#because it has such a good premise that it's far more interesting that 90% of the actual show

[balis77]

Transformers: Earthspark (2022)

[pookietv]

online embarrassment (part two!) | arthurtv

a dedication to @casualvanilla into bullying me to write a part two :3

being curious about arthur and his seemingly strange occupation choice, in your eyes at least, of commentating 90 day fiance, you decided that you may as well watch a little of the show, seeing if you could see what made it so interesting.

especially since you and him had been talking much more frequently, playing a couple of games of chess together most evenings, over discord calls and instagram messages

and your curiosity had definitely been quashed once you had watched as much as you could stomach of insanely dysfunctional relationships, exploitation and men going for women far too young for them.

so, with your newfound knowledge, you decided to text arthur again.

youruser: why is literally every couple on 90 day fiance either insanely malfunctioning or borderline exploitative

arthurtv: ah, i see you have exposed yourself to the world of discovery+

arthurtv: and in all honesty, that is kind of the grim premise of the show, a kind of strangely twisted curiosity makes us all watch them fall apart

youruser: grim is definitely the word for it

arthurtv: so are you doing anything tonight?

youruser: unfortunately, i have little plans that don't involve reading so many academic journals until my eyeballs fall out :(

arthurtv: i never even asked you what you study?

youruser: oh, i study politics with a focus on international law right now :)

arthurtv: no way! i studied law when i was at uni

youruser: when was that, fifteen years ago?

arthurtv: ha ha very funny i am twenty eight

arthurtv: ps, you're almost as dedicated to your uni work as you are to your outrageous bishop sacrifices

youruser: anyway, are you doing anything tonight?

arthurtv: going round to some of my friends house cause he's forcing us to rewatch the lord of the rings series

arthurtv: though that is fair enough because i have forced him to watch harry potter so many times

youruser: i've never even seen harry potter

arthurtv: WHAT

youruser: oopsie

youruser: just never got round to it

arthurtv: you need to watch it!!!!

youruser: it just doesn't seem like my kind of thing!

arthurtv: we can't be friends anymore smh

youruser: that sounds great! blocking you rn

arthurtv: shut up you

arthurtv: anyway, i had an idea, if you're down

youruser: and what would that idea be

arthurtv: i think we should meet up and play actual chess on an actual chessboard (and maybe drink a few bevs)

youruser: well, i mean, i don't even know if i should be meeting you, after all you are the Insane Chess Killer Man >:)

youruser: and if i didn't know any better, sounds like you're describing a date

arthurtv: hm that's a good point, i was looking for a new victim

youruser: are you referencing the insane chess killing or the date as the victim?

arthurtv: you can't see me but i am rolling my eyes so hard right now

youruser: okay, a truce on the serial killer jokes

arthurtv: thank god. what about tomorrow night?

youruser: drunk chess and a takeaway sounds good to me

youruser: the classiest first date

so that was that, he had texted you his address and to come round at seven so he could, in his words, destroy you in chess.

after a long day at uni and a slight worry, though you didn't know why, about meeting him, you started to get ready to go to his house.

since you were just going to his house, you settled on some flared leggings and a soft blue jumper, tying your hair into a somewhat tamed ponytail before looking in the mirror, making sure your light makeup hadn't smudged too much after a day of back to back lectures and discussion groups.

he didn't live too far from you, surprisingly, just a couple tube stops away, so you decided to walk, about twenty five minutes to his apartment, in a block of flats facing the river thames, and as you arrived at the building and pressed the button in the elevator for his floor, slightly picking at your nails with nerves.

what if it was insanely awkward in person? or what if he is a weird catfish looking for victims on chess websites? that seemed insane, right?

but your mind was working overtime as the buttons lit up and the elevator door opened, and you tried to unfurrow your eyebrows and look for his door number, finding it towards the end of the hall.

you waited a moment before knocking, bringing your hand up and timidly rapping it against the dark wood of the door.

when it swung open, and you saw that he was indeed who he said he was, or at least who he was on his instagram pictures, you smiled a little in relief.

"arthur! hi, it's nice to meet you, well, in person, you know..." you giggled a slight bit quietly as he gave you a friendly hug.

"you too! didn't know if i was just being catfished or something," he joked a little awkwardly back.

"me a catfish? i figured you would be a catfish, what would i even be catfishing you for?" you joked back, and he shrugged.

"i don't know, i don't get many pretty girls randomly texting me cause we played chess together so i wasn't sure," he said a little embarrassed, and your cheeks went slightly pink when he called you pretty.

"well, who knew that the insane chess killer had a hidden talent for flattery," i laughed slightly as he welcomed me in, shutting the door behind me.

he rolled his eyes jokingly, "hey, based on the way you insulted me with no remorse during chess games i was expecting you to be terrifying, so you can't blame me for being surprised at how easy you are on the eyes," he grinned a little, and it was your turn to roll your eyes in return.

"anyway, come in, honestly just make yourself at home... unless you're worried about losing to me on my own turf," he joked.

"i mean, i'm kind of impressed by your 'turf'," you giggled, "it's nice for a guy that exploits reality tv for views," you teased and he laughed a little as he led you to his living room, a chessboard set up on his coffee table, pillows on either side on the floor to sit on.

"hey, low blow," he mockingly warned, "i'd watch it otherwise i'll conveniently lose your queen piece," he said before quickly standing to go to his kitchen, "i have southern comfort and lemonade, if that's okay with you? it's kind of my weird speciality drink," he smiled.

"well, i suppose i'll have to try the arthurtv special then," i nodded in return, and after a few moments, he returned with two glasses, placing them at either side of the table as he sat himself down on the side of the board playing black pieces.

"so we're going straight for the intellectual torture of chess?" you grinned as you sat opposite him, "the girls must find it so charming when you sit straight at the chess board on a date, hm?" you teased in retaliation.

"oh shut up you, and prepare to lose, again," he smiled as you moved your first piece, "at least my view will be nice when i crush you,"

as the game progressed, there was joking smack-talk thrown between you and arthur, neither of you focusing too much on the game but more on the subtle flirting between each move.

"that rook sacrifice was not your best work," he laughed, but you raised your eyebrow at him as you moved another piece,

"or maybe i was setting a trap that you didn't see, hm, mr. television?"

as he captured one of your pieces in return, his fingers gently brushed against yours and you grinned, before swatting his hand jokingly, "hey, focus on the game!" you giggled out as he laughed in return and nodded.

about half way through the game, the focus had shifted slightly from both being heartset on winning to enjoying one another's company, nattering on about arthur's job and your degree.

at one particular point, you stopped, looking down at the board, tongue slightly poking out of your mouth in concentration as your brain worked as quickly as it could, trying to analyse the best move.

"what're you thinking?" he asked as he shuffled slightly closer, and you could smell his cologne, a kind of vanilla and cedarwood scent as you tried your best to ignore it.

"i'm trying to strategise, unlike some of us who rely on distracting the other to win," you teased slightly, and you could hear him chuckle a little.

"i'm plenty distracted myself, hard not to be when you look cute like that when you concentrate so hard."

you paused a little at the flirting, trying not to let your cheeks flush bright red, "stop trying to put me off my game, arthur," you playfully smiled.

once a couple more moves had been played, arthur missed what was seemingly an obvious capture he could have made, which would have put you at a disadvantage, and once you quickly realised and made sure your piece was defended, you tilted your head a little - arthur didn't often make mistakes like that.

"i completely missed that, fuck sake!" he mumbled to himself with a small smile on his face.

after a while longer of playing, and a few moves you didn't think arthur would normally make, you had him in checkmate, a grin on your face.

"looks like we're gonna have to have a rematch at some point," he looked at the board and shrugged his shoulders a little.

you narrowed your eyes at him a little with a small smile, "did you throw the game so we could have a rematch?"

"i think i may use the lawyer lingo here and announce that i refuse to answer on the basis that i may implicate myself," he laughed a little to himself.

[davidwarnercorner]

Hostile Takeover (1988), starring David Warner, Kate Vernon, Michael Ironside, Jayne Eastwood, and Will Lyman (Youtube Link).

This is the first obscure David Warner movie I'm reviewing! Not the first one I've watched, but the one that made the biggest impression on me so far. I genuinely liked it and would recommend it (the only downside is that the only versions I can find online are VHS rips with not the highest video quality).

The premise: Eugene Brackin (David Warner), a disaffected, repressed office worker at a local power plant, takes three of his coworkers—Larry Gaylord (Michael Ironside), Sally Laird (Kate Vernon), and Joan Talmudge (Jayne Eastwood)—hostage, but makes no specific demands. Outside, local police chief Smolen (Will Lyman) tries to diffuse the situation without resorting to violence.

The sets are limited: most of the action takes place either in the office or just outside of it (it would probably make for a good stage adaption). Hostile Takeover is a character driven story about what it takes for someone to crack and what happens when they do. It engages with ideas about modernity, alienation, and longing; interwoven throughout are references to the T.S. Eliot poems "The Hollow Men" and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (and maybe others that I didn't pick up on). Whatever you make of it, this movie was trying to say something about modern life.

(More under the cut because this gets long. Spoilers below.)

Reviews

Reviews for Hostile Takeover are mixed, but I'm going to defend it a bit. Is it a perfect movie? No. But I think the experience suffers if you come into it with the idea that this is a true horror film, when really it's a psychological thriller. There are two brief scenes where there's a lot of dramatic blood, but those make up maybe half a minute of the total 90. There are tense, suspenseful moments, but I'm quite a coward when it comes to horror and this didn't bother me.

A lot of other online reviews call it a "Thanksgiving horror movie," and I'm not sure how this category got attached to it. It came out in December 1988, so it can't be based on release date, and Thanksgiving is never mentioned, we only see that it's autumn. Maybe it's because the movie was released in some countries under the title Office Party and the fact that it starts on a day when people would normally be out of office, like for a holiday (admittedly, I thought it was just a weekend).

Characters

All the central characters in this are interesting in their own ways and get their own moments of backstory, but the ones I want to talk about most are Eugene, Sally, and Smolen.

Eugene - a man who is frustrated enough to take his coworkers hostage but also polite enough to demand that the police bring dinner for them and repeatedly says he doesn't want to actually hurt anyone. David excels at playing characters that are a bit angsty and not quite satisfied with themselves, and Eugene fits that mold.

We're never explicitly told why he did what he did, but it's not that hard to infer. Eugene is a shy middle-aged man who lives alone in a tiny apartment, has nothing better to do than come in to his meager-paying job on an off day, and is maybe a little infatuated with his younger female coworker but is too restrained (and too self-conscious?) to pursue her even when she shows interest. He seemingly followed the "right" path for the 20th-century man and yet still feels his life is hollow. He insists that he's not a crazy, "psycho-type," he only wants to be perceived that way so he'll be sent to a hospital in the end, presumably because he wants to escape it all.

I wouldn't pick up a gun about it, but I can understand his despair. The loneliness and alienation he feels (and, on the other hand, the obsession some of his other coworkers have with money and power) are predictable side effects of the capitalist hellscape we live in.

...Moving away from that, let's talk about how hot David is in this. Some of that may be down to my personal preferences: I'm a sucker for stressed-out businessmen and the role that made me notice him for the first time was Sark/Ed Dillinger in TRON. But here...the suspenders with the gun holster. Him walking around with his tie loose. Being 1988, he'd started going grey and late 80s-early 90s David is peak dilf for me, the silver streaks in his bangs and at the temples make me feral. It's no wonder the next character, Sally, wanted him.

Sally - some Letterboxd reviews were very negative to Sally, saying that she's actually the most unsympathetic character and that she manipulates and seduces Eugene. I disagree, though I may be biased because if I were in her situation, I'd probably (want to) act the same. Textually, though, I think there is some support for my interpretation.

In her introductory scene, we see her walk into the office and immediately flirt with him. It didn't seem like she was doing it to mock him—she's also the only one (I think?) to call him "Gene" instead of his full name, which implies some fondness. We later learn that Sally is attracted to power, and she comments about how powerful Eugene is in his newfound position as hostage-taker, but let's remember that she was interested in him from her first scene, before there was any hint of anything being different that day. We also see that she previously attempted to "sleep her way to the top," but that it didn't work for her and she's bitter about the whole thing.

People also seem to think her affection towards him was just in service of self-preservation, but by the end she doesn't even seem to care about that anymore. She says to him, "you can still get away if you use me as a shield...you're loving and honest and kind, you don't have to die for this, Gene!". You could argue it's some kind of Stockholm Syndrome situation, but imo she seems to be basing this on experience beyond just the last two days spent in the office.

Also, like, is it really so hard to believe that she might genuinely be into him? Some people are just into dilfs and that's okay! It's normal! Us dilf-fuckers deserve the representation and Sally is great! She hates her asshole boss and wants the old man dick, she's just like me fr.

Unfortunately (spoilers), she doesn't get her tropical beach vacation ending with Gene and instead has to watch him die. And she'll have to live with that memory. It's all the more tragic because there are hints that their relationship could have worked if they had been able to open up to each other under different circumstances. As Smolen says, "what a fuckin' waste."

Smolen - there's more to this guy than initially meets the eye. He looks like the total opposite of Eugene, a stereotypical jock, but as the story progresses, parallels are drawn between the two. Someone even accuses him of holding the rest of the police force hostage because he won't let them go in guns blazing. He also takes the time to try to understand Eugene; he's the one who figures out the poetry connection. Eventually (spoilers), he ends up being the one to kill him and, though this is probably an artifact of the bad VHS quality, it looked like there was a trickle of blood running down his own forehead. In the end, both of them were forced into violence they didn't want.

Connections

Random connections I made while watching the movie, kind of like a trivia/fun facts section I guess?

Eugene reminded me a lot of D.B. Cooper. All these years later, we still don't know who he really was or why he hijacked that 727 on Nov. 24, 1971 (now that'd be a Thanksgiving movie!). What we do know was that he was middle-aged, polite to the crew, and had an unspecified "grudge."

One of the T.S. Eliot poems the movie references is "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," a stanza of which goes like this:

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be; Am an attendant lord, one that will do To swell a progress, start a scene or two, Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool, Deferential, glad to be of use, Politic, cautious, and meticulous; Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; At times, indeed, almost ridiculous— Almost, at times, the Fool.

This part is not quoted in the movie, but it hit me kind of hard considering this context: David played Hamlet on stage in 1965, but it'd been almost 25 years since then when Hostile Takeover was made, and he was in the middle of being in a bunch of random B-movies. It also makes me think of when he was asked, around the time TRON came out, about playing so many villain roles and what he'd like to be in next, and he said something like "I'd like a romantic comedy." And then he...didn't get that? Ever? At least not as a lead. I...yeah. He does at least get the girl in this one! Briefly!

Conclusion

Should you watch this movie if you're a David Warner liker? Definitely. Should you watch this movie otherwise? At least give it a try. I didn't know where else to mention it but the soundtrack also stood out to me, it's very 80s but still good. The way they incorporated the popping and clanging sounds the heaters inside the building make into the music...banger.

I'll be posting some gifs from the movie soon. If you do watch this, or have watched it, please let me know what you thought....am I getting it all wrong? Are you team Sally?

Youtube Link Here. This is to a different or upscaled version than the one I watched. I only found it after I took all the screenshots and did all the gifs. My loss is your gain...?

[im-out-of-it]

season 2, episode 2, part 3 continued “a door into the dark”

69. I know this was last episode but I love a speechless Alec

70. Simon: why would I need you anyways?

80. Magnus with his wonderful wisdom

81. I also love Izzy’s face here

82. Clary: omg dot I haven’t seen you in days

83. Valentines actions don’t make sense but he is smart enough (which isn’t much) to trick jace and clary endlessly

84. smart enough because clary and Jace are the dumbest characters on the show and series and would believe the sky was green if you told them so

85. you know that you could easily put what happens to Alec back on jace and clary, and Jocelyn. Jace leaves and Alec thinks it’s his job to save him. Clary doesn’t listen to anyone and will do anything to save jace even if it means listening to some visions, and Jocelyn didn’t tell clary anything of her past- loses clary- and then enlists Alec’s help

86. and it’s not dot’s fault because she’s been getting injected by Valentine (and I get it’s hard not to listen to but clary also isn’t the brightest)

87. Alec: im worried sis

88. now Simon, why would Camille be there of all places???? 😭 (India)

89. it was Luke’s idea first but Jocelyn went right along with tagging Alec

90. Alec has a mind of his own but there’s a problem. the whole shadowhunters premise is all about saving jace no matter what. it’s also about saving clary but CC made the whole thing about jace and how everyone needs to be determined to save him at any costs. it doesn’t matter if someone dies or gets their feelings hurt as long as jace is protected and safe. which is really ironic because he’s been named the best shadowhunter of his generation but constantly needs saved. CC and her weird self insert obsession with a fictional character is obviously wild but it practically ruins the whole story. the concept of shadowhunters isn’t bad. the downworlders are interesting and so are fighting demons but not when there aren’t good enough arcs, plot lines, and people keep doing the same exact thing that you can predict where the story is heading

91. and that’s exactly the problem here. Jace has been nothing but rude to Alec since the last season but Alec is determined to save him even if it means putting himself at risk. I get the show didn’t want to go too far from the books but they didn’t need to have Alec constantly save jace and practically kill himself over and over again. this is going to be the second time he almost dies and there’s another big one later on. Alec’s body and mind is never a concern but jace is

92. but what are we sacrificing here? Alec should have been allowed to cut off jace in the show and be happy without him. there’s so many possibilities and storylines they could have done. he’s not the heart of the story. Alec is, Izzy, Raphael, simon, Maia, magnus, they are the heart of the story and what people want to watch (and I’m biased) but nobody wants to watch some dude who’s supposed to be the best degrade, dismiss, and be a dick to his parabatai who has done so much for him.

93. Alec says he needs jace but what he needed was a real friend (give me the series and concept, I can fix it)

94. Alec going off part 4

95. Jocelyn means: I’ll do anything to bring back a daughter I don’t respect even if it means you almost dying Alec

96. I love Alec’s I don’t give a fuck attitude but I still wish he would’ve gone off on jace. and I know I’ve gone into much detail about it but I just wish so so so much that they would’ve had Alec had a breakthrough and really ask if jace is worth all of his suffering.

97. and valentines plan is working as he predicted

98. “I guess I’m not your ordinary shadowhunter”- yeah, you’re more annoying and self conceited than most

99. Simon is still battling a snake 😭

100. meanwhile mags is just collecting his belongings lmao

101. nothing like going shopping for your own stuff

102. magnus, you don’t have a bad side

103. and here is the jackpot of all trades

104. you’re a warlock Magnus

105. this is one of the most symbolic pieces of Magnus there are

106. I forgot these and I finally found the vampire running gif so if anyone doesn’t want to even look at the one I created, I won’t be insulted lmao

107. Simon: MAGNUS IM DYING

108. clary, you can gladly leave and no one will care. LET ME DO A REWRITE PLEASE

109. Magnus: what took you so long?

stopping at 110 but I’ve got two more parts in the editing stage that I’ll get right out

[noodyl-blasstal]

Tale as Old as Time

It's @taznovembercelebration day 26! Look how far we've come! Today's prompt was "familiar" and I also used an AU generator (you'll never guess what I got...)

Read below or on Ao3, missed yesterday? Catch up here.

--

“Did you see that next door’s open?” Taako asks, cool, calm, motives impenetrable.

“Raven Tattoo?”

“Yeah.” He’s nonchalant, inarguably casual.

“So you met hotboy then?” Lup asks.

Fuck.

It’s fine, Taako doesn’t have to admit anything, Lup doesn’t have a warrant. “Who?”

“Tattoo goth next door?”

“I’m not sure.

“You don’t know if you met the man who owns the shop you just told me was open?”

“Nope.” Says Taako, liar supreme.

“He’s your type, is all I’m saying.”

He is. But that is precisely none of Lup’s business so Taako keeps his mouth shut.

“It’s a tale as old as time, you know.” Lup says as she wraps the brown paper around her spray. “Tattoo artist, florist, can I make it any more obvious?” She winds twine to keep it in place.

“Ah yes, the ancient tattoo shop florist love stories which echo through the ages, they’ve got at least four Disney films with it as a central premise I’m sure. Do you remember the one where the handsome florist’s sister is a complete dingus?”

Taako barely dodges out of the way of the stem cut offs that Lup lobs at him. Thankfully he’s had years of training.

“Fuck off, goofus. Have you spoken to him yet?”

“No.” Taako says, quickly.

“Uh huh.”

Flawless lie.

“So what was he like?” Lup asks.

Double fuck.

It’s not fair that she’s using her twin powers for evil.

“Taako wouldn’t know.”

“You realise our shop is 90% windows?” Lup picks out some more roses for the ‘November, remember!… to tell them you love them (with flowers)’ promotion. The make-the-worst-promotion-name-and-people-will-tell-their-friends-about-it approach has been working well so far.

“I have eyes, Lulu.”

“Well so do I, genius, so cha’girl saw you look out the window, wait until goth boy was on the move, rush out to pretend to run into him and follow him back into his shop.”

Triple fuck.

Taako was so sure she was busy with the flowers, he didn’t expect to be observed taking actions. That was cheating, probably.

“Taako learned from the best.” The best defence is a good offence and Taako is going down swinging.

“Things with Barry aren’t the same!”

“It’s very interesting, Lup, that you should bring him up. Who said anything about Barry? Taako certainly didn’t mention Barry, which means that when you think of the spurious accusations levelled at Taako about flirting you think about Bluejeans. Interesting, very interesting, considering you’re just friends.”

“We are friends”

“Uh huh.”

Taako dodges another trimmed stem. Maybe if he aggravated Lup less he wouldn’t have to sweep as often.

“Not just friends, though, are you? You wanna ride the denim train into the sunset!”

“I can’t believe you just said those words with your actual face.”

Taako can’t either, frankly.

“Denim what now?” Barry asks, looking excited.

They need a bell for the door right now. They need one yesterday.

“Nothing!” Says Lup, high and panicked.

“Ooooh, say no more.” Barry winks dramatically.

Oh good, they’re going to have to make him some kind of denim train for Candlenights.

“Taako’s got the hots for tattoo boy next door!” Lup says, throwing Taako so hard under the bus that he didn’t even have time to yank her under with him.

“Classic love story, bud. Tattoo, flower shop, you know how it goes.”

“That’s not a thing and Taako’s not interested in hot goth boy! Now stop talking about it!”

“Hello.” Says Kravitz from the entrance.

They’re getting four bells for the fucking door. Taako’s going to invent time travel and go back and put them all on and never ever ever complain about how loud and annoying they are.

“Hi.” Taako says, casually. Throws up a quick prayer to Istus that maybe, just maybe, Kravitz didn’t hear him. Because Taako is interested, Taako is very interested.

“I was just bringing you a pack of the stickers you liked, I printed some extras.” He’s definitely frostier than he was 30 minutes ago. “Anyway, I’d better be going.”

“No!” Say Taako and Lup in tandem.

Kravitz looks alarmed, and Lup’s doing the wide eyes which mean she’s all out of ideas having tried precisely nothing. Taako needs a reason for Kravitz to stay and he needs a good one.

“I’m thinking of getting a tattoo.” Taako says desperately.

Kravitz raises an eyebrow but doesn’t smile. He’s so hot, even when he’s pouty. He’s also got a laugh like honey and didn’t act weird when Taako mentioned that he enjoys fishing - usually everyone’s shocked and they get to do the ‘wow, what a left field hobby’ chat. Kravitz had definitely been interested before so Taako needs to fix this right now. If he gets a tattoo then Kravitz has to interact with him, how long can they take? 10 minutes is probably enough to explain.

“You are?” Asks Kravitz at the same time as Lup and Barry.

“Yep.” Taako’s dripping confidence. This is great, it’s fine. He can just get a tattoo from a place he’s not familiar with because he thinks the guy doing it is hot. What’s a little stabbing among hopefully-soon-to-be-more-than-friends?

“Right.” Kravitz sounds worryingly unconvinced.

“What’re you going to get, bud?” Says Barry, choosing violence and genuine curiosity.

“Yeah, Koko, what’re you thinking of putting on your body forever and ever? I’m sure you’ve thought this through carefully.”

“Mongoose.” Taako doesn’t even flinch, he’s a master of his craft. They want to play? He can play. He’s a professional, baby, he’s sliding down the floor piano on his knees while everyone claps.

“Oh.” Kravitz sounds slightly more positive than he did a few moments ago.

“You wanna talk through ideas at some point, kemosabe?” Taako may as well clear this up sooner rather than later.

“I thought you weren’t interested.” Kravitz says pointedly. Okay, so he definitely heard, and maybe the huffiness hadn’t entirely faded. Taako might have to work slightly harder at this.

“I’m very, very interested.” Taako looks hard at Kravitz and hopes he understands.

“I’ve got a bit of time now. My next appointment isn’t for a few hours.” Kravitz is trying his best to sound like he doesn’t care, Taako can tell, but there’s a note of hope in there under the surface. If he just sifts through the dirt he can see that they’re on the same page. Kravitz had better not just be excited about the possibility of getting a new client. Hopefully Taako wasn’t going to have to resort to getting the tattoo on his ass in the hope that giving Kravitz an eyeful would encourage forgiveness.

“Go ahead, I’ve got this.” Lup nods at Taako.

“I can help Lup out if there’s anything urgent here, bud.” Barry adds. Setting a definitely-just-friendly hand on Lup’s arm and smiling goopily at her.

They were gross and Taako hated them.

“Okay, lead the way handsome.” Taako tugs off his apron and gloves and rounds the counter, swipes one of the rose bouquets as he goes.

“Handsome, is it?” Kravitz asks quietly, holding the door open for Taako.

“Very, very handsome, in Taako’s expert opinion.” Flattery could also be the truth.

“But handsome isn’t something you’re interested in?”

“Handsome is something Taako is very interested in. What he is not interested in, is his sister being all up in his business. Look!” Taako grabs Kravitz by the shoulders, before he can even register that Kravitz is leaning down, eyes closing, he’s spun him to face the windows of the flower shop.

“See!” Taako points at Lup and Barry, pressed against the window and panickedly trying and failing to look like they’re doing anything else but spying.

“Uh… er… yes. Yeah. There they are.”

“So if we could continue that kiss somewhere that isn’t visible to them I’d like that, I’d like that very much.”

Kravitz grabs Taako’s hand and tugs him into his shop. “We’re in luck, I know a place.”

--

I hope you enjoyed! Wanna read some more? Find tomorrow's prompt here.

[reggieblk]

what's If We Were Lovers? I was scrolling on the Tomarry tag and I'm so curious now! I love longfics. What's the concept?

hi! thank you for asking!!

if we were lovers is the second long fic I've ever written, and I'll try and explain the concept to you though please keep in mind that I am so bad at explaining the premise of this fic and I rarely do the actual fic justice when I explain it lol

but! basically it's a no magic AU that takes place in the 90's (so same era tomarry) with some timeline mashups when it comes to secondary characters. the premise is that Harry gets into a very prestigious and selective school for the arts (he attends for theatre) and his arrival sparks a bit of controversy because students are only accepted at 12yo or never at all, and he is 18, so joining the last year theatre students. his arrival is not taken well by Tom, whose class he is in, because students get cut every year, and by arriving in their last year Harry has subverted that threat that the others faced every year. there are five other boys with Harry and Tom in seventh year that i love a lot. I'll put the list of tags I have up until now at the end of this post to give you an idea of what's gonna feature in this fic!

concerning the actual writing of the fic, initially it was heavily inspired by the book If we were vilains by M.L Rio, if you've read that. though the inspiration kind of dies out after the first Act of this fic, so it doesn't resemble the book plotwise at all, merely in vibe. as such, I decided the write this fic in 5 Acts, each comprised of 12 scenes (the fic will be posted in Acts so each update will be very long, and there will be a total of 6 "chapters"; Acts 1-5 + an interlude for a rough total of 260k words).

Additionally over the months I made this post, this one, and more recently this one about this fic if they can give you a vague idea of what's gonna be going on.

And, here's the list of tags I have so far :

And here is the summary (which may change bc i literally just wrote it now for this post) :

When Harry arrives at the most prestigious theatrical school in the country under very suspicious circumstances he doesn't have many expectations. The most unexpected thing he encounters, however, is one Tom Riddle. Amidst peers of great talent, his worry for his Godfather, unconventional professors, and a vague sense of unworthiness, Harry falls in love with the only other person who deals with feelings as well as him. But maybe, just maybe, he and Tom will find out that not all love stories have to end in tragedy.

Okay!! sorry for going on so long, like I said I'm really quite bad at explaining the premise of this fic lol. I promise the fic is actually good, and with so much divergence from the canon works, there's quite a bit of world building and stuff.

thank you again for asking!! i hope my answer piqued your interest, and feel free to ask anymore questions I will be more than happy to answer! I'll come up with a posting schedule some time this week and post it but the whole fic will be going up in December!

[bitimdrake]

Do you have fic recs by any chance? You really seem to have a lot of comics knowledge so I trust that you know what’s accurate to the source material and what’s not :)

you know I've gotten a few asks about this and I never quite manage to answer them, because I'm always convinced that I will somehow end up with a perfect and complete rec list if only I wait to reply just a little longer.

SO I'm gonna try cutting myself off at the head this time, and not giving you a prefect list by any means, but at least giving you an answer:

Here is a collection that I'm slowly forming for fics that really feel like they're actually based off comics. It is currently very small and people are welcome to bookmark to it if they find other very comics-based fics, but it's a start.

And a couple random recs as I scroll through my personal bookmarks:

Redrawing the Lines (11k) is fantastic Batman Reborn era Dick & Tim & Damian fic, and it continues as a series after.

also the second before the other shoe drops (8k) about the same trio. AU where Damian makes a murder attempt in a subtler way--but most important, is not demonized by a narrative that instead gives everyone a fair shake.

will we ever get to the other side? (5k) Dick & Tim in a very specific era where Dick's life is falling apart and filled with trauma, and Tim has just been hit with a huge smack of grief and also trauma, and neither is at their best but they're trying.

Everything by @silverwhittlingknife is ideal Dick & Tim content, and all deeply rooted in comics. I will call out:

The Return (11k), which is Dick's pov of Tim coming back to Gotham after Brucequest

only you will have stars that can laugh (9k) which is sad and loney but also sweet on Christmas

Red Letter Day (42k, wip) in which god Dick is trying his fucking best to hold it together okay. (aka everyone is kind of prickly, Dick is stressed, there's a Mysterious Wednesday of unclear importance, and I love them sm)

@flybynightwing has equally comics-based and also absolutely fascinating and compelling fics. I'll call out:

How Far Love Goes (99k) a case fic that draws in everyone in the bat family, with a tilt towards Dick (although the Steph is also fantastic), and turns into a reflection on Bruce as a parent.

goal-oriented mindset (5k) Catalina's pov, meeting Dick again well after everything went down. Subject may not be for you, but I find it SO interesting and roll it around and around in my head. (And it is of the very very rare selection of actually comics-based fics about that arc.)

It's a Wonderful Earth-218 (7k). A thoroughly depressed Dick goes to a world where he was never born, it's a wonderful life-style.

(And carrying on with various authors again:)

Hate and Love are Two Sides of the Same Coin (5k + 13k sequel) every member of his family is forced to say what they like least about Dick. The fic makes no secret of its thoroughly contrived premise and doesn't particularly care to justify it either, but still comes out with great characterization and relationship reflections.

Mikey Dies At The End (4k), outsider pov centered around Jason as the Red Hood, which is so very confident in its characterization of him and has zero considerations given to fanon and it's an excellent read.

A Meditation on Railroading (24k), a Tim-centric fic that deals heavily with his relationship with his dad. This one is not really canon at all, but it is good, and its version of the relationship is compelling.

Young Justice Visit the Suez Canal (3k) look this one is pure 90s-style Young Justice humor. We're here for a good time.

Aaand I know there are many more good fics, but I have run out of steam and I am trying so so hard to remember that some answer is better than no answer. Though I am very sorry to all my beloved writers & mutuals who have written excellent comics fic.

Anyway final tip is when you find an author who knows what they're talking about, go through all their fics, and then go through all their bookmarks.

[leitereads]

OC/WIP Tag Game!

Thank you so much to the lovelies @paeliae-occasionally, @drchenquill and @the-letterbox-archives (who actually created the tag game - it is such a fantastic idea) for tagging me!

Rules/Premise: Just open the floor for questions about your wips/ocs/creative process/etc.!

As I am writing this, I am embarking in a new creative journey, both by developing my own Vampire: the Masquerade (VtM) chronicle (a tabletop roleplaying game in which you participate in it as a vampire character) and by revamping my old WIPs into something I am truly passionate about. Also, I am developing a solo character for another similar tabletop roleplaying game (Vampire: the Requiem - Eugen Schulze), and it has taken a lot of my energy (in a good way) as of lately.

Therefore, the novel-focused WIPs are still being revamped/researched about, but I have no problem talking about what I have so far.

Seriously, ALL QUESTIONS ARE ALLOWED, from everyone. I'll answer anything and anyone hahah.

I sure will ask you all questions, since I am extremely interested in knowing more about your own WIPs/OCs as well, but for now I will be tagging @yourpenpaldee, @writelikethrollope and @noxxytocin! Thank you so much, and no pressure!

The Apocryphal Truth

I started writing this novel while I was still in high school, and the main character (Dr Edgar Frost) is someone who has been growing up with me. The premise of the WIP is based on Gnostic horror, and I play around with themes connected to memory, reality, consciousness, trauma and loss. It's set in the Victorian Era, and the characters are diverse, in almost everything. Some of the characters are the following ones:

Edgar Frost: an illegitimate son of a British earl, who is searching for a way of joining fragmented "minds", in order to reveal a higher truth. He is your brooding Sturm und Drang Byronic hero/anti-hero, with an angelic exterior, but ready to get his hands dirty if needed.

Cléo: A French-Egyptian orphan who ended up in custody of Edgar's father, suffering the same destiny as Edgar. She is a determined young woman, passionate about the arts, but also politics, and she was able to climb her way to the top through her cunning and leadership personality.

Jacques: French journalist who belonged to the French military and secret services of the time. He had his fair share of violence, and his hedonistic side took him to London, to spend the rest of his life away from the drama. Until he met Edgar, and now he stuck himself to that idiot.

The Immortal Emperor's Regicide

I don't have a lot of material regarding this WIP, because:

a) it is based on a tabletop narrative game as well, so part of the worldbuilding comes from there and,

b) this was originally a collective creative writing project, and I am no longer working with my writing partner, so all the characters they created don't exist anymore in this new version of the story, making it a complete new story.

But the overall premise is similar to the one of The Apocryphal Truth: Victorian-like setting, horror-fantasy oriented. Ghosts, lots of ghosts. Emotional (and blood) vampires. Eldritch Gods, etc.

Solo Character: Eugen Schulze

Dr Eugen Schulze is a vampire character made for a Vampire: the Requiem (VtR) chronicle narrated by a friend of mine. It is set in our current days, in Berlin. Eugen himself is an old vampire (from the 1910s) who was transformed at the end of WW2. He worked as a doctor and scientist, responsible for horrendous experiments associated with Germany's position on the war. Things didn't go as planned, and he stayed in torpor till the 90s/early 2000s, and during this time his ideologies changed (he now hates everyone). With a witty and sarcastic sense of humour, Eugen is someone extremely professional, and he is trying to reach apotheosis through his vampiric condition, by medical experimentation and by following Gnostic beliefs. He is also a great appreciator of goth and metal music.

[avelera]

So I spent the weekend watching “For All Mankind” on Apple TV with my love, and had a few thoughts:

- I think I would have watched it much sooner if I’d known it was created by Ronald D. Moore of “Battlestar Galactica” (reboot), “Outlander” (though I haven’t seen it), and DS9 fame. It definitely made the fact that Apple made this particular show make more sense.

- I somehow completely missed what the premise of the show actually was from the little marketing I saw for it. I think I clocked it as some sort of atomic age sci-fi adventure story but really it’s about the Space Race and it’s a whole alternate US history of what would have happened if the USSR got to the moon first and made the US spiteful enough to keep competing with them there.

- It’s basically a whole alternate history of the 1960s-90s (so far) and does a fair number of interesting and plausible alterations of the timeline.

- IMO the story is at its best when it cleaves closest to reality and makes you go, “Oh yeah, sure, that could easily have happened!” If only because then when they do make bigger leaps you can see how they’re grounded.

- The story is also at its best with its character stories. In particular Margo, Aleida, Molly (and Wayne, my beloved), and even surprisingly Karen after the first season arc really deal in a lot of pathos and I got choked up over them more than once.

- The show does a good job of showing the personal things going on in a character’s life and the struggles they’re going through before and during major history-altering decisions they make. In that sense, it’s a very empathic show AND it builds a good causal chain for why some of these events happen. You almost always at least understand why a certain decision was made.

- That doesn’t mean you AGREE with every decision. By the time we got to S3, my chorusing cries of, “GURRRRLL NO” and “OH BUDDY, NO” respectively had become a familiar chant.

- There were one or two plotlines and decisions I disliked (mostly because they struck me as cliche, like Kelly’s in S3, or a bit culturally questionable even if they made sense thematically, like lauding the US pilgrims in one of the S3 voiceover monologues which makes SENSE because the show’s about exploration but also… no. Eh. Maybe pick a group a little less steeped in religious zealotry and colonialism, much as I understand their mythological place in the broader American zeitgeist, and how colonialism and exploration ARE hard to extricate when addressing broader themes AND since no life has been discovered there (yet), space exploration doesn’t carry the same controversy around those aspects of colonialism, and I get how as a writer of a space exploration show, you’re trying to address the spirit of daring and all but…. Yeah. It’s tough to find good parallels to wax poetic about without stumbling upon some complex legacies, shall we say)…

- BUT I will say as a writer that they made up maybe 10% at most of the show which is an objectively very small part of such a sweeping and ambitious narratives and I liked a lot more than I disliked.

- I don’t know if EVERYONE will like it but I do think it’s a solid sci-fi show that I find much more enjoyable and solidly written than, say, “Silo” and one with a great answer to the “so what?” of the story with its couching in the great events of the latter half of the 20th c and it’s intimate focus on well-depicted and complex characters.

[hannahwatcheshorror]

TALK TO ME (2022)

😿 Kangaroo left for dead

Teenagers playing dumb games and winning dumb prizes, ghost edition. This movie is like a fresh take on Ouija (without the Ouija). A fascinating and spooky concept played out in an addictingly believable way. Worth the watch.

(Trigger Warning Self Harm, Suicide)

⭐⭐⭐⭐

This movie has such an interesting, crickley, crackly, creaky hook because growing up we (or at least my generation) played with Ouija boards like it was Candyland with absolutely no regard for how serious the content was. In fact, most of the time, playing Ouija was accompanied with a “true story” about someone who died by playing the game “wrong” but my friends and I would still play and barely glance at the rules or anything like that. So I am totally sold on the concept of this hand being a parlor trick and a party game because kids are dumb and we were all kids once (and we are all dumb at least once, some people twice even!).

The premise is, you hold the ceramic hand (there may be a mummified hand inside, spooky!) and ask the spirits to talk to you, then when one appears before you, you casually invite them inside your body. But don’t let it happen for over 90 seconds. Also you need to be strapped to a chair when it happens, but everything is totally fine. Our main girl, Mia, is game to try right away. At first I thought she wanted to try it to talk to her dead mom but she is just a wild woman who is game to trip a little without drugs I guess? Anyway she goes over 90 seconds (whoops) so now things aren’t going so great for her…

BUT that doesn’t mean the fun has to end, right? Because everyone still wants to get hand jobs. (Wait. I mean.) They want to talk to the hand. (That’s better.) So they all go to Mia’s friend Jade’s house and do more hand stuff. (Hannah, stop.) ANYWAY it is all fun and games until Riley, Jade’s 14 year old brother wants a turn and he is just too young, but Mia says fuck it and lets him try. Riley supposedly contacts Mia’s mom so Mia won’t let him break contact so he stays connected for two minutes apparently? And he starts to self harm, he is slamming his head into the table, it is wild, he tries to rip out his own eye. Jade comes back just in time ‘cause Mia is stuck still after hearing from her (maybe) mom.

Riley is hospitalized and that whole family is mad at Mia, (yeah) while Mia is trying to deal with how she sees all these creepy things going on (like her mom scratching at all kinds of surfaces) and Mia even sucks on some toes(?) because what is scarier than a foot fetish? The teens finally become wary of the hand but aren’t sure what to do and don’t realize how far Mia is descending into madness. Mia thinks her mom is telling her what to do so she stabs her father after a BLACK SWAN type hallucination where she thought she was fighting him off but he wasn’t even there at first.

Then she goes to the hospital because she thinks the only way to save Riley from eternal suffering is to murder him. Jade once again comes in clutch, finding Mia’s dad and getting to Riley just in time but not Mia, who very possibly sacrificed herself at the last second, before the insanity fully took over, and threw herself into traffic instead of the young lad. Mia is in darkness but she walks towards a light and an outstretched hand, a man sits at a table and says to her, “Talk To Me.”

My biggest issue with this film and its resolution is that they only randomly said that Riley seemed to be getting better but he also broke the rules like Mia and stayed under spirit control for longer than 90 seconds so I don��t know that he is actually okay or safe. That seemed a little too throw away and I worry about that sweet boy who cared so much for his friends suffering eternally for no good reason. Otherwise this was a compelling film with a bittersweet ending.

[davidmariottecomics]

Best of 2023

Hi there, 

This week, we're celebrating the 2 year anniversary of my website and blog (well, just under 2 years, it officially launched on Jan 1). So, to round out this year with the blog and in general, I thought I'd do a little roundup of my personal "Best of" 2023. This is more a list of stuff I really dug this year than a formal ranking of any sort, and a lot of this isn't necessarily new in 2023, so much as stuff I discovered (and rediscovered) this year! Some things will get a little extra blurb, some things will just be listed. Alright, without further ado, my best of 2023! 

PODCASTS: Dungeons & Daddies - Legitimately, 90% of my podcast listening this year was either Dungeons & Daddies or Blank Check. I don't even think I meant for it to be like that, it's just how it happened. As a work of collaborative fiction, I really love Dungeons & Daddies. It's a super funny show and this past week-ish, I've been relistening to Season 2 so far and have just been delighting in it.  Blank Check My Year in MENSA Solve This Murder The Real Housewives of Dungeons & Dragons Abandoning the Premise - Haven't heard of it? Well so far, there's only one episode and it's exclusive to my Patreon! But it was fun and I'd like to revisit in the future! 

VIDEO GAMES:  Reverse 1999 Honkai Star Rail - I am very bad at playing updating video games. It doesn't come naturally to me. I am not someone who completes a lot of games--if I am really gripped by something, I'll finish the story, but I'm not very good about new game plus and 100% runs or anything like that. So, what usually happens with games like this is I get to a point where I am caught up and then I take a break because something else catches my eye or I have less time or I just feel like there's not a lot to do with where I'm at in the game and when I next try to dip in, I feel too far behind. That's definitely where I am with HSR right now, but I'm hoping to take some of my remaining time off to actually try to play and enjoy it again.  The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog Detective Pikachu Returns - This was a Christmas gift and it's delightful! A lot of the puzzle-solving is very easy, but, I dunno, I like hanging out with my friends the Pokemon. 

COMICS:  Nancy Chainsaw Man Milky Way by Miguel Vila - Another Christmas gift, this book is beautifully ugly. It is a semi-erotic relationship-thriller that I think does a very good job of balancing the grotesqueness of human nature and interpersonal relations with a sort of soft loving lens of what compels us toward each other, even when it's at our expense. There's deception and injury and fetishization presented in ways that remind you why they're often treated as morally repugnant, but also are so attractive to us so often.  Superman Kaguya-Sama: Love is War 17-21 The Rock Cocks Witch Watch - Every Sunday morning, I read through my "webcomics" of the week. I hit up Webtoon and catch up on anything there, then hop to Shonen Jump and read my new stuff there. Consistently, Witch Watch is probably my favorite read each Sunday morning, just because it almost never misses weeks and the characters are all just so delightful. Even with the current storyline being kinda weird (one of the main characters has been turned from a teen into a toddler and is being kinda raised by her romantic interest...) there's such a solid core of thoughtfulness and care and humor that I think it just always works.  Spy x Famiy  Lore Olympus Girl Taking Over: A Lois Lane Story Birds of Prey Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville - I recently talked on my Patreon about how I think playing backseat editor and coming up with "a book that would really get readers to the shop regularly again" isn't practical because I think there are other things that could bolster comic sales in longer-lasting, better ways and I think particularly with the current state of the readership, "comics readers" aren't looking for a unifying title, they're looking for the stuff they find personally compelling. I'm a guy in comics, I have a lot to say on that and how to improve things, but that's for another day. Why I bring it up here is between Birds of Prey and Fire & Ice, those are the books that if there was justice in this world would bring all the boys to the yard. These are the exact kind of superhero titles I wanna read all the time. Poison Ivy: Thorns Superman: The Harvests of Youth Dumbing of Age One Piece Crimehot - Crimehot #4 came out this year and includes the Cassidy and Butch to our main group's Jessie and James (That's a Team Rocket reference), the way more competent counterparts who all have weirdly deep backstories with the main cast. And let me tell you... like the name says, they're hot. And they do hot stuff. It's a good comic.  Steamy Dandadan - I was recently gushing about Dandadan to some friends and described it as really hitting me as a comic that is so very much a book about whatever interests the creator at the moment (similar to Witch Watch in that way). If you read the pitch, it's like "she believes in ghosts and not aliens, and he believes in aliens and not ghosts and then wacky stuff happens to make a believer out of both of them" but it's really a light rom-com with just bonkers stuff happening and I love that about it.  Three Rocks: The story of Ernie Bushmiller, the Man Who Created Nancy  It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth  What Happens Next - This is a webcomic I discovered not too long ago and there are content warnings on the very first page that I think are very helpful to make sure you're in the right headspace for it. I am a big fan of stories about younger adults finding their place in the world--not a coming of age "taking your first steps into real life" kind of thing, but a "you've been around for a while and life is hard and even if you're doing the right things, or nothing at all, why isn't it better and what comes next" types of stoires. This totally fits that. And it reads incredibly quickly since it's usually 1-2 panels per page. 

BOOKS:  Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror - I look at my comics list and I look at the things I didn't place on either list and I know I read plenty this year, but it does feel strange having such a short list for traditional books. There's a lot to that: I spent like 6 weeks spending all my free reading time catching up on 1100 chapters of One Piece. I started a handful of books that I was enjoying but for one reason or another paused and didn't really pick back up. And so while this is the most recent release on the list, Out There Screaming was a major help for me because it was something I could pick up and read in short bursts and leave satisfied and wanting to come back for more. Every story--even the ones that I didn't like as much, was compelling and fun and left me thinking about it afterwards.  House of Leaves  Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs - Book of the year. I don't even eat hot dogs, but I loved this book!  I'm Glad My Mom Died  The Broken Room 

TV SHOWS:  Poker Face Craig of the Creek  Rise of the TMNT  Transformers: Earthspark  I Think You Should Leave - Out of everything we've consumed this year, I think ITYSL is the most quoted show in our household (though Real Housewives of Beverly Hills/Vanderpump Rules are close contenders). So much of this show is so funny and strange.  The Rehersal Barry  My Adventures with Superman Praise Petey - Without a doubt, Praise Petey is the least known show on this list. And because of that, as I just found out, it was canceled after a single season which sucks. The premise is after her cult leader dad dies, a down-on-her-luck New Yorker moves to the countryside and becomes a cult leader... whether she wants to or not and her own feelings on that differ minute-by-minute. Despite the broad premise, it's pretty in line with other animated sitcoms like Bob's Burgers or King of the Hill (it is a Mike Judge co-production) that I think speaks in an authentic, funny voice of the 18-35 demographic. If you like Only Murders in the Building, I think this has a similar energy, but hornier and with more of the concerns of youth than of old men.  Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake Sex Education - Okay, I know I said I wasn't doing rankings, but as an overall piece of media, I think Sex Education is my show of the year. The last season, the one that came out this year, isn't my favorite of the series, but when so many shows flub their endings, this one really found a way to nail it (and to roll with the more major cast/location changes) in a way that felt real. This is one of those shows that, if it was available on DVD, I would buy to add to my "regular rotation", but much like Freaks and Geeks, I'd only ever be able to watch some of it again because as it got closer to the end, I don't know that I'd be able to emotionally take that on a regular basis.  Joe Pera Talks with You Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

MOVIES:  The Boy and the Heron The Fablemans - I have very complicated feelings about this movie. On the one hand, I really loved it on first viewing. It hit me emotionally in a major way. I've talked on the blog before about crying multiple times in the theater. And if you had asked me in the first half of the year what my favorite movie of the year was, it'd probably be this (even though it's technically a 2022 film). But I also have my issues with Steven Spielberg and... it is a film where I'm still navigating my own emotional catharsis with it relative to Spielberg as an artist/creator/subject of the film. Not to get too far into real issues of death of the author and separation of the art and artist, this is the sort of hyper-personal work that even moreso than usual I think cannot be separated from the creator and so my changing feelings on him means I'm still figuring out my new relationship with the work.  M3GAN Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem - Up until recently, this probably would've moved into the movie of the year spot. I just thought it was so much fun. It's a visual feast. I like that it's a full story (Sorry, Spider-Verse). I love the world and the enthusiasm of the turtles and just really tuned in.  Robocop Phantom of the Paradise - Becca watched this for the first time with me and we both marveled on how this kind of forgotten cult film actually informed so much of all pop culture for decades to come. I am happy to say that overall, still slaps.  Venture Bros: Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart Blue Beetle Gone Girl - I ended up watching a lot of Fincher movies this year, largely influenced by Blank Check. And Gone Girl has to be my favorite of his, and, on this rewatch, one of my favorite films of the 2010s.  Oldboy Josee, the Tiger and the Fish Godzilla: Minus One - Again, not to rank things so much, but if Minus One did an Oscars sweep and took home (checks notes) every award, I'd be happy. Even the ones that don't make sense. Best Documentary Short? Give it to Godzilla, cowards! An absolute masterpiece on every level. 

MUSIC:  The Loveliest Time - Look, we got a new CRJ album. What else do you want from me? 

OTHER STUFF:  A smooth transition from IDW into the holidays (and into my new thing soon) Making a Discord for my friends and the feeling that I can spend a little time making my friendships stronger with some folks while we aren't also coworkers/collaborators. Bluesky (and not being on Twitter). Remaining boosted on my vaccines and not having any serious illness of my own. Becca's first year on Twitch.  My first year on Patreon.  WaifuExpo (now KimochiiCon) and generally being more open in my interest in consuming and creating adult material.  Having some good experiences at shows and doing so many (will not be doing so many in 2024).  Having good times with the people I love.  All the comics I edited, all the blogs I posted, and just being at an end to that for the year. 

Not to be a bummer at the end, but it has been a long, strange, difficult year. There is so much wrong in the world and so many are struggling. So, it's nice that there is also so much that I found enjoyment and comfort in. I hope you've had some real bright spots in this year too, and I look forward to next year with you. 

I am not much for resolutions. I usually don't do a good job of them, if I bother to make them at all. But I do have some things I'll briefly say I'm excited for in the coming year. 

I am excited to get married and to figure out what celebrations we can do around that.  I am excited to start this new job and tell you all about it when I can.  I am excited to make more comics. Besides my little self-drawn things that you can find on this blog, I didn't release any comics this year and I am very much looking forward to that not being the case in 2024.  I am excited to grow my friendships.  I am excited to continue this blog. 

Thanks for reading. Happy new year! 

New Releases next week (1/3/2024): Sonic the Hedgehog #68 (Editor)

Pic of the Week: A little thing about where else to find me online that I made. 

[badedramay]

tentatively excited for jannat se aagay because i think its premise looks Just different enough for it to be semi-interesting but im pretty much all in for Mein as of rn lol.. i think ayeza is a genuinely good actress with star power who gets relegated to the same roles all the time so this darkish glamorous tone has me so intrigued.... Not really a wahaj fan but i think their chemistry was chemistrying enough that if they actually do go the morally grey route for ayeza i'll watch.

also i saw you ask for green tv recs and i don't wanna be one of those people that says ALL OF THEM bc how counter-productive so here's some base-level reviews for the ones i've watched: tumhare husn ke naam is a classic romance that i think earns the 90s drama comparisons. very sweet so far but i think its most unique aspect is that this is the first time since mera naam yousuf hai probably that ive been endeared to an imran abbas character lol. jeevan nagar is really funny and rabia butt is a gem i'm very excited for her career but tonally it's something i have a hard time getting into.. reminds me of old pakistani skit shows but elevated to a certain level. kabli pulao i actually haven't seen which is blasphemous but the premise didn't intrigue me at all... might give it a chance for nadia afghan. 101 talaqain has an interesting story but i couldnt continue it because the direction was choppy and contrived. idiot suffers from a lack of defined secondary characters but the main two are very very endearing and well-acted so its like... if youre willing to sacrifice your time watching ahmed ali akbar and mansha pasha play the main couple from 3 idiots. finally, i think 22 qadam might be my favorite? its directed well and the storyline is actually intriguing so far even though from the teasers i was worried about how they were gonna do the cricket stuff (they managed it well). couldn't tell you about the romance bc there's been one interaction at the point im at but hareem CARRRRRIES and wahaj actually plays charismatic foil pretty well. sorry these are all just rambles but i hope u have a great day <3

I don't think Ayeza gets relegated to the same roles though? she tries to switch it up whenever she can. of course her "damsel in distress" roles outnumber her other characters but she has given a success in Meenu (a bubbly character) and in Mere Pass Tum Ho and Yaariyan (negative characters). Laapata toh had her playing a bubbly, negative-ish character. she definitely has the range and she looks terrific onscreen. even more so since she has started taking charge of the styling of her characters. her wardrobe in Mein looks ek dum GORGEOUS I just know Imma be salivating on her looks alot. Wahaj-Ayeza chemistry..idk..haven't been WOWed by it yet but i am hoping the drama itself will change that perspective.

thank you for the rundown about Green Ent's shows! i still haven't gotten the time or frankly even the inclination of checking out any of these. I read multiple complains about the channel's shows' having techincal issues that overall impacted the quality of the shows and honestly that has me hesitating in checking them out. alsoooo...maybe it's just me but there's something a little "off" about all of the dramas either the casting or the kind of stories that are telling that just doesn't pique my interest? i am not writing the channel or the content off entirely..i hope it will offer me something in the future that will have me taking this channel seriously but so far, I am far more concerned about shows that happen on the Big 3 channels of PakTV and am treating Green as just a beta version of a channel that needs time and continuous tinkering to work out its chinks before I consider it ready as a channel to be invested in.

[nickgerlich]

How To Get A Date

It often seems like our discussion topics lean more toward negativity than positivity. Sure, there are plenty of good business decisions, product launches, and all that. But the volume of bad things happening sticks out in my mind like a sore thumb.

Yeah, we can—and should—learn from both the good and the bad. It’s just that I would rather there be far more positive items, like the news I saw yesterday that household appliance maker Whirlpool is helping singles clean up their dating app profiles.

Wait. Whaaaat?

Whirlpool has hopped on to social media and instructed singles to replace their profile pics of them flexing in the gym, to snaps of them folding laundry and doing dishes. You might be thinking that this is the silliest campaign ever launched, but when you consider that Whirlpool is known for its kitchen and laundry appliances, it makes perfect sense.

Forget about being a gym rat or climber of tall mountain peaks. You’re going to get a lot more favorable swipes and DMs if you go for the homeboy look. Trade your Indiana Jonesing for Domesticated Man.

And Whirlpool is pretty sure of itself, having conducted a simple non-random pilot study with seven bachelors over a three-week period. They swapped their he-man pics for ones showing them doing household chores, and noted they averaged 79% more DMs and 46% more matches. Just be careful taking that selfie while you’re washing the dishes. You wouldn’t want to drop your phone in the dish water.

Other research by the brand showed that 94% of respondents (presumably both females and males) indicated that household chore equity is important among singles who want a relationship, with 91% also revealing that the ability to do household chores was a top priority. In other words—I’m talking mostly to the guys here, because the gals often get stuck with these duties—don’t plan on lying on the sofa while your SO works her butt off, or, worse yet, golfing with the guys while she labors all day long Saturday and Sunday.

It won’t end well.

While this is far from a scientific study, we must remember this is really just a clever ad campaign, and a damn good one at that. "Oh, and while we’re convincing you on the merits of doing chores, can we interest you in a new washer, dryer, and dishwasher?” It comes at a time when the brand concedes sales will be soft this year, thanks to overall inflation, continuing high interest rates, and ridiculously high housing prices. I give them credit for trying to overcome this hurdle.

Other findings showed that 90% of dating app users examine profile pics to help judge whether a person takes care of themselves, and about two-thirds would rather view a seemingly mundane pic of their dating candidate cooking a meal or other similar “drudgery.” Your flexing is just plain boring.

Were I in the market for companionship, I could easily post pics of me cooking, since it is something I love to do. And while I most definitely partake of laundering and cleaning, I don’t do those with the same joy as I do in preparing meals. Of course, I could always smile and pretend.

I just wish I knew this 45 or more years ago, because we didn’t have dating apps back then. I remember arriving on my undergrad campus in Fall 1977, and quickly signing up for what was a newfangled thing: computer dating. We answered a survey, filling in little rectangles on a punch card, which were then read by a rather crude scanner and the data input to a massive mainframe computer that filled an entire room. My three matches were far from promising, and I immediately gave up on the premise.

Man, if only I had attached a picture of me faking it in the kitchen. Maybe I would have done better.And I say faking it in all honesty, because I grew up in an era in which males were truly off the hook on all those things. It was just the norm. Mom cooked, cleaned, and laundered. Dad changed oil and pushed the lawn mower. And my brother and I wondered when dinner would be ready. In retrospect, that sucked, and I was woefully unprepared for adult life, much less divorced adult life many years later.

Thankfully, I figured it out. Oldest Daughter and I taught ourselves how to cook, and now we both are adventurous in the kitchen. But it was only after some terrible “Hamburger Helper Without The Hamburger” dinners for a while.

Some of the best skills I have learned, albeit later in life, is the fine art of taking care of myself. I find serenity in doing the dishes, and folding the laundry. Cooking is a spiritual occasion, because I view eating as feeding the temple of me, as well as anyone else with whom I am sharing the table. The preparation is just as sacred as the consuming, and when I learned this, I finally understood the mystery of the Catholic Mass when Holy Communion is prepared.

Kudos to Whirlpool for a helluva fine campaign. This is brilliant, even if lighthearted and smile-worthy. But that’s exactly the intended effect. “Think about our brand for a second or two, and leave with a smile.”

You can’t ask for more than that. I’m positive.

Dr “And I Love Shopping For Groceries Too” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[anosci]

Media Thread

im making a list of media ive watched/played/etc this year with brief thoughts. its going to be far less featured than my music list, but still a bit long. again mirroring twitter except this time because fuck twitter.

list below the cut

～January～

1/ Princes Arete (2001) I was sold on this movie under the premise that it's similar to Kino no Tabi. and… it is. kinda. Kino and Arete would be cool pals. Every character is interesting, which seems rare(?) Only real drawback: the hostage situation kinda really sucked.

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2/ Time of EVE (2008/9) the classic tale: androids indistinguishable from humans as an allegory for racism. but unlike DBH, this is actually really good. its a story that feels like a single thread in a vast tapestry that'd be fascinating to explore, but too bad: you only have 6 eps

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3/ Spice & Wolf (2008) i remember loving this show. i don't remember understanding the economics. I took notes this time. I still struggled. (spoilers for ep3) regardless: wow this is a good show. weirdly, I saw myself in the relationship portrayals. I guess that means its realistic?

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～February～

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4/ Spice & Wolf II (2009) i feel like this kinda fell off? :( like it tried too hard to be action-packed. and that worked sometimes. but that first arc was just… :( it feels like a case of "just needs an editing pass. needs a bit more focus" i'll treasure S1 more, after all

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5/ Double Fine PsychOdyssey (2023) absurdly captivating. i say that it's a miracle that any video game gets made ever. this shows that Psychonauts 2 was several miracles in succession. it's simultaneously illusion-shattering and inspiring.

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6/ The Owl House S1 (2020) finally sat down to watch this. it's GOOD. lots of worldbuilding to chew on, and then it picked up quite nicely. im immediately pouncing on S2 and feeling glad i was late enough to be able to marathon

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～March～

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7/ The Owl House S2 (2022) stumbling down the boulderest mountain and hitting every rock on the way down. the rocks represent engagement. i am engaged. i adore this show. it is a little weird to suddenly freeze mid-tumble.

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8/ Broken Age (2014) (Dr. Mick's LP) delightful start! brilliant, even! then the big bad is revealed and…. meh. I watched Dr. Mick's playthru tho, and holy shit that's some really cool commentary.

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9/ Double Fine Adventure! (2015) its a little unfortunate that the nature of gamedev means that the ending is kinda anticlimatic but good lord what an amazing journey. i'd watch a million of these.

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10/ Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) ok ok fine ill [finally] watch it …oh its good. like really good. its rly funny but in a way that fascinatingly beside the point? yeah I can see why some ppl didnt like this but i think its super fun

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11/ Nichijou (2011) a nice and cute slice of life thing… that occasionally breaks out some quality jokes. though only half of them landed for me. i feel like i would've gotten more out of this if I caught it at the time.

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～April～

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12/ The Owl House S3 (2023) i had a lot of reservations about the collector initially but having seen the entire arc: that came together nicely! still sad that it's The End, but like. good overall!

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13/ Penguindrum (2011) i DONT think i followed 90% of the themes and their connections. that said, i DO love the way metaphors are treated as "literal". confusing maybe, but i adore the idea of "paint what you feel not what you see" applied to storytelling.

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～May～

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14/ From the New World (2012) this has a mess of an opening (several) episode(s), but it eventually found its footing and became quite a cool action adventure… thriller i guess? i do take some issues with bits and pieces but it was a good watch overall.

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15/ GinGitune (2013) fluff. the lightest, fluffiest of fluff. melts in water. there are several elements that couldve been mined for drama and intrigue but they were all treated as background elements. (this isn't a bad thing, but it's not what you might expect.)

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～June～

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16/ Space Dandy (2014) dropped after ep4, but on good terms i guess? fun animation, funky vibes, sometimes even funny! anime johny bravo…or I think i saw a Dirty Pair comparison, which feels right. but im not meshing with the silly wacky high nrg antics rn. maybe another time.

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～July～

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17/ Death Parade (2015) rly misleading intro (i was ready to drop lol) rly rly promising setup by ep4 RLY good development and mildly biffed ending, but hard to fault considering its a 12ep. i love the aesthetics, worldbuilding, characters. overall i really really liked this!!!

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18/ One Punch Man S1 (2015) i forgot how fun this show is! and the great worldbuilding! i dont plan to move to the second season again tho. i thought about grabbing the manga instead but good lord it's way longer than i thought. oh well.

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19/ Flying Witch (2016) slicest of life with a la croix touch of supernatural. the normal slices didn't do much for me 90% of the time. but the supernatural slices? choice. (…mostly.) tbh i just want an entire season of that cafe.

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～August～

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20/ Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto (2016) i was skeptical, but this actually worked rly well. for moment. a short, beautiful moment. most of the potential here was stifled by trying to add high school drama/plot. the comedy tho, at its best, had a vibe i havent felt since hayate

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～September～

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21/ Saiki Kusuo no Psi Nan (2016) it is VERY EASY for a comedy show to slide from "absurdity = funny" to "this is just annoying". somehow, this never crossed that line, which was weirdly refreshing? not always a winner, but overall a good mix of laughs and superpower exploration.

21b/ edit to add: oh this was right after Sakamoto! Man. The two feel kind of kindred but Saiki is leagues better at staying fresh.

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22/ Viewfinder (2023) short but very sweet mind-bender puzzler thing. the story had a cool foundation but fumbled in execution imo. but the gameplay? top notch. felt great through and through. never too difficult. beautiful idea and beautiful execution.

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23/ Flip Flappers (2016) uncertain about the show at first, and then, after watching… im still uncertain. i did enjoy it, but I also felt outside the audience ig? a case where I can imagine a version of this show that knocks my socks off, but as-is it's just a fun ride

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24/ Fionna & Cake (2023) my expectations were very low and they were VASTLY exceeded! think this show is at its strongest when exploring characters w short stories, which was most of this. the ending felt slightly fumbled…i think it couldve rocked me but instead it was just :).

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～October～

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25/ Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye (2021) i already played and loved this game, but happened upon About Oliver's playthrough and fell in love again. truly that is The Most outer wilds playthrough. good lord.

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26/ The Amazing Digital Circus (2023) interesting and filled with style… but not for me. i'd list complaints but basically all of them are strengths and favorites for someone else. yknow?

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～November～

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27/ Little Witch Academia TV (2017) as the credits roll, i find myself with two thoughts: croix was done dirty and wow this is SPECTACLE. aptly magical. oh also! it was quite fun to follow along with contemporary discussion

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～December～

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28/ Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023) oh it's like. really good. i dont remember the movie so i cant compare but this stands well on its own and i love the character exploration, even if i dont like some of the uhh… what would you call that? scifi jokes? (spoiler territory soz)

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29/ Land of the Lustrous (2017) FLOORED by how much I loved this. qualms about the CG turned into admiration, the shading drawing me into the world. worries about annoying characters melted away to find admirable layers. THE USE OF SYMBOLISM kept me SO well fed. and the pacing!

29b/ cont: my only complaint that isn't a nitpick: i hate how it left so, so, so many threads loose. i faceplanted my dashboard during the decelerating pace between the first 10 eps and the final 2. i get that it's from an ongoing manga but that still felt maximum bummer.

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30/

[knightofthegarden]

Speaking of the 3ds (and wii U) eshops going offline next week, I would like to make a list of 3DS games that I think are fantastic and worth obtaining!

Putting under a readmore so that I can give a description to go with my recommendation!

Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure

This cute and stylish rhythm game hooked me from the demo for the main character's sassy, hilarious attitude. If you love 90's style Spunky Heroes like Sonic the Hedgehog, you will love following Phantom R's thieving adventures. This game has some frustrating minigames, but also many I would willingly play again just for fun, and a cast, story, and art style that I adore. Please play this game.

Witch and Hero (1, 2, and 3)

This simple, retro-inspired game with a snarky sense of humor also hooked me from its demo. The gameplay is simple but addicting, with a quick gameplay loop that makes it easy to pick up and put down for only a few minutes at a time if you want. I am not normally a completionist of any kind, but I ended up beating all these games on all their difficulties, playing with the hidden modes from the secret codes that carry over between games, and thinking far too much about the simple premise that I think the developers cared about as much as my overthinking-self (but it's still fun if you take it at its simple surface). You can now play some of these games on switch or PC, but only the 3DS has the third, and all of them are $5 each, so if you want the chance to get sucked in to the complete extent, scoop this trilogy up now!!

Kid Icarus: Uprising

When this game launched, a lot of people said the controls were awful and hurt your hand. I did not find this to be true (except for a specific level that is a marathon arena challenge), and never needed to use the special stand they eventually made to help reduce hand strain for this game. Some people also claim that the writing is cheesy and unfunny, while others claim it is the best writing ever and absolutely hilarious - and am firmly in the latter camp. The jokes are funny, the characters (and full voice acting) are fantastic, and the story is capable of making you cry. The music is also fantastic. Do not be scared off this game. It's a good game and it deserves to be remembered, and to make you laugh, and to be the thing you write essays about how good it is and how many feelings you have because if you do those things about any video game, you will do it for this one.

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor

Hi there, do you like Persona? BUY THIS GAME!!

Okay now I'm talking to the rest of you. This is a difficult, kind of grindy grid-based JRPG (think disgaea, final fantasy tactics, triangle strategy) whose story about how different political and social bodies - both mass and individual - react to crisis has only become more relevant since it released (it takes place in a LOCKDOWN). It talks about government manipulation of information to maintain control, it talks about how different people cope with powerlessness and fear, it has multiple endings, it delves into several mythologies (mostly Norse and old testament - and I'm so thrilled to see Christian mythology being treated as mythology, these stories are so much more interesting played as stories). If you like a dark, intelligent story, and if you don't mind a challenge or grinding turn-based gameplay (also, a hard rock soundtrack that does.. get a little old after a while), please play this game.

If you're a Persona fan, you'll also really like Devil Survivor 2! (If you're more like me and have gotten disillusioned with how trope-y and mainstream-appeasing the stories and characters in Persona games have gotten, you will probably not enjoy DeSu2 as much. But most people like the newer Persona games so don't let me keep you from this other game you'd probably enjoy.)

Fashion Savvy (Trendsetters, Fashion Forward)

The switch is about to get a spiritual sequal to this series, and oh boy if you like dress up games or management sims, you will love these games. They also have weird stories about magic dollhouses or whatever - it's not Love Nikki levels of weird, but they put more effort into the writing than you would think. But the most important thing is that you can make yourself, or your ocs, or whatever, and make them wear lots of cool outfits. Very fun.

[vera-dauriac]

https://bloodknife.com/everyone-beautiful-no-one-horny/

Super interesting article about the intersection of sexuality, politics and media at the moment.

If I recall, there's a post already floating around with commentary and discussion of, as well as the additional corollary "everything is p*rnographic and nothing is erotic."

I would be interested in your thoughts, especially in the context of the fanfiction community.

Love,

A niece :)

I must say, my nieces send their Auntie Vera the most interesting stuff. 😉

So, you want my thoughts on: everyone is beautiful, but no one is horny, as well as its dirtier counterpart: everything is pornographic, and nothing is erotic. Let’s see if I can manage something coherent before my workday starts.

Generally speaking, I see where folks are coming from with these sentiments. As pointed out in the article, there is something sexless about the MCU, at least the very little of the MCU I watched before I decided it was fucking boring and stopped watching. Has this spilled over into other films and become the norm? Honestly, I was a pretty hardcore film buff for much of life, but around 5 or 6 years ago instead of going to the movies maybe 20 times a year and gobbling up everything else on DVD when it hit the library, I started going zero times and only grabbing stuff at the library or checking it out streaming on occasion. This makes me pretty unqualified to talk about the state of film today, but the article’s general premise that the MCU is about action figures not action heroes seems pretty accurate. They’ve all been Ken dolled, and for me, that’s a yawn. (There’s a lot else I find dull about the MCU, but that’s not the point right now.)

The next question is why. After the 80s and 90s, which had some overly-muscled action stars and some normally muscled action stars, all of whom got to have sex, why did action "heroes" become celibate advertisements for steroids? I would suspect there are a couple explanations. As is always the case with Hollywood, the top reason is unquestionably money. For instance, I started thinking about the last time I saw a movie with a lot of action, a super buff star, and a good old-fashioned sex scene that was also hot. I came up with 300, which came out in 2006 and had a $65 million budget. (In other words, they CGIed a lot of abs for the cost of an MCU movie’s catering budget.) 300 made $70 million its opening weekend in just the US, so huzzah, it was successful. (Numbers from Box Office Mojo)

On the other hand, an MCU movie needs to make $70 million opening weekend in about a dozen different countries, and then keep making money because of the crazy budgets. For as puritanical as folks want to make the US market out to be, there are other markets with FAR more restrictive rules about what can be shown in movies. What’s the point of including a sex scene, or even a kiss, if you’re going to have to reedit for half the world? Sexless is safer for the bottom line in a global market.

And that mostly covers what I have to say about everyone is beautiful, but no one is horny, and that article in particular. I think moving to TV will actually help more with the discussion of everything is pornographic, and nothing is erotic. There seems to be plenty of sex and nudity to be had on HBO and Netflix (the two streamers I’m most familiar with), but the vast majority of it on, say, GoT or The Witcher, is decidedly unsexy. What makes it unsexy, unerotic, is a combination of things. It’s the general nihilism of the worlds (especially GoT), coupled with so much of the “sex” actually being sexual violence, and then just the overwhelming pervasiveness of naked bodies and fucking that desensitizes you to it all. (The most telling anecdote I’ve heard on this front is that GoT eventually started hiring literal porn actors to hang out in the background of scenes. This story is too good to fact check, so I’m not.)

Given that fancy outlets like HBO and Netflix clearly make money, even with the sex and nudity, why don’t they make something genuinely erotic, instead of pornographic, or at least just generally smutty? Again, there are probably a lot of factors, mostly that they think what they are doing is what audiences want, and they will continue to churn out porn as long as they believe it will make them money. But there’s something else to consider, which finally leads me to fanfic and my own writing experience.

(Ahead are definitions at least partially of my own devising, just so we’re all on the same page for the rest of the discussion.)

Smut (a fully realized story with sex scenes), porn (graphic descriptions of sex, often without a realized story), and erotica (the serious examination of character through the sexual/sensual) are different things to write and require different skills. And if my own experience is in any way typical, writing something erotic is hard. It’s way harder than smut or porn, in fact. It’s easier to show some prostitute on her knees with cum dripping down her chin than using sex to develop character in a meaningful way. (It’s also easier to shoot your leading man full of steroids than to write a good character arc to return to the movie discussion.) For instance, I’ve written a lot of smut, porn, and erotica in my time, but one of the most meaningful comments I’ve ever received on AO3 is this: “for all the amazing smut on this site, erotic joy is actually really rare, and you captured it.” It is rare, on AO3 and for me to write, because it is blasted difficult, and I think most TV shows, and movies for that matter, are going to look for the easier, safer road the majority of the time.

So, those are my thoughts on the article and the beautiful/horny and porn/erotic discussions. I feel like I should throw in some sort of “And in conclusion,” but I assume I’m not actually getting graded on this, so I’m just going to stop. 😊