#a tale of two cities 1980

[cursemewithyourkiss]

My ranking of the Sydney Cartons

Ranking the different portrayals of Sydney Carton in five major adaptations of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, based on accuracy and performance. Opinions are my own, though I'm most willing to argue about them.

5. Dirk Bogarde in A Tale of Two Cities (1958).

Dirk Bogarde is witty and charming as Sydney, and his performance is a fairly engaging one. Unfortunately, whoever he is playing, it's not Sydney. One may blame some script choices—Sydney is placed in a lot of scenes where he does not appear in the book—but the way he acts is distinctly unlike Sydney too. Instead of lurking in the background, Bogarde's Sydney is forward, flirtatious and extremely chatty, and while he keeps insisting he's lazy, he is constantly doing things. Besides, he doesn't look the part at all.

Accuracy: 4/10.

Performance: 7/10.

Average: 5.5.

4. James Wilby in A Tale of Two Cities (1989).

James Wilby's blond hair as Sydney is outrageous, but at least it's long? There are certainly some strange writing choices here, which the decent acting doesn't quite make up for, but the characterisation is fairly on point in terms of performance. Wilby's occasional moments of strong emotion still make his portrayal worthwhile.

Accuracy: 7/10.

Performance: 8/10.

Average: 7.5.

3. Chris Sarandon in A Tale of Two Cities (1980).

Once again we are met by some baffling writing choices—including Sydney asking Lucie to a cricket match!—but overall Chris Sarandon's performance as Sydney is perhaps the most accurate out of all of them. Unlike in other adaptations, he is not at the forefront too much, or too charming. He looks the part as well. Unfortunately Sarandon does comes across as rather stale and never quite reaches the emotional weight the role desires.

Accuracy: 9/10.

Performance: 7/10.

Average: 8.

2. William Farnum in A Tale of Two Cities (1917).

While William Farnum may have been a bit too old when he played Sydney, he does get points for having both long and dark hair. It is not just his looks though that cause this Sydney to excel in accuracy, for in terms of his characterisation this version rarely strays. The film being a silent one bars Farnum from ever truly making the same impact as his talkie counterparts, but he certainly makes an impression with his wonderfully expressive face.

Accuracy: 9/10.

Performance: 8/10.

Average: 8.5.

1. Ronald Colman in A Tale of Two Cities (1935).

Ronald Colman's Sydney may be too old and have short hair, and certainly he ends up being perhaps a bit too likable, but he completely makes up for it by his excellent performance. He is utterly convincing as an embittered man, and his portrayal is full of depth and emotion, especially in those haunting eyes. Colman's Sydney may not be as exact as could be, but he captures the soul of the novel, and in such a way as to move one to tears.

Accuracy: 8/10.

Performance: 10/10.

Average: 9.

[sydney-carton-of-sour-milk]

The Many Illustrators of A Tale of Two Cities 15: Charles Keeping

Keeping This One Brief

Our second in the spooky subseries is a set by Charles Keeping, a famed English illustrator, children's book author, and lithographer who, among his many other accomplishments, illustrated the entirety of Dickens's work for the Folio Society.

This set is unique among all those we've seen so far, both for its recentness (call its publication date a Bowling for Soup song the way it's "1985"🤪) and for its source:

Rather than being from a large public resource like the Internet Archive or from my own personal scans, these are all coming from the personal blog of Derrick J. Knight, a fellow netizen who just so happens to have scanned the illustrations of the book he was reading and uploaded them to the Internet for all to see.

Out of gratitude and respect for giving these precious rarities of illustrations to the public, I'm going to keep this post simple and straightforward, with no post-notes.

Here they are (fair warning, a couple of these are pretty gory):

That's it! Thank you, Charles Keeping and Derrick J. Knight!

& the standard endnote for all posts in this series:

This post is intended to act as the start of a forum on the given illustrator, so if anyone has anything to add - requests to see certain drawings in higher definition (since Tumblr compresses images), corrections to factual errors, sources for better-quality versions of the illustrations, further reading, fun facts, any questions, or just general commentary - simply do so on this post, be it in a comment/tags or the replies!💫

[celaenaeiln]

in like a one person gets one, who would dicks soulmate (platonic or not idk) be? i’ve asked this to several ppl and the answers are usually wally, donna, or jason though i’ve seen some ppl say slade, roy, and bruce.

Anon your ask has literally been haunting me at night. I thought I knew the answer but then you hit me with a Donna!! But between Bruce and Donna, I can't decide so I'll just present a case for both.

Bruce

Bruce and Dick are soulmates on a cosmological scale. The DC universe ordained them to always find each other because they're quite literally a fated pair.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Issue #23

Bruce: The only regret is that I'm out there alone. It felt good having someone at my back, being part of a team...but no sense wasting time wishing for something I'll never have.

Dick: He's cool, dad...d'you think we'll ever see him when we play Gotham?

The universe literally brings them together no matter the circumstances.

Convergence Issue #4

"The bond between you and Bruce Wayne echoes in every reality."

I don't think there's any stronger evidence for Dick and Bruce being soulmates than this.

But if that's still not enough I have more-

The Multiversity: Guidebook

In Bruce's world he lost Dick and in Dick's world he lost Bruce, but still in the end they somehow find each other. In every universe that has Batman, if someone is his partner it's always Dick.

In the medieval ages world-

Batman: Dark Knight of the Round Table Issue #1

The world of "A Christmas Carol" with Ebenezer Scrooge -

Batman: Noël

In a world where Bruce is a doctor at Arkham -

The Batman of Arkham

Dick is always there as his second.

Here's another interesting but depressing fact: In worlds where Dick Grayson has died as Robin, Bruce Wayne has never taken in another Robin.

This is because on top of the fact that Dick and Bruce as fated to meet, Dick means the entire world for Bruce. Like sometimes Bruce will come across a case with a child involved and the first thing he'll think about is Dick.

Batman: City of Madness Issue #2

Bruce's mind and life is literally consumed by Dick Grayson on a cosmologically spiritual level.

Donna

Donna is Dick's soulmate on a twin-sister spiritual level. Dick and Bruce are two halves of a whole, yin and yang. Dick and Donna though are one person. Their relationship is like taking paint and mixing it together to get something new. Like in those comics where two people look at each other and there's a "zing!" and suddenly it's an instant connection. That's them.

Titans (2016) Special 1

additionally:

Titans (2016) Special 1

New Titans (1988) Issue #89

Dick and Donna have no secrets. They're like a jigsaw puzzle, their pieces fall right into place.

He's always there for her-

The New Teen Titans (1980) Issue #38

They're so special and integral to each other that when an evil witch erases Donna from everyone's memories, there is only one focal point for her. One focal person for her throughout the years. Even though he doesn't remember her, Dick literally goes back in time with his future daughter Mar'i to help Donna, his soul-sister-

The Titans (1999) Issue #25

In every. single. moment of Donna's past Dick appears again and again to comfort her and be her pillar from Robin to civies to Nightwing. In the "Who is Donna Troy" Arc, as the story goes from the origins of Donna to the present, it becomes very clear that Dick is her centerpoint.

They're the definition of soulmates.

She knows him better than anyone else and he knows her. She even had him walk her Donna the aisle for her wedding. He was given that honor because of who they are to each other.

Tales of the Teen Titans Issue #42

I...

just-

Tales of the Teen Titans Issue #50

to love like that...

They're made for each other.

[deramin2]

I don't know how to really express this except to come across as a "kids these days" scold, but so much of the criticism of queerness in Good Omens would simply not be a thing if kids these days watched more 20th century queer media. Or more complex indie queer media in general.

People seem to want a show that's like the straight stories they grew up with but gay. Or the gay fanfiction they grew up with. But that's not really the tradition it's coming from. First off the novel was released in 1990. Queer film classics of the time are Dead Poet's Society (1989) and Torch Song Trilogy (1988). The TV miniseries Tales of the City (1993) wasn't made until 3 years later and it was so far out there it never had a huge audience. Philadelphia (1993) is also 3 years out and was basically the first big studio queer film. The first fluffy queer Hallmark-style romcom wasn't until Big Eden in 2000, a full 10 years after publication.

Queer stories from the time it was written were about complex and often fraught relationships between people who the world was trying to force apart. There is an incredibly strong tradition in queer films of relationships with no guarantees they will work out both in the face of their personal baggage and the weight of the world. Take a film like Torch Song Trilogy that's about the two great loves of Arnold Beckoff's life over 9 years and how homophobia shapes them. Both externally (especially Allen) and internally like Ed struggling with his bisexuality and being terrified of being publicly out. Written and starred in by Harvey Fierstein, who identified as a gay man at the time and only came out as nonbinary last year.

The Boys In The Band (1968 play, filmed 1970 and 2020) was a monumental moment in Broadway history where finally there was a play about gay men in their own words where no one died and very strongly showed that homosexuality doesn't make people miserable but homophobia sure does. But that homophobia also throws their personal lives into constant turmoil and none of them are in happy relationships, although Hank and Larry are devoted to each other in their own fucked up way.

"Relationships are complicated and hard to make work and sometimes a struggle against the odds" is an aesthetic of classic queer film making. Partly it was influenced by the Hays Code (although independent films were not bound to it), partly influenced by the rampant queerphobia in society at the time that was inescapable. But it's also an aesthetic choice to resist the banal and unrealistic relationship depictions of straight media. There are actual stakes to the relationship. Queer people were actively resisting a world that said "Romance is seeing someone across the room and instantly falling in love with each other and little conflicts happen along the way but ultimately they're destined to be together and everything is happily ever after." Recall that "stalking as romance" was a completely inescapable trope in 1980s straight romance films, and every goddamn movie was being turned into a romance film.

So queer people in film and television when they can make what they please have a long tradition of saying instead "People don't always realize the feelings they've developed for a queer partner right away. They may have reasons for denying those feelings that are both a reflection of the cruelty in society and of their own insecurities. People struggle with where they belong and their relationships reflect that. Loving someone doesn't mean they don't also drive you crazy and you might fight with them constantly. But that doesn't negate the love or that feeling that even if things aren't okay, they're better with that person around. But maybe that person can't stay around. The world may be against you. And also maybe you don't just want that one person in your life. Soulmates is a very flawed model. Sometimes the strongest love is a struggle with yourself and the world and your person. You have to overcome yourself first. Happily ever after is a lie. You may be happy for a while, and hopefully for a long while, but everything ends. And you have to be ready to love again. Also your platonic bonds are just as important and life-altering as your romantic ones. Sometimes those platonic bonds include fucking if you want them to. Real life isn't a bunch of platitudes and world-altering moments, it's daily work to better yourself and the world around you. Especially when things just fucking suck. But also remember to have fun and fuck the haters. People who don't support you can eat rocks and you should yell at them more to shut the fuck up."

That is a fundamentally different outlook on what a "good relationship depiction" looks like. Personally, I thought I hated romance movies and then I started watching queer romance movies and discovered I love them and watch them all the time. Because it turns out what I hated was relationships being shown that had nothing at all to do with reality and privileged incredibly toxic ideals. Finally there was complexity, there were stakes, and there were people who had to truly want to be together enough to fight the world for it and not because they happened to be there. There were people actually talking out their problems and looking for resolutions. (And sometimes that resolutions was "I can't fucking deal with this bullshit anymore and I'm out.") For the first time it felt real.

I'm an aroace trans gay man. Nothing about relationships or being in relationships has come easy to me, and the whole paradigm of straight patriarchal romance depictions makes absolutely no sense to me. It's completely alien. Queer romance stories actually feel human.

And that's the tradition Good Omens is coming from, even as it's being retold in 2019-2023 and hopefully beyond. Gaiman's work has always been based in that queer media paradigm. (I've been remiss and daunted and haven't read Pratchett but from what I do know his work also seems to sit more in that world view.) It's a beautiful cinematic tradition and it's baffling to me that people would resist it instead of embracing it for being honest.

And that's when I turn into a crotchety old man complaining about the youth not connecting with the history of their beautiful culture and instead begging for assimilation into a shithole allocishet media landscape that doesn't actually want them except for their money and has nothing at all interesting or valuable to say. But it's very funny (annoying) to me when people claim Good Omens is someone against queer culture when it's so thoroughly bathed in the best of queer media's storytelling traditions and what people are asking for is straight media with the serial numbers filed off. Like, stop being boring please and know literally anything about the culture the adults in the room lived through and were influenced by. The world didn't begin in 2015.

EDIT: I also want to add that in straight media arcs are linear. Traditionally in queer media arcs are cyclical. Queer media very often depicts people going around in circles relearning the same lesson over and over as they inch towards it sinking in. But every time they go through the cycle they gain just a little bit more enlightenment and slowly move towards a better place. From the comments this is an immensely important distinction. People don't actually have cathartic moments where suddenly all their past bad programming is shed and they saunter forward a new person with none of their old baggage. In reality people fall into the same patterns over and over even though they have had every opportunity to learn better. "People magically get better" is a trope of straight media that's an outright and frankly dangerous lie. Again, Good Omens follows the queer tradition not the straight one and it's depicted 6,000 years of that cycle. The world didn't end, and the wheel keeps turning, as it always has and always will. That's so fundamental to queer storytelling traditions I forgot to even mention it.

[haveyouplayedthisttrpg]

Have you played TALES FROM THE LOOP ?

By Free League Publishing

In 1954, the Swedish government ordered the construction of the world’s largest particle accelerator. The facility was complete in 1969, located deep below the pastoral countryside of Mälaröarna. The local population called this marvel of technology The Loop.

In this roleplaying game, you play teenagers in the late 1980s, solving Mysteries connected to the Loop. Choose between character Types such as the Bookworm, the Troublemaker, the Popular Kid and the Weirdo. Everyday Life is full of nagging parents, never-ending homework and classmates bullying and being bullied. Explore the secrets of the Loop in two main game settings – one based on the Swedish Mälaren Islands, the other on Boulder City, Nevada.

The Mysteries let the characters encounter the strange machines and weird creatures that have come to haunt the countryside after the Loop was built. The kids get to escape their everyday problems and be part of something meaningful and magical – but also dangerous.

[la-femme-au-collier-vert]

From The Library of Anne Rice (Part 1)

A list of books owned by Anne Rice including annotation information taken from auction listings at Bonham's, October 2024. Will continue in Part 2.

Frazer, James G. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (abridged edition).New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., 1963. She writes on the flyleaf in June of 2012: "When I bought this book I don't know. I know I read it or a copy of it in the 1980s when writing The Vampire Lestat. It is essential to me." On the jacket spine she has added "Sacred!"

Frazer, James G. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. 1981. Marked on the cover, "Gift to Stan from Anne 1985 / Save Always, AR," and internally reads in Stan's handwriting: "A gift to me from Anne because I've never read it."

Gaskell, Elizabeth. Tales of Mystery & the Macabre. Wordsworth edition, 2007. bears Rice's ownership signature to title page ("Anne Rice / May 29, 2012 / The Desert") and is tabbed and annotated throughout. 

Gaskell, Elizabeth. North and South. Penguin Books, 2000. bears her ownership signature on the title page.

Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom the Bell Tolls. New York: Charles Scribner's Son, 1940. Original beige cloth stamped cover and spine, in facsimile dust jacket. First edition with the Scribner's "A" on the copyright page. With Post-it note to front pastedown indicating that the book was a gift "From Becket and Christina / Christmas / 2012."

King, B. B. & David Ritz. Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King. New York: Avon Books, 1996. First edition, inscribed to "To Anne / All the best to you / B.B. King / 10-18-96." 

Montgomery, L.M. Anne of Green Gables. Cutchogue, NY: Buccaneer Books, 1976. Anne Rice ownership signature dated February 7, 2015, Palm Desert. Annotated on front pastedown; "It's immediately a pleasure, and making me want to write."

 Montgomery, L.M. Emily's Quest. Oxford City Press, 2009. Anne Rice ownership signature dated February 21, 2015; annotated and tabbed.

Montgomery, L.M. Emily Climbs. Sourcebooks, 2014. Anne Rice ownership signature dated February 12, 2015.

Montgomery, L.M. Emily of New Moon. Ameron House, c.2015. Anne Rice ownership signature dated February 6, 2015, inscribed: "Reading the paperback and loving it so much I had to have a hardcover." 

Montgomery, L.M. The Blue Castle. Sourcebooks, 2011. Anne Rice ownership signature dated May 12, 2015 to title page.

Puzo, Mario. The Godfather. New York: Putnam, 1969. Book club edition. On May 26 and 27, 2013, she writes, "Badly need this, Studying in detail" and on page 74 she writes, "Note how easily it flows." She has great praise for the nimbleness of the novel's p.o.v. and is often asking herself "how can I learn from this?" On p 225 she writes, "This is a most impressive piece of work and is masterly. Again I marvel at vocabulary, tone, and placement—organization of the book. I fight OCD as I write, I've come to see that, and this helps me to see what this novel accomplishes. Presenting the Don as a 'great' man, a 'genius,' without apology is a conscious approach that is so powerful."

Puzo, Mario. The Godfather. Another copy, later edition, lacking jacket. With Anne Rice's ownership signature.

Puzo, Mario. The Godfather Papers and Other Confessions. London; William Heinneman, 1972.

Puzo, Mario. The Fortunate Pilgrim. New York: Random House, 1997. Anne Rice ownership signature. 

Wallace, Lew. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. New York and London: Harper & Brothers, 1908. Anne Rice re-read this copy of Ben-Hur in 2006, a used copy she picked up somewhere, leaving detailed marginalia throughout and summing up her thoughts on the first flyleaf: "12-12-06: This is an amazing achievement: a Judeo-Christian novel. Jewish history and honor are here! And a woman tells this history to her son! How did we get away from this to The Robe ... 12-15-06: I've spent over two days reading & studying this wonderful book. It does seem unique—and it covers an amazing amt of material including a physical description of Our Lord, the crucifixion, etc. It is not anti-semitic. It presents Jews as exotic, 'oriental.' It has a primitive quality ... why is the prose so difficult? so 'dated'? Compare to Dickens." Rice's notes in the margin often compare the novel to (presumably the 1959 version of) the film, finding the novel superior in every way, and commenting more than once on its structural similarities to Dickens: "the whole spectacle and the co-incidence" (p 166).

Cleland, John. 1709-1789. Fanny Hill or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure. New York: Penguin Books, 1985. Annotated and with ownership signature to the title page: "Anne Rice / January 2014 / Palm Desert." Rice underscores Cleland's descriptions of bodies and physical acts, and in particular, wonders about the novel's p.o.v.: on p 108 she writes in the margin, "Is this a man's view? A gay man? An author who is male and female?"

Clinton, Bill. Born 1946. My Life. New York: Alfred Knopf, 2004. Jacket spine with label "From the library of Anne Rice" laid down to tail. First edition, inscribed on the title page, "To Anne—After doing this book, I admire you even more—Bill Clinton." with: a note on the Office of William J. Clinton letterhead: "2/17 —Huma—For author ANNE RICE.—Thanks, Sally." When Clinton published his memoir in 2024, Rice was one of the VIPs to receive a presentation copy, in which he expresses his admiration for her work after having written a book of his own.

Bellman, Henry. 1882-1945. Kings Row. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1943. Annotated and with ownership signature to front free endpaper: "Anne Rice / June 27, 2013 / Palm Desert." Rice has carefully read and annotated this copy, complementing the writing (particularly when Bellamann writes about Father Donovan) and adds a long note on the rear pastedown: "Pages & pages of this book are about the mind—about how the mind learns, expands, grows, experiences." Sometimes her comments are in conversation with the text, as when, on p 153, she underlines the town of Auvergne and writes "Auvergne, what a coincidence! As I plan a trip there and write about Lestat!"

Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield.  New York: Penguin Classics, 2014. With ownership signature of Anne Rice dated June 11, 2018, tabbed and annotated throughout. On the preliminary leaf of Copperfield, Rice writes, "Again with my beloved David, and my beloved Dickens. I have just read Claire Tomalink 'The Invisible Woman' and her later bio of Dickens. I'm writing my new novel in my head."

Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. New York: Penguin Classics, 2008. Signed and dated June 15, 2018, tabbed and annotated throughout.

Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnen. South Moon Under. New York, London: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933 (undated later facsimile edition).

Mitchell, Margaret, Gone With the Wind. New York: [Simon and Schuster], 2011. Rice reread this copy in March of 2015, tabbing dozens of pages and commenting in the margins.

Tolstoy, Leo. War and Peace. New York: Alfred Knopf, 2007. The first date on this copy of War and Peace is June 30, 2010, and Rice writes: "The Desert / Being reborn in Tolstoy, studying at his feet—Searching for the Christ who is bigger than religion." In a different ink, Rice adds at the top of the same page, "Revisiting 7-16-17—Having seen much of the new BBC series with Lily James as Natasha." Rice has tabbed the pages throughout this volume and made extensive notes on character development and theme. On the rear flyleaf, she adds, "'Life is everything...' p 10064— use for L" as well as "The guiltlessness of suffering (do we make ourselves suffer to be guiltless)?"

Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karinina. Translated by Rosamund Bartlett. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. Signed and annotated February 19, 2015. Heavily tabbed, especially in the center part of the novel, and noted on the front flyleaf: "Reading chunks of the story of Levin & Kitty / So beautiful and smooth—"

[anqelsweep]

❛❛  송버드의 멜로디  ❜❜   ───   from heart attack era to the beginning of red rover era 

w. contains imagery that may cause eyestrain, flashing light, mentions heckling & nightmares, and negative tones in the heart attack section only! briefly mentions broken bones (ankle) additional trivia! i think that’s all but, if i missed anything please let me know!

n. mentions grace of lily pad, yeobi (@glasshcvse), youha of acid flower (@killcrqueenz) & kaia of hiraeth (@almostyours)! thank you to these beauties for allowing their ocs to be a part of this~!<33 also, sorry this took forever to come out lolol PLEASE ignore any mistakes i missed when editing this sajdsd

JUDY is Cult Creative’s known as the most well-known and best-selling artist, later beating even the quartet HEAT BURN. However, unlike her current positive image, she was once called Disaster Rookie due to her disastrous debut.   

HEART ATTACK is JUDY's first extended play, released on May 2, 2013. Unfortunately, the EP was a complete failure despite being widely anticipated by fans of Cult Creative artists. The album had four tracks, including Rendezvous, which featured soloist IU, LilyPad member Grace, and the widely adored b-side Sugar.

The story within it tells the tale of unrequited love between two students, with Judy constantly trying to get another student’s attention throughout the title track’s music video.  

HEART ATTACK had many incidents during its short promotional period. Most notably, several hecklers greeted the rookie idol at her debut stage, many hurling insults at her for even stepping on the stage. Netizens weren’t easy on her either, criticizing the label for allowing her to embarrass herself in front of so many people or making fun of her for crying on stage and running off.

In a 2021 interview, the singer recalled her painful debut experience; “I remember being yelled at and belittled for being on stage. I couldn’t see who was yelling, so I think it made it much more traumatic for me.” she said, “I ran off stage before I could even finish the song! I just couldn’t take the insults anymore. After, I isolated myself for a long time; I was scared to leave my dorm and—for a while—only went out at night. I had nightmares about it, too; I still have those nightmares sometimes.”

LADIES NIGHT was released five months after her traumatic debut as the first single album of JUDY. Announcements of the debut were met with instant pushback, with netizens accusing the label of wanting to embarrass the rookie further. However, these comments were squashed with its official release on September 2. PURPLE NIGHTS and LADY would both become two of the most popular songs of 2013, redeeming JUDY in the eyes of South Korean music critics. 

The music videos for both promoted tracks were heavily influenced by the works of Wong Kar-wai and mid-1970 to 1980s Japan. It also gained inspiration from anime like City Hunter and Cowboy Bebop; PURPLE NIGHTS takes inspiration from the dream-like imagery of Wong Kar-wai, while LADY takes place in a futuristic Seoul. The single album accumulated the singer fifteen (15) music show wins in total, including Rookie of the Year at the Mnet Asian Music Awards. She was nominated for Best New Female Artist and won Song of the Year at the Melon Music Awards with PURPLE NIGHTS. In addition, it was also the first project for which JUDY would be credited for producing and writing. 

The Jazz Manouche and Jazz Pop extended play was released on the August Equinox in 2014. Whispers around this EP began when a vengeful ex-Cult Creative employee leaked two clips of the album’s title track. 

OH! MY GOODNESS represents the title track, while IS WHO? is the promoted b-side. THE EP,  GRAND DREAMS, is the soloist’s second mini album.  Similar to her previous releases, this album follows a storyline that spins a tale around love. These stories, however, revolve around the feeling of falling in love, depicting a world going from monochrome to vibrant with color, as well as a tale of greed, never being satisfied with those who try to court her, going as far as to kill those who fail to impress her. 

OH! MY GOODNESS and IS WHO? accumulated the most music show wins of any JUDY release thus far, winning sixteen total: nine for the former and seven for the latter. Upon release, the title track peaked at number three on the Gaon Digital Chart, while the album peaked at ten. 

 JUDY’s third mini album, BITTER, sold nearly seven million copies in its first week of release. In addition, this era saw a drastic change in the treatment she would get from Cult Creative; she would get the actual staff that wasn’t Daphne Choi, much of which still work with Judy in the present day. 

BITTER was released on the 18th of May 2015. While the title track, BEAUTIFUL FANTASIES, debuted in the top five of Gaon’s Digital Chart, the b-side DIAMOND, was a massive hit, peaking at the number one (1) spot and staying rooted there for four weeks.

Due to this EP being the most mature release, there have been many rumors surrounding its making. The most prominent was her breakup with actor Park Joon-ki, who was rumored to have cheated on the singer. While Cult Creative vehemently denied these rumors, one of the producers of the EP, Goldie Anton, alluded to these being true. JUDY has never directly acknowledged the rumors. 

LOVE LETTER, released on Valentine’s Day in 2016, is the fourth extended play by JUDY. Like its sister release, the EP made history for the singer and the label. The EP took place 44 on Billboard's 100 Greatest K-Pop Songs of the 2010s, while the lead single, MAKE ME HAPPY, peaked at number two on Gaon’s Digital Chart.

OH MY GOD! is JUDY's first and only 2017 release. The fifth extended play, which contains seven tracks, was released on August 18. This EP marked the opening of Team Honeysuckle, the production label dedicated to JUDY and her works. 

The EP contains six tracks, excluding the CD-only single, Queen of Hearts, which features soloist Yeobi, hiraeth's Kaia, and Acid Flower's Youha. The era consists of only one music video, for the title track WOMAN. The video was published a day before the album's official release and was followed by two performance clips: Noir version and Femme Fatale version.

For their first project, Team Honeysuckle went all out with promotions. Teaser images advertising an exhibit to promote the comeback were released on August 4th and August 7th, and music video teasers were released on the 13th and 16th. The exhibit, 'From Diamonds,' was held from August 13 to August 17th. 

The album peaked at seven on Gaon’s Album Chart, while WOMAN sat at six on the Digital Chart. 

OH MY GOD! was nominated for several major music show awards. For the Golden Disc Awards, she won Artist of the Year and Song of the Year. She won  Best Dance Performance, Song of the Year, and Best Collaboration for the Mnet Asian Music Awards. Finally, she won Musician of the Year at the Korean Music Awards. In total, she won six major awards and nineteen music show awards. 

SOBER is JUDY's second single album. It was released on May 28, 2018, with Don't Say No as the title track and sOBeR and About Love as b-sides. 

Unlike its predecessors, SOBER didn’t make any huge waves for JUDY. Compared to older releases, it felt lackluster to most SongBirds, many of whom considered this JUDY’s first real miss.

LITTLE BIRD is JUDY's seventh mini-album. The EP, released on June 18, 2018, consists of six tracks, led by the title track, BETTER. While the title track was popular, peaking at the third spot on many music charts, the songs Little Bird and TEMPTATIONS made the album as popular as it was. 

The EP’s namesake, Little Bird, debuted at number one on South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart, while TEMPTATIONS debuted at number five. In addition, Little Bird debuted atop the Billboard World Digital Song Sales—becoming JUDY’s first number one on the ranking.  

 BETTER was certified platinum six months after its release by the Korea Music Content Association (KMCA)

On November 21, 2018, WHAT THE FLOWER? was released as a pre-single for JUDY’s upcoming untitled first studio album. The song was announced one week before its release and wasn’t accompanied by a music video but a live performance video instead. 

Despite its dull promotion, the song still did well. It did its job as a pre-single and built anticipation around the singer's long-awaited studio album. 

ADDITIONAL TRIVIA.

In 2021, some random Twitter account revealed that Judy co-wrote some of the songs on HEART ATTACK; Daphne later confirmed this and said that Judy wrote much of the title track and Sugar and that it was Judy who didn’t want to be credited on those songs. 

According to a fan poll held in 2019, LADIES NIGHT era is one of Judy’s most iconic, primarily due to her being blonde (which is something she said she’d never do again)

Production-wise, GRAND DREAMS is her favorite EP. 

Even with Judy's treatment change, BITTER’s promotions were very chaotic (dancers being late or not showing up, sound issues, etc.).

LOVE LETTER is an unofficial billet-doux to SongBirds.

Also, Judy broke her first bone in LOVE LETTER era, breaking her ankle—which caused promotion to end prematurely. 

LITTLE BIRD was mostly popular with i-SongBirds, during this era she got a lot more international attention and fans. 

                  ౨ৎ⠀ׄ⠀. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SONG?

[undinecissy]

James Wilby during the late 1980s

I guess it was in 1989, when he played Sydney Carton in The Tale of Two Cities.

[lavendershowcase]

Queer Hispanic Stories for Hispanic Heritage Month

Summaries and notes under cut

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera

Juliet Milagros Palante is leaving the Bronx and headed to Portland, Oregon. She just came out to her family and isn’t sure if her mom will ever speak to her again. But Juliet has a plan, sort of, one that’s going to help her figure out this whole “Puerto Rican lesbian” thing. She’s interning with the author of her favorite book: Harlowe Brisbane, the ultimate authority on feminism, women’s bodies, and other gay-sounding stuff. Will Juliet be able to figure out her life over the course of one magical summer? Is that even possible? Or is she running away from all the problems that seem too big to handle? With more questions than answers, Juliet takes on Portland, Harlowe, and most importantly, herself.

Winner of 2017 Silver IPPY Award for best LGBTQ Fiction, selected by the ALA for the Amelia Bloomer List in 2017

The Prince and the Coyote by David Bowles, illustrated by Amanda Mijangos*

Fifteen-year old crown prince Acolmiztli wants nothing more than to see his city-state of Tetzcoco thrive. A singer, poet, and burgeoning philosophical mind, he has big plans about infrastructure projects and cultural initiatives that will bring honor to his family and help his people flourish. But the two sides of his family, the kingdoms of Mexico and Acolhuacan, have been at war his entire life – after his father risked the wrath of the Tepanec emperor to win his mother’s love. When a power struggle leaves his father dead and his mother and siblings in exile, Acolmiztli must run for his life, seeking refuge in the wilderness. After a coyote helps him find his way in the wild, he takes on a new name – Nezahualcoyotl, or “fasting coyote” (“Neza” for short). Biding his time until he can form new alliances and reconnect with his family, Neza goes undercover, and falls in love with a commoner girl, Sekalli. Can Neza survive his plotting uncles’ scheme to wipe out his line for good? Will the empire he dreams of in Tetzcoco ever come to life? And is he willing to risk the lives of those he loves in the process? This action-packed tale blends prose and poetry – including translations of surviving poems by Nezahualcoytl himself, translated from classical Nahuatl by the author. And the book is packed with queer rep: queer love stories, and a thoughtful exploration of pre-columbian understandings of gender that defy the contemporary Western gender binary.

Pura Belpré honoree, Kirkus Best of the Year, Bookpage top 10 Book of 2023

*Personally recommended by me

The House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara

It’s 1980 in New York City, and nowhere is the city’s glamour and energy better reflected than in the burgeoning Harlem ball scene, where seventeen-year-old Angel first comes into her own. Burned by her traumatic past, Angel is new to the drag world, new to ball culture, and has a yearning inside of her to help create family for those without. When she falls in love with Hector, a beautiful young man who dreams of becoming a professional dancer, the two decide to form the House of Xtravaganza, the first-ever all-Latino house in the Harlem ball circuit. But when Hector dies of AIDS-related complications, Angel must bear the responsibility of tending to their house alone. As mother of the house, Angel recruits Venus, a whip-fast trans girl who dreams of finding a rich man to take care of her; Juanito, a quiet boy who loves fabrics and design; and Daniel, a butch queen who accidentally saves Venus’s life. The Xtravaganzas must learn to navigate sex work, addiction, and persistent abuse, leaning on each other as bulwarks against a world that resists them. All are ambitious, resilient, and determined to control their own fates, even as they hurtle toward devastating consequences. 

Born Both: An Intersex Life by Hida Viloria

My name is Hida Viloria. I was raised as a girl but discovered at a young age that my body looked different. Having endured an often turbulent home life as a kid, there were many times when I felt scared and alone, especially given my attraction to girls. But unlike most people in the first world who are born intersex–meaning they have genitals, reproductive organs, hormones, and/or chromosomal patterns that do not fit standard definitions of male or female–I grew up in the body I was born with because my parents did not have my sex characteristics surgically altered at birth. It wasn’t until I was twenty-six and encountered the term intersex in a San Francisco newspaper that I finally had a name for my difference. That’s when I began to explore what it means to live in the space between genders–to be both and neither. I tried living as a feminine woman, an androgynous person, and even for a brief period of time as a man. Good friends would not recognize me, and gay men would hit on me. My gender fluidity was exciting, and in many ways freeing–but it could also be isolating. I had to know if there were other intersex people like me, but when I finally found an intersex community to connect with I was shocked, and then deeply upset, to learn that most of the people I met had been scarred, both physically and psychologically, by infant surgeries and hormone treatments meant to “correct” their bodies. Realizing that the invisibility of intersex people in society facilitated these practices, I made it my mission to bring an end to it–and became one of the first people to voluntarily come out as intersex at a national and then international level. Born Both is the story of my lifelong journey toward finding love and embracing my authentic identity in a world that insists on categorizing people into either/or, and of my decades-long fight for human rights and equality for intersex people everywhere.

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women’s lives and the violence visited upon their bodies. A wife refuses her husband’s entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store’s prom dresses. One woman’s surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest. And in the bravura novella “Especially Heinous,” Machado reimagines every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a show we naively assumed had shown it all, generating a phantasmagoric police procedural full of doppelgängers, ghosts, and girls-with-bells-for-eyes.

Finalist for the 2017 National Book Award for Fiction, Winner of the National Book Critics Circle's 2017 John Leonard Prize, Winner of the 2017 Bard Fiction Prize, Finalist for the 2017 Kirkus Prize, Finalist for the 2017 PEN/Robert Bingham Award

[scotianostra]

Happy Birthday Bill Forsyth the Scottish film director and screenwriter.

Born in Glasgow July 29th 1946 and educated at Knightswood School. On leaving aged 17, he answered an advertisement for a “Lad required for film company” and spent the next eight years helping make short documentary films.

Leaving documentary production in 1977, Forsyth wrote the scripts for Gregory’s Girl and That Sinking Feeling in the hope of breaking into feature films.

Obtaining finance, however, proved frustrating and problematic. The BFI Production Board rejected Gregory’s Girl three times. Forsyth later said, “I remember one torment of a meeting when I tried to explain that Gregory’s Girl was really a structuralist comedy… I suspect my script was too conventional although nobody actually told me as much.”.

That Sinking Feeling was eventually made in 1979 with amateur actors from the Glasgow Youth Theatre, including John Gordon Sinclair (who later took the lead in Gregory’s Girl , its tiny £5,000 budget was raised from a variety of sources.

Forsyth’s distinctive voice as writer-director is already apparent in this tale of a robbery of stainless steel sinks by a gang of unemployed Glasgow teenagers - intensely humanistic and humorous yet with an underlying seriousness of purpose. This ability to create a self-contained yet believable world with a keen sense of the absurd and bizarre in the everyday is perhaps only rivalled by the work of British television writer Alan Plater. The film opened to great popular and critical success at the Edinburgh and London Film Festivals but was unable to secure more widespread distribution.

Gregory’s Girl was Forsyth’s breakthrough film. This acutely observed story of adolescence and first love set in a Scottish new town was rapturously received by both critics and public alike. Forsyth’s reputation seemed to be secured by the success of his next venture, Local Hero, a first collaboration with producer David Puttnam.

In 1999 he made Gregory’s Two Girls as a sequel to Gregory’s Girl, with John Gordon Sinclair playing the same character, but it received mixed reviews.

Gregory's Girl, to me, is still a very funny film, but it feels dated, that's not to say that it hasn't stood the test of time with some folk, indeed The Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) showed a 4k version of the 1980 cult classic last August 1which was followed by a Q&A session with some of the cast including Gordon Sinclair(Gregory), Clare Grogan.

In 2022 the popular Scottish actor Peter Capaldi spoke of how Bill Forsyth saved him from living off pakora and lager after featuring him in Local Hero. The Doctor Who and The Thick Of It star praised the Scots film director in an acceptance speech after receiving a Bafta Scotland Award for Outstanding Contribution to Film & Television.

I love Capaldi's affection for our country, speaking to the audience while holding his Bafta, Capaldi said the award was “for getting lucky, and for being lucky enough to be born in Scotland”.

He said: “Forty years ago I was just up here (in Glasgow) as an art student, living off pakora and lager for breakfast.

“Bill Forsyth scooped me up and put me in Local Hero.

“It was an act of kindness and confidence that baffled me and much of the industry to this day, but I wouldn’t be here without him and nor would a lot of others.”

Capaldi landed this breakthrough film role aged 24 playing Danny Oldsen, a naive young oil industry executive, in the film.

A number of actors, including Dee Hepburn, will be a part of a celebration of the films of Bill Forsyth at the Outwith Festival of music and arts which takes place in Dunfermline from September 3-8. It will also screen That Sinking Feeling and Local Hero at the city’s Carnegie Theatre.

[arimiadev]

visual novels I finished in 2023

I played quite a few visual novels in 2023, most of which are indie, and I want to share some highlights from that list. these are all VNs that I played all the way through and loved, so treat this also as a recommendation for each of these.

mahoyo

In the mansion on the hill, there lived two witches... It is the late 1980s—the twilight of an era of beauty and vigor. A boy moves to the city, barely missing two witches living in modern times. The boy leads a completely ordinary life. She carries herself with gallant pride. The girl lives a sleepy, hidden life. Each walks a starlit path. One would never expect their paths to cross. The story of how these three disparate people came together is soon to be told.

I've ranted a ton about mahoyo here and how much I love it. it truly is one of the best looking visual novels I've ever seen and one of my all-time favorites. I'll never be able to approach game direction the same after playing this. please do yourself a favor and play it, it's finally on steam.

model employee

Model Employee is a corporate horror visual novel where players take control of  the latest individual amongst millions to start working in one of Tethys' online shopping labyrinthine warehouses. Just discharged from the hospital and massively in debt for their life-saving cybernetics, the player-character must adapt to the "extreme" work-life balance of a Tethys Team Member- but they have help.  Penny, the artificial personality that controls all security, waste disposal, and employee surveillance in the facility, specializes in reinforcing an especially cutthroat variety  of workplace culture- and she's taken an interest in you.  With a vibrant cast, PC-98 inspired visuals and multiple endings, Model Employee is a modern horror story that'll stick with you long after you've clocked out of your shift. If you want to get ahead in your career, you gotta be willing to take some risks.

model employee is such a tightly structured visual novel for being made in just one month, making full use of everything while surprising you at every corner. every part of this game was so well planned and thought out- dystopian corporate satire isn't my cup of tea (we're living it) but the way they present everything in this game makes it feel so much more intense.

itch.io

beary the hatchet

It's Halloween 199X, and you killed someone during your morning shift. Honestly it's inconvenient. This job was imperfect, sure, but you got to wear a mask with no questions asked and the pay was livable. But now you'll have to keep the body in the backrooms till your shift is done. Bummer. "You're... the absolutely WICKED and AWESOME Bearwater Grizzly Killer, aren't you?!" ...and now enters the dreaded true crime fan.

beary the hatchet is such a uniquely lovely game to look at, even if the subject matter is grim. I love the color palette and tones in this, I love the 2.5D graphics, I love how expressive all of the designs are. it's a game oozing with style.

itch.io

disconnect

Late at night, a phone call from a friend keeps disconnecting from you... On and off, on and off, constantly... ...What would you do if you realized your friend wasn't who you thought they were? And how would you react when the truth was finally revealed? ("̷̢̑W̸̨̊o̸̫͊u̷̱͝ḽ̸͛d̴͉̐ ̵̚ͅy̵̜̽o̸̥͗u̷̮̎ ̷̜̏s̶̤̄t̸̥͐i̴̻̕l̸̰͝l̸͉̓ ̷͕́ȁ̸̩c̸̡̓t̵̜̊ ̵͓̈t̶̙̄h̶̦͂e̸̩͠ ̸̩̅s̶̘̏a̷̪͛m̵̮͒e̴͖͑ ̸̭́w̷̨̚á̴̱y̵̯̑?̶͎̌"̷͈̆) Find out what happened to our scaredy-cat protagonist, Indie－a famous horror storyteller on the H-T-M (Horror, Tales, and Mystery) forum. What would she do when she unintentionally uncovered a mystery hidden deep within her own home?

I love the style of disconnect and the unorthodox way of getting to the truth of the matter. I'm not normally one to play furry VNs, but the designs are adorable and I love the presentation of the game, it has a lot of animation in it. there's also one moment not too far in on this screen that made me scream...

itch.io

curse of the juniper tree

Curse of the Juniper tree is a tale of two siblings, a cursed tree and an isolated village. It is a short kinetic visual novel featuring 2d exploration. Walk around the snowy village and talk to its inhabitants! Story is loosely based off the fairytale called The Juniper Tree by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1812.

this is a lovely and short story about two siblings living in a frozen land together. it's a very atmospheric story with so many beautiful blues and detailed character designs. the controls were a bit hard to figure out at times but it's worth your time.

itch.io

reaplaced

Grea Perrim is a reaper of souls, and it's her duty to bring the deceased to the other side. But in the world of reapers, death isn't any kind of equalizer. The value of a soul is directly tied to the peculiarity of its death. Grea's supernatural senses bring her to a Halloween house party with three costumed guests. She soon finds the most valuable kind of soul: the victim of a locked-room murder. In order to reap the soul, Grea must unravel the identity of its killer and explain its death in full. Is this the work of a human? A witch? Or something else entirely...?

reaplaced is a fun little whodunnit set on Halloween about a grim reaper out on the hunt who finds herself in the middle of a murder mystery. it's much more indepth than I was expecting and the soundtrack is wonderful—there's a lot of small touches to it that make it great.

itch.io

dual chroma [demo]

A gilded king, a powerful sorceress, and a malevolent figure governing a foul legion of beasts in a ruthless war against the Light.  For centuries, the Galens Empire has thrived upon the ancient tragedy that formed its foundations. No more than a fading past inked upon the pages of history, the Empire reigned in relative peace—until the monsters returned.  As the newest advisor to the Second Prince, you find yourself at the heart of a captivating saga, where mystery, magic, terror, and romance intertwine. Your choices in this narrative will determine not only the Empire's destiny, but also the fate of your heart. But take heed, for the path you tread may shatter the shackles of doomed love or repeat the ruin of Galens' past.

I don't play many otome demos but I played several that were submitted to otome jam this year, with dual chroma being one of them. I was surprised by the amount of care and attention put into the demo- it feels very solid with a lot of polish put into easing the player into this high fantasy world. I think I had an issue with how the tooltips would be shown (probably the frequency of them, as the in-line tooltips are very helpful) but it's been months since then.

itch.io

we know the devil

Anyone can kill the devil; that's why they always make teens the vampire slayers, the magical girls. But some kids can't even get that right; and that's why meangirl Neptune, tomboy Jupiter, and shy shy Venus have to endure one more week of summer camp and each other, singing boring songs about jesus, doing busywork for adults, and hoping god's radio can't hear them. Before they can leave the summer scouts, they've got to spend twelve hours in the loneliest cabin in the woods and wait for the devil to come and live through the night--or not. You know.

we know the devil didn't release this year but I finally got around to playing it. it's a visceral experience, something that feels foreign and familiar at the same time. I love the direction for it, the sketchy monochrome sprites against the colored photos- parts when there aren't any characters on screen feel that much more real, like you're watching found footage because of how tense everything is.

itch.io

doppelganger

The story is set in an alternate universe where the player is struggling with the memories of what they know to be TEMPUS and the mysterious look-alikes who pull them every which way. Can the player figure out the truth about this twisted world and return to the guild?

okay this is a bit of a weird one to end on, I just wanted to talk about it. doppelganger is a game made by holostars staff, i.e. the staff for the vtubing company cover corporation. I went into it expecting very, very little but I was presently surprised by how competently it was made. a lot of "bad" visual novels aren't fun to play, because they're overly long, extremely wordy, and aren't fun to read. I'd say doppelganger is "so bad it's good", which is a rarity for VNs- it's campy at times and over the top but doesn't overstay it's welcome, the pacing is remarkably good for what seem to be first time devs.

I cannot recommend this though if you're not already a fan of holostars tempus, as this is essentially just merch for them- think of it like a higher production voice pack or art pack. if you don't know each of the boys then you'll be lost, but if you do then grab another friend and play it, it took me about 4 hours to finish it with friends.

itch.io

[cursemewithyourkiss]

John Martin Harvey in 1899 as Sydney Carton in the play The Only Way, based on Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities.

[sitp-recs]

Anime Recs Pt 3

Hello hello! I’ve been sick on and off this month and had a blast revisiting my fave anime for this rec series. Following the queer friendly list and the sports anime list, I finally bring a selection of BL (boys love) titles. Most are Japanese 🇯🇵 except for Mignon 🇰🇷 and Tian Guan Ci Fu 🇨🇳 I’m not gonna lie, there’s a fair amount of adult themes and hardcore angst here, but you’ll also find sweet romance and a couple coming-of-age stories. One of my favorites from this list - Ai No Kusabi - is an old classic (I recommend the 1992 OVA series over the 2012 remake) and the quality is not the best, but all other shows are pretty recent and can be found online or on Crunchyroll. I initially planned for this to be my third and final rec list, but I got a few additional recs in the action/fantasy genre for a potential new list, if anyone’s interested? Stay tuned!

1. Ai no Kusabi (dystopian, tragedy)

Summary: This futuristic tale is set in a world ruled by a super computer Jupiter, where its cyborg creations, the Elites, rule over the human populace. Iason Mink, a high-class "Blondy" elite from the capital runs into Riki, a "Mongrel" from the slums, and makes him his "Pet". As Riki learns of the dangers Iason faces by keeping him, he finds himself developing feelings for his master.

2. Banana Fish (mafia, tragedy)

Summary: Set primarily in New York City in the 1980s, the series follows street gang leader Ash Lynx as he uncovers a criminal conspiracy involving "banana fish", a mysterious drug that brainwashes its users. In the course of his investigation he encounters Eiji Okumura, a Japanese photographer's assistant with whom he forms a close bond.

3. Doukyuusei (movie - school, romance)

Summary: Rihito Sajo, an honor student with a perfect score on the entrance exam and Hikaru Kusakabe, in a band and popular among girls, would have never crossed paths. Until one day they started talking at the practice for their school’s upcoming chorus festival.

4. Given (school, music)

Summary: High schooler Ritsuka Uenoyama is the guitarist for a band composed of himself, bassist Haruki Nakayama, and drummer Akihiko Kaji. He becomes a reluctant guitar teacher to Mafuyu Satō, a shy classmate, after repairing the broken strings on Mafuyu's Gibson ES-330. See also: Given movie.

5. Mignon (short series - vampire romance + the hottest smut you’ll see today!!!!🥵)

Summary: Centered on BL Vampire themes, the story portrays Mignon, an underground fighter in love with his doctor, who is coincidentally a vampire. The doctor's revelation triggers complications as their relationship unfolds.

6. Saezuru Tori Wa Habatakanai | Twittering Birds Never Fly (movie - mafia, drama)

Summary: The sexually masochistic yakuza boss, Yashiro, isn't the type to warm up to others easily. But when Chikara Doumeki, his newly hired bodyguard, catches his interest, he reconsiders his "hands-off" policy with subordinates. See also the side story: Don’t Stay Gold.

7. Sasaki and Miyano (school, romance)

Summary: Shy and easily flustered Miyano harbors an embarrassing secret - he is a "fudanshi", a boy who likes boys' love manga. Intrigued, the clueless delinquent Sasaki requests to borrow one, marking a shift in their strange dynamic.

8. Tiān Guān Cì Fú | Heaven’s Official Blessing (romance)

Summary: Crown Prince Xie Lian ascends to the heavens for the third time as the laughing stock among all three realms. On his first task, he meets a mysterious ghost who rules the ghosts and terrifies the heavens, yet, unbeknownst to Xie Lian, this ghost king has been paying attention to him for a very, very long time.

9. Umibe No Étranger (movie - romance)

Summary: On an island off the coast of Okinawa, two young men meet on a beach. Shun Hashimoto is gay and aspires to be a novelist. He is interested in Mio Chibana, a somber high school student, and starts to flirt with him. Day by day, the two of them grow closer, but then, suddenly, Mio decides to leave the island.

10. Yuri!!! On ICE (sports, romance)

Summary: Japanese figure skater Yuri Katsuki faces a crushing defeat during the Grand Prix finals and heads home, unsure of whether or not he wishes to continue his skating career. After a video of Yuri mimicking Russian figure skater Victor Nikiforov's routine goes viral, Victor decided to become Yuri's coach, much to the dismay of his coach, his fans, and his fellow Russian skater Yuri Plisetsky.

[farlee-wander]

Daijiro Morohoshi: The Black Ships of Manhattan

Fellow people on Tumblr, I have just had an exceptionally surreal experience, and I would like to share it with all of you, particularly other Americans.

I have seen people joke before about what it might be like if another country depicted the United States in a work of fiction with the same wild caricatures and stereotypes as we do other countries, and in some ways this is that story. Granted, I have seen other examples before, but I don't think I've seen anything quite like this.

Perhaps the weirdest part is that, aside from the translated manga itself, I can't find any additional information about it in English anywhere on the internet, at least not after an hour of furious googling. Articles exist about the author and some of his work, but none of them mention this exact story. I can't even find anyone talking about it on forums or social media. And in this particular moment of exceptional American insanity, I simply feel compelled to show it to as many people as I can.

Folks, this is going to be a long one, but I promise it's worth it.

So. This is a manga short story by Daijiro Morohoshi, who is very well known in Japan but almost completely unheard of in America. He has, however, influenced Japanese creators who are famous here, such as Hayao Miyazaki, Hideaki Anno, and Rumiko Takahashi.

The story was published in a collection called Paradise Lost in 1988, which you can read online HERE at the same place I did. It is an anthology of bizarre science fiction tales, and there are six stories that come before this one. The title story is a highly allegorical two-parter set in a post apocalyptic landscape that looks like the covers of a dozen pulp sci-fi novels come to life. Adam's Rib and Landscape of Men both have themes of "women are terrifying monsters who will drain men to empty dessicated husks, and the men kind of deserve it" and read exactly like something you'd find in Galaxy Science Fiction in the 50s. Chastity's Wreck feels like something Wally Wood might have drawn for an adult magazine, with the nubile astronauts of Project L.A.D.I. hunting the universe for hot alien hunks. Bio City is a potent body horror tale about a strange alien virus that causes all animal life and anything made of metal to melt together into one super-organism. The Call tells the story of a Japanese civil servant who is suddenly transferred to the "Earthquake Prevention Department," where he is given cushy work and a massive salary for one year, then sacrificed to a pagan god.

And that finally brings us to Black Ships of Manhattan, where things get really wild.

Presumably inspired by the "Black Ships" that brought Westerners to Japan between 1543 and 1858, the story begins sometime in the 1980s, when the United States abruptly adopts a completely isolationist policy, elects a President-For-Life, and starts their own calendar. 100 years of cultural stasis later, Japan - which, like the rest of the world, has grown far more technologically advanced - makes contact with the strange, isolated land, and attempts to bring the outside world to America.

It, uh, doesn't go well.

After first contact, the Japanese ambassadors demand a trade treaty, and the US is quickly split between Anti-Isolationists, who want to reopen contact with the outside world, and Expultionists, who oppose any foreign presence in America. We are also treated to some spectacular "American" names such as Tock Gowan, E. Common, and Kirk Cashew. An Expultionist extremist group attacks the Japanese residents (drawn in curiously racist caricature by the Japanese artist) of a trade post off the coast of San Francisco and kick off a war, in which the woefully-outmatched Americans are swiftly crushed. Anti-Isolationist support takes over in California and the treaty is signed, but it is against the President-For-Life's will, while unrest and violence continue to rage between the opposing American factions. At a protest, an Expultionist assassinates the Vice President with a grenade.

Meanwhile, a Texan Cowboy™ adopts the sole survivor of a Japanese passenger plane shot down by Californian forces, and that's where our story really begins.

The cowboy is Leo Sacamondo, a dedicated Anti-Isolationist. He hopes to form an alliance between California and Florida to turn against the government in Washington, and also to bring the orphaned boy to New York, where he can find safe passage on a Japanese ship.

In New York, the Japanese ambassador, now Consul, makes observations about the local culture - such as how the TV plays state-sponsored messages from the President-For-Life every fifteen minutes reminding all citizens to wear their "Democracy Machines." In California, an Expultionist leader watches one of these broadcasts before committing ritual suicide with an automatic rifle.

In Washington, the Consul tries to meet with the President-For-Life, only to be repeatedly denied access. In New York, special police roam the streets, searching for Leo and the orphaned boy. Leo reveals to the boy that the "Democracy Machines" are a direct connection to the "United Computer" in Washington, but claims that all "true patriots" no longer wear them.

The Consul manages to convince one of the President's staff to grant him an audience, and is taken to the White House, which is surrounded by tanks and completely stuffed with outdated computer circuitry - so much so that there is hardly any room for people.

Despite persistent rumors, the President's aide insists that the President himself is not a computer, and takes the Consul through a secret passage to the President's true dwelling in the Capitol. While Leo hides from the cops in a honky-tonk bar playing patriotic stage shows, the Consul learns the truth: the President-For-Life is a massive, formless, energy being, the "accumulation of the psychic energy of all Americans" transmitted through the Democracy Machines.

Leo explains to his allies that a century of cultural stagnation has severely weakened the psychic energy being transmitted to the President, that the President has in turn been harming and controlling the citizens in an attempt to siphon more from them, and that "the Will of America is a dictator that must be overthrown!"

At the same time, the Consul confronts the President over these very issues, and goes on to assert that by clinging to isolationism it has harmed all Americans, and is no longer serving their best interests.

In New York, the special police find and raid Leo's hideout, shooting wildly into the crowd. In Washington, the President remains steadfast against the Consul's scolding, but suddenly starts to panic when he realizes that California has disconnected from the central computer. The revolution, it turns out, has already begun.

Muttering slurs, the President transforms into a giant Superman with a "P" instead of an "S" and smashes through the roof of the Capitol.

Leo and the orphan manage to escape from the cops, and discover crowds of people dancing in the streets as they are freed from the President's control. Super-President arrives to ruin everyone's fun and orders the crowd to disperse, but his control is already waning and nobody listens to him, thanks to the California-Florida Alliance.

Unable to accept his loss of control, the President declares "Fuck the people!" and possesses the Statue of Liberty Tyranny in a last-ditch attempt to destroy the Black Ships.

The President is destroyed and vanishes in a flag-shaped explosion. Leo declares the battle over and looks forward to a new, better America. Before he can celebrate victory, however, one last cop appears and kills him.

As Leo dies in the orphan's arms, they look out at the Statue of Liberty, sinking in the water, shot in the heart, clutching at nothing, and America dawns. The End.

So yeah.

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure how to feel after that. Like, I'm pretty sure I understand the story, but I really can't emphasize how strange it feels to have just stumbled across it like this. It's 36 years old. It is and it isn't about things that were happening then and still happening now. It's a parody. It's dead serious. It's weird as fuck. And as far as I can tell, quite literally nobody is talking about it (in English in a place where I can see). I feel like I stepped into a fairy ring.

So here. Have this. please show it to other people. I don't feel confident enough to offer a complete analysis, but here is my best summary and you can make of it what you will. I would actually love it if this post got tons of attention and mutation. I've always believed in the power of narrative, and this seems like one worth talking about. And if anybody knows more about this than me, by all means please share.

America is counting on you.

[steelbluehome]

"The two leads are fantastic: Stan navigates from naïve wannabe to glowering mogul and never loses his way or slips into parody. His vanity about his hair and his looks is on display from the beginning, but in the early years he is unsure of himself and there is a vulnerability about him. Strong is also utterly believable as Cohn, a man as vain as his disciple and certainly as dangerous."

The Standard

The Apprentice review: Sebastian Stan shines in drama about how Donald Trump went from wannabe to mogul (click for article)

This origin story does an excellent job of showing the rise and rise of Donald Trump

Jo-Ann Titmarsh

4 out of 5 stars

One of the hottest tickets in Cannes this year is Iranian director Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice, his tale of the rise and rise of Donald Trump.

The apprentice in question is Trump himself (Sebastian Stan), while the master he serves and later usurps is Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), a lawyer who hobnobs with leaders and has the ear of the president.

Cohn is ruthless and will stop at nothing to attain what he wants, often in the name of a patriotism which equals hard-right conservatism.

The film opens in 1970s New York. Donald is a baby-faced teetotal rent collector for his dad, but he yearns to break free of his father’s grip and strive for greater things, obsessing over the tycoons and millionaires that frequent Le Club.

This is where he meets Cohn who takes Trump under his wing and instructs him to follow his three essential tenets, which are all about achieving, denial and how even a defeat can be turned into a win.

Abbasi deftly recreates the feel of the city and the darkness of those years. And what starts gritty becomes colourful once Ivana (Maria Bakalova) appears her platinum blonde hair, scarlet dress and matching glossy lips.

The other important people are his family members. Martin Donovan plays Fred, the abusive and monstrous family patriarch. Donald’s mother Mary (Iona Rose MacKay) is a less forceful presence, while Trump’s brother Freddy (Charlie Carrick) is sympathetically depicted as a man slowly but irrevocably broken by his father’s contempt.

As the film moves into the 1980s, the look changes completely as the Eighties vibe comes clearly into focus, like walking into the neon-lit bathroom of a dingy club.

There is nothing but tackiness here, that harsh lighting revealing the deals in Atlantic City, the over-the-top décor of the Trump home and the gaudiness of the couple’s life together, even as their relationship falls apart.

The harshness also highlights Trump’s ascension as Cohn begins to falter and the apprentice becomes the master.

The film ends with Trump drafting his book The Art of the Deal, in which he dictates those three tenets drummed into him by Cohn. Nothing about Trump is original. Nothing has been gained by him alone. And there is nothing he won’t do to get what he wants.

The two leads are fantastic: Stan navigates from naïve wannabe to glowering mogul and never loses his way or slips into parody. His vanity about his hair and his looks is on display from the beginning, but in the early years he is unsure of himself and there is a vulnerability about him. Strong is also utterly believable as Cohn, a man as vain as his disciple and certainly as dangerous.

It’s hard not to bring up comparisons with Succession here: a New York dynasty, a tyrannical father, the wealthy elite, the presence of Jeremy Strong who played Kendall Roy… there’s even a fleeting glimpse and mention of Rupert Murdoch, whom Cohn says Trump should cosy up to. And then there’s the excellent music by Martin Dirkov, which has echoes of the Succession theme.

There are some problems, the story is too linear and the screenplay, by Gabriel Sherman, full of scenes seen many times before, such as Cohn chasing after Trump in the street begging for an audience or Donald refusing his calls, and the director could have been more inventive in the fil. However, there is a lot of humour here, particularly thanks to the character of Cohn, and almost always at Trump’s expense.

The Apprentice is not going to change anyone’s mind about Trump, who is so vain that he will almost certainly love this film, despite the references to his plastic surgery and big butt.

But Abbasi does an excellent job of showing us how and why Trump became the Trump of today and how his path to presidency was paved.

[magnuficent76]

★○~ ! INTRO POST ! ~○★

{ ★ HOWDY ! Name's Magnus ! I'm an adult from Brazil and this is my art blog. I'm mainly an oc artist, but I occasionally make some fanart for games if it manages to make me insane enough. My main tag is #magoriginals , but there's more under the cut along with extras about me ! Hope you enjoy me bog :D here's some of me art ! ★ }

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{ ★ I'm a brazillian artist, But I also speak spanish + am studying swedish/italian !

★ I am autistic so please be direct with me ! I tend to struggle with tone/social cues, so in case I'm doing something wrong, tell me right away and I will stop !

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☆ EXCLUSIONISTS OF ANY KIND GET AWAY FROM HERE. I LOVE AND SUPPORT TRANS QUEER PEOPLE. BOOM 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈Terfs/Swerfs/"gender criticals"/Whatever the hell you call yourself !! I don't care !!! Fuck off forever !!]

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★ Main tags: #magoriginals [for og text posts, also goes for my reblog place !] ; #magart [for general art posts, some of my older stuff might not show up cuz its a new tag ! In which case #my art also will do] ; #magocs/my oc stuff [my oc tag(s) ! anything involving them is in there !] ;

☆ Other tags: #disjointed trouts [Just random stuf that doesn't lead anywhere] ; #audience participation [asks tag] ; #for me's ! [Tagged in stuff/fanart for me !] ; #beloved mutuals tag <3 [You already know <3]

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★ ME STORIES !! Original projects that are currently ongoing !

☆ #Solar Years – Slice of life about an immortal vessel of the Sun God, Baltazar, and their ventures in the mortal plane as they explore the world around them, make some friends, and cope with the crippling existential fear that came free with their "mortality" !

☆ #Caede Tales – A Borderlands fan-story mainly following the Caede brothers —Jonah and Archer— two bandits from Pandora trying to make a living in the inhospitable lands.

☆ #Gaslighting Fires – The dramedy story of Eris Treacher, a wanted criminal woman from the 1980's who wants to make it to the top of the food chain in her city, all while throwing those who stand in her way to the ground.

☆ #HELLBREAKER – The Devil, bored of the mundanity in hell, proposes a game to the souls stuck in purgatory: If you can make it through all rings and defeat their respective sins, you get to ascend to a higher state of being. This particular cycle, a new arrival named Maria decides to try her luck in escaping.

☆ #Computing: Legacy – Follows William and Althea as they're living through a post-apocalyptic technological revolution, another brewing war between world powers for domination over the digitalscape, and the looming threat of mass extinction due to pollution. Also they're in university so they have to deal with all THAT shit too.

Other blogs of mine:

@magnuficentwo [Reblogging place, but also my main blog ! That's who's liking and following yer posts basically !]