#but no she'll die if people find out she's a regular human being who has flaws and bad hair days sometimes

[cartelheir]

when thinking about her mom, one of the first things that comes to pat's mind is her beauty, and all the things she taught her about it. since she was very little, pat remembers esperanza making comments about how being pregnant with pat destroyed her body; stretch marks, saggy skin, etc. little did pat know at the time, it wasn't even her first pregnancy. she always told pat how beautiful she was, but the compliments were conditional, only coming as long as pat looked a certain specific way ( ruining her hair while playing tag with her friends was unacceptable, for instance ), and as pat grew into a teenager and young adult, there were times it almost seemed as if she was in a competition against her own daughter. she became even more critical of her appearance, while simultaneously resenting her for it.

it was with her that pat learned beauty hurts. that going through painful and expensive rituals and squeezing herself into uncomfortable and impractical clothing is just a part of life, a necessary annoyance in order to look your best; and you must always look your best, even when you're in a crisis or when you have much more important things to deal with. it's why i always say, if you see pat with messy hair, no makeup and casual clothes, assume she's really going through it ( or, she feels very close and comfortable with you. but the former is more likely ).

this is far from the only issue in pat and esperanza's relationship, but it's one pat continues to carry with her even when her mom isn't a huge part of her life anymore. in more ways than not, pat aspires to not be like her. but at this point, being beautiful is something she's put so much effort and overthinking into that it doesn't make sense to her to suddenly stop caring about it. she also believes her looks are one of her best assets, and unconsciously they're the quickest way she has found to quickly gain the approval of others. and most days, it's the only way she has found to gain esperanza's approval.

assume that when pat visits her for mother's day, she's taking longer to get ready than she ever did for any date.

[infriga]

What's interesting about House of Usher is that Flannigan usually has likeable protagonists, at least in my experience. Granted I haven't seen all of his works, but I've seen several (Bly Manor, Hill House, Midnight Mass, and I've heard summaries of others) and most of them are generally pretty sympathetic from my understanding, even the ones with more blood on their hands, so to speak.

In House of Usher however, almost none of the main characters are good or likeable people to much, if any, degree. Their spouses/partners are decent people, for the most part (dunno how the siblings landed such nice SOs despite being so nasty), and the granddaughter seems alright (I'm only on episode 5 btw so idk if anything happens regarding her or the other non-siblings, no spoilers pls), and Auguste seems like a decent person (maybe not the best family man, but he at has his heart in the right place especially compared to the Ushers), but all the siblings, and Roderick and Madeline themselves, are pretty horrible people.

But like, they're not one dimensional bad people, they're complex, they feel emotions, they care about people in their lives even if they don't tend to treat those people well, they have fears and insecurities and passions and hangups just like regular people do. So while usually I dislike when the protagonists of a show like this are unlikable, in this show it's actually quite fascinating because like I can't say I hate them either, they feel like they could be good people if they really wanted to be. Especially if they had better influences and were taught better lessons by their father and aunt. They feel human, not evil, but I'm also not rooting for them either. I don't know who to root for tbh, except maybe people like Julius, Tammy's husband, and the granddaughter, who are all side characters lol. Idk who the weird supernatural lady is (death? The devil? God? A witch? No idea) so I don't know her motivations or what kinda person she is, she seems to be collecting on some sort of debt but that's the best I've got on her. I do think it's interesting how she tried to spare Morrie from the acid by telling her to go like she did with the wait staff, but she didn't do anything to help Ali later when she was killed, so was it strategic or does this lady have some sort of code of morals? Does she care about whether people are innocent or not? Why spare the wait staff from death by acid shower but not the other party goers? Is sparing Morrie more about the potential role she'll play in Freddy's death? I guess I'll find out.

But I do think it's interesting that we start off the show knowing who's going to die already, since usually stakes in this genre come from wanting characters to survive (hence why I usually prefer likable protags in horror/suspense media), but it makes sense that since none of these people are very likable, the suspense needs to mostly come from something else on that front, such as wondering how they're going to die or which innocent people they might take with them in the process, as well as wanting to know what caused all this.

Roderick, ironically, is probably the most sympathetic member of the family aside from his granddaughter, which doesn't mean much but I mean, I wouldn't begrudge anyone going through what he witnessed in episode 5. Like gaddamn that's fucked up. He seems like someone who deep down has the potential and even the buried desire or instinct to be a good person, but was too much of a coward to put in the work it would take to be good and stay good in a harsh world when he wants so badly to be someone big and successful and important just like, well, his father. But ultimately he does obviously love his children so I do sympathize with him in that regard.

But the show is making the unlikable protagonists thing work for it, somehow. I don't like most of these people, but I am fascinated by them and what's going down and how they got here. It's like watching a car crash in slow motion.

[cursedfortune]

Thinking about when it comes to shipping with Mortem based on the previous post. I genuinely believe she makes an excellent partner to the right individual. Her love language is touch but it's also adaptive to said partner. A partner that wants to be at her hip? Sure. A partner that comes and goes? Sure. Be in her space, be out of her space, she's very casual about it all. It's partially due to her nature reflecting others, but the rest of it is her not really minding. Unless she specifically wants one or the other from her partner, then she'll communicate her wants.

At the same time, she's very bad for people who don't fit that niche box of what seems to get her attention. A prime example would be a regular mortal, like a human. Even if they are open-minded to what she is, they won't usually have the time to fully understand her. And time is something that has become important with shipping with Mortem, I've noticed. There has been one exception to that regarding one of my oldest ships, but that's solely due to the thread setting putting her partner in a scenario where he would know a lot about the things she's involved in already.

It also doesn't help that her partners aren't exceptions to the rules she must live by. If they are in the way of her purpose, she will absolutely inform them or try and find a loophole that navigates around them (or finds a solution to their involvement). But no one is an exception to her purpose. So in some sense, it really is ride or die. Because you're either walking away from it, riding it by her side, or opposing her (regardless of staying by her side or not) which is dangerous.

She's an excellent partner for all the reasons that make one. Simultaneously, she does have traits that can be unappealing. She's protective to the point of possessive in some contexts. If a threat is perceived, she will be prone to 'shoot first, ask questions later' mentality. She won't diminish someone's capabilities but she will absolutely shadow them at when necessary. Mortem is absolutely the dragon guarding her prince/princess. Though the prince/princess has a lot of freedom, lmao.

Which also makes anything outside of monogamy tricky. I know she's open to multiple partners, but how that transpires matters. I've noticed it seems to be okay if she isn't at a deeply feeling for someone state, so there's more room. Or both muses are simultaneously engaging with her. But the chance of her being interested beyond one person greatly diminishes the closer and more clear the mutual attraction becomes. Unless an agreement on being open is set beforehand, she really isn't too pleased to share past a certain point. Her exile and isolation has made her greedy when she finds someone who gets it and affection blooms.

Mortem absolutely has her problems that comes with romantic relationships. Or even sexual relationships to a degree. Context pending. But I think that makes sense for her. Any engagement she has had in this field has purely been flings, no dating or relationships (in her canon and thus, how I approach things outside of her like three ships). Love was not something she has experienced before she was exiled and isolated. So she has problems there and definitely needs to work on balancing them out. But I also feel the good doesn't outweigh the bad with her.

She's picky as all hell in this area, I've learned, but it's still really fun to muse on and engage in.

[dukereviewsmovies]

Duke Reviews: Guardians Of The Galaxy

Hello, I'm Andrew Leduc And Welcome To Duke Reviews As We Continue Our Look At The Marvel Cinematic Universe...

By Talking About The Guardians Of The Galaxy...

And I Have To Admit Before This Movie Came Out I Knew Who The Guardians Of The Galaxy Were As I Saw Them In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Animated Series The Possibility Of Me Wanting To See Them In A Movie Wasn't Too Bright But I Still Wasn't With Everyone Else Who At The Time Believed It Was Going To Bomb

So, When Trailers Came Out, I Was Excited To See The Film So I Eventually Saw It...

The Film Is About A Ravager Named Peter Quill (Played By Chris Pratt) Who Goes By Star Lord Who Forms An Uneasy Alliance With The Daughter Of Thanos, Gamora (Played By Zoe Saldana) A Green Warrior Who Seeks Revenge Named Drax (Played By Dave Batista) A Wisecracking Raccoon Named Rocket (Voiced By Bradley Cooper) And A Walking Tree Named Groot (Voiced By Vin Diesel) Who Go On The Run After Stealing A Powerful Artifact...

Will They Manage To Get Rid Of This Artifact Before Ronan The Accuser (Played By Lee Pace) And The Other Daughter Of Thanos, Nebula (Played By Karen Gillian) Find Them?

Let's Find Out As We Watch Guardians Of The Galaxy..

The Film Starts On Earth In 1988, As A Young Peter Quill Is At A Hospital Where His Mom Is Dying From A Tumor In Her Head...

Yes, It Is Arnold So Shut Up...

Anyway, With His Mother Not Having Much Time Left, His Uncle (I Guess?) Played By James Gunn And Joss Whedon Regular Gregg Henry Brings Peter In To Say Goodbye To His Mom, But Not Wanting To Say Goodbye To His Mom, Peter Runs Out Of The Hospital Only To Be Abducted By Aliens...

Only To Time Jump 26 Years Later To The Planet Morag, Where A Now Grown Up Peter (Played By Chris Pratt) Who Goes By Star-Lord Arrives On His Ship The Milano (Named After Alyssa Milano)...

Well, At Least It Isn't Named After Rose McGowan...

To Get An Item On The Planet Which Leads To One The Best Scenes In This Movie...

The Opening Credits...

And By God, This Scene Is Just Fantastic Despite Them Ruining It In Avengers Endgame...

(Start At 0:26, End At 0:40)

You See What You've Done, Russo Brothers! You've Made The Fanboys Cry! It's Okay, This Scene Is Awesome....Shh...

Eventually Finding And Geting What He's Looking For, Star-Lord Is Soon Confronted By One Of Ronan The Accuser's Warriors Korath The Pursuer Who Wants What He's Got But He's Like Screw This And Decides To Fight Them...

(Start At 1:00, End At 2:50)

Being Contacted By His Boss, Yondu (Played By Another James Gunn Regular Michael Rooker) He Asks Quill Where He Is But He Decides Not To Tell Him That And Says That He's Keeping The Orb For Himself Which Leads Yondu To Put A Bounty Out On Quill While Worrying About Who Else Wanted The Orb...

Which Leads To The Introduction Of The Big Bad Of The Film, Ronan The Accuser (Played By Ned The Piemaker) On Board His Ship, The Dark Aster. Who Decides Not To Abide By The Treaty His People, The Kree Have Signed With The Xandarians Of Xandar Recently Because He Believes Their Culture To Be A Disease Upon The Galaxy...

And They Killed His Family So Many Years Ago...

Well, That Might Be A Good Reason To Want To Kill Them...

With Korath Returning, He Tells Ronan About Star-Lord And Says That He's On His Way To Xandar To Give It To Someone Called The Broker, Wanting To Retrieve The Orb To Give It To Thanos So He Can Wipe Out Xandar In Repayment For His Services, Ronan Sends One Of Thanos' Daughters, Gamora (Played By Lieutenant Uhura) To Retrieve It For Him From Star Lord On Xandar...

Cutting To Xandar We Get Our Stan Lee Cameo When Rocket (Played By Faceman) And Groot (Played By Dominic Torretto) Look For Potential Targets To Get Money For...

Stan Lee Cameo!

Eventually Star Lord, Rocket Sees How Much He's Worth And Turns Out...

It's Alot So They Decide To Go After Him...

Taking The Orb To The Broker In His Shop, Star-Lord Mentions That Ronan Was After It Which Forces The Broker To Say No Thank You To The Orb And Tells Star Lord To Get Out As He's Afraid For His Life...

Running Into Gamora, She Steals The Orb From Star Lord Which Leads To A Fight Between The Two But When Rocket And Groot Get Involved Someone Calls In The Nova Corp Led By Mr. Cellophane Himself, John C. Riley And They Arrest All 4 Of Them...

Back At Nova Corp HQ, Nova Prime, Played By Cruella De Vil Tries To Get The Kree To Work With Them In Stopping Ronan But They're Too Busy Trying To Find Captain Marvel And The Skrulls To Give A Shit...

Meanwhile, Downstairs Riley Who Actually Plays A Character Named Dey Shows His Boss, The Tick, Star Lord And The Others And He Decides To Send Them To A High Security Prison Called The Kyln...

Given Prison Garb, They're All Mixed In With All The Other Prisoners, One Of Them Being Voiced By Nathan Fillion...

Seriously!?! You Have The Most Badass Browncoat In The Verse And You Only Use Him For A Voice Over Character?!? Screw You, Marvel, Screw You!

Being Taken That Night By Prisoners Who Have Lost Their Families To Either Ronan Or Thanos, They're Stopped By Drax The Destroyer (Played By Dave Batista) Who Wants To Kill Gamora Himself In Revenge For Ronan Killing His Family Despite Gamora Saying Earlier That She Wasn't Getting The Orb For Ronan But For A Third Party Seller...

Not Believing Gamora, Star Lord Intervenes To Say That Because She's Betraying Ronan It's Most Likely That Ronan Will Come Get Her Eventually Which Will Give Drax The Opportunity To Kill Him, So Knowing Star-Lord Is Right He Lets Her Go...

Taking Her Back To Her Cell, Star Lord Wants In On Gamora's Deal Despite Rocket Wanting To Take Star Lord To Yondu After They Escape But After Hearing Gamora's Buyer Is Paying More For The Orb Than Yondu Is For Star Lord, Rocket And Groot Are In...

Summoned By Thanos When They Discover Gamora Had Her Own Plans, Ronan Explains To Thanos What Has Happened Despite The Other Not Helping The Situation So Ronan Kills Him...

Bored By Ronan's Words, Thanos Just Says That He Will Honor The Agreement He Made If Ronan Brings Him The Orb If Not...Well I Think You Know What Will Happen...

Coming Up With An Escape Plan, Which Includes One Of The Security Guards Bands, A Prisoner's Prosthetic Leg And A Quarnyx Battery By The Control Tower, Groot Gets It For Them Which Forces Them To Place Their Plan Into Action Now...

(Start At 0:30)

Asking For The Coordinates For Her Buyer, Gamora Says That They're Going The Right Way And That She'll Contact Him While Back At The Kyln, Ronan, Thanos' Other Daughter, Nebula (Played By Ruby Roundhouse) And Some Of His Soldiers Invade To Find Out Where Gamora And The Orb Went To No Avail...

Back On Xandar, Yondu Discovers Through The Broker What Is In The Orb And Who His Buyer Is And It Turns Out That It's The Collector (Played By DJ The Codebreaker)...

But Wait A Minute...

Doesn't The Collector Have The Aether? And Didn't Volstagg Say In Thor: The Dark World Say That Having 2 Infinity Stones In One Place Is A Bad Idea?

Arriving At The Place Where The Collector Is Dubbed Knowhere, The Team Gets Drinks And Has Some Fun While Waiting For The Collector...

Going Outside To Talk With Gamora, It Leads To A Bit Of A Romantic Scene With Her And Star Lord, Until Gamora Backs Away Believing That Star Lord Is Pulling A Human Trick On Her. But Hearing Noise Inside, They Go In To See Drax, Rocket And Groot Having A Drunken Fight With Each Other...

Luckily Before They Kill Each Other, The Collector's Assistant Comes In To Get Them For Her Master...

Entering The Collector's Wherehouse, They See Some Of The Things He's Collected Including Cosmo The Space Dog Before The Team Is Introduced To The Collector Himself...

Opening The Orb, It Is Revealed To Be An Infinity Stone Which Leads The Collector To Tell The Team About How After The Big Bang, Six Infinity Stones Were Created And Wielded By Beings With Extraordinary Strength Though The Energy From Said Stones Eventually Wiped Them All Out...

Not Hearing That Whole Infinity Stone Speech Apparently, The Collector's Assistant Takes The Stone And Basically Destroys His Entire Collection, Which Forces The Team To Take The Stone Elsewhere With Gamora And Star-Lord Suggesting The Nova Corp...

But While Star-Lord, Gamora, Rocket And Groot Were Dealing With The Collector, Drax Had Someone Call Ronan And His Forces So He Could Get His Revenge...

(Start At 0:54)

With Ronan Defeating Drax And Getting The Stone Along With Nebula Destroying Gamora's Spacecraft, Star Lord Calls Yondu's Ship To Pick Them Up As He Goes Out To Save Gamora By Giving Her His Oxygen Mask...

Luckily (Unlike Yondu Himself) Star Lord And Gamora Are Saved By Yondu Before Star Lord Can Die...

Groot Saves Drax Who Was Mostly Dead (And As We All Know There's A Difference Between Mostly Dead And All Dead) Admits He Was A Fool For Calling Ronan Blaming It On The Grief And Anger Over The Loss Of His Family...

As Rocket Arrives To Get Groot So They Can Get As Far Away As They Can From Ronan And His Forces Before They Wipe Out Xandar And Possibly The Entire Galaxy, But Groot Wants To Stay And Save His New Friends Along With Drax To Rocket's Dismay...

Meanwhile On The Dark Aster, After Discovering What Thanos Wanted, Ronan Betrays Thanos And Takes The Stone For Himself To Use To Destroy Xandar And Once He Is Done, Destroy Thanos Himself With Nebula By Ronan's Side...

On-Board Yondu's Ravager Ship, Star Lord And Gamora Manage To Make A Deal With Yondu And His Ravagers To Help Them Take Down Ronan In Exchange For The Stone To Which Yondu Agrees Despite Rocket And The Others Trying To Save Star Lord And Gamora...

The Team Argues While Coming Up With A Plan But Star Lord Eventually Gives Everyone A Reason "To Give A Shit And Not Run Away" Which Gets Them To Stand By Him...

So, The New Plan Is That Rocket Will Lead A Team That Will Blow A Hole Into The Dark Aster's Starboard Hull So The Milano And Yondu's Craft Can Enter The Ship. After That Gamora Will Deactivate A Impenetrable Shield To The Main Deck Where Ronan Is So Star Lord Can Use The Rocket's Hadron Enforcer To Kill Ronan...

They Give The Ravagers Containment Cases For The Stone While Star Lord Contacts Dey From The Nova Corp To Try To Get Them To Help Them Save Xandar...

With Everyone On The Team Except Groot Surviving (For Now) They're Surprised To See Ronan Survived As Well. About To Wipe Xandar Out, Star Lord Pulls A Last Ditch Effort Of A Dance Off To Distract Ronan While Rocket Prepares To Fire The Hadron Enforcer At Ronan...

Firing It At Ronan's Hammer, Rocket Destroys It So Star Lord Can Get The Stone, Unable To Handle The Energy The Team Takes Each Others Hands To Take A Piece Of The Energy For Themselves...

Using The Power Of The Stone To Wipe Ronan Out, Star Lord Places The Stone In One Of The Containers Only To Give It To Yondu Despite Begging Him To Reconsider...

Yep, Star Lord Gives Yondu A Fake And Gives The Real Stone To The Nova Corp, Who Discover That Star Lord's Mother Is An Earthling But His Father Is Something Else Entirely While Drax Decides Ronan Was Just A Puppet And That It's Really Thanos He Needs To Kill...

Also For Helping Them With Ronan The Nova Corp Gives The Team A New Ship Along With Clean Criminal Records, Oh And We Discover Groot's Alive...

As The Guardians Fly Off On Another Adventure Which Leads To The Mid Credit Scene Of The Movie With...

Dancing Groot...

And What Can I Say About This Scene? You've Heard About It, You Love It, Who Doesn't? It's Cute And Funny Period....

After The Credits Role We Get A End Credits Scene Back At The Collector's Wherehouse Where We Get A Cameo From Howard The Duck (Voiced By Seth Green)

And That's Guardians Of The Galaxy And What Can I Say About It Except It's One Of The MCU'S Best...

The Story Is Fantastic, The Characters Are Well Written, The Effects Are Awesome And I Honestly Have No Complaints For This Movie Whatsoever And I Say See It...

Till Next Time, This Is Duke And Next Week We're Looking At Age Of Ultron!