#To Live and Die in L A

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

To Live and Die in L.A. (William Friedkin, 1985)

[zaynes-bakery]

This man is going to be the death of me.

"If you're sad, let this stay behind to appreciate the aurora in your place."

[puppyeared]

its so hard to watch time pass when things like careers and assignments exist. what do you mean im supposed to take that seriously

[greenerteacups]

oooh please someday tell us what you think of GOT

oh, no, it's my fatal weakness! it's [checks notes] literally just the bare modicum of temptation! okay you got me.

SO. in order to tell what's wrong with game of thrones you kind of have to have read the books, because the books are the reason the show goes off the rails. i actually blame the showrunners relatively little in proportion to GRRM for how bad the show was (which I'm not gonna rehash here because if you're interested in GOT in any capacity you've already seen that horse flogged to death). people debate when GOT "got bad" in terms of writing, but regardless of when you think it dropped off, everyone agrees the quality declined sharply in season 8, and to a certain extent, season 7. these are the seasons that are more or less entirely spun from whole cloth, because season 7 marks the beginning of what will, if we ever see it, be the Winds of Winter storyline. it's the first part that isn't based on a book by George R.R. Martin. it's said that he gave the showrunners plot outlines, but we don't know how detailed they were, or how much the writers diverged from the blueprint — and honestly, considering the cumulative changes made to the story by that point, some stark divergence would have been required. (there's a reason for this. i'll get there in a sec.)

so far, i'm not saying anything all that original. a lot of people recognized how bad the show got as soon as they ran out of Book to adapt. (I think it's kind of weird that they agreed to make a show about an unfinished series in the first place — did GRRM figure that this was his one shot at a really good HBO adaptation, and forego misgivings about his ability to write two full books in however many years it took to adapt? did he think they would wait for him? did he not care that the series would eventually spoil his magnum opus, which he's spent the last three decades of his life writing? perplexing.) but the more interesting question is why the show got bad once it ran out of Book, because in my mind, that's not a given. a lot of great shows depart from the books they were based on. fanfiction does exactly that, all the time! if you have good writers who understand the characters they're working with, departure means a different story, not a worse one. now, the natural reply would be to say that the writers of GOT just aren't good, or at least aren't good at the things that make for great television, and that's why they needed the books as a structure, but I don't think that's true or fair, either. books and television are very different things. the pacing of a book is totally different from the pacing of a television show, and even an episodic book like ASOIAF is going to need a lot of work before it's remotely watchable as a series. bad writers cannot make great series of television, regardless of how good their source material is. sure, they didn't invent the characters of tyrion lannister and daenerys targaryen, but they sure as hell understood story structure well enough to write a damn compelling season of TV about them!

so but then: what gives? i actually do think it's a problem with the books! the show starts out as very faithful to the early books (namely, A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings) to the point that most plotlines are copied beat-for-beat. the story is constructed a little differently, and it's definitely condensed, but the meat is still there. and not surprisingly, the early books in ASOIAF are very tightly written. for how long they are, you wouldn't expect it, but on every page of those books, the plot is racing. you can practically watch george trying to beat the fucking clock. and he does! useful context here is that he originally thought GOT was going to be a trilogy, and so the scope of most threads in the first book or two would have been much smaller. it also helps that the first three books are in some respects self-contained stories. the first book is a mystery, the second and third are espionage and war dramas — and they're kept tight in order to serve those respective plots.

the trouble begins with A Feast for Crows, and arguably A Storm of Swords, because GRRM starts multiplying plotlines and treating the series as a story, rather than each individual book. he also massively underestimated the number of pages it would take him to get through certain plot beats — an assumption whose foundation is unclear, because from a reader's standpoint, there is a fucke tonne of shit in Feast and Dance that's spurious. I'm not talking about Brienne's Riverlands storyline (which I adore thematically but speaking honestly should have been its own novella, not a part of Feast proper). I'm talking about whole chapters where Tyrion is sitting on his ass in the river, just talking to people. (will I eat crow about this if these pay off in hugely satisfying ways in Winds or Dream? oh, totally. my brothers, i will gorge myself on sweet sweet corvid. i will wear a dunce cap in the square, and gleefully, if these turn out to not have been wastes of time. the fact that i am writing this means i am willing to stake a non-negligible amount of pride on the prediction that that will not happen). I'm talking about scenes where the characters stare at each other and talk idly about things that have already happened while the author describes things we already have seen in excruciating detail. i'm talking about threads that, while forgivable in a different novel, are unforgivable in this one, because you are neglecting your main characters and their story. and don't tell me you think that a day-by-day account tyrion's river cruise is necessary to telling his story, because in the count of monte cristo, the main guy disappears for nine years and comes hurtling back into the story as a vengeful aristocrat! and while time jumps like that don't work for everything, they certainly do work if what you're talking about isn't a major story thread!

now put aside whether or not all these meandering, unconcluded threads are enjoyable to read (as, in fairness, they often are!). think about them as if you're a tv showrunner. these bad boys are your worst nightmare. because while you know the author put them in for a reason, you haven't read the conclusion to the arc, so you don't know what that reason is. and even if the author tells you in broad strokes how things are going to end for any particular character (and this is a big "if," because GRRM's whole style is that he lets plots "develop as he goes," so I'm not actually convinced that he does have endings written out for most major characters), that still doesn't help you get them from point A (meandering storyline) to point B (actual conclusion). oh, and by the way, you have under a year to write this full season of television, while GRRM has been thinking about how to end the books for at least 10. all of this means you have to basically call an audible on whether or not certain arcs are going to pay off, and, if they are, whether they make for good television, and hence are worth writing. and you have to do that for every. single. unfinished. story. in the books.

here's an example: in the books, Quentin Martell goes on a quest to marry Daenerys and gain a dragon. many chapters are spent detailing this quest. spoiler alert: he fails, and he gets charbroiled by dragons. GRRM includes this plot to set up the actions of House Martell in Winds, but the problem is that we don't know what House Martell does in Winds, because (see above) the book DNE. So, although we can reliably bet that the showrunners understand (1) Daenerys is coming to Westeros with her 3 fantasy nukes, and (2) at some point they're gonna have to deal with the invasion of frozombies from Canada, that DOESN'T mean they necessarily know exactly what's going to happen to Dorne, or House Martell. i mean, fuck! we don't even know if Martin knows what's going to happen to Dorne or House Martell, because he's said he's the kind of writer who doesn't set shit out beforehand! so for every "Cersei defaults on millions of dragons in loans from the notorious Bank of Nobody Fucks With Us, assumes this will have no repercussions for her reign or Westerosi politics in general" plotline — which might as well have a big glaring THIS WILL BE IMPORTANT stamp on top of the chapter heading — you have Arianne Martell trying to do a coup/parent trap switcheroo with Myrcella, or Euron the Goffick Antichrist, or Faegon Targaryen and JonCon preparing a Blackfyre restoration, or anything else that might pan out — but might not! And while that uncertainty about what's important to the "overall story" might be a realistic way of depicting human beings in a world ruled by chance and not Destiny, it makes for much better reading than viewing, because Game of Thrones as a fantasy television series was based on the first three books, which are much more traditional "there is a plot and main characters and you can generally tell who they are" kind of book. I see Feast and Dance as a kind of soft reboot for the series in this respect, because they recenter the story around a much larger cast and cast a much broader net in terms of which characters "deserve" narrative attention.

but if you're making a season of television, you can't do that, because you've already set up the basic premise and pacing of your story, and you can't suddenly pivot into a long-form tone poem about the horrors of war. so you have to cut something. but what are you gonna cut? bear in mind that you can't just Forget About Dorne, or the Iron Islands, or the Vale, or the North, or pretty much any region of the story, because it's all interconnected, but to fit in everything from the books would require pacing of the sort that no reasonable audience would ever tolerate. and bear in mind that the later books sprout a lot more of these baby-plots that could go somewhere, but also might end up being secondary or tertiary to the "main story," which, at the end of the day, is about dragons and ice zombies and the rot at the heart of the feudal power system glorified in classical fantasy. that's the story that you as the showrunner absolutely must give them an end to, and that's the story that should be your priority 1.

so you do a hack and slash job, and you mortar over whatever you cut out with storylines that you cook up yourself, but you can't go too far afield, because you still need all the characters more or less in place for the final showdown. so you pinch here and push credulity there, and you do your best to put the characters in more or less the same place they would have been if you kept the original, but on a shorter timeframe. and is it as good as the first seasons? of course not! because the material that you have is not suited to TV like the first seasons are. and not only that, but you are now working with source material that is actively fighting your attempt to constrain a linear and well-paced narrative on it. the text that you're working with changed structure when you weren't looking, and now you have to find some way to shanghai this new sprawling behemoth of a Thing into a television show. oh, and by the way, don't think that the (living) author of the source material will be any help with this, because even though he's got years of experience working in television writing, he doesn't actually know how all of these threads will tie together, which is possibly the reason that the next book has taken over 8 years (now 13 and counting) to write. oh and also, your showrunners are sick of this (in fairness, very difficult) job and they want to go write for star wars instead, so they've refused the extra time the studio offered them for pre-production and pushed through a bunch of first-draft scripts, creating a crunch culture of the type that spawns entirely avoidable mistakes, like, say, some poor set designer leaving a starbucks cup in frame.

anyway, that's what I think went wrong with game of thrones.

[spacetravels]

forgive me for posting angst. think of this as a shot and chaser sort of situation,

[terriblegam2r]

After six years of waiting (and wondering if it would ever come into fruition), Richonne's journey has finally came and went.

I could have never imagined how privileged I would be to have Richonne as my favorite ship. I could have never imagined getting everything I have ever wanted for this ship, especially in a series that was purely dedicated to said ship. Like do you know how lucky we are to have this happen for us when most people who ship characters in other shows don't even get their happy ending? AND to have the actors who portray said ship love the characters' relationship as much as the fans do? It's almost unimaginable. But we got it, and I couldn't be more thankful. I got my happy ending, and that's literally all I care about.

I have not taken a single L ever since 2015 when I first thought to myself while watching the show for the first time, "Hey these two characters work really well together. They have something special. I really hope they become a couple some day." I thought I was privileged enough to have my ship go canon, but what's extraordinary about all this is that it also went above and beyond everything I could have ever hoped for.

I want to give a huge thank you to Danai Gurira, Andrew Lincoln and Scott Gimple for loving Richonne as much as we do and dedicating their time and effort into not only concluding Rick and Michonne's story, but also making sure it was made special specifically for Richonners. Assuming this really is the conclusion to their story, of course. If it is I need to see Andy and Danai work on other projects together. It would be a shame if that phenomenal chemistry went to waste.

[pinacoladamatata]

feeling kind of stressed like i'm running out of time to draw solas

[derangedrhythms]

Love! That red disease — 

Anne Sexton, Live or Die; from ‘Menstruation At Forty’

[redrobin-detective]

Guys I'm so emotional thinking of Skull throughout the years.

Skull, who refused to die peacefully and almost died a second time because he finally found something worth dying for. Only to come back and get the chance to live the life he never got.

Imagine Skull as a proper member of Lockwood and Co, out of his jar and free to help solve mysteries and take down dangerous visitors. It's exhilarating and he feels so powerful with his colleagues side by side with him. He never stop giving the team shit and being overall kind of a grouch but no human or ghost ever comes close to them when their overprotective type three is around.

Skull is powerful enough that he's able to stick around even when other Visitors are slipping back to the Other Side. He clings with everything he's got to this life he's building. As the Problem dies down, new challenges arise: dating and marriages and babies. He officiates the Locklyle wedding to the confusion of most of the guests. Grumbles but is also secretly relieved he's not invited on the honeymoon. Makes silly faces at newborn babies from a ghost touch safe distance. He watches the various children like a hawk and tells wild made up stories when the parents aren't listening. He swears up and down he just got some ectoplasm in his eye when a child shows off a school made family tree with good ole Uncle Skully tucked into the corner.

Lockwood's bad shoulder gives him trouble, George has high blood pressure and Lucy finds she can't read a damn thing without glasses. They're well into middle age, greying, wrinkled and Skull loves them just the same. He's forever stuck in his mid-teens but he's fought beside and grown up with this amazing, stupid little group. Lucy asks him once if he ever thought about moving on and Skull truthfully tells her that he can't imagine doing so without them. He finds hobbies: he takes up painting, learns to drive, even helps George write a book detailing Visitors and the Other Side. He gives baking a go but things tend to go wrong when you can't taste what you're making.

It does get harder as they age quicker and Skull realizes how limited time is. One by one they go, peaceful and easy and buried with the highest honors as a nation mourns its heroes. He waits to see if any of them will come back, maybe spend a few decades causing mischief with him but they don't. They led full, fulfilling lives, unlike him, they had no reason to stick around. Lucy is the last, even as her mind is going her ears are still sharp as ever. He whispers to her she needs to eat, to take her medicines. She looks around blearily, asking who's talking to her.

He couldn't bear to see her when she passes. He's kept her stupid, stubborn, reckless ass safe for years but he can't save her from this. Nor would she want him to. He waits on the Other Side for her, hoping for even just a glimpses. Skull catches sight of her walking into the distance, she looks back at him and beckons him forward. He wasn't ready 200 years ago but now that he's lived a life as an agent, a fun uncle, an artist, a scholar and Lucy Carlyle-Lockwood's best mate. For the first time ever, he's able to take her hand and walk towards whatever lies in store for them.

The kids bury their mum with the now empty skull knowing that, their souls are together.

[undercooked-icicle]

STOP. MAKING. GLADOS. LOOK. LIKE. A. REAL. WOMAN. WHEN. NO. DESIGN. WILL. EVER. BE. HOTTER. THAN. THE. ORIGINAL.

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

To Live and Die in L.A. (William Friedkin, 1985)

[bluebellhairpin]

i'm done being depressed. I WANT TO LIIIVEEE.

[darkkbluee]

Thinking about Lawlight survival type AU: apocalypse AUs and horror AUs, and yeah, L and Light are both the type to die immediately. Within the first five minutes, at max.

Meet our protagonists:

Light "picked up a cursed notebook that looks like a chain mail and actually kills people" Yagami

L "provoke a supernatural killer on national TV in my intro scene" Lawliet

Tell me that doesn't sound like how the first victim of an apocalypse or horror movie dies. One out of macabre curiosity and the other with the desire to poke poke poke the unknown.

[bibuckleykinard]

how many times do we need to learn as people that irony and hyperbole can be harmful because 'jokes' aren't easily distinguished from genuine thoughts and feelings until we stop rewarding people for speaking or posting about violence

like even if you're joking/don't actually believe that/think whoever you are insulting is bad/immoral/fictional therefore deserves it - ad hominem attacks always do more harm to the people who share those characteristic then the individual you intend to cause harm to or discredit

[cinematitlecards]

"Die Hard" (1988) Directed by John McTiernan (Action/Thriller/Christmas) . . "Die Hard 2" (1990) Directed by Renny Harlin (Action/Thriller/Christmas) . . "Die Hard With A Vengeance" (1995) Directed by John McTiernan (Action/Adventure/Thriller) . . "Live Free Or Die Hard" (2007) Directed by Len Wiseman (Action/Thriller) . . "A Good Day To Die Hard" (2013) Directed by John Moore (Action/Thriller)

[vitaxore]

OK but au where light isn't kira and deathnote is just a messed up thriller, gothic romace between him and L