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letterboxd · 5 years ago

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Ghosted Films: A Director’s Nightmare.

To mark a conversation with Peter Medak about his new documentary The Ghost of Peter Sellers, which details a particularly tumultuous early 1970s film shoot, Dominic Corry looks at how the inherently nightmarish pursuit that is filmmaking has informed other movies.

“Every frame you set up references yourself and your entire life, so bits and pieces indirectly of your life go into every movie.” —Peter Medak

On a certain level, filmmaking is an essentially traumatic experience. The extreme number of moving parts, umpteen tiers of variables—both creative and practical—and the cacophony of egos involved all amount to what in the best-case scenario could generously be considered organized chaos.

And for the most part, it all falls on the director’s shoulders. Although the long-prevailing auteur theory is regularly and healthily challenged these days, our default perception tends to be that whatever happens, good or bad, it’s the director’s fault. Some directors process their filmmaking nightmares by writing a review of the film on Letterboxd. But in the case of journeyman filmmaker Peter Medak (The Changeling, The Krays, Romeo Is Bleeding), he chose to process his filmmaking trauma by… making a film about it.

The Ghost of Peter Sellers revisits the making of the 1974 Peter Sellers-starring pirate comedy Ghost in the Noonday Sun, an infamous folly of a film that has long haunted Medak. It’s also one of those rare films on Letterboxd: at the time of writing it has just two reviews, and only 26 members in a community of two million have noted seeing it. Giving it one and a half stars, EWMasters writes: “Pretty awful. I mean talk about throwing it on the stoop and seeing if the cat’ll lick it up. There is one very good sequence where the crew goes to town on this big plate of fish and vegetables that’s really well done—but otherwise, this is really only worth the time of a Sellers completist”. (Perhaps the main character’s name—Dick Scratcher—should have sounded alarm bells.)

Medak is not the first filmmaker to spin non-fictional gold out of a director’s nightmare (in this case, his own). His movie follows in the footsteps of legendary documentaries such as Fax Bahr and George Hickenlooper’s 1991 film Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse, which revealed the full extent of the already infamous insanity that comprised the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 classic Apocalypse Now, and used extensive footage shot at the time by Coppola’s filmmaker wife Eleanor (filmmaker spouses are handy to have along for the ride, as Nicolas Winding Refn also knows). And there’s Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe’s 2002 work Lost in La Mancha, which detailed Terry Gilliam’s (ironically?) Sisyphean efforts to film an adaptation of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.

In both instances, the films in question were (eventually) made—and released to some acclaim (one considerably more than the other)—but as The Ghost of Peter Sellers shows, the shooting of Ghost in the Noonday Sun was such an epic boondoggle that the unfinished film sat unreleased for years and was much later released to no acclaim whatsoever.

The uphill battle to make his never-released horror movie Northwestern made indie filmmaker Mark Borshadt an unlikely filmmaking hero thanks to the breakout success of Chris Smith’s 1999 documentary American Movie. Like with Ghost in the Noonday Sun, the efforts to make a film proved more interesting than the film being made.

Jennifer Jason Leigh and Kevin Bacon in ‘The Big Picture’ (1989).

There are several narrative films of note that have successfully captured the specific pandemonium of filmmaking. Richard Rush’s 1980 cult classic The Stunt Man follows a fugitive who stumbles his way into the titular job on a big chaotic Hollywood production (Peter O’Toole plays the Machiavellian director), while Christopher Guest’s under-appreciated 1989 comedy The Big Picture stars Kevin Bacon as a hot young director who is roughed up by the Hollywood machine. It’s a notable and often overlooked antecedent to The Player, and like the Robert Altman classic, is more about ‘the business’ overall than the specifics of filmmaking, although in both cases Hollywood proves itself analogically appropriate.

Playwright, writer and director David Mamet’s own filmmaking experiences obviously inform his 2000 comedy State and Main, in which a Hollywood production takes over and smothers a small town with its singular thinking. It’s not hard to imagine Mamet processing his own filmmaking trauma in State and Main, just as the Coen brothers famously did in Barton Fink, their ode to writer’s block supposedly inspired by the difficulty they had penning the screenplay for Miller’s Crossing.

Charlie Kaufman channeled his own creative struggles into the screenplay for the 2002 masterpiece Adaptation, then built on those themes with his wildly ambitious 2008 directorial debut Synecdoche, New York, whose more maddening aspects arguably capture the irrational nightmare that is filmmaking better than any film directly ‘about’ filmmaking.

With her 2018 documentary Shirkers, writer Sandi Tan gained some measure of closure regarding an indie film she had starred in and written in her home country of Singapore, in 1992. The documentary (which shares its name with the original movie) has her revisiting the footage from the never-released film, which was stolen (!) 25 years previously by its director—and Tan’s filmmaking mentor—George Cardona.

Back to Peter Medak. In The Ghost of Peter Sellers, which premiered at Telluride Film Festival in 2018 and has just had its virtual screening release, we learn that Hungarian-born Medak was a rising directing star in the early 1970s in London, hot off the Oscar-nominated Peter O’Toole film The Ruling Class. Unable to resist an offer to work with Peter Sellers, then comedy’s reigning superstar—mostly thanks to Blake Edwards’ Pink Panther films—Medak set about shooting a treasure-hunting pirate film on the island nation of Cyprus in the Mediterranean.

In addition to the usual production problems associated with shooting on boats, Medak had to contend with the titanically and infamously fickle Sellers, who quickly turned on him and attempted to get him fired. Sellers also antagonized the other actors, then, after failing to get the production shut down, brought in his friend and longtime creative collaborator Spike Milligan to try and salvage the film, but things kept going wrong, leaving Ghost in the Noonday Sun unfinished and Medak with the blame for the production’s troubles.

Director Peter Medak with Peter Sellers (as Dick Scratcher) and Spike Milligan (as Bill Bombay) on the set of ‘Ghost in the Noonday Sun’, finally released in 1984.

Although Medak’s career recovered, he has clearly been carrying around a lot of hurt associated with the experience, and it’s remarkable watching him work through that on screen by revisiting Cyprus, telling the story of the shoot, and talking to some of the people involved. Sellers (who died in 1980) looms large over the film, but it also has interesting content surrounding the great Spike Milligan, who died in 2002.

Why did you decide to revisit this experience with a documentary? Peter Medak: Because it’s been haunting me for all these years. Because it should’ve been a really very successful film and I was blamed for everything going wrong, when in fact it had nothing to do with me. It was due to Peter’s changing mind and state of mind, and all kinds of things had physically gone wrong on the film. It was always easiest to blame the director for everything and my career at the time was very high up after [The] Ruling Class and this should’ve been the icing on the cake and it wasn’t.

It really bothered me for many years afterwards, even though I went on working. I was asked to do it by the producer of the documentary and I originally said “It’s the last thing I want to do”, because it would mean I would have to go back to Cyprus where I shot the original movie and go on the water, and I never want anything to do with water anymore because a lot of the disasters on the film, production-wise, were all connected with shooting at sea, which is totally impossible to do. Then I thought: well, you know, I should just do it and try to explain what happened on the film. And because some of the explanations were funnier scenes than the original film. So that’s why I did it.

Peter Medak fishing for answers in ‘The Ghost of Peter Sellers’.

In the documentary, you talk about needing to free yourself from the experience by making this film. Do you feel like you achieved that? Well, I think I did because I had a wonderful time doing it. A very sad time at the same time because when you go back to places where you shot 45 years before, it creates a very strange kind of illusion inside your mind, your heart and everything of the time. And having been there then and then being there again, it’s a very strange kind of a supernatural feeling in a way. It felt like you have died and your ghost is actually revisiting all these things you know. I called it The Ghost of Peter Sellers because it sounds good and also because the original film was called Ghost in the Noonday Sun, and this ghostly feeling of mine of revisiting that island after all these years, it’s a very, very strange feeling and somehow the film captures that emotionally.

Do you feel like the large distance from the shoot was necessary to be able to revisit it? It’s not that I thought about it every day of my life, but I talked about it to all the people who I worked with in my following career. When I was doing Romeo Is Bleeding with Gary Oldman, my darling Gary said to me one day, “You know, we are crazy, what we should do is make a movie about your movie, but I don’t want to play Peter Sellers, I want to play you, with your Hungarian, broken-English accent.” We had a script written but we never did it. That was a good 25 years ago.

Peter Medak in front of a promotional poster for ‘Zorro, The Gay Blade’, his 1981 film starring George Hamilton and Lauren Hutton.

So you had considered doing a scripted version of it? Yeah, but I don’t know quite what we would’ve done. I said to Gary at the time: “I never want to go on a boat again”, and so I thought in my mind that the scenes would start each day [with] the characters getting off the pirate ship and they come ashore—that’s where the scenes would begin. I’m sure we would’ve done something quite wonderful, and it would’ve maybe explained the things the [documentary is] trying to explain because I guess that’s what has unconsciously driven me. Because [for the documentary], we didn’t write one word of it, I just completely did it out of instinct. Where I want to shoot, what I want to shoot, and how we should go from here to there. I loved it, so going back on to it was quite easy. It did show me actually what a wonderful medium it is, documentary, because you can do anything with it. It’s a much freer form than scripted movies. Which is rigid. And this is liquid.

Did you have any other documentaries about filmmaking in mind when you went into this? Not really. I knew Terry Gilliam’s Lost in La Mancha, because I love Terry and I love his films and we know each other and knew each other. Terry was very fortunate, because he had so much trouble before on Baron Munchausen, that he decided to have a documentary film crew filming the whole process, so he had the material available, which allowed him to make his film. I said to him after [a screening], “You were lucky because you didn’t make the movie. I had to suffer through 90-something days of shooting with Peter [Sellers].” But of course since then, Terry made the film, and he made something slightly different than what he was originally gonna do.

Peter Medak retraces his steps in ‘The Ghost of Peter Sellers’.

Did any of your subsequent films feel nearly as difficult? Most movies are very difficult to make, and always when you anticipate problems, they never seem to happen. When I did The Changeling, everybody said “George C. Scott is very, very difficult to work with” and he was an absolute angel with me and [it was] the easiest thing to do. It was a wonderful ghost story. I’m very proud of that film. It will live forever. All movies are like your kids, your own children, because you put so much emotion, so much of your soul. That’s what I’m saying to [Ghost in the Noonday Sun executive producer] John Heyman [in The Ghost of Peter Sellers]: the director’s viewpoint is completely different from the producer’s because every frame you set up references yourself and your entire life, so bits and pieces indirectly of your life go into every movie. Because of that it becomes an incredibly personal journey when you put your absolute soul on the line. When it gets criticized or not accepted or whatever, one takes it very personally because the whole thing came from a very personal experience, even though the subject may be nothing to do with you.

Peter Sellers on the set of ‘Ghost in the Noonday Sun’.

Even within the canon of famously difficult performers, Peter Sellers is notorious. How would you describe him to a modern audience? Well he was a genius, there’s no question about it. But he was a manic-depressive person. And it’s a generalization, but most of the great comics are manic-depressive. And he changes his mind all the time. One minute, he loves you, next minute, he hates you. One minute he loves the subject, next minute he doesn’t wanna do it, he wants to get out and all that. So it is very up and down. When you’re running film with a crew of 150 people, and boats on the sea, and weather’s changing and everything, you can’t have that, because you fall behind the schedule and things go wrong.

At one point very early on, all he wanted to do was get off the movie. And then he did everything he [could] to sabotage the film so the film would close down and he wouldn’t have to finish it. But it didn’t just happen on my film, it happened with all his biggest successes, including the Pink Panther movies. Because if you look into Blake Edwards, each one was an absolute nightmare for the director and for the film company, United Artists. And I was gonna include that in the documentary but it had nothing to do with the Ghost in the Noonday Sun so I didn’t. I actually shot some scenes with one of the executives from United Artists at that time who had to deal with the insanity of Peter and also Blake Edwards. I say ‘insanity’; I didn’t want to say it too much in the documentary because I love Peter, even today. And it’s wrong for me to accuse him of those things because it sounds like I’m excusing myself. Peter was crazy. There’s no other way one can describe it. Touched by God. And so was Spike Milligan. But Spike had the love of goodness. Peter had kind of a nasty streak on him when he turned on people.

There’s a moment in the documentary where you suggest that Spike Milligan is more influential than he gets credit for. Do you think he’s under-appreciated? Totally. Totally. Totally. Because his talent was absolutely, monumentally genius. I always say this, but Spike basically created Peter Sellers through [legendary BBC radio programme] The Goon Show. And he also gave him all those various characters and developed those voices for him. It’s all in The Goon Show. The Monty Pythons, they were inspired by The Goon Show and they made it into television. Not story wise, but style wise. That kind of zany, insane humor. Spike was a total genius. Not that Peter wasn’t, but they stood together, completely overwhelmingly wonderfully insane. But Spike was quite something. He was incredibly human, he was incredibly gentle. And incredibly kind. Peter was incredibly combative. And he had that most incredible ego.

But all our lives come from our backgrounds and what our past was and where we come from, and Peter had a very sad upbringing and a very sad life and he was tremendously influenced by his mother. When his mother passed away, he kept on talking to her for ten years. When he came to Cyprus to make the movie, he arrived with big blow-up [photos] of Liza Minnelli—who he’d just broken up with a week before—and his mum. And it sounds terrible when one says it, but psychologically, some of the answers are there. But at the same time, both Peter and Spike, I can’t tell you what a gift it was… I mean the reason I did the film is: who could give up the chance of actually working with Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan? It doesn’t matter what the fucking script is, you know? It was a wonderful thing and I would do it all over again tomorrow.

Related content

Our Showdown on films within films

‘The Ghost of Peter Sellers’ is screening in virtual theaters now. It will be available via video on demand services from June 23. A list of all the films mentioned in this article can be found here. Comments have been edited for clarity and length.

#peter medak #peter sellers #ghost in the noonday sun #the ghost of peter sellers #filmmaking fails #directing #documentary #filmmaking process #filmmaking #spike milligan #the goon show #monty python #the specific pandemonium of filmmaking #epic boondoggle #letterboxd

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ladyherenya · 4 years ago

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Books read in August

It was not the month I was expecting.

Favourite cover: Both The Black God’s Drums and Bookish and the Beast caught my attention because of their covers.

Reread: Artistic License by Elle Pierson (aka Lucy Parker).

Still reading: Tuyo by Rachel Neumeier and The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty.

Next up: I have so many unread library books. I feel a bit guilty about it.

Stars Above: A Lunar Chronicles Collection by Marissa Meyer (narrated by Rebecca Soler): Most of these are prequel stories, except for “Something Old, Something”, in which a group of friends gather for a wedding. That was the perfect coda to the series. It’s funny and sweet, and I like that these fairytale retellings do end with a wedding -- after time has passed and the bridal couple are no longer teenagers. As for the other stories, “Glitches” and “Carswell’s Guide to Being Lucky” were great, some I enjoyed even though they didn’t take full advantage of their potential to tell us new information, and a couple I didn't care for.

Unnatural Magic by C.M. Waggoner: Very, very compelling. I finished it within a day and immediately reread most of it. It’s a curious blend of things: there’s Onna, a teenager in search of a magical education; and then there’s Tsira, a troll, and Jeckran, an army deserter, eking out a living in the city together. All these characters want a life that isn’t quite what their community expects of, or their families want for, them. Waggoner successfully pulls together their stories as they investigate a series of troll murders. As a murder mystery, it was a bit predictable but that didn’t matter very much.

The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark (narrated by Channie Waites): This novella is richly imagined, an alternate-historical fantasy in which New Orleans is an independent state. It’s filled with adventure and some strong personalities -- I particularly enjoyed the thirteen year old protagonist’s attempts to convince an airship captain to take her on as crew. I was unwell when I read some of this, which might be why I don’t feel more strongly about it. (Alternatively, it wasn’t written for me and that’s okay. I’m not sure which it is, and that’s okay too.) The audiobook narrator is excellent.

Beach Read by Emily Henry: January has a summer to write a new novel and sort out the beach house she unexpectedly inherited from her father. When her new neighbour turns out to be a fellow author and former classmate who is also struggling with his current book, they challenge each other to swap genres. I liked this while I read it but ultimately it wasn’t very memorable. I think I expected a romance about two authors to appeal to me more? I also thought the genre-swapping had the potential to be funnier. Amazon calls this a “laugh-out-loud love story” but, well, humour is subjective.

Bookish and the Beast by Ashley Poston: A fun, fandom-y and fairly light-hearted contemporary fairytale retelling. Rosie chases a stray dog into what she believes is an empty house -- and discovers she’s trespassing on the current residence of a teenage actor who stars in movies based on some of Rosie’s favourite SF stories. Which is not the only coincidence, but I thought those and the handling of the characters’ issues was satisfyingly consistent with the optimistic and light-hearted tone of the story. A touch of fantasy rather than reality, if you will. I’m curious about the other books in this series.

Nevertheless, She Persisted: A Flash Fiction Project by Tor.com: Eleven SF stories inspired by: She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted. The advantage of flash fiction is that it doesn’t seem like a big risk -- it doesn’t matter if I don’t like a story, because I haven’t invested much time or emotional energy in it. The disadvantage of flash fiction is that each story has so little time in which to make me care. If these stories had been longer, they also could have expanded upon their theme with greater nuance and variety.

A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon): An orphaned fourteen year old apprentice baker discovers a murder, is accused and acquitted, and then has to hide when she's nearly murdered herself. There can be something comforting in stories which show people dealing with the world being sad and scary, and this sounded like the sort of thing I'd gobble up -- when it’s by an author whose storytelling I love and trust. I was rather surprised when I found the beginning cold and unappetising. But I persevered, and was glad I did. I enjoyed the defensive baking, and Mona's complicated feelings about having to be a hero.

Shelter by Stephanie Fournet: Growing up, Elise believes that Cole is mean; Cole, focused on protecting his mother and sister from his abusive father, believes he can’t afford to care about anyone else. Slowly they become closer -- until tragedy separates them. Because the story skips straight from the last time they see each to eight years later when they cross paths again, it feels believable that their relationship resumes so quickly and smoothly. Upon reflection, that’s not very realistic (and thus, in my eyes, very satisfying). But nevertheless, I enjoyed reading this (except I didn’t fully agree with Cole’s sister’s criticisms of Cole’s overprotectiveness.)

Wolfskin by W.R. Gingell: Rose, headstrong and adventurous, is delighted to be apprenticed to the warden Akiva. Her story is about growing up, learning about the forest and being warden, and about the mysterious disappearance of other wardens. It is also very fairytale-ish. There are a lot of nods to “Little Red Riding Hood” but the wolf himself arguably has more in common with “Beauty and the Beast”. I spied elements from other tales too. I really like this; Gingell has a knack for writing fairytales which are vivid and original. This was the sort of story I was in the mood for.

If We’re Not Married By Thirty by Anna Bell: Family friends Lydia and Danny made a pact at Lydia’s sister’s wedding to marry each other if they were both still unmarried at thirty. In the ten years since, they’ve lived in different places, dated different people and kept in touch by exchanging emails and silly presents, like Christmas decorations and fridge magnets. Then they run into each other in Spain. I read the first half of this, enjoying its Britishness and the fluffiness, and then started skimming once the story hopped on a train speeding towards Misunderstandings and Miscommunication town. I think Bell’s humour involves embarrassing situations too often for me.

#Herenya reviews books #Marissa Meyer #C.M. Waggoner #T. Kingfisher #W.R. Gingell #Stephanie Fournet #P. Djèlí Clark #Ashley Poston

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jenology-archive · 7 years ago

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100 things to love about Jeno

his infinite amount of passion and relentless enthusiasm!

he’s incredibly humble as well, modest to the point he’ll praise his fellow members while he’s getting praised

he’s been in showbiz scene ever since he was young (starting around 2005!)

he loves animals and he has three cats!

bongshik was his first cat, when he was younger he found her abandoned on his way home

nal and seol were adopted later, even though he has a cat allergy he loves them to bits and overcomes his allergy as best as he can!

his voice is so soft and gentle, though it’s also really deep and he can also be really loud

he has an AMAZING sense of humor and doesn’t deserve being called “boring” or “no jam” at all

he’s more mature than he gets credit for: he’s compassionate and wise that even mark lee, the leader of nct dream who is one year his senior, will confide in him for advice

he’s also way funnier than people make him seem, he comes up with really witty retorts too

he doesn’t stay still! even if it’s the slightest bit of movement, he’s always up to something

also fiddles with other objects, anything he can get his hands on

in most cases they’re items present wherever he is

though there are various cases where he has kept a fidget spinner in his back pocket and he’d just whip it out and start spiNNING

sometimes (read: often) he’ll be doing something to his members, the victim tends to be whoever’s closest

he plays with their ears or tickles their chin, amongst other cute gestures

It’s so cute when he takes selfies or videos with other members! no explanation needed because you’ve probably seen evidence to support this claim

It’s also really cute when he does something wrong or gets called out and he just freezes up with a funny expression on his face

speaking of which, he really is the KING OF FACIAL EXPRESSIONS

he can display such a wide variety of expressions, it’s extremely impressive

and he can change them really quickly too, the way he fluctuates between expressions is almost as cool as it is endearing

sometimes he’ll have a cute smile on his face and it’ll morph into an intense gaze, or vice versa

THERE IS SUNSHINE IN HIS SMILE! It’s absolutely radiant and contagious!

on a side note, his teeth are absolutely perfect?

his cheek moles are also really lovely and it really sucks when they cover it up with makeup

it’s also a huge shame when fansites photoshop their pics of him so you can’t see his acne…

he does have a lot of it which is completely normal, and when he’s given the opportunities he does embrace it! even though he’s this perfect and loveable, he’s also very much human

he really has the most endearing habits in the entire world!! The gestures he does are super cute

like when he rubs his nose with the back of his index finger

or when he’s biting on his index finger? lol

he also tends to touch the lobule of his ears

puffs up his cheeks very cutely

rests his chin on his palms and wiggles his fingers

his salute!! it’s not a “real” salute but he does something like it with two fingers

it’s really adorable when he waves or makes peace signs

notice that when he’s performing or even just saying certain words, he’ll bite his tongue :o or it’ll peek out for a moment

he also bites his bottom lip a lot

and he has a tight lipped smile that he tends to do, it’s especially endearing if he looks in a different direction while he’s doing it

HIS HAPPY DANCE!! there’s a lot of variety to it, like when he’s jumping up and down, or when he’s… doing That (there’s really no way to describe it ngfng)

and when his nose scrunches up… actually, while we’re still on the topic of his nose it’s really distinct and beautiful!!

the expressions or things he does while listening to others! he reacts a lot too!

like when he furrows his brows and/or looks all confused

when that happens and he has creases on his forehead :’)

also sometimes he does that really cringey fake sob ognfdkgndfkjg

it’s really nice when he nods as people are talking to show that he’s following along with what they’re saying

Jeno is extremely attentive in general!! he really gives others his undivided attention

in some cases, like during vlives, he’s looking at his phone instead though. but he’s still being attentive because he’s trying to keep up with comments from fans!

HE’S SO TALENTED!! he’s honestly so impressive

even though sm doesn’t let him do much, he’s still capable of SO MUCH. he’s a vocalist, a rapper, a dancer, and the visual and that’s A LOT

even though he doesn’t get the amount of lines he deserves, the way he delivers them is so captivating

and there’s a reason he gets all those notable points of choreo, as well as hoverboard time in chewing gum!

and why members will say he’s the best at riding hoverboards too because he really is :/

he’s admittedly rather clumsy, but he truly does his best to overcome that especially on stage

please consider his IMPROVEMENT, especially since chewing gum era when he would make various mistakes or slip ups during live performances! he’s come a long way and is constantly improving

also consider his great acting skills, he’s been acting since a young age and he’s still improving as well

he’s really great with skits and reciting scripts, his voice and gestures suit the characters he portrays

he also has various hidden talents, and I’m sure we’ve only gotten mere glimpses of what he has to offer

for example, he’s really good at winking! he can also wink with both eyes

he’s also pretty good at tongue twisters, and he can say them at a fast pace

the thing he does where he lies down flat on the floor and pushes himself back up?? (he did it in the ot18 and 00 line vlives)

he’s excellent at speaking and is very charming while doing so, which makes him a great MC as well

never forget that he represented nct at the smtown conference in dubai!!

he’s been wearing glasses since a young age, apparently has really bad eyesight :’)

used to get called “harry potter” when he was younger, probably because of his round lensed glasses

was very well praised for the powerpoint presentations he would make in computer class

impossibly well rounded as a student, he excels academically, athletically, and musically

in middle school (year 1) jeno placed 2nd during the first exam!

he was a member of track & field and was especially good with relay races, so his class would rank high because of him

he was also a mischievous student though, there was one instance where he put glue on a desk and ran away lol

but to this day he’s still pretty mischievous, you might want to keep an eye on him!

apparently he can play a huge variety of instruments, not just the guitar

his instrument specialty is the violin!

HIS LAUGH IS ARGUABLY ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THINGS YOU’LL EVER HAVE THE PLEASURE OF HEARING

even the way he laughs is absolutely divine and genuine and WHOLESOME

he just lets out his laughter unapologetically, often with an eyesmile too!

it can also be super extra when he laughs: sometimes he’ll clap or hit something (in some cases, someone), or he’ll lurch forward or fall backwards… sometimes he even falls to the ground from laughing

he also tends to laugh after answering questions, or while he’s answering the question

horror movie lover, likes to watch them with renjun and has made a horror movie reference lol

anime enthusiast!! he really likes one piece and naruto in particular

he also likes figures, especially putting them together

on a side note, he’s really crafty and creative! when he was younger he liked to build things with toy blocks and he also had an affinity for puzzles

don’t forget nct school dream mate where he made a bento box completely out of clay… it was really well made, of course

he’s liked cars since a very young age and enjoys drawing them, he actually wanted to be a car designer when he was young

but because he wasn’t pleased with his drawing skills he decided to become a singer instead :’o he’s really good at drawing though!

he uses emoticons very cutely :’)

like when he draws a little smiley face that looks like =) beside his name… <3

he also started using TAT because of the fans which is really sweet

suspenders and him don’t go well together… not in a visual aspect, jeno looks good in everything, but every time he wears them they always slide off his shoulders lol

really likes t7s and practices the choreo with jisung (sm let them do a t7s cover!!)

he plays pokemon go on his ipad (no promises, but I think he was on team mystic)

he’s interested in photography and also takes really good pictures!

meme king… never forget the various times he’s dabbed, nae naed, played with a fidget spinner, and brought up ppap

does really cheesy things and does them SHAMELESSLY. but it’s all for us and it’s lovely (yes! even the aegyo!!)

he’s recommended the song “breath” by park hyo shin multiple times, he also listens to it (almost?) every night before he goes to sleep

he’s very considerate and kind hearted! It’s so sweet when he checks in with others or reminds others of things too

that’s a big reason why doyoung really cherishes him, because jeno is really thoughtful of others and also very grateful

his stage presence is no joke. he’s so professional and bold, it’s practically impossible to watch him perform something and not get spell bound…

...but even though he gives every stage his all, jeno still has so much fun while he’s at it and you can tell!

he doesn’t think of his role as an idol as a “job”, but rather something he does where he can have fun with others

he’s constantly striving to “become a better jeno” and often tells us so! he’s always trying his best and giving everything his all!

#as promised! in time for his bday too :) unfortunately i couldn't include all the points i came up with but i'll do more in the future!!#jeno #jeno imagines #jeno scenarios #nct scenarios #nct imagines #nct #nct dream #kpop #my text #jushing #lee jeno #jenonly #hjd

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iturbide · 7 years ago

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(holy shit nine Morgans) Thank god he came home, take good care of your Chrobin family! Tbh, I don't really understand the IVs thing, so I never know if my units are good or not, it just matters that I love them

yeah i got a lot of morgans =v=

Trust me I fully intend to take good care of my Chrobin families I’ve put Chrom on the training team (and swapped out one dancer for M!Robin just so they can hang out and boost ally support levels while Chrom’s leveling) so come Friday he’s going to be powering right on through.

But I totally agree we’ve gone a year without having any ability to upgrade our resident Askrans in any way, shape, or form beyond upgrading their star ratings, they deserve some attention since they’re arguably our main ‘Lords’ for this particular FE iteration! I’m really glad they’re getting some alts, especially considering that some people have four (I find it hilarious running into Lucina Emblem Arena teams but seriously spread the love around).

…green hell indeed though. On the one hand I’m glad we’re getting more greens since they tend to be the units we have the smallest representation for, but on the other hand since so many of them end up as 5* summons only you’re still running a terrible risk of getting 4* and 3* units you really don’t want. Please, IntSys, do something about this.

But oh oh I can explain IVs under the cut so hopefully it doesn’t bother anybody that doesn’t want to read my long-winded rambling:

So as a preface, to the best of my knowledge, IVs are mostly important in the metagame (Arena/Arena Assault, occasionally Voting Gauntlet match-ups but only if you’re insane and running level 40s). They have significantly less bearing on the regular game and are far easier to manage if you have less than ideal ones. So ultimately, as far as I’m concerned, loving your units regardless of their stats is the way to go and it’s pretty much how I operate at all times.

Moving into the explanation, though - every Hero when they’re summoned has a set stat line-up. You might notice when you summon two of the same Hero that their stats are slightly different: that’s because they have different IVs! While every Hero has a neutral stat line-up, others will have a slight increase in one stat, coupled with a slight decrease in another for balance. At level one, this appears as just a one point difference in their overall stat line-ups (or two, if you happen to be looking at one hero with a boon and one with a bane in the same stat, like I’ve seen with my many many Morgans, one of whom has 22 attack and another who has 20).

Ordinarily, a boon will add 3 points to a given stat when the Hero reaches level 40, while a bane will take 3 away; however, some units have superboons and superbanes, which add or remove 4 points from a given stat. Some Heroes have it set up where most of their stats run like this: Lissa, for instance, has superboons for both attack and speed and superbanes for HP, defense, and resistance (New Year’s Takumi is actually like this, too; go figure). Generally, this is only important in the Arena because it affects your base stat total (BST) and therefore Arena scoring, but if you’re not a super-competitive Arena person then it’s not hugely important.

Now, while it is primarily important in the metagame, there are a few situations I’ve run into where stats kind of do make a difference in the regular game, weirdly enough. Examples include:

If you ever do promote a healer to 5* and get their weapon upgrade, suddenly their attack becomes important because the stave+ variants use attack to calculate the amount of damage you heal. While there is a default minimum that they’ll recover (7 for Rehabilitate, 8 for Physic, 15 for Recover, etc.), these numbers can inflate drastically when you have a healer with an attack boon. I have a +attack Elise I’m using in Tempest Trials now who’s running a Recover+ staff, and this little monster consistently heals 30 damage (double the minimum) because of the calculations involved and her particular boon.

During the Valentine’s banner, I hilariously managed to roll a neutral IV regular Hector instead of the Valentine Hector (rip me – he came later though so it was all good). I figured I might try training him up a little since my original Hector is +speed - defense to see if he’d work on either my Arena team or an armored team…and lo and behold he got quad hit by Klein and KOed in the Training Tower. I was flabbergasted. And at that point I swore I was never using a Hector without +speed unless Wary Fighter was involved.

Speaking of Hector the Protector, +speed is kind of hilarious on him. Turns out it’s a superboon for him, putting him at the same speed as M!Robin at neutral (the mental image alone of a giant armored knight jogging along and keeping pace with my scrawny blue mage is amazing). This can mess with a lot of things, especially if you buff his speed on top of it, because he’s not getting doubled consistently and can even double certain slow units on his own, like Reinhardt.

As for M!Robin, while my +10 powerhouse is +attack -HP, my first 5* promotion that I used for a LONG time was actually +attack -speed (which made him slower than Hector because it’s a superbane, and the image of my scrawny blue mage getting outstripped by the giant armored knight is arguably even funnier). This really didn’t bother me for a long time because with breaker skills he remained an utter powerhouse and I really liked the +attack for extra damage output; however, during one of the Voting Gauntlets, I happened to get teamed up with another M!Robin who had neutral speed, and he was doubling units that my boy could never dream of handling unassisted. The 4 point speed difference was suddenly a lot more relevant, so I kept my eye out for an M!Robin in my summons without that speed bane and finally rolled the one I have now as a 3*, promoted him, trained him, and he’s been glorious ever since (I usually keep swordbreaker on him at this point because speedy swordsmen are everywhere).

If you’re ever curious what kind of stats your Heroes have, this is the site I usually use to check mine out! It updates regularly with new Heroes, has datamine info when updates roll out, and has been generally really helpful for me, especially as I work on some of my favorite characters (for cases where I have multiples, it’s good for figuring out which is the ideal candidate to merge the others into; alternatively, it’s good for choosing who to give up for skill transmittal, like I did last night sending off my -attack Siegbert to give my M!Robin Attack Tactic).

And this has been my long-winded explanation of boons/banes thank you and good night day

#answered #the-fangirl-arrived #fire emblem: heroes #i don't think as much about boon/bane unless i'm picking 3/4* units to promote #or if i have doubles who i'm going to use consistently #i rolled a +atk -hp ike a while back and i'm thinking of trying him out #i love my neutral ike he's been with me forever #but sometimes the little things do actually make a difference #it'll be a weekend endeavor

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thedramafilesblog-blog · 8 years ago

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Appearing before the Dramacourt: Man to Man Ep 01

***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***

Issues:

Whether the sniper shooting scene was realistic

Whether the “prison break” was believable

Whether the evil scorpion man villain scene was the funniest thing ever

Whether the breakup with the mob boss’s daughter was legit

Whether ex-fangirls would really make the best managers

Whether the explanation on ‘how to contact a Ghost Agent’ was hilarious

The Rule(s):

Absolutely not. There’s a reason snipers don’t move around and jump across buildings when on a mission.

Somewhat. It started out strong and then its like the write gave up thinking halfway through.

Totally. Cheap, terrible CGI and random NYPD in the most un-New York environment is totally ridiculous.

No. It was totally not legit. So many unanswered questions.

Depends.

Yes. Totally hilarious.

Analysis:

RedRosette J: Finally. A show that isn’t absolutely horrible right from the start. I have to say that I was waiting for this show ever since they announced it. I love James Bond-y spy shows, so this is totally up my alley! It got off to a rocky start with the ridiculous “sniper” scene (See Issue 1) at the beginning but after that the show picked up. There was all the super secret spy stuff, running around Europe, and things blowing up just like in any good spy show. There was definitely a LOT going on in this episode and I had to stop for breaks throughout (this probably has nothing to do with the actual plot though and more to do with the fact that my brain is tired from studying. Exams. Ugh). Park Hae Jin is totally believable as Agent Kim Seol Woo. He’s done previously “soul-less” roles before (Bad Guys and arguably Cheese in the Trap), so there’s no doubt he can deliver. I also like that he brings a little bit of a “I-give-no-shits” vibe to the character. I really liked the introduction of the movie star Yeo Woon Gwang and the people around him. They all seem to have unique and well developed characters. Right down to a Descendants of the Sun spoof! I’m excited to see how Park Hae Jin’s and Kim Min Jung’s characters interact as the show goes on. For right now, it seems to be the typical borderline love-hate situation. As for the political plot line, I got bored and sort of zoned out, but I’m hoping it gets better later on. The production is well done and the OST is decent too. So far, I don’t hate it and I’m really hoping it continues this way and doesn’t disappoint.

Jubiemon J: Overall, I’ve enjoyed this episode. We had a good mix of action and humour. I also liked how the episode showed a contrast between Kim Sulwoo and Yeo Woo Gwang through the transitions. When Sulwoo is suffering in prison, you have Woo Gwang being a jerk to all the workers around him. There’s a nice contrast between their personalities, yet they’re similar in many ways as well. Sulwoo can charm people like how Woo Gwang is great at acting as if he cares about the people around him (not his direct team; other directors/actors). However, Sulwoo seems to be less conceited and has a more serious, responsible personality unlike Woo Gwang who is really the arrogant type that you can’t hate completely since he’s still good at what he does. Also, though the spy scenes in the start were a bit cheesy at first and the long English scenes were kind of excessive, I still enjoyed seeing that setup for Park Haejin’s character. I felt like the crew intentionally had that long intro segment to lightly make fun of typical spy movies too. In spy movies, there’s always that femme fatale and how Haejin’s character ended the relationship he had with that woman in Hungary was hilarious and totally made fun of spy movies.

I wouldn’t say this episode was a 10/10 because there were still some parts that bug me. I did think that how Sulwoo entered the prison was on the ridiculous side; he could have just committed some crime and entered or acted as some prison guard. Instead, he had to go through that long saga with getting kidnapped by some peeps to get to the Russian military leader. I also don’t particularly enjoy Cha Do Ha as a character. She seems to be the typical Mary Sue. She’s a kind, devoted woman with good intentions and is completely infatuated with Woo Gwang to the point that it’s embarrassing. She’s like at least 30 in this drama . . . and she fan girls like a teenager. I know it’s supposed to be cute/funny, yet I just cringe. Not to mention, did they HAVE to give her the worst bowl cut ever? She also keeps interfering with Sulwoo’s mission which sincerely irritates me. I’d rather watch how his mission will play out than have her believe he is some paparazzi. Even worse, it’s completely obvious how Sulwoo will eventually fall for her. There’s already some hint that something about her “bugs” him; his boss even alluded that there’s always a woman involved. Finally, the political parts were still . . . ugh. Can we just let go of all the corruption dramas going on? -0-‘ So sick of this theme. (I do have to say this drama has done the best so far in terms of dealing with the politics; not TOO TOO much like in some dramas like Defendant. God. No.)

We’d never get anything done if professors looked like this

Fake dating

Tea with a mob boss

Shady shit always goes down in alleys

LOL!

Making sure everything is perfect because you have the boss from hell

Smiles

When someone interrupts your “me time”

This guy tho

“Let me see your equipment” ;)

When you can’t believe he’s so pretty!

There’s some political stuff too…

Issue 1: Whether the sniper shooting scene was realistic

RedRosette J: I get what the drama was trying to do. I really do. They wanted to show him as a rebel who doesn’t follow the rules and does crazy stuff. I get it. But there are tons and tons of other much more realistic ways of showing that! There’s a reason that snipers lay in wait and don’t move. It’s all about precision and timing. It takes time to focus on your target and wait for the opportune moment. It is highly and I mean highly unrealistic for a sniper to be able to pick up his giant ass gun, run across a building, jump down said building and then aim and shoot a man. Seriously? Not to mention, those guns are really not meant to be “portable and user-friendly.” I just found this scene completely ridiculous and thought they could have done much much better.

Pretty sure that’s not how a sniper works

Breaking all the rules

Dude: “He doesn’t listen to anyone.” Dude 2: “Perfect let’s recruit him”

Issue 2: Whether the “prison break” was believable

RedRosette J: Let me just start off by saying that I am a HUGE fan of Prison Break (Season 5 airing now!). So, any show that does anything remotely related to a prison break, I expect Prison Break level standards for the breakout. I was super super excited when things started rolling towards a prison break: stuff got exchanged, soap molds were made, prison batteries were made, shank keys were cut and then the actual breakout was WTF? They just ran. Like ran through the prison. I’m sorry but where were the guards and the locked doors? It’s a prison. Not some hotel hallway where you can casually run down. It gets worse. They get to a grate in the wall which just opens and then they jump into some hole and the scene cuts to them sitting in a car by a helicopter. What? So many questions are unanswered!!! Where did the tunnel lead? How did they get out of the tunnel? Was it even a tunnel? Where was the car? How did they get the car? Did they talk to someone? I don’t know…It was really like the writer got too tired to think about the ending and was just like ‘whatever I’ll resolve it off screen’. No. Brah. You have to see it through!

Jubiemon J: What I did like about the prison break was the start of it, the part where Sulwoo stuffed something on that door which then led to something being lit up. The lights then all shut down. I quite liked that part. I wouldn’t say the prison break was THAT bad compared to the ones I’ve seen in other movies. It was just okay. What bugs me more is HOW Sulwoo ended up in prison. It was totally unnecessary to have to have dated that daughter of some evil guy and then get kidnapped by the dad and thrown to prison. Ha. Like I said before, he could have had a prison guard there. Also that ending part with the Russian military leader being sent off by his crew ? If he could have gotten a helicopter all set up, why couldn’t he have broken out earlier by himself? Was Sulwoo really necessary? I doubt it.

When you in prison but still got moves…

When you in prison but you still chill af…

What is this? Where does it go?

Issue 3: Whether the evil scorpion man villain scene was the funniest thing ever.

RedRosette J: I LOL’d so hard at this! This was the funniest thing ever. The dude was wearing like a full on body suit (Batman style) and had a massive scorpion tattoo on the side of his face that glowed! It was completely ridiculous and totally hilarious. The shitty CGI made it even funnier. It was also set in New York (?) but looked like it was actually outside a strip mall. LOL! Dead. So funny!

Jubiemon J: This part really, really confused me at first because I thought there was some supernatural element to this drama. I almost got really mad and wanted to say no to this drama. After I realized that he was just filming as a “bad” Superman, I thought it was all right. I guess they wanted to introduce a popular guy who does action films that can sometimes be cringey yet still popular. (Hinting at lots of those sequels and franchises I bet.)

LOL!

That tattoo tho LOLOLOL

When you famous because you were in a corny movie, but still got swag

Issue 4: Whether the breakup with the mob boss’s daughter was legit

RedRosette J: I totally understand the logic behind why he had to die for there to be a proper wrap up of the relationship. He’s right. You do not want a scorned woman on your case if you are an international super spy. My only issue is with the execution of said death plot. The car explodes with him in it while she’s walking towards it. Cool. But how did he get out? And then he just walks away right in front of the burning car and she’s supposed to be right behind the car. How did she not see him walk away? I don’t get it. Again, this could have been written better, eg: engineered drive by shooting with a fake blood pack and a bulletproof vest or gets pushed off a cliff into the ocean, or I don’t know anything else that seemed a little bit more legit. It’s for the dramatic theatrics, yes, but still I hold spy dramas to a higher standard.

Jubiemon J: I can kind of see how she wouldn’t notice him going away. When someone is caught by surprise and he/she isn’t trained to be immune to these dangerous scenes, he/she would probably be caught up with whatever that surprised the person. It’s sort of how there has been this experiment that has shown that when there’s a fire, most people are way too shocked to even react and run away. They just freeze. I think it’s reasonable for her not to have noticed Sulwoo walking off. I do agree that we’re kind of left wondering how he escaped; I think that might have been the writer/director thinking that this would show us how awesome Sulwoo is as a spy. We’d never know how he escaped. That’s the beauty? A magician doesn’t reveal his/her tricks?

NO.

Issue 5: Whether ex-fan girls would really make the best managers

RedRosette J: You’d really have to make sure that she’s not some psycho stalker first. But in an ideal situation probably yes they’d make good managers. Case in point is Cha Do Ha (Kim Min Jung’s character), who literally picks up the Yeo Woon Gwang’s car with a forklift because he was making out with some random actress in it. Talk about an extreme deterrent. Ex-fangirls would definitely be willing to go to extremes to protect the star…that much I believe.

Jubiemon J: No. You don’t want someone that’s a crazy hormone-filled fan girl to act as your manager. Sure you will get someone who understands your pet peeves and habits, but you also have someone that’s likely fantasizing being with you or stalking you. It’s also unprofessional for her to be going goo-goo ga ga behind the scenes when there are co-workers around her. It’s cringey and embarrassing. I also think that having someone like her who only sees him as that perfect man will eventually end up stunting his career. He treats his closest staff so terribly that they will likely want to leave him later. Also, I think someone would want a manager to be able to bring some sense to the star like keep them grounded. I think the only reason that he has kept her around is that he is a narcissist. He wants someone to idolize him completely. (This is just on the first ep; his character assessment will likely change b/c we have that hint of him being all sensitive when the politician’s wife told him she managed that clothing brand.)

How you react when you an exfangirl and your bias does something cute

This is top notch deterrence

Issue 6: Whether the explanation on ‘how to contact a Ghost Agent’ was hilarious.

RedRosette J: This was absolutely hilarious. The best part was that what Seol Woo’s “handler” Lee Dong Hyun (Jeong Man Sik’s character) was explaining to the Director was totally realistic. You know how they say the best spies are the ones who wear no disguises? This is totally that except the best spies are the ones that act like regular people! The director was all “how do you contact him?” and Lee Dong Hyun is all “I texted him” LOL! Totally totally hilarious. He goes on to explain to Seol Woo later on that the Director thought he was kidding because it was too normal and realistic. I love it!

Conclusion: Appeal Allowed.

Rating: 3 = MM. Okay. Fine. (It was good. Not cookie worthy good, but still good. Here’s to hoping it gets better)

Dissent from Jubiemon J – 3.5 – that .5 comes in because Park Haejin really studied hard to execute his English lines! He executed his lines very well considering how English isn’t his mother tongue. I’d probably would have given this a 4 if it weren’t for the cringey Cha Do Ha. I think cutting her character out would be fabulous.

File No: Man-To-Man-EP-01 Appearing before the Dramacourt: Man to Man Ep 01 ***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***

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