#charles is a great character with a lot of depth

[statictwoo]

I’ve been thinking a lot about earlier versus later seasons of M*A*S*H and I wanted to see if I could figure out how to keep Frank through the tone shift without sacrificing the quality of the story or the character.  Just a fun hypothetical :] Click “read more” for this because it’s going to be a long one.

First I want to look at Charles.  Between Frank and Charles, I don’t think there’s a better or worse character.  Frank is a better tool to further the anti-military, anti-war message, but Charles is a more dimensional character, and it would be impossible for them to switch places without changing the characters.  I mean, imagine Frank in GFA…ridiculous, but I am going to put him there.  Bear with me.

I prefer the earlier seasons for their satire, but I appreciate the later ones for the realism in characters like Charles and Margaret, so it would be nice to keep those strong core values while also delving into more dramatic territory.  Let’s look at what makes Frank work.  Mostly, it’s the fact that he’s a military fanatic.  His adherence to the rules gives Hawkeye and Trapper (also BJ, for a bit) something immediate to push back against.  Frank is a satirization of the unyielding conservative mindset and also a stand-in for the military itself.  Obviously Hawkeye can’t punch the US Army but he can punch Frank.  But being such a useful tool means that when Frank shows a little humanity, the writers have to pass over it pretty quickly.

What makes Charles work?  Simply put, he’s human.  He’s a terrible snob, he’s racist, he’s classist, but he’s fun.  He DOES actually care for people, he likes playing pranks, and he likes Hawkeye and BJ.  But he doesn’t have strong feelings about the military, and that means that when Hawkeye and BJ argue with him, it only serves to illustrate their personal relationship.  Charles doesn’t stand in for anything larger besides economic class, which isn’t really an integral topic of M*A*S*H since it’s something that matters a lot more back home than at war.

I think the only possible way to keep Frank would be to give him a little of Charles and a little of Margaret—that is, redeem him, just a bit.  Whereas Charles was never really painted as an antagonist and Margaret’s character development came slowly (and was also more personal than ideological), I want to give Frank a very sudden and violent awakening.  Let him lose Margaret and let him have that mental breakdown, but treat it with a little more dignity.  Institutionalize him for a bit and then send him back to the 4077th where he’s still the butt of the jokes, and now Margaret, his only support system, is pulled out from under him.  Let him realize that after doing everything right and licking every boot he was supposed to, he still failed.  He didn’t get the girl, and worse, he ended up in the looney bin.  That’s not supposed to happen to Good American Men.  At this point, I’d hope that his need for companionship would override his worship of the military. Every mention of Frank's past shows that he has always been lonely, and I would use this opportunity to really bring that out.

I’d like Frank to make an honest effort to befriend Hawkeye and BJ and put his actions where his mouth is, maybe by ignoring one out of every ten broken rules.  Keep him racist, keep him republican, keep the baffling fact that he doesn’t seem to realize they’ve left America, but make him enough of “one of the guys” that when these things come out it’s disappointing rather than just classic Frank.  His role would have to change from a caricature of the rigid conservative mind to an example of how the ideology you’re trying to fight is often present even in your own friends.  It might even help to highlight his hypocrisy!  Turn a blind eye to Hawkeye’s antics because they’re friends, but write up someone else for the same thing simply because he doesn’t know them.  

Would I want Frank to turn completely against the military?  No, it wouldn’t serve his character.  But I’d like to see him nudged just a little bit and forced to actually confront his own beliefs through Hawkeye's conscious and consistent effort.  It would be nice to get him to the point of thinking before blindly assuming that whatever the army wants is what’s right.  Granted, the guy is brainwashed and 9 times out of 10 he would definitely side with the army, but that 1 time would be fun.  I think it would be a decent way of showing some tangible results of Hawkeye’s resistance.  His actions were never going to stop the war or destroy the military or overthrow the government, but what if he could chip away at the armor starting with one person?  I would have liked the show to say more clearly that Hawkeye’s actions were worth something, and that’s just one way it could have been done.  I know Margaret is also an example but as I said before her growth is largely personal, so I think Frank would be a clearer target here.

So we’ve reached the end, we’re at “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen.”  What are we going to do with Frank?  I think there’s only one option.  Have him quit medicine.  He doesn’t have a genuine passion for it and he isn’t a good doctor, so I think this is the most obvious first step in the right direction that he can make.  We won’t get to see where he goes from here, but hopefully it’s somewhere much better.

I’m not saying this scenario would be any better than just sending him home and being done with it, but It’s fun to think about a world in which we get more Frank.  I’m biased by the fact that I just thoroughly enjoy him.  Maybe this is a universe where the original script for “George” airs!

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Fictional Character

In fiction writing, character development is the process of building a unique, three-dimensional character with depth, personality, and clear motivations.

Character development can also refer to the changes a character undergoes over the course of a story as a result of their actions and experiences.

Tips for Writing Great Characters

Characters, like people, are imperfect. They don’t need to be likeable, but they must be interesting. Here are some tips for effective character development.

Develop characters who reflect your interests. You’re going to be spending a lot of time with your characters, so the fiction rule “write what you want to know” applies to them as well. Don’t be afraid to invest your protagonist with familiar qualities, but prioritize your passions and make sure that your main characters emerge from the setting and topics you’ve developed so far.

Reveal their physical world through detail. Different writers focus on different details to evoke character, whether deliberately or not. Balzac focused on his characters’ physical appearance. Dashiell Hammett never fed his characters, while Charles Dickens fed his extravagantly. Some writers are interested in revealing character via clothing, as Flaubert did, while others attend to mannerisms or physical appearance. Whatever details you choose, it’s important for you to know your characters' physical world intimately, and how they relate to it.

Give them the right skills. Your characters should have skills that will allow them to function in your setting. If you’ve chosen to set your novel on the moon, then make sure your character has a space suit or learns how to use one.

Create memorable characters. When creating important characters that the reader is going to meet more than once, be sure that they’re memorable in some way. Try to give each one a quirk or quality that can be used later to help readers recall who they are. This could be a title like “chief of police” or a physical attribute like “ginger-haired.”

Give the reader access to their inner conflict. One way to create intimacy with your reader—and to get them to care about your main character—is to use internal monologue. This means letting the reader see a character’s thoughts as they happen, which exposes that person’s inner conflict, motivations, opinions, and personality. Internal monologue not only reveals character: it’s a neat way to convey information about your setting, events, and other characters.

Subvert your reader’s expectations. The most interesting characters will surprise your readers. Think about it: We don’t have to pay attention to things that are stable. But when something unexpected happens—a wolf comes out of the woods, for instance—we pay attention.

How to Develop Different Types of Characters

Stories have different kinds of characters. Every story has a main character, called the hero or protagonist. Many stories have a bad guy: the villain or antagonist. Secondary characters round out the story. These characters may help the main characters, oppose them, or be completely neutral, so long as they help the reader understand the protagonist or antagonist in deeper ways.

How to Develop a Protagonist

Give the protagonist flaws. Protagonists or heroes don’t have to be perfect specimens of humanity. In fact, those protagonists tend to be boring. Great characters emerge from the trials they encounter, and believable characters have human flaws, just like people in real life.

Give the protagonist an arc. A good character undergoes some sort of change over the course of the story. That change is called the character arc. You can also choose to create a main character who doesn’t change, but that decision should be intentional.

How to Develop an Antagonist

Give the antagonist morality. A villain’s motivations should create a crisis for your protagonist. Every villain needs to have their own morality, however warped. If a villain spends part of the novel killing people, you need to give him or her believable reasons for doing so. Make the reader understand exactly what desperate need or twisted belief has driven the villain to commit their crimes, and make those motivations personal to their history and upbringing.

Make the antagonist powerful. Readers want to see your main character succeed—but they don’t want it to be easy. Your villain should not only be a match for your hero: they should be even more powerful. This forces your protagonist to collect the skills, items, and allies they’ll need to defeat your antagonist, which creates further opportunity for character development.

How to Develop Secondary Characters

Make them complementary. Secondary characters serve the vital functions of assisting the protagonist with alternate skill sets, giving them a sounding board or emotional support, getting themselves into trouble so that the protagonist can help them, and even providing comic relief.

Make them oppositional. Some of the best sidekicks in literature are oppositional, and will even undermine the protagonist. Think of Dr. Watson chastising Sherlock Holmes for his drug use. Giving secondary characters opposing points of view allows you to explore your subjects, settings, and moral gray areas from a wider variety of perspectives, which sustains complexity and keeps the reader interested.

Writing Exercises for Character Development

CHARACTER QUESTIONNAIRE

Use these questions to develop your characters, and learn how they behave. If you’re working on a novel, you can use this questionnaire with your protagonist or any secondary character to learn more about their present state, enrich their backstory, and add to their repertoire of unique gestures and habits.

What is your character’s name?

What is their gender (at the moment)?

When is their birthday? What is their age at the beginning of the novel?

What do they look like?

What is their general disposition? Are they frowny? Or are they smiley?

Where do they live?

What do they eat?

How do they dress?

Do they dress to impress?

Do they dress in a way that is appropriate for their age, or do they dress to look younger or older than they are?

What major experiences have they had in their lives?

Have they had any traumatic experiences?

Did they have a bad childhood?

Or did they have a good childhood suddenly destroyed by a traumatic event?

What are their ruminations?

Do they have any obsessions?

Are they in love?

Do they have any pets?

Do they have any medical conditions?

What do they like to do in their spare time? (Do they have any spare time?)

What are their friends like?

What are their hobbies?

What they are most embarrassed by?

Where they went on their first date? (And with whom?)

ONE-PAGE CHARACTER DESCRIPTION

Choose one of your characters and write a one-page description of them. Use the following tips to flesh out your description:

Instead of writing a plain, physical description, try viewing the character through a creative lens. For example, does she have a nickname? What did she do to earn it? Does it refer to her appearance? Her attitude? How does she feel about it?

Choose one event from your character’s past and elaborate on that. For example, your hero has a back injury from an accident while he was in the navy. Does he move differently now? Do people treat him differently? What are the psychological repercussions of the accident?

Choose one of your main character’s personality traits and list the ways that it’s expressed. If your sidekick is nervous, he might bounce his knee when he’s sitting, pluck at his sleeves, or startle easily.

What space has your character created for themselves? This can be offstage: a bedroom, an expensive car with all the right gadgets, the perfectly-stocked kitchen, a private office. Describe your character in that space.

INTERIOR MONOLOGUE

Go to a public place where you can observe other people.

Choose one person and imagine a few character details for them.

What’s their name? What mood are they in? Why are they there?

Write a one-page, interior monologue for them that reveals what they’re thinking.

Use first person, even if you typically write in third person.

Show their thoughts, but also show the world around them and how they interact with that world.

Try to develop an inner monologue that is at odds with the world around them or with the way they appear to be.

The Importance of Character Development

A novel consists of a character interacting with events over time.

Character and plot are inseparable, because a person is what happens to them.

Without a clear sense of who a character is, what they value, and what they’re afraid of, the reader will be unable to appreciate the significance of your events, and your story will have no impact.

Like real people, fictional characters have hobbies, pets, histories, ruminations, and obsessions.

These characteristics inform how a character reacts to and feels about the things that happen to them.

It’s essential to your novel that you understand all aspects of your characters so that you are equipped to understand how they may react under the pressures of events they encounter.

How Character Development Affects your Story

Your main character’s goal sets the stakes in your story.

It doesn’t matter whether your story stakes are big or small, as long as they matter deeply to your protagonist.

Your character doesn’t have to save the world: perhaps they are trying to save their family from an eviction, or fighting to keep their business from going bankrupt.

Your job is to establish what’s important to your character (ideally, it’s something that your audience can relate to), and help the reader imagine what might happen if they lose that important thing.

Sources: 1 2 ⚜ More: References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[gffa]

Hi, since you’ve been reading the star wars books, do you have one you’d recommend as a starting point for someone who’s never read any of them and is interested in seeing what they’re like?

Hi! This is going to be very subjective, given that I'm not sure what your favorite characters are or which era you're interested in, and if you're interested in the best books out there or ones that typify what the books are overall like. BEST BOOKS: - Revenge of the Sith novelization by Matthew Stover, god-tier ability to take my favorite SW movie and make it even more emotional and hard-hitting. It adds even more depth to the story, has beautiful writing, and just is a really satisfying read imo. - Padawan by Kiersten White, which is a story about a young Obi-Wan going on an adventure by himself and I think really captures how I see his youth, that there was struggle and difficulty, but overall it explains why he loves being a Jedi and why there's so much joy in his life. - Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule is good for if you're interested in the High Republic stories and I still think is easily my favorite of the entire line. There was so much good foreshadowing and banger lines that really got Star Wars and was an exciting plot to really hook me on THR.

BOOKS THAT MOST TYPIFY WHAT SW BOOKS ARE LIKE: - Brotherhood by Mike Chen is one that I have some stuff I side-eye in it (everything with Mace) and some stuff I was over the moon for (everything with Obi-Wan) and some stuff I was in the middle about (everything with Anakin). That's Star Wars novels in a nutshell for you! (I also think Dooku: Jedi Lost by Cavan Scott is another good starting place, it's an audiodrama, but it gives an interesting backstory to the character, has some interesting Jedi worldbuilding, and does some really great character work with Asajj Ventress.) - Wild Space by Karen Miller is a Legends book (and I usually try to stick to Disney continuity just for ease's sake) but it has some eyeroll-worthy stuff, some unearned stuff, and some absolutely batshit bonkers in the best way stuff. It's a RIDE to read and maybe not one to take super seriously but I feel like it captures the spirit of SW books. (Alternate suggestion: Dark Rendezvous by Sean Stewart is a really good Yoda & Dooku book with a lot of good appearances by other Jedi characters and one of the better books for Jedi stuff, plus lots of feelings and banger conversations between characters.) (Alternate-alternate suggestion: Another Legends suggestion, since there are a lot of SW books in that continuity, you could read the Jedi Apprentice series by Dave Wolverton and Jude Watson, as long as you know they're aimed at a pre-teen audience and are written accordingly and they are SUPER dramatic and put Obi-Wan through the wringer. I'm not always wild about Watson's writing, but when she writes a banger line, she writes a BANGER line, and they're very fun books that a lot of fandom still folds into their writing.) - The Aftermath trilogy by Chuck Wendig is a good place to start if you want to explore the connective tissue between the originals and the sequels, though I always recommend that I think they work a thousand times better as audiobooks. It's mostly new characters (which, welcome to SW novels) but it also has some really good Leia and Mon Mothma scenes, too. - Leia: Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray is for if you're more interested in the Original Trilogy characters and while I wish there'd been more worldbuilding in this one, it's a solid story from someone who genuinely loves this character, and will give you a good idea of what you can expect from Leia books. (If you're more interested in a Han/Leia story, The Princess and the Scoundrel by Beth Revis is on the same level. Solid story with occasional moments of fantastic. I had a blast with the Leia sections especially!)

[spottheantisemitism]

Magneto and Holocaust Inversion (Many Such Cases)

Case #1: He who fights monsters ( UXM #150 I, Magneto - Chris Claremont)

So this was my first X-men comic I got at a con at a discount so THIS was my introduction to Magneto. I love this comic to bits. It's a great scene

While this sudden breakdown is quite good there's the pieta symbolism between two jews and there's the distinct implication of "I'm no better than the Nazis" in his breakdown (you are allowed to fight me on this as not counting as holocaust inversion)

to pivot Magneto this much Claremont pretty much had to do something akin to holocaust inversion because Lee and Kirby wrote him as a fascist coded character and Claremont couldn't not have Jewish (and Romani?*) holocaust survivor who was likely sonderkommando not realize the irony of his actions.

Also we get more Magneto backstory and depth in ONE PAGE than any comic before and most comics since

Case #2: No equals (Magneto Rex episode 3- Joe Pruitt)

Listen the Genosha metaphor was clumsy when Claremont wrote it but the hands of Joe Pruitt, it sounds like a Soviet psyop about the evil colonizer Jews who like apartheid.

While Pietro is one of the few people who get to say the "you're making us look bad" line and it landing in and out of universe the way it's presented is the most simplistic argument possible

The implication of "he's gone full circle and become the oppressor" is clear and this time painfully intentional. The fact that these people are imprisoned for having legacy virus- the x-men equivalent of aids just makes it all worse

Case #3: A mad old terrorist twat (New X-men: Planet X -Grant Morrison)

^ tw for misgendering Grant Morrison who used he/him at the time of publication but use they/them now.

Many people have pointed out that part of what stings when Morrison separates McKellen from the "schizoid-conflicted" Hitler reborn terrorist twat Magneto is the former is a gentile and therefore more deserving of their respect. The implications that Magneto is like that because his ideas are dumb and out-dated mirrors the way antisemites claim that Jews are gentiles over "their made up fairy tales".

I don't think Morrison is so much an antisemite as the kind of fanenby hypocritical chud who loves the silver age (bad era to fandomize and idolize, Grant) exactly as it was. They love when THEY get to make Beast or Ice man gay but hate when a Jewish writer makes a wannabe dictator a Jewish holocaust survivor. We get it Grant, rules for thee but not for Jews. No, no they'll rewrite the character as literally Hitler to show that only Morrison gets to re-write X-men comics, antisemitic implications be damned.

Well you made one thing clear, Grant sweaty, you hate retcons and the art of Jewish writers whose politics and visions you dislike.

screenshot source:

Case #4: when your boyfriend invokes Godwin's law (House of M: Civil war #3)

I feel like Charles only gets away with this because they're such close friends (who canonically share a room) and he's been through a lot in this issue.

To be fair "you twisting semantics won't save people from fanatics who want genocide" is the BEST comeback to holocaust inversion I've seen in an X-men comic

the framing here is both of them are wrong and Magnus (that's one of Magneto's human names) is clearly in the right about this. The humans may think he's Mutant Hitler but that's because they're projecting

(sorry for making you read sideways and making you read something I took a picture of IRL)

Case #5: The oppressed becomes the oppressor (X-men 97 episode 2)

Magneto's speech in X-97 has been said as a watered down version of his speech in Uncanny X-Men 200

What is pointed out many times is the line where he claims "his own people joined the nazis to betray him". Never expanded upon, never brought up again. There are no other Jewish character in 97, no foils. It feels almost gross and tokenistic, like Marvel wanted Magneto be the good token self-hating Jews. Since at that was the only acceptable type of Jew in early 2024.

I do hope to see a course correction seasons 2 and 3 as something as simple as showing a flashback of his past or just showing a character like Kitty would go a long way to dispel the accidental implication that Magneto thinks all other Jews are evil

*While Magneto's children Wanda and Pietro are explicitly Jewish-Romani everywhere BUT the MCU in some universes like House of M, so is he. These intermarriages happened in Weimar Germany all the time so these universes are quite plausible

[centrally-unplanned]

GoT is also a show that was in a lot of ways paying for present sins with the promise of future potential, that now we know it never resolves. Like its fanservicey sexposition scenes are really cringe right out the gate; not because hot sex scenes are bad or anything ofc, but because the show was afraid to either own it as hot fun or commit to deeper sexual exploration; being neither they are distracting & objectifying. But the books have all this really great depth on gender roles and politics in this medieval setting, so you are like "yeah okay these are a bit cringe but overall the show is gonna be good on the female character front". But then it wasn't, at all, it had all these weird decisions around girlboss 2010's feminism and rape politics and its at best unremarkable, and more likely embarrassing. So when you go back and see those scenes, now its like a sign, "oh yeah this show has no understanding of tone when it comes to sex".

And it isn't limited to the sex stuff - Oh Tywin & Arya become like buddies in Season (2? 3?) because Charles Dance could have chemistry with a broomstick? Sure, this is good on screen, lets give it a chance! Oh it... goes nowhere, makes Tywin act like a total idiot leaving a noble captive alone & unutilized, and Ayra is just a murdersword so learns no lessons from this. Oh...these scenes suck, and waste our time. Now I know that, they are annoying to watch, they are no longer good. Every scene where characters discuss "balancing the power of factions" or like Margaery talking about maintaining ones brand with the people, wtf no you don't need to do that, literally just blow up your rivals. Murder every single one of them in 9/11 - Pope Edition, and you will be completely fine, ruling uncontested. They were all dumbasses, those scenes are dumb now.

Of course the early seasons are better, but I don't know if you can really call them good anymore. ASOIAF is one big cohesive story, and they made a lot of decisions early on that were like "hm but okay it'll probably pay off" and then they don't. Some of it definitely does work still, but now its really hit or miss - I don't think any Season is unscarred.

[colinmorgan-beautifulsmile]

Colin Morgan has an exclusive brand new in-depth interview with Radio Times

In brand new thriller Dead Shot – which arrived on Sky Cinema and NOW last week – former Merlin star Colin Morgan stars as Irish paramilitary Michael, who is on the verge of retirement when his pregnant wife is brutally murdered by a British army soldier.

Based on an original screenplay by Top Boy creator Ronan Bennett and directed by brothers Tom and Charles Guard, it's a harrowing film that takes place during the height of the Troubles in 1975, following Michael as he embarks on a revenge mission that sends him to the heart of IRA operations in London.

When Morgan first got his hands on the "page-turning" script, he was struck by a number of things, not least the contradictions inherent in his character, and he was especially won over by a certain ambiguity regarding who the audience should be rooting for.

"As a Northern Irish guy, you think I'd be biased to one side, but it's absolutely seeing both sides of this tale and this drama," he tells RadioTimes.com in an exclusive interview. "And so it says quite a lot that I was kind of on both camps, I think that's quite an achievement.

"Contradictions are the main thing I look for," he adds. "You see somebody in a cause that some men were drawn into in the late '60s and early '70s in Northern Ireland, particularly in the border counties. And I'm wondering, if I was born around that time would I have been any different? Might the times have dictated what I needed to do to survive as a man?

"Those are the things that are compelling to me... he wants to be a dad, he wants to survive his future. At the very beginning of the film it feels like he's just about to begin the rest of his life, he's left the cause behind, and it just gets taken away from him in a second."

In preparing for the film, it helped a great deal that Morgan himself grew up in Armagh, the same town that Michael is from. Despite growing up in a different era, the star was very much able to draw on his own personal experiences when it came to getting a handle on the character.

"One thing I said to the Guard brothers before I started was I'm gonna bring everything I bring to the character from my point of view, but also the stuff of just being someone who grew up in Armagh," he says.

"You get that for free, because that's the complication of living in a place like that, even though I grew up in the tail end of things – it is just part of your culture and in your blood. You see all those things growing up, and they're just in my own kind of memory bank. So while I didn't go through the times, I was certainly surrounded by adults who did."

Dead Shot isn't Morgan's first project in recent years to be set against the backdrop of the Troubles. In 2021, he had a key role in Sir Kenneth Branagh's Oscar-winning coming-of-age film Belfast, and the actor has clearly found it an immensely rewarding experience to see audiences drawn in by these stories. 

"Particularly with Belfast, there's something kind of amazing about seeing something that's such a part of you reach the world and resonate with people in a universal way," he says. "When you see your story, or you hear your accent, there's just something about you that connects with that.

"And then when you hear other people the world over do that as well, you can't help but feel a sense of pride that your identity is being recognised."

In addition to the knowledge of the conflict he had accumulated while growing up in Northern Ireland, Morgan did plenty of research into the Troubles to prepare for his role in Belfast. He says this came in handy once again for the new film, but stresses that Dead Shot itself is not necessarily "concerned about trying to educate people about the times in Northern Ireland".

"Not every film that deals with the Northern Irish issue has to go into all those details," he says. "That's what I thought was refreshing about this. But it's important as an actor just to be familiar with those things, whatever period that – it's always worth doing, and I always do it."

One of the most intriguing aspects of the film is the complexity regarding Michael's adversary Tempest, played by Aml Ameen. Although by no means portrayed in a straight-forwardly sympathetic light, the character is not presented as an out-and-out villain either – but rather a vulnerable person who has been thrown into a horrible circumstance by odious bosses. Meanwhile, the fact that Tempest is a Black man living in a time when racism was commonplace undoubtedly adds to this complexity.

"One of the things I said to the directors right from the start was that there was a lot more that bound these two guys than divided them," Morgan says of the relationship between Michael and Tempest. "They're both in London, which was a place at the time that had [signs saying], 'No dogs, no Blacks, no Irish'.

"So these are actually both very outsider characters who were treated differently – when an Irish man went to London in those times there was complete shunning of them as well. So they're guys who know what it is to be shunned, rejected, and treated as the other. And the fact that they find themselves caught in this tragedy against each other, it's a shame in a way.

"The sad thing about that particular time in Northern Ireland was that so much division between religions and nationality prevented so much integration," he adds. "And it's still unfortunately very present in Northern Ireland to this day – it's getting less so, but it's hard to think it'll ever go away.

"It's terrible to think that people connecting on a human level is prevented by something like a label or identity or nationality, whatever it is. Your best friend could have been the one that was serving in the army except you were just on the other end of the lines."

Although the film is set primarily in London, the shoot itself actually took place in Glasgow – with a number of London buses and other identifying features brought in to help transform the Scottish city into something resembling the UK capital. This was an interesting experience for Morgan, especially considering he has his own history with the city.

"I actually went to drama school in Glasgow, I went to the Royal Scottish [Conservatoire]," he says. "And the odd thing was that I hadn't really been there since I graduated and I found myself staying in an apartment that was right opposite the apartment I stayed in in my second year at drama school.

"It was this weird kind of full circle moment of suddenly there I was, like 15/20 years later. I could practically still see through the window of that apartment and see the 20-year-old me wondering, 'Oh, I wonder if this whole acting thing will ever work?'"

Of course, it wasn't long after graduating before Morgan's acting career very much did work. Following a number of early roles on stage and screen, including the Doctor Who episode Midnight, his big breakthrough came in 2008 when he was cast as the title character of BBC One's fantasy series Merlin – a show that went on to run for five highly successful seasons.

The series has retained a cult following since it ended in 2012, and some fans have long clamoured for some sort of reunion or reboot. But although Morgan thinks back fondly on his time on the show, returning to the role doesn't appear to be something he's considering any time soon.

"I think most actors are more about progression and moving forward and don't often look back," he explains. "Even on stage, sometimes plays I've done have wanted to remount and come back again, and I often found I don't take up those opportunities because I've wrung the towel dry and I've rinsed what I could out of it.

"That's certainly what I've tried to do with every project, it's like I invest every 110% into it so hopefully by the end of it, I feel like I've done all I could. And certainly on projects like Merlin, I felt like yeah, we definitely did that together as a team and it's certainly [something I] look back on and feel very proud of the work that I and everyone did."

On the subject of moving forward, Morgan has a number of other imminent projects in the pipeline. He has a key role alongside Jessica Lange, Ed Harris and Ben Foster in a new film adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's classic play Long Day’s Journey Into Night; he will star opposite Emma Appleton in the upcoming Paramount Plus legal thriller The Killing Kind; and he is currently filming a project which he can't yet disclose. The keys to the roles he's been looking for in recent times, he says, are variety and collaboration.

"I look for things I haven't done before, I look for challenges, I look for versatility, I look for passionate people," he explains. "I think more so than anything, what seems to be top of my list now is collaborators – people who have this kind of notion of bringing you into the fold and wanting to work with you not just to deliver the acting goods, but to know what you feel about the scripts and the story and have your input.

"And that's my background. My first jobs were all new writing in theatre and working with writers and developing and progressing and shaping things together. And that's what I thrive on more than anything in the world.

"That seems to be what people are wanting these days, I think the landscape has changed. People are really wanting multidisciplinary actors, and that's worth knowing for anybody wanting to come into the business: don't just be thinking about the acting, think about 360 degrees of everything."

[lunarriviera]

Hi...In Silent reading/MoDu/Jitd...they were some books mentions i think....can you name them..like i know Lolita...lol i need something to read so...pls if you can 🙏💖💗😊

HI HEY HELLO so there are yes five books! that the five arcs of Mo Du have as subtitles—well, technically each arc is titled after a main character: Julien (Sorel) from The Red and the Black by Stendhal, Humbert Humbert from, yes, Lolita by Vladimir Nabovok, Macbeth from Shakespeare, (Piotr) Verkhovensky from Demons by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and (Edmond) Dantès from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. There is very nice meta about these five texts here, and a hilarious throwaway joke here. (I thought there was another meta but can't find it; if anyone knows it, please link?) However. While I recommend these four novels and a stage play, I can't say that reading them is anything like the experience of reading Mo Du. In fact as I've been tiresomely wailing to @hunxi-after-hours and everyone else, nothing is like the experience of reading Mo Du. I read Criminal Psychology and Po Yun and they were both intensely frustrating to me in different ways. Sure, they're crime danmei, but neither of them has anyone as intensely traumatized and gorgeously brilliant as Fei Du, nor anyone as uncompromisedly upright as Luo Wenzhou, nor the pacing and reveals that Mo Du does, to say nothing of its absolutely insane balls-to-the-wall level of plotting.

Other Priest danmei are great (Sha Po Lang and Tianye Ka my loves), other danmei are fun (Kaleidoscope of Death, Tailhook, His Honey, and Descent from an Altitude of 10,000 Meters were standouts for me this year), but nothing as of yet has done for me what Mo Du does. Meatbun and NPSS are both similarly bonkers and Cyan Wings apparently has analogous depth of character, but to be quite honest I still don't know how to address the hollow void inside, and I've tried. You can read The Secret History by Donna Tartt, The Last Samurai by Helen Dewitt, Saga by Bryan K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples; you can read the Captive Prince trilogy by CS Pacat, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susannah Clarke, A Winter's Tale and A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin, Angels by Denis Johnson, JD Salinger's Glass family novels and Jeannette Winterson and Barbara Kingsolver. There's lots of things to read: David Foster Wallace and Karl Öve Knausgaard and even Cormac McCarthy. Plath and Austen and the Brontës and Morrison and Woolf and Bessie Head. Charles Dickens is much better than people give him credit for. Tolstoy, of course—though Dostoyevsky is funnier, and more like Priest in that regard.

Just realize that nothing is Mo Du and, you know. Reread Mo Du, I guess. If anyone wants to send in recommendations, now's the time!

[thenationaltreasuregazette]

The 2003 Script: Tone

Intro | Act 1 | Act 2a | Act 2b | Act 3

Intro |

Let's start off with one of the most apparent differences between the final film and the 2003 script, which jumps off the page basically from the starts and persists throughout the entire script: tone.

Tone

In the final film, the tone was scaled back significantly. The 2003 script is a much more action-packed, PG-13 affair. To recap a few examples of this:

→ When the Charlotte explodes, Ben and Riley are flung off a glacial cliff in their snowcat.

→ All of the henchmen die gruesome and/or ironic deaths throughout the movie.

→ Philadelphia is a SECOND CAR CHASE, featuring Ben jumping on the roof of Ian’s Corvette, and later commandeering a horse.

→ Riley gets NEAR-FATALLY STABBED in the finale and IAN DIES A DISNEY VILLAIN’S DEATH-BY-HUBRIS

That's all big and dramatic, so why the changes?

Well, first of all, part of this is certainly a budget thing. Stunts cost $$$$. If we can blow up the Charlotte still but not also have to film/CGI/composite a snowcat flying off a cliff that would be great actually.

But part of it is a style thing too. As I was working on this post I was making my way through The Secret Lies With Segers episode of National Treasure Hunt, where the hosts do an in-depth interview with National Treasure co-creator and executive producer Charles Segers. He mentions multiple times wanting the movie to be a Raiders of the Lost Arc, but one that was accessible to and appropriate for younger audiences and got them excited in history.

↳ Raiders of the Lost Arc is actually rated PG but it also is sort of responsible for the creation of the PG-13 category so…

And I've heard director Jon Turteltaub say in multiple places that he was going for more of a Hitchcock vibe—the exciting adventure/thriller vibes of something like North by Northwest or To Catch a Thief that have a lot of tension but not a ton of action-movie action.

So the tone seems to have evolved with the project, and I think that was for the best. I love the new tone that the final film takes on. Stealing the Declaration of Independence is a big, silly thing already. Scaling back other elements to keep the story a little more intimate achieves two important things besides just keeping the budget in check:

It makes stealing the Declaration of Independence the wildest thing in the movie. In the 2003 script it kind of isn’t? Just about every sequence is at that level of stakes and action. The heist almost starts to fade in comparison to everything else.

It makes Ben a less competent action hero, and I love that for him. As we’ve discussed before, Ben Gates is as equipped as somebody could be for the treasure hunt aspects of this story, but he is not an action hero. He’s not a seasoned thief or agent. He throws one punch in the whole movie and it hurts his hand enough that he’s like “Youch!”

Also, I just love intimate moments in big dumb stories, you know? I love the car ride into Philly. I love the interaction with Meat Lady. I love the changing room scene.

All three of these are entirely absent in the 2003 script, btw, and I miss them.

Actually that's a great segue into our next topic, character.

→ next time; characterization

[edwin-paynes-bowtie]

Probably won't be many surprises on this list, BUT

1 . Thomas/Alastair

They're my guys. They're so special to me. As someone with cPTSD, this story means everything to me since Alastair learns that he deserves to be loved. They're healing together, and they're enriching each other's lives and becoming the best possible versions of themselves together. I love how Thomas makes Alastair more open with his joys. I love how Alastair makes Thomas feel more confident in his own skin. This ship just represents HOPE to me.

2. Edwin/Charles

Another healing ship, and that is apparently my jam. Edwin and Charles both are such layered and nuanced characters who have contended with a lot of trauma. They help each other ease their pain a little bit, and it's glorious. They found a home in each other. From the moment Edwin appeared with that lantern, their love was written in the stars. Koi no yokan. Their connection is always palpable because they are above everything best friends. They are a Do Not Separate set.

3. James/Cordelia

...Yet another healing ship. Cordelia is so clearly fucked up from a life of trauma to me, and I don't see how others miss it. Her best friend was a reflection in the mirror, and James provided her with escape and joy even before they were physically together. The fact that James broke a curse that had him sexually abused for years because he loved Cordelia so much wows me. Like, there are no bounds to how much they love each other, and their dynamic also feels so equal to me if that makes sense. Love their Quiet Moments, too.

4. Will/Tessa

The way they bond over books is so beautiful to me that it makes me want to cry. I love the way Tessa made Will view her favourite book differently, and I love how they live and breathe words. Because Will and Tessa, they're kindred spirits. Also their banter is great, sue me.

5. Lum/Ataru/Mendou

Unhinged. Awful. They're all toxic. They're all the worst. I love them. They drag each other to the depths of Hell and 100% all deserve no better. And somehow, they also make each other better. They're family. Selfish assholes, but family in the truest sense.

HONORABLE MENTIONS to Sophie/Gideon, Stephen/Lucien, Simon/Isabelle, and Barney/Robin.

[valle-de-sombra-de-muerte]

Homestuck Reread: Act 3, Part 3/3 (p. 1027-1153)

Read the previous post here.

At long last, it's time to finish Act 3!

When I first read Homestuck, I had thought PM was a guy until this page. I think it might've been because she was referred to as the "post man" during her rant about the mail.

I dunno it feels like a weird detail that should've been communicated better. It's not like it's a big "twist" or anything.

A lot of these alchemized creations are kinda worthless, but the Remote Ghost Gauntlets might be one of the better ones. I don't think we ever see them get put to much good use, though.

Using a mirror to create a left-handed copy of the gauntlet is a creative detail.

Right, so if Rose's "patron black celebrity" (the term I've invented to describe this incredibly niche running gag) is Charles Barkley, John's is Bill Cosby. This has to be the most poorly aged reference in the whole comic.

For those unaware, this page was uploaded a few days before Christmas. The joke is that all these events are canonically supposed to have taken place within a single day: John's birthday.

Dave returns, evidently no worse for wear after having fallen down the stairs, to finish this final round of the Strider fight. I really like the color composition on this image. If I haven't made it clear enough, these flashes have been the highlight of the Act so far.

The fight ends with Cal destroyed and Dave's shirt permanently scratched, which I'm not sure how that's even possible. Bro's just so precise he's able to do shit like that, I guess.

I'm thinking again of that page where part of John's hair gets sliced by the glass shard. That detail isn't carried over in future pages, but this scratched record is.

Bro gives Dave the Sburb discs because that was never the point of this fight. He never wanted to keep them from Dave in the first place. This whole fight was just for... I dunno, fun I guess. This is just business as usual in the Strider household.

Yeah Hussie, god forbid we extend the Strider fight any longer than necessary. It would've taken precious time away from Jade dicking around in her house!

Rose frames her relationship with John in a similar way to the one with her mother: in a weird, competitive campaign of one-upsmanship. It's a wonder she has any friends at all if she treats them as foes in these mind games where she's the only player.

I know I may sound like I'm knocking on Rose a lot and an anon commented about this, but I actually really like how much of a weirdo she is. She's highfalutin, overconfident, perverse, obsessed with ridiculous things, genuinely does not know how to normally interact with people despite professing an interest in psychoanalysis... all putting her leagues above the likes of John or Jade when it comes to character depth. When she's handled well, she's a fun character. It's only when Hussie uses her as a vehicle for exposition that she becomes a genuine bore.

Kanaya's first appearance! Little known fact, her dialogue can be really entertaining sometimes. Like look at these crazy metaphors she's making. It's easy to forget how funny she can be with how often the fandom portrays her as bland and boring.

Even though she's often portrayed as the "elegant" one, I find Kanaya to be really ungainly and silly, especially in her insults. It helps to read her dialogue as stilted and unnatural, placing emphasis on every word.

With her penchant for using excessive verbiage to get her point across, it's no wonder Rose eventually takes a shine to her. I think it would've been a great idea to have Kanaya be a true intellectual that runs circles around Rose's pretensions, and Rose would've had to struggle to communicate with someone who was actually smart. Alas, that doesn't come to pass.

Much like how Rose was trolled right after opening John's present, the same thing happens to Dave after getting his present.

Oh yeah, Dave's "patron black celebrity" is Snoop Dogg, as seen by his Huggy Bear wallpaper and the rap verse quoted in his "sick heat" passage from Act 2.

I like how both Kanaya and Tavros open with metaphors about people shitting themselves.

Dave using the "ethnic wedding" metaphor Rose previously (or, subsequently, given how this is a flashback) used in her GameFAQs guide. Those two are on the same wavelength.

It's a crying shame that Tavros and Dave don't have many pesterlogs because this one is really good. This sequence of pages establishes very early on that Tavros and Kanaya are parallels in how they communicate with Dave and Rose respectively.

Both trolls initially struggle to communicate with the humans and at first acts as rivals. Kanaya is frustrated with dealing with the "primitive" humans and wages a back and forth "war" of being snarky and condescending toward Rose (something Rose is already familiar with in how she engages with her mother). Tavros wants to prove himself as a competent troll, but is utterly humiliated by Dave. He then later comes back to try and redeem himself and prove himself as a worthy rival in Dave's eyes (something Dave should probably relate to as someone who has lived constantly within Bro's shadow).

But after repeated conversations, eventually both parties learn to crossing that cultural barrier and form a rapport with each other. Except wait, that really only comes to fruition with Kanaya. Tavros's plotline drops off very sharply because Hussie has a weird vendetta against him. Imagine what could've been if Tavros had been allowed to actually develop beyond a walking (or wheeling) punchline. Perhaps DaveTav would've been as big as Rosemary.

AR's big obsession is justice and the law. Though his enforcement of such leads to him often being portrayed as a police officer (and indeed, this was his previous occupation), he really seems to aspire to be a judge. I love his wig made out of bullets.

His second big obsession is guns, even though he's been missing every shot he makes. AR loving guns and being terrible with them despite being a trained officer is a more endearing character trait compared to Jade loving guns and being inexplicably amazing with them.

I love this page.

John says he bought his slime ghost shirt at a "weird Asian store." I don't mean to bring any race discourse here because I honestly don't care about what race anyone headcanons the kids as, but I feel like this would rule out John belonging to any Asian ethnicity.

I'm quite fond of Jack/Slick's trait of delivering one-liners that are more explicitly violent than they are clever.

Nothing to add here except that I love this exchange leading up to the End of Act flash. Dave and Rose making SBaHJ references to each other will never not warm my heart.

And oh boy out of all of these End of Act flashes, [S] Enter is my favorite, hands down. Not only does it have "Sburban Jungle", but it's so action packed. Every time it looks like things are about to wind down, the music picks up again and the action keeps on going. This is what "peak Homestuck" is to me.

Love that Dave is casually drawing some SBaHJ while the game installs. Also shout out to that old MS Paint interface. Oh nostalgia.

It's funny that Rose is now on the receiving end of dealing with a server player's shenanigans. I get that they're on a really tight time limit here, but it makes me wish that we got to see more of her and Dave bickering as he tries to figure out the controls. Dave and Rose navigating Sburb would've been infinitely more entertaining to read than Rose instructing John from Point A to Point B for god knows how many pages.

Kino scene where the raindrops are synced with those weird synth lines in the music.

A leap of faith to grab the bottle

And saved by the very cat she wished to resurrect. This isn't just a top 10 Rose moment, more like a top 10 Homestuck moment entirely.

And oh yeah, John finally makes it to the gate. Jeez, better late than never. If there's one flaw to this flash, it's that it should've ended with Rose smashing the bottle. This whole John part honestly feels so tacked on at the very end and reinforces my belief that the plotline with his gate should've been resolved in the previous Act.

Well that was an incredible way to cap off an otherwise underwhelming Act. This one felt like a big step down compared to Act 2. The highlights included the Strider fight and the insights about Mom Lalonde (even if they're never elaborated on). But everything else was just horsing around with Jade and and the Exiles in the name of establishing convoluted nonsense and "weird plot shit."

You know, it would've been more engaging to just tell a good story instead of trying to pad it out with all this time travel and paradox nonsense. All of this shit could've easily been excised to focus more on the kids' progression in the game, and the plot would've been stronger for it. Hussie is just jangling the keys in front of the reader's face so they don't realize they're being had.

Again, I can't emphasize enough how much better it would've been to see more of Rose and Dave as Sburb partners instead of Jade playing trans-temporal postal carrier.

Man... well now it's time for Act Fo- oh sorry, I mean The Intermission. No skipping here. If you skip the Intermission I'm judging the shit out of you.

Read the next post here.

[bananacorn-limeade]

1961's The WORLD of ICE and FIRE

I'm going to do it. I'm going to self-indulge!

The Roger Corman ASOIAF production post is mostly just a novelty, but since I'm me, I have a lot of FEELINGS and OPINIONS about this cast. Naturally.

Anyway. Here's how well I think the actors in my post would play their roles, from worst to best.

#19, Worst: John Ashley as Robb Stark

You know how Ben Affleck has a face that knows about emails? John Ashley has a face that knows about sock hops. Woefully miscast.

#18: Tor Johnson as Gregor Clegane

God love the big guy, but I've only ever seen him make this face. Also, despite his repertoire of roles suggesting otherwise on paper, he just doesn't seem like a mean guy.

#17: John Agar as Jaime Lannister

Another terrible choice. The only reason he's not ranked as worst is because his soulless performance would make viewers interpret Jaime as an absolutely irredeemable sociopath, which at least would be... uh, interesting, I guess.

#16 Robert Reed as Renly Baratheon

Renly, but only if he was the most boring Baratheon. Go ahead, try to picture Reed eating a peach. You can't.

#15 Dawn Bender as Arya Stark

Aw, she'd try. But I feel like her attempts at Arya's fire would mostly come off as petulance.

#14 Richard Carlson as Ned Stark

Sorry, what? I fell asleep for a minute there.

#13 June Kenney as Daenerys Targaryen

Kenney would try her level best, but you know Corman would do a terrible job incorporating her storyline with the main plot, so she wouldn't have much to do except lounge around on mildly offensive orientalist sets and talk to her force-perspective dragon puppets. (Stop-motion you say? What, you think American International is made of money?)

#12 Dolores Faith as Sansa Stark

Again, no knock to Faith, but as with Daenerys, I think a 1961 production would flatten Sansa's character away to nothing. She'd get to pine and wear some nice dresses.

#11 Anthony Dexter as Petyr Baelish

This guy can play oily like nobody's business (check him out in 1962's Married Too Young), but 5D-chess-level deviousness might be beyond him.

#10 Michael Dunn as Tyrion Lannister

Full disclosure: I'm plopping him in the middle because I've never seen him in anything! The only little person I've personally seen in Corman's movies is Billy Barty (playing an actual, literal imp), and Dunn was someone I found who was said to play much meatier roles. In general, I think the depth of Tyrion's character would seriously challenge 1960s casting directors who were used to casting little people in jokey roles or as something less than human. One of many problems they'd have with the source material, no doubt.

#9 Lon Cheney Jr. as Sandor Clegane

Here's another actor who would do the best with what he was given - which would be an essentially empty role. This Sandor would be a beast used only for jump scares, with too much rubber over his face to ever show an emotion.

#8 Glen Langan as Stannis Baratheon

Langan would be serious, but dull, with lots of droning sermonizing. In other words, perfect. Still boring though.

#7 Basil Rathbone as Tywin Lannister

Who better to play a role totally owned by Charles Dance than an actor who's even Charles Dancier? The only reason I'm not ranking this legend higher is because I do think he'd kind of sleepwalk through this role, especially at this stage in his career.

#6 Raymond Burr as Robert Baratheon

The future Mr. Perry Mason was damn good at playing hard-drinking, prowly, "beastly" men. See him in this fabulous trailer for 1951's Bride of the Gorilla (spoiler: Burr is the gorilla). Of course, for this production, he'd be about 10 years on from that virile role, but that's perfectly on brand for Bobby B.

#5 Michael Landon as Jon Snow

Landon's tortured James Dean era would be a great fit for angsty goth teen Jon, though he might have trouble keeping his feelings as hidden as Jon does.

#4 Allison Hayes as Melisandre

Should she be ranked this high? Eh, maybe not, but this woman is a goddamn B-movie bombshell goddess. Her Red Woman would be a little less mysterious, sure, but her perfectly arched eyebrows and bullet bra would do R'hllor proud all the same.

#3 Marie Windsor as Catelyn Stark

They didn't call her Queen of the B's for nothing. Windsor always did great with roles that call for strength and verve. She'd be a fantastic Cat, and - dare I dream it - an even better Lady Stoneheart.

#2 Jack Nicholson as Theon Greyjoy

Now this would be fun. If baby Jack Nicholson had half the presence and charisma he would show in later movies, his Theon would be legendary.

#1 Coleen Gray as Cersei Lannister

If I can get Tumblr to understand one thing, it's how much Coleen Gray would absolutely eat in the role of Cersei. She's beautiful. She's a schemer. She's a helpless victim. She's back for revenge. I challenge anyone to watch her insane, murderous, fierce, gorgeous, duplicitous performance in 1960's otherwise pretty terrible The Leech Woman and not come to the same conclusion. I'm serious. There would be no survivors. 👑

[1moreff-creator]

Thank you DRDT crew!

Even though I’ve only been a fan for a short time compared to others, the amount of love I have for this series is hard to put into words. It has slowly grown to be my favorite DR-related media of all time, for a multitude of reasons. Everything about it is remarkably impressive, and I just wanted to say thank you for bringing us such an amazing experience.

I got into DRDT through Weeby Newz’ streams. I had just finished binge watching her SDRA2 streams, but this “Danganronpa Despair Time” one looked interesting. Especially because I kept seeing a video by Ocean Unknown popping up in my recommended, which said something about “David’s reveal”. So I decided to watch those vods too.

Fast-forward a binge watch, and… I was in love. It didn’t even register how attached I’d gotten to every single character, and how intrigued I was to see how everything would play out.

I absolutely wouldn’t have started a Tumblr blog without DRDT. But now I have, and it’s been one of the most fun experiences I’ve had in fandom. So, from the bottom of my heart:

Thank You!

Thank you for the dedication to do such a long and arduous project!

Thank you for the beautiful art! I’ve always been a fan of DRDT’s unique style, and those animations always take my breath away, no matter how many times I see them.

Thank you for all the amazing characters you’ve brought to life! I love them all so much, I could thank you for each one individually.

… So I will.

•Thank you for Teruko! Because she’s one of my favorite protagonists from anything ever, as her intriguing and complex personality is always a joy to analyze.

Also, uh, thank you for the prosopagnosia rep. I probably have that too, but I would have never found out without DRDT. It really explained a lot about my life, so it can be said this series has changed me forever :D

•Thank you for Xander! It’s refreshing to see a character like him being so important to the story, with so many mysteries still surrounding him!

•Thank you for Charles! Because this nerd is one of the most likable and enjoyable characters I’ve seen in any fangan.

•Thank you for Ace! Because he manages to be both very funny and very interesting and complex whenever needed.

•Thank you for Arei! It’s always nice to see a ‘mean’ character with such well thought out motivations and such drive to change.

•Thank you for Rose! Her attitude always makes me feel calm when I think about her, and I’m really interested in seeing where her character and themes are going to go.

•Thank you for Hu! Another one I’m really intrigued by, I can’t wait to know more about her!

•Thank you for Eden! For showing that even “the nice one” characters can have depth and complexity. Also representation win, the nicest girl ever is a lesbian!

•Thank you for Nico! They are so, so interesting. I feel like I’m overusing the word “intriguing”, but they really are so fun to think about. Also representation win for the enbies! Love to see it.

•Thank you for Whit! Because he’s funny, and interesting, and there’s definitely something wrong with him it’s nice to have a character that doesn’t have any big issues :D

Just kidding! The reason I love DRDT so much is that everyone gets to be a little fucked up, as a treat!

And representation win! The coolest guy ever is bisexual!

•Thank you for J! She’s funny and cool and- you guessed it, intriguing. I am running that word to the ground, but it’s true for everyone!

•Thank you thank you thank you for Veronika!!! She’s so great. She’s fantastic. She always brings a smile to my face, she’s so perfect in every way shape and form. God I love her so much, I want her to go as insane as her crazy little heart desires. And more representation! Sorta jealous of the pansexuals who got this freak (affectionate).

•Thank you for David! How can a character be so complex, that you look at Literature Girl Insane and decide it needs more literary references to properly convey them? Well, David’s the answer, and geez. He’s just so fantastically written, it’s incredible. Another big win for the bisexual community imo.

•Thank you for Levi! He’s really cool, and everything about him is interesting.

•Thank you for Arturo! Because as much of a weirdo as he can be, his entire character is just really, really interesting.

•Thank you for MonoTV! Because it’s funny and its personality has to be one of the most unique I’ve ever seen for mascot characters.

•Thank you for Mai! I mean, who?

•Thank you for Unnamed Classmate! Because they’re really nice and I can’t wait to see where they go.

And of course…

•Thank you, so much, for Min! She may very well be my favorite character from anything ever. Everything about how she’s written is phenomenal, her personality and struggles are so well developed, I could gush about her for hours! She means so much to me, I can’t properly describe how in love I am with her.

Thank you for the laughs! From the arm wrestling scene, Charles getting obliterated by MonoCredits, “milk tastes good”, Teruko tripping over Nico… Not to mention the greatest joke ever conceived: the bathroom investigation. I laughed for a solid minute or two when I first watched it, just replaying the funniest thing ever on loop.

The Q&As were also really funny, and I never really had an issue with the way the were written. I fully understand and support if you decide not to do them ever again, but they were fun while they lasted. From Nico’s favorite ice cream flavor being “the flavor”, to us forgetting people can have friends aside from Mai I mean who, all the way to that time you directed us to inform ourselves on what a pant pocket is.

Thank you for the tears! Because I still can’t watch Min’s final hug without my chest hurting, a lot. Even some of the frames from the Sleepy MV, that beautiful piece of art, get me to tear up just looking at them.

Thank you for the mysteries! From the murders which are really fun to theorize about, to everything related to Mai Akasaki and the multiple source code secrets. And don’t even get me started on the LGI MV, that insanity (affectionate) has been eating at my brain ever since it released. Everything about it is fantastic, even the things we still haven’t solved.

Where’s footnote 8, dev?! Did you put it in your pant pockets?! (/j)

Also, tangentially, thanks for introducing me to the LGI album. It’s a really good album ^^

Thank you for the research you’ve put into everything! Things like Ace’s talent causing his eating disorder are really appreciated, they show a genuine care and love for the project.

Thank you for all the little details you might think no one notices, but that we love to see! Things like the first Nonstop Debate ending in perjury, Teruko listing Xander as one of the people whose secret was unrevealed, David’s eyes being different in his genuine breakdowns to his little thing in Ep 11, strychnine not being listed with the other custom weapons because Charles made the list, the note Xander received having a proper full message which has been obscured (I can only make out “it is” at the bottom, but it’s clear the message is there), the charm on Teruko’s thing-that’s-probably-a-MonoPad-but-may-be-something-else being the same as Unnamed Classmate’s phone charm, all the interesting details in the character profiles, among so many other things.

This also includes details revealed on Q&As. Arei being ambidextrous, Teruko liking “girly��� clothing, Xander having a weak sense of taste, Ace having 9 siblings, Veronika’s earring being related to a friend, all the favorite and least favorite colors and ice cream flavors. As well as the few things we know about people like Felicity and Elliot that made the community fall in love with them for no apparent reason. It just makes them all seem so human!

Thank you to the voice actors, as well! They’ve all done such an amazing job, no exceptions! In particular, Veronika’s unhinged laughter, the dialogue after Ace’s almost murder, Min’s last words, David’s speech post the “guilty as charged” incident… but it’s all fantastic, all the characters are voiced really well.

And thank you for so much more! If I kept going, this post would never end. DRDT just means more to me than any finite number of words could ever convey. Without your work, the days pass by tastelessly /ref. So, one last time for the road:

Thank you for everything!

(God I love the Sleepy MV so much. It’s so pretty!!!)

[aeithalian]

……you MUST know I want your director’s cut thoughts on a shard or two lol xoxo MJ/kiwiana-writes (my kingdom for asks from sideblogs)

OOOOH hehe hello MJ i keep seeing you pop up reccing a shard or two and just know that every time i see it, i send up a little prayer that your pillows are cold on both sides.

ANYWAYS (most of my followers on this blog aren't RWRB fans but who cares) a shard or two is definitely a weird fever dream of a fic. I read the entire book in like 24 hours (this was just before the movie came out, so less than a year ago) and I, having a strange interest in politics, was like 'hmm, you know what? not enough politics'. So now we have a shard or two. I've always had a interest in politics and I always felt weird about being that person who has a strange in-depth knowledge about the US government, but I think writing the fic helped me think about politics in less of a pessimistic way, like 'here's what I would want to see in modern-day politics'. It also kind of raises the philosophical question of how good people function in a corrupt system without being corrupted themselves, and Alex is such an interesting character to play with on that front because I view him as so idealistic that he refuses to be corrupted purely out of spite and stubbornness.

So, that's how it got started, I think. I told myself I wasn't going to start another WIP while I have one going for a different fandom, but here we are. I originally intended for it to be way shorter than it was (here I was thinking last October that 20k was an insane length for chapter 1, and then chapter 3 ended up being 100k all put together), but it's been such a fun passion project and a real stress-reliever for some reason, and a great way to develop my writing. Somebody in the comments asked me if I write professionally (I do not, and I likely never will, but I appreciate the sentiment).

As for director's commentary, I'm just spitballing here but I have so much fun stuff to share so here ya go.

I know there's this whole debate in the fandom about whether or not Alex goes into politics post-canon, like either go into local politics or start his own firm or whatever, and I generally don't see a lot of people saying that he would go into upper-level politics like he does in the fic. Very rarely do I see any post-canon fics that delve into what Alex's future career might look like if he ran for any office, so I kind of just did it myself, as one does. I do remember seeing CMQ say on their Instagram that Alex wouldn't run for president, but he might run for governor of Texas, but I kind of pulled a Harry Potter fandom and ignored the author (sorry not sorry), but I did make a reference to it early on in chapter 3 for anybody who's looking for any easter eggs). Regardless, it's very fun writing a Gen Z politician who gives no fucks (Alex is Gen Z, I'm taking no critiques on this). I'm so excited for people my age to start running for office. We're going to kill it, I feel it in my bones (you won't catch me up there, but maybe in some health policy behind-the-scenes work, who knows).

The names for the characters were a ton of fun to come up with, and I tweaked them all the time, but here are some tidbits behind some of them:

Edward McKinney's (opposed the amendment in chapter 2 and was Alex's opponent for the Democratic nomination in chapter 3) last name is a play on William McKinley (the 25th US president) to kind of bring this mindset to the table that McKinney is exactly who your stereotypical politician is who would run for president.

Pinkley's name is also a reference to Charles Pinckney, who ran for president in 1804 and 1808 as a Federalist. For no particular reason. I was just having fun with it.

Treacher's name actually comes from the word 'treacherous' because I originally intended for him to be way more of a villain than he ended up being, because I thought it would be interesting to have a political opponent who isn't necessarily an enemy.

Aksel Wolter's (the guy who overthrew my man Onderburg for the Baltonian presidency) name was originally going to be Signe Wolter, but then I saw a cool TikTok that compared some enemies throughout history and saw how similar their names were (George Washington & King George, Jesus & Judas, Obama & Osama, etc.) so I thought it would be cool to have an Alex and an Axel, but the spelling was too similar so that's how we ended up with Aksel because that's also a way it's spelled in northern Europe.

Erik Onderburg's (you know who he is, RIP 😈) original name was Henrik, and that got all the way into the published version of chapter 2 (he's mentioned towards the end), and then when I was writing the first scene of chapter 3 and realized that Henrik and Henry were way too similar, I had to change it.

Ellie (full name Elena) is named after Ellen, with a bit of a Hispanic twist. I think Alex and Henry's deal was if they had a girl, they'd name her after Ellen, and if they had a boy, they'd name him after Arthur. I like to think the middle name would have been Orion either way.

Hunter Weaver (the in-universe replacement of Anderson Cooper) has nothing to do with WASPY Hunter. That was a total coincidence and completely unintentional. But, hey, if you want to believe they're the same person, go for it.

All the research in there is legit! Wikipedia has been a fucking godsend for election results and facts about government structures outside of the US, but it kind of sucks trying to relay stuff into two decades in the future. You never know what kinds of issues are going to be important in 20 years, so I actually kind of avoided that problem by just relating it to some of our current issues today: queer rights, specifically in trans communities, election fraud, 3rd party candidates, human rights issues (ikyk) and so on. And the makeup of NATO, the UN, G20, etc. haven't changed because I can't see into the future.

I also had to do a surprising amount of math? Trying to figure out dates and stuff was way more difficult than I anticipated, especially for election results and percentages, but I realized I really don't need to pull out my TI-84 calculator for a fucking fanfic, but I'm also terrified of the prospect that somebody will correct me on any of my math or research so the calculator stays. It makes for some funny moments, though, like when I realized that if Alex actually ran in the 2040, he would really have Teddy Roosevelt beat for the post of 'youngest president' by, no joke, 3 weeks. So that's kind of fun (and how I firmly decided to have that be the timeline of things).

I write most of the speeches the characters give myself, but I use chat gpt to get me started sometimes (the product is always pretty bland, so it's really just a reference for structure), but I use real-life speeches for reference too. For example (and a bit of a sneak peek), in chapter 4, Alex is giving a speech to the UN General Assembly, and I lifted a couple phrases directly from one of Obama's speeches.

Writing this fic on google docs was a terrible decision. When i was writing chapter 3, the entire word count was well over 160k and the software was getting so laggy every time I needed to control f something for reference. So chapter 4 and beyond is currently being written in a new google doc. Speaking of which, having to switch all my formatting over onto ao3 with chapters this long is a pain in the ass. 0/10 do not recommend having to go through each chapter and fix the formatting every time just because I wanted to have fun little article inserts.

I was going to make it smutty and then i chickened out. i deeply apologize for my cowardice (i've never done smut before).

I guess if you want a couple sneak peeks for chapter 4, I can do that too 😜

If this next chapter had a motto, it would be "every president has their tragedy". Yes, that should probably scare you. (honestly, I'm a little nervous to write it too, just because I know it's pretty dark but hey, if Disney can show Mulan killing 2,000 Huns in an animated children's movie, then I can tag this as mature and not be worried about traumatizing people, okay?)

If it had a theme song, it might be 'Fourth of July' by Sufjan Stevens or 'Abstract (Psychopomp)' by Hozier. (Don't be scared, you'll be fine, because if the chapter after that had a theme song, it would be 'Dog Days are Over' by Florence and the Machine)

So, all the chapters are titled with 5 stages of career development (completely arbitrary, I worked off Indeed's for a while and then I said 'fuck it'). Stage 1 was Establishment, stage 2 was Maintenance, stage 3 (spanning ch. 3 and 4 on ao3) was Advancement. So stage 4 (ch. 5 on ao3) will be Obstruction, so take that how you will. But stage 5 (ch. 6 on ao3) will be Resolution, so that should make you feel better. They're sister chapters, so although the conflict itself is resolved in chapter 4, the lasting changes and long-term effects of that conflict will be mostly featured in chapter 5 (which, honestly, is the one I'm most excited to write because I feel like it's that moment when Alex really grows into himself).

And a little fun knowledge just for you: there's actually going to be a stage 6 (ch. 7, on ao3). I was going to surprise readers by adding on a chapter after I publish stage 5 with a 'psych! you thought this was over, suckers'. Stage 6 is titled 'Reflection', so I'm planning for it to be about how Alex leaves office dealing with the idea of his own legacy and accomplishments (but as I teased in Stage 3, he won't actually be 'done').

I think that's all I've got in me. Chapter 4 is in the works, but it's taking way longer than I'd like (I've only just started part 1 😬) since I started a new job that's kind of sucking the life out of me. I'm very excited to share it, though! I'll be sad when it's over (maybe I'll do a missing moments oneshot series after, who knows).

director's cut ask game

[loki-son-of-odin]

Right so I finished Secret History, great book. I just wanna do a bit of a fan cast.

Henry: Young Stephen Fry

What more do you want? He’s massive, he actually knows Greek, true academia at its finest.

Charles: Timothee Chalamet.

I DO NOT LIKE HIM, or rate him as an actor in any way, I think he just looks Charles-esque. Dark, frail, piece of shit. Thanks.

Camilla: young Emma Thompson

Yeah it’s weird with the dynamic of Henry because Fry and Thompson were actually close friends. However, I think she’s got this look about her that reveals a lot of depth and character. However her personality is very different from how Camilla is portrayed, as I think Camilla is very sheepish and mild mannered whereas Thompson is very eccentric and loud and performative. But I believe in her skills.

Francis: My Boyfriend.

I don’t know why but his description physically is a lot like my partner and his attitudes are like my partner enough. I really couldn’t imaging anything else… pic obviously is not my boyfriend but it’s close enough.

Richard: Any brown haired, boring looking white man.

I know, I know. This has gotten very vague but I think Richard is just the epitome of mediocrity and is not deserving of any special casting. Maybe just someone who doesn’t have a grating voice.

Bunny: That kid from Polar Express.

Need I say more?

Julien: Sir Ian McKellen

Gandalf, wise. But also just really proper, very charming. Barely would have to act.

That’s all I could really imagine. Thank you, love you.

[stonegearstudios]

So my copy of Ave Nox finally game it, I've read the pdf several times and I think it's a really good dungeon, heartily recommend.

I actually have.... almost 3000 words of just jot notes of thoughts on the module and I was only about halfway through. I thought about writing a big, in depth review of it, but the physical book is here and that stalled a while back so I think I'll just give a short overview.

Ave Nox is by Feral Indie Studios and specifically Alex Coggon & Charles Ferguson-Avery

First, both the book and the pdf are great. You can see the nice hardcover book and the final version of the pdf is filled with useful hyperlinks, it's just a nice thing to read through.

The setting itself it great. As a system neutral megadungeon it's meant to be dropped almost anywhere and it could be. All you need is a badlands region in your world. The area around the dungeon is deliberately a backwater, not relevant on the international stage for centuries. Easy to fit into your setting.

The art: I'm deliberately not showing the best bits but you can see even from the above that the art is great, full of character and capable of swinging between comedy to drama and tension.

The Size: Ave Nox is a megadungeon for sure, it's a lot more manageable in scope than many others I've read, like I could actually imagine getting through it and a party seeing most of the rooms and events without playing for a decade.

The only thing I could maybe ding it for is there's not a huge enemy variety, but if there was it would probably also feel out of place, it's a tricky thing

Anyway, I hope to run it sometime soon and am definitely using it as inspiration for my own megadungeon, Eye of the Storm

[booksandchainmail]

Hugo Best Series Finalists 2024

I've read at least part of every series, here are my impressions and loose rankings:

October Daye, by Seanan McGuire. I've read: all 18 novels and novellas, most of the short stories The Toby Daye books have been nominated basically very year, eligibility allowing, and they deserve it. This is exactly the kind of series this award should be for: a sprawling story decades in the writing, where early books weren't quite strong enough for awards and later books have to high a barrier to entry to be nominated alone. Looking back, it's astonishing the degree to which this series has grown upon itself over 18 novels, and I respect the level of foreshadowing and delayed reveals. The worldbuilding and progress-over-time is where this series shines, but basically every book of it is a great urban fantasy mystery novel in it's own right.

Imperial Radch, by Ann Leckie. I've read: all 5 novels and assorted stories I really like these! Admittedly I felt that Translation State was good but not great, but the original trilogy remains one of my all time favorites.

The Last Binding, by Freya Marske. I've read: all 3 novels I do like these books a lot, a very nice series of fantasy romances. By virtue of their historical setting, they are about queerness in a way that a lot of queernorm specfic can't be. I especially appreciate their willingness to change the assumptions of their premise

The Final Architecture, by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I've read: all 3 novels These were good! Nice crunchy sci-fi. Unfortunately they didn't live up to the level set by the other works of Tchaikovsky's that I've read, which have all been amazing. These books were enjoyable, they had good plot and characters and particularly worldbuilding, but I didn't come away from them with any deep thoughts or feelings

The Universe of Xuya, by Aliette de Bodard I've read: both novels, none of the shorter pieces I don't know what it is, but I keep bouncing off de Bodard's work, which is unfortunate, because I really like the concepts of her books, so I keep trying them and not liking them. The central romance didn't click for me in The Red Scholar's Wake, and it took me too long to wrap my head around the worldbuilding (possibly this would have been better if I had read some shorter pieces in the same universe first). A Fire Born of Exile was a decent book in it's own right, but as a Count of Monte Cristo adaptation I disliked it.

The Laundry Files, by Charles Stross I've read: The Atrocity Archive Look. I DNF'ed Stross's Family Trade series last year, so I didn't have high hopes going in. It's also probably unfair to judge the entire series by just one book published decades ago (it's not like the first Toby Daye book is that remarkable either). But I did not like this book, and I have no wish to continue with the series. I have no familiarity with cubicle-farm bureaucracy machines, so I think a lot of the humor fell flat. It also felt glaringly, un-ignorably, uncomfortable that with the exception of the main character's love interest (she's so unexpectedly hot and smart, and also gets kidnapped twice) and ex (keeps sleeping around to make the main character jealous), all the other women were small-minded obstructionist petty tyrant middle managers, who the protagonist could finally get one over on and put in their places at the conclusion, with the backing of course of his male coworkers, who all seemed to have hidden depths