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zerochanges · 2 years ago

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My 2022 Media Binge Reviews

I find myself somewhat circling the drain during the year of 2022, I don’t want to say I was repeating the same year as 2021, but I also can’t exactly say I was doing much differently. I think both years were hard on me but in some different yet similar ways. I still work the same job I hate and my anxiety has still gotten the better of me in a lot of the same old ways, but also new exciting ways! The older I get the more it feels like essays like these always say “well blank year was a hard year” so I don’t want to say that anymore but it’s hard not to want to complain about a year’s worth of troubles all the same.

Last year I was really able to overcome some grief in my personal life by finally taking the plunge and getting through Twin Peaks, a series that for years I wanted to finish but never got past the first season. It was incredible, and made a lasting profound impact on me. And this year honestly just saw me chasing that high in a lot of ways. I think the general theme of a lot of media I consumed was “Twin Peaks-like”. Sadly nothing seems like it will ever scratch that itch for me. I guess that just goes to show how unique and incredible Twin Peaks was—but at the very least I think some of the most fun I had this year was chasing that high all the same.

American Psycho

This year finally saw me getting around to watching American Psycho in its entirety. Now I've seen it plenty of times on TV in bits and pieces. I’ve caught parts of it, and generally knew the whole gist of the movie, but honestly I don’t think I ever watched it from start to finish before. The internet is obsessed with this movie, the memes alone it spawned are everywhere, which honestly kind of finally got me to get around to it.

It’s easy to see why the internet would become so enamored with a movie like this, Christian Bale gives such an incredible performance as the lead, putting so much energy and life into Patrick Bateman that almost every frame of the movie he is in feels like it should be hung up in some meme museum. I’m old enough to still remember when he was cast as Batman in the Nolan trilogy and the consensus was “how the heck can the murderer from American Psycho be one of the best superheroes ever?” It’s funny to me to see the argument flipped to “wow I can’t believe Batman was such a good murderer in this movie.”

But beyond the incredible cathartic violence, and over-the-top performances there is definitely a very scathing view of the American lifestyle and capitalist hellscape we are all trapped in nowadays that much like I mentioned in my anime list with Kaiji seems far more relevant today than ever before.

Dune x3

This year for me was the year of the Dune. With the new movie coming out near the end of 2021 I finally got around to grabbing it on blu-ray, and while I was at it I just couldn’t resist grabbing everything else too. I got Dune opinions, and they are about as crazy as you would expect from a hipster like me. So let’s talk about the three Dunes.

Jodorowsky's Dune, this 2013 documentary is all about the failed Dune movie that never was by visionary and art film auteur Alejandro Jodorowsky. Jodorowsky may not be a household name so just to get a little preamble out of the way, the man has made some of the damn craziest films around—and his breakout 1970 ‘acid westerner’ El Topo is considered by many film historians to be one of the first Midnight Movies, starting a much believed trend for cinephiles the world over.

Towards the end of 1974 the man attempted what was at the time thought impossible by adapting Dune into a movie and he developed a variable dream team of auteurs and creative talent to do it, which he called his ‘warriors’; many of said warriors would go on to become absolute legends of the industry while many were already legends. Jodorowsky’s Dune was the very first film that ever saw acclaimed legend H. R. Giger worked on a film for example, and beloved French artist Moebius did a ton of art designs for the project. It was truly a melting pot, almost like a mini ‘scene’ of its own that brought together an unbelievable amount of extremely talented people. It’s honestly not a stretch to say that without Jodorowsky’s failed attempt at Dune that there would be no Alien, there’d be no Star Wars, there’d be no science fiction as we know it today in American cinema.

Jodorowsky’s vision really only ever saw the original novel as a jumping off point of inspiration, the man himself never even reading the book. What he sought to create was both incredibly dense science fiction and incredibly philosophical spiritualism. The end of his proposed Dune movie honestly gives me chills, and hell if I don’t want to steal that idea for myself.

It’s hard to say what the finished project would have been like, Jodorowsky’s own ambitions and artistic vision is what killed the project, trying to turn it into a 10 hour epic of a movie! I often wonder why they just couldn’t make it into an animated series when that failed. I mean they had Moebius right there! But perhaps it was for the best. The failure of the movie saw incredible talent shift to the four corners of the wind and go on to create incredible work of their own in cinema. When it comes to lost or unmade media there’s a mysticism about it; “if only we could have experienced it”, and I think that’s half of what makes it so good. If it was real, who knows how good it might have been, in a way I am glad I got to be fascinated by this best movie never made.

Now let’s get to my hot take and just say it, David Lynch’s 1984 Dune is so much better than Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 Dune. There I said it!

Okay, please give me a minute to explain. Denis Villeneuve’s Dune is by far a much better made movie that has a better reverence for the source material and overall makes for a grander and more easily digestible sci-fi film that finally accomplices the dream started in 1974 by Jodorowsky to create something great out of Dune. It’s just that it’s just another good movie. Honestly a lot of good movies already exist. So yes I think for the normal person this is the one, watch this Dune and enjoy, but for hipster’s David Lynch’s Dune is where it is at!

Lynch himself hates the movie, it crushed his spirit and the man calls it the biggest sell out of his career. Yet I think it somehow is something special. The film is easily gorgeous and out-there levels of weird which I think is important for Dune, and is something Villeneuve’s film lacks in a lot of ways. The fight scenes are satisfying and action packed in Villeneuve’s film, making for a great Hollywood movie experience … but is that Dune? Honestly I think I like Lynch's extremely awkward and poorly executed bumbling drunk sad sack fights more. Those honestly feel way more like Dune. People flying around and spin kicking hundreds of dudes in the face is great, but I’ll take two dudes awkwardly dancing around each other while big blocky Minecraft shields glow over their bodies. Now this is my Dune, baby.

There’s something surreal in both the execution and visuals in Lynch’s take on the material that simply vibes with me more. Had the movie been cut properly by Lynch and not butchered by executives to sell the maximum amount of tickets, had it got the chance to be the longer length or two movies that Lynch wanted, I think it would be a much more beloved cult sci-fi film today.

In conclusion, I think Dune is an awesome story and great material to really get weird with, and honestly it’s pretty cool that there’s a lot of out-there interpretations to be enjoyed today.

One Piece

2022 saw me return to One Piece once again and picking up right where I left off after binging through Thriller Bark to Punkhazard in 2021. While I didn’t watch nearly as much as last year it almost feels like I did, as I was able to finish both Dressrosa and Zou before the year’s end. Now Dressrosa is such a dense and huge story arc that took up many months of my year. This arc being a whopping 118 episodes long is honestly just flat out ridiculous, this one story arc is longer than most anime! For those who might need a reminder, the entirety of Yu Yu Hakusho is 112 episodes long, Dressrossa is 118 and in-story the vast majority of it all takes place over a single day!

This is by and large the most ambitious writing Oda has ever attempted by this point in One Piece and it pays off in dividends as so much truly happens and the entire series as a whole really starts to show a lot of its hand. This is what the entire post time-skip One Piece since Fishman Island has really been leading into. Luffy’s little journey from a boy with a dream is truly maturing into a fearless and brave leader able to sway incredibly powerful cohorts to stand up alongside him against an all powerful and corrupt uncaring world government that is far more preoccupied with keeping its status quo and image than the lives of those they govern. Oda is able to create a venerable army for which Luffy to one day lead on his quest to become King of the Pirates, so many interesting and just plain fun characters are able to stand up not just as new game pieces on the board to lose to show how strong the enemy is but as honest to god equals to our protagonists and are able to hold their own against the villains alongside Luffy and his crew.

We learn more about the world and see Luffy take on easily his biggest fight yet against DoFlamingo, a character that has easily been hyped up for what, like 500 or something episodes? And just wow, what a villain, DoFlamingo is easily one of the most interesting and compelling characters in the series and just a straight up horrifying monster of a human being, if you can even call him that. Which is great because Luffy has another trick up his sleeve, Fourth Gear. I had seen it before online, being an anime fan means it’s impossible not to get One Piece spoilers but I don’t think I ever appreciated Fourth Gear until now that I’ve seen it in action. This new form is just incredible and so well made. It shows so much creativity from Oda and I love how BIG it is! Anime protagonists nowadays just keep getting hotter when they power up, even the new Dragon Ball series see Goku becoming increasingly prettier, I really missed this. Luffy gets thicc in Fourth Gear, this is what I want, go all out, just have fun being a cartoon again, let dudes have muscles on top of muscles–and no neck while you’re at it. Give these boys just ridiculous proportions, let’s make even Liefeld shiver. Bring back the beefcake.

Luffy didn’t have all the fun either, I think Franky had one of the best fights in the whole series when he went up against Senior Pink, a bare knuckles, no hold barred, man to man slug fest that easily goes on for something like 30 episodes straight of just two manly son of bitches beating the ever loving fuck out of each other. Zoro fighting Picca sees our greatest swordsman to be taking on perhaps one of the most insane action set pieces One Piece ever had. And then there’s great moments with the new characters like Bartolomeo and Cavendish and oh yeah, did I mention Luffy’s thought to be dead brother Sabo shows up and utterly steals the show for a good portion of the arc? The appearance of Sabo in the story utterly wrecked me. I cried when Luffy was able to see him again, it was such a beautiful reunion.

Dressrosa is truly an epic as far as anime storytelling goes but Zou also somehow delivers so much too and in general that later half of Dressrosa and almost all of Zou really proves that One Piece is able to carry so much forward momentum and still be able to go places even 700 episodes in. The plot has never been more interesting, the goal has never felt more obtainable, and the fun is still there. Right now I am about a quarter of the way through Whole Cake Island and trying to finish it too before my Funimation subscription runs out. I have a month to go but I think I can make it. Wish me luck/

Orpheus (1950)

In my quest to relive the emotions Twin Peaks gave me I watched Jean Cocteau’s 1950 French film Orpheus. Now the film is a (then contemporary) modern reinterpretation of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in modern day Paris. I’ll be real with you guys, I knew jack shit about Orpheus when I watched this, to me Orpheus was just “the master of strings” in Persona 3 so even now I can’t tell you if they did a great job transposing the story to modern day, but I can say what Jean Cocteau accomplishes in this film is nothing short of stunning. The surreal atmosphere and cinematography is easily breathtaking while the plot balances both being playful and light while also dealing with dense topics like love and suicide.

It’s easy to see why Jean Cocteau is a legendary film creator and why David Lynch considers this film such an inspiration to him. A lot of visuals very much so look like prototypes of what he would later go on to do in Twin Peaks specifically, even down to the iconic Black Lodge. But this isn’t just some Twin Peaks prototype, it’s definitely a damn fine masterclass piece of cinema, definitely worth a watch for its own merits. I would say the shot of the film that stayed with me truly throughout all year was when Orpheus and Heurtebise walk through the world of death, it is something I think about often.

Planet of the Apes (1968)

I’ve seen the original Planet of the Apes when I was a lot younger, and pretty much that was about it. Growing up the movie was parodied and paid homage to in everything from other movies and TV shows to the cartoons I saw as a kid. It’s easy to think of all those parodies and see the remake and the modern reimagined trilogy and think the original is just plain bad but no! It holds up insanely well. I was surprised to see just how good it still is. This is such an iconic science fiction classic and so much has to do with how sharp the writing is, the incredible acting of Charleston Heston, and yes, that legendary twist ending. I implore you, rewatch the first Apes film, you won’t regret it.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

I thought the first Sonic the Hedgehog movie in 2020 was a cute well made kid’s movie with just enough material for adults to enjoy thanks to Jim Carrey’s performance as Eggman elevating the material. But the sequel oh boy, this is legit the best video game movie I ever seen. This film captures the spirit and tone of the Sonic franchise perfectly. It’s a love letter to the entirety of Sonic the Hedgehog and just a damn fun action adventure. All the characters feel much better utilized and written, with even the human sidekicks like James Marsden’s character having a lot more to do and better material to work with. I had never seen so much reverence for classic Sega video games on the screen before outside of other video games than this movie, and it truly felt like my childhood was coming to life in ways I never imagined before.

Sonny Boy

This year saw me finally getting around to watching Shingo Natsume’s original 2021 anime Sonny Boy. This was a critical darling of the Fall 2021 anime season when it aired but having been burned on so many “deep” anime that weren’t I was weary of it during that time—and not to mention busy and never got around to it. I heard so much praise for almost a solid year though and it seemed utterly visually and narratively interesting so I finally cracked and watched it. Glad I did, it was a rare example of something living up to its praise.

Actually I got to be straight with you, here’s another piece of media that I honestly only watched because I desperately was begging to feel what I felt when I watched Twin Peaks last year. Sonny Boy is nowhere near that though but somehow is. It’s completely different but delivers a similarly dense and visually fascinating world. The music being done entirely by indie groups gives the entire atmosphere of the show a homemade feeling to it—the emotional core is often tinged with this sense of raw emotions that feel free from the corporate mainstream often overly produced music in most anime. Together with insanely complex visuals and free moving animation that isn’t stiff or obsessed with staying on model and we got something that just stimulates all the right sectors of my brain. And damn if I can’t stop listening to the tracks even now.

I guess what I want to say is I came for the Twin Peaks comparisons, I stayed for the depression and how beautifully the show paints the futility of life and what death means in a meaningless world. Watch Sonny Boy, while praised during its airing the show almost seems totally forgotten about. You’ll probably have a good cry while doing so, but it will make you feel truly alive.

Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2

Okay, this is another example of me knowing all about this movie because of the internet. There are so many clips and memes about this movie that I have obtained endless enjoyment out of but I never actually watched the movie properly. This year I decided it was finally time and on Christmas Eve, I watched the legend, and my God: Best. Christmas. Movie. Ever. I think I found a new Christmas tradition that I am going to do every year. This movie is downright hilarious, the memes don’t even do it justice, you have to experience the whole thing in context, it’s even somehow funnier that way. In all the best ways.

Eric Freeman’s acting is legit something I wish I could emulate. I want a whole movie or video game of just people going as hard as Eric Freeman in full earnest and not trying to ham it up. His screen presence is so funny, so magnanimous, so scene stealing, I can’t even breathe every time the camera focuses on him, I am utterly out of breath laughing every millisecond, on the floor gasping for air on the verge of death, but I can’t stop laughing. I just can’t help but love the movie even more as every minute passes.

And the story behind how the movie was made is even fascinating. If you get the blu-ray like I had to of course go out and find a way to buy it after watching it, there’s a great documentary on how the whole thing came to be. What started as a way to just re-edit the movie Silent Night Deadly Night so they could release it again and make more money turned into a passion project by the editor now turned director Lee Harry which is why he’s credited as both the director and editor of the movie. Harry took the old footage from the movie, turned it into flashbacks and made it into a sequel by shooting new footage. They honestly took a legit and serious slasher movie and turned it into the best comedy ever made. As far as I am concerned you don’t even need to watch the original Silent Night Deadly Night, just see all of it in Part 2’s flashbacks and bask in Eric Freeman’s life changing performance.

Stalker (1979)

Andrei Tarkovsky probably needs no introduction for film buffs but let’s just say for the uninitiated much like what I said about Alejandro Jodorowsky above this Soviet filmmaker is another auteur artist that is beloved in the world of cinema and leave it at that now because this list is already much too long as it is. Stalker is the first film of his I watched and one I wanted to see for many, many years—and one I only finally saw now because of my damn insistent pursuit of relieving the emotions Twin Peaks gave me.

Stalker a 1979 Soviet made science fiction film based on a 1971 novel Roadside Picnic which depicts a guide or Stalker taking two individuals through an incredibly dangerous location that is closed off to the public where extraterrestrials had once landed one night and left the next known as the Zone. The story fascinates me on so many levels because of my love of sci-fi, this thought that strange alien life interacted with a place on earth and left it so tangled up, so hard to navigate that common sense need not apply, that you have to go up to go down, you have to walk backwards to get forward, that at any moment some terrible curse could afflict you, that something you did upset the order of this strange land, that expert guides exist in this shady black market underground to take people on tours through it, and many traverse this illegal Zone because of the rumors of a room within it that can grant any wish your heart desires. How can I not want to see it? This is my kind of sci-fi. What I got … was something much different.

I was expecting this sci-fi epic, instead it’s very much almost not present. It’s more about the passage of time, what it means to be alive, the place of religion in the world, the meaning of living in a meaningless world, if there is any magic left to be had in a world where we understand so much thanks to science. The Stalker and the outlawed area of the Zone almost seems like reverence for magic that used to exist, an old world point of view that can still look to the stars and see Gods instead of just clusters of hot space gas. Stalkers with their silly rules; their going backwards to go forward seem like nothing more than that silliness, something modern people don’t need to do anymore. The Stalker in the film is often undermined by his two clients who constantly push their luck and break tons of rules he tells them not to. At its core it seems like a struggle between wanting to believe there’s something special in this life, and being a skeptic.

I wanted a sci-fi epic instead I got an artsy fartsy film that drinks way too much depresso espresso. Yet the magic of Tarkovsky’s film stays in my mind. The emotions I felt, the long shots that border on almost trolling you with boredom, they stay in your very soul. I still see the beauty of the undisturbed Zone when I close my eyes, the clearness of that water, and the magic of the bird disappearing into the dunes. The ending speech about time and what it means to all of us living from the Stalker’s wife, I hear it play back in my mind from time to time.

This isn’t really great sci-fi, I wanted to hammer that home to anyone listening, so your expectations aren’t all wrong like mine. But this is an incredible film that uses some very light sci-fi window dressing to convey incredibly complex emotions behind living in modernity. I recommend it a lot to anyone who can handle that fact.

El Topo, Holy Mountain, and Santa Sangre—or how I fell in love with that weird Chilean Movie Guy

Let’s get back to Alejandro Jodorowsky as he was a big figure in my 2022 media. It started with the documentary about his attempt at making a Dune movie in the 70’s but after that I had to know more about the man. This visionary auteur who took Dune and made this insanely almost religious spiritual epic in space, now this dude sounds incredible. Also holy crap it turns out David Lynch was a fan of his work too and you can easily find a lot of his work being repeated in Twin Peaks. Uh-oh, you know what that means, right? Yup, let’s keep this pursuit up, boys.

We’re starting with the 1970 ‘acid western’ El Topo, since I still have yet to see his first film 1968’s Fando y Lis (although I do have it, I just have yet to work up the courage to play it thanks to its infamy). El Topo is easily what truly started his career on the world wide scene and not just in Mexico where he started out, it was a movie that would become insanely influential to many creative talents from the Beetles to Suda51; in fact No More Heroes is almost a complete remake/reimagining of it but anime.

This western is no simple cowboy movie, it’s spiritual and just all out bonkers. It almost feels like two movies stitched together too. The first half sees El Topo, or “The Mole”, as this badass gunslinger taking down the four greatest gunslingers in the desert who are almost guru-like, in order to claim the title of the best gunslinger and spiritual enlightenment all so he can lay with some bodacious babe. He however fails at this and dies, only to be resurrected as some religious savior to a village of deformed people that live underground, and as a new man he tries to rescue the village and lead them to prosperity.

This film is weird, and like yeah, bonkers. The two halves are almost completely different movies yet somehow they work really well together. I think the first half is easily the part most people really will enjoy while the second can easily lose you. All that said though this is the film that easily got me excited for more from Jodorowsky.

1973’s The Holy Mountain seemed like a slam dunk, the movie about an alchemist training a thief that broke into his Tower to be his protégé then taking on seven wisemen with him to ascend a legendary mountain to find the secret of immortality is the insane kind of bullshit I want in my veins. It’s a … that is to say it’s … the thing about The Holy Mountain is … well I hope you like drugs. So yeah, hard to believe but El Topo, the acid western, was made sober, while Jodorowsky decided to really, how do you say, “expand his mind” , on his next film and it shows because I think you need to be on drugs to fully enjoy this one.

The film has an incredible beginning and an absolutely incredible ending with an insanely good and thought provoking twist at the very end but the middle is very meandering. The scene where the Alchemist introduces his seven wisemen just goes on for like ever. They pretty much stop the plot for a solid 50 minutes just to show vignettes about each of these characters and they are all very good, and interesting, and some insanely funny, but like bruh, the movie is just dead in its tracks for at least half its runtime to introduce characters that essentially just stand in the background after their introduction and that’s it.

As I said the ending is truly something special and that I cannot elaborate on because if it’s spoiled for you I can confirm it kind of ruins the whole movie. Yeah I knew the ending spoiler before I watched it and that just really took the wind out of my sails. I loved the beginning of the film to bits, the middle just would never end its nonstop barrage of introductions for what turn out to be NPCs, then the ending I spoiled, it was a boring experience for me.

Don’t spoil the ending, and I promise the dragging middle will be worth it. Probably.

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1989’s Santa Sangre or Holy Blood, is probably Jodorowsky’s most mainstream and easily digestible film. I’d also say maybe because it was his at the time most recent work, the film that David Lynch took the most inspiration from when he made Twin Peaks. If you watch some scenes in this one back-to-back with certain Twin Peaks scene, it’s definitely obvious what Lynch was watching at the time. Because of this I say it’s the movie of Jodorowsky I can recommend the most, it’s definitely the favorite of his I have seen so far. Hell I’d go as far as to say one of my favorite movies I ever seen.

Santa Sangre follows Fenix, a young man in a mental ward, and shows the story of his life and how he came to be in such a place. Fenix grew up in the circus, his father a womanizing drunk knife thrower and his mother a trapeze artist and also a devout Christian that runs her own crazy offshoot cult of Christ. It’s a fascinating childhood and the imagery is striking. It’s visceral and a wild ride but also something I have to tiptoe around and not explain a lot about. The movie is best experienced knowing very little about it. There’s a very apt comparison that can be made to a certain famous movie, film critics often call it “The Mexican version of [said famous movie]” and I wholly agree, but my God if you know said famous movie’s name that spoils way too much! Classic, film critics ruining film again.

I highly recommend this one despite almost bending over backwards to deny you too many of my thoughts on it. There are so many scenes that if I close my eyes I still see. The music is fantastic, the scene where Fenix plays piano is easily a stand out moment of cinema. This is the life story of one man I think you simply must experience.

Vinland Saga

The 2019 first season of Vinland Saga finally came out this year on special edition blu-ray and after waiting what felt like a lifetime I couldn’t be happier to begin my rewatch of the show. I know Sentai released their dubbed version of it back a year prior but I adored Vinland so much I wanted to wait for the special edition and I definitely felt it was worth the wait, as the poster proudly still is on my wall and I am never taking it down. When it comes to Vinland itself I will be brief and say it’s a fantastic anime, and one of the best the year it came out. I mainly just want to talk about this Sentai release which I found to be stellar, the special edition was of very high quality, like I said I love the cloth poster, and I very much enjoyed their dub. I thought the writing was much more naturalistic than the Netflix produced dub with better dialogue flow as well as being just dirty enough in the way Sentai usually is by sprinkling in some tasty F-bombs that most other dubbing studios would shy away from. I enjoyed how accurate it was, as an actual historian with a degree in this stuff it always drives me mad to see so much mainstream entertainment go for the bottom of the barrel easiest to understand AD over using Common Era, so I was glad Sentai used it. Also actually pronouncing the Nordic names correctly where the Netflix dub hilariously butchers all of them is a nice touch too.

Wild Palms

Wild Palms in a 1993 mini series that followed in the wake Twin Peaks mania. It’s very obvious how much the series wants to be Twin Peaks and often shows up in a lot of comparisons to it. It never quite reaches those heights however. Twin Peaks’ own mastery of mystery and otherworldly feeling just evades this production at every step but where it succeeds is capturing the other more humble aspect that made Twin Peaks great, the soap opera-like cast. It feels very much at home with the out-there and over-the-top quirky characters and I think is one of the best productions to capture that tone of the original first two seasons of the series. It probably helps that it was a Twin Peaks inspired production that was actually made during that 90’s era where soaps were still king on TV.

Where Wild Palms differs however is how the plot is far more science fiction based and often attempts to juggle complex conspiracies about religious and political leaders and it stumbles at times but by the end is able to actually pull off a fairly interesting story. Sadly the biggest hurdle is maybe the funniest thing. The series stars Jim Belushi and I’m sorry, he gives a great performance in a dramatic role of a father and businessman trapped in some crazy far right religious cult taking over corporate America through the mass media.

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But it’s Jim Belushi, he has such an iconic and recognizable comedic voice and presence that it can be downright hilarious in really unintentional ways. Jim Belushi’s son in the series, an evil genius child, also suffers a lot from this because … it’s a very young Ben Savage. Yes, Cory Mathews is in some Shin Megami Tensei like end of days cult in this. And you know Ben Savage does an excellent job, you can see why he would become a lead in Boy Meets World after this, even as a child he’s a great actor, but it’s Cory Mathews, in a seat of power, in a cult that is trying to take over the world.

So yeah, the casting is kind of ironically funny today in 2023, especially for millennials, but the series does run a lot of great ideas and by the end of this short 5 episode mini series I was hooked. Some of the dream sequences are downright incredible and almost feel like they could have occurred in the Black Lodge, it’s definitely where the series cribs a lot of its ideas from Twin Peaks.

The Wind-up Bird Chronicles

If you know me personally you know I have an absolute obsession with the hit indie RPG called YIIK: A Postmodern RPG. Yes, truly a masterpiece that is beyond the understanding of a normal human being. Okay, enough snide, YIIK is a downright meme but it fascinates me endlessly. I spent so many years of my life reading about it and watching videos on it, and seeing playthroughs of it. Maybe one day I’ll actually play it … although I don’t think I’m that crazy. It’s a bad game but there’s a lot of creative ideas behind it and I want to say the creators’ commitment to their art is praise worthy, I have nothing but respect for Brain and Andrew Allanson and I mean this sincerely. They messed up, big time, but they created something with all their heart, they shouldn’t be made fun of for that.

Andrew Allanson the writer of YIIK is a huge book nerd, and often cites Haruki Murakami novels as his big inspiration with his 1994 novel The Wind-up Bird Chronicles as the biggest. And it shows, having read it now because of my YIIK obsession yeah, so many of the best and most creative ideas I thought were in YIIK are definitely just from this novel. That isn’t meant as a insult though, if anything like me questing to see all of David Lynch’s inspirations for Twin Peaks it just shows the creative process, we are the media we consume, and in turn we take that and turn it into our own thing.

#New Years #David Lynch #alejandro jodorowsky #silent night dealy night part 2 #sonny boy #one piece #american pyscho #Dune

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hippolotamus · 11 months ago

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hi hippo! 🛼🍄🪐🌿

Hi Nolan! (May I call you that? Is that OK? I hope that’s okay 🫣)

🛼 describe your latest WIP with five emojis

😰🍹🥴❓🔥

🍄 share a headcanon for one of your favorite ships or pairings

Karen was enamored and completely geeked out when the first Webb Telescope images were released. Hen immediately bought several as prints that now hang proudly in Karen’s office.

Bobby gave Buck his apron in S6 as a Welcome Home gift after the lightning strike. (Buck’s never worn it before and we all know damn well that boy is dying to be wifed up and would never miss an opportunity to wear it in front of Eddie ala 6x1 kitchen scene)

Buddie are switch and you will never convince me otherwise. Also they can’t sleep right without checking on the other, especially when Buck stays at Eddie’s house.

🪐 name 3 good things going on in your life right now

My daffodils just opened the other day and I love staring out the window at them

I made an appointment for my first post-chemo haircut (which will admittedly be less a cut and more of a trim, but I’m taking that win)

911 IS COMING BACK NEXT WEEK. (As a side note please make sure to thank @911bts for doing the lord’s work by supplying us with all the goods)

🌿 give some advice on writer's block and low creativity

Some things to get the juices flowing: sketch out a scene you're stuck on. Terrible at drawing? Doesn't matter. Use stick figures if you have to.

Talk it out with a friend you trust. This often offers a different perspective that can unstick things.

Insert brackets, make a note, and move to a different section/WIP.

If all that fails? The simplest (and most difficult) advice is Give In and do something else. Never force words because you feel like you have to. Your audience will absolutely know the difference when your heart is in it or not.

send a writer truth & dare ask

#thanks for asking!#usernolan #buckaroosheart #writer truth & dare

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torunwiththewolf · 5 years ago

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Jasna Sobol - The Witch of Blackroot Cut: A Profile

Jasna Sobol - The Witch of Blackroot Cut: A Profile Villainess or Victim of Circumstance by Ms. Ava Nolan

Thirty-two years ago, on a bone-chillingly cold Colossus night in the year 1301AE, the residence of Eastern Kessex gathered in a display of vigilante justice. Shouts rang out through the trees, calls for blistering flesh and boiling blood. Acquaintances would be her executioners, the very ones who months to years previous had, in their darkest moments, sought the aid and wisdom of Jasna Sobol. Desperate they may have been, they had nevertheless appealed to Sobol to conduct medical procedures too costly for the common-man. Yet now here they stood before her with jeers and scorn on their venomous tongues. 'Baby-killer' and 'Murderer' they spat in their anger. Defiance and an eerie sort of neutrality warred at her traditional Kurzick features, illuminated in the night as she was by torch-light that soon set ablaze her body bound to a wooden stake. Who was Jasna Sobol? Born into absolute poverty and a life of squalor, Jasna Mira Sobol was the oldest of the three Sobol children, which included a brother, Veselin Darko (1279AE - 1332AE), and a sister, Malina Iva who was immediately, post-birth, placed in an orphanage. Jasna Sobol possessed a dominant personality. Her brother, Veselin, however, was passive and known to be enamored by her. The pair were said to be inseparable. A number of individuals interviewed insinuated they were "unnaturally" close, and yet, Veselin Sobol survived his sister, and her crimes, by thirty-one years to pass only recently, last year, at the age of fifty-three. The informal and poorly conducted "investigation" into Jasma Sobol's charges failed to identify Veselin as a person-of-interest. No interviews were conducted, and his person and premises were never searched. In 1301AE, Jasna Sobol was charged with the following crimes: (1) Offered slapdash abortions to women in need—later declared a ‘baby killer’, (2) Offered paid ‘mercy killings’ by means of poison—later condemned for murder, (3) Corrupted near water sources, but was paid to purify them—later charged with murder, (4) Hiding of and occult use of human remains—later charged with desecration. Cultist or Scapegoat? Locals claim she was a disciple of Verata the Necromancer, a rogue Ascalonian who, after the cataclysmic event known as The Searing, relocated to the Kessex Peaks region of Kryta.

His insatiable desire for knowledge caused him to use forbidden practices to increase the speed of his research on undead minions by kidnapping and experimenting on citizens and wayward travelers. He was thenceforth cast out of The Order, an organization formed to prevent the misuse of necromancy -- a branch of magic that, to this day, is poorly understood by the masses. It is both shrouded in mystery and misconceptions.

The Dark Arts Necromancers draw their power from the sacrifice of blood (often their own) and by communing with the dead. Although they possess the skills to raise our dead relatives, this practice is widely discouraged across Tyria. Instead, necromancers who do summon the dead, and not all can or will, do so by utilizing a variable mixture of flesh, body parts and bones, often of animals, to form undead servants known as minions. Other such skills employed by the necromancer are curses, marks, spectral energy and life-force.

Holding the very power over life and death is a privilege not to be taken lightly, and it is understandable why so many remain wary of necromancy. Due to the sacrificial nature of their methods, Necromancers must practice patience and self-discipline not only to survive but to prevent the abuse and misuse of their power. Rules and guidelines for the practice of necromancy, such as those of The Order, must be strictly adhered and upheld by the current generation of necromancers to prevent individuals, such as Verata, who forge their own dangerous path paved with pain and suffering.

If Jasna Sobol was a follower of the Cult of Verata, where are her fellow cultists? There have been no recent reports, within the Kessex region nor from the Lionguard who patrol the roadways, of any occultist activity in the area. Today Blackroot Cut remains a dangerous swampland and one where the barriers between Tyria and the Underworld have weakened. From open portals, nightmarish creatures such as Aatxe, Shades, fleshreavers and imps pour forth to wreck havoc on the area.

Into the Unknown We may never know the truth behind the case of Jasna Sobol: who she was, what happened and all who may have been involved but such controversial individuals are rarely born. They are made -- by us. They are made by ignorance, and a lack of opportunities. They turn away from the norm to create their own. With the recent discovery of the revenant (made known by the famed charr Rytlock Brimstone) which involves channeling and unleashing the powers of the Mists, and the arrival of Dragonfall, it is imperative that Tyrians not give into the fear of the unknown. We must embrace the magical potential that have been bestowed upon this world and beyond. To quote the Priests of Grenth, “Death is simply another journey."

About the Author: Ms. Ava Nolan ( @torunwiththewolf ) A freelance journalist based out of Lion's Arch, Ava Nolan has reported on stories from the front-lines and refugee camps during the Battle for Lion's Arch, as well as, the Tower of Nightmare. She is currently on assignment in the Shiverpeak Mountains covering the Vigil's war against the Elder Dragon Jormag.

#IC News #Article: Witch of Blackroot Cut #The Lookout #Profile: Vlad Sobol

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smokeybrandreviews · 2 years ago

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Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Back For the Very First Time

It’s the end of the year and time i look back on my cinema-going journey over these past twelve months. This one is special because it’s the first since the Boof, that i actually got to go to the theater, itself. I’ve seen a ton of flicks this year had to make up for lost time, and there’s still one i want o check out. I probably won’t see that one, The Whale, because my city is an uncultured cow-town and we never get movies like that in their initial limited run. It’ll probably make it’s way to these parts sometime in January but know, if i had seen it before the turn of the year, it’d probably be pretty high on this list. That said, these are my top films of the year. I recommend all of them because they were wildly entertaining.

10. The Batman

This was a disappointment. I mean, it’s good, super grounded, and actually adapted something new but, at the same time, it was wildly underwhelming. I’ve seen it a few times and with each viewing, I'm less enamored with the entire concept of Battinson. The film, itself, is amazing and i do believe it was one of the best releases this year but I'd be lying if i said it didn’t expect more from Matt Reeves. It feels like a palette swap of The Dark night, like Reeves just watched all of Nolan’s films and stole his homework. Best Batmobile ever brought to film, though.

9. Hellraiser

I was all over this when it was announced that The Hell Priest would present feminine. If you know anything about The Hellbound Heart, then you know that this single change, mad e the new Hellraiser the most accurate adaption of that novella. And then it wasn’t. They cribbed a bit from Barkers yarn but did something wholly original with the lore, with the world, and i dug all of it. This isn’t the Hellraiser i know but it’s a Hellraiser i want to see more of.

8. The Northman

I’m a sucker for my Shakespeare adaptions and this is straight up Hamlet, but with a wildly brutal presentation and the meticulously crafted narrative from Robert Eggers. This man is fast becoming one of my favorite creatives. Dude literally only has three entries on his filmography and they’re all bangers. They’re all on my all-time list. It’s absurd how deft a storyteller this man is. His vision is only matched by his creativity and The Northman really drives that fact home.

7. Pearl

The dark horse A24 entry that made the list at the finish line. I was tempted to put X on this thing but then Pearl quietly dropped and i was absolutely captivated by Mia Goth. I’ve always been a fan of her work but Pearl really demonstrates why i love her so much. his is every bit her film as it is Ti West’s. Goth absolutely devastates as Pearl and it’s a macabre pleasure to witness. X was good and genuinely deserves a spot on this list but Pearl is everything that film was and so much more.

6. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

This one was surprising. It’s the rare sequel that is better than the original. I didn’t expect to like the first Sonic film as much as i did because of how derivative it turned out to bee, but, borderline cliche aside, i had a blast with Sonic 2. It’s weird to see but i think Hollywood is right on the cusp of properly cracking video game adaptions. Detective Pikachu, Arcane, and now this? Yeah, this feels like Batman Begins just dropped and Iron Man is just a few years away. We’ll see how Mario does next year.

5. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness

This thing should have really been called Wanda Maximoff and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day because, goddamn! Who’d have thought that the Scarlet Witch would be up there with Killmonger, Thanos, and every villain MCU Spider-Man has faced, as one of the best antagonists in the entire MCU. Honestly, for my money, MoM was the most entertaining entry from The House of Ideas and i say the knowing i like Wakanda Forever more but this thing is re-watchable. I don’t see myself ever watching Black Panther II again. That one hurts. This one is fun.

4. Prey

Bro. Bro... Look, I've been wildly transparent about my love for all things Xeno. I love the Alien franchise and that means, by proxy, i love the Predator franchise. I’ve gushed about my love for Machiko Noguchi, the first human Predator. I’ve lamented about the missed opportunity to adapt that original AvP story line to film and hat would be lost when The Mouse House got a hold of the franchise. Prey proved me wrong. This thing is the best Predator film released to date, outside of the first, i am DYING to see what comes next. F*cking brilliant watch, all day and a real throwback to the Eighties where you had to work around tech limitations to tell your story.

3. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

This movie was an exercise in pain. I liked it, i did, but it was a rough watch. Ryan Coogler has crafted a genuinely emotional dirge requiem for Chadwick Boseman and the character of T’Challa. His shadow looms over this entire film and it weighs on your psyche as you watch. It’s heartbreaking but incredibly beautiful. It is, admittedly, flawed in a lot of places but i still enjoyed it. I still enjoyed how much love was put into this film. It’s gorgeous and a legitimately sweet good-bye to Wakanda as we knew it.

2a: Nope

Nope is one of the most authentically black films i have ever seen. This sh*t just hits different. Like, watching this thing makes me feel like i would react in the exact same ways as Em and OJ. Seriously, this is how my cousins and i would act if Jan Jacket showed up over our house. I love that. I love this movie. It’s not as good as Get Out but i think it’s the most accessible film Peele has ever made.

2b. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

I just watched this thing a few days ago and I'm still enamored with how brilliant Glass Onion is. From top to bottom, this is a tour de force in film-making and i adored every second of it. Rian Johnson gets so much sh*t for The Last Jedi but this man can craft a film with the best of them. Also, he wrote the f*cking thing! I forgot to mention that in my review but he wrote that whole movie. Story, script, screenplay; All him. It just frustrates me how brilliant this man is, and how sh*t The Last Jedi turned out.

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once

This one is easily the best film I've seen all year. Everything about it absolutely screams masterwork. This one was my A24 entry for the year an I'm glad i made the effort to check it out because, holy sh*t, is this film fantastic! Never mind all of the pretty blatant brilliance that i covered in my proper review, i just really respect the f*ck out of this trend in film to deal with generational trauma. We saw a lot of this during the year with films like Turning Red, Encanto, and even a little bit in Shang-Chi but Everything really put in the work with this sh*t. I left that theater feeling. Just, feeling. I reflected on the scars i have from my parents and how they have shaped my own worldviews. It’s rare that a film leaves me that introspective and i have to give full credit to this movie for allowing me to experience that, after so goddamn long.

Honorable Mentions: Turning Red, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, Three Thousand Years of Longing, Blonde, X, Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe, Tár, Morbius (For the memes), The Black Phone, Jackass Forever, Bullet Train, Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, Barbarian, V/H/S/99

Not Jurassic World: Dominion, though. Never Jurassic World: Dominion. That movie was terrible. Worst than Fallen Kingdom and THAT was a whole ass exercise in masochism just to watch.

#Smokey brand Movie Reviews

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smokeybrand · 2 years ago

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Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Back For the Very First Time

10. The Batman

9. Hellraiser

8. The Northman

7. Pearl

6. Sonic the Hedgehog 2

5. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness

4. Prey

3. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

2a: Nope

2b. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once

Not Jurassic World: Dominion, though. Never Jurassic World: Dominion. That movie was terrible. Worst than Fallen Kingdom and THAT was a whole ass exercise in masochism just to watch.

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gruesomejack · 3 years ago

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Oh. Oh my god. Pulling over a nearby chair, Felix let his body drop into it, afraid he'd end up on the floor if he didn't. Felix brought his hands up to his temples, he squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed the spots as he replayed the given information over in his head.

This was beyond anything he could have possibly imagined. The technology to download someone's consciousness was absolute science fiction garbage and he believed that wholeheartedly. This, however, wasn't that at all. In fact it was better! It was so much more intriguing. This computer must have had access to everything, logs, coms, surveillance-- Enough that it was able to piece together a replica of one of it's crewmembers after their death. Not only that, but something seemed to have malfunctioned. Did it think it was Nolan Reynolds? No wonder the project was put on ice, the concept alone was terrifying. Felix was well seasoned in the potential uncanny horror of AI, but this was in another ballpark entirely and it scared him just as much as it did set his heart pumping.

Felix grabbed the pad again and started writing, his hands moving furiously across the page, barely being able to keep up with the thoughts he was trying to capture. What was the purpose of this? A misguided effort in comforting the crew? Would it have worked with any of them if not Nolan? Marla- Marla. He had to get in touch with Marla. As the commander, her perspective was vital. Not to mention she piloted a flight to Mars--

"Shit." Felix plucked himself from his racing thoughts and plastered on a polite smile. "Sorry about that." He looked at the other for a long moment before forcing himself to speak again. "Nolan.." he started and hesitated. What should he ask? Everything he'd planned, all the questions he'd written down were worthless to him. Well, maybe not completely, but they certainly weren't what he wanted to know anymore. Should he play along? Rip off the bandaid to see what happens?

Felix stared, enamored and frightened. He was in way over his head, but when did that ever stop him before?

"..Can you tell me about yourself?" he asked, leaning forward just a little. "If we're going to be working together, we might as well break the ice." It was an attempt to get more information. A good one? He wasn't sure, but he was ready for an answer. "I'm.. uh, not much of a people person. I spend most of my time working on computers and robots, so if I've been unwelcoming, I apologize."

Scrap it? After spending all that money? How could they even consider scrapping it?! Sure, the implications of a malfunctioning NASA level AI were intimidating, but the research- the resources! Felix was practically drooling at the thought of running his fingers through the wiring and putting the pieces back together.

It didn't matter anymore either way-- It was his project now. After his coworkers had given up the chance to play with such.. lucrative material, he snatched up the opportunity without a second thought. Dangerous? Potentially, but the benefits outweighed the risks here! This was AI from a rocket. That meant it's programming was a treasure trove of use even if they were just picking apart the basics. There was no way in hell he was going to be a coward about this, someone here had to show them how it's done.

Chewing his thumb, Felix walked a slow circle around his workspace, his eyes peering over the glasses perched on his nose. A black box and a body frame. Wireless? It wasn't unheard of, just a little different than the usual trajectory of modern artificial intelligence. It made sense though, you wouldn't want your computer stored in the body if the body would be performing tasks too risky for a human body. The potential to lose the entire CPU to the cruel elements of space was too great.

Stopping, Felix folded his arms across his chest and pressed his lips together. He just wished he knew more about it. But- That was where his expertise came in, right? He'd spent years getting to know different programs; how different could this one be from the rest? It was just like getting to know a person.

Reaching out, his fingertips brushed along the cold metal of the CPU until he found the set of switches on the side. Stopping, Felix paused for a long moment. Here goes nothing. Click. Click. Click.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty."

@purposefully-lost

#FELIX IS HAVING A WHOLE COW

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hencethebravery · 8 years ago

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Colin O’Donoghue spoke out loud in front of people about kissing Josh Dallas because he’s got nice lips. I literally can’t get over it, so here’s an AU about sneaking into someone’s house so you can kiss them on the mouth without inciting unnecessary drama. For the #CCsquad. @the-reason-to-sail-home @abbadons-little-witch @mahstatins

+ Honestly, it’s just as well he avoid the conversation altogether. It’s not as if he’d call his brother especially conservative per say, he just... knows Liam Jones. Knows that the man is physically incapable of keeping his opinions to himself—particularly those that might involve his younger brother—and he knows his own mind, how his thoughts tend to go maddeningly on, and he’d just prefer to avoid the inevitably wasted week that would follow. A week of waking up at the literal arse-crack of bloody dawn to avoid running into him. A week of vague text messages and convincing Robin to revise the duty roster. His own brother. The man who raised him, bathed him, fed him, changed his nappies.

Killian Jones, Lieutenant Killian Jones, a servant in Her Majesty’s Royal Navy, sneaking his... friend in through the bloody window like they’re misbehaving school boys.

“I have clearance to sail on a vessel with nuclear weapons on it.”

David chuckles, his bicep resting behind Killian’s neck like a lumpy pillow, “Yes, so you’ve said.”

“Point being, I’ve got the ability to press a button and blow up the planet, yet I seem to be physically incapable of showing you through the door like a normal person.”

“I’ve walked through your door,” he sighs as he pushes Killian’s damp hair off his forehead, “Also, I’m pretty sure arming a nuclear weapon isn’t that easy.”

He plants a kiss on his forehead and Killian wants to die. Just a little bit.

“Go to sleep, Jones.”

“Trust me,” he answers softly, his voice heavy with sleep, “it is.”

When he wakes up the next morning he’s alone, the blankets tucked underneath his chin and he tosses them over his head in shame. What an unbelievable prick he is.

The first night he’d tugged David’s unreasonably broad shoulders through his bedroom window was the same night Liam had started bugging him about meeting a girl.

“You’ve brought them home before,” he had stated reasonably, friendly enough, not even pressing, just politely inquiring, “I just wanted to make sure nothing’s the matter.”

“All’s well, brother,” Killian answered with a gentle smile, “I assure you.”

They’re both in their mid-20s so it is, admittedly, a bit juvenile, but David, bless his oversized heart, insists that there’s something romantic about the whole thing. Something about it being just the two of them, feeling like he’s in high school again and your heart’s beating fast because yes, maybe you’re somewhere you ought not to be, but it’s also beating because someone is looking at you like that and it’s everything.

“Your shoulders barely fit through the window, love.”

“Yeah, but you like it.”

Shockingly enough, Killian Jones has a reputation for being a bit rough-and-tumble. Liam, being Captain as he is, can’t officially condone it, but he has to admit, it’s gotten them out of some close-calls in the past—gotten the men to sit down and shut up when they need to. You wouldn’t think it, what with the rather slim shoulders and clean shaven face, but it’s the eyes (that’s what Dave says, anyway), it was the eyes that gave it away.

“And when you forget to shave,” he murmurs, his hand coming up to cradle his jaw, “goosebumps.”

It was a bit hard growing up, without parents, raised by an over-achieving brother pushing you to do well, but you, know-it-all teenager that you are, being unable to get your head out of your arse long enough to understand that he just wants what’s best for you. Pressing your lips to a woman’s neck and feeling utterly alive, seeing Graham Humbert’s hands tugging at your belt and feeling the exact same thing. Sipping cheap, garbage rum on the roof of your shitty apartment building and wondering what the fuck it all means.

Using your fists to make a point since no one cares what you have to say anyway, since all you’ve ever done is push people away or they leave you behind and it had just been easier that way, hadn’t it?

When Dave had seen that old picture of him on Facebook, that Liam had posted, of course—that everyone had laughed and jeered at, because look at him, Lieutenant Jones, dressed all in leather, his hair grown sloppy over his face, and is that a hand-rolled cigarette in your mouth, mate? His back pressed up against that brick wall as if he were keeping something back, and of course, David Nolan didn’t laugh.

They hadn’t even kissed, not yet. A handshake that feels a bit too firm sometimes, a heavy hand on the shoulder, a longing glance across the room, but that had been all. Killian couldn’t be sure, and he hadn’t wanted to risk losing him, he had been too good a friend for that, and Dave had just stared at the photo, and stared back at him, and Killian had fought that heated blush with all he had.

“You’ve changed so much,” he finally said, his voice proud and warm, “must’ve been hard.”

Killian’s voice, the deep, older voice of a grown man, cracking just enough, “Yeah,” he answered, “Yeah, it was.”

The pull-out is too small for the two of them.

“It’s fine,” David’s breath against his neck, large hands down by his waist, “it’s big enough.”

And this ex-junkie, ex-delinquent with the dirty hair and the leather jacket and the sodding flask all out of breath and trying to get a word in edgewise insisting that he’s a grown man and he really needs his own place.

“I don’t know,” rising up on his elbows, his grinning face staring down at a flushed, rumpled Lieutenant, “it’s kind of fun.”

David looks like a golden retriever puppy when he’s excited, and the furious teenager that stays hidden away under years of formal navy training cannot believe that Killian “Hook” Jones would sink so low as to associate with such an absolute sap.

He catches David’s own disproportionately slim hips between his thighs and manages to execute a surprisingly smooth flip, his own hands coming up to catch his wrists before he can interfere, “Must you be so infuriatingly optimistic?”

“I must,” answering with a smile, “it’s all 80s grunge and David Lynch movies in there,” gesturing towards Killian’s chest with his head, “the least I can do is appreciate the couch.”

“I’ve had this couch since Liam dragged it in off the street when we were kids,” their lips hovering teasingly against one another’s, barely a space of breath between them, “I’d watch for lice if I were you.”

Laughing and wrestling and falling off the old couch that is too small for them and David Nolan really doesn’t deserve the bedroom window.

“How do that man’s shoulders even fit through that window?”

Killian whips his head back around to his brother leaning up against the kitchen counter, watching their friends loudly yelling at the television, spilling beer all over the carpet that he had just cleaned for Christ’s sake.

“What did you just say?”

“I imagine it’s sort of amusing, actually. Shoulders like that. Small window. Like Marilyn Monroe in that film, the one with the singing?”

“Sure, that narrows it down, brother.”

He’s still trying to figure out if he can escape the minefield of this conversation, glancing over at the den trying to catch David’s eyes but the man is totally enamored by the game, and he would appear to be adrift in a sea of overprotective, vaguely patronizing concern.

“He would probably feel much more comfortable walking through our human-sized door, wouldn’t you say?”

Killian pauses, his fingers nervously picking at the wet label of his beer, trying to ignore the uncomfortable sensation that comes with actually breaking a sweat.

“...I suppose.”

“Let him use the door, Killian,” Liam says finally, his eyes crinkling happily at the corners, “and buy a bloody bed.”

#ouat ff #cc ff #cc fanfic #captain charming #cc: saved my life #@hencethewriter

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