#but idk overall i think this year had great horror

[lesbianwithchainsaws]

2022 honestly had such amazing and interesting horror movies imo, I can't wait for next year

[stop-talking]

How do you think jhutch characters would handle a baby?

I'm not quite sure if you're asking "what would they do if you handed them a baby" or "what would they do if you told them you're pregnant" but I'm gonna assume you meant the latter. (feel free to send another request if I got it wrong)

Ranking Jhutch characters from worst to best fathers:

Billy

☆ Would play dumb when you hand him the pregnancy test.

☆ "What's this? Oh, you're pregnant? Can't be mine. My pull-out game is too strong." (literally has NO pull-out game, refuses to use condoms because he "can't feel" with them on)

☆ Basically ghosts you until the paternity test proves it's his. Then he actually ghosts you.

☆ Drops off the face of the fucking Earth for years. Doesn't pay a dime in child support.

☆ Maybe he comes back like 3 years later drunk and demanding to see "his" kid idk. Literally the worst.

Derek

☆ Honestly I headcannon he had a vasectomy at like 24-25.

☆ His mom hit him up once she heard about his prostitute scandals and chewed him out. Gave him "the talk" even though he's a grown ass man... finally got him to get snipped when she brought up the possibility of paying income-based child support for 18 years.

☆ Assuming he doesn't have one, though...

☆ He'd initially be mad and blame you. "I thought you were on the pill!!"

☆ Then he'd be like "Is it too late to... you know... get rid of it?" (and kind of dance around the subject because he's too much of a wimp to just say the word abortion)

☆ Wallace and his mom would both force him to get his shit together and apologize. Eventually he'd come to terms with the fact he's gonna be a dad.

☆ He'd be the kind of bastard to throw an over-the-top gender reveal party. The kind that burns down half of California or pollutes a major water channel.

☆ I think he'd be a really good girl dad. He'd let her paint his nails and stuff. Spoil her. <3

☆ He would treat a son completely differently. Teach him to "be a man" or whatever when he's still learning to walk. Force him into random ass sports.

☆ He'd have them mostly taken care of by a nanny. That's probably how he was raised, anyways. Derek Danforth is NOT changing a diaper.

Futturman

☆ Whether we're talking pre-show or post-show, he'd freak the fuck out if you handed him a positive pregnancy test. I'm talking full-on pass out.

☆ Pre-show Josh would be like "Babe we can NOT afford a baby I literally live at home with my parents and work as a janitor."

☆ His parents would be so crazy supportive though. They've been hinting that they want grandkids for YEARS.

☆ They literally clear out a room IMMIDEATELY after hearing the news and offer it to you to use as a nursery.

☆ His mom buys you more baby clothes than you could possibly need. His dad builds a crib from scratch.

☆ Overall Josh is stressed asf but he does his best to be there for you, and his parents are OVERWHELMIGLY supportive.

☆ Post-show Josh, on the other hand, doesn't have that support. But he's survived unspeakable horrors across multiple dimensions, how hard could a baby be?

☆ Extremely hard, apparently. One day he just loses it and makes a huge decision without asking you.

☆ "Josh WTF happened to our savings??"

☆ "TRUST ME BABE we need to invest in Apple!!"

☆ You're pissed but it pays off in a few years and you're both able to live comfortably.

☆ Then in 2015-ish he did the same thing again, pouring all your savings into bitcoin. This time you SWEAR you're going to leave him, but it all pays out in the end. He gets your kid through college with that money.

☆ Overall he's a really good father, too. He had great parents, and even if he's not experienced with kids, he's naturally a very caring and attentive person.

Mike

☆ Cries when he sees the pregnancy test. He's not even sure if it's happy or sad tears.

☆ Gets sick to his stomach overthinking about how he's going to be a terrible father. His dad walked out on him, so he has literally no idea how to act.

☆ Abby, on the other hand, is absolutely delighted. She's always wanted a "little sister". Mike has to remind her that technically it's her niece. Or nephew. There's no guarantee on the gender yet.

☆ Eventually he comes to terms with it all. He's taken care of Abby for ten years, he isn't completely clueless.

☆ Takes you to all of your Dr.'s appointments, checkups, etc. Holds your hand. Makes all of your weird pregnancy cravings and doesn't judge.

☆ After the birth, he lets you rest. Nearly works himself to death trying to take care of the baby all on his own because he wants you to recover.

☆ I'm talking getting up bleary-eyed at 2am every night to microwave some formula and feed the baby. After working a 10 hour shift.

☆ Pulls the "I have a baby on the way" card at work in an attempt to get a raise. It works, thankfully. (In the novel version of the movie; it says he gets a job as a contractor at the end. So hopefully he can afford a kid...)

----------♡----------

[Remember: these are just MY headcannons. If you think differently that's fine. I didn't include Clapton because he's literally in highschool... and we all know Peeta is an amazing father.]

[fernsnailz]

January 2024 Review Roundup

hello everypony‼️ something i want to do through 2024 is a mini review series where i recap some of the media i watched/played/read at the end of every month. this was inspired by tumblr user ponett’s 2023 media wrap-up, it's a great collection of quick reviews so go check it out!

i’m doing this partially as writing/analysis practice, but mostly because my memory is really bad and i want to keep track of what i've seen this year. with that said, my thoughts on everything i finished in january 2024 is under the cut :]

Portal 1 + 2

yyyup i beat Portal and it only took me (checks watch) 13 years

the first time i played Portal 2 was at a friend’s house when i was in middle school, and i had a fuckin blast. but after all that time... it still holds up! i don’t think anything i have to say about Portal will be particularly new since people have been praising this series since it came out. the writing, the level design, even the controls feel tight and engaging the whole way through. i played on switch and expected a bit of jank, but i was pleasantly surprised at how smooth it felt to play. the only part that dragged for me were the levels through the old aperture labs, but i think i would like them a lot more on a second replay. Portal 2 is fantastic and one of my new favorite games, the artistry behind it is truly incredible and i’m really glad i finally finished it. while i was playing Portal 2, i described Glados and Wheatly to a friend and said “they’re like if a ceiling fan could be passive aggressive and if Fozzie Bear was an evil golf ball”

I Think You Should Leave

finally. i can truly understand and appreciate Subspace Dubbed Over

i think one of my favorite things about I Think You Should Leave is how it utilizes horror. beyond sitting slack-jawed in disbelief at the crazy events unfolding before my eyes, a number of the sketches dipped into bits that genuinely kinda scared me. like the one sketch that circulates on here where the guy (pig?) in a mask crawls through a dog door, which is. genuinely terrifying. but so many of the other sketches have slow, nerve-racking pacing leading to crazy shit that would be perfect in a horror film were the context different. idk i like dissecting how horror and comedy are essentially the same thing and I Think You Should Leave was very good at enabling that <3 favorite sketches are probably “then let my wife eat the damn receipt” and “55 BURGERS 55 HOTDOGS 100 FRIES 100 TATER TOTS”

Sonic Prime Season 3

man. ohhhh man. i didn’t go into this with high expectations and i still feel let down. Sonic Prime Season 3 was definitely my least favorite “season” of the batch - abysmal pacing, very few character moments i actually enjoyed, and the things i praised about the show felt very underutilized through these episodes. Nine is the shining star of Sonic Prime and i was looking forward to seeing his more villainous side, but his character took such a sharp turn into pure evil and it felt like he spent the entire season repeating the same three lines. and as much as i praise Shadow’s writing in Prime, it doesn’t really matter when he spends half of the season trapped in a hole that he just… runs out of later.

lastly, i cannot stop thinking about how bad the pacing of this season is. three episodes for a repetitive final battle feels like such a waste of time when you see just how much they rush the emotional resolutions in the last episode. however, there is one thing i truly love about Sonic Prime Season 3 - i love the Sails and Mangey fakeout death. it's so fucking funny. like you really expect me to believe that two cartoon animals in this Y-7 rated show EXPLODED?????? absolute comedy gold.

overall, i just… don’t really know what to think of Sonic Prime. anything i enjoyed in the show was often fleeting, and much of it felt like its only purpose was to waste my time. also Rouge i can’t believe they did you so dirty oh my god

Ghost Trick

i was so proud that i figured out the secret behind Sissel’s memory loss like halfway through the game. however i also kept getting caught during the prison escape sequence like an idiot

Ghost Trick is in a similar situation as Portal where 1. it’s incredible and one of my new favorite games, and 2. there’s nothing i can really say about it that hasn’t already been said or just. shouldn’t be said. Ghost Trick is a fantastic mystery game, and because of that i think it’s best to go into its story as blind as possible. the narrative unfolds in such fascinating ways - even though the actual object manipulation gameplay isn’t directly about solving the mystery (like in Ace Attorney or other mystery games), it still ties wonderfully into the story in some incredibly unique ways.

i also really love the artstyle of Ghost Trick - i love 2D character artwork with that sharp lineweight, it reminded me a lot of Sonic Battle (another game with an artstyle i love). i was also really impressed by the 3D character models and animation - despite the limitations of the camera, you get a wonderful sense of everyone’s personality from the limited body language expressed in the overworld (even though the models lack much facial expression which. i guess they don’t really need? idk that was the only thing that threw me off). anyways yeah everyone should play Ghost Trick so Ghost Trick fans can be freed from their curse and talk about it without having to tag like 10 different spoiler tags. and for Missile

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

ok bear with me. i went into Scott Pilgrim Takes Off without reading the comics first. and i fuckin loved it

my understanding of Scott Pilgrim before SPTO was mostly from the movie (I KNOW I’M SORRY), but even with my base understanding of the series i really enjoyed this show for what it was. i found myself appreciating the time they dedicated to further develop every single character in the show - especially Ramona. she’s fantastic as the lead, i really loved watching her reconcile with her exes and seeing all of them grow instead of exploding into coins. my favorite episode was probably the one with her and Roxie - not only did i adore the movie-jumping set pieces, but you really understand the weight of Ramona’s mistakes in their past relationship and how much it hurt Roxie. despite the big climactic fight, the flashbacks are quiet, subtle, heartbreaking. Ramona’s apology is genuine, and it feels so wonderful to watch her confront her past throughout the show. also i think it’s really funny that for all these characters to become the best versions of themselves, they had to kill off Scott for most of the story

and holy shit the artstyle and animation. oh my god. i love watching something that makes me immediately go “i need to see the storyboards for this RIGHT NOW.” SPTO is such a visual delight to watch, it elevates the artstyle of the comics while also keeping what makes that style so appealing - i love the line weight on the characters, i love how much forward energy the animation has, i love the fucking. virtual boy section. as soon as i found out Science Saru was also behind Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, everything made immediate sense. i was destined to love this show.

another worry i had going into SPTO (besides the fact that i hadn’t read the comics lol) is that the original cast from the movie was returning. i think the movie cast is fine, but i wasn’t sure how some of them would fare with voice acting for animation. however, i thought they all did a good job - i think the whole cast loves these characters and would be able to fit into them fairly easily no matter what form their performance takes, and they definitely had a good voice director in the studio with them. the only thing that felt off about the voice performances to me was that sometimes it sounded like some of their mics kept peaking?? idk some of these episodes i watched high as balls and i felt like i could hear and see every single sound and frame of the show. so that might have just been me.

god i did not. expect to have this much to say about Scott Pilgrim. i really loved this show and i’m currently reading the comics to fully catch up on the general Scott Pilgrim experience - i think reading the comics AFTER Takes Off is making me appreciate even more of the character work that went into the show. like they do so much with Mathew Patel in SPTO, a character that was. not originally around for a long time from what i’ve gathered? also i like the funny little robot. oh my GOD i cannot talk about this show anymore whatever it’s good get me out of here

Sword AF Season 1

i put on the Smosh cast’s D&D series to play in the background while i was drawing. i did not expect to think much of it. instead, i had one of the most enjoyable D&D podcast experiences since i listened to The Adventure Zone Balance???

i haven’t really enjoyed other D&D podcasts since i dropped off of The Adventure Zone, and i wasn’t expecting much from Sword AF of all things. then i saw that Shayne was playing as a druid warforged made of plants and his name was fucking Fernie and i sat my ass down and LISTENED. while i think Sword AF is currently lacking in its world and larger story, those things just. aren’t really what Sword AF is really trying to provide at the moment. it’s main focus is comedy, and the players are genuinely such a delight to watch play together and build off of each other. they mostly focus on bits and goofs for the sake of she show's comedic tone, but i still found it thoroughly enjoyable because every player embodies and performs their characters really well. idk Sword AF was an unexpected hit for me this month, i thought it was fun. and i love Fernie so much

Plastic Death - Glass Beach

so originally i wasn’t going to include music reviews in these roundups at all, but then i was entirely surprised by a new Glass Beach album and oh my god. holy shit. oh my fucking god jesus christ. holy shit. its preddy good

Plastic Death gets the low point of the album out of the way immediately. it starts with the “phone call/conversation audio” trope that i don’t particularly enjoy - HOWEVER despite me disliking this opening, 1. it sets up the overall themes of Plastic Death very quickly, and 2. the rest of the album blows this 40 second opening completely out of the water. from there, the album grows into something beautiful and uncontained, and i just. i really like it

Plastic Death captures the beauty of the temporary, asks what it means to be created for a cause you can’t fulfill, questions if you can reclaim yourself from cycles and constraints designed to destroy you. and is also about being transgender. the lyrics are abstract in a way that requires a conversation with the listener, many of the vocals obscured and smooth like waves - this album is definitely one that needs to be listened to a few times. i wasn’t sure how i felt about the vocal style at first before realizing the vocals were the main reason i was relistening to this album, allowing myself to find even more that i loved about it. the instrumentation is also incredible, i love the use of marimba in a number of songs - distant, eerie, almost skeletal. and the fucking. 8-bit section?? which kinda rules???? and that’s the only point in the album it ever shows up??????? incredible. a fleeting, somewhat silly moment that i love every time.

this album left my heart aching, in part from my connection to it and in part from the pure love and joy emanating from this music. i can feel just how much fun this music was to perform and create, a cohesion of time and sound that just clicked for me. Plastic Death made me miss playing music, which is something i haven’t felt in years. all from an album that starts with a conversation about CrankGameplay’s dead youtube channel. good lord

i like this album a normal amount. go listen to it a few times. my favorite tracks are cul-de-sac and commatose

Wish

i watched Wish with a couple of friends and knew i probably wasn't going to like it. with that in mind, i gave myself a challenge: i wanted to find one thing about this movie that i genuinely really loved. it could be anything, and loving it for ironic reasons was allowed.

here's the complete list of things i loved about Disney's Wish (2023):

i love the one shot where King Magnifico stirs an evil caldron evily. i thought it was hilarious. what was he cooking

i loved that the end credits included a reference to Dinosaur 2001 at all, and i loved that they paid homage to Big Hero 6 by showing the forgettable villain of that movie instead of their Baymax cashcow for some reason. my friends and i saw him show up in the credits and were like "who's the trenchcoat guy??"

you may notice that this list is very short and 50% of it is about the movie's credits. so yeah this movie is not very good

Wish is an empty husk of a movie. everything about it feels so, so hollow - lifeless town squares, uninspired character designs (to quote a friend: "i have all of these characters' hairstyles in The Sims"), characters whose existence is only justified to fill empty space or an overused archetype, and an "evil" villain who lacks charisma and spine in a futile effort to remind the audience of previous disney villains with actual character. even the artstyle lacks any sort of sauce, the watercolor effect they were trying to go for only makes the backgrounds and character textures run together, and the dull lighting makes things look even more faded. it's like disney was scared of making a movie that made its audience feel... anything. all to celebrate 100 years of Disney slop, baby!!!

Some YouTube videos I liked in January: 💥 An Exhaustive Look at Pokemon Brilliant Diamond 💥 TomSka's Guide to Plagiarism 💥 Paradise Bombed (this video is a great piece of journalism and i’m definitely not doing it justice by throwing it into the youtube vid list) 💥 Surprising Our Friends with Zoo Animals 💥 Did FNAF Ever Have a Good Story?

thanks for reading! next month’s roundup will be wild because i’ll likely be reviewing House of Leaves and Hazbin Hotel. can you guess which cursed house gives me a worse headache? WHO KNOWS! (hint: it's Hazbin Hotel)

[yeahiwasintheshit]

finally watched 'longlegs' tonight, and man is it a beautifully made, expertly constructed film. mood and atmosphere felt so appropriate and put you in the right frame of mind for what they were trying to do. It felt creepy and dirty, ominous and threatening. shot compositions were gorgeous and the use of the 4:3 vignette or rounded edges (whatever its called) felt appropriate… for a minute i thought the whole movie was gonna be like that, thankfully it was only in a few scenes, and felt like it was for a purpose.

unfortunately i just didnt care for the story it was telling or rather I mean I was fine with the story they were telling, I just didnt think the story was executed linearly with as much care and precision as the look and feel of everything else in the movie. Its doing a bunch of things at first, but you start off thinking the movies going to be a like police procedural, and then they introduce some supernatural elements which then really takes it right out of the kind of cat and mouse / mystery movie you spend the first 10-15 mins thinking its going to be. Things you think should take some time to build up to, just happen. And I get it the movie is not really a police procedural, its more light supernatural horror but idk, theres that police procedural I was kinda wanting because of how the movie started. the supernatural thing kinda gets us to plot points quickly, and to me that felt a little too quick, a little too forced or something. Idk I mean I get why they do that, and why it all comes together at the end, but a little slower with the build up and police work would have helped build more of the tension, I think.

Also you can pretty much guess where its all going, I mean there are definitely some weird right turns you will not guess, and those are good moments, but almost from the beginning, they are like ‘who is the accomplice? Who is the accomplice?’ And its like yea, duh, we know, like they made that pretty clear almost right off the bat, so when it is revealed, you’re like, uh yeah, we knew that lol

also, what really took me out of the movie each and every time was Nic cage. They should have absolutely not had him in this role. His voice was so ridiculous, the choices in like singing were like not scary or creepy at all, it was just silly and each and every time all I saw was Nic cage, maybe if his voice was lower and creepier or something, idk, its just Nic cages voice, and it just didnt work for me. They should have had some unknown actor or anyone else in his role. Someone whos intimidating and actually creepy. I got nothing creepy or ominous about his choices. and I think its clear they knew that, cause they shellacked him in that makeup… anyway to not see Nic cage, but his voice was a dead giveaway each time.

Maika Monroe was fantastic tho, and it was really great to see Blair underwood coming out of wherever hes been for 30 years ago, back from la law I guess lol. He looks great, and he has such a great voice. Also really great to see Alicia Witt! Almost unrecognizable, I really hope they caked her in old age makeup, cause at first I was like is that her? Cant be, there’s no way Alia Atrides is old enough to have a 30+ year old child lol also nice to see sally draper in this, and that Oz Perkins has a cast of actors he likes working with. She was great in his other movie the blackcoats daughter.

Overall it was the visuals that were the standout in the movie, the director, Oz Perkins, who is the son of my bby Anthony Perkins, is really good at building these atmospheric moody visuals, he also did a movie called Gretel and Hansel which also was more visually appealing than it was a good story. and I just read that his brother, Elvis Perkins did the score. Ive loved his album Ash Wednesday for almost a couple decades now, and the score really helped build the tension and really worked with movie.

It got so much hype at first so Im glad I saw some reasonable reactions too, cause it lowered my expectation. At first I’d heard it was the scariest movie ever!! And it’s not. I’m glad I went in not thinking that. So its not a bad movie whatsoever, I def wouldnt say I loved it, there are choices that I dont think work with the story, and that really dampens what couldve been something special, cause visually and atmospherically its gorgeous.

[destinyc1020]

My Movie Review: "A Quiet Place: Day One" 🤫

**Caution...May Contain Some Spoilers**

Hey everyone! I'm back with another movie review! 😁

Soo.... I had the chance to catch "A Quiet Place: Day One" in theaters this weekend, and here are my thoughts! First of all, this is one summer blockbuster that I was definitely looking forward to on my list! My friends and I had all seen Parts 1 and 2, so we were definitely excited to see how it all began. 😊

PROS

First of all, can I just say?? I LOVE Lupita Nyong'o. 😊 Anytime I see her onscreen, I'm reminded of just how great of an actress she is! She always shines bright in every role she's given, and she's extremely believable. You could literally feel her fear, shock, terror, and sadness throughout this film! This woman definitely earned her Oscar win years ago (just sorry that it was for that slave movie 😒), and I'm always excited to see what new projects she does next.

Djimon Hounsou is another one.... Anytime he's in a movie, I KNOW his acting is not going to disappoint lol. 😅 It was cool finally getting to see both Lupita and Djimon in a film together. It's just such a shame that they shared such little screen time together. 🥴

The acting was great in this. Everyone did a great job and pulled their own weight.

The music was beautiful in this film. I listen to musical scores in films (I'm a geek, I know lol 😜) and it was very moving.

I loved the chemistry between Lupita's character and Joseph Quinn's character. I had never seen any of his films before (at least, I don't think so? 🤔), so it was nice seeing him onscreen and witnessing his interactions with Lupita. Their chemistry wasn't even anything romantic or sexual onscreen, but they had really great platonic chemistry together! 😊

CONS

I must say.... I think I was expecting this film to be a little more scary than it actually was lol? 😅 I was bracing myself to be pretty scared like I was for the first two films, but all in all, the film wasn't really all that scary?? There were some great jump scares throughout, but nothing that really had me getting creeped out, or reaching for my friend's sleeve lol. 😅

This movie was actually a lot sadder than I thought it would be? Idk if that was a pro or a con lol, but I guess I was expecting it to be more action, but in reality, it was quite slow-moving....and sad. The end especially was kind of sad. 😢 Don't get me wrong, it was a very beautifully-shot film, and it really was touching, but a film that you're thinking is mainly going to be about aliens invading turns out to be more about grief, death, and moving on from the past. 😢

I was definitely entertained with this film, but I feel like I didn't really learn much about the aliens? I thought in this film (since it's a prequel) we were going to learn a little more about WHY they invaded, what they were after, and maybe a little more backstory? I guess my assumption was all wrong lol. 😅

OVERALL

Overall, this is a fun movie if you just want to go out and have some fun with your friends. Although I didn't find it all that "scary" (and I'm usually a scaredy cat lol 😅), there are quite a few jump scares and "gotcha!" moments in the film to keep you thrilled and entertained. I would say that this film was more suspenseful than it was "scary". The film was really enjoyable though! That's all I ask from a movie honestly lol.

I wish I had been warned that this film was more sad than it was scary lol. It was beautifully shot, and the way it handles death, grief, and the loss of a loved one is great. Lupita, Joseph, and Djimon all do some superb acting in this one, so if you're a fan of either of them, then by all means, go check this one out! 😁 Lupita especially is so good of an actress. I love the fact that she ventures out of the usual norm and isn't afraid to do horror films, thriller films, suspense films, etc....all genres that historically, black women have usually been missing in. So, I like that she takes risks and isn't afraid to do those types of films, even though she's already an Oscar Winner. 😁

This film waws NOT directed by Jon Krasinski, and I think I could tell lol. I know he was busy filming something else, so he couldn't direct this one (which is fine). I kind of think that the small-town aspect made the other two films way more scary than the NYC setting. I know it makes sense since the city is way louder than the country lol, but you know what I mean lol....

OVERALL SCORE: 7.5/10

[dancefloors]

I think the past few years, she's been trying to be both a pop star and a sensitive singer-songwriter at the same time. The problem is she's great at lyrics/songwriting structurally, but her artistic vision has stagnated. Lover, Midnights, and TTPD are fun to listen to but still feel sonically amorphous. It's like as she's gotten more powerful, gotten more creative control, her overall output has become more and more bland.

TTPD feels like the most glaring example of this, the songs feel a little more defined than midnights, but our homegirl did not even TRY to connect the music to the film noir/journalism/workplace theme she set up visually or just the actual title of whatever the fuck a "tortured poets department" is supposed to mean. That title is so clunky but I was hoping it would make sense once I heard the album and understood this framing device she'd set up. Except in the music there's no framing device at all 😭 we couldn't have gotten some simple Lauryn Hill style transition tracks to make it all make sense?

It's just very frustrating to me, she keeps missing opportunities and seems to be surrounded by people who don't push her creatively.

the disconnect from the theme is a little baffling and hilarious to me like she kind of just threw offices and typewriters and quills together and called it a day. creative director needed desperately. or at least some dedication. maybe it would be perceived as trite but the Gothic Horror Wild-Woman-Outcast-From-Society thing she hinted at in her MV could've really eaten #idk. especially since its closely linked to the Victorian Era Romanticism (that she loves so much) as both a subgenre and subversion, and could've more easily aligned with the themes of being a woman on trial / isolation and insanity / Frankenstein's monster (WAOLOM) she had going. as well as that fuckass typewriter.

I agree though, many missed opportunities, she's never fully willing to commit to something that is a creative risk unless she can project a direct benefit from it

[ninetqs]

oh definitely 2022 was not only on him; a major part in it was probably how he may have lost confidence and trust in the team that he clearly loved so so much. i think the level of confidence we see now in charles is a testament as to how strong he’s gotten as well, because pre-2022, though charles was already steadfast and confident despite his team underperforming, it had never really gotten to the point where it felt like the team could no longer be trusted with any semblance of communication or teamwork. in 2022 it’s easy to see how any driver’s confidence and mental fortitude could take a hit from what ferrari had been doing, and until around mid-2023 there were so many changes in ferrari that it’s also understandable to see why any driver would have felt a little lost. but it’s crazy to see how charles had eventually built back his confidence and resolve mid-2023 until now. now i feel like after surviving the horrors of 2022, it would be really really really difficult to make charles waver or crumble in any way.

i apologize for rambling !!! i just feel like one of charles’s least appreciated characteristics is his strength. indeed, he’s a bit more privileged than many other drivers in motorsports, but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s had to go through so much as well to be where he is now, and i just think it’s so lovely for him to have come out of everything with such grace.

don't apologise for rambling at all!! i think it's nice to share your opinion, if only because sometimes in online spaces, it's easy to feel isolated in your views. people often hesitate to express themselves, so actually, i think "rambling" and sharing your opinion is important <- idk if this makes sense. it does in my head

anyway i completely agree, it really pisses me off when people say one of charles' flaws is that he isn't mentally strong. i like to use seb as an example: i know some people attribute seb's mental break during his final ferrari years to charles, and while i don't think that's entirely wrong, i see charles more as the final nail in the coffin of what actually started in the 2017/2018 seasons. like... we've seen how other great drivers have reacted to ferrari screwing them over, plus the mistakes they made under that pressure. imho, charles has handled it the best of all of them

i think charles' main mental flaw is impatience, which he has said himself many times. in the car this can cloud his judgment, and while it was especially obvious in 2022, it's still an issue this year. that said i'm not too concerned about it because the team is overall much stronger now and there's less burden on the drivers to make strategic decisions (or bear the burden of a strategic failure) than under binotto

[garthofshayeris]

MY OFFICIAL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ON AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM. Spoilers ahead.

OKAY. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. It was very fun and it did not have the problem of too many villains that I was expecting based on everything I read. If that was the result of the rewrites and reshoots, I am happy for them.

A lot of the visuals and smaller adventures felt very Silver Age! There were certain creatures that were directly from the 60s, which I appreciated. Topo was lovely. If you know me, you know one of my major gripes with some of the recent Aquaman comics is that they do not lean into the animal sidekick thing anymore. And the group of whales straight up killing all those people? THAT is the Aquaman content I like to see.

The horror elements were just enough to balance out the sillier parts. Although I knew Arthur Jr was never in any actual danger, this is the closest DC has come since the 70s to making it even somewhat realistic that they would kill a baby. Like, I knew they wouldn't. But for once I said to myself, "they've established this enough that I believe this threat." You know my stance on DC trying to bait another Death of a Prince...

The cursed Trident possessing Manta was giving such Preboot Orm vibes. I liked it, I appreciate a slow possession arc. Manta was scary and felt like a real threat, which is difficult to achieve when he's a human and he's fighting people so much stronger than him. Shin was also SO good, you knew he was going to redeem himself but it still felt very natural for him to do so. Idk why Manta trusted him with the baby duffel bag tho, after all the times Shin clearly was snooping and giving Manta disapproving looks. Also why did they put that baby in a duffel bag lmao

Overall, it was a pretty straightforward story that felt easy to follow. This isn't always the case for superhero films, so it was refreshing. And a good end to the franchise. This actually felt like it would have been a great end to a TRILOGY, and that we were missing a middle story...

HOWEVER.

Not to make this about me and my blorbo but.......this would have made a lot more sense as a story about Arthur and Garth. I'm sorry, but it's true. Every time I saw a Silver Age reference, I just said to myself "oh yeah, that's a story with Aqualad in it, but now it's Orm." I KNOW that Orm needed his lil redemption arc, but if Patrick Wilson was not besties with James Wan, I don't think he would have gotten one.

Because Kordax was Slizzath. He just was. They took Slizzath's story and renamed him Kordax. So many parts of the movie I was like "this is adapted from Tempest (1996)" BUT IF THEY HAD USED SLIZZATH WITHOUT GARTH I WOULD HAVE BEEN PISSED so I get it but I don't get it, you know? But Kordax was just Slizzath.

I posted a few years ago about my ideal Aquaman trilogy, and tbh this felt like my ideal third movie, plot-wise and tone-wise......except my vision was about Garth, not Orm. Orm could be there, I guess, but imo he should have had a sequel redemption and then the third movie should have introduced the evil sorcerer thing. It would have made perfect sense to need Atlan's blood, thinking they're fine because they saved the baby but then Garth accidentally bleeds on the altar and unlocking his powers, and releasing Slizzath. PLUS then he could freeze the ice caps again with his new found powers lmao I'm worried about the implications.........nobody in this universe has ice powers.....

I get that it would have been hard to introduce a new character for a sequel with absolutely no chance at a third movie, so I do understand that Garth was never an option....but holy shit, Garth would have been a perfect fit for this movie.

AGAIN, not to make it about my blorbo .......

also I cannot believe they killed Vulko via plague?? I almost laughed out loud. It's absolutely because they could not reconcile that if Vulko was alive, Arthur would not need Orm's help lmao RIP Vulko I choose to believe you were hanging around as a ghost like in Vol 5

One last gripe but omg Atlan's trident looked so BAD in some scenes??? It looked very prop-like, and not metal at all??? did anyone else notice it? It's really bad on the iceberg scene. The costumes were actually great but omg that trident prop lmao

OVERALL, it was a really fun movie. I'm happy to say that I liked it. I think it will get bad critic reviews and really good audience reviews. It just felt very fun and heartfelt. The action scenes were also well lit and easy to follow, and that alone should convince people to see it

I'm going to see it again tomorrow and I want to make a list of the other random things that I noticed. I know I'm missing a lot. How did ya'll feel about it??

[beyourownanchor6]

Oh yeah I get that. But personally I feel like it was a fun ride, you know? Even if it didn't stick the landing. The Flash was another one with a weird ending.

Oh I 100% recommend Doctor Who. You don't need to watch tge backlog if you don't want to (I only watched NewWho, cause I couldn't find Classic Who anywhere). If you have a disney+ subscription you can catch the new season 1 on Disney Plus. It's awesome.

Oh heavens i've been wanting to get into comics but it's so overwhelming (and expensive in the long run). I looked for comic books at my local library but they don't have any. I looked into getting a Marvel Unlimited subscription but that's hella expensive - and would only cover Marvel, and I wanna get into DC as well.

Oh jeremy renner, i don't know why but I don't vibe with him. Like i haven't heard anything bad about him, you know, I just... don't trust him. But if you like him i recommend The Renner Files. A six episode podcast about his app.

I love the conjuring and horror movies too! I'm hyped for horror movies in general and definitely for the new Conjuring. I heard it's gonna be the last one which sucks. I wish the franchise would go on for many more years cause it's so entertaining. Like sometimes (like with The Devil Made Me Do It) it's even camp. And will do!

Oh the test is scheduled for next months. It's a routine test. Cholesterol, stuff like that. Plus getting my annual hiv test (just a precaution) and getting tested to find out my blood type (it's good to know). Oh don't scratch that itch! It burns like all heck. I recommend running your hand under cold water and pressing it to the itching site. It helps. You too, have a great weekend my friend!

i have not had tumblr beans the last few days 😄

i think it was just really disappointing to me that they took such a good show and ran it to the ground. i loved it in the begging but it didn’t feel worth it in the end to me 😬 i ditched the flash sometime after cisco left. i could see that one was getting the same fate as arrow. sad bc those shows all started out so strong.

i couldn’t even say what doctor who is about lol, i just know it never caught my attention. but i’ll keep it in mind if i’m feeling something different!

he’s been good in the stuff i’ve seen him in so i don’t mind him. ooo podcasts. i wish i could be a podcast girly (gn) but i don’t possess the attention span lol. there’s so many podcasts i wish they did videos for as well

the first two conjurings were soooo good! idk what happened with the last one but it was not it for me. it severely lacked why i fell in love with the first two. idk it was disappointing for me lol. i’m hoping this next one is better! i didn’t really care for the nun either. i refuse to watch annabelle (i hate dolls)

ohh gotcha! well hope all goes well when the time comes! i’ve always wondered my blood type but always forget to ask lol. my sunburn is peeling a little still but better overall. i got two new piercings so i kinda forgot about it now 🤣 hope you had a good weekend!

[jovianjournal]

February 2024 (comics time)

took me a while to finish this post because i actually had to work, for once.

Kimi ni Nidome no Sayonara wo / Un second au revoir -- Takogawa Takomaru, Tanaka Tomo, French translation by Essia Mokdad

I saw this manga in my local bookshop and i picked it up because the art looked really cool, but it's not the kind of story i usually read: it's a... psychological horror mystery with some supernatural elements? The story begins when a young man goes to the funeral of a childhood friend who had been missing for several years and whose body has just been discovered, hidden for all this time in their old high school. At the funeral, he gets attacked and wakes up in the body of his younger self, a few months before his friend's disappearance.

For me the main appeal is the art and the vaguely homoerotic ultra-toxic friendship, the plot is sometimes a little lacking, a little tropey. At the time of writing, there's still one volume to be published in France at the end of the year and i'm looking forward to the end of the mystery, because i've guessed some parts of it, but there's some time travel shenanigans that still need clarifying. overall i'd recommend it! (although: tw for child abuse & violence)

*

Country Diary - Haru kara natsu e -- Ishino Aya, French translation by Gaëlle Ruel

Sometimes you read a book and you think the whole time "gosh i wish i was living in this story". A 2 volume series about a university professor who quits his city life to buy an old abandoned house in the countryside, where he befriends a local carpenter and learns to tend his field with the help of his farmer neighbours. Very Story of Seasons, very cottagecore fantasy. A sweet lil story about community and frienship and craft and nature and... idk it's just really cosy and charming.

*

Blue Period (volume 14) -- Tsubasa Yamaguchi, French translation by Nathalie Lejeune

One of my favourite currently running series, about a fine art student and his art school adventures. Lot of really interesting stuff about art and being an artist. This volume focuses on some of the side characters, who are truly the strength of the story, a big cast of colorful weirdos.

*

Dungeon Meshi -- Ryoko Kui, French translation by Sébastien Ludmann

Okay unless you've been living under a rock you've probably heard of delicious in dungeon, who was adapted into an anime earlier this year. I'd been meaning to read it for a very long time and after watching the first couple episodes i finally bit the bullet... and binged the whole thing in a couple months. Exactly the Kind of Story I Love : fun fantasy with complex worldbuilding, great characters with complex relationships, expert comedic timing, beautiful art, complex themes in a silly wrapping... can't recommend it enough.

*

Rivages Lointains -- Anaïs Flogny

A story about gay mafiosi in mid century america. Great art, great ambiance, i just wish there was at least one character i could root for. don't get me wrong i'm all for morally ambiguous anti heroes, but they either need to have some likeable traits or to be fun to hate. These guys are mostly just unsympathetic. I still really liked it tho!

*

Squire -- Nadia Shammas, Sara Alfageeh, French translation by Florent Degletagne

ooooh this one was really good. it took me a long time to read, because i'd heard great things about it, but it's a thick one, and i was waiting for the right time to read it. Second world fantasy with middle eastern vibes. the authors are palestinian and cisjordanian (if i remember correctly) which add an extra layer on the themes of colonization throughout the story. I loved the secondary characters and i wish they got more time to be developed, but other than that it's a great story that felt extremely relevant.

*

that's all folks, see y'all next time

[horrortino]

WHOOPS I started this blog and disappeared 👻 My bad! Work has been kicking my ass, and then I got sick 🙃 But!! I’m better now and here with a few recent horrors I’ve watched, and a few of my thoughts.

1. Five Nights at Freddy’s - 4.5 ⭐️

I went and saw this in theaters the day it came out. In fact I got off work early just to do so LOL. I really liked it overall, it was fun and goofy. The story we got of Mike Schmidt’s life was pretty interesting, and I liked that it combined quite a few elements from several of the games. My only critique was that it wasn’t as scary as I had hoped, but also I do realize that a majority of FNAF lovers are probably children so it had to be a bit tamer for them. Also Matthew Lillard? Delectable.

2. SCREAM - 5⭐️

A classic. One of my top favorite horrors. It has everything I want: blood, violence, clumsy killers, silly characters, and of course, Matthew Lillard. It has an insane amount of quotable moments, and it’s entertaining all around. Also, is it me, or is it insanely homoerotic sometimes? That, of course, rounds it to a full 5 stars.

3. The Craft - 4.25⭐️

I had never seen this one, surprisingly. I know I would have loved it as a teenager. The fashion in this movie is iconic. It’s not really horror by my standards, but it does have a few ~spooky~ moments. Mostly, it’s a coming of age movie for weird girls. It had Skeet Ulrich in it, which I had only ever seen in SCREAM, so I was like, holy shit it’s Billy Loomis. He has a way with playing terrible, horny high school boys, I guess.

4. The Boy - 4.25⭐️

Even if I gave this a 4.25 I LOVED this one. The twist was something that I caught on to, but was still so satisfying. I only docked it a bit because of the ending. It just…did not give me what I wanted from this film, but that may just be personal preference. *Vague but possible spoilers* I mayyy blame this movie for my rediscovery that I really, really like masked slashers. If I was Greta I might have stayed in the house. Idk. 👀

5. Brahms: The Boy 2 - 4⭐️

This is the sequel to The Boy, and it was definitely a good one! However because of a couple characters and sort of changing up the origins of The Boy, it didn’t quite make it to GREAT. Worth a watch, for sure though. Some of the reviews were pretty harsh for this one but I certainly didn’t think it was bad. If dolls creep you out though, steer clear 😂

ANYWAY, those are my thoughts! I kind of fell out of reading this last month, but I’ve got several horrors lined up so hopefully I can get a few more books finished by the end of the year. I’ll probably also post these movie quips every once and a while and just share a few I’ve been recently watching.

Lots of love, ya boy Val

[insecateur]

I am asking this because I am very worried about how things are torpedoing in my country, but how is france in regards to lgbt+ stuff?

idk if i'd say it's great but idk if i'd say it's bad either, it's not perfect but we've had marriage equality for ten years at this point and trans stuff is handled... adequately? i'm kind of a textbook trans case so my experience doesn't represent the wider system (acknowledgment that nonbinary people exist has been slow-going to say the least) but to give you an idea i have everything taken care of rn, i get my T injections and my appointments and it's covered by healthcare entirely, and afaik surgery is also completely covered (you do have to pay if you do it outside the system tho. and a lot of french people overall criticize that system bc it's still pretty old school re: what counts as trans altho i do think it's gotten better, as someone who read a lot of horror stories and was very worried when i went to my first appointment. but like i said i'm a very textbook case so that probably helped a lot.)

lesbians have only had access to help with procreation since 2020 it seems so that sucks. and for lgbt people who can't carry a child (so two gay men or one man and one trans woman or two trans women for example) and might want children with their own genes, having someone else be paid to carry your child for you is illegal here. it's illegal for everybody tho.

as far as public perception goes, i do think it's been getting worse unfortunately, looking it up the numbers of hate crimes and stuff of the sort seem to have gone up so that sucks. at my level i've yet to run into someone being weird at me bc i'm trans (however please be aware that i don't go out very often LOL but for example i've had blood drawn a while back and when the nurse who took care of me saw my legal name she was like "oh you're trans! i have a regular patient who's trans too :)" and it was a very wholesome moment) i've had friends go through that shit tho and it sucks :/ i feel like it's kind of like everywhere else in the world, it got a lot better for a while and now it's getting worse again. i want to be hopeful tho but yeah

basically if we're comparing it to the shitshow that's going on in the US rn for example i'd say we have it pretty good! but there are still a lot of lgbtphobes around unfortunately. i mean when marriage equality was voted there were SO MANY PEOPLE out in the streets against it lol it was a whole Thing.

[kittyball23]

Welp, happy 1-year anniversary to this movie! While not the best, it still exists 🤷 Honestly the best parts of it for me was seeing the Ericka and Mavis moments. I also was kinda hoping there would be a DVD out by now so I could complete the collection I have at home, but I’m sure whatever contract is needed for that is floating in limbo somewhere too. Anywho, I’ve put some of my answers to a 20-question game from the Amino App that was made for the first movie’s 10th anniversary (didn’t see that post until a couple of days ago, lol) under the cut in case you wanna know more about my thoughts on Transformania and also the rest of the franchise! :D

Thoughts on the franchise as a whole

Ah yes, Hotel Transylvania. To have sparked 4 movies, a show, shorts, some video games, and graphic novels, I’m guessing it was popular enough among folks xD For me, the movies are cute enough as they go, and entertaining with its cartoonish interpretation of classic horror icons. There are memorable moments and characters, maybe even good life lessons at times. Overall enjoyable films, and a fun watch :)

2) Favorite character

Ericka Van Helsing. She’s a bad@ss 😎

3) Favorite movie

3rd movie, hands down. A lot that had to do with how entertaining the Van Helsings were and also for giving us the Drericka ship ^_^

4) Favorite song

3rd movie had a lot of great songs, but if I had to decide my favorite it would be “Love is Not Hard to Find” from movie 4

5) Favorite video game

Don’t play video games, so N/A

6) Favorite actor/actress

Kathryn Hahn ✨

7) Thoughts on the TV series

Well, I only saw a handful of episodes from the TV series… and then stopped xD Idk, I guess it just wasn’t what I thought. Characters felt a little OOC, and just didn’t hold my interest :/ Honestly, what I would have liked would be a show taking place post HT1/HT2 since it takes place in about a 8-year time period give or take and could potentially have stories to tell with humans and monsters getting along, looking more into how they’ve each adapted at the hotel, and also just more of the characters we’re familiar with from the movies themselves

8) Favorite episode of the TV series

Like I said, haven’t been dedicated to watching the TV series, so can’t really say ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

9) Favorite character from the TV series

From the episodes I did watch, I’d say Lydia was most entertaining

10) Favorite graphic novel

Motel Transylvania. I like the concept of expanding the hotel, and Johnny’s efforts in trying to make that happen xD

11) Genndy or Derrick (Director)

Probably Genndy

12) Adam or Brian (Dracula’s voice actors)

They’re both great, honestly

13) First impression of this franchise

The first movie came out when I was in like 6th grade, and I do recall classmates taking about wanting to go see it. But it didn’t really catch my interest, even when I did watch it for the first time in 2018. I felt it was too childish, and the fast movements bothered me

14) Latest impressions of this franchise

I think it’s kind of losing its steam a bit, because plot-wise 4 wasn’t the best it could be (which I guess was also part of the reason that led to the decline of the fandom…) but guess I can still appreciate what we have

15) How did you discover this franchise

My little bro got interested back in 2018 after seeing trailers for the third movie

16) Favorite zing

DRERICKA 💕

17) Favorite moment of all time

Transformania’s smoochy time scene (I mean hey, it’s pretty much the closest we got to an on-screen liplock from Drericka, plus I just can’t get enough of how clearly in love these two are with each other 😍 And how grossed out Mavis is as a result of that xD)

18) Did the finale satisfy you

Err… it was okay. Nothing more, nothing less. I do like the idea of Drac retiring and giving up the hotel to Mavis and Johnny, but the execution of the rest of the film’s plot I felt didn’t do it as much justice as it could have. I guess with all the switching around with the release date for this movie going further and further out, I was anticipating something worth the wait (also, January 14th?? The October release date I think would’ve been ideal since it’s spooky month. Even this January would’ve made more sense since it has a Friday the 13th in it)

19) Do you wish for more

At some point, yes, but maybe in 5+ years as a breather. If it does come back, I think an animated special of some kind would be cool, or a 2D show that takes place after part 4 with the brand-new hotel

20) Would you recommend this franchise

All in all, I would say yes! If you want just some silliness to pass time, with a mostly likeable ensemble of characters, then this is it :)

[some-say-kosm]

So happy to see micolash made your top 10 soulsborne bosses!! I know folks find his boss too gimmicky or long but I had so much fun going through his little mazes, it was a good break, especially so late in the game. Overall great top 10 but seeing him on there was great ehehehehe

Eheheheh yesss one more micolash enjoyer! There are dozens of us!

I'll admit fromsoft gimmick bosses are pretty hit or miss, like most of them have cool concepts but the execution is pretty. meh. But micolash works imo! Cause like, you just made your way through this endgame area, fully expecting an epic bossfight, you walk through the fog, bracing yourself for the Horrors and... you're greeted by this nerd who yells nonsense at you while you chase him through his silly little maze, it's disorienting and unsettling and i love it! The first time i fought him it took me ages cause i didn't know what to do and i kept getting lost, felt like i was going insane too, which i think is precisely the vibe they were aiming for.

Also i love how the game lulls you into a false sense of security, making you think he's gonna go down easy once you've cornered him, only for him to one-shot you with a call beyond ✨

Idk not all bosses need to be epic fights with a million healthbars, sometimes it can just be about the Vibes.

But also i just love micolash as a character! He embodies one of my favorite archetypes, which is "scientist driven insane by his research and/or willing to sacrifice his humanity in the pursuit of knowledge". Also also! his dying lines live rent-free in my head! The way he says "now i'm waking up, i'll forget everything" which could be interpreted two ways: either he hasn't realised his real body has been dead for years OR he knows but he's more concerned about losing the knowledge he's gained than about his impending death. Haven't quite decided which one i like best.

[nialltlynch]

kk 2022 reading roundup

total books read this year: 41!! (which is a lot. to me)

my goal, as it has been the past couple years, is at least two books per month. and. dear reader, in the interest of being truthful and fair, I did not meet my goal. july wasnt a great month for both for interpersonal reasons and also because I was coming down the high of having read the gideon the ninth and harrow the ninth. so like. everything kinda tasted like dirt yknow what I mean? I read ZERO books that month. other than that, I did read a bit more than I did last year so it's a win all around

overall I do feel like this was a bit weaker. the majority of the books were fine. interesting enough to finish but not really memorable once closed. not as many of them hit quite very hard BUT the ones that did were INSANEEEEEEEE which! fine! okay! not all books are going to be mind blowers but I think it made reading this year feel a little bit more like a slog than previous. blah. you win some you lose some.

that being said, im only counting books that ive finished but I did start far more books that I ended up not finishing. I mayyyyy come back to some because I might not have been in the right place but idk. im still a very picky reader I think.

random observations:

i overwhelmingly read women writers. this is not by design. kinda neat i guess

i purposely try to read a variety of authors instead of delving into one author's bibliography (except shirley jackson, who has my heart). maybe next year I'll try to read more deeply into author's I enjoy??? we shall see

im surprised that apparently my top genre for the year is horror? i think the bulk of that is because shirley jackson is labeled horror which i suppose i have to agree with though i never considered myself a horror enjoyer. I think id like to delve more into the genre next year but ummmm im squeamish and I get scared and start shaking all over very easy ((:

i should read longer books. ill admit seeing an ebook with 300+ pages and preemptively mentally checking out....... this habit will probably follow me into the new year unfortunately )):

anyway. here are my rambling nothing thoughts on my top 10 reads this year!

top 10:

Harrow the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir | easily one of the most succulent, juicy, mind searingly delicious things I've consumed in..... I don't even know how long. possibly ever. all my thoughts can be summed up as: ooga booga

Hangsaman - Shirley Jackson | ive read a lot of shirley jackson this year and I think ive read all her novels excepts one (the road through the wall). anyway. this fucking book. no one understands the tragedy of being a young woman quite like shirley jackson.

Our Wives Under the Sea - Julia Armfield | this is one of those rare books where a confluence of things I love all come together AND it actually works out. just off the top of my head this book has (and executes WELL): floaty yet vivid prose. sea monsters. a healthy fear of the ocean. lesbians. mundane yet sublime body horror. unanswered mysteries. it's just!!! one of those things you hear about and you're like. there's no way this is actually that good right??? and true it has issues but I personally find the blemishes forgivable. I think my biggest problem is that it feels a bit drawn out but the vibes were so pitch perfect i can barely fault it for that. anyway. absolutely had a wonderful time reading this book. I went into it with relatively high expectations (especially for me) and left delighted and fed.

The Bird's Nest - Shirley Jackson | i went back and forth a lot about which jackson book was my favorite this year and it was really difficult because 1) they're all insanely good and exactly to my tastes and 2) this was the year i read the locked tomb so...... dsjkdsjkfd decisions man. ANYWAY the vibes in this book are off the charts

The Sundial - Shirley Jackson | ms jackson does it again!!! you would think that a book about a house that becomes a prison that symbolizes some form of control inhabited by a collection of delusional rich assholes would rank a lot higher since its so so so painfully quintessentially made for kk. it's also funny! I laughed out loud a few times and it was all in good fun. let me tell you. the only times I was laughing during her other books - say, idk, hill house - was at the absurdity of it all. the sundial was legitimately good fun.

Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir | DO NOT get it twisted. just because this is number 5 does NOT mean this book didnt make me absolutely insane feral. the difference between gtn and htn as far as my love is thin. razor silk spider web fucking thin. but theyre also completely different books so ughfdhfdjh okay. im not going to get into comparisons because who knows how we'll be at it. tamsyn muir is insane (affectionate with a twinge of awe.) i, a guy who sidestepped getting into A Certain Webcomic, have had a tab open for months now with fanfic for previously mentioned Webcomic (that i know next to nothing about) because im just so hungry for more tamsyn. gimme hands waaaarabslkdsb

Salt Slow - Julia Armfield | i read this before our wives under the sea and let me tell you... it set such high expectations. i obviously like her better when she's exploring subdued terror that slowly grows and grows and grows over time but she's very good at the fanciful and the deranged. she's contemplatively imaginative and the fact that she seems to also have a love for the ocean is just gravy for me. she wrote a fun little piece called the ocean is a lesbian. it was nice.

The Last House on Needless Street - Catriona Ward | this book is like one of those old timey anatomy diagrams to me in that i feel that really sums up the overall mood of the book AND also my feelings AND also conveniently describes how i read this book. this is an S-class concept with A-class writing which is delicious and delightful because it's both wonderful as a reader AND a writer. i was unnerved from the very first page and it was equally fun to luxuriate in that slow panic as a reader and to also unravel it through scrutiny as a writer. do you get what im trying to say? (i do feel presumptious referring to myself as a writer but this book really did make me remember why i love writing. so fuck it. I am a guy who writes aka writer)

Calling a Wolf a Wolf - Kaveh Akbar | im still very wet behind the ears insofar as my poetry knowledge goes and ill admit to not really. hmm. well, "getting it" sometimes. im learning! however. that being said. this collection. ooooof. i didn't feel like i had to stretch to grasp the concept. it ate my brain though thats for sure.

Devil House - John Darnielle | this book came to me at a very opportune time because I've been putting a lot of thought into the whole. true crime thing. still chewing tbh (got caught up in other stuff) but it definitely had a lasting effect

[spaceorphanssecondbreakfastclub]

SO's Book Club : Shiver

Okay, so I haven't been completely absent in my reading. I have finished a few things and wanted to get back to putting up my reviews.

Title : Shiver Author : Allie Reynolds Genre : Mystery/Thriller

Goodreads Summary:

When Milla is invited to a reunion in the French Alps resort that saw the peak of her snowboarding career, she drops everything to go. While she would rather forget the events of that winter, the invitation comes from Curtis, the one person she can't seem to let go.

The five friends haven't seen each other for ten years, since the disappearance of the beautiful and enigmatic Saskia. But when an icebreaker game turns menacing, they realize they don't know who has really gathered them there and how far they will go to find the truth.

Review:

I was going to have this one up in October in time for Halloween. Clearly that didn't happen.

The premise centers around a woman named Milla - who, in her early twenties, used to be a professional athlete, specializing in winter sports such as snowboarding and skiing. Back in the day - she and a group of her 'friends' had a lot of drama going on. In the present, she's invited for a reunion of sorts and then spooky things start happening as the truth of the past begins to come out.

The thing I'm coming to terms with with all of these 'thrillers' is that the schtick of them kind of are feeling the same. I suppose that's the point -- as I read dozens of Agatha Christie novels that have a similar sense of style to them. But maybe I'm finding these just aren't for me. I guess I expect too much from them? I don't know.

The book is split up into different halves -- the first half being in the present, and having that creepy - I Know What You Did Last Summer - vibe. And the second is the slow unraveling of what happened in the past.

The present day stuff is definitely the better part of the book. Reynolds is able to capture that unnerving, snowed in in the middle of nowhere feel to it. The tension of the present day is definitely felt, and I give this book points for having a great atmosphere. I do think it spends a little too much time before people start dying and the action to really start going, but the rely on tension definitely makes the book a very unsettling read.

Meanwhile, the stuff in the past is... idk, padded? I realize it's partly to get to know the characters better - but it feels like a lot of vamping because the reveal of the truth can't come in the middle of the book. And, as it seems like with a lot of these thrillers, the more the past goes on, the more terrible these characters seem. I get that that's part of it -- when terrible people are killed off, we shouldn't care all that much. But, meh, I feel like you should care a least a little bit about the characters.

Plus, the more 'twists' that happen, the more ridiculous I find the plot. Sometimes I think these books are trying to see how shocking they can be - and lose good character development and smart story telling choices in the process. It's definitely not bad, but I think once the truth begins to come into light, it stops being spooky and starts being a little campy.

I should also mention there is a little bit of queerness in the book -- and it feels exploitive (as in there for the shock value of it) more than it being a natural progression of the narrative.

The ending also felt a little... contrived? Idk what I really want from these thrillers, they always start out so promising with their premises! But they keep seeming to end on these outlandish twists.

Overall, I didn't hate this book like it may seem. The atmosphere was great, and I did get creeped out reading it. The part of the book in the present was decently solid (with the exception of the crazy ending) and captivating. The flashbacks felt a bit much, and I don't think the characters are all that great. But I think it's equivalent of going to a moderately well done horror movie.

Rating: 3.5 Stars