#because i tried making another comic but the dialogue was lame so

[d0ttt]

Jock Week, Day 5 — Confession

-DOT

[l1atena1]

Hello. I have come to tell you, that I tried something. I wrote a sonamy!boom (ofc it's that universe) oneshot! :3 It's not long, doesn't have any dialogue, but has a lot of feels! :3

Enjoy! While I go and draw the comic. ^-^ Let me know what you think!

***

That feeling he has... it started a while after he met her. At first it wasn't noticeable, but after another while the feeling started to grow. He tried to ignore it. He was successful, at first, but once it appeared, it didn't leave him alone. It is hard to ignore now. How his heart would start pounding, squeezing his chest, until he's having trouble breathing. His heart demanding his attention to the feeling. He would sometimes feel his blood flow to his muzzle, turning more and more red. He would avert his eyes from her, so he could calm his heart and breath. If he didn't, he would explode. He would sometimes just observe her, watching how she played volleyball with their team, how she moved her hands while she cooked, and he watched her smile. Once he catches a glimpse of it, he can't turn away. It's so mesmerizing, he would sometimes forget what he was doing. He forgot his surroundings and who is there, and give his focus only to her smile. It happens so often now, he once got interrupted with a ball on his face. They were playing volleyball with their team. They didn't let him live that down for a looong time. After he fell on the sand, he didn't get up for ten minutes, simply because he was embarrassed. And his nose ached. It wasn't really a big deal, he has gotten worse punches on his face before. But she, Amy, worried about him regardless. She has an interesting name. It's different from anyone's on the island. He likes it. He even got her a nickname. He would often call her by it. Ames is her nickname. No one else calls her that. It makes him feel special, like he has some sort of privilege. He hopes it makes her feel special too.

He knows what that feeling is. He knows.

But... he doesn't know, if she feels the same. Sure, when they met, she didn't leave him alone for five minutes, always chasing him for a hug or a kiss. But now, she has grown, has matured, she became smarter, even smarter than him. Her fighting skills have improved, her tactical and fast thinking too. He loves to train with her. She tells him her secrets, her secret moves and tactics, even though he sometimes forgets them, because they are too difficult for his brain to process. He likes to move on impulse, on his instincts, always improvising on the way. She sometimes would call him out on that. She would laugh at his lame jokes, sometimes she wouldn't, but he knows she is laughing silently. 'Cuz his jokes are the best. And she knows it. Well, maybe they are not as funny as Comedy Chimp's, but she likes them. He appreciates her for that. He appreciates her for many things. She's awesome, like that. He wonders if he will someday tell her that. When he will.

[bigfat2000]

Inscryption Kaycee’s Mod all devlog entries (#01-#12)

wondering if it’s too early to post them, but hey i already got them typed out, so... yeah

this post contains Major Spoilers for Kaycee’s Mod (obviously), don’t read ahead if you want to unlock the devlogs yourself

all of the entries have been transcribed into text for convenience

not unlocked -

<DATA CORRUPTED. FOR ANY QUALITY CONCERNS PLEASE CONTACT KAMINSKI DATA STORAGE MFG.>

#01 -

OK I need to write this down NOW so I don't go to sleep and tell myself I dreamt it.

I'm working late and testing the latest build and out of nowhere The Angler starts FREAKING OUT. Like he pulled something up out of the river with his hook then he GETS UP and WALKS. There is no walk animation for this character! WTF?! He walked right into the cabin. I followed him in and couldn't find him. Leshy had some new dialogue lines that I CANNOT FIND IN THE DIALOGUE FILE. He said something about some "OLD_DATA" and how The Angler served him well or something.

I'm so tired that I'm already wondering if I made this up.

#02 -

So I woke up and damn near lost my mind. I tried to recreate that bug with The Angler over and over and nothing weird was happening. Then I realized I was testing on a different disk! So I popped in the same disk as last night and HOLY SHIT. Leshy went 3D. What does that mean? I barely even know. Maybe I AM crazy. The entire game is different. Leshy took over and it's 3D. I don't know anyone who would listen to me about this.

#03 -

I've been playing this "new" Inscryption now for a few days. Work has been unproductive. I emailed some of the other devs - kinda probing to see if they know anything about this without appearing crazy. No dice.

The strange thing? The game is fun. Like it's actually a good game. But stranger still? Leshy. He talks to the Challenger almost as if he's talking to ME. It's freaky but not altogether unwelcome - I could use a friend.

#04 -

I scoured the disk last night looking for some kind of explanation. And I found some really wild stuff. It made me think... what is the OLD_DATA and why does Leshy only talk about it when he's wearing The Woodcarver's mask?

I found some log from Mr. Kaminski. It was pretty clear when I met him that the guy had issues... but he seemed to be saying in this log that the entire development of Inscryption was a cover. For what? How infuriating if true.

Time to start another run I guess.

#05 -

I'm addicted to Leshy's Inscryption.

It's far from perfect though. Some really unbalanced shit in here to be honest. I have my Ouroboros up to over a hundred thanks to the stupidly broken Fecundity sigil combo.

I decided that I'm going to work on making this balanced. And maybe a bit of an actual challenge? I'm making a mod! I wonder what Leshy will think.

#06 -

Work on the mod continues. I was appalled to find that Leshy chose to use the Kaycee Hobbes' ghoul skull as a trinket on his shelf. He fills it up with teeth for the Trapper after every boss... Kinda lame because it's tedious to keep getting up from the table just to collect the teeth. I'll have to hack that out. He'll hate me for it.

#07 -

Some nights I mod, some nights I dig. I dig deeper into this log file and find things I sometimes wish I hadn't. This isn't just some disk Kaminski used to vent his workplace frustrations. This is like some real shit.

Every once and a while I get some context from The Woodcarver and it's chilling. This could be all bunk... or there could be a doomsday machine under Berlin armed by a code hidden on a pack of cards.

In other words, I just finished implementing the Boss Totems challenge.

#08 -

I barely leave the apartment save for the odd dinner out with mom... but last night was an exception. I went to Comics Land to play a Secrets of Legendaria draft. Is it weird that I brought the disk with me? I felt uncomfortable being apart from it.

I ended up ripping a foil Sweaty Dragon but lost the first match to this weird dude who wanted to record it for his YouTube channel. Like he actually brought a camcorder on a shaky looking tripod to the shop! How is that allowed?!

#09 -

Today I found out what happened to P03... Leshy turned The Scrybe of Technology into a Stoat card. I found the card on a shelf below the safe and laughed right out loud when it told me it was P03 and needed help. I handed it over to Leshy who was less amused. I guess this is the fate that the other Scrybes met... though I haven't seen them yet.

#10 -

Last night I brought the disk with me on a walk around the seawall and was THIS close to just chucking it out into the water.

If I'm right the Karnoffel Code is still out there and the machine is, incredibly, still ready to accept it. Destroy the disk, no one finds the Code, and no one can blow up half of Europe. Right? But I saw an otter which made me think of Leshy. Maybe we need the Code to DISarm the machine? Could that be right? I can't be sure.

I went home.

#11 -

No one will ever play this mod and, the way things are looking, they might never even play this game. But I'm gonna indulge in a fantasy.

Thousands of players play it and love it. They each find different reasons to love it and even love its imperfections. They make music and art about it that makes me see my own work in a different way. But even a simple comment can have this effect. It makes me feel like all my work mattered and then some. I am overflowing with gratitude.

Well, time to finish up the Squirrel Fish challenge. Maybe I'll hit up Comics Land later.

#12 -

Call from Mr. Kaminski at 9:45 pm. What the hell is wrong with this guy? He wants all the sample disks back at the factory NOW. What does he know? NAH TICK MASS he kept saying.

I'm done with all of this but I can't bring myself to destroy this disk, I'm sorry. I've got a little wooden box and I'm gonna bury it with the disk inside. I'm writing the coords down and who knows maybe I'll burn them later. Leshy will thank me. The world may not.

Goodbye for now <3

[doctorofmagic]

1/2 - sry: I wonder your take on this. As you've shown you're upset at the idea of Stephen being a "cheater" in regards to his relationship with Clea. but since a fair amount of stories have had Stephen in a relationship of some sort or another with another woman other that Clea since their long distance relationship was established (obviously mostly because comic book writers basically forgot about Clea's existence) but those stories exist. and its more than just the Fearless Defenders story.

Well, my apologies if this entails an essay but... It's really complicated as you pointed out. Unlike other couples, they never had closure (there's a vague dialogue in Sorcerer Supreme and then a pathetic showdown in Defenders/The Order).

My personal interpretation is that, at some point, Stephen and Clea took a break and decided to walk their own paths respectively.

The thing is, if their relationship was open, Stephen wouldn't suffer that much thinking about what he had lost in Clea like he does in canon. So the flings make sense in this context, as well as his struggle to create a new relationship with Linda.

Which means that I'm pretty much okay with Stephen dating other people while Clea was gone because, to me, they were not together at that given point in time. What Cullen Bunn did was worse because it ratifies that they didn't break up. Therefore, Stephen had no right to throw orgies while still being with her. And that is a terrible portrayal of him and their relationship.

I wouldn't mind the idea of an open relationship, but I don't think it's the case precisely because of how much Stephen yearns for Clea during the time they spent apart. And I strongly believe they brought third parties to bed (and I'm also poly so this is not an issue here), but the way it was made is very conflicting.

So this is how I try to conciliate this matter in my head. They broke up (but still remained connected by the rings - v4 Annual is a good way to help me with that theory), and that granted them the chance to meet new people (I'm a sucker for Cleaphen but I don't think it's fair for Clea to have only one romantic experience in her entire Faltine life). Besides, in my headcanons, there's plenty of room for them to rekindle and yet be open to new experiences with other people (and this is when I agree with open relationships/polycules).

In short? I don’t mind if Stephen had flings or even tried to get into solid relationships with other people because, to me, he and Clea were not together. Personally, having flings is not an issue (my culture adds some weight to it because it’s really common around here, which means I’m not judging his actions based on morality or anything like that). Of course, the orgy is something that goes too far in my pov, but it has happened in Into Shamballa as well. But the point is, Stephen would be free to be with whoever he wanted to, even though his heart belongs to Clea.

Of course, this is all my interpretation to this matter. There's no correct answer, mostly because they’re all fix-it headcanons. Overall, I'm just glad that Jed decided to ignore FD entirely. Because yeah, that was really lame.

In any case, I’m a multi-shipper, so canon doesn’t affect that much when it comes to ships, except when they go for a really bad portrayal in a way that paints the character in all the wrong colors, which was what happened in FD. Aaaand that’s it!

[ja-khajay]

Stuff I read (and liked) this year

As promised, here’s a list of the novels, comics, manga, etc... I read this year, focusing on the ones I enjoyed and would recommend to people. Under a cut, this is going to be a little long.

-------- Books --------

Favorite book of the year: Stranger in the Woods, by Michael Finkel

Non-fiction. Based on the interviews of the man himself by the author, it is about a man who felt so unfit for society he decided one day to leave it, and spent the next 28 years as a hidden hermit in forest in Maine. The book details how he survived there, how he was eventually found, and some of his reasons for doing so. It’s a great reflection on the nature of loneliness.

Indian creek, by Pete Fromm

...Yet another detailed tale of living alone in the woods. This time, the diary of a student who spent a winter in the mountains to help tend for salmon hatchlings, and how he spent the rest of his days hiking, hunting, meeting the locals. It’s a fun little book who, being set almost the whole world away from where I live, was a nice way to travel.

Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones

I don’t feel the need to explain this one since everyone and their mom has seen the movie adapted from it. The book, that I first read a decade ago before I actually watched the film, is a less romantized, more spirited telling of the same story. The writing is absolutely delightful and so is the world it paints, and it’s the first time in ages a book had me laughing out loud during my entire read.

-------- Comics (BD) --------

Favorite comic of the year: Monsieur Désire?, by Hubert and Virginie Augustin

A discreet young woman becomes a maid for a decadent, unbearable, byronesque young lord. Caked in the rigid and oppressive social hierarchy of the victorian era, you follow a mental and verbal joust between the two, as the lord tries his best to offend and corrupt his new unrelenting servant, to little success. The writing and especially the dialogues were stellar, drawing me into the tense atmosphere, watching this trainwreck of a character flamboyantly destroy himself. While there’s no precise content warnings that I can give, this is a mature and heavy story.

World of Edena, by Moebius

Anyone who’s followed this blog for over a month knows how much of a Moebius fan I am. Edena combines the vague, dreamlike, wordless storytelling from stuff like Arzach or The cat’s eyes with an actual plot. While I haven’t completly finished the story, the evolution of the main characters and how the story is told have been great to read through, and as always the art is beyond gorgeous. Unfortunately suffers from some good old sexism in the writing that even if minimal, tasted sour

Le roman de Renart, by Joan Sfar (book 1)

Sfar’s work always has a signature vibe of being dreamy and light without being light hearted, of being down to earth but drifting in the fantastical, and this one is no exception. It’s an adaption of a series of medieval folk tales I grew up with, who uses the same characters to tell an original story. If you’re familiar with icons like Renart as well as other mythological big boys like Merlin you’ll fit right in. There is something special in how the dialogues are written, who feel natural in a way that you’d overhear in a street corner and is very special to me.

The mercenary, by VIncente Segrelles

Another one I post about a lot on this blog. The mercenary is a king on the throne of fantasy cheese. The worldbuilding is interesting at times but the writing is a pretty pathetic display of glorious old time sword and sorcery sci-fantasy 10 years too late for it’s prime (warning for ye old sexism and orientalism that plagues the genre, cranked very high...) but you come and stay for the art. The entire thing is drawn in a series of hyper detailed oil paintings with an insane eye for technical detail, from the engineering of the weaponry, to the architecture and weather, to the anatomy of the fantasy creatures... Each panel stands out as it’s own painting which makes even flipping through it without reading the scenario a treat. Click here to see more of the art, in my Segrelles tag.

The ice maurauder, by Jacques Tardi

A short story about mad scientists entirely drawn like a 19th century engraving. In great Tardi tradition everyone is ugly and mean, it ends terribly, it’s both a hommage to the genre of late 19th cent. to early 1900s dramatic adventure novels and a critical eye on it, and it’s morbidly funny. Most people I saw online hated the way this was written but I’m not them and I really recommend this book. Die mad

-------- Manga --------

Favorite manga of the year: it’s a tie between the following two.

Cats of the Louvre, by Taiyo Matsumoto

Most wonderful comic I have read in ages. The story follows a bunch of semi-feral cats secretly living in the Louvre museum’s attic, and the small group of humans who share their life, walking through the museum as the night watch. When the cats are together, they are represented in a humanoid way, but still act like animals, and “become” cats again when a human is nearby. The plot is a sort of supernatural mystery centered around a kitten who walks around paintings. It’s a love letter to art, sincere and beautiful, with a unique art style and great characters.

Memoirs of amorous Gentlemen, by Moyoco Anno

A sex worker in early 20th century paris starts writing down a diary of the clients she meets, in a quest to cope with the troubles of her life. You follow her, her colleagues, and her bittersweet relationship with an abusive lover. I don’t have much words about this comic, but the art and writing both are amazing, it’s the perfect length and drew me in like little series had before. Obvious content warnings as this is an adult story that talks about sexuality, but also depicts both mental and physical abuse.

Hana, also by Taiyo Matsumoto 

A very short story, this was not made to be read as a comic originally, but served as storyboarding and visual development for a play, and the way it is written follows that. Hana is a slice of life story set in a fantasy world, of a young boy, his family, his village. Despite the setting being an original one, the character interactions are refreshingly... normal, and there is no huge plot to speak of, just a bit of the life of these characters. The art is beautiful, entirely black and white, with a scratchy style and an emphasis on contrast. Matsumoto is on a speedy road to becoming my favorite manga artist haha

Delicious in Dungeon, by Ryoko Kui

While not marked as my year’s favorite, I still consider this series among my favorite manga ever. The art and writing are amazing, and it’s both heartfelt, well concieved and plain hilarious. The story follows several parties of dungeon diving adventurers each on their little quests with a premise of our protagonists, on a panic rescue mission, surviving in the dungeon by cooking and eating the monsters they come across. From a DnD party turned cooking manual dinner of the week beginning, the plot creeps up on you and slowly thickens. I don’t want to spoil anything about the overarching story of this because it was a delight to discover for myself. While everything about DinD rules, I am especially fond of the design philosophy of the author, who puts great detail in the practicality and biology of what she draws, as well as the character writing. Everyone even side characters has so much charm and depth to them, the cast is so diverse and entertaining...! Each character is just a bit lame enough but endearing, and has their own little backstory that shows in the way they exist. It’s a delight

Chainsaw man, by Tatsuki Fujimoto

I went into CSM expecting a borderline campy hyperviolent dumb fun thing to read and was very surprised to find an uncomfortably well written story about a teenager being groomed. The hyperviolent dumb fun fights are here nonetheless and the series still qualifies as shonen for some reason, but the more mature character writing as well as some truly outlandish visuals make it something very special. If you can’t stand shonen, not sure you will like it, but if you don’t mind it, worth trying.

Witch hat atelier, by Kamome Shirahama

The oh so elegant fantasy seinen every cool kid started posting about this year, who I also succumbed to and fast. Witch hat is hard to explain, as most of it’s plot revolves around the rules of the world it’s set in, specifically the regulations around it’s magic and the social and historical reasons for them. It’s about growing up, learning, disability, making art. You follow a little girl taken in by a witch as an apprentice, her magical education, and learn little by little why her lovely teacher is so willing to break a lot of rules... While a bit too gentle and pretty for my taste at times, Witch hat has great worldbuilding and explores sensitive themes I rarely see in manga, much less in fantasy. And Berserk wishes it had art this good

[ditheringluminary]

I checked your writings for Witch of Rage and did not find an analysis of it. I loved your dialogue about witches being under represented and would like to see a top 5 least explored characters. How would you describe a Witch Of Rage. Derse moon, leiborn , if you wanted to know.

Oh my, two requests in one! Well i’ll do your classpect first!

Witch of Rage Leiborn: Sign of The Paradox!

A Witch of Rage would be someone who manipulates and breaks the rules of Rage, which is confusion, negative emotions, and truth. Essentially a Witch of Rage would be able to alter and break the rules of reality itself, or at least a part of it. The phrase “bending the truth” comes to mind. As we see with the Rage-bound, they are often the ones to know their entire lives are a stage, or some sort of narrative that they fit into. Especially being a Dersite, they would be well aware of their “role” in the “play” of life. A Witch of Rage would use their role to alter the way the script is written. Rage players are known to be associated with plot contrivances, often appearing in places they’re not supposed to or able to use things they shouldn’t be. The Witch would 1. be scarily good at altering how one perceives reality or how reality IS, and 2. most likely WOULD do this to further what they feel is right. This can be emphasized under the Leo sign class, who fit under the Heart aspect. Because of Heart’s gut-instincts and actions based on feelings, they would be very adamant in why they are altering reality the way they are. This sounds very overpowered, but a powerful Witch would have some kind of powerful familiar to keep them at bay and challenge their power.

Now! As for those least explored characters, and surprise surprise they’re like all the trolls that were turned into sprites.

5. Eridan Ampora: Eridan is so low on the list because he at the very least did plot relevant things and we got to see him actually use his aspect. We also got to see him attempt several romantic relationships and just generally got a pretty decent understanding of him. However, he gave Princes an extremely bad name and never got a redemption (though I guess he was never planned to). I can certainly see one happening, similar to how Vriska was able to be “redeemed” to certain people despite her awful actions. Still, after he was killed he was barely mentioned, and then only shown in a joke in Erisol sprite.

4.  Nepeta Leijon: This isn’t just cause I love Nepeta I promise. I just think that she didn’t really get an “arc” and while she definitely looked cool and stuff, she ultimately stayed sidelined for the whole comic. Even Equius was able to come back in the form of Equius sprite and subsequently Arquius sprite. However, she is at the bottom of this list because we at least saw her relationship with Equius, which was like a shining example of moirallegence, and really im not sure how much development she could’ve gotten since we didn’t see much of her personality besides being a cute rp chick.

3. Sollux Captor: Got an arc, but it was really short and even during it he got barely any screentime. Even when hes hanging around Aradia in the dreambubbles, most of the time he just doesn’t say anything or he only gives off one liners. Yes he powers the meteor, and yes he TRIED to kill Eridan but after that hes basically an afterthought. Another character that does 1-2 things that, in retrospect could be done by someone else (Aradia had telekinesis that, while not as powerful as Sollux’s was still very strong, for example).

2. Feferi Peixes: Of course! The whole reason why this list was started was that Witches were pretty shafted. Feferi clearly HAS a personality, we even get to see her greater goals and ambitions. But those never amounted to anything. Worse than Sollux, she got even less screentime and did only ONE thing, which was telling the horrorterrors to glub up dream bubbles. Then she died and nothing happened from it. I GUESS I can’t see much in her future arc-wise, but her character was still tossed away after it did the one thing no one else really could. Not saying she was completely useless but character-wise but she was left on a pretty lame note.

1. Gamzee goddamn Makara. Listen. I hate Gamzee. Ok hate is pretty strong. I dont care much for Gamzee. He’s basically just one big weed 420 joke for like the longest time, he was an amazing antagonist on the meteor and then he was nothing for a long while. A kismesis with Terezi was started and did some damage that all happened offscreen. He appears in places that he has no business being in and generally is just... confusing. That’s how i’d describe his character. Yes there was a reason for his turning but... after he turned pretty evil it was never explored again. After Horrorstuck on the meteor he rarely spoke and just generally acts as Hussie’s hand to make things he wants to happen happen. Not only that but he never dies. He’s just always around. To me that’s WORSE than being unexplored or killed off than the other characters. Because very panel that Gamzee is alive in its another chance to sully his character. Or what little character he had. I get that this is all the point. He’s the Bard of Rage. He’s supposed to be confusing and weird and a little irritating. But that sucks. Like really bad. Especially when, even in a narrative as meta as homestucks, he’s the only character shown to know the world is a stage. That’s a lot of potential wasted on a clown used for whatever plot contrivance Hussie used him for. And no, just because “it’s SUPPOSED to be contrived” or like “he’s just a clown” that doesnt make it ok. You’re never supposed to just lose respect for your story like that and have characters just do whatever. If you don’t care about your story and its rules why should we. All he does is “forward” the plot but like... Doc Scratch did that. His ENTIRE purpose was just to forward the plot so LE could be born and he did it so much cooler.

Sorry for the big rant but that’s all! Hope that classpect helped you out and you enjoyed reading my... .LONG opinion. :B

[bold-moves]

Better Than You Think, 001: The Dark Knight Rises.

I want to start writing out why I like some of the movies that most people hate. The narratively derivative, corny, critically panned action movies that people write off. Those are my faves. So here goes.

Not as groundbreaking as Batman Begins or as critically acclaimed as The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises stands as the odd one out of Nolan’s trilogy. It has some tonal similarities and the action is equally fantastical but for whatever reason, it’s not everyone’s favorite. 

It’s definitely mine though and I’m going to explain why for a bit.

I’m going to contextualize this and say, that I don’t like Batman. As a boy, I did for sure, but as I’ve grown up, I strongly believe that this guy is totally lame. Sure, singularity of purpose is admiral and I’ll give anyone that, but this dude is totally lame by my standards. He alienates his relationships, he’s totally detached from the world he’s in and his money insulates him from even his own cause. The idea that I will use my wealth and resources to strike fear into criminals is kind of an asshole way to go about it. Spider-man uses his powers to rise to the occasion of his responsibilities and Batman uses his resources to hold criminals responsible for what has happened to Gotham and had he spent his time intimidating corrupt judges and politicians instead of projecting his anger and loss on criminals, maybe the people who really have influence in the city would be galvanized and inspired to their jobs. But like the wealthy, resourceful, and privileged, they protect their own and Batman is absolving the elite with his “powers.” He’s a bit like Che Guevara to me. You have someone who comes from a wealthy background, sees the world and how fucked up it is, decides to do something about it, romanticizes his campaign, and when he’s actually in a position to make permanent change, he denies it and indulges is addictions to conflict and virtue signaling. 

He also looks cool on a T-Shirt.

Enter Bane. Bane is the hero of this movie for me. He is literally from the bottom. The movie deviates from the comics which depicts Bane as a person of color from a fictional country in Latin America, whose father was a failed revolutionary that escaped the country and due to the archaic laws of the country, is forced to serve the sentence of his father. He grew up surrounded by criminals and in this basin of crime and misery, built his mind and body to rival Batman. In this prison he hears about the tales of “The Great Bat of Gotham,” the personification of his own fear of the bats infesting the prison and decides to, unlike Bruce Wayne who uses his own fear of bats to strike dread into his enemies, kill the great Bat and subdue finally his fears.

He is not inspired to project his fears and insecurities on criminals. He does not pervert his responsibilities. He targets the thing that he fears and with singularity of purpose, sets out to conquer them by any means necessary, and always with the means he’s inherited from his isolation and resolve, not his wealthy parents.

Now back to the film. Bane, is equally romantic as Bruce, but practical. This is a person of great will and with will we can cut through our human failings and rise to our great potential. He is always aware of the true nature of things and will not let money, the constructs of society or those who believe they are in power adulterate his vision. There is no second personality. No playboy. No concessions. “No one cared who I was until I put on the mask.” Unlike all of us, scrambling to be known and validated, he has given up his face and uniquely personal ambitions to become, not a superficial symbol, but an agent of change. The bringer of true justice and the vicious wind that will blow away corruption. His response to evil and crime is not a crusade to strike fear into the evil and criminal. He wishes to protect true innocence. In the movie he fights off prisoners to protect young Thalia.  He wishes to defend those who truly cannot defend themselves. In the comics, His father is a coward. His mother, violated and murdered. His youth and innocence, burgled by a system that claims to bring justice but enlarges itself on the plunder of its own hypocrisy and inefficiencies. Bane purifies himself and purges his humanity to defend a principle of true justice.

This inspires me to no end.  Until I saw this movie, I didn't want to get big until I saw this movie. As soon as the movie was over, I went to Walmart and bought a pull-up bar. To be so intimidating. To be so replete with resolve. To use simple and devastating speech. To place the hand on the shoulders of some tiny, self entitled money bags and ask him,”do you feel in charge?” At the time, I was working at a Japanese company, taking shit all day, struggling within the customary submissive constructs of working for a Japanese boss. I had been training in martial arts for over a decade by that time, I was bilingual, I was fucking dangerous and instead I was taking orders all day from people I could crush with my bare hands. Seeing Bane was so inspiring for me at that time. I have this need to keep driving, and fighting. To not let peace defeat me. This was something I learned from this film. 

One of the other lines that really stung me was when Catwoman was urging Batman to escape the city with her, pleading, “you don’t owe these people anymore, you’ve given them everything.” To me at that time, I thought of all the placating, and self adjusting I had done to fit in. All of the time I’ve tried to make society value me. All of the time I've pleaded for love and just a chance to be happy. I was tired of working for that. I didn't owe these people anymore. When Batman responds saying “Not everything. Not yet,” I thought of a version of myself that has gone all out. A version of myself that has engaged that final gear of existing. Intense. Achieving. Severe. And this severity is something that I wanted to be associated with and I hadn’t given to the world, not yet. Over time it became less about the people and more about doing it for myself. In my recent viewing of the movie, another line has stood out to me. A concept that I think more accurately describes my current mood. While Bruce Wayne is in the prison, doing push ups, trying to regain his strength so that he can escape, a fellow prisoner asks him, “why build yourself?” and Bruce responds, “I’m not meant to die in here.” I don’t think this line was supposed to have that much of an effect but it  really spoke to me this time.

I’m so driven to self overcome. I joined the army to breakdown the habits that a comfortable civilian life had infected me with and to add another element of lethality to my arsenal.  I can’t stop thinking about how to improve and fortify and often people do ask me why I’m so intense. I often ask myself this as well. The idea of “not dying in here,” is the answer. “Here,” being an unrealized self. “Here,” being the prison of  conditioned impulse and self sabotage. “Here,” being the pressures to be something I am not. “Here,” is being content, agreeable,and submissive. “Here,” is the prison of weakness and the suppression of heroic ideals.  I build myself so that I can escape all debilitating humanity. 

So this movie, although not as revered as the other two Batman movies, is a banger and filled with the  “hard-style”, self-overcoming concepts that give me the chills. I always come back to this film when I need inspiration and a kick in the ass. I invite you to take a deeper look at what's going on. Take a chance on a line of dialogue and think about it a bit and if you find yourself on the bandwagon of disliking or liking something because everyone else does, ask yourself,

“Do you feel in charge?”

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Red Goblin: Red Death #1 Thoughts

To my surprise this was an anthology comic book so I’ll be covering all three stories separately.

I really should’ve covered this back around Halloween as it was clearly written and released to capitalize upon that occasion.

But since life got in the way and I’m a British person who dismisses Halloween as Americanized horseshite you are getting this now.

So an important thing to note about this issue is that it was clearly written to capitalize upon Absolute Carnage. In fact I and other people were downright certain that this would be set during or after AC, and would be the inevitable result of Norman Osborn’s subplot throughout the story. Particularly the original motion comics hosted on Marvel’s official Youtube page.

My thinking was the end result of those and everything else that’d happen to Norman in AC was going to lead to him regaining his mind and thus become Red Goblin again, as the latter is a form created from Norman+the symbiote, whilst throughout AC Norman with Cletus’ mind has simply looked like classic Carnage.

That isn’t what this comic book is.

In fact beyond a cash in, I have no idea why Marvel thought these stories were worth publishing.

Maybe they believed they could trick people as they tricked me. Hopefully they wanted to milk the Red Goblin brand one last time before getting rid of it, much as they tried to milk the Scarlet Spider brand one last time before Ben Reilly became Spider-Man.

Or maybe they just knew that Halloween would coincide with Absolute Carnage so using a famously Halloween themed villain who is also kinda sorta Carnage made sense.

Because you see folks every one of these stories takes place BEFORE Absolute Carnage. In fact with one possible exception they all take place before ASM #800!

This really should’ve been published during or after that comic book as like ASM #800.1. In fact for those who (somehow) ENJOYED the Red Goblin story arc I’d honestly recommend reading it after ASM #800 or reading the three stories at roughly the points at which they happen in-universe during that arc.

Or don’t because frankly these are all shite. Nevertheless I’ll tell you as best I can when roughly they should occur chronologically. That ‘as best I can’ qualifier is there because I only skimmed Red Goblin (because fuck that shit is why) and because some of these are confusing to place.

The first story is called ‘Great Responsibility’, and it takes place roughly after ASM #796.

It raises an amusing thematic idea, that from Norman’s twisted point of view it is his responsibility to satisfy the Carnage symbiote’s bloodlust in order to have access to it’s great power.

But the story baffling plays Norman as essentially opposed to senseless violence.

Um...that’s kinda accurate I suppose.

It depends very much on how much you are willing to give the author the benefit of the doubt. Me personally, that’s not much if any.

Because you could MAYBE argue that from Norman’s point of view everything he says regarding killing is true, that he only killed out of necessity and he’s not always got the best perception of reality and ethics so he might be conveniently forgetting the times he definitely didn’t kill out of necessity (like I dunno, Gwen Stacy or Flash Thompson!).

But what’s much more likely to my eyes is that the writer was either desperately trying to find a way to distinguish one psychopathic killer from another to create conflict or more likely...he just didn’t know/get Norman’s character in the first place.

The sad thing is Norman is definitely NOT like Carnage in his attitude to killing.

Oh, he’s a sadist and a mass murderer, but there are subtle differences. Carnage kills for the sheer thrill of it and he doesn’t tend to savour the experience. He’ll kill randomly anyone in randomly anyway. Norman though, Norman kills people who get in his way, or out of spite, or with a specific intent to hurt someone else.

Case in point he abducted and killed Gwen Stacy partially due to holding a grudge against her personally but more significantly due to holding a grudge against Spider-Man. In particular he knocked her off the bridge out of pure spite so he couldn’t rescue her.

In theory though had Gwen never been part of Norman or Peter’s social circle, she’d have never found herself harmed by Norman. In contrast had she lived she, like everyone else, was a potential victim of Carnage waiting to happen because he’ll kill anyone, anywhere, anytime for any reason.

To Norman he’d never be reluctant to engage in senseless murder in this context as it’s simply collateral damage of what amounts to a business relationship with the symbiote. And Norman if anything, is a businessman. In a sense that’s what the whole first page (which is actually pretty well paced and panelled) is about, it’s just that Norman’s reluctance doesn’t ring true and he’s way less cold and calculating than he normally would be.

As for the Carnage symbiote, maybe I’m forgetting something or not read enough Carnage stories (I did read and skim A LOT though to prep for Absolute Carnage) but I felt it was a little bit too articulate and human considering it’s typical characterization. I’m willing to concede to being wrong on that though is symbiote experts can cite sources to the contrary.

I also don’t quite understand why they’re communicating verbally, let alone in public, considering that the symbiotes systemically can talk to you in their heads. Then again I admit that’s not been a consistent rule, even back in the earlierst Venom stories.

What is definitely IS a consistent rule though is that the symbiotes CAN kill without hosts which is the crux of this whole story.

Norman himself must actively participate in senseless murder to satiate the symbiote, it can’t just do it on it’s own.

This is another example of the direction of the story being okay but the justifications for that direction being dumb. Why not simply have the symbiote threaten to leave Norman or suggest killing on it’s own before returning to him, but Norman not trusting it to come back?

What’s especially dumb is that a symbiote literally kills in one of the motion comics in Absolute Carnage and Venom killed Angelo Fortunato by abandoning him mid-leap. Hell it forced Brock to jump off of buildings in Paul Jenkins’ run.

Now when it comes to the scenes of Red Goblin selecting targets there is some nice characterization to be had for Norman. His intelligence is on display as he wants to select people who wouldn’t arouse suspicion (although I don’t know why, surely people would just presume it’s Carnage not him thus still giving him the element of surprise when he finally fights Spidey). To this end he refuses to kill a man with a wedding ring. Instead, in a very Norman move, he suggests a disabled person.

His selection of a drug dealer who lives out of the city is a logical one. But his rationale that the world would be better without him is illogical as Norman doesn’t not give a fuck about the world’s well being at large. That same moment has an example of the Carnage mischaracterization I spoke of. The symbiote talks the way Cletus would with pop culture references and all, but that’s not how the symbiote itself would talk.

The symbiote is in character though when it goes off book and naturally escalates the violence to a much larger degree than Norman wanted.

That’s all fine but Norman’s characterization as kinda...beta and horrified by this violence is really, really not. Similarly if Norman wanted to keep a low profile whilst murdering it makes no sense for his face to be exposed literally outside the burning building he just slaughtered people in.

There is one great part about that though, which is when Norman and Carnage’s dialogue merges into one. That’s a great feat on the lettering department’s hands.

There is however a weird tease in that same scene where there is a survivor spying on Red Goblin. I don’t get it? He doesn’t show back up in this story or the Red Goblin arc, so where is this going? Nowhere would be my bet.

A final thing to note is that the art by Pete Woods looks really, really great!

Over all this was an unnecessary, filleriffic and generally lame story that didn’t need to be told.

[mysneakpeekblog-blog]

With the existence of heroes’ portrayals and history drama in the Philippine Cinema, the 2015 biopic film ‘Heneral Luna’ offers another perspective for the Filipino film industry. The film tries to capture the eyes of the youth by picking it as its target market; and as a matter of fact, in cinemas nationwide there is an available discount for students. Fortunately, I am one of those students who were able to watch it on big screen. Undoubtingly, this film has so many to offer and I am truly moved by the film. It is indeed a game changer to the world of our cinema and allow me to tell you how and what I thought about the film.

           The film is a detailed account of the life of one of our revolutionary heroes during the American period namely Gen. Antonio Luna. It tells a story which is a part of our history we care less, something that we don’t usually learn at school. The film opens by claiming that it is fiction based on facts which I think is one way of pulling more modern viewers. It is framed around a series of interviews granted by Luna to Joven Hernando played by Arron Villaflor, a fictional newspaper journalist. Threaded into the narrative, these lively conversations provide viewers with valuable insights into the general’s personality and assist greatly with the transitions as the viewers keep track of the story’s bulging inventory of characters and events. After 333 years of Spanish colonization, the Philippine archipelago was sold for $20 million to U.S. The dilemma is now to decide how to respond with the Americans arrival under the government leaded by President Emilio Aguinaldo played by Mon Confiado and Prime Minister Apolinario Mabini played by Epy Quizon together with the Gen. Antonio Luna played by John Arcilla, is it to negotiate or fight? Clearly, the film told us that Heneral Luna’s proposition which is to strengthen the military force and fight is different from the majority of the key players of the government who is driven by each personal’s interest who wanted to accept the Americans’ domination without a fight. With this altercations, Luna being portrayed as a fiercely straight-talking patriotic general who had a temper as passionate as his feelings to the country made his own enemies inside the congress. While they are discussing inside the congress, a messenger came with the news that the Americans shot the soldiers scouting Sta. Mesa district and also terrorizing other parts of the country as well. The president then gave his go signal to Gen. Luna to take action. However, more conflict arises between Luna and other major players of the country. First, Captain Pedro Janolino played by Ketchup Eusebio who is dragged outside the hut while sleeping with a naked woman and humiliated in front of his soldiers after refusing Luna’s orders. Under the war, the bureau individuals were all engaged into discussing about reconciling to America which flamed the anger of Luna commanding the arrests of the members of the congress, Felipe Buencamino played by Nonie Buencamino and Gen. Tomas Mascardo played by Lorenz Martinez. President Aguinaldo knew that the members are getting fed up of Luna’s attitude but then let it pass. After the battles with his co-Filipino, we are able to meet Heneral Luna as a leader, with his interactions with his men, a soldier as how he fights under war, a son as his mother Dońa Laureana Luna y Novicio do tell his past, a brother, a lover with his affair in the name of Isabel played by Mylene Dizon and as a man. Then goes the climax, General Luna was summoned by a telegram written under the name of the President asking him to appear in Cabanatuan. He was welcome by mere silence and a few soldiers. At the office he saw Felipe Buencamino who told him that the president left long before he arrived. Heneral Luna was ambushed, fired and stabbed to death. The film ends with the sides stories of other characters making the death of Luna left unanswered.

           Creating a film with this kind of theme is something courageous because it is risky thing to delve the past since Philippine history had always been complicated. Personally, I am not into watching history-themed Filipino films because I feel like there will always be biases and sugarcoating techniques to produce a commercially made film with lots of profit. But Heneral Luna is an exception for me. The film was able to create a not hero type of protagonist but instead send us a message. From the protagonist’s line “Bayan o Sarili! Pumili ka?”, the movie gives us the story that the Filipinos main enemy were not Americans but themselves. It does not romanticize the character of Luna, the film showed that Luna’s rage sometimes is out of his control. As I watch the film, I could feel the anger and disappointment by Heneral Luna which I believe proves its efficiency to deliver its message. Undoubtingly, one could really point out the amazing performance of John Arcilla. The first time I saw the movie poster I am really excited to see how John Arcilla will portray his role because the poster is really intriguing and he really looks like Heneral Luna. He was able to bring to life the fierceness, fearlessness and devotion of Heneral Luna which looks really genuine. Though it was Arcilla who really stand up in the film, the supporting characters also deserved the praise which made the film more convincing. Heneral Luna’s supporting military men including Gen. Jose Alejandrino (Alvin Anson), Col. Francisco Roman (Joem Bascon), Capt. Jose Bernal (Alex Medina) and of Lt. Rusca (Archie Alemania) who deliver their roles commendably. On the opposite side of things, Ketchup Eusebio nails his portrayal of Capt. Pedro Janolino, who played as a young general with full hatred to Luna and one of those who led the killing of Luna. Mon Confiado and Epy Quizon also brings the best as Emilio Aguinaldo and Apolinario Mabini. It is amazing how these known comedians was able to engaged themselves into dramatic roles like that. Lastly, Mylene Dizon, a fictional representation under the name of Isabel, a Red Cross Worker was able to show her skills given the small screening time.

           Heneral Luna is one of the most audacious film I have watched mixed with the perfect vision of its film makers. It is a kind of film that deserves the applause. From the beginning up to the end there is something to be praised and averse. The beginning of the film with those short subtitles written in English gives us a hint that they wanted to enter the film into international field. It also announced that it is fiction based on facts which gives more questions to the viewers. I love how the film unfolds every narration through the effective transitions and flashbacks. The cinematography and direction is also a thumbs up for me. The images had wonderful and innovative effects, colors and angles which is shown on the series of flashbacks especially during Rizal’s execution. I would also like to acknowledge the scriptwriters for creating such remarkable storyline with smooth pacing and rasping and poetic dialogues. It is notable how they consistently put together different layers of events to achieve a much engaging story. One thing to notice as well is how they were able to put into timing the comic and humorous factor of the film which became an integral part of the film as well. Also the beautifully written dialogues with cuss words doesn’t sound so corny as the characters mouthed it. Like the lines “Para kayong mga birhen na naniniwala sa pag-ibig ng isang puta,” “Hindi ako ang asawa mo kung hindi gera.” “Isinusuka ko ang digmaan pero ang kompirmiso magbubulag bulagaan ba tayo sa kalaban?” “Ingles inglesen mo ko sa bayan po punyeta!” and “Mas madali mo pang pagkasunduin ang langit at lupa kesa dalawang Pilipino sa alin mang bagay.” There are just scenes I found a little lame in the film, those were the screen times for American’s conversations because the characters were not the appealing for me. But overall it was still carried out because there were just few scenes. At the end of the film we could hint for a trilogy, there was an extra scene in the middle of the closing credits, suggesting a next film featuring Paulo Avelino as Gen. Gregorio del Pilar which has been showed this year. There was also a brief cameo appearance of Benjamin Alves as a young Manuel L. Quezon, hinting at a possible trilogy. This is a very exciting plan indeed which we all hope will materialize given the success of "Heneral Luna" and only international films like Marvel series only which adds another first time for the film.

           I really admired the film at its finest. More than the things I mentioned above I like about the film, it taught us lessons to ponder. Ultimately, the portrayal of this tragedy has spurred so many emotions and so many questions. It does not only give life to history but it is telling us the present issues we have in our country. Today the Philippines is facing so many problems in our economy, education, politics and still too many to mention. I could say that the problems of the past were never resolved. Are we really independent? Are we really free from colonization? The film taught us that the Filipinos are the enemy of themselves, people driven by personal interest and those who can’t sacrifice for the betterment of his/her nation. Do you think this people don’t exist at the present? Or do you think they are the one leading this slow moving country? Leadership like what we discussed at University and I, comes with many styles and theories and therefore different to each person. In line with Heneral Luna, he’s kind of leadership maybe harsh because of being authoritarian but this is what the country needs during those times. We must always keep in mind that leadership never worked unless there is an exchange of the force of his followers. The main lesson we could adhere in the film is to keep ourselves inform with the issues of the country and do our job as its citizens. The revolution is still happening right now. Our current situation is no different from that what it had experienced during the era of the Philippine-American war and we should do our part like what our heroes did before. Ignorance should not be tolerated and let us do our part as leader or as a follower.

           This kind of film is what Filipinos must and would want to see. Like what I mentioned earlier its target market are the youth and modern viewers. They even use social media as a way of promoting this film. However, as I watched the film this is a movie for all. I recommend every Filipino to watch the film because it is worth the time and money. If you wanted to watch something that is really substantial and entertaining well this is the movie you are looking for. Or if you are tired of Filipino cliché made film, try changing your genre and explore our unrated films and watch Heneral Luna. In wrapping up, I really liked the film. With a rating over ten, I will give a nine to it and it is truly recommended.  

[sundaynightnovels]

11/11/11

so i’ve been tagged by @kidsarentallwrite​ for this one, and @a-ray-of-moonshine​ , so i’ll be answering both here! thank you so much for thinking of me! <3  What song makes your OC go absolutely, batshit feral? okay i really don’t know the answer to this one, but hmmmm let me think . i think that zhen’s the sort to sing songs loudly and obnoxiously just to be an annoying ass and lu’d join her, and then yu(f) would be really mega pissed because she’s right in the next room trying to do some work when these two tone-deaf idiots are screeching their lungs out in the kitchen so yes, zhen & lu’s singing would make yu(f) go absolutely feral. anything they sing.  i think the OTHER yu(m) would go absolutely feral when jun, being a lil piece of shit who likes to get on his nerves, sings songs about rain. because yknow, yu(m)’s name means rain. right now the song i’m thinking of is jay chou’s 听见下雨的声音 (which means, listen to the sound of rain falling) and jun would sing it whenever yu(m) tries to say something because of, yknow, the title. and then blatantly ignore whatever yu(m)’s trying to say. so yes, the two yu(s) lead very sad lives. please give them more love. (though i’d understand if you don’t, one is an Antisocial Edgelord and one is an Edgy Antisocial Lording Over Others . there’s a difference)  What would your OC go on an hours long rant about given the opportunity? for shou? anything. absolutely anything. off the top of my mind, the sun (i’ve mentioned this so many times, don’t even ask), names (names have meanings to him!! why is zhen called zhen and teng called teng? why is he called shou??? a lot of them don’t share in his sentiments but he has Very Strong Feelings about it) lu is about his sad existence as a little boy who is starving on the streets. he’d say it often in the kitchen, when zhen is preparing some food.  zhen would be about rising costs of living and capitalism and having to work when they’re dead and yu(f) being a loser who only wants to work and teng being a loser who can’t get any girls and about how life is meaningless and the only solace is sleep and jia would rant with her for the fun of it yu(f) would rant about zhen, yu(m) would rant about jun, teng would rant about love and loneliness and ren would run away. (yes that was a pun, if you got it please appreciate)  Do your OCs have tattoos? If not, would they ever get a tattoo? Why or why not? i think i’ve answered this somewhere before??? not very sure . but yea anyway shou thinks it’s blasphemous but he would also consider one, zhen can’t be bothered, lu is a little kid WHAT ARE YOU ASKING FROM HIM teng is deathly afraid of the pain and it’s plainly obvious, jun isn’t scared of the pain but can’t be bothered either but also might already have one, you never know, yu(f) thinks it’s a waste of money, yu(m)... i feel like he might have one, not sure why. jia probably has one, some nice gorgeous insta-worthy one on her collarbone or on her back.  ren probably has one but he keeps it hidden and no one knows about it.  You bump into your OC on the street unexpectedly. How do you react? oh no. which one? if i catch shou in a distracted mood, i probably can get away without him yammering in my ears.  if it’s zhen, i’ll probably get sued for something and she’ll try to extort something from me. probably the bubble tea in my hands, or the money in my wallet. probably.  for lu he’d extort food. even if it’s in my stomach. yu(f) would be the one who bumps into me and continues marching off because she is a busy woman and ain’t got time for this.  ren would probably apologise and yknow, be a normal, nice human being. yu(m) would just stare and maybe walk away, but he looks fierce so it probs looks like he’s glaring and i’ll be scared shitless. or be pissed, depends on my mood. teng would apologise a lot a lot and offer to get my things (even if i hadn’t dropped them) and be a sputtering mess because unfortunately i am Woman and he cannot deal jun would ignore probably. depending on his mood, might make some cryptic comment that’s slightly disturbing. or he’d be really charming . who knows? jia would also probably react like a normal human being. not the nicest, but normal anyway. Which vines best describe your OCs? i am a failure and i don’t really know vines If your WIP is ever adapted into another form of media, what form would you like? Film, television, comic, podcast? Any others? sitcom, probably. also considering the amount of talking they do, maybe podcast. definitely not film. there’s no plot here. maybe theatre, just for fun. What is your favourite part about writing? what are you talking about?? Is you got to have a conversation with your favourite author, what would you talk about? the only author i can think of now is rick riordan and i’d talk about how i appreciate that he’s just doing what he wants and making it fun for him and diversity and lame humour and stupid characters and all that crap Have any writing habits or quirks? don’t write enough to have some. HAHA just kidding i have many many run-on sentences but i need them for RHYTHM and BEAT and FEELING you know???? long sentences are my jam and they help create music structure in writing do NOT TAKE THEM AWAY FROM ME also use oxford commas. sue me. What do you prefer: dialogue or action? stupid banter-ish dialogue. evocative atmospheric-ish contemplation and inner musings no one acts. Who is the first Writeblr you followed? Do you remember why you followed them? i really don’t know! sorry! --

1. Is there a trope you never get tired of? characters who share One brain cell. family.  long rambling stories that go nowhere really bad humour yes some of these are not tropes, i am aware.

2. Who is your least favorite character in your WIP? Why? gasps!!!  okay so let’s go down the list, i hate shou because he’s annoying as hell and he talks so much he himself gives 4k worth of dialogue in a single chapter, i hate zhen because she doesn’t do or admit to anything and trying to figure her out is like trying to get a worm to walk on two feet, i hate lu because he only talks about food and be a dirty lil kid, i hate ren because he is too nice and doesn’t think for himself, i hate teng because he gets easily bullied and he also talks too much for no damn reason, i hate jun because he keeps himself too deep and it’s impossible to get him to do anything serious, i hate yu(f) because she only works and literally there’s nothing to describe in her boring one bedroom can she get out of her room already, i hate yu(m) because i still don’t know him well enough after all these months, i hate jia because somehow i keep forgetting her in these tag games even though her presence is Big in the wip  yup there you go. they’re all my least favourite. 

3. Let’s say I’m planning to visit the setting of your WIP for a weekend. What should I take with me? What are the most important things for me to know beforehand? Which of your characters should I ask to be my guide? uh. i’d just say Don’t.  don’t visit. it’s not a good thing, you can’t choose to visit anyway, you can’t take anything with you because yknow, well there’s this little chinese saying i kinda abide by for this wip and i’m lazy to type it out now but it was in my previous chinese mytho au drabble so yea  also. guide????? maybe the safest might be ren, but also not really. hm. if you want an enthusiastic little puppy, choose shou. but he might talk your ears off and annoy you so you know, pick your poison 4.Beginning, middle, or end—which is the hardest for you as a writer?

middle

5. Which is more inspiring for you: music or visual art?

music!

6. Do you have any other creative interests and hobbies besides writing?

lol i have no interests okay really. hm. i used to draw a little bit but i’ve stopped, used to play piano but i’ve stopped, used to play cello but i’ve stopped.  so yea, really, nothing much. 

7. How close is your WIP now to what you were expecting it to be when you just started?

i’ve finished the first draft since the start of the year, which is great and i totally didn’t expect it! .... am barely into the second draft though, so that’s a bummer. you see, this is why sometimes you shouldn’t get achievements. once that one milestone is reached you just lie down there at the rest stop and never get up. 

8. What are your plans for when you finish your WIP? Traditional publishing? Indie publishing? Putting it online for others to read for free?

traditional probs, because i don’t trust myself enough to do it on my own and i have little visual sensibilities so the cover would be hella ugly. also like, not even sure if traditional publishers would want my odd little plotless thing, but yknow, i like it. 

9. Your MC is here. On your doorstep. Planning to spend the day with you. Oh, and they know you’re the author responsible for everything that’s going on in the story right now. Are you expecting it to be a nice conversation, or do you maybe want to run and hide? :D

thank god i consider my MC to be shou instead of zhen. oh yea he’ll have lots of questions and he’ll poke at my brains a lot and he’d be hella noisy and also he’ll be sweating a lot because of his clothes and long hair, but still thank god it’s shou for the rest of them, i’d run and hide in the bottom of the ocean.

10. Name a song that could be your villain’s personal anthem.

eh. there’s no villain. if you consider the author to be the villain though hMMM i have favourite songs but no personal anthems, sorry

11. Is there anything you would never, ever write a story about, even if you were offered a large sum of money to do so?

eh. probs something like a law drama-ish thing. too many long words and complex jargon, not my kinda thing.

>> i’ll be tagging @coffehousecreations @bookenders @aslanwrites @rktho-writes @bahay-kubo @aloonycynic @arte-muse @elliswriting @mvcreates @inkpot-dreamer @dc-writes and here are my questions (which i think are pretty interesting heh feel free to do it and tag me even if i haven’t tagged you for it!) 1) your wip is now set in percy jackson’s world (if you don’t know, it’s just a bunch of monsters from greek mythologies chasing after young kids who have powers. we’re assuming your OCs are all demigods here, so they have powers and are being chased). who would be the one flailing and crying for help? who would be the one standing in front and thinking of a solution? who would be the first one eaten and who would be the one to survive till they reach camp?  2) after barely escaping percy jackson’s world, they’re now thrown into harry potter. the dementors are everywhere. what are the bad memories that these dementors draw from your OCs? how do they react to it? (don’t worry, they’re saved before being given the kiss. somehow.) 3) they’re now plopped into the good place. who is in the good place, and who is in the bad place? (for those who don’t watch the show, well. i think this naming speaks for itself) 4) ah, bummer. some misfiling of paperwork from the higher-ups, sorry. your OCs are once again alive and kicking, but then things happen again and well, they’re in marvel and the Snap has just happened (i.e., people have suddenly disappeared into dust after an event and no one knows what happened to them). assuming individual scenarios for your OCs where each of them are the only one left in the group, how would they react and what are their coping mechanisms? 5) and then the Blip happens and everyone is back, after five years! hurray! once again, assuming individual scenarios for your OCs where each of them are the only one left in the group, and then everyone suddenly returns like nothing’s happened, how would they then react to this change of scenario? how do they adapt? 6) all is well for a while, until The Fire Nation Attacked. who runs away and hides in isolation? who joins the colonising forces? who attempts a rebellion? who concedes defeat and lets the enemies in? 7) alright, now let’s give your OCs a break. they’re back in school and it’s high school musical! which typical high school cliques are each of them in and why? 8) now we’re in deadpool and it’s time to break the 4th wall and change the focus to: the author. what kind of jokes / things do you want to include in your wip but can’t seem to, maybe because of genre restrictions or age restrictions or it just, well, doesn’t fit? (ryan reynolds would say to include it all anyway, but yknow, that’s because he has money) 9) following the ryan reynolds thread, what is the one most indulgent thing you’ve done in your writing / would do in your writing?  10) who is your favourite friends member and why? (this is important okay? to those who haven’t watched friends... i can’t really give you much of an explanation for this one and more importantly -- why??) 11) this is the end! what is the stupidest thing you’ve done in your / with regards to your writing? it can literally be anything -- a stupid spelling mistake, gaping plot hole, printing it out for a friend to read and missing a page, you can really go crazy with your answer here. okay thanks for reading this massive chunk of text and good day everyone!

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 1 July 2019

Quick Bits:

Aero #1 is an impressive solo debut for the Chinese original heroine spinning out of War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas in North America and her original stories published in China. The first story is an English adaptation of one originally published in Chinese from Zhou Liefen and Keng, with the adaptation by Greg Pak, letters by Joe Caramagna. The artwork from Keng is stunning. There’s also an original back-up from Pak, Pop Mhan, Federico Blee, and Caramagna that ties in more directly to New Agents of Atlas with Aero learning more about Wave’s origin.

| Published by Marvel

Age of X-Man: Prisoner X #5 concludes another of these minis setting up for the finale in Age of X-Man: Omega. Vita Ayala, Germán Peralta, Matt Horak, Mike Spicer, and Joe Sabino deliver an entertaining story here of Bishop and his crew fighting back against their captor and figuring out who put them in this mess. Gorgeous artwork from Peralta, Horak, and Spicer.

| Published by Marvel

Analog #6 returns from the break with this action-packed start to the new arc. Great art from David O’Sullivan and Mike Spicer. Also, an interesting reveal of what people still do post-Internet.

| Published by Image

Crowded #7 kicks off the second arc as Charlie and Vita try to make their way to Las Vegas. Tons of humour, Charlie continues to be someone that you want to strangle, and Dog may just be the best part of the entire series. I love the art from Ro Stein, Ted Brandt, Tríona Farrell, Katie O’Meara, and Holly McKend.

| Published by Image

Deathstroke #45 begins “Deathstroke RIP” from Priest, Fernando Pasarin, Jason Paz, Wade von Grawbadger, Jeromy Cox, and Willie Schubert. This one deals with the legacy of Slade Wilson in a fascinating manner as Rose tries to fulfill her father’s last contract. There’s also a tie-in to the “Year of the Villain” event with someone here listening to Luthor’s offer. Should be an interesting road ahead.

| Published by DC Comics

Doom Patrol: Weight of the Worlds #1 is very much a continuation of the previous volume of Doom Patrol (with this first issue even including a “Thirteen” chapter heading), but it’s both inclusive and weird enough that it doesn’t overly matter if you’ve read the previous stuff. It helps, but this isn’t a bad place to jump in at the deep end. Gerard Way, Jeremy Lambert, James Harvey, Sajan Rai, and a seemingly uncredited letterer deliver an excellent story here, featuring a weird story on a fitness planet and Cliff dealing poorly with being flesh and blood again.

| Published by DC Comics / Young Animal

Giant Days #52 seems to be setting up how the series may see its exit as Esther travels to London for a job interview. It’s going to be sad to see it end, but John Allison, Max Sarin, Whitney Cogar, and Jim Campbell are ensuring that these final stories contain all of the humour and rich character interaction that has been a hallmark for the book.

| Published by Boom Entertainment / BOOM! Box

The Green Lantern #9 is another excellent issue with stunning artwork from Liam Sharp and Steve Oliff. This one sets up a new multiversal threat while also giving us a fun adventure on an otherwise forgotten corner of the DC Universe in Athmoora. 

| Published by DC Comics

Harley Quinn #63 is another “Year of the Villain” tie-in, with the offer being heard on the last two pages of the book. That pretty much seems to be the theme of these tie-ins, so if you’re not normally reading the books, you might otherwise want to skip them if you’re only interested in Year of the Villain. Apart from that, this is an entertaining story of Harley dealing with her mother’s cancer diagnosis from Sam Humphries, Otto Schmidt, and Dave Sharpe.

| Published by DC Comics

Immortal Hulk #20 continues to build on the confrontation between Hulk, Betty, and the new Abomination adding General Fortean’s forces to the mix directly. It’s fairly explosive, while more horrible and horrifying things seem to be happening on the other side of the Green Door and elsewhere. Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, Ruy José, Belardino Brabo, Marc Deering, Paul Mounts, and Cory Petit continue to deliver Marvel’s best title. Also, there’s an Absolute Carnage teaser from Ewing, Brian Level, Mounts, and Clayton Cowles that gives us a missing body of General Ross and hints at possibly a more nightmarish Red Hulk.

| Published by Marvel

Justice League #27 continues “Apex Predator” from James Tynion IV, Javier Fernandez, Bruno Redondo, Hi-Fi, and Tom Napolitano. It builds further on the new history of Luthor and Martian Manhunter, while the rest of the team continues to try to track down the Monitor and Anti-Monitor.

| Published by DC Comics

Lois Lane #1 is an excellent debut from Greg Rucka, Mike Perkins, Paul Mounts, and Simon Bowland. It focuses well on Lois’ day job, building up on what makes her a creditable threat to shady organizations and the US government alike as she pushes forward to find the truth. A very welcome reappearance of a Questionable character, some topical story threads of the camps at the southern US border, and gorgeous artwork from Perkins and Mounts.

| Published by DC Comics

Red Sonja #6 is the penultimate chapter of this arc with the finale spinning off in the Lord of Fools special. Some interesting developments here as the Zamoran Emperor tries to end the war by offering Sonja a marriage proposal.

| Published by Dynamite

Savage Avengers #3 fully unites the team as Electra and Punisher join the others, complete with an interesting merging for the Venom symbiote. Gerry Duggan tosses out some really great funny lines for this one amidst all of the bloody action.

| Published by Marvel

Sea of Stars #1 is a heartbreaking debut from Jason Aaron, Dennis Hallum, Stephen Green, Rico Renzi, and Jared K. Fletcher. Heartbreaking because it tells the story of a kid and his father, struggling to get by in cruel world through space shipping, and the attack of a weird space creature that tears them apart. Great set-up, beautiful art, and some bizarre events for what happens to the kid.

| Published by Image

Space Bandits #1 is worth it just for the incredible artwork from Matteo Scalera and Marcelo Maiolo. Like Scalera’s work on Black Science, the inventiveness of his art knows no limits and he explores some rich and detailed alien landscapes and characters, with a neat pastel colour palette from Maiolo. This first issue sets up two criminals screwed over by their respective crews.

| Published by Image

Star Wars: Target Vader #1 is a compelling debut that sets up a plot to kill Darth Vader from Robbie Thompson, Marc Laming, Chris Bolson, Neeraj Menon, Jordan Boyd, Andres Mossa, Federico Blee, Erick Arciniega, and Clayton Cowles. This one’s largely a gathering of the team set-up as we follow Valance from Han Solo: Imperial Cadet and learn of an organization running guns against the Empire.

| Published by Marvel

Superman: Up in the Sky #1 begins to collect the original Superman story that was published in those Walmart-exclusive 100-page anthologies from Tom King, Andy Kubert, Sandra Hope, Brad Anderson, and Clayton Cowles. It’s not a bad start, even if it seems a bit weird as to how obsessive Superman seems to be over a missing child stolen from the planet. Some of the best art from Andy Kubert I’ve seen in a while.

| Published by DC Comics

Test #1 is another highly unique and entertaining debut for Vault. Christopher Sebela, Jen Hickman, Harry Saxon, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou introduce us to Aleph, a test subject in some sort of corporate experiment that seems to have some sort of unique powers. Or maybe not. That’s the interesting thing, there are hints that it could all be in Aleph’s mind. Wonderful art from Hickman and Saxon.

| Published by Vault

Thumbs #2 continues this excellent series from Sean Lewis and Hayden Sherman. The world-building in this series is incredible, especially considering how immensely personal it happens to be in regards to being seen through Thumbs’ eyes. The colour scheme in this series of blue-grey washes and hot pink just makes this look and feel wonderfully unique. Also, how the back-up story is presented with spot illustrations and dialogue is a neat use of format.

| Published by Image

Other Highlights: Batgirl #36, Batman/TMNT III #3, Birthright #37, Black Hammer: Age of Doom #11, Captain America and the Invaders: Bahama’s Triangle #1, Charlie’s Angels vs. The Bionic Woman #1, Buffy the Vampire Slayer #6, DCeased #3, Dead Man Logan #9, Descendent #3, The Dreaming #11, Fantastic Four: Prodigal Sun #1, Female Furies #6, Hashtag: Danger #3, Heathen #7, Jim Henson’s Tale of Sand, KINO #17, The Long Con #10, Ms. Marvel Annual #1, No One Left to Fight #1, Old Man Quill #7, Postal: Deliverance #1, The Punisher #13, Secret Warps: Soldier Supreme Annual #1, Section Zero #4, She Said Destroy #2, Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #10, Star Trek: Year Five #3, Star Wars: Age of Resistance - Finn #1, Star Wars Adventures #23, TMNT #95, Transformers #8, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #46, Uncanny X-Men #21, The World of Black Hammer Encyclopedia

Recommended Collections: Conan the Barbarian - Volume 1: Life and Death of Conan Book One, Conan: The Jewels of Gwahlur & Other Stories, Crimson Lotus, Gasolina - Volume 3, Go Go Power Rangers - Volume 4, Hellboy: 25 Years of Covers, Monstress - Book One

d. emerson eddy thinks that it’s a crime against nature to not bake homemade mac and cheese.

[anudash]

914 thoughts

Good things:

-M!chonne/Danai’s performance ,she was great

-Judith scenes with Daryl and M!chonne were heart warming

-A nice way to see how they were celebrating Halloween ,nick names of Josomething and M!chonne

-Negan scenes were also nice, I must say I love this Negan much more than the annoying back bending s7-8 Negan

I actually liked the episode but

disappointed :( (not positive and rant so keeping it under cut)

-bad writing and over hyped

-lots of plot holes like why heavily pregnant M!chonne and Daryl were the only ones searching for the kids,why the rest of the adults of ASZ were like Zeke and walk around behind the gates,why to mark people in a place which is not visible ,why to even mark them when they are captured since you can easily kill them

-OOC Daryl, why Daryl was even in the scene like a supporting character.You want to give a M!chonne centric episode give the supporting part to a supporting character like Rosita or siddiq not to another main and make him look like OOC

Why Daryl was like Ty in grove and was inside the house when M!chonne was screaming and killing the kids? I felt like Ty and Carol had a better friendship than M!chonne and  Daryl as even though Daryl knows this is the reason M!chonne was isolating he never asked her or tried to talk to her ?Meh 

I expected a better intimate relationship between them especially now that Rick is gone and she was pregnant but it was only bare minimum

Even the dialogues were similar to TY-Carol  when Mich/Carol were blaming themselves for not seeing what was coming.

-Any character development for M!chonne?, M!chonne killing these kids didn’t changed anything in her character in the present rather they just used it as an explanation of her isolation from other communities(which was also lame) and she had a talk with Judith and back with TF just the way she should have.

Say it whatever you want to say but this is just a way to keep M!chonne away from the main arc like Carol is away because of Kingdom and give the comic main arc of every character (Maggie,Jesus,Dwight,Dante,Rick)  to Daryl and newbie sidekicks, The sexism of TPTB is so over the top this season it’s hard to miss.I like that Daryl gets good stuff this season but that does not mean sidelining characters like M!chonne and Carol who are also OGs and deserves to be part of the main arc.

[jasonfry]

More catching up with movies everyone’s seen but me. Baseball’s almost here so I better hurry....

Jezebel (1938)

It’s not exactly a portrait in subtlety -- I was actually close to giggles as Bette Davis exited surrounded by flames and accompanied by a yowling choir -- but it’s kind of fun. Davis is great as Julie Marsden, an antebellum New Orleans belle who keeps blowing through social stop signs to cause trouble, with escalating consequences. Davis (supposedly given the part as a make-good for being passed over for Gone With the Wind) plays Julie’s struggle wonderfully, showing us a lot with just a glimmer in her eyes and a certain set to her mouth. As well as with her wardrobe: there are few movies in which clothing is as important as this one, and it’s no accident that Julie’s always in the wrong outfit. 

Henry Fonda is his usual stiff and decent self, with a side of purse-lipped repression -- his Pres Dillard and Davis’s Julie are both trapped by social conventions they either can’t escape or can’t quite imagine setting aside. In the movie’s key scene, Julie wears a red dress in defiance of New Orleans conventions about what unmarried women can wear. Her social misstep clears the floor in a ballroom and she realizes she’s gone too far -- only to have Pres force her to finish the waltz at the center of dozens of icy stares.

The rest of Jezebel is less interesting -- the black characters are reduced to insulting comic relief from start to finish, and Julie’s unconvincing bid for redemption saddles Davis with some truly ghastly dialogue. But that ballroom scene is a showstopper, Davis is watchable throughout, and there’s enough bubbling beneath the surface to keep you thinking.

San Francisco (1936)

Clark Gable stars as Blackie Norton, a ne’er-do-well nightclub owner in San Francisco’s dodgy Barbary Coast neighborhood who hires talented singer Mary Blake (Jeanette MacDonald), then winds up in a tug of war for her after Mary catches the eye of Nob Hill kingpin Jack Burley. Oh, and then all that’s interrupted by the 1906 quake.

The idea for San Francisco came from Hoppy Hopkins, an MGM gag man and dialogue fixer with a colorful past who formed half of a rather unique writing team with the great Anita Loos. Hoppy generally left the actual writing and pitching to his partner, and this bit of film lore helps explain why: his idea for San Francisco, as told to Loos, was “there’s this canary who thinks her cunt’s just for piss and this cocksucker of a priest and this brass-balled gambler who get thrown together during the earthquake.”

Wow. Anyway, Gable happily chews scenery as the gambler, and Spencer Tracy makes the most of his scenes as the priest, bringing some weight to a stock role. MacDonald’s less interesting as the canary, but some of that’s by design: she’s stuck as the prize in a contest between two powerful men, a singer rendered voiceless by circumstances and conventions. In the movie’s best scene, MacDonald meets Burley’s mother (Jessie Ralph), who tells her about her rags-to-riches upbringing -- a capsule San Francisco history that’s really about the constraints on women and the necessity for them to appease, manage and outmaneuver men. That scene is a Loos cry from the heart, one that cuts through the melodrama to hint at a much more interesting story.

The earthquake special effects are pretty good for 1936, but the movie loses its nerve after the buildings come down, sticking the characters with a lame redemption narrative. Oh well. By the way, the song “San Francisco” was penned for this movie, adopted by the city as one of its official anthems and is still heard today.

The Third Man (1949)

Orson Welles’s arrival in The Third Man is one of the great movie reveals. Before that, you get a claustrophobic, off-kilter thriller, as scuffling pulp writer Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton) tries to navigate the ruins of postwar Vienna and discover who killed his friend Harry Lime. Director Carol Reed uses Dutch angles and light and shadows to keep us off-guard as Holly encounters more of Harry’s creepy friends and sinks deeper into the mire of his investigation.

Holly solves the mystery, but it’s no real solution. The reveal is wonderful not just for the puckish expression on Welles’s face, but also how Reed builds it out of little elements. (That’s right, we were told that little detail about the cat, weren’t we?) Welles’s speech atop a Ferris wheel is a pitch-perfect bit of brutality, and then the movie ends with a long, enigmatic sequence Reed had to fight to keep. The movie’s over and you’re still guessing. Like The Magnificent Ambersons, this is a movie I’ve kept thinking about and know I’ll have to see again.

Murder, My Sweet (1944)

Dick Powell is Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler’s famous private eye, in this adaptation of Farewell, My Lovely and a key early film noir. I can see why it’s so influential, but its descendants built something better on the foundations. Powell doesn’t make much of an impression as Marlowe, though his supporting cast is strong -- particularly Mike Mazurki, a wrestler who’s all too convincing as unhinged goon Moose Malloy, and Claire Trevor as the inevitable femme fatale. BTW, the title was changed because Powell was best known as a crooner at the time -- he’d lost out on the starring role in Double Indemnity, another early film noir that’s a bookend of sorts to this film -- and RKO feared moviegoers would see the title and Powell’s name and assume the film was another musical.

King Solomon’s Mines (1950)

A “darkest Africa” travelogue from the 1885 H.R. Haggard adventure novel, the second of five adaptations. I held my breath when I started watching this one -- generally speaking, time has not been kind to depictions of Africans in such movies. King Solomon’s Mines is surprisingly progressive in that regard -- the Africans are treated as exotic “others,” but they’re not mocked, infantilized or reduced to comic relief. It was also interesting to note the reverberations in other films -- Out of Africa’s shampoo scene is basically lifted from King Solomon’s Mines, Black Panther has a king challenged to single combat, and so on. And the wildlife scenes, while nothing special today, were probably pretty eye-popping in 1950. 

What didn’t work for me -- at all -- was the role of Elizabeth Curtis. The fault isn’t Deborah Kerr’s -- she does the best she can -- but the script’s. At any given moment Elizabeth is screaming, fainting, being attacked by an animal (seriously, it’s like she’s a magnet for the entire wildlife population) or sometimes being kissed. She’s either a nuisance or a prize, but never anything more than that, and it rankles even for a movie made in 1950.

[kaibutsushidousha]

Which characters in v3 you would say had a good writing considering their roles and characters as a whole?

It’s kinda hard for me to just say who is good on the fly, so I’ll go over everyone instead.

Akamatsu as a narrator murderer was perfect. She managed to pull it off while still remaining perfectly heroic and sympathetic and her moments there get even more emotionally intense on a replay, specially her harsh self loathing. Unfortunately her Free Times suck but that’s not the part that matters.

Amami is portrayed as a mystery and that mystery gets an unimpressive answer. The story in his Free Times are a lot better but his ruthless manipulation there, while makes a lot of sense for the character, doesn’t fit well with his friendly personality.

Iruma is unfunny comic relief, the interesting questions I had about her character go unanswered, her unique personality is not explored (we don’t learn the causes nor she changes it in form) and murder motive is just half a line without much context. She’s more of a plot device than a proper character, to be honest.

Ouma is an entertaining antagonist with lots of layered dialogue, an amazing hero/villain dynamic with Momota, really clever strategies and is the personification of the game’s themes. I absolutely love  how he is portrayed as hypercompetent but still constantly fails to get his perfect result no matter how hard he tries. He’s a little lacking in backstory but that’s still enough to earn the spot as my favorite DR character and second overall.

Ki-bo’s writing is more focused on comic relief than on him seriously discussing his humanity, which sucks because his human themes are really good and his humor is really bad. The jokes about him being unimpressive are unimpressive,  the “haha he can’t read between the lines because he is a robot” jokes are just autism jokes by other name and the discrimination jokes are just as lame as the rest. His final role was as pseudo-Naegi, which was annoying for it’s repetitiveness of previous games, but the game later shows itself to be very much against repetitive sequels, so Ki-bo’s moment was very effective on what it was trying to be.

Gonta was charming and respectable character who unfortunately wasn’t treated well. I’m not even talking about how he was idiotified by the translation, I’m talking about his motive. For starters, we get Tsumiki’s bad “you won’t know the motive until a future chapter” thing, which kinda kills the moment in the first playthrough. But regardless of that, his motive still sucks. Gonta is very much portrayed as a sympathetic innocent cinammon roll trying to help everyone with a mercy kill, when you can’t really call it sympathetic or mercy kill if his victims are all unaware of why Gonta is doing it. This situation could only be actually considered a mercy kill if Gonta informed everyone of the situation, asked each one of them if they would rather live or die and them not kill the ones that chose to live. In a game where Akamatsu’s “Only people who know the truth can choose their own path” is one of the central quotes, it’s kinda bad that no one calls Gonta out for that decision. I understand not wanting to do it in front of him at his final moments, but Saihara or Ouma could have said something about it after his death.

Saihara is kinda basic, but he is very much the kind of protagonist I like: a character who is clearly not a self-insert and who is constantly discussing the central themes of his own story. Him being first seen as a regular character before he becomes the protagonist is a neat way of establishing as his own person separate from the player. He also gets some really intense moments in chapter 6, made magnificent by Hayashibara’s powerful voice acting.

Shirogane is another one of my favorites. For the first 5 chapters she is just a passive but entertaining tsukkomi who just says the convenient thing needed to keep the plot moving forward or some anime joke to keep the classic tone of DanganRonpa’s humor. There’s also some clever foreshadowing here and there but almost nothing noticeable in the first playthrough of course. Come chapter 6, we get a threatening, cunning and adaptative mastermind who manages to even outperform Junko in the entertainment factor with her cosplay tricks, a fascination vision of how a “plain” standard person in the outside world’s society is like and most importantly, an always appreciated case of well-written imitation. Shirogane is a human character with human limitations trying be Junko, who is kinda beyond that. I guess my love for imitation plots fall on the same idea I mentioned for Ouma: a hypercompetent character being constantly and unable to produce ideal results. 

Shinguuji has a lot of fascinating elements to his character, but… let’s just say Kodaka missed his mark and leave it at that.

Chabashira has a few problems of her character flaws being ignored by the narrative and given silly comedic causes to serious issues, but she overall a fantastic character despite not having a narrative role outside of being a love interest for Yumeno. Her relationship is well developed, her final speech is my favorite in the game and the way her moral code and actions feel unique to her while still strongly true to the principles valued by Muromachi-based martial arts (and by extension Zen Buddhism) is commendably well-handled.

Toujou is kinda bad. Instead of humanizing her character, she just established she has no personal will of her own, we never get to know why and that only becomes a plot point with the reveal she was serving someone else instead of the characters, still 0% of Toujou’s individual non-duty-related feelings. The utilitarism motive didn’t impress and felt honestly kinda dumb, but that might be because read too many utilitarism stories already. Just to clarify, I’m not calling it dumb because of the high school prime minister thing, that kind of silliness is par for the course for the series already. My problem with it is that regardless of what the crisis is, Toujou believing the population is helpless without her is lack of faith in her citizens and believe her presence alone will be game-changing for the situation is either not thinking things through or unbelievably arrogant. Anyways, her neverending determination and the running scene resulting from it were great and it felt good to see her finally emoting, but that’s all derived from her sense of duty, so it doesn’t stop her from being one-dimensional.

 Harukawa is a character with strong emotions, interesting characterization moments and character arcs, but the culmination of her arc is poorly timed and she is lacking on the consistency department.

Hoshi has easily the strongest Free Time in the game, but centering your character around the search of a reason to want to live and having his final answer be “you have no reason to” and have him surrender his life immediately after is unarguably bad.

Momota I already talked about him just this week, so you can take the answer for him in no time. 

Yumeno had a very compelling character arc, a decent set of Free Times (although not very related to her main story characterization) and functioned very well as comic relief after she became more expressive. Nothing to complain about her. I also really love how her stopping lazy was not an instantaneous process and you can see stumbling with it sometimes and getting tired from simple things.

Angie gets some characterization in her Free Times but nothing that makes her interesting or sympathetic, the main story places her as a brainwashing strawman and she overall manages to get more disgusting moments than the non-comedic serial killer.

[whitelippedviper]

Pop Comics #1: Titans #14 and Slanty Ass Panels

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So I’m going to try a new thing in terms of comics criticism where I will write a little bit about a popular comic of the week.  I’m going to use the top 10 list at Comixology as my reference point.  The idea basically is writing about shit that people are actually reading, and engaging with more comics that are probably not for me, and creating a larger body of working diving into shit that I think is lame. So this week is Titans #14.  A comic written by Dan Abnett, drawn by Brett Booth, inked by Norm Rapund, and colored by Andrew Dalhouse.  Now I haven’t really read DC comics in earnest since the 52 comic reboot where they made Amanda Waller some skinny lady.  I was like “you know, this is a good jumping off place” so I did.  And I haven’t missed it at all.  There’s a lot of great comics out there to read.  More than I even have time to.  And none of them are from DC or Marvel.  So even saying that, when I was reading superhero stuff, I didn’t read Teen Titans.  I liked the cartoon because I think Raven is cool.  But beyond that, when it comes to teen team comics, I went with the X-men and assorted spin offs.  Still.  I kinda know who 90 percent of these people are.  So what’s going on.  Tempest is being chased by the Trident Three who are trying to recruit Garth to help fight back against some king who has overthrown Aquaman--or they are recruiting him to help that guy, I’m not sure.  I kind of don’t care.  But anyways, they are recruiting him by trying to kill him.  Like you would.  He touches a magic tomato box, and the Titans appear and they start a fight with the Trident Three, who are rarely fully on panel.   Most of the issue cuts between this fight which is happening….at some pizza place...but it just looks like...the docks somewhere or something?  It cuts between that and the team at their HQ accusing each other of being the traitor in their midst.  Dick makes everyone take a lie detector test basically, but they don’t know the results immediately, they order pizza, but it’s poisoned pizza from the Trident Three who apparently run pizza in...wherever this is.  One of my friends used to run this corporate watchdog site called Knowmore.org where you could look up companies and like see all the bad shit to do with them--I feel like that would have been helpful here.  Don’t patronize Trident Three businesses.  Would be my advice.  Anyways.  So because of the poisoned pizza the team has to go fight the Trident Three--thus the fight.  And the comic largely splices between these two things, while characters midfight accuse each other of trying to fuck Donna Troy or the other girl...Lilith something. And then at the end you find out Dick is the traitor.  Which is weird because he wanted to do the test.  So of course he deletes the results and reports to his bosses.  Really didn’t understand that. Basically the comic tries to give us our fight and our melodrama in equal measure, but because it’s all squeezed into these tiny horizontal panels and cut up into like one page increments--we really get neither.  One of the things those X-men comics were good at with Claremont and Byrne was having the groundwork of the internal melodrama handled in street clothes mostly, and away from the action--and then the action would bring the revelations, which they’d then deal with later in street clothes.  But here it’s all jammed together so nothing really hits or means anything.  I mean I think the decision to have them hanging out in costume at their HQ probably doesn’t help in creating any kind of separation between the places.

But what really hurts the comic is the page layouts.  Which insist on these stacked horizontal slanty panels crammed with faces and dialogue boxes.  I get that the design is somewhat necessitated by the way the script has put so many people’s tiny speeches in the same space.  But what it creates is very little dramatic space for characters to truly react to one another, and creates a predictable visual space that isn’t all that exciting to look at.  Just kind of backgroundless panels of people in action figure poses trying to act like people. Even worse is how this lack of differentiation and scale hurts the fight in the book.  This is supposed to be an action comic nominally.  So you would expect the punches and kicks to be cool.  But they are super shrunk down and cropped to the extent that we rarely see who or what is being punched by any of the Titans.  This creates this complete lack of stakes that left me wondering why this fight was even necessary?  Why not just have the whole comic of them in the HQ arguing with each other?  I mean Bendis does that all the time.  There was a New Avengers book that was just them arguing on a crashing plane like the last Seinfeld episode.  I mean it sucked to read.  But this isn’t an improvement. Also why is the composition for an action scene the same as the composition for a dramatic scene between characters?  I don’t think simply slanting panels makes drama more intense.  It just looks silly and cramped.

Color wise there’s not much to talk about.  Sort of the same DC thing I read years ago in color style.  There’s some attempt to use the color to underline various dramatic moments, but the only spot where that kind of works is the part where Tempest and Wally are using their powers on the same page, so there’s like this separation of red between blue and this completely purple panel.  But on the whole, the colors are bland.  And there’s not much to really color since the backgrounds are mostly nonexistent, and the settings are so unspectacular.  One building interior looks like another. So yeah.  There you go.  That’s the 7th best selling comic from last week.  Just bland, unremarkable, continuity porn without much consideration for like...making something singularly interesting with your month at the mic.  Or week.  I don’t know if this is a monthly or weekly comic.

[ramajmedia]

10 Quotes From Full House That Are Still Hilarious Today

Watching Full House was a rite of passage for '90s kids. The corny sitcom aired for 8 seasons from 1987 until 1995 and followed single father Danny Tanner (Bob Saget) trying his best to take care of his three adorable kids after his wife passed away. Thankfully, his pal Joey Gladstone (Dave Coulier) and brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis (John Stamos) moved in so they could help out.

RELATED: Fuller House: 5 Best Friendships (& 5 Worst)

Many people have great memories of this show, and although some episodes seem flat and a little on the silly side since so much time has passed since they originally aired, it's still a pretty funny series. Here are 10 quotes from Full House that are still hilarious today.

10 "Watch the hair!"

A discussion of Full House quotes wouldn't be complete without mentioning Uncle Jesse's obsession with his hair. John Stamos played this character perfectly and made fans understand that he cares about his hair as much as his wife, children, and other family members.

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No matter how many times we watched Full House while growing up, we never got tired of Jesse saying "Watch the hair!" It's one of those classic quotes that is always funny... probably because he really is that serious about his appearance.

9 'Sorry.' 'Sorry.' 'Sorry' doesn't change the fact that my chicken tetrazzini is ruined!"

Ruined! It's all dried out. But do you have the common courtesy to call me and tell me you're going to be 25 minutes late?! NO! Well, I am not an animal. Oh, my God. What's happening to me? I'm turning into June Cleaver.

We all remember Uncle Jesse constantly referencing his perfect, beautiful hair, but he had some other great quotes as well, and this one deserves a spot on this list for sure.

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Uncle Jesse says this hilarious quote in the season one episode "Joey's Place." Jesse gets more than a little bit overwhelmed with domestic responsibilities. When Danny comes into the house later than he was supposed to, Jesse gets all flustered and says this great quote. It's still funny today since everyone can relate to being tired of the endless cycle of cooking and cleaning.

8 "Am I the raddest, baddest dad a kid ever had?"

When Danny asks DJ (Candace Cameron) this question in the season five episode "Crushed," she says, "You were until you said that." This is still hilarious today since everyone secretly adores dad jokes, and Danny Tanner is truly The King Of Dad Jokes. He's the furthest thing from cool, loves cleaning the house more than anything, and can't help the sometimes lame things that he says.

Even though Danny has a tendency to crack cheesy jokes, he's truly a great dad, and his heartwarming character kept fans watching season after season.

7 "Hey, girls, I thought we were going out for ice cream."

In the season one episode "Danny's Very First Date," Danny says this since his kids are eating the dessert, and D.J. responds, "We wanted to make sure we still liked it."

This is another Full House quote that is still hilarious today. No matter what, kids are always going to want to eat as much ice cream (and other sweets) as possible. It's always charming when kids come up with an explanation for why they're doing something. Instead of simply saying that they wanted ice cream since it's delicious, D.J. tried to be more creative than that. You have to give her credit.

6 "I had a traumatic experience with squash once. I ate one."

Kimmy Gibbler (Andrea Barber) is a funny figure in the Tanner house. Since she's best pals with DJ, everyone basically has to deal with her coming over at random hours of the day... but it's safe to say that everyone else finds her to be pretty frustrating.

Even though Kimmy is an annoying character, she's also funny since she has no filter and says quirky things. This quote about squash is particularly great. Who hasn't thought that about a vegetable (maybe kale)?

5 "Well, pin a rose on your nose."

This is one of Stephanie's quotes, and even today, we can't help but think that it's truly funny. What does this statement mean? While it sounds pretty silly and ridiculous, according to Urban Dictionary it means "nobody cares." Of course, that wouldn't really have the same ring.

You don't really hear anyone say this anymore, which makes it even more special that Stephanie does. And she says it with such self-confidence, too.

4 "Don't shake your head. Your story's read. It's time for bed. To bed, I said."

In the fourth season episode "Crimes and Michelle's Demeanor," Danny says this hilarious quote. Jesse responds, "Gotta lay off that Seuss, man." The pair are upset that Michelle's (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen) still wide awake.

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This quote is still funny today because parents know how children's rhyming stories, TV shows, and music can stick in your head. Sometimes you might even find yourself humming a tune after they've gone to sleep, and you can't get it out of your head.

3 "Aw, nuts!"

The characters on Full House have many things that they say in many episodes, and these catchphrases are beloved by fans. There is really nothing more nostalgia-inducing than hearing Michelle say "Aw, nuts!"

Michelle has a great, confident personality and while D.J. and Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) are often upset about the challenges of growing up and dealing with everything from mean girls to dating to insecurities, Michelle is often the comic relief of the scene. She has a real knack for saying a funny line of dialogue at the perfect time.

2 "Have mercy!"

This classic and famous quote by Uncle Jesse is definitely still hilarious today. It's pretty silly that someone would actually say it out loud, but that's the cheesy charm of this character (and of Full House in general).

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There are tons of gifs of Jesse saying "Have mercy!" out there, and we love them all.

1 "How rude!"

The final quote from Full House that is still just as funny today is when Stephanie often exclaims "How rude!" She feels this so strongly and says this phrase without a hint of insecurity or doubt, and that's awesome.

Stephanie's the classic middle child who always thinks that she's being wronged or not getting what she wants, but while sometimes she can be whiney and a bit annoying, she's always cute and hilarious. This is definitely her best quote from the popular sitcom.

NEXT: Full House: 5 Best (& 5 Worst) Episodes

source https://screenrant.com/quotes-full-house-tv-show-hilarious-today/