#chronicle 2012 imagine

[spider-stark]

THE B-SIDE

pairing: andrew detmer x reader

summary: the boys stop by the record store you work at

word count: 1.9k

// masterlist // send me your thoughts // comments & reblogs appreciated! //

Matt Garetty was a repeat customer at The B-side, a record store only a few miles down the road from your shared high school 

It was also your weekend job. 

And Matt Garetty was also a pain in your ass. 

Every time you heard his shitty Corolla trundling into the lot, you’d consider how fast you could race across the store and flip the faded Open sign to Closed. 

On this particular day, misty and boring, you heard the engine’s familiar hack and decided to try your luck. 

The store wasn't too big, but then again, distance wasn't the challenge. It was clutter—the endless rows of low shelves, boxes stuffed with vinyl and cassettes. You cried halfway to the door, your elbow ramming into a CD display. Another few steps, a glance out the window, and your Converse stuttered against the 90's carpet. 

For once, Matt Garetty hadn’t come alone. 

Steve Montgomery slid from the passenger seat, stretching arms-over-head. His puffer coat rode up, revealing the polo beneath—and a sliver of smooth, lean-muscled skin. 

Despite what the saliva pooling in your mouth might suggest, you did not have a thing for Steve. He was Samantha’s boyfriend, which stuffed him in a box labeled: Strictly Off Limits. But, even if that weren’t the case, you’d never actually go for him. 

You’ve never been into jocks. Even the ones as pretty as Steve. 

Of course, that didn't stop your neck from craning for a better view of the G-rated peep show. You didn’t have to want Steve to admire him, to recognize he was the effortless embodiment of cool. 

Unlike Garetty, who was currently fighting a losing battle with the backdoor handle. 

Frustration urged the idiot to prop a sneakered foot against the slick car. He managed one, two, three earnest tugs before losing grip, his foot sliding so that he almost fell right on his ass. Amusement sputtered past your lips. 

Loser. 

Before Garetty could give it another go, Steve kindly nudged him aside. 

The door yielded to his magic, star quarterback touch. Garetty’s Oh, what the fuck! seeped straight through the layer of wall and glass dividing you. Steve’s answering grin was cocky, leading to an open palm swinging at his head. He ducked, and in a blink, both boys were chasing each other around the car, shouting jeers over laughter. 

Correction, you thought, half-smiling. Losers. 

Having abandoned your goal of locking Garetty out, you were about to head back to the counter. As you turned, a bit of motion held you back. 

Andrew Detmer stumbled from the backseat, tugging his zip-up sleeves over his hands. He frowned at the sky, the rain—but not at the two boys goofing off around him. He looked nervous. But, then again, he might always look like that. 

You wouldn’t know. 

It was rare that anyone saw him without a camcorder where his face should be, a glass lens to separate boy from world. 

Beyond the basics, you knew nothing about him. 

But you wanted to. 

Really wanted to. 

With a few mumbled words, the other boys ceased their chase. Steve slung an arm around Andrew's shoulders, shaking him as he spoke. Nervousness turned to nauseousness. As Garetty stomped across the lot, Steve dragged Andrew along, forcing him to keep pace. 

Whirling back to the display you'd messed up, you scrambled to restore the CDs to some semblance of order. By the time the door chimed, you'd already rushed back to the counter, leaning against its surface. 

“Honey,” Garetty sang, striding inside. “I’m home!” 

“Well look who it is,” you cooed. “I was starting to worry I’d make it a whole shift without seeing your ugly face.” 

Glaring, he did a piss-poor imitation of your voice—Lewk hew it eez!—before sticking his tongue out like a brat. Your nose wrinkled at the sight. It was a sickly shade of neon green. 

“Jesus, Garetty. Do you not brush that thing?” 

There was a faint redness to his cheeks. “We got slurpees,” he defended. 

“Looks like you got a disease.” 

A scoff. “It doesn’t—y’know what? Fuck you, actually. It’s green apple.” 

“Sure it is.” 

“It is!” Garetty argued. As if struck by some magnificent idea, his lips curled into a milk curdling smirk. “Wanna taste?” 

Your face dropped. 

No— 

         no  no  nono

absolutely NOT! 

But it was too late. 

Garetty moved fast. A blink and he'd cleared the space between you, thrusting halfway over the counter. His tongue was out, waggling at you through a chorus of gross, exaggerated sounds. A squeal tore from your throat as you scrambled back, pressing flat against the wall. 

“Garetty, I swear–” 

“Come on!” With his tongue out, it sounded more like Tum awhn! “You don’t wanna try?” 

“In your drea–eugh! Stop moving it like that!” 

Eyes rolling, he gave in and tucked the green monster back in its cave. You didn’t move from the wall, not with him so close, still leaning over the counter. 

“Fun sucker,” he declared. 

You flipped him off and, in return, he flashed a crooked grin. 

Jackass. 

“Remind me,” Steve mused, lingering near the entrance. A short step behind him, Andrew was still fumbling with his sleeves. “How old are you two?” 

You pressed a hand to your chest. “Don’t put this on me! It’s not my fault Garetty’s got the mental age of a twelve year old.” 

“Oh, that is so not true!” 

“Says the boy who almost assaulted me with his disease ridden tongue.” You leveled a stare at him. “Do you know any adults who would do that?” 

“Okay, first of all?” He lifted a finger, his expression dead-serious. “It’s 2012. You can’t just throw the word ‘assault’ anymore! And you would know that if you were as emotionally mature as I. Second,” another finger, the corners of his mouth twitching, “we both know you would’ve liked it.” 

You should’ve let it go. That was the smart thing—the mature thing to do. 

Instead, you kicked back to good ole’ middle-school petulance. 

You looked past him, brows drawn as you asked Steve, “Do you hear something?” 

Garetty’s expression went flat. “Seriously?” 

“Oh, definitely,” Steve nodded at you, playing along. “Ya know, now that I’m thinking about it, I was hearing the same thing the whole ride here. Just like this constant buzz?” 

“Yes! Exactly!” 

“Okay,” Garetty huffed. “But somehow I’m the twelve year old, right?” 

Steve hypothesized, “Maybe we have that thing!” He pointed to his ear, glancing at Andrew who clearly didn’t want to be involved. “What’s it called again? Tetanus?” 

You laughed. 

The joke was obvious. Steve was gunning for valedictorian. He definitely knew the difference between tetanus and tinnitus. But, before Andrew could mutter just that, Garetty had already thrown his hands up. 

“You know what?” He gave each of you a look. Yours seemed especially sulky. “Fuck you guys. All of you suck.” 

Steve’s voice was warm, placating, “It was just a joke, Matt. Lighten up, yeah?” 

But Matt didn’t lighten up. In fact, he was already stomping toward the back of the store to mope over a box of records until time to leave. 

You cupped a hand around your mouth. “The philosophical douchebag section’s the other way, Gandhi!” 

With his back still turned, Garetty gave you the finger and kept walking. It was the closest you’d ever get to a victory trophy in this little on again, off again fight of yours. 

You treasured it deeply. 

“So,” you relaxed against the counter. “What brings you to B-sides, Steven? And please, don’t tell me you’re panic-shopping for Samantha’s birthday.” 

It was tomorrow, and the sanctity of girl code meant you'd have no choice but tell her if he'd put off getting a gift. 

Steve clicked his tongue. “Do you really think so little of me?” He joked, ambling closer. Andrew shuffled right behind him, his head low—a dim star caught in the sun’s orbit. “No,” Steve continued, “I know better than that. I got my shopping done months ago—straight from the list, just how Sammy likes it.” 

Impressive. 

“Sounds like you’re a shoo-in for Boyfriend of the Year award, then.” 

“Ah, I don’t know. The year’s still young.” He gave you a wink that made your brow furrow. “Maybe by the end of it you’ll find me some competition.” 

You made a point not to look at Andrew. 

“Doubtful,” you told Steve, as un-morose as you could make it. 

You didn’t need a boyfriend—

Watery eyes flicked up in a half-glance. Nervous. Easy to miss. 

—but needing wasn’t the same as wanting. 

Before you could dwell, Steve changed the subject. 

“Hey, you like all that grungy alternative shit, don’t you?” 

You stared down at your shirt, the wash-faded image of the Around the Fur album cover. “Obviously not.”  

“Great!” 

Steve reached behind himself, guiding the flickering star into the spotlight. A pink flush dusted Andrew’s cheeks. He’d almost tripped over his own feet. 

“So does he,” Steve said as if it meant something grand. You flinched when he smacked the counter, exclaiming, “There! Now you two have something to talk about.”

Before you could speak—think—Steve had already slipped toward the back. He settled next to Garetty, who was scowling over a box of second-hand cassettes, pretending not to eavesdrop. 

Your mind raced, pulse quickening. Did Samantha…?

You didn’t realize your mouth was open, your jaw a broken hinge, until Andrew dared a glance up. Your eyes met, and—

Blue. 

Like crystalline lakes and rushing streams, cool water crashing over warm skin. 

You had to force your mouth shut, ignoring the dry stick of your tongue. 

“I—uh—Sorry—” His attention darted, nervous fingers fiddling with his sleeve. “Matt was right, and this—this was stupid.” 

A question bloomed up your throat, but the answer had already taken root in your mind. The dots connected. Why Garetty hadn't come alone, why Steve was so insistent, why, for once, Andrew wasn't hiding behind a lens. In the end, they all spelled one name: 

Samantha. Your best friend. The only one who knew about your crush on Garetty’s cousin. Samantha, who, apparently, had pissed all over girlhood-sanctity by blabbing to her boyfriend. 

That little– 

“Lhabia.” 

You blinked. “Sorry?” 

Andrew froze. He looked every bit like he’d swallowed a mouthful of pins, debating whether you’d notice if he threw up on the floor. 

“Samantha’s party,” he blustered. “Her birthday, tomorrow, it’s… Tomorrow.” The words hung between you; more question than statement. 

Confused, you told him, “I think we need to backtrack.” 

“Your shirt, it’s… Deftones, that album—Lhabia’s my favorite song off it.” His head shook, lips curving into something faint, a smile tinged with self-deprecation. “I realize now that I probably should’ve just… said that to begin with, maybe.” 

You laughed, because yeah—he definitely should’ve said that. 

“And Samantha’s birthday?” you asked. 

“Steve said you don’t usually go to her parties,” Andrew explained. "Not the big ones, at least, and they're all kinda big, but—I don't usually go either, cause I'm not so... party. But Steve's making me and," he drew an overdue breath. Admitted, "He won't let me walk away without asking you to come with us. 

Behind him, several CD’s up and flung from their display, jostled by some invisible force. You jumped—but Andrew didn’t even flinch. 

“Come with me,” he mumbled, correcting himself. 

Your attention split. Across the store, far from the display, Steve squealed as Garetty smacked him on the back of head with an old record. In that moment, long enough only to think: You break it, you buy it, Andrew took your distraction as something else. 

“You can say no if–” 

“No,” you spoke too quick, saved it with, “I meant yes! I’d love to.” 

Shock, disbelief, joy, more disbelief—they registered on his face all at once. 

“Okay,” he said airily. “Cool. Then I’ll, uh, I’ll see tomorrow?” 

A nod, the best you could manage, before Andrew hurried back to his friends and left your head spinning. 

You were going to kill Samantha. 

After you thanked her.

a/n - wrote this for myself, but i figured you guys could read it too (if anyone is still active in the chronicle fandom, that is). i put the pairing as andrew x reader, but I can't deny that there was weird chemistry between the reader and matt

anyways, thanks for reading and happy thirteenth birthday to chronicle!

[sijssjsbssjsnsnnskbskwns]

Andrew Detmer X Reader Idea’s For You!

Andrew Detmer X Reader Ideas…..

Plot For These Idea’s: Chronicle (2012)

Andrew Detmer X Scarlet Witch!Reader (you were born with this power, you have the scarlet witch outfit from Wanda vision, you have been using the darkhold for a long while…so your fingers are completely black…and your older than you look…you have lived for thousands of years, you have sadistic personality…and you are quite not aware of what you have done, you wear gloves to hide the corruption on your fingers)

Andrew Detmer X Captain Marvel!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Maleficent!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Na’vi!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Female!Alastor!Reader (your alastor from hazbin Hotel but female…you have a human disguise so you blend in, the only thing that sticks out is your red eyes, you smile all the time…yeah not a normal smile a…unsettling, pure evil and sadistic kind of smile)

Andrew Detmer X Ahmanet!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Veronica Mayday!Reader (your Veronica mayday from helluva boss)

Andrew Detmer X Cruella!Reader (Cruella 2021 version of Cruella, you wear a hoodie and a big beanie to hide your hair)

Andrew Detmer X Wednesday!Reader (Jenna Ortega version)

Andrew Detmer X Jennifer Check!Reader (your Jennifer check from Jennifer’s body)

Andrew Detmer X Nancy Downs!Reader (your Nancy downs from the craft)

Andrew Detmer X Daki!Reader (your Daki from demon slayer)

Andrew Detmer X Nezuko!Reader (your Nezuko from demon slayer)

Andrew Detmer X Agatha Harkness!Reader (your Agatha Harkness from Wanda vision)

Andrew Detmer X Ghostface!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Cheerleader!Reader (your the most popular girl in school)

Andrew Detmer X Famous!Singer!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Russian!Reader

Andrew Detmer X British!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Tourette’s!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Blind!Mute!Reader (your 100% blind and mute…as for your blindness it’s not a normal blind it’s a toph beifong kind of blind)

Andrew Detmer X Enchantress!Reader (your the enchantress from Suiside squad)

Andrew Detmer X Dragon!Reader (inspired by Siveth from DragonHeart: vengeance)

Andrew Detmer X Airbender!Reader (you have Aang’s powers and tattoos Aang from the last Airbender)

Andrew Detmer X Tarrakinesis!Reader (element manipulation)

Andrew Detmer X Hydrokinesis!Reader (water manipulation)

Andrew Detmer X Pyrokinesis!Electrokinesis!Reader (fire manipulation and electricity manipulation)

Andrew Detmer X Harley Quinn!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Sapphire Witch!Reader (scarlet witch powers but dark blue, you have the scarlet witch outfit from multiverse of madness, the darkhold has corrupted you completely…your fingers are completely black, you wear gloves to hide the corruption on your fingers, your not sadistic…your just pure evil)

Andrew Detmer X Amethyst Witch!Reader (Scarlet witch powers but purple, you have the scarlet witch outfit from multiverse of madness)

Andrew Detmer X Emarald Witch!Reader (you have scarlet witch powers but green)

Andrew Detmer X Escape Lab!Reader (you have scarlet witch powers just like scarlet witch but golden not red)

Andrew Detmer X Catwomen!Reader (Hallie berry version)

Andrew Detmer X Darkness Witch!Reader (scarlet witch powers but black, you have the scarlet witch outfit from multiverse of madness, your fingers are completely black from the use of the darkhold…the darkhold has not made you evil it just changed your appearance a bit completely black fingers that are permanently stained with corruption, there are dark circles around your eyes like you haven’t sleep in ages)

Andrew Detmer X Yandere!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Quiet!Depressed!Emotionless!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Goth!Reader (your wear a black hoodie and a mask, you also wear dark makeup, you don’t like to smile so much that you forgot what a smile is, you do have rage issues)

Andrew Detmer X Rose Witch!Reader (when Andrew, Steve, and Matt got the powers of ‘telekinesis’ but you didint, you got a power way stronger than them you got the power of the scarlet witch (powers are pink not red), you soon get the scarlet witch outfit (Wanda vision) because you obsorbed power from a huge pink stone you found in another cave)

Andrew Detmer X Telekinesis!Reader (when everyone got including you got the power of ‘telekinesis’ the glowing blue rock that gave you the powers gave you more power than Andrew, Steve and Matt combined, and it also changed your personality to a good one to a sadistic and pure evil one, and Andrew, Steve and Matt start to take notice that your not yourself anymore)

Andrew Detmer X Flirty!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Black Canary (you have Diana lance’s powers Diana lance from birds of prey)

Andrew Detmer X Billie Eilish!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Female!Sonic!Reader (your not a hedgehog, you just have Sonic’s powers Sonic from Sonic the Hedgehog movie)

Andrew Detmer X Female!Ink Bendy!Reader (your bendy from bendy and the ink machine but female version)

Andrew Detmer X Raven!Reader (Raven from titans 2018)

Andrew Detmer X Amber Witch!Reader (scarlet witch powers but orange)

Andrew Detmer X Yandere!Corrupted!Scarlet Witch!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Vampire!Reader (inspired by Abigail 2024)

Andrew Detmer X Werewolf!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Siren!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Mermaid!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Succubus!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Demon!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Zombie!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Male!Telekinesis!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Inraged!Telekinesis!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Telumkinesis!Reader (weapon manipulation)

Andrew Detmer X Animankinesis!Reader (life manipulation)

Andrew Detmer X Photokinesis!Reader (light manipulation)

Andrew Detmer X Atmokinesis!Mensio-Ergokinesis!Reader (weather manipulation and quantum manipulation)

Andrew Detmer X Ergokinesis!Chronokinesis!Reader (energy manipulation and time manipulation)

Andrew Detmer X Omnikinesis!Haemokinesis!Reader (reality manipulation and blood manipulation)

Andrew Detmer X Chorokinesis!Pyrokinesis!Reader (plant manipulation and fire manipulation)

Andrew Detmer X Aerokinesis!Electrokinesis!Telekinesis!Reader (air manipulation, electricity manipulation and telekinesis)

Andrew Detmer X Egyptian Goddess!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Angel!Goddess!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Tall!Fey!Goddess!Reader

Andrew Detmer X Jinx!Reader (jinx from arcane)

Andrew Detmer X Maleficent!Reader (Maleficent but with dark blue powers not green)

Andrew Detmer X Powerful!Telekinesis!Reader (your ‘telekinesis’ power is stronger because you were born with this power and also used it and practiced with it more)

Andrew Detmer X Yandere!Vampire!Reader (inspired by Abigail 2024)

Andrew Detmer X Sister!Pre-Teen!Sapphire Witch!Reader (when everyone got the power of ‘telekinesis’ you got a way more powerful power you got the power of the scarlet witch (dark blue powers not red)

Andrew Detmer X Female!Cartoon Cat!Reader (your cartoon cat created by Trevor Henderson…but female version)

Andrew Detmer X Mommy Long Legs!Reader (your mommy long legs from poppy playtime chapter 2)

Andrew Detmer X Echinda!Reader (Half-Snake Half-Human)

(A/N: Hi hope this inspires you!..Remember you can use these ideas!…if you want more inspiration then go see my other posts I have more ideas for you there…And also y/n au profiles so you know what y/n might look like or be like…you can also use these ideas on Wattpad to if you wanted to!…just a suggestion….Anyways YOUR WELCOME! :)

[that-house]

Watched Chronicle (2012) with my roommate today

I like sharing my lil movie reviews for all the movies I watch, but I’m not really great at evaluating the quality of media. I rate things on a more or less one-point scale based on a single question: did it do what it set out to do?

It’s a very low bar and just about every movie I watch clears it. Chronicle is no different and for that I award it a perfect 1/1.

It’s a fun movie, and I think it would be even more fun on a rewatch: the most basic summary I can offer is that it’s a found-footage movie in which three assholish high school boys get psychic powers and it ends about the way you’d imagine three assholish high school boys getting psychic powers would end.

The first 2/3 of the movie is lighthearted fun superpowered antics, and the whole time there’s a current of tension brewing under every interaction. I felt the tragic end that I knew was coming like a filter over every scene, its shape and scope undetermined but surely brutal and horrific. I’m curious how knowing what exactly is to come would change that dynamic.

The found footage format is really effective and also REALLY funny if you think about it for a second. Like at one point the protagonist slow zooms in on his face after he unleashes some psychic violence and I can’t help but imagine that he’s thinking “oh this shot is gonna be cinematic as fuckkkkk.” It’s like this tweet but the descent into madness being filmed is his own

which suggests a comedic level of self-awareness that our protagonist simply does not possess

Chronicle is a really competent superhero deconstruction and unrelated to everything else it’s truly insane how utterly and completely transition could have saved the protagonist

[bananacakepie]

something kind of funny about the shadowhunter chronicles is how often the disaster strikes.

Like in tid there’s a big crisis in London, but thankfully it’s stopped

Then in tlh theres ANOTHER big crisis in London but it too is thankfully stopped, and isn’t it odd that those two crisises happened so close together on both the timeline, and geograpicly? But they’re still 25 years apart so it’s probably not that worrisome. a big crisis only every ~20 years? that’s only like one per generation, that’s manageable.

And then there’s like, almost 90 years of peace.

but then in 1991 there’s a crisis with the accords, and it’s bad, but good guys win, so everything’s fine.

And in 2007 (only 16 years later? aren’t you cutting it close? the new generation is a little… young) there’s another crisis in the home country, so you guess this is the sequal. After all, tid and tlh followed each other, so this must be the same situation, and you’re ready for the 90 years of peace.

But then something happens no less then FIVE YEARS LATER?! Another crisis? This one isn’t even following the 20 year break rule!

But it’s fine, you deal with it and the good guys mostly win. But now you’re tired and you’ve had to leave your house.

The entire exhausted shadowhunter community is going to go buck wild when they have to fight another war. Think about it! Historically they’ve had longer breaks, but ever since Valentine’s Circle, the breaks have been getting shorter and shorter.

Like, anyone born from 1960-1973 (Tmi parent’s) had to watch the rise of the circle then fight them in 1991 (at age 18-31). Then matured into a world from 1992-2006 where they were able to grow and start families and have a good time. Then in 2007 (ages 34-47) they have to fight a WAR! Against the Circle’s old guard? They thought they were done with this, but now their KIDS are also trying to fight! AND THEN THEY DO IT AGAIN LATER THAT YEAR?! Fine, fine, at least it’s over, 2008-2011 is chill, but then in 2012 (aged 39-52) they have to deal with the cohort? No freaking way. They wanna retire.

Seriously (assuming they fight until their early 40s, like many tmi adults) people born from 1950-1973 had to fight the Circle, then people born from 1960s-1991 had to fight in the Mortal War, then the Dark War, then 5 years latter it’s the Cohort, and they’re still around.

Nephlim have been having some hard years. These years will go down in history as BAD.

I can imagine:

The Circle was an active threat from the late 1980s to 1991, when they were initially defeated.

Then in 2007 the leader of the Circle rose again with a new goal, so he was fought in the Mortal War

Then in 2007 the son of the leader of the Circle teamed up with the Seelie Court with a new goal so he was fought in the Dark War

Then the Cold Peace was started, lasting from 2007-2012

Then the Cohort was formed, attacking Iridis and gaining the country under threat of mass suicide in 2012.

I swear the history books for shadowhunters will look at this time 2007-2015 as some sort of depression or grim era.

[whileiamdying]

All the Films in Competition at Cannes, Ranked from Best to Worst

The twenty-two films that premièred in the 2024 festival’s main program offered much to savor and revile.

By Justin Chang May 26, 2024

The seventy-seventh annual Cannes Film Festival came to a startling and joyous conclusion on Saturday night, when the competition jury, chaired by Greta Gerwig, awarded the Palme d’Or, the festival’s highest honor, to “Anora,” a funny, harrowing, and finally quite moving portrait of a sex worker’s madcap New York misadventures. It was startling because the movie, though one of the best-received in the competition, had not been widely tipped for the top prize, which seldom goes to a U.S. film; with “Anora,” Sean Baker becomes the first American director to win the Palme since Terrence Malick did, for “The Tree of Life” (2011), thirteen years ago. And it was joyous not only because the award was bestowed on a worthy and remarkable film but because Baker used the occasion to deliver the best, most eloquent and impassioned acceptance speech I’ve ever heard a Palme winner give.

Reading from prepared remarks, Baker singled out two other filmmakers in the competition, Francis Ford Coppola and David Cronenberg, as among his personal heroes. He dedicated the award to sex workers everywhere, a fitting tribute from a filmmaker who has put their lives front and center, with drama, humor, and empathy, in movies like “Starlet” (2012), “Tangerine” (2015), and “Red Rocket” (2021). He tossed some exquisite shade in the direction of the “tech companies” behind the so-called streaming revolution—including, presumably, Netflix, which came away as one of the night’s big winners; its major acquisition of the festival, Jacques Audiard’s musical “Emilia Pérez,” won two prizes. And, in a moment that drew rapturous applause, Baker delivered a plea on behalf of theatrical films, declaring, “The future of cinema is where it started: in a movie theatre.”

I was fortunate to see all twenty-two films in the Cannes competition on the big screen, projected under superior conditions in houses packed with fellow movie lovers. It’s my hope that, when these movies are released in the U.S., as the great majority of them likely will be, you will seize the chance to see them on the big screen as well—even “Emilia Pérez,” which Netflix may not keep in theatres for long, but whose bold dramatic and stylistic risks have the best chance of winning you over if they have your undivided, wide-awake attention.

I have ranked the movies in order of preference, from best to worst. Here they are:

1. “Caught by the Tides”

Jia Zhangke, a Cannes competition veteran, has long been the cinema’s preëminent chronicler of modern China (“Mountains May Depart,” “Ash Is Purest White”), mapping its social, cultural, and geographical complexities with great formal acumen, and also with the longtime collaboration of his wife, the superb actress Zhao Tao. Jia’s latest work, drawing on an archive of footage shot in the course of roughly two decades, unfurls a story in fragments, about a woman (Zhao) and a man (Li Zhubin) who fall in love, bitterly separate, and have a melancholy reunion years later. It’s an achievement by turns fleeting and monumental: a series of interlocking time capsules, a wrenching feat of self-reflection, and a stealth musical, in which Zhao dances and dances, standing in for millions who have learned to sway and bend to history’s tumultuous beat.

2. “All We Imagine as Light”

As the first Indian feature invited to compete at Cannes in nearly three decades, Payal Kapadia’s narrative début (after her 2021 documentary, “A Night of Knowing Nothing”) would be notable enough; that the movie is so delicately felt and sensuously textured is cause for outright celebration. Winner of the festival’s Grand Prix, or second place, it tells the story of two roommates, Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and Anu (Divya Prabha), who work as nurses at a Mumbai hospital. It teases out their personal circumstances—Prabha’s estrangement from her unseen husband, Anu’s frowned-upon romance with a young Muslim man (Hridhu Haroon)—with a quiet truthfulness that, like the glittering lights of the city, lingers expansively in the memory. (A forthcoming Sideshow/Janus Films release.)

3. “Grand Tour”

The Portuguese director Miguel Gomes (“Tabu,” “Arabian Nights”) delivered some of the most virtuosic filmmaking in the competition—as the jury recognized by giving him the Best Director prize—with this characteristically yet extraordinarily playful colonial-era travelogue. Shifting between color and black-and-white, set in 1917 but full of fourth-wall-breaking anachronisms, the movie tells a story of sorts about a roving British diplomat (Gonçalo Waddington) and a fiancée (Crista Alfaiate) he’s in no hurry to marry. But its true fascination lies in the humid atmosphere and wanderlust-inspiring splendor of its East and Southeast Asian locations, ranging from Singapore and Bangkok to Shanghai and Rangoon. It’s a movie to get lost in.

4. “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”

It’s impossible to absorb this blistering domestic drama without thinking of its dissident director, Mohammad Rasoulof, who recently fled Iran after being sentenced to prison and a flogging. (His appearance at his film’s première made for one of the most emotional moments in recent Cannes memory.) Shot entirely in secret, the story follows a Tehran-based husband (Missagh Zareh) and wife (Soheila Golestani) who are increasingly at war with their progressive-minded young-adult daughters (Mahsa Rostami, Setareh Maleki) during nationwide political protests led by women. The result is a thriller of propulsive skill and blunt emotional force, marrying the muscularity of an action film to the psychological intensity of a chamber drama. (A forthcoming Neon release.)

5. “Anora”

The director Sean Baker is near the height of his storytelling powers with this dazzling (and now Palme d’Or-winning) portrait of a Manhattan strip-club dancer (a revelatory Mikey Madison) who impulsively marries the ultra-spoiled son (Mark Eydelshteyn) of a Russian oligarch. Much comic chaos ensues, some of it pushed past the brink of plausibility, but Baker’s multifaceted love for his characters proves infectious and sustaining, as does his belief that acts of unexpected kindness can redeem even the darkest nights of the soul. (A forthcoming Neon release.)

6. “The Shrouds”

Early on in this elegantly sombre yet mordantly funny new movie, which stars Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, and Guy Pearce, the director David Cronenberg, a master of cerebral horror, unveils his latest invention: a technologically advanced burial shroud that allows people to watch a loved one’s body decomposing in the grave. So begins a drolly fluid inspection of classic Cronenberg themes—the deterioration of the flesh, the instability of the image, the paranoia-inducing incursions of technology into every aspect of life—but imbued with a nakedly personal dimension that the director has noted in interviews; the story was inspired by his wife’s death, in 2017, from cancer.

7. “Megalopolis”

In this legendarily long-gestating passion project, which I’ve written about at length, Francis Ford Coppola posits that our fragile, battered civilization is headed the way of the Roman Empire. The grimness of that prospect is unsurprising from a director accustomed to peering deep into the heart of American darkness (the “Godfather” movies, “The Conversation,” “Apocalypse Now”). For all that, the filmmaking here glows with a particularly hard-won optimism, even a welcome sense of play—borne out by an ensemble of actors, including Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, and especially Aubrey Plaza, who fully embrace Coppola’s rhetorical and conceptual flights of fancy.

8. “The Substance”

Sympathetic or sadistic? Feminist or misogynist? Coralie Fargeat’s body-horror bonanza, which won the festival’s award for Best Screenplay, has been one of the competition’s more polarizing hits, which is unsurprising; divisiveness should be expected from a story about an aging actress and TV fitness guru who, desperate to regain her youthful bod of yesteryear, effectively splits herself in two. Whether the outlandish premise (think “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by way of “Death Becomes Her”) and its blood-gushing fallout withstand intellectual scrutiny, there’s no doubting the ferocity of the two leads, Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, or Fargeat’s sheer filmmaking verve as she pushes her ideas to their sanguinary conclusions.

9. “Motel Destino”

Just a year after the Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz appeared in competition with a surprisingly stiff-corseted English period drama, “Firebrand,” it was bracing to watch him rebound with the competition’s most sexually uninhibited and flagrantly horny title; corsets don’t apply here, and even underwear proves blissfully optional. Set at a seedy roadside motel where the clientele never stops moaning, it’s a feverishly shambling erotic thriller starring three very game actors (Iago Xavier, Nataly Rocha, and Fábio Assunção) in a romantic triangle that plays like James M. Cain with sex toys—“The Postman Always Cock Rings Twice,” as it were.

10. “Emilia Pérez”

A trans-empowerment musical set against the backdrop of Mexico’s drug cartels might sound like a dubious proposition on paper, and, for the many detractors of this genre-melding big swing from the French director Jacques Audiard (“A Prophet,” “The Sisters Brothers”), what actually made it onto the screen was no better. But I was disarmed from the start by Audiard’s quasi-Almodóvarian vibes, his touchingly imperfect embrace of song-and-dance stylization, and, most of all, his three leads: the remarkable discovery Karla Sofía Gascón, a scene-stealing Selena Gomez, and a never-better Zoe Saldaña. All three (along with Adriana Paz) were recognized with the festival’s Best Actress prize, awarded collectively to the movie’s ensemble of actresses; Audiard also won the Jury Prize. (A forthcoming Netflix release.)

11. “Oh, Canada”

After a tense trilogy of dramas about male redemption through violence (“First Reformed,” “The Card Counter,” “Master Gardener”), the writer and director Paul Schrader has taken a gentler turn with an adaptation of “Foregone,” a 2021 novel by the late Russell Banks. (It’s his second Banks adaptation, after the 1997 drama “Affliction.”) In exploring the fragmented consciousness of an aging documentary filmmaker (played at different ages by Richard Gere and Jacob Elordi), Schrader bravely forsakes the narrative fastidiousness of his recent work and takes on grand themes of memory, mortality, and artistic self-reckoning, to formally ragged but sincerely moving effect.

12. “The Girl with the Needle”

This stark and terrifying black-and-white drama from the Swedish-born, Polish-based director Magnus von Horn (“Sweat”) was perhaps the competition’s bleakest entry. Set in Copenhagen immediately after the First World War, it pins us so mercilessly to the hard-bitten perspective of Karoline (an excellent Vic Carmen Sonne), a factory seamstress who becomes pregnant out of wedlock, that we scarcely notice her story shifting in a different, more sinister direction. It’s a bitterly hard-to-stomach brew of a movie, at once hideous and beautifully made, with a chilling supporting turn by Trine Dyrholm as a friend whose interventions turn out to be anything but benign.

13. “Three Kilometres to the End of the World”

The setting of this well-observed but emotionally opaque drama, from the Romanian actor turned director Emanuel Pârvu, is a small rural village where a closeted teen-age boy, Adi (Ciprian Chiujdea), is brutally beaten after being caught in an intimate moment with a male traveller. Pârvu teases out the legal, psychological, and moral fallout with the pitch-perfect performances and laserlike formal focus that have become hallmarks of new Romanian cinema. But, though the movie is persuasive enough as an indictment of small-town religious fundamentalism and homophobia, it proves curiously incurious about Adi’s perspective, to the detriment of its own human pulse.

14. “Kinds of Kindness”

After his Oscar-winning period romps “The Favourite” (2018) and “Poor Things” (2023), the Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos scales back—but goes long—with a sprawling, increasingly tedious compendium of comic cruelty. My favorite of the film’s three disconnected stories, all featuring the same actors, is the one where Jesse Plemons (the ensemble M.V.P., as the jury recognized with its Best Actor award) plays Willem Dafoe’s Manchurian candidate; my least favorite is the one where Emma Stone joins a sweat-worshipping sex cult. The one where Stone slices off her finger and cooks it for Plemons falls—much like the movie in Lanthimos’s over-all œuvre—somewhere in the middle. (A Searchlight Pictures release, opening June 21st in theatres.)

15. “Bird”

My admiration for the English filmmaker Andrea Arnold (“American Honey”) is such that I’m eager to revisit her latest rough-and-tumble coming-of-age story and find that I undervalued it. Arnold is certainly skilled at integrating recognizable actors, which in this case includes Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogowski, into her grottily realist frames, and she has an appealing lead performer in Nykiya Adams, as a twelve-year-old girl who overcomes persistent abuse and neglect. But the story may lose you—as it lost me—with a magical-realist turn that magnifies, rather than minimizes, the tortured-animal symbolism that has often dogged Arnold’s work.

16. “Beating Hearts”

An exchange of insults at a high-school bus stop provides a saucy meet-cute for a good girl (Mallory Wanecque) and a ne’er-do-well boy (Malik Frikah); so begins a raucous and endearing love story for the ages, in which the director Gilles Lellouche, with outsized glee and little discipline, merrily appropriates the conventions of classic Hollywood musicals and gangster flicks. The result is much too long at nearly three hours—the story spans several years, with Adèle Exarchopoulos and François Civil playing older versions of the two leads—but I can’t say I didn’t warm to its rambunctious cornball charm.

17. “Limonov: The Ballad”

Why make a film about Eduard Limonov, the globe-trotting Russian dissident poet and punk provocateur reviled for his pro-fascist sympathies? The filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov never musters a satisfying answer in this muddled English-language bio-pic, despite an energetically uninhibited central performance by Ben Whishaw and a cheeky panoply of filmmaking techniques—jittery camerawork, lengthy tracking shots—meant to catch us up in the épater-la-bourgeoisie exuberance of Limonov’s revolt. Considering his earlier work, I prefer the rebel-youth vibes of “Leto” (2018) and the dazzling cinematic assaults of “Petrov’s Flu” (2021), both of which also screened in competition here.

18. “Parthenope”

Nearly every new picture from the Italian auteur Paolo Sorrentino could be reasonably called “The Great Beauty,” the title of his gorgeous 2013 cinematic tour of Rome. (It left that year’s Cannes empty-handed, but won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.) His latest work remains most intriguing for its ambivalent but still sensually overpowering vision of the director’s home town, Naples, from which springs a modern-day goddess, named after Parthenope, a Siren from Greek mythology. She’s played by Celeste Dalla Porta, a great beauty indeed and an empathetic screen presence, though only fitfully does her character seem worthy of this movie’s epic enshrinement.

19. “Wild Diamond”

Another disquisition on beauty and its discontents, this time from the débuting French writer and director Agathe Riedinger. She hurls us the life and busy social-media feed of a nineteen-year-old, Liane (a terrific Malou Khebizi), who has nipped, tucked, and tailored every part of herself to realize her dream of being selected for a hot new reality-TV series. Part influencer-culture cautionary tale, part bad-girl Cinderella story, the movie glancingly suggests the soul-rotting effects of beauty worship, but it falls victim to the trap that Liane is trying to avoid: in a sea of worthy candidates, it doesn’t especially stand out.

20. “The Apprentice”

Donald Trump’s attorneys have threatened legal action to block the release of this drama about his early rise to fame and wealth under the mentorship of the attorney Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong). It speaks to the useless proficiency of Ali Abbasi’s movie that the prospect of such censorship provokes more indifference than outrage. Shot to evoke cruddy nineteen-eighties VHS playback, the movie is well acted by Strong, Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump, and an increasingly makeup-buried Sebastian Stan as Trump himself, depicted from the start as a sack of shit that gets progressively shittier. It’s not dismissible, but it’s hardly the stuff of revelation, either.

21. “Marcello Mio”

In this trifling meta-comedy from the French filmmaker Christophe Honoré (previously in the 2018 Cannes competition with the lovely “Sorry Angel”), the actress Chiara Mastroianni embarks on a strainedly whimsical personal odyssey to examine the legacy of her late father, the legendary Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni, and her own conflicted place therein. To that end, she spends much of this overstretched movie in “8½” and “La Dolce Vita” black-suited drag as she navigates a roundelay of industry in-jokes; among the French cinema luminaries making appearances are Fabrice Luchini, Nicole Garcia, and, most welcome, Chiara’s mother, Catherine Deneuve.

22. “The Most Precious of Cargoes”

The French director Michel Hazanavicius continues his uneven post-“The Artist” run with this animated Second World War fable, adapted from a 2019 novel by Jean-Claude Grumberg (and narrated by the late Jean-Louis Trintignant). It has an affecting opening stretch, in which a baby girl, thrown by her desperate father from an Auschwitz-bound train, is rescued and raised in secret by a woodcutter’s kindhearted wife. But when the child’s provenance is discovered, stoking local antisemitism, the movie becomes a bathetic wallow in Holocaust imagery, drowned in an Alexandre Desplat score whose every surge turned my heart increasingly to stone. ♦

[book--brackets]

Dragonkeeper Chronicles by Donita K. Paul (2004-2008)

When Kale, a slave girl, finds a dragon egg, she is given the unexpected opportunity to become a servant to Paladin. But on her way to The Hall, where she was to be trained, Kale runs into danger. Rescued by a small band of Paladin's servants, Kale is turned from her destination. 

Feeling afraid and unprepared, Kale embarks on a perilous quest to find the meech dragon egg stolen by the foul Wizard Risto. But their journey is threatened when a key member of the party is captured, leaving the remaining companions to find the Wizard Fenworth, attempt an impossible rescue, and recover the egg--whose true value they have not begun to suspect.

Clocktaur War by T. Kingfisher (2017-2018)

A paladin, an assassin, a forger, and a scholar ride out of town. It's not the start of a joke, but rather an espionage mission with deadly serious stakes. T. Kingfisher's new novel begins the tale of a murderous band of criminals (and a scholar), thrown together in an attempt to unravel the secret of the Clockwork Boys, mechanical soldiers from a neighboring kingdom that promise ruin to the Dowager's city.

If they succeed, rewards and pardons await, but that requires a long journey through enemy territory, directly into the capital. It also requires them to refrain from killing each other along the way At turns darkly comic and touching, Clockwork Boys puts together a broken group of people trying to make the most of the rest of their lives as they drive forward on their suicide mission.

The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon (1988-1989)

Paksenarrion — Paks for short — is somebody special. She knows it, even if nobody else does yet. No way will she follow her father's orders to marry the pig farmer down the road. She's off to join the army, even if it means she can never see her family again.

And so her adventure begins... the adventure that transforms her into a hero remembered in songs, chosen by the gods to restore a lost ruler to his throne.

Here is her tale as she lived it.

Paks is trained as a mercenary, blooded, and introduced to the life of a soldier . . . and to the followers of Gird, the soldier's god.

Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica by James A. Owen (2006-2016)

An unusual murder brings together three strangers, John, Jack, and Charles, on a rainy night in London during the first World War. An eccentric little man called Bert tells them that they are now the caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica -- an atlas of all the lands that have ever existed in myth and legend, fable and fairy tale. These lands, Bert claims, can be traveled to in his ship the Indigo Dragon, one of only seven vessels that is able to cross the Frontier between worlds into the Archipelago of Dreams.

Pursued by strange and terrifying creatures, the companions flee London aboard the Dragonship. Traveling to the very realm of the imagination itself, they must learn to overcome their fears and trust in one another if they are to defeat the dark forces that threaten the destiny of two worlds. And in the process, they will share a great adventure filled with clues that lead readers to the surprise revelation of the legendary storytellers these men will one day become.

Dragon Jousters by Mercedes Lackey (2003-2006)

The first book in this thrilling new series introduces us to a young slave who dreams of becoming a jouster-one of the few warriors who can actually ride a flying dragon. And so, in secret, he begins to raise his own dragon...

Frontier Magic by Patricia C. Wrede (2009-2012)

Eff was born a thirteenth child. Her twin brother, Lan, is the seventh son of a seventh son. This means he's supposed to possess amazing talent -- and she's supposed to bring only bad things to her family and her town. Undeterred, her family moves to the frontier, where her father will be a professor of magic at a school perilously close to the magical divide that separates settlers from the beasts of the wild.

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan (2017)

The Borderlands aren’t like anywhere else. Don’t try to smuggle a phone or any other piece of technology over the wall that marks the Border ― unless you enjoy a fireworks display in your backpack. (Ballpoint pens are okay.) There are elves, harpies, and ― best of all as far as Elliot is concerned ― mermaids.  "Serene," said Serene. "My full name is Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle." Elliot? Who’s Elliot? Elliot is thirteen years old. He’s smart and just a tiny bit obnoxious. Sometimes more than a tiny bit. When his class goes on a field trip and he can see a wall that no one else can see, he is given the chance to go to school in the Borderlands. It turns out that on the other side of the wall, classes involve a lot more weaponry and fitness training and fewer mermaids than he expected. On the other hand, there’s Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle, an elven warrior who is more beautiful than anyone Elliot has ever seen, and then there’s her human friend Luke: sunny, blond, and annoyingly likeable. There are lots of interesting books. There’s even the chance Elliot might be able to change the world. In Other Lands is the exhilarating new book from beloved and bestselling author Sarah Rees Brennan. It’s a novel about surviving four years in the most unusual of schools, about friendship, falling in love, diplomacy, and finding your own place in the world ― even if it means giving up your phone.

Iron Butterfly by Chanda Hahn (2012-2014)

Imprisoned, starved and left with no memories, Thalia awakens to find herself at the mercy of an evil cult known as the Septori. Their leader has chosen Thalia as the test subject for a torture device of untold power, designed to change and twist her into something that is neither human nor Denai.

Escaping, Thalia finds an unwilling warrior to protect her and an unlikely Denai to befriend her. After finding a home at the Citadel as a servant, Thalia’s worst nightmare comes to life and she begins to show signs of power. Scared and unable to control her gifts, she tries to hide her past to fit in among the Denai. But the Septori want their latest test subject back and will stop at nothing to retrieve her, dead or alive.

Old Magic by Marianna Curley (2000)

Jarrod Thornton is mesmerizing, but Kate Warren doesn’t know why.

Jarrod is the clumsy new boy at school that Kate can’t take her eyes off, and it’s not just because he has amazing eyes, but because she senses something different about him, and when he inadvertently blows up the classroom, she knows exactly what it is. He has powers like her, except he doesn’t know it and Kate sets out to show him. On their journey of discovery Kate learns Jarrod has an ancient curse on his family that will keep hurting his little brother and parents if they don’t do something to remove it.

Faerie Tale by Raymond E. Feist (1988)

Successful screenwriter Phil Hastings decides to move his family from sunny California to a ramshackle farmhouse in New York State. The idea is to take some time out, relax and pick up the threads of his career as a novelist. Good plan, bad choice. The place they choose is surrounded by ancient woodland. The house they choose is the centrepoint of a centuries-old evil intent on making its presence felt to intruders.

[sweetness-pop]

Hiya! 💗💋🍓🌸Sweetness*POP🌈🍭💀🌟 here!

I would love to share this idea to you PlayStation gamers!

I recently had been imagining what would it be like if in the mid or late 2020s there were to be an upcoming and unexpected Playstation crossover game starring 3 female characters:

Talwyn Apogee of Ratchet & Clank

Keira Hagai of Jak & Daxter

& Carmelita Fox of Sly Cooper

Either for the PS5 or upcoming PS6.

The 3 main voice actresses:

Ali Hillis as Talwyn Apogee

Hillis voiced Talwyn in Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus. Her other roles include Dr. Liara T'Soni of Mass Effect series, Audrey Gassenarl of Valkyria Chronicles II, Karin of Naruto Shippuuden, Andra Cressen of Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011), Presa of Tales of Xilla (2013), Dr. Ariel Hanson of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Black Cat/Felicia Hardy of The Amazing Spider-Man Video Game (2012), and Lightning Farron of Final Fantasy series.

Erica Lindbeck as Keira Hagai

Imagine when J&D franchise makes surprising return, some of the characters will have new VAs. And Keira's 3rd VA will be Lindbeck. Her other roles include Sayaka Igarashi of Kategurui, Kaori Miyazono of Your Lie in April, Eli Ayase of Love Live! School Project, Futaba Sakura of Persona 5, Cassie Cage of Mortal Kombat 11, Daki of Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba), Lady Nagant of My Hero Academia, Emira of The Owl House, and Loona of Helluva Boss.

& Alésia Glidewell as Carmelita Fox

Glidewell voiced Carmelita and Constable Neyla in Sly 2: Band of Thieves. Her other roles include Zoey of Left 4 Dead (2006), Sedna of Demigod (2009), Alma Wade of F.E.A.R. 2: Project & F.E.A.R. 3 (2009-2011), Chell of Portal, Krystal of Star Fox Assault, Metroid's main protagonist Samus Aran in Super Smash Bros series.

The rating of this game would be ESRB T (Teen) in North America, CERO C (Ages 15 and up) in Japan, and PEGI 12 (Suitable for ages 12 and up) or even PEGI 16 (For ages 16 and up) in Europe.

The content of the game:

Fantasy violence, Blood, Language, Suggestive themes, Mild use of drugs of alcohol, & Sexual themes. Oh yeah, there would be certain reasons why this game would be rated T/C/12(or 16) with this kind of content. Remember when Ratchet & Clank games use to be rated T and toned down to E10+? Or remember that Jak & Daxter was franchise for a teen audience? But do you remember how the Sly Cooper series was always rated E and E10+.

The game would be action/adventure filled with female empowerment.

Plus, a very interesting and sweet storyline were while being the unexpected ones to save and protect their worlds as some unknown force is what mixing their universes dangerously, the 3 heroines help each other out and blossom a close, strong, deep and loving bond together.

Do you all know what would also be cool? If Richard Steven Horvitz (roles include Daggert of The Angry Beaver, Zim of Invader Zim, Billy of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Raz of Psychonauts, Kaos of Skylanders, and Moxxie of Helluva Boss) were to have a voice role the game either as a badass close ally/handler or one of the villains to the 3 heroines!

What if it will be a huge extremely, unexpected surprise that this game will turn out to sell really good around the globe?! It'll be the one crossover game that fans have never asked for! Plus, imagine in the one country, this upcoming PlayStation game will be selling even better. And that one country will be Japan! Japan would end up making lots of advertising with entertaining commercials and 3D digital billboards in Shibuya of Tokyo, and merchandise like figures and anime-style posters. Hell, there could even be a Japanese dub for the game too!

Imagine these brand new seiyuus (who are also singers) for the "PlayStation Move Heroines":

Marina Inoue as Talwyn Apogee

Inoue's roles include Armin Arlert of Attack on Titan, Yoko Littner of Gurren Lagann, Yumiko Miura of Oregairu (My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong as I expected), Rei Miyamoto of HighSchool of the Dead, Tohka Yatogami of Date A Live, Momo Yaoyorozu of My Hero Academia, and Mai Zenin of Jujutsu Kaisen.

Rie Takahashi as Keira Hagai

Takahashi's roles include Takagi of Karakai Jouzou no Takagi-San (Teasing Master Takagi-San), Emilia of Re:Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu, Megumin of KonoSuba, Tomo Aizawa of Tomo-Chan is a Girl!, Anzu Hoshino of Romantic Killer, and Ai Hoshino of Oshi no Ko.

& Yoko Hikasa as Carmelita Fox

Hikasa's roles include Rias Gremory of High School DXD, Emilia Justina of The Devil is a Part-Timer!, Hwaryun of Tower of God, Utahime Iori of Jujutsu Kaisen, Kyoko Kirigiri of Danganronpa, and Yoh Asakura of Shaman King (2021)

Our heroines would even have a special color to always represent them in their together crossover game. Talwyn-yellow💛, Keira-pink🩷, and Carmelita-light blue🩵. (Hehe just like idol groups☺✨)

💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛

🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵

This ideal PS game could also give the 3 supporting characters who are the love interests of Ratchet (Talwyn), Jak (Keira) and Sly (Carmelita) the spotlight and recognition that they should deserve to have.

My question for all of you is that if Sony were to make this happen someday in the future, then should this be canon to the PlayStationVerse?

So what do you Playstation fans think? And 1 more thing, imagine seeing the first official image looking like this:

The 3 Playstation Femme Fatales standing next to each other. Talwyn in the center, Keira in the right, and Carmelita in the left. And they happen to be wearing what look like hooded black suits that are similar to the skydiving stealth suits of Deku (Izuku Midoriya), Dynamight (Katsuki Bakugou) and Shoto (Shoto Todoroki) from the movie My Hero Academia: World Heroes Mission, but only combined together with what looks like the black catsuit of Nancy Makuhari aka Miss Deep of Read or Die. Talwyn: black with yellow trim and black hoodie with yellow striped black lombax ears. Keira: black with pink trim and black hoodie with top pink/bottom black crystal horns (similar to the dark horns of Dark Eco Jak), and Carmelita: black with light blue trim and black hoodie with black raccoon tails as ears with sky blue ring stripes. Talwyn Apogee, Keira Hagai and Carmelita Fox looking like beautiful, hot, dangerous, sexy and badass Playstation ladies in the image.

Here is the post to my ideal concept for them to wear for the FINAL SHOWDOWN!

And this happens to be from my YouTube comment on a video showing PlayStation Move Heroes cutscenes. (I am TETSUSakura91)

Please share feel free to share your comments and opinions on this idea for a PlayStation crossover.

Thank you.😘

🔥✨🌹🩵💛🩷💋🔫😎

[transbookoftheday]

Trans: A Memoir by Juliet Jacques

A moving memoir and insightful examination of transgender politics

“Six weeks before sex reassignment surgery (SRS), I am obliged to stop taking my hormones. I suddenly feel very differently about my forthcoming operation.”

In July 2012, aged 30, Juliet Jacques underwent sex reassignment surgery—a process she chronicled with unflinching honesty in a serialised national newspaper column. Trans tells of her life to the present moment: a story of growing up, of defining yourself, and of the rapidly changing world of gender politics.

Fresh from university, eager to escape a dead-end job, she launches a career as a writer in a publishing culture dominated by London cliques and still figuring out the impact of the Internet. She navigates the treacherous waters of a world where, even in the liberal and feminist media, transgender identities go unacknowledged, misunderstood or worse. Yet through art, film, music, politics and football, Jacques starts to become the person she had only imagined, and begins the process of transition. Interweaving the personal with the political, her memoir is a powerful exploration of debates that comprise trans politics, issues which promise to redefine our understanding of what it means to be alive.

Revealing, honest, humorous, and self-deprecating, Trans includes an epilogue with Sheila Heti, author of How Should a Person Be?, in which Jacques and Heti discuss the cruxes of writing and identity.

[casp1an-sea]

FANDOMS

if anyone actually reads all this, I’ll be impressed

Tv show themes through the years playlist

I colored the ones I cared most about in each section if none are colored it means I care about the things in that section equally.

Star Wars:

Original Trilogy 

Prequels 

I dont consider myself a sequels fan but I am obsessed with HUX and Kylux and basically anything first order

Rouge One

Star Wars Legends

Star wars Infinites

Star Wars as written by William Shakespeare 

Star Wars Clone Wars

The Bad Batch

Star Wars Rebels

Andor 

Mandolorian 

Obi-Wan Kenobi Series 

Star Wars Visions 

Tales of the Jedi 

Tales of the Empire

Anything Lego Star Wars 

THE ACOLYTE (may it rest in piece)

————————————————————��————

Marvel:

the movies (I’m not caught up yet) 

Falcon and the winter soldier 

Loki (not caught up) 

Wanda Vision

Moon Knight

Avengers Assemble (literally so weird and silly) (not finished with season 5)

spider verse

Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies

Andrew Garfield, Spider-Man movies

—————————————————————————

Musicals/Plays:

Newsies

Bye Bye Biride

Christmas Carol

Wonka

Little mermaid

Shrek

Wizard of OZ

Anything goes

Sponge Bob

Beauty and the Beast

Guys and Dolls

Hamilton

Six

The guy who didn’t like musicals

twisted

ride the cyclone

Les Mis

The lighting thief (not finished)

into the woods

Kinda bat boy (HOLD ME BAT BOY TOUCH ME BAT BOY)

Gatsby

Romeo and Juliet

Macbeth

—————————————————————————

Games:

Zac McKraken and the Alien Mindbenders!!!! (Literally the best game)

Twisted Wonderland (read through book 6)

Ultimate Shark Simulator

Hogwarts Mystery (not caught up)

KOTOR (not caught up)

Star Wars Asault Team

Minecraft

Jedi Fallen Order (not finished)

—————————————————————————

Anime:

MHA (stopped watching mid season 4 only really care about Iida)

OHSHC

BSD

Angels of death 

Darling in the franxx (only really care about Goro)

Saki k (haven’t seen season 2)

—————————————————————————

Minecraft SMPs:

EVO

Dream SMP (not caught up)

Empires SMP

X Life 

After Life 

New Life 

Rats 

Pirates (not caught up) 

Trafic Light/Life Series (I only watch Jimmy, Joel, and Martin’s POVs)

—————————————————————————

2000s Kids shows:

MLP G3 and Friendship is Magic

Wild Kratts 

Octonauts 

TMNT 2012

Odd Squad 

imagination movers

Dinosaur Train

Lego Friends (The og version)

Monster High

Ever After High

Avatar the Last Air Bender 

Sofia the first

Elena of Avalore

dinosaur train

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Weird Sci-fi and Fantasy Shows:

Doctor Who (only on the 4th Doctor) 

Read All About it 

H2O Just Add Water 

Wolf Blood 

Fragle Rock

Mako Mermaids (only watched season 1)

Alien Surfer Girls/Lightning Point

Thunder Stone 

Girl From Tomorrow 

Ocean Girl 

Sparticle Mystery 

Elephant Princess (featuring Liam Hemsworth) 

Eerie Indiana 

Girl’s World

House of Anubis 

A girl named Jo (not sci-fi or Fantasy) 

Hardy Boys Nancy Drew Mysteries (not sci-fi or Fantasy) 

Blue Water High (not sci-fi or Fantasy) 

The Prisoner 

Spell Binder 

Just Add Magic 

Maddigan’s Quest 

The Next Step (not sci-fi or Fantasy) 

Return to Jupiter 

Rocket’s Island 

Parallels

Silver Sun (not caught up) 

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Disney Plus Telenovelas: 

Violeta 

Soy Luna 

Bia 

Intertwined 

O11CE

L-Pop

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Misc fandoms and shows:

Harry Potter (not caught up, I do not support J.K. Rowling or read the books) 

The Tick (og cartoon version) 

Monk

The Outsiders (movie, book, and 90s Tv series) 

Alex Rider (the show not the books) 

Wild at Heart (never finished) 

White Collar 

National Treasure Edge of History 

The Lodge

Descendants 

Z-O-M-B-I-E-S

Gilligan’s Island

NCIS New Orleans

Hell of a Boss

Hazbin Hotel

Heart Stopper

OFMD (not caught up)

Julie and the Phantoms 

Disney in general 

Tinker bell

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Book series: 

Percy Jackson (currently only read the lightning thief)

The Final Six 

Horizon 

Thea Sisters (when I was little) 

Chronicles of Narnia

Wizard of Oz

The black stallion

Series of unfortunate events

The Outsiders

The Waterfire Saga

[6ad6ro]

so bloodstained rotn 2 is likely going to be announced this year. it should be something i'm really excited about, but conversely i have incredibly low expectations. because, over time, i've grown to lowkey hate rotn 1. here's why: i played the switch version first, which wasn't gonna help with my first impressions. but i've since played on pc with fixed framerate and better graphics? and it's still the ugliest castlevania i've ever played. i just wrote a long rant about 2d games being shoehorned into 3d, so i won't go back into that. but this game is such good proof of 2.5d consistently making 2d games worse. or that's the only sense i can make of one of the kings of beautiful 2d suddenly making one of the most hideous 2.5d games. i say that, but iga also made the 3d castlevania games on ps2. of all the problems with those games, the visuals weren't one of them. and then there's "dracula x chronicles", the 2.5d remake of rondo. even tho i was one of the many who mostly bought that game for the unlockable sotn and rondo PORTS (orig 2d rondo was much better), the remake wasn't horrible visually. the polygons and lighting didn't feel like clownvomit like it does in bs rotn. everything with rotn just feels amateur, low budget, and incompetent. the way enemies die by just fizzling out their polygons is so hideous. it feels like a budget mobile game from 2012. remember the weird occasional 3d that was in sotn? imagine an entire game made from that, but lacking any of the charm. to wrap it up in a bow, the graphics suck. but it isn't just the raw graphics, it's also the art direction. if i had one word to sum up the art, it'd be "uninspired". nothing feels like an artist made this, outside of a handful of moments. this is "paint by numbers castlevania" at it's worst. sure, games like cv cotm were a bit bland, and sometimes cv could feel somewhat formulaic? but rotn took mediocrity to a whole new level. do you like grey caves? do you like grey stone buildings? do you want your castlevania to look like the overworld in fallout 3? welcome to bloodstained ritual of the night! if i were avgn, i'd be like "bloodstained more like shitstained, everything looks like brown and grey ASS" idfk. maybe things would be better if they understood how to use lighting effects, but they don't so we'll never know. cover the already ugly visuals in shitoil and then... well my inner avgn has returned so i'll digress. the areas are all samey and boring, generally feeling like placeholders they never bothered to fix. the music sucks. it feels mostly generic and there's very little melody to be found in the tracks. it's hard to believe yamane had any involvement in this. except... when you go play bs curse of the moon, suddenly it makes sense. because there's melody hidden in the composition, but the execution is just bad. almost like the devs went to yamane and asked her to make things less melodic and more "atmospheric". idk what happened, maybe it was just rushed. but i've never known ANY castlevania to have unmemorable music. and yet rotn somehow pulls it off. i'm def biased, but a cv without good music isn't a castlevania at all.

the gameplay seems... fine? but it's just executed poorly. i've seen people complain about "sotn weapon variety plus aos ability variety is overwhelming", but actually that's one of the only things they did right. as i'm typing this hatepost, suddenly i'm finding myself "wanting to play" just to unlock all the fun abilities and gear. but no, then i remember how clumsy it all is. on top of that, the devs are morons and constantly added "balance patches", for a singleplayer game, that nerfed most of the fun things into the ground. finding broken or super powerful gear is part of what makes castlevania so fun, fuck these idiot bs devs. they don't understand why cv is good. not at all. before i forget, there's also way too much forced grinding and dumb sidemissions for basic unlocks. i don't need world of warcraft fetchquests in my castlevanias, sorry. lastly, there's kickstarter. i hate what kickstarter does to games. don't get me wrong, undertale was a kickstarter game, and that's one of the best games ever made. but undertale somehow finished development and met all its kickstarter goals in a bit over 2 years. even though it was developed by just one dude and an artist. undertale released in a finished form, too. bs, on the flipside, had a whole development studio, a fucking publisher, AND a whole lot more money (set crowdfunding records iiirc). but it only just recently finished delivering on it's development promises. that's like 10 years. and the promises were often barely fulfilled, like there are compromises everywhere. you have ks games like shovelknight, which take forever to finish releasing content (but all the content is really good, and feels like a full game at launch). then you have ks games like shenmue 3, which release "finished" but looks and feels like shit. bs rotn is the worst of both worlds. when i played bloodstained at launch, that was it's one chance. sorry, but if i go to a restaurant for the first time and the food is bland and the experience is bad? i'm not gonna go back. i have replayed every castlevania, even ones like cv cotm that i wasn't huge on. i have not replayed bs rotn and i don't see that changing any time soon. i tried somewhat recently, with most of the new content? still felt shit. lost interest in under an hour (and that was with the blodless content which was comparatively good).

adding on to the disaster which is bloodstained, we then have the "8bit game" goal. which resulted in bs cotm. which is, bizarrely, absolutely incredible. it's like a spiritual successor to akumajou densetsu (the good version of cv3). unlike rotn, almost every song is awesome and memorable. the gameplay is great. the areas are rad as fuck. it's legit amazing and the only truly good thing to come out of the whole series. cotm 2 isn't as good, but it still feels like magic compared to rotn. and guess what? both are 2d. can you believe it? iga makes a 2d game and it's incredible, right after making a 2.5d game that was dogshit. maybe he shouldn't fuck with 3d anymore? will he get a clue? probably not. it's frustrating to see one of my heroes of game development going in such a dumb direction. sorta reminding me of how aonuma "doesn't understand why people want pre-botw zelda elements back". or miyazaki "doesn't know why elden ring was so successful" and turns around and regresses the fuck out of the gameplay with the miserable tryhard dlc. i complain about zelda and elden, but i would still rather play totk or elden 100x over bloodstained rotn. even though iga seems to be remaining more "faithful" to his genre, his execution is somehow worse. in my heart, whether it's logical or not, i blame kickstarter. to me, bs rotn was a ks scam game. a soulless imitation of cv sotn, that held less value than a low effort fanmod of a real castlevania. and i TRIED to like it. i put up a lot of money for it's kickstarter, and was an apologist of all it's bullshit for years. but i can't do it anymore. it's a bad castlevania. maybe the worst. so am i excited for rotn 2? not really. there's a faint glimmer of hope knowing it won't be another kickstarter game, and that they're using all the money they made from the first one to make it (prob a significant sum, they certainly weren't using their profit to fix the orig game, the new content is budget/slow as hell). and they're gonna try and fix the art direction, which "couldn't get any worse" except they plan to make it more realistic "like final fantasy 7 remake". why? ok rant over. bs cotm sucked. i hope cotm 2 won't suck so bad. but i'm not holding my breath.

[spider-stark]

CHRONICLE MASTERLIST

ONE SHOTS

— The B-side — Andrew Detmer/Reader — 1.9k —

the boys stop by the record store you work at

click here to check out my other work :)

[sijssjsbssjsnsnnskbskwns]

Andrew Detmer X Steve Montgomery X Matt Garetty X Vampire!Reader (this is just an idea’s you can use it if you want to!)

Summary: basically the whole movie but with you in it as a vampire…

Andrew Detmer X Steve Montgomery X Matt Garetty X Scarlet Witch!Reader

Summary: Basically the whole movie but with you as The Scarlet Witch aka y/n maximoff…

[haveyoureadthistransbook]

Trans by Juliet Jacques

goodreads

In July 2012, aged 30, Juliet Jacques underwent sex reassignment surgery—a process she chronicled with unflinching honesty in a serialized national newspaper column. Trans tells of her life to the present a story of growing up, of defining yourself, and of the rapidly changing world of gender politics. Fresh from university, eager to escape a dead-end job, she launches a career as a writer in a publishing culture dominated by London cliques and still figuring out the impact of the Internet. She navigates the treacherous waters of a world where, even in the liberal and feminist media, transgender identities go unacknowledged, misunderstood or worse. Yet through art, film, music, politics and football, Jacques starts to become the person she had only imagined, and begins the process of transition. Interweaving the personal with the political, her memoir is a powerful exploration of debates that comprise trans politics, issues which promise to redefine our understanding of what it means to be alive. Revealing, honest, humorous, and self-deprecating, Trans includes an epilogue with Sheila Heti, author of How Should a Person Be?, in which Jacques and Heti discuss the cruxes of writing and identity.

Mod opinion: I havn't read this memoir yet and I am not 100% sure I will, but it sounds like an interesting memoir for people interested in journalism.

[therealriver1]

(P.S This is part two continued from the previous post. Please scroll down to read the first half)

⦁ The Lovely Bones 2009 (This isn't a feel-good type of movie but still worth the watch) ⦁ The Brothers Grimm 2005 (Starring the late Heath Ledger with Matt Damon) ⦁ Pirates of the Caribbean 2003 series 1-5 (Definitely one if my favorite Disney films I'd say.) ⦁ The Chronicles of Narnia : The Lion the Witch & the Wardrobe 2005 (I confess I never read the books, but I really liked the movie) ⦁ My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2002 (I loved it! I still rewatch it every now and then) ⦁ 13 Going on 30 2004 (Young me was obsessed with this film and watched it quite a few times) ⦁ The Holiday 2006 (I don't really like all those cheesy Christmas movies, but this one was the exception) ⦁ Into The Blue 2005 (I admit during this time I wanted to see every movie Paul Walker was in) ⦁ Mamma Mia 2006 (A musical movie that didn't make me cringe. It was so nice to see them singing ABBA songs) ⦁ Gothika 2003 (Not your typical horror but psychological horror. Not everyone thinks it's great, but I liked the plot) ⦁ The Others 2001 (I used to think this was so scary! I grew up on horror thanks to my dad, I watched a lot of them, and this was a good one) ⦁ The Sleeping Dictionary 2003 (Young Jessica Alba looked stunning. It's a slow drama but you might like it) ⦁ The Mummy 1999 (I actually watched The Mummy Returns first without knowing about the original. I like everything Egypt, relic or mummy related) ⦁ The Transporter 2002 (I do believe this movie was a hit at the time and the action is top notch) ⦁ Real Steel 2011 (Giant fighting robots, c'mon! This was so much fun to watch) ⦁ The Thing 1982 (If you can't handle gore, you might not like it, but I thought it was great! I even enjoyed the version that came out in 2011) ⦁ The Ghost in the Darkness 1996 (Based on a true story of killer lions, this one was definitely memorable) ⦁ Down With Love 2003 (I don't watch a lot of rom coms, but this was so good) ⦁ Uptown Girls 2003 (A charming film starring the late Brittany Murphy) ⦁ The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 2012 (I of course watched all of the LOTR movies beforehand, but I enjoyed the Hobbit series more) ⦁ Wedding Crashers 2005 (If you are looking for a fun time then this one is a good choice) ⦁ Joe Dirt 2001 (Apparently there was a sequel that I never watched but I very much liked the first movie) ⦁ I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry 2007 (Adam Sandler and Kevin James pretend to be a married couple in this comedy) ⦁ X-men 2000 (I love all the X-men movies in the series) ⦁ Kate and Leopold 2001 (Your typical romance starring a young Hugh Jackman) ⦁ Hellboy 2004 (A cool action/fantasy film by director Guillermo Del Toro and it's based on a comic book in case you didn't know) ⦁ Van Helsing 2004 (Werewolves vs vampires in this one starring Hugh Jackman as the legendary monster hunter Van Helsing) ⦁ Meet The Fockers 2004 (I enjoyed this one more than the first film) ⦁ Awake 2007 (Imagine being fully conscious while under anesthesia and hearing and feeling everything that's happening around you. Starring Hayden Christensen, Jessica Alba and Terrence Howard) ⦁ She's The Man 2006 (I know I can't be the only one who loved this movie when it came out) ⦁ Wild Hogs 2007 (This is definitely one of my fave comedies to watch) ⦁ Face/Off 1977 (A great thriller starring Nicolas Cage and John Travolta) ⦁ The 6th Day 2000 (Another one of my favorites starring Arnold Schwarzenegger) ⦁ Beetlejuice 1988 (I just hope Beetlejuice 2 will be as good as the first one) ⦁ The Shining 1980 (Thrilling and psychological, I just had to add this to my list, it's a classic. Wonderful performance from Jack Nicholson)

[book--brackets]

The Wicked + the Divine by Kieron Gillan (2014-2019)

Every ninety years, twelve gods incarnate as humans. They are loved. They are hated. In two years, they are dead. The team behind critical tongue-attractors like Young Avengers and PHONOGRAM reunite to create a world where gods are the ultimate pop stars and pop stars are the ultimate gods. But remember: just because you’re immortal, doesn’t mean you’re going to live forever.

The Checquy Files by Daniel O'Malley (2012-2022)

"The body you are wearing used to be mine." So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her.

She soon learns that she is a Rook, a high-ranking member of a secret organization called the Chequy that battles the many supernatural forces at work in Britain. She also discovers that she possesses a rare, potentially deadly supernatural ability of her own.

In her quest to uncover which member of the Chequy betrayed her and why, Myfanwy encounters a person with four bodies, an aristocratic woman who can enter her dreams, a secret training facility where children are transformed into deadly fighters, and a conspiracy more vast than she ever could have imagined.

Tea Dragon by K. O'Neill (2017-2021)

From the award-winning author of Princess Princess Ever After comes THE TEA DRAGON SOCIETY, the beloved and charming all-ages book that follows the story of Greta, a blacksmith apprentice, and the people she meets as she becomes entwined in the enchanting world of tea dragons. After discovering a lost tea dragon in the marketplace, Greta learns about the dying art form of tea dragon care-taking from the kind tea shop owners, Hesekiel and Erik. As she befriends them and their shy ward, Minette, Greta sees how the craft enriches their lives--and eventually her own. 

The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper (1965-1977)

When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back, three from the circle, three from the track; wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone; five will return, and one go alone.” 

With these mysterious words, Will Stanton discovers on his 11th birthday that he is no mere boy. He is the Sign-Seeker, last of the immortal Old Ones, destined to battle the powers of evil that trouble the land. His task is monumental: he must find and guard the six great Signs of the Light, which, when joined, will create a force strong enough to match and perhaps overcome that of the Dark. Embarking on this endeavor is dangerous as well as deeply rewarding; Will must work within a continuum of time and space much broader than he ever imagined.

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter (1979)

In The Bloody Chamber - which includes the story that is the basis of Neil Jordan's 1984 movie The Company of Wolves - Carter spins subversively dark and sensual versions of familiar fairy tales and legends like "Little Red Riding Hood," "Bluebeard," "Puss in Boots," and "Beauty and the Beast," giving them exhilarating new life in a style steeped in the romantic trappings of the gothic tradition.

Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews (2013-2022)

On the outside, Dina Demille is the epitome of normal. She runs a quaint Victorian Bed and Breakfast in a small Texas town, owns a Shih Tzu named Beast, and is a perfect neighbor, whose biggest problem should be what to serve her guests for breakfast. But Dina is...different: Her broom is a deadly weapon; her Inn is magic and thinks for itself. Meant to be a lodging for otherworldly visitors, the only permanent guest is a retired Galactic aristocrat who can’t leave the grounds because she’s responsible for the deaths of millions and someone might shoot her on sight. Under the circumstances, "normal" is a bit of a stretch for Dina.

And now, something with wicked claws and deepwater teeth has begun to hunt at night...Feeling responsible for her neighbors, Dina decides to get involved. Before long, she has to juggle dealing with the annoyingly attractive, ex-military, new neighbor, Sean Evans—an alpha-strain werewolf—and the equally arresting cosmic vampire soldier, Arland, while trying to keep her inn and its guests safe. But the enemy she’s facing is unlike anything she’s ever encountered before. It’s smart, vicious, and lethal, and putting herself between this creature and her neighbors might just cost her everything.

The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley (2005-2012)

For Sabrina and Daphne Grimm, life has not been a fairy tale. After the mysterious disappearance of their parents, the sisters are sent to live with their grandmother--a woman they believed was dead! Granny Relda reveals that the girls have two famous ancestors, the Brothers Grimm, whose classic book of fairy tales is actually a collection of case files of magical mischief. Now the girls must take on the family responsibility of being fairy tale detectives.

Lumatere Chronicles by Melina Marchetta (2008-2012)

Finnikin of the Rock and his guardian, Sir Topher, have not been home to their beloved Lumatere for ten years. Not since the dark days when the royal family was murdered and the kingdom put under a terrible curse. But then Finnikin is summoned to meet Evanjalin, a young woman with an incredible claim: the heir to the throne of Lumatere, Prince Balthazar, is alive.

Evanjalin is determined to return home and she is the only one who can lead them to the heir. As they journey together, Finnikin is affected by her arrogance . . . and her hope. He begins to believe he will see his childhood friend, Prince Balthazar, again. And that their cursed people will be able to enter Lumatere and be reunited with those trapped inside. He even believes he will find his imprisoned father.

But Evanjalin is not what she seems. And the truth will test not only Finnikin's faith in her . . . but in himself.

Damar by Robin McKinley (1982-1984)

Harry Crewe is an orphan girl who comes to live in Damar, the desert country shared by the Homelanders and the secretive, magical Hillfolk. Her life is quiet and ordinary-until the night she is kidnapped by Corlath, the Hillfolk King, who takes her deep into the desert. She does not know the Hillfolk language; she does not know why she has been chosen. But Corlath does. Harry is to be trained in the arts of war until she is a match for any of his men. Does she have the courage to accept her true fate?

The Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook (1984-2000)

Some feel the Lady, newly risen from centuries in thrall, stands between humankind and evil. Some feel she is evil itself. The hard-bitten men of the Black Company take their pay and do what they must, burying their doubts with their dead. 

Until the prophesy: The White Rose has been reborn, somewhere, to embody good once more. There must be a way for the Black Company to find her... 

[cuzikan]

🔴 THE RUSH SONG THAT IS DEDICATED TO GETTING HIGH

Canadian prog legends Rush always had a special connection with marijuana. Coming out of the freewheeling 1960s but largely shunning psychedelic drugs, the band members instead found solace in weed, which they dutifully partook in for most of their initial success. Sometimes it worked, like when Alex Lifeson used the spacey mental atmosphere of a hazy studio to conjure up the solo for ‘Limelight’, and sometimes it didn’t, like on the recording of Caress of Steel. “Do things go better with pot? Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t,” Lifeson told High Times in 2012. “I find that you can be very imaginative when stoned, you can be very creative – but implementation is sometimes difficult. In the past, there have been times when I’ve been really inspired in writing and came up with things that I would never otherwise think up. But the actual playing can be obstructed a little bit.” “In the very, very early days, occasionally – well, more than ‘occasionally’ – Neil and I would smoke a joint before going on,” Lifeson continued. “I mean, this is in the mid-70s; I would never, ever do something like that now. I won’t even have a sip of beer before a show, because I need to be extremely clearheaded. Of course, some people can smoke and remain clearheaded – just not me.” It was no secret that Rush had an affinity for the green stuff, something that was reflected by the legions of stoners who became die-hard Rush fanatics. “We have one of the finest, most aromatic audiences you’ll ever find in rock and roll,” Geddy Lee joked during the band’s appearance on the series Classic Albums for their LPs 2112 and Moving Pictures. It was on the former album’s side two opener ‘A Passage to Bangkok’ that showed the band acknowledging their debt to “higher” activities. “That should be self-evident – it’s about a fun little journey to all the good places you could go to have a puff,” Lifeson explained. “We thought it would be kind of fun to write a song about that, and Neil did it in a very eloquent way, I think. That song was probably written in a farmhouse, on an acoustic guitar, in front of a little cassette player of some sort. We would record like that and then go down in the basement and rehearse it.” Chronicling all the best stops to procure some top quality cannabis, ‘A Passage to Bangkok’ not only includes its titular stop, but also gets around to Bogota, where locals “pass along a sample of their yield”, and the “sweet Jamaican pipe dreams” that get paired with “golden Acapulco nights”. Just to make the connection crystal clear, Rush and producer Terry Brown included a long toke after the second chorus, right before Lifeson launches into a psychedelic solo.