#bunch of classic movies at any given time

[dracolizardlars]

I get pissed about some of the shows I want to watch being exclusive to USA-only streaming platforms but it just occurred to me that y'all in the USA don't get BBC iPlayer and that's so fucking heartbreaking fr you can keep Hulu or whatever the fuck actually

[svndaysaweek]

Wanna Make You Mine — {Feat. Minji}

5k words

A/N: Hi, it’s been a while! I felt like I should write and post something, and here it is. This was not written in my best condition, but it’s Minji😌. Honored to have had @chunksworld as a beta-reader and an editor! If you find some amazingly well-written sentences most likely it’s from him haha☺️ Enjoy!

******

It was a few days ago when rain poured heavily, unexpectedly leading to one of the hottest encounters you have ever experienced in your life. And the more you reminisce, the bigger your smile grows, bittersweetly. If someone told you it was a dream, you’d buy that. A fever dream, albeit a short one. But it hasan everlasting lingering image carved in your heart. It was fire-hot, it was ice-cold. Like bubble gum you savor it when it tastes sweet, but it diminishes when the sweet is gone.

The day you forgot your umbrella is a day you will never, ever forget. It was a surprise, a super hot one to you. And like a hit-and-run, it stuns you, and then leaves, barely leaving any marks.

******

You don’t precisely remember since when, but there’s something about her that made her stand out to you. Multiple times you caught her looking your way then quickly avoiding your eyes–it happened enough for you to sense how unusual it is. 

It’s not because she stands out; she doesn’t. She is considered by many as a model student and everyone likes her. Acing quizzes, straight A’s and with a courteous manner. She was given every admirable virtue in her heart, and radiates it like it’s her body odor. A waking proof that humans can be perfect. But she’s not the one to boast about it, keeping down people’s envy in the level of admiration and friendliness. 

For you, Kim Minji is just another student who happens to be in the same school as you. Sometimes you get a nod as a sign of greeting from her and sometimes she just passes by. Still, everytime you run into her, her tranquil smile tells you how she became the model student that she is. Not a single person in this school would succeed in disliking her. You see how everyone says hi to her just to hear it back. And with no exception, she does. To you, too, of course. Sometimes she says “hi” first, and sometimes you do. 

A respectable student. That’s it. Nothing less, nothing more.

******

Today it is raining. At this point, it’s plausible that God knows you didn’t bring your umbrella for the third time this month. Third time you brought an extra tumbler, third time you left your umbrella at home, and the third time it rained. Youthink of repenting but deep in your mind you know God owes you a big apology, not the other way around.

The downpour is heavy so you decide to wait in school knowing that it will die down in a few minutes, well that's what you hope because you don't want to risk getting any of your stuff wet.

You are and have always been a quiet kid in school—an introvert. Just the right amount of friends, not really prone to being bullied, a surprisingly average amount of female interactions and above-average grades. Just one of those boys who loves listening to music, watching movies and a bunch of other things.

Can’t spend a rainy day without music on your headphones, can you? Plus, it’s just you in this big hallway so you wear it and turn the jazzy classics on while you stroll lazily along the windows. You blindly step to the comforting rhythm of the song watching the droplets kiss the window. Guess you won't blame God for the rain this time. 

You look at the dark gray concrete walls, white window frames, bright gray limestone floor, and the wooden doors of the classrooms you walk by. With the music flowing through your ears and rain crashing on the windows right in front of you, even the gloomy colors of the school building looks rather comforting.

So you walk, and walk, and walk until you’re back in front of your classroom. The rain has become a lot more silent than when it started and it’ll get dark soon. You want to spend your Friday evenings at home and not in school.

The rain will have stopped by the sunset and theair would beclean then. You wouldn’t want to miss the glow of the setting sun with such a crystal clear sky. You imagine the view it’d give you, which songs would be perfect to listen to and you just can’t hold a smile back. 

“Oh! Oh… hey…” When you open the door, Minji is frightened by you. She looks disheveled from head to toe. Her hair is frazzled, her face ruddy, her breath heavy. But what’s more desecrating is that her shirt is open, her unblemished midriff has a layer of sweat-like liquid coating it, taint on her gray bra. All of it is sent to your brain to process, which causes it to cease functioning for a second.

“D-don’t mind me.” Then she rushes to what you assume to be the restroom Kim Minji, who has never even opened a button of her shirt in school before and yet you just saw her bare belly. You’re blushing, trying not to think about it but you fail miserably. It feels dirty to be like this—she isn’t one of those provocative types of girls to you… or she wasn’t.

But you can’t explain why she’s so frantic with her skin so exposed. Why was she so out of breath and sweaty? Why was she so surprised to see you and then proceeded to rush outside the classroom?

Has she been sacred or sanctimonious? Has she been exemplary or errant?

You know it’s a rash judgment.

You step inside the classroom then walk over to your seat where you find an oddly-placed puddle on the desk. Not as big as a spilled bottle of water, not as small as the drool you usually make when you doze off with your face buried in your arms during class.

You examine it by dipping your finger on it.

Definitely not water.

Then what?

“What's this?” You find a blue switch and pick it up. 

“Hey,” Flabbergasted, you turn around so quickly that it slips out of your grip. It's Minji who's standing at the door frame, leaning slightly on the wall. 

Her shirt is still open, and so are the stains on her bra and her messy hair. It seems like she didn't tidy herself up in the bathroom. 

“Did you spill something on my desk, Minji?” For the moment you think that's what happened. Every clue provided to you is telling you just one thing, and you're pretty sure you got it right. Maybe she'll apologize, and you're going to say it's nothing and help her clean it up. She'll then thank you and say you're such a nice person.

Well, it sure is a possible series of normal things to happen. 

Unless Kim Minji brings a crazy plot twist for the two of you only.

“No, I didn't.” And step by step she approaches you. The way she walks draws your eyes to her slick legs and the uniform skirt she's wearing: dark gray as always. But it hangs way higher than usual, so high and short that you almost catch a glimpse of her underwear.

You're just standing there still, wondering why she’s acting unprecedentedly strange. You don’t even recognize that she’s already just in front of you. You’re trying your best not to look at her breasts even when she slowly squats down to the floor.

“You dropped this.” You realize when Minji hands it to you that it is a switch. That she wants it in your hand and that she wants to see you flick your finger on it and turn it on.

“Minji, is this…?” There is only a shy grin on her face. Swear to god, you didn’t even imagine in your dreams that such a thing would happen to you. You’re yet to escape the stage of denial, to be honest. Where was the heads-up to begin with?

“Wanna try turning it on?” Her tone is so casual that you didn’t get it the first time. You’re just totally dumbfounded. Minji sees it, knows it and understands it.

“Go on, do it.” Her eyes are on your fingers. Her teeth dig into her bottomlip. Her eyelids flutter. Your thumb is now on the switch, ready to flick it on. Your thumb presses on it, just enough for the knuckle to whiten up, but not really turn it on.

Her arms hug your neck, and the moment she does, you flick the switch up. You didn’t mean to, but when she hugged you your thumb automatically moved so it was turned on with a clicking sound. An embarrassed gasp leaves your mouth.

But when she buries her face in the crook of your neck and moans all the gibberish improvised excuses building in your head washes away.

At the risk of sounding grandiose, it’s rather the situation she lures you in that is overloading you mentally. It hasn't even been 5 minutes since you ran into her.

“Y-you know…” At this point you can’t even imagine what’s going to unfold. If she confesses that she is in fact an alien from Saturn you’ll sense no absurdity. You’ll just breathe it in.

You feel her body shaking by how her weight changes every second. And you’re standing there like a dumb statue, not knowing where to put your hands, even when she’s almost climaxing mere inches away and your lust is getting completely heightened by it.

“I’ve had a crush on you for so long…”

No one couldn’t have ever anticipated that. For a moment you forgot to breathe; Minji has taken it away. And when she bites into your shoulder you gasp, feeling the tingling sensation rushing down your spine.

“I’ve liked you eversince the first time I saw you by the way.” She’s struggling to make her words distinguishable in between moans and hisses, while you’re struggling to come up with a proper reaction to what you’re currently experiencing.

This whole situation you find yourself in is so foul and so hot given that she’s one of the most admirable students of your school. She was supposed to be out of your league and yet somehow the timid and quiet boy is who she wanted all along.

“You’re going to make me cum…!” Hearing it coming through her lips makes your head spin, makes your cock throb painfully inside your pants. You don’t even expect yourself to think straight, nor want to think straight.

During the day she’s a model student, then after school she becomes a kinky pervert. It’s the least possible thing in your life to happen and yet here you are.

But when she cums and squirts on your pants, you’re proven very wrong. 

“I… I like you.” Out of breath she whispers, still cumming and you support her by her bare waist. You switch off the toy and just let her go through the bliss of post orgasm.

As she comes down her arms let go of you, still panting. “Do you like me too?” That’s not even a question, as her eyes are on your shirt and her hands are already halfway down unbuttoning it. 

“Minji…” You take her already open shirt off of her arms before fondling her breasts over her bra. Your eyes are fixed at the pair in your hands while you can feel hers glaring into your eyes.

“Mhm. Go on. Take as much as you like.” Her hands seductively unbutton your shirt, one by one, from the top down. She’s not in a hurry but in a matter of seconds your top vanishes. Then she puts her lips dangerously close to yours, hovering and tickling your lips with subtle skims. 

“But don’t forget to let me do the same, okay?” She sounds so full of confidence but her face is as red as yours. The eyelock doubles and triples the heat between you two and when the distance is completely eliminated by a messy lip lock, your heart begins to beat out of your chest.

Her tongue is aggressive inside around yours. Her hand is already a hand of a luster, already sneaking down on your pants sending shivers up to the crown of your head so easily. You grab and unhook your belt, and Minji purrs delightfully when she sees your erection spring out ontoher belly.

“This is a yes, right?” Minji pushes you lightly, just enough for you to know that she wants you on the desk. Her tummy brushes against your erection as she climbs up to face you again after swiftly removing her bra. You’re met with her mouthwatering pair of breasts pressed against your bare chest. 

“I don’t understand why…” Her fingers trace down your jawline to your lips. The placidity oozing out from her words is making you fret over—inside, you want her to take advantage of this one-way situation as much as she can. Your hands find her sweaty tits and fondle them softly, and she moans with a dreamy smile.

“But you kinda make me feel things. Unexplainable, but certainly that’s more than just love.” It's an overwhelming lust you obviously planted in her. You can see how ripe it is, and now you’re reaping it. It’s sweet, the flesh, the hue is so mature and obscene. 

“Say something, hmm?” When you part your lips to say ‘I like you too’, however, her tongue ties a knot on yours. You feel the pace suddenly upshift when she strokes your cock slowly and when you involuntarily moan and flinch. Your breaths overload your lungs while your mouth has totally fallen by what the intertwined tongues are doing inside.

“Minji… I-I like you too.” You didn’t mean to just whisper it. However it somehow did work as the cue to make her start pleasuring you with her hand. 

The smirk on her face is almost a burden to your already weary mind, topped with the anticipating lip bite. And those glaring, sly eyes which eventually force yours to squeeze shut. The sensation is too much for you to take in as it is, so your nails dig into your palms hard and your head tilts backwards. 

You don’t look comfortable at all—you aren’t, with all the unreal touches and heated breaths being poured on your skin. But that doesn’t mean you’re not enjoying this, of course. Her hand is pumping your cock at a constant rhythm, her groaning voice matches yours as if it’s as tantalizing to her as well.

“I’m glad you said that.” As if her confession was to be ignored by you. It was more of a seduction than a platonic confession to think about. Not that you can properly think while you’re getting mentally wrung by her. 

“You would’ve never known…” Minji slows down her hand around your throbbing cock. You open your eyes to be faced with her orbs mere inches away. 

Lust doesn’t seem to have dispersed from the jetty pair of pupils. “...how many times you relieved my stress from all the studying.” She continues her lewd confession of her sexual fantasies about you which could’ve been kept a secret… But what more to hide when you two are touching each other’s sex and mixing body fluids? 

When your fingers brush against her inner thighs, she hisses and tightens the grip on your cock. Nearing her core, you can feel the moist lust seeping out, leaking and running. 

“Do you think about me often too? Who am I to you?” You hesitate. But she doesn’t want any lies. Nor do you. 

“You’re just a… the model student of the school. A pretty one. A pretty, smart girl that I run into often.” You amazingly finish the sentence while riding off to the very edge of your patience under her bewitching strokes.

Just enough to feel incredibly heady but still seconds away from exploding on her hand. Your fingers aren’t idle either, as two of those smoothly enter her damp entrance. The tips of your fingers reach her toy inside and you pull it out slowly.

You see her belly flutter from the sensation of it. “Put your fingers in deeper,” She pleads as grinding herself on your fingers, situating you two in a mutual masturbation.

“I want to cum with you.” Her words trigger so many things inside you. Deeper and darker things, something the superficial you don’t possess. Something every guy would hide and keep deep under the surface and wait for the very chance to bring up.

Your fingers move, inside and out while hers move up and down. Both relentlessly, hungrily almost. The desire to see each other drown in bliss is paralleling the desire to feel it for oneself. You’re almost there, hoping that she is, too.

“Minji, I-I am… I can’t-“ You’re miserably stuttering, tongue twisted by how unblemished the sensation is from all sides—her soft hands working ever so hard and hot on the head of your cock, her lewd moans tickling your eardrums. Her face, that face making a look that just screams sex.

In no time you explode first, spurt after spurt in her hands as she still keeps on pumping it with pace. Your groan never dies down until you’re completely out of breath and strength.

Then Minji restarts grinding on your fingers that she stopped when you blasted the turbid pleasure on her fingers. You look up from her cum-coated fingers to her eyes, and it’s a head-spinning hypnosis that beams into your eyes from hers.

Dense, intense, a bit lethargic in a way and flooding with lust—seeing her crush cum in her very own hand, must’ve sent her into another galaxy at least, possibly another dimension. That is what sex can do even to a woman of high status.

“That was so hot. Now will you help me with this?” You already are when you’re snapped back from drifting off in the ocean of bliss. 

“I will.” You literally sigh words out as you still are trying to regain your breaths. You lay her down on the desks and crawl up to level with her face, fingers still making the dirty wet sound.

Minji’s face is a mess; it’s red, it’s sweaty, in need, desperate. Her eyes are fixed on your lips, her mouth agape, breathing into your face, it’s hot, her hands touching and squeezing her own breasts, her throat vibrates into your teeth and tongue when you kiss and bite it. And it happens to splash you all at once like a tsunami, but without the premonitory phenomena.

Kiss her neck, jawline and back to her lips. Her tongue welcomes yours, and after a few seconds she screams into your throat airily with her hands holding onto your shoulders.

“I’m close, I’m close, I’m-Oh!”

Hearing her you circle her clitoris with your thumb and it sends her away to bliss. To a heavenly abyss, where she doesn’t want to be bailed out. She’s squirting too, which makes it even hotter aside from her orgasming on your fingers. The watery sound makes you want to push into her even deeper.

You’re hard as rock again in no time after seeing the prettiest girl you’ve ever seen, the least touchable girl in your school cum under your body on your own fingers. In school, in your classroom, on the table.

“Oh my god, is that your bag?” It’s a black backpack that her secretion is dripping onto. Minji is more entertained than concerned to your eyes however, and so are you. You wouldn’t mind if your iPad is broken from all the water for now.

“No, I don’t care. Mine is over there I guess.” You’re not sure, but not that you ever want to be. Because your eyes lock before hers darting at your cock on her above her belly. Then she looks into you again. And that’s it.

“Do you want to-“

“Yes.” It doesn’t even need any brainpower to say yes. So you take your agonizingly hard cock to her entrance. First you rub it against her pussy slowly, and it makes her let out a small gasp.

Her hands are on your arms, tightly gripping. Her eyes, they’re fixed at yours, her beauty beaming at you, and it flutters when your tip enters her hot cavern. Her fingers dig a little deeper into your arms, her teeth into her lip, as you enter her bit by bit.

It’s a whole new sensation to be wrapped around the wet walls. And considering that this is your first time, it’s not odd to be totally enraptured and indulge deep in straight away.

“Mmm…!” Your eyes roll back when you push in until you can’t. The world around you narrows down to only you two, hot breaths, sweaty skin and a mutual high that you never want to be detached from.

“G-go on, I’ll make you feel good.” As if you need any more motivation to dive in.

Minji’s coquettish smile is the last thing you see before you spontaneously shut your eyes and groan as you go deeper and deeper. You’re barely breathing, barely thinking, barely sensing anything.

“F-fuck me…”

Her shaking voice cooing those words is a complete switch-off to your reason. She said it shyly, with a burning face and big eyes looking up at you—it must be her first time to do this—and single-handedly sending shivers up your spine.

“Ah… Mmm yes!” You begin to move, and even to the slightest moves she reacts so sensitively. Her walls are wringing around your cock, pulsing and matching her intermittent moans as you gradually, tantalizingly raise the pace.

It’s as if time itself ceased running. Just you and Minji, feeling every part of each other, moaning against each other’s skin, a locomotive with a broken brake. Broken brake, but with a fully functioning accelerator.

As you up the pace her hands find your shoulders for support as yours roam around her torso. Her sharp shoulders, to her perky tits, brushing your thumb on her stomach randomly, overloading her with your touches. 

You lack subtlety and it’s even visible to yourself. Not knowing where to put your hands, not knowing what to say, only thrusting in and out and getting so worked up by hearing her moans and her face flooding with sex.

Eyes barely holding on, moans escaping her agape mouth along with her hot breaths, blushed cheeks. Her hands find the back of your head and pull you into a kiss, and it gives you the feeling of being possessed.

Like you’ve become hers.

Like you’re fucking her pussy and now kissing her with intertwined tongues for her, not for yourself. Which somehow, to your surprise, aggravates the lust deep inside you. A hidden need for the dynamics, even unseen to you.

Seems there will be plenty of time for you two to explore it further.

You go even faster in return for the kindling kiss she dragged you into. Her grip tightens, traps you in her arms—not that you ever want to escape—suffocating you with the sloppy lip lock.

And it throws a barrel of oil to your already-flaming fire. Your breath is completely taken by Minji, without any chance to get out, your will is rather on the side of dying with Kim Minji absorbing the last breath you have.

Soon her walls begin to pulsate around your cock, her screams that reverberate in your skull are now about to tip you over into unconsciousness.

“So good… I’m about to c-cum.” Her voice shakes. Your thrusts keep the pace, at a steady rhythm you’re pounding into her leaking pussy. The tightness goes up like crazy, her thighs lock your hips in and it makes you, forces you to discover her inside even deeper.

With every thrust Minji voices out how well your cock is stirring her inside. And the elevating tension in her moans lets you know how close she is to-

“Cumming…! Fuck!”

A trance. It is a frenzy, an ecstatic upheaval that overwhelms your patience, that demolishes the dam and lets whatever behind the wall flood in.

When her fingers dig painfully deep into your head, when her teeth leave an intaglio of her love, when her legs lock you in, for you to join her with the heady pleasure…

A streak of benumbing orgasm shatters your nerves as you paint her stomach and her heaving chest. It seems to never end, spurt after spurt until the repose is here. You can only stare at her—her still high face, cum-coated breasts and tummy heaving up and down.

You both are taking in the messed up view of each other, eyes locked but no words or signals delivered. You just stare into her eyes hoping that she makes a move on you first. To take you where she wants, perhaps. Another round could be awesome, but either way you’ll be so satisfied.

Together. With Minji.

“Let me bring something to clean-”

“No.”

Her hands snatch yours. Not strongly, but just soft enough to let you know what she means.

“Stay here for more… With me.”

******

“Hey. So… Can I ask you exactly when?”

Dark purple sky, humid breeze of midsummer. Clouds that showered the earth with their own bodies are now completely gone, and you and Minji are walking down the street towards the sunset.

“It was when you picked up my notebooks I dropped. You were putting on your headphones. Hair was just long enough to look good, and on top of everything… What I fell for was the smile on your face. I don’t remember the date it happened, but it was special. So special.”

Her fingers then sneak under your palm, in between your fingers and lock with yours together. It’s warm and soft. A romantic placidity under one of the most beautiful sunsets you’ve ever seen.

Her thumb lightly brushes on the back of your hand as you keep walking down the serene road. “But I don’t think you’ve wanted to do this since then, right? Not complaining, but it was quite an unexpected way of confession. Especially from you.”

Minji giggles with her crescent eyes looking down at the ground. “It’s been only weeks… I got so stressed out from studying and one day… I tried touching myself then I suddenly thought of you. Since that day, you know, it’s been like that.” 

But there’s no shyness anymore. It’s not a secret anymore, at least between you and her. Nothing is. Nothing will be.

It’s a hot thing to think about. A girl touching herself thinking about you. And that girl being Minji is what surpasses your imagination. She even got caught pleasuring herself in your classroom today-

Or even that was part of the plan. You think of asking her about it, but at the same time, you don’t want to make any gaffe come out of your mouth. Right now is where the tinge of romance should fade in, not that.

“You can, you know, call me honey… If you… want…” Minji’s grip on your hand gets tighter as her shy laughters follow. It immediately makes your face burn. You look at her and find that it’s doing the same to her too.

“Okay, Minji-I mean, honey.” You feel your face drumming to the beat of your heart. But it doesn’t hide the happy smile on your face.

A girlfriend.

And a boyfriend.

It’s mutual from now on. The first love in your life starts.

“It’s my home already.” She stops in front of a white two-story house and turns to you.

“Alright, goodbye, honey.” You let her hand go but it doesn’t leave yours. Instead, a zesty grin blooms on her face and she hums an airy chuckle.

“Not before this.”

Her lips find yours. They don’t open, but it’s a kiss filled with heartiness, a long peck, with an artificial smacking sound made by her.

“See you tomorrow honey!”

******

It is raining just like yesterday; you forgot your umbrella just like yesterday too. And you decide to stay at school until it stops.

As if you’re seeing a deja vu of yesterday.

Only if you could see a deja vu of yesterday.

Minji didn’t run into you today. She didn’t come to your class to say hi. She didn’t come to her class. 

She didn’t come to school today.

The day passed uneventfully just like yesterday. Class after class, lunch breaks and “see you tomorrow”s from classmates. But painfully, the only one who said it yesterday with a kiss wasn’t here to keep her words.

And the day ended just like that. No sign of Minji.

“You heard that?” Just before you put on your headphones, something penetrates your ears.

“Minji moved to New York!”

What?

You almost shouted but managed to deal with that.

First, it’s denial that hits you.

“What do you mean? I saw her just yesterday!” The other guy looks as confused as you are.

Second, the word ‘why’ comes up in your head. 

“I don’t know, man. Everything I heard was the teachers talking that there was a sudden incident that left no choice for her family but to move.”

Third, denial again.

You wanted to stand up and ask them, but what you are going to get is a weird look and a “Why do you even care?”

Didn’t she tell me ‘see you tomorrow’?

It’s all complicated for now.

Maybe you yourself are to blame for not asking your girlfriend’s number.

But it doesn’t matter anymore, does it?

It was your first love, starting hot yet pure.

Now it’s as if all was a reverie.

The air you breathe hasn’t changed, the classes you attend were the same, it rained like yesterday, and your umbrella stayed at home again.

But there was no Minji, although you still hear her merrily say-

‘See you tomorrow, honey!’

******

[devourers-of-god]

Hii :D

for first i wanted to say that i love your blog and the way you describe the characters!

can i request HC of the characters on valentine's day? if you don't want to do it to everyone, it could be just Travis and Sal. i'll let you decide there, take as much time as you want and if you don't want to do it, everything is fine. (i hope i wrote it well, it's a bit difficult for me to write in english)

HIII! thank you so much for the compliments it is very heart warming :( SOrry im late about your request HAHAH I will indeed do Sal and Travis only,,, you know me so well anon ,,, You wrote everything perfectly !! I couldn't have guessed if you didn't tell me :) ILY REQUESTS ARE OPEN PEOPLE! LOOK ALIVE! /ref but plz everyone, read my carrd In my bio before submitting.. its upsetting to see asks that doesn't meet my rules...

SAL AND TRAVIS ON VALENTINES DAY

Type : Headcanons

Warnings: None! Mostly Fluff sorry y'all I don't write nsfw

SAL

= Sal prepared some things for you by the gentle help of Ashley, because sal didn't know how to please you and Ash is your best friend.

= I think Sal would make you a valentines boo basket like the ones you see on TikTok. Filled with your favourite chocolates and CDS, cute slippers, horror movie blanket, jewelry and some surprises connected to your interests.

= He would come by your apartment/house and wear ''clean clothes'' ( Jeans he washed the night before and his favourite shirt lol), with his nails freshly painted of a beautiful black colour.

= He also brought movies to watch, romantic ones you say? Hell nah this Sal Fisher, he brought horror movies that you would enjoy.

= You were so happy by his gifts that you jumped right into his arms and dragged him into your room, he cuddled and kissed you A BUNCH because boy was he happy his partner liked what he bought them. He filled your entire face with kisses, when Sal started he couldn't stop.

= After all the affection was received, you two were stuck on the couch, under your new blanket, cuddling and watching movies. For the occasion Sal took off his mask, only if no one was there that day, which made you very happy and flustered to see your lover's face after a long day.

TRAVIS (ARGHBHHH EEEK ^0^DNWAODNSNF)

= Travis already struggles with showing affection, it was very hard to warp his mind around celebrating for the first time in his life Valentines day with his boyfriend.

= He also had to ask Ashley because she's your best friend after all, she recommended following his heart and doing something classic to not stress him too much. And that he did!

= My sweet boy put on a suit for you and bought flowers, not just any flowers tho, Travis believe in flower language. Which is that every single flower has a different meaning when given. He carefully chose Daisies (I truly love you), Red Carnation (My heart aches for you), Honey Suckles (Devoted affection) and lastly, Salvia Red (forever mine). Yes he could've chosen classic roses but he felt like you might think that he didn't put in any effort.

= This boy is an hopeless romantic and decided to write you a letter about his true feelings since he was so bad at expressing them in front of you, words couldn't leave his mouth but they were flowing with the help of his fountain pen.

= He then picked up gourmet chocolates, a bit expensive but he thought it would make you happy. Ashley suggested that he makes a mixtape of your favourite songs on a cassette since you had a walkman. He made 2 mixtapes, one of your favourites and the other one is songs that reminds him of you.

= He showed up to your door in the evening and your jaw dropped, seeing your boyfriend in a suit made you feel things you've never felt before. He felt super happy by your reaction and the letter was so profound it made you cry. You also knew flower language and you were basically bawling because of the effort (and money) he spent on you.

OKAY DONE ! you guys can see that I prefer travis over sal oops,,, I hope everyone still loved it! plz plz plz send me things because im desperate.... I love you all guys.......

[moltengoldveins]

so, I am already Adoring the discourse on The Creator, the new sci fi AI film that came out recently, but I’ve yet to see anyone talk about the fascinating religious undertones to the whole movie? Like, I’m Christian. I’ll be the first to admit my bias here: I tend to look for faith and spiritual undertones when consuming media because it’s an integral part of the way I see the world. but this movie was SO COOL?? Like, the Complete Lack of any sort of faith shown in the American characters in contrast with the AI and the Asian characters, a total shift from the modern cultural idea that religion and AI are incompatible. There are monks that are droids and simulants. The kid uses her technology powers by making a “praying” motion. There’s a robot preaching a pretty classic Judeo-Christian Messiah narrative to a bunch of kiddos. There’s only ONE American character given any sort of obvious religious identity and it’s that One Trooper Lady when she mentions Valhalla. This is such an interesting decision and I’m fascinated to know what y’all think of it. NOT TO MENTION (and this is by FAR my favorite part) the fact that the religion and the AI conflict and the treatment of human life are all implicitly bound up together. The Americans believe that the AI are ‘just programming,’ that they aren’t real, that they don’t have souls. The New Asians don’t. And that seems to bleed into the way they treat Humans as well? The kind girl near the beginning of the film, clearing the blast zone with Taylor, panics when she sees an AI online for the first time because she recognizes that he behaves like a person, while Taylor is cold, unresponsive, and insists that it’s just programming. The Americans SAY they value human life because humans are really people and AI aren’t, but they treat civilians and combatants, AI and Humans, Exactly the Same. Almost like, if you reduce one thing with a soul to ‘just programming, not of value’ that starts messing with the way you treat Everything Else. The New Asians, as far as the narrative tells us, don’t plan on retribution for the war. They’re careful with civilians, to a certain extent (I don’t love the van scene with the kiddos tbh :( feel like that was out of place? And the AI lady, the girlfriend of Taylor’s friend who was killed as well, interesting nuances there) and they treat one another like people ought. There’s very little distinction given between the more android and more human AI, which I think is awesome, and the climax of the arc of Taylor’s character happens In A Temple. The end of the story is a message of hope for reunification in heaven AND hope for reunification on earth. That’s. That’s so cool. Like. I think that’s the coolest thing I’ve seen in Ages. I can’t Ever remember seeing that kind of message done in a story that isn’t painfully preachy. One thing that often bothers me about modern film and media is the idea that religion and spirituality has to be handled in one of three ways: entirely unmentioned, preachy to the absurd, or blatantly disrespected. It’s not a universal problem, but it’s pretty widespread. I couldn’t tell what faith the directors ascribed to in this film, but I could tell they were discussing it intelligently and I LIKED THAT. I liked it a lot. I can’t speak for anyone but myself, my tastes, and beliefs: I’m willing to bet a lot of Christians won’t like this movie because they’re hung up on the lack of a blatantly Christian or preachy narrative. I’m willing to bet a lot of other people won’t like it because it tackled spirituality at all. But I liked it, because it looked at the world we live in and spoke of what it saw. It wrestled with the topics of death and life and souls and heaven and national pride and racism and capitalism and love and what it means to be a good person and it did it really well, and I admire that.

please please let me know what y’all thought of the movie? I’m really interested in knowing what people picked up on or thought the movie was saying. God bless y’all, and have an excellent weekend :) 💜

[luna-rainbow]

that ask/meta about Bucky and sleeping broke my heart. I always feel sad when seeing that scene of them manhandling Bucky out of the vault and so but to know they manhandled him while he was basically dead is just sad as hell. he deserved better than a bunch of criminals doing that to him. 😔

while writing this a question came to my mind: what do you think are all the things attached to his body in that opening scene of civil war? I always thought the mask was oxygen but if he was basically dead then he didn't need oxygen, right? plus he's not wearing a mask in other times when we saw him being put under cryo, so what was that for? and the things around his chest??

Thanks for the ask! Cryo is not at all within the realm of my knowledge because there’s complicated physics involved 😂 And to be fair, I think this is classic movie science where the creators themselves have done very little research into how cryo is achieved.

This article provides a good run-down of the theory behind cryopreservation, but it’s from 2008 and technology and our understanding of cell metabolism is likely different now.

To summarise:

The subject needs to be cooled to -120C to be held in cryostasis. At these temperatures, chemical reactions are so slow that the cells can stay stable for centuries.

Blood is removed before the subject has been cooled below 0C and vitrification mixtures are injected into the subject to prevent ice crystal formation. This mixture is toxic, so has to be tightly controlled for the temperature it is given.

Another factor to control for is reperfusion injury upon warming and re-infusing the subject with blood.

Other interesting facts noted in that article is that humans have been cooled to 16-24C with cardiac arrest of more than an hour, then reawakened without neurological damage, which is impressive given brain damage is said to occur within minutes of cardiac arrest at normal body temperature.

Importantly though, the article doesn’t seem to mention any cases where an entire mammal has been successfully resurrected from cryo, much less multiple rounds of freeze-thaw cycles that Bucky had to go through. A lot of what it discusses in theory is on the basis of maximising the preservation of brain tissue, while sacrificing other organs to potential damage (I think the article said something along the lines of “in the future stem cell technology would take care of all those damaged organs!” which…isn’t going to help poor Buck out)

What I can’t find with my (very limited) reading is how the blood is stored after it is replaced. Presumably it is also cryopreserved separately? Because transfusing someone else’s blood into the subject’s body will cause huge issues. The other major difference between current data and Bucky’s situation is that current cryo methods are for the preservation of recently deceased bodies, while Bucky is still alive when he is placed into cryo.

So uh, assuming Bucky’s cryo is anything based in current real world science, he’s likely to have attachments for: heart monitoring and defibrillation, airway support and oxygen supply, large bore intravenous lines for rapid blood removal and replacement which would also help control the cooling/warming, some sort of real time monitoring of acid-base and electrolyte and oxygenation levels and replacement, and maybe some sort of EEG to monitor brainwaves. The blue glowing buttons are kiiiinda in the right place for heart monitor if we’re assuming a 3-lead system and the other one is hidden on his right side.

Keep in mind, this is not taking into account any magic effect the serum might have, ie maybe cryosuspension and revitalisation is only possible because of the serum, and maybe crystallisation isn’t an issue because of the serum.

And this is going to be TMI but I wonder what the effect of intestinal contents would be on cryo. Limiting his intestinal contents is partly the reason why I feel like Bucky likely didn’t have a lot of chance to eat real food, and likely got most of his nutrition as some sort of prescribed nutrition mix that would give him the energy hit he needs for the mission. Assuming that his gut will go into hibernation mode with cryo and probably won’t digest properly at least for a few days (much longer if he were a normal human), I suspect they’ll go for IV nutrition if they need him functional quickly. (* This won’t be one of his lines during cryo obviously cos he won’t need the support)

So yeah, all those fics about Bucky exploring oral textures and tastes of foods as a part of his recovery has a special place in my heart.

[thestrangestthlng]

Public Figures Owe You Nothing

Same thing, different fandom. Now, my first soiree into internet fandom was Glee nearly fifteen years ago. Given insane popularity of the show and one of their two main couples, Klaine, and Darren Criss being a straight man, I am no stranger to the "only gay (out) queer actors should play queer roles" argument.

I don't necessarily disagree completely. Queer actors should be highlighted in queer roles. But guess what, the film industry is shit.

Not everyone is out, can afford to be out, is ready to come out publicly, or cares to have anyone in their business. There is a huge number of fans who are way too invested in the parasocial relationships with their "favs" and cross lines.

It's a tale as old as time. Darren Criss' now wife, Mia (Swier), was mercilessly harassed online and honestly in person. I distinctly remember people MAILING her things. There was an incredible amount of hate directed towards her because SHE wasn't a HE and a group of fans were hellbent that he and Chris Colfer were secretly in a relationship, even though both were happily in their own relationships. (Both of them are actually still IN those relationships and I love that for them.)

Someone gave Dannell Ackles (wife of Jensen Ackles) a gift at an event. When she reached it she was cut by a bunch of rusty hooks in a fucking voodoo doll.

One of the NSYNC members (I can't remember if it were Chris or Joey) ended up being broken up with by their partner at the time because of the amount of hate they were getting.

This came up because someone said on instagram that they "will not be watching [RWRB]" because [Taylor and Nicholas] "are not out" and "they are gay for pay". So, me being me, says to them that the actors owe you nothing. Their sexuality/gender identity is no one's concern but their own.

Also, it was really disgusting what alot of Heartstopper did to Kit. He's just a baby and they strong armed him to coming out before he was ready and made him feel like he had to justify it. Cruel irony being that it's the exact opposite of the point of the books, and exact opposite of his character. I'll never forgive them for what they did to my son.

I went on to tell them that Hollywood is shit. It's homophobic, racist, sexist, xenophobic, transphobic, everything phobic. They like beautiful and handsome, classically beautiful, white, straight actors that fit into their perfect mold. As soon as actors come out they get type cast, lose rolls (because how could a homosexual portray intimacy with a woman? It's not like they are actors or anything). I, of course, got blocked because they didn't agree with me and that's fine.

Did you know that many actors in the union don't even make the $26,000 a year that is required to qualify for health insurance? Most actors are working class. Yes, many acquire a net worth, but it's honestly one huge disaster from losing what they have. The median salary for actors in the US is about 60K a year. So why would a working class actor or even a upper middle class actor, want to potentially dismantle their career trajectory by telling something that is really no one's concern anyway?

Not everyone wants to be stuck in a Ryan Murphy rotation. Maybe once we get more queer film and show makers and Hollywood execs start to fuck off we'll get more. I'm 99% sure that RWRB is the ONLY gay romcom without underlying trauma porn. The only other one that comes close is a Christmas movie.

Actors are still human and deserve privacy. They owe fans nothing. Their partners deserve privacy. If they are queer good for them. If they are not, good for them. But fans don't get to dictate who comes out and when. So yes, we want more queer actors in queer roles, but we don't get to decide if the ones who are not open get to have these roles. Sometimes it is who is best for the role.

As far as RWRB: Neither Taylor nor Nicholas have ever made any public statements on their sexuality and are both private people when it comes to their relationships. It's really goofy that people think it's an appropriate question to ASK them personally. Interview or not.

All that matters to me is that they killed that online and the characters they acted were madly in love with each other.

Moral of the story: they can want someone and love some one and not want that life for them. Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka were together for three years before they came out and that's when NPH came out - at 34 on his terms, as it should be. Some people really missed the message of the book; that queer people deserve to come out when and how THEY want to.

/Ted Talk

[unityrain24]

Saw your tags about Star Wars, it seems Star Wars stans and modern MCU stans are two peas in a pod. :/

im not entirely sure which tags you were referring to, because i have reblogged several starwars posts with Tags, but honestly, the mcu and starwars really are two peas in a pod. And im honestly surprised there isnt more comradery/comparing between the fandoms

both started out as, while definitely not "high art" or anything, legitimately good enjoyable films, with relatable characters the audience could feel empathy and compassion for, exciting new powers and places, fun and adventurous stories, and more, which instantly became beloved classic that people thought about with nostalgia and pleasantness. And they were and by people who cared and the people who watched them were compelled to care and create communities.

But then both franchises saw a shift, from making films from a passionate and moneymaking point of view, to purely making films from a moneymaking point of view. While star wars saw this happen with the franchise being picked up a few years after to make sequels, the mcu's shift happened more gradually, since there was no time in-between making movies.

now, while i would not consider myself a StarWars Fan, my sister and cousins most definitely were, so i had to watch basically everything in order to keep a conversation with them (not that i didnt enjoy it, i quite liked it and all the lore, it just didnt hold the special place in my heart that thing i consider myself a Fan of do). I've watched the movies, the clone wars series, rebels, the mandalorian, etc all the way through. It's been a while since i was keeping up with everything, so forgive me for not having quite a comprehensive understanding and opions of it as i did say, 3-4 years ago lol.

But the starwars sequels are a lot like the latest phases of the mcu. While i cant remember if they explicitly go against any prestablished canon like the later mcu phases do, they definitely go against the spirit and point/purpose of the original (and even prequel) films.From what i remember, the sequels also had went through several different directers and had direction and script changes and was a whole mess, so even the three films were sort of inconsistent or at the very leat felt oddly-thrown together (<-i may be wrong on the specifics of that its been a while. but it was something along those lines). Also like the later phases of the mcu, they relied a lot on the "nostalgia factor" with not only easter eggs but bringing back old ideas, concepts, plots, even characters, since it "worked so well the first time," when really what the "first time" did was think of new things, present old things in new ways, and tell make art from a place of passion, community, and connection, rather than a "whats the least i can do to make the most money" mindset formula (a point brought up a lot by @therese-lokidottir on many of their recent mcu critiques).

Starwars, unlike the mc, did have a brief period of "redemption" where it looked like the franchise would be saved and given back to the hands of people passionate about starwars, stoytelling, and film, with stuff like the final season of clonewars, the mandalorian, and a few other things. That was a great time to be a starwars fan. I wasn't even a fan, and it was kind of magical for me. But now it seems like they are back of the capitalist art-destroying path, hard. They have been pumping out series after series after series (once again going for the "nostalgia" thing, bringing back the clonewars artstyle, several beloved characters, and more), but it all feels so hollow. The stories feel more like they are just putting in a whole bunch of "wow, thats so shocking" and sewing them together with "hey i loved that character!". The costuming and makeup is absolute trash. The worst by far is hera (an alien character from the animated Rebels series, showing up live-action in Ahsoka). It is hideous. I have seen cosplays of her better than what the actual multi-bullion-dollar corpoation disney with all the best resources put on that screen. The costume looked like it was from spirit halloween, the makeup looked patchy and strange, they left out simple details of her design, and all the colours were Off. Examples:

Hera in Rebels:

Hera Cosplayers (x and x):

Hera in the Ahsoka Series: (it is like. seriously disconcerting to me)

and again, the costuming was not the most pressing point. Its actually relatively low on the list of points of everything bad with current starwars. But its good for a visual example. My sister and my cousins loved starwars. Passionate. Ahsoka was one of my sister's favourite characters. She couldnt even get though a full episode of ashoka. I havent heard anything new of starwars from our cousins, either. And we see eachother relatively often. I havent watched a new starwars thing in like... forever now. And it seems like neither have they. And not because they got sick of starwas, i can tell you that. They got sick of the new starwars being pumped out and shoved down their throats where the only things that resembled what they had loved were twisted into something else. Which, at least in my experience, is far, far worse than if they just ended things ubruptly and unfairly. At least mutilated corpse can rest.

The mcu's decline was, again, more gradual, like boiling a frog. Thor ragnarok is where i would probably pinpoint the beginnings though. I didn't like it at first, because it was out of character, sort of reversed elements of the character's well-developing character arcs , narratively picked on some characters more than others, etc. But, it was still a well-beloved film by many, in-universe explanations for why the characters, arcs, and plots were so different could be plausibly thought up, it was fun and unique, and i could make myself ignore the bad parts and focus on the good and enjoy it for a while. But by the time the loki series came out? There wasnt even any of that anymore. No passion. No community. No love of art. No respect for the previous artists and their art, that the new makers were supposed to honour and continue. While ragnarok's morals of the story could be a little iffy at times (attempting to critique colonialism/imperialism, but falling flat because mocking loki for dismantling it; making jokes at points of the film where it was a little inappropriate), the loki series was straight up horrifying. Perhaps most noteably, fucking. GLORIFYING AND EXCUSING/SYMPATHIZING FASCISM??? and labeling genocide as a "necessary evil?" (though, once again, that was not the only immoral "moral" the series preached). Disgusting. And the MCU is pumping out way more films than starwars, and seem far deeper in the money-lust trenches too.

either way, both are suffering and both are bought by disney (and oddly, both keep giving more and more screentime to the fascist characters. but at least starwars isnt romanticizing it like the mcu is...)

and it hurts so much when something important to you is taken from you, and twisted, and ruined, and its mutilated corpse is hung up on string and paraded around as a puppet before your eyes, and burned into your mind even when you finally tear yourself away. And then swarms of people thinking your ridiculous for caring so much about something so unimportant, and others defending the very monstrosity that did this.

But its not ridiculous or silly or inferior to be attatched to a fictional character or fictional world or fictional story or whatever. They can provide comfort, and ways to explore and understand and even come to terms with yourself (or even others!) (and can be especially important coping mechanism for mentally ill people!). And art is a such an innately human thing, for us to express ourselves, and communal art (like film!) is a tradition across humanity and time!

And with the whole thing with people these days defending/denying what capitalism is doing to art, and denying the notion that art has any influence or effect on "real life"... why are these such absurd concept to you, that you liken to some crazy conspiracy theory? Are you really so blind as to not see it happening before you? Is the blindfold over your eyes really so soft it feels like nothing there? They say a bird who doesnt know its in a cage thinks its free. These people seem to think that drastic, unfair, unjust, immoral, inequal changes and systems are only things of the past. And often, the past doesnt feel real. Dinosaurs and the roman empire and some genocide in some faraway land in some faraway time can at times seem just as unreal as mythical creatures and stories. And even if such terrible things were to happen now, surely theyd be able to see it coming. But things like this dont change in an instant. They are gradual. Like boiling a frog. You dont notice. And even if things arent the worst they can be, and never become the worst they can be, they are still bad. Things arent required to be certified the worst of worst in order for change to be allowed to happen. The worst of the worst isnt even a thing.

Our art is being taken from us. We are being overworked and underpayed. Our whole lives are dictated by how "valuable" we are. Our environments are being polluted and decimated and our planet is becoming more and more inhospitable. Racism and queerphobia and ableism and more are taking lives. And none of those things are at the very worst they can be. They could all be much, much, much worse. But we shouldnt just sit around and be grateful its not worse and do nothing more, nor should we deny anything is wrong at all. If you had cancer youd want to do what you could to get better. If you If broke your leg youd do what you could to make it better. Even if you just accidentally cut your hand or finger while chopping vegetables, youd bandages it up. We always should try to make things better.

We deserve to have our art continue to be art. Just as we deserve all the much more pressing areas of our lives to be better too

Anyways, marvel and starwars really are two peas in a pod. And that pod is with other pods, and the plant those pods share is film. Or perhaps even art as a whole. The mcu and starwars are just really good examples of whats happening right now, because not only does it feel like perhaps its hitting them the most, but also because since they are such large franchises, you can really see and document the progression of whats happening with each instalment.

two peas in a pod :( <3

[zanysmurf]

2!!!

2. Of all existing smurfs media (comics, cartoons, movies, etc), which do you consider to be your favorite?

when getting into smurfs, the 80s show became like. tremendously important to me. i was having so much fun getting attached to the characters and the world. it was also something i could put on when i was anxious or having a bad time. it's the longest show i have EVER watched in its entirety. even though i started in 2017, i didn't actually finish it until like. 2020? because i was not ready to have no more new episodes to watch / for the fixation to die

it has a lot of flaws given the era (ie. racism, misogyny), its production along with peyo and hanna barbera's relationship was a huge mess, the first season or so looks very crude at points, the occasional moral lessons were not always great for kids or executed well, you could argue about what era of the show was the best, the list could go on. but the voice actors had a lot of fun working together on it. lucille bliss had a smurfette / smurfs collection she held onto until she passed. director gerard baldwin pushed for the use of classical music and for the show to be more comic-like and it was all a tough battle with the execs. regardless of creative conflicts, there were people working on it who cared. there's a reason why the show got so big to begin with. it's all very endearing to me, and even the bad stuff can be really interesting to learn and talk about

the show made me laugh a lot. i love the relationships and personalities that aren't (or barely) present in the comics. there's a bunch of things from the show i wish got carried into other smurfs media and used consistently. pointing out reused animation and bad backgrounds and such is a lot of fun. the show isn't something every smurfs fan has to enjoy, i definitely understand any criticisms, if the voices are grating, etc. but for me it's like. so home-y and close to my heart. i love you smurfs 1981

in conclusion

[anamericangirl]

What’s your opinion on white washing and black washing? I personally think they’re just awful. Not only does it involve replacing an already existing character with a completely new one that just has the name slapped on top, but it’s so lazy. You’d think us mixed and black people would be more offended, but for some reason so many seem to think it’s great representation.

Tiana is Disney’s most popular black princess, and she and her prince were frogs for most of the movie. Cinderella works hard like Tiana and the moment she gets a prince? She lives the high life. Tiana? Gotta stay in that ghetto struggle.

Tinker bell? They already have a black one. Her name is Iridessa and they should’ve given the girl her own movie if they wanted to do more representation.

That new tmnt movie? They made April O’Neil a fat, ugly, black woman. That other tv show of it isn’t any better for it; she’s not ugly but she’s certainly not April. Some people even try to lie and say that April was always originally black but that was disproved by the creators.

Even the new spiderverse movie coming out has done it. They took a white pregnant spider woman (already a bad idea) and made her black for whatever reason.

I’ve noticed that they seem to be especially replacing red head/ginger characters with black people.

The only movie I can think up of off the top of my head that did this properly is Spiderman homecoming. Mary Jane Watson, a white ginger, becomes Michelle Jones Watson, a mixed woman. They didn’t try to say that this was the same Mary Jane that everyone is used to.

I’ve definitely missed a bunch more but these are just the few I can think of.

I’m not saying people shouldn’t be creative with already existing mediums, I would just like it if movie studios respected the source material more.

I totally agree with you. It’s unnecessary and it’s lazy to race swap established beloved characters just to get woke points. And it’s worse that they’re getting them, too. People should be holding them to higher standards.

We don’t need remakes just so you can change the look of classic characters we all know and love for shallow political reasons. Give us original content and use whatever race you want to tell the story.

And in my opinion it’s kind of insulting to the people they’re trying to please, too. Like “look we made this character not white this time around! Aren’t you so proud of us? Aren’t we heroes?” It’s pathetic.

And I don’t know why it’s always the redheads they’re swapping either but there’s definitely something going on there.

It’s clear there is no respect for the original stories and they have to be “fixed” because they’re not “progressive” enough.

I don’t even spend time watching things that aren’t original stories because every time they do something just to race swap the whole movie/show sucks.

[spinningbuster98]

 Castlevania (NES) Part 1

Good Eeeeeeveniiiiiing...

Anyone who knows the story of this game raise your hand!

If you answer “It’s Simon Belmont VS Dracula” you only get half a cookie

If you answer “It’s a big homage to classic horror” you also only get half a cookie!

Yeah sure this game’s story is fundementally basic as was usual for games at the time and the early days of the series were indeed big on homaging classic Hammer Horror flicks

But I honestly find both descriptions to not do the game justice

Nowadays you often get people who say that “8-bit games have no story”, and while often these kinds of folks say this because they’ve never actually played said games other times these kinds of assertions actually come from long time fans, sometimes by people who even grew up with these kinds of games since they came out!

And I think the main reason, outside of the fact that these games often didn’t really have any on-screen narrative, is that manuals back then failed to properly convey tha game’s lore and story...or rather the overseas manuals

If you think that Classic Castlevania games have very little to no story and were little more than an excuse for the developers to cram in a bunch of old horror monsters then you’re only half right and you get to sit in the same corner as the same people who say that Classic Sonic games had no story

But I can’t fully blame people: the International manual for this game really tells you nothing about what’s going on here, mostly just making a bunch of horror-themed puns

Now the original Japanese Manual on the other hand... talk about night and day!

Not only is it way more stylized it also:

1) Gives you some general context as to how Dracula resurrected and how it’s a recurring event while also establishing that Dracula gets regularily resurrected by evil people who wish for destruction

2) Establishes Simon as the last heir to a family of vampire hunters who have been battling the count for a long time, even mentioning a certain Christopher: who is that? Apparently Simon’s ancestor who put Dracula in his grave last time. Did they have to mention this? No it wasn’t necessary but it helps sell the idea that this is a war that’s been going on for some time and that Simon has some big shoes to fill. Not to mention that we will see Christopher in a future travesty game

3) It even mentions how the Belmonts’ whip isn’t just any ordinary whip nor is it just some generic “Magic Whip”, it has “mysterious powers”. Hmmm intriguing...I wonder what its origins are...?

This is all stuff that future games will not only reference but also build upon: how many games feature Belmonts talking about how its their destiny to defeat Dracula? How many games will focus on the Whip’s otherworldly abilities? Dracula’s line from SOTN about how “he was called here by humans who wished to pay him tribute”? The one that’s been memed to Hell? That idea was already present all the way back to the very first game!

I’m not saying that the developers already had a clear vision of how the series would turn out as a whole, hell no! But evidently they did have A narrative vision, as limited in scope as it was given the limitations they were dealing with, so I think that boiling this down to simply “Haha 8 bit sprites on the screen!” or “It was just a love latter to old Hammer Movies, nothing more. Unlike those future games that added a needless story ugh!” (though future games will definitely have plenty of narrative hiccups make no mistake I have my share of issues) is pretty disrespectful

[filmnoirfoundation]

FNF prez Eddie Muller responds to film noir fan questions fielded by the Foundation's Director of Communications Anne Hockens. In this episode, we discuss, A WOMAN’S FACE, DECEPTION, CRY VENGEANCE, proto-noirs, the prevalence of the amnesia trope in film noir, and more. We wind with a discussion of film noir posters. Sorry folks, no cats this week.  

Want your question answered in a future episode? We solicit questions from our email subscribers in our monthly newsletters. Sign up for free at https://www.filmnoirfoundation.org/signup.html

Everyone who signs up on our email list and contributes $20 or more to the Film Noir Foundation receives the digital version of NOIR CITY Magazine for a year. Donate here: https://www.filmnoirfoundation.org/contribute.html

This week’s questions:

When you do Grand Lake intro and outro shoots, what kind of crew do you have or is it self-inflicted? Jay and Connie, Ann Arbor

I have heard you mention several times on your show that were plans to make a film version of Dashiell Hammett's book RED HARVEST. But you also added that this film was never made for various reasons. Does a screenplay of that film exist and can it be purchased? Loren, Chicago

Can you think of an actor/actress with a noir performance that surprised you given the films or TV you had seen them in before? Ryan from Rhode Island

 It seems that many classic noir actors and actresses were able to parlay their fame into popular TV series in the 1950s and '60's.  Do either of you have a favorite TV show in that regard? Joe, Redondo Beach CA

Before film noir became a thing in the 1940s, there were other films that had strong noir elements, either in style or content or both. What are some of the best and/or most influential proto-noirs? Kathleen from Chicago

I just recently saw A WOMAN'S FACE. I thought it was excellent and Ms. Crawford was superb in the role of Anna Holm.  Eddie, would you consider it a film noir and if so, would you consider showing it on NOIR ALLEY? Richard, New York

I just watched DECEPTION (1946) for the first time. What an amazing film with the main performances by Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, but especially from Claude Rains. I wanted to know your thoughts on the film, but especially the ending. For me, it was a total letdown. Marty, Fond du Lac, WI 

What are your favorite noir movies that use amnesia as a major plot device? Why did it become so popular? Ciao, Andy

After reading Sharon Knolle's article "Hard Luck Dogs: How Animals Reveal The Tender Heart of Noir" in Noir City issue 17. One of my favorite dog cameos is a dachshund that wanders into a shot and appears to be begging the camera operator for a snack in CRY VENGEANCE. I was wondering if you might have some insights or thoughts on this fun noir film.  Any info would be greatly appreciated. James in Atlanta

Film noir movie posters are great to look at. All the ones I’ve come across seem to have pulp influences.  What started that? Was it pulp paperbacks or magazines? We’re all noir movie posters of the time (40’s and 50’s) generally the same in this regard or were there any more subtle styles? Eddie: I remember you mentioning that you purchased a bunch of old movie posters. Which turned out to be your favorite? Steve in Exeter New Hampshire

[kakusu-shipping]

A bunch of Mario Family headcanons:

Because I think a very normal amount about the larger Mario family and very very very much want The Super Mario Brothers Super Show Reboot all about them

G-Poppy and his wife moved to American from Italy in their 20′s, making Mario and Luigi third generation immigrants

G-Poppy’s dream was to own and run an authentic Italian a Restaurant in America, but after the birth of his oldest son, Pio, the need for quick cash to pay rent was more pressing, thus why he got into Boxing

Papa Mario’s full name is Pio Mario Jr, he’s named after G-Poppy

Pio is a good 5-6 years older than his younger brothers, Arthur and Tony, who are only a year apart at most

Sense bills were tight, Pio spent a lot of his childhood being another income to the house hold, working hard labor work like construction to keep the family afloat while his brothers were young

Eventually G-Poppy got too old for wrestling and finally realized his dream of opening a Restaurant; Punch-Out Pizza. This put the family in more financial struggle, forcing Pio to take up more work while Arthur and Tony helped in the Restaurant

Now that G-Poppy is retired Arthur and Tony run the business together. Arthur’s the finance guy, where Tony runs deliveries and hands on manages other employees

It was actually their Grandmother who made Mario and Luigi’s caps for them, she’s also made G-Poppy’s. She passed before Louisiana was born, thus why she couldn’t make her a cap as well

Tony’s a huge horror movie buff, he loves old classics and has a huge VHS collection. Part of the reason Luigi is so scared of the paranormal is from catching glimpses or watching whole movies with Uncle Tony growing up

Another big part of Luigi’s fear though may just come from Uncle Tony loving to scare him. A big pass time for Tony was waiting around corners in Halloween masks to jump scare Luigi, or telling him ghost stories any change he got

Mario also got a bad fear from Uncle Tony’s movies; Pianos. He’d just happened to catch a pretty nasty scene of the lid of a Grand Piano crushing someone when he was younger and it stuck with him pretty hard

Louisiana is about 11-12 years younger than Mario and Luigi, so despite being cousins the three have a hard time relating to one another from the large age gap

Louisiana prefers to go by Louise, though only Mario and Luigi call her that. She was also the first one in the family to use the “Lou” nickname for Luigi, which Mario quickly also picked up

Arthur loves baseball, the Mets especially, but really he’ll watch any team play. He regrets not being on his school’s baseball team when he was younger, due to having to help at the restaurant, thus why he signed his daughter Louisiana up as soon as she was old enough. She’s stuck with it to keep her dad happy

Mia makes 90% of the meals in the Mario household, with the occasional help from Arthur. She learned most her dishes from her own mom, and a good deal more from Pio’s mother after marrying into the family

Marie is absolute rubbish in the kitchen. Mia’s given her multiple lessons and had her help with dinner many times around when she was expecting Louisiana, but she rarely made anything edible. The only one who ate her meals was Arthur, who just wanted to support his wife with all he had, even if it made him ill (which it did. Many times. Tony made fun of him for it)

Tony loves to work on machinery, mostly motorcycles, and has bounced around working part time as a mechanic here and there before his duties at the restaurant drag him back

Pio, Tony, and Mario are the only ones in the Mario family with a drivers license, though Tony was the only one who drove regularly until Mario bought the van

The Mario family owns 4 gaming devices; The Brother’s NES that they bought with their saved up chore money in Middle School, a Wii Marie and Mia do Wii Fit on in the living room, Uncle Tony’s PS2 that’s mostly collecting dust, and the Home Computer that Louise plays Roblox and Minecraft on

The Mario family apartment has 3 bedrooms; Pio and Mia’s, Arthur Marie and Louise’s, and Mario and Luigi’s. G-Poppy sleeps on a chair in the living room, and Tony sleeps on the couch

Louise has already called dibs on Mario and Luigi’s room when they move out, Tony says he prefers the couch anyway so he doesn’t mind

Pio pushes a lot of his own raising onto Mario, as the oldest he thinks Mario should be responsible, a support for the family, not chasing his own crazy dream that could crash down onto them into debt

On the flip side, Arthur puts a lot of what he wanted for himself onto Louisiana, pushing her to do new things and plays sports and do after school activities like he never got to do having to work in the Restaurant growing up

Tony’s the only one he sees this happening, and thus has stayed the fun uncle who’ll get you out of that thing you don’t want to do if asked. He’s listened to a lot of vents from the kids as he drives them from one activity to the next, and tries to remind them their parents are doing their best, and love them a lot. For everyone but Luigi that reminder fell on deaf ears

[obamousse]

Akagi is the most gossipy teacher, always knowing and distributing the juiciest of high school drama. He is loved in his school for his fun and humor, vibing with his students. Kids are lucky to be in class with him, since he knows who is having a crush on who - guaranteeing to group them in projects and activities, celebrities, memes, and trends. He's been in the school for a long time, but when he joined, he was met with awkward nonchalance and shyness from his students and colleagues. However, they opened up - since Akagi makes sure his students have good class parties and help them with any issues related to physical or mental health.

People think he isn't strict, BUT HE IS. He would make you run 50 laps around the school during PE, and when students complain, say "That's what I used to do in PE too. Run. Don't talk." It's worse when you're on the volleyball team he coaches for. That's why some kids don't like him, complaining about how strict and demanding he is.

He always show his homeroom class Ratatouille every Friday, so they call him the "Ratatouille teacher". Some even joked he looked like Remy. Even though the class complains about showing it to them all the time or requests a different movie, Akagi tells them Ratatouille is a classic that should be watched many times (it's his fav childhood movie).

He also likes and likes to make corny jokes, is the shortest but strongest teacher, and drinks energy drinks and protein shakes instead of coffee. He acts really funny drinking energy drinks - some students sometimes have a good snicker out of that - running around and being jittery, talking fast, being too excited. He also has a low alcohol tolerance, but no one needs to know. His desk only has cans of energy drinks, a computer, posters of Japanese volleyball players on the national team. Not even a pencil. His classroom is bare - he doesn't like putting too much time to it since he prefers being outside and being outside's his job anyway. He only writes using a pen he carries in his shirt pocket. He always wear his jacket without putting arms in sleeve, a habit he acquired from Kita because he thought it was cool. He always had female students doing errands for the men's volleyball team, such as going through lists, handing out drinks and preparing materials - they just want to complete community service hours, and working with Akagi-san is the best option.

He doesn't eat much - his to-go lunch is salad bought from a western restaurant down the road. However, he has a BUNCH of spices in his spice rackets at home that he inherited from his ma, some of which he doesn't know the name of and all of which he wondered when he is going to use.

He doesn't forget his high school team. In fact, he stays in Hyogo, as he had been doing his whole life, so meeting acquaintances happens everyday. And it's easier to meet up for high school reunion too. He thinks it's really important - team morale, unity and loyalty and all. He doesn't use his phone much, except to check for weather. He likes wearing black short shorts and a white tee, and a cheap but cool black leather jacket with a golden volleyball embroidered on it. He doesn't mind the sun. He owns a small kitchenette at home - that's enough for his needs. He's kinda bland at cooking tho, only blanched vegetables and fried rice. He would eat up anything tho, especially food by Kita since it's traditional Japanese food and rice-based. Rice is his favorite food he says, and he'll eat anything with it. Nothing can go wrong with traditional Japanese rice dishes for a warm fulfilling meal. He knows how to eat well, how to take care of himself, how to appreciate traditional foods and find flavor in it. Oh, and he also likes chicken. Any kind of chicken, really, he says. But KFC and fast food is his vice and guilty pleasure - ironic given he is a high school coach and PE teacher.

He has few to store on his computer tho - he doesn't do much with them. Except now and then he visits the internet. His school supplies are sometimes crappy, so he has to call students to fix the projector and computer because they're more tech savvy than him.

He lives in a small apartment condo by himself with one room, a wall-mounted table with stools looking at the balcony, a small kitchenette. His mom visits his place from time to time - he's her favorite son, and she insists on cooking for him no matter how much he refuses. She's stubborn, but a loving stay-at-home mom. He's the eldest in his family, and little siblings always visit him for weekly family reunions, where they all have to take care of their mom.

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | The Killer (Woo, 1989)

I usually opt to watch classic Hong Kong action films in their original language whenever possible, but this time around I opted for the English dub, mostly because I'd seen the movie a bunch of times before and I thought it would be fun to hear all the samples used in Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, where excerpts from this film are used to create the album's emotional landscape, a gesture that John Woo was apparently moved by. English dubs of foreign films are not always the most graceful, but in this case, I think the bluntness of the English dialogue actually works because of the strength of feeling that runs through this. Emotion bursts out of this movie like an arterial wound, like a body flying through the air, like a dove taking off in flight, like a bullet from a gun. John Woo has a handful of movies that are credible contenders for the greatest action movies of all time. Which one is my favourite changes on any given day, but this one feels the most purely cinematic.

Woo is an admirer of Jean-Pierre Melville, whose Le Samourai arguably provides the inspiration for this movie. On a surface level, the movies couldn't be more different. Melville is a minimalist. Woo is a maximalist. Melville wrings suspense from stillness and patience. Woo gets his impact from movement, both of the camera and what he puts in front of it. Melville composes his frames with the precision of an architectural drawing. One imagines him bringing out his mathematical instruments to map out the clean and rigid lines. Woo creates his images like acts of violence. One imagines him throwing paint onto the canvas.

But like the heroes of Woo's film, they are perhaps not so far apart. Both films are about heroes conducting themselves with honour in unfavourable circumstances, Melville's sentiments informed by his experience in WWII, and Woo's informed by the political context of pre-handover Hong Kong. One imagines Woo doing like Danny Lee, putting on music and sitting in a chair until he achieved emotional oneness with Melville through the power of montage.

"I wish I could have a friend like you." "You will. In the next life."

(A final note: I do find it interesting that in a movie that gets so much of its impact from its use of colour that Chow Yun-Fat spends much of it wearing earth tones. I suspect Woo chose his wardrobe to recede in contrast, so that Chow's emoting would stand out even more.)

[oddygaul]

I Watched Three Time Loop Movies in a Row

Round and Round

I mean, it’s wild that Vic Michaelis is the star of a Hallmark movie, right? My partner and I had to watch it.

yes, they really do just let her do Vic Michaelis stuff the whole movie, it’s quite good

Round and Round almost immediately breaks what I consider a rule of time loop movies: establish building block events ASAP. These are the bread and butter of your time loop - a strong visual series of repeating events that reinforce the existence of the loop, establish reference points so the viewer knows what part of the loop we’re in at any given moment, and provide opportunities for the time loopee to demonstrate their learned mastery of the world around them.

This… doesn’t really do that? We have Rachel dropping the donuts, yeah, but then… I dunno, the curtains catch fire at the very end, I guess? Outside of that, things happen differently enough each loop it may as well be a sequential narrative. They use that time pretty well - the movie feels like it has more fresh interactions with non-looped characters than average - but this trope is a trope because it’s innately satisfying to watch, and it feels weird to just skip it.

My favorite thing about Round and Round is that when the time loop concludes, the male lead’s memories of each loop are restored, meaning the couple, in the end, have fallen in love on more or less equal footing. Time loop media is often about falling in love, but the way it’s usually only happening to one half of the couple presents an inherently creepy power dynamic. It was nice to see deliberate steps taken to rectify that flaw of the genre.

Palm Springs

Palm Springs fuckin rules. I’m not someone that rewatches movies often - I don’t know why, my brain is weird about it - and yet, I’ve watched Palm Springs at least four times now. It’s just rock-solid start to finish. The premise of starting after the protagonist has already been stuck in the loop for ages is great, the way they examine what that would do to someone is great, the acting is great, it’s funny as hell… I love it.

Unlike Round and Round, this movie goes for all the Time Loop Classics and knocks them out of the park. Repeating events? We got em: “that’s a good leg”, the jump into the pool, the wedding speech, etc. On top of that, though, Palm Springs introduces a unique twist - the time loop has multiple people stuck in it simultaneously. This immediately changes the tone of the movie - rather than the grinding, solipsistic loneliness that typically defines being stuck in a time loop, it’s about people coping differently, and the friction that creates. It also gives the ability to see how different people cope with the situation.

And the different approaches are great - Nyles’ nihilism, Sarah’s drive to move forward, Roy’s wanton violence and eventual zen. Some special attention to Roy, by the way, because what a great subplot - it lampoons the way some time loop protagonists immediately lose all sense of morality* and commit depraved acts because they know there’s no consequences, never stops being funny, and still ends up being poignant when all’s said and done.

*see: fuckin Groundhog Day, apparently

can we really do this, Sandy?

Meanwhile, Nyles and Sarah get to have their time loop fun in more wholesome ways - they really explore the space here and come up with a bunch of fun scenarios that usually are more centered on their joy, even if they are a bit at the expense of the non-looped folks.

Palm Springs also nails home a really interesting theme I’m surprised I haven’t encountered more in this genre - that you can’t change the past. No matter how much you as a person change during the loop, no matter how differently you do things that day, you can’t change what you did even one day earlier, even if it feels like years ago subjectively. In other time loop movies, the protagonist often succeeds in changing their whole outlook on life - from everyone else’s point of view, they woke up as a changed person and lived happily ever after. Palm Springs acknowledges that even if you change inside, the perception of you that exists in the minds of others can’t be changed in a day - and yet, that's no reason to quit.

Groundhog Day

We decided to finish off our time loop binge with Groundhog Day, since neither of us had seen it and it’s pretty foundational.

Well, it’s foundational alright, but woof.

I know this was the era for it, but BOY they do not stop with the sexual harassment in this movie. I mean, Phil being an asshole is the premise of the movie, sure, but there’s only so much aggressive verbal non-consent you can watch. Particularly after watching two modern time loop movies that took a lot of care in balancing their romantic relationships, it was jarring and creepy. A lot of the ‘comedy’ is based around it, too, so laughs were surprisingly hard to come by in Groundhog Day.

Also, it’s wild how quickly Phil goes off the deep end - my man is already committing wildly hazardous acts and putting innocent people’s lives at risk on loop THREE. Bro’s not even a week in, and he’s already ready to throw lives away? Clearly he was in a pretty bad place to begin with. It was a big contrast having just watched Palm Springs - some of the characters do some pretty debauched things there, sure, but that’s after the characters had been stuck for decades in the loop. Phil, meanwhile, wakes up on day 3 and chooses violence.

I guess it’s good to know where the modern American time loop movie all came from, though. It seems to inform some of the thematic focus of the other two we watched, honestly - why focus so much on consent in a time loop romance, or the value of a life amidst a world clouded by nihilism, respectively? Probably because the writers grew up watching something so unbothered with either.

Conclusion

So after three of these, it feels like I should have some deep thematic conclusion on what time loop movies say about the human condition, right?

Nope!

[diamondnokouzai]

so heres my zhaozhao list

her bad poetry im sorry wu meiniang but maybe you should leave the verses to the scholars you can just handle the versus

mount pussy come on. pretty classic.

said she was descended from the mom of the guy who her husbands said THEY were descended from so house li of tang (taizong & gaozong) claimed to be descended from laozi. founder of daoism (THE religion in china at the time). and wu jiejie said "awww thats so sweet :) im descended from laozi's mom. btw. who had no parents. and laozi didnt have a dad either. sooooooooooooo"

everything about the feng/shan rites how she shouldered her way into the first one. how it was her idea. how she kept doing it. mwah.

the wu family dysfunction no one is tormenting children and stepchildren and nieces and nephews and grandchildren and stepgrandchildren and stepnieces and stepnephews quite like her (note: this includes the li xians, everything wrong with ruizong, the marriages for her stepdaughters, and all the kids she birthed and later killed)

slut gate incident so in chinese palaces the north gate was for consorts. one time wu jiejies boytoy came in through the wrong gate and got into a snit with an official who wu jiejie liked. so she told her boytoy to come through the slut gate.

single best reply to hate mail so there were a bunch of rebellions that wu jiejie quelled. and this one dude wrote this righteous pamphlet about why the whole kingdom should rebel against wu jiejie. and wu jiejie was like "HOW THE HELL COME WE HAVEN'T HIRED THIS DUDE YET?"

horse speech so the first time wu jiejie talked to her husband emperor taizong (like, 40 years older than her, she was ~13) her hubby was like "and do any of my idiot wives know how to tame a horse?" [being sarcastic bc taizong was a misogynist bc it was 7th century china] and wu jiejie was like "first i whip it with a whip. then i brain it with an iron hammer. then i slit its throat with a silver knife." and taizong was like "noted noted! take five steps away from me please"

danganronpa execution of empress yang and pure consort xiao kinda dark. the action movie oneliner doesnt help

seized the throne from two of her kids first kid was like "arent i the emperor? id give the kingdom to my father-in-law and you fucks couldnt do shitfuck about it" and she was like "but your mom can :)" second kid was just kind of a loser who only disagreed with his mom once ever and luckily won.

moving the capital because she was so scared of ghosts & cats maybe you shouldnt have killed those two chicks so violently. and then never expressed any regrets about killing those two chicks so violently.

sharing a boytoy with her daughter this is the healthiest family relationship wu zetian was ever involved in

married her stepson, made a sex pun on their first meeting so remember wu jiejie was like 13 when she married taizong. her stepson (gaozong) was 9 at the time of the wedding. and also the sex pun came about because gaozong accidentally pissed on his future wife a little bit. chinese history is fun.

granny sex so much granny sex but wu jiejie too much granny sex makes the people discontent. seriously if you'd given your boytoys like, three fewer personal buildings apiece everyone wouldve been happy

shangguan wan'er so wu jiejie murdered wan'er's granddad. and gave wan'er a scar. and never apologized. but did call wan'er her favorite poet at court! #feminismwin #womensupportingwomen

escaping the buddhist temple so after taizong died wu jiejie was supposed to live out the rest of her existence in a shitty buddhist monastery with a shaved head. she did not. she didnt even shave her head if legends are to be believed. she didnt doubt herself for a minute.

pretended a new mountain showed up one day as a felicitous signal from the heavens self-explanatory

sentenced a sect of heterodox/lesbian orgy having/food orgy having buddhist nuns to death self-explanatory

was bffs with some old dude who had a bunch of supernatural court drama stories written about him seriously she loved di gongjue. like i think this was her latent daddy issues coming out honestly.

had passive aggressive lunches with her shittiest kid after said kid finally dethroned her until she died six months after losing the throne so honestly im using my imagination for this one. imagine. your mom has dethroned you once, and you never disagreed with her ever in your whole life because your mom is kind of mean and definitely killed your big brother. and then the first time you disagree with her you were 110% actually trying to back out of it but you got tricked into rebelling against your mommy (at age, like, 40) and then you kicked her out of the palace but kept having lunch with her. and also your wife is basically your mom and keeps telling you what to do. and youre still having lunch with your definitely abusive mom. hoo boy.

so yeah thats basically my top twenty wu-jiejie moments click like and dont forget to hit subscribe and the bell notification icon to get more of my medieval china thoughts