#but //omit// the lines that are about you before posting it. that’s pretty out there Ik Ik

[bunny-extract]

Y’all are going to hell if you post x reader and then describe them as white. TO HELL!!

[rederiss]

In today’s session of Rederiss Rambles, we will be talking about: Jeremy Knox

Buckle up guys, this will get sad. (This is your warning. If you have not read TGR, STOP NOW!!!)

Thesis: Jeremy Knox has a disassociating problem, and I will be shedding light on how this affects the narration, his views on himself, and his views with sex. (This is a very shitty thesis, but whatever. Im graduating soon, so i dont give a fuck)

Before we get going, I am not saying he has a disorder. I am specifically looking at disassociating as a form of coping and disconnecting from the world.

The very first time we, as the audience, may experience may experience a potential disassociating moment from Jeremy Knox is when his brother texts him, and he drops his phone into his coffee (Exhibit A below). I’ve only added these parts of the whole scene to show the full shift. Jeremy literally went from casually talking about the issue at hand to completely a whole different side of him. He starts feeling dread, reads the phone, then drops his phone into his coffee a moment later. He does not even move. Laila had to take the mug out of his hands and the whole scene feels as if everything becomes a fog. The tone Jeremy uses goes from focused to distant, and he’s not fully back until Laila presses a kiss on his temple. Now, we all know that he very much so needs that touch to anchor him…

But sometimes touch doesn’t always anchor him! Sometimes, he uses it as self harm, though he labels it as “rebellion.” Yes, we are now going to talk about his sex life becuase that is such a huge part of Jeremy. Has anyone noticed that Jeremy never details the sex? At first, I thought it was because Nora purposefully omitted those parts, but then after thinking on it, this is Jeremy. If Nora is omitting in Jeremy’s POV, it probably means we should focus on what is being omitted and how she details the omission… and yes you can detail omission. Jeremy Knox is notorious for omitting that we need to focus on it to know more.

For instance, a great example is when he saw the police and kept his eyes forward, trying to ignore the police. We all noticed this, of course. Jeremy was omitting information from us and framing it in away where he attempts to gloss over him doing that, but in reality, it’s a focus point. Why is he doing this? So, we need to really dig into his narration to have some understanding… it’s actually how I figured out he had a sex scandal before TGR came out (look, I made that post as half a joke, as a meme…)

OKAY, so let’s look at an example omission scene… Actually two and compare them now that we know we need to look at how he is framing these omitted information. If you compare both the Leo and Faser sex scenes, you’ll notice the same framing: Jeremy describes some foreplay then omits the entirety of the sex and describes how he leaves. It’s like he mentally goes in and out. We don’t even know that his neck gets bruised until much later. When we learn about the bruises, he passes it off pretty easily and quite literally says “he remembers…” and that it was “easy to ignore” which show some sign of dissociating/disconnecting.

At face value, we wouldn’t think much about Jeremy omitting those scenes, but when you compare them and then add in the “Jeremy remembered Faster’s bruising grip” we get to see a more clear picture. We all know that Jeremy is using sex as self harm, but he also uses it to disconnect from what he doesn’t want to face. Him dissociating during sex is very harmful, which we see with Faser. He remembered, but he ignored since he was more focused on the pleasure (we see this in the next line, I purposely didn’t include).

What I am trying to say is we don’t get details… because Jeremy may just completely disconnect and allow himself to fall into sex. With the extreme that he does this, he no longer uses sex to cope, he uses it to harm himself.

There is one more that I wanted to discuss, that I think is a missed sign of Jeremy having a problem with disociating…

Did not want to add the full scene because it is a couple pages long, but this is the most relevant part. Though I do suggest rereading how this part is framed. Jeremy and Jean are talking, then Jean gave him a reassurance, causing Jeremy to immediately go into a full LONG paragraph about his family’s lackadaisical care for Jeremy/how they view him and how Jean views Jeremy (which Jeremy mischaracterizes). We get this in Jeremy’s POV so it may not have seemed like he became disconnected, but then the above ^^ happened where Jean brought him back.

Jean saying “You go away when you go home” shows how much Jeremy does disconnect, and it’s framed as a coping mechanism… but then the sexual encounters becomes so extreme that it becomes unhealthy, so therefore his coping mechanism is unhealthy. Jeremy needs touch to feel grounded, which is why he uses sex, but it’s now going so far that he’s completely disconnecting and causes himself harm.

[karasukarei]

Wind Breaker DVD/BR Vol. 6 bonus content – Boufuurin Vs Shishitoren Maruhi ㊙ Talk and Battle - Part 1

This is the translation of the vol. 6 bonus with the DVD/Bluray! I did not buy it for the bonus. I did buy it because Umemiya is featured on the cover. I have my priorities right.

There's 3 (4?) main parts to this - (1) Boufuurin x Shishitoren talk, (2) Hiiragi x Sako talk + (3) battle, (4) Boufuurin x Shishitoren battle. The battles are kinda hard to understand without the video, so I'll leave that aside for now and focus on just the talks.

As these are more like talk shows, there's quite a few areas where multiple people are talking over each other; in such instances, I will be omitting some of the stuff being said if it's repetitions or if they do not add on to the main stuff being spoken.

Important: A lot of what NakaYuu says will seem very cold/ indifferent on paper, and unfortunately this is one of those things that get lost in translation. In context, he's actually playing the deadpan fool like his pal Sugitan.

For the rest of my translations, see this post!

Boufuurin x Shishitoren talk

Sakura (CV: Uchida Yuuma - Yuuma)

Umemiya (CV: Nakamura Yuuichi - NakaYuu)

Choji (CV: Totani Toya Kikunosuke - Toya) (t/n: there's this running gag that has an origin I'm unaware of, apparently some people read his name wrongly and called him Totani instead and I admit that for the longest time I really thought it was read as Totani. The 谷 in 戸谷 can be read as either "ya" or "tani", and both are pretty common readings, hence the confusion)

(if anyone wants to hear me ramble about multiple readings for names please DM me I will be so happy to go on this long shpiel about meeting 3 people with 3 different readings of the same character before)

Togame (CV: Umehara Yuuichirou - Umechan) (t/n: yes I'm here to confuse the heck out of you)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yuuma: Hello everyone! I'm the voice actor of Sakura Haruka for the television anime Wind Breaker, Uchida Yuuma!

NakaYuu: Umemiya Hajime's Nakamura Yuuichi! (t/n: he was drawling a lot here wwww)

Toya: Tomiyama Choji's Toya Kikunosuke! (t/n: he is really so cute I want to protecc) (I also cannot emphasise enough just how talented he is; he sounds NOTHING like Choji irl)

Umechan: Togame Jo's Umehara Yuuichiro, thanks for having me.

Everyone: Thanks for having us! (t/n: it's the usual yoroshiku onegaishimasu greeting and I can never figure out how to properly translate it)

Yuuma: Speaking of, to everyone who bought the anime package (i.e. the DVD or blu-ray), will be receiving this special bonus, ehhh. ~It's Wind Breaker~ (comes with sparkles too) everyone.

NakaYuu: That's right.

(everyone chuckles)

Toya: We've even worn these jackets!

NakaYuu: Why are you doing it? (t/n: LMAO)

*everyone laughs*

Umechan: On the other hand, *points at Yuuma and NakaYuu* you're here like this?

Toya: It feels different there. (t/n: this is not an entirely accurate translation, but i'm pretty tired today and don't feel like explaining now. What he said was 気合違いますよ which has a bit more nuance; I'll explain in an edit next time.)

Yuuma: This is my regular...

Umechan: Gakuran? (t/n: this is the style of school uniforms worn by Boufuurin)

NakaYuu: It's not that. *very seriously*

Toya: Yuuma-san's clothes actually of give off a bit of the feel of gakurans...

Yuuma: It's not a gakuran ^_^

***

Yuuma: With that, the four of us from Wind Breaker, Shishitouren and Boufuurin will have a talk with each other.

Everyone (i think): Yes!

Yuuma: It's been a while since we've recorded our lines, and I think there'll be lots of memories we'll be reminiscing upon, but in Wind Breaker, there's often talk of speaking with our fists; Nakamura-san and I first joined from the PV, it's been a while, hasn't it? (t/n: They're referring to a special video they recorded for an event in Shibuya in 2021)

NakaYuu: It's a while back, isn't it?

Yuuma: Around 2021, yes.

NakaYuu: About two years before the anime, I think.

Umechan: It's from before the anime?

NakaYuu: Yes yes yes, when you get to our level it's like that. (t/n: this is absolutely dripping in sarcasm fyi; NakaYuu can only get away with a joke like this cos he's the oldest here) You start getting involved even before the anime is announced.

Yuuma: As for the two of you (Shishitoren), you guys auditioned?

Umechan: Yes...

Toya: We auditioned and received our roles.

Yuuma: You two make a great combo, how was it like performing together?

Umechan: It's my first time working with Toya-kun.

Toya: Yes it is.

Umechan: It was really refreshing. The other cast members, I've met them quite often at other places, so I sort of know how things will turn out with them. It's only Toya-kun I don't know anything about.

Toya: For me, it's my first time meeting most of the cast members, I remember that during the first recording I was really really nervous.

Umechan: I didn't know how it would turn out, but he was very Tomiyama-ish.

Yuuma: That's the matching being done (t/n: this might be a mistranslation; he literally uses "matching" in katakana, I'm not sure if there's an alternative meaning I'm missing out.)

NakaYuu: There's difficulty in reading him. (i.e. in reading his character)

***

Yuuma: Next is the visual commentary part, where we watch the anime while giving comments on it. First up, is this match!

T/N: I'm going to skip some parts and summarise some parts, as it's going to be pretty much impossible to match the dialogue and scene one on one without video

Sakura vs Togame

When Umechan first recorded for Togame, he spoke so slowly he was surprised, and in the end that take was used for the anime. It got easier to speak slowly as he practiced more, but at first he had to make a conscious effort to go slow.

Togame's script also had a lot of markings at the end of words (e.g. dashes), to indicate that the words should be drawn out / spoken slowly.

While filming the fight scenes, they thought quite a lot about what to ad lib and how to draw breaths in between lines. They were told it wasn't necessary to do it for everything, but on the day of recording they decided that they did want to include the ad libs and breaths for the whole thing.

NakaYuu, at the point when Sakura is kicked by Togame with his geta on: Getting kicked by the geta looks bad. (t/n: NO SHIT SHERLOCK)

Umechan: I would've preferred him to wear sneakers, it can absorb the impact a bit.

Yuuma: The geta is really hard.

NakaYuu: Of course it is.

NakaYuu, at the point when Sakura's head is stomped on by Togame with his Geta: That looks bad.

Yuuma: He's a real beast!

Umechan: Everyone, this is fiction.

Yuuma: Please don't try the same thing at home.

Umechan, at the point when Togame took off his geta: If he hadn't taken off his geta, I think he would have won. (t/n: LMAO)

NakaYuu: This is a power down event.

Umechan: His reach is now one geta shorter.

NakaYuui: His reach and power have both dropped. But his grip is stronger now

Umechan: It would've been fine if he hadn't taken it off.

NakaYuu: It's probably cos it feels strange using a weapon when he wants to fight fair and square.

t/n: WHY ARE THEY FEEDING INTO EACH OTHER'S CHAOS

Everyone in turn, when Sakura and Togame kicked each other in the face: The geta. the geta!

Yuuma: It's a good thing he's not wearing the geta.

NakaYuu: If he was wearing the geta he would've won.

Yuuma: Togame is a really great guy, fighting for Choji's sake. Thanks for the great battle! Next is this battle!

TO BE CONTINUED

[hervygervy]

I heard that the bit in Ch 23 where Pit forgot his rally cry was different in Japanese, and that instead of forgetting he refused to say it for Hades. That and a few other differences in how Pit acted or what he said. I’d be really curious to see those! Also are there any other notable differences between Pit and Hades’ interactions throughout the game?

Thank you for the ask! Unfortunately I'm going to have to limit the scope of my response because I would actually like to do a whole post dedicated to Pit... I've been delaying on it purely because I have the silly fear that I won't be able to do it justice... but there's a lot I would like to talk about in terms of characterization differences. I think they're just as interesting as Dark Pit's differences, if not more so.

So today I'll mostly talk about the rallying cry... and a teensy bit of Hades at the end (I'll find a way to drag it out regardless, haha). Hope that's okay for now. Maybe I'll save more Hades-related content another day, I could probably make a whole post on chapter 23 or something...

But enough filler talk from me. Yes you're correct, in the English version, Pit forgets it, and in the Japanese version, he simply cuts himself off, but both versions are still pretty sarcastic. Take a listen:

And I shall translate...

Pit: Have I been shut in?! No no, there's no need to get flustered. At any rate, I shall focus on purging the enemies. Monsters nesting in Hades! Hear my voice! Omitting the rest! Nobody's listening, so I'm omitting it!

Hades: I'm listening, you know.

Pit: I said I'm omitting it, I'm omitting it!

I'm going to surmise that this change was made because the rallying cry is a bit more of a running gag in the Japanese version than it is in the English. In all of the instances where Pit makes those over the top speeches before a boss fight, the Japanese version always features the line 音にも聞け (oto ni mo kike) or "hear my voice" (literally "hear my sound" but I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be "voice" in this context). I've gathered all of said instances below:

The first time Pit decides to be showy is before the Pandora boss fight in chapter 5:

This cutscene is cute. I'm really glad he's having fun.

In the Japanese version, it's the first instance of what will become a running gag:

Maybe you didn't catch it, and that's fine, I doubt anyone reading has an ear for Japanese. Neither do I, admittedly. Yay for bad audio processing. So let me write it out because I like text too:

Pandora: So you've come.

Pit: Oh, you're here! You, evil one lurking in the void! Hear my voice! And cleanse your mind! I am the servant of the goddess of light, Pit! Here we meet!

Palutena: What was that?

So as you can hear, there's an evident connecting thread between this scene and the chapter 23 scene from earlier that doesn't really exist in the English version.

Phosphora's fight is the next occurrence:

In English, this and the Pandora moment do feel connected on a basic level, but I wouldn't say it readily feels connected to the pre-boss battle rallying cry in chapter 21. Once again, the Japanese version carries that extra connecting thread:

Did you catch it?

Phosphora: Welcome.

Pit: You, sword of Nachure! Hear my voice! And sharpen your claws! I am the servant of the goddess of light--ouch!

Obligatory reminder that Viridi is called "Narchure" in the Japanese version. Of course, this all comes to an apex with said chapter 21 moment.

I recognize this is a popular and well-liked moment, but it's always been a little too cheesy for me, lol. Super secret twin connection goes hard though. Love that for them.

It's still pretty cheesy in Japanese:

Here goes:

Viridi: This is probably the last one. It's the thirteenth wave!

Dark Pit: Then let's do this.

Pit: This?

Dark Pit: Demon pawns covering the land!

Pit: Hear our voices!

Dark Pit: And see our eyes!

Pit: I am the servant of the goddess of light, Pit!

Dark Pit: And I am the wings of freedom, Black Pit!

Both: Here we meet!

Dark Pit: Anyone who wants to die, step forward!

Pit: And we will shower you with more than enough blessings from the gods!

Both: Whoaaa!!

Viridi: Wh-what a combination! It looks fun... as expected, it seems you two are connected somewhere.

Mmm... I dunno if this is a creative liberty or not but I pluralized everything. There aren't really any plurals in Japanese. But for this context, I think that's the intention. Oh, and obligatory reminder that Dark Pit is called "Black Pit" in Japanese.

Anyway, I think you get the idea. There's more of a connecting thread between all these interactions in the Japanese version, whereas in the English version, there's only a substantial connection between the Pandora and Phosphora moments and the chapter 21 and 23 moments respectively. Because of that, it would make more sense that the chapter 23 moment diverges as it does. Or maybe I'm reading too deeply into all of this and the English script writers just thought the option they took was funnier and that's all there is to it. Anything is possible.

With that out of the way... I'll end this off by quickly addressing Hades. There honestly isn't much too different between their interactions... For instance, just like in the English version, Pit goes on high alert and shouts "Hades" every time Hades appears on the scene, and the conversation about the three year period in chapter 19 goes about the same. Hades is honestly very similar between versions. He's pretty much got the same characterization, bits, and mannerisms, complete with being sarcastic, flamboyant, overly informal, and never really taking anything seriously.

The most I could say is the conversations in chapter 23 go somewhat differently? I think I could make a whole post on it but in the English version, Pit seems to progressively lose his cool around Hades and falters during the discussion on eating souls and reincarnation. The Japanese version has him hold his ground a little more. Additionally, when Hades makes his comment on how all living things eat other living things, English Pit states that Hades should be above that as a god, while Japanese Pit seems pretty unsurprised at his comment and remarks how Hades "really is a transcendent being." Personally I find this curious because one version has Pit hold this slightly more positive perception of the gods whereas the other version has this more pragmatic perspective. But again, I could probably dedicate a post to this chapter because the differences, though subtle, are interesting enough.

There is one major difference between their interactions! You're probably familiar with it, to be honest. I've seen it get shared around. It's the beginning of their square off during the final level:

You remember it, right? It's an iconic moment you could say. But how could such a simple interaction possibly be different between the two versions? Well...

Did ya hear it? I'll translate anyway:

Hades: So you've come come, Pit!

Pit: Let's go, Hades!

Hades: Pit!

Pit: Hades!

Hades: Pit!

Pit: Hades!

Hades: Pit!!

Pit: Hade--choo!

Hades: Huh??

Pit: Ah, sorry, sorry. Anyway...

Both: Now it's game on! Rahh!!

So... yes, the difference here is they... changed who sneezes. This scene even comes with its own portrait not found in the English version!

Aww, it's cute...

This change is just so utterly bizarre that there are a number of theories as to why the scene was altered in the English version. One theory is that the way "Hades" is pronounced in Japanese more easily transitions into a sneezing sound to create a pun of sorts that can't be replicated in English, but personally I don't think that's the problem here. It just seems like too insignificant of a problem... could you really even call the Japanese line a pun?

Another theory proposes that it's a matter of the face fault. I talked about it in a previous post. You might have seen it in anime--it's the type of comedic scene wherein one character says something absurd and the listener falls over in an exaggerated response. It's like the evolution of the face palm moment. In this case, Hades is doing the face fault, hence the animation. Like I discussed in said previous post, it may have been changed due to the ultimate lack of this trope in western media. The animation could therefore easily be interpreted as a violent sneeze. It works out, in that regard.

I think the whole face fault thing is definitely part of the reason, considering I was able to make a whole post about how other instances of the face fault were altered, but personally I think that it also had to do with Pit himself. The goal of localization is to adapt something to make it appealing to a particular audience... in other words, accuracy isn't the goal. If it was, I wouldn't be making these posts, now would I? For the context of this game, part of that process was evidently altering how the protagonist, the face of the game, is portrayed.

Did you know the game had different box art between regions? Frankly I'm surprised I haven't covered it. It's the Kirby problem all over again... ironic considering this game's director, Masahiro Sakurai, also created Kirby. But my point is, I believe efforts were made to make Pit appear less "cutesy," for lack of a better word, in the English version. Or perhaps it's more like how Kirby is portrayed and the goal is to make the character seem more "cool" and "tough" despite their cutesy demeanor. One of the two. Maybe both. Regardless, Pit has some pretty interesting characterization deviations between versions, hence why I'd like to make a post about it someday... so, all this to say, my theory is that part of the reason for this change might be a result of this scene not really doing any favors in making Pit seem "cool."

I could talk all day about my wild theories but then we'd lose the plot here, wouldn't we? It looks like I'll have to address everything else in another post... stay tuned for whenever I get around to that lol.

As always, feel free to hit up my ask box if there's any particular facet of the game you'd like me to explore that I haven't already. Doesn't matter how big or small, I'll be happy to oblige. This has pretty much become my outlet to yap about the game, after all. I have to cope with hyperfixation somehow... I'm really grateful that these posts get the engagement they do. Thank you all for reading.

[fortheturnstiles]

hi kiki <3 of all my mutuals I think your opinion on a complete unknown is the one I care most about…so 🎤….?

OKAY here goes . [also thank you this ask made me smile.. you wanna hear from little ol me ? :o) hehe]

the gist is i didn't like it but i didn't really expect to like it very much so i don't really feel let down by it necessarily. I'm already really picky when it comes to biopics and i only tend to like the stuff that's either really outrageous (i.e. Ken Russell's Lizstomania, All that Jazz if that counts) or formally unconventional (i.e. I'm Not There) and the rest of the stuff that gets churned out of the major hollywood studios is a complete turn-off for me. I watched Walk the Line for the first time a few weeks ago because i thought hey why not see where this guy is coming from. and maybe being a fan of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story prior to ever seeing Walk the Line ruined it from me but it was maybe the corniest movie ever made, or at least could possibly make about johnny cash. which theoretically should be difficult. but not for mr james mangold. Beyond the general cheesiness of the whole thing i was left wanting a lot more about how Johnny Cash fit into a larger musical scene / moment that he was apart of and the history of country music coming out of nashville in tandem with rock n roll which was just not what that movie was going for at all unfortunately.

NOTE: SOME VAGUE SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE AHEAD IF YOU CARE ABOUT THAT SORT OF THING. medium length ramble incoming. if you want to read some slightly more concise thoughts from me on the movie here is the review i posted on letterboxd

All this is to say is i was going in with EXTREMELY LOW expectations. Other than I thought the performances would probably be really solid and they indeed were!!! Timmy was great i think he did an incredible job and his physicality and all of his mannerisms were very evocative and embodied as Bob. His voice was also pretty good and i like how his speaking voice became more unintelligible as the movie went on that made me smile. his mannerisms also changed and shifted as time went on throughout the movie which was a good choice imo since he starts out so young and malleable and then gets more jaded and hardened as becoming Famous often does to a guy. The musical performances were also better than I expected them to be but I have mixed feelings about them still.. i don't like that they chop a lot of the verses out of the songs to make them shorter. Within the movie itself the beats for a lot of the song sequences feel exactly the same and it got old very quickly, aside from the song to woody + hard rain's a-gonna fall + i'll keep it with mine scenes which i wholeheartedly enjoyed.

my main issue is i just think it makes absolutely zero sense to make such a bland and artistically unadventurous biopic about BOB FUCKING DYLAN. And i know that the timeline it takes place over is based on the book that was used as the source material but i think it ends right before stuff actually got interesting for him in terms of his turn away from acoustic folk music. and all that stuff is documented in Dont Look Back + No Direction Home so what reason do i have to watch this new movie then? i guess to see timmybob flirt with and kiss and proceed to fumble beautiful women ... most of the Strong negative feelings i have about this movie are due to the extremely flat characterizations of both sylvie(suze) and joan. I think both of their roles as creative and political/philosophical influences on Bob are minimized to the point of nearly nothingness. Sylvie does a bit of whipping bobby into shape and encouraging him to release an album of his original music but her political influence on him and his songwriting is understated or mostly to completely omitted. which bums me out. Bob and Joan's relationship is dramatized in a very strange way with them making it seem like they would have these Moments of Passion and randomly on and off just hooked up with each other and were also in the scene performing around and with each other etc but like. omits anything about bob and the baez family knowing each other . which maybe is a purposeful choice i guess maybe they didn't want to be involved but idk the whole thing makes the bob/joan relationship strung very thin and not very Involved when they certainly were Involved. to a degree. whatever i guess i dunno i think there is maybe an interesting movie that could be in there but wowwww was it just such a beat-for-beat rehash of Walk the line and all subsequent musician's-rise-to-fame biopics. and surprisingly very safe and not artistically or intellectually challenging piece of work for a man who was so famously strange and controversial and difficult to figure out that they make the climax of the movie about it. and it just goes by like a cloud of smoke . perhaps i have too much bias for the work of Todd Haynes but I truly just think I'm Not There is such a great movie about Bob Dylan the artist and the symbol/icon that there doesn't need to be anything else. and the documentary filmmaking about Bob Dylan the artist/symbol/icon as well as the Man (as much as he allowed it to be) that already exists is great. i feel so Old Man Yells at Cloud over how useless this movie is for me. I do hope that it works for some people, especially people who are new to Bob. If this can be a gateway to dylan for them that's beautiful and I am happy. but it didn't work for me

[tomwambsgans]

i'm ngl it's because i recently read fight club, But i'm thinking a lot lately about castration and the true/deepest implications of it irt nero and sporus and tom and greg. obviously we've got tom's line about greg being "castrated on pay" and some pretty solid analysis on that being a matter of tom keeping greg dependent on him, but tbh even with said meta posts...

like, i'm sorry, but it's a weak line. it feels just as strangely on the nose as shiv falling down the stairs, and in fact like a line that exists specifically to match shiv falling. it almost even seems like a last-minute rush to complete Following Up The Nero And Sporus Thing, like they did the first part and managed to get all the way to the last episode before realizing they'd forgotten to do the second thing, so they had to reach for anything they could relate castration to without having to film a new scene. this feels especially evident/likely in the fact that there is NO way greg's salary is actually getting docked to the degree that tom implied. it's markedly disappointing, too, in the way that setting it up with shiv literally falling down stairs had the audience looking forward to how the rest of the overt symbolism would play out. castration on pay was the most mundane and least expected possible conclusion, lol. and not at all on par with the literal fall. like if that is the castration we were actually waiting for the whole time...

it's also all overkill, for that matter, considering that the s3 finale fit "pushed his wife down the stairs and married sporus" thing perfectly fine and a perfect amount of vague. like tom ALREADY betrayed shiv, symbolically "killing" her, and had an ancient-roman-wedding-handshake agreement with greg about his soul. even tom and greg's initial dynamic in the final season often feels like that of a married couple. which begs the question: why have the stuff in s4 on top of that? it may very well be simply one of the many marks of s4's drop in quality, caused by a myriad of irl factors. or it could possibly be on purpose to specifically bring home something else about the nero and sporus story. maybe it's to reinforce the tomshiv divorce and also tom and greg's marriage after all the rapid shifts in dynamic. who knows.

but what i DO know is that i wanna get to the bottom (lol) of the castration symbolism/motif. so i'm gonna go through everything that could possibly inform the audience's interpretation.

i'll start with the least significant, which i believe is the reality of castration in ancient rome and in the circumstances around the irl nero and sporus. part of why this falls on the bottom rung is the fact that historical accounts of nero especially with sporus are hotly contested. another reason is that the story tom tells is one that not only omits many details in a technically misleading/recontextualizing way, but also adds details that are present in no known accounts.

so: WHY was sporus castrated? there are 2 main possibilities/reasons.

to maintain his youthful [and therefore feminine] beauty. the real sporus was most likely around 16 when nero had him castrated. and the practice of castration to preserve youth had precedence. basically, twinks were REALLY in. it's alleged that sporus may have already been more effeminate (and sexually attractive) than average. but it's also said that sporus bore an uncanny resemblance to poppaea, which nero chose him for specifically and wanted to maintain.

in order to marry him with legal/social sanction. ancient roman society, rather than being built upon the heterosexual, was more built upon the Top/generally masculine. Eunuch was a gender class/category essentially equivalent with Woman, which allowed sporus to specifically be nero's wife. this didn't mean that his marriage to sporus was necessarily seen as good and normal, only technically acceptable.

and i have a ways more to go with the analysis but i'm gonna say right here that i do not think the first reason bears any significance to tom and greg. firstly due to that there is no textual evidence that tom wants greg to be explicitly feminine, even compared to himself, and a LOT to the contrary. tom consistently invites greg to join him in performing masculinity and gaining power through it, case in point the "let's fight like chickens" scene that directly follows the nero and sporus story. secondly, sporus's possible resemblance to poppaea does not track to greg and shiv more than incidentally; greg being shiv's cousin doesn't directly earn tom anything. but more importantly, imo, is the fact that what would have made nero want sporus to look like poppaea is in direct contrast with both the story tom tells AND the way their arc plays out.

so NOW, to demonstrate this, let's look at the irl poppaea's death/murder, which happened during her second pregnancy. different historians (even those alive at the time) have different theories for how it went down. who knows how much truth they're based in, bc there's a clear heavy bias against nero, but they're all we have anyway and therefore all tom would have had. here they are:

nero kicked her in the stomach in a fit of rage, while she was fighting with him about how much time he spent at the races (main theory/rumor)

nero kicked her in the stomach in a casual outburst

nero "leapt upon her belly" either accidentally or on purpose

nero poisoned her (uncommon rumor, most likely bs)

she died through no fault of nero's at all, simply bc of complications with her pregnancy (this has the most evidence, and is believed by many modern historians)

you'll notice a complete lack of stairs-related death theories, and in fact a near total lack of Nero Purposefully Murdered Poppaea theories. the general idea is that nero deeply mourned poppaea's death (and was remorseful, if it was his own fault), and proceeded to replace her with sporus, even calling him by her name.

which feels like a good segue into the more significant story of nero and sporus to analyze: the one that TOM told.

Sporus was a young slave boy. He was Nero's favorite. And, uh... you know what Nero did to him? Well, Nero... pushed his wife... down the stairs. And then he had Sporus castrated and he married him instead. And he gave him a ring. And he made him dress up like his dead wife. ...I'd castrate you and marry you in a heartbeat.

without looking into the actual story, this would sound like nero murdering his wife in order to marry sporus. with bringing up sporus first, it even sounds like nero met sporus and started favoring him prior to killing poppaea. which is also overtly analogous to tom and greg's relationship arc.

despite what tom must have read in his book, and what one could very easily imagine him, a Wife Guy, latching onto in that book... tom isn't telling greg about the tragedy of an emperor who accidentally killed his wife and then had to replace her with a young boy. tom literally invents a method of death that there is NO preexisting source for. furthermore he chooses one that does not sound remotely unintentional. at best he keeps in line with themes that suggest a violent miscarriage. but he removes all notions of an accident. he turns it into an unambiguous, purposeful uxorcide.

so, since all notions of trying to keep sporus looking like poppaea are not only unfitting as potential parallels, but also utterly irrelevant to the version of events that tom tells, and since we know tom twists and omits many other details (like what happens just a year into their marriage) anyway... what reasons DOES tom have for bringing up castration in this story? here's the possibilities i can come up with:

to make it sound less overtly romantic through means of the bizarre. classic diversionary tactic. literally without the castration it would sound undeniably like he's just saying "i read about this ancient roman gay marriage. an emperor murdered his wife so that he could marry a boy. i would like to do that with you also :)"

to make it sound less gay, specifically, because of nero's power in the situation. this of course calls back to that second reason for the actual sporus to be castrated. it's not gay if i've made you a eunuch, greg.

to emphasize the cruelty on nero's end. tom often puts himself in the role of a villain, especially irt his behavior with greg. considering also that this whole scene follows tom talking about how he's going to prison (AND that the next time he calls greg sporus it's in the scripts before the diner scene, where he agrees to sacrifice himself and go down for greg), it would make sense for him to buffer this confession with the caveat of what a bad person he is, like express in SOME way how insane his feelings are and how terrible he knows it is that he feels this way about greg. tom is notoriously unable to make normal apologies either, so. it tracks.

i think all of these are true, and i'm sure most would agree. i'm also sure most who've read this far are in full agreement that tom fixated on the story of nero and sporus in particular because it was a gay relationship with just enough ambiguity that he's able to relate to it without panicking. hell, the "he gave him a ring" line alone doesn't even evoke an ancient roman marriage nearly as much as a modern american one. i can't find even any sources that specifically mention a ring from nero to sporus, so i imagine tom invented that as well.

BUT while i'm here i do still want to mention a couple other queer things about nero to drive home that it's not just incidental gayness but overt homosexual desire being portrayed, as well as to emphasize that second reason that the irl nero may have had to castrate sporus:

prior to knowing sporus, nero had a mock-wedding as part of festive role-reversals during saturnalia. in this wedding he took the role of a bride, marrying a different freedman.

this is apocryphal and practically historical fiction, and may also specifically be due to perceived deviancy in nero, but it's old enough (like 13th century) that it's lowkey in the nero "canon" that he had womb envy and was obsessed with being the one to get pregnant

okay so NOW... how does all this translate into the actual events demanded/foreshadowed/symbolized by this story? if pushing shiv down the stairs is the betrayal that keeps her from being able to block the gojo deal (but also shiv is shown to fall down a couple real stairs)... and marrying sporus is making the "deal with the devil" (AND the sticker on the forehead)... then what's the castration? what was the first, less on-the-nose-and-simultaneously-meaningless castration, at least?

my best answer is that it's tom getting greg to drop his brightstar buffalo plans and follow him instead. because if death is just corporate death, then your testicles/manhood is your independence. tom says you're a joke, you can't function on your own, you need me (i need you). he's insecure that greg will leave if he has the option to do so. fair enough.

......and yet i come back to my initial disappointment, because that is barely different than the pay castration. and it's redefining greg's symbolic testes to something that tom gave him in the first place, thus practically retconning the first castration. but if that's it, does shiv's literal fall also replace her kick out of the company? that would sure be stupid! is the point of rehashing the symbolism to be stupid? to have meaningless stuff follow up the more significant events? even if that was the case, wouldn't you at least be doing it to give a visual element to the symbols? if shiv gets actual stairs, WHERE are greg's actual balls? or ANY balls!!!! greg even started wearing grey suits which he hadn't done before (but shiv had), and got a "ring" in his final scene. where's the FUCKING balls, huh?????

(anyway)

occam's razor, i think, may be that the meaninglessness of the castration specifically is the point. tom's insecurity that greg will leave if he has the option to (that greg would never actually want him but only need him), has been present for basically the duration of the show. it's just a character trait, and thus doesn't even work as foreshadowing when that just means "he's gonna keep doing what he's been doing." then, take that second reason--the purely pragmatic, not based in heterosexual-adjacent desire reason--for nero to castrate sporus. aka the only reason that makes sense for the way tom spins the story.

(it's also a motivation that leaves room for not even actually doing it. sporus wasn't going through rapid masculinization or anything. and they only lived another year. you could get away with just claiming that you did it for a while, probably.)

i should say there IS technically a third reason, postulated by modern scholars, for sporus's castration: to intentionally humiliate a potential rival for the throne. imagine if tom had told greg about nero and sporus upon first meeting. obviously things changed very quickly, but if all castration is here is tom keeping greg on a tight leash, then it works. and if the castration is nothing, then greg nearly tanking tom's plan out of naivety can be a nothing version of sporus wanting revenge. and shiv falling down real stairs can, instead of actually intending to set up a meaningful castration, be a red herring in that regard and simply foreshadow her pregnancy.

and that could be it. but... i've got One More Thing. maybe the most significant of all. lightning round:

who or what, in modern day where tom and greg live, actually IS castrated?

animals

specifically dogs

hmmmmmm

and why are DOGS castrated?

to reduce sexual and territorial aggression

reduce other unwanted behaviors

to keep them from breeding

okay. think greg's newfound sexual confidence in s4 and tom's distaste for it. tom's continued anxiety that greg's independence might lead him to leave him. think greg being tom's attack dog and how that nearly backfires at the very end. greg approaching tom at the end like a begging puppy.

think full circle: who's the rescue pup, i'll take care of you, i've got you...

i feel justified in recontextualizing all of this, and i come back to fight club:

Valley of the Dogs. Where even if they don't kill you, if someone loves you enough to take you home, they still castrate you.

[wander-wren]

small things to stop doing in your fics

(or any kind of writing, but i live on ao3. we begin with flat-out crimes and then slowly start moving into things that just bug me personally but aren’t wrong)

epithets. if i’ve said it once, i’ve said it a thousand times. you should only be using epithets for characters whose names we do not know. they can also be used VERY rarely to break up the repetition of names/pronouns or to emphasize characters’ relationships/viewpoints, ie “his boyfriend” or “the asshole.”

writing out accents. please stop. you can include a couple of small things, like “somethin’” or “ya” (for “you”), but even keep that to a minimum. specific turns of phrase/references go way farther imo to establish a character’s culture/background/etc. a little goes a long way, and doing it repeatedly can make sentences hard to parse. this also! applies! to children and babytalk! have you ever listened to a child speak? toddlers can enunciate pretty well!

not enough commas. put commas before names and titles. it’s not “Hey John” or “I’m on it captain,” it’s “Hey, John” and “I’m on it, captain.” also, put them after discourse markers/interjections such as “well,” “so,” and “now.” you should be writing “So, how are the kids?” not “So how are the kids?” even if your character is speaking quickly, you still want the commas because of grammar. it can occasionally be acceptable to omit them if you want to indicate extreme excitement/panic/anger/etc, but use it sparingly.

too many commas. i’m a comma fiend like the rest of you so i’m guilty here too, but we gotta at least stop with the comma splices. commas split and independent and dependent clause, meaning that one part of the sentence cannot grammatically stand alone. if all parts are complete sentences on their own, that’s a comma splice. try splitting it into two sentences, using a semicolon, or rewriting. this is usually fine in dialogue, though, that’s just how people talk.

also, using a lot of commas to denote panic is something i used to be HUGELY guilty of and now i hate it. instead of, “I, I, I don’t, I don’t know,” you can try, “I-I…I don’t—I don’t know!” probably not that much punctuation that close together, but for the sake of example. emdashes and ellipses, my beloveds 🫶

roleplay speak. i don’t know what else to succinctly call this? i’m referring to the tendency to be redundant and over-explain, especially in dialogue. it’s a phenomenon i see constantly in rp circles, usually because of post length requirements (and i have little issue with it there, it’s just the culture). things like:

“Surprise!” Adam shouted, popping out from behind the door.

“Oh my god!” Scott screamed, having been completely startled and not expecting Adam to be home yet.

yeah, we can guess that Scott is startled, right? because of the screaming? and clearly if Adam is surprising Scott it stands to reason his presence is unexpected? why are we stating this twice?

i believe this also comes from the mistaken idea that every line of dialogue needs a tag attached, which is….horrible. you can let the dialogue exist on its own sometimes, friends. you can also include an action beat without a tag. like above, i could have just said “Adam popped out from behind the door” and omitted the shouting altogether. we can assume he is being loud because that’s usually how people do surprises. anyway. moving on.

condescending to readers. this isn’t so much about writing as it is author’s notes and the like, and “condescending” may be a strong word, but i’m trying to be succinct. at any rate, please stop telling your audience to not read your fic? “do not read if sensitive to [blank]” or “if you have [disorder] skip this fic!” is a horrible way to trigger warn. people know their own boundaries. tell them what the work actually contains and let them self-select.

i also find “rest stop/check-in” type notes condescending, like “if you are reading this between the hours of 10pm-4am, go to sleep” and “STOP! have you eaten/drank/walked around in the past few hours? go do that!” again, we know ourselves. i’m not your kid, don’t tell me what to do. i don’t mind a polite, casual little “thanks for reading, remember to drink water and take your meds, bye” note, though.

the others in this category? i will straight up not read the fic over that on some days. ESPECIALLY because, in my experience, the people who are most intense about warning for every little thing are the ones with the mildest fics, and that’s not what i’m here for.

complaining about your own wrong tags. this is, admittedly, such a nitpick, and it definitely is more common in certain communities than others. but as longtime followers may know, i’m a bit obsessed with ao3’s tagging system and it drives me BONKERS when people use the wrong tags and follow it with “not actually but there’s no tag for xyz.” here’s the thing: you can still look at all the works that have ANY tag, just the non-canonized ones can’t be filtered on. and the best way to get a tag canonized is, guess what, to USE it! imagine that. also, if you’re using the wrong tag, you’re just going to clog the filter results and get people who don’t actually want to read your fic. just stop.

[justalittleb-witchy]

Deities Can Lie, and Why that's Good

(No this is not a sign, please do not take it as such. If this is something you are insecure about, I do not recommend reading this post. This is more philosophical than anything else.)

This is something that, when most people hear it, will be responded to with "its common sense that they can, but they won't", and I want to push back on that a little bit.

Lying is almost always associated with bad intentions, but sometimes it can be necessary when teaching someone a lesson that they wouldn't otherwise understand. The methods gods will use to get a point across to their practitioner is highly dependent on the god, their practitioner, and their relationship. I feel like I can pretty confidentially say that in most situations your god would not lie to you, nor would they have a reason to.

But lying does serve a purpose. And sometimes it's the most efficient way to get things done-- much in the same way gods sometimes omit information. I am going to tell two stories to try and get my point across.

Let's say Susie is positively anxious about her crush. She keeps asking over and over again if they are meant to be together forever. They are not-- they'll break up eventually-- but Susie is the type of person who would never pursue a relationship if it's not fated to be forever. The overall experience of being with this person is something Susie will be deeply grateful for, and she would learn and grow from being with them. But she's so afraid of pain that she would never take that first step if she knew what the end result would be. Yes, the gods could tell her that it will end in tragedy, but she needs to pursue it anyways-- but would she listen to them? Probably not. These are instances where information might be omitted, questions might go unanswered, or small lies might be told, all for her greater good. It's painful, it sucks, and its somewhere where most people would draw the line-- but there is a reason for it, and there are cases where it might be used. The gods' goals are not always our immediate goals and that's something I try to be mindful of-- and practice patience because of this-- in my practice.

This second example is a personal one, with many, many details changed. The core lesson is still the same.

Eons ago, I applied to be a part of a play. This play was very important to me, and I wanted a very specific role. I kept asking again, and again, and again, if I was going to get it. I kept getting told that yes, it would work out, I just had to be patient-- but the casting decision was taking forever. I had all but lost faith. Every five minutes (hyperbolically) I was asking, "Did I get it? Did I get it? Did I get it?"

Finally, I got a different answer. A very firm "no". A firm "we've been lying to you this entire time, you suck, you were never going to get that role." And immediately, I believed it. It "confirmed" my worst biases. I placed this singular reading above the countless I had done before it, above all of the signs that had endlessly been sent my way-- because it confirmed something negative I thought about myself. And then I was (metaphorically) given a firm slap upside the head. "Really, kid?", the reading seemed to say, "You believed that over everything else we've told you? You're so scared of failure that you're unwilling to consider the possibility of success." The direct quote I have from that reading is "How ready were you to accept defeat when spoken?", which basically was calling me out for not believing in myself.

This was an instance when a lie was appropriate-- confirming my worst fears was the only way to snap me out of it, to make me realize that I was refusing to accept the possibility of something good happening. And, for the record, I did wind up getting my dream "role" in that "play", and everything worked out in the very peculiar way I predicted. "Don't count your chickens before they hatch" also applies to anticipating negative results.

To summarize, I guess the moral of this all is that lying does sometimes serve a purpose. It doesn't inherently mean that you are worshiping the "wrong" or "fake" god. It also doesn't mean that you can't trust what you read. You have to consider everything in balance with what comes before it. If you have a negative relationship with a deity, maybe a lie is what broke the camels back-- but its back was fractured to begin with. A healthy relationship isn't predicated on always getting your way, or always understanding what's going on. It is important for you to decide where your boundaries lie (haha, pun), and for you to decide if a few white lies are a deal breaker.

ALSO, AGAIN, THIS IS NOT A SIGN. This cycles back to my story about always assuming the worst result. Please don't use this as some sort of confirmation of your deepest darkest fears. I genuinely believe that deities lying is a rare occurrence. In my ten-ish years of experience, I can count the number of times this has happened to me on one hand. Usually there's a more effective way to get things done than lying.

[skaruresonic]

Can you do an analysis on shadow's line in battle where he says "if the world wants peace they'll have to destroy us first" ?

Sorry for the delay; I'm pretty sure I've discussed this particular scene before but since Tumblr's search system is massively unhelpful, naturally I can't link you to the post. So we'll be looking at it again :P

This time I'll be relying on TheSinnerChrono's transcript of the game instead of screenshots because this post would otherwise become way too long and unruly. Here's the link:

Sonic Battle - Game Script - Game Boy Advance - By mtkennerly - GameFAQs (gamespot.com)

---

First thing to note is that Shadow is experiencing a lot of internal conflict about being a weapon of war vs. being an autonomous being with a heart and mind of his own.

The way this conflict presents itself is via stubborn denial for much of his story. Shadow tends to reject emotion for the most part, considering it weakness, but for a few notable exceptions.

When he encounters Sonic for the first time, Shadow's story noticeably omits his demand that Sonic hand over Emerl and the ensuing fight, in the usual Rashomon style these Adventure-era games tend to tell their stories with.

However, Sonic's "He's at Tails' place" and "Why are you after him, anyway?" imply this is not the first time he's pursued Emerl. I would argue that this omission fits Shadow's general trend of denial.

What we get from here is an interesting back-and-forth between Sonic and Shadow about the Chaos Emeralds, the Gizoid, and whether "weapons" have hearts.

I find this conversation interesting, and not just because it's the polar opposite of the scene in IDW 6. It's interesting in that it's a rare occasion where Shadow and Sonic bandy words without devolving into a physical fight, and those words furthermore tackle some pretty heavy concepts of identity, power, and war.

Especially war.

Battle's anti-war message is about as subtle as a tire iron to the face. While SA2 only alluded to cultural fears of WMGs with its hint-dropping about the development of the Eclipse Cannon, Battle takes the ball and runs with it, making not only Emerl but Shadow question their very identities as instruments of destruction. And then furthermore has the other characters wax poetic about it.

Worth noting as well that Sonic's insistence that Shadow has a heart matches Shadow's vehement denial of that very concept, leading to a stalemate where Sonic surprisingly relents Emerl. Shadow wore him down with his angsty emo shit lol.

The stark difference in Sonic and Shadow's mindsets becomes clear when you consider their word choice. Shadow strictly calls Emerl's power "power," while Sonic calls the power bestowed by all seven Emeralds "unlimited energy":

Shadow: "Right now, its true power lies dormant."

Sonic: "I've heard that he who collects 7 'Chaos Emeralds' will be granted unlimited energy."

To Sonic, this energy is morally neutral. It is not inherently destructive. His wording reflects not only his thinking, but his personal experiences in wielding Chaos Emerald energy for good.

Shadow, however, deems the pursuit of power an inherent path to ruin, tainted by mankind's thirst for war. As a living manifestation of that desire - or so he thinks - he insists on dehumanizing himself. Numbing the part of himself that feels and cares is the only way his conscience will stop screaming at him.

As has been pointed out numerous times before, this scene directly contradicts the moment in IDW 6 where Sonic brings up Shadow's past sins in order to win the argument about Mr. Tinker:

Instead, we have Sonic arguing for Shadow's heart, as well as the idea that Shadow once acted for the good of humanity and can do it again.

The real irony here is that Battle!Sonic is actually being a little bit of that bleeding-heart "everyone is good deep down" moral champion IDW fans think IDW!Sonic is, what with his whole spiel about "if you have a heart, there's no way you could use your power for the forces of evil."

The important caveats to keep in mind, however, are that:

A.) Sonic has seen proof of Shadow's heart for himself; he doesn't make his argument despite a lack of evidence, unlike Eggman, for whose supposed "goodness" he struggles to think of a single example. He clearly states "Maybe you've forgotten, but I seem to recall you saving humanity at some point." So his argument is not just him blowing flower petals up Shadow's ass - it's grounded in fact. Whether or not Shadow wants to face those facts lies on Shadow.

And B.) Sonic is probably waxing poetic this hard because Shadow's being equally stubborn in insisting that he's just a tool of destruction. His self-dehumanization, in fact, appears to disturb Sonic in a way we seldom see in other games:

Sonic suggests Shadow and Emerl play some games together. Shit's probably getting too heavy for him and he's getting freaked out, in addition to simply wanting Shadow to wisen up.

Shadow regularly says stuff like "Weapons have no need for a conscience" and "There's no need for a weapon to have feelings," and it's clear the so-called "weapon of war" doth protest too much. He wouldn't be pointing out the folly of Real Boy Feelings(tm) if on some level he wasn't suffering the cognitive dissonance of having them. His disgust at Emerl acknowledging his own capacity for feeling joy and friendship at the end of his story pretty much confirms this.

But even more interesting than that is his dour outlook on humanity: he feels it's a given that mankind must destroy the instruments of its own destruction if it ever wants peace. That it's a weapon's fate to be used and discarded precisely because, in his misanthropic view, humanity is foolish, belligerent, and greedy:

However, despite Shadow's brooding observations, the scene ends on a lighthearted note, with Sonic laughing "Some ultimate weapon you are!" in Emerl's wake:

[softness-and-shattering]

About the Mean Girls musical movie

I know Ive had conversations before about the cultural context stuff, that it seems like the message was not as effective as the first movie when the stuff its talking about, how girls are wrong whatever they do and everything is up for criticism and filming, and you have to pretend to be sweet and kind fairy princesses instead of being allowed to be human. And Id have to go back and find those posts to see what I do and dont agree with now. Because I just saw the movie. And honestly, I liked it. A lot of the visuals were really fun and interesting, which I think is impressive in a movie that mostly takes place inside of a high school. Regina more than once looks like she's in a music video, and that works because shes so hyped, its like she lives in a reality where not only do people break into song, but she's always in a music video. She really sells the character, self-assured and in charge and perfectly manipulative, and even when she's being vulnerable you're like, but is this another deception? She's more villainous in this version, and by the end maybe more human as well. (also the costuming is phenomenal, that Halloween angel dress?? The entire Halloween Someone Get Hurts sequence might be my favourite. )

Also Renee Rapp, who plays Regina, is just incredibly hot. She also played Regina on Broadway so it makes sense she has the character down. Thats not film critique thats my personal admiration. Its almost a little silly with the "oh no Regina is gaining weight she cant fit her clothes" because she looks amazing. [Edit: She's also obviously - I was gonna say she seems older than the other "teens" but actually she's 24, so Im having a moment of feeling old. And she's actually the same age as Auli'i Cravalho who is a lot younger in my mind because holy shit Moana came out EIGHT years ago?? Angourie Rice/Cady is 23, Jaquel Spivy/Damian is 26, Avantika/Karen is 19, thats more the age I thought they were but not the cast seems to be mostly 23-26. Its so weird when times moves the same for people while your image of them in your head stays the same. So Rapp isn't older she's just a bit bigger (neutral/positive). And she's been playing the role for a long time. And Im allowed to find her hot because she's a goddamn adult and so am I. This paragraph is not critique it is me blogging on my blog. Now Im annoyed at myself for Caveats of Fear but Im gonna stop dwelling on that now.]

On that note, though I originally liked the musical quite a lot, the significant fatphobia in it soured it for me. And Im happy to say in the musical movie, they changed or omitted those lines. I was waiting to cringe and they just sang something else. So that was great. I think the only fat character was Damian (why does that suddenly look like a vampire name?) - Jaquel Spivy - and he seemed comfy and cool, no self deprecating fat jokes or anything. Generally the lines/jokes that were uncomfortable or a bit bigoted have been changed. Though there isnt any disability rep, and theres a random character the burn book claims puts alcohol in her inhaler, like a 3 second joke.

And the big thing is that a lot of the meanness is shown in montages of vertical video and comments - no-brand tiktok obviously - and I think thats pretty realistic, and also in the original theme of not being mean to peoples faces but talking all kinds of shit behind their backs. And I think the montage format is effective in mimicking that endless scroll eyes glazing over stuck in the doom scroll/stuck in the spectacle. The music was good. I really liked how they overlaid the Spring Fling/thematic music with the math competition. If anything, Cady is not as good of a character, her Plastic switch is basically overnight, the scene with Aaron at the party is still kinda of awkward, she doesnt get as much room to breathe, while almost everyone else comes off really well. Heck even the candy cane/glen coco guy did well, I was actually suprised at how differently and yet excellently the actors acted their lines, compared both to the previous movie and the musical. Auli'i is fantastic, scary Janis is *scary*. And I simultaneously want to be her best friend. (It certainly helps that her art is augmented with embroidery and she's carrying embroidery hoops in multiple scenes. Fiber arts my loves.)

When I first saw a trailer my thoughts were "ugh we dont need another movie of this," but I think Ive changed my mind. Its similar enough and different enough that for me its a good adaptation. Also - I almost forgot to say - Janis gets a girlfriend for Spring Fling. Its not a plot point, we're just montaging getting ready and Janis goes to pick her up (in the lavender suit), and Damian is taking photos with two other sapphic couples. And he gets a crush/admirer who again, is just there to be there and doesnt interfere with the main story. I might change my mind again once its had time to settle in my thoughts, but initial impression is that its a fun movie I would watch again. Maybe we want the social commentary to be more incisive than it is, and in the end it is entertainment that needs to not be too boring to hold peoples shortening attention spans. (also neutral). Maybe thats wishing for it to be a movie that its not trying to be, and thats always a recipe for disappointment and also not great or fair analysis. What a fantastic line to end on*.

[dwarvenbash]

Something a little niche today, the Touro heavy Mech and Buckmaster light Mech from Brigador!

These neat little killing machines actually come packaged with a few weapon options, allowing you to mix and match a bit, which is very true to the original game's spirit.

Especially fell in love with the Touro even more as I was putting it together, it's a very cute little lump of pewter that is quite satisfying to hold.

If you've never heard of Brigador before and are curious, more info about that and these little guys under the cut!

For the accurate Brigador experience, it's best to keep reading while listening to this track on loop:

Now, although those are miniatures up there, Brigador is a video game rather than one of the table top variety. While that may be a distasteful prospect to some, I can assure you it is still quite fun, as evidenced by this screenshot:

There are like fifty levels and I've beaten (nearly) all of them with every loadout, evidence of me doing as such with the really hard ones have been conveniently omitted in this screenshot however.

The game uses these awesome old-school 3D prerendered sprites for everything, which really scratches my nostalgic itch for that old Diablo/Starcraft look (or any 90s RTS for that matter). Here's how the Touro and Buckmaster look in game!

They're somehow even cuter...

The excellent art direction coupled with some really solid writing made Brigador a staple game for me. Whenever I have a couple minutes to kill and I'm at my computer, I'll usually just boot up Brigador and try to clear some challenge I've been working on. It's a very relaxing habit, despite the tone of the game which is actually quite grim! (Hopefully this doesn't reflect on me badly...)

Anyway, enough about videogames, we're here to to discuss miniatures!

Now while I am still very pleased that the developers of Brigador decided to release their own pewter miniatures based on designs from the game, I must warn you, my dear reader, that these sculpts may have some pretty gnarly flash and mold line issues. I can't say anything for sure, because all the pieces on my Buckmaster were free of residue and too much flash, but both of the Touros I picked up still had enough mold release where they needed a wash, and their chassis pieces had pretty big chunks of flash. I had picked up two to convert one into a Corvid mech (I can't decide between a Sweetheart or a Fatshoe) anyway though so it isn't that big a deal. The Touros were the first models they released, so I'm sure they've worked out the kinks at this point.

All that being said, I still had a good time putting these guys together and I'm very excited to paint them up in their proper NEP livery. I think I'll put them on Battletech hex bases since theyre about the right size and could work as stand-ins for some underdog Inner Sphere mecha, perhaps.

Funnily enough, these miniatures are also technically 1:144 scale, which is exactly the same scale as a Gundam High Grade model kit! Here they are next to a 1:144 scale Pilot to give you a sense of how big they would be in real life:

Something very satisfying about being able to do this with miniatures. I wish Battletech played this nice with regards to scale...

....aaand now compared to a Mobile Suit:

Makes you realize how ridiculously huge Mobile Suits are, huh?

One shot from the Touro's Abbot could probably still blow that poor Leo up, though...

Thanks for reading this far! This one has been especially indulgent, but it's always fun to talk about something underrated in the hopes more people will check it out.

Going forward on here, I'm considering making more "short-form" posts (yes, it is possible) with more quick updates on what I'm working on. Most miniatures probably won't necessitate an entire screed to accompany them either, believe it or not. I'll still be writing up long ones like these though; I have a long, long list of opinions and diatribes and I am desperately trying to spare my loved ones from being subjected to them. Most importantly, though, it's fun to write about this stuff. :P

[principles-of]

I was tasked to photograph buildings and encouraged to play around with how to present it. My city has plenty of looooong strip malls and I wanted to show how (almost comedically) long they were. But how? I can't fit it in the frame. I landed on this idea: shoot with a prime lens, photograph different sections of the building from a consistent distance, and look out for parking lot traffic. Sloppily stitch them together in google slides. It's an assignment not a print so I didn't worry at all about the polish of the editing, just enough to translate my idea into imagery.

If I could do it again I would

Use a different lens. My 35mm prime is really fun to shoot on. Probably my favorite lens. It has so much character and imperfections. Which is precisely why I should've gone with the 50mm. There is no vignetting, images are crisp and professional and I know exactly how images will turn out. No "character" of the lens coming out to play. Just my view.

Shoot in RAW. I shot in jpeg because I wanted to get it right in camera. They turned out too blue (shot at 8pm), and too underexposed for my liking. Even if I am confident in how I'm shooting, the RAWs are a nice backup. It's 2024. I can use the tech to support my goals, but it should not supplement my technique.

Give myself more time to shoot. I hate to admit it, but I left the assignment on the table until the last opportunity. While shooting, I wish I had more time before it got too dark. I felt rushed. I had ideas how to improve already, but I couldn't go back to improve those old shots. I could only apply it moving forward, like omitting distracting elements like cars or pedestrians.

Use a tripod. I could line the photos up pretty well in post, but I think having a tripod would enhance the realism of these long buildings. My shots would more consistent in framing, leading to a more surreal final image after stitching.

My idea was inspired by a photo by Chris De Bode, Exodus from Libya, featured in Aperture no. 214. The repetition makes it hard for me to find a beginning and an end. It's subjects chaotic while setting is sound and structured. Both of those elements bring the peoples' voice to the front "We are being exiled by our country. We have no choice but to leave." My photographs aim to hear the voice of these buildings. What do they say to you?

[violivs]

NMTDaily: Introducing Leo AND Rebuttal AND tiny bonus video

These episodes are so intrinsically linked that I’m covering them together in one post. Starting with…

Introducing Leo

- Aww, Leo’s so uncomfy on camera. And Bea and Hero are so cute with Bea making the Nothing Much to Do joke and Hero pushing her over. I love these three.

- The sunshine framing them makes this video so pretty, too!

- I love the line “I’m not related to these two.” It’s meta, because in-world it’s a tongue-in-cheek ‘you’re embarrassing’, but out-of-world, it’s the truth. These are three actors who are not related to each other. I don’t know why that tickles me, but it does.

- “You know what I can’t stand about guys?” “Uh, everything?” Perfect.

- Interesting that this is Bea’s chosen topic for a random chatty video that’s supposed to be about introducing Leo to the viewers. For being so anti-boys, she sure has them on the brain.

- This is an incredible modernization of the beard/no beard line from the play, I love it. It does also handily rule out all boys across the board from dating Bea, which is a useful rhetorical strategy when you don’t actually want a boyfriend!

- “I understand me.” “You’re the only one.” This moment is gonna be paralleled later, and I’m already screaming about it. I think people are avoiding spoilers in their liveblogs, so I’ll just omit the context, but I cannot wait for “I’m glad that you understand me.”

- Ben is walking alone, a safe distance behind the group of other kids walking by. Socially anxious behavior. Just saying.

- “See you in Hell, Beatrice.” I adore that they already have inside jokes, that they already gravitate towards each other in class enough for that to happen.

- Leo wanting to defend Bea when nothing is actually wrong: foreshadowing for failing to defend someone else when something IS wrong?

- How is it a pop quiz if the kids know about it in advance? I thought a pop quiz always referred to a surprise quiz?

- I love that Ben is meddling in Claudio’s love life at the same time as Bea is offering to meddle in Hero’s love life. Parallels!

- Beatrice the awesome old cat lady! I love all the cat doodles onscreen.

- Leo is struggling here. What is he, 23? He didn’t sign up to raise teens and it shows, lol. Trying and failing to give Hero the be careful about boys talk.

- Eternally obsessed with Beatrice going on the internet and telling everyone her type is lanky dark-haired British guys, and then STILL spending months in denial about liking Ben after this. I love her.

- I did not know who JJ Field was when I first saw this episode. I still don’t think I’ve ever seen a single thing he’s been in.

- Hero calling Bea the heck out! “A thing for British guys? Hmm, who do we know who’s British?”

- “No one, we don’t know anyone!” *all fall over adorably*

- It’s been pointed out by Donalduke shippers before that these girls know two lanky dark-haired British guys: Ben Hobbes and John Donaldson. I still think that’s an interesting pickup. Some of the things that on Ben make him Beatrice’s ideal guy, become things that are different and weird about John.

- “please don’t call me Crotchety Old Emu” another all-timer when it comes to NMTD lines.

- It honestly feels like the whole Emu Time bit could have been completely improvised. They feel like real siblings/cousins making fun of each other, I love it.

- We also know from later context clues exactly how serious a threat “I’ll call my mum” is coming from Bea. You don’t mess with Hermione Duke!

REBUTTAL

- It’s a line from the trailer! “Beatrice is a stupid little so-and-so who doesn’t know anything about anything!” Classic.

- I love how he actually could have been way harsher but said “so-and-so” instead of a swear word. Because he already doesn’t hate her as much as he wants to?

- “There’s no one on Earth who’s ever gonna fill her grand criteria, no one!” And then her actual boyfriend criteria list is one item long: ‘must be Benedick Hobbes’.

- And of course, he’s only upset because he thinks he doesn’t fit her criteria, even though he doesn’t fully realize that yet.

- He’s relieved that he can talk about her without her watching the videos AND annoyed that she stopped watching at the same time. He’s obsessed with her, I’m sorry.

- Not to mention that he watches all HER videos the second they drop and frequently makes video responses to them. Babydoll, honestly. I am zero percent fooled. You love her.

- He also links to her Tweet about her latest video in the video description, so he probably follows her on Twitter (even though he didn’t have a transmedia twitter account shhh)

- PARRADAWKS, a classic moment (we love you Jake, we call out this little Scottish slip in only good fun!)

- Honestly I’m just obsessed that he was deadass like “did you just say I’m exactly your type but because I don’t have a beard I’m too young for you?! I am deeply offended and here’s a bulleted list as to why you’re wrong. Also I definitely don’t want to date you. Promise. No really. I don’t!”

- “I make jokes, I crack wise!” Don’t make me go off about Ben’s court jester complex where he thinks he’s only worth being around as long as he’s entertaining and no one actually likes him as a person beyond the performance. I’ll do it. I will!

- I love this bit so much. “You’re a mean-spirited old dragon!” *flaps hands like dragon wings*

- “I’ve seen deep into your heart and you feel nothing!” WHOA, big-time dip into the tragic backstory of how she stopped being his friend and broke his heart on this line!

- Oh good, his eyes look dark blue in this video. I’ve worried before that I described them as blue in fanfic but I’ve seen other people describe them as brown in fanfic so I might’ve been wrong. Pretty certain they’re blue though. Nothing wrong with any eye color, I just like to get my details right.

- BONUS secret lost video of Ben asking for Q&A questions! I forgot all about this, but it was definitely still on the channel when I first started watching the series.

- I would have kept this on the story playlist solely because every one of the limited moments I have of Benedick Hobbes on my screen is a treasure and I want them all thank you. Even if they are bad quality.

- Ben stole the idea of doing a Q&A from Bea and Hero.

- And the keysmash of letters that is this video’s title includes the letters GF, which is definitely a coincidence but also Ben is very soon to have a realization about the concept of GFs, so it makes me laugh.

- He mentions being on the way home from Claudio’s house. I am very sad that Ben is in a good place in his friendship with Claudio, goes over to his house and has him to his own house all the time, STILL feels constantly afraid of losing him as a friend to the point of being overbearing, and then… The Eventuality will happen. :(

- Ends it with every single NewWho catchphrase up to 12. I love him. What a nerd.

💖🦩🥭

[notyonatto]

Thinking about the tags I left under the post on the Carlisle boarding school that stole Native youths. Both my grandmother and grandfather are mixed Native and Irish but have no language (Irish or their respective Native languages), no Native culture. My grandmother has some Native stories and some medicines, but that’s all. My grandfather has nothing. My grandmother’s mother was Eastern Band Cherokee, and and she was stolen as a child by the US government then sold off to a terrible drunkard Irish man three times her age. I remember her. I spent much time with her as a child. My grandfather believes his mother was from Blackfoot Nation, that’s what she always told him, but we have been struggling to figure out exactly which band and where she was originally from before she was stolen. I do not know as much much about her and am still trying to learn more.

Anyway, this post is mostly directed at white people with Native ancestors. My whole life, I have come across other white folks who proudly proclaim they’re partially Native. That’s fine, I am too. But that’s typically where it ends. It’s simply a fun fact. It’s simply something you cash in when trying to show off your unique ancestry to a group of people. But never is it a reflection on colonization. Never is it a reflection on why you have that ancestry. Do you not wonder? How come only a handful of your ancestors are Native? Have you truly investigated your ancestry, or are their lives and experiences simply fun party facts? If you loved your ancestors, you would learn about them. Honor them. Respect them. And part of that for me has always been to fight for the modern justice of Native peoples. I cannot change the past colonization in my ancestral line. I cannot go back in time and protect my great grandmothers. I cannot change the evil things that happened to them, but I can honor them and their legacies of loving their children, loving their grandchildren, of teaching me tenderness and joy when I was a little toddler forming my first memories. And I can honor the strength they must have had to find the space in their hearts to still be capable of tender love despite the suffering and loss and grief they endured. How does one honor that? For me, it is transforming that love into activism. Having those uncomfortable conversations with your family, with other white people. Standing up for injustice, educating yourself, donating to organizations that work to aid modern Native poverty, revitalize Native languages, celebrate and encourage Native art, and uplift Native youth. Uplifting Native voices while making sure not to speak over them.

I do not consider myself to be Native for a myriad of reasons. Phenotypically, I am white. I’m pale and overall look quite Irish American, down to a certain pudginess I’m sure my Irish ancestors are proud of-good for surviving those awful winters. Culturally, I was raised homeschooled in strict conservative Christianity (i do not associate with that religion). And in many ways, I honor my European ancestry- I celebrate Samhain and am pretty connected to Irish-Appalachian culture (fiddles and moonshine and “fuck corporations” type shit), I have many European family recipes from my mom’s side (entirely European American). But I would be utterly and sourly remiss to omit my Native ancestry. And while I struggle to ever consider myself partially Native (maybe if my grandparents were given the chance to learn their languages and cultures, I’d feel differently), I refuse to forget my great grandmothers and their siblings. After all, my first memory was in my mawmaw’s back yard in the mountains. She is my first memory. It was spring, and she had prepared a little Easter party. I found a painted egg, and she clapped and cheered for me, hugged me. My first memory on Earth is of her, and it is light, joy, and love. And I will honor her by transforming that love into activism. For everything she endured and everything her people continue to endure.

So I ask again to all my followers who are white but have some Native ancestry. Do you honor your ancestors, or are they just party facts?

[nityarawal]

9/22/23

Jessie's Boys

Morning Songs

Militia Says

She Was A Romanian

Gypsy

X-Boyfriend

Prison Shower Guard

Dorian

Thought She Was Ukrainian

Pete- Her Last Boyfriend

Trying To Plan A

Getaway

Make A Baby

Said She Was

Actually

American Romanian

Not A Gypsy

At All

LA

Golden Skinned

Blond

Just A Young 2nd Generation

34 Year Old

#FreeBritney

Trying To Be A Mom

Barred From Insulin

By Jealous exes

Like "Killing Of Mr. Green"

By Louis Duncan

Horrors

Crime "Ya"

Teen Mystery

Hell

"Lord Of The Rings"

Conspiracies

American Romanian

From LA

Discriminated Against

At Airbnb 

And Idyllwild "Gay" Realty

By Jessie's Sothby's 

Property Manager

Mary Schmitz

Who Couldn't Triangle

My Kids

After She Wrongfully Evicted

Me

And Scott

Couldn't Get

Me Jessie's Treehouse

Or Rescue Her

On His Motorcycle

Just Another Lady

Almost A

Mom

Smeared In Her Pretty

Prime

Like Marilyn

On Lies

Discriminated 

Against By

Klu Klux Klan

Militia

Triangulated

Skinheads

Jealous Exes

Another Nazi "Mistake"

In A Long Line

Of Killings

Domino Effect

Addicts

Triangulating 

Michael Thompson

Her "X" Boyfriend

Was There

When She Was Found

Gripping Keys- Stressed

Trying To Escape

Him

Taught Knuckles

Dead

Hands Clenched

Naked

In Bed

Was She "Barred"

From

Her Diabetic

Medicine

Insulin

Tortured To Death

Or Did She Die

On Fentanyl

Like Militia

Mitch

An Old Neighbor

Vanessa's Old Man

And Scott Clarke

Locals

Wanted You To Believe

Sheriff Jeremy Parson's

Proud Boys- Pine Cove

Enablers 

Or Was It Staged By Gay 

Trans-Moderators

From Florida

On Meta Facebook

Crime Watch

Social Media

Gossip

Post Apocalypse 

Data Theft

A Play

Book

They

Want You To Believe

Collin

A Roomate

Was There

Reporting 

Lies

Who Was He

Another Of Shane Stewart's

Impotent Latino Gay Lovers'

Addicts

Spying

Triangulating 

Nazis

Jessie

Only

34 Years Old

Innocent

Before She Could

Bare 

Her Babies

No obituary

Or Legacy

Pictures

To

Propagate Her 

Soulmates

Prodigy 

Just Pete

Possibly 

Selling Her

Life

Who Was Collin

He Was There

Tabloid Columnists

Say Triangulated

In Affair

A Gay

Perhaps

Speculating

Who Was Collin

Did He Know Our

"Token" Black

Rastafarians

Blamed

Scapegoats

Sick

With Lymes

Who Was Collin

A Roommate

Planted

Did He Make Up

The One Liners

When He Got

Michael Thompson

Put Under

Forever

3 Months Later

Dead

Supposedly

Murdered

The Tree House 

Pinecove Owners

Are Dead

But "Hurrah"

His Sons'

Might Have Said

Sarcastically

Dennis Glorified

Nymph-Happy-Endings

Prostrate Orgasms

Gluttony 

All Forgotten

In "Pride"

Who Inherited

Homestead

Like When 

Emily Pearson Died

A Property Manager

To Over 400 People

And Her Forgotten

Husband

Idy Folk

Wrongfully Evicted

In Covid

Rejected On

United Way 211

Silenced

Forgotten

Like When

Emily And Her

Husband Died

8 Hours Apart

No One Could Testify

What Really Happened

No Autopsy

Swept Under The Rug

Like So Many

Idyllwild Real Estate

Gay

Murders

For Shane Stewart's

Gangs

Swept Under The Rug

A "Hasbeen"

"Midnight In The"

Woods

Some Say 

Scientologists

Took El Salvadorian

Wives

Daughters

Missing Persons

Victims

Alibis

For Megan's Law

Scares

At Lumber Mill

6 Other Restaurants

In Idy

Wanted To Write

About the "Garden

Of Good And Evil"

Like Savannah

Georgia

Writers

Eyes

We Got

Transvestites

Blooming

A Restaurant 

Owner With

8 Pedophile

Charges

Louise Expected "Life"

Now Running Free

Yet Cops Come Running

For His Chef's

Humble

Car

Compounding

#CampCalifornia

Pimping Radar Out

And Golden Pitbull

Ryder

Pigs

Rape His Widow Friend

Liz

Charity Project

On Petty Crimes

For Addicts

Silencing Lies

Big "Stories" About

Shane Stewart's Lovers

Facts Omitted

8 Pedophile Crimes

Never Syndicated 

News Stories

Butterfield's Brokers 

12 Teachers At The Art Academy

Countless Students

Teachers Fired

Children Incarcerated

Silenced

Caged

Peace,

Nitya Nella Davigo Azam Moezzi Huntley Rawal 

[cleolinda]

Varney the Vampire: A Preface

I want you to think back to what it’s like to reread your old work from years ago—your old stories or poetry, your old school papers, or even your old tumblr posts. Sometimes you’re actually kind of pleased, sure, but I want you to really go back and locate yourself in the heady cringe of that feeling.

In related news, I'm going to pick back up with the Varney the Vampire recaps I started in late 2010 CE. I got about nine chapters in, and then something, who knows what, derailed my life, as things tend to. Like, I'm used to this, it happens with the regularity of a lunar cycle. But I like writing about vampires (clearly), and since I feel like Dracula has been tread pretty thoroughly in recent times, I figured I might go back to something different; we had some lively discussions about Varney back then.

But 2010 was a time before A Lot of Things happened. I was in my early 30s at that point, so I won't say, "Oh, I was so young," but I had a very different energy as a blogger 12-13 years ago. So I've decided to rewrite the recaps a little—some more than others, some not much at all. I just feel like I have a really different perspective on the first chapter in particular, in 2023.

As before, I'm using the full, unabridged text. It is hideously long, something like 230+ chapters, but go big or go home, I figure. The thing is, I was using the files hosted at the University of Virginia, and now you can only get those through the Wayback Machine, but they are still usable for now. I have various backups saved, but I do want you to be able to see that I am, as ever, Not Making It Up.

I'm also not going to quibble anymore as to whether James Malcolm Rymer or Thomas Peckett Prest wrote this behemoth. Per Wikipedia sources, scholars seem to agree that it was all or mostly Rymer. When it's mentioned that they figured this out based on his dialogue style, I went... yeah, that checks out. Because it sure is A Style, and I'll be honest, the repetitive filler dialogue in chapter 10 was such a speedbump for me that I just threw up my hands and said, "I don't know how to recap this. Something I can't remember now is going on in my life and I Cannot. I no longer Can."

Well, it's the 2020s and we're gonna. Like I can't tell you how much stress I do not have about this. I've had covid three times and also spinal surgery. Varney the Vampire can no longer hurt me.

To start, this ordeal has a preface—apparently written upon the occasion of collecting the serial into book form—wherein The Author expresses his gratitude for "unprecedented success of the romance of Varney the Vampyre." First off, Rymer uses "vampire" and "vampyre" interchangeably, because fuck me for caring about consistency, I guess. Second, as Wikipedia notes,

It first appeared in 1845–1847 as a series of weekly cheap pamphlets of the kind then known as "penny dreadfuls." The author was paid by the typeset line [YEAH, I NOTICED], so when the story was published in book form in 1847, it was of epic length: the original edition ran to 876 double-columned pages and 232 chapters. Altogether it totals nearly 667,000 words.

For comparison, all of Lord of the Rings plus The Hobbit is 576,459 words. I sure do blanch every time I see those numbers! It's fine. We're gonna be fine. Back to the preface:

The following romance is collected from seemingly the most authentic sources, and the Author must leave the question of credibility entirely to his readers, not even thinking that he is peculiarly called upon to express his own opinion upon the subject.

"Seemingly" is doing a lot of work here.

Nothing has been omitted [for real, nothing down to the tiniest fly-swat has been omitted] in the life of the unhappy Varney, which could tend to throw a light upon his most extraordinary career, and the fact of his death just as it is here related, made a great noise at the time through Europe, and is to be found in the public prints for the year 1713.

I've seen more than one Dracula multimedia art project where people recreated the letters and diaries and recordings in the book (have you heard my whole thing about how Dracula actually was a cutting-edge techno-thriller back in 1897?), but I've never heard of anyone creating ARG-style media for the Totally for Actual-Fact Real tale of Sir Francis Varney the Vampire, and I think it would be hilarious if someone did.

I won't belabor the entire preface, but what I do want to touch on is Rymer's mention of "unprecedented success." Varney is actually standing on the shoulders of a vampire giant, and it's not the one we would think of. Nowadays, our big touchstone—the influence so great that most works either evoke it or take the trouble to say "Our vampires are different"—is Dracula, obviously. Which was published exactly 50 years after Varney, in 1897. But Varney's touchstone is Polidori's short story "The Vampyre" (1819). And for most of the 1800s, this was everyone's touchstone. Per Wikipedia (which I'm going to lean on for how concise it is, but I concur with this from my own research as well):

An adaptation appeared in 1820 with Cyprien Bérard's novel Lord Ruthwen ou les Vampires, falsely attributed to Charles Nodier, who himself then wrote his own dramatic version, Le Vampire, a play which had enormous success and sparked a "vampire craze" across Europe. This includes operatic adaptations by Heinrich Marschner (see Der Vampyr) and Peter Josef von Lindpaintner (see Der Vampyr), both published in the same year. Nikolai Gogol, Alexandre Dumas [note: I have the Ruthven play he wrote around here somewhere] and Aleksey Tolstoy all produced vampire tales, and themes in Polidori's tale would continue to influence Bram Stoker's Dracula and eventually the whole vampire genre. Dumas makes explicit reference to Lord Ruthven in The Count of Monte Cristo, going so far as to state that his character "The Comtesse G..." had been personally acquainted with Lord Ruthven. [...]

In England, James Planché's play The Vampire, or The Bride of the Isles was first performed in London in 1820 at the Lyceum Theatre based on Charles Nodier's Le Vampire, which in turn was based on Polidori. Such melodramas were satirised in Ruddigore, by Gilbert and Sullivan (1887); a character called Sir Ruthven must abduct a maiden, or he will die.

Back when no one gave a shit about copyright, Polidori's work was spun out into a cottage industry of knock-off stories and plays, an entire horror zeitgeist. Lord Ruthven was, for 78 years, who you copied, who you riffed on, who you parodied, what Count Dracula is to us now: the archetypal vampire. The Big Guy. And Varney is clearly cut from his cloth—the ostensible gentleman who worms his way into the lives of respectable, unwitting people. Unlike Dracula, there's no foreigner Othering, no "historical basis," no undercurrents of contagion and infection, no ambition to make the world his wine-press, none of that; Ruthven is a simpler figure, but the dominant one of this time no less. He is a stranger who shows up in the middle of London high society, icy and distant, his eyes “dead grey”—stern, yet somehow compelling when he cares to be. And when he cares to be, you're in trouble.

And this is the cultural consciousness when Francis Varney shows up.

[Chapter one will go up sometime this week, March 8-10 or so.]