined the red army, Paul was with this other random army which if you look closely has a suspiciously similar design to the red army's uniform, not only that but again, in Tord's lab we can see a picture of 4 people (minute 2:42) and these people are: Tord, the enemy base guard marked with a big X (maybe he's dead or simply left the army), Paul and Patryck, this meaning that Tord knew them from before, now, as always, here is what I think happened: After his departure in the episode 25ft under the seat, Tord at some point found the enemy army from the episode moving targets and considering how the gang messed them up they weren't in the best conditions, so at some point between the episodes movie makers and space face Tord takes control of this army and makes it HIS red army, this could've been by force or (what I see more plausible but who knows) joined the army as it is and began working his way up until he ended up leader of it CONTINUING WITH TORD BECAUSE HE IS A SNEAKY BASTARD (i love him i hate him so much) WHAT IS GOING ON WITH HIS LAB??? Tord's laboratory even though solves some questions it opens up even MORE questions like these: HOW DID HE KNEW ABOUT MONSTER TOM IF HE ONLY APPEARED IN POWEREDD AND THAT EPISODE AIRED LONG AFTER HE LEFT?? WHY DOES HE HAVE BARRELS OF THE WEIRD LIFE-GIVING CHEMICAL FROM "THE SNOGRE" AND "FUN DEAD" IF THAT ALSO HAPPENED LONG AFTER HIS DEPARTURE??? WHY DID HE INSTALLED A SECURITY SYSTEM IN THE HOUSE???

WHAT DOES THE MAP WITH THE NOTE MEAN???

well I have answers for 3 of those 4 questions, so, hear me out on this one: Tord kept using his laboratory even after he left. THIS SOUNDS CRAZY AND IT IS BUT HEAR ME OUT.

in the end part one, even though he was let in by edd Tord tried to sneak into Tom's room anyway, and he did it in a way that showed that maybe, just maybe it wasn't his first time doing it and if we look at it from a strategic perspective it's basically the perfect place to hide something like that.

it's a place that no one would search him in because well... at that point it had been years since he left, it's just a normal house where three friends live, nothing suspicious going on with that so if he had his laboratory right there it would be convenient... Really convenient, this is the reason he has stuff from stuff he couldn't have possibly had from before, that's why he had time to build his giant robot, he had all the time he was living there and also when he wasn't, that's what he knew about monster tom. that's why he had pictures of his army friends, that's why he had the chemical, because he never truly left.

this would also make my first idea even more possible because Tom wasn't even surprised to see Tord's laboratory in his room and Tord wasn't surprised either to see Tom there, this meaning that maybe somehow they had seen eachother before, maybe while Tord was sneaking in or out and Tom in an act of friendship decided to not get Edd or Matt involved for their own good

AND NOW, LET'S STOP SPEAKING ABOUT TORD FOR A MOMENT BECAUSE I NEED TO SAY SOMETHING ABOUT EDD.

IS FUTURE EDD GONNA PROTAGONIZE THE COMICS MATT SPOKE ABOUT IN HIS UPDATES VIDEO?????

I HAVE PLENTY OF REASONS TO THINK THAT WE ARE GOING TO SEE MORE ABOUT THE FUTURE BRIEFLY POSTRAYED IN WTFUTURE BECAUSE IF WE TAKE AN ACTUALL LOOK AT THE TEASERS MATT SHOWED THEY SHOW A FUTURISTIC CITY WITH DRONES AND SOMEONE WITH EDD'S DISTINCT HAIR AND FUTURE EDD'S COAT ENTERING A BUILDING THROUGH THE WINDOW SO IN MY OPINION WE ARE GOING TO GET EVEN MORE INSIGHT ON HOW'S THE WORLD DOING UNDER THE RED LEADER'S LEADERSHIP WHOHOOOOO long live cola

that aside because I got overly happy when I remembered that

WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE LOBSTERS.

in the episodes "the surf and turf wars pt 1 and 2" we are presented with a new problem, for the ones that haven't seen it or don't remember, in the episodes, Matt gets turned into a lobster monster by a chemical with dubious origin, we actually have a name for this chemical! it's named "NM-8" and ok, this is maybe a far FAR stretch BUT I CAN'T POSSIBLY BE THE ONLY ONE WITH THE THEORIE THAT MAYBE, JUST MAYBE THIS CHEMICAL IS AN ADVANCED FORMULA OF THAT LIFE-GIVING CHEMICAL OF TORD'S I say this since both substances have similar effects, and according to this, in the same episode, the barrel of nm-8 ends up there anyways because while transporting the chemical THAT IS WIDELY STATED THE ORIGIN OF IT IS HIGLY CONFIDENTIAL NO QUESTIONS ASKED the ship hits a bump and when the captain asked "what happened" is sent to the brig because he broke the rule of not asking questions, this leading to the barrel falling overboard and ending up in the beach where it's found by Matt and the episode continues

who would need such level of secretism? who would need that much confidentiality? well I have certain people in mind, if we think about it from a narrative perspective it would make sense for the chemical to be property of the same guy (or guys) that made the other chemical to be responsible for it, maybe in some elaborate scheme to finally get back at the world after the giant robot fiasco and hey, maybe it was impossible before but now with the Tord Youtooz? WITH TORD APPEARING IN MATT'S VIDEO AS AN INTERRUPTION WITH THE STYLE OF A STOLEN TV SIGNAL???? IT'S PLAUSIBLE AND IT WOULD MAKE A LOT OF SENSE! but as always that is only speculation, I can't see the future, just theorize and communicate what I think and let's be honest, the next episode will probably be about the guys cleaning up the lobster mess (WHICH IS AMAZING AND I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE) but always remember, Tord ends up taking the world in the future anyways so stopping him right now, whatever he is up to is not really an option unless someone comes back from the future to help

AND THAT'S ALL SORRY IF IT'S MESSY, I STARTED WRITING THIS AT 3 AM AND HAD TO WRITE IT IN SEPARATED MOMENTS SO YEAH THE CONTINUITY IS NOT GREAT AND ALSO ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LENGUAJE SO YEAHHHHHH

[gunsandspaceships]

Review of Official MCU Timelines: The New Official Timeline (Phase One). Part 1

My (unofficial) but logical (the right one) detailed timeline of the Phase One.

Review of The Old Official Timeline

Review of The MCU Guidebook Timeline

This is a review of Phase One dates from The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline, which is the newest and most complete timeline from Marvel Studios. We'll see if it's actually good or still not good enough. The book can also be used as a weapon because it's huge and heavy.

I won't copy-paste the entire timeline from the book here, but will focus only on the incorrect or questionable dates, and add details when the official timeline only gives a year/season/month. If I don't mention an event/date from Phase One here, it means the book has it set correctly.

Note: Fury's Big Week events and dates will be covered in a separate post.

Correct dates are highlighted in blue, questionable or too vague - in orange, and incorrect ones - in red.

First comes the date from the new timeline and then the comparison with date/s from other sources.

❔ Unknown (p.25) vs 600 years BIM (old timeline) - Odin hid the Tesseract on Earth:

The date of this event only appears in the old timeline - 600 BIM, which is 1408 AD. The new timeline mentions that it happened after the battle with the Frost Giants, but also says that it is unknown when exactly it happened.

📅 June 1943 (p.33) vs June 15, 1943 (my timeline) - Candidate Rogers met Agent Carter; 📅 June 1943 (p.33) vs June 15-June 21, 1943 (my timeline) - training at Camp Lehigh:

I added some details because they are easy to identify from the movie.

❌ Nov 3 - 10, 1943 (p.34, 329) vs Nov 3-4, 1943 (the guidebook) or Nov 3-5, 1943 (my timeline) - Cap brings the freed prisoners of war back:

We have options here. Unfortunately, the people at Marvel forgot how to count and think in their new timeline, because the 35 miles the soldiers had to walk would take about 12 hours. What exactly were they doing for the whole week?

📅 Mid-1940s (p.35, 256, 329) vs December 1944 - January 1945 (my timeline) - Barnes fell from the train; Zola is captured:

The date is very vague. In the movie we can pinpoint it with more precision: 1) It happened a couple of days before the Valkyrie flight; 2) There was snow; 3) It was after November 1943 and before March 1945; 4) It was in 1944 and 1945 at the same time. Is this a mistake? Or it could be December 31, 1944 - January 1, 1945.

❔ March 1945 (p.35, 329) vs January 1945 (my timeline) - The Crash of the Valkyrie:

It could be any month in early 1945. But only January can save the guys who wrote "1944" and "1945" for the train mission in the same movie. Remember, those events happened a couple of days apart.

P.S. This book contains absolutely idiotic notes from Miss Minutes, which Marvel only created more problems for themselves. It was so easy to fix, but instead they took this approach:

📅 1940s (p.38) vs June 23, 1945 (my timeline) - the exact date on this picture:

📅 1946 (p.38) vs March 15, 1946 (my timeline) - The Zodiac Mission (Agent Carter one-shot):

❌ Another "f*ck up of TVA" (p.53) - Miss Minutes tells us that the IM1 presentation has an error with Tony's age when he became CEO of SI. But as I explained in my MCU Guidebook review, there is no mistake: the movie says "at age 21", not "when he turned 21". Bots are all the same, I guess.

❌ 2011 (p.56, 89, 121, 250, 330) vs Early 2012 (my timeline) - Steve Rogers is found in the Arctic; April 2012 (my timeline) - Rogers wakes up after 67 years in ice:

Scenes at the end of CA:TFA and deleted scenes from The Avengers give us some clues as to how much time has passed between his first day in the 21st century and the events of The Avengers (May 2012) - no more than a few weeks. The weather in New York on the day of his awakening also suggests it is most likely April.

The year he was found depends on how long it took SHIELD to unfreeze him. It could have been late 2011, but I doubt they needed that long.

📅 Mid-2000s (p.68, 90, 330) vs March 5, 2004, 2:30 pm (my timeline) - The Creation of the Hulk:

In the movie, there is a photo from April 2004, as well as a newspaper and the earliest documents from March 6-7. We can also see a clock on the wall in the lab scene, so we can determine the date and time of the incident.

📅 Early 2008 (p.70, 330) vs End of January/Beginning of February, 2008 (my timeline) - Tony is kidnapped by The Ten Rings:

Tony spent 3 months in captivity. May 2nd minus 3 months equal a more precise date.

📅 Spring 2008 (p.71-73, 330) vs April 30 - May 25, 2008 (my timeline) - Tony's escape and the events of IM1 after Tony's return from Afghanistan:

Again, we can figure out months and even dates based on the movie itself. See my IM1 Part 3 timeline for details.

📅 Spring 2008 (p.71) vs May 2, 2008 (my timeline) - Tony returns from Afghanistan and shuts down weapon manufacturing at SI;

📅 Spring 2008 (p.72) vs May 5-15, 2008 (my timeline) - development of Mark II;

📅 Spring 2008 (p.72) vs May 18, 2008 (my timeline) - Battle in Gulmira;

📅 Spring 2008 (p.73) vs May 19, 2008 (my timeline) - Stane takes Mark I, kills The Ten Rings, and orders SI engineers to begin work on Iron Monger;

📅 Spring 2008 (p.73) vs May 24, 2008 (my timeline) - Battle with Iron Monger;

📅 Spring 2008 (p.73) vs May 25, 2008 (my timeline) - "I am Iron Man" press conference;

❌ Spring 2008 (p.76) vs December 2008 (my timeline) - death of Anton Vanko; Ivan begins work on his arc reactor:

As I said in the IM2 Timeline, it can't be spring (or the same time as the "I Am Iron Man" press conference) for many reasons.

Ivan was released from prison sometime in December 2008, and he still looks like he just got out. Plus, Moscow looks like it's December, not May.

📅 Spring 2010 (p.77, 330) vs May 11 - Mid-June, 2010 (my timeline) - Events of IM2:

One of the events is Tony's birthday, so we can narrow it down considerably using the Stark Expo countdown on Tony's TV in the lab.

Notice that this timeline FINALLY acknowledges that it has been two years since IM1, not six months.

❌ May 5, 2010 (p.78) vs May 23, 2009 (my timeline) - The Grand Prix Assault:

While the real Monaco Grand Prix Historique does take place in early May, in the movie it could not have taken place on May 5th, based on other dates, including Tony's birthday.

Review of The New Official Timeline Part 2

[anythingelsereally014]

Cleaning up my drafts,,,,

Sick J/ames wanting to give R/egulus a special birthday

"You are not going today," Peter says casually. "You'll be staying in bed until I tell you otherwise."

"Who are snnff hh'tdd huh'dx snff who are you, my mother?" James snaps back in between sniffles. "I'mb goin'g sdrrrk I am going and you can't do anything to stop me."

Pete doesn't say a word and James smiles triumphantly. He'll go out with Regulus whether his friends like it or not.

He quickly gets up from his bed, but everything starts to spin and the next time he notices, he's in Sirius' bed and Remus is bringing him a glass of water.

"What happen'ded?" He sniffles a few times to no avail. "I ndeed to go out with Reg today."

"Prongs, you're sick," Sirius says calmly. "My brother will understand that you can't go out today."

"But I huh'tdx hih'xx snfff hh'tdd hh'xx sdrkkk prombissed."

"James, mate," Remus puts a hand on his shoulder. "I'll text him and tell him you won't make it, okay?"

He nods tiredly. He won’t lie, he's feeling awful. Absolutely fatigued. His whole body hurts, his head is fuzzy and full of snot and he can’t go a single minute without–

heh'tshhh huh'tishhh sdrkkk

Without sneezing.

But it's Reg's first birthday since they got together and James planned a nice date for them to celebrate. Everything was perfect, he just didn't count on getting sick with the plague.

"Just try to sleep now, you need it."

He doesn't protest much, falling asleep almost instantly. It's like his body is begging him to rest, it's heavy and he feels like he's swimming in honey. Moving is too difficult.

"James, darling, you're awake," Regulus says as James opens his eyes again. "Do you need anything?"

"It's your birthday."

"I'm well aware."

"You don't turn 24 every year."

"No, but I'll turn 25, 26, 27..."

"I planned everything and we were going to hh'xx snfff heh'tishh snffff to that fancy restaurant you like and then to the amusement park."

"We can go any other day, we can go as soon as you're feeling better."

James shakes his head. "I wanted to give you s special day."

"My dear James, I don't care about any of that, okay?"

"I do." He says with a heavy sigh that turns into a coughing fit. "I care about that. I want you to have a special day."

Regulus smiles. "How about this, I bring the mattress to the living room and we camp there to watch movies. Sirius, Remus, and Peter are out to a movie marathon at the cinema, but they can join us once they get home."

James ponders. "What do you want to watch?" He's still unsure, Regulus deserves more than movies at home on his birthday. "And are you sure this is enough?"

Regulus kisses his forehead, frowning. "You have a fever, dearest. I'll get you some Advil."

He does just that, giving James two pills and a glass of water.

"Drink up, yeah? And you are more than enough. I'm happy to spend my birthday with you in any way we can, okay? I love you."

[1lostsoul0fishbowl]

do u have any sibling headcanons for Max and Eddie?

like maybe activities they do together or shenanigans they get into?

Okay first of all I LOVE YOU for asking this, because I live and breathe the Munson-Mayfield Sibling Agenda! 😄 I have a zillion headcanons for them but here are just a few:

They made up their own secret code language and absolutely refuse to explain it to anyone else. Eddie won’t even tell Chrissy what the code words mean.

They have their own private walkie-talkie channel, which they immediately change if one of the other kids manages to find it.

They talk every single day. Even if it’s only for two minutes, a quick “Hey. You doing okay? Alright, great. Catch ya tomorrow. Love you.”

In the Lostsoul Universe, Max escaped Vecna with only one arm badly broken. While her arm was in a cast, Eddie would brush and braid her hair for her every morning before school. He was actually a little sad when she finally got the cast off and could do it herself again, so every now and then she still asks him to do it for her.

Whenever they go grocery shopping together they play a game where they try to sneak something weird into the other person’s cart without them noticing. Five points if they don’t notice until the checkout line. Ten points if they accidentally buy the thing. They’ve kept a running tally for over a year now, and Max is winning 35-5.

If Eddie loses Max in the store, he will absolutely scream “MARCO!” at the top of his lungs. And as embarrassed as she is, she never fails to holler back “POLO!”

They both love McDonald’s and they eat there, as Chrissy says, way too often. Eddie introduced Max to dipping fries into a milkshake, and Max taught Eddie to put the hash brown right into the middle of the Egg McMuffin.

They also play a game called “my sibling’s an expert”. It involves going to the flea market and waiting to be approached by a seller. Some lady will innocently say “would you like to buy a picture frame?” And Eddie will immediately respond “oh, my sister’s an expert on picture frames!” and then Max has to make up some ridiculous facts about why frames are always rectangular and never square. Or at the homemade jellies table Max will casually tell the old couple “you know, my brother’s an expert jelly checker” and Eddie has to convince them not only what a jelly checker is but that he definitely is one. 25 points to whoever makes up a plausible sounding story without laughing. 50 points if they can get the seller to believe it.

Before Mystery Science Theater 3000 was a thing, Eddie and Max had perfected the art of wisecracking and riffing on movies. They actually got banned from the local movie theater for talking too much and distracting everyone around them. Before renting a movie, sometimes Chrissy will make Eddie swear to just keep quiet and let her watch without adding his own dialogue. More than once she’s threatened to duct-tape their mouths shut.

Eddie sometimes forgets that Max isn’t actually his biological sister. Once an old lady in the grocery store asked him where his sister got that lovely red hair, and Eddie spent a few minutes trying to think if he had any ginger relatives before he remembered.

Max, on the other hand, never forgets that Eddie isn’t actually her brother, and worries a lot about him replacing her. Finally Eddie made up a set of fake adoption papers, formally adopting her as his little sister “until the end of time”. He set up a ‘courtroom’ in the Harrington’s living room and had Hopper act as the judge and made it into a whole big thing. They goofed around and acted silly the whole time until Hopper formally pronounced them siblings. Then they both started crying.

I could seriously go on and on but I’ll stop here - thank you again for the fun ask!!!

[quodekash]

EPISODE 2 BAD BUDDY OS2 LETS GOOOOO im so freaking excited holy hell 

i still cant believe that patpran and earthmix are going to INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER??? AND EXIST IN THE SAME SPACE???? HOLY HELLLLLL 

wait hang on 

will we get longtae?? pls give us longtae i need to see my boy 

WAIT hang on how does this work. how do bad buddy and 1000stars exist in the same space if drake plays korn and also rang. i need to make some kind of murder board of the connections between shows holy hell 

tut tut, phu, you need to take care of yourself for goodness sake 

pran is too autistic for this, he doesnt know how to Social Situation and communicate what he was actually trying to say and now they think he wants to be a teacher 

also im gonna slide past the phutian relationship problems bc i dont want to think about it. my dads are not getting a divorce, and thats final 

hang on. there’s new kids now??? where the hell did they come from? 

tian’s teacher frustration is so real 

autism 

HEY 

LOOK AT THAT 

ACTUAL REPRESENTATION OF SOME KIND 

THATS AWESOME 

I KNEW HE WASNT NEUROTYPICAL 

FJEHSBGKVJREB 

i know ocd is an anxiety disorder but there’s a lot of overlapping symptoms and apparently autistic people are more likely to experience ocd 

and even if its just ocd, im still allowed to hc him as autistic 

but either way HELL YEAH REPRESENTATION AND ITS CANONICAL AND ITS NOT JUST IN HIS HABITS ITS AN ACTUAL CANONICAL DIAGNOSIS GJERBDHBDRT 

MY BOY! 

(definitely didnt completely forget about him) 

his gaydar is going off so much he can smell it (i made the screenshot too big and now phupha in the foreground is making me laugh so hard omg- i swear its the funniest thing ever. im probably tired. its 1:30am) 

THE LOOKS PATPRAN GAVE EACH OTHER WHILE PHUTIAN WERE INTERACTING- THE GAYDARS THE GAYDARS 

(yes, i know they already know about phutian bc of tian’s online diary thingy, but it still counts) 

i wanna read this diary so bad but i cant read thai. and also idk where i would find it. its probably online somewhere. it might be a merch thing. who knows man 

GEHRKDBGV THE FLASHBACKS WHILE HES READING 

IM CRYING 

“why would a good guy come to watch me take a shower?” THE LOOKS PATPRAN JUST GAVE EACH OTHER- OMG I LOVE THIS SO MUCH 

THE LOOKS THROUGHOUT THIS WHOLE EXCHANGE 

ITS SO FUNNY 

I LOVE THIS 

iconic 

i love everything about this so so so much 

the amount of joy that just this one image brings me? help 

ive been wondering why they keep making those movies 

wait hang on 

guys i think we might actually be onto something 

on another but related note: what do you guys spend 25 minutes doing at 2 in the morning when you should be sleeping? cos apparently i make beautiful atrocities like that. 

anyway. 

theyre like little kids, “he liked me first” “NO HE LIKED ME FIRST” 

this is starting to sound very familiar 

pran screaming at the waterfall reminds me of patpran screaming off the top of the hill at the beach 

THEY ARE PLAYING IN THE WATERRRR I LOVE THEMMMMMM 

“i think they kissed” “agreed” “they certainly did” “i agree” okay they didnt but they absolutely should have and we all wanted them to 

they so in loveeee i love themmmmm 

IM SCREAMING AS QUIETLY AS I POSSIBLY CAN, HOLY HELL THE FREAKING PARALLELS 

hah, you bloody americans, they probably had to google what 18ºC is in fahrenheit, but i, a superior australian, know that that is... warmer than it has been recently. its currently 13º. its really weird, im not used to it getting this cold, even in winter, and winter only technically started two days ago. anyway, enough about abnormal australian weather, back to patpran 

i love them so much 

pat, i- 

HELL YES 

OISHIIIII 

FINALLY 

the kid demanding payment through sips of oishi tea? thats my kinda style 

id adopt that kid if i had to. 

i hate kids 

but ice tea? it bonds people. 

lucky kid 

i rly like this karaoke idea, i was wondering how they were gonna incorporate the ost but i guess pat’s gonna sing it 

P’AUUUU 

I THOUGHT I RECOGNISED HIM IN THE BACKGROUND EARLIER AND I WAS RIGHT 

HELLO P’AU HOW ARE YOU 

“actually, my boyfriend and i also fought about who fell for the other first. but in the end, it isnt important. what matters more is that we love each other” AWWWWBHFGHBR 

OH 

ITS THE SONG 

ITS THAT SONG 

GEIURHGUKERJBGHJK 

YAYYYY PHUTIAN ARE SNUGGLINGGGG 

IM SMILING SO HARD ITS DIFFICULT TO SEE 

i love him 

THE SIGNATURE FISTBUMP RJDGBJR 

i love them 

NOOOOO THEY STILL HAVENT MADE UP, GOSH FREAKING DARNNIT 

ooooo phu vs pat drinking challenge, this’ll be fun 

i really like how the young ones are giving advice to the older ones for a change, its very nice. and also just goes to show how powerful patpran are 

omg this kid is everywhere, i love him 

the pure RELIEF when they both see that they are, in fact, wearing pants. 

BRO THAT WAS STRESSFUL 

PRAN NEARLY DIED 

its so funny to me how intense the music is rn 

OF FREAKING COURSE 

well at least we know that means we’ll get more patpran next week, we dont have to say goodbye to them today 

anyway that was wonderful, its 3am and i feel fine currently, cant wait to feel like a dead banana peel tomorrow, goodnight folks, see you next time! 

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Looks like Eddie Murphy has some muscle when it comes to these sorts of things, because DreamWorks is apparently at work on a DONKEY movie, set for release sometime after SHREK 5 comes out.

Murphy did say in a recent interview that he "thinks" SHREK 5 is going to be out next year, but with DreamWorks having three films slotted for 2025 - DOG MAN, BAD GUYS 2, and GABBY'S DOLLHOUSE... I don't think so.

2026 seems right still, plus the first movie turns 25 that year. But Murphy has recorded some lines for it for a few months, so it's closer than not.

Given how well both PUSS IN BOOTS movies did (I get the sense that the first one is kinda-sorta forgotten? It actually did very well way back in 2011), and the sequel was a leggy phenomenon, so I'm not surprised that there'd be some traction on a Donkey movie. The SHREK franchise is as alive as ever some two decades after SHREK came out, and some three decades after the original book by William Steig was published.

I'm wondering if it's going to be more than just "Donkey yuks it up for 90 minutes", but that would still be fun anyhow. After THE LAST WISH, I think it'd be cool to see a Donkey movie be told through his perspective in a way animation can really pull off. And not in the more expected way CG movies, including the SHREKs, often do. THE LAST WISH goes hard on a storybook/fairy tale look and tone, and retains the very Three Musketeers/Spaghetti Western-informed vibe of the first PUSS IN BOOTS. When action happens, there are those little flourishes and such that - to me - make you experience the story the way the character is feeling it. Very much like classic Disney animated films, ironically. Maybe a Donkey movie could do the same, but in a way that really puts you in the head of this wisecracking ass.

Also, is it theatrical? Or something that'll be sent to a streamer? (Either ORION AND THE DARK-style where it's a full-on DWA picture that for whatever reason didn't go to theaters, or MEGAMIND TV Pilot-style where it's made somewhere else w/ a wholly different team and was never meant for the big screen or potential awards.)

If it's a theatrical movie, that would make it, I think, one of the first big-time Western animated movie to spawn theatrical spin-offs based on two separate characters. Theatrical, that is. If any Disney animated feature got a spin-off, it was largely through direct-to-video stuff and that's a whole other clustercuss of its own. ICE AGE recently had that Disney+ Buck Wild thing made at some other studio, as well.

But no, I'm referring to theatrical... Especially if made by the same studio.

I think THE LEGO MOVIE got there first. As pretty much everyone knows, Batman was a character in that movie... And he got his own theatrical movie in 2017 featuring tons of other DC and WB-owned characters, it's the second-ever release in the LEGO MOVIE series. An unusual move in retrospective, LEGO MOVIE 2 probably should've been next, *then* LEGO BATMAN. Warner Bros. made an equally unusual decision to follow that up with THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE towards the end of 2017, which featured *no one* from the previous two movies. It was all characters from the Ninjago line and assorted new faces. It lost money on its release, too... I think doing two spin-off movies about two separate sets of characters before a proper LEGO MOVIE sequel helped hurt that film when it finally came out in 2019... Five years after the first movie. It didn't enjoy any of the success of the original, and Warner Bros. offloaded the franchise - probably sans Batman and such - to Universal... Who, as I understand, are still deep at work on a LEGO MOVIE 3 of sorts.

Worth noting that Warner also had other LEGO MOVIE spin-offs in development before LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART released. A Jorge R. Gutierrez-directed pic called THE BILLION BRICK RACE was one of them. Warners really though they had a whole expanded LEGO MOVIE-verse going on there, and perhaps got lost in that before building a solid base with Emmet Brickowski and friends.

DreamWorks, of course, is making a DOG MAN movie. The DOG MAN books are a spin-off of Dav Pilkey's CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS, which DreamWorks adapted into a movie in 2017. DOG MAN may or may not feature the Captain himself.

Illumination's DESPICABLE ME has two MINIONS movies, which cover... Well... The Minions, a whole group. A character unit itself, and young Gru appears in both movies, having a much larger role in the second one. Kinda spin-off/prequel-ish movies... But there's no movie that's just about, say, Lucy or younger Vector or anyone like that. So, that's just one for DESPICABLE ME.

Pixar... TOY STORY has one character-centric spin-off movie in LIGHTYEAR, though that was a wholly different take on Buzz. CARS has one in two PLANES movies about a character who doesn't appear in any of the CARS movies. The PLANES movies were made at Disneytoon Studios by crews who mostly weren't on the CARS movies. John Lasseter is exec producer of them, and wrote the story for the first one. They're by all means direct-to-video type movies made elsewhere, much like the Disney ones of the '90s and '00s, but they got theatrical releases. We almost got a third one that was all about spacecraft, and a fourth one about city transit. We almost had a whole CARS cinematic universe there, with 3/4 of it not being made by Pixar.

So yeah... DreamWorks finally having two separate characters headlining their own movies apart from the larger franchise they come from... Interesting development. Luckily for them, they were four movies into SHREK when PUSS IN BOOTS came out, and they'll be five movies in if DONKEY happens.

[the-vagabond-angel]

Certified Vagabond Angel book headcanons and these are mostly just Armand hcs cause I miss my reach

Armand would be one of those guys who scream random stuff out in the middle of class, you know who I’m talking about

If Claudia was able to live until modern times, I feel like she’d be really into platforms, she likes the extra height

Louis would be the type to wear those turtleneck-cardigan-long skirt combos

Marius would own the ugliest pair of Birkenstocks EVER

I feel like when Armand and Lestat forget they hate each other, they have a really fun time together like I’m talking they go out shopping, have lunch you know, listen to music while dancing then they remember they hate each other and they start fighting about something

Claudia’s first coffin had little doodles all over it trust, it absolutely did

Armand’s current coffin also has little doodles over it lol and stickers, there’s stickers everywhere on it

Lestat would be the type to have a “just girly things” blog in like 2013 or one of those blogs dedicated to emo guys cause let’s be fr

Armand would spend $100 that he got that day in 30 minutes in a visual novel game

When I was 13-14, I started my own cult that was dedicated to that guy who ran CNN 10, I called myself “The High Priest” and everybody had to call me that (I had this black like long cardigan with hella long sleeves that I wore). I had an assistant who was called the Communicator or something weird like that, we had rules and a whole symbol and had about 25 or so people in it, like I would go up to people like “hey, wanna join my cult, it’s really fun” anyways my point is Armand would do that cause he literally did that

Armand probably holds everyone hostage to drink his horrible little smoothies (same boo boo bear holding my whole family hostage to eat my devil’s food cake that I made in my easy bake oven but it’s the old one that used a light bulb)

Armand sleeps with a little night light cuz I get the feeling he wouldn’t like to sleep in the dark (alternatively, he does what I did as a kid and sleeps with a bright ass lamp that lights up his entire room)

Lestat and Armand probably paint their nails together (sometimes they paint Louis’ nails too)

They all watched Twilight together like a big weird family, Armand is team Jacob until breaking dawn then he’s team Bella should’ve dated Alice, Lestat wants to sparkle too now, Marius probably hated it cause he’s an old loser, Louis read the books beforehand and did not in any way understand the movies better, and Daniel probably fell asleep.

Lestat and Armand will describe the blood they drink like it’s wine (“mmhmm yes a vintage 1967 with a very oaky and smokey taste to it” meanwhile they just ate 2 guys who were camping in the woods)

I’m from the era of the internet of like Slenderman’s mansion so I imagine all the vampires who matter live in one huge ass mansion in the woods together

Lestat can’t swim I don’t care if it’s canon that he can, no he can’t, he just looks like someone who can’t swim

Lestat watches beauty guru videos to sleep

After Armand’s basically dadification, he spoils Benji and Sybelle like this man physically cannot say no to these kids, he tried to but it just ended with him convulsing on the floor.

Armand are those pictures on the internet of that lady laying in her room and her walls are entirely covered with crosses and then the other one of that nun just sitting between those 2 women

I’ll add more if I feel like it lol

[bioshoook]

Bamboo mahonia jasmine aloe vera papyrus :)

(thank you for the questions!! i'm just gonna add the ones that you sent in a second time ;3)

Bamboo: Do you change into a different outfit when you get home? Oh absolutely. As soon as I get home the work clothes come off and usually look tank top and gym short/pajama shorts come on.

Abelia: Do you have a particular piece of jewelry you always wear or can’t part with? I have a necklace that I wear everyday I leave my house that has some little charms on it from different things in my life. Like I have a ring from my mom and a Hobbit acorn pendant on there and I could never part with that necklace. It's always gotta be on me if I'm leaving the house longer than 30 minutes.

Mahonia: What place, thing, activity inspires you most and how do you express yourself when it does? I find inspiration in all kinds of things especially in like nature, but I would say it would have to be an activity that I find the most inspiring and it's usually video games or listening to music. If those two things can inspire me in the slightest I'll probably make a video edit for them or end up writing something in the universe of the game or music if it fits.

Camellia: What were you like when you were younger? Do you think you’ve changed a lot? I've definitely changed a lot from when I was younger. When I was younger I was a lot more carefree and hyper back then, like I still had my anxiety but we didn't know that's what it was yet. I would also be more focused on what people thought about me and being by myself at lunch time where as now that I'm older I could give less of a shit what they think of me and I actually prefer to eat lunch by myself now haha. I do wish I still had my energy from back then though. Wish I had taken more naps.

Jasmine: Do you have a movie or book you loved but will never watch/read again? Bookwise I don't think there's anything I wouldn't be unwilling to reread again and I think the one movie I probably couldn't rewatch even though I really loved it and it was an excellent work on cinema would have to be Come and See. That movie is just a lot emotionally and I don't think I'd be willing to watch it again.

Chamomile: What kind of things do you like receiving as gifts? I honestly like receiving anything that has some thought put into it and I usually lean towards things that can be useful and not just be set on a shelf to gather dust (minus books ofc). Like if you've obviously put effort and time into getting me something then I'm gonna love it and if you can't do that then make sure it's something I can use.

Aloe Vera: What’s something (mundane) you really want to experience in life? Retirement jk jk but really I would just love to have a job at a library or a bookstore. Just a job focusing on books in some way. I've tried 2 times to get a library position and both times I've struck out so I'll just keep trying for that type of job till I can't no more.

Papyrus: If you put your ‘on repeat’ playlist on shuffle, what’s the first song that comes up? what do you like about it / associate it with? So I don't really have an 'on repeat' playlist but I do have a 'Top 25' on my ipod and the first song that came up on shuffle was Montero by Lil Nas X. With that song I just love the beat and rhythm it has to it and also the whole imagery with the music video is awesome, just a spit in the face of what's usually deemed "socially acceptable" and I'm so here for it.

[becauseimanicequeen]

Rewatching Once Again and To My Star 1+2

This is part of my Crazy-Ass End-of-Year Rewatch Challenge where I will rewatch some of my favorite shows, some of my least favorite shows, and some shows in between. I pulled another title out of the bowl (yes, I'm letting chance choose for me) and got Once Again. Then I added another Korean show to the post after pulling To My Star out of the bowl.

I can't promise cohesive thoughts in these posts because it's the end of the year, I'm currently living in right-brain land 10+ hours per day, and I'm TIRED because the darkness of winter is here. You've been warned.

Also, since these are all rewatches, there are spoilers ahead.

Once Again

I watched this show for the first time in December 2023 and it became one of my favorite shows (9/10) because I bawled through the whole thing. Since I am an ice queen (which my username clearly states), yet someone who believes that crying is a natural and healthy release of stuck emotions (and wish I could do more of it), I get obsessed with shows that make me cry. Usually that only happens with shows that portray loss and grief in some way. Once Again is one of those shows.

Also, it stars Moon Jiyong in one of the main roles (he's also been in The New Employee) and he can make me cry by just looking sad.

And when he cries in this show, I'm crying a whole fucking ocean.

The fucking nerve he has! lol

This rewatch was no different, emotionally speaking. I've been crying now for, I don't know, 2 and a half hours? Exactly the way I wanted to spend my night now that I don't have anything else to watch on Mondays.

Anyway, this is not a show for those who want the fluffy stuff. This one has a melancholic tone to it throughout the show because it follows Shin Jaewoo who, as he comes back home during a school break, is reminded of his childhood trauma where a college student (Kang Jihoon) saved his life but lost his own.

The guilt Jaewoo feels is also very palpable throughout the show, even in the more lighthearted moments when Jaewoo has traveled back in time and they both start developing romantic feelings for each other. The guilt and the melancholy are always there in the background.

The OST is great, too. "Other Side" by RUNY (the one at the end of every episode) is on several playlists I play frequently. 10/10, no notes.

So, thank you, my sad little show, for the tears I got to shed tonight. I feel so much lighter now.

Well, I've still got space in this post (and with space, I mean I haven't reached the image limit yet, lol) to continue with another show. I just pulled To My Star and will include both the first and second seasons in this post. Let's dive in!

To My Star 1+2

I binged both seasons of this show in September 2023 and loved them. I personally prefer the 2nd season (9/10) over the first (8/10) because I love angst. I feel like Hwang Daseul does angst and longing very well and her shows are always my go-to when I'm in the mood for the angsty shit (especially Where Your Eyes Linger, To My Star 2, and my new HDS favorite Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo).

The first season is the length of a movie and shows the origin story of Kang Seojoon (an actor) and Han Jiwoo (a chef). It's a great introduction to the characters and the cinematography is beautiful, which is why I love it. I mean, just look at those changing rainbow lights between them.

And this is during a scene when Seojoon is flirty and says he likes guys like Jiwoo. Gold!

But, honestly, the first season doesn't give me all that much. Not in this rewatch, at least. Maybe it's because I watched it right after Once Again, which gave me so much (a whole ocean of tears, for example, lol). Perhaps I should've waited an extra day before I watched this. But I was on a roll, so...

Anyway, I'll wait until tomorrow to start the second season...

And, I'm back!

One of the great things about the second season is that it's 10 episodes of 25-30 minutes (the finale is 43 mins) and I love it to bits for some (to me) very important reasons.

Call me a cynic, but I don't believe in happily-ever-after even in fiction (and there are several couples in QLs I don't see lasting even if a show/movie has a happy ending). So, I love it when I get a second season/movie where I can get to know the characters and their relationship on a deeper level, and how they face challenges. That's what I got in this season.

And just like real humans, Seojoon and Jiwoo aren't perfect. They make mistakes, misunderstand things, miscommunicate, etc. They're also both lovable idiots, which is exactly why I love them.

I already mentioned this before, but: The angst! I love the angst. And, to me, it's always great in Hwang Daseul's hands.

Another reason I love the show is that the flashbacks/time-jumping are seamless. There are several times at the beginning of the show that flashbacks happen when someone, for example, walks through a doorway (something I've wanted to write a post about for quite a while, but I haven't found the opportunity or the time. This is a reminder for me to do it, lol.). It's beautifully and smoothly done.

Another reason I love the show is because of the rural setting and all the outside shoots in the dark (it's a nostalgic thing for me).

There are several more things I love about To My Star 2, but I think I'll stop here because I have 3 new episodes of airing QLs I want to watch tonight.

So... Bye for now!