#c;estelle

[talesoftheraysen]

Translated by Seine. Proofread by Aera. Video editing by Scarfy.

[verysmallcyborg]

0 days since "fornax's giant tail accidentally yeets someone," but it's ok they helped fish ellie out from the water and offered to cook her some food as an apology (they were definitely telling her the story of their major-general incident, mayhaps just a teensy embellished for funsies)

with @elliewiltarwyn's ellie!! (a follow-up to this series of unfortunate but comedic events)

[galactic-hyperhearse]

a little birthday drawing for my dear friend @stormyykat !! here ya go my silly goose. gorgeous bugs in your area.

[jumbled-messy-confused]

Fanart "Lord of the Rings" - Aragorn

Fanart "Lord of the Rings" - Aragorn

[tiberiusxmclaggen]

Where: The Ministry of Magic With: @fcrox -Estelle

At times, Tiberius wondered what he had got himself into when taking a job at the Ministry. Of course the idea of a good job, a place where he could make a name for himself had been important. But true hard work had never been his favorite thing. While the job had seemingly started easy enough, ever since the start of the war he'd been bombarded with tasks. Of course, it didn't help that he worked directly in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. New information was coming in constantly and trying to stay on top of it sometimes felt impossible.

Already his morning had been chaos, running back and forth between offices gathering paperwork and doing whatever was asked of him. He juggled the paperwork in one arm and the box in the other as he made his way for the lift, hardly able to see anything in front of him. As he ran into someone trying to get onto the lift he stepped back, peering around the box to see Estelle in front of him. "Apologies. I'm currently finding it a little difficult to navigate." He mused, nodding his head towards the lift. "Please, after you."

[bbcharity]

where: madam puddifoot's tea shop who: @fcrox

Charity didn't exactly get along with people, a bit obnoxious at times and disinterested in general, she believed most times it wasn't worth the effort. There were still a few who she'd managed to charm and who she didn't totally abhor. Estelle had been one of those few, the witches forming a strange kind of bond as they shared classes here and there back at Hogwarts-- she might have not been a kind person but she was definitely smart, and carried herself with sarcasm that could be appreciated by some as funny enough. The other witch had seen through it all and today she was, perhaps, Charity's only female friend. "Don't you get annoyed when people try and have friendly chats, ask about your life and whatnot, when you've only seen them eventually and haven't even talked to them? That happened to me today and I'm not particularly inclined to deal with them. Is it just me? Am I that weird?" The question genuine, as everything she ever said, she waited for a reply right when the waiter arrived with their order.

[hannahwatcheshorror]

CANDYMAN (1992)

😿Dog Dies 💁‍♀️Strong Female Lead

Tony Todd is a legend, this movie is a must watch because of him (though Virginia Madsen puts up a good fight). I watched this classic in honor of his passing and was not disappointed. The pacing in the beginning is a little slow which seems more common in older films (new horror movies cut right to the chase, sometimes literally). Tonight, go ahead and treat yourself to some candy, man, you’ve earned it.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

The movie is centered around the study of urban legends, in this case the Candyman legend (much like the real life Bloody Mary urban legend) where you must say his name five (5) times in front of a mirror and then he will appear behind you (to murder you). A solid gag but never worth the risk in my opinion. Just keep that pretty little mouth of yours shut when looking in a mirror is what I say (candymancandymancandymancandymancandyman).

Our protagonist Helen pretty much immediately summons the Candyman but he won’t actually show up for quite some time. Enough time for us to find out his backstory, (but not quite why he was called the Candyman? I guess because he was so sweet before he went so rotten?) we find out he had a grizzly death but before that got a hook hand (Eep!). Also Helen and her best friend Bernadette just trespass like crazy, it is nuts, but hey, it was the 90’s! They meet a nice lady, Anne-Marie with an adorable baby and a dog… Anne-Marie helps them with their research and off they go.

A little more nonsense happens before, “Helen.”  Tony Todd is exquisite and will be sorely missed. His voice is somehow smooth and coarse as he lulls both us and Helen into a stupor just by simply being. It is a truly awesome scene, the parking garage, so simple and yet, gut wrenching. Helen wakes up in Anne-Marie's home, covered in blood, the dog is dead and the baby is gone! Everyone thinks Helen is to blame but she knows it was that damn Candyman! But how will she prove it?

Now that Tony Todd is here things are really cooking but for some reason he won’t kill Helen, he wants her to give herself to him. It was such a slow start that the jumpscare nearly an hour in just about restarted my heart. Poor Bernadette getting the supporting character treatment all movie and then getting split from groin to gullet, she didn’t deserve that at all. Now Helen is really in trouble because they think she killed her best friend (not just a dog). Helen gets hospitalized for apparently over a month with heavy sedation drugs.

Using quick thinking and rationale, Helen summons Candyman again and he kills a man and breaks a window, but she actually does manage to escape so it worked, I guess! Then she finds out her hubby is cheating on her with one of his students (barf) so she goes off to sacrifice herself to Candyman to save the baby. WACK. For some reason he doesn’t kill her again though and takes the baby and they are all in the fire but she shoves him off and crawls out, saving the child before dying. Also there is a spunky little boy there who is so stinking cute and he gets more respect than Bernadette it felt like, he is the one that set the fire and burned Helen but also killed Candyman so… okay?

Either way, all of Anne-Marie and the people from the fire came to Helen's funeral to pay their respects, even the little kid gave Helen a suspicious hook from the burn pile. In the end the shitty husband is all forlorn that his wife that he cheated on “went crazy” and died saving a baby from a fire so he is moaning her name in the mirror when all of a sudden (after uttering her name five (5) times) who should appear, but good old Helen to rip ya from groin to gullet! Love that the cheating husband gets his in the end.

----------------------HANNAH WATCHES HORROR---------------------

[apollinebeausejour]

where: her flat who: @fcrox (Estelle)

It was after the birthday party that Apolline was able to send an owl to Estelle to arrange for them to meet to have tea. They were going to be family soon, with the engagement made between herself and their brother, that getting to know the other became important.

Apolline didn't have siblings, she was excited to have a sister, making sure lunch was done to true French fashion. Making her way towards the foyer of her flat feeling the wards being pulled at.

"Hello," she smiles brightly at the blonde, leaning in to kiss both of her cheeks. "I am excited you are here. I have lunch for us out on the patio." It was a lovely day in London, the sun shining and she wanted to take advantage of it.

[rsrevan]

where: Rosier Manor who: @fcrox

He wasn't expecting visitors so when the house elf informed him of a lady waiting on the door, Evan felt curious enough to instruct his servant to let her in. He was at his study, toying around with the latest object he'd purchased, the dark magic surrounding it quite palpable, turning around only when he heard the steps coming into the room. Turning around, the wizard was surprised to find Estelle walking in, brows raising at the sight. "I would guess you're looking for my twin sister and not my handsome face, is it?"

[alectocarrowx]

where: borgin & burkes who: @fcrox (estelle)

Alecto visited the antique shop once a week, see if anything new caught her attention, and the interactions that might transpire. The witch found herself visiting plenty of shops for that reason. Something could always come up that she could use at the end of the day. The door chimed, glancing over to watch a familiar face wander in. Interesting. She leans in to smell the flowers, their eyes meeting.

She pulls away from the flowers, sauntering over to Theodore's younger sister and one who likes to spend time with a certain group. Alecto was curious if she would ever take the plunge and join them officially.

"Estelle, fancy seeing you here."

[emmaflint]

location: Madame Malkins status: for @fcrox (Estelle)

There would always be an occasion to wear a new dress and Emma had heard that the there was a new summer collection coming in to Madame Malkin's shop today from Paris so Emma planned to go stop by first thing in the morning, as she was on her way into town to visit her cousin Evan. She'd asked the shop assistant to get her a sage colored dress and the one in her hands was clearly mint. As she was holding the dress in her hands she spotted a familiar witch. She was a couple years younger than her, but she'd seen her at some pureblood parties before. In their circle, everyone knew everyone, there was always some kind of connection to be found. "Excuse me. Sorry to bother you, but what color would you see this dress is?" Emma knew she wasn't being crazy, knowing the blonde would confirm that it was indeed mint and not sage green.

[talesoftheraysen]

[movie-titlecards]

The Magic Sword (1962)

My rating: 6/10

I mean, it's no Jack the Giant Killer, but still perfectly good fun.

[dreamingsushi]

Dance of the Phœnix - Overall review

Now that I finally completed the series Dance of the phœnix, here’s my general review. For those who don’t know about this drama, it is the story of Feng Wu, a prodigious cultivator that lost all of her memories when someone stole her phœnix blood, which made her special. As she tries to regain her spiritual powers to awaken her sleeping master so she can return where she comes from, she makes friends, allies, but also many ennemies.

Plot

I would say the story is overall promising at the beginning, but as we progress through the series, things start to go astray. Character development isn’t a strength, they are all mostly the same at the beginning of the drama and at the end, except for Yu Mingye and Zuo Qingluan, who are in my opinion the two solid strengths of this story. Without them, it would have rather boring. 

My biggest issue with Dance of the phœnix is the many plot holes. Some characters disappear sometimes without any explanation and then they come back without any details as to why they left in the first place. Maybe it has something to do with the actors being unavailable? But the writers could have done a better job than that to hide it. Also, when we read the official summaries everywhere, it says that Feng Wu’s name is Meng Yuan and that she’s a medical student. BUT NEVER EVER IN THE DRAMA IS THAT MENTIONNED! There are clues here and there about the fact that she would be from our world (blowing candles for a birthday, eating ramen but has the quick ones in a box, references to Liu Bei, etc). Mu Jiuzhou, her master, mentions that she’s from another world, but we never get to learn how she came and where is she from. It really bothered me. Also there were a few stories that were a little useless. Especially the one about the wolf lady. It was cute. Then it became extremely sad and I’m still very very mad about what happened. The whole motives behind the bad guys was very weak in my opinion. Overall, it had potential, but it was wasted.

Overall, plot wise this does not deserve more than a 6/10.

Acting

There was good acting and bad acting. It wasn’t so consistent for Yang Chaoyue. I’ve seen comments saying that she seemed emotionless, but that is not what bothered me so much. I feel sometimes she was going way over the top in her acting and it wasn’t matching the character. But at some point, her character wasn’t consistent in the script to begin with, so it must have been hard to keep up. Jun Linyuan did an okay job, like it didn’t strike me as exceptional, but it wasn’t bad. It’s hard to judge when they play an emotionless character. But there were definitely some nice scenes from him, especially after he got a little more comfortable around Feng Wu as Jun Linyuan and he started teasing her.

The two actors that really impressed me were Jinna Fu and Wang Haoxuan. Jinna Fu had to portray the so ever complicated Zuo Qingluan and she did very well. I could believe in every mood swings she had. She made me hate her character, to the point I couldn’t see any redemption for her. And at the same time, I loved Zuo Qingluan just for that. She was alive, albeit motivated by the wrong reasons. I can’t say I’ve ever seen her out of character, even when it seemed a little inconsistent to me (I blame more of the writing than anything else). And finally, Wang Haoxuan. Can we talk about how Yu Mingye was perfect at all times? It was such a complex character, thorn between the expectations of his father, but his gentle nature. He could be cheeky and arrogant without me falling out of it. He made me laugh and cry. I think it was the most relatable character and Wang Haoxuan did an excellent job at showing all the different sides of this tormented child.

For me, the acting in general deserves a 8/10, but that’s because Jinna Fu and Wang Haoxuan did a wonderful job, the average was around maybe 7/10 for me.

Visuals

Here, this is what drew me first to this drama. I really liked the soft look of scenes. The costumes were simple, yet elegant. I enjoyed the colours being consistent for each sect of cultivation. The hairstyles were really a joy to look at, especially for the disciples of the Biluo Palace. I was very impressed. For sure, I’ve seen much more intricate costumes watching historical/xianxia drama, but here it was just enough. The colouring of the scenes were always appeasing. The one thing I didn’t really like is that they made the empress go darker and darker to show that she was the villainess while I think it would have made more sense if she became brighter and brighter. But that’s just my opinion.

The CGI really wasn’t so bad to be honest. Some creatures weren’t that great, but the little bird was great. I just wish they didn’t give it a robotic voice, but oh well. Also they didn’t go overboard with the spells, it wasn’t all over the place and they kept it minimal in special effects, which I like better. Cool special effects are nice, but once it starts becoming overwhelming, I lose all interest.

This drama gets a 9/10, because nothing’s perfect, but they did very well in that aspect.

Soundtrack

I think the soundtrack was one of the strengths of this drama. I really liked both the opening and the ending songs, though I didn’t listen to them every time I watched an episode. I also feel that in general, the music was appropriate to what was happening and really set up the mood of the story.

Here again, it’s 9/10, even though I don’t have as much to say.

Should you watch this drama? I would say no. It has lots of good things and I was pretty excited since it was from the same director as the Untamed, but however it didn’t live up to my expectations. It’s a sweet love story, but unfortunately, I don’t think it’s worth the 30 episodes. Everything was resolved in a very unsatisfying way, a lot of questions were left unanswered and to me the writers didn’t do a very good job to make everything coherent. This drama gets a 7/10, and I’m generous because when I first started watching, I really liked it.

List of full recaps

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 / 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20 / 21 / 22 / 23 / 24 / 25 / 26 / 27 / 28 / 29 / 30

[themalcolmparkinson]

Dearest Estelle,

You have gone quiet throughout our correspondence. Please reply or I will have to assume that you have been taken. If you are reading this, please send me your availability for afternoon tea. I have much to discuss and I will allot you time to talk as well.

[mkmarlene]

where: madam puddifoot's tea shop who: @fcrox

Unusual as it could ever be, receiving an owl from an old classmate, one with whom you never gotten along nor understood properly, Marlene decided the offer was one she shouldn't decline. For instance, curiosity was stronger than she'd be willing to admit, the words written on paper ambiguous and inviting. Not beating around the bush any longer than she should, the witch made her way over to the suggested meeting spot, finding the other already seated on a table by the window. A deep breath taken before she joined her, the blonde's eyes fell heavily on Estelle. "You'd like to talk, that's what your letter said, and you mentioned Dorcas?"