#and in his story it's a product of what happened in his version of Sky's time

[susansontag]

studio ghibli ranking list let’s go

(will include nausicaä and the red turtle)

the these-are-actually-bad section:

24. earwig and the witch

actually the only one I haven’t watched so it’s cheeky to put it here. but I won’t be watching it and no one will blame me.

23. ocean waves

who sincerely cares about these teenagers they’re so annoying. if the boys had been gay it would have honestly been homophobic.

22. pom poko

this film is about shape-shifting raccoon dogs waging a war on humans and there’s copious jokes about their testicles. so on paper a perfect film. execution wise it’s so long and so boring and you care about none of them.

the cure-for-insomnia section:

21. tales from earthsea

hayao miyazaki was right to walk out of this one even though he probably is a terrible father for having done so. some of the animation was really nice but these protagonists made me yearn for the ocean waves cast because at least they have semi-personalities.

20. castle in the sky

proof miyazaki was judging his son too hard for earthsea because this is basically his version of the same thing: a nice idea with good animation and the most boring boy/girl protagonists imaginable. has got that whimsy he does so nicely however.

the passable-films section:

19. the cat returns

but should he have? was that really necessary? has a scene of cats walking in a procession on their hind legs though so that’s a plus.

18. arrietty

visually gorgeous but otherwise a very run-of-the-mill adaptation of the borrowers, which in something that should feel wondrous is less than ideal.

17. my neighbors the yamadas

some harmless and inventive fun that you can put on in the background whilst eating lunch or doing some light yoga stretches.

the don’t-harm-me-I’m-right section:

16. howl’s moving castle

yes I do in fact understand the intricacies of the plot and I still don’t care. this is one of ghibli’s messiest films for sure, it can’t decide what it wants to be or focus on and the plot just seems to happen and then not happen for no good reason. I also think howl’s a whiny bastard and hate that sophie has to mother him and endure his contemptible man tantrums. a shame because she’s actually cool.

15. grave of the fireflies

it was sweet but I’ve watched more moving animated films set in war-time, even. I don’t have much desire to watch it again honestly but maybe I will at some point.

the this-is-getting-there section:

14. the red turtle

I liked it! an acquired taste but I really felt the harshness of the elements and the cruelty and the love. it's also very beautiful to look at, one of the most visually arresting ghibli productions.

13. only yesterday

a tale of two films with this one. the parts where she's a young girl are much more interesting, but if this had stuck the landing and it'd been more even overall, could have potentially been a favourite. alas.

12. the wind rises

a genuinely weird one in ghibli's lineup, in which miyazaki meshes two different stories together (one of inventive 'genius' and a doomed love story, respectively) in a likely attempt to try and grapple with his having chosen his career over all else, including family (noteworthy is that his wife was not able to retain her career as an animator). as a piece of art it's less whimsical and more mature than many of these films, but I struggle to not let my distaste for what it potentially represents get in the way of my appreciation for it as a film, but it's so blatantly personal that it's impossible.

the that-was-just-a-good-fun-time section:

11. nausicaä of the valley of the wind

aesthetically one of the coolest films on this list but I don't remember the story as well. great protagonist too. must have been great to experience when it first came out in the '80s.

10. porco rosso

I love this film about a tomboy mechanic and some pilot guy who went off to war and was so changed he is now a pig. watching it feels like if the mediterranean was so small it fit into your back pocket and was also populated by all your friends all your enemies and your ex-lover also.

9. from up on poppy hill

I found this one boring the first time I watched it but it really grew on me with subsequent rewatches. I really like her predominantly female household and the community they share in the backdrop of the rest of the drama is sweet. the bit of drama midway through is still batshit though but in a loveable, disney-would-never way.

the near-perfect section:

8. the tale of the princess kaguya

probably takahata's magnum opus with the studio, if slightly overlong. folktales are tricky because they tend to feel moralistic and the characters one-note if you're not willing to build on them but kaguya herself feels very spirited and alive. the prettiest on the list too I'd say.

7. my neighbor totoro

cozy late summer comfort film. perhaps even more special now because I was able to see the london production. cute!

6. when marnie was there

surprised this one has ranked so high for me but that's the power of tomboy lesbians heck yeah etc. also the fantastical element of this one is so up my alley and touches upon a particular kind of childhood nostalgia I have of being in old houses and imbuing them with magical qualities. the image of anna facing the house across the marshland is burned into my retina.

the I'd-die-for-her section:

5. princess mononoke

aesthetically too cool for school and has one of the best ghibli villains and female characters (lady eboshi). they really said all the spirits of the forest are going to die in this one but well it was a nice thought.

4. ponyo

my comfort movie of all-time! heartwarming! with another great female ghibli character in lisa, sosuke's mum who is legally allowed to drive like that apparently. also one I actually watched for the first time in my childhood when I was around 7 or so at an after school club. the subtitles taught me the useful and now underused gem of a phrase "bog off".

3. kiki's delivery service

asks the important questions such as: what if you were a young witch from a dying tradition who moves to a gorgeous town in sweden? what if your remarkable gifts were no longer appreciated due to rapid advancements in aviation technology? what if you could live in a bakery?

2. spirited away

when you're just a timid child who is scared of admittedly a lot and your parents manage to mess everything up spectacularly so now you're forced to work at the age of twelve for people who steal your identity. still one of the best honestly they may never top this as the peak of their artistic achievement.

1. whisper of the heart

have you ever been a struggling artist? have you ever been in love? have you ever been obsessed with john denver's take me home, country roads? in all seriousness love a story of two artistically inclined people inspiring each other and this has a unique feel compared to other ghibli films forever favourite probably. it feels like basically no one has watched it and that's a shame. rest in peace yoshifumi kondō.

[canadachildvol2]

Wish rewrite ✨ pt.1

Everyone and their grandma has done a rewrite of "Wish," but I couldn't help myself. I've seen the concept art and have watched an array of video essays dissecting what went wrong with the final product and my imagination went wild (as it often does with movies that had so much potential yet failed to deliver).

Full disclosure: I'm not a songwriter nor am I an expert on music theory, so when it comes to the songs in this rewrite, I'm just gonna give a general idea of what they're about and what happens.

With that out of the way, let's get into part 1 of my own "Wish" rewrite! And I'm in no way proclaiming this to be the superior version; I'm just sharing what I came up with like a lot of you have. I've also included a visual of my Asha redesign, which I hope you like. <3

(Also tagging @annymation :) )

-

First and foremost, I'm torn between this version either being completely 2D-animated or just Star (specifically in his normal magical form) and his magic being the only things 2D-animated. You can envision it however you like.

Book prologue: Like the movie, this opens with a storybook. However, it's in live-action. A narrator (perhaps a Disney Legend, like Mary Costa, Kathryn Beaumont, etc.) tells the backstory of how Rosas became a literal magical place:

“Once upon a time, there was a small island kingdom called Rosas. Surrounded by crystal waters and nestled beneath an endless sky. One day, the king gathered his subjects to make an important announcement: through magic, he had found a way to grant wishes! And since then, the people looked to their magnificent king to make their deepest desires come true.

This magic was passed down to the royals that followed, and in this time, the people continued their undying devotion to their extraordinary leaders.

Over the years, boats came from far and wide, carrying those who wanted to see this magic up close, as well as those who sought to live in Rosas. And our story begins with the docking of one of these boats…”

Introduction to Asha/Rosas; “Welcome to Rosas”: A group of newcomers excitedly wait to enter Rosas and this is where we meet Asha. "One... two... three," she mumbles - as if preparing for a performance - before stepping out in front of the group. Bubbly and all smiles, she introduces herself as their tour guide and ushers them into the kingdom. This version of “Welcome to Rosas” not only explains the rules of the kingdom regarding wishes (giving wishes at age 18 [it's mandatory], how the wishing ceremony plays out, only one wish is granted each month due to the large amount of magic needed, etc.) but it also highlights how hardworking and dutiful the citizens are. Additionally, it mentions that Rosas was once a land in disarray, but the magic of wish-granting led them to prosperity. While there’s an upbeat tone to the song, there is an almost sinister undertone that’s lost on the newcomers (and to us, the audience, if we don’t pay too much attention). I should quickly point out that people don't forget their wishes after giving them to Magnifico like they do in the movie. They just no longer have the motivation to pursue their wishes themselves.

Design note: Asha is the only person in Rosas wearing orange, thereby making her stand out from the largely blue, purple, and grey colour palette (much like how Belle is the only person in her village wearing blue). click the image to see more outfit details

Meeting Dahlia and other townspeople: After Asha leaves the group to let them enjoy the sights, her bubbly persona immediately disappears and her true nature is revealed. Levelheaded, composed, a touch cynical. A realist. This personality is shown as she interacts with some of the townsfolk (moreover, this scene alludes to what some of them have wished for). She takes a bag of fruit to Dahlia, her best friend and a talented baker. She’s cheerful, idealistic, and tends to stumble over her words when excited or stressed (a nod to Doc from “Snow White” along with her character design). Like the rest of Rosas, she thinks highly of the king and queen. In exchange for the fruit, Dahlia presents Asha with a birthday cake for her grandfather. This scene showcases Dahlia’s desire to become the castle baker someday and that she thinks her work needs to be perfect to get that position (even though her work is already amazing). We are also introduced to Simon, who comes by to pick up an order for delivery. He’s a few years older than Asha and Dahlia and is already showing the same level of exhaustion as most of the other adults. He wants his wish granted so badly that he’s willing to work hard and impress the king and queen no matter what. He's secretive about what his wish is.

"Welcome to Rosas (reprise)": As Asha walks home with the cake in a box, she looks at the citizens around her. This time, we’re seeing life in Rosas through her eyes rather than those of the awestruck newcomers. “Welcome to Rosas (reprise)” brings to the forefront how exhausting, unfair, and almost cult-like (i.e. the people’s intense adoration of the king and queen) everything is, while also insinuating the crux of Asha’s personal journey: she doesn’t have hope.

Meeting Sakina and Sabino: Asha arrives home to find Sabino asleep in a chair by the window. She smiles at him; a big, loving smile. Up until now, her smiles have either been small, fake (for her job), or just smirks. She gently wakes him up and he tells her he was dreaming about one of his artworks coming to life. “In a few hours, it may actually happen,” he says with a hopeful grin. She bites her tongue so as not to bring his cheerful mood down with a "Let's be realistic" comment. Soon after, Sakina enters the house carrying a basket of fresh fruit and looking tired. Asha takes the basket from her, fussing over how exhausted she looks. ("Mama, you shouldn't be doing all this work by yourself!") Sakina says that she’s fine, but Asha’s worries aren’t placated. Eventually, the trio sit down to enjoy the cake. Sakina laments the absence of Asha’s father, which prompts Asha to fiddle with her silver bracelet.

Wishing ceremony: We finally see King Magnifico and Queen Amaya in all their glory. They are regal, stunning, and tower over the people of Rosas in more ways than one. Still, when 18-year-olds and new residents approach the king on stage to give their wishes to him, he presents himself as an affable man. The cultish vibes that have so far been subtle are made much more apparent in this scene, complete with chanting, cheering, and bowing in a way that demonstrates complete submission. Sabino and Sakina wait with bated breath to see whose wish will be granted, while Asha remains less optimistic. She holds her grandfather’s hand reassuringly when the announcement is made. It’s not him. While not nearly as surprised or devastated as Sabino is, his disappointed reaction still breaks Asha’s heart. So much so that it encourages her to do something drastic.

Asha learns the truth: Sakina and Sabino head home while Asha makes her way to the castle entrance. She overhears the guards tell other people that the king and queen aren’t seeing anyone right now and reinforcing a specific rule: “commoners aren’t allowed in the palace.” Not to be deterred, Asha finds another way in. She’s distracted from her objective of ambushing the king and queen by the sight of the castle’s interior. It’s beautiful; unlike anything she’s ever seen. It's as if it were made of crystals, like the waters surrounding their island. Reflective surfaces are adorned on almost every section of the walls. Curiousity gets the better of her and she ascends the staircase to the highest room in the building. After brief hesitation, she enters and finds that it’s the room that houses the wishes (the general look of this room is about the same as how it is in the movie). Her wonderment is interrupted by the sound of Magnifico and Amaya outside. Thinking quickly, she hides in the balcony running along the upper part of the room. It’s here that she witnesses something horrifying: Magnifico taking a couple of the wishes in his hands and crushing them. This is how he gets his powers. He and Amaya laugh at how these people will be waiting forever for their wishes to be granted. ("They will work themselves to death, never knowing that their wishes, their dreams, will never come true.") Furthermore, Asha learns that Magnifico is already very powerful and doesn't need a whole month to garner enough energy to grant a single wish. After the couple leave, Asha sneaks back out.

Warning Sakina and Sabino: Asha rushes home and tells Sakina and Sabino about what she saw. Obviously they don’t believe her and an argument ensues. They can’t understand why she’d speak ill of the king and queen, and she’s trying so hard to plead her case. At one point, she accidentally hurts Sabino’s feelings by saying that realistically speaking, the odds of his wish being granted are slim to none. She feels awful about what she said and she tries one last time to convince them. Sakina gently but firmly tells her to stop and “When you’re older, you’ll understand.” Asha is left stunned and alone as Sakina tends to a tired and upset Sabino. Overwhelmed, she leaves the house and runs into the woods. She's trying so hard not to break down.

“This Wish”: This version of the song, much like in the movie, sees Asha wish for a way to help Rosas. However, it also conveys her internal struggle of letting herself feel some semblance of hope for the first time in a long time. She initially pulls back and scoffs at the idea of wishing on a star or even believing that things in Rosas will change, but as the song goes on, she caves into what her heart is telling her as opposed to what her head is telling her. It’s worth noting that each time she considers wishing on a star, it’s instigated by her looking at her bracelet. Akin to “Part of Your World,” after so much build-up, the song ends on a soft but powerful note where Asha finally wishes on a star (she still has serious doubts, but there's a sliver of cautious optimism shining through).

pt.2 / pt.3 / pt.4 / pt.5

[silverflqmes]

໒⦂ 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐊 𝐍𝐎𝐖.

notes. blurbs including several characters ( favorites of sky’s ) that i feel would suit certain songs of the album, speak now ( taylor’s version ).

genre. fluff, mild angst ( dan heng’s ), suggestive ( wriothesley’s )

for @melukonova <3

ft. hajime iwaizumi, tooru oikawa, wriothesley, ajax ( tartaglia / childe ), dan heng ( kinda dan feng )

gender neutral! reader

ะ ྂ ❤︎ . ˚˖ now playing.. sparks fly.

+ about. sparks fly tells the story of someone who fell in love with someone they feel they shouldn’t have a crush on. they’re a ‘bad idea’.. and yet there is so much chemistry to be found, it might as well be a ‘good idea’. they cannot help what they feel for them, and pursue regardless of the odds.

+ hajime knew it was a bad idea, falling for his best friend’s sibling, but it was even worse for you to fall for your brother’s best friend. tooru would have your throat if he had found out about that summer festival you’d attended with him in secret. still, no matter how much you avoided your crush and willed yourself not to seek or pursue him, it was impossible when in contact with those green eyes that haunt you when he isn’t around. his presence alone hypnotizes you, and the fear of the consequences, should things go wrong, make you want to run from it all. you couldn’t bear to never be allowed around him, it would break the both of you and you knew it. however, when he called you up one night, telling you to drop everything and meet him in the pouring rain, two in the morning on the last day of summer, you came running. not being able to hold back from kissing him on the sidewalk, sparks flying as you notice that heart-stopping smile on his lips, burning away your fears.

+ “cuz i see sparks fly, whenever you.. smile.”

ะ ྂ ❤︎ . ˚˖ now playing.. enchanted.

+ about. enchanted tells the story of someone having a crush so grand, it brings forth this magical feeling that makes them feel as though they are living a fairytale. their crush is so amazing, they’re certain to have other suitors.. which makes it all the more imperative to express the words they held back.

+ tooru forced another laugh and smile to get through the night, because real ones had been more of an effort to make than usual since entering high school. girls swarmed him per usual, something his friends were displeased about. hajime, more so than anyone else, pitched a ball at his head. through the squeals of concern, tooru let out a whine before whirling around to see where hajime had been — and there you were. across the room, from him, your eyes expressing if you had ever met before. whatever grudge the setter held faded into nothing as he made his way towards you, utterly enchanted, and he could tell you were, too. conversation felt like a breeze, his smiles and laughter genuine for a change. you wondered to yourself how the tooru oikawa was standing in front of you right now, like a dream come true. he could be talking to just about anyone; there were people waiting on him.. and yet, he was, with you, eyeing you like you were the stars in his sky.

+ “wondering if you knew.. i was enchanted to meet you!”

ะ ྂ ❤︎ . ˚˖ now playing.. i can see you.

+ about. i can see you tells the story of someone having a crush on another within a professional environment, that makes it somewhat difficult to pursue a relationship. both sides wonder what would happen if the simple touches and brushes became a full on relationship.. and so they try it out.

+ wriothesley brushed past you in the hallway, a signal you had learned well over the course of your hidden relationship. within fontaine’s professional fields, he was the duke of the fortress of meropide, while you were but a supplier from the overworld, providing the required materials and equipment for the production floor. but behind closed curtains, off the stage you both took on day to day, it was all fervor. suppressed want and feelings for one another that could only pop out so often, given how busy you both were. a simple note passed to you saying ‘meet me tonight’ was all it took to have you racing down to the depths of fontaine under the guise of a delivery, when truly — it ended with you up against the wall with him. there, wriothesley would mutter into your ear how addicting you are, his hands traveling to hold you against him as you’re whispering back how he feels like a secret mission, a thrill on each occasion you can see him.

+ “baby, if you only knew.. that i can see you.”

ะ ྂ ❤︎ . ˚˖ now playing.. mine.

+ about. mine tells the story of someone who runs away from love out of fear of being let down once more by another break up. however this particular time, doesn’t quite end in another goodbye, the only thing they have ever known. rather, a vow is spoken, promising to never leave them alone.

+ ajax found himself in a tough spot when you suddenly began avoiding him, always having some sort of excuse not to meet up with him. it was strange to say the least, not exactly something he would expect to come from you. up until now, things had been blissful. the best relationship he’s had, which he came to treasure greatly. in the beginning, sure you were uncertain of him, given his background, but you realized you didn’t care, and wished to make things work with him. right now, he isn’t so sure. half passed two, he showed up at your house when you ignored his letters asking to get together. he knocks once, and then twice, only to find you leaving out the side door. adrenaline fueled him, well aware of the dangers to be encountered in your run as he dashed after you, calling out for you to stop running. when you did, you braced yourself for the goodbye, the only response you’d known.. and it doesn’t come. rather, it was the words you’d heard only in dreams.

+ “you are the best thing.. that’s ever been mine!”

ะ ྂ ❤︎ . ˚˖ now playing.. timeless.

+ about. timeless tells the story of relationship put through circumstances that would tear them apart in every single life. however both lovers would still be intertwined and together in every timeline, regardless of the situation fated to separate one from the other.

+ dan heng remembered only flashes of the life his ancestor lived and whatever many lives that came before his. one thing he found in all of them, was you. he recalled the memories of dan feng the best, having noted the presence of another at his side, whom he held dearly to his heart, as if he was afraid to be separated from them again. and yet, there was also this lack of fear on his face, as though he had known he would see that cherished lover of his again in the next life he led. when dan heng found you at the luofu, he found himself freezing for reasons he could not comprehend at first. but now, having recollected everything, he understood. as if to confirm his suspicions, you remembered, too. no matter the occurrence that took place in your lives, that would have separated the both of you, the cycle of rencountering continued. and the feelings? unchanged. as you were inseparable — timeless to the very core.

+ “we would have been timeless.”

notes. hi queen here you go speak no-ow ( ellie’s version ) woo<3 i tried to include as many favs as i could with what little romance songs i listen to on speak now bc haunted is um.. painful, so is castles crumbling</3 anyway i hope you likes the post and that the songs chosen for the guys are to your likings :’)

↳ return to main masterlist . request rules . send an ask

[namtanlovesfilm]

a ranking & summary of my thoughts on gmmtv 2024 part 1

pluto: this is my everything already. A GL??? with two of my fave actresses film & namtan??? AND a complex, interesting plot??? I'm obsessed already!!! this looks so good I'm so happy it's happening & it will become my whole personality once it airs!!!

the trainee: I genuinely believed, even with the rumors that off, gun, view, kapook & sea would be in a show together, that we wouldn't get an offgun show this year. AND I WAS WRONG!!! is this what it's like to always fucking win??? like genuinely, my ship is THAT ship, I'm so lucky & happy and I love them so much <3

peaceful property on sale: duuuude, this looks so fun??? I was already hooked when I saw new's over the top character, but a ghost haunting show with taynew, jan & mook??? absolutely incredible! this looks ridiculous & I know I'm gonna love every second of it!

my golden blood: bruh, thank goodness I was warned about jossgawin in advance or I might have had a heart attack, but honestly????? THEY ATE THAT! and mond playing the villain????? babe, that casting is incredible & perfect, I'm obsessed!!! I usually don't like supernatural stuff but I was also a teen wolf fan bruh so atp I'm gonna EAT that shit UP!!!

wandee goodday: you might not know it, but I have a super power. every time I start being a fan of someone who hasn't done bl, they do bl the following year. this year it was nonkul, and next year it's gonna be great sapol. AND I LOVE THAT FOR ME!!! this looks really good & fun, the characters are interesting and the story not too crazy or too basic. I can feel that it's gonna be good!

ploy's yearbook: a female-led show & the return of mond as a main??? BLESS!!! I love most of this cast, this looks fun as hell, I adore my gmmtv girlies... gotta watch this for sure! love seeing earth in more roles outside of his ship too!

enigma 2: I still haven't watched season one, am planning on watching it very soon, but I've heard great things so I'll be sure to catch season two as well! especially since I really liked toey jarinporn in the recent lakorn to the moon and back so I'm excited to see how she does!

my precious the series: as you know I've watched the movie in theaters, but I'm excited for it to be out as a series too, especially since there's extra scenes! seems like it might be even more lovable, and also if it's on gmmtv's youtube channel I'll finally be able to gif the iconic scenes :')

high school frenemy: this looks interesting & I like sky, but I feel like the plot doesn't make sense if it's not a love story... idk I feel like since this is adapted from a kdrama it's just gonna be a frustrating story that should be a romance but is reduced to bromance instead... I might still watch though :')

only boo: this looks kinda cute though basic. I don't know both main leads but might watch it.

we are: this has all ships I like, especially marcpawin & aouboom who deserve more spotlight, so I will be watching, but the plot seems really basic so I'm not expecting anything out of this world...

kidnap: this plot seems interesting but the cast isn't so... yeah.

summer night: I was so confused by who is supposed to be with who in the show lol, honestly I was down for dunkphuwin lmao, but this looks too messy for me :')

my love mix-up: I absolutely despise remakes even though I enjoyed kieta hatsukoi & like geminifourth, and although I'm certain this version will fix the chemistry issues of the original, I'm not gonna be watching it.

ossan's love thailand: same thing as for the previous show but even more so bc ossan's love is such a product of its time & shouldn't be remade in 2024 imo...

[hel-the-growl]

Nezha Reborn annotations - Part 2

Part 1｜Part 3

Monkey asks Yunxiang whether his dad ever told him the story of Nezha conquering the dragon king when he was a kid. Most Chinese people will probably remember this story from the 1979 animation of the same title that was adapted from chapter 14 of Investiture of the Gods.

More product displacement: Smirnoff, what looks to be Suntory Royal and if you zoom in on the Jack Daniels, it reads “Made in Light Chaser” lol

Primordial Spirit or “god-body” is something you’ll see a lot in the New Gods universe. Known in Chinese as yuanshen (元神), it is a concept in Daoism defined to be a level of existence surpassing that of physical existence, capable of existing independently in the form of a soul. It is viewed to be the center and essence of a human's existence.

Monkey breaks the fourth wall

This quote comes from Liu An’s poem Nüwa mending the heavens (女娲补天), delivered Peking Opera style, down to the mannerisms. The caged bird could be a thrush or a lark. Bird keeping is a traditional hobby in Beijing that started in the Qing Dynasty and songbirds were usually kept in these cylindrical cages. 

I shouldn’t have laughed so hard when he accidentally killed the glasses monkey and continued his business like nothing happened.

“Fire imp” (葫芦老四) is the fourth of the seven Calabash Brothers, a classic Chinese cartoon from the 80s. Each bro has a unique power, and bro #4’s power is the ability to control fire. The snake demoness is an integral part of that story, so Light Chaser’s White Snake movies might actually be set in the same universe?????

Chan and Jie are religions featured in IOTG. Chan Daoism was founded by Yuanshi Tianzun (Primeval Lord of Heaven) and Laozi, and Yang Jian is one of its disciples. Jie is a fictional religion headed by Tongtian.

The most unfortunate character in this movie has got to be this monkey.

“Are your training methods even legit?”

Where did he get so much water? I thought water was being sanctioned.

RIP this monkey again.

He built his own version of Nezha’s spear.

The Six-Eared Macaque is arguably the most dangerous antagonist in Journey to the West. This deceptive creature impersonated Sun Wukong after the Monkey King abandoned his pilgrimage following a tiff with Tripitaka, with the impersonation so perfect, only Gautama Buddha and Diting could see through the pretense.

Nezha’s primordial spirit manifests as his three-headed, six-armed form.

Nezha is traditionally depicted with his four Astras - the Wind Fire Wheels (风火轮) under his feet, the Cosmic Ring (乾坤圈) around his body, the Sky Ribbon (浑天绫) around his shoulders and a Fire-tipped Spear (火尖枪) in his right hand.

This man has gills.

The Yaksa Li Gen is described as a lizard like creature with long mercury red hair, protruding fangs, and a face the color of indigo. (IOTG chapter 12).

Netflix's thirst trap of a thumbnail is from a scene that lasted ONE WHOLE SECOND.

It’s hilarious how this guy was just credited as “the traitor”.

The art deco style of the crystal palace 👌

In 2013, archaeologists unearthed a 1000 year old statue in Sichuan in that depicted a beast resembling a rhinoceros. This was believed to be the water-suppressing mythological beast Zhenshui Shenshou (镇水神兽) that was documented in the Biography of Shu Kings Written by Yang Xiong in Han Dynasty.

“I taught him? I don’t even have disciples! Stop joking.”

Dragons kind of have a low status in heaven (no matter how majestic they are, they are still beasts and all beasts are looked down upon by the gods), unlike in the mortal realm where they are revered.

Even in his dragon form, Ao Bing’s spinal column is supported by metal bracing.

Part 1｜Part 3

[clairedaring]

Hi, I've seen your blog and it appears to me that you've watched a lot of gdh movies. So I was wondering this: what is your top 5 gdh movie? I, for my part, have only watched two so far: oh my girl ! and you, me and me which is one of my favorite movie this year so far.

it brings me to tears (happily) whenever someone talks to me about GDH films ಥ_ಥ so here are my favorite GDH films (in this order as of this moment, no. 2 to no. 5 interchange from time to time depending on my mood)

1. Bad Genius (2017) and Bad Genius: The Series (2020)

So whenever I'm asked about GDH, the first film I instantly recommend would be Bad Genius. Because not only is Bad Genius imho THE film that puts GDH on the map, I think it has a lot of influence on Thai cinematic works, and to some extent television works.

Essentially, Bad Genius is a story about Lin, a straight A student who team up with her friends to pull off a large scale cheating scheme on an SAT-like exam. It's a heist thriller drama that definitely leaves me feeling stressed out as hell as if I was there in the testing room with those students.

I know it's kind of a cheat to also add this, but whenever I recommend Bad Genius, I also must recommend Bad Genius: The Series which is a 12 episode series that serves as a more detailed+sequel version of the film. I love this series because the young actors of the series gave me a fresh take on the characters I already know and loved so I had a great time falling in love with all of them again. The series fixed a few plotholes/qualms I had with the cinematic version as well as an extensive background story on Bank (played by Nonkul Chanon in film, Jaonaay Jinjett in series), my favorite character from this franchise so Bad Genius: The Series is the one work I cannot recommend enough.

One of the things I love about the series as well is that it also maintained the exact same vibes and cinematography like color-grading, camerawork...

2. OMG! Oh My Girl (2022)

I am a sucker for 'seemingly unrequited love' and 'right person, wrong time' tropes so this film really hit ALL the spots for me at its release.

Stylisticaly speaking, I absolutely love the Wes Anderson-esque zoom-in-from-afar shots for comedic effect. many stellar comedic moments where i laughed out loud. I think the humor in this film is poignant, accompanied by great comedic timing from both leads.

One of the highlights of Oh My Girl aside from the many subversions to romcom clichés, I like how Guy (the ML played by the incredible Sky Wongravee) was a morally grey protagonist and that the film isn't afraid to call out his problematic "nice guy" facade. He's a self-aware jerk and I genuinely love his self-awareness.

3. One For The Road (2021)

So I didn't watch this at release and it took quite a while before I gathered the determination to sit down and watch this on Netflix on a late rainy evening. Little did I know, I would soon be crying screaming bawling my eyes.

One For The Road is about Aood (Ice Natara) who enlists his estranged friend, Boss (Tor Thanapob) on a road trip to return items to his exes before he dies.

If I had a nickel for every time GDH wanted to give me a selfish, jerky male protagonist, I would have like four or five nickels but it's crazy that it's happened so many times (formulaically one would say) and here I am still empathizing and crying over these kinda jerky male protagonists.

The soundtrack was just brilliant. To quote a review I once wrote, the director, the music score and composer were truly out for blood with the soundtrack for this movie and they did it. This film is a good example of how important soundtrack and film scores are to elevate the narrative being told.

There are so many things to praise about the production but if I had to choose one thing, it would be the excellent mise-en-scene of this film. Every shot is dazzling, intentional and fill with metaphors. It was truly beautiful.

4. Not Friends (2023) 

So I went into this thinking it would be Thai take on Dear Evan Hansen but I was so glad that it wasn't the case even though there are similarities.

Not Friends continues to deliver GDH's classic "selfish jerky male protagonist" with Pae (Anthony Buisseret) who just transferred to a new school in his last year of high school. Seeing no chances in getting into university through the entrance exam, Pae decides to enter a film contest by making a film about Joe (Jump Pisitpol), his seat mate who recently passed away.

The film had me bawling my eyes out in theatres by the end. I love that there were a lot philosophical questions like how much we value a friend's worth in the film. If you like Baipor/Anthony tandem in You & Me & Me, Not Friends is a must-watch for this acting duo reunion.

5. The Con-Heartist (2020) 

So for the last spot, I debated a lot between two romantic comedies (both starring Baifern Pimchanok), The Con-Heartist (2020) and Friend Zone (2019). I recently rewatched the former and was reminded by how much I love the zany humor in this film so she gets the last spot.

The Con-Heartist is about Noina (Baifern Pimchanok), who is in debt because of her ex-boyfriend so she hires a con artist, Tower (Nadech Kugimiya) to help her get revenge against her ex-boyfriend by swindling him.

Even though it's billed as a romantic comedy, I think it's more comedy-leaning compared to Friend Zone but I love the comedic moments the two leads, Baifern and Nadech. พี่ไม่หล่อลวง by BamBam is the OST song for the film and it has never left my Spotify Wrapped for the last 3 years 😭

+bonus: How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies (2024)

This is the first GDH film from 2024 and although it comes out in like two weeks, I can feel it's going to dethrone one of the films in my top 5 list for sure. If you're thinking of going to watch something at the cinema soon, I hope you consider checking out Lahn Mah this April!

I hope you give one of these GDH films a chance. I love watching GDH films because although they can have different directors/team of scriptwriters, they always end up with certain similarities (be it cinematography or screenplay or characters). While not all GDH films are incredible masterpieces but out of the Thai production houses for films, I would say GDH 559 (and its predecessor GTH) has the most solid record of having strong and compelling cinematic works.

[twh-news]

Is There A World For ‘Loki’ Beyond Season 2? EP Kevin Wright Sheds Light

Warning: the following interview contains spoilers about tonight’s first episode of season 2 of Loki

After Loki’s amiga Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) opted to kill He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) spurring multiple nefarious versions of the newbie villain across several timelines, Loki was sent back to where it all started: the bureaucratic, office grind of the TVA — but a very different one; one where his new best friend Mobius (Owen Wilson) doesn’t recognize him. Out of touch with his soulmate, Loki is trying to find his way back to her. However, like Chicken Little, he’s trying to tell everybody that the sky is falling; that Kang the Conqueror is coming their way. We talk with Marvel executive and Loki season 2 EP Kevin Wright, who is with the series from start to finish, script to post, about the daunting task of living up to what was a spectacular season one.

EP and director Kate Herron left some big shoes to fill on Loki season one and I was shocked when she told Deadline she would not be returning for season 2. What went on there?

Kevin Wright: Throughout season one, I was constantly teasing her with, ‘Hey, when we come back for season two,’ and she said she made it very clear through shooting, she’s like, ‘This one’s it’ and I think it was purely from the…She really put everything into it, and look, COVID was right in the middle of shooting.

So, it was an even longer commitment than she had initially even signed up for, and while that was happening and while we were shut down, she was editing, and we were working together through that. I think she felt like she really put her heart and soul into it, and she wanted to be able to hand the storytelling reins over to other filmmakers, and her fingerprints are certainly on it, and she was somebody that, when we first met her, knew she was fully aligned with what we wanted to make.

So she departs, who do you go to from there? The new directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead? Were they driving the ship on season 2?

KW: There was a little bit of downtime. Before they even came on, (EP & star) Tom (Hiddleston) and I kind of recalibrated. Figured out what we wanted this new season to be. We spent a lot of time developing that. Eric Martin had come on roughly around additional photography on season one as our season two kind of lead writer, and so, the three of us just starting building out story.

And there was a long stretch of just writers’ room, developing these scripts, figuring out what it was going to be, while we figured out where we would go in the directing front. Pretty early on, we knew we were going to bump up (production designer) Kasra Farahani to direct, as well. He was with us in the writers’ room, so he had already taken on a big creative role there and had so much to do with the world-building in season one. (VFX Supervisor) Dan DeLeeuw even kind of came on fairly early just because he was with us in that post-production process of season one. And he’s such a storied brain, we brought him in, but yeah, we needed that captain. I had met with Justin and Aaron. I brought them into the studio before season one. We had met generally. I really liked them for Loki. We had already brought on Kate, and so we passed them off to another project, which ended up not working out, either, and then they ended up becoming Moon Knight.

So, they were guys who were in our system, that we liked and had been in the periphery of Loki, and while they were doing additional photography for Moon Knight, I recruited Kevin Feige, the big guns, to go in there and visit them on set and say, ‘Hey, we want you to take the reins of Loki and come in on that.’ So, it was like a meandering process, but it had felt like they were eventually going to come on and work on this.

Loki season one is perfect television in the Mr. Robot sense of the word. Coming off season one, what were the challenges? You’ve established this great world, great villain in Jonathan Majors’ He Who Remains – was it a high bar to jump?

KW: Yes. Incredibly high bar. Partially, though, one of the biggest challenges was, early on, Tom and I just talking about not only was season one good, and then people liked it, which is not a given. We had a really great time making it, and it was a crazy time in the world, but it was, like, a really exciting, happy process for everybody involved, and coming back for a season two did feel a little bit like, well, how do we capture that lightning in a bottle again?

And so, we had a lot of conversations about we can’t just come back and try to play the hits and do what we did in season one, because even if we recapture it and do that again, it won’t be fulfilling, and I think there was a sense of we built something really cool, and the audience went along with it. It was big sci-fi weird stuff, and if they have bought it, it felt like we had a lot of, then, freedom to go further and deeper with these characters and not fast-forward. Like, it had this great cliffhanger.

Let’s pick up in that: what is the drama and the stakes of what is happening with Loki in the TVA with Sylvie? And I think anything that could be scary about picking up in a new season like this goes away when everybody just starts going, what is right for these characters? We’re not trying to build some bigger Marvel arc. We’re not trying to do this. If we’re true to these characters, we will deliver on what people liked about season one, and we can build the world out and dive deeper into these characters and their drama.

So, tonight we see that there’s cacophony. Loki returns to the TVA, Mobius forgets him. Sylvie’s lost. However, the TVA was destroyed in season one, and we come back to place where it’s still in existence. Was this just the best place to start with the mishegoss of timelines?

KW: I think, for us, the exciting thing then was, in that chaos of multiverse, to be able to play with those first few minutes of season two, being loose footing for Loki, trying to make sense of what is happening. Is this a different TVA, which shouldn’t make sense, because it’s outside of time? So, it’s not like it’s a different reality. Is this ours? Why don’t they remember him then?

And I think it just gave us a groundwork. We wanted to come in and not do the same thing in season two. We had a high bar that we wanted to hit, and a cyclical story structure is hard to do. Eric, our writer, even said, I think we can pull this off, but it’s going to be messy for a while, while we figure it out. That opening allowed us the tools and the groundwork to start telling this time-looping narrative, and it was sort of the mechanism to kind of get this whole thing rolling. That just gave us a lot of character drama.

Now Sylvie – we see her for a minute toward the end of episode one. That’s Loki looking into the future…

KW: Yeah. So, in the context of that, he’s been slipping in the past and to the present, and in that moment, he has slipped into the future, and so, he is seeing something in Sylvie that has yet to happen for him on his personal timeline, that will loop back around again.

Does Loki season 2 like other Marvel series bridge to another big movie in the near future? Clearly, the next Avengers: Kang Dynasty, but are there others?

KW: Nothing that I could say in the near future. The implications will ripple into other projects, though, certainly, and the TVA is an organization that will continue to have stories to tell, which is one of the exciting things about it to us.

Is there an arc here? Do you guys have, like, a five-season plan, a three-season plan, or do you take it season by season?

KW: We take it season by season, and there are certainly things that Tom and I and other casts have talked about of where we see this going, and I know there’s some excitement for that internally, but just from a storytelling standpoint, I think we always conceived of seasons 1 and 2 as a whole. That these are two chapters of the same book, and that season two is finishing that book, and there are other stories to be told there, but I think they would be new books, if that’s not too coy.

Are we going to be just as shocked as we were at the end of season one? I mean, season one was jaw-dropping.

I hope so, but what I will say is it’s not a cliffhanger. We want to be able to deliver real fulfillment in what we’re doing, but I do think it’ll be exciting and unexpected and everything people like about this show.

[londonspirit]

Our Flag Means Death is special. From creating a surrealist version of the Golden Age of Piracy, to centering a later-in-life coming-out story, to including people or many races, gender identities, abilities, and cool freaking hairstyles, to moving production for season two from LA to New Zealand in order to highlight the beauty of the land, Lord of the Rings-Style, and build a majority Kiwi crew. It’s makes our pop cultural heart swell to see a production being so intentional with its decisions.

But nowhere is that intentionality more apparent than in OFMD’s music. More than just fun, jokey needledrops, each song in Season One acts as a counterpoint to the action, adding emotion and depth to what becomes a surprising queer love story. A lot of the credit for the show’s unique tone can go to Music Supervisor Maggie Phillips and her team. Leah Schnelbach recently got to speak with Maggie about baroque pop, “The Beautiful Ones”, making “the non-obvious choice”, and—the long-awaited SEASON TWO.

Season two debuts on Max in the U.S. on October 5, and Neon on October 6 and is coming soon to Sky Open in New Zealand.

(This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.)

How do you start? Do you get the script and let you mind wander, or do you pick a period and do a deep dive on songs from a period?

Maggie Phillips: It depends on the project. For [OFMD] I got the scripts—at least the first four or five—so I had enough to have a sense of the love story, and the themes. I made thematic playlists. Sometimes I do character driven playlists. But across the board it starts with scripts and playlists. Then I send the playlist to the director or showrunner and we start a back and forth. And this one, same, except that I’d worked with David Jenkins before on People of Earth, so I knew his taste already, and it’s very similar to mine, which is very melodic, we both like baroque pop, we both like a lot of classical elements in our music and in our pop.

And he’s very encouraging of me to—I realized when we worked on People of Earth—he pushed me to go weird. Some people have me rein it back, but he pushed me to go even further. So, I just start a general playlist, thematically driven, mostly romantic. We wanted to play up the romance in the first season, so a lot of romantic music and songs, pop songs about unrequited love, pining, heartbreak, heart-loss, it’s been a long time since I started these – longing, leaving behind a part of your life and moving on to another part, transition…and then another part was just like, ocean life! And the sea! I made a lot of playlists and sent them over to David, and what actually happens—sometimes we’ll pull from the general playlist. I work closely with the editors on specific scenes and send over specific playlists for each scene that we were listening for. I’d make playlists of 500 songs, and then listen to that for each moment—mostly end credits in Season One—and then send playlists over for spots. But that’s how it starts, and that’s the fun part.

That’s about twenty-five percent of my job. The rest is clearing songs and tracking rights and dealing with budgets, and blah blah blah. (laughs)

One of my favorites is Moondog. How did Moondog… happen?

MP: That’s a song that I’ve had, I love that song. His music is very avant garde, there’s only a handful of his songs that I thought could be synch-able. Even that one, I had saved on a playlist years ago, and hadn’t pitched it to anyone. It hadn’t worked in any moment, this I did not put on the general playlist, i tried specifically for the end of the pilot, and I almost didn’t send it because I thought, there’s no way they’ll go for this. And luckily the editor, the editor is sometimes the middleman, they’ll try out the stuff and show it to David. They’re in the rooms with David more than I am. So like sometimes I’ll send my stuff out to editors and not know which one they’re going to show. I’ll send them 15-20 songs, and they’ll show the director or showrunner three to five choices. But Hilda [Rasula], the editor of the pilot was very collaborative and communicative, and she responded and said which ones she liked and would try, and I knew this was one of them, so I was excited. There was a handful of songs that I loved for that pilot, but this one was one of my top favorites, and she said she was going to show it, but I still didn’t think this was going to be the one they’d pick.

Sometimes I’ll get an email saying we’re putting on [one of the choices], but I didn’t get it for this one, so I got to watch the pilot like an audience member not knowing which song they selected—I immediately knew it from the first note, and was like, “Oh they went with Moondog!” And then I got to watch and see how it works.

It worked beautifully.

MP: That was a really hard spot to nail, and that song is perfect because it’s melancholy and wistful, but there’s also hope. It hits both notes, and he just left his—you have to gloss over that so you can still love Stede, but he left his fuckin’ family. He’s having this intense mid-life crisis and he does what some people dream of, which is starting over, but most people don’t do, you know? I think we hit both notes with that song. And we wanted to hit the humanity on all those characters, we see Jim, we see a few characters in that montage. And the humanity of all of them being in the boat at sea all alone…

Heading out!

MP: Yeah! For the adventure of their lifetimes! (laughs)

It was perfect, I thought. I know from other interviews with you that you had a 300-song playlist for season one, were you able to use any for this season?

MP: For season two? Yes. I definitely we still… we still haven’t scratched the tip of the iceberg like there’s so many songs I have for this show… and there’s only so many songs in the show. There are fifteen in season one and even fewer in season two, and we only have eight episodes to work with. We use one in Episode 1: “Strawberry Letter 23”, the Shuggie Otis. We used one in the trailer, “The Beautiful Ones” by Prince…

That was uhhh pretty great!

MP: That was one of the first songs—I think the first song that David and I spoke about for the show?

Oh! Like, before season one started?

MP: Yeah, even before we spoke about “The Chain”—I can’t remember if “Beautiful Ones” came from David or me? But we talked about Prince and we both bonded on the fact that we loved that song specifically. That literally was the first song I had in my head for the whole show. I think in season one the estate was off-limits because it was soon after his passing, but then by season two his music was licensable again. I’ve been doing this for almost 18 years, and it’s the first time [I’ve licensed his music]. And he’s one of my top ten artists of all time.

When we posted the trailer, I’m pretty sure the tweet I wrote was just screaming about “Beautiful Ones”, I was so excited.

MP: My Instagram post I did like a purple heart, I made my own Prince purple heart background, and put the trailer on top of a ton of purple hearts, and I put a crown on top of one of them. Just the teenage glee of ohmygod, we got a Prince song!

Were there any songs that were absolute no, whether because they were overused, or they just didn’t fit?

MP: There’s one from season one and one from season two, and the one from season one is “Perfect Day”, for the reason you just said. I think it’s been overused, that was one I didn’t pitch, but I kept trying to beat it—it’s an amazing song. There’s a reason it’s been used a bazillion times, cause it’s a perfect song, right? I tried so hard to beat it, and I think I did, to be honest, but there’s an inherent familiarity and comfort when you hear a song you know, and I think that helps that scene. And David was just in love with it, and I understand why, and I’m sure it was very satisfying for the audience.

The one from season two—it’s a Kate Bush. I had advised against it, but, this one I don’t think we could beat it. I had used it myself, “This Woman’s Work”, in Handmaid’s Tale. It wasn’t a song I pitched. I pitched “Running Up that Hill”—which then was in Stranger Things—I pitched that for an end of an episode in Handmaid’s Tale, and the showrunner didn’t want to use that one, but it made him remember “This Woman’s Work”, and he put it into a very controversial scene, for fans of The Handmaid’s Tale—some people hate it, and some people loved it. So, I of course read all the backlash online about using song, and people have strong opinions about it. [OFMD] was right after the Stranger Things TikTok phenomenon, and I thought “We’re gonna look like we’re copycats”, but David was like… “I don’t care.” (laughs) he said, “People have a short attention span when it comes to music and TV”, and he’s right. And it was a Taika [Waititi, OFMD’s Blackbeard/executive producer/sometimes director) song, Taika really wanted that song, he’d wanted to use that song for many years. Then I saw it cut into the episode, and I think they transformed the song. They re-contextualized it and made it their own, even so the lyrics have different meaning than I’ve ever heard listening to it previously. They clearly had a vision, and it gave me chills to watch it.

I’m excited to see how it’s used in this context.

MP: And that’s what I love about my job, you put song and image together and they both change, and in this instance it was really powerful. But I mean, I always, unless it’s a show that doesn’t care about overusing, I always tell David if I have a reaction or an opinion, and one of the things I’ll react to is if a song’s been overused, or feels uninspired—but this one felt inspired once it was cut in.

I feel like this show is so off-kilter, and it’s always surprising. So the other one that I absolutely love was the use of the Beach Boys for the Blackbeard reveal. How did you jump to that? To me that’s their meet-cute, but it’s not actually cute.

MP: No, it’s demonic/angelic, weird vocals…I had tried to use that song in a different tv show, and we got denied actually, because it was a violent scene, so I had that song on a bunch of playlists. I love that song. I think that was one that was on my general playlist. And when I’m trying out music what I do for these scenes is I’ll do a brainstorm playlist where I’ll throw on a whole bunch of songs without knowing what’s going to work and without thinking about it, just like “That’s worth trying, that’s worth trying”—I call it my kitchen sink approach—I try not to overthink what I throw onto that playlist and then I just play those songs against picture, because you never know what’s gonna click, and that’s where you get the non-obvious choices, or like, the counterpoint choices, because you don’t know until you put them together how they’re going to play off each other. And so that was one that when I tested I was like, “Oh fuck, this is beautiful.” Then I sent it to the editor, and fingers crossed that they’ll have the same reaction. I try not to color…like I don’t say in my emails which ones are my favorite, because I want them to have an unbiased reaction. But that one worked, and everyone fell in love with it.

That one, well, they’re all my favorite, but that one might be my favorite favorite. It’s such a good contrast! Stede’s almost dead, Blackbeard’s covered in gore, and then there’s these angelic voices.

MP: Right? They’re saving each other. The relationship is that they’re each others’ saviors, right? I feel like that moment, that song sort of captures that.

But without being too sappy, it’s not a song I ever hear anywhere, so it’s startling. Bigger question: I know for The Dropout you did mid-‘00s indie, because it’s a period piece, horrifyingly, that’s becoming a period piece.

MP: I know right? That made me feel old, those were songs that felt like just the other day?

Yeah (laughter) but for this, obviously it’s the Golden Age of Piracy, but it’s also kind of a surrealist fantasy did you have in mind an era, like “Oh I’m going to use a lot of ‘60s pop to create a thematic contrast”? Or more hodge-podge?

MP: It was more hodgepodge-y, and then David and I both like baroque pop, we both love a harpsichord, and that style’s heyday was ‘60s and ‘70s, and that’s where my sensibility—I love music from that time period. There’s psychedelic rock, and there’s just so much cool stuff that happened back then. It has a timeless classic feel, and then there’s yacht rock happening.

I’m a sucker for yacht rock.

MP: I am too! And it fits the whole fantastical/dude/extreme-mid-life crisis. I hate to call it Dad Music, but there’s an element of that. And not that I think this is a male-driven show, but there is a lot of male energy, and it’s these two dudes’ love story, mostly. But the whole fantasy of escaping your normal existence and going off to live as a pirate has that whole dude-dad-driven energy. So that music works. But I think it if I look at my playlist, it was maybe half ‘60s-‘70s, and half more modern stuff, and that’s just the stuff that was working. For me, the way I listen for music is very emotional and gutteral it’s not as much thinking and making it logical and setting rules, it’s more just what feels right, and the we just kind of ran with it. With The Dropout we wanted a hard timestamp. I was given rules from the outset, and with Dropout, I loved working on it, but it was one of the easier shows I’ve worked on because we had those clear delineations. This song needs to be from these couple years, and it needs to have been a radio hit, there’s only so many songs you can choose from, but when you’re doing a show like Our Flag and there’s no rules at all…

Did you set any boundaries for yourself?

MP: The only boundaries I set was… stuff I hadn’t heard before. I wanted to honor the off-beat weird tone. This is something I’ve never seen before. There’s almost no comparable show. I wanted to honor that with music that was new and different.

The only show that feels similar to me is People of Earth.

MP: I loved that show so much. Not enough people watched that show.

It was so clearly ahead of its time.

MP: There’s been enough TV shows that are weird, people have… it lives in some sort of niche. But when People of Earth came out there hadn’t been enough of those kinds of shows.

Did you come into season two with a different approach at all, or was it more of a flow from Season One?

MP: The only thing that was different is that we get to dive into more of the characters, and we wanted to flesh them out a little bit. We picked a lane that was successful, and we want to stay in it. There’s so much I haven’t done yet [from the first playlist] I hope we get a third season.

Do you have a moment from a movie or TV show that is the perfect music cue for you?

MP: I like really understated music supervisions, like Succession or Roma—it’s such a beautiful movie, very understated, and there’s no score actually. The sound design is so beautiful. You don’t need music, they played up all the soundscape to score it. And there are songs, but they’re very diegetic, just like, on the radio, very elegant and quiet. I like a reserved, economical hand. Or if they make me laugh with their musical choices, like a bold unexpected choice that makes me giggle.

[highdefinitions]

plz tell me abt the new Noah kahan music

first and foremost because i’m a fuckin NERD, the production on these songs are crazy good. i mean i expected that from noah but WOW these have crazy good production

i’m going to talk about them a little bit out of order because i’m going to put no complaints under a cut for trigger warning reasons (sh) but if you read all of this i appreciate you :)

your needs, my needs is a fucking crazy one to start off with. wow. wooooowwwww. it’s so fucking good. crazy emotional. definitely one of my favorites!!! “you asked me why i wasn’t saying a word, i’m naming the stars in the sky after you” is probably one of my favorite lines he’s ever written!!!! and of course, the bridge. he’s the best around at writing them. the build up to just cut back down is one of my most favorite things ever in music.

dial drunk definitely lived up to its hype! i love a song or an album with a little bit of storytelling and this song definitely completed that trilogy of that little story noah wove into the album. and ohhhhh the bridge. so good. and ohhhh the backing vocals coming into the bridge. so fucking good.

paul revere has been around for a while. and i don’t think a lot of people know about that. noah has had a tik tok up of him singing the first verse and i believe chorus on his tik tok since like november. and i’ve been WATCHING it. over and over. such a good song that i feel is definitely going to be underrated

i knew call your mom was going to HURT. of course it did. it’s noah. the chorus kills. the lyric change kills. the story kills. he’s just such an insane storyteller that i can’t help but be so utterly sucked in and HURT by the shit he writes. he said the verses were sadder than the chorus (somehow) and he was RIGHT. that second verse is nothing but pain and agony.

the extended version of the view between villages surprisingly got me more than i thought it was going to. i knew what the extra lines at the end were. i was prepared. but what i was not prepared for were the voice notes. the sick fuck. as soon as i heard them i started crying again.

i’ll try to keep it as vague as i can with this one. no complaints just hit a little too close to home for me. i knew it was going to. but i feel like talking about this and acknowledging it shouldn’t be like a taboo thing or something i’m scared of. it happens. we’re not alone. i know noah said that this song was his story about being put on anti-depressants. i am not on anti-depressants, and i’m working on that, but i do definitely deal with depression. there’s several lines that hit me like a punch to the fucking gut but i think i might just talk about two right now. the main ones anyway. “hope the skin heals where the pain enters” is hard to hear because to me, that line sort of insinuates self harm which is something that i struggle with. it’s getting better but it’s sometimes always on the back of my mind. another line that stings a lot is “i saw the end, it looked just like the middle” is just one of those things where i feel like if you get it you do and it hurts. i don’t want to go crazy into it because it’s hard to talk about. oddly enough i think this song might be my favorite BECAUSE it makes me feel a little more heard than i felt before

[hadescrow333]

As this is my first post, I find it appropriate to start off withe the beginning of creation (accourding to Greek mythology of course)

This portion of the myth will not be dedicated to the gods singular, those will be later posts where each god/titan/etc gets their own post

There are many different stories contradicting eachother, so I’ll try my best to either explain each one or just go withe the one that’s most popular

In the beginning of creation there was only khaos, whom was a great void of nothingness (so very chaotic right?). Then suddenly pop came Gaia, who’s basically Mother Nature earth peep, Tartarus, the deepest pits of the underworld (I love this word TaRtArUs), Eros (but honestly I think it means the personification of love instead of EROS EROS because most versions state Eros is Aphrodite’s child), then Erebus, Darkness (and an amazing name to name a cat), and Nyx, the night (another great cat name) (also the only peep Zeus fears, which I think is pretty cool)

So Gaia (without the help of male productivity) then gave birth to Uranus, who is the sky and I will call Ouranos because that is what I was taught when learning Greek mythology (books my peeps)

Though some accounts state that Gaia and Ouranos were both made from Chaos instead of Gaia birthing him.

Oh and cool little fact, the sky was thought to be a brass dome by the Greeks, and Ouranos was the personification to that brass dome. Brass you may ask? Why brass? Why so specific? That’s the same question I thought to myself, and therefore searched for the answer and actually there was a reason for this. The Greeks did not think of colour in colour, but in scales of brightness. And I guess the Greek thought the sky was shiny, like brass. (Think of that one piece of work where the ocean was deemed wine dark)

Oh I also should probably add that the family history includes Erebus overthrowing Chaos, and then Erebus being overthrown by his children, but that’s a long story I’ll dedicate to another post)

Gaia and Ouranos then became a thAng, and I could go all poetic about how oh the sky and the earth were bound for loneliness so against the odds given to them they became one together, but no I’m not going to because I’m such a good poet. I digress.

Oh and my dude Ouranos decided it would be cool to decree himself supreme deity, cool cool my(😬) dude.

Anyways, Gaia and Ouranos hit it off and had some premeditated children. (Yes. This wording is purposeful. No. I will not explain.)

Now to go into the kids of Ouranos, yay..

(There is no foreshadowing here folks!)

So Ouranos sired children withe Gaia, the first set being six sons. Three Cyclops (one eyed peeps), there names being Brontes, Arges, aand Steropes. And three (insert me staring at the google search of how to spell this) Hecatonchires, named Briares, Cottus, and Gyges. They were dubbed the One Hundred Handed Ones(I’m pretty sure if you’ve read Percy Jackson Briares is in a part of it(?))

Well, Ouranos was awfully concerned about how powerful these giants are, so he locked them away. There is some debate about where he locked them up, but it’s widely believed he locked them in the deepest pits of Tartarus.

Gaias, as most mothers would, did not quite agree withe this, and wasn’t all too happy withe him. This is fine, nothing is bound to happen right? (…)

Oh little fun fact about myself, while doing this I had my big ole mythology book that I love and have no recollection of getting (I just found out I stole it from my father, and he’s never getting it back), but do know it is a good flower press. And very informative (which is good because it’s huge and has a very decient portion that is deticated to Greek myths yay) My delicate dried flowers are falling (I mean, sorta, I would never actually let them fall but they are taking damage and potential destruction so it COUNTS) as I type this out, know I have sacrificed greatly to bid thee information I already know and honestly only need the book for spelling (yes I am proud of my useless knowledge of Greek myths) I DIGRESS.

So as this is happening (or maybe after, it doesn’t directly state, only specifically states that the giants were first created before the titans) Gaia also birthed the 12 Titans. Who are Oceanus, Tethys, Hyperion, Theia, Coeus, Phoebe, Kronos, Rhea, krios, Japetus, Themis, and Mnemosyne.

So Oceanus was the titan god of the great oceanic river that forever circles the world. (I. WILL. EXPLAIN. In another post this is getting long and I’m not even halfway done) His wife is his sister Tethys (if you don’t like it go away because you definitely won’t like Greek mythology, oh and they practically don’t have the same DNA or morals as us sooo)

Hyperion was the first sun god, and his sister Theia was his wife.

(You do not know how hard it is to not digress and spill facts and stories BECAUSE THERES SO MUCH THAT ISNT SAID ON HERE the only thing saving me is that I have other posts I can rant about them on)

Coeus, who isn’t very important other then his offsprings tales, wived his sister Phoebe.

Kronos, the youngest of the bunch, married to Rhea, who was the titan of motherhood, and other foreshadowing things.

Ok this is getting long the rest of them are Krios, Japetus, Themis (goddess of justice), and Mnemosyne (goddess of memory)

So let’s get back to Gaia, as I said before she was livid at Ouranos for ya know yeeting her giant children to the great pits of Tartarus, and then imprisoning her titan children in her womb, so she took her titan children and was all like “oh my dear lovelys please go kill your father for me?” And then committed one of the most famous divorces in all of mythology.

Gaia created flint to make a sickle, then once done making it she told one of her titan children to murder their father withe it. I like to guess all of them looked at her in bafflement, for none of them took the sickle from her offered hand, except for one. (Insert mic drop)

Kronos, youngest and seemingly weakest decided he was worthy and took the sickle.

Then they conspired a plan, the plan being several versions. The main version being; for Kronos to strike once Ouranos and Gaia are settled down to lay, and the some of the other titans holding him down (another post my friends another post). So this is what Kronos did.

Once Ouranos was laying down withe Gaia, Kronos went boo, and castrated Ouranos withe the sickle. He then threw the genitals into the ocean (where Aphrodite was created by the sea foam where the genitals fell, later on but that’s a story for another post) From his blood giants popped up, as well as the Erinyes, furies who tormented the criminal minds later on when humans were a thing, and ash tree nymphs.

It’s not stated clear what exactly happened to Ouranos, some versions state that he died, that he withdrew from the earth, or that he exiled himself to Italy. (Yes. Italy. Very specific right? And there. Is. No. Elaboration.) All that’s known is that as he deported he said the Kronos “you shall be punished” (very original)

Yup ok that’s all I’ll do the gods and that age later byeee

[in-my-feels-probably]

hi! congrats on hitting 1k! <3 could i request Fred Weasley (romantically) please? I chose him because of his personality mainly, just that i really like his personality and find it really attractive

my name is Elodie (she/her), i didnt know if i had to include it or not but i thought so since i like that its quite a unique and rare name

i've got quite long, wavy, blonde hair (down to about the top of my waist) and green eyes and i would say im somewhat tanned

i absolutely love anything history related, i can name every english monarch, almost every single thing that happens in the tudor dynasty and i know so many greek myths and could talk about the ancient greek every day life, mythology or theatre for days tbh. i love going to museums or art galleries and could spend hours in them, i usually drag my friends around them with me as well

i get high grades, usually top or second to top of the class, i wont lie i do usually need academic validation

i love classics, romance and fantasy books sm, some of my favourites are heartless, six crimson cranes, circe and macbeth

pink is def my favourite colour by far

i love slow burns that dont drag on too long and allow time in the story to see the couple happy n stuff and soulmate tropes, they always feel so sweet, i love movies like that - my favs are howls moving castle, little women (2019) and cinderella (2015)

sorry if this was too much, i didnt really know how much you'd want so i just included all that, tysm anyways! <3

hi!

thank you for participating :)

i wouldn’t consider fred a very academically inclined person. it’s not that he’s bad at it, he just think there’s better use of his time. muggle studies is really the only version of history he’d get, and he probably wouldn’t pay much attention to it. so while he probably wouldn’t be that fascinated by history, i do think he’d hyperfixate on things a lot. so he’d think it was really cute when you’d ramble about something you found interesting, and he’d listen to you with a smile on his face even if he wasn’t personally interested in whatever it is you were talking about. he’d also really appreciate that you listen to him ramble on about whatever he’s interested in, so he’d always want to return the favor. i actually do think he’d find mythology interesting. and he’d use any excuse to go to muggle london with you and let you drag him around to the museums and galleries. he’d also sit with you while you studied, despite being bored out of his mind. but he knows how important to you it is, and he wants you to he happy. and plus, it wouldn’t hurt him to get a little studying in too.

i don’t think he’s a reader either, but i do think he’d actually really enjoy the classics and epics. something tells me he’s a sappy romantic, and i do think he also would love the adventures. and he really likes you, so he would really love laying with you while you read to him. honestly, i don’t think he’d really mind what you did together, as long as you were with him.

despite him not really paying attention to academic things, i do think he really pays attention to things that matter to him. he’d notice the little things about you, and all the things like and the things you don’t like. it’s really sweet, he’d show it in little things. when he started developing products with george for the shop, he’d keep you in mind.

one day over the summer, he’d invite you to the burrow. at night, he and george would set off a case of fireworks they developed. the last one would explode into giant pink hearts that twinkled.

you’d smile, watching them sparkle in the sky. “pink. i like pink.”

“i know that, darling,” he’d smile, throwing an arm around your shoulder. “i picked it for you.”

“you did?”

he’d smile, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. “i did. contrary to popular belief, i do notice things. i knew you’d like it.”

“i do,” you’d say, wrapping your arms around his waist.

“you gonna help me with the next batch of products? i need your smart little brain, george isn’t cutting it.”

you’d chuckle, nodding. “of course i will, love. only if you don’t use any of them on me, though.”

he’d smirk, shaking his head. “no promises, darling. no promises.”

—

thanks again for participating! hope you liked this :)

[themovieblogonline]

Dark Matter Season 2: Apple TV+ Takes Us Deeper Into the Multiverse

Hold on to your alternate realities, folks—Dark Matter is back for a second season, and it's ready to mess with your mind all over again. If you thought the first season had more twists than a pretzel at a carnival, get ready for round two, because Apple TV+ is pulling no punches. If you tuned in for Season 1, you know it ended on a cliffhanger that left everyone asking, "What just happened?" It’s like that moment when you realize you’ve been binging a show for so long that you forgot what daylight looks like, except Jason Dessen, played by Joel Edgerton, isn’t just lost in time—he’s bouncing around an entire multiverse. Blake Crouch, the genius behind the original book, is back in the driver's seat, but this time he's driving us into uncharted territory. Since Season 1 pretty much covered the novel’s plot, Crouch is going off-script for Season 2. That’s right, folks, there’s no book to tell us where we’re headed. It’s like Crouch handed us a map, but he left out the “You Are Here” marker. Good luck! The Plot Thickens—And So Does Reality In Season 1, we watched as Jason, a physicist with a pretty standard life, got yanked out of his comfy Chicago existence and thrown into alternate realities that make The Twilight Zone look like a kid’s coloring book. Now, Season 2 is set to dive even deeper into this labyrinth of realities. With every step, Jason is up against his biggest enemy: himself. Or at least multiple versions of himself. Yep, it’s as if every bad decision you've ever made could come back to haunt you. And let's not forget the stellar cast that’s coming back for more reality-bending action. Alongside Edgerton, we've got the ever-talented Jennifer Connelly, Alice Braga, Jimmi Simpson, and Dayo Okeniyi. If that lineup doesn’t make you want to press play, I don’t know what will. Oh, and the great city of Chicago is practically a character itself, lending its gritty streets to this multiversal tale. What’s New in the Multiverse? But what really has fans buzzing is Blake Crouch’s recent announcement on social media: he’s working on another book. While details are still under wraps, we can’t help but wonder—will it tie into the Dark Matter universe? Could we see crossovers between his novels? Inquiring minds (and those who love a good multiverse theory) want to know. working on that — Blake Crouch (@blakecrouch1) August 18, 2024 Season 2 promises to take us even further into the complexities of the multiverse. With new stories on the horizon, Crouch has hinted that we’ve only just scratched the surface of what these characters—and their alternate selves—can do. And let’s be real: in a world where anything is possible, the sky’s not even the limit. Why Should You Care? Because Dark Matter is the show that’s making quantum physics cool again. And no, you don’t need a PhD to keep up, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a notepad handy. Plus, with Apple TV+ behind it, you know the production value is top-notch. We’re talking mind-bending effects, heart-pounding drama, and more plot twists than a rollercoaster designed by M.C. Escher. So, whether you’re a die-hard fan of the book or just someone who loves a good sci-fi thriller, Season 2 of Dark Matter is going to be a wild ride. Apple TV+ has already proven they can deliver with shows like Foundation and For All Mankind, and Dark Matter is no exception. Get ready to dive into a world where every decision leads to a new reality, and trust me, you won’t want to miss a single second. Final Thoughts Blake Crouch and Apple TV+ have set the stage for another mind-blowing season. If Season 1 was the appetizer, then Season 2 is shaping up to be a full-course meal—with a side of existential crisis. So, buckle up, keep your quantum theory cheat sheet nearby, and prepare for Dark Matter Season 2 on Apple TV+. Because in this multiverse, the only thing certain is uncertainty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuinsBFOgts&list=PLsD5qP1WqKt7e6FRK5g_8MEtGahu74yPe&pp=gAQBiAQB   Read the full article

[usagirotten]

Movie Review: Code 8: Part II is an honest, simple and interesting sequel

Ordinary people who become extraordinary when they acquire extra human power or abilities is a very recurring theme in the superhero genre, whether in comics, novels, movies, video games, and more, each of them tries to tell their version of things by opening the possibility of new universes, new franchises, and new sagas that aim to be to the taste of locals and strangers. Independent productions such as Unbreakable (2000), Sky High (2005), Hancock (2008, Jumper (2008), Push (2009), Chronicle (2012), and Power Rangers (2017) to name a few, the streaming giant Netflix has also collaborated with Code 8 (2019), Project Power (2020), The Old Guard (2020) and Samaritan (2022) have been their projects that have tried to compete with the large productions of Warner Bros and Marvel Studios respectively. We know well that this genre is already very worn out, there are no new things that can show us and surprise us now or it is the remake or it is the reboot of everything that we already know and that they try to tell over and over and over again, on the one hand we have to the mutants in Marvel and on the other hand we have other types of mutants on this platform. Code 8 had a very different premise, its approach of people with abilities that they could not use because they were considered dangerous to the rest of the rest and forming rebel groups to help citizens had its moment, the plan was to make all of this a new saga that will further explore what happens with these super powerful ones, in 2024 director Jeff Chan returns with Code 8: Part II that promises to have more action than his first installment.

What is the movie about?

Five years after the events of Code 8, the LCPD has reformed its military technology division program by replacing the armed humanoid robots known as Guardians with non-lethal K9 robots, Pav (Sirena Gulamgaus), a teenager with special abilities, seeks the help of an ex-convict (Robbie Amell) and his ex-accomplice (Stephen Amell) after witnessing the murder of his brother by these new robots and their subsequent cover-up, together they will face a unit of corrupt police officers who use advanced robotic technology to avoid being exposed. Thinking about this being a nascent film saga was to be expected, although its first part was well received we were left with more questions than answers that we believed would never be answered, this could be a strong sequel that could almost feel more evolved and more complete, the films place us in a world where 4% of the world's population are people endowed with a special ability, which means that they have some type of mutant power that they can use for good or evil and it is proposed that they cannot there are good people without people being doing the opposite and benefiting from this. The first film focuses on the construction of this world and the presentation of its characters, this sequel, and with the previous already stated focuses more on a story about the powerful oppressing the weak and about the rights that each one has and how they do justice, from corruption in large government and military spheres to those who are persecuted for defending their values and ideals and what both sides are willing to do to avoid crossing that fine line between those who are considered fugitives and criminals and those who are considered fugitives and criminals. Corrupt police officers seeking to gain the power to control everything. This second installment begins when Connor (Robbie Amell) finishes his prison sentence, he pays his part for the crimes committed and more without ratting out anyone else who was involved, having paid his debt and feeling good about himself, he now works as a janitor in a center community, an unnecessary site for that world, he likes to be busy and maintain a very low profile in addition to not wanting to know or have anything to do with his former criminal partner Garrett who is still on the streets. Garrett sees Connor the day he gets out of prison and tells him that he owes him a favor for taking the blame and not ratting out anyone, an event that will be important later, however, all Connor wants from Garrett is to never meet again. never see him again something that Garrett is not willing to fulfill so easily because he has plans to continue with this alliance and this "friendship" Connor's idea of living calmly and without problems away from the criminal world changes radically when he wants to help Pav, a teenager who is being chased by corrupt police officers. From the beginning, he considers that in this world things are not what they seem. and you cannot trust others, there is a very thin line between police officers and criminals and alleged criminals, when you are chased the only ones who can help you escape are the criminals who have connections within that underworld.

It is very interesting how you have a clear vision of how both sides operate, on the one hand, the police within all their corruption is organized so that the citizens who know what is happening do nothing about it, and on the other how criminal groups and fugitives are organized with the skills to not be discovered and continue operating without the world knowing that they exist and what they are willing to do to protect themselves and others. Connor feels a very special connection with Pav and decides to help her, his pursuers are led by Sergeant King (Alex Mallari Jr.) who we can define not as the typical antagonist but as a specific son of a bitch who doesn't even care about the laws. nor the others if this does not bring him a benefit that is mostly economic, much to his regret and after everything that has happened to him he sees the need to ask for help once again from Garrett and his team, it will be quite a feat that they manage to agree and put aside their motivations for a common goal that does not benefit either of them. In the first part, we met some variations of Superhumans, this sequel has new characters with new abilities, the main story is that of Pav who is a "Transducer" She can connect with communication devices, hear and see in her mind everything that is is transmitting, having this ability is dangerous for a corrupt police force and for anyone who does not want their secrets to be revealed or at least known to a stranger, upon witnessing the death of his brother he discovers that there is something else, a well-kept secret that if it came to light it would change everything they have known until now as their security. The secret Pav uncovers is directly related to the LCPD's new non-lethal robotic dogs known as K9. apparently and then we know it's true these robots are interconnected to a central brain that has a hidden directive one that Sergeant Kingston is leading after the robotic officers of the previous installment, the Guardians, created a lot of controversy and mistrust due to their brutality, something is taken out of Terminator (1984) and the goal of the LCPD is to avoid violence at all costs or at least that is what they make citizens believe without revealing their true intentions. The K9 that Pav sees carries with him a needle with enough Psyke to cause an overdose, murder without the police being involved, even though the brother surrendered and with his hands up Kingston orders the robotic dog to inject him with the drug until they kill it, the last thing these robotic dogs do is protect others. They are just a more effective and violence-free way to get rid of people with special abilities, and for that and many more things they were created. It is inevitable not to make a comparison with the episode of the series Black Mirror in its 4th season in episode 5 titled Metalhead where in a shocking black and white we see very similar creatures, it is not surprising that being also a product of Netflix these universes are connected later and this may be a less evolved version, being aware that they cannot flee forever especially when the alert has been given on television that they are fugitives and that the police have their data and the necessary resources To find them, Connor and Pavani plan to expose Kingston's hidden plan to the world. As expected and very predictable, Garrett pretends but betrays them, he has been collaborating with Kingston for several years and paying the police so that his business prospers and goes unnoticed, an agreement that allows him to offer more humane conditions to cerebrospinal fluid donors and return money to the community, a noble act with good intentions but one that is based on illegality and that removes too much credibility from what it does and why it does it. Connor and Pav's plan is to steal Kingston's personal K9, which contains the videos they need to expose him, which will not be easy. First, they will have to face the police and then the robot who is not so willing to let them know. information that is encrypted is copied or stolen, the action handled here has a dose of suspense that makes this film one of the best planned in terms of its sequences. Garrett tries to negotiate a new deal with Kingston using the blackmail of knowing about the videos but things don't go well as the sergeant stabs him and breaks into the building looking for Pav to eliminate her before she reveals anything he already knows. The confrontation between police and criminals is inevitable while Connor faces a K9 and his lethal needle full of Psyke, Pav finds a way to help him by controlling his ability affecting his technological devices with his weakened powers they manage to leave the building with the memory device and they can send the images to the whole world through the camera of a television crew and this is how the death of Pav's brother is broadcast throughout Lincoln City, it is also revealed that Kingston has powers that he hid to rise through the ranks in the LCPD and is arrested.

Three months later, the future for everyone looks hopeful, Connor has reopened the community center offering a safe place for children like Pav and people who have been persecuted or have no resources, Lincoln City is recovering and Kingston is found guilty of massive corruption and the K9 program is suspended and under a deeper investigation involving senior military officials, the city council announces that to help those affected by the Kingston crimes they will pass a bill that will release millions of dollars to the community of Monumental Hill and will restrict the use of robotics as citizen protection since Psyke's rates are increasing and come from an unknown source. In the last scene, we see that Garret is serving his sentence in the Lincoln City prison while his organization continues to operate on the streets now in a much more discreet way, which opens the possibility of a third party that at some point will see the light. The fact that most of the technical team returns make this production feel like a sequel and not like a self-contained independent film. Director Jeff Chan knows very well how to handle drama and action sequences without any of them losing impact. In the audience, the writers Chris Paré, Sherren Lee, Jesse LaVercombe, and Chan himself take elements from films and television series and do not worry about hiding it, the message is clear and forceful, and values ​​such as friendship and helping are present since the previous installment, assuming the consequences of actions and blah blah blah is very trite and here it works without having to be so obvious and pretentious. The special effects and the creation of this decadent world have evolved, the new characters and their new abilities make this universe more and more concrete, the K9 looks sinister, dangerous, and imposing, as secondary antagonists they are a good resource at the service of the plot and that could give more as a subplot and know more in-depth about its creation, its time on screen is just and bordering on only what is necessary, there are no shots or scenes in which we see that there are thousands of them on the streets accompanying to police officers or doing what they are supposed to do, they are simply lethal machines and that's it, there is no further explanation, the powers that these characters now present are telekinesis, electrokinesis, cryokinesis, pyrokinesis, techno kinesis, telepathy, healing, super strength, shapeshifters, high-resistance skin, camouflage, and super speed that if they had been more developed would have more impact. The fault it has is that although the story is interesting and the script is well structured, the time that has passed between its first part and this one, that everything happens 5 years later as it has been in real-time makes us think that this can also be used to tell stories that exist with other characters in that period, there is a lot of material that can be used in the right way and this work shows that things can go from good to better. The cast is made up of Robbie Amell, Stephen Amell, Sirena Gulamgaus, Altair Vincent, Alex Mallari Jr., Moe Jeudy-Lamour, Aaron Abrams, and Jean Yoon who do what they should do with their characters, the chemistry between the Amell brothers is The strongest point, the jokes and interaction they have is real and we see that they are having fun embodying these mutants. Ryan Taubert returns as composer of the soundtrack, doing a much superior job than the previous one, each piece is perfectly designed to be part of what we see audiovisually, he is another character that has the importance and relevance of him. In conclusion, Code 8: Part II is a good work despite its non-existent promotion, it is honest, simple, and very interesting that develops, concretizes, contributes, and entertains but once again leaves us with more questions than answers, it does not offer more answers, unfortunately, It does not explore beyond what we see, it does not risk telling everything or revealing more data that could be important, so we will surely have to wait for a possible third chapter. Code 8 and 8: Part II are available on the Netflix platform. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omBi2KxEcRk Read the full article

[druid-in-hiding]

From the above: "I think there is actually some kind of trauma associated with this dysfunctional relationship with Earth?"

Yes. Exactly. And it's not particularly hidden. It's the crux of the story that started "The Agricultural Revolution"

Like any good hack, I tend to be obsessed about how things came to be. In the case of civilization, the answers keep getting clearer and clearer. Thanks to the library of Ashusbanipal and books like Against the Grain…

So, the common myth I’ve covered before but will summarize here. Babylon’s myths borrowed heavily from Sumer, kind of a Roman from the Greeks kind of vibe.

Here’s the legendary gist

There was chaos, then there were the main gods (Anu–the sky–being one). From the main gods came a multitude of gods, which pissed off the original powers. Ultimately, the gods, under either Anu or his Babylonian-only kid Marduk, rose up and killed the two worst offenders. Apsu first, who was freshwater, followed by the much tougher Tiamat, who was saltwater.

The solution required a lot of labor, which the gods revolted against, so they created humans as slaves to maintain the first (and all subsequent) civilizations.

At some point (pertinent later), the humans pissed off the gods and they took them out in a big flood, except for one hero and his ark full of animals who was warned by a trickster god to get the hell out of there before everyone else got slaughtered. The gods promised not to do that again (since it was shades of Tiamat/Apsu’s crime).

And thus civilization was born.

That’s the myth version.

The modern version is this

Myths are meaningless stories told to keep people in order. Civilization rose during an unprecedented era of climate stability, where people discovered how to farm, a technology distinct from the wanderings of hunter-gather societies. This allowed the people of the Tigris-Euphrates valley to engage in a technology that transformed their dry land into something productive so starving people wouldn’t starve. From this came specialization and from that came cities.

And thus civilization was born.

This is also a myth.

A small problem…

The second version sounds succint and convincing, right? And it doesn’t shy away from problems, like the accompanying diseases/chronic illnesses that came with sedentary life. It just notes that farming was a reproductive success and led to the advanced civilization we enjoy today, whereas starving H/G cultures… well…

Unfortunately for the common narrative, history is far, far messier than that.

The technology of modifying the environment was already hundreds of thousands, if not a million, years old. In part, this was thanks to human pyrophiles spending a lot of times burning things for the better of the tribal community. And it got very, very sophisticated long before Sumer, with growing techniques shared along robust and surprisingly far reaching trade routes.

Embedded in this was the idea that having a very diverse set of delicious foodstuffs–and handy resources like medicine / shelter–was great for both the short and long term health of a community. Something befalls the barley crop? Eh. We can get by on the other stuff.

And it wasn’t a hell of a lot of work either. Estimate was 4 hours a day down to 20 hours a week in good situations. Plenty of time to shape a society to your needs, sedentary or otherwise.

Sumeria at the time when civilization began was a wetland. Plenty of food. Great ability to maintain its population. Farming would have made it less secure, not more. So what the hell happened?

And what about those myths? Why are they important? Well, myths are, at heart, the stories we drill into the heads of our kids, so that society keeps working. That means it might be a metaphor; it might not. But it’s reliably something the elders thought was vitally needed for the next generation.

Here’s where it gets complicated

I’ve discussed in various blog posts (not on tumblr) that Marduk / Anu was basically an engineer that dealt with flooding, first from the river, then from the sea. Up until now, I didn’t know how.

Originally, I was working off the same assumption others were: Sumer was dry and that the discovered artifacts were evidence of irrigation ditches (which makes sense in a dry region). If it was a wetland, though, the metaphor becomes much clearer.

Proto-Sumer wasn’t starving; we know that. The wetland provided. That didn’t mean there couldn’t be mega-deaths though. Mega-deaths through the very climate change that brought overall stability.

If the river or ocean was flooding relatively randomly, that could seriously jeopardize their social stability. And being pyrophiles doesn’t help against big floods or the diseases that would flourish with it. Anu or Marduk came up with a two-step process to deal with the situation that was brilliant.

First off, they knew that the answer to the flooding was well designed drainage ditches. Mythologically, the tearing of the earth could be storied into the ripping into of Tiamat or Apsu, killing them. The problem, of course, would be that this realistically would kill the wetlands. Diversity of food goes >poof<! The people would absolutely know that this would be the consequence.

However, Anu (or Marduk) also was in charge (or knew about) of obtaining substantial amounts of food through seasonal flooding. Broadcast certain grasses during that time and weed the fields and you get astonishing, reliable yields. It’s actually some of the easiest gardening you can do.

Mono-cropping (or reduced fields) could also lead to better control

It would take care of some of the disease-carriers that appeared with a more robust ecosystem. Plagues would reduce their ferocity, or at least be better contained.

Hells, Marduk probably figured that you could double the drainage ditches as irrigation ditches later on, restoring his culture to its former greatness. His plan would save people. Life would go on.

Couple of issues. In its initial phases, it was a lot of work and the resulting drop in health would have been dramatic as they suffered a loss from diversity of food. However, there was also an uptick in population, the grain they used had some medicinal properties (did you know that wheat contains exorphins? which are basically mild opiates), and trade was still available. These were better odds than death by flood and plague.

Those problems could also be overcome by employing slave labor, which is exactly what they did. According to the myths, another group lived nearby in an active famine (likely due to Marduk/Anu’s little terraforming project). In the story, the gods made these from clay (white clay being something folks ate when they were starving) and declared them “human”, the permanent underclass to the gods.

Look at Anu’s tale. It’s the equivalent of someone saying “Back in highschool, we were like GODS.” and then removing the word “like”. And then declaring the glee club to be subhumans who should serve you for the rest of their miserable lives.

While people weren’t looking, something else crept in

It’s an interesting story. This idea that man became god by conquering the forces of nature. It’s not complete, though. It’s not complete because even science has fallen for it’s own hype: the common myth that we’re the smart ones.

However, we’re not a “smart” people (how do you even judge that without comparisons?). We are a storied people. And if you want proof of that, here’s what happened next to Sumer and everyone who copied their technology (often out of desperation).

Grass domesticated us.

It’s kind of counter-revolutionary, isn’t it? To consider that a plant got one over on us. But that’s what happened. This plant convinced us that we had to work so hard and treat it so well that literally it had to spend no energy spreading across the planet.

Along with grass came obligates that thrived alongside it. Mice, rats, birds, cats, dogs. Things that unhealthy humans, living on a limited diet, turned to try and grasp for a healthy lifestyle. Because it took so much work, they found it harder to move. They created specific technology to overcome the elements.

Enough food to expand exponentially. Enough diseases due to crowding and animal husbandry to keep that population far lower until recently.

The Babylonian myths filled the gaps Sumer left behind

It slowly transformed into the monstrous founder of civilization we know it for today. They not only pointed out the solution to Tiamat and Apsu (tear at their flesh! Bleed them dry!), but also how cities must have slaves AND that the initial impetus was flooding.

That second story–the one about the Ark and the flood–gained importance because it reflected the original battle against Tiamat and Apsu, except this time it was a human, protected by the technology of the Sumerian “gods” that survived to replant the world anew.

Anew.

Anu.

We are a people conquered by grass, spreading its gospel across the world, destroying everything so that the cycle can begin anew but never end.

Now to find a way out of that…

in the future, Braiding Sweetgrass will be assigned to all students to read in school, and mostly they will hate it, because it seems to them like poorly structured rambling about nature and vignettes from the author's life. Soooooooo boring!

We will struggle to explain to them: no, no, this book was actually completely revolutionary for its time. When Kimmerer talks about the honorable harvest, learning to listen to the teachings of the plants, understanding nature as animate and alive, and the relationship of reciprocity and mutual dependence between humans and other life forms, these are ideas that were genuinely new and mind-blowing to us when we were young.

It wasn't just those in power that saw nature as "Resources" or some kind of mechanical system that would be better off without human interference—almost no one else knew another way to think. Yes, yes, we knew about symbiosis, but we hardly ever applied it to ourselves. Kimmerer is serious when she says her cultural perspective was almost wiped out; the culture we inherited as children literally didn't have the concepts she is talking about, and that's why the book was so important!

We will tell the students that it would have been weird even among "environmentalists" of the time to think of trees and insects as your family. I mean, well, yes, we knew that everything was related, but we thought Charles Darwin was the first to come up with that. You don't understand, we will say, most of these ideas about living in right relationship with nature would have been thought of as extra-scientific, sentimental or spiritual crap.

"Did you just not know where food and clothes came from?" they will ask, with eyebrows raised. Yes, but back then, food was mostly grown in enormous fields of only one crop where everything else had been killed with chemicals. We didn't really think of agricultural environments as "ecosystems"—"nature" was a separate thing—I mean yeah, we harvested logs from forests, but that was different. No, we basically thought Earth was divided into "human uses" and "nature," and that people shouldn't be in the "nature" parts. No, really!

The students will be fascinated and ask things like "But what about parks?" "Would a hay field be nature or human uses?" "How about pollinator gardens?" "What about the ocean?" and we will try to explain to them that we really just didn't think that hard about it

[world-cinema-research]

Week 5 Blog Post - Chloe Ziegler

The movie I watched this week was E.T. It is a science fiction movie about a young boy who finds an alien in his backyard. As the story unfolds, they realize he needs to get back home and rush to help him before it’s too late. The movie came out in 1982, starring young Henry Thomas as Elliot and directed by Steven Spielberg. As soon as the movie came out it became an immediate success, and surpassed many other hit movies at the time. In the box office the movie has earned almost 800 million dollars while the production budget only cost them 10.5 million. In all of its success, many awards were presented like the Academy Awards, Golden Globe awards, and the Saturn Awards to name a few. 

Many critics would agree with each other that this is an instrumental film in the success of Hollywood blockbusters. It was widely loved when it came out so they even re-released versions of it that included unseen footage many years after. One famous movie critic, Roger Ebert, mentions that "the whole movie is based on what moviemakers call "point of view." Almost every single important shot is seen either as E.T. would see it, or as Elliott would see it. And things are understood as they would understand them." It points out many of the camera angles which I found odd throughout the movie. The movie presents itself from a child’s point of view and that’s what makes it unique. From any of the adults' points of view, E.T. would’ve been weird or scary but the curiosity of Elliot makes it what it is. 

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/et-the-extra-terrestrial-2002

The year 1982 was huge for both America and the world as a whole. In this year there were many technological advancements. One of the events that happened this year was when a man received the world's first artificial heart. The man who received the artificial heart remained alive for 112 days after the surgery. This is significant because it shows us that the world is growing rapidly and so is our innovations and technology. In terms of the film industry, during this year sci-fi movies excelled and E.T. being at the top of that list. E.T. reflects many of these innovations though through the use of CGI and animatronics which hadn’t been seen very often.

E.T. is a unique movie in all aspects. The story is about an alien and a young boy becoming friends while they have to avoid the authorities. The way it’s filmed allows the viewers to understand the kids who feel like they have to avoid adults and authorities. It opens our minds up because that is what we would predict to happen but those seem to be the people who hurt E.T. It is not like other films either. Steven Spielberg does a great job of making a science fiction film but he also plays into the emotions of the viewers by allowing Elliot and E.T. to have both a physical and emotional connection to one another. At one point the kids learn that Elliot has a home too though that he needs to get back too and he says "Phone. Home. E.T. phone home" as he points through the window at the sky. Many of the scenes of the adults in the film are recorded from their waists down which is how a child would see them and I think that is also very interesting.

The themes presented throughout the movie include adventure, eeriness, excitement and most of all curiosity. These are mostly brought through the music and the acting which create the atmosphere we see. The movie takes place in a suburban town and is familiar to many people’s own homes in that sense. Some of Hofstede’s cultural elements present in the movie include the power distance index and individualism vs. collectivism. These are seen in the way that the kids feel like they must avoid the authorities and work alone to help E.T. It is specific to kids and how they perceive the world but it attracts a wide audience because it is relevant to many cultures.

This is definitely a more conventional film in the story line but there are several unconventional aspects present. It follows the direction of the kids making a discovery, having to solve the problems they encounter, and then help E.T. to have a happy ending. Elliot even says to E.T. at one point “You could be happy here, I could take care of you. I wouldn't let anybody hurt you. We could grow up together, E.T.” But, they know he can’t stay. Throughout the movie we only really see the kids' perspectives, we see E.T. and Elliot have a connection to one another’s body, and we see Elliot lose E.T. in the end. It works though because while we don’t see the authorities, we are able to piece together the ideas that E.T. is being searched for and that E.T. is becoming more attached to him. Overall, it is a unique story that was different for its time and had only been seen a few times before but became a huge hit.

[primofate]

Breaking Up (Part 3-Final) Albedo x gn!reader

Scenario: Breaking up and getting back together again

Characters: gn! reader x Albedo

Warnings: This is the FLUFF part. Not proofread. 

Categories: angst in Part 1, comfort in Part 2, Fluff in Part 3

Read: (Part 1)  (Part 2)

You hummed a light tune as you walked around fields, gathering herbs from trees and shrubs. The sun was about to set, and it painted a slightly orange hue on the sky. 

“Y/N,” You stand and turn, sunsettia gathered around your arms and other herbs in your backpack. Albedo is walking towards you with a soft smile, and you return it with a bigger one. “Albedo,” you pipe up and jog to meet him halfway. He thinks you’re a little bit like a puppy sometimes, it’s just not possible to resist the eyes that look up at him expectantly. 

All his fears came crashing down on him once more and he half-panicked. 

He wraps one arm around your waist and leans in for a quick kiss on the nose as a greeting, before pulling away and helping you with the sunsettias. “You lost track of time again,” he states and you just laugh sheepishly. “Ah...yeah, I get too into ingredient gathering sometimes...”

Albedo had gotten home and found a note on the table stating where you were. Just like he had requested. Weeks following the two of you getting back together there’d been an incident where he came home and found that you weren’t there yet again. 

Had he done something wrong? 

Did he say something bad? 

Where were you? 

Did you leave again? 

Only to have you strolling into the house the next moment, smile on your face, saying that you went out to do some shopping. He swept you into a hug that confused you. He was beyond terrified that it might have happened again.

He’d go as far as to say that it was borderline PTSD. 

“Can you kindly do me a favor and leave a note if you’ve gone out? It would really... make me feel better,”

And you understood. Perhaps you would’ve felt the same way. If you came home late at night and found that he wasn’t home yet. You’d tend to think that something happened to him, and so you complied to his request. 

He’d become a little better at managing his time. He figured Sucrose could handle more responsibilities and figured that he could also work a little bit at home. Readings and research did count as work, the only downside was that he had to borrow books from the library and bring it all the way back home, but he didn’t care much about that. You kept the house so warm and cozy that it was the perfect place to concentrate and be productive. 

“Come,” Albedo beckoned you from the chair of his makeshift office at home. You tilt your head, as you were about to leave the tea on his table and leave him to work again but he’d grabbed your hand and tugged you towards him.

“Can I help you?” You asked with a slight grin to your question. He pulls you over to his lap, arms around your waist and has your back flush against his front. His head hovering above your shoulder as he continues his reading as if everything was normal, and as if you weren’t sitting on his lap. “Am I just going to stay here?” You giggle and tilt your head back to look up at him.

A small smile cracks on his face as he shushes you, “Shh, absolute concentration is needed during research, Y/N,” but he lets go of the papers he was holding and leans back into his chair, nuzzling into the crook of your neck. “You’re required to stay until my energy levels are back to normal,” 

“And what’s your energy levels now?” You play along with his little game, him starting to pepper kisses on your cheek. “I’m at zero, you’ve only just come in after all,” 

Sometimes you wonder if he really gets any work done, but it looks as if he does, and is even more determined to keep researching certain things. Of course, there were still days where he was incredibly busy. But he’d made up for those days by being considerate and aware of the time he spent at work. 

“I apologize... It got busy again this week...” he nearly sighs as he wraps his arms around your waist, the same nose kiss as a greeting. You’re a little more understanding of his predicament, but mostly because he communicated more. Where before he would come home and not say anything, now he would apologize and tell you about what was going wrong in his schedule. 

And the next day he was free, you’d wake up without worrying about breakfast because he had prepared it--granted he wasn’t the best cook in the world but he knew some recipes--and he knew just how you wanted your coffee or your tea. 

Turns out those little things did add up and made everything much easier.

“What’s for dinner today?” He asks as the two of you walk home. You put on a thinking face, “Maybe some cream stew?” the small talk the two of you engage in is peaceful and natural. “Would that be okay?” You glance at him, expecting an answer, but didn’t get any. You blink and turn your head to look at him, he’s lost in thought it looks like. “Albedo?” and he blinks back to turn and look at you. “Yes?” 

“I was asking if cream stew was okay,” there’s a slight crease of worry on your eyebrows, but his smile takes it away. “Yes, that’d be nice,” he simply says and for some odd reason, he doesn’t talk about his day today. It’d almost felt like a routine now, how he would tell you what he and Sucrose had been working on, or maybe if Klee barged in again today, or maybe even Kaeya. 

He was a little too quiet, and you kept stealing glances at him.

Even as the two of you arrive home and close the door behind you, immediately going towards the kitchen, it was a little tense and you weren’t quite sure why. He had this...frown on his face, but he didn’t look angry. “...Is there something on your mind?” you ask as you start prepping the ingredients.

He visibly stiffens up and just stands there. At this point you know that something is wrong. “Did something happen? Did I say something wrong?” You question as you’re about to wipe your hands on a kitchen towel. He suddenly shakes his head, “No, not at all. I--” 

and he starts his story as you put on an apron.

“Kaeya came by today...He says that...” his eyes dart away from you. “That I should consider...getting a ring,” You stop tying the apron around your middle and focus your attention on him. Eyes going a fraction wider. “But I... That is to say... If you would like a ring then I will gladly get you one, Y/N,” you’re not sure where this is going but your heart is starting to patter louder in your chest. “But I just don’t think it would change a thing. A ring is not enough to really tell you how much I...” he pauses and his eyes finally find yours. “How much I adore you. A band around my finger or your finger...can never represent the gratitude,” he emphasizes his next words “the comfort, the love that I have for you,”

It’s starting to feel like there’s an elephant in your throat, and you start to blink a little faster because you don’t want to cry. You just thought it’d be a little silly.

“I just... I hope you’re aware, ring or no ring... My intentions are the same. I don’t plan on spending the rest of my lifetime with anyone else,” you secretly bite your lip, “...It’ll only be you,” and he scratches the back of his neck, tearing his eyes away from you once again, mumbling--and it’s so rare to see him in such a vulnerable state-- “Kaeya mentioned that if I don’t get you a ring... that you might leave... I’m aware he’s not the most trustworthy but... I just... wanted to make sure,”

And despite the few small happy tears that finally cascade down your cheeks you laugh a little, picturing the mischievous glint in Kaeya’s eyes as he tells this to Albedo. 

Albedo smiles a little and brushes the few tears that managed to slip out, but you reply to him. “You know how Kaeya is, Bedo,” which translates to ‘don’t listen to him,’. Albedo knows. But when it came to you he wasn’t going to take chances. You contentedly wrap your arms around his middle and he hugs you back around your shoulders as he whispers into your hair. “But you know... Perhaps I should get you a ring, when the time comes,”

“Hm?” You merely murmur, asking about his sudden change in opinion.

“Just to let others know you’re taken,” 

Another rumble of laughter lifts from your chest. This time, he joins you.

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