#especially when it comes to haunting in Venice

[poirot]

anyone here read agatha christie and wants to let me know what they thought about ‚a haunting in venice‘ (or any of the other kenneth branagh christie adaptions)

[lovelytsunoda]

kill of the night // lando norris

summary: she hates parties. especially quadrant parties hosted in large creepy mansions. at least the hot pirate hosting the party is into her, or she would have left ages ago.

pairing: lando norris x female reader

warnings: consumption of alcohol, lando cannot take anything seriously to save his life, the eerie feeling of being watched (anxiety or haunted house, you decide), pirate themed sexual innuendos, mention of spiders (arachnophobia warning!) reader has mild autism

the lights were low and the music loud as she pushed her way through the crowd, desperate for a drink and a moment of peace. the music was bad (some club mix of the rocky horror picture soundtrack) and all she wanted was for her massive headache to go away.

too bad she didn’t drink often. maybe something stronger than a hard lemonade would make this evening bearable.

she sat at the bar, feeling the eerie sensation of all eyes on her as she scanned the sea of bodies for the slew of other glittery fairy wings she had arrived with. she didn't even know some of the girls that well. all of the girls from her program had been invited, and she was trying to be a team player.

one girl was making out with a stranger, two others playing beer pong. the rest were lost to the crowd, dancing in ways that would definitely have disappointed their parents.

when the tuxedoed bartender came back with the crystal tumbler that had her vodka lemonade in it, she frowned at the tiny plastic sword, a gummy worm speared through it.

she just wanted a normal fucking drink.

sighing, she grabbed the glass and got to her feet, sending one last glance to the other girls before she started making her way towards the exit, mindful of the massive plastic wings strapped to her back. she had half a mind to just rip them off and throw them into the nearest trash can.

the outside hallway wasn't much better, and she found herself reaching into her purse for her airpods, less for music and more to just to cancel out the noise. she extracted the green plastic sword, taking the gummy worm off the plastic and dropping it into her mouth. the dj was playing ghostbusters, and she wanted nothing more than to be back home in her small, peaceful dorm, wrapped in her fleece blanket and reading 'love in the time of serial killers', or in the warm movie theatre watching 'a haunting in venice'.

instead she was here.

folding the small sword over in her hands, she grabbed her drink from the side table and made her way down the dreary hallway to get some fresh air.

the outside of the mansion was peaceful, if not a little disused. the hedges were neatly trimmed, the flowers well tended to as she sat down on a stone bench, the cold from the surface seeping in through the fabric of her dress as she took a sip of her drink.

truth be told, the peaceful atmosphere of the large, creepy mansion had been one of the few reasons she had agreed to come, living out her 'haunted mansion' fantasy: ghost who's been pining after her for centuries, the promise of eternal love. all but the evil ghost butler trying to kill her.

"the party's inside, you know!" a shout carried over the breeze, bristol accent sharp.

she yelped, dropping her drink and watching the glass shatter against flagstone.

"jesus! you can't just sneak up on people like that!" she shouted, yanking out her earbuds. "what is wrong with you, you fucking wanker!"

she got to her feet, spinning around to see who had spoken. he was tall enough (taller than her at least), dressed in a billowy white shirt and leather vest, leather breeches hugging his impressive thighs, a mane of curly brunette hair on the top of his head, and a fake sword strapped to his thigh.

at least, she hoped it was fake.

"woah, hang on." he frowned, coming closer to her. he looked like a prince, straight out of a disney movie. "i didn't mean to scare you."

could this be him? the ghost lover from her haunted mansion fantasy?

"it's fine. i guess i'm just jumpy. mansions that are almost certainly haunted will do that to a girl." she took a step back, trying to avoid the smashed glass as she turned, intending to go back to the stone bench before her wing got caught on a hedge. she cursed, resisting the urge to yank at the iridescent plastic.

"let me help." the stranger encouraged, coming closer to the hedge.

she shook her head. "it's fine, just let me take it off my back."

she gently eased out of the elastic straps securing the wings to her body, attempting to make it happen as gracefully as possible. one wing snapped back and smacked her in the face, and she tried to shake it off as she moved away, allowing them to dangle dejectedly from the hedge.

the prince came to stand beside her, his cologne overloading her senses as her reached over her to help disentangle the wings, his body heat against her back making her skin flush.

"here you go." his voice was soft as her passed her back her costume.

she could have left the wings there, she'd only paid three dollars to make them. she folded them up, placing the scratchy plastic on the stone bench before looking down at the shattered crystal.

“sorry about the glass. you’ll probably have to pay for it, being the host and all.”

“how did you know I was the host?”

her face blushed pink “havw you ever seen the haunted mansion? the original one with eddie murphy and wallace shawn?”

she gave him an opening, ready to hide her face behind her hands if it didn’t work out. there was a slight pause, and then he burst out laughing.

“you think that I’m some dead ghostly prince searching for his lost love?” he sputtered. “hate to break it to ya, tinker bell, but I’m not a prince, and I am very much alive.”

“I never said you were dead!” she crossed her arms indignantly, stomping one sneaker-clad foot against the flagstones.

chuckling, the suitor extended his hand. “I’m lando.”

“y/n.” she sighed, reaching to shake his hand. “sorry about the hostility, I just felt overstimulated in there. it’s the ‘tism in me.”

lando gestured for her to sit on one of the benches, looking out at the algae-caked fountain. it smelled earthly, yet his cologne was still all she could comprehend.

“have you had a chance to explore the house? based solely on your haunted mansion statement, I feel like that would be something you were in to.”

“it’s the only reason I came, truth be told. I hate parties, but some of the girls o study with thought it would be a good idea. what i didn’t realize was that we’d all be packed into the ballroom and pretty much the rest of the house would be off limits.”

lando laughed, straddling the bench next to her, one leg on either side. not very prince-like, if you had asked y/n. “well, I didn’t pick the venue. you can thank max and steve for that.”

“I don’t know who either of those people are.”

“I work with them in quadrant, they’re hosting this thing. I’d stepped out for a minute to take a business call.”

she snorted. “you? a business call?”

“what’s so hard to believe about that?” lando feigned offence, smacking his chest with his palm. “and why did your mind immediately go to the haunted mansion when you saw me? I was going for less master gracey and more will turner.”

“please, you’re jack sparrow at best. I can tell you bought your little pirate outfit at spirit halloween. and if my first instinct was that you were dressed as a prince, something is missing.”

she propped one leg lengthwise on the bench, tucking one sneaker-clad foot under the other, smoothing her dress over as to not give the man in front of her a glaring look at her dusty pink panties (although an intrusive thought did prompt her to wonder what would happen if she did).

“have you had a chance to explore the mansion yet?” she asked the man. well, the boy. he couldn’t have been too much older than she was.

lando shook his head, a few errant curls falling from his shaggy hair and over his eyebrows, and something about the way he shook his head to clear the curls from his eyes had her mouth watering. she wondered briefly what it would be like to kiss him.

“i saw a bit of it when we were bringing everything in. it’s a maze of service tunnels and secret doors. i actually got myself locked in a cellar.” lando laughed, and the butterflies erupted in her stomach, a giddy feeling spreading through her bones. “and that’s why ria thought it would be a good idea to cordon off most of the house. so that idiots like me didn’t get themselves locked in anywhere they couldn’t get out of.”

she raised an eyebrow, almost questioning exaclty how th man in front of her got himself locked in a cellar before she thought better of it. “so you know where all these secret passageways are?”

lando wagged his eyebrows. “is that something you’re into?”

“why do you have to say it like that?” she giggled, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth when she remembered how she usually looked when she laughed. “you make it sound weird. like a sex thing.”

“well, it’s not a sex thing,” lando reassured, stepping off the bench like he was dismounting a noble steed. “unless you want it to be? I’d be down to, uh, shiver your timbers in a secret hidden alcove.”

“not if you make bad pirate puns.” she rolled her eyes, taking landos extended hand in hers and allowing him to help her up. “but we can see where the night takes us.”

she shouldn’t have said that. why did she say that? would he think she was propositioning him?

the wind was breezy on her bare legs as lando led her across the moonlit backyard, pushing open the same door they had just come through. the family photos on the wall were old and faded, frames of orange gold around them. lando ushered her up the stairs, clouds of dust flying off the carpet as they ascended. the further up the stairs they moved, the mustier it smelled.

lando stopped her on the landing, hardwood covered in a threadbare oriental carpet, everything covered in a fine layer of dust, save for the cracked mirror.

"press on the edges of the fame, but stand back." lando suggested. "max brushed up against it earlier and almost got flung off the landing. it's a service entrance door."

"sick." she mumbled, pressing her slender fingers along the filigree gold frame. "just like this? do you remember where the latch was?"

"if i did, i'd have opened the door myself." he shrugged.

all at once, she felt the mirror give way under her hand, a clicking sound barely audible as the door began to move. lando reached for her hand, gently pulling her out of the line of fire.

"that was fucking awesome." she giggled, pulling her phone out of her purse and switching on the flashlight. "you know we need to go in there now, right?"

"just as long as you can get us back out." lando pleaded. "i don't want to die in a service tunnel."

she lead the way up the stone staircase, her flashlight illuminating the pounds of dust and cobwebs (as well as the occasional lump that might have been a dead rat, but she actually didn't want to know).

"if i see any big ass spiders in here, killing them is your job." she tried to keep her voice steady, but the thought of a massive spider crawling up her leg was not her idea of a good time. in fact, it would likely send her into hysterics.

they reached the top of the winding staircase, coming to rest in front of a large wooden door with a wrought iron knocker shaped like medusa's head. the hinges were slightly rusted, and it was clear that nobody had come up here for a while.

until them, of course, their footsteps clearly imprinted in the dusty stairs below.

"well, it would be a shame to turn back now." lando remarked, reaching for the door handle. it was stiff, but the room was unlocked.

she followed lando inside, reaching blindly for the old dial lightswitch on the wall. the room flickered to life, lit by two dull bulbs hanging from the ceiling.

a large bookshelf took up one wall, a dust and dirt caked window overlooking the grounds on another, equipped with a window seat for reading. a small crosley record player sat on a teak stand, pressed up against a wall painted an off cinnamon color. she walked to the milk crates stacked neatly next to the the player, flipping through well-worn vinyls.

"whoever was last up here was really into seventies disco. we've got abba, donna summer, elton john, blondie, hot chocolate, earth wind and fire." she mused, pulling a blondie album out of the basket. "although i always considered blondie to be more new wave than anything."

lando reached over her, his chest just faintly burshing up against her arm, body heat causing her skin to flush as he grabbed an elton john record from the basket.

"elton john? now this guy wrote some great stuff."

"nothing in this basket is organized in any way! they've got wild cherry at the front with earth, wind and fire, but blondie is pushed way to the back with chaka khan and ike and tina. no rhyme or reason! i have half a mind to rearrange it myself."

the record player crackled to life, the sound coming out of two old wooden marley speakers, a sound system that hadn't been updated in a while but still came through crisp as they day it was put together. elton john and kiki dee's duetting voices began to fill the room, and lando extended a hand.

"can i have this dance, my fair maiden?"

she smiled, leaning against the stack of milk crates. "i dunno. ladies like me don't dance with scoundrels like you."

"but a scoundrel like me will show you a damn good time. if you let me, of course."

giggling, she grabbed his hand, allowing the young man to twirl her in a circle before dipping her towards the floor, her hair dusting the shag carpet. soon, their laughter was louder than the stereo itself.

out of breath, their gleeful dance began to slow. they stood in the middle of the dimly lit room, 'don't go breaking my heart' playing lowly in the background, the thumping bass from the ballroom travelling upstairs as lando leaned in.

the craned her face up, pressing on to her tip toes to meet him halfway, brushing her lips against his before her pulled her in for more, his strong arms like a safety net around her body, ready to catch her if her knees buckled (which she was almost sure they would).

"i've gotta hand it to ya, captain. you're one smooth operator." she giggled, kissing him again. "i wonder what else you can do with that tongue?"

"come dock in my port, and you'll find out."

she burst out laughing, dropping her arms to playfully smack him in the chest. "that was your worst pick up line yet!"

"really? i've got a ton more, read up for this very occasion. what else have i got? there's 'i sure would like to pillage your booty', but that one sounds a little sleazy, 'not only do i have a ship, but it's a long one."

"oh my god, you need to stop. they're all as bad as the one that came before." she was laughing so hard there were tears in the corners of her eye. he thought he was so suave, rattling off stupid pickup lines while he leaned against milk crates of vinyl pressings.

and the stupid thing was, it was working.

tired of listening to him ramble, she stalked over to him, grabbing his leather vest and pulling him in for another kiss.

TAGS: @userlando @magnummagnussen @diorleclerc @scuderiamh @lorarri @cartierre @clemswrld @httpiastri @love4lando @silversainz @silverstonesainz @scuderiasundays

[gorbalsvampire]

What are your top 3 favorite clans? Either to make a character for or to use as a Storyteller? :3

Oooooooh, thanks for asking! I'll do these in reverse order, build up to the best.

Number three: Malkavian

My original faves, and a clan about whom I have some sTRoNg oPiNIoNs. See, the thing with Malkavians is that for years and years and years it felt like nobody thought for two minutes about how the rules for Derangements work. Too many Malks were played as hapless victims of their insanity, driven to ooky-kooky comic relief bullshit behaviour or dark tormented scary deep mental anguish all the time - and that's not how it works. The Malkavian Derangement was incurable, as in it would never be removed - it was not insurmountable!

Derangements could be overcome through the expenditure of Willpower, scene by scene. Willpower could be recycled through a careful choice of Nature and Demeanour to indulge. Malkavians were about powering through, being a dangerous and cogent master of the mind whammy, surfing your own mind's wild tides with gritted teeth and every now and then, when it didn't matter so much, when you had the luxury of rest, unclenching your jaw and letting the madness take you.

Therese Voerman is my poster girl for what a Malkavian should be: she's competent, ruthless, and clearly has problems that she's keeping under control through sheer cognitive heft/letting Jeanette out to play when it's all too much.

Anyway. Malks. Love the Disciplines, love the Network, love the visions, love the savagery of a well done, targeted prank. V5 moving them away from "a specific instance of mental illness with oversimplified game rules" and toward "chronic mental overstimulation which manifests as a consistent game rules penalty" is a subtle change but a good one. None of my games feel complete without at least one Malkavian.

Number two: Lasombra

Elegant, classical, lordly, and aggressive. None of the subtlety and resilience of their Ventrue arch rivals: the Lasombra will break you in body (Potence) mind (Dominate), or both (Oblivion), and if you're mortal and you impress them, they will make you rise again.

I love the existential, spatial, cosmic horror of Obtenebration; I love their connection with the ocean and their warring against themselves over and over (and yet with an oversight body that transcends the lines of conflict); I love the hubris that swears they destroyed their Antediluvian and how that's come back to haunt them in V5.

They make great antagonists - I've always felt that in OG Masquerade especially, the Sabbat pillar clans' Disciplines were designed to enable cool boss fights, and being thrown around by a shadow monster or enveloped and consumed by a roiling tide of darkness... mmmm... sorry, I was supposed to be talking about tactical challenge, but then I got to thinking about how sexy Lasombra are and... look, check my intro post, Ib from LABN nailed the archetype and frankly she could nail me too.

Number one: Hecata

Always and forever. The OGs. Every incarnation of them has delighted me. Necromancy and vampirism walk hand in hand for me (I was a Warhammer Undead guy before I was a Vampire: the Masquerade enby). The Cappadocians are patient, thoughtful, genteel court wizards who get done dirty (by their mediocre "here to go!" Clanbook as well as by the Giovanni) and come back SCARY/become something new in hiding. The Giovanni are delightfully loathsome literary-Gothic villains - seriously, they're rich decadent incestuous black-magic loving Italians? did Anne Radcliffe write for V:tM? - AND sassy East Coast gangsters with a sorcerous twist.

They aren't perfect - the Family Reunion creaks with artifice, the Nagaraja shouldn't exist be there, there is no WAY a skyscraper in the middle of Venice is acceptable world building, the Nayson San An are one of those early WW concepts that's always going to be stained by racism, and what's been done to Necromancy over the years, from a rules bloat/design standpoint, is a bloody shambles.

I think a lot of what I love about them comes from me rather than from the developers. I've put a nonzero amount of thought into who ended up where vis. Reunion, Chamber, Council, into the history of Venice and its involvement with the Fourth Crusade and the collapse of Constantinople's Dream, into reinvigorating the gangster stereotype and into the history of Scottish banking and slave trading... but! but! no other clan has ever inspired me to do so many deep dives, to commit to such bits as "how do you make a Giovanni who can just hang out with any old coterie and you'd barely even know he was a Giovanni?"

The bottom line is that I like concepts with flaws, because flaws inspire creative fanwork. I yearn to work a problem, and the Hecata are raddled with problems. Marbled with them, like a tasty steak - they just need proper preparation to be served.

[darkmessiah2000]

2023 has been a really hectic year when it comes to the entertainment industry, what with the writers and actors strikes and project delays, but overall we still got a lot of good content this year and I’m especially looking forward to what 2024 has to offer.

Suzume

Oppenheimer

The Creator

John Wick: Chapter 4

A Haunting In Venice

The Super Mario Bros Movie

The Boy And The Heron

Godzilla Minus One

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse

Napoleon

Flowers Of The Killer Moon

Scream VI

The Covenant

Evil Dead Rise

The Boogeyman

Rebel Moon

M3GAN

The Last Voyage Of The Demeter

Five Nights At Freddy’s

Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny

Haunted Mansion

Renfield

Talk To Me

The Exorcist: Believer

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3

Ant-Man: Quantumania

The Owl House Season 3

Castlevania Nocturne

Barry Season 4

Attack On Titan Final Season

Invincible Season 2

Ahsoka

The Mandalorian Season 3

The Bad Batch Season 2

The Amazing Digital Circus

Godspeed

Lackadaisy

Good Omens Season 2

Archer Season 14

Lawman Bass Reeves

Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters

Harley Quinn Season 4

Skull Island

Solar Opposites Season 4

Rick And Morty Season 7

Sonic Prime Season 2

The Witcher Season 3

The Last Of Us

The Continental

Sister Boniface Mysteries Season 2

Father Brown Season 10

Loki Season 2

A Small Light

Scavengers Reign

Blue-Eyed Samurai

Gamera: Rebirth

Starfield

Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora

Hogwarts Legacy

Dead Space (Remake)

Dead Island 2

Star Wars Jedi Survivor

Spider-Man 2

The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

Remnant 2

Assassin’s Creed Mirage

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

Resident Evil 4 (remake)

[poirott]

your gifs look so good! but they're a little slow. have you tried speeding them up to 0.05? when you save them from the video timeline window they actually save at 0.07. they'll be even faster sped up a little! anyways, love your blog, definitely a legendary one. xx

Hi! Thank you for the compliments! The frame animation sequences are slower in my gifs on purpose for three reasons: personal preference, for effect and because I've never liked fast-running gifs. :) When giffing a moment from a tv show/movie/celeb appearance I really enjoy (Poirot and other crime shows, the Branagh Poirot trilogy, a Benedict appearance at an event, cast at movie premieres, etc), I prefer 0.08 or 0.07 than 0.06 or 0.05 speed across the board.

I know a lot of gif makers use 0.06 as some sort of "standard" on this site but it honestly comes down to personal choice and style. 0.06 may not suit every scene in every show, and 0.05 can look distracting given its speed, again, depending on the scene. You know how sometimes a fast, busy gif has to loop several times before you can tell what's going on in it?

It's easier for me to take in more details in a gif, like the costumes, sets, cinematograpy, facial expressions, characters' emotions, etc, when said gif is slowed down a bit. Otherwise it can be too quick and "jerky" (like a shaky camera effect) for me to enjoy, similar to those short 5 or 10 or 20-frame sequences in tv/movie trailers that just breeze by because they have too few frames. Once they're slowed down in gif form, you can appreciate them to the full extent.

These B-roll footage gifs of A Haunting in Venice are at 0.07 and 0.08 to fully enjoy the on-location filming moments and behind the scenes footage of Branagh's Poirot. They are slowed down for effect to show off the stunts. Especially when a gif has two action-packed sequences in it, if it runs slower, it's not as headache-y and busy to look at when it's switching from sequence A to sequence B. Some are also pretty dark due to spooky lighting on the sets and your eyes need more time to adjust to take everything in. Trust me, I spend a lot of time deciding what the best speed is for each gif. But most of my gifs are still faster than these.

The following Poirot gif from this gif set is one of my slowest at 0.08 speed, for effect because the point was to focus on Poirot's pleased expression, he looks very sweet tipping his hat at the lady, not expecting a kiss from her for solving the case:

With the gif sped up to 0.05, I don't think you can catch all the minute details:

It's just how I personally like my gifs. Most of the time they're 0.07, and 0.08 on occasion. The slower speed lets them "marinate" more. Especially with tumblr's large format HD gifs nowadays, it's fun having such a big canvas to play with and the chance to observe every detail in a frame, when I didn't even notice it at the cinema or when watching the show originally.

Cheers!

[anosrepasi]

1-4?

Yay <3

Tell us about your current project(s) So Prima Lingua has revived itself again and is probably my most current project. The thing that I love about PL in particular is that I've come to adore every chapter of it, which is unusual for a project, especially one as long as PL but with such a short number of chapters. I thought I would really struggle through the Booker and Nile chapters because at least the Nile chapter is a lot of rehashing scenes from Lingua Franca with additional context and my brain didn't want to do that for the longest time. Progress is actually really close, I have two chapter left, including the one I'm currently writing, and the fic is complete. Which is also crazy to think about cause that'll be my second long-fic completed. The other project that's been taking shape in my drafts is a ghost fic for Assassin's Creed: Valhalla because unfortunately when I replay games I tend to get weirdly attached to the characters I know are doomed. Ivarr was one of those characters, and I thought his death had way too much angst to not play around with the idea of him haunting Eivor afterwards. Progress on that is that it's almost completely written I just have to nail the epilogue/ending and some placeholder text spots. What I love about it is that it is a fic about conflict and guilt and I really really love the dialogue in the fic because I made one of the characters unwillingly mute for most of it, and that gets addressed.

Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing Honestly, I'm looking forward to Nolexi and where I finish off the Lingua Franca series. I have a couple of scenes I refer to in my head that I'm looking forward to writing that are coded in my brain as: Yusef in the dark, Booker in Chicago, Nicolo gets mad, Nile in the museum, and the family dinner. They're kind of acting at my waypoints for the fic and oooof I have lots of feelings about all of them and cannot wait to get into the strange messy world of estranged and grieving no longer but still dysfunctional immortals.

What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? If I had to pick a scene from an existing fic, I wish I could see and have a fleshed out version of Booker exploring the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 that I touch on in Prima Lingua. I know I wanted to have Booker end up in Chicago for a while back when I was writing Lingua Franca and having Nicolo experience the world fair as a second hand observer was one of the best unexpected plot points I created when writing chapter 4 of Prima Lingua but. I also hint that Booker was literally a victim of H.H. Holmes in the fic and it gets brushed off cause Booker and Nicolo are too busy being amazed by everything happening at the world fair. Which having been to just a Venice Biennale, I get it. If i was immortal and getting murdered got in the way of seeing everything i could, i would also minimize the whole murder thing. Alas. I don;t really want to write this but I wish i could watch an episode of Booker and by extension, Nicolo, wandering around the Chicago world fair. i think it'd be fun.

Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like) (I wrote more than a paragraph) From chapter 1 of Nolexi, I have an exchange that just I was like. Wow! This is fucking rough! And what a great way to set up how rough this is going to be for everyone! I had a bit of character conflict in Lingua Franca, but the first two fics in the series are mostly man vs. situation/setting conflict not interpersonal conflict and Nolexi is about all the character conflict. So yeah. Many a struggle ahead for the group.

“No, I understand you fine, it’s not your language skills," Booker motions to himself, “I haven’t spoken Provincial since I was a child.” Nicolo tilts his head at the statement, his confusion evident for a moment before something like understanding, though understanding for what Booker couldn’t begin to fathom, replaces it with a blank clarity. “It’s a lonely life, being so far removed from that which you consider home.” And that’s- that’s too close to something Sebastien doesn’t even want to acknowledge and like a fool his mouth is on the defense before his brain catches up. “You’d be the expert in that, I think.” Nicolo’s sad smile doesn’t waver and Booker is ready to shoot himself out of this conversation. Fuck. He just always has to get the last word in doesn’t he. Nicolo rises from the table and Sebastian flinches if expecting a blow. “Goodnight, younger brother. Rest well.” Great job, self.

Fun Meta Writer Asks

[stewblog]

A Haunting In Venice

How do you find a suitable challenge for the world’s greatest detective? You force him to confront and consider the unexplainable. 

To the rational, calculating mind, ghosts are a laughably naive concept. Such is the stance of the now-retired Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh). As we encounter him in Venice, he seems content to live a solitary life of retirement, tending his garden and indulging in pastries, all while fending off constant streams of people desperate to employ his impeccable deductive skills. But when the closest thing he has to a friend, best-selling murder mystery author Ariadne Oliver (Tina Fey), implores him to try and debunk the work of a spiritual medium on Halloween night, it’s not long before he is thrust out of retirement and back on the case. 

Poirot is certain he’ll make short work of Joyce Reynolds (Michelle Yeoh) and her sham seance’ as she claims to be in contact with the spirit of a girl who jumped to her death from the house’s balcony one year ago. But when someone is murdered with no immediate suspects and seemingly inexplicable occurrences begin filling the house, the master detective is forced to reckon with what is and is not impossible. 

There are twists and reveals and jump scares a-plenty. But what A Haunting In Venice may lack in originality, Branagh more than compensates for with good old-fashioned style and a satisfying (albeit straightforward) execution of its story and characters. 

The visuals are by far the film’s strongest suit so let’s start there. This is an absolutely gorgeous film to take in and I recommend seeing it in the largest format available. Is it in IMAX near you? It’s absolutely worth the premium format fees. This is a sumptuous movie to behold with deep shadows and a superbly established sense of place. The palazzo where the majority of the film takes place isn’t your typical haunted house locale but Branagh shoots it to be perfectly disarming. I’m not the first writer to make this comparison, but it bears repeating that Branagh clearly took more than a little inspiration from Orson Welles’ 1962 surreal film adaptation of Franz Kafka’s dystopian novel The Trial. Welles’ film uses unusual and disarming camera angles and depths of field that create a deep sense of unease and paranoia. It’s done in a way that I’ve rarely seen imitated, making Branagh’s point of inspiration all the more clear. It’s a lovely tribute to an underrated, underseen film that also serves to further underscore the psychic duress these characters, but especially Poirot, endures. It deserves to be seen as large as possible because much of the film’s sense of dread and oppression comes from seeing this house and its shadowy structures tower and overwhelm. 

As for the substance beyond the style, Branagh and the film’s script are a bit more subtle. It’s a Poirot mystery so it shouldn’t shock anyone that a murder happens within the first 20 minutes, but to whom it happens may be a bit more of a surprise. Each surviving character has their own ultimately sympathetic (though some more than others) motivations and connections, but it’s seeing the measured ways in which Branagh shows the cracks in Poirot’s confidence and the roots of his dedication to logic and deduction that I found most endearing. Heroes are at their most interesting when they’re vulnerable in one way or another, so seeing this nigh-invincible mind forced to confront mysteries he may not be able to solve as he’s forced to consider concepts he’d long since evolved beyond is right where Poirot should be at this point in the series.  

If there’s a complaint that lingers, it’s that a single casting choice stuck out like a sore thumb. This is due almost entirely to the character’s unmistakable similarity to another played by the same actor in a contemporary piece of entertainment. I’m trying to be vague in the hope that no one else will be immediately distracted as I was, but it took me out of the moment multiple times. I realize this is almost entirely on me and through no fault of the actor’s but there it is all the same. 

All that said, I can’t recommend this enough, especially if you’re looking for a more old-fashioned haunted house mystery now that we’re on our way into this year’s Spooky Season. 

[rainbowcarousels]

What are some of your headcanons about Trinity Gate as a place of healing for Armand, Louis, Daniel, et al?

So I like this idea that Trinity Gate was initially set up as a place for Armand to deal with his shit at the same time as keeping Benji and Sybelle safe. It just happened that Louis had his Merrick-era meltdown and Lestat left not that long into it all happening, so Armand flew out and picked up Louis and it ended up becoming a place for all four of them to deal with some pretty big changes. Benji and Sybelle were newborn vampires, it’s a process that can be difficult especially for people prone to obsession like Sybelle is and Armand always prioritises safe spaces for loved ones first. 

As such, I think Trinity Gate has been a place for healing from design to current day. I think that when he found out about Daniel, he wanted to bring him there but didn’t want to make things worse for him so there has been a place for him for years. The same is true for Lestat, they were often worried about him and wanted him to come home, so there was always a place for him too.

In terms of specifics:

Louis spent most of the first time he was there in the libraries, but he branched out into the gardens as time went on. Armand invested in chairs for him to read in most of the communal rooms including the music room so he can listen to Sybelle play. There’s a lot of time spent without words when it comes to Louis, they understand each other well enough without it and as their romance blooms again, they start taking the steps forward together.

The garden has been Louis’ domain for a while; there is something about investing in helping something grow and the feeling of being part of the earth that helps ground him. I think he struggles with isolation when left to his own devices, so Armand begins dragging him out into the world before long and he begins to feel more like a person than someone who haunts the house. 

Armand for his part doesn’t think of himself as healing there, but he does – he finds his reasons to go on in his children, in falling in love again, and from there, begins to work backwards in dealing with his feelings about himself and his own autonomy. Trinity Gate and NY in general are his bubble in those years and he has the time to really settle down and consider himself, to confront things he hasn’t and admit things to himself that he has had trouble doing before. 

I think Armand finds himself thawing from a numbness he’s struggled with on and off since he was mortal in his little family era here. It makes him more comfortable when people begin to show up in Prince Lestat, it makes it easier for him to be open to what Gregory says and to know he doesn’t want to be the core. He’s learning about his own voice, his own autonomy and in some ways, this is something that he never gets to keep – the eras of Daniel and Louis are the closest, but he was catering more to their lives than his own, not ready to face it. His autonomy has been repeatedly lost ever since he was down in the caves, since the kidnapping, even to a degree in the erasure of his past identities both in Venice and under Santino and even though it was necessary, through Lestat. Getting time to be himself, feel his own emotions whether they’re good or bad, has been good for him. He’s learning.

Daniel at Trinity Gate is a case of learning to trust himself and his instincts. I think as much as he tried as a baby vampire, he struggled with being overwhelmed and this is the era where he starts to explore and really enjoy what it means to be an immortal. He floats from one thing to another, just trying to see what he wants and experience things as a vampire or experience things he has no history of like modern smart phones or VR. Armand helps him a lot with that and the humour of the role reversal isn’t lost on them. 

For Daniel, Trinity Gate is the place where he doesn’t so much fall in love again as feel ready to address it as a whole person when he’s been feeling fractured for so long. It’s a time for reunions – they go on dates, they’ll skip off to Miami or Tokyo for a week, they’ll spend nights curled up catching up on streamed television shows as Netflix becomes more of a thing. It’s an era of Daniel learning to feel comfortable in himself and his place, knowing he isn’t reliant on someone but instead is choosing to be there. I think that in my headcanon for their relationship, this is the turning point for it being a little more ot3 than otp because he and Louis come to their own understanding of their dynamic.

Lestat’s time at Trinity Gate is on and off, not unlike his relationship with Armand. He doesn’t know where he stands at Trinity Gate, he is The Prince, he is Louis’ maker and he and Armand have their on again/off again thing. I think the important part is when he stops looking at himself as his roles and starts figuring out how to just be who he is, not the roles he tries on like clothes and he gets scared to interact like that for any specific amount of time. It’s hard for him to shed that armour and not worry he’ll be abandoned or ridiculed – so he doesn’t really know what to do when he’s accepted into the Armand Bed Pile without question. Okay, maybe one question and it’s ‘can you get your hair out of my face’.

I think it helps him open himself up more - this makes their relationship less of a dalliance and more something they’re actively pursuing for both Armand and Louis. Daniel’s just along for the ride, it’s Lestat, but they do bond over the more difficult moments and build forts downstairs. They like to listen to music on shared headphones/pods and Lestat loves an audience that will listen to him ramble on and Daniel is a good, engaged listener. For Daniel’s part, Lestat’s happy to show him how to do a few more ‘tricks’ and help him gain confidence with what he has. Lestat had to figure his shit out alone, so having another chance to help someone else is good for him too – especially when it’s Armand’s only fledgling. It feels like coming full circle from Nicki.

On a similar vein, I think Antoine’s time here gives him a level of support he didn’t really get due to the circumstances in which he was made. He has a kindred spirit in Sybelle for music, and though he does follow Lestat to France, I think there had to be a small period of reconnection for them here. 

I want to believe Bianca stayed here for a while after losing her fledgling. Not right away, but perhaps a couple of years later when she’s trying to rebuild. I like to think at first, it was like having a sleepover, Bianca and Armand getting some time to reconnect with older parts of themselves, then Armand dragging her out to see the world she’s not familiar with. I want to believe Riccardo came along for the ride and for a couple of months, the three of them are thick as thieves. Playing games, running around in the world to bars and clubs and private establishments – it’s a time for them to reconnect as people.

It gives them all a chance to finally talk through their losses and experiences – Bianca leaving in Paris, Riccardo having been unable to corporealise but wanting to stay with him as much as he could but being unable to communicate and Armand talking about losing himself. They start their mourning process together, for their lives, for the boys, for what they lost along the way, but also learn to celebrate some that they’re here together. It makes all three a little more childish and silly, there’s multiple chases throughout the house and mucking around and it’s good for them to just feel young and free for a while. It’s a side Armand’s partners so rarely see of him and they love it, especially when Armand loses races down the stairs because Riccardo can teleport his way there by going incorporeal. (Armand insists it’s cheating, but his sulking just leads to more silly stories about his teenage years.)

There are others who come and go – Marius is there sometimes and not others, but he isn’t really ready to heal completely. He is learning more about flowers from Louis and spends more time around Daniel there than anyone else, but it’s a foot in the door when he’s ready. They have Pandora there for a bit when she needs time away, giving her the space she needs from the world while still keeping her in it until she’s ready to move on. Even Mael has crashed there, talking quietly about his experiences with going into the sun with Armand before retreating but seeming a little lighter for it. Jesse spends some of her grief there, talks about how the family that used to feel like it spanned the world feels like it’s dwindling and leaves feeling renewed by the way people make their own families in their world.

The tl;dr of this being that Trinity Gate is the Vampire Chronicles equivalent of going on a life changing adventure with Zuko. 

[watchingalotofmovies]

A Haunting in Venice

A Haunting in Venice    [trailer]

In post-World War II Venice, Poirot, now retired and living in his own exile, reluctantly attends a seance. But when one of the guests is murdered, it is up to the former detective to once again uncover the killer.

Branagh's Poirot movies continue to fail to grab me. But I was grateful it didn't turn out to be "supernatural".

And it much more looked like it was filmed on location than the previous instalment. Which I especially appreciate when it comes to Venice.

Jamie Dornan was hard to recognise and felt mostly wasted.

[cookinguptales]

Hey, just read your post on A Haunting In Venice (great analysis by the way), and I was wondering if there’s anywhere to read your poisonous beekeeping story? In fact if you have any more facts about poisonous beekeeping or mad honey I’d be DELIGHTED to hear about them

Hmm. Well, with the caveat that I wrote this several years ago and consider myself to be a much stronger writer now, you can read the story here. Maybe I should post it on AO3, too... Maybe I will once I get back from Japan in a few days.

The Dose Makes The Poison Word Count: 24k Pairing: F/F Rating: M (Violence, some suggestive content) Used by the crown and reviled by the public, Adira is known for the poisonous honey her sacred bees produce. She secludes herself away from it all, carefully tending to her bees and trying not to fall too hard for Ranni, a palace cook who doesn't have the good sense to be afraid of her. But when machinations are revealed to be at work in the palace, poisons may be at the heart of the problem -- and the solution.

I've actually been thinking recently about using some of the concepts I used in this fic to write a new one... A rewrite or a sequel or at least some more in this universe. I really enjoyed a lot of the worldbuilding I did in this, particularly the honeyed religious stuff, so maybe it would be fun to give it another try...

As for mad honey itself... I did a lot of research on beekeeping when I was writing this! Especially cliffside beekeeping, which is still practiced in some parts of the world. Mad honey itself is made when bees harvest nectar from poisonous plants and turn it into honey. Usually, this doesn't actually affect the bees even when they consume it. It's sort of like how mint/caffeine/capsaicin is toxic for many animals but pleasant to humans. That said, sometimes bees do get a little sleepy and "drunk" off some plants! Which is kind of cute, though apparently the bees don't enjoy it.

I come at this from the POV of someone who studies religions (which is also why I got so into the religious worldbuilding in that fic) so I was really fascinated by how mad honey has been used to purposefully induce hallucinogenic states in some shamanistic rituals. In parts of the Middle East and Southeast Asia, there are bees that live on cliffsides and ingest grayanotoxins, which in turn creates mad honey that is purposefully harvested and ingested in small quantities to induce a psychedelic state. This is often used in religious rituals in some communities, particularly in Nepal. (Which was what inspired my story.)

But also, y'know, reindeer eat Amanita muscaria, a deeply poisonous mushroom, and people have used their pee (yes, sorry) in order to get high, also often for religious reasons. It's a whole thing where animals can ingest a poisonous plant, process it, and then secrete a less-poisonous version that humans can ingest in small quantities for hallucinogenic reasons. It's something that you see in a lot of cultures that emphasize altered states for cultural and/or religious purposes.

Honey has been used in religious rituals (and religious ideas more generally) for thousands of years in a lot of different cultures, and bees themselves are often seen as sacred or particularly close to the gods. I liked the idea of a fantasy culture that saw honey as sacred and that incorporated it into most of its religious traditions -- and I wondered how something like mad honey could fit into that, especially if it was being used for violent rather than religious means. And that's how I came up with a poor, lonely beekeeper scooped from her remote village for her accidental talent in creating poisonous honey and placed in the capital city at a very young age. No matter how useful her work is to the crown, the people see her very differently. How much blame does she carry for that bloodshed, and is she diluting sacred rites...?

It's a complicated question for a woman who just wants to be left alone with her bees, y'know? I think I'd like to examine it a little more closely in the future haha. I think I'd like to incorporate more of the shamanistic aspects of the topic next time, too.

Maybe that's what I'll write when I get home from Japan... More honey fic...

[sloshed-cinema]

Lady Chatterley’s Lover (2022)

What a comprehensively hideous and boring film to look at.  The “blue for every other color” handling of color timing is a distressing trend in a lot of movies (especially ones made for streaming platforms, for whatever reason), somehow even more egregious than the infamous Mexico Filter.  This adaptation of the DH Lawrence novel is awash in washed-out windows and ugly, pallid scenes that make actors look gaunt and somehow manages to render even the verdant countryside of the English Midlands bleak and desolate.  And yet it’s somehow so much worse than just that.  At points, the film remembers that a springtime scene of love blossoming should be swathed in pastels and warm, gentle sunshine.  Connie Chatterley wears a bright yellow blouse or a warm crimson dress.  And yet not even a scene later that same blouse looks jaundiced because everything’s turned monochrome again.  Perhaps this was an attempt at using color palettes to inform themes: maybe jumping from naturalistic or saturated colors to this world drained of vibrancy signals an emotional shift.  When Connie visits Venice with her family, for instance, within three shots the movie goes from a summery Venice to an icy one and back.  Is Connie still haunted by dark memories of dreary England?  This doesn’t seem to hold up when random sad sequences are shot brightly and random happy ones are sent to the Blue Zone.  Hell, by the end of the film, it fully stops giving a shit.  The cast of the light will shift from soft to harsh without rhyme or reason and the edit starts making heavy use of dissolves to black out of nowhere in the final minutes.  In a final middle finger to aesthetics, Lady Chatterley’s Lover even manages to ruin an effective final shot.  Journeying out to Scotland to find Oliver, Connie comes to his farmhouse.  He approaches her from behind, out of focus.  She stops and he draws near, stepping into her plane of focus to embrace her.  She inhales sharply.  Cut to black.  Brilliant.  A reunion and the promise of a future together.  Oh wait, what, there’s another shot?  Oh… oh, it’s just a boring middle shot of them embracing in front of a mountainside before it cuts to black and the credits roll.  It’s hard to comment on the film’s handling of the novel’s themes of social class, sexual frankness, and a post Great War England struggling to find its footing in a changing, ever more industrialized landscape.  I’m sure the book is better.  At least the movie gave us alternatives to missionary position sex; I guess it’s got that going for it?

THE RULES

PICK ONE

Select either CLIFFORD or OLIVER and sip when they are named.

SIP

Someone says ‘divorce’.

Washed out exterior light coming in through a window.

Someone begins to narrate a letter.

Oliver says ‘ladyship’.

Someone names the Chatterley estate.

BIG DRINK

Clifford’s hut is mentioned.

Oliver tells Connie to look at him.

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

The current head of 20th Century Studios - Steve Asbell - reveals some of the chessboard for their future, sure to stuff the big Disney slate...

There's a follow-up to this year's PLANET OF THE APES movie, the fourth in the current series that began w/ 2011's RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. KINGDOM-OTPOTA made about 2.4-2.5x its $160m budget. Not bad. I just find it kind of curious how Disney looked at Pixar's ELEMENTAL, which also made around 2.5x its budget... And now seems to consider it a flop of sorts, and subsequently cracked down on Pixar's creative process. With leader Pete Docter often saying in recent interviews that they're attempting to tell more "universal" stories and appeal to audiences. Just an aside, that kinda low-key frustrates me, but whatever- moving on, an ALIEN: ROMULUS follow-up is also being worked on to no one's shock, and there's a script for a MASTER AND COMMANDER prequel sitting around in addition to more Agatha Christie adaptations following last year's A HAUNTING IN VENICE... Former Fox is franchise-stacked...

But the most curious development centers on the PREDATOR franchise. PREDATOR: BADLANDS, the new Dan Trachtenberg-directed installment in the series (he had previously directed PREY), was mentioned, but a secret other PREDATOR movie was made by Trachtenberg under our noses and will release some time before BADLANDS does. BADLANDS took BLADE's 11/7/2025 date, so... I'm guessing this thing, rumored to be an animated (!!) anthology film split into three segments set across different time periods, will be a Hulu release... But PREDATOR going animated and omnibus, a la THE ANIMATRIX...

A live-action movie franchise dipping into the animation waters? Now that's neat. Has happened before, but it's still very cool nonetheless, especially with an adult-oriented property.

One other detail I caught in THR's report was a mention of a James L. Brooks comedy opening next year... Well, that must be ELLA MCCAY then! So that tells me that that film fills the 9/12/2025 date Disney has on their overall movie slate. Usually they release 20th Century/Searchlight titles around that time, so... ELLA MCCAY was filmed earlier this year, and that looks to be it. Sam Raimi's SEND HELP shoots in January, so I can see that eying a 2026 release. Ditto the recently-announced READY OR NOT 2.

The KINGSMAN franchise seems all but kinda done, as indicated in the interview. Nothing new on that front. While the first two movies scored at the box office, prequel THE KING'S MAN - waylaid for two years straight by the Disney/Fox merger and COVID-19 - didn't... And I was wondering why they just didn't do the third proper movie with Taron Egerton's Eggsy and crew first, then expand that universe thereafter. And we also got that ARGYLLE thing earlier this year, which more or less didn't do much of a thing, even though director Matthew Vaughn had plans to do a full-on KINGSMAN/ARGYLLE crossover movies. I dunno, I think that series split into multiple avenues first instead of constructing a fine trilogy. KINGSMAN I found to be a solid and very fun kinetic blast, and while I enjoyed the 2nd film - THE GOLDEN CIRCLE, it was very clearly two separate movies crammed into one overstuffed mess. Ahhh well.

But it's good that 20th's future still makes room for more original, more interesting stuff, and maybe even some neat new takes on old chestnuts. Disney could certainly take cues with some of their other "brands"... Some of the best film-stuff to come out of Disney in the recent years, IMO, is 20th Century/Searchlight stuff. I was a particularly big fan of BARBARIAN and THE MENU, for starters. Hey, when's the former ever gonna get a Blu-ray release? It's been over two years now, 'yer killin' me.

[jorrelion]

Introduction

Hello, everyone. It’s Jorrelion Reagander here. Simply call me Jorre for short. I use any pronouns and I don’t really like to label myself. So, regardless of pronouns and label, my hope is that anyone wishing to befriend me can embrace me as I truly am. Let’s be a friend!

A Glimpse Into Me

I’m a full-time corporate worker navigating life in my mid-20s (yes, 25+ for the curious minds). A textbook ISTJ—I balance structure and passion in all I do. I’m the kind of person who values structure, logic, and responsibility, but don’t let that fool you—I’m also driven by an inner fire, thanks to my Leo spark. Weekends are my playground, where I’m most alive, but if you catch me online on a weekday, consider it a rare glimpse of my leftover social energy.

How I Connect

I’m a person who tends to value low-maintenance friendships. I prefer the quality of conversations over their quantity. I’m not the type to be a conversation killer or a dry texter. So, if I come across someone who acts that way, I’ll completely ignore them. I always try my best to initiate conversations and go with the flow when chatting with my friends.

INTERESTS

Cats: I’m a cats lover! I have one cat boy. He keeps my heart full. I love capturing any stray cats that passed by and caught my attention.

K-Pop: My world spins to aespa, KIOF, THE BOYZ. Giselle? She’s my ladylove. I’m full-fledged to be one of MYs, but versatile enough to vibe with any K-Pop topics. Even, I occasionally listen to some talented K-RnB artists—DEAN, Crush, Realslow, DPR IAN, etc.

Pop & RnB: I’m an avid listener of Daniel Caesar, Jeff Bernat, Mac Ayres, wave to earth, Christian Kuria. If I knew we shared common interests, especially RnB songs, I would definitely ask to be friends with you. As long as you don’t fall under my ‘do not follow’ criteria.

J-Pop: Fujii Kaze, YOASOBI, HIGEDAN dominate my J-Pop playlist. Occasionally, I tune into the heartfelt sounds of Yuuri, Flower, and Aimer.

Movie & Series: Mystery, action, comedy, fantasy—If you name it, I’m in! My TOP 5 are Kingsman Series, Sherlock Holmes Series, Dan Brown’s Movies (The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, Inferno), Dark Series on Netflix, Agatha Christie’s Movies (Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, Haunting in Venice, Poirot). I enjoy Young Sheldon, The Big Bang Theory, Studio Ghibli as a way to heal.

DO NOT FOLLOW IF:

You’re a Homophobic!

You’re under 20. While my account is safe for minors, I prefer connecting with people in their 20s or older. If we’re already mutuals or you have my consent, then it’s fine.

You spread hatred and thrive on hate speech.

You actively engage in a drama or online conflicts. I prefer keeping my timeline peaceful.

Your account contains excessive NSFW, rated, and explicit contents.

You have more than 300 followings. However, I can make exceptions if your account isn’t JFB and one that simply seeks a lot of replies.

You’re Zionist or dismissive about Palestine! #FreePalestine #CeasefireNOW #BoycottIsrael

Note: My media will exclusively feature achromatic colors—black, white, and gray as my preferences. Please respect that. Also, only follow if I’ve personally asked to befriend you. Be wise!

[apencilandpen]

MAC Movie Reviews: 2023 Year in Review

A few years ago, I started keeping track of every new movie I watched in a year. I love movies, I love all kinds of movies, and I like to know what I've seen. I watched between 77-80 new movies in 2023 (I may have forgotten to write some down and/or miscounted). I also happen to have a lot of thoughts about the movies I watch.

At the beginning of 2023, I read the book They Shouldn't Have Killed His Dog: The Complete Uncensored Ass-Kicking Oral History of John Wick, Gun Fu, and the New Age of Action by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross because I love the John Wick movies. I also made a list of every movie they mentioned when discussing the history of the action genre and spreadsheet-ified it. It's been a bit of a goal to watch every movie on that list. Currently I've seen 14/82, most of them this past year. So I'm still working on it :D

The ones I did see this year included Yojimbo, The Wild Bunch, and Bullit but my favorites were:

Atomic Blonde

The Villainess

Predator

Rambo: First Blood

Speed

I really like action movies with female leads who fuck shit up just as much as their male counterparts, and besides Atomic Blonde and The Villainess, I watched a good chunk in 2023:

Ava

The Terminator/Terminator: Dark Fate

The 355

Peppermint

The Courier

I kind of ended up hosting little genre marathons or film festivals for myself throughout the year. One of my favorites that I came up with was my sci-fi one:

HAPPENED/HAPPENING - An optimist's hopepunk science fiction film festival, "An expression of faith in the mechanics of the world" (Tenet)

Tenet

Arrival

Pacific Rim

Edge of Tomorrow

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Also included in this festival would be the Blade Runner films, Mad Max: Fury Road, and possibly Looper and The Old Guard.

I also had a martial arts movie marathon, including:

Shaolin

Ip Man

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

House of Flying Daggers

Hero

It's always my goal to go to the movie theater as often as possible. Some of my favorite movies that came out in 2023 were:

John Wick 4

Fast X

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1

Barbie

I also saw Cocaine Bear and A Haunting in Venice, both of which I enjoyed, but I don't need to see Cocaine Bear again :D

I watched some great animated movies as well, especially from the DC animated universe, including:

Batman: Under the Red Hood

Batman: The Long Halloween

Ninja Batman

Akira

Princess Mononoke

I've recently discovered that I enjoy certain subgenres of horror movies more than I ever thought I would. In 2023 I liked:

The Turning

Annabelle Comes Home

The Nun

Insidious: The Red Door

There were some movies that I saw this year that I thought I would love and ended up being disappointed by, and there were some that I had absolutely zero expectations of that blew me out of the water. The disappointments included ATSV, Snake Eyes: GI Joe Origins, and Dune.

My sleeper hits of this year were:

Pitch Black (Riddick #1)

Rambo: First Blood

Rocky

Dracula Untold

Real Steel

Some runner-ups would be Marry My Dead Body, The American President, Mortal Kombat, The Knight of the Shadows, and Assassin's Creed.

Overall, I think my favorite movies I saw in 2023 were, in no particular order except for how I broke down this post:

Atomic Blonde

Pacific Rim

Ip Man

John Wick 4

Batman: The Long Halloween

Insidious: The Red Door

Real Steel

I could go on and on about almost all of these movies, so if your interest is piqued about any of them, shoot me an ask or a message! I'm also always looking for movie suggestions and recommendations, so shoot me those as well!

[luoism]

self para ⁰ ¹  ⸝⸝ une barque sur l'ocean. location: sua campus music building. time: set a few weeks ago, 2:58am note: luo's pov of this self para by @huitians

the moon's generosity is the first thing luo notices upon stepping out of his room. his steps are soft and hesitant, quiet like the little sparks of anxiety that have no issue finding their usual place at the bottom of his stomach. it takes him a second to adjust to his surroundings, to fully pull himself out of the bad dream he was drowning in a little under an hour ago.

the decision that a walk through the empty halls of his school should fix it can only be blamed on his drowsiness.

rays of the moon's light peek through the large windows and luo takes his time to observe it all - from the way it reflects on his skin, to the way little specks of dust turn into a semblance of magic, almost, within it. . . and maybe his appreciation is a mere result of him stalling. maybe all there is to this moment is a boy who is desperate to find beauty in everything he sees.

and so if luo wants to stand in the middle of a hallway and stare at how the moonlight reflects on the ground, he deems it okay to do so.

the night is his - those have been the rules for as long as he could remember: from the time he spent at the orphanage when night time had been imposed on him to the comfort he grew to discover within it. he prefers it that way as well - he always has. there have been lessons the boy learnt within the shadows of venice, lessons that shaped him to be who he is. he made friends in the darkness of the ragged attic too and affinities he would never dare to forget. . . and while the term friend in itself is often questioned on the topic of his connections, the apparitions were all luo had.

though if one travels through astral planes only to see you, wouldn't that alone be considered a testament of one's friendship? and if the absence of them triggers nightmare after nightmare, shouldn't that count for something?

luo thinks of the moonlight and wonders if his friends used to see it, too.

he doesn't notice where he is until he is met with a door taller than him, ajar. as if it's waiting for him, like the sign he has been seeking all night. he doesn't come here often but he is familiar with his surroundings - the music department is, after all, a place that is known and beloved by many who attend the school.

and beloved by luo - it so is.

his steps are light, almost non-existent against the polished floors: in a way that pushes luo to ponder on the reality of his surroundings and in a way that makes him wonder if he is still trapped within the confines of his dreams. it wouldn't be the first time something of the sort happened, and the boy knows better than to assume it would be the last.

he sees the light before he hears the music, and that fact alone will be something he will spend hours thinking of later on, when the sun will rise, when he will feel too exhausted to follow. but for now all he knows is the light: soft and inviting, like a whisper - like an entity of its own with the influence to lead luo inside yet another room.

and he truly assumes the music he hears is nothing but a figment of his imagination, one that is known to be overreactive and suffocating. one that is known for its lack of mercy, for the rejection of any kind of solace luo might find along the way of his adventures. a mind which he surrenders to every night when he closes his eyes.

though he stands by the edge of it, his head merely peeking over at the inside of the room, luo notes that it is as cold as his own; especially when occupied by the pleasure of a haunting. the edge of the doorway offers him safety, like a semblance of the protection he constantly seeks.

he recognizes the song instantly, having heard it over and over again back home in settings similar to this one. when he couldn't sleep, when his friends would play for him between the four walls of his attic. une barque sur l'océan, like his own - the one he stole to explore the waters of venice.

but there is a boy - one he has never seen before, one so cold it pushes luo to conclude that it can only be a ghost. . . one who has the talent to make the song sound like a new one, with a new meaning and a new purpose. with a beauty and riveting the same way that it is unnerving. it shakes luo to his core, it feels like looking away from the pianist would curse the next few years of his life. the gathering in his head comes to an end, the voices go to sleep. it's just luo and the boy, wide-eyed, with his heartbeat crawling up his throat.

nothing in the world belongs to him, but for the time being, he decides that the melody that lingers in the air they both share does.

he is out of breath without even knowing why - he starts to worry about things that hold little to no significance under normal circumstances. like his hair, does his hair look okay? does he look okay? the staring will amount to nothing in the end, and yet luo finds it impossible to tear his wide eyes away from the white of the boy's hair, the delicacy of his features.

whether he is real of not, luo knows he is someone he could never get close to - no matter the stakes. and how cruel the fates have to make him speak? to prove that he is as mortal as luo, to introduce new possibilities that he realistically could never follow.

the boy speaks and luo wishes that he doesn't: because he isn't an illusion anymore, or an apparition. because he is real, and that alone is a lot more terrifying than any ghost he has encountered in the past, and will proceed to encounter in the future.

though similar to an encounter of the sort, luo knows that he will wake up with the pianist fresh on his mind up until they meet again.