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cleolinda · 1 year ago

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The Scariest Movie I Ever Saw in a Theater: The Ring

I'll tell you up front that the story I'm going to tell you is about "The Ring (2002)," in the sense that it is about The Ring in the year 2002.

See, I don't know what The Scariest Movie Ever is. A quick google says that the consensus is The Exorcist (I haven't seen it, because I never felt like scheduling a day to freak myself the entire fuck out). But horror is specific, and not just to a person, but to a time and place, even. When I saw The Shining as a teenager in a well-lit living room with other people, I didn't even really flinch, but I bet it would play very differently to me now. I don’t think The Ring is at the top of anyone’s list, but twenty years ago, I had a personal interest in it—at the time, I was running a dinky little Geocities site devoted to movie news. Links curated and compiled from all the other, bigger sites I followed—basically, it was the linkspam format I have used on multiple platforms, including here on Sundays. And so, as someone who followed theatrical releases pretty closely for two or three years, I saw the trailer for The Ring, and I immediately knew it was going to be huge.

To locate you in time, this was just after three self-satirizing Scream movies and the Overcomplicated Serial Killer films of the '90s. The Ring was something completely different: chill aqua-blue color grading a good 5-6 years before Twilight; a mournful Hans Zimmer score; no jokes, no quips; and a slow, inexorable sense of doom. Grief, even, given that the movie begins with the death of the main character's niece. What immediately struck me about the first trailer was 1) the melancholy of it, and 2) how much it doesn't explain. Onscreen, you get the title cards,

THERE IS A VIDEOTAPE IF YOU WATCH IT SEVEN DAYS LATER YOU DIE

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Concise! Understandable! A woman (Naomi Watts) is freaking out upon discovering that her young son has just watched it! Admirable job setting up the premise and the stakes of this entire movie in thirty seconds flat, without even any dialogue. That's all you need to know, and thus, the remaining minute of the trailer can do whatever it wants, and what it wants to do is be fucking weird. Echoing voices, TV static, a closeup of a horse's eye, ladders, a girl with dark hair, people reacting to things we don't see, drippy doorknobs, rain. Characters don't give us the whole plot in convenient soundbites of dialogue (like they do in a later trailer); we just hear lines, overlapping, murmured out of context—

did you see it in your head? she talks to you... leading you somewhere... showing you the horses... you saw it. did you see it in your head? she shows me things. Everyone suffers.

That you saw it has lived in my head ever since, and not once have I charged it rent. But the "best" part is Naomi Watts screaming at the end, because you don't hear her voice; you only hear this heartless telephonic beeeeeeep. It's 2002 and I'm watching this trailer, thinking, I have no idea what the fuck I just saw. This is going to be huge.

And it was, to the tune of $249 million on a $48M budget.

At risk of recapping what you might already know, Ringu, aka Ring, is a media franchise that spiraled out from a trio of Koji Suzuki novels into Hideo Nakata's film Ringu (1998), a landmark of Japanese horror, plus several other movies, some TV series, many comics, and even a couple of video games. The overarching story is about a murdered girl/vengeful ghost named Sadako Yamamura whose rage and pain have created a cursed video tape, you watch it and you die unless you pass the tape around like a virus, seven daaaaays, etc.

The "ring" in question is the rim of a well. Keep that well in mind.

The movie I saw is the U.S. remake, which itself had two sequels. (The iconic Sadako is now named Samara Morgan. Keep her in mind, too.) Director Gore Verbinski moved from The Ring to Pirates of the the Caribbean (!), and so Hideo Nakata himself would direct The Ring Two. I... honestly have only seen the first one. And I was right, it was huge, and it kicked off the American J-Horror Remake genre, for better or worse. But what gets forgotten about The Ring is its marketing campaign, which I followed pretty closely for my doofy little news site.

It was inspired.

The story of The Ring is partly the story of the sea change in the media landscape—how we watch movies. And the story of its marketing is a picture of the very last years before social media changed the wilderness of the internet into something that feels so big, like a billion people could see anything we say, and yet so small—only a tame handful of places to say it, owned by three or four companies, and corraled by algorithms.

Back around 1997-1998 or so, I worked at a video store (Movie Gallery, where the hits were there then, guaranteed) for about a year and a half. By the time I left, we had started adding DVDs to the VHS tapes on the shelves, but we hadn't replaced the entire stock. Video stores might have transitioned fully to DVD by 2002, I'm not sure, but people still commonly had both VCRs and DVD players in their homes. And I remember that The Ring was sold in both formats when it eventually hit home video. Which is to say—you know the analog horror genre today? Marble Hornets, Local 58, The Mandela Catalogue?

Analog horror is commonly characterized by low-fidelity graphics, cryptic messages, and visual styles reminiscent of late 20th-century television and analog recordings. This is done to match the setting, as analog horror works are typically set between the 1960s and 1990s. The name "analog horror" comes from the genre's aesthetic incorporation of elements related to analog electronics, such as analog television and VHS, the latter being an analog method of recording video.

Okay, but this is just what home media was like, and 2002 was at the very tail end of that—boxy black VHS tapes that degraded with time and reuse were just how we lived. At the same time, I'd been using CDs for music since about 1991, and all our software installs came on CD-ROM discs; a "mixtape" by that time had shifted to mean a rewriteable CD rather than a cassette tape. In college, I—well, I'll plead the Fifth as to whether I downloaded mp3s via Napster, but I was also taping Mystery Science Theater 3000 on VHS over the weekends. It was Every Format Everywhere, All At Once, and we kept half a dozen kinds of players around for them. Here in 2023, we stream and download everything invisibly, unless we choose to engage in format nostalgia. (I've already run into the problem of Apple Music deleting songs I really liked, due to this or that licensing issue, because I was really only renting them.) The year The Ring hit theaters was the edge of a last shimmering gasp of physical media where iTunes had only come into being the year before, and iridescent discs were still mostly what we used, but cassettes, both video and audio, were still viable. And so, people did not think it was terribly weird when they started finding unlabeled VHS tapes on their windshields.

Movieweb, quoting TikTok user astro_nina:

"Their marketing strategy was essentially 'let's get this tape viewed by as many people as possible without these people being aware of what this is, sort of raising intrigue," she says. One way they achieved this was by airing the tape, which allegedly marks its viewers for death within seven days, as a commercial with no context. The video would air between late-night programming "with no words, no mention of a movie, for like a month...so people would run into it and it would just go on to the next thing, and people would be like, 'what the f--k is this?'"

I remember seeing the Cursed Video as an unexplained ad at least twice, by the way. That TikTok also indicates that DreamWorks straight-up sent copies of the tape to Hot Topic stores, as well as planting them under actual movie theater seats. While running my movie site, I heard at least one story of someone finding a tape on the sink counter of a restroom at a club. Did the marketing department actually plant tapes in bathrooms—or did a freaked-out recipient leave it there, hoping to dodge the "curse"?

(I haven't embedded the Cursed Video here, by the way—but I could have. If you'd like to see the American take on it, you can watch both the full version and the shorter variant that appeared in the movie itself. A text description of what the fuck you're even looking at is here [content note for both: blood, insects, animal death, body horror, and suicide by falling]. The original version from the Japanese film is shorter, and it's eerie rather than gruesome.)

BUT WAIT, THERE WAS MORE: DreamWorks had something of an alternate-reality campaign going with a handful of in-character websites. This was only a year after Warner Bros. ran the groundbreaking "The Beast" ARG for A.I.: Artificial Intelligence: "Ultimately, fifty websites with a total of about one thousand pages were created for the [A.I.] game." (I lurked in the Cloudmakers Yahoo group.) Marketing for The Ring did not go anywhere that in depth, nor did it need to; it was both a smaller film and a smaller story. I saw at least two “personal” websites (seemingly amateur and a little tacky, like my own), but the one I particularly remember was about someone who owned/trained horses? I'm not sure if it was meant to be the actual Anna Morgan character—Samara's mother—or maybe someone who had noticed that the Morgans' horses were disturbed? I'm not even sure anyone even remembers this but me. Reddit users dug up a few other archived websites, but they're about Sadako, the curse and/or videotape; they aren't as subtle or character-oriented as the site I remember. (Honestly, I wonder if weird shit like "What Scares Me" or "SEVEN DAYS TO LIVE" were made by fans rather than a marketing department, but who knows.)

[The “About” page from Seven Days to Live on the Internet Archive.]

[The entirety of An Open Letter on the Internet Archive. “UPDATE” is a now-blank pop-up. I would bet $5 that it was originally a pop-up of the cursed video.]

I need to point out here that Facebook did not exist in 2002. It would not exist for another two years, and Twitter wouldn't exist until 2006. Even MySpace was not a thing until the next year. I didn't start my Livejournal until October of 2003. What we had, for the most part, were independent forums and blogs. We also had Creepy Internet Fiction like "The Dionaea House" and "Ted the Caver"; their use of the blog format, of people out there seemingly living their lives until something fucked up went down, gave the stories the shape of reality. And it helped that these blogs had comment sections, sure—sometimes more story unfolded there—but for the most part, an author could "abandon" a blog, and you'd just find the story there via word of mouth. Like the Ring blogs I remember, it wouldn't seem strange if no one replied to you, whereas today, you'd have to hire a writer to sit on Twitter, or Reddit, or even Tumblr, and interact with people in character. Could you do something like The Ring's mysterious, weird-ass blogs today? Would anyone even notice?

So: It's 2002, my head is full of Alternate Reality and eerie images and you saw it, and I'm hype as hell to go out and see The Ring. I'm perfectly happy to go see movies by myself, so I went in the early afternoon (best time to get a good seat). The movie ended up being a sleeper hit, and the first weekend, the public was still sleeping on it, so there were only 7-8 other people in that theater, grouped in maybe two clusters. I was off in my own little pool of darkness in the upper right quadrant. Functionally, once the lights went down, I was alone.

Despite some middling reviews at the time, The Ring is something of a horror classic nowadays. If you want a scary movie this Spooky Season, check out The Ring. Or don't, because it nearly killed me.

We're at the last, I don't know, third of the movie? And Our Heroine has tracked down the origin of the Cursed Videotape to some creepy mountain motel or whatever. SPOILER, it turns out that it was built over the Cursed Well (everything in this movie is cursed) that Our Villain was thrown into—that's why Sadako/Samara is a vengeful wet murder ghost crawling out of TVs now. While investigating this decrepit hotel room, intrepid journalist Rachel and her, who is it, her ex-husband? her kid's dad, idk, discover the well under the creaky old floorboards. And then, wouldn't you know it,

NAOMI WATTS FALLS INTO THE WELL

NAOMI WATTS FALLS INTO THE FUCKING WELL

THAT'S WHERE SAMARA'S BODY IS

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[The rather slapstick moment when Rachel falls into the well. Does not include what actually happens next.]

I go absolutely rigid in my seat. Naomi Watts is splashing around this dark-ass death swamp of a well and I know, with as much certainty as I have ever known anything in my life, that Samara is about to pop up in all her pasty, waterlogged glory. All the sad creepy dread, all the desperation to figure out what the fuck all that shit on the tape was and stop Samara from killing Rachel's son, all the horrible contorted victim faces, all the alternate reality I’ve been soaking in, it has all come to this. I have to leave the theater. I cannot be having with this. I have to be gone from this place. My legs do not work. I cannot feel them. I am frozen. I want nothing more in this life or any other to get up and leave this cavernous pitch-black room, and I cannot. I start praying for death. I want you to understand that I am not trying to be flippant or humorous. This is genuinely what went through my head. I was too scared to even think, "You know, you could just pray to pass out or for motion to return to your limbs or something." No, I sat there in The Ring thinking, Please for the love of all mercy just let me cease being.

You know that scene in Mulholland Drive (also starring Naomi Watts)? Winkie's diner and the EXCRUCIATING tension? It was a little like that, except I wasn't watching it, I was experiencing it, and Samara was my dirt monster out behind the diner.

Except that the jump scare didn't actually happen. I mean, yes, Rachel finds Samara's body down there, but—I don't remember exactly, please don't make me go watch it again to tell you what actually happens. It's played more sympathetically on Rachel's part, as I recall, and she and her ex get Samara's body out so that she (Samara) can have a proper burial.

And then it turns out that this is not the end of the movie. It turns out that Rachel has Fucked Up.

I think I was relatively okay through the rest of it, although the climax is Samara emerging from a TV in her full glitching swampy glory to scare [SPOILER] to death. I don't recall praying for death twice. There's a point when you're so exhausted from fear chemicals that you're like, yeah, this might as well happen. Bring it, Soggy. I did have a hard time prying myself out of that seat afterwards, though, and my mom says that when I got home, I had the classic thousand-yard stare. How was the movie?

"It was great," I said, and I meant it.

I've seen things that were objectively scarier (I watched much of The Haunting of Hill House from behind a pillow, to be honest), and it's not like I've never experienced fear in real life. But I respect when a movie that can make me feel so intensely, and there's something weirdly precious about the way horror is a safe roller coaster, as it's often been said. So I love telling the story about The Time The Ring Nearly Killed Me—a movie that actually made my body stop working—and I love thinking of how embedded in a specific time and place that movie was for me. The last gasp of VHS when the Cursed Videotape still seemed plausible; the way the internet was still wild and weird and free; where I was in my life, keeping up so avidly with all the movie news, and finding myself in such a little pool of darkness early one afternoon. It's the scariest movie I saw in a theater; that's the alchemy of circumstance.

#the ring #ringu #horror #first look on patreon #movies #long post #spooky season #halloween everyday #long post is long #gifs

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scarlettrue · 1 month ago

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Alright, fuck it, Shazam pitch (it’ll be in multiple parts because different stuff goes into it like continuity and so on). So, here’s

PART 1 OF THE SHAZAM ANIMATED SERIES PITCH

(Also sorry for the use of the Zach Levi gifs, I promise he’ll have nothing to do with this)

Okay, so first of all, we gotta deal with

PREVIOUS DCEU CONTINUITY AND THE DCU

So, I’m sure many people are wondering how this will work, we don’t know exactly how it’ll work with what’s confirmed to be brought back (I.e. Blue Beetle, Peacemaker, Amanda Waller, etc.) but I assume some aspects from DCEU canon will be kept, while others will be left to die, so this post, we‘ll discuss what elements, character and plot from the first two movie (and maybe Black Adam idk) that we’ll be keeping.

Plot elements:

So, plot elements, what elements from the plot and characters are we gonna keep?

First of all, I’m keeping most of the events of both films, however, there will be some changes from the films, mainly Superman and Wonder Woman, and Fury of the Gods mid-credits scene.

The versions of Superman and Wonder Woman will obviously be different because they already are/will be recast for the new universe. This will change background stuff like the newspapers related to Superman Freddy kept in the first film, including no MoS like event being canon (THANK FUCKING GOD ITS NOT GONNA BE CANON). Same with Wonder Woman, she’ll be played by a new actress who’ll be played by a new actresses in the series (GOOD RIDDANCE ZIONIST AND TERRIBLE ACTRESSES GAL GADOT), though Fury of the Gods ending will be different, we’ll get to it in a minute.

As for Fury of the Gods mid-credit scene, it doesn’t make sense. Waller being connected to the Justice Society of America (JSA) has never made sense no matter how you look at it, and Economos and Harcourt recruiting Billy for the JSA is ass backwards. Waller being connected to the JSA is from Black Adam and can be ignored. The mid-credits scene with Economos and Harcourt is going to also be massively redone, and will include JSA members as originally intended (Economos and Harcourt are the ones to recruit Billy in the mid-credits scene because of the production of Black Adam wanting nothing to do with Shazam, as well as the fact that both Shazam films, The Suicide Squad, and Peacemaker share the same producer, who is also the co-ceo of DC). We’ll discuss the JSA members who will recruit Billy soon ish lol.

As for what I’m keeping, it’s mostly everything else. From Billy being abandoned by his mother, to going from foster home to foster home trying to find her, getting adopted by the Vasquez family, getting his powers from the Wizard, being a little shit with the powers and getting into a fight with his brother, fighting Sivana, confronting his mom, saving his new family, giving them superpowers, defeating Sivana, being shitty superheroes, Freddy meeting a goddess, the city getting domed off, fighting the gods, the family and goddess Anthea losing their powers, Billy finishing the fight, Billy dying and getting resurrected (but not by Wonder Woman, gasp), and getting recruited to the JSA (by members of the JSA.

It’s a lot, but I think the films work for the most part, and actually work to set up Shazam as a powerful guy who can make a difference on multiple scales, but because of his lack of branding and other heroes in the universe, he’s still a nobody hero when compared to Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman, and status wise, is closer to heroes like Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Guy Gardner, and so on (which is where he was when Justice League International was released, which is what the DCU seems to be based off of).

Also, no, for this pitch you won’t have to have watched Shazam 1 or 2 to understand this, as it’ll be recapped in the beginning in a similar manner to Across the Spider-Verse, so you’d be able to just jump into the series with no prior knowledge, which is what the DCU is already aiming for with who is returning for it (ie John Cena Peacemaker and Xolo Maridueña Blue Beetle). Now that that’s worked out, let’s discuss-

RETURNING AND NON-RETURNING CAST

Alright, now with the casting. I want to bring most of the cast from the films back, along with the JSS from Black Adam because I think they were all well cast and deserve second chances in films that don’t involve the Rock or behind the scenes bull shittery caused by the Rock.

HOWEVER, I would not bring Zachery Levi back as the adult counterpart Shazam for multiple reasons, the big one being his very recent decent into madness and recent political endorsements(which are very orange). However, his portrayal was already questioned by multiple viewers who enjoyed the sequel. A lot of people I’ve seen prefer Asher Angel’s Billy Batson over Levi’s Shazam, and I don’t blame them. Billy in Shazam 2 is much more mature, and while I understand what Levi was going for, portraying a kid who feels he can act more youthful in adult superhero form, but he went way to far in the immature direction and he loses the forest for the trees. That coupled with Levi’s recent decent, I wouldn’t bring him back, and instead, Asher Angel would play both parts.

Another reason why I want Asher Angel to play both parts is because I want Billy Batson to be able to grow up. It’s something that rarely happens with him, and I feel like he’s one of THE superheroes that can show many kids that growing up is okay. That it’s okay if it goes slowly, just enjoy it and don’t be afraid of growing up as you get older. A superhero that reflects truly would’ve meant the world to me (it’s why I like MCU Spider-Man, because he was that for me in a way) but Shazam, it can be so much more explicit and cathartic for kids and adults. I’ll get more into that in the next part when I talk about the character arcs for the central characters. But, let’s go through everyone I’m bringing back

Asher Angel as Billy Batson/Shazam

Sorry for the lack of images. But yeah, as I’ve mentioned multiple times, we’re bringing back Asher Angel, but her won’t be the only one playing both versions of their character. I want to see Asher Angel be able to actually play the superhero and show how Billy is different whenever he’s his normal self and whenever he’s Shazam. Plus, I have a feeling he can be really really funny as well. It’d also also be really nice to see him as Shazam interact with characters like Corenswet’s Superman, JSA members I’ll talk about soon, Xolo’s Blue Beetle, and so on, as well as seeing him become a part of the Justice League or Justice League International.

Jack Dylan Grazer as Freddy Freeman

I did say most of the cast, so just prepare for repetition. I really like him as Freddy, he’s very goofy, and I also like would like to see him in his heroic form as well, again, I’d like to just see what he’d do with the heroic side, as well as how he’d change his voice in some since Freddy is the one I imagine would change his voice when in heroic form. We’ll also delve more into Freddy and his backstory, but we’ll get into that later. Moving on.

Grace Caroline Curry as Mary Bromfield

So, here’s the most popular character from these movies. Grace has already played both versions of Mary, so nothing new there in concept, but with Mary, I wanna focus on her backstory, as well as how she handle college and having her powers, as well as Anthea viewing her as a sorta bigger sister figure. Speaking of

Rachel Zegler as Anthea

Alright, so now that the misogynistic nerds who don’t know how to read beyond the headline of an article have shat themselves, called me a slur, and left because I said the name Rachel Zegler, let’s talk about Anthea. I really like Anthea as a concept and I liked Zegler’s performance, as well as her chemistry with Freddy, but I feel like we didn’t get to know her super well (especially compared her another DCEU OC Jenny Kord from Blue Beetle), but I wanna delver into her character, the idea of her learning about earth, and getting into some senior year of high school shenanigans because she needs a human alibi of some sort.

Ian Chen & Ross Butler as Eugene Choi

I don’t have a lot to say about These next 3, other than Butler is returning here because I believe canonically, he’d be like 16 or 17, so we’re going off the logic that at 18, you basically look the same with these powers. With Eugene, I wanna understand him better as a character. I have ideas about what games he’d be playing, as well as delve into his personality and origin story.

Jovan Armand & D.J. Catrona as Pedro Peña

Same logic with Eugene and Darla. With Pedro, I wanna get to understand his personality and backstory, but I really wanna see how his life is different from everyone else in the group, and see what it’s like for him being an LGBT teenager. But I don’t really have a lot to say about Pedro.

Faithe Herman & Megan Goode as Darla Dudley

Once again, same logic as the last two characters. With Darla, I really wanna see her in a semi-similar place Billy was at in the first film, and also feeling a bit disconnected, since a lot of people at 15 probably feel that way in some way shape or form. I also wanna get into her backstory, especially since she saw her birth parents right before she left whenever she was like 5, I’m sure she has similar issue like Billy had at 15, and I think it’d be nice to see Billy and her get closer as she continues to grow up.

Marta Milans & Cooper Andrews as Rosa & Victor Vásquez

Same as a lot of these, I’d love to get to know these two a lot better, and see how they handle their family growing up and doing things with their lives. I’d also take inspiration from Across the Spider-Verse with these two and their dynamic, and there’s actually a scene between Billy and Rosa I have an idea for that inspired by Miles and Rio’s last conversation before Miles leaves his earth, but more of that in the second part of this.

Mark Strong as Thaddeus Sivana

So, I plan to finally address the post-credit scenes of both films, and so Sivana will be a central character in this hypothetical show. I have a lot of ideas for him that are new, such as delving into his extended family (kids and ex wife included) and understand him better. Plus Mark Strong is a great actor.

David F. Sandberg as Mister Mind

Yes, I’m doing the worm, and his team the Monster Society of Evil.

Djimon Hounsou as the Wizard Shazam

Since the Wizard is alive, I figured he should be here. I also feel like him and Anthea can have a pretty interesting relationship since they’re both god like characters who don’t understand earth or American culture. Also Djimon Hounsou had worked with James Gunn before, he was Korath in Guardians of the Galaxy vol 1. I’d wanna portray the Wizard with humor, but I also wanna use Gandalf as an influence on his demeanor and character here, because it’d be an interesting angle for this character who’s usually more stoic.

Now, on to the JSA members.

Quintessa Swindell as Maxine Hunkel/Cyclone

Now we’re onto the Black Adam characters. I think the JSA were actually pretty well cast, I just wasn’t a fan of their writing and dynamics, which will definitely be changed. She could also represent the newer generation of heroes, along with Atom Smasher, and can relate to Billy in terms of getting the powers.

Noah Centineo as Al Rothstien/Atom Smasher

I think Atom Smasher was the worse handled JSA member, and he’d feel a lot closer to his comics counterpart. Again, I think the actor did good, but definitely deserved to have a different dynamic with member like Hawkman and shouldn’t have been the kid of the group.

Aldis Hodge as Carter Hall/Hawkman

Again, I really liked him as Hawkman. And with the DCU having a Hawkgirl (this version more than likely being Kendra Saunders, played by Isabela Merced), I’d like to see if she doesn’t want anything to do with Hawkman since she’s in the JLI and he’s in the JSA. Alright, one more to go.

Pierce Brosnan as Kent Nelson/Doctor Fate

Alright, so this casting was really good, but I have issues with the characterization, mainly the fact that Fate isn’t Nabu in control of someone’s body. That’s my only complaint other than be fucking dies in Black Adam, but since we’re ignoring Black Adam entirely except for these four casting choices, it’s safe to say he’s still here as Doctor Fate. I think the relationship between him and Billy would be super interesting and could work as a mentor figure for Billy when it comes to heroism.

Conclusion

And that’s everyone. I wanted to talk about new stuff in greater detail, but this post is already long enough, so I’ll mention the influences and the next post will go on from there.

My biggest influences are The Power of Shazam, The Trials of Shazam, the original comics, some of the New 52, JSA from the 90’s, and JLI. Again, I’m very sorry this post is long, and the next post will go more in depth on new characters and who I’d cast. Anyways, bye.

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brf-rumortrackinganon · 4 months ago

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Also I totally forgot about this until I saw something on FB but…

Ryan and Blake had a plantation wedding in South Carolina way back in 2012 when it was cool and chic to do that. The old slave cabins were even part of some of their photos. 🤦‍♀️

And remember when Blake tried to launch her own form of Goop? I think she called it Preserve, something uppity like that. Anyway, the lifestyle brand had a newsletter that she called…wait for it: Allure of the Antebellum, in which she essentially romanticized female slave owners. Here’s a good recap from Vox:

🤦‍♀️ 🤦‍♀️

So people immediately started calling Blake out for her casual racism and she shut down Preserve not much longer after citing lack of interest (because her products were ridiculously overpriced…sound familiar?) but an ad analysis brand found that Blake lost her audience because she was so tone-deaf in that newsletter. (And also just last year, in 2023, Blake made comments loaning about how “hurtful press coverage” made her shut down her company. Jeez, it’s like looking in a crystal ball.)

Anyway, she and Ryan were able to sweep this under the rug for a lil bit. Till Ryan made his own tone-deaf comments about Black Panther, something to the effect of “congrats on being the first blockbuster with a Black superhero” and got slammed for it on Twitter with a bunch of people calling him out for having had a plantation wedding.

So then fast forward 2 years. It’s the summer of George Floyd protests and privilege (or the lack thereof) is being reckoned with. In May 2020, they make a $20,000 donation to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, along with a statement saying "We're ashamed that in the past we've allowed ourselves to be uninformed about how deeply rooted systemic racism is.”

But they get dragged for filth about having a plantation wedding and finally, three months later in August, Ryan issued a formal apology saying:“It’s something we’ll always be deeply and unreservedly sorry for. It’s impossible to reconcile. What we saw at the time was a wedding venue on Pinterest. What we saw after was a place built upon devastating tragedy.” He then went on to say they got married again at home some years later because “shame works in weird ways.” 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

I don’t know. Here’s a thought. Maybe if you’re planning a wedding whose photos you’re going to sell to magazines later, maaaaaybe you should’ve done a tour of the place you found on Pinterest to see the warts they don’t talk about on social media before committing. Just a bit of advice for next time, Ryan.

So yeah. This has been, I’m sure, a great few days for Ryan and Blake, with all this dirt coming up.

All because Blake decided to make her movie’s promo tour Barbie 2.0. You know, I saw a thing on social media this afternoon that she and her squad were telling people to have a girl’s night out to see the movie and dress up in florals and bring flowers to share like they’re Taylor Swift friendship bracelets. 🤦‍♀️ 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

And this is on top of Colleen Hoover deciding to make a coloring book companion for her novel. A coloring book, y’all. Thankfully she listened to the backlash and canceled it.

Also, putting a tag on these posts now so if anyone is uninterested, you can block and mute it.

#Ryan-Blake

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nobrain-the-silly · 8 months ago

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The plot of Little Shop of Horrors explained by a new fan who hasn’t watched the movie yet

Hey everybody hey! It had been not that long since I joined the fandom, but I already have a bit of an understanding of the plot. Yeah, here is the Little Shop of Horrors plot explained by me! A person who hasn’t watched the movie!

[Plot under the cut btw!]

Now, I am only going over the 1986 movie’s plot.

Okay so our protag is Seymour. He is autistic because I SAID SO. He is loserboy and works at a flower shop, with his gf Audrey and his boss (and possibly father figure) Mr. Mushnik. Seymour has this stupid plant that he found after a TO-TAL E-CLIPSE OF THE SUN (which is a major plot point). The plant is Audrey II! I am using She/Her pronouns for this plant.

Seymour is like “Hey guys! If we want more visitors to our florist shop, we should put this plant on display.” THE STORE IMMEDIATELY GETS LOTS OF COSTUMERS. The store suddenly is now popular.

However, poor Seymour does not fucking know what Audrey II survives on. The answer is blood. Seymour fucking HURTS HIMSELF (f u, roses!) and that’s how he figures out what the FUCK the plant eats.

Some time later, we get introduced to Orin Scrivello, Audrey’s abusive dentist boyfriend. He is not important yet.

So now Audrey II is big! And then Seymour realizes “Holy shit Mushnik is my father figure👍” via musical number. And then Seymour sings about how his life is changing so fast, and how the flower shop is becoming more better and shit.

So then Audrey II says “Feed me!” and Seymour is just like “HOLY FUCK! Twoey you talked!” So now Audrey II is explaining that she is hungry, and Seymour is just like “But you’re an INANIMATE object!” Audrey II is just like “I can talk, and I can move, so I think I can get you a Cadillac.” (That quote was from @lithuanianking’s review of this movie btw!)

So now that Seymour has his first target (which is Orin), we can finally see GAY SEX! Yea. Gay sex happens. Bill Murray appears for five minutes, to have gay sex with the dentist, and then is never seen again.

At some point, Orin accidentally overdoses of that gas and fucking DIES! Is it Seymour’s fault? Idk. But hey at least somebody can be chopped up and fed to a hungry plant!

After Orin is cutely fed to Audrey II, that is where Act 1 of the theatre production ends. And then Act 2 begins. DON’T ASK WHY I AM USING THEATRE TERMS HERE.

So Mushnik thinks Seymour is being suspicious. Mushnik proceeds to be eaten by plant. Some time later, the human Audrey (which she has hardly been mentioned in this entire post) is tricked into being eaten by Audrey II.

Now, this is where the story splits in two. This movie has not one, but TWO endings. I’ll go over the good ending first.

Seymour saves Audrey before she is eaten, and he kills Audrey II by electrocuting her. (“Oh shit!” are Audrey II’s last words. I know because I looked at all the TV Tropes pages for this movie.) And then everybody lives happily ever after.

Okay, time for the bad ending! Both Audrey and Seymour get fucking eated. Oh and capitalism reigns supreme, because Audrey II is being sold everywhere. Death to America happens.

That’s the end of my miserable plot recap of a movie about a bloodthirsty plant! Thank you for reading.

#Plot recap #spoiler warning #nobrain is the #little shop of horrors

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jacksonholtenthusiast · 2 years ago

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monster high fans!! especially monster high fans who like jackson and holt!!

so, it’s come to my attention that a lot of people don’t actually understand the canon reasons that the transformation takes place, and that’s okay, don’t worry! not everyone has a musical education, so i’ll just write you guys up a post so that you can understand the same way that us musicians do! <3

first of all, let’s recap the exact reason for the transformation, stated multiple times in canon material: music with a 4/4 time signature played in excess of 90 decibels.

let’s break this down!

starting with the 90 decibels, so we can leave the more complicated stuff for later:

90 decibels is the noise level at which you are advised to begin wearing protection. it is about the sound of a leaf blower or an average concert (the writers did a good job googling for this one!).

(HoH!J&H headacanoners, come get your food 😉)

however, since this is a requirement for the transformation, jackson can listen to any 4/4 music that is under 90 decibels! which is cool, but also contradicts webisode and movie material… i mean, come on, clawd’s phone is at most, an iphone 5, which only plays music at 81.5 dB (though modern iphones play up to 115 dB, so I guess that we can just call their technology ahead of their time? lol).

headphones can reach up to 100 dB, so i’m not surprised that j&h’s transformation is triggered using them.

anyway! most of the time, music is not played in excess of 90 dB. therefore, jackson can listen to anything he wants without jeopardizing his existence so long as he remains within a certain degree of sound. yay! jackson can still be an emo boy

secondly! a 4/4 time signature. now, what does this mean?

a lot of people get confused and figure that a time signature is referring to the BPM (beats per minute) of a song. while BPM is used in music, it is not used in this way. common BPMs for modern music are between 60 BPM (reggae) to 290 BPM (charleston dance music), though the average top range of BPM is around 160-180 BPM.

none of that matters to jackson! the BPM of a song has zero affect on whether or not they will transform, so again, jackson can listen to whatever music he wants to.

now, what is a time signature, then, if it isn’t the BPM.

well…

the time signature is the amount of beats by the kind of beats in each measure. so, for jackson, it would be four (numerator) quarter notes (denominator) per measure: a 4/4 time signature!

most songs are in 4/4 nowadays, because it’s just very common and easy to wrap your head around. however, there are some popular songs that are in other time signatures, for example:

- Nothing Else Matters - Metallica (3/4 Time Signature)

- When the Party’s Over - Billie Eilish (3/4)

- Idontwannabeyouanymore - Billie Eilish (3/4)

- I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll - Joan Jett and The Blackhearts (2/4)

- Baa Baa Blacksheep and The Wheels on the Bus ;) (kidding, but they are in 2/4)

So, i just guess that my point is that Jackson does not need to go completely without music. He has a lot of music that he can listen to in a lot of situations, as per the laws of canon.

I hope you enjoyed and that this was maybe a bit informative! Feel free to come scream about J&H with me at any time :)

#monster high #holt hyde #jackson jekyll #mh #jackson jekyll and holt hyde #monster monster high monster high monster monster high #monster high fans #monster high g1 #g1 mh #g1 monster high #generation 1 monster high #generation one monster high #monster high!

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hughjidiot · 11 months ago

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Complete Thoughts on the TDI Reboot Season 2

Well, the remaining episodes of season two are out in the wild, and since I'm snowed in today I've been able to watch them all multiple times. Now that the season is over, here are my overall thoughts on all of the characters, their plotlines, eliminations, etc. Spoilers below the cut, obviously.

First, a quick recap on everyone I talked about in my analyses of episodes one through eight.

As a Scary Girl fan it was disappointing seeing her get booted first, but understandable since at the end of the day she is mostly a gimmick character.

Chase I was glad to see go early, since his subplot with Emma had run its course and was pretty much the only thing Chase had going for him.

I wasn't too broken up about Millie going home third, since she'd already been a major character in season one. I just wish Priya had had more of a reaction to her best friend getting voted off, but more on her later.

Emma being eliminated early on was a surprise, since I thought she could get an arc of finally moving on from Chase now that she'd broken up with him for good. I guess there's always season three, if gen 4 gets one.

I have mixed feelings on Nichelle. On the one hand it was cool seeing how she'd been training in between seasons and become a much better player. On the other hand her elimination was really, really stupid. Like my least favorite of the entire season. A fake movie contract that she never even questions the validity of or even how it got there in the first place? Seriously??

Bowie was great for the few episodes he lasted. His whole subplot of being torn between MK and Julia's cheating to help them win while also not wanting to disappoint Raj made for some excellent drama in the first third of the season.

I'm also mixed on Axel and Ripper. On the one hand Axel got some depth showing that she's a bit of a romantic under her rough exterior, and Ripper was much more tolerable here than he was in season one. Unfortunately they got a major downgrade after they hooked up, being more concerned about making out than actually, you know, focusing on the competition to win a million dollars. Also Chris calling them both eliminated when Ripper grabbed Axel as the Drone of Despair was carrying her off? Yeah that was kinda cheap.

Lastly, Zee. I really enjoyed Zee, he constantly got laughs out of me. But once again, his elimination had me scratching my head because how the hell did he learn everyone's secrets in the first place? Did he walk in on everyone doing something embarrassing like with Priya kissing her pillow? Or did everyone decide that the soda stoner seemed like a trustworthy guy to share their secrets with?

And now for the final seven. And boy what a mixed bag they were.

Damien was pretty good this season. I really liked how he made an effort to compete this time around despite still being scared of pretty much everything on the island. I actually had him pegged as a potential finalist and was sad to see him go when he got outplayed by Julia stealing the Invincibility Idol out from under him.

Priya and Caleb... hooo boy, Priya and Caleb. I'll be honest, this whole season-long romantic subplot was kind of a mess. So first they had Caleb only wanting an alliance partner in Priya while she was crushing on him, only for Caleb to actually catch feelings for her, which then imploded after Zee revealed Caleb's original intentions. Then they had a whole deal with Julia manipulating both of them to try to keep them apart, and THEN they had Caleb make an alliance with Julia to save himself, which caused friction between him and Priya because Caleb doesn't wanna go back on his word?? It honestly felt like the writers were just throwing anything at the wall to see what stuck, and as a result the whole plotline felt like a tangled mess. Also this resulted in Priya getting a ton of screen time after she was already one of the main characters in season one. I can't call this the worst romantic subplot in TDI history because there have been way worse, but it also wasn't great either.

Wayne and Raj I'm also mixed on. I liked them in the first third where they opposed MK and Julia's cheating, but after that they were just kind of there. Honestly I wish they'd kept some of that animosity going into the merge and set the Hockey Bros up as season-long rivals for MK and Julia. In fact they could have used that for motivation for Wayne in the final challenge against Julia and Caleb, which would have given his ultimate victory more emotional weight. While I don't hate Wayne winning, I feel like it could've been done in a more interesting way.

Lastly, MK and Julia. These girls were easily the best part of the season for me. I loved their friendship born of mutual respect for each other's skills, to the point where MK wasn't even mad and honestly impressed when Julia pulled one over on her to get voted off. While I'm a little disappointed it didn't evolve into a full romance, I still enjoyed their friendship. Plus I feel like the seeds have been planted for a future romance if we get a third season, and overall the fandom has been given a lot to work with.

As for Julia herself, she really came into her own as an antagonist this season after sharing that role with Bowie in season one. Granted some of her methods did feel a little forced (see Nichelle and Caleb above), and it felt like there was untapped potential for a rivalry between her and the Hockey Bros, but overall I really enjoyed Julia.

And there you have it. Overall, I think I'd give this season a 6.5/10. There were a lot of elements I liked, but an equal amount of stuff I didn't enjoy. It's not as good as the best of Total Drama, but also nowhere near as bad as the worst. Personally I would love to get a new season with this cast, I feel like there's still a lot of untapped potential here.

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greatrunner · 4 days ago

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In general, I don't consider much of anything with Nightmare on Elm Street worth a glance. I get the historical importance of the series in horror, but otherwise, I've never been into it.

But, out of pure curiosity, I took a peep-see at "Memory Overload" because I came across an LGBT+ (Gay) TikTok account that was gushing about this episode specifically bc of a 20-something Kyle Chandler.

Because Freddie's Nightmares operates similarly to Tales from the Crypt, "Memory Overload" is a twofer. The first part is about a drunk English lit professor named Professor Charles Whendam, who takes in a young man named Chuck who deserts from the military.

(The second part is about a woman committing credit card fraud, and a sentient computer's quest to catch her in the act.)

Chuck comes from a long line of military stans who've been in the US army since, like, (checks notes) "The Battle of Valley Forge". The jingoism, in other words, runs deep in the family. Chuck, however, likes writing poetry and isn't about joining the army. It's his passion, something his professor believes he should seriously pursue.

Chuck's father, on the other hand, thinks poetry is strictly for women. It's not masculine, see? Compounding the issue is the fact that Chuck's father is an apparent drunk, who likes to beat him, and calls him whiny if he tries to run, or begs his father not to (1) hit him, (2) drink.

In his nightmares, Chuck is lured into a sense of false security whenever his father arrives, then threatened with physical harm after. True to abusive child/parent dynamics, Chuck operates on the hope that he and his father will reach some understanding that saves the relationship. But it doesn't happen.

So you can see why he goes running to the professor. But nothing the professor says can reassure the kid that his father and the Military Police won't find him. He's so high-strung, that he starts accusing the professor of trying to sabotage him to build himself up. Not sure how that works, but... okay.

This being produced in the 80s (1984, I think?), thematically I figured this episode was going to be a hard-liner PSA about how you're life will be ruined if you ding-dong ditch the military. Or, how you should try really, really hard not to be Gay and also not ditch the military because of your same-sex attraction. I remember listening to a podcast recap of this episode, and they mentioned there might've been some preoccupation with closeted professors and closeted students in '80s media (for good or ill, who knows? I'm betting it was for ill though).

So, because of the TikTok video, I already had some ideas about the episode itself going into it. Really, the person was just talking about how "gorgeous" they thought Chandler was in this episode (and still is). I think that was the beginning and end of their video. Which, you know, is fair.

Nightmare on Elm Street dedicated an entire movie to Kruger tormenting a young gay high school student (Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Fredy's Revenge), so this wouldn't necessarily be outside of the franchise wheelhouse. On top of being a pedophile, Kruger is also homophobic. Being pro-military probably isn't out of the realm of reason either. It doesn't take a genius to see that people vulnerable to the military, abuse, and homophobia are his favorite people to target.

But in terms of the story, why? Where was this kid, an apparent resident of Springwood, when he stoked the serial killer's ire? Was it the mere fact that he embarrassed his father by ditching? Did Kruger catch wind of his perceived "weakness" ah-la creative writing?

And how is the professor connected to his father? Did they become mortal enemies because of a nature vs. nurture debate over Chuck? Were they friends before?

Who knows! I do know I was doing more work than whoever wrote and produced Freddy's Nightmares. The episode feels like a half-cooked concept. It had ideas about certain ideas but failed to execute or comment any of them successfully.

The professor goes from being a fall-down drunk to a clean and put-together dude while Chuck apparently takes to drinking, and becomes extremely forgetful about things. His teeth turn green, and he becomes aggressive and accusatory. The professor can't get Chuck to believe that he means to take him out of the country to Switzerland and away from his abusive father until the moving day comes. I half expected this kid to die by way of nightmare-induced suicide, or murder the professor out of misguided vengeance.

But, in the end, the episode basically reveals Chuck and Charles are the same person. He deserted the military because he wanted to pursue a writing career. Presumably, his father committed suicide because he couldn't live with the humiliation of Chuck's desertion, and Chuck coped by drinking himself under the table. He blamed himself for his father's death.

Kruger has almost nothing to do with the story itself beyond revealing to the audience that Charles is damned to repeat the same sequence of events with his younger self 1,000 (+) times or until he dies.

And it occurred to me that this was always probably the direction they were going to go in when I watched the TV Spot someone recorded. In said ad, Kyle Chandler was mirroring the mannerisms of his co-star, Andrew Pine. And, to be honest, I'm not against the direction. But the show's idea of throwing the audience for a loop was to simply not clarify anything in the story.

External to the story, the performances were middling, over-the-top to just outright bad. Chandler was still a newbie at this point, so everything about his performance was the epitome of "He's a little confused, but he's got spirit". The way this man screams had me in stitches because he still screams like that as a veteran actor. Then he does this frantic "I'm gonna get in trouble" / "please don't hurt me" hop when his character is confronted by his father and the military police. It fits for a character who is clearly terrified of his father, and regresses, I but couldn't take any of it seriously.

#greatrunners meta #freddy's nightmares #nightmare on elm street #kyle chandler #andrew pine #long post #freddy krueger

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ponds-of-ink · 10 months ago

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FNAF Security Breach: Analyzing Vanessa’s Therapy Tapes With Violet-Tinted Glasses

Or at least an attempt to, as we’ll see shortly.

My main goal for today is to show what we could learn if—emphasis on that if—William Afton was controlling Vanessa at certain points of these sessions. Both for Vanessa’s character and for William’s.

This is also assuming that someone (or something) else is controlling Patient 46 in order to avoid a conundrum.

Buckle up once again. This is going to be even wordier than last time, and a whoooole lot more in head-canon territory rather than actual theory. Below is a summary of each session with certain parts of dialogue being discussed.

——

Tape 1

This is what I’m going to call “The Benchmark Tape”, as this is Vanessa at her most… Well, I say normal, but she’s still pretty irritated.

Cone to think of it, I can’t tell if her defensive tone is because of her genuinely not knowing why Fazbear’s has called her in or not. If I recall correctly, she had a similarly aggressive tone in the FNAF movie. I know that’s a very different timeline, but I can’t help but wonder…

Anyway, it turns out that this isn’t her first time here. She was actually brought in for anxiety sometime prior to—I can only assume—Glitchtrap’s antics in Help Wanted 1.

Her new issue is “sudden” and had “come up unexpectedly”, according to the therapist. I assume this is about the encrypted conversation she’s having with Glitchtrap and/or 46, but I suspect there’s something else too. Something I’ll get to in the next tape.

Vanessa does admit to talking to Luis from the marketing department. She thinks “he’s nice, I guess”. Keep that in mind for later.

Before I move on, however, there’s one thing I have to confess: I honestly thought that Vanessa’s voice went flat only a couple of times after this tape. And, thusly, it was a good indicator for when William is the one actually talking.

Turns out she’s actually deadpan for nearly the rest of the recordings.

Soo.. Yeah. That wasn’t a good strategy after all.

Thankfully, FNAF Wiki’s transcript of the CDs and @kevciaran’s William Analysis came in clutch. I’ll be combining both of their methods and using them as tools: The Wiki’s use of marking Vanny’s fainter lines, and anything that lines up with what Kev noticed in his Sister Location segment.

Anyway, onto…

Tape 3

A new therapist has replaced the old one. Vanessa, though obviously more “tired”, is aware enough to notice. The new woman, however, isn’t all that worried. According to her, all this research she’s been doing makes it feel like they’ve “known each other for weeks”!

Therapist 2 recaps on something we haven’t heard about before: her dad Bill. She double-checks on the name, but all the only answer she gets is muttering… For a second. Then we get our first response from William.

“I try to do what I’m supposed to do.” - I want to say he’s ignoring the question (as he did in Sister Location), but.. He sounds so tired, I can’t tell if it’s intentional. He might actually be just thinking out loud or—dare I imply it this soon—even deflecting for entirely different reasons? Either way, it’s.. even more ominously morose than that one Scraptrap line. Which is a feat.

Therapist 2 unwittingly agrees with “Vanessa”, then goes back on topic. She walks through the custody case, understandably badmouthing her (“her”?) dad along the way. She concludes the gentle-as-possible recap with relaying the fate of Vanessa’s mom— Which, although censored out by an audio glitch, does not bode well. What also doesn’t bode well is this sudden response:

“I was supposed to be a good girl” - Yes. The Wiki’s ‘faintly’ method implies that it’s William saying it under the guise of Vanessa. Considering that this is unprompted as well (along with the even more noticeable voice crack [and now I’m getting even more concerned for the man’s wellbeing]), I can only assume that William was having some… worrisome memories and was trying to get his thoughts out while staying in character.

Thankfully, Therapist 2 comforts Vanessa as best she can. It wasn’t Vanny’s fault, after all. Yes, she did provide the testimony that caused her mom’s apparent demise— But, again, it’s her dad that should be blamed here. Not her.

Or… “her’, if the whole custody case thing was the sudden issue that came up. Given the fact that the previous therapist didn’t bring it up at all in the Benchmark Tape, the fact that Vanessa suddenly gets all deadpan from here on out, and Patient 46’s introduction into this narrative… Call it a wild hunch from left field, but I now have my suspicions.

Tape 5

Therapist 2 confronts Vanessa about her texting a non-employee during work hours. A manipulative non-employee at that. When she asks about who this person is, Therapist 2 hears this response:

“I get a lot of messages from friends. I like when Luis writes to me, he's funny.” - William not only dodges the question (again), but he also attests to texting Luis. …That, or he’s trying to match up with how Vanessa acts again. Either way, he thinks Luis is funny— Even cracking a half-smile of sorts, which I wasn’t expecting. Make of this what you will, I guess?

Therapist 2 is having none of this. She warns Vanessa that her files are being hacked. Files with a whole bunch of details about her life on them. And what does Vanessa answer after being asked about the ramifications?

“I'm not in the tech department. I just type on the computers.” - …Yet another deadpan dodge by William. Given his prior work in both business and technology, he’s gotta know the actual answer to that.

Therapst 2 agrees with “her” again, but once again issues a word of caution: This stranger definitely knows a lot about her. And the reply?

”Lots of people know more than I do. Sometimes I need to listen.” - Okay, now we’re back to William just thinking out loud. This is pretty telling, however. It almost implies that William’s confidence has dwindled a bit since UCN… Though, again, it’s also possible that he’s trying to impersonate Vanessa for currently unknown reasons. I’m definitely not ruling that out.

Tape 7

Therapist 2 is out [blame Patient 46], and Therapist 3 is in. However, this time, neither Vanessa nor the therapist seems bothered by this. In fact, they have a very brief talk about candy before they start. Therapist 3 offers some, but “Vanessa” answers:

”No, thank you. Those have thirty-five calories a piece.” - …Well, I’m not completely sure if this is William answering here, going by the lack of indicators. However, given the fact that Vanessa apparently orders cupcake cookbooks according to a scrapped FNAF AR email (and, y’know, the fact that she later has a job that requires her to run up three floors), I’m going to assume that’s the case. This does imply that William is bizarrely health-conscious… Which makes a lot more sense when you remember that one description of him from the Silver Eyes. Guess he doesn’t want to look “fat and affable”, even as a ghost haunting someone else’s body ..

As the rest of this session concerns inkblot tests, I’m going to assume Vanessa quickly regained control here and move on. Her answers are something to note, being “a tree house” and “a beetle”. There is also ‘I like to sit outside and read’ in response to one of the questions, but this really could be either of them.

Tape 9

This session starts with Vanessa smelling some flowers that Therapist 3 has set out. They then have a one-sided conversation about gardens and hobbies, which reveals Vanessa apparently doesn’t have hobbies. Therapist 3, always being the chill kinda person, offers up her craft space in her basement as a place to do stuff. “Vanessa” refuses, saying this almost as an aside:

”I don’t like dark basements” - Given William’s history with dark and empty rooms, this one’s actually not that surprising. Dark basements, though? …I’d say this is a reference to Sistsr Location and brush this off, but that bunker had plenty of lighting. Maybe—dare I say it—we have another hint that William’s childhood was miserable??

Tape 10

This one is short, but at least it gives a hint as to what Vanessa actually looks like when haunted by William.

Case in point: Therapist 3 notes “Vanessa’s” comfy posture, even stating ‘It looks like you could take a nap’. Guess Will really likes the chair.

Therapist 3 also brings up Vanessa’s discussions with the Encrypted Individual, mentioning that it’s getting more serious. She asks if it’s distracting her from her work, which prompts this:

”My work is important. There's a non-disclosure agreement.” - There’s not only a grit of her teeth during ‘My work is important’, but there’s also a slight smugness in ‘There’s a non-disclosure agreement’. For a second, the William we’ve seen for the past ten years comes back in full force.

Key words there: For a second. As we’ll see in the next tape, things quickly become less smooth-sailing and more “oh no” inducing.

Tape 11

This session begins with Vanessa admiring the blue sky, which Therapist 3 comments on. The conversation quickly changes once Therapist 3 brings up Vanessa’s search history. Therapist 3 inquires if Vanny’s been doing private searches on company time, which leads to:

”I get breaks” - Short, sweet, to the point. Also completely dodging the question. Again.

Therapist 3 tries again, but from a different angle. She brings up the fact that Vanny is ordering some stuff to make a costume. She asks “what are you going to make?”, which gives us the return of the indistinct muttering.

Therapist 3 (with much better hearing than Therapist 2, I reckon) catches a part of what Vanessa is saying. “Did you say the costume is a secret?” she inquires in genuine confusion. “Why is that?”

“Vanessa” panics.

“I can't talk about this. He said he would always be watching. He could be here or there or anywhere in between.” - …As if I wasn’t concerned about William’s wellbeing already. Not because he sounds paranoid here, but because there’s a very high chance he’s right. Patient 46 has had a habit of being the cutting off point for the last two therapists, and Therapist 3 hasn’t been cut off yet…

Therapist 3, unfortunately, doesn’t take this as a warning. She assumes that this is about Vanessa’s dad and advises Vanny to resolve the issue. Vanessa seemingly pushes William aside and yells about “locking ‘him’ away” (most likely referring to Glitchtrap). Her voice finally breaks the deadpan threshold, only to sink back into it a few seconds later.

The tape ends with Therapist 3 and Vanessa talking about facing a memory head-on. This could be narrative foreshadowing somehow, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Side Note: I can see William saying “I have! I compartmentalized him. He's locked away.”; but Vanessa sounds like she briefly regained control there. If that’s the case, then it could be inferred that William got too scared and ‘let go’. Maybe.

Tape 12

Unfortunately, it’s time for Vanessa to go to the Pizzaplex. Therapist 3 offers to continue the sessions away from Fazbear Entertainment, but the offer is shot down by Vanessa:

“I'm needed somewhere else now. Thank you.” - Short, bittersweet, and absolutely ominous. For Vanessa, we know where she’s heading. But William? No idea. What we do know is that Vanessa definitely regained most of her control by the time Security Breach happens. So that probably means William’s haunting was only a temporary procedure. And, until we get more explanations, we’re not going to know exactly why.

(Also: It’s kinda heartwarming to imagine William thanking this therapist with a geniune half-smile. Vanny’s tone is seriously so warm, yet so tired.)

(And, by the way, Therapist 3 disappears after this tape. Somehow, Patient 46 strikes again…)

Final Notes

William, as expected, is not up for answering questions directly. Unlike in Sister Location, however, he seems to not take pleasure in this. There’s no smile in his words here, save the occasion ones that I’ve mentioned. Just a general sense of weariness.

When he does show emotion, it’s mostly just panic and/or self-loathing. He could still be trying to act as Vanessa, sure, but he did also crawl out of UCN. Maybe it broke his confidence enough that he can’t even trust himself anymore…? To the point where he’s also in danger of being manipulated? I mean, it did happen with him in Fazbear Frights epilogues…

Tangent aside, he is definitely not the same after the FNAF 6 fire. There is not a lot of bragging. There is not a lot of smiling or hinting at plans. He even mutters a few times, which is something he’s never done up to this point. He’s officially reached the same levels of brokenness his son Mike had, whether Will wants to admit this narrative irony or not.

Also, Vanessa apparently has enough trust to let him talk during the majority of these sessions. I dunno why that’d be the case, but maybe it’s just a temporary truce.

TL;DR on the whole thing: I’m very concerned for both of them, if this turns out to be true. It’s one thing to have an innocent bystander get mentally hijacked by a bizarre virus. It’s another thing entirely if the bystander and the ghost that’s haunting her are in agreement about being in absolute peril. Especially if it’s the ghost of an absolute villain whose entire livelihood once centered around making others suffer.

#william afton #vanessa fnaf #fnaf security breach #character analysis #voice line analysis #pond rambles #ramblings

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sapphire-weapon · 2 years ago

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The thing about Resident Evil, though, is that “from the beginning” can mean one of two different things. You can start from the beginning with Resident Evil (1996) on PSX, I suppose, but Resident Evil 0 (2002) is chronologically the earliest point in the series.

And, in my opinion, starting with either of those games is a bad idea if you’re coming in from RE4.

I’m going to give you two viable paths through RE, and you can choose the one that you think would work better for you personally.

If you came into Resident Evil through RE4make (and/or OG RE4), and you are only interested in seeing Leon’s story before going into the wider canon, this is the path you take:

Resident Evil 2 & Resident Evil 2 Remake (it doesn’t matter which one you do first, but you should do both. RE2make cuts some shit that’s actually really super important.)

Google search “Resident Evil 3 Leon epilogue.” It’s a single image. Just read it.

Darkside Chronicles (game)

Congrats, you are now up to date with everything (important) that happened to Leon pre-RE4, and you now have a better context for who he is/what he does in that game. From there, the canon timeline for Leon’s appearances then goes:

Degeneration (movie)

Infinite Darkness (Netflix series)

Damnation (movie)

Resident Evil 6 (game)

Vendetta (movie)

Death Island (movie) (releasing in July)

And that’s it. You’re up to date with Leon’s story, and now you can go through the rest of the games at your leisure. The good news is that Leon is in every single canon CGI movie that’s been released, so you don’t have to worry about tracking down anything other than games in order to go into the wider canon once you’ve reached this point.

If you came into Resident Evil through RE4make (and/or OG RE4), and you want to go through the canon because you’re interested in the world and not necessarily hyperfixating on Leon, I actually suggest going backwards and out of order. These are the steps that I would take in order for the series to make the most sense as you’re going through it:

Resident Evil 2 & Resident Evil 2 Remake (again: do both). Doing this gives you more context for RE4, and it introduces you to Claire and makes you aware of who Chris is.

(optional) Resident Evil: Outbreak. Nothing that happens in this game matters, and you’ll never see any of these characters again. This is the only non-essential RE title that I’ll mention, and only because Kevin Ryman is delightful and was supposed to be the guy training Leon if Leon had ever actually started work for real.

Resident Evil Remake. Ignore RE1 on PSX. It’s been erased from canon and overwritten by REmake. This now gives you the setup for why Chris wasn’t in Raccoon City when Claire went looking for him, introduces you to him, and also the rest of the recurring main cast. It will also explain to you who Wesker is; he’s the guy who was talking to Ada in the post-credits scene in RE4make (and who called Leon a dog over and over lmao).

Resident Evil 0. This tells you how Rebecca got to where she was when you meet her in REmake and finishes fleshing out STARS and Wesker for you. By the time you’re done with RE0, you’ll have a full understanding of who the main players all are and how this all started.

Resident Evil 3. Original or Remake. Doesn’t matter, really. I recommend the remake just because Carlos is hot in that version and the game is overall more palatable, but the changes that happen between OG and remake don’t really matter in the way the changes between RE2/RE2make matter.

Code Veronica X. Now that everyone’s out of Raccoon City, the next event chronologically is Claire continuing her search for Chris (and finally finding him).

Umbrella Chronicles followed by Darkside Chronicles. This is just to cap off the Raccoon City saga. Most of what these two games are are recaps of all the games you just went through, but there are extra bits in there that are important. Like, the original version of Operation Javier is shown in Darkside Chronicles -- and, once you see it, you’ll understand why RE old guard says that it’s been changed and retconned in RE4make. The rest of this list is just how the series then unfolds chronologically, because we are now caught up to Resident Evil 4.

Degeneration (movie)

Infinite Darkness (Netflix series)

Revelations 1 (game)

Resident Evil 5 (game)

Damnation (movie)

Revelations 2 (game)

Resident Evil 6 (game)

Vendetta (movie)

Death Island (movie, but not out yet, so it’s okay if you go past it until it releases lmao)

Resident Evil 7 (game)

Resident Evil 8/Village (game)

And that’s it. That is the list of essential RE canon. Everything else in this series is just a spinoff that’s there for funsies, and some of it explicitly is not canon. If you want to be a complete and utter crazy person and go through it all, feel free, but I promise you that you don’t need to know who Morpheus D. Duvall is (nor do you want to), or about that dude who fucked that spider in Gun Survivor 2 (though it is the funniest bit of RE lore to pull out and shock people with. DUDE PUT HIS DICK IN A SPIDER).

Good luck and god bless.

#resident evil

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clonewarsarchives · 2 years ago

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Matt Lanter & James Arnold Taylor at Star Wars Celebration 2023 Day 2

youtube

livestream timestamp: 02:54:50-03:07:10

What is a quote from the show that's less quotable but more haunting, because it was difficult to get out in the moment?

ML: Well, it's not difficult to get out necessarily, but Anakin says something like, and it may not be verbatim, but something like "I realize, more than you know, I realize what it's like, wanting to leave the Order." [note: "I understand, more than you realize, I understand wanting to walk away from the Order." final words to Ahsoka in 5.20 The Wrong Jedi] and that says so much to me. It's something that we never really see Anakin kind of voiced that, he's sort of handcuffed, he felt chained, and he sort of voiced that to Ahsoka. It was such an intimate moment, I love that moment.

JAT: [Obi-wan voice] "It takes strength to resist the Dark Side. Only the weak embrace it." [5.16 The Lawless] That episode was haunting for me. We would get the scripts when we walked into the room. I did not know - spoiler alert! I think at Star Wars Celebration it's okay to say - In Season 5, Satine, I did not know what was gonna happen. So... when Obi-wan says "Satine..." under his breath, those are little ad-libs, those are moments that would just happen because it was heart-wrenching to be there and to be a part of that. Those moments are haunting, because I also think Obi-wan is a true believer. He wanted to see if he could save Darth Maul. He really believed there was a chance, with Ventress or with any of these people that he could maybe, save them. Or any of these people [points to Matt] "You were my brother!"

ML: "I hate you!"

JAT: "Get over it." [laughs]

full recap:

How have years of experience working with both George Lucas & Dave Filoni changed your perspective on Star Wars?

ML: every time we go in recording, Dave would sit there and talk half an hour at least. It's amazing we got work done. He would sit there and talk about Star Wars, where the character were, and share storytelling which he learnt from George. It's a pretty cool moment

JAT: It was those moments where we were recording an episode, and he's through the glass and he's on the phone, and then he hangs up the phone, he says, "OK George just said..." and I'm like "Wait a second, George George?" "Yes." It was so great to watch that, see what he's taken from the Master and made so wonderfully now with everything he's doing.

ML: I feel like I've learnt a lot about character, from Dave.

JAT: and Sketch! He's a great artist. Dave would sketch characters as we're going, so he would draw little Ahsokas for Ashley and things and give them to her. Now she's gotta hold on to them, they're worth a fortune for now I'm sure.

Fave moment making TCW?

ML: some of my fave are moments like this! we're all on stage, we're celebrating TCW and Star Wars in general, travelling with these guys, be up at the ranch. Truthfully, seeing the joy it brings on people's faces, people come up to us and just talk about - "it was my childhood" or some traumatic event but TCW got them through. Those are the little meaningful things that you don't forget. So along with enjoying it, it brings people thorugh tough times. Those are the really, really cool things to hear.

JAT: I would wholeheartedly agree with what Matt says. It's a life-changing experience to be a part of it. I saw Star Wars- I'm the old man in the room now- I saw Star Wars when I was 7yo in a driving movie theater and it changed my life, never thought one day I get to be old Obi-wan. Now I think I'm one of the only peole, if not the only person here, that was actually in the first Clone Wars. So you see those 20 years, Clone Wars 20 [logos], that's because the micro series of Clone Wars, and I was Obi-wan in that, and that was the first time I got to play Obi-wan.

What are you most proud of as your part of the legacy for these characters, that are just larger than life in the Star Wars galaxy?

ML: I think that in TCW, we got to see Anakin a little different than we did in the films. George and Dave wanted to take the Clone Wars time to sort of expand the character of Anakin and make him a hero that we really really loved, so when he falls, and becomes Darth Vader, I feel like it's that much more sad. It's so much more tragic because you rooted for this guy, you cared for him and it also adds more to his story as to why he turned: the loss of Ahsoka, which is something we didn't know about. All of that, it's been such a joy to just add to that character, making him so much more rich than he already was.

JAT: Yeah, I totally agreed. Hayden and Matt complemented so much on this character of Anakin Skywalker and they bring so much to it. I'm honoured to work with this guy on a regular basis, he's an amazing actor, a wonderful friend. We live near each other, he actually lives on a hill now, just so he can say "I have the high ground! [Matt echoes]" It's not fair!

ML: It's true, "I have the high ground."

JAT: And I would say for me, bringing the sass to Obi-wan Kenobi has been the funnest. Yes, I love that too.

What is a quote from the show that's less quotable but more haunting, because it was difficult to get out in the moment?

ML: "I hate you!"

JAT: "Get over it." [laughs]

Anything you want to say to people who has been with TCW/these stories/your characters from the start?

JAT: Thank you all. You all saved Clone Wars. All of you. [stands up] [ML: Yeah, absolutely.] You all saved Clone Wars. We love you. We truly love you and thank you. From the bottom of my heart.

ML: You guys embrace The Clone Wars, and now we've got 7 spectacular seasons of Star Wars content that just adds to the saga, and makes it so much more rich. To be a part of that and feel the love from you guys, the warmth, it's pretty amazing. It's great to celebrate TCW on its anniversary and Star Wars in general. It's amazing to be here.

[host reminiscing SDCC 10th anniversary panel]

JAT: We never thought that it would come back, truly. None of us did. So it was truly fantastic to see that panel. The explosion from everybody there was fantastic.

How emotional was it for you to come back and step into those roles again?

ML: For me, people ask me this all the time, "What was it like to come back?", but I feel like I never really put Anakin down. We were always doing video games, special little projects here and there. And also honestly, Anakin is a part of me. We've been doing now for 15... 17...

JAT: 17 years, because we started 2 years prior to it coming out.

ML: So I mean, I had a Star Wars wedding. Shoutout to my wife, if you're watching back in the States. It's a part of me now, and it's always has been, so I never really let it go. But it was great to come back and be in the booth with these guys, for sure.

JAT: We were in the same studio that we recorded originally, so it was very magical. I remember the last time we did was Ashley and myself, and Dee, and Matt. And Dave goes, "We got it the first time, let's just do it again because it's fun to watch you guys," so we did it like 2 or 3 more times, and that was the energy of it. 'Cause we're really just a family. We truly are a family and we just love being a part of it all.

#timestamp is about 2h55m will update once livesteram ended #15th anniversary panel coming up!#star wars #the clone wars #matt lanter #james arnold taylor #anakin skywalker #obi wan kenobi #star wars celebration #swc2023 #cast #interview #Youtube

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mlobsters · 10 months ago

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supernatural s14e1 stranger in a strange land (w. andrew dabb)

pre-ep recap being ac/dc shot down in flames much better fit than metallica's nothing else matters from 13x01 vibe-wise and matching the pace of the clips. good job, guys. and smooth segue to it being on in the car

s14e1 / the matrix

wtf jackles, what is this speaking voice/cadence. reminds me of keanu reeves?? usually when i make really out there sound associations, i'm a little high. but that is not the case today. he's acting more like an agent than neo, but getting the keanu vibes :p i can't think of what movie specifically i'm thinking of. the devil's advocate and constantine are the other two keanu movies i've seen a bunch, but i dunno

never good when i'm pulling a clip in the first few minutes 🥴 gonna be a 2-3 day watch i'm guessing.

also don't really understand the styling choices. i get that it helps make a big visual difference between michael and dean, but like. dude wasn't dressing like this old timey fancy man with a flat cap in the au world. is this 20s-ish? never seen peaky blinders but this seems kinda similar? reading about collar pins and bars now. lol

is this the grief beard i've heard about. well maintained, if so

MARY Sam, we’re gonna find him. Ketch is working that thing in London. Castiel is in Detroit. I know it’s been three weeks since Dean… Something will break. It has to. SAM Yeah. Yeah, you keep saying that.

so like why does sam need to be in charge and involved in this vampire thing with this bunker full of people? they were fully self organized and fighting before they came here. even if sam is de facto leader for whatever reason; delegate, my guy. no help to anyone if you're not sleeping. call jody in, i bet she could talk some sense into him. also vaguely funny that we're all Team Family Go! but the family i connect with the most for them is jody and her girls

CASTIEL Does any demon know where Dean Winchester is? KIPLING I’m sorry, did you just say you lost a Winchester? Because, one -- that’s… interesting. And, two, how is that you lost Dean? I thought the two of you were joined at the… [Kipling glances down in a suggestive way.] …you know, everything.

in a way i wish i could have watched this without any knowledge of fandom because my knee jerk response is, ew. because i just don't see anything between dean and cas, i have a hard time grasping they're even close, i've just tried to accept it because the show tells us all the time. but maybe i could have come around to it more if i didn't know about the screaming zeitgeist that is destiel. or maybe i'd have the same reaction, i don't know. but anyway perpetually disgruntled knowing that my reaction is always colored somewhat due to fandom. i try to watch objectively but i know my feelings on things outside the show color my feelings of stuff inside the show

oh, cas. what have you gotten yourself into this time.

mmmk

SISTER JO Why would he say “yes” to you? MICHAEL Love.

short and sweet

man i know jackles is trying to do something different but i do not enjoy the way he's speaking as michael. ok now i'm getting umm. brad pitt in interview with the vampire?? like when he's talking to what's his face. for the interview. lol. christian slater! kind of slow, flat fairly emotionless narration.

um. how in the world is nick's soul in his vessel? didn't crowley remake it or whatever? or did he not die at any point in the ... 7 years intervening between lucifer dumping him in s5 and getting popped back in during s12

from 12x13 CROWLEY I managed to pervert that spell. So your essence wasn't sent back to the cage, but instead, we found your discarded vessel a few years ago… repaired it, improved it, making it a fitting final home for the real you.

whatever, man. nothing makes sense to me anymore. also thinking about jimmy novak called being possessed by castiel like "being chained to a comet" - for all those years

NICK Ow. I don't get it. I don't understand how Lucifer could die and I could live. SAM Yeah, um… I think that maybe it's because the archangel blades were made to kill the archangel inside a-and not the person they, uh -- NICK Possesses and uses to almost end the world twice?

sure. SURE. that makes sense. not at all how anything else ever works on this show, but sure! i mean, i love mark pellegrino too but come on, guys.

SAM Stop saying that, please. MARY What? SAM “It's gonna be fine,” that everything's gonna be fine, we're gonna find Dean, and -- MARY We are. SAM You don't know that. Dean's gone, and we have no idea where he is or -- or if he's even still alive. You know, Michael could have… burned him out or… worse, and… MARY I know. I know he's out there, scared and alone. I know. I know he might never come back. Never think I don't know that. But -- I can't -- I have to think about the good, Sam, because, if I don't, I will drown in the bad. For Dean's sake, I can't do that. We can't do that.

that's fine and reasonable but it's also reasonable that sam doesn't want to hear a baseless placation.

jack getting a grandpa bobby now too apparently

completely zoning out on this demon monologuing. why did they bring the girl along who isn't a hunter. what happened to the devil's trap bullets? and couldn't they make the bullets made out of the angel blades they had on the au world? because with all the dead angels they surely must have a stockpile. wouldn't get this several minute action sequence with fake tension though so

SAM Enough! There will be no new King of Hell. Not today. Not ever. And if anybody wants the job, you can come through me. Understood? (breathing heavily) So, what's it gonna be?

lol okay

SAM It's the -- It's the magic egg that kicked Lucifer out of the President. I thought we could use it on Michael, but -- Ketch can't find it. So, that's another dead end, which is just awesome.

i'm glad the show remembered because i completely forgot about that thing. thanks for preemptively ruling it out

CASTIEL Sam, are you all right? SAM Yeah, I've been better. I've been worse. You? CASTIEL I'm -- I'm just sorry. I should never have gone to those demons. SAM Cass, I -- No, I-I-I don't blame you. I… Honestly, I-I wish I'd have thought of it first. If it meant finding Dean, I-I'd work with -- I'd do anything.

❤️ take what i can get. (still need to sleep, sammy)

MICHAEL Now, you -- you know exactly what you want. You don't pretend to want to help people or save the world. Your want is pure and simple and clean. And that's why you are worth saving. That's why we are going to work so well together. Because you -- you just want to eat.

LOL what. michael loves vampires!

!! omg lol i just reread my 13x23 with my whole "can't kill michael now that he's wearing dean" is that the whole reason we get pellegrino back as nick, so we can find out that archangel blades don't kill the vessel?? 😂

#supernatural #spnwatch #spn 14x01 #spnwhinge #spn clip #andrew dabb

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akajustmerry · 1 month ago

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were you watching s1 of iwtv as it aired? and if so, was there this much of a push in interviews, from showrunner/actors/whoever, to hammer home the "they are all evil, they are all alike" thing. because to me it feels reaaaally weird that jones in particular seems to mention it in every interview, it feels like a continued effort to absolve lestat of what he did (in the interview i read he acknowledges armand's bad deeds, but reading between the lines handwaves lestat's). and i'm sorry. there's about to be a child rapist vampire on the show, i do not want to watch a show that goes into that territory with a "oh they are all alike and the things they do are equally bad" attitude. like. what. what lestat did to louis and claudia is worse than anything they ever did; in their relationship armand did bad things, louis did not; louis treated claudia badly, she did not. maybe it's a straight white man thing or truly just him trying to position lestat where he wants him to be in terms of morality, but i do not understand how jones can see what happened (and knows what will happen) in the show and continue to go "oh all of them are the same".

i didn't watch season one as it aired. i watched it about 6 months maybe more after it finished airing and i didn't really look up anything wrt the series. in fact, just before season 2 started airing when deah and i were prepping to do weekly recaps, they (deah) recommended i read more interviews with the cast and crew and that was honestly the first time i did. i'd read some interviews with sam reid but that was me looking for newsreader commentary, not iwtv, so i didn't absorb it and couldn't tell you what he said about lestat in season 1 to save my life.

i have no idea what you're talking about re: the child rapist stuff because i haven't read these books and don't plan to and don't want to know. but tbh the "they're all evil" attitude is all over the fandom and something i noticed long before season 2 came out when my mutuals would call out lestat's racism. i have a feeling (though i can't be sure) its an attitude/theme that probably worked better in the context of the books (or even the movie) when all these characters were white, but doesn't translate as well with characters who are now racialised. so yeah, of course rollin doesn't see how it doesn't work because....he's white. and i am not sure

#i rmr hearing sam on a podcast about the newsreader talking about playing lestat like someone's hopped-up memory rather than a person???#i rmr thinking 'oh that explains some of the gifs i've seen'#that's about all i knew about season 1 #anon

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gellavonhamster · 1 year ago

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monthly media recap: september 2023

read:

Angélique, the Road of Hope and The Victory of Angélique by Anne Golon - can't believe I finished this, lol. It's a pity book 14 wasn't published, but book 13 provides a conclusion to many main plotlines, so it's still a decent ending. I will always wonder if another one of my brotps was supposed to reunite in the last book, though :D For all its faults, enjoyed this series tremendously; it's the people helping and supporting each other even in the bleakest circumstances for me

Ten Thousand Stitches by Olivia Atwater - Regency Faerie Tales part two, even cuter than part one. Seriously, these books are such a delight, I need to read part three ASAP

Spēlēju, dancoju / I Played, I Sang by Rainis - girl help, my Latvian vocabulary does not include that much archaic and/or poetic language, but I did understand enough to see how beautiful it is

Gaywick by Vincent Virga - I read that one liveblogging thread/channel, so I was familiar with the plot, but it was still so interesting to see it all happen. Incredible how a book can cover so many disturbing, truly Gothic themes and still be hopeful and sweet, loved it

Vadriel Vail by Vincent Virga - Gaywick Trilogy book 2, not nearly as good as the first one. Constant timeskips, important events only told in passing, one of the MCs is a boring Gary Stu and the other disgusting. Bearable thanks to the first one's wife and characters from book 1

The Price Guide to the Occult by Leslye Walton - it's not terrible and had some interesting stuff, but still felt sort of... superficial? Most of the characters felt underdeveloped, the story often felt like an outline. I bought it mostly because it was cheap and I'm glad it was.

+ currently reading Children of Paradise (Gaywick Trilogy #3)

watched:

Apteeker Melchior / Melchior the Apothecary (2023) - a murder mystery set in medieval Tallinn. Something bugged me about the dialogue, but I mostly enjoyed the plot and the familiar setting

The Skeleton Key (2005) - Southern Gothic, a grim old house, and Hoodoo magic. Enjoyed the final plot twists and how they recontextualize a lot of stuff earlier in the movie. Was rooting for the heroine but also had to hand it to the antagonists in the end, good for them

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) - so, so charming. Impossible not to hum and move along to the songs. Marilyn Monroe, of course, is a goddess, but Jane Russell tho... gentlemen might prefer blondes but I'm no gentleman

How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) - also charming and funny, though I found it a bit less interesting than the previous one; still good though

Constantine (2005) - I frequently felt like I was missing some context. Either I'm stupid or it's just because I haven't read the comics, but shouldn't a movie adaptation be understandable even for those unfamiliar with the source? Otherwise it was ok and had Rachel Weisz in it

Rebecca (1940) - not nearly as haunting as the novel, but a good film nevertheless. Mostly I just wanted to protect the narrator :( she's so cute

also, a bit unrelated, probably, but I saw two theatre performances last month - one was a live screening of Good by the National Theatre (powerful, amazingly done, probably wouldn't have decided to see it by myself, so thanks to the friend who suggested it) and the other The Three Musketeers neo-classical ballet at the Latvian National Opera and Ballet (really nice, cool stage design, I posted a trailer here)

#talk talk talk #monthly media recap #i also watched castlevania: nocturne yesterday but that's already for october

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