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francostrider · 2 years ago

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The Experience and Timing of Media

My group of friends had a tradition for every February called “Eat Like Hobbits”. Basically, our one friend would invite us all to her home, and she would have the excuse to cook several meals over the course of a day (which she loves doing), all the while the extended edition of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy play in the background. Well, we would watch it, but we are also chatting and just be glad January was over. We would have a good time, eat, well, like a hobbit, and embrace our nerdy selves.

So, I will confess one thing: The Lord of the Rings are not in my top five or top ten films of all time. But I have a lot of respect for the trilogy, and the amount of craft that went into every detail. And I do like them to a point. I treasure them as part of my introduction to western fantasy, as they were released around the same time as Champions of Norrath and I was coming to identify the DnD culture a lot more. The timing of the films coincided with the experience of discovering a favorite genre. And with the Hobbit day, it became a part of our shared experience.

As a fan of older media, like Robert E. Howard’s Conan books, I have been thinking a lot of the experience around the consumption of media. This involves more than the strict text of a given work. For instance, I started reading through Howard’s work via the volumes offered by Del Rey. It came in three volumes, the first of which I remember picking up after I graduated High School and in the ours before I saw X-Men 3. The volumes would follow me through our trip to Chatham, NY that year, into college and the smell of those old class buildings. They are synonymous with my experience in Rutgers and beyond.

The scents around us as we turned the page, the friends we would bring it up with, the chapter we try to squeeze in before class starts. These are all included with the actual consumption of the tale and make up our experience. We do not live in a bubble. The video games we play will either be affected by the outside world, or will be part of our relief from it. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time was played after a particularly rough time (and winter) of my life and it became part of spring. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon came out during 8th grade, a particularly joyful year of my life. And, of course, the ending of Majora’s Mask hit hard when I was a lonely kid outside of my household.

Going back to Conan, those were my own experiences, sure. But that was not the original context that the stories came out in. Those were published by Weird Tales back in the 1930s, usually one (or maybe even just a chapter) at any given publication. And these were published along side other authors, including HP Lovecraft. These would be on low quality paper (hence the “pulp” in pulp fiction), at 10 cents at a magazine stand. These would not be pre collected in a higher quality volume in a clean and orderly book store.

This was likely picked up by someone on their way to work, either to the local factory or grocery store. These were in the 1930s, so the Great Depression was either affecting the reader directly or at least seeing the damage it has caused. I imagine someone going “At least I got my Howard and Lovecraft for the month!” as they see another store close. Perhaps, like in Grapes of Wrath, copies were likely carried by migrant workers trying to make ends meet. “The Phoenix on the Sword”, “The Scarlet Citadel”, “Hour of the Dragon” and “People of the Black Circle” were just as much part of the life of a migrant worker as their tools, factories, current events and crops. Perhaps they held onto these copies and looked back on them with a mix of nostalgia and strain.

And the rabbit hole does not end there. I wonder what actors they were thinking of when they thought of Conan at the time. A mix of the movies from the 80s and artwork have long since codified Conan’s overall look and feel, but much of that was decades later. What music accompanied their reading in their heads? Did they find a friend or fellow worker and think “Oh, that could be Conan!” Did they try writing the Howard? Or at least to the publication house? And this isn’t even mentioning the human rights advocacies, protests and bloodshed at this era. Before Conan’s overall look was codified, did readers conjure a Conan of different races, imposing their own preferences?

My point is that the whole experience of reading Conan when it first came out will be eternally lost to me. I will likely never find some of the original volumes, which are either preserved in a museum or just dissolved into nothing. And even if I did, I will not know the desperation and attitudes of the time, or the actors of the time, what counted for “fantasy music” at the time, if that was even a concept.

But that does not invalidate my experience. The Experience that I bring up is always going to be unique to each of us. One 1930s reader is going to have a different experience from another 1930s reader, even if they are coworkers of similar backgrounds. I do not say this out of jealousy or some foolish self deprecating of our generation. This is more to illustrate why we love media, why we are nostaligic and why we more than enjoy, but cherish, our favorite works. The tricky thing is it is impossible to recreate. That version of you ended at the end of the experience. We have memories, but we have lost access to it at the same time.

It is also one of several reasons why I have disdain for any claim of “Best X of all time”. Like much about the entertainment we consume, this is going to be subjective, and unique to every consumer. Awards try to find an objective truth, but they can’t dictate on a personal, subjective level. Bad timing and harsh experiences can also explain why we bounce off of works that we, in theory, “should” enjoy. I imagineThe Last of Us Part II would have been better received by audiences in a year that wasn’t 2020. These Experiences put the text to light. You never consume media without it. Despite everyone trying to talk me into it, I’m just not in the right mindset to go through Final Fantasy VII Remake or the new God of War games. They are something I currently do not want, and when I spend my entertainment hours on something I do not wish to do, I’m constantly looking forward to the thing I do wish to do.

The last “Eat Like Hobbits” we had before the pandemic was February of 2020, before the pandemic started. A lot changed since. Several people moved and found new homes. Job situations changed. But finally, in this year 2023, we got the invite we were waiting for. Our friend got her cooking going and we watched through the whole trilogy. This time, my wife and I watched through the whole thing, a first for herself. It was wonderful to have everyone over, but the trilogy changed in light of the pandemic.

First, there is what it meant: After three long years, we were able to do this again. Covid has not completely gone away, but something special had returned to us. Secondly, the scene where Frodo can no longer see home, but the fiery eye, really hit home. Leaving the house in 2020 could mean bringing back a deadly virus that has claimed over a million lives in this country alone and had filled hospitals to bursting. There was no escaping it, just the constant fiery watch of this disease and no catharsis or friends in person to comfort us. We were all trapped in our own personal Mordor, away from the lives we once had and the people we love.

And, thirdly, I am completely unashamed to admit that I thought of my own wedding last year during Aragorn’s Coronation (yeah, yeah, fuck off). But it is part of the experience I was going through. Our wedding was planned for 2021, but was postpone until late summer of 2022 for several reasons. Unfortunately, the pandemic was part of the drama leading up to it. But when all was said and done, everyone was there, hail and hardy, after three years of pain. My wife and I sat through the pains of moving, pandemics and grief together, and finally, FINALLY, we would have this day, Our day. It was not just a wedding, but also victory in its own way. All of that and everything that led to our wedding went into my recent viewing of Aragorn’s Coronation.

And let’s be honest, you should feel like a king on your wedding day.

We do not live in vacuums. It’s our real life that gives the fiction we consume meaning. As fantastical as a story or setting is, it is still a reflection of what we are. “All works are political” or so I’ve heard the phrase. We carry not only our preferences and likes, but also our life into everything we consume and create. Fiction makes little sense otherwise.

#lord of the rings #hobbit #majoras mask #the last of us #Castlevania #circle of the moon #majora's mask #Conan #robert e howard #hp lovecraft #Weird tales #wedding #pandemic #covid-19 #fuck covid

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gazellefamily · 1 year ago

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THE MISFITS (1961)

“You know who’s sorta attractive? Marilyn Monroe. Maybe I’m the first to notice. Glenn Danzig I guess is a huge fan of this flick, but it’s actually way more like a Lana Del Rey song; just a brain-melty babe drifting around desert, accumulating horndog older men in her sessually frustrating orbit. Elimidate. Clable vibes like an olive thats been soaking in gin for decades. Eli Wallach, the Brooklyn Jewish guy who somehow always ends up riding horseback in Westerns.” -Sonny Gazelle "Wait where's Danzig!? JK I knew what this was when I signed on - though I AM curious as to what Glenn saw in this that made him name his Eddie Munster punk band after it, aside from its general excellence. This made me furious anew about BLONDE and its focus on the salacious sess salad of MarMo's life. Hey how about actually watching one of her movies instead!? She's SENSATIONAL in this. She actually kinda...sorta...made me cry. This has way more in common with like FIVE EASY PIECES and THE LAST PICTURE SHOW than with other stuff from 1961. Or even with a Huston film from a decade later, FAT CITY. Listen it's super depressing and shaggy but fuck it's good. Candle in the wind, baby - you were on to something." -Tommy Gazelle

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bodyhate · 17 years ago

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review of the ?week?

hi there i don't remember the last time i uploaded wait… i'll check i'm startin with march a little bit late plans supper at ander's thx 1138 at the filmoteca this saturday with aroa friday… i haven't decided yet maybe efectolau's falafell night or my brother's and i could also go to sinver's night saturday dinner with mireia and cricri and studying a little bit the rest of the time

this past week i had to go to mediterrani but i got sick i spend two days in bed i didn't go to see 27 dresses with alba and dani but i cooked a splendid potato omelette for ander, on wednesday then friday, campus nord's dinner and a film in my parent's juegos secretos, with kate winslet playing "ugly" and jennifer connelly, whom i didn't recognise, our tv is horrible, i had to imagine everything because it's a very dark movie, the end… i'm not sure if he kills himself or just chops his dick out saturday i went to la roca del vallés and i bought a green velvet pants for 20€ then fnac's farewell supper a hat in which i'm incapable of fit and the fnac trivial for knowing better your company it was a great time joan suddenly appeared, i was supposed to pick him up at the airport but i ran out of time i got almost drunk we went, after bar castells, to the mug, but it was later than 3 so we couldn't use the discount, then sidecar, but the line was too long so we went back to the mug, but now the problem was that we were too many so we ended up in arena it was horrible, depressing as always but funny sunday, after two hours and a half i went to vote and then to la calçotada after carrying 2 xibeques, 2 cokes, 2 bottles of water, 1 bottle of wine and a nestea from badalona to alfons X i broke one of the xibeques five minutes before getting in iñaki's car i ate like 40 calçots and 2 potatos and had to cook the meat, i was the only one not eating it, the perfect candidate and now i'm sleepy, because i hadn't catch up with my sleep so every morning i spend like half an hour to wake up that's all i'm going to do something useful deu edu

#my fotolog #the smiths #morrissey

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muutosarchive · 2 years ago

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𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑒𝑡 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑒𝑑: 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑜𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑒??

SEND ME A SHIP AND I’LL TELL YOU…

swiss/rain

Who’s the cuddler? swiss, although i think rain might like cuddling more than we think. it's a suspicion i have. he seems like someone who likes attention, but he might not go for it all the time, or be as vocal -- where swiss would? swiss is the kind of guy who will ask you to bed to cuddle in the middle of the day, for no other reason but he wants to be held.. so i think that makes him the clear winner.

Who makes the bed? uh, tbh it's rain & not just bc he's the last one in bed & swiss is long gone by the time he wakes up. not because he wants to, per se. he'll try to laze in later to catch sleepy eyed water ghoul when he first opens his eyes. bring him his coffee & whatnot... but even then, i feel like swiss doesn't usually use blankets because he runs hot, naturally. so he usually (if he were alone) just has to throw the 1 blanket back over the sheet he sleeps over.

Who wakes up first? swiss, he's an early riser. he has an internal timer like a pup & he's raring to go. he's a 'morning' person. also we know rain would sleep forever if he could.

Who has the weird taste in music? i feel like swiss likes anything that he can move to or that strokes his earholes just right. i feel like rain could be a little more tightly locked in what he enjoys, ??? (although i could be wrong about that) - but i'd say on variety alone, it might be swiss. like he's singing britney spears songs & dancing like nobody's watching, but i also think he'd like stuff like soundgarden & nirvana or like, pearl jam. also aerosmith prolly. or crying in his room to some lana del rey! u know how it be.

Who is more protective? i'd like to think they're both more protective. swiss is more apt to do something dumb, & he's too impulsive to be cowardly. i feel like rain could be a little more apprehensive to say something, depending on who was talking shit. but we do know rain ain't no bitch & i've seen him throw hands for the people he loves when it comes down to it, so i think both. altho sorry rain if papa says some mean shit about you swiss is saying nothing about it & that's just facts.

Who sings in the shower? swiss but to be fair he sings everywhere.

Who cries during movies? do they watch movies? i like the idea that rain tries to hide it & swiss teases him a little bit & then ends up in his lap about it.

Who spends the most while out shopping? guess this is kinda n/a but also rain lol.

Who kisses more roughly?

Who is more dominant? they both switch i feel like, & sometimes swiss wants to take control - sometimes he wants rain to. & rain can handle that, definitely.

My rating of the ship from 1-10. 10 ... 11 ... i love them so much it's an issue..

omega/ifrit

Who’s the cuddler? ifrit. iffy would ask omegs to cuddle, after sex - or when he's upset, even? omega will huff complain mildly, but he's got a soft spot for iffy... & he likes to feel like a protector. i picture them clinging to each other sometimes, maybe iffy is buried in omega's chest & megs wrapped around him, purring. but also .. inherently omega can't help but feel bittersweet when they're affectionate like that.

Who makes the bed? omega. he's just particular. if you want something done right do it yourself.

Who wakes up first? omega.. he doesn't sleep a lot. i feel like after alpha left, & their link was severed it was hard for omega to like .. figure out how to occupy his own mind, & deal with the loneliness of it. i think it laster a while, too. he got a few hours here & there, but he was also still taking care of terzo after he was retired on stage, depressed... also, he only sleeps as much as it takes him to be efficient, so.

Who has the weird taste in music? ifrit probably. i feel like omega is very like, pretentious about the stuff he listens to. he's like oh these are 'the greats' and then there's some "obscure" metal or hard rock or pop acts that he likes & will go on about. like this riff is xyz, because abc. everything omega likes is GOOD but he also only likes it because of that if you know what i mean? like the better executed it is (& ofc this is subjective but this IS omega we're talking about) the better he likes it.

Who is more protective? omega neither ... (omega is emotionally protective but he's also in denial so he's also not helping.. they have a dysfunctional relationship... i think they care about each other but they're both bull-headed & omega was too fucked up to be what ifrit needed). 🥺

Who sings in the shower? ifrit.. but omega will on occasion.

Who cries during movies? ifrit lmfao i'm willing to bet cold hard cash on it.

Who spends the most while out shopping? again neither. irl probably omega but they both just wear their uniforms. but omega & ifrit would like to buy accessories. i could see iffy in bike chain necklaces or something.

Who kisses more roughly? omega.

Who is more dominant? omega. fragile fritter, he's a good boy.

My rating of the ship from 1-10. like 10/10 11/10 they're so tragic and ever since that sick reply i'm gagging over these two. omega needs a fire ghoul, he needs the energy he needs the strong personality to balance his cool head. i'm just sorry he was the rebound..

copia/mountain

Who’s the cuddler? copia. mountain makes him feel safe & calms his anxiety. the moment his hands go on those shoulders, copia relaxes 10x over. he asks mountain every time, if he doesn't tug him in for spooning / chest to chest cuddles first (wordlessly ofc). if mountain needs copes to relax, cuddle. he'll shut up right away. he likes being wrapped in ghoul, like a shield. but i think he falls asleep easily like that bc it's so calming. i'd like to think mountain grows to enjoy it a lot though... i like to think (and now i know) that he likes comforting copia.

Who makes the bed? neither, if mountain and copia sleep together it's in the papal suite & papa has people who make his bed. if not, papa would do it just because he's used to doing it & he wouldn't ask mountain.

Who wakes up first? i guess it depends on their schedules ! but mountain hibernates sometimes, & i feel like that can be muddy. also copia has to do shit and he's up early, not to mention he and the ghouls are on the same schedule a lot.

Who has the weird taste in music? i'm gonna say copia just bc he likes everything like swiss, if it makes him feel something.

Who is more protective? imma say mountain tentatively but only because he's the big protector type & he can protect copia every way. emotionally he's very good at making sure copia is calm, tbh.. even if the attempt is misguided he's always got papa in mind, it seems. also copia considers his ghouls his protectors, in the first place. BUT copia has & will stand up for mountain. he did with imperator, more than once. & he's the first one to advocate for ghouls - he'd have them treated as equals & he does. he'd similarly do anything or mountain, & he'd die for any of his ghouls. convince me otherwise... copia might be some things, but he's not a coward. so both, basically.

Who sings in the shower? copia!

Who cries during movies? .... why do i wanna say mountain. copia likes movies, he watches them a lot. mountain though is emotional and sensitive.

Who spends the most while out shopping? copia i think for obvious reasons.

Who kisses more roughly? mountain but copia likes it

Who is more dominant? mountain again. copia is his little rag doll.

My rating of the ship from 1-10. .... i'm so obsessed with them i'm so normal, i swear i promise... *heavy breathing* 11/10

@alsquiet / / i love all our pairings 2k23 & forever

#alsquiet #misc * / answered #i also didn't proof this i'll also die #imma go off about the one u did i'm so !!#but me : quick & easy #me: 🤡#misc * / out of character #ALSO I COULD BE WRONG ABOUT SOME OF THESE ESPECIALLY THE RAIN ONE #but like i'm confident i think

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skrelpson · 8 months ago

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Classic Skrelpson move: talk about something and then forget to elaborate on it

ANYWAY A lot of these ideas are like...well. ideas lol. So they might not be great/are contradictory you know you know

So there's two ways everything can be handled: it's just Deltora Quest but there is Pokemon also, OR a reformatting of the general story to be more in line with a Pokemon game. I don't know which one I like more, but seeing as how I'm just a tad more invested in Pokemon, I feel like I have more ideas for the latter so. uh. Reformatting the story to be more like the games is interesting, but I do feel like it detracts from some elements that were really cool in the original books!

(Just. so much text down below. Be careful)

Biggest change for that one: The gems are badges. You got the Topaz Badge, the Ruby Badge, Opal Badge, etc. Would they still have their magical properties? Yeagh. Basically, the idea is that way back when, the first king of Deltora went on a super cool Badge run and united all of the Region's people, taking their badges with their super cool properties. Radical. Then, in his honor, the Region set up Gyms and created a little ritual thing? Where young Trainers travel the Deltora Region in the king's footsteps, collecting mock Badges as a rite of passage. Their quest (hehe) ends back in Del, where they challenge the King to a battle. Doesn't matter if they win or lose, it's all about the symbolism I think. MAYBE there's an E4 (because I like the idea of former E4 Barda) But I have No Idea who the other members would be rn -_-

Anyway, The Shadow Lord takes over the castle, takes the original Badges and casts them throughout the land, while also just royally screwing up the Gyms. After this, the Gym Quest kind of peters out because like. The Region's going through an economic and physical depression.

I'm half tempted to rename the Shadow Lord's army to Team Shadow and the Resistance to Team Resistance but likeeeeee. Is that going too far I wonder ajgjdalhdfg

Anyway !! Here are notes for Gyms/Teams/Other fun world building bits !!

Topaz Badge - Forests of Silence - Gorl: Steel/Grass type! I'm thinking his Ace would be a Ferroseed. Also he is still a haunted suit of armor because I think it'd be funny. Probably took over the old Gym per the Shadow Lord's wishes

Ruby Badge - Lake of Tears - Soldeen: Maybe Water/Fairy? I think it'd be also funny if he was turned into a Gyarados too, then Lief challenges him to a match after the curse is lifted. His ace would be like. A Brionne?

Opal Badge - City of Rat(tata)s - Reeah: OKAY LISTEN. Instead of a massive snake. Reeah is a massive Seviper. When the City fell under, the former Gym Leader was killed, leaving his Pokemon (i.e Reeah) to just...roam. I think. Gym was originally Poison/Normal or Normal/Dark for reasons that will be clear later

Lapis Badge - Shifting Sands - The Hive: Again I think it'd be really really funny if the Gyms were taken over by/transformed into/became horrible monsters. Either the Hive is a bunch of Trainers all mentally linked, or it's a bunch of tiny Beedrill like in the anime who pretend to be Trainers using like...mirages? Not sure atm. (told you this was really barebones JDGFADSHLGFADSHL) Bug/Ground! Maybe Scizor/Kleavor as their ace.

Emerald Badge - Dread Mountain - Gellick: I kind of want Gellick to just be a man who has taken over the local Impidimp/Morgrem population and pits them against the talking Dragonite who live there. If I go with Reeah being Poison/Normal, then Gellick would be Dark/Rock- otherwise he’s a poison trainer for sure. Ace is like…a palpitoad. Or a Grimsnarll. Or a toxicroak.

Amethyst Badge - Maze of the Beast - Glus: OKAY OKAY I think it would be real funny if the Glus is just an overgrown goomy or something that had to adapt to living in the caves. The league gave the badge to the Goomy/Gastrodon's trainer, but during the decade long break the trainer passed away, leaving Snom to roam the caverns all alone. There’d be no gym battle. Lief just has to fistfight a large Goomy/Gastrodon.

Diamond Badge - Valley of the Lost - Fardeep/The Guardian: Absolutely Dragon/Ice. The hounds are Houndoom that don't fight. Ace? Uuuuuuhhhhh Haxorous maybe? Baxcalliber? This is where my ideas started to run out

Of course, then there's the alternate route of: Literally Deltora Quest but with Pokemon too. Most of this still applies, I think? Idk JKDGJLFDSGA

-=-

Teams for everyone else !! I liked the concept of each character specializing in one or two types with a few exceptions, so. uuuh yeah yeah (also begging crying pleading if you have any suggestions for team members hit me with them/silly)

-Lief: some mixture of Dragon, Fire, and Ghost. He would probably start out with a Charcadet that evolves into a Ceruledge. His type exception? I was thinking Honedge, but if he’s a Ghost type Trainer than that doesn’t matter. Maybe an Espurr.

Team ideas:

-Litwick

-Espurr

-Charcadet

-Golurk

-Morgrem

-Jasmine: Bug/Fighting, maybe? Her type exception would be Kree ig (who’s a Murkrow here!). She’d aboslutely use a Heracross I think. Riolu too. Filli would be a Joltik maybe

Team Ideas:

-Heracross

-Riolu

-Stufful

-Nincada

-Barda: Steel/Normal. Guy’s trying to stay low profile, but has a fuckngi Steelix. Type exception would be a Machoke, who’s his life-long partner.

Team Ideas:

-Steelix

-Machoke

-Slaking

-Obstagoon...??

-Dain: Poison/Dark. To start, he uses Dragon types too, but he loves them dark types. Ace is a Zoroark for sure (or a hydregion). His type exception? Probably the aforementioned hydreigon i think

Team Ideas:

-Hydreigon

-Zoroark

-Dragonite

-uh uh uh uhhhhhh (you can tell when my ideas were starting to run out)

-Doom: Dark/Fighting. Guy who has Bisharp and a Bewear. I don't have any idea what type exception he would have tho

Team Ideas:

-Bisharp

-Bewear (something something like father like daughter)

-Mabosstiff

-=-

Other notes!

-Ols are modified Dittos (PLEASE PLEASE THE ONLY FUNNY PART OF THIS AU/silly). Still got their grades- 1, 2, and 3. BUT instead of grade 1 Ols being unable to regulate body temperature, they can't change their face. So they got. That stupid grin. They get around this by transforming into people who have their faces covered by hair/cloaks/etc.

-Jasmine can probably speak to Pokemon in this universe, instead of animals. Makessss sense. ish.

-In the version of this that more aligns with a Pokemon game, Dain would show up more and act as like. a 'rival' character. I think.

-That bird bridge guy from book 2 is a Corvisquire prolly

-Gonna be real. Don't know what Theagan and her children would be like. My first thought is just weird, pokemon hybrids?

-=-

I should clarify that I have not read the original DQ series in a while....so there might be somethings I'm missing....anyway! That's the basics. Hope this wasn't too much of a waste of your time. 😎👍

I should talk about the Deltora Quest / Pokemon AU I made at some point (maybe it will motivate me to actually finish it)

#none of this is organized so I'm sorry if this is hard to read #skrelp speaks #pokemon #deltora quest #pokemon au

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mgsapphire · 3 years ago

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My K-drama recommendation master list Part 2

You can find part 1 here

Look, you gave us relatively new recommendations, what about ones older than 10 years? I'll give you my top 5

Princess Hours (2006) Is a modern Cinderella story. It's 24 episodes long. Available on Viki.

Personal Taste (2010) Honestly, problematic plot if you put your mind into it, but entertaining nonetheless. It's 16 episodes long, each one lasting a little over an hour, available on Viki.

Cinderella's Sister (2010) You hate every character, but there's still something that makes you watch it. Available on Viki.

Thank You (2007) was ahead of its time, it's about a single mother with a daughter who has an HIV+ diagnosis. 16 episodes long, each one lasting a little over an hour. Available on Viki.

Stairway to Heaven (2003) for a good melodrama.

What about romantic fantasies involving fantastic beings?

Guardian: The lonely and Great God(2016) A classic of the genre. It tells the story of a God who was once a man, and is being punished by immortality, unless he meets his bride, who just so happens to be a high schooler centuries later. Available on viki. 16 episodes long with 3 specials, all lasting about 75 minutes.

Hotel Del Luna (2019) it would be unfair to talk about Goblin, without talking about this other masterpiece about a being cursed into immortality and granted special availabilities along with it, but a curse is still a curse, and she must run a hotel meant for ghosts, where after centuries of being, meets a young man who is alive. Availability on Viki, 16 episodes long and each one lastz about 75 minutes.

Tale of the Nine Tailed (2020) You get to see Lee Dong Wook as another mystical being, and Kim Bum is his half brother. 16 episodes long and one special, each one lasting about 65 minutes. Available on Viki.

My roommate is a Gumiho (2021) what's up with gumihos? It's still airing. The title is self explanatory. Available on Viki and Qiyi.

Angel's last mission: Love (2019) is a cute and sad story about an angel who is about to ascend and a ballerina who has a cynical view of the world. Available on Viki. Each episode averages 30 minutes, with 32 episodes.

Doom at your service (2021) About to finish airing. It tells the story of a dying woman who wishes doom upon the world, and the doom who answers her plea. Available on viki, 16 episodes long, each one lasting about an hour.

The Scholar Who walks the night (2015) another Lee Joon Gi entry, but I swear all of his works are great, it's a period drama that tells the story of a scholar who is a vampire and the young bookseller he meets. It's 20 episodes long, each one lasting about an hour. Available on viki. Also, if you've liked Lee Soo Hyuk in Doom at Your Service, I advise you check this one out.

Tale of Arang (2012) two Lee Joon Gi entries in a row? Girl, you have to stop. Anyways, this one is another period piece of a magistrate who can see ghosts and the ghost of a young woman who doesn't remember her life, nor the cause of her death. Available on viki, it's 20 episodes long, each one lasting a little over an hour.

Look, those are fine or whatever, but I started as a K-pop fan, where can I see some idol dramas? Don't worry, I came prepared

Full House (2004) with Rain as the main character is the og idol drama in my opinion. Available on Viki. 16 episodes long, each one lasting about 73 minutes.

Imitation (2021) is currently airing, and it's literally an idol drama about idols. You can find a looot of idols too: Jeong Yun Ho and Park Seong Hwa from Ateez, Chani and Hwi Young from SF9, Park Ji Yeon from T-ara, Lim Na Young from I.O.I and Pristin, and although Jeong Ji So is not an idol, she is the main lead, and I absolutely love her, she's also in Doom at your service. Available on Viki.

Miss Panda and Mr. Hedgehog (2012) features Donghae from Super Junior, and if I'm going to recommend a Super Junior drama, I would rather recommend one featuring him over Siwon.

At a Distance the Spring is Green (2021) is currently airing too, and only has four released episodes, but I've liked it so far. Featuring Park Ji Hoon, and Kwon Dun Bin. Also, I have a lot of opinions about this show. Available on Viki.

I was going to put an IU drama but, all her dramas are good, so go and watch them all, the woman has range.

Dream High (2011) is the king of idol dramas, in my opinion. It talksa about a high school for people who want to be idols. Another one with a long line up of idols, so let me start: Suzy, IU, Taecyeon, Nichkhun and Wooyoung from 2PM, Ham Eun Jung from T-ara. Leeteuk (SuJu and Chansung (2PM) make cameos. Similarly to Imitation, Kim Soo Hyun is not an idol, but he's the main lead. It's 16 episodes long, each one lasting about 65 minutes. Available on Viki.

Wow, quite a few, but they all seem rather popular, do you have some underrated gems? I'm going to have to go down memory lane, but I do

The Queen's Classroom (2013) This one feels like a fever dream, because I'm aware it exists, I watched it back when it first aired, but I can't find it anywhere now. It's based on a Japanese drama of the same name. It's about a strict but warm hearted teacher and her students' lives and struggles. 16 episodes long. DM me if you find anywhere to watch it.

1% of Something (2016) is a really cute drama, the chemistry is off the charts, and if you're looking for skinship, this one is the one for you, underrated arranged marriage kdrama, I'm telling you. It's 16 episodes long, averaging 45 minutes, and it's on Viki.

I'm not a Robot (2017) has a really cute plot, not underrated per se, but not hyped enough. It's 32 episodes long, each one averaging 30 minutes. Available on Viki.

Do you like Brahms? (2020) is a music themed kdrama, really cute and wholesome. If you like 2setviolin and watched their critique on their YouTube channel, let me tell you, the cast actually knows how to play violin and stuff, and there's an actual child prodigy in there. It got so much hate bc of that one yt video. It's 16 episode long, each one lasting about an hour. Available on Viki.

Solomon's Perjury (2016) a good reflection on youth and the pressure society has. 12 episodes long, lasting about 63 minutes each. Available on Viki.

The Greatest Love (2011) is a super entertaining TV show, and just supper funny and cute. 16 episodes long, each one lasting around 65 minutes. Available on Viki.

Two Cops (2017) if you like Kim Seon Ho, I think this was his TV acting debut. It's a hilarious action comedy TV show. 32 episodes long, lasting around 30 minutes. Available on viki.

Do you have any recommendations where time traveling or time is central to the story?

Alice (2020) look, I can't give you a full explanation because it's too mind bending. Let's leave it at detective meets his mother. Available on Viki.

Signal (2016) The premise is similar to that of the movie Frequency (2000) in which there's communication between the past and the present via technology. The plot is based on the real Hwaseong serial murders. Really interesting. Available on Netflix. If you like the premise of communicating with the past via technology Call (2020) is a Korean thriller movie available on Netflix.

Chicago Typewriter (2017) this one is about reincarnation but we get to see both timelines. Available on Netflix.

Tomorrow with you (2017) Time-traveling but make it ✨depressing ✨. The story of a man who time travels, and how that ability messes with his marriage. Available on Netflix.

What about historical dramas? I don't really watch those, but here are some I liked

The Moon Embracing the Sun (2012) is one of the few I've finished. It's really good, it follows the love story of a king. Available on viki. 20 episodes long, each one lasting about an hour.

Gunman in Joseon (2014) Am I recommending you this one because of Lee Joon Gi? Maybe. It has 22 episodes, each one lasting about an hour. Available on Viki.

The Crowned Clown (2019) a story of the Prince and the Pauper if I must give you a description that is relatable, but if you know the book titled Skogland, it's closer to that. It's 16 episodes long, each one lasting about 80 minutes. Available on Viki.

I'm a little ashamed to say this, but do you have any BL? I do, I do

To My Star (2021) is a story about an actor and a chef, and how they learn to cohabit after the actor is forced into hiding. You can watch either the movie version or the drama version, both available on viki.

Color Rush (2020) is a modern romance fantasy about people called Monos who can't see any color unless they meet their Probes, however this may turn dangerous as the Monos may experience obsessive behavior, so what happens when a young high schooler meets his probe?. You can either watch it on its drama or movie version. Both available on viki. By the way, if you're a long time deobi and was wandering what happened to Hwall, he's one of the main leads.

You Make Me Dance (2021) follows the story of a university dancer who is in debt and his debt collector. Available on viki in both versions. The movie is 107 minutes long.

Just Friends (2009) is a short film, but ahead of its time, if you can't tell by the year it was released on. It's a cute story about a man who visits his boyfriend in the military. I found it in dramacool.

That's all from me, if you have any specific genre or them you felt I didn't add in, do feel free to tell me.

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histrionicwoman · 2 years ago

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‘Girl, Interrupted’ Isn't a Good Movie, You're Just Fifteen

This is a piece of writing that I am going to release on my Medium page in the near future. Link in my bio to follow me there.

I know the title of this might be a little presumptuous of me given that I myself am a seventeen year old, but I’m just going to have to ask you to hang in there with me for this one.

Last night, I stayed up a little later than usual (4:00 am) and watched a movie that had been on my list for quite a long time: Girl, Interrupted. I had some pretty high expectations for this movie, being not only a teenage girl, but also one strangely invested in the “indie sleaze” scene. The movie was not good. I know that might upset a few people, namely the ones plastering edits of the movie all across my TikTok For You page along with a Fiona Apple or Radiohead song, but I think I have some good reasoning for my opinion.

The movie was just… dumb. That’s really the only way I know how to portray it. Girl, Interrupted was like if someone tried to make a Harry Potter movie, except for instead of magic wands and owls the girls had varying mental illnesses and severe individuality complexes. I can’t express to you how frustrating this movie was to watch.

So why are teenagers so fixed on it right now?

I’d like to propose two theories on that front: Fashion and sadness.

If you’ve been on TikTok recently, preferably the “indie sleaze” side of TikTok that I mentioned earlier, you’ll know that sadness is never efficient on its own anymore. There has to be a glamorous twist; a haunting Lana Del Rey song in the background, your $450 Marc Jacobs outfit fully in view, a full face of makeup melting off your face as you cry. This is the way to be sad. This is the way to portray your mental illness, this is the way to let your followers and peers know that you, too, experience a range of human emotion and aren’t like all those other ogres showing only their happy sides on their public accounts. A part of me kind of feels proud of these people on TikTok, strangely, because they have achieved some semblance of openness, something I haven’t really been able to do. But another part worries for them and everyone in the audience, because feeling like you can’t cry unless you have your $30 mascara on can’t feel great, can it?

I’ve got to give the movie credit where it’s due, though; Girl, Interrupted really nailed the whole “depression chic” thing. I mean, look at these girls’ outfits: Jolie’s emaciated t-shirt look (a popular thing right now, strangely enough; I could write a lot more about this if I was so inclined), Winona Ryder’s quintessential 90’s hipster getup (why??? It’s set in the 60’s), and Brittany Murphy’s complete serve-a-thon with her 60’s housewife-chic looks. I have to say, I am a bit biased for Murphy’s outfits. They were great, and that’s something I think a lot of other teenagers are attracted to in this movie; it somehow has all of the current trends encapsulated while also being a vessel for some semi-relevant piece of “commentary” (if it can even be called that) on mental health for girls. The bad thing about it, though, is that the commentary is just… bullshit. It really isn’t anything. If I had to try to pick out a meaning of the story, I’d say something like, “Don’t make friends with the girl who’s been in the psych ward for eight years,” or “If you’re a ‘sociopath’, you should really sit down and think about your actions instead of being so mean to everyone all the time”. As a viewer, you don’t get much closure at the end of the story and it just seems like Susanna got better and left everyone else to go be normal again.

The thing that truly perplexes me about the current fascination with this movie is the question: what are people getting from this movie that I’m not seeing? Is there some message that I didn’t receive? In my Letterboxd review of the movie (shameless plug: tinymandarin on letterboxd), I said something along the lines of “Maybe I just don’t like low-rise jeans enough to understand this movie”. I would love to believe that a part of me is just missing the point of Girl, Interrupted, and that it’s a really good movie. But I really don’t think it is. I think the people who are loving it right now are younger teenagers who need some sort of relatable mental health story for people like them, who need their pain to be wrapped up in a coat of fashion and glamour, like a pet taking medicine. I’d like to end this by saying: If you’re a parent whose child likes this movie and wants to buy baby tees and low-rise jeans, by all means let them do it; but also check in on them and maybe show them a better movie to project their emotions onto. This one’s not very good.

#tags #my writing #film critique #girl interrupted #me making a big stink about a movie #post

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goodbysunball · 3 years ago

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In-strew-mental error

Long removed from the dominance of post-rock in instrumental music, and pleased to bring you four (mostly) vocal-less albums from the year. These'll melt, massage and mangle in equal measure, and ya know, we need all three food groups.

Lea Bertucci, A Visible Length of Light (Cibachrome Editions)

Been following Lea Bertucci's work for a while, since the 7" on I Dischi Del Barone I guess, and everything I've heard so far appears on this LP in some form, but nothing previous approaches the way things are pared back to the nerve-tingling essentials. The music itself is stunning, moving gracefully from droning notes to squirming tape loops, or field recordings to modern classical. It's a miniature still life of contemporary life, ever-so-lightly lifting the existential dread of the everyday and instead offering a snapshot of empty streets and open, unburdened wilderness. The title track makes me equal parts thankful and depressed, the former because it is an aural scalp massage and the latter because I know that this version of America that is documented (inferred from the liner notes) cannot exist for much longer. I don't think the intention was to get all The Air Conditioned Nightmare on the listener, but the effect is there, though A Visible Length of Light gives some hope that this is a country for artists at least. The three and a half minutes of "The Beacon" whips wind past your head while the creaking, groaning architecture looms, no bodies in sight. "An Arc of the Horizon" has a hopeful, trilling saxophone emerging from the horizon, and "Grasslands" conjures the spirit of Arthur Doyle's "Market Street to Make My Money," letting the woodwind softly stand alone in a quiet moment. I could go on and on but this record's been a balm and a steady arm during this turbulent year, and I'm still trying to find the words to say why eight months later. Amazing stuff, and one of the year's finest. Buy yourself a copy and try to find a time of day where it doesn't fit.

Body/Dilloway/Head, s/t (Three Lobed)

There's an extensive writeup for this record by Matt Krefting that dives deeper than I can and will, but suffice it to say that Aaron Dilloway did a pretty good job slicing up Kim Gordon and Bill Nace's recordings. There are a lot of worthy blink-and-miss-it moments on the very subdued Body/Dilloway/Head, and on "Goin' Down," there's a truly stunning and surprising six minutes of shimmering guitar and celestial loops that oughta have Tom Carter and Bill Orcutt steamin'. I'm certainly enamored with Dilloway's work, especially recently, and he's particularly adept at picking out weird noises and looping them to accent, overwhelm or prod at the proceedings, and this record's no exception. The way things wheeze into winding, whirring action on the sidelong opener "Body/Erase" is a pretty stellar example, something you could imagine on a future Dilloway album, but on such a subtle, quiet track, volume is paramount. "Secret Cuts" follows a similar path, and I love the looping with Kim's vocals on top, starting around the 5:40 mark. But the clunky way the "big" guitar slices into the action (you'll know) leaves me a little cold; it should be a stunning entry but it's only a bit jarring the first time around. I felt/feel similarly satisfied and wanting about Dilloway's collaboration with Lucrecia Dalt, so maybe I'm just pining for the follow-up to The Gag File. Baby boy stomps and pouts.

Jean-Luc Guionnet & Will Guthrie, Electric Rag (Ali Buh Baeh/Editions Memoire)

Did you hear Both Will Escape five years ago and get sucked into a vortex of collaborative improvisational records and get spit out feeling let down and underwhelmed? The moment I immersed myself in that world felt like a revelation, but I quickly became overwhelmed and everything started to sound the same. Improvisation can be life-affirming live, but on a recording it often feels like a reinforcement of you weren't there, bro. Luckily Jean-Luc Guionnet and Will Guthrie have the antidote, and that's to play as hot as possible for nearly 40 minutes. This is a pretty ugly, scraping version of free improv, and with no easy entry point the duo just dive right in on "Bounce" with a shit-eating grin. Kinda sounds like Lightning Bolt if they hated riffs, like on "Diggers," but the lack of recognizable sounds from Guionnet makes this hard to pin down and especially easy to take in on multiple listens. Guthrie plays the drums like a maniac throughout; if you need proof skip to "Glassed Mirror." His contributions help things lurch forward and reach perfectly damaged peaks, but more often churn satisfyingly into the muck. Body music for people who thought they could never dance again; shake and seizure to these negative grooves. Zero bad tracks, straight heat, please buy a copy for you and your loved ones ASAP.

Emily Robb, How To Moonwalk (Petty Bunco)

Of course this is on Petty Bunco, home of King Blood and Robb's Astute Palate, but this solo guitar outing is probably better than both of 'em. There's a Bo Diddley and bloozy bent to the guitar damage on How To Moonwalk, both familiar and genuinely surprising with how high it hits on the Scoville scale. On the two best and longest tracks, things get red hot. The steady riff on "Live at Friendship Speedwell" gives a semblance of sure footing, and everything else shoots forth like a volcano explosion, steady but unpredictable, something you can't look away from. "Arrows of Fortune" is even more damaged, an insistent bassline jackhammering down while the sparks fly free. Be careful where you tread. This ain't no one-trick pony, though; "News From a Fog" sounds like the title says, bleary eyes taking in the day as a gentle haze, and the disjointed "Where Is the Foot of the Bed" sounds like the stumbling glory days of Wormwood Grasshopper and Breakdance the Dawn. Sounds like it might be same old same old, but you try and square the angles and you'll find yourself flummoxed by the density of Emily Robb's guitar. This record sounds like Emily Robb would be a solo guitarist that I'd actually love to go see live, so raw and damaged that I can't deny it's power. Sick silkscreened covers, sold out from the source, happy hunting.

#Lea Bertucci #Aaron Dilloway #Kim Gordon #Bill Nace #Jean-Luc Guionnet #Will Guthrie #Emily Robb #Petty Bunco #Three Lobed

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cherry-interlude · 3 years ago

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Lana Del Rey Album Songs Ranking (Remade)

It’s been a few years since I ranked all of Lana’s (album) songs so I wanted to do it again. This is all my OPINION, which I’m sure some people might disagree with, but you don’t have to agree with it. This is also a very long post.

Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood

This cover song is just a little too drab and uninteresting to me, and I never listen to it. After the brilliant, sprawling, sexy, heart-breaking tracks on Honeymoon, this feels like a tacked-on track just to plump up the album. It feels simply like a cover.

For Free

Though this is a well-made song, with three brilliant women owning the track, it again just feels like a cover. It fits in well with Chemtrails, but by the time I get to this song I’ve had my fill.

Breaking Up Slowly

It just feels repetitive and simple, something only to have on in the background while my attention is diverted. It’s a good song and a nice attempt at bringing Lana’s country music in, but it does little to keep me interested.

God Knows I Tried

This song is filler. Jammed between the jazzy softness of Terrence Loves You and the pop favourite High By The Beach, this track just feels like it was sort of shoved in. It doesn’t even feel completely right on Honeymoon, instead a throwaway song that bridges Ultraviolence and Honeymoon whilst not fitting in with either album.

Though perfect for the credits of a Hollywood movie, 24 has plenty of flair but nothing of substance. The lyrics aren’t as imaginative as most of Lana’s music and I’m not surprised this song found itself near the end of the album.

Lucky Ones

Personally, this song irritates me. It's sickly in its lyrics, sugary in the romance and classic Lana tropes of dangerous men and Lana starstruck by them no matter if they’re ‘careless cons and crazy liars’. The little flair of the verses and the overtly sweet chorus really irks me, especially following the brilliance that is Lana’s first ‘Del Rey’ album.

Coachella

It is a rushed track, sounding completely unfinished and hurried with an unconvincing track beat. Polished, it would be brilliant – but it sounds like Lana thought of the song (which sounds promising in the video where she sits in the forest and sings) and had to force it to ‘fit in’ with the trap-pop tracks on Lust For Life. The lyrics are thoughtful, if not cliché, but it could have been done better.

This Is What Makes Us Girls

It just doesn’t appeal to me. Maybe because I can’t connect to the lyrics in any way, I just don’t feel anything when I hear this song and choose to skip it. That being said, the demos are pretty fun.

God Bless America

As much as it’s a song honouring women during a period of time when feminism was being shaken, it doesn’t quite feel like Lana’s heart is in it. The patriotism is uneasy considering she was removing herself from the American flag and its associations, and the anthemic feel never lifts. It’s a sweet song, but never goes deeper than surface level.

Religion

Though fairly sexy and haunting – her unshaken faith to her man, her drawling voice – this delicate track is too simple and sombre for me to get completely into it. I always want to skip and get to my favourites.

In My Feelings

It’s great Lana has a bad-girl, bad-bitch, fuck-you pop track but this, like Coachella, feels unfinished. It has the vibe of work in progress, and the vocals are still messy (surely intentionally, though it doesn’t always come across that way) as well as trying slightly too hard. It doesn’t compare to Fucked My Way Up To The Top.

Beautiful People Beautiful Problems

The verses don’t match up to the choruses and I feel nothing – not empowered or emotional – when listening to this song, but it is a beautiful duet between Lana and Stevie. Their voices really are divine together and though I don’t listen to this song much, the demos are even better.

Change

Mostly because it freaks me out, this is a song I don’t often listen to. With a basic structure yet long, meandering lyrics, Lana broods over the state of America at the time, which can make for depressive listening. Though it’s a pretty enough song, it’s seriousness is too much to bear sometimes.

Blue Velvet

Sometimes too slow, Blue Velvet doesn’t inspire multiple listens in me, but it is a gorgeous cover and absolutely a showcase of Lana’s vocals.

Diet Mountain Dew

A cheeky little track that won many over, it still is hard for me to fully get into it. However, it ages like fine wine and is a wonderful step into the Lizzy Grant unreleased tracks (especially with the many, sometimes even better demos).

Burning Desire

It’s a messy song, with Lana’s vocals shaky and the instrumental not quite up to scratch, but this song is certainly a guilty pleasure and great for getting into the sexy mood. The car metaphors are a bit much, especially considering it’s for a car advert, but if you get past that it’s a song to add to your freaky playlist.

Money Power Glory

As powerful and dark as this song is, with incredible instrumentals and Lana at her most dynamic, I barely remember the lyrics of the verses, instead waiting for the rich choruses.

Swan Song

A gentle track that has a lot of untapped power behind it, this is a quiet stormer of a song that has a lot of heart and grace. It may be a filler track, but it is definitely better than some.

Bartender

Even more gentle is the confessional, piano-led Bartender, which is a sweet little love song stripped back much like Lana’s simple romance where she sneaks out to see her lover. The main (and probably ridiculous) thing that keeps me from falling in love with this song more – though I’m already pretty amazed by it – is the very quiet sound of feedback that comes and goes, a fuzzy noise that is very subtle but distracting enough for me.

The Next Best American Record

This song would be higher if it was Architecture – the gorgeous, well-thought stunner that wowed us all when it was leaked. The lyrics are less fractured relationship and more wishy washy, wiping away the gritty sadness that made Architecture so beloved (at least to me). Now it’s been made ‘happier’, it’s hard to tell what the song is – is Lana happy with her lover or is she sad like in the unreleased version? Is this a break up song or a celebration of the romance? What does it mean now that it is both of them that are obsessed with writing? It’s something for me to certainly explore more, but it is paled in comparison to the original.

When The World Was At War

This track grew on me, with the hidden lyrics, fun vocals and hopeful message. Lana knows how to make a song that lifts your mood and this is certainly one of them.

Guns and Roses

I used to despise this song – finding it boring and dull. However, after giving it a listen years later, it is in fact a beautiful song with a gritty feel that is perfect for Ultraviolence. It fits in perfectly with the album and the extended tracks, and though it isn’t the strongest lyrically, the vocals and dreamy feel is thrilling.

Lolita

I choose to listen to this song without the underage character – or romantic connotations of her – in mind, instead seeing this song as a grown woman trying to charm an older man. However, as I have grown older – and read (and loved) the book several times more – I feel more inclined to distance myself from this song. It’s a fun, perky pop track but it definitely feels dated.

Dance Till We Die

Lana sings of her connection to other famous female singers and her daughter’s chosen name, making this a very personal pop song that also reminds of When The World Was At War for its hopeful and ultimately positive edge. It is a little slow but incredible touching, and the bridge is so kickass you can’t help but dance along.

Not All Who Wander Are Lost

This is a very sweet little song that again showcases the more positive side of Lana’s music, rather than the heartbroken and distressed women she tends to play. Though it is a filler song it’s a very pretty one and so catchy.

Wild At Heart

Wild At Heart is similar to Not All Who Wander Are Lost in that it’s a departure from a tragic femme fatale, instead a love song that also mimics Swan Song in that she considers leaving fame for her lover. What makes it even better is how Lana samples How To Disappear, a much sadder track, and twists it into something happy with this ultimately more upbeat album.

Radio

Like Diet Mountain Dew, Radio is another perky tune that is more than just a catchy filler. It’s a little bit sassy and has an edge to it (with the expletives and how her life is sweet not like sugar but cinnamon) that keeps it from being too frothy. Speaking of Lana’s newfound fame, it’s a nice break from the love ballads and tragedies peppered throughout Born To Die.

Without You

Shockingly dramatic, Without You is the ultimate symbol of Lana’s older music – a woman who could only feel happy unless her man was in her life. She has definitely moved on for the most part from wailing her demise at losing her lover but Without You is still glamorous, catchy and perfect to singalong to.

The Other Woman

This is one of Lana’s best covers – Nina Simone’s song about being the other woman and how it is in fact lonely and heart-breaking. Lana makes the song her own, her vocals stunning and lo-fi with instrumentals that are perfect for Ultraviolence.

How To Disappear

I feel that the live version of How To Disappear, where she sung it on stage before it was released with its real instrumental, is the superior version. It’s stripped back and tender enough to feel the emotion thoroughly, but the album version doesn’t disappoint. It’s one of many great tracks from (what I think is) her best album, and has a great story within it.

Fucked My Way Up To The Top

Lana’s satirical, sexy and stirring Fucked My Way Up To The Top was just tongue-in-cheek enough to keep from being too much of a cliché. Perhaps based on her real experiences but definitely a fuck-you to anyone who critiques her for owning her sexuality, it’s a little bit controversial but an incredible song.

Tomorrow Never Came

This song, which is a gorgeous duet with Sean Ono Lennon and a nice nod to 20th century music, subverts expectations that it is a sad song by in fact including a happy ending. I love how it can make you cry with both sadness and happiness, and tells a sweet story that paints pictures of parks and country houses.

Yosemite

The long-awaited Yosemite didn’t disappoint, and though it took a while to grow on me it became a classic and somehow familiar track. It’s impossible to not sing or dance to it and wouldn’t be out of place in Lust For Life.

Hope Is A Dangerous Thing

It’s quite slow – the Change/24/Old Money of Norman Fucking Rockwell – but it is clearly a personal and well-thought song that references Lana’s great inspiration Sylvia Plath. Lana’s deft at getting her thoughts out in song and I think though it’s not a song I often listen to, it is beautiful.

Honeymoon

The sweeping violins, dramatic vocals and the dangerous undercurrent makes Honeymoon crackle with electricity. It’s an amazing introduction to an album that once again has dangerous men, bad girls who get hurt but are strong again and amazing instrumentals. Though it’s not the best song from the album, it sets the tone perfectly.

Million Dollar Man

Like Without You, it’s another song of complete devastation, which Lana has grown from in her music. Million Dollar Man shows some great vocals and lyrics, and gets the emotion out perfectly whilst honouring the music that inspired her.

Old Money

The verses are pretty enough but they don’t catch my attention the way the choruses do. The slow, steady song took a long time for me to really appreciate but it’s impossible not to feel some kind of emotion when Lana lets her lover know she will be with them whenever they need her.

Sad Girl

Like The Other Woman, Sad Girl shows how being the other woman has it’s downfalls but appreciates the sexy, exciting side of it – how alluring her man is and how much of a bad bitch she may be. Once again, it’s a pure Ultraviolence song that shows Lana’s vocals and music in the best way whilst showcasing the classic caricature of the femme fatale.

Dark Paradise

Strangely upbeat for such a sad song, Dark Paradise is great to dance to but also something that makes you want to cry. Lana’s vocalisations and dramatic lyrics don’t quite compare to some of her other songs but Dark Paradise is iconic.

Summertime Sadness

The slow-burn, emotional gut punch that is Summertime Sadness is always a classic and one of Lana’s best. Though it is far from my personal favourite it is absolutely an outstanding song and the perfect example of Lana’s most well-made and well-delivered songs.

Gods and Monsters

The strained Gods and Monsters is a great tale about the evil side of fame, which Lana never quite delves too deeply into but gives a metaphorical and mildly personal nod to. Gods and Monsters is one of those songs that has you singing along and feeling strong.

Carmen

Carmen is a beautiful, sad story that feels rich and luxurious despite its harrowing lyrics of an alcoholic star. The French bridge adds to the decadence and it feels like a dirty alcohol bottle wrapped in silk, from the tentative verses to the unnerving chorus.

Born To Die

One of Lana’s original pop chart tracks, this is a song that never grows old. It’s one of the blueprints of the Lana Del Rey era and deftly shows her vocals whilst setting the tone for the pessimistic, romantic star in the early 2010s.

Salvatore

Opening with laughing – or crying – Salvatore has an eerie feel to it, though it is completely erotic in feel (enough to ignore some of the simpler lyrics). It is a song that feels dreamy, much like the rest of Honeymoon, but passionate and reminding of some of her older music (from the vocals in the bridge that have a Lolita/Fucked My Way Up To The Top feel to them to the continued trope of bad boys and glamour).

Flipside

Dirty, gritty and quite contained, Flipside is a song that I wished had more attention. It’s not her most imaginative song but there’s something about it, from the gloomy guitars to the hushed vocals, that have me wanting to sing it over and over. It also is one of her great fuck-off songs, as sympathetic as it is resilient.

Doin’ Time

Lana really turns this song into her own with the summery instrumentals and the pop edge she is so good at. It’s surprisingly one of her best covers and a fresh-feeling track that isn’t bogged down by emotion or maudlin music.

Lust For Life

Breathless and oh-so-romantic, Lust For Life is one of those songs that was perfect for the charts, and a key piece in Lana’s turn into becoming more positive. However, as fun and lovely as this song is, the demos are a whole other ball game. A little more ethereal, they fit Lana much more perfectly and it’s sad she dismissed the witchy feel for a song that is brilliant but generic.

Love

One of Lana’s warmest and most refreshing songs, she looks at love with fondness and dedicates this track to her ‘kids’. She knows her fans well and to make a song that references them (much like Happiness Is A Butterfly’s nod to her ‘babies’) makes this song all the more pleasant.

The Greatest

Lana’s vocals are put to good use in this intimately-written song. She speaks her mind in her reminiscence of the past and the worries for the future, all with a storming chorus that is certainly one of her best.

Love Song

Tender and almost tentative, Love Song is one of those tracks that is romantic through-and-through. It’s stripped back enough to feel like it really is a private song for only her lover’s ears, just as confessional as Cinnamon Girl and Bartender.

White Mustang

Short but sweet, this song has all the makings of a Lana Del Rey song, harking back to the Born To Die days with her imagery and fallen love affair, but it is spiky enough to be part of her later music where she starts giving less shits. The whistling and race cars are a nice touch, displaying her play on words snugly.

Dark But Just A Game

Sort of jazzy, Dark But Just A Game is ever-shifting and never quite settles on a particular sound. It’s cohesive, however, and clearly states what Lana is thinking in a way that works with the rest of Chemtrails. It’s pretty sexy as well, which doesn’t hurt the enjoyability factor.

High By The Beach

The wooziness, the carelessness and the growth from a woman begging to be put in a movie to a woman who is able to do as she pleases. Lana stumbles and swears through the song but knows exactly what she wants – and it isn’t disappointing men or stalking paparazzi.

Let Me Love You Like A Woman

Some may think it much slower and more boring than a lot of her tracks, but I think it’s a tidy, sweet track. Lana plainly states her love, urges her man to run away with her and lets her emotions (and voice) do the talking.

Summer Bummer

Lana is as restless as a hot summer in this song and it works. Her brisk-paced yet soft-voiced lyrics and gorgeous imagery gets my pulse racing, and ASAP Rocky’s verse works well for it. Though it would have been interesting to get a full, solo Summer Bummer, Rocky adds an edge to this song and compliments his ‘lover’ well.

Groupie Love

Much more flowery and wide-eyed, Groupie Love is like a contradiction. Lana’s passionate dalliance with Rocky’s god-like star opposes the relationship in Summer Bummer (uncertain) but both are just as secret. Groupie Love has the edge of being ultra-dreamy and demonstrating pure love – and lust – without the messiness.

American

It’s a filler track that has potential for much more. It’s an adorable song, almost cautious in its lead-up to the satisfying chorus, and is filled with Lana tropes galore. Following Lana’s stressed Ride and coming before the darkly sensual Cola, American is a breath of fresh air.

National Anthem

What an anthem it is. It’s simply provocative and one of her most classic tracks. Mixing love, money and fame together with a bit of sex thrown in, National Anthem is precisely what Lana’s America seems to be.

Is This Happiness?

It’s muted, mournful and resentful, questioning a relationship that Lana wants to keep but at the same time doesn’t. This is one of Lana’s best sad songs, tearful as it is still adoring beneath the exasperation.

Art Deco

Art Deco is purely dreamy, a song to bathe in. The lyrics are a little bit simple but Lana’s vocals and the flowing, aquatic music is the perfect hook.

Terrence Loves You

Lana’s jazzy song is delicate, letting only her voice and the saxophone dominate. With references to David Bowie, Lana pines for someone who hurt her badly, but she soothes herself with music the way plenty of her fans do when listening to her records.

White Dress

The vocals were a surprise at first – high, strained whispers – but they definitely grew on me. Painting a picture of young Lana loving life and dreaming of bigger things, it’s nostalgic in lyrics but also reminds of some of Lana’s old work – her unreleased tracks where she would serve coke and fries.

Chemtrails

It gets better as it goes on, growing and twisting from a song to sunbathe to into a restless, darkening track. It has the best vibe for an idealised world with something a bit off, and the imagery of pools, jewels and schools grounds Lana into a (very, very rich) normality rather than the glamorous star she always liked to portray.

13 Beaches

Opening with a quote from Carnival of Souls, Lana takes High By The Beach to the next level. She goes from sticking her middle finger up to the paparazzi to simply wishing she would be allowed to live her life without them hounding her. It’s a matured approach that uses sound interestingly, with beeps and whines adding a strange texture to the song.

Cola

The controversial line was intended as humour, but strangely it works. Even if Cola is satire like Fucked My Way Up To The Top, Lana owns the ‘other woman’, the patriotic singer, the sexy and unashamed woman who says what she thinks without caring of the consequences. It’s an iconic song, even if you have to turn the volume down to not offend.

Black Beauty

The unreleased version is ten times more emotive, with its stripped back and lonesome feel, but the album version is just as good. The ultimately loving but unhappy lyrics are full of stunning imagery, and this is a song that would have been perfect with a music video.

Body Electric

Blasphemous as much as it honours icons, Lana sinfully owns Body Electric. The bridge is a bit out of place but Lana’s eyebrow-raising approach to religion and sexuality is genius.

Off To The Races

The best demonstration of Lana’s vocals, Lana plays the glam girl without a care just as well as the Lolita-type, needy lover in this ode to money and her man. The soaring bridge is stunning, and the swirling violins add an air of Hollywood to it.

Bel Air

Completely overlooked (in my opinion), Bel Air is an apologetic song of redemption, a shining and honest track that is as touching as much as it is hazy and tranquil. With soft piano and the sound of children opening and closing the song respectively, it’s set apart from Paradise with a pureness that Lana pulls off well.

Ultraviolence

Controversial at the time and still controversial now, Ultraviolence is about being weak, about giving in to love no matter how toxic. I don’t entirely support the lyrics but it’s a stunning song, lo-fi enough to feel uneasy and haunting. When you shut off from the lyrics, you get a simply beautiful track.

Pretty When You Cry

Lana’s imperfect, close-to-tears vocals are wonderful in this song, and she really lets her emotion shine through. The pained guitar and Lana’s increasingly distressed singing are enough to get you feeling exactly as she does.

Florida Kilos

Fun. Fresh. Freeing. Lana’s ode to drugs is simply something to dance to and sing, and she somehow manages to get the sunny feeling across even with the Ulraviolence-esque grunginess. It’s one of my favourite songs of Lana’s because it’s just so happy, which is a nice departure from some of her heavier tracks.

Cherry

Many people’s favourite – Cherry. It was my favourite of Lana’s for a long time, dripping with sex appeal and sadness but with a cute dance to compliment it. It had all the right stuff wrapped up in a tidy, compact box and the imagery is lush. I still love this song but since then we’ve had the ‘Cherries’ of her next few albums, Cinnamon Girl and Tulsa Jesus Freak. Like these, Cherry was a song that seemed set apart from the rest of the album and was a novel take on her typical music.

California

Simply for It's meaningful, raw lyrics – promising to be there as soon as he wants her, much like in Old Money – California is a sun-soaked dream with a very honest approach. Lana isn’t completely devastated, or begging for her lover to return. She is sad but realistic, and only wants the best for him. It’s beautiful and sad with a crazily addictive chorus.

West Coast

The shift from fast-paced, grungey, whispered verses to sprawling, drawling choruses – complete with weirdly sexy beeps towards the end of the song – shook us all, and it’s one of Lana’s most interesting songs. Lana honours the West Coast but also her man, in love with the music scene as much as she is with him.

Shades of Cool

The snide verses. The gradually growing music. The guitars. The explosive chorus. The nuclear bridge. The absolutely perfect timing and pacing. Shades of Cool is flawless, another Sad Girl but with much more power, emotion and music.

The Blackest Day

The Blackest Day needs more attention. Cold in places, almost lost, but then wounded in the chorus, The Blackest Day rolls with the emotions and is the kind of song that makes you want to fall apart and sob. Which is good, in a way, as it shows how brilliantly Lana conveys emotion.

Freak

Cult-like and haunting, this is the sexy predecessor of California. Lana swoons and tempts in this track, from her harmonising to her pouting “take it to the back if you really wanna talk” - not to mention the rest of the song in its entirely, all elements married together to create the perfect seductive track.

Music To Watch Boys To

Like Art Deco, Music To Watch Boys To is fairly aquatic and dreamy. Like Freak, it has that cult vibe (the chanting of the bridge). However, this song is perfectly its own, from the mix-up of vocal styles to the shifting tone (sad to smug to obsessively in love).

Norman Fucking Rockwell

What an opener. Norman Fucking Rockwell lets the actual singing and lyrics do the talking, the instrumentals pushed back enough to let Lana’s gut-punching first line (“God damn, man child, you fucked me so good that I almost said I love you”) and her blue yet annoyed insults to her Norman Rockwell do the talking.

Mariner’s Apartment Complex

It’s a song for yourself and for the people you love. Lana is strong enough to take care of herself, to be her own guidance – and to take on her lover’s problems too. It’s an empowering song, so distant from a lot of her discography, and I adore the nautical references and the hopeful message.

Brooklyn Baby

Satire again, but it still works. Lana plays a (fairly cringey) and somewhat self-absorbed, over-confident singer who is too cool for her own boyfriend, but she does it well. From saying how she wished people didn’t judge her, to the freedom the seventies gives her, to the warm guitars and upbeat tone, to the backup vocals of Seth Kaufman, Brooklyn Baby is a song to remember for all the right reasons.

Ride

Ride is one of Lana’s best, if not the best. With her devotion to America and her open thoughts about needing other people to make her feel good and happy, Lana knocks it out of the park with the superb step up from Born To Die.

Video Games

Video Games is just beautiful, plain and simple. Lana’s low voice, telling a flowing story of the simplicities of true love, are removed from her ‘famous singer’ image she constantly tried to portray and instead open up to the heart of what she has always sung about: love and its many forms, good or bad.

Get Free

The new take on Ride was a pleasant surprise. From changing the lyrics to show she wants to move on and be happy to (silently) name-dropping her influences, Lana’s manifesto was a personal song that we could all resonate with. The outro of the beach was the perfect closer to Lust For Life, and Get Free summarised the album which took her from sad girl to someone who could let herself move on.

Heroin

Heroin is no doubt one of her best. It’s tense and dark, referencing Manson and (allegedly) a friend she lost years ago. Lana lets herself dive into her worst thoughts headfirst, not so much dreamy as it is nightmarish, but still comes out the other side dreaming of marzipan and ready to move on.

Tulsa Jesus Freak

The third of the ‘Cherries’, Tulsa Jesus Freak goes straight to a happy place. Where Cherry was angry and Cinnamon Girl was cautious, this track dives into being comfortable with her man. It was just as passionate as the other two songs but about religion, sex and self-satisfaction.

Blue Jeans

Plucking guitars, crying violins and Lana weaving a tale about a gangsta who left her, without explanation, and the hurt that follows. Similarly tied to Dark Paradise, Blue Jeans is the next level of that, her tough-girl spoken verses dismissed as the choruses open up and she pours her heart out.

Cruel World

Lana is on top-form on this song, furious, maddened, sad, taunting – she hits every emotion with style. Lana grows more and more unstable as the song goes on, invoking images of a woman scorned and no longer taking that shit, but she still has a fragility about her as she comes undone that is tied directly to her Ultraviolence era.

Happiness Is A Butterfly

This song goes through many stages. She is unsure, not knowing how her lover feels. She is optimistic, elated as she tries to capture the butterfly. She is dismissive, no longer caring if she might get hurt – she loves too much. She is pissed off, sick of being treated badly. She gives in, simply wanting to dance and just be happy. The flow of this song is constant, a little messy, but it has the beautiful message pinned to it: to keep trying to be happy and do what you love.

Fuck It I Love You

I love the music video version more than the album version, the latter being more stripped back. Fuck It I Love You just gives in to emotion, acknowledging Lana is hurt, her lover is hurt, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t love him. She simply lets that feeling take over.

Cinnamon Girl

Cinnamon Girl touched me like no other Lana song has. Where Cherry was a mixture of emotions, good and bad, angry and loving, devastated and thrilled, Cinnamon Girl was about cautious optimism. Lana urges her lover to give in, and she knows – smiling as she sings it – she wins.

Venice Bitch

Venice Bitch just has that soothing, unhindered feel to it – and not just from the nine minutes of pure music and vibe. Lana dedicates this song to the kind of love that is just wholesome and homely, all whilst touching on her insanity, her ever-lasting love for America and the modern world (her live streams). It feels nostalgic yet contemporary, and adding the “fucks” and “bitch[es]” helps keep this song from being to sugary sweet but instead what it is – an honest love song rooted in the idealised and the realistic.

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stealingpotatoes · 4 years ago

Text

The World As It Should(’ve) Be(en)

(feat. some illustrations with no consistent style that were all done in under ten minutes)

I know I’m not the only one who thought Delilah’s “The World As It Should Be” could have been a lot cooler.., so get this: what if there was another mission to dh2

(trust me it's a cool idea -- if you can’t be bothered to read, just look at the pictures)

So EVERYTHING is the same up until the bit where you go into the portal. You roll up to Death To The Empress thinking that's the last mission... but no! You go in the portal and it gives you your end of mission stats! and you're like ?? wait what i thought i was about to go kill Delilah?

The ACTUAL final mission (and actual Delilah take-out mission) takes place in a Much Better version of The World As It Should Be.

The final mission starts and you land exactly at the port where you start Death To The Empress, but everything is different about Dunwall. everything’s completely off and wack; it's sunny, the streets are bright, everyone looks happy! there are flowers everywhere! It's super aesthetic and pretty. The clothing’s also different from the rest of the game.

You walk through the same streets you walked through in the mission you just did, and there aren't wolfhounds and ppl patrolling the streets, it's not in ruin, it all looks very nice! (you land at the docks for parallels/ to make it very obvious what's changed, not because it makes sense). People are talking; they're happy! there are no guards about at all so you can walk freely and see it all, explore around this world. And the people are talking about how great empress delilah is, mainly.

And as you go through, you find notes, books, and dialogue etc that hints to an entirely different past; in the first parts of dunwall, you find that delilah has been empress for like 26 years! not just a month and a half. The story pieces together as you go along, and you work out that this is a world where Delilah was never thrown out and her father's false promises were fulfilled. This is her world as it should be.

But things keep happening to remind you that it isn't real; perhaps the sky sometimes turns to the Void, with whales floating above you, and things will somtimes momentarily look like a painting of Delilah's, not detailed reality. People’s speech repeats and loops too often. Creepiest of all, people randomly turn to stone, then back out, as if it never happened. If you put the corrupted rune in earlier, there might be more glitches than if you didn't. the glitches get more pronounced/ more obvious as you get closer and everything starts to feel a little too perfect, more and more as you go on. Everything becomes more uncomfortable. (And if you kill people in the world, nobody reacts at all. They just let you do it)

Plus, overall it feels like a very childish city? as if this might all be a little girl's dollhouse, not a real place.

You make your way to the Tower, where you find that there’s a party going on. A really nice party -- puts Lady Boyle’s Last Party to shame. Dunwall Tower again looks super nice and aesthetic. The outfits are again really nice but again rather childish.

A cool glitch here would be the partygoers keep stopping and just looking dead at you w no transition or anything. One second they’re talking, the next everyone at the party is staring straight at you. Then suddenly they’re talking again, as if that never happened. Also a lot of the partygoers faces repeat too often, reminding you that this is a simulation.

In the tower/ closer to the tower, you find more history stuff, but it's more intimate/ detailed i guess? ONE VERY NOTABLE THING YOU FIND is letters from Jessamine (!!!) who is very much alive but is just -- and has always been -- the imperial princess!!!!!!!

The letters mention stuff that shows she and delilah are close. jessamine is in this and not suffering bc it's delilah's childish, perfect world! where nothing went wrong and jess is still her sister and del doesn't hate jess! (this is to kind of push it in your face that Del is Like You i guess, but also that smthn smthn she's still thinking like a little girl bc this all stems off childhood trauma etc)

Tho as people, not the player character, Emily & Corvo are ignored in the world as it should be/ there's no mention of jessamine's family bc this is delilah's world and she's not thinking abt other people.

At the party, you see a woman who you discover is Delilah's mother, alive and well -- which again pushes the whole "this is delilah's perfect world". She talks to you a bit, talks about delilah. Makes you see a different side of her (but you can't be sure it's real; this is Delilah’s perfect, adoring world). She says she ought to go somewhere else. Things keep glitching, whales phase through the walls (it’s super cool).

You continue through the party, when suddenly you see a woman in a dark dress. She stands out from the rest of the party, in their bright colours, and it’s pretty hard to miss her. This woman is none other than Lady Jessamine Kaldwin, your dead mother or secret wife (whose, bear in mind, soul you let go 2 missions ago). Her outfit is similar to the one in Delilah’s childhood painting of her, childishness of Delilah’s world repeated.

The fact Jessamine is here makes Delilah almost more relatable (especially seeing as you just spoke to her lost loved one, her mother). It makes you understand her more because you know the protag wants more than anything to have a world where Jess lives. It helps you to understand why Delilah made this more. Actually, this whole mission is sort of "uhuhuh delilah is actually sympathetic" BUT you can still very much interpret it as her lying to you, because this is a manipulation of reality -- what's to say she isn't still lying?

Anyway, you can go up and talk to Jessamine (the game sort of encourages you to talk to her). But she doesn’t recognise you. Emily and Corvo don’t exist in Delilah’s false world, so Jessamine has never known you. It’s very painful for the protag (you can hear it in their dialogue), because their loved one is alive, but she doesn’t know you. You have dialogue options to try to convince her it’s you/ she knows you, but they don’t work.

While Jessamine doesn’t recognise you, she does say she’d certainly like to spend more time with you. She tries to convince you to stay here, more or less (yes, Inception is one of my favourite movies, what about it?) But the protag says they have a mission/ that they need to see Delilah.

Jessamine will offer to take you to Delilah, which results in a conversation -- will get to that later. The other option is keep winding through the party and to the throne room yourself.

Either way, you get to the throne room, where you find Delilah. Again direct parallel. Same pose as before, but this time, her throne room isn't dark and covered in murderous vines, it's bright and full of adoring people/ partygoers (it’s a sort of parallel to the start of the game too, especially if you walk in with Jessamine).

Delilah doesn’t quite know you’re here. She has a vague idea of who you are, but she doesn’t hate you at all. Breanna is by Delilah’s side, no matter what you did in the Conservatory. However, you don’t see any of the other Coup Crew members there -- this highlights how they were just tools to her, not people she cared for.

So you have three (yes, three — this is where things get even more fun) options here. Lethal, non-lethal, and the option I’ll get to later.

Lethal is straightforward. You kill Delilah however (nobody stops you), and the entire world begins to collapse in on itself/ break apart and very disruptively becomes the Void again. This maybe ends with you having to fight/ assassinate some Delilah copies in the near empty void/ something more similar to the World As It Should Be as we see in game.

Non-lethal is easier if you placed the corrupted rune on the throne in DTTE, but you can still do it otherwise. It would of course be something to do with trapping Delilah in the World -- somehow cutting off the exit before you go so she can’t escape, should she realise this isn’t reality.

If you pick either of these ways, you go through the portal again and return to the depressing and dark Dunwall, your Dunwall, and free your family member. (Or take the throne if you’re in super high chaos, I guess). All goes the same.

Now, the third option. The third option is to stay in the false world. It’s to stay with Jessamine, in this perfect Dunwall. To get this option, you talk to Delilah after Jess takes you to her (though you can still talk to her without Jess guiding you, Jess’ll appear).

Of course, you have the option to talk to Delilah and say this is all crazy, it’s not real, and proceed to do the former two options. But you also have the option to say you understand her or something, and she more or less offers for you to stay.

When you first express interest in staying, the Outsider suddenly appears. He’s there to try to convince you that you need to get rid of Delilah, and that your other family member is frozen in stone back in the real Dunwall. But then what Delilah does, absolute madlad, is make a copy of your family member, but how they looked in DH1, not now (idk HOW, but she does it -- she is god in this part of the Void so she just can). Delilah wants you to stay, especially if you’re Marked. Jessamine also tries to convince you to remain here, and she’s harder to ignore.

You again have the option to reject Delilah’s reality (you get a lot of options to do this), but if you choose to ignore the Outsider, you say something about him “wanting to keep power for himself”, just a lot of insulting really (being about as nice as he was to you, maybe.)e’ll disappear again, unable to stay in Delilah’s part of the Void. And you can stay with your unbroken family, with Jessamine who is alive. And not return to the real world, where you don’t know if your family member will be able to be revived from stone.

(Seeing as Delilah was in Jess’ heart, perhaps she’s able to make a Jess who is almost the same as the Jess you knew)

The third ending plays on the themes of “emily/ corvo has been ignoring the suffering in the Empire”. This is the ultimate way you can ignore it all. You can choose to completely and utterly ignore the now in ruin empire that you walked through earlier, and ignore all the people you promised to help along the way and everything you learnt. Or, you can show you’ve changed since the start, and go back to harsh reality. It won’t be nice, but you can’t ignore your people’s suffering again. Imo it gives the character more of an arc, rather than only having the option to return to the throne.

But yeah, if you pick the third ending, the Outsider of course does his speech. He tells you how the Empire has falled to chaos, fallen to civil war, as everyone vys for the throne and its power. He tells you how your allies fare. And then you see Empress Delilah on her throne in the false world (you see a few glitches to remind you it’s fake). But then you see the protagonist and their family together. It’s a really cute family moment, and aside from the protagonist being the wrong age compared to their family (you’ve got adult Em with dh1 Corvojess, or dh2 Corvo with Jess and 10yo Emily). There are no glitches bc the protag would be ignoring them. Everything seems entirely perfect.

Anyways! I hope you liked this! Don’t get me wrong, I love Dishonored 2, it’s one of my favourite games. I just think the World As It Should Be was a sort of missed oppurtunity for something VERY cool.

#dishonored 2 #dishonored #delilah copperspoon #emily kaldwin #corvo attano #Jessamine kaldwin

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