#and what better than a homage to the changing of seasons?

[astrobydalia]

🪻Lavender Observations🪸

it's pisces season my dudes so here's my fave pisces aesthetic... this music video really spoke to my pisces moon soul so I wanted to pay homage to it. As always enjoy the observations!

work by astrobydalia

.・゜゜・ ・゜゜・． ｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡.・゜゜・ ・゜゜・． ｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡

.・゜゜・ ・゜゜・． ｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡.・゜゜・ ・゜゜・． ｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡

🪻✨Capricorn risings are very full of themselves to be honest. They have an overall pleasant reputation and are loved (Libra 10th+Cancer 7th) but for some reason they're actually very individualistic and conceited deep down, like they think of themselves as being 'on other level' than others. I think this is because their shadow revolves around their ego (Leo 8th house) and we all know they love status but unfortunately fame and popularity tends to change them and/or take out their toxic traits (Scorpio 11th house). Basically they’re the type to become extremely entitled individuals just because they’re successful

🪸✨The virgo placement urge to have a harmeless and innocent personality/reputation while also engaging in the most unholy, taboo and sometimes immoral activities behind the scenes............ iykyk

🪻✨I’ve noticed Geminis are what people think Aquarians are??? Idk Aquarius placements are the most chill and unproblematic people I know and typically don’t make any fuss out of their “quirks” or opinions, they’re just living and vibing them on their own. Geminis on the other hand are the chaotic manic pixie girls/boys or the mad scientists with the most random and out of pocket interests and ideas. They always be leaving me like ‘wtf are you talking about?🤨’ They’re also opinionated af and will jump into controversy pretty easily.

🪸✨Oh! And Geminis are WAAAAAAAAYYY more detached than aquarius dude. Geminis are air AND mutable, for them it is extremely easy to move on and detach from things

🪻✨All the people I've met who's had cosmetic procedures done (botox, plastic surgery, fillers, etc) always had libra placements and/or Neptune aspecting the ASC. Overall Venus and Neptune influence is big in people who wanna look like a glossy instagram filter

🪸✨Chiron in the 6th house are HUGE control freaks due to feeling like reality overwhelms them too much, they feel like their life is never sorted out. They are also the type to overwork themselves with pointless things or hyper fixate on short-term goals cause it gives them a sense of control

🪻✨Capricorn placements are attracted to ambition and independence. It is not so much about age difference that they look for, but rather they like it when someone has their own things going on for themselves and has solid life values that they stick to. Capricorn's love language is supporting your ambitions and you doing the same for them so.... they need to see potential in you and with you

🪸✨Libra+Scorpio placements are VERY envious people and tbh I've seen this in everyone who has this mix regardless of how developed they were.... The type to befriend/get close to people they're secretly jealous of to either ruin them or get a taste of what they have. Seriously these natives are never happy with just themselves they're always focusing on how good others' things are

🪻✨People with fire in their big 3 HATE it and get defensive when other people make unsolicited assumptions about who they are or when people assume they can know the native better than the native knows themselves. It’s hard for them to brush that kind of thing off, they don’t like to feel like people are ‘appropriating’ their identity. The type to be like “you don’t know me or my story so stfu”.

🪸✨All of the Scorpio moons I've met had at least a phase in their life where they had a very unhealthy relationship (scorpio) with food (moon)..... They always seem to turn to food when going through a hard time but in a very self-destructive way

🪻✨Sagittarius is as much of an escapist as pisces. They both crave for things to be good, positive and unserious (Jupiter)

🪸✨I’ve noticed women with personal planets in Aquarius usually have very thin and sparse eyebrows and usually enhance them with makeup

🪻✨Natives with Mars in Capricorn are SUPER hairy. A very thick and stunning head of hair and/or noticeable and abundant body/facial hair. Their hair is usually deep and dark as well

.・゜゜・ ・゜゜・． ｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡.・゜゜・ ・゜゜・． ｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡

.・゜゜・ ・゜゜・． ｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡.・゜゜・ ・゜゜・． ｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡

🪸✨Scorpio Moon men I’ve noticed are attracted to a woman who is a bit cold, mean or is not easy to get to her because it makes him feel like she can handle him and his intensity. They’ll likely commit to a woman that captures his heart in such a way that he knows she can potentially hurt him more than he can hurt her. Deep down they wanna be the softer one in the relationship cause they’re a water moon after all

🪻✨I personally never had any 2nd house synastry relationship that actually involved money (except for business relationships ofc). Instead people who had planets falling in my 2nd house always make me feel like a million bucks frfr 🥺 They made it clear that they valued my opinion, my talents, qualities etc (essentially they valued all I had to offer which is 2nd house themes) and also made me feel like they favored me in many ways, like I'm a part of their top priorities, one of their 'faves' and wouldn't let me go easily. I have to say this turned pretty superficial in some cases on both sides, with 2nd house synastry there's a tendency to think of the person in terms of what they can offer be that money, time, services, advice, skills....

🪸✨That been said, you're more likely to be hired or promoted by people who have their planets in your 2nd house because they value your talent and skills. The best feedbacks I've gotten were mostly from clients who had their planets in my 2nd house

🪻✨Cancer Jupiter gives a very loving and caring husband that will totally adore you and provide for you both emotionally and financially. Husband is bound to be highly emotional and sentimental as well, the type to make it obvious to the world that he is truly in love with you. This is Jupiter's exaltation so this placement really gives Disney's Prince Charming vibes fr

🪸✨I've also noticed Scorpio Jupiter gives a similar kind of husband^ but less Prince Charming and a more 'dark fantasy novel'. This placement is giving Edward Cullen’s “your scent is like a drug to me” vibes when it comes to your husband

🪻✨With debilitated Jupiter (Virgo, Gemini, Capricorn) you might get a husband that is kinda detached and could even be distant or indifferent depending on other aspects or positions. Best case scenario is they love and support you but they are just not good at showing affection for some reason and might provide in more practical/straight forward and less sentimental ways. Again, house position,aspects,degrees, etc will give nuance

🪸✨I find Virgo and Aquarius are so similar in that they’re kinda judgmental of people and also tend to be very detached and analytical

🪻✨A crazy amount of athletes and fitness people have debilitated Mars

🪸✨I've also seen a lot of YouTubers, podcast hosts, etc have Sun-Mercury conjunction which makes a lot of sense lol

🪻✨Moon/Venus in Scorpio/8th house natives have a 'I hate everyone but you' kind of love. They really do have a level of misanthropy in their personality but it's low-key amusing

🪸✨Couples that have this best friends and partners in crime dynamics always have 3rd house synastry, I haven’t really seen 11th house as much… The 3rd house creates a fraternal understanding in a couple, two keen minds thinking alike (Gemini, twins, etc)

🪻✨I’ve actually observed 11th house synastry is pretty messy??? It creates connections (any kind) that are a bit all over the place tbh. You really don’t know if you’re gonna be together forever or fall apart tomorrow. You haven’t talked to each in years now one of you is reaching out like nothing happened and both people are keeping it chill the whole time specially the planet person. I guess this dynamic is okay between friends, colleagues or acquaintances (which is what this house rules) but when it’s a romantic or more intimate relationship…. Like I said it’s just messy, not necessarily bad, it be can refreshing and exciting but it has to be your cup of tea (I assume Air venus/mars people will dig it). You’re always wondering what’s next with this person, it feels like the sky’s the limit. I’ve seen this synastry a lot in couples who make odd decisions in the relationship that make people often question if the couple is actually serious about each other like that or not like being engaged for too long, etc

🪸✨Capricorn moons are extroverted or at least they easily pass as extroverts in social situations. They really stand out to me for having a very defined public persona that they’re mostly known for but they’re not really like that in private at all, you’d be surprised for better or for worse lmao

🪻✨"My love language is all of them" = Leo Venus

🪸✨Virgo placements are just as talkative as Gemini placements, they ramble just as much (Mercury). The difference is Virgo’s speeches are usually more thoughtout and eloquent like a presentation they’ve practiced a hundred times, in fact they tend to talk about the same stuff and repeat the same jokes, themes and rambles in most conversations because they like to stick to what they know (earth). They’re 100% the type to give you an unsolicited lecture on whatever it is they’re interested in. Gemini’s speech on the other hand is usually more spontaneous, random and chaotic, they tend to brainstorm out loud and enjoy finding new ideas in conversations (air). They’re more likely to wonder, play with ideas and ask ‘what if’ questions cause they like to explore the possible connections of different things

.・゜゜・ ・゜゜・． ｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡.・゜゜・ ・゜゜・． ｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡

.・゜゜・ ・゜゜・． ｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡.・゜゜・ ・゜゜・． ｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡

🪻✨Pluto-asc aspects/Pluto in the 1st house/Scorpio rising come across as the cool girl/boy. They always have some unattainable energy to them that people secretly look up to and this admiration often translates into jealousy

🪸✨Aries in the big 3 always have something with their forehead. Either they have a big forehead or they have a sacar there etc

🪻✨Capricorn placements work hard and party HARDER. This results in them having a rather fast-paced life style honestly

🪸✨Istg Virgo Moons got a stick up their ass. In their minds they are judge, jury and executioner and never give people grace or just the benefit of the doubt. I don't doubt they're soft deep down but damn they can be very very stubborn and they can get mean easily.

🪻✨Best Virgo placement imo is Virgo mars, I’ve noticed they tend to channel the best traits of virgo (constructive criticism, self-accountability, collaborative, understanding but know what they don’t tolerate)

🪸✨When I first joined Tumblr I read an observation that said Aphrodite (1388) conjunct Mars creates injuries or scars from beauty products and that is SO true! I have this and I've burnt myself several times with curling irons and laser hair removal gadgets

🪻✨All the people I’ve met who loved country music, country life style and that sort of cowboy aesthetic mostly had Sagittarius placements 🤠🐎 (myself included lmao)

🪸✨People with Virgo+Scorpio placements are the most intimidating people I've ever met. Imagine the nitpickyness of Virgo mixed with the intensity of Scorpio.... yeah... not the best at going easy on others or letting people in. Don't test them, they have a “get away from me you fucking scumbag” energy whenever they’re upset or simply dislike something and are the hardest to please. They are very sensitive deep down tho, very sweet and selfless if they genuinely like you.

🪻✨Sagittarius is the master, teacher, guru and guide so it makes a lot of sense for the Sagittarius Pluto generation to be hung up and obsessed (pluto) with influencers, life coaches, etc (sag)

🪸✨Moon in the 3rd house natives tend to make vey quirky movements and gestures with their mouth/jaw when they speak or they're very expressive with their mouth like they may grimace or pout a lot

🪻✨Cancer Mars men are huge mamas boyzzzz!! The type to be completely dependent on their moms/wives to even fry an egg and provide overall home security. They will marry a dominant woman who is fully or mostly in charge of the house and family stuff

🪸✨Speaking of, men with domicile or exalted mars (Aries, Scorpio, Capricorn Mars) can be huge assholes if underdeveloped. If immature they can channel toxic masculinity since mars feels very comfortable here it could go a bit overboard and give fuckboy vibes. The type to be very controlling, inconsiderate and always feel entitled to sex

🪻✨On the opposite end, men with debilitated mars (Libra, Taurus, Cancer Mars) are super chivalrous and often present themselves as very polite, thoughtful and modest. Very popular among women for sure. They can be players and have huge ego too if not mature but even then their energy is very inviting

🪸✨Fire moons process their feelings by letting things out in the moment as they come either through anger, humor or simply speaking their mind. They can often appear rude when expressing something that they feel very strongly about but they'll always value authenticity above anything else

🪻✨Earth moons process their feelings by creating a course of action. Like they internally make a plan for things they will do in oder to make themselves feel better, fix their issue or fulfill their needs on a long-term/permanent basis. They could develop a whole personal system or life style that caters to their emotional needs

🪸✨As we all know Air Moons process their feelings by rationalizing their emotions. Ironically, this can make them lack some emotional intelligence because they put so much focus on their feelings making sense that they don't allow themselves to feel their feelings and figure out what genuinely feels right for them

🪻✨Water moons process their feelings by fully owning their emotions. They find comfort in the mere validity of their own feelings which is why they often have this tendency to victimize themselves, blame others for their issues and constantly look for sympathy

🪸✨I’ve very very very often seen Sagittarius/Jupiter in 7th house, Sagittarius Groom/Juno/Briede creates age gap with spouse!!! As mentioned, Sagittarius is the master and guide of the zodiac so with the influence of this sign in your marriage you are bound to have a teacher-student dynamic where either one of you has much more life experience specially in relationships

.・゜゜・ ・゜゜・． ｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡.・゜゜・ ・゜゜・． ｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡

.・゜゜・ ・゜゜・． ｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡.・゜゜・ ・゜゜・． ｡･ﾟﾟ･ ･ﾟﾟ･｡

work by astrobydalia

[vidavalor]

Muriel and My Fair Lady

We've been talking a bit about The Maltese Falcon and North by Northwest and other film homages in the series and how what a bunch of them have in common is unique use of language-- verbal and visual-- to tell their story. There's another musical/film that I think S2 is referencing a bit that is all about language and that is My Fair Lady.

The romance in My Fair Lady is terrible-- I hope we all can agree on that in our modern era lol-- but that's not really the main aspect of the story that is being referenced in GO, I don't think. My Fair Lady is full of language jokes, including the titles of two of the songs-- "A Hymm to Him", which plays with homophony, and "The Ascot Gavotte", which is about the horse race setting of that part of the story-- The Ascots-- but is, additionally, a joke on the fact that an ascot is also a term for one kind of a secret language. It's also the only real gavotte in a famous musical and we know that's Aziraphale's favorite kind of dance. Much of the story of the film also leads towards a ball at an embassy-- though one that goes a bit better than S2's disaster of a party.

In S2, Crowley and Aziraphale are kind of a more likable version of Higgins and Pickering as Muriel becomes a bit of an Eliza Doolittle. I think the "cupperty" scene is something of a nod to the scene in which Higgins tries to get Eliza to pronounce "cup of tea" differently in My Fair Lady.

Additionally, later in the season, Muriel wants to try breakfast and gets rebuffed, which is kind of like how Higgins and Pickering don't think to give Eliza some of their afternoon tea. Eliza ends up looking at the tea, which is actually Muriel's preference when they first arrive in S2.

My Fair Lady is about a phonetics professor who places a bet with his friend as to whether or not he can change the speech patterns of a Cockney-accented woman enough to pass her off as a duchess at an embassy ball. It's overflowing with linguistics jokes. Eliza agrees to try to undergo this change because she has her own aspiration-- she wants to work in a flower shop.

At the start of the film, she is homeless and selling flowers on the street. She lacks the social refinement necessary to be hired as a shopkeeper-- kind of like how Muriel is on the outside looking in on the Whickber Street shops in S2. Being able to work in a flower shop would give her a new lease on life and when Muriel is in the street on the night of The Meeting Ball, look at the flower market lit up behind them when a kinder and far more likable version of Professor Higgins-- the wordplay-happy Crowley-- approaches:

Unlike Eliza, who wished to sell flowers, Muriel loves books and, at the end of S2, Muriel is the one who winds up running the bookshop... which is a far better ending than Eliza Doolittle gets in My Fair Lady, if you ask me. (She should have gotten a job and married Freddy, dammit. Bonus points to Good Omens as well for recognizing that the real ship in My Fair Lady is Higgins & Pickering.)

Poor Crowley's also kind of a version of Freddy in S2, just with the romance not being with Muriel but the Muriel-paralleling Aziraphale. Madly in love and thrown over at the end for a grumpy old man-- despite being a total dish, a total gentleman, and having the best song in the film. (Not really in the long run but, ya know, kinda lol.) There's even a version of Freddy's gorgeous song by Crowley's favorite, Nat King Cole.

Can you hear a lark in any other part of town? Does enchantment pour out of every door? No, it's just on the street where you live...

[moghedien]

I am considering reading the books but I've seen it said that Rand is the protagonist of the book series and that characters like Moiraine and Egwene who are basically my favourites have significantly less to do in the books, with Moiraine being absent for chapters and chapters at times. I'm also not a big Rand fan (i love a disaster man and Mat is right there, come on) so I'm wondering would you reccomend the series to me? What are the big differences between it and the adaptation?

so #1 advice for anyone regardless of where they're at with wanting to read the books: If you're already watching the show, don't start reading the books until after this season is over. There's a lot of rearranging and changing of stuff in the books and I think that can get confusing if you're trying to consume the show and the books at the same time.

Ok so regarding Rand, yes, he's the main character and is the vast majority of the POVs in the first book. Its extremely obvious who the dragon reborn is in the book and its never really presented as a mystery. As the books go on, it becomes much much more of an ensemble type story and Rand will be almost entirely absent for long periods of time, but he's still largely the main character. but there are 148 different POV characters in the books, so its far from a Rand-only story

Regarding Moiraine and Egwene, while I wouldn't really say that Egwene has a significantly lesser role in the books (at least after the first book), Moiraine's role is definitely beefed up for the show. We don't get her POV until a few books in (well there is a very brief POV in book 1), and she's largely missing from book 2. She is a much more (emotionally) distant figure and definitely the sort of Gandalf/mentor role in the books rather than the main character. But if you like Egwene, there is plenty of Egwene content for you in the books, do not worry.

As for differences, the main difference between the books and the show is the first book is not the first season. There are definitely elements there, but the first book is best viewed as an homage to the fantasy genre that Robert Jordan had to make a certain way to get it through publishing. Its not *bad* but its definitely a Lord of the Rings-y story that follows that kind of formula. The show made sure there was a lot more worldbuilding and future plot threads established in season 1 than there was present in book 1. It doesn't start becoming truly its own thing until book 2, imo, and it's a common sentiment where books 4 and 5 are really where it starts becoming the Wheel of Time and holding its own ground. Like as much as some people do complain about it and as much as I do like the Eye of the World, it would have made a terrible on screen experience if it were told entirely faithful to the book

So I wouldn't say absolutely to read it or not. obviously I do want people to read and enjoy the books, but its also a commitment, and if you're coming to them off of the show, its best to be aware that's its going to be different going in. You're not going to see some of the things that happened in season 1 at all, but you're going to get a much more detailed account of the story and it might give you better context for some of the things going on in the show, even if its not how it happened in the books.

So if you're ok with the fact that its different, I say try it once the season is over. If you don't want to finish it or continue on with the series, then there's no harm in trying and you can always keep watching the show even if the books aren't for you

[respectthepetty]

Hi @respectthepetty, what were your top 5 colour moments in bl/ql this year?

Thank you.

@blogiamgoingmad, this is a tough one because I love all the colors I get regardless of how they come to me. In fact, I love color so much, I've written about the best visual narratives in two other posts:

Top 5 - Color-Coded Storytelling in BLs

Reading the (Visual) Rainbow Awards

So for this ask, I made sure to not pick the same moments listed in the other two posts, and this list includes unfinished shows as long as the "color moment" happened in 2023.

Top Five Color Moments of 2023

Honorable Mention: 7 Days Before Valentine - Dark Descent

Since the show isn't finished, and I know Q is going to be completely black before the end, I'm greatly enjoying seeing him get darker and darker each episode as he erases another person from existence at Sun's request.

Even though the lighting still shines brighter on him than Sun, I don't think that is going to last much longer, especially because I think Sun is going to ask Q to erase him which will cause Q to be the darkest he has been. I'm smiling too much at the mere thought of this to be sane, but this is a great visual narrative that I want to see more shows use consistently.

#5 - GAP - Tickled Pink

I love color exchanges (where a character wears the other character's color to show they are in love), but Sam, a Black Brooder, took her sweet ass time wearing Mon's pink in GAP. I was Kirby holding a knife outside her house all season waiting for Sam to prove that she loved Mon by simply wearing Mon's pink.

The last episode was upon us, and I needed to know if Sam was finally going to commit to Mon's pink; then, Idol Factory announced the finale would not be released on streaming platforms until after a paid screening. I was mad, but I'm a pirate by blood, so I watched an unsubbed version, saw Sam wearing pink as her WEDDING DRESS, and forgive Idol Factory for its season of color frustration because if the wedding didn't tell us Sam was committed to her Pink Person, the pink wedding dress sure the hell did.

#4 - Bed Friend - The Blue Light

Uea was great at communicating boundaries with King in Bed Friend, and King was even better abiding by them. So in the second episode, after taking Uea to go get tested after they had sex, King asked Uea to try a bed friends situation out, to which Uea said okay, but then avoided King. Blue Boy King (actually bi-colored) drove Red Rascal Uea home and put him on the spot asking Uea to make a decision as they waited at the red light with the countdown flashing: If Uea said "yes," they would go to King's condo, and if Uea said nothing, he would take Uea straight home. Then, Uea GAVE HIM THE GREEN BLUE LIGHT.

This light was blue instead of green which leaned into the color coding, but it was perfectly timed with Uea opening himself up to the possibility of something more with King. The light changing was a symbolic moment, and it was beautiful.

#3 - Last Twilight - Pink Milk

This series isn't finished, but I hope it continues to give me Mork in pink shirts because pink = 💗love💗, and this is the perfect homage to a BL tradition. Pink milk is a BL staple, but wasn't used that much in 2023. Only Friends referenced it, but Last Twilight purchased real estate in BL Land with its ode to it. Day and Mork had a nice day out together where Day purchased that bright ass pink shirt for Mork after Mork claimed it was too pink like Pink Milk for him to ever wear. Then, after losing each other on a busy street, Mork put on the bright pink shirt so Day could see him and hasn't stopped wearing pink since.

Mork fell first. He fell harder. And we don't need pink milk to know he is a member of the rainbow community. He has pink shirts to let us and Day see him for who he is - a man in love with another man.

#2 - Moonlight Chicken - Alan's Glow Up

Alan was in his feelings for most of his part in Moonlight Chicken. He was still in love with Wen and trying to make it work living with him, but Wen was done done. He was upset that Wen was seeing someone else. He broke a limb being drunk over Wen! He was sad, cold, and alone. Then, he spoke to Jim at the funeral after speaking with Kaipa, and he seemed to brighten up a bit.

Alan's color continued to brighten and become warmer as the series came to a close due to a combination of realizing Wen had really moved on, and that he, too, could do the same.

I won't give his newfound "friendship' with Kaipa all the credit because I truly think being friends with his ex and friendly with his ex's new boyfriend is what really warmed Alan up. Knowing he had a community, which was a theme in the series, was the support Alan needed to glow up.

#1 - The Eighth Sense - Monochrome Metro

This moment actually belongs to @how-to-be-a-tree who brought it to my attention, but Jae Won was color coded black and dark while Ji Hyun was a colorful and light person. When they went on their not-date-date, as they sat opposite of each other on the metro, their sides of the empty metro car reflected their respective color coding.

A few people in the reblogs and tags pointed out it was the BL version of the above meme, but it truly was a moment of pure awe that the show went as far as to color edit the seats to reinforce the story being told. Jae Won wasn't magically a lighter person simply being around Ji Hyun. He was still dark, and it wouldn't be until the end of the series that Jae Won actually became a bit lighter because HE was finally ready for change, which speaks volumes about depression and mental health.

Bonus: Jeff Satur x SHAUN's "Steal the Show"

Because it was gay (canon to me), color coded, and beautiful!

[darklinaforever]

So... RTD literally had everything in hand to make an original and magnificent 60th anniversary paying homage both to the original series / the first Doctor, and to its first 4 seasons which took place between 2005 and 2008 which it achieved, by bringing back Tentoo (because sorry, that was the most logical thing to do) and also the Toymaker.

Aslo, why not even bring back Martha ?! Since the characters were literally there where she was supposed to work in episode 3...

But no, instead, we were treated to essentially the same scenario as in 2008 but less good and messier with less meaning...

I understand the principle of wanting to show that the Doctor can finally be happy ! It is my dream that the Time Lord Doctor realizes that despite his immortality he can enjoy the time he has with the people he loves and rest, since yes, he seemed tired of traveling during the 12th and 13th incarnation even loving it.

But to have that, there would need to be an ending, except that the whole principle of the character is that the Doctor's story cannot end. (The principle of the series with regeneration for changes of actors is designed to keep it going as long as possible... It's also the livelihood of the BBC channel. Without this series, it's a bit like shit for them. So obviously, they'll make it last as long as they can. Even more so now that the Doctor's origins have been changed, so no more limits in terms of regeneration. They can keep Doctor Who forever if they want !)

RTD tries to make what we see as an end for the Doctor sound. Except that things get stuck because we still have the 15th who is going to lead the same life as before ! Emotional openness in addition to winning at least, that's something.

So no, there is no end for the Doctor. Just an alternative version that finally arises.

Except that we already had this scenario with Tentoo in 2008 and done better because he was at least human. 14 is still a Time Lord with a long life (Can he still be immortal ? Or since he had a bigeneration instead of a normal regeneration, he will no longer be able to regenerate and once the time of the 14th incarnation has passed he will simply disappear ? We don't know !), and is just another version of the Doctor. Not only this type of ending, where the Doctor, despite the nature of his species, agrees to be open about his emotions and take advantage of the time he has with those close to him, can't work with another Doctor doing what he's always done. So there is no real rest. But also with the existence of Tentoo in another universe, the scenario is redundant and has no real impact ! (Whether David Tennant plays the role of the 14th Doctor or not)

This scenario is therefore unnecessary.

Tentoo is literally the only Doctor who has had it all. He is human. He has the ultimate adventure that the Doctor will never experience. Not even 14. Beyond that, Tentoo was planned from season 1. The natural culmination of the 9th and 10th Doctor arc. So bringing him back for the end of the 2005 series would have made complete sense and much more strength. It was a chance to remind the public that yes, Tentoo is the Doctor. And it would have worked much better, knowing that in any case, the Doctor's story must continue. What's better than showing that the most sincere version of the Doctor has a fucking happy life ?! The only adventure that the other will never have ?! Can you imagine ending up there ?! How good would that have been ?! Rather than having a separate version of the Doctor again ?! Still played by David Tennant in addition, to make it very redundant...

[oh-merthur-charm]

'If I can heal Uther, Arthur has given me his word that when he is King, magic will no longer be outlawed. This could change everything.'

'I live with the risk of being exposed every day. If I don't take this opportunity, maybe I'll spend the rest of my life having to hide who I really am. Everyone's always telling me I have this great destiny. Maybe this is it. I have to try.'

______________________________________________________________

I feel like it's this moment here, where hopeful, Season 1 Merlin shows himself to us one final time. It breaks my heart knowing how reserved, hopeless and alone he becomes in season 5. The friendship with him and Gwaine fading, him becoming obsessive over Arthur's safety rather than his own crumbling mental health.

To see him energetic, his eyes alive, with this very raw and vulnerable excitement of hopefully changing Camelot for the better, deeper still, his joy in not hiding anymore and showing his true self to Arthur. Just ALLOWING himself to be hopeful and not in a brave, steel resolve kind of way, but a real, honest and childlike wonder. He's not forcing himself to be hopeful here, he truly believes this is what could change everything.

Merlin's tasks, personal and prophecized are layered. Thus he looses his true self in the process. Here, he is hopeful for a self reason, here it's not about keeping Arthur safe as it's his job to for his prophecy. It's not him planning to stop Mordred from hating Arthur here. Here, he is excited about not having to hide himself anymore. Acknowledging that he wants more than just realising his prophecy, rather his homage to the druids. To restoring magic back, to being free and showing his magic to Arthur on a daily, safe basis. To not hide anymore.

It breaks me every time, how the walls finally come down after so long. We see the young Merlin again, the youth's ideals we thought had gone, finally comes back for one scene.

[castlebyersafterdark]

why does will need to look conventionally hot to be in his main character arc? it would be inappropriate seeing as theyre meant to be nerd losers, and look uncool, which makes their heroism even better cos its playing with 80s tropes and beauty standards of who can be the hero. if will looked hot like a bridgerton lead it would be so lame and also completely inappropriate artistically for his character and the storytelling.

i love their nerd asses, i wanna be cringing at least 40% of the time watching this show, like i always have been

(and folks saying the Rightside Up episode title is uninspired?? Its sheer perfection, the ultimate reprise. It works so well for this genre and this show. That's like saying that the kids naming the Upside Down itself 'the Upside Down' is uninspired because all they did is flip a board upside down.)

Hair in this fandom is amusingly one of the most controversial topics around! And yet, I always indulge this discussion. Wild. All respect, no fighting, as always. Maybe it's annoying when I constantly restate that and preface things with it, but hey, I'm an annoying guy and want to alleviate myself of being someone inviting contention 🤷‍♂️

Firstly - it is the glorious, weirdly haired 80s! Yes! We cannot judge hairstyle or fashion by modern standards. Sure, we can personally not like it in today's mindset (I happen to love the "good" and the "bad" of the era a whole lot), but we should consider things through a different vision. And, same as today, the same hairstyle can be considered cool or uncool depending on your social group or what trends you think hit or miss the mark.

Long hair: forever controversial. Rebellious, or chic. Freak, or heartthrob. My lame, conservative father wants me to cut my hair because I look like a degenerate, but the cool guys at school and the guys with record deals and whose videos are on MTV all have long hair. But the hot, popular guys at school have short hair. Wait, but this guy's hot and popular, too and he has longer hair? It's all so confusing. That's how it's always been. Style is so subjective. Every era.

Mike's long hair in season 4. I just personally think that it was a symbolic departure for Mike - we have to ignore Finn haha. Not every character in the show with longer hair does it as an act of rebellion. I genuinely don't think Jonathan is doing it for that reason. I honestly don't think he's putting much thought into it, he just looks like that. Steve? He puts SO MUCH thought into his hair. It's kind of it's own thing. Dustin? I also don't think he put much thought until after Eddie dies - we see it longer than ever. I think his is definitely now an homage. Mike? I think it was rebellion, it was changing his look to emulate this older guy he knew and looked up to (and crushed on) and even if not a complete 1:1 mimic, it was inspired by trying to be something different. My personal opinion is just subjectively that I prefer how Mike looks with the shorter hair. I think it suits him better. It's cuter, fits his sweet, nerdy boy aesthetic rather than what was going on in season 5. I don't think it's necessarily a direct "return to conformity" but a return to Mike. He was trying to be many things in the whirlwind of freshman year. Time will tell.

The bowlcut. And the bowlcut of season five improved. Firstly - the thing I enjoy about Stranger Things is honestly? No one really on the cast is "traditionally" hot. They're all plenty good looking and attractive and hot - but you know what I'm saying? Anyway, the party all looks dorky but we know they're nerdy cute. I don't even see how they could take Will and make him this - I don't even know what? He totally did have a glow-up. In an appropriate way for the character. It's just enough to make him look more mature, the difference between a guy just turning 15 in season 4 and a guy well into 16 as a junior in season 5. That's a big jump for a teenager. They all look more mature. And Will looks so endearing in his season 5 wardrobe and styling so far.

And I'm a big fan of The Rightside Up as the ending title. It's a parallel! It's a callback! It's a book end!! It's a hint towards a happy ending, they did it, they win - we've always known that, but now we get to see it. I love this kind of stuff. If you're afraid of cheesy, sentimental stuff, don't watch the 80s nostalgia show that kick-started this whole past decade of that entire aesthetic. This show did was the catalyst. It's gonna be a little cheesy and I think it's very expected to name the final episode The Rightside Up, and I absolutely love that they've done it.

[burningexeter]

PITCH:

Ms. Incredible & InvisiGirl

What is it — a spin-off series/reboot of The Incredibles (2004) with both Holly Hunter and Sarah Vowell reprising their roles as Helen and Violet.

PREMISE:

Gloomy, shy and socially withdrawn Violet Parr can't believe this. Due to her parents having to leave on business for an unspecified time, she's forced to stay with her Aunt Helen who she hasn't seen since she was little and Helen is now looking forward to spending time with her with her niece and get to know her better but unfortunately her niece has little to no interest in it. It's then that Violet begins having strange dreams/visions of a girl in a tight one-piece red suit with an orange "belt", black boots, gloves, and mask, a black crutch, and an insignia of a yellow "i" skulking around the shadows of the city, fighting crime and cleaning up the streets. It turns out to her complete and utter shock and horror that the girl.... is her. Discovering that the suit has given her invisibility and force field powers, Violet's "secret" that she didn't even know she had is almost instantly found out by Helen who goes full force in locking Violet down in order to protect her. However despite her intervention, everything takes yet another twist and turn on both their ends as Violet and Helen are dragged into a deadly plot to take out every remaining superhero there is by a sadistic femme fatale villainess while coming into deep conflict with the NSA as the two are now wanted for impersonating supers. Now the two have to don their suits and fight against the odds to survive as they both come into their own and have to decide whether or not they'd actually want to be heroes.

Notes/Trivia/Details:

• The series will be done in the exact same slick and noir look and aesthetic of the first film rather than the lackluster look of the second but in a way that feels like a proper updated way and version of it.

• There will be a few homages and call-backs here and there spread out to the first film with some more subtle and others more obvious like the famous ass scene as you see here.

• The reason why I changed Helen and Violet to aunt and niece is because it was a way to make their characters feel fresh and interesting again along with a new and distinctive dynamic.

• What won't be revealed until the last scene in the series finale is that Violet's parents (one of which is Helen's older sister) are actually NSA agents whose "business" they had to attend was a top secret mission in Russia that would play a part in the series.

• What will be throughout the series is that Helen and Violet will have their bumbling, screw-up, boobish moments to show that the two of them aren't perfect and top it off, to show that they're new at this.

• What will be exciting is the villain-later turned-antihero Miss Robin, a wicked and ruthless woman with shifting abilities that eventually turns over to help Violet and Helen. She will be heavily influenced by Eris from DreamWorks' Sinbad with the following actresses I'm considering for the role:

Michelle Pfeiffer, Stephanie Young, Nicole Sullivan, Idina Menzel, Eva Green, Sarah Michelle Gellar and maybe even Holly Hunter.

• There will be a couple of easter eggs and references that heavily imply a shared universe, this is for actual world-building. It's to show that there's much more to this world than what's going on with Violet, Helen and Robin.

• Other characters that will be in it are new and the following - two comic book store employees that turn out to be big help for our leads, Violet's snobby popular rival who is actually more intelligent than she looks and a police officer that develops abilities of his own.

• The show will be about three seasons with a total of 65 episodes.

[weatherman667]

Thoughts on the Ever After (RWBY)

CRWBY acts like they are showing us a Remnant fairy tale, but it wasn't part of the Remnant fairy tales they showed us.

And this is the problem. Instead of telling us a story, they are lying about telling us a story. They are doing a clear homage to Alice in Wonderland, but felt that this would somehow go over people's heads. So, they added an Alice, changed to Alyx, because X's are cool, and race swapped, because they forgot they are trying to be true to the characters.

Seriously, they have Sun Wukong, acting just as much of a dumbass as he is supposed to be.

So, the story they want to tell, about J+RWBY in Wonderland is interrupted by literally having Alice, and then subverting expectations by having her betray the main character.

What this COULD have been was a chance for RWBY to explore their own protagonist-centred morality, and realize that their arrogance is what lead to Atlas to fall. This would require them to actually overcome themselves, and become better.

Because, let's be honest, all of RWBY became less likeable as the story went along.

Alright, they didn't do that.

Well, they could have just had a fun side story. But they didn't do that either.

They had the Rusted Knight be the fairy tale they were showing to be real, except that they added Alyx.

So, what did they do? They had Jaune and Ruby fighting. Because CRWBY wants the show to be about the main characters fighting each other.

So, the best part of the season was Jaune fighting as the Rusted Knight, Jaune and the Paper Pleasers, and Weiss having unladylike thoughts about Jaune.

But, to be fair, these are better than anything else we've seen post-Haven. Other than the fans shipping Jaune with Jessica.

[jsealand]

Trying to organize my season 4 Umbrella Academy thoughts (easier said than done with my audhd brain) and this is what I’ve got:

There were actually moments I enjoyed, but I think the things I didn’t like far outweighed the ones I did. Other people have covered those things pretty extensively—dropped storylines that don’t make sense to have been dropped (it’s kind of tradition in this show to drop some things, but there are others that at least need to be addressed if they aren’t going to be shown), characters acting entirely out of character (and not in a ‘people are complex and full of contradictions’ kind of way, but in a ‘the writers/creators wanted to force a storyline and it really shows, and also they straight up told us so’ kind of way), etc—so I won’t go into those.

(Here there be SPOILERS)

What I do want to explore my feelings on is the ending. It bothered me in a way I couldn’t quite put my finger on until I saw someone point out that it basically says ‘you were born wrong and the world is better off without you’, which is going to resonate in a familiar bad way with a lot of fans in a lot of marginalized groups.

I understand that because of the way the story began, the ‘born wrong’ part is true in a literal sense, in that dozens of people were forced to give birth, suddenly and violently, with no way to consent to any part of the process. Not the fault of the kids in any way, EDIT: but not really an acceptable way to end the series, either. [Actually, I take this back, because on further reflection it would mean arguing that children born from tragic or violent circumstances just shouldn’t exist. I can argue that we need to work toward a world in which those circumstances don’t happen anymore, but I won’t accept that people who already exist because of it should cease to exist. Fuck that noise. Move forward and work with the present, don’t try to change the past. And I get how with a time travel show that seems contradictory, but it isn’t: they already exist, therefore they deserve to *have existed*]

The ‘world is better off without you part’ is complete and utter bs—better off without marigold, yes, but not our beloved misfits—but I can’t think of a feasible way to have them in the world without their traumatic marigold births (it’s always bothered me in shows/movies when a character visits another timeline and sees their kids as someone else’s biological kids—NOT how it works—so I don’t think we could see them walking around in that park after having been born normally and living normal lives).

So, I understand why we got the basic plot of the ending. I don’t like that it’s the answer, but I understand it. What I absolutely *hate* is that we don’t have any positive resolutions for the Hargreeves. I think that’s the one thing the vast majority of fans could agree that we wanted from the ending and we really didn’t get it. (I’m sure there are people out there making arguments about how they at least went out together or the flowers popping up was a nice homage or something, but that’s not enough of a payoff of watching them go through hell for three and a somethingth seasons.)

Hence, my idea for what could have salvaged at least some of our feelings for season 4 (but not the fivela: that can rot in the rubbish heap of forced and unnecessary plotlines from which it sprung): we have the park scene and see our fan favorites enjoying their normal, peaceful lives—with the addition of some that were snubbed for whatever reason—and then we zoom out to see that this is being watched on the tv in Klaus’s afterlife (recognizable somehow, but maybe a little cozier and prettier) and there are the siblings all hanging out together, happily sharing pizza and squabbling cheerfully, and as we slowly zoom out further we see other people—Dave, standing behind a couch, hands Klaus a soda or something; Sloane leans over Luther’s shoulder and kisses his cheek; the other Sparrows are playing Twister or something else physical but fun; Grace and Pogo are laughing together as they… play chess, maybe? And even Reggie and Abigail are there, off to the side, smiling (Abigail benevolently, Reggie wistfully because he hasn’t quite earned a spot in the crowd yet—but we’ve seen glimpses of his ability to, so I think he’ll get there someday, especially with Abigail’s guidance). We continue to zoom out and we see all the people who might have been, but never were, and they’re together and happy. (The precedent was set in s3, after all, with Klaus’s mom having watched him all his life, despite not having even been his mom in that particular timeline.) And maybe we zoom back in to just our Hargreeves, and a teenage girl in a striped dress is sitting on a bike and looking at Klaus with annoyed resignation, but when he waves her over and offers her some pizza, she pauses for a moment, looks around at the others who are also offering—a soda, a spot on a couch, some chips, etc—and then smiles a tiny, barely-there, reluctant smile, and joins them for lunch.

[popculturebuffet]

Next up for Nickelodeon era of shows, who is your favorite character from each of the mid-late 2010s Nicktoons shows (where quality improved and got better again, despite only one from this set thriving in Nick's success) you've seen like: Harvey Beaks, Pig Goat Banana Cricket, The Loud House, Bunsen is a Beast, Welcome to the Wayne, The Adventures of Kid Danger, Rise of the TMNT, Pinky Malinky, and The Casagrandes?

Harvey Beaks; Piri Piri. She's adorable, tends to steal most scenes she's in and her shipping episode with Harvey was both an unexpected treat (I shipped them after the mouse book episode but I honestly didn't expect it to actually happen). The show itself is one of Nick's best, and like all but exactly one fucking show here, got treated like crap by the network. I"m heading that off now as wether I liked a show here or didn't, nick's already bad habit of screwing over shows has reached it's absolute worst since the 2010's. I only think it's slowed down slightly due to streaming (with big nate and rebootgrats getting the shovel to the head instead), and nicktoons not being nearly as viable a dumping ground due to the changing landscape of television.

Ranting aside yeah, Harvey Beaks is a masterpiece, a really sweet , kind slice of life show with a wonderful cast, great art design and a lot of heart. Out of CH Greenblat's three shows it's the best, and Jellystone and Chowder are no slouches but it's hard to make a show this wholesome, wonderful and itself. There will never be another show just like harvey beaks but maybe one day we'll see something close to this level of warmth. For now though at least the chaos present in it is alive and well in jellystone.. for now. I don't trust it's future beyond this run. Warner is even worse.

Pig Goat Banana Cricket: I liked Goat. I just think she's neat. Yeah this show is fine. It';s not as mediocre as some of the "trying to homage classic nicktoons shows" before it. It has a neat ren and stimpy style art direction and setup so there's effort I just feel the shows central premise, the characters getting split up to individual adventures, while neat on paper... hurt what I saw of the show. Since the characters only interact in drips, it prevents your cast from developing a lot of chemistry. It was a novel attempt it just didn't work for me.

The Loud House: Luna. This blog's proud history makes that clear as my bi adopted daughter was the centerpiece for my first pride month on the blog and I shall return to her other spotlights again at some point. The show itself.. is fine. Ther'es a lot to like: I love the comic strip style to it: as a fan of the medium in a time when adaptations are either rare or keep getting canceled (Phoebe in her unicorn ) or left in limbo (Bloom CountY) i'ts nice ot have something like that. The show is far from perfect: adressing the elephant in the room the creator is a sex pest and while much like ren and stimply I don't let that affect my enjoyment as he was thrown out on his ass and thankfully unlike John K caught way sooner. (If sadly not nearly soon enough) and the current showrunners being doing the show for longer than Savino was on board at this point. As for the show itself it's status quo nature can be frustrating as after a while the show kinda gave up on doing story arcs or romance arcs for better or worse. Luna's relatoinship with sam is great.. but you COULD do more with it now their together, and instead she just kinda got rolled into the moon goats. That said the show's still charming I like it a lot and I request the creepier parts of the fanbase stay 50 feet away at all times. The show gets a lot of backlash for it's popularity, epsecially over some of these other shows.. but like say teen titans go (Which I have less respect for honestly), it's .. not it's fault. It's a solid show with some good laughs, not as good as it COULD be, but still better than it has any right to be seven seasons in and going. Will we get a magical dog who talks awkwardly? Possibly. But while the show somehow won the "not getting cacneld lottery" it's at least hung in their gracefully. Though I do think it should end at some point.. and also the live action version does not intrest me. If you wanted to do lincoln romance plot lines do them in the fucking animated show. and yes that's a sore spot with me.

Bunsen is a Beast: Hadn't seen this one, don't intend to. All the impression I get for this one is it's the most hated of the butch hartman quartet and the last thing he made before he burnt up allllllll his good will by being a raving jackass.

Welcome to the Wayne: Sarline was both entertaining and had a nice character arc. I wish i'd seen more of this show an di'td got a proper conclusion. That being said while I do think it's neat, I also think while not hte gravity falls ripoff it got shit for, Sarline and Ollie aren't exactly the same as captaion anxious and mablepalooza, I do feel the creators were trying to follow in it's footsteps, and did an okay job, the worldbuilding just felt like it was trying a bit harder than the effortless way gravity falls did it and the golden trio all taking after it in some way.

Ultimately I think Time is what's kinda hurt this show a bit: soon after it we got said golden trio of ducktales, amphibia and owl house, while around the time of this show cartoon network had steven universe still going and ok ko. I also hear great things about Dead End: paranormal Park and STILL need to get around to tha tone (and reading more of deadendia). This show isn't bad.. but it kinda pales to the shows following that kids solving mysterys in a spooky setting genre gravity falls helped explode in popularity. It's not it's fault, and it's admitely my own bias: the golden trio are some of my faviorite cartoons period, and Ducktales might be my faviorite and is certainly my faviorite disney channel show at this point. It's not bad but it just dosen't wow me the way it did when it first aired.

The Adventures of Kid Danger; I never watched this one. I don't intend to any time soon. Also haven't seen pinky malkiny and don't intend to just to get ahead of it now.

Rise of the TMNT: One of the best nick shows of this era and one that's honestly gotten better in my eyes the more I think about it. While Welcome to teh Wayne aged ehhly, Rise of the TMNT has only gotten better to me it's rough edges sanded over by it's talent, being one fo the few action shows of it's era and being one of the mos tunique versions of tmnt ever

My faviorite.. is Raph though it is very hard as I love all the boys this verison, I just love him as the cuddly big brother though Donnie as a mad scientst is a close second, leo is a close third as ben schwartz is a god and mikey is dead last but still adorable.

Rise excels by deciding to try something diffrent a move kinda needed since the previous two cartoons ahd done the most obvious directoins to go in with a reboot: the 2003 cartoon (still possibly my faviorite of the four, now five though at the time of this review I haven't watched tales yet), was a truer to the text version of the mirage comics after the goofy and fun 80s cartoon, and 2012 split the diffrence, having neat character arcs and some really dark turns, but also having a lot of the uhinged madness of the 80s cartoon and rebooting a lot of it's unique ideas for a modern audience.

So rise instead was it's own weird little bean, deciding to throw out the script as far as tmnt went with all four brothers having their personalities changed completely: They still kept parts of their cores with it: Raph's still a brusier, donnie still duz machines, mikey's still the joyful goofy one and Leo is still the most skilled.. but they shake it up a bit to great effect; Instead of a rageful hot head or a sarcastic asshole, Raph is a kinder frinedler big brother who actually gets to lead even if he's really bad at it. Donnie is a mad scientest and has no moral compass to speak of beyond a love for his brothers and an ego the size of the sewer, and Leo is radically cahnged to be a sarcastic goof off whose scared of his actual potetial. Mikey.. is jsut nice and kind which he's been before but works for me especially after the more manic cloud cuckoolander of 2012. April likewise kept her role as voice of reason (and her teenage status, which now seems to be the default going forward and i'm fine with that), but got a lerooy jenkins strength, a string of jobs that would make jonesey jealous and a desire to have one friend who isn't related to the werid whirlwidn that is her life. She fails at that but she got a goop monster for a girlfriend so that kinda compesnates.

The show took tons of other big swings, with most of the familiar rogues absent for most of the show (With only shredder having a major roll and only Baxter being a recurring threat out of the returning enemies) , magic being the focus instead of a side dish or something they just had to put up with, unique weapons, Casey being a girl and their enemy at first, and an emphasis on comedy that seemed like it might sink the show.. but instead worked in it's favor as it's humor generally worked and made the action and character moments hit harder. Rise is a show that had me a tad nervous to start.. but won me over easily with the first episode and kept me on board on and off for it's run. It's got gorgeous action, great humor ("STOP EATING POISON"), one of the best splinters in the franchise, JOHNNN CENNNAAAA, and a satisfying ending.. and then another satisfying ending with the movie, which still holds the crown as second best tmnt movie and only lost said crown because mutant mayhem happened. And while MM goes back to the more traditional personaliteis for the core 4 a bit (with leo being the exception being extra super awkward if still the responsible one, even beyond the 2012 cartoon), it keeps the "let's see what we can do with this" mindset and feels like a worthy successor to this universe. i may miss rise, but it stil lstands out as one of the most unique and fun entires in the canon.

The Casagrandes: Bobby. Loved him at first sight on the loud house. Granted it helps Carlos was awesome on Big Time Rush (Which despite having mostly noped out of live action nick at that point, I watched any time I caught it. IT's a big stupid cartoon and a nicktoon in all but being live action. ), but Bobby is nature's second most perfect himbo behind hank venture, a kind thoughtful young man who despite being dumbber than a sack of hammers, is still far more resourceful than he seems, a good son, a great big brother (both to his sister and to his Primos) , and the best man. Give me a bobbi and lori spinoff now. The show itself was great and during a mild slump honestly suprassed the original show. I'm sad it's gone and wish it'd gotten to stay longer. It's got a great cast, tons of diverstiy and while similar to loud house, has more than enough to set it apart and avoid being their clevland show: the urban setting, diverse cast and gay as hell main friendship (YOu can't convince me ronnie anne and sam are straight. Bi yes becauase they are but straight no), and lots of fun. I honestly need to watch more. Good stuff.

[agentnico]

Wonka (2023) Review

Anyone doubting Chalamet's singing abilities need look no further than his Tiny Horse skit on SNL from 2 years ago. All I'll say is you're welcome!

Plot: With dreams of opening a shop in a city renowned for its chocolate, a young and poor Willy Wonka discovers that the industry is run by a cartel of greedy chocolatiers.

Everyone scratched their heads upon the announcement that young Hollywood heartthrob Timothee Chalament was cast as the famous Roald Dahl chocolatier. Then when the trailer was released it did not instill much confidence either. Something was jarring about witnessing the usually brooding and stoic Dune/Call Me by Your Name actor acting quirky and silly. Comparisons to Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp were of course inevitable as this is the third attempt at adapting Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory children's book, so would Chalamet simply be attempting to portray a cheap knock-off of his predecessors, and what if Timmy simply lacks the Whimsy to play the silly little guy?

Turns out we had nothing to worry about, especially as we seem to have all forgotten that Wonka's directed by Paul King. You know, the guy behind those sweet Paddington films. Those movies are simply the most delightful and innocently sweet little things, featuring universal themes of kindness and embracing new things, featuring genuine laughs, moments that could make you cry, and an overall homage to recent and classic films. Less one forgets that Paddington 2 also holds the endorsement of no other than Nicolas Cage within The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent which goes out of its way to name-drop Paddington 2 and turns it into a running gag that helps members of the cast bond. With Wonka Paul King's magic feels right at home, as he delivers a warm old-fashioned musical extravaganza, that has the innocence and silliness of the Paddington films, mixed with the darker undertones from the Roald Dahl's classic.

Speaking of the musical aspect, the songs in this film are actually really lovely. Naturally, you have the returning remixes of 'Oompa Loompa' and 'Pure Imagination', but the new tracks are truly delightful, with Timothee Chalamet's singing on point, and the melodies very old-school, basking in their simplicity yet accompanying the capriciousness of the movie perfectly. The production design is great, with lots of colours that pop that should provide enough visual candy for the kids going to the movies this holiday season. The costumes also stood out, and I loved how Wonka's suit was an amalgamation of Wilder's and Depp's outfits. What shocks me is that the costume designer here Limmy Hemming is the same one behind Nolan's The Dark Knight. Such different looks, but then again if you change Willy's jacket from red to purple there are similarities to the Joker outfit...

In regards to Chalamet's Wonka - he's solid. Would a different actor maybe have been a better choice? Probably, however, Timothee manages to deliver a high level of quirk through his enunciation and movements, with his Wonka innocent to a fault, and morally pure. The supporting cast is full of comedians who take turns stealing scenes. Hugh Grant's Oompa Loompa is an uncanny highlight that takes a while to appear and is absolutely worth the wait. Paterson Joseph excels at playing a full-on pantomime villain complimented by Matt Lucas and Matthew Baynton to make for a delightfully evil trio. An entertaining pairing of Olivia Colman and Tom Davis results for an awkward yet at times hilarious double-act, and amusing yet under-used turns from Keegan Michael-Key and Rowan Atkinson leave you wanting more.

Wonka is an easily digestible and polished family movie for the holiday season that is a rare example of a prequel that justifies its existence. I would say that the comedy doesn't always land and felt as if Paul King and the team were held a bit back with how absurd they were willing to go. I don't know, it feels like putting Mr. Bean and a runaway giraffe together in a church could have led to wilder results than what we are ultimately given. Maybe it's remembering Tim Burton's brand of humour that felt more satirical than this fairly tame Wonka. I'm aware many audiences have mixed opinions on the Tim Burton Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, however myself and my fiancee watched it a few months back and found it to be absolutely hilarious! Also, Christopher Lee as a despicable angry dentist who hates chocolate was just *chef's kiss*. As for Wonka? Well, everyone needs a little willy in their life... I'm of course talking about the movie and nothing else!

Overall score: 7/10

[violetshadow9]

Honkai 6.4 Major Spoilers! (wait are they for this post still...?) My Problems with Herrscher of Origin Mei

Origin.

*Deep sigh*

Well, for starters, her battlesuit feels too white to me. Just… overbearingly white.

HoH:E was very white too, why isn’t it a problem?

It was broken up a ton by her skin tone and hair. The crystals helped with it too. The inside of her jacket broke up all the white aswell.

The inside of Mei’s hip thing is black and gold, yes. But can you tell easily when watcing her fight? Absolutely not.

Mei’s also never been a character to wear primarily white, much less THAT MUCH. More was needed to break up the outfit rather than being a blob of white.

When thinking about this, I’m reminded of an argument I heard about season one Blake Belladona from RWBY and why her design worked so well.

I doubt I’ll be able to find the clip, but the person said something like “The white makes it so the black of her jacket and boots and hair don’t become one solid thing you can’t differentiate from”

I feel like that’s exactly what happened to Mei with the overwhelming white. Even with the purple and gold, it’s all so pale that it doesn’t break it up in the slightest.

The white on her hips goes to the tiniest amount of black right to the white on her torso. She’s also so pale that it just look like more white rather than a skin tone, which is different from Elysia. Elysia’s pale, yes, but you can tell the difference between the skin and outfit easily. I believe it’s part due to how complicated her clothes are then it contrasts with a single color that doesn’t have much going on with it.

All of Mei’s outfit is just so… busy. Then all of it being white paired with little to no counters makes it just feel… off to me.

In terms of feeling like a battle outfit, it fits well, better than Kiana’s. 

My main question is where the hell did blue come from????

Mei’s color has always been a red, or purple.  Had they made the inside of her hair purple instead of blue, I feel like it would work well. Hell, could throw another homage to Elysia by making it the color of the inside of HoH:E’s Origin form’s coat/skirt/whatever. 

The more I look at origin and think of minor changes to break up her battlesuit so it isn’t a single blob, the more I find myself liking the actual design of her battlesuit, surprisingly. It fits, if recolored to look better I think.

Which is interesting, because I hated Origin’s design the most when I first saw the trio.

With her animations, my main complaint is why aren’t the multiple swords used more?? Instead of the full wing combo, why not make it a mini burst mode where her attacks change using all the swords while the bar drains? When watching her animations again (Thanks to Marisa Honkai), I realized her wing blade thing is just… at her side. When it’s not, it’s hypothetically being used, but can you really tell?

And again, why not give her more than 3 slashes on her ult? It just looks clunky to me.

Her win screen shows that the main sword she’s using is one of the wing blade ones. Why not make it so she juggles multiple swords then? Why say “She had like 4 blades, but only uses one.” It just feels like a lost opportunity to me. 

Similar to my main problems with Finality though, Origin doesn’t match with Kiana or Bronya at all again. At this point, she should more than anytime else. HoT clashes with Reason and Flamescoin because she left for the enemy’s side. She felt like she wasn’t fighting alongside them when put together, it was a design choice clearly. Reason and Flamescoin looked more like they were on the same team, and Thunder clashed with their designs so much. When they come back together, when they’re fighting side by side again, Mei specifically should look like she’s with her life long friends again, even with the imprints the flame chasers left on her.

Between finality and origin, Finality looks better, but Origin fits the story more to me.

Thanks again for sticking with me! Gonna be working on something then probably come back for more posts on them!

[sapphia]

i have so many thoughts about chang from community and almost all of them are about him coming out in the final 30 seconds of the entire six-season show.

like, maybe dan meant it just to be a homage to the office and nothing more. maybe it’s just a joke and we will see it fully retconned in the movie. but imagine if it’s not.

from the very first episode, chang is a character who has been hiding his true self. when we first meet him, he’s an ethnically-speaking spanish teacher. this is played heavily for laughs, but we can already see the ways in which he’s running from himself. he’s very on edge about racism, and some of his first lines are him preemptively defending himself against racist comments. it’s not crazy to think that chang’s fixation on latin culture comes from his discomfort with his own race. and we can connect this to his sexuality too - chang met his latina wife at salsa dancing, and by marrying her he becomes closer to the image of the straight, non-asian man he wishes he were, rather than who he really is.

when we meet him, he is also clearly unpredictable bordering on unstable - showing signs of the mental illness (or as the show puts it, chang’s “craziness”) that defined his entire arc. chang is one of the few characters who gets a full arc, both downswing and upswing, as he starts off as a teacher, married and comfortable. as the series he continues, he loses everything, becoming first homeless, jobless and wifeless, then becoming a crazed dictator who kidnaps the dean, then claiming total amnesia, before owning up to his memories and confessing to his crimes and becoming a teacher again - but this time he has found his place and his people, having been accepted into what by this time has become the save greendale committee.

in the early seasons, chang’s craziness seems to escalate as his life gets worse, but you can also view it as his symptoms becoming harder to hide. his behaviour is visible mostly to his students, and only a little to his colleagues, but he’s considered a ‘wild card’ rather than someone who might genuinely need help. in this regard, he is forced to hide his mental illness rather than be open about it and be supported.

but seasons 5 and 6, chang GETS to be crazy. in a weirdly-heartwarming twist, chang is still unbalanced and he still betrays the group multiple times, but it’s treated as a character flaw no greater than anyone else’s in the group, and he is forgiven over and over again for his transgressions in the same way other characters are forgiven for theirs. it is, in my mind, not a coincidence that abed is the one to recognise that chang deserves a second chance regardless of whether he has amnesia or not, because changs issues begin to genuinely be treated as a mental illness and he received the support and help he didn’t before the series - and with it, we can see he does make genuine improvements. sure, like an addict, he still falls into his old ways and betrays the group, but these are treated like relapses, and the group doesn’t stop forgiving him, thus truly demonstrating that greendale is for everyone, especially people who don’t fit into wider society. underneath the humour, this says something serious; that people deserve help, even when they’ve relapsed. Even when they’ve relapsed multiple times. Recovery is not a straight road, nor is the journey to becoming a better person. chang is the hardest person for the study group to forgive, but he’s the most important because of that precise reason.

this comes to a head in the second-to-last episode where chang makes a speech that saves an incestuous marriage from annulment. the episode is about how the group are parasocial and they are at the worst when they’re around each other - except for chang, who actually demonstrably is much improved from the person he’s been for most of the show, and manages to smooth over the mess that the group accidentally creates. this is a hugely symbolic moment, one of the first actually positive and selfless things that chang has actively done.

so when he comes out at the end, it’s with all that context and baggage. finally, after six seasons, chang is accepted by the study group. even though he’s crazy and unpredictable. even though he’s needed a lot of help to function as well as the other characters. even though his shortcomings mean that he often ruins their plans, both deliberately and by accident. even though he leaves when he gets famous, throwing the finger at as he goes. each time he comes back, they forgive him and bring him into the fold once more. and this is the payoff, to show that their patience and forgiveness and work has been worth it, because chang is a better person for it. not only can the study group see that, but chang can see that, just as he has finally been able to see from his betrayal and the group’s instant unspoken forgiveness only a few episodes earlier that they truly will support him for whoever he is, whatever he does. and that just gets me.

[dnowit41]

Dirk Nowitzki's journey from Germany to Dallas to the Hall of Fame

By Steve Aschburner

His shot became his signature, that signature became a statue. It’s planted there now for the long term, emblematic of Dirk Nowitzki himself, who came to the Dallas Mavericks a quarter century ago and never left.

Resplendent in white bronze, 24 feet high, over on the right wing of Victory Plaza outside the American Airlines Center, Nowitzki is immortalized in the shooting form that earned him so many of his 35,223 points (regular and postseason). It earned him a bevy of admirers, too, among peers and rivals like Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant and LeBron James who adopted the big German sharpshooter’s one-legged fadeaway as both a tactic and an homage.

“The Dirk,” as that shot has been dubbed, is here to stay. Both as a weapon – “the equivalent of what Abdul-Jabbar did with his sky hook,” one opposing coach said the other day, both awed and irritated by its effectiveness – and as a tribute, frozen in time, the distillation of 21 seasons and 1,667 games logged with the only NBA team for which he ever played.

One city, one franchise? Only Utah Hall of Famer John Stockton (1,686) ever played more.

It’s funny, though, how a player celebrated for staying planted in one place for more than two decades could have traveled so far and covered such ground in the process. It showed in his game, the way he developed, refined and tweaked his unique style until he had dragged the whole position with him.

“Watching him play, I remember thinking, he’s just getting better and better and better,” said Hall of Famer Kevin McHale, one of the NBA’s greatest power forwards. “And he really changed things around the way the position is played.”

It showed in Nowitzki’s influence, a European prospect who came over younger than most of the imports who preceded him and shined so brightly that, well before he was done, he was regarded as the best player ever from that continent. Fifty-one Most Valuable Player trophies had been handed out in NBA history before Nowitzki won the 52nd as the first Euro. Now guys from Greece and Serbia have taken home four of the past five.

“Every tall kid around the world saw Dirk,” Mavs owner Mark Cuban said, “and realized they could play basketball and not have to be a back-to-the-basket center. Dirk paved the way for players of any size to be multi-positional and have a variety of in-game skills.”

Certainly Nowitzki, 45, moved geographically in a career that spanned half his life, from Wurzburg, Germany, to Dallas and now to Springfield, Mass., where he will be inducted Aug. 12 into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame with the Class of 2023. He has been there once before, in 2018 when a pair of his point guards – Steve Nash and Jason Kidd – were both enshrined. This time, those two will be official Hall presenters for their tall teammate. Nowitzki’s guest list for the weekend – after wife Jessica and their kids Malaika (10), Max (8) and Morris (6) – ran “a couple hundred, I think” at least in invitees, if not attendees.

His speech is pretty much done. “It’s been fun,” Nowitzki told NBA.com recently by phone from Germany. “Really what you’re doing, you’re reflecting on the whole journey. Who’s meant the most, who’s done what. I’ve actually found it cool to sit down in the evening after everyone’s in bed and I sit here for an hour and think about that stuff.

“There will be a little nervousness. But I’m also going to enjoy standing up there and looking out at this amazing crowd of family and friends and great athletes. I’m going to try to enjoy it as much as I can.”

From Germany To Dallas

His father, Jörg-Werner, competed internationally in team handball. His mother Helga and his older sister Silke played basketball.

“Growing up I was always in gyms,” said Nowitzki, who mostly played handball and tennis. “I was tall, and I played basketball in school. I had a cousin who was with a club team, so I went one time to practice and I got hooked. I wasn’t very good but I could move pretty well for a big guy and I had decent touch for my size. It didn’t come that hard for me, and I loved it from Day 1.”

After joining DJK Wurzburg, Nowitzki was spotted by Holger Gerschwindner, a former national team player turned physicist, trainer and coach. Gerschwindner offered to work with the lanky lad, got the family’s permission, then began to hone every aspect of Nowitzki’s game.

One part guru, one part Svengali to Nowitzki’s Trilby, Gerschwindner favored unorthodox techniques and drills to coax out his players’ abilities. For instance, he would invite an old friend who played the saxophone to the gym, then instruct Nowitzki and other teen players to dribble and move in rhythm with the music (“dance the game,” he termed it). He gave them books and swapped out weight training with morning rowing on a local lake.

“Holger was a little bit mystical figure in Dirk’s orbit who thought completely out of the box,” said Golden State assistant coach Ron Adams, an international scout for Portland in 1998. “He’s a little full of himself and some people look sideways at him, but they let Holger do his thing for the most part in Dallas.”

At 19, Nowitzki had developed enough to be invited to the Nike Hoop Summit, an All-Star event pitting the top international prospects against a squad of U.S. high schoolers. The game was held in San Antonio, but the foreign players convened and practiced in Dallas.

Donnie Nelson, son of Mavericks coach Don Nelson, served as a volunteer assistant coach for the overseas team. A stint with Athletes in Action playing internationally during his time at Wheaton College piqued the younger Nelson’s interest in the NBA potential of foreign-bred players.

“We scouted Europe more than anybody, really,” Don Nelson told NBA.com last week, calling from his home in Maui. “Donnie got the international team to work out at the YMCA in downtown Dallas. So for a full week, I’m watching Dirk work out. He was the most unbelievable young player I’d ever seen.”

Other teams perked up after Nowitzki scored 33 points with 14 rebounds to spark his team’s upset of the Americans, including Al Harrington, Quentin Richardson and Rashard Lewis. But as the 1998 NBA Draft approached, the Nelsons were ready.

“We hid Dirk for several weeks before the draft,” Nelson said. “We made a commitment that we were going to draft him. We just wanted to keep him from going anywhere else to work out. He was going to be ours. He was happy with that. So he hid for a week in Donnie’s basement.”

The Mavericks held the No. 6 pick that year but had more ambitious plans than simply taking Nowitzki at that spot. They arranged a deal with Milwaukee at No. 9, in which Dallas picked Michigan’s Robert (Tractor) Traylor and the Bucks took Nowitzki. They knew Boston had interest, leaving the Celtics to draft Paul Pierce at No. 10.

The Bucks also sent the No. 19 selection, Pat Garrity, to Dallas, which promptly packaged Garrity to Phoenix for a young point guard named Steve Nash.

The Early Years

The 1998-99 NBA season is one that lots of folks would like to forget. First of all, there was no 1998; a labor lockout wiped out training camps and the season’s first two-plus months. The new CBA that was wrangled in January was followed by a frenzied 50-game schedule that began in February. Summer leagues, orientation, September individual work and scrimmages, everything an incoming rookie needs for that first difficult season was off the table.

Then there was Nowitzki, who had just turned 20 and, by his and Gerschwindner’s admission, was probably one or two years ahead of schedule in trying the NBA.

“It was right after they drafted me,” Nowitzki said, “that I had the doubts. Should I go to the NBA? I was skinny, I had played second division in Germany. Can I make this jump?

“I talked to Nellie and Donnie. I got to meet Steve and Mike [Finley], and they all assured me, being a young team, we could grow together. So before I left from home, I said I’d come. But I wasn’t able to sign a contract because of the lockout, and that worked out kind of perfect for me.

“I got to stay home. I got to train with Holger. I got to play first division in Germany for a couple more months and really developed my body a little more, my game. Then I got the call in late January from Donnie. ‘Hey, the season is on. Get your butt to Dallas!'”

Let the record show, in his NBA debut on Feb. 5, 1999, Nowitzki shot 0-for-5, made two free throws, got no rebounds and passed for four assists in 16:20 of an overtime loss to Seattle. That first season, he averaged 8.2 points and 3.4 rebounds while shooting 40.5% overall and 20.6% on 3s. The Mavericks finished 19-31 but the Nelsons made good on their commitment, using Nowitzki in 47 games and starting him in 24, including the final 14 when his minutes doubled to 32.9 per game.

“Super nervous and anxious,” he recalled. “I didn’t know what to expect. We had a week of training camp maybe. I didn’t know all the plays or the defensive calls. Then we had five or six games in a week? It was insane. Looking back, it was good for me to get adjusted and learning. But it was tough to go through.”

There was one bright side: Nash. The unheralded playmaker from British Columbia by way of Santa Clara had been buried in the Suns backcourt his first two seasons. He and the German rookie clicked instantly.

“Well, they both loved to drink beer, so I’d say they clicked,” Nelson said, laughing. “They hung out. They both were single at the time.”

It was a lot more than that, Nowitzki said.

“We came to Dallas on the same day,” he said. “We didn’t have any friends. We lived in the same apartment complex. His family is from Europe, and he loved soccer. So we had that and we completely bonded. We went to dinners. I was feeling homesick so he’d take me to movies, out to eat.

“On free nights, we’d go back to the gym, train, lift, run, shoot, play 1-on-1. We just worked our way to be better and better every year. Steve knew the league, the routines and how to get ready. So I learned a lot from him.”

In his second season, during which Cuban bought the franchise, Nowitzki doubled his output to 17.5 points and 6.5 boards while shooting 46.1% overall and 37.9% from range. He averaged 21.8 in 2000-01 as he and Nash became a devastating pick-and-pop combo, and the Mavericks won 53 games in the first of 11 consecutive years of 50-plus victories. The next season, the guard and the forward were All-Stars.

“The crazy part still is, when he got to the NBA, people were upset that he didn’t play like a traditional center,” Cuban said. “They asked why he wasn’t a rim protector. It’s insane to look back at that now.”

Nash went back to Phoenix in free agency in 2004. Finley was gone a year later. Jason Terry came in, and later Kidd. Their coaches changed, from Nelson to Avery Johnson to Rick Carlisle. But Nowitzki was the cornerstone and he was on a roll. He went to 11 All-Star games in a row and 14 overall. He was a 12-time All-NBA selection. In 2006 he led Dallas to the Finals for the first time. The next season, the Mavs won 67 games and Nowitzki won his MVP award.

The coaching changes, never easy, panned out for him. Nelson tapped into Nowitzki’s rare combo of size and ball skills, using him as a lengthy small forward. He was 26 when Johnson took over, demanding more toughness, post work and even defense from his offensive star. Carlisle, who coached him from 2008 until Nowitzki retired in 2019, was a combination, wanting “a lot of free-flow offense and a lot of structured, detail-oriented defense.”

“I always thought, what if I had gone someplace else? Bulked me up and just put me under the basket and made a center out of me. With Nellie, that never happened,” Nowitzki said.

Johnson perfected Dallas’ use of Nowitzki at the “nail,” the center of the free-throw line where he posed the maximum threat to opposing defenses. It enabled him to punish smaller defenders that would switch onto him, without the time and grind to work into the low post, and likely draw a doubling big man.

“The spacing was good,” he said. “I wasn’t the greatest passer, but at least this way, I knew where my spot-up shooters were. I knew the big guy was in the dunker spot underneath. And if nobody came to double, I was going to just shoot over the little guy.”

As for Carlisle, that partnership produced the highlight of their careers and Cuban’s tenure, Maverick fans’ warmest memories, one of the city’s happiest sports celebrations and a reason so many junior-high kids named Dirk are running around.

“I came in the fall of 2008,” Carlisle said last week, “and the main thing was, ‘Dirk’s got about 4-5 years in his prime. We’ve got to figure out a way to win a championship."

‘Now I’m The Old Guy’

Nowitzki was 14 years old when Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and the rest of the Dream Team colonized the basketball world during the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

“I was already an NBA fan and with Jordan winning his first championship in 1991, I became a huge Bulls fan,” Nowitzki said. “Then obviously ’92 happened. I had posters in my room of [Charles] Barkley, Shaq later on, Jordan of course, Bird.”

He had a poster, too, of Detlef Schrempf, the native of Leverkusen, Germany who was drafted eighth overall in 1985 by an earlier Dallas regime. Schrempf, a 6-foot-10 forward, grew up in Centralia, Wash., and spent four years at the University of Washington. He played 16 seasons, averaging 13.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. Later playing for Indiana, Seattle and Portland, Schrempf made three All-Star teams, one All-NBA squad and twice was named the NBA’s top Sixth Man.

Of the 27 NBA players born in Germany, Schrempf is the closest precursor to Nowitzki.

“Of course, Detlef was also one of my favorites. Everybody in Germany knew how good he was,” Nowitzki said. “And then my first game in the league, it was against Seattle and Detlef. The way he treated me there, introduced me to his family, he couldn’t have been nicer. He gave me his phone number and told me to call if I ever had any questions.”

Other notable European players have made their marks before or since. Players such as Sarunas Marciulionis, Drazen Petrovic, Vlade Divac, Andre Kirilenko, Rik Smits, Toni Kukoc and Tony Parker right on to Domantas Sabonis, Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic.

Now Nowitzki is their flag bearer, a role that makes him almost as proud as when he carried Germany’s flag in the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“I got to play with [Mavs forward] Maxi Kleber my last two years. How special is that, a kid from my hometown comes to us? We spent a lot of time together, before the season we trained together and he had a lot of questions,” Nowitzki said.

“And [Toronto guard] Dennis Schröder, when he got in the league, he actually worked out in Dallas before the Draft. I went there, got to see him, got to meet him and gave him my number. Told him when he had any questions to call me up. So we’ve basically been in contact his entire career.

“Now I’m the old guy. It changes so fast. Twenty years have flown by.”

Dirk Stays With Dallas, Wins 2011 Title

This bond of Nowitzki with Dallas, Dallas with Nowitzki, is something to savor now, full of giddy moments and fuzzy nostalgia. But it was forged in hard times, ordeals that are only appreciated in retrospect and even then with a wince. The early days with the Mavericks had been a challenge for Nowitzki, but nowhere close to what he and the team’s fan base endured a few years later.

In 2005-2006, Dallas won 60 games. Nowitzki averaged a career-best 26.6 points, finished third in MVP balloting and – with teammates such as Terry, Josh Howard and Jerry Stackhouse – once again was the lone All-Star.

“Dirk played with Jason Kidd near the end of his career and Jason was still a great player, but he did not play with a bunch of Hall of Fame players in their prime,” Carlisle said. “Nash left before he really hit his stride. Dirk carried an amazing load with the Dallas Mavericks over a period of two-plus decades that may never be rivaled again.”

Nowitzki was his usual stellar self in leading the Mavs in the 2006 playoffs to series victories over Memphis, San Antonio and Phoenix, with his Game 7 work to beat the Spurs overtime in the West semis most remarkable. He and the Mavericks took a 2-0 lead over Miami in the Finals. Then Dwyane Wade happened, the young Heat star binging at 39.3 points and shooting 73 free throws over the final four games.

The Mavericks regrouped to win 67 games in 2006-07. They were so good, with Nowitzki as MVP, they dragged Howard to his only All-Star selection. Heavily favored against small-ball, eighth-seeded Golden State, Dallas was upset in six games, including defeats by 12, 18 and 25 points. Their old mastermind Nelson was working the Warriors’ sideline at that point, and his insider defense on Nowitzki saw the Mavs star score just eight points on 2-of-13 shooting in the elimination game.

“It would have been unbelievable to win in ’06,” he said. “And then losing in the first round in ’07 to the Warriors, those were some tough, tough losses. Gut-wrenching, to the point where I was embarrassed and disappointed and didn’t want to leave the house for a couple weeks.”

In fact, the only thing that blocked him from a hasty retreat to Germany that spring was the NBA, asking him to stick stateside for a couple of weeks until the MVP presentation.

Another first-round loss in 2008, to New Orleans this time, cost Johnson his job. Carlisle came in but two more abrupt exits followed, to Denver in the 2009 semis and to San Antonio in 2010.

Nowitzki was 32 and, for the first time in his career, a free agent. Three years earlier, a perennial All-NBA forward had accepted a trade in hopes of winning a championship elsewhere: Kevin Garnett left Minnesota after 12 years and insufficient help to finally win in Boston. Was Nowitzki next?

“I always wanted to make it happen,” Nowitzki said. “I met with Mark [Cuban] and we both got a little emotional about what we’d been through together. And he said, ‘Let’s finish this together,’ and I was like, ‘I don’t want to be anywhere else.’ I ended up signing a four-year deal and we won a championship in the first year.”

The 2010-11 Mavericks did more than that. They delayed and possibly altered the trajectory of LeBron James’ grandiose Super Team plans in Miami. The “not one, not two, not three…” hubris of that initial public appearance of James, Wade and Chris Bosh became the thud of “not one” when Dallas and Nowitzki beat the Heat in six games.

Said McHale: “Kidd was really, really smart. Just knew how to play. Some of the guys were older, too. They had a blend of guys who just played so well together. They would do this 2-3 zone when I was [visiting Carlisle] in camp and I told Rick, ‘Your zone sucks. You’ve got to stop using that.’ Hell, they played that zone in the Finals. They had a bunch of high-IQ guys. And pro’s pros. They were not going to beat themselves.

“But the thing I remember the most was Dirk making these unbelievable shots down the stretches of games. He’d make a crazy shot to give them breathing room all the time.”

At this point, Nowitzki believes the elation of 2011 never happens if not for the heartbreaks that came before.

“In 2011, I was the finisher I needed to be in the final moments,” he said. “In ’06 and ’07 I just wasn’t quite there yet to make the big baskets. It wasn’t fun to go through those years when we were favorites but it’s part of my journey and it made me a better player and person for sure.”

Nobody quibbles with that last part. Nowitzki’s lack of drama and pretense drew mentions time and again from people contacted for this story.

“He was the greatest superstar teammate that I’ve ever seen,” Carlisle said. “He had a really humble demeanor, he knew who he was, he knew what his responsibility was.”

Shawn Marion, the 2011 teammate who refers to Nowitzki as the “7-Foot Rainbow Assassin,” also said: “His ego never got in the way of what the biggest goal was. He’s a quiet leader. And he had a bit of a joker side to him too.”

And over the years, with Nowitzki now focused on family, a low-demand Mavericks consultancy and a relaxed TBD future, those close to him have reconciled the global icon vs. Mavericks fixture split.

“Dirk became very Americanized,” Carlisle said, “where Germany and Europe could feel like he was theirs, and the people of Dallas could feel like he was theirs. And no one needed to fight about it.”

[cyarsk52-20]

MUSIC

The Best Graduation Songs To Turn Up To

With songs by Kelis, Lizzo, Drake, Big Sean, Queen Bey and more, what better way to celebrate graduation day than with a Black-ass playlist?

By

Candace McDuffie

PublishedYesterday

Comments (1)

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Graduation season is upon us and what better way to celebrate this milestone than with a Black ass playlist. Once you toss that cap in the air, it’s time to gather your closest friends who both twerk and two-step. Here are songs that are absolutely necessary for the post ceremony turn up.

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2 / 13

List slides

Beyoncé, “Before I Let Go”

Queen Bey blessed the world with this absolutely fantastic Maze & Frankie Beverly cover. Not only does her version of “Before I Let Go” pay homage to original, it features an array of moves for new grads to try out including swag surfing and “work the middle ‘til it hurt a little.” 

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3 / 13

List slides

Drake, “God’s Plan”

Drake’s famous video for “God’s Plan” included him giving away a million dollars to people all over Miami, proving that generosity pays off. This sentiment makes the track an excellent graduation song for graduates as they chart out their next major life step.

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4 / 13

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Mary J. Blige, “Just Fine”

Aunt Mary most upbeat anthem is a perfect way to help celebrate the big day. “Just Fine” isn’t just infectious, it’s a song that encompasses the kind of joy that follows triumph. Graduates may not know what’s coming next, but this track reminds them that it’ll be ok no matter what.

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5 / 13

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Three 6 Mafia, “Stay Fly”

Even though Three 6 Mafia’s “Stay Fly” was released nearly 20 years ago, it remains the ultimate anthem for those who can’t help but effortlessly brag. Getting that diploma wasn’t an easy feat and this track reiterates how dope an individual must be to have obtained it.

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6 / 13

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Teyana Taylor, “Made It”

Teyana Taylor’s “Made It” feels more like a victory lap than a song and perfectly sums up the student experience. The track is a beautiful ode to how hard work truly pays off; Taylor also used the video to honor women graduates of color.

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7 / 13

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Juvenile, “Back That Azz Up”

Juvenile’s “Back That Azz Up” isn’t just a club staple, but it’s also the perfect post-graduation turn up song. The epic intro gives you just enough to tear off that gown and drop it low for the ‘99 and the 2000.

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8 / 13

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Big Sean, “Blessings”

Big Sean’s “Blessings” is all about gratitude for how far he’s come in life. On the track, he raps: “Blessings on blessings on blessings/Look at my life man that’s lessons on lessons on lessons.” Not only can students relate, but they can reflect about what they’ve learned so far on their journey.

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9 / 13

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Notorious B.I.G, “Juicy”

One of Biggie’s most powerful themes is about becoming something out of nothing. On “Juicy,” the late emcee rapped: “I made the change from a common thief/To up close and personal with Robin Leach.” That remarkable transformation encapsulates the dreams that many graduates are aiming for as well.

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10 / 13

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Kelis feat. Too Short, “Bossy”

Kelis was in her bag when she made “Bossy,” a song where she bragged about how she started certain trends and deserves the credit for it. This attitude is perfect for graduates who bossed up and got their degrees on their own terms.

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11 / 13

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Nipsey Hussle, “Last Time That I Checc’d”

The late rapper Nipsey Hussle made an unforgettable banger on the YG-assisted “Last Time That I Checc’d.” On the track, the Crenshaw native talked about what it took for his talent to not only be recognized, but rewarded. Surely, this resilience resonates on graduation day.

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12 / 13

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Lizzo, “About Damn Time”

Lizzo isn’t just the queen of body positivity but positivity period! Her track “About Damn Time” is a fun and irresistible track about being “way too fine to be this stressed.” Graduates know this feeling quite well and can dance to the pop star’s song about turning up taking precedence over worrying. 

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13 / 13

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MUSIC

Jimmie Allen Says He Was a 'Victim' in New Apology to His Wife Amid Sexual Assault Allegations

'I’m working on becoming a better person that my kids can be proud of,' Allen said in part.

Photo: Gilbert Flores/Variety (Getty Images)

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Recasting Succession With Black Celebs

HBO's Succession is about to end, so we decided to bring back the recasting of the Roys (Kendall and the lot ) with…

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All of the Times Kim Kardashian Had North West’s Hair On Point

North West's hair gives us life. Kim K is keeping her daughter's hair in amazing protective styles.

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Black Actresses Over 40 Who Prove Black Never Cracks

From Vanessa Williams to Regina Hall, Gabrielle Union, Tracee Ellis Ross and Regina King--these women continue to…

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'Citi Bike Karen' Got Somethin’ to Say

The attorney for the woman accused of trying to steal a Black teen’s Citi Bike claims the video tells a one-sided…

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The Best Rappers Over Forty InThe Hip Hop Game

Although rappers like Nas, Black Thought and Pusha T are OGs in the game, they’re still putting out some of the best…

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We Asked 3 Celebrity Stylists for the Hottest Summer Hair Trends

Professional stylists who've kept stars like Lizzo, KeKe Palmer and Queen Latifah looking great, tell us what looks…

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Vanessa Williams Is Flawless at 60, Calls Aging a ‘Privilege’

‘The older you get the less you care about what everybody else has to say,’ the Soul Food star said.

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For Lizzo, Working Out Isn’t About ‘Trying to Escape Fatness’

‘I’m not trying to be thin, I don’t ever want to be thin,’ the Grammy winner said.

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Grand Jury Decision Reached in Jarrett Hobbs Jail Beating Case

Three former sheriff’s officers were indicted by a grand jury for the brutal beating of Jarrett Hobbs in a county…

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Summer 2023: Shoe Trends You Need To Know About!

No matter what kind of budget you're working with, we've rounded up great styles at every price point.

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Who Is the Texas Congresswoman Calling the GOP Out On Santos?

Rep. Jasmine Crockett read Republicans for filth on Tuesday, but who exactly is the congresswoman behind the viral…

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‘We Split Everything 50/50’: Gabrielle Union Opens Up About How Money Affects Her Marriage to Dwyane Wade

The actress/producer gets honest about money and reveals that she still worries about being financially secure.

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More Trouble For Grizzlies' Ja Morant After Gun Incident

Nike has reportedly removed Ja Morant's sneakers from their website.

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Is Queen Camilla The Biggest Karen The Royals Have Ever Seen?

The Royal drama continues to unfold with the Karen-ish Queen in the middle and it is juicier than ever.

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Songs We Mistakenly Thought Black People Sang

The death of beloved Bobby Caldwell had us thinking about other excellent blue-eyed soul singers you need to know.

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Lance Reddick to Be Honored in White Men Can't Jump Remake

The film's stars Sinqua Walls and Teyana Taylor also spoke to The Root about how they brought a new flair to an old…

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As Fast X hits theaters, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges’ joins other fan favorites who've been honored with a star on the…

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June 2023 Books By Black Authors We Can't Wait to Read

From romance to memoir to historical fiction, June has something for every reader.

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