#doomed by the narrative along with amor

[roboyomo]

apollo sketchy. he is now in your hands take good care of him

[rel124c41]

NOW PLAYING ‘I CAN’T STOP THE LONELINESS’ BY NIGHT TEMPO. jade leech

Good old Jaido is being ironic, acting happy on the worst day of his life. Why would an artist create happy music to pair it with such sad lyrics?

tags: unrequited love, angst and tragedy, hurt no comfort, complicated relationship, regrets & sorrows, friendships, bro doomed by the narrative, happy birthday to me fuckers

word count: 2,087

The first dance goes to Floyd, his brother.

This is only natural because, of course, the bride dances with the groom on their wedding day.

At his seat at the family table, Jade rolls a glass of celebratory champagne in his gloved hand. Freshly poured, it still bubbles with some last desperation. Champagne is a sipping wine but – carbonation burns the bridge of his nose with white pain as he gulps it down. Each organ in Jade stirs like kicked sediment, bubbling over. 

Floyd’s side of the table is weighed down by their father, mother, himself, and grandmother; yours is weighed down by Grim, who is trying to steal extra food off his father’s plate. The reservation hall is drowned in people though, all coming together to support your unity. 

The only one who fails to uphold this support wholeheartedly is one-drink-down-ten-more-to-go Jade Leech, the pillar of brotherhood crumbled and eroded. 

It is my own fault. Jade thinks as his mother pours him another drink. All my fault.

You and Floyd dance to ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’. Sung by Frankie Valli, each lyric and note match up with each other perfectly. There is no juxtaposition between melody and meaning. With you cradled in his arms, Floyd looks down, softly mouthing each word to you. By doing so, he expresses that each word is genuine, engraved in his soul. 

To Floyd, he truly cannot take his eyes off of you, magnetized in. When there is a break in lyrics, he steals June coded kisses – warm like the beginning of summer. You two nuzzle cheek to cheek, amorous. 

As expected, Floyd cannot stay slow-dancing for longer than a minute. Melody starts to change. From sweet, it goes to this jumping excitement as the baritone horn and baritone saxophone intensify. You two start to pull away, independent in your motions. 

Besides the tight hold both your right hands have … refusing to let go … tying the knot.

The music goes: can’t take my eyes off of you, bum bum, whump whump, bam-d bam-d, bum bum, whump whump. You shimmy your shoulders back and forth, a smile eclipsing your face. Floyd throws you a wink, hips swaying side to side. Despite the ridiculousness … no, because of your joint ridiculousness, it amplifies that sentiment of nuptial bliss: you two were destined and designed for each other.  

Moved by music, you even hop in platform heels. Then, blindsided and unexpecting Jade watches, as the beat reaches its peak. You two shout, both of you jumping, but making certain your eyes connect when you shout the lyrics: “I love you, baby!!” The crowd goes wild with cheers, clapping along to the music. 

And if it’s quite alright, I need you baby to warm a lonely night! You and Floyd throw away coordination lessons as the song continues, already the perfect dance partner for each other. 

This entire wedding feels like one big, ironic joke being played on him. 

Jade looks up from his happy, bubbling champagne when Floyd dips you so low that your spine is parallel and supine to the ground, floating only four inches or so. Both of you laugh louder than the music and cheers. A polite smile is still glued to Jade’s face. 

He says words that only the watery ear of his champagne hears, “I should have never introduced them.” Unsaid because he is swallowing his alcohol-scented sorrow: It is all my fault.

The second dance goes to their father.

You seem to remember those coordinated dance lessons afterall. Especially graceful in his father’s imposing arms. Though, you keep your stance far away from his father’s shoes. Trembling at the mere notion of just touching the side of one. Burnished elkan leather that probably costs equivalent to your engagement ring. 

Your engagement ring – ah, what a cursed, loathed object it is in Jade's world. 

He was there when Floyd bought the ring. Do you know this? Jade thinks you probably do not. The proposal spot was all Floyd’s plan while the engagement ring was Jade’s. 

“Get her this one.” Jade had pointed towards an engagement ring with a criss-crossing design on the band and a diamond the size of a dime. “Diamonds are known for their durability.”

Diamonds would be able to sustain through a wild lifetime with Floyd. 

Washing dishes and spreading cream cheese on bagels in the blissful morning light, typing on computers and holding a phone up to your ear to talk in the middle of noon, brushing teeth and reaching under the sheets to stroke teasingly at his navel, moving further down and down, in the blanket of night light. Living a domestic life until you were dissolved into seafoam. All the remains of your love. A single diamond ring on a skeleton finger. Resilient.

Even though one should be the main player in their own life, it seems Jade is destined and designed for the background. 

When Floyd told Jade where he would propose, it kicked his ribs and stomach harder than any alcohol could. ‘I’m already down, why push me further’ is what Jade’s half-a-second wrinkling expression spoke. With the news broken, Jade smiled with hidden rage, “I’m sure she will love that.”

The place Floyd proposed? It was the place Jade introduced you to his twin. 

Isn’t it ironic? Jade knew you first but he will never know you the best. You will reveal your pink love and black secrets to Floyd yet never Jade. Jade: your first friend in Twisted Wonderland, now your brother-in-law. 

The third dance goes to their mother.

You are truly more beautiful than any diamond. You are something that gleams brighter than all the jewelry on the ocean floor or in sunken shipwrecks. When Jade and Floyd were little, they used to steal stuff from each other all the time. Noses would be broken because hey, that shell you found is prettier than mine! It only makes sense that they would find themselves attracted once again to the same, shining allurement. 

They learned to share as all children do. They broke off pieces of a sturgeon’s scales together and shared that. The diamond that is you though? Jade means a lot to you, he knows it; he knows it does not go beyond friendship. 

When you are dancing with his mother, you shine. Laughter pianos out of your mouth in a genuinely happy melody. Unlike him, you do not have to force this mirth. Acrylic nails grab your wrist and twirl you so fast you could puke. Giggles are a kinder substitute. Despite your early anxiety, all is alright now. 

Jade reflects upon that. The only moment you were frowning at that wedding.

He was speaking to Trey Clover when you appeared out of nowhere, platforms clicking. The visage of you stole his breath away; then, you stole him away from his conversation with Clover, apologizing. Jade let himself be dragged by your firm hand. As the tendrils of your hair and wedding veil bounced with your pace, Jade watched the dorsal side of his diamond gleam and raced down to a secluded hallway. 

You turn on Jade, blindly bright. Sevens, you look gorgeous. Even with that frown on your face – how can he help, he wants to soothe it away immediately – you are a sight he will never tire off. 

“Am I doing the right thing?”

For a second, Jade’s world stops. 

He thinks for a second, perhaps he could be the main character. For second, the diamond on your ring finger is not so loathsome to him. Instead of it representing infinity, it turns finite. It is a piece of jewelry you can take off. It takes only a second before you speak again:

“I mean, Floyd has been so great through all this. Super understanding, super wonderful. I mean he’s put up with all my little whims. And he was so excited about seeing the dress! I mean, the tradition of not seeing the bride before the ceremony is boring and super outdated –”

Ah, he is back in the secondary character position. You were only talking about the tradition you brought over from your world. It had a little bit of your culture that you wanted to keep with you – not seeing Floyd until you walked down the aisle. 

Jade is incredibly stupid to think you were talking about the wedding. You do not seem the type to call off a wedding. He smiles and asks, “That eager?”

“Well, I,” you fluster and look away. ‘No. I’m not, but it was the only thing Floyd and I really fought on. I’m starting to realize that it is a bit silly.”

“Keeping tradition is often how we show love for the generations before us.”

You weigh Jade’s words carefully on the scale of your consciousness. He wonders if he spoke his heart if you would take that into consideration or ignore it. After a pregnant silence, you say, “But I don’t really have a family history anymore.”

Jade blinks, surprised, as you continue, “Today, Floyd is going to become my family. Or, well, I’m going to become part of his. I have nothing of myself to offer in terms of tradition anymore.”

“You will just choose to assimilate to the circumstances?”

“Wouldn’t anyone do so for love?”

Those words fall like an anvil on Jade’s heart. “Yes. I fear they might.”

“Fear is such a drastic word!”

Jade laughs as you say, “Ah but I suppose it is true. I’m actually terrified right now.” Your hands fall down to play with the hem of your gown. You run your thumb over the outfit you will only wear once. Such a monumental, life-changing piece of fabric. 

The diamond catches a flicker of light, reflective. Jade asks, “Are you having regrets?” He waits with bated breath. 

“About Floyd? No. Never.” Your expression only solidifies the truth of your words. 

“Then my advice?” You look on with eager eyes. Jade smiles through the pain. “I say you should keep with the tradition. Weddings are a merge of the very notion. When you become a Leech, you still have your identity to care for.” That is not the real reason though. Because, this. This Jade gets to steal: the first sight of you in your wedding dress.

“Thanks, Jade. You’re the best friend – the best brother that a bride could ask for.”

Hand over his heart, concealing everything, “It is my pleasure.”

The final and fourth dance goes to Jade.

Carried by a crowd that rushes, you two dance a mad dance, hands welded together. In your gown, you move like Jade imagines all those sneaky princesses that defied and tricked the Seven must have – well, six princesses. Like an oscillating dream, you lean back, arms out. Laughing, you swing right back into Jade, chest to chest and arms out to the side instead.

When your hearts connect in the dance, Jade thinks he could be foolish enough to steal a kiss. Just one to be a solution to all his troublesome pining. A shade of Venus pink, shining and alluring him into a dumb mistake. 

I had you first but I will not have you last. Or in any ways that matter to your heart. 

The song that plays is a melody that demands dancing. It is a force that moves your hips to sway side to side. Puppets you jump around, platforms banging along with the lyrics. And what tragic lyrics they are. The smile on your face would make him think he was listening to a love song. 

Fluent in quite a few languages, Jade knows better. Though, Jade is unsure why the song is structured like this. Why would an artist create happy music to pair it with such sad lyrics? It is such a cruel juxtaposition. Jade smiles when you twirl yourself so your dorsal side lies against his front, snug in his arms as he dances with you. Those Venus-hued lips pull up in a diamond grin.

Why would an artist create happy music to pair it with such sad lyrics? There is only one answer. Irony. 

Jade laughs and helps you back to your feet when your platforms catch on the bottom of your wedding gown. You thank him so genuinely. Jade never wants this particular melody to end.

Then, it does.

“Can I steal my Shrimpy back,” Floyd jokes, when the song ends. You happily launch yourself into his arms, ready to dance until your feet are sore. Stolen successfully. 

[ilynpilled]

the thing about show jaime is that he underwent severe bowdlerization from the beginning along with the boring stagnation and general arc destruction whatever that kicks in full force later on. like as much as i agree that they removed/ruined many positive aspects of his (and added a bunch of nonsense show only actions, or even changed the core of scenes to force him in certain directions) it also really bugs me how digestible they made him in a lot of ways. nothing burger. like i knew something was not right from the start with that ned/jaime scene. ik george does not have as much beef with that shit as i do but god i hate it i hate it so much. why was he bordering on “villainous anti-hero rival” instead of the genuinely horridly cruel coward he was that had his personal baggage and complex with ned bleeding right into the concern regarding the tyrion situation in abhorrent ways. he is trying to reinforce his moral nihilism in every way. instead they just had a generic ‘muh honorable duel’ cock fight type interaction right on my screen (dumb bc again if he actually kills ned tyrion is doomed). like i can excuse the loss of atmosphere and accuracy like ok budget constraints etc and as much as i could jokingly complain about how jaime would have cut that man down in seconds in a fight idgaf about that it is the fact that the writers were already making him into someone ‘likeable’ and doing it in the most surface level boring way imaginable. it also just makes his character kind of incoherent bc he is supposed to be disillusioned and pretty morally nihilistic. i get that you cannot recreate the type of unveiling of depth that is present in the books because you can’t replicate the pov structure in tv that easily, but you could try to do something. framing is also integral to jaime’s character to me. and they kept dropping in things like this that framed him as more ‘sympathetic’ to hint at depth, but it ultimately made his overall narrative so much more generic. jaime is so much more functional if we do not know him and if he completely buries his ‘self’ and we only see him framed extremely negatively by the protagonists (and by what he presents himself as outside of the context of his perspective, what he is at that point: what his rationalization of his own amorality is). jaime is at his lowest point in that book, his alter-ego, one that ned himself (and what he embodied in jaime’s mind when he was 17) is at the origin of, seeped into his actual identity entirely. that scene in particular is in a lot of ways the epitome of that because it is a confrontation with ned himself. and aerys is such an emphasized underlying tension in that scene in the books. jaime brings it up, ned fixates on his sword and makes the connection: the baggage cannot be removed. it is annoying to me because a part that i really love about jaime’s character construction is perception and how your real self is affected by how you are viewed. how that works so well thematically with this whole thing about heroes, villains, knights, myths, songs, and how figures are framed & idealized/dehumanized. the wildfire plot as a reveal is also about framing and recontexualization. if you contradict so much of this so early and make him into a digestible villainous rival anti-hero in a confrontation with ned of all people it becomes more generic and nothing burger. the scene also just removes the weight of jory’s death in particular. i know thrones was always obsessed with making flawed terrible no good protagonists less flawed and easier to like (and this is not only about morality, it is also about a ‘badass’ factor, i liked that in the books jaime left the scene, he didn’t even do the killing that he ordered [juxtaposing ned on purpose] he wants to shit on everything ned stands for to enable his own moral corruption and reinforce his moral nihilism) bc they were worried about jumpscaring the audience but ugh. ok rant over im convinced im like the only person on this planet who is this insufferably pretentious book purist about this scene of all scenes lmao

[audiofictionuk]

New Fiction Podcasts - 15th August

Mortalverse Audio Dramas New Audio Drama! The Mortalverse is a collection of Audio Dramas based off the world and characters of DC Comics, all interwoven into a single narrative. https://www.buzzsprout.com/2231957 RSS:https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2231957.rss

Depois que Tudo Mudou New Audio Drama! Depois Que Tudo Mudou é uma comédia romântica que acompanha a vida de três adolescentes pretos e queer em Salvador, Bahia, após a pandemia de Covid-19. Os três se tornam amigos e vivem conflitos, descobertas, paixões e aventuras juntos, enquanto ouvem as fitas de Ney e aprendem sobre sua história de amor e luta, enquanto aprendem sobre seu próprio amor e quais as ferramentas que podem ajuda-los a vencer suas próprias lutas internas e externas. A série explora temas como sexualidade, amizade, identidade, sonhos e esperança em mudar a própria história. https://globoplay.globo.com/ RSS:https://www.omnycontent.com/d/playlist/651a251e-06e1-47e0-9336-ac5a00f41628/1382eba6-3fa6-45c8-9a99-b022014ece2c/b4b9a097-b8b9-4520-a38c-b022014ed0d4/podcast.rss

The Fated Doom - A Solo RPG Podcast of Grim and Perilous Adventure New Audio RPG! In this solo rpg podcast of old-school inspired fantasy gaming, we roll the dice to find our stories, using the mechanics and setting of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition and the Mythic GM Emulator to push our narrative forward. The fiction takes center stage as we follow the lives of our protagonists in the Old World and occasionally look behind the curtain to uncover the gameplay generating the twists and turns in our adventure, playing scene by scene to find out whether we can brave the odds and find a modicum of hope in our party’s struggle or, more likely, a sudden and anonymous death in some musty old tomb, our would-be heroes’ songs unsung, their names forgotten. https://thefateddoom.podbean.com RSS:https://feed.podbean.com/thefateddoom/feed.xml

Strange Secrets of Starlight Park New Audio Drama! Inspired by the “Golden Age of Radio”, this mysterious adventure follows the tale of a young boy named Evander who runs away from home and finds himself in a magical long-abandoned amusement park hidden in the deep dark forest. His presence awakens the majesty and charm of this most delightfully peculiar place, Starlight Park, filled with a captivating and eccentric cast of characters. However, this enchanted realm is in grave danger and it is only this one special boy who can save it. Listen in to join him on his adventure! https://www.museumofmakebelieve.org/starlightpark/ RSS:https://www.museumofmakebelieve.org/starlightpark?format=rss

Olympus RPG Group New Audio RPG! Welcome to the Olympus RPG Group podcast. We are a bunch of tabletop role-players sharing our worlds, stories, and shenanigans with anyone willing to come along for the ride. Here you will find our TTRPG campaigns and one-shot adventure sessions. GURPS (the Generic Universal Role-Playing System) is our primary system of choice. This allows our campaigns to span different genres, while using the same rules system. If we’re playing a genre that doesn’t interest you, check back later, you might find something you like. Each campaign runs for 10 to 12 weeks, with occasional one-shots. http://www.olympusrpg.org/ RSS:https://anchor.fm/s/d9eb70c4/podcast/rss

Cognitive Expat New Audio Drama! Step into the enigmatic realm of Cognitive Expat, a captivating podcast that unravels the extraordinary journey of Sabian, the unsuspecting protagonist who finds herself entangled in the intricate tapestry of a parallel universe. Join us as we delve into Sabian’s perplexing experiences, where reality gradually blurs and fractures, leading her on a path of discovery and self-revelation. With each episode, we navigate the labyrinthine corridors of her mind and the alternate world she inhabits, peeling back layers of deception and unveiling the shocking truths that lie beneath. As Sabian’s perception shatters, listeners are invited to question the very nature of existence, traversing the fascinating terrain of uncertainty, illusion, and the boundless dimensions of the human psyche. https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2232280.rss RSS:https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2232280.rss

Kontos de Terror New Audio Book! Coletânea de contos de terror arrepiantes, cada uma com um enredo diferente que vai deixar o ouvinte à beira do medo. Prepare-se para mergulhar em mundos macabros que trazem criaturas sobrenaturais ou até os monstros de carne e osso. https://kvoz.com.br RSS:https://anchor.fm/s/e67243a4/podcast/rss

Termination Line New Audio Book! Short stories by secret masters of fiction. https://shows.acast.com/termination-line RSS:https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/termination-line

Cessis O Início - RPG New Audio RPG! O RPG Cessis O Início é um jogo do tipo RPG de mesa que Anselmo Eller desenvolveu para se divertir com os seus amigos. O RPG já dura mais de 23 anos e a diversão é tamanha que agora foi decidido compartilhar isso com o público. Venha conhecer esse mundo fantástico cheio de criaturas místicas, seres de distintas raças, culturas, planetas e galáxias por uma infinidade de lugares que sua mente ainda jamais ouviu ou pensou ser possível. Se você acha que já ouviu as melhores estórias e já desbravou os mais incríveis mundos cheios de aventuras e mistérios, venha conhecer Cessis O Início. https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/cessis RSS:https://anchor.fm/s/db748f70/podcast/rss

[aion-rsa]

The Weird History of A Chinese Ghost Story Franchise

https://ift.tt/3oonTBD

When A Chinese Ghost Story premiered in 1987, it was already part of a unique category – the fusion of horror, comedy, and Kung Fu. Asian horror films are known as jiangshi, which is the name of a specific spooky hopping ghost found in Chinese folklore that proliferates these films.

Part zombie, part vampire, jiangshi are corpses that are usually reanimated by demons or Daoist sorcerers. They hop along mindlessly with their arms outstretched like sleepwalkers, and feed on the life essence – or qi – of the living. Often a jiangshi is blind but can smell breath. This makes for great comic hijinks as hapless characters struggle to hold their breath while gruesome jiangshi shove their rotting noses close to their mouths trying to pick up the scent.

Comedy is a common horror film device. It releases tension and leaves the audience unguarded for the next jump scare. The addition of Kung Fu is purely Hong Kong and can be traced to Sammo Hung’s groundbreaking Encounters of the Spooky Kind in 1980. Adding martial arts action comes naturally because in Chinese culture sorcerers and exorcists are Daoist or Buddhist Kung Fu masters. In the wake of that film, Kung Fu Horror Comedies became a thing of its own with plenty of franchises, most notably Mr. Vampire.

If the horror, comedy, and Kung Fu menage a trois wasn’t enough, A Chinese Ghost Story was one of the first films of a then-burgeoning period genre called FantAsia. FantAsia is the Chinese answer to sword and sorcery flicks. It includes superhuman Kung Fu (which means lots of wirework and flying about), magic spells and supernatural beasts. FantAsia is based on a longstanding body of fiction in movies and literature known as Wuxia, which means ‘martial heroes.’ 

A Chinese Ghost Story was produced by Tsui Hark, who spearheaded FantAsia with his Zu: Warriors From The Magic Mountain four years prior to A Chinese Ghost Story, and followed with many other FantAsia classics like The Swordsman, Once Upon a Time in China and Green Snake. Ching Sui-tung directed all three A Chinese Ghost Story films and continues to deliver FantAsia films like The Sorcerer and the White Snake, but Tsui is the undisputed father of the genre. 

The Chinese Twilight Zone from the 1800s

A Chinese Ghost Story retells a beloved Chinese tale of star-crossed romance. All these Chinese Ghost Story films are titled Qian Nu You Hun in Chinese, which translates into “beautiful woman dark spirit.” This is the story of Nie Xiaoqian, drawn from a 1740 short story compilation titled Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling. These were stories of the supernatural world with covert social commentary, akin to The Twilight Zone today.

Tales from Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio have been depicted in countless Chinese films and TV shows, most recently in last year’s CGI-drenched FantAsia flick The Knight of Shadows: Between Yin and Yang where Jackie Chan played Pu Songling. Nie Xiaoqian’s tale is a favorite having been retold in over a dozen TV shows and the films mentioned here.  

In the original tale, Nie is a beautiful ghost, doomed to haunt an abandoned temple and hunt for souls for a demon that has enslaved her. She tries to capture a milquetoast travelling scholar, Ning Caichen, who manages to free her from her curse and takes her home to help his sickly wife. After Ning’s wife dies, he marries Nie and redeems her. In Chinese folktales, supernatural beings often strive to become human. It’s a device to analyze what being human means, akin to the journeys of Data, Seven of Nine, and T’Pol in Star Trek. 

There was a notable adaptation of Nie’s tale in 1960. For that film, Qian Nu You Hun was translated as The Enchanting Shadow and was Hong Kong’s submission for Cannes and the Academy Awards. In the lead roles were two of the most popular actors of their generation. Nie was Betty Loh Ti, who died tragically to an overdose at just 31. Betty was a classic beauty, perfect for Nie, and this was her most celebrated role. Ning was Zhao Lei who enjoyed a long career of over a hundred films from the early 50s to the late 80s.

The Enchanting Shadow is a gorgeous film with sumptuous sets and costumes, which is what gave it such international appeal. It plays out almost like a European gothic horror in its gradual pacing and eerie Theremin soundtrack. With its international acclaim, The Enchanting Shadow set the stage for A Chinese Ghost Story 27 years later.

The Chinese Ghost Story Trilogy

A Chinese Ghost Story casts the alluring Joey Wang as Nie and heartthrob Leslie Cheung as Ning. Also in the cast are Wu Ma as the Daoist exorcist Yin and Lau Siu-ming as the androgynous Tree Demoness (Lau is male). The Tree Demoness steals the show like she plucks the hearts of her prey. Shifting between male and female voices, she attacks with entangling roots reminiscent of The Evil Dead (although she penetrates her victims through the mouth not other orifices). Her main weapon is her tongue, which grows so long that it wraps around her prey, cuts down trees and mutates into fangs and tentacles of Lovecraftian proportions.

Read more

Movies

25 Fiendishly Funny Horror Comedies

By Kirsten Howard

Joey is entrancing, a seductive portrait of long flowing locks wrapped in diaphanous silk gowns. Everything is always blowing in the wind like Beyonce’s hair, lending a mysterious grace to Joey in every scene.

And Leslie is adorably naïve. Who can’t but sympathize for him getting smitten by mystical Joey and her luxurious eyebrows, even if she was trying to eat him? A Chinese Ghost Story was pre-CGI so the special effects are dated: stop motion zombies, puppet tongue prosthetics, post-production glowy effects and lots of wire work. But there’s a certain charm to the cleverness of the effects. It’s old school filmmaking and although it looks dated now, it still works.

Three years later, the cast was reunited for A Chinese Ghost Story II. It picks up where the original left off. Leslie is still the innocent Ning, thrust in a horrid world. To show the brutality of his environment, there’s an early homage to Yojimbo, with a stray dog fetching a severed human hand.

Ning is in trouble from the start. He accidently sits down in a restaurant for cannibals, and then gets thrown in jail. After Elder Chu (Ku Feng) helps him escape, Ning gets mistaken for Chu by his gang of rebels. One of the gang members is Windy, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Nie because she’s played by Joey Wang. Ning is smitten again.

New to the cast is another Daoist wizard named Autumn (Jacky Cheung) and his frenetic energy ramps up the comedy and action.

The sequel quickly goes to a lot of fun places with absurd fight choreography, Daoist and Buddhist magic, amorous naked hijinks, crazy flying sword blades and a hysterical giant gloppy demon puppet that’s tenuously held captive by a Daoist freezing spell. And the reveal of the main demon is over-the-top strange and hilarious. 

A Chinese Ghost Story III came out the following year, but it’s a break from the narrative. In the first film, the Tree Demoness was banished for a century, so the threequel skips forward to a century later, outliving Ning and the other good characters. Lau Siu-Ming reprises his Tree Demoness role and Joey Wang returns as another beautiful ghost named Lotus. She’s joined by her sister ghost Butterfly (Nina Li, Jet Li’s wife). Jacky Cheung returns but as a different character, the Taoist exorcist Yin. It’s the same name as Wu Ma’s character in the first film because Jacky plays Yin’s rejected student. 

Replacing the lovelorn Ning is a bumbling Buddhist disciple, Shifang (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) and his master Bai Yun (Lau Shun). Their relationship adds its own comic relief. Early on, Shifang is splattered with blood while witnessing a random roadside sword fight, just like what happened to Ning, while Bai Yun meditates obliviously.

Although the weakest of the trilogy, the special effects have improved over the years. The Tree Demoness’ tongue lickings are more vicious, including a tongue’s eye-view as it deep throats its prey and swims down to pluck out its heart. Lotus attacks with her entangling locks and Butterfly uses telescopic fingernails.

Instead of Daoist sorcery, there’s more Buddhist magic: restraining sutra wraps, flying carpet cassocks, magic malas, and blood so pure that it is gold. And who can forget Bai Yun’s enchanted earlobes? The finale demon reveal is the strange bastard child of a Transformer and a Kaiju that doesn’t quite work but by then, things have gotten so outrageous that it doesn’t really matter.

More Haunting Chinese Ghost Stories

Tsui Hark returned to the romance of Nie and Ning in 1997 for A Chinese Ghost Story: The Tsui Hark Animation. That was during a pivotal year for Hong Kong because it was the handover when it ceased being a British colony and was returned to China. Consequently, Hong Kong cinema was on fire. Filmmakers had no idea what would become of their industry under communist China, so they were producing their edgiest political work as many tried to immigrate to other countries in fear of having their artistic vision oppressed. 

Hark had been working on the project for years and the animated format allowed him to unleash his vision like never before. This story stands independent of the others, but revisits characters developed for the threequel.

Ning and Nie are the same, although Nie is translated as Shine. Nie Xiaoqian translates to “whispering little lovely” so it’s unclear why Shine was chosen for the English language version. Other characters are translated literally like White Cloud and Ten Miles (translations of Baiyun and Shifang). Also appearing are Butterfly and the Tree Demoness, renamed Madame Trunk, along with her creepy bald minor demoness entourage.

Read more

Movies

Zu: The Movie That Inspired Big Trouble In Little China

By Craig Lines

Replacing Master Yin is a new Daoist exorcist named Red Beard who travels in the bizarre magical giant transformer with temple bells for arms, a drum for a torso and barrels for legs. There’s also Mountain Evil, a giant rock star like demon that holds a concert and is obsessed with his hair. There’s a lot of music in this installment.

And Ning has a dog sidekick, Solid Gold, who serves as a comical canine conscience. For the Chinese versions, Tsui Hark voiced Solid Gold, which is funny because he only makes dog noises like barks and whimpers. 

Like the threequel, Ning finds himself in a cannibal restaurant but this time, it’s not in the normal world. This one is filled with demons. A Chinese Ghost Story: The Tsui Hark Animation is a deep dive into the yaoguai world.

Yaoguai means “supernatural and strange.” Fans of Asian cinema know it better from the Japanese term Yokai. It’s the world of magical creatures – fairies, demons, ghosts, immortals, enchanted snakes and foxes – different from the elves and gnomes found in Western folklore.

Hark’s animated film was echoed in Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning Spirited Away four years later. A Chinese Ghost Story: The Tsui Hark Animation transitions between conventional and CGI animation, which was groundbreaking then but comes off awkward today. It has its visionary moments but pales in comparison to the artistry of Spirited Away. 

In 2011, a remake came out, appropriately titled A Chinese Ghost Story 2011 and answered the question “What would A Chinese Ghost Story look like with today’s eye-popping CGI special effects?” Sadly, it doesn’t help despite a stellar cast.

Nie is played by Crystal Liu, who just appeared in the titular role in Mulan, but she falls short. Crystal is China doll cute, but she lacks the mystery needed for a haunting ghost. Ning is Yu Shaoqun. Like Leslie Cheung, Yu is a pretty boy singer, but doesn’t add much to the role beyond eye candy.

The Tree Demoness is veteran actress Kara Hui, who usually delivers gripping performances, but here she reduces the character to a cackling maniacal wicked witch that is strangely unsatisfactory.

There’s some redemption in the Daoist exorcists, which have a completely different and complex story arc. There are two, Yan Chixia, played by a brooding Louis Koo, and the one-armed Xia Xuefenglei, played by Louis Fan. The remake doesn’t capture the charm of the originals and the effects are unimaginative. This isn’t to say that this version is totally negligible. It has some moments like the villagers getting infected after rerouting water from the tree demon’s pool which makes them grow leaves. The villagers provide good comic relief. The sword fights are amusing too. The duel between the two Louises is high flying Kung Fu fun. The film is dedicated to the memory of Leslie Cheung, who tragically committed suicide by jumping off a building in 2003. 

Despite the title, A Chinese Ghost Story isn’t frightening. There’s nothing in any of the films that might keep one up at night. It’s a haunting tale of undying romance, retold with visionary action and hilarious slapstick moments that, apart from some splattered demon ichor, is family friendly, with about the same level of frights as the Ghostbusters franchise. But be warned. A Chinese Ghost Story opens the portal to the psychotropic genre of FantAsia Kung Fu horror comedies. Once entered, there are hundreds of films in this genre that can possess a viewer for months of binging.  

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

A Chinese Ghost Story and A Chinese Ghost Story II are available on Amazon Prime.

The post The Weird History of A Chinese Ghost Story Franchise appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/37EHXtR

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 5 May 2019

Quick Bits:

Age of Conan: Bêlit #3 throws a few road bumps in the way of Bêlit’s plans as the Kushites renege of their deal and her drunken “Captain” continues being a jerk. I’m really liking this exploration of Bêlit’s early days from Tini Howard, Kate Niemczyk, Scott Hanna, Jason Keith, and Travis Lanham.

| Published by Marvel

Archie #704 throws some roadblocks in the way of Archie and Sabrina’s relationship through the form of a “Bachelor”-like charity programme set up by Cheryl. I love the even more stylized pastel colour palette from Matt Herms.

| Published by Archie Comics

Batman & The Outsiders #1 is an entertaining debut from Bryan Hill, Dexter Soy, Veronica Gandini, Clayton Cowles. I’ve not read the arc in Detective Comics that feeds into this, but this first issue provides enough information for new readers now to be lost and gives good incentive to check out what’s come before. Great art from Soy and Gandini, with an interesting look inside a team and a compelling start to a mystery about the last survivor from a metahuman generating factory.

| Published by DC Comics

Bettie Page #4 concludes the QE2 aliens caper. Love the art from Julius Ohta, Ellie Wright, and Sheelagh D.

| Published by Dynamite

Bronze Age Boogie #2 continues the strangest Doom Patrol story as the Martian invasion angle has taken hold in the future and a motley crew of heroes bands together to try to stop them. Stuart Moore, Alberto Ponticelli, Giulia Brusco, and Rob Steen are playing with some interesting cross-media influences to tell a highly entertaining tale. It’s rounded out with the usual goodies in the form of prose, letters, and what’s probably my favourite of the back-up strips so far, Major Ursa, from Tyrone Finch, Mauricet, Lee Loughridge, and Rob Steen.

| Published by Ahoy

Conan the Barbarian #6 sees Jason Aaron, Mahmud Asrar, Matthew Wilson, and Travis Lanham tell a story of Conan’s frustrations as a mercenary in the skirmishes between Turan and Stygia. People constantly underestimating Conan is always a fun story.

| Published by Marvel

Deadly Class #38 sees Marcus and Maria return to King’s Dominion. It’s kind of messed up seeing the new status quo, but at the same time the tension that Rick Remender, Wes Craig, Jordan Boyd, and Rus Wooton build here between to old Legacy kids and Marcus & Maria feels like it’s going to explode, suggesting something even worse for the characters is coming soon. It’s very captivating.

| Published by Image / Giant Generator

Detective Comics #1003 reveals the identity of the Arkham Knight. It’s not really anyone you could have possibly guessed, but an interesting addition to Batman’s rogues gallery. Also the cult surrounding the Arkham Knight is certifiably insane. Gorgeous artwork again from Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, and Nathan Fairbairn.

| Published by Marvel

The Empty Man #7 goes full Clive Barker as we get an explanation for what the Empty Man really is and how he continues to manifest himself upon reality. I know I keep saying it, but the body horror brought about in the art from Jesús Hervás and Niko Guardia just can’t be stressed enough. Every issue they seem to outdo themselves with creepy and intriguing designs.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Eve Stranger #1 looks to be another winner for Black Crown. This first issue sets up the titular character as a secret agent who seems to need to reboot her memory every week. Why, exactly, is left unknown, but that’s part of the fun. David Barnett, Philip Bond, Eva de la Cruz, and Jane Heir do a wonderful job here with the action and intrigue. Also it’s great to see Bond doing more espionage tinged action, his art always looks so great telling these kinds of stories.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

Excellence #1 is a thoroughly excellent debut from Brandon Thomas, Khary Randolph, Emilio Lopez, and Deron Bennett. The world and character building in this first issue is impeccable and the art from Randolph and Lopez will just blow you away. Incredible development of a magic-based society and the class structure therein.

| Published by Image / Skybound

The Flash #70 begins “Year One” promising new insight and occurrences during Barry’s origin story. Given that the last time this happened his mother was murdered, changing the timeline and resulting down the line in Barry trying to fix it with Flashpoint, anything’s possible. The real draw, though, is the stunning artwork from Howard Porter and Hi-Fi. Porter is really giving this his all and it shines through wonderfully.

| Published by DC Comics

Hawkman #12 brings Bryan Hitch’s tenure on the series to an end with the conclusion to “Cataclysm”. This is an excellent, action-packed final confrontation between the legion of Hawkmen and the Deathbringers, setting up a whole Hawkman for possibly the first time and hints as to worse things waiting on the horizon.

| Published by DC Comics

Infinite Dark #6 amplifies the terror and chaos as the dead-ish things exposed to the void start spreading fear and panic throughout the station. Ryan Cady, Andrea Mutti, K. Michael Russell, and Troy Peteri ratchet up the horror here.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Invaders #5 raises more questions after we thought some things were coming into focus in the previous issue, as Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno, Butch Guice, Alex Guimarães, and Travis Lanham continue “War Ghosts”. The tension here on the brink of all out war between the US and Atlantis is incredible, and there are more interesting twists that suggest something far more sinister occurring.

| Published by Marvel

Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Sirens #2 features a gorgeous adaptation of the story of Chinese mother goddess, Nuwa, by Chan Chau with letters by Jim Campbell. The artwork is amazingly beautiful supporting a very sweet tale.

| Published by Boom Entertainment / Archaia

Justice League Odyssey #9 opens up an interesting thread that Starfire, Cyborg, and Azrael may be unduly under the influence of Darkseid. Dan Abnett is setting up some simmering conflict between Jessica Cruz and the rest of the team here, along with quite a few occult catchphrases thrown in to help amplify the mood.

| Published by DC Comics

Lodger #5 is the end to this excellent crime drama from the Laphams and it is all kinds of messed up. We learn what really happened to Ricky’s family and...yeah. This has been a strange, at times disturbing, ride and they stuck the landing.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

Murder Falcon #8 is the epic conclusion to this series as Jake and Murf take on Magnum Khaos. Between this series and Extremity, Daniel Warren Johnson has proven himself time and again as a master storyteller and it shines through with the heartrending end to this story. This one goes up to eleven.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Red Sonja & Vampirella Meet Betty & Veronica #1 is an interesting mash-up of the three properties from Amy Chu, Maria Sanapo, Vinicius Andrade, and Taylor Esposito. Some nice fish out of water humour as Sonja and Vampirella acclimate to Riverdale.

| Published by Dynamite

Savage Sword of Conan #5 concludes “The Cult of Koga Thun” from Gerry Duggan, Ron Garney, Richard Isanove, and Travis Lanham. Some interesting twists in this finale of what has been a highly entertaining adventure.

| Published by Marvel

She Could Fly: The Lost Pilot #2 sees Martín Morazzo cut loose again with some of the designs and presentation for Luna’s dreams and schizophrenic episodes.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Star Wars: Age of Rebellion - Boba Fett #1 features some incredibly rich artwork from Marc Laming and Neeraj Menon. Great detail throughout this story spotlighting Boba Fett’s cold, silent amorality.

| Published by Marvel

Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #32 begins “Unspeakable Rebel Superweapon” as Aphra and her young protege steal the titular MacGuffin. There’s some interesting flashbacks to Aphra’s youth and it’s great to see Caspar Wijngaard doing more Star Wars art, even if just the flashbacks.

| Published by Marvel

These Savage Shores #4 is a sumptuous feast. Ram V, Sumit Kumar, Vittorio Astone, and Aditya Bidikar are elevating the artform of comics which each subsequent issue. The epistolary narrative, the horror and mythological themes, the plays upon the nine-panel grid, the shadowy character designs, the lush and spooky colours, the overlap with historical events, the unique approach and detail in each character’s missive...just one of these elements would result in an entertaining tale, this comic mixes all of them into a superlative package. You’re doing yourself a disservice if you’re not reading this series.

| Published by Vault

The Unstoppable Wasp #7 throws Nadia a birthday party, wherein she learns of her relations to what seems like half of the Marvel universe. Also, issues a death threat to Tony Stark. It’s cute, from Jeremy Whitley, Alti Firmansyah, Espen Grundetjern, and Joe Caramagna.

| Published by Marvel

War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas #1 sets up the conflict in the Pacific with Sindr while introducing a swath of new international characters to the Marvel universe. Also, Amadeus Cho continues to be a massive idiot, even at his shrunken size. Great art from Gang Hyuk Lim and Federico Blee.

| Published by Marvel

Wonder Twins #4 sets up the twins with a pair of dates, allowing for some hilarious misadventures. Also, Polly seems to have a weird obsession with testicular cancer. Mark Russell, Stephen Byrne, and Dave Sharpe continue the fun, even though this one kind of takes us away from all ages material.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Wyrd #3 opens up the messy can of worms of Wyrd’s past further as a figure out of the past he can’t remember emerges for a “meet”. Great tone and atmosphere for this story from Curt Pires, Antonio Fuso, Stefano Simeone, and Micah Myers.

| Published by Dark Horse

X-Force #7 begins “The Counterfeit King” from Ed Brisson, Dylan Burnett, Damian Couceiro, Jesus Aburtov, and Joe Caramagna as past and present threaten to collide. Some nice character development for the team as they wait for Deathlok to do his thing.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Accell #20, Age of X-Man: Apocalypse & The X-Tracts #3, Battlestar Galactica: Twilight Command #3, Betty & Veronica #5, Black Hammer: Age of Doom #10, By Night #11, Captain America #10, Captain Marvel #5, Catwoman #11, Curse Words #21, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #6, Gunning for Hits #5, Hack/Slash vs. Chaos #5, Hit Girl: Season Two #4, House of Whispers #9, Ice Cream Man #12, James Bond: Origin #9, The Last Space Race #4, The Long Con #9, Marvels Annotated #3, Oberon #4, Ronin Island #3, Section Zero #2, Shadow Roads #7, Six Days, Spider-Man/Deadpool #50, Star Wars Adventures #21, Supergirl #30, Symbiote Spider-Man #2, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #44, Unnatural #9, Vindication #4, War of the Realms: Journey Into Mystery #2, Wasted Space #9, Waves, Wonder Woman #70

Recommended Collections: Accell - Volume 4: Slipstream Dream, Beyonders - Volume 1, Blackbird - Volume 1, Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor - Volume 1, The Freeze - Volume 1, Justice League - Volume 2: Graveyard of the Gods, Pearl - Volume 1, Quantum & Woody! - Volume 2: Separation Anxiety, Red Sonja/Tarzan, Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider - Volume 1: Spider-Geddon, Star Wars: Age of Republic - Villains, Thor by Jason Aaron: Complete Collection - Volume 1, The Woods: Yearbook Edition - Volume 1

d. emerson eddy feels like a frappuccino.

[mittensmorgul]

7.12, Time After Time

Coulda made that my spiral narrative tag...

Worth watching regardless because Dean In That Suit. You KNOW he's still got that suit somewhere. Probably in his secret closet room in the bunker hanging between his outfit from 1861 and his Mr. Rogers sweater collection.

So Dean gets pulled into the past and has to find a way to communicate with Sam in the future because he literally has ONE CHANCE to survive this and make it back to the proper time. Once again, s7 lays out a puzzle to solve: On Dean's end, learning everything he can about Chronos and then finding a way to convey that information to Sam 68 years in the future, and on Sam's end learning everything he can about Chronos as well as the exact time and date from which to summon him-- at the moment he's attempting to kill Dean in 1944, so that he'll bring Dean along for the ride with him to the present time.

Possibly the most interesting thing to me in this episode, though, was that Chronos is compelled to tell you your future when he's summoned, and even dying he uses the chance to tell Sam his future, because he was just that mean:

Chronos: You want to know your future? I know your future. It's covered in thick black ooze. It's everywhere. They're everywhere. Enjoy oblivion.

So according to Chronos, they were doomed. The Leviathan would win, humanity would be reduced to livestock and devoured. Because we all know that's exactly what happens, right? >.>

So was this prophecy delivered as a warning? As a prod to subvert it? I mean, thinking back to 4.15, Cas implied this was one of Dean's inherent traits:

DEAN: If you want our help, why the hell didn't you just ask? CASTIEL: Because whatever I ask, you seem to do the exact opposite.

How many times has Chuck said something along the lines of "this isn't supposed to happen!" or "I didn't write this!" or whatever? It's been... more than a few. Metatron, too, wrote something very different happening in s9. He'd been writing himself as the hero, and ended up defeated by his own words. There's the warning Death gave about the Darkness:

DEATH (standing up): Before there was light, before there was God and the archangels, there wasn't nothing. There was the Darkness, a horribly destructive, amoral force that was beaten back by God and his archangels in a terrible war.

Remember the post s10 hellatus memes? Flashlights were gonna be key to defeating the darkness. Reaction comics were just... black rectangles with speech bubbles. Wild times...

Then the opening scene of 11.01 was very dark... for about 30 seconds before Sam woke up in the bright sunshine and hiked through pretty, shiny meadows to find Dean lying face down in some flowers. Very... not dark. But the contrast was there, in the season where there was no "good vs evil," not really. It was light vs dark, and the only possible resolution was finding balance. I don't even know where I'm going with all of this. It's all rambly at this point. :P

I guess the takeaway here is the universe has been forcing them through these scavenger hunts for a really long time, and it took until 14.20 for them to throw down the weapons and refused to play anymore. Kinda hard to get in the spirit of the game when you know it was rigged from the start...

[certamen-the-novel]

I’m not aromantic.

I Googled that word that Cass used in practice. “Aro.” I didn’t know what it meant, but I didn’t want everyone else to know that, so I played along. Then when I was alone, it took me a few tries to figure out how to spell it. “A-row?” The fact that it was in a conversation about sexuality helped for context.

“Context” comes from two Latin roots, the verb texere, which means “to weave,” and the prefix con-, “together.” So context is what weaves things together so they make sense.

Sorry, I do that sometimes. I really like word roots.

“Aro” is, in fact, short for aromantic, a word I had never seen before today. It derives from the Greek a- prefix, meaning “not,” and the English word romantic, a Latin-rooted word with its own interesting history of change: it originally meant Roman-ness, then got repurposed to describe the family of languages derived from Latin, then narrowed to refer specifically to the French language, then narrowed further to describe verse narratives popular in France which often featured love themes, before ballooning out to its current connotation of love and desire.

This is what I love about etymology, the history of words. Words have biographies that are almost as interesting as people’s. And I love to make connections. I like to see that “aromantic” is as related to “asymmetrical” and “amoral” as it is to “Romanize” and “romaine” lettuce. My lexicon (Greek root, “word book”) is like a web of interrelation (Latin root) in my mind, with no word standing on its own. Except “flabbergast,” which has no known etymology.

My love of connections is why I love History. There’s the old cliché, “Those who do not learn from History are doomed to repeat it.” As if we study History in order to predict the future. And that’s not it at all. It’s that tracing all the connections between people and cultures and events is the only way to actually understand the present.

Cliché is a French onomatopoeia for the sound made by a printing press.

I’m sorry, I wandered way away from my point. That’s the thing about my love of connections: I’ll chase them down strange alleyways and end up frustrating whoever is trying to talk to me. I’ll try to stick to the topic at hand.

--Brian tries to explain himself, from Certamen by Michael Adderley

[londontheatre]

For their Spring Season 2017, Ovalhouse have returned to their roots of home-grown talent, staging urgent, radical theatre that continues to inspire. This will be Owen Calvert-Lyon’s first major season as Head of Theatre and Artist Development at Ovalhouse – London’s longest serving commissioning theatre.

This season provides an imaginative and innovative collection of shows including TOOT’s exploration of the dark heart of commercial culture, the discovery and connection of female ancestors in Perfectly Imperfect Women and Custody’s exploration of suffering from police injustice. Alongside the 130th show by People Show and two magically wonderful family shows providing some half term fun, the season concludes with two Edinburgh Festival Fringe hits – JOAN, a gritty and tender re-telling of Joan of Arc, and Eurohouse – a darkly comic view of the Greek financial crisis.

Owen Calvert-Lyon, Ovalhouse’s Head of Theatre & Artist Development, comments, “It is such a privilege to create a theatre programme for this iconic venue. Ovalhouse has an extraordinary history as a home for radical theatre. In the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s all of the revolutionary theatre movements had a home here. From Gay Sweat Shop to the Black Panthers, Ovalhouse ensured that marginalised voices and ideas were brought into the mainstream. My first season intends to continue that great legacy; ensuring that new artists, with new things to say, have the space in which to say them, to ensure that we take risks on both art and artists. Our job is to ensure that we create an environment in which the next radical theatre movement, when it comes along, is recognised, nurtured and championed.”

The captivating Spring Season 2017 is as follows: Focus Group* by TOOT (31 January – 4 February, 7.30pm) *or How to Stare Down and Transfigure Loneliness An absurd comedy with a dark heart, exploring the absurdity of modern life and consumer culture with humanity and humour. It is dark, unsettling and playful. Through TOOT’s distinctive style of interactive performance, Focus Group* celebrates the human drive to continue in what can feel like an increasingly remote reality.

Moonshine’s Entirely Necessary Adventure by Magic Maverick (13 – 14 February, 2pm) Moonshine is a girl of thirteen with silver skin and a fierce thirst for adventure. She spends most days battling the armies of doom in the safety of her own mind, but as a powerful voice turns her forest home into a place of fear, she starts to ask questions which make the adventure dangerously real. Filled with live music, shadow puppetry and clowning. For ages 8+

The Many Doors of Frank Feelbad by Bootworks (16 – 19 February, 11.30am, 2pm) Frank is an inquisitive chap with a big problem; what’s happened to Mum? Join Frank on his adventure to find her. There’ll be scavenger hunts, puzzles to solve and even some dancing to dub-step. Dealing sensitively with grief and loss, the show asks how we cope when things go missing. For ages 5+

The Last Straw by People Show (21 – 25 February, 7.30pm) Part of People Show’s 50th Year Celebrations, this is an untamed journey through internal politics, the wild west, the plagues of humankind and disaster movies. Sometimes bad decisions have to be made. Sometimes there has to be a voice that tells the most lies. Sometimes there is no light at the end of tunnel. Sometimes there…

Perfectly Imperfect Women by Wizard Presents (8 – 10 March, 7.45pm) Multi-award-winning storyteller Danyah Miller explores the complex and often imperfect relationship between mother and daughter. Created to celebrate International Women’s Day 2017, this inspirational biographical wonder-tale tells the story of five generations of women, beginning with Danyah’s Great-Grandmother.

Custody by Urban Wolf (28 March – 8 April, 7.45pm) Another young black man dies in police custody. Apparently no-one is to blame. Custody, a play created by young black performer Urban Wolf and written by veteran Tom Wainwright (Banksy: the Room in the Elephant), is a contemporary fictional narrative about the moment a young black man’s life is taken from him by the enforcers of a system that is meant to be there to protect him.

JOAN by Milk Presents (11 – 22 April, 7.30pm) An earthy story of courage, conviction and hope, this is Joan of Arc. Packed with guts and heart, JOAN is performed by drag king champion Lucy Jane Parkinson, history’s greatest gender-warrior takes to the stage, dragging up as the men she defies in this smash hit show. What happens when a disguise becomes something a lot more real and you have to fight for who you really are?

Eurohouse by FellSwoop Theatre (25 – 29 April, 7.30pm) Two performers – one Greek, one French – dance and shout, cry and sing, agree and disagree, about life in the Eurohouse. Made in transit between Greece and the UK, Eurohouse is a darkly comic look at the EU’s founding ideals and what got lost along the way.

Ovalhouse’s Spring Season also includes eight FiRST BiTES; these new works-in-development are a chance to see raw new ideas by a diverse group of artists. The new FiRST BiTES are: I am a Tree by Jamie Wood (1 – 2 February, 7.45pm) Jamie Wood returns to where he was born to try to find out the valuable lesson his granddad had taught him; a homemade pilgrimage, a return to roots, slow motion time travel. The show will be something else entirely.

A FiRST BiTES Triple Bill by Corali (28 February – 1 March 7.45pm) New studio works comprising solo, duet and ensemble pieces following a recent research and development phase that includes collaborations with Jasmine Wilson (Studio Wayne MgGregor), Gloria Sanvicente Amor, Intoart and Tate Exchange. Devised by Corali’s core group of dancers who all have learning disabilities.

The Dark by Nick Makoha (2 – 4 March, 7.45pm) A new one-person live literature experience written and performed by award-winning poet Nick Makoha. What unfolds is a story of those who find themselves exiled, with allegiances split between their birthplace and their new country.

Milky Peaks by Seiriol Davies (9 – 11 March, 7.30pm) A bad man is murdered in a niceish hotel, an arts administrator hides a terrible Mafia-based secret (she was in the Mafia), an evil councillor makes a land grab, and – at the centre of it all – a ropey drag queen fights for survival in a changing world.

Pot by Ambreen Razia (30 March – 1 April, 7.45pm) From the team who brought you The Diary of a Hounslow Girl, writer Ambreen Razia returns with her second play. Pot is an exploration of the landscape of Britain’s invisible children, adrift in the care system and inadvertently impacted by gang culture. A generation of young men find themselves burning with resentment without the money, power and sex they think they deserve.

The Believers Are But Brothers by Javaad Alipoor (7 – 8 April, 7.45pm) A generation of young men find themselves burning with resentment without the money, power and sex they think they deserve. What happens when the crisis of masculinity leads you into an online world of fantasy, violence and reality?

Quarter Life Crisis by Yolanda Mercy (13 – 15 April, 7.45pm) Ovalhouse Associate Artist Yolanda Mercy is back with a coming of age comedy which features live music and audience participation. This is an upbeat take on the millennial phenomenon of big dreams, no cash, YouTube tutorials and going viral.

So Many Reasons by Racheal Ofori (20 – 21 April, 7.45pm) Melissa reflects on her relationship with her own mother, and on how much – or how little – the world has changed for women. So Many Reasons is a new work inspired in part by Anna Reading’s A Letter to my Dearest Daughter and fuses narrative and poetry.

Ovalhouse, 52-54 Kennington Oval, London SE11 5SW http://ift.tt/OfM9CQ

http://ift.tt/2iUxvTj LondonTheatre1.com