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tweedlebugged · 2 years ago

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Squinting at the latest dndads episode suspiciously and poking it with a stick. Because on the one hand, it definitely feels like something sus is going on under the surface here and Anthony’s going to pull the rug out any minute now.

On the other, this is a show called Dungeons and Daddies and you kind of have to accept on admission that the characters can and will twist the logical rules of the universe into a pretzel in service of a really good goof. So there’s no way to tell right now what seems a little weird For the Drama and what seems a little weird For the Bit.

Take Jodie. Last season he was this badass demon and objectively the most put together dad, and now he’s this kind of pathetic loser trying to get back with his ex. His ex who he’s definitely been broken up with for over two decades at this point, given that he was already dating Scam during the Church of the Doodler stuff only a few years post season 1. And he was a really involved dad who is obviously disappointed in Nicky for not being part of Taylor’s life, but also he seems totally indifferent toward Hermie and pinches his nose when he has to be near him? It’s weird! And he acts so eager to use these kids and is VERY obviously trying to manipulate them—the whole chosen one thing tbh, and giving scary “secret” information and telling her she smells so super evil when she’s just…not lol—but then gets worried and tries to stop Scary when she does something that will actually hurt her. Officer Foster sir what the fuck is your deal?

But also—Jodie the cringe fail King of Hell is hilarious and Jimmy could just have been leaning into that new persona because it’s good radio. And it was! So who knows!

And Glenn. We know he canonically helped found DADDIES and was working to take down the Doodler (fighting at the Church, putting in the super fast elevator) and Nicky continued to be involved for years after, so clearly the Close/Foster family cared about the Doodler stuff at one point. So how did Glenn end up with the Doodler’s anchor and why is he maiming children to keep them from getting it? Children he should probably recognize and care about at least a little! (Although to be fair Taylor and Link are both still wearing skull masks)

But ALSO—and I say this lovingly—Glenn does have a slight history of being a selfish garbage man, and even though his character grew a lot by the end of season 1 it still wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility for him to have looked around after his friends were gone, realized all of his loved ones were actually safe, and decided to fuck off to do cool things in hell instead. Especially after the other kiddads betrayed Nicky. Anthony did say that he’d let the players decide what happened to their characters, and while I don’t know Mr. Frederick Wong personally “fighting 666 demons in mega hell with the love of his life” does have the exact vibe of an ending he’d choose for Glenn.

So is Glenn under the influence of the anchor somehow? Is he actually one of the Likely family in disguise? Or is Freddy taking full advantage of being Glenn again to play out this character to its logical and EXTREMELY funny conclusion? Impossible to say!

And finally Agent Schmegan and the FBI. All that work hunting Nicky to the point that he had to abandon his family and stalking Taylor until they had an opportunity to draw out his dad, all so they could capture Nicky and torture him into letting them into hell. And now suddenly all they needed was text message permission from some random unrelated teenager and they could open a portal themselves? That’s fishy! And they had special weapons designed to take down Nicky, who said if they ever captured him his dads would be dead, but now Jodie can fight them all by himself without much issue? Feels a little like a scam, actually!

BUT ALSO—the 12 soccer players have been tied to the FBI since the FBI was introduced, and it makes sense to play out those stories at the same time. And since you can only go to hell once, bringing the FBI there now could take them out as a threat to Nicky. Which is more a narrative move than a comedy beat but would still be very funny when he loses his excuse to be an absentee dad and has to actually interact with Taylor. And his ex wife. And her new boyfriend.

This post isn’t going anywhere, the episode just reminded me why trying to theorize about Dungeons and Daddies is like trying to connect a conspiracy board with silly string (affectionate)

#I don’t know what’s happening here but I know I’m having fun watching it #dndads #dndaddies #dungeons and daddies #dndads glenn close #dndads jodie foster #nicholas foster #nick close #is there a better tag for him this man has too many names

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boypussydilf · 1 year ago

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well i successfully survived watching the f&c finale a second time

It is not Exclusively Bad. Of course there are things I like about it and think are good. i actually enjoy the majority of episode 9, i think fionna’s “the post office! that was our oldest building…” is a pretty good moment of her Appreciating Things About Her Pre-Existing World And Life, the imagery of fionnaworld manifesting as a dandelion to make a wish on is like my favorite thing ever. and assorted stuff like i like the humor, simon & fionna texting is so fun and awesome, i fucking love the scarab i want to call him a slur, etc…

But I find all of the Actual Plot Stuff either underwhelming, frustrating, or just unearned. The resolution to the Fionnaworld side of the story is so full of self-contradictory mixed messages that it feels completely messageless. And it bugs me more and more that Fionna & Cake’s world is not really saved by anything meaningful Fionna & Cake did? They hand over control of their universe to the people in it, I guess, but they only have that control of their universe because of stuff happening with Simon completely unrelated to them, not because of anything they did. And them giving up that control of their universe does tie in to the idea that their plan to make the world magical again would be taking away control from everyone else in it, making the decision for them… but that would be a lot more meaningful if “Fionna and Cake plan to make this big decision for other people without consulting them” was more of a Main Point. Which it wasn’t, it was a minor detail. It… kind of feels like the same thing that ended up happening to Simon and Betty, actually: the writers taking one thing that is true, but then blowing it up to make it a central focus that it never was, at the expense of dropping the things that have actually been the central focus up to this point. Aaand then they defeat the Scarab only via help from the people Prismo drops into their world, which maybe would be more meaningful if these felt like people Fionna and Cake had befriended and maybe helped on their journey… but they’re not. They’re just random people they ran into briefly. Fionna & Cake don’t really make any meaningful choices, and the stuff they get to do to help out is all… um, because of either Simon or Prismo. So.

And we already well fucking know how I feel about Simon & Betty’s resolution and Simon’s resolution in general. It is so frustrating. The only parts of that that actually, truly feel like good ideas about what should’ve happened are “Simon & Betty go separate ways” and “Simon realizes his life has worth and decides to keep trying”. But we don’t actually have any clear idea of what the fuck happened to Betty to reasonably say that her ending is her Going On To Grow As A Person And Do New Things With Her Life like she might just be dead, in the end instead of putting them on equal footing they just go “Simon gets to learn things and keep going now and Betty can uh… shrug… go away forever.” And their ending feels so out of place with how truly insane and dramatic they have been about each other for the entire history of Adventure Time. No one is going to cry or act like they wish they could just stay together? And then there’s the fact that Simon gets better for Quite Literally No Reason Whatsoever. Nothing prompts this. He just goes Okay! My life has worth. For no reason. And then his entire half of the ending montage just feels like repeated kicks in the nuts to me but maybe the worst part is not a single appearance from Marceline. In what world does a “Happy Ending” montage for Simon NOT INCLUDE MARCELINE?!

In conclusion I can now say that I have watched eps 9&10 two times, the minimum amount of times I have to watch something before my opinion on it is actually solid and based in fact, and I stand by my beliefs. Episode 9 is… fine? Ultimately I don’t feel like much of value happens in it, but I do enjoy most of it. I think I genuinely dislike Cheers as an episode, though. These are strong words coming from me. I cannot think of any other Adventure Time episode that I am not just “neutral on”, “kinda underwhelmed by”, “fine with but don’t feel like we needed it” etc but genuinely dislike. My least favorite episode of Fionna & Cake and probably my least favorite episode of Adventure Time in general.

#Welp!#basilposting #atposting #atlb

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telomeke · 2 years ago

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MY SCHOOL PRESIDENT – MORE RANDOM THOUGHTS

Coming into My School President after Bad Buddy, it's impossible not to see the winks and nods that MSP does to its illustrious predecessor.

(above) MSP kept the colors but found the sleeves that Pat was looking for

Thing is, after six episodes, I keep waiting for something heavy to drop – but it never does. BBS kept up the heavy hitting, punch after punch, from Ep.5 onwards. You don't get that with MSP (although a tiny seed of dread still throbs whenever I think about Mrs. Gim's health; stay strong, lady, for yourself and for your beloved Gun too).

I carry this ever-present sense of anticipation partly because the Bad Buddy team burst onto the scene with a mission. And because of their commitment, BBS's finished product is so many things all at once – a BL romcom yes, but also a critique of patriarchal traditions, an LGBTQ+ allegory, a message of hope for the disenfranchised, a hard lesson on parenting... you can take away so many things from it.

I keep expecting MSP to do more of the same, and have to slap my wrist a little because that's totally unfair.

MSP is of its own generation, and we have no right to heap expectations on it (did I learn nothing from Ming and Dissaya vis-à-vis PatPran? 🙁)

Right now I'm leaning into the idea that MSP is doing (and getting to do) what BBS couldn't, simply because Bad Buddy's hands were full with all it had taken upon itself to do. Almost like they conceived the two at the same time, but then said OK, we'll divvy up the work and get BBS to deal out the heavier stuff and then with MSP we'll just have fun.

So perhaps wrapped into all of this is the idea that (because of all they were loading onto Bad Buddy) there was the risk that BBS might have flopped. (Thank goodness it didn't; Director Aof really did put together a dream team.) But if it had, then there would be MSP to be the B-side version with a second shot at success. (I'm just guessing, but this is how it feels to me. And I don't think that B-side means inferior, by the way.)

This would explain why My School President has so much of a Bad Buddy feel, but with the angst dialed down and more of an afternoon teen party vibe thrumming, closer to marketing ideals and the version that would satisfy the money guys.

So if anything, MSP has thus far been very focused in this respect, presenting romance/love in various forms and exploring them with a light touch – there is TinnGun's hesitant, exploratory push-and-pull that rings true of teenage first love, but also enemies-to-lovers (SoundWin), spousal love (Tinn's parents), parental love (Mrs. Gim), and maybe secret love (TiwPor? They're hinting, and I live in hope for this.). No GL to be seen but I suppose they left that to BBS because it was risky for its time. And because the risk paid off with InkPa's popularity, we can now have standalone GL series too. 💖

But at the moment I'm thinking that MSP's mission is simply to be a light-hearted, entertaining BL romcom, where telling the story of how romance develops between the leads is its main preoccupation. And that is perfectly fine. 😊

Maybe things will change in the next half – and that's perfectly fine too. 😊

There is room at the table for the meaty roast rich green curry as much as the angel food pandan chiffon cake. And I can enjoy both with equal relish. 👍

#my school president #bad buddy

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eliasdrid · 1 year ago

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Three thoughts: since everyone and their mother calls build the best rider and I had a relatively mid experience with it and I see you had an awful experience with it…

number three but I put it first bc it’s the most important: why didn’t you like it? Sorry if you’ve made posts abt that—

number one, what do you consider the best rider show?

number two, have you seen kamen rider geats?

3 - Oh that wretched show (Kamen Rider Build)........................ I'll leave my full answer for last so I can just do a "read more" and spare people of spoilers for the show. The TL;DR is that I have a love/hate relationship with it, it starts really well but then it uh, it's like the show just forgets itself? does that make sense? I don't know, it disappointed me... My message to the world is: if you want to watch it (in my opinion) up to episode 33 it's pretty good, it gets worse later.

[note: edited this to be less harsh bc I liked a lot of the show in the end despite my issues with some choices and some people might think I didn't like anything at all]

1 - This kinda spoils the options for the poll a little but whatever. I got into toku this year with sentai so I've only watched Shin Kamen Rider (the 2023 movie) and then Kamen Rider Den-O (2007), Kamen Rider W (2009) and Kamen Rider Build (2017).

I don't think any of the shows are perfect but I think the most satisfying experience overall from start to finish was Den-O because it's a bit silly but consistent with it? So it's pretty enjoyable.

2 - Funny story... I started Geats but I couldn't click with it. I do think a lot of the suit designs are SUPER pretty though. Kamen Rider Geats, Cross Geats and Na-Go are my faves for sure (from the images and material I've seen).

3 - OK So let's do this. I have actually not done a list of all my issues with this show here in my blog but I have complained a lil to people I know and who have watched it (and shared my opinions). This is my personal opinion and I want to preface this by saying I'm a sci-fi nerd and I might have set the bar too high because it looked really promising to me.

SPOILERS FOR BASICALLY EVERYTHING IN THE SHOW

I'll get to issues related to characters first, I think that's easier:

Vernage could have been really interesting but she is equally under and overutilized when convenient to the point she's always doing everything with her last breath (until she does actually die... ) and shows up so sporadically you almost forgot she was still alive when she shows up again. It's wild because when she's introduced you're like? Oh? Will she give us lore and then die? Perhaps a clue to a secret weapon? Some secret power up? no!

Misora is never developed to her full potential despite going through a lot of stuff during the entire show. She could have had a more active relationship with Vernage and tap into some martian knowledge or be able to channel Vernage's power willingly but :/ Her dad literally ends in a coma and she is like... mostly unaffected? Doesn't talk about him? Idk, I'm not saying she should henshin because that's unrealistic with this show but she could have worked with Vernage to take revenge on Evolt for that (via helping the team). I WILL say, she does have her sad moments and her actress does a really good job, it broke my heart when she had her final conversation with Evolt!Soichi. But off that? She's an internet idol ^w^ and the glue that has to hold the team together even though she's like LITERALLY 18-19 and everyone else in their mid 20s and up???

Insanely enough Sawa's friend to spy to friend to spy to friend thing is decently executed so I can't complain much here.

Y'know what I can complain about though? Kazumi! Kazumi is such a character that I wanted to root for because he is so much about community once you get to know him and he has this good caring leadership vibe to him. This guy commits and this guy finds middle points and he can't forgive Gentoku but he asks anyway that he joins them and he even encourages him later to try and follow his father's footsteps. HOWEVER. HE IS A FUCKING CREEP OVER AN IDOL AND THAT UNFORTUNATELY IS MISORA. Bro is 29 years old demanding respect from Banjo and fangirling over a girl that is like... a real human being... who he actually gets to know. I thought their relationship would be... realizing she's a Real Human Being With Thoughts And Feelings but he never stops being a weirdo and it was uncomfortable... ☠

Isurugi Soichi... (not Evolt) underutilized as hell... we get this reveal that he can talk to Evolt near 33 and I thought "OH! Maybe he can influence him? Maybe this is what has been stopping Evolt from wrecking absolute havoc?" but as you might know/guess, this was not the case. There was a LOT of potential for a parallel with Him being posessed by Evolt and Misora being possessed by Vernage and Misora coming to terms with the fact that her dad got the worst alien buddy out of the situation but... they don't do this.

Evolt (Evolt)... my major problem with him is that the show literally tries to sell this "monster that didn't have feelings before" story on the last arc and it just... doesn't work? Because yeah, he's an asshole but like he clearly gets frustrated and excited and he clearly had a lot of feelings driving him around otherwise he'd not have gotten attached to the same human body for 10 YEARS and only hopped out of it when his "vessel" was complete.

Banjo, I got here finally, I deserve a medal. Not my kind of character but overall he's fine? The whole alien thing is done in the most boring way possible imo, idk how they did that but hey! The show is in such a hurry to go through as many small plots as possible near the end that it went super fast?

Sento! I can't talk about one and not the other! Overall Sento is a well done amnesiac protagonist until they make him go back to his old self to undo character development near the end for what feels like ages (I think it was just two episodes though?) and then he remembers and io and behold! he's Sento again but can remember some things from before. I have no words, it felt like he was going to stay like that for a second and all his character development would be undone. I think he could have remembered without having to go through that, I think he could have had conversations with himself without them just making him forget his friends so Katsuragi could have ONE chat with Gentoku. I think he was prone enough to monologue that he could have started remembering after Evolt by just. Literally talking to himself and finding his old self within him... like we could have had the same thing without the weird moment. I also think the whole arc with his dad suddenly coming back was poorly written... because? Suddenly he's not THE Genius and also Build wasn't "originally" meant for him even though it's hinted MANY times that it was Katsuragi who developed the Kamen Rider System entirely/mostly on his own. I think I could be ages here so I'm gonna move on by saying: it was bad.

Gentoku... my meow meow... I'm biased, overall I liked his character development and the Rogue drama was interesting? (it has a couple problems and more torture/blood than necessary maybe tho). His whole deal felt more straightforward than the rest and before he becomes a bit of a "joke" (with the identity fashion crisis and then the awkward moments) he has some really good moments of redemption. I really liked his speech in 39 when he feels bad about fucking up with Utsumi and is too injured to fight. ("Im not writing at 2 am edit": He has good character moments after 39 too! I understand they needed to kill the tension a little by making some fun of him and I liked some of it; the nepotism bit was really good! and his sacrifice was meaningful)

Honorable Utsumi mention because: what do you mean he was a cyborg??? That was so out of the blue and meant absolutely nothing because it's not... anything. For a show that did decent hints about things Utsumi suddenly being a cyborg because "haha his nickname was cyborg" and they maybe did one joke on an episode intro... it's really lame. Off this (which I needed out of my chest) he has a lot of missed potential and could (and should) have replaced Sento's dad as Evolt's "main" scientist because uhh he literally did the Sclash Driver and was very talented? Did the writer just... forget that? I guess so! It'd have been more interesting for sure if he had been working all along against Evolt fearing he'd betray Nanba but no.

I'm gonna go over plot things as quick as possible because I got too wordy with the character stuff:

The Pandora Box. I get it, it's a very convenient excuse but for a thing that Evolt seems to have created himself... they sure throw a last minute "but he doesn't know about this secret panel" I think... I think Evolt knows his funny little box for destroying planets and consuming their energy better than anyone on Earth...

The Sky Wall and the Pandora Tower. It'd have been SO much fun if, as I had hoped, the Pandora Tower was a massive labyrinth they had to figure out to get to the top and stop Evolt or some sort of ritual over a period of time...

The Show is called Kamen Rider Build! They do not build shit during the final episodes. I guess the Grease power up but he dies as soon as he uses it so that doesn't count. They literally got most of everything "solved" around the time Katsuragi made the Genius bottle so! They decide to reuse the Hazard Trigger to do something that is never hinted at (or makes sense if you ask me)... they don't even modify it 😭😭😭😭 They could have done something like before the proxy battle when Sawa and Sento do the modifications for Tank/Tank and Rabbit/Rabbit and have the team help Sento assemble a new device before fighting Evolt but no...

"Let's make a new world instead of properly defeating the bad guy" coward move! It also conveniently erases everyone's character development even if Sento and Banjo are "the same" in the new world it's just, a weird choice (I've been told they get their memories back in the specials or something but still ????)

Evolt destroying the world at random suddenly for his own amusement was really just an excuse to do the New World thing sellable and was really weird specially after the Be The One Movie in which he CLEARLY doesn't want Earth destroyed. He Loved Earth. He spent 10 slutty slutty years posing as a DILF and 3+ of them causing problems on purpose. BE REAL.

Also having Gentoku and Kazumi die was another way to make the "new world" thing more easy to digest because "see :( our friends died we need to bring them back :(" (idk man they were pretty decent at fighting, they could have not died!)

FINALLY. On the New World thing: A Post War scenario with the Kamen Riders helping rebuild the country and Kazumi and Gentoku in leadership positions, Misora reconnecting with her Dad and Sento trying to figure out how to use the bottles for good and more practical uses than fighting would have been much better...

anyway this got super long, I'm so sorry. Thank you for coming to my KRB talk. Kudos to you if you made it to the end, I probably have even more thoughts on this but we'd both be here forever. I'm locking this because people are weird about shows sometimes and I have seen people insist that Build is Really Really good when it's like. mid at best if you have to judge it from start to end.

additionally: I refuse to watch the specials <3 the movie (Be the One) was fine though, tbh it felt more on sync with the show than the finale. Even if they introduce the Blood Tribe guys only to kill them off. The Buid/Cross Z fusion bit was fun too!

#freezing-kaiju #ask #reply #elias toku tag #build spoilers #edited my wording a bit after a good night sleep in case anyone finds this and wants to read it - sorry if I was too intense...

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stagefoureddiediaz · 2 years ago

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I've been really enjoying the 911 costume meta you put together every week and it's been super interesting! I've even caught myself watching other stuff and noticing costume that's sort of foregrounded and wondering what kind of significance it has.

And I'm curious about your process! How much of the sort of "language" of meanings are generally agreed upon in costuming vs put together by the show's costumers - like is checks signifying change a universal thing or something that developed over seasons? And I feel like you must have a spreadsheet with everyone's costumes (or an incredible memory), I'm always impressed by the recall to prior episodes (not a skill I have lol). (Sorry if you've answered these before! I only found your meta breakdowns this season)

Antislice, lovely having you in my inbox!

I'm so so sorry that this has taken me an age to get round to answering, especially as its such a good ask, but I am happy that you've started noticing costume related things in other shows!

So each show/ piece of media will create its own themes etc that it plays on - 911 is doing this with check and stripes more generally and then Buck being in white is a more character specific meaning. The thing with check is that it is by nature a pattern that has lots of crossings in it - that makes it a perfect metaphor for change - for being at a crossroads as it were, so its one that tends to get used more frequently and as a result is becoming a specific language in its own right. Thats how many of these costume languages and meanings develop - they either deliberately or inadvertently get used in one or two things to convey a message and then spiral from there into a specific meaning that becomes a trope in its own right. its like a costume version of knowing the person who goes off alone in a horror movie is going to die!

As for colours - there is a lot more in this - the meanings of different colours is something that has been around since before film existed - its been around for centuries, it is worth noting that different cultures apply different meanings to colours - red for example has a different meaning in Chinese culture than it does in western culture - so its always important to keep that in mind when watching something regardless of where it comes from - because a good designer will make use of these differences if they are dressing someone from a different background. When I did my degree in costume design, we had specific lectures and seminars on colour theory and in analysing its use in various media (they were my favourite classes 😎) because it is important to understand so that you can better tell the story you're trying to tell.

Much colour theory is known by your subconscious and most people go through life completely unaware that colour is affecting decisions they make - its something advertisers use to their advantage!

I like to think I have an incredible memory 😂 and I kind of do - it remembers most things (usually it recalls a costume but cant remember exactly which episode it appeared in!), but you're right - I do have a spreadsheet (well I have one for each main and one for guest cast!) with all the costumes listed - its a full costume plot andis based on the plots I used to create when I worked in the industry! It has time stamps, reference pictures and is colour coded for type of costume and if its connected to a theme - its a bit geeky of me but I love doing it!

The first thing I do before I start writing my meta is a rewatch where I fill out all costume details for the episode and add the reference pictures! Maybe I'll share it with everyone during the summer hiatus, but then again maybe that would be one step too far!!!

I hope this answers your questions and sorry again that I didn't get to it sooner! 💜💜💜

#kym answers things #antislice asks #sorry i didn't get to it sooner #interesting asks #lovely asks #costume asks #911 on fox #911 meta stuff #911 fox #911onfox

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tellthemeerkatsitsfine · 2 years ago

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Hey I’ve been looking through your posts and you’ve mentioned quite a bit about reading autobiographies of several comedians. Do you have any favourites and general recommendations? I’m curious to hear which ones are your favourite and which ones you’ve never talked about before for whatever reason. Also have a nice day :)

Thanks for that, I appreciate the message! Here are the comedian memoirs I’ve read or listened to on audiobook in the last couple of years:

- Look Back in Hunger - Jo Brand

- Born Lippy: How to Do Female - Jo Brand

- Can't Stand Up for Sitting Down - Jo Brand

These three I bought together, and I enjoyed all of them. Look Back in Hunger is the closest of them to a straightforward autobiography, telling the story of Jo Brand’s childhood and adolescence, going up to just when she started comedy. Can’t Stand Up for Sitting Down is part two of that, the story of her career in stand-up. It’s a fair bit shorter and doesn’t cover too much, but there are interesting stories in there. The other one is less of a straightforward story but it does include lots of stories about Jo Brand’s own life; it’s meant to be things she’s learned along the way about how to get by while being a woman.

Like I said, I liked them all. I went through them pretty quickly; Can’t Stand Up for Sitting Down it short, Born Lippy is easy to read quickly because it’s organized into many different sections, and Look Back in Hunger is just an easy read. I’d really recommend Look Back in Hunger if you have any interest in the comedian Jo Brand, and Born Lippy even if you have no interest in who Jo Brand is but just might enjoy a book about someone’s thoughts on life and sexism and feminism and that sort of thing.

She has an interesting story – it can be broadly summarized as a rebellious childhood (there’s some sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll in that bit) followed by years of working as in a psychiatric facility, the latter of which had some unique stories about dealing with violent patients and things. So… that’s one to get if you think that life sounds interesting.

- James Acaster's Classic Scrapes - James Acaster

- Perfect Sound Whatever – James Acaster

Classic Scrapes is a series of short stories about weird situations James Acaster has got into throughout his life. It’s not really an autobiography, but it puts the stories in chronological order so you do end up getting a picture of his life story in the process. It can also be found, if you’re interested, in its original radio form. The stories started as a regular feature he did on Josh Widdicombe’s XFM show, and then he turned it into a book. That link is a compilation of his radio show stories, which I downloaded and listened to like an audiobook a couple of years ago.

Then I read the actual book, and both have their advantages. The actual book is longer, has more detail and structure, lots of stuff that didn’t get included in the short radio segments, and more of his comic voice since he had time to write and edit it instead of speaking mostly off the cuff. The radio show has some of James Acaster speaking like a normal person (you can hear him develop his “comedy voice” as it goes along, but in the early ones he hadn’t yet), lots of fun back-and-forth with Josh Widdicombe, in a few cases the excitement of the stories unfolding as they go along (notably the cabbage story, which is so worth hearing and/or reading in its full form if you’ve ever seen the WILTY episode about it, because the WILTY episode does not do justice to how wild it was), Nish Kumar laughing really hard, and a general sense that the stories are in a more “raw” form. Personally I preferred the radio stuff but enjoyed both.

Perfect Sound Whatever is a memoir about just one year in his life, which was 2017, and was terrible. It started with his girlfriend leaving him (said girlfriend being an “unnamed NZ comedian” but everyone knows who it is and I sometimes thought he overstepped a bit with how much detail he included about her, given that fact, but it’s not too bad). Then he had a psychological breakdown, a bunch of other bad things happened, and that’s the story of this book.

It’s organized around the fact that he dealt with his 2017 breakdown by listening to all the music he could find that was released in 2016. In each chapter, he talks about some different artist or album he found, and uses that to tell another story about the terrible year he spent listening to them. Personally, I think his taste in music is terrible but his writing is good. I think it might be technically a better book than Classic Scrapes, it has a lot of interesting ruminations on mental health and life in general that make you think about stuff. But Classic Scrapes is better if what you want is his life story.

- Just Ignore Him – Alan Davies

I listened to the audiobook of this one all in one day, which I recommend if you want something to absolutely fuck you up emotionally, but be prepared for the fact that it will do that. I’m not sure quite what to say about it because I think a book like this is best approached without knowing the story so the full impact can hit you as he intended, and Alan Davies has said he doesn’t like people taking some of the darker stuff he talked about and discussing it online, cheapened because its stripped of its context. Having said that, trigger warning for death and child abuse. That should give you a general idea.

It's a really well written book. Alan Davies did a master’s degree in creative writing while writing this book, and you can really see that. Almost always in a good way, maybe very occasionally in a “okay I can really see that he’s applying some creative writing tricks here, and those wires should maybe be less visible” way. But most of the time it works well. I was totally drawn in and really emotionally affected by multiple parts of it. Just… if you’re going to get this book, don’t read or listen to it when you have other shit to do that requires you to not be very emotional that day (I haven’t read the book, only listened to it, but I really recommend the audiobook because he reads it very well).

- Moab Is My Washpot - Stephen Fry

This is a story that runs from his young childhood until he started at Cambridge; there are further volumes that cover his Cambridge days and later, but I haven’t read those. It’s supposed to be very, very good. I think it’s considered one of the great comedy memoirs, like how Stephen Fry is considered one of the great comedy figures. And my view on both those things is sort of… I don’t get it. Not that I think he’s terrible! Well not always, I think a few things about him are at least a bit terrible. But mostly I think he’s fine. I just don’t get the mystique about Stephen Fry. I read Moab Is My Washpot partly in the hopes that I’d understand.

It's definitely a good book. In terms of dense, very well written prose, it’s by far the best thing on this list (with the possible exception of the Sandi Toksvig book, and a few chapters of the Alan Davies one). It has interesting stories. He’s led a hell of a life. Done lots of interesting things, made lots of bad choices that lead to bad consequences but good stories later. He’s often interesting about it.

I think if Stephen Fry weren’t meant to be this towering figure in comedy, I’d have liked this book fine. But because he is, I kept finding things that bugged me about it. Like when he’d write multiple paragraphs of complex prose about how we can surely all understand the sort of youthful yearning and impulsiveness that would lead us to steal credit cards or something, and I just wanted to say, “Dude, I think that’s the bipolar disorder. You needed to see a doctor.”

There’s also the way he describes his childhood like it’s normal (I mean, not like it’s normal, there were a lot of odd things about it, but he described it the way anyone else would describe their childhood) and then at one point casually included a picture of his childhood home and it appears to be a mansion. I grew up with plenty of financial privilege, solidly middle class, lots of people out there would be justified to resent the things I take for granted. But I still sort of resent someone who could grow up in a mansion and think that was so normal that it wasn’t worth mentioning.

As problematic as it is to romanticize privilege and everything, it was interesting to read the story of a well-off boy in British prep school then private school in the 60s and 70s. Interesting in the same way that a novel set in a time and place like that is interesting, to see what that “other world” is like. And Stephen Fry writes well about it. It’s a good book. I just went into it already not hugely liking Stephen Fry, and then I found some things to validate that resentment.

- Backstory – David Mitchell

I’m putting this one next because I had a slight objection to it for a somewhat similar reason to the Stephen Fry book, but on a much smaller scale. He spends a weird amount of the book denying that he is financially privileged, as though his target audience is people who watch WILTY and think Lee Mack’s stories of his posh upbringing are all true. He also spends a sort of odd amount of the book denying that he is gay (not a huge amount of the book, but some of it, which seems like more than the normal amount to spend on that), but to be fair, I think at the time there were rumours of him being gay and he was just responding to those.

There’s one bit when he complains about performing in Liverpool, because the Scousers reject so-called privileged Southerners like Mitchell and Webb. They’re angry because they don’t understand, he says, that they’re really not that privileged! Robert Webb, for example, went to a state school. That got to me a bit because like I said, I grew up solidly middle class, and my parents would never have considered sending me to private school. I think I’ve only ever met two people who went to private school, and they were both known as the incredibly rich kids. If your bar for arguing that you’re not really that privileged is one of the two of you didn’t even go to private school, it seems like a bit of a skewed perspective.

Anyway, I was reminded of that because I just wrote that thing about Stephen Fry, but it was only one small part of a book that I liked overall. It’s a straightforward autobiography, from his young childhood, through his Cambridge days, until pretty much when it was written, in 2012. It includes the development of the Mitchell and Webb partnership, their early TV and radio shows (Sound, Situation, Look, Bruiser), Peep Show, and WILTY. It has some genuinely sweet stuff about Victoria Coren, which appears to be a painfully lovely and romantic story.

It doesn’t follow any special structure except chronological storytelling, so David Mitchell just adds his thoughts about whatever’s happening as it goes along. From a comedy nerd perspective, the stories about Footlights are really interesting, as was the stuff about how he got shows commissioned. Some of it was quite funny. Good book overall.

- Mack the Life – Lee Mack

I read this one right after Backstory, as watching WILTY made me decide to systematically watch both team captains’ other TV shows (that is why I have seen every single episode of Not Going Out, which was probably not the best use of my time, but it was summer 2020, what else was a I going to do?), buy their autobiographies, and read them together. I have to say that of the two, I preferred Lee Mack’s. Not that David’s was bad, just that I really liked Lee’s.

Some people have criticized this book for not getting personal enough, which is true. You won’t find much in there about his family or wife or kids, so if for some reason you’re really interested in Lee Mack’s parents or wife or kids, you’ll be disappointed. But I didn’t mind that. This book is mainly focused on his career, including a lot of his own opinions about the nature of the comedy industry and how to break into it. It basically is his life story, does include stuff about when he was younger, but it tends to gloss over everything except his experiences in comedy, which it discusses in a lot of detail. And I was fine with that because I find that the most interesting part.

I also liked the gimmick that he used for the structure of the book. Each chapter begins with a discussion between him and a psychologist who’s evaluating him for ADHD. I assumed when I read the book that he’d made them all up, but read afterward that he says he really did have a psychologist read it one chapter at a time, and then he talked to her about it and wrote down what they said. I don’t know if that’s true, but either way I thought it worked really well. The exchanges with the psychologist were insightful, funny, and found a cool way to show us his perspectives. The whole book was quite funny, actually. It had a higher joke rate than you’d normally find in an autobiography, even one by a comedian.

- It's Not Me, It's You! - Jon Richardson

Well, I’ll start by saying that this was the only book on the list besides the Alan Davies one that made me cry. So... if that’s what you look for in a comedy memoir, then this one’s for you! It was published in 2011, so probably written in 2010, and it is an intense and concentrated version of 2010 Jon Richardson. It’s going to be polarizing, because 2010 Jon Richardson was a pretty fucked up and intense thing, and if you liked that, you’ll like this book. If you didn’t, you will not. It has so much pointless reveling in anger and despair that I’m honestly surprised his publishers didn’t make him punch it up a bit before putting it out there. He’s not even particularly deep about it all. Just bitter, mainly.

I’ve complained a bit lately about the more recent iterations of Jon Richardson, and it’s not even that he’s bad now, it’s just that I had so much attachment to what he was. Ultimate Worrier was a funny show at times, but it was also Jon Richardson dressed up in these perfectly pressed cardigans, reading off an autocue about how weird he is, and it’s like they took all the fucked up things from 2010 Jon Richardson and put them into this neat little package that’s more palpable for light entertainment. Which I guess is a silly thing for me to say because plenty of the version of him that I liked came out on 8 Out of 10 Cats, which is very much light entertainment. 8 Out of 10 Cats is not a good show. But for a little while, Sean and Jon made something good in it. I just… I haven’t watched/don’t plan to watch his recent Christmas sleepover thing, or his mother in law show, or his panel show for celebrity couples. But it depresses me a bit that they exist. They’re probably even funny at times, I don’t know. I’m probably unnecessarily judgmental.

The point is that this book is an undiluted shot of Jon Richardson from before he was folded into a TV-friendly package, and he just fucking hates everything. It’s after 8 Out of 10 Cats but before Catsdown, after the radio show and before any reconciliation with Russell Howard (you can feel that seething resentment all the way through), before acquiring his girlfriend/now-wife and being happy. And it has occurred to me that it might be messed up that I liked him so much better back when he was unhappier. I strongly disagree with the principle that anyone needs to suffer to make good art. And I don’t actually think it was acquiring a girlfriend/now-wife that created the change – I think that coincided with him losing his edge a little (I apologize to Jon Richardson and also to everyone else for using that expression, I can’t think of a better one), but didn’t necessarily cause it. Or if it did, it didn’t have to cause it. As in he could have got married but not had that change whatever it changed in his comedy. Also, it coincided a bit but not perfectly. He was still very good on Cats and Catsdown for a few years after he was no longer single. So whatever went wrong wasn't Lucy Beaumont's fault.

Back to the point again. This book isn’t a straightforward autobiography – it doesn’t tell his whole life story, though it does make some references to his past. I think it was marketed as a sort of zany collection of thoughts about how to date people if you’re a bit weird, but it’s definitely not that. It is Jon Richardson writing about a few days in his life, and along the way, writing in detail all the things he thinks and feels about what’s happening. It feels like a stream of consciousness. I feels like a journal entry. I don’t know why it was published. I loved it but I don’t know if it's actually “good”.

I’ll say this about any list-based post I write on this blog: the things I put earliest on the list will be discussed in the least detail. Because I start by telling myself I’ll just write a few quick sentences about every item, and then I slowly drop that idea as the list goes along.

- The Audacity - Katherine Ryan

This one is a straightforward life story, from Katherine Ryan’s early childhood to when the book was published, which was in 2021. It includes growing up in Canada, moving to England for her job with Hooters restaurant, having a kid when she wasn’t quite planning to, being a single mother trying to break into comedy, breaking into comedy, and then getting with her current husband and having another kid. Those are the broad notes of the story – obviously a lot of shit happened along the way.

Sometimes when I read or hear something from a comedian, I’ll think I really relate to that, and then think everyone relates to that; it doesn’t mean they’re articulating something I in particular have experienced, they’re just describing things all humans feel. This book weirdly made me realize that isn’t true, because I related to very little of it. It was an exercise in understanding someone who grew up very differently from me – not just in different circumstances, but thinking and feeling and caring about different things. Spending her adolescence reading fashion magazines and wanting to look like the women in them, and getting plastic surgery. I sort of look at that as something on which I hold a sort of theoretical opinion, which is to not judge the people who’ve experienced it even if I don’t understand it, but it was something else to actually read the thought process behind it.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t love this book, mainly because of what I said about a lot of it just feeling alien to me. But I also saw her live over the summer, and saw a lot of women in the crowd excitedly asking her to sign books, who clearly had found something that felt familiar in it. I also wished it had more in there about her experiences in comedy – it had some of that, but the comedy-stories-to-dating-stories ratio wasn’t my favourite.

I’ve also found myself disagreeing with Katherine Ryan ideologically a lot lately (not on things like getting plastic surgery, on which we might disagree about whether to do it for ourselves but I agree with her that it should be allowed and free from judgement – I mean I disagree with some shit she’s said like how people who are paranoid about COVID are boring and anti-vaxxers are more fun), so that’s going to colour and bias my perception of this to a point. The book was fine, it had some good stories, Katherine Ryan annoys me these days.

- Monty Python Speaks – David Morgan

The only one on this list to not be written by its subject, this is something someone else wrote about the story of Monty Python. It was really well done. A lot of work went into this, interviewing the then surviving members of Python itself (everyone but Graham Chapman), as well as lots of people who worked with them, like their producers and other actors. It went from the very beginning, how these guys met each other a few at a time at different schools, did things together there, and then were brought together as Python. It covered all the years when Python was active in detail, discussing their writing process as well as the business side of things. And then went into what they all did when it was over (including, of course, Chapman’s death). I found the whole thing really, really interesting.

It didn’t make me like all the members of Monty Python personally, but it wasn’t meant to. They’re not all likeable people, and the interesting thing about a biography written by someone who isn’t its subject is he’s not telling a story that’s biased toward painting them in a good light. He did his best to show the whole picture, the good and the bad, and I found it absolutely fascinating. I highly recommend this to anyone who’s into British comedy history. Or just comedy history, really.

Also, in case anyone’s concerned, it turns out that no one is wrong to think Michael Palin is the nice one.

- Between the Stops: The View of My Life from the Top of the Number 12 Bus – Sandi Toksvig

I’ve put this one last because it’s my favourite book on this list, and one of my favourite books I’ve ever read. Actually I haven’t technically read it, I listened to the audiobook, and I highly recommend doing that because it’s narrated by the author and she reads it so well. It’s very, very good. I made my father listen to this book. I made my mother listen to this book, and she’s not even into comedy.

This book does tell her life story, starting from childhood and going quite a ways into her career, but it’s not just a straightforward autobiography. It’s told via a bus trip through London, which is an excuse to get in some stuff she knows about London’s history in every chapter. The gimmick is that each chapter represents a stop, and she’ll tell us about the history of the things around that bus stop, and then she’ll go into a story from her life that’s vaguely related to it. I found that gimmick delightful.

Sandi Toksvig has a hell of a story – an interesting multi-national upbringing (one that has almost as much financial privilege in it as Stephen Fry, and the reason it annoys me in his book but not in hers is I like her better than him and I’m a hypocrite), cool experiences that came from her father being a journalist, and then a long and varied career in comedy. Including the feminism and coming out as gay back when that was a dangerous thing to do in the public eye (yeah, so did Stephen Fry, but he’s not so great on the feminism angle, and I like Toksvig better).

It's very well written, you can tell this one was made by a properly skilled writer and not just a comedian who decided to write a book (...no offense to everyone else on this list). It's funny and it flows well and I just really really like it. It's good quality writing and it's an interesting appealing story. Highly recommended to anyone who likes anything good.

...Thanks again for the message, and sorry for replying to your simple request for book recommendations with a 4,000-word screed. I do that sometimes. But I appreciated the chance to go on about that, I hope you found anything at all in it helpful, and I hope you have a lovely night!

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callgespenst · 2 years ago

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Best of 2022 Media Post

I read/watched a whole lot last year! Here’s the summary of what I enjoyed the most.

Sing a Bit of Harmony: The best new anime movie I saw last year. Usually I try and watch everything I can subbed, but I caught the dub showing for this and it was really well done. Very lived-in and real-feeling near future setting, some wonderful stuff about AI, and just a really good coming of age story. A year later it’s apparently finally getting a US BD release so I’m excited to finally watch it subbed.

Dress-Up Darling: Found this show oddly relatable (or at least, the parts about making the costumes). Wholesome in a roundabout way, and has a very true to life portrayal of how horny teenagers can be, without being weird or gross about it.

Everything Everywhere All At Once: I haven’t been hooked by a trailer for a movie like that in a very long while. Just seeing the preview I knew I was in for a great time, and it delivered. A lot of other people’s favorite movie of 2022 as well, but it’s just that good.

Creamy Mami: One of the earliest magical girl shows, and yet, goes in directions completely untouched by any of its successors. Excellent funny little mascot characters, bopping tunes, and some of the funniest episodes of anything I’ve ever seen. An absolute must watch. Still have some OVAs to go through at some point.

Thrilling Bloody Sword: the summary said “a martial arts movie based on Snow White” and while that’s technically true, it’s so, so much more from that. When the opening credits played and the movie’s main theme turned out to -literally- just be a stolen reindition of the Space Battleship Yamato opening, I knew I was in for a good time. Bonkers battles, a completely unpredictable plot, and special effects that weren’t even good at the time combine into a flawless package. Also, the male main antagonist is weirdly hot and also an incredible actor. When the special effects are that bad, you gotta really give it your all to sell them.

Glass Onion: Another popular pick, but it’s damn good. Needs every second of its two and a half hour runtime. Has a great core message, a superb female lead, and the best use of celebrity cameos in any media I’ve seen in a good long while. Hope there’s many more Benoit Blanc mysteries to come.

Spy X Family: The first anime adaptation in a hot minute that got me to read the source material. A perfect mix of comedy, action, and good old fashioned spy thrills. My only complaint is that there’s not nearly enough Yor getting to do what she does best, but I think the next part of the manga I have to read will fix that.

Dragon Ball Super Hero: Went to go see this twice! Wasn’t sure how the 3DCG would go over, but it was really well done. Got me to finally re-read Dragon Ball all the way through like I’ve wanted to for ages, so that was good too. The action’s great, but it’s really the good ol’ Toriyama humor in full force.

Symphony of the Night: Not sure what I can say about one of the most acclaimed video games of all time, but it was a lot of fun! I could feel myself getting better as I went along, especially when I got into the Reverse Castle. Had to start using my entire toolkit to get by. Think I’ll definitely play another Castlevania game for Halloween this year.

Flying Phantom Ship: Like Creamy Mami, a massive inspiration for a lot of series that have come since, and yet, I saw almost nothing that happened in this movie coming. Only an hour, but with at least three hours worth of twists and turns. Nothing I say about this film can really do it justice.

Phantom of the Paradise: Tremendously well put together movie. Great music by the legendary Paul Williams with a story you probably already know, but put together in a captivating and engrossing way. Knows it’s a story and who the main characters are, and has them interact in ways that really show off all their strengths and flaws. That said, my favorite character might actually be the man only known as Beef, I think about him a lot.

That’s everything for 2022! I have no particular goals on the media front for 2023, but I’m excited to see what it brings.

#gespenst media

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airadam · 2 years ago

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Episode 167 : More Tune

"We on they mood board, though they livin' in denial."

- Solace

This month's selection came together slowly and then all at once! It's turned out to be a great combination of deep album cuts, some lesser-known bonus tracks and remixes, as well as some brand new nuggets you can and should add to your collection! Of course I had to give you some Guru, and we start the episode with a cover version of a record that samples another musical giant, the recently and sadly departed Ahmad Jamal.

Don't forget that you can get the up-to-date list of my upcoming streams and events at events.airadam.com!

Twitter : @airadam13

Twitch : @airadam13

Playlist/Notes

Elzhi & Will Sessions : The World Is Yours

RIP to the great Ahmad Jamal, the legendary pianist who was famously sampled on the original "The World Is Yours" on the classic Nas "Illmatic" LP. As we've already played that on the podcast, we instead turn to the excellent re-imagining of that album by the all-Detroit combination of the band Will Sessions and the gifted MC Elzhi. It's always interesting when a musician is sampled by a Hip-Hop producer, and then that production later remade by other live musicians - bringing things full circle.

The Quarter Inch Kings : I'm No Comeback

As part of the Beat Tape Project, Toronto's Quarter Inch Kings channel some soulful flavour on this instrumental from "The AZ Beat Tape" - one that I could very well hear the Brooklyn Legend on.

Masta Ace & Marco Polo : Masta Polo

I was almost going to describe Marco Polo as one of the new generation of producers, but then I realised - it's been eighteen years! Still fresh, yet a veteran, he combines with a legend from the Juice Crew, Brooklyn's Masta Ace, for some classy 21st century boom-bap. You need to find the Deluxe edition of the Polo-produced "A Breukelen Story" album to get this one, and it's well worth the effort.

Terri Walker ft. Ty : OK

One of the finest soul singers these isles have ever produced, though an underappreciated one, Terri Walker has always shown love to the home team, with this track being a great example. The Nottingham stalwart Joe Buhdha is behind the boards, and the late London don TY warms up the mic before Ms Walker strides over the instrumentation. You might know her first few LPs, but definitely check for the later stuff, such as the EP this track was release on, "Joe Buhdha Presents Breakout". RIP Ty, live long Terri Walker.

Gang Starr : 2 Deep (City Lick Mix)

This is one of my earliest Hip-Hop 12" purchases, and a version of the Gang Starr classic deep single that I had to grow into! The UK's Dodge City Productions were, in retrospect, a perfect choice to take on remix duties here, a group well-steeped in the jazz that Gang Starr had helped pioneer as part of Hip-Hop. The late great Guru is in fine form, on his grown man business over all three verses - starting closer to battle mode and then weaving in his message. Apparently a Europe-only release, this is a worthy version to stand next to the original from the "Daily Operation" LP.

Curren$y : Fortune 500

This is clearly an anthem for LLC Twitter, with one long verse about getting that cash, and the outro showing Curren$y quizzing the next generation. The brand new "For Motivational Use Only" LP is another in the set of releases where Curren$y links up with a single producer to build a cohesive whole - in this case, the veteran Jermaine Dupri. I'd be lying if I said it was a collaboration that I was thinking about, but it works!

Medline : Payé Entièrement

Sound familiar? If you didn't guess from the title, this is a wicked instrumental cover of the classic "Paid In Full" by Eric B & Rakim that just cannot be denied. You can head straight over to Bandcamp to get the digital version as a bonus cut on the "Je Sais Que Tu As De L'Âme" release (put that into Google Translate if you don't speak French) - really, an essential pickup in my opinion.

Knaladeus : Lose Or Win

Not in terms of complexity as such, but in terms of tone, does Knaladeus here remind you of Black Thought at all? Either way, self-produced dopeness with quality songwriting from this artist out of Florida, one of the early tracks on his 2018 "Letters To You" album. His heartfelt lyrics on top of that beat are already a great blend, but the cherry is provided by DJ Stranger's cuts, drawing from the lyrics of Guru - once I heard those, this track was a lock for this episode.

Onra : 1-4 TONI

If you like a track with instructions (think "Jump Around", or hell, even "The Time Warp"), then this is up your street. That said, if you weren't already nodding your head to this one, you might want to clear your ears out first! Nice beat by the man from Paris, a 2018 track that went unreleased until Valentine's Day this year.

Superbad Solace : Throwing Fits

One for the Lo heads, from one of the foremost representatives currently recording! Solace has done it again with his "Sol Controller 3" project, and this track dedicated to the art of getting fresh is a personal favourite. The references to the Ralph Lauren brand and lifestyle are numerous, but as Solace points out, "you can buy gear, but you can't buy style"! The beat by Mono en Stereo makes you feel like you need to be posing on a yacht for a catalogue somewhere :)

Panama Gat : So Lonely

This man has a spectacular MC name, though it feels a little wrong to point it out when the subject of his song on this episode is so serious. It's raw at times, but that's often how it goes when you're expressing real emotion. On the production front, the soul-sampling beat reminds you of the work of Kanye West and Just Blaze around the same era, but it's not a bite in any way. I'm not sure who put it together, but my guess is 9th Wonder, as this is part of the Justus League "Just Us, Vol. 6" mixtape.

Leavv : Within

A little of that Chillhop flavour for you, with Leavv coming from Germany but this track coming from some kind of dreamland where even the passing clouds come with a bumping drum accompaniment. Find this on the "Chillhop Essentials - Fall 2017" collection, which even now is available as a "name your price" release on Bandcamp!

Ilajide : Boom Shakalak

I'd almost forgotten this track from "#0414917"! The programming of this beat by one of Detroit's finest is on a half-time vibe which makes it feel much slower than the 100bpm than it measures at, and he works that by keeping his flow on the mic downtempo too.

Tha Chill ft. Kokane : RNO

Part of the respected Compton's Most Wanted, Tha Chill missed out on featuring on two of the group's LPs due to legal troubles, but bounced back from them and not only reunited with the crew but has a solid set of solo releases to his name. This track is from the 2020 "Fohead" LP, and I think may be self-produced - the instrumental embodies his name, with it being a little dark and cold, and moderately uptempo without being hectic. On the mic he's joined by another "if you know, you know" west coast legend, Pomona's Kokane, an artist well worth exploring in his own right.

Sepalot ft. Blu : Surrender

Rough, angular, lurching electronic rawness! Heading back over to Germany (Munich, to be precise), we pick up this B-side from the 2008 "She Likes Me" 12", loaded with synths and disembodied yells. It's a challenging background for an MC, but Blu, who you might know for considerably more gentle material, handles it with no problem at all.

Erick Sermon ft. MC Lyte and Rah Digga : Tell Me (If You Don't Feel Me)

Erick Sermon is a respected MC in his own right, but part of his production greatness is in knowing when to draft in even more firepower, as he does here on the 2002 "React" album! Two different generations (in terms of career period, if not age) combine to burn up the guest features here, with Brooklynite MC Lyte and Newark's Rah Digga bringing it home over Erick's beat, which very much has the flavour of the era.

Dâm-Funk : The Flow

The "STFU II" EP is - relatively speaking - a chilled collection for the Pasadena modern funk legend. This track has clean, gliding keyboard pads, but also the right weight of drums and synth bass, plus the tempo, to allow you to dance to it if that's how you feel. Dâm-Funk has been building up a very respectable discography since his 2008 debut single - take some time to explore it if you haven't already.

DJ Quik ft. Ludacris : Spur Of The Moment / Pacific Coast Remix

This might not be the most progressive track in the world, but it sounds absolutely fantastic, still. A standout on 2005's "Trauma" album, in shows how skilled DJ Quik is not just as a producer (and MC), but also as a mixer/engineer. The sunshiney vibes pour out of this one, and Ludacris, who my Twitch crowd all seem to agree is an underrated MC, hits the mark perfectly as a guest. This track seems to have a different title depending on whether you have the CD or vinyl of the album, but the only difference between them is how you rewind it to play it again once it fades out!

Please remember to support the artists you like! The purpose of putting the podcast out and providing the full tracklist is to try and give some light, so do use the songs on each episode as a starting point to search out more material. If you have Spotify in your country it's a great way to explore, but otherwise there's always Youtube and the like. Seeing your favourite artists live is the best way to put money in their pockets, and buy the vinyl/CDs/downloads of the stuff you like the most!

Check out this episode!

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bigskydreaming · 3 months ago

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With all due respect, while I obviously have nothing against long replies, you said both were cruel or mean to each other and then spent most of your paragraphs breaking down how Stiles wasn't actually that cruel and was justified and all this other stuff which is completely contrary to that.

This is exactly what I'm talking about. I started from a position of acknowledging that Scott was engaging in uncharacteristically poor behavior because that was the literal premise of the episode, but at no point did I suggest that he hadn't done things that Stiles was justified in feeling hurt about. My only point was focusing on Stiles' side of things not to be inherently anti-Stiles, but because when it was already being taken as a given in this conversation that Scott was being mean to his best friend, the only way TO address that the episode pointedly juxtaposed both of their behaviors towards each other IS by focusing on the ways that Stiles behavior was not good.

It doesn't really work to make one or two superficial comments agreeing that both of them did things wrong, if the clear focus of your post is aimed at mitigating or recontextualizing everything Stiles did in attempts to make them seem not that bad, while still adhering to the idea that there was no excuse for what Scott had done.

The dog bowl alone - Stiles came prepared with a dog bowl with Scott's name on it. There is NO stretch of the imagination in which Stiles - who was clearly mad at Scott - didn't intend that to be at least somewhat dehumanizing, and he PREPARED for that. He put thought into it. It was premeditated. That's not a joke. Not when your best friend has expressed fears throughout the season of not truly being human anymore. Its Stiles saying "yeah maybe you're right, maybe you ARE a dumb animal." For no other possible purpose than to hurt him. There is no good faith interpretation of that scene where Stiles is doing that as though thinking they're both sharing a joke together. It was punching down humor. It was at Scott's expense. It was MEANT to be.

Your focus on giving Stiles and his actions the benefit of the doubt at any opportunity while not affording Scott the same, the willingness to see that as just a bad joke but everything Scott did is quote unquote cruel....this is a double standard.

These are the kinds of double standards that pervaded TW fandom during the show and in the years afterwards, and frankly, the vast majority of anti-Stiles sentiments in my experience derived from those of us who were Scott fans getting increasingly fed up with how people will bend over backwards to justify how Stiles pointedly mocking his chained up friend with a dog bowl is just understandable teenage shenanigans because his feelings got a boo-boo but Scott is just flat out cruel, full stop, end of story.

And again, for the record, my point about TW's messaging is that nothing in the show happened without a reason. Scott's behavior in the first full moon didn't happen in a vacuum, and it didn't happen just to showcase how a werewolf behaves during a full moon - because as you yourself noted, it wasn't characteristic of later depictions of werewolves at a full moon.

Which suggests there are other reasons for portraying him that way. And as I noted, the focus of the episode is on Scott and Stiles' friendship and their dynamic with each other, during the full moon, and from my POV, the cruelty Scott threw Stiles' way when he was at his worst was matched by Stiles being at his worst. The messaging there is pretty clear: you don't have to be a quote unquote supernatural monster to be at your worst. The things that made Peter or others monstrous, ultimately, stemmed from their humanity as much if not more than from their supernatural natures.

THAT is why Scott was portrayed in such a worse light in that episode, compared to other werewolves.....because STILES was also portrayed in a negative light right by his side, beat for beat.

That depiction didn't repeat with other werewolves because there was no similar point needing to be made there. Another way to describe it is werewolves during a full moon - when they aren't always fully in control of themselves and need to lean on their support networks - are going to match the energy of the support they're given or not given, the responses and energies they're met with.

No one BUT Scott in his first full moon had to undergo it with no other possible support aside from an equally inexperienced-with-the-supernatural best friend whose priority at the moment was he was mad at him. Of course Isaac and Erica and Boyd and Liam and other werewolves aren't going to match how Scott came across there, because their circumstances were defined by Scott and others actively trying to HELP them and meet their altered states with empathy and compassion, whereas Stiles, unfortunately, responded to Scott's altered state by lowering himself to a similar level, one action/reaction at a time, rather than trying to raise him back up the way Scott attempted during Liam's first moon, or he and Derek and others attempted with Boyd and Cora in Season 3, etc.

Like I said from the beginning....Scott's cruelty is never going to look like anything other than "oh look at Scott being a massive dick there" if you treat it as though it happened in a vacuum and refuse to factor in the appropriate context. If you can't acknowledge that Stiles was also behaving badly, then you fundamentally will not be able to collate an accurate representation of what was shown onscreen. Both werewolf and his human best friend were shown being assholes to each other in response to each other. In later seasons, werewolves and the other werewolves and human friends surrounding them were shown trying to meet the newer/less experienced werewolves with compassion and empathy, and shockingly....this worked out better for everyone, and the later werewolves were never given occasion - or cause - to be depicted nearly as poorly as Scott when he experienced his first full moon with a friend who prioritized getting back at him just as much if not more than he prioritized actually helping Scott.

Make of that what you will, I'm not actually interested in going any further with TW discourse at this stage of things and I think I've said all there is to possibly say there at this point. If you don't agree, you don't agree, but I've more than made a case for my side of things and have plenty of years under my belt checking for whether my own character biases are coloring my perception of things unreasonably. Ideally, you'll do the same, and if we're still on different pages, it is what it is.

So I just thought of something... Did the show ever show any other character get downright mean during the full moon other than Scott? Because yes, we saw them get aggressive but I don't remember anyone being straight up mean other than Scott before he learned to control it.

The small amount of snippets we got of young Derek learning to control it didn't have him be mean.

Isaac didn't get mean.

Erica didn't get mean.

Boyd didn't get mean.

Jackson was already mean so no different than him every other day of the month.

Malia didn't get mean.

Liam didn't get mean.

Why was Scott the only one who became mean during the full moon? Thoughts?

And no anti any of the characters. This isn't to bash any of the characters, I'm not even bashing Scott. I'm legit curious why it was only Scott who got mean. I know we saw his time of learning to be a werewolf more than anyone else's, but I don't think it was just something that just wasn't shown for anyone else. I think it was purposeful, but I just wonder why it was done this way.

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raeynbowboi · 4 years ago

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Why I Believe Angel and Husker Will (or Should) Be Endgame

As a shipper and a writer, I pride myself on finding the meat in shipping material, and despite how little official content for it is available, Hazbin Hotel’s juiciest pairing (by my observation, and not counting Charlie x Vaggie cuz that’s already canon) is Huskerdust or Angelhusk, the main mlm pairing in Hazbin Hotel between Angel Dust and Husker. While I’m a big fan of any mlm pairing no matter how small the serving size, this one is an absolute feast, and I want to explain why I think that is, because Angel flirts with multiple men in the first episode, namely Sir Pentious, Alastor, and Husker. So he just comes across as a relentless flirt, but I believe his destiny truly lies with the grumpy sourpuss bartender.

Given what we’ve learned about Angel Dust from the Addict music video and the prequel comic, it’s becoming clear that Angel doesn’t exactly love his situation. He pretends it’s fun and glamourous for his image, but it’s all an act. In the very last pannel for the comic, we can even see a box of dildos in his room with the words “for fun” crossed out, and the box being relabled as “work stuff”. I believe that Angel’s arc and character growth will be strengthened by having a love interest who cares about Angel as something beyond a sex object. Travis and Valentino clearly only see Angel as a piece of meat. Even Tom Trench one of the... less horrible denizens of Hell we’ve met, only recognizes Angel as a porn star, implying that he too only values Angel for his body. The creators have even verified that Angel will have a love interest in the series. So, that’s the easy part. Angel’s very clearly a gay man, and him having a love interest will help put the romance back in relationships with men for Angel. No surprises there. So why will/should it be Husker who fulfills that role as Angel’s redeeming lover?

In the simplest terms, it’s because their needs fit together perfectly. Angel needs someone to care about him romantically that also values his emotions, mind, and autonomy instead of just his body. Husk has likewise pretty much spelled out the flaw he needs to fix. He lost the ability to love years ago. Whether he just shuts out his emotions, someone broke his heart and now he’s jaded and bitter, or he freezes out his feelings so he won’t get hurt again, Husk has rejected love and his feelings. Learning to love and open up to Angel helps Husk to overcome those toxic coping mechanisms. Especially because his other vices such as drinking, are an extension of his core issue. His hang-ups with love. He drinks to forget and suppress. Overcoming his issues with his emotions will help Husk free himself of other sins in the process. Now the important issue though, does Husker even like boys? Yes, he does. Husker was confirmed by members of the crew to be pansexual, so he is capable of finding Angel attractive. Also, on a related note, Alastor is both Asexual and Aromantic, so he’s very unlikely to give Angel the core thing he needs, the tender appreciation of his romantic partner. That’s not to say Asexuals and Aromantics can’t date, it’s just less probable. And all the other males are either villains, or objectify Angel already. Which kind of leaves Husker as the best candidate for Angel’s love interest, at least currently. In fairness we know very little about Baxter, but that’s the thing. Without knowing anything about him, we can’t really weigh him against the other options.

Character design is very important, as it can provide visual cues about a character. Looking at these two, they share a lot of similarities. Starting from the top, while not visible here, there is a heart-shaped spot on the back of Angel’s head, and this heart appears as well on Husker’s forehead, palms, and wings. More importantly, I may be wrong, but I believe the only characters with hearts in their design are all connected to Angel. Only Travis and Val share this heart motif, two men Angel has had sex with, though in Valentino’s case, it's not always willingly. They share their wearing of a bow tie, but to be fair, Charlie wears one too, as does Sir Pentious, so it’s a weak connection. Color theory also matters. Firstly, they are Yin and Yang. Angel is mostly white with a few dark accents, while Husker is mostly dark gray/black with white accents. Angel’s left eye, bow tie, and shorts/skirt are also the same color (or pretty close) as Husker’s darker fur patches on his forearsms, ankles, ear tips, and whiskers. The stripes on Angel’s top also repeat in Husker’s ears. Finally, while not repeating on Angel’s design, Husker’s fur on his ankles resembles spats, a fashion trend from the early 1900s. Although this trend was pretty dead in widespread use by the 1940s, it remained popular with gangsters and mafia, so much so that it’s almost a streotype of mafia. Angel’s family was an Italian crime family involved with mafia dealings. So while it makes little sense for a man who died in the 1970s to be wearing spats, it connects him to Angel’s ballpark of time as well as drawing connections to Angel’s past and his family.

Hazbin Hotel has Instagram accounts for the characters, and using Husker (bar_cat75) Angel Dust (angie_fluffy_bootz) and Niffty (babyfeathrdustr), we can put together further developments in their relationship off-screen. Starting with one of Husker’s posts, we see Angel leaning on the bar offering him a ticket to his “peep show”. The next post shows Husker still at the bar, but now there’s drool on the counter, and we can see the back of one of Angel’s legs and the red smoke from the Addict video trailing behind him with the line “Fuck, I passed out. Did I miss something?” Next, there’s a post from Niffty of Angel leaning on the railing smoking as he does in the post-credits sequence of the Addict video. Granted, I can’t tell how much of Addict is prequel and how much is happening in real time following the pilot, but we know at least the ending is canonically after the pilot episode. Seems like Angel wanted Husker there (we don’t know if he offered tickets to anyone else) and he seems bummed that he didn’t go, with a later message from Husker (that I can only seem to find in Tumblr posts) with Husker realizing that he missed Angel’s show and feels bad about it. As “owing” Angel a favor for missing his show, Angel leaves his beloved pet pig Fat Nuggets in Husker’s care, who proceeds to eat all of Husker’s limes and cherries. Now it is very important to point out that Fat Nuggets seems to fill the dual role of “purse dog” and emotional support animal for Angel, so leaving him in Husker’s care shows a lot of trust because this animal means a LOT to him. There’s also apparently rumors that Alastor keeps trying to eat Fat Nuggets which... I haven’t found a credible source for. But if Angel is worried about Fat Nuggets’ safety, him trusting Husker to protect his pig only further demonstrates his trust in the grumpy old booze cat. Upset about all the fruit Fat Nuggets ate (because it’s not easy to get in Hell) Husker wants Angel to pay to replace what the pig ate, but Angel argues that because Husker owed him a favor it’s not his responsibility. Angel says he’ll pay him if Husker agrees to come to his next show, and they compromise to get milkshakes instead. The creators said Husker was a Tsundere, and it shows. Someone called their outing a date, and Husker was QUICK to shout that it wasn’t a date, just settling up on a favor. This almost plays out like an episode 2, turning the Addict Video into the jumping off point for a second story in the hotel. I don’t know how many full narratives will come out of the Instagram accounts like this, but it’s really cool how they’re approaching this almost like a multi-media story, and I’m curious to see if this will continue when the show starts airing on television. One last thing of note is that in Angel’s latest post, there’s pictures of Fat Nuggets, Cherri Bomb, and Husker on his bedroom wall, much to Husker’s annoyance. In all of these Instagram posts, Angel seems to now be training ALL of his attention on flirting with Husk, to the point that unless another character sweeps Angel off his feet or causes Angel to start flirting with them instead of Husker, I think this pairing is sailing quickly and unopposed toward the canon zone.

I hope I’ve provided sufficient proof to back up my wild accusations, but I sincerely believe all of the building blocks have already been assembled to create a compelling romance between these characters. The flaws they need to overcome interlock with each other perfectly, their designs draw connections between them, and their Instagram accounts weave together a narrative for a soft Episode 1.5. I believe all of this together points that these two are meant to become a romantic couple, and if they aren’t, then maybe the showrunners should consider it.

#hazbin hotel #vivziepop #angelhusk #huskerdust #angel dust #husker #husk #hazbin hotel husk #hazbin hotel angel #hazbin hotel angel dust #angie fluffy bootz #bar cat 75 #babyfeathrdustr #angiefluffybootz #barcat75 #shipping #mlm #gay ship

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essaysbyciara · 4 years ago

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It’s Been A Long Time | Nebraska Williams x Black!PlusSize Reader [Part 1/?]

Warnings: language, smut thoughts (my ministry!)

So this has been in my drafts for a *HOT MINUTE* but that photo of Trevante in high school triggered a release. If people dig where it could be going, I will add it to my list of stuff to finish and open up a taglist. I’ll try my best to do so, I promise! lol

“God, I played this album out…” Lil’ Wayne’s seminal album, The Carter, didn’t age at all. Back in 2004, Wayne was a secret about to bubble over to superstardom, just years shy of lollipops and Static Major (rest in peace). Wayne represented the teenage angst of your time, even though you toiled in the suburbs while he wrestled with the streets. But as “On My Own” damn near explodes your factory speakers, a high pitch ping from your phone pauses your trip down memory lane.

Message from Sheena: Let’s catch up before the babies wake up.

You hit the call button on your dash once you stop at a red light.

“Girl, hey. You on your way to work?”

“Ain’t I always, Shi Shi? Damn near almost overslept. Thought I missed my flight.”

Sheena, or Shi Shi, is the epitome of a best-friend-forever. You two met in Ms. Grayson’s civics class, 11th grade. On the first day of school, you rolled into third period wearing a Scream Tour II t-shirt and if you were to describe Sheena in that moment, jealous wasn’t even the word. She stanned hard for Lil’ Bow Wow but her mom wouldn’t let her go to the concert because she got caught with a boy in her room. That boy is now the husband half-way responsible for the twin girls she’s hoping will give her some grace by sleeping a little bit longer.

“Damn. You wanna gift some of that sleep to these twins, God mommy?”

“Only if you gift me some of those post-pregnancy boobs, Mommy Dearest,”

“Can’t do that. Jarell been having too much fun with those!”

“Girl, eww. I don’t need to know all that.”

You kinda did. Sheena’s stories were always live, wild and uncut. And the only fireworks you’ve been adjacent to in months since you broke up with that lame stockbroker, Keith. You curve around the airport parking lot as Sheena starts digging deep into her latest soft-core episode with her husband since the six weeks ain’t up yet. In between interjections of how nasty Jarrell could be and watching planes taxi in the distance, you cruise through Instagram to take inventory of what your day might be like.

Managing social media for the biggest sports publication in the country was not the fulfillment of a dream after high school because, shit, social media didn’t exist when you were in high school. But it’s what has you just hours away from a flight to the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, sitting in a parking lot, listening to your BFF’s slow burn sexcapades. You break up the audio immersion experience once your timeline displays something else to ruminate over.

“Sheena! Shi -- shut up! I can’t believe - you remember Lisa from high school? She got married ...and it ain’t to Brasco.”

“Whaaaa… you can finally stop making u-turns in the hallway and snag your man!”

You didn’t appreciate the lowly dig from your friend about Nebraska “Brasco” Williams, star running back, track champion and boy so fine he made both Omarion and J-Boog look like ogres. Your high school crush had you shook to your pubescent core; pretty teeth, deep skin tone and two tattoos before the age of eighteen. You’d see him in the student parking lot with the rest of the football team and you’d rush to your car as if it would go home without you. He was too hot to handle. You were beyond envious that Lisa could.

“Lisa ain’t do too bad. Her man is crazy fine. I mean, not Brasco fine but still…”

“Man, he had high school going crazy. I wonder what happened to him after that fight? I should stalk him on Facebook while I pump.” You laugh so hard, the couple walking past your car stops their argument to stare at you.

Your laughs break once you realize you might actually miss that flight. You relegate Shi Shi to kiss the twins for you and to send his Facebook profile if she can actually find it. You tried years ago and failed.

“Aight, fave. I will. Love you. Text me when you touch down in Indy.”

As you weave through the terminal, your mind thinks back to the days at New Birth High School. While it brought you joy in a forever friend and the launching point for your forever career in sports journalism, it did bring you one of the most hurtful days of your life that took years to shake.

It was the summer going into your senior year. Lisa’s sweet sixteen pool party. No way in Hell you thought you’d be there but your Mom and Lisa’s stepmom sat on the same deacon board at church and somehow thought you two were friends; Lisa paid you dust in those hallways. You fretted over every part of your outfit, especially the swim shoes you didn’t want but your Dad picked up at Sports Authority. But you were fretting the most over your swimsuit, a red one-piece with a deep open back. It was sexy for a 16-year-old, to be honest, but you secretly tried it on at the mall and fell in love with it -- especially how it made you feel.

You fell in deep love with your body that day. The way the swimsuit clenched your waist, giving your almost-pear shape some definition you’d never seen before. Your hips sat wide, your breast placed taunt, just peeking through the sides, showing off a crescent shaped birthmark right below your collarbone. It was Jet Beauty of the Week-esque and it made you feel on top of the world. Something that society kept telling you a plus-size teenage girl was not to feel. You used the last of your paper route money to buy it and hid your secret weapon in the back of your closet until the day arrived. You were hoping to get some boy’s attention -- especially Brasco. But you’d take anybody’s glare if you could get it.

You were in the clear once your Mom dropped you and Sheena both off at Lisa’s back gate. As you walked into the party, the sounds of the local hip-hop and R&B radio station blasted throughout her huge backyard. So much fun was had -- so much splash and dash -- that the faint sounds of “Knuck If You Buck” failed to erupt a party full of teenagers it was made for. The pool seemed tempting in 90-plus heat but most of the temptation came from the jacuzzi next to it. There inside sat Brasco, his lanky on-field wide receiver sidekick Kenny and Jarell, Sheena’s partner-in-bedroom-bust crime looking delicious in their highlighter-color swim trunks. You were still figuring out your body and the reactions conjured up from the sight of water droplets chasing down their backs confused you even more. But the heat of the sun -- and the heat from your body -- got too much to bear. That pool called your name.

You stripped off your t-shirt and denim shorts, leaving your swim shoes back by the picnic table. They clashed. Your nerves splashed together like the water you couldn’t wait to feel, battering against your heart. Were you ready for all this attention? Amongst the rest of the classmates, you disappeared. You weren’t popular. People knew of you but didn’t know you, only associating you with Sheena by proxy of Jarell. “My Goodies” came on the radio, providing you a soundtrack and a sign from God. Before you could answer the call, Sheena jumped into the pool. You tossed your glasses on top of your clothes and did the same.

The water felt golden. Sheena smacked your face with sheets of chlorinated goodness. Too much fun was had by all, even Lisa joined in the fun. Suddenly the entire football team did too except Brasco and Jarell, languishing on the edge of the jacuzzi because like most boys from their side of town, they didn’t know how to swim. Lisa saw her boo in isolation and tapped Sheena on the shoulder.

“Hey, Shi Shi. Let’s get in the jacuzzi.” Sheena grabbed your hand to guide you out of the pool. You weren’t expecting to see your Mom at the other end. Sheena didn’t grab you to join her in the warm bubbles, she got you out at the angry-faced-behest of your mother. You both were going home. The party silenced and stares followed as everyone watched your walk-of-shame to grab your clothes. You got what you wanted in the worst way possible.

Your unholy exodus commenced when Lisa’s mom called yours to report what she saw: this red bathing suit too revealing for a little girl to wear. It wasn’t the green ruffled mess-of-a-bathing-suit from last year. She claimed to witness stares and whispers and “boobs hanging out, butt all out.” Your mom got over there quicker than a church shout. She waited to scold you after she dropped off Sheena.

It was a Sunday School scolding like no other. Tears pooled deep like the one you were just having fun in. You tossed the bathing suit into the trash bin. You were never going to see it again.

The announcement of your flight breaks you out of your day nightmare. Grabbing the handle on your suitcase, you see a text with an attachment from Sheena.

Girllllllllllll. I found Brasco and babyyyyyyyyyyy…

You gasp. Time did a wonder on him in all the right ways. He packed on even more muscle, chiseling out the navy thermal dressing his upper body. Teeth still bright, Moonlight-bright. His Omarion-Pandemonium-era braids were gone, now donning a clean fade with perfect waves. His stance meant business, a lot of it risky. You bite your lower lip to mask the “damn!” urging a release from you, staring at his picture so intensely that you damn near walk into the stewardess checking your boarding pass.

You couldn’t wait to get to your first-class seat. You needed a safe space to drown in your own splash waterfalls. You beg Sheena to send you his profile, looking to make some more of that mess and she obliges. Scrolling through his Facebook, you see nothing. You needed him to match your uncleanliness. Another text from Sheena breaks you out of your spell.

Ain’t shit on here though. I can’t find an Instagram or anything. That’s where the dirt is at lol

You put your social media skills to work. Ain’t an Instagram profile that you can’t find. Nebraska Williams brings up nothing. Such a unique name and nothing to show for it.

Maybe Jarell can follow him, Shi.

Jarell ain’t on this thing. He hates all this stuff. You want me to follow him?

Girl, yes! I need more pictures! I’m trying to find his ‘gram and no diceeeeeee. Ughhhh.

Damn the “no cell phone until after lift off” announcement. You then try “Brasco”, too many names -- rappers, really-- and a dog company to boot. “Brasco Williams” yields no results. You couldn’t wait what could be hours, days, weeks, maybe never, for a response from Brasco to Sheena’s friend request.

You pull up Google as a last ditch effort. The results bring up what only seems to be archives from your now-defunct city newspaper covering one of Nebraska’s record-setting games from 2005. You know to quit while you’re ahead until you see a Youtube video: “Nebraska Williams (RB) New Birth High School (MD). uploaded by Donyell Williams. You remember Donyell as this boy who played too damn much in Geometry class but right now, he’s Brasco’s cousin who's Instagram profile came up on the first search. Thank God his profile wasn’t private. You scroll back far enough to hit the jackpot.

I found it! @donniebrascowill is his Instagram.

Sheena was right about the dirt. His posts were bare but his stories carried enough. Enough shirtless, weightlifting, fresh-out-the-barbershop-got-to-show-you-the-fade dirt. You hit the follow button before the stewardess asked for your drink selection.

End of Part I

#trevante rhodes x reader #trevante rhodes x fanfiction #nebraska williams

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thepapergirlandthespiegelman · 3 years ago

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Castlevania Season 4: I’m not mad, just disappointed

Season 4 is poorly written fanfiction, which is...better than a lot of things could be, I guess.

Spoilers below the cut.

Content warning: trauma, sexual assault, psychological manipulation

The Gods Have Had a Change of Heart

Or, “Season 3 Blocked and Ignored”

Season 3 felt like the fabric of the universe had been twisted just to inflict additional pain. Season 4 overcompensates in the other direction; trauma evaporates, and good things happen for no other reason than to make our favorite characters happy.

The Season 3 finale left two characters in particular totally devastated: Alucard and Hector. Alucard is violently betrayed in a horrifying sexual assault by the first two people he’s spoken to since Trevor and Sypha left. He ends up killing them in self-defense and puts their bodies on stakes outside the castle, alluding to his father’s habit of doing so and potentially hinting at a turn toward evil. Hector is seduced by Lenore and then enslaved using a magic ring.

Yet at the start of Season 4, it’s as if these things never happened. Alucard is troubled, but not totally devastated, certainly not evil. Taka and Sumi are referenced in exactly one conversation with new character, Greta, in which she says the rather tactless throwaway line, “I had a boyfriend and girlfriend at the same time once. But they never tried to kill me.” Hector is nominally imprisoned, but immediately seems highly agentic, perhaps even more so than before. He studies, lays traps, and makes secret plans with other people. Furthermore, his relationship with Lenore is completely transformed. From falling to his knees in abject horror and despair at being enslaved, he suddenly switches to light banter, in what is apparently a basically okay, mutually enjoyed romantic/sexual relationship. Manipulative, selfish Lenore is now a sympathetic character struggling to reconcile her own role and feelings with Carmilla’s plans.

The events of season 3 happened, remaining canon in the most basic, literal sense. But the emotional weight attached to them has disappeared into thin air.

Not gonna lie, I did breathe a sigh of relief when I saw that Alucard and Hector were okay. I’m soft-hearted! I don’t like seeing characters I like suffer! I mean, conflict is important, and I can deal with (or even enjoy in a certain sense) seeing characters suffer if it makes sense and serves a narrative purpose. But as far as I can tell, the season 3 finale was nothing more than lurid, meaningless violence. I probably wouldn’t have continued watching the show if it devolved into nothing more than finding novel ways to torture the characters.

Still, it doesn’t feel quite right to pretend like nothing happened either. Or, really, not that nothing happened, but that those things didn’t matter, didn’t hurt, didn’t leave lasting scars. That’s...almost kind of worse.

But, I thought, I can sort of forgive this sudden shift in the stars, given that there may have been some sort of change in creative direction relating to Ellis’ decreased involvement with the show.* Plus, season 3 was insanity. It’s not like it was full of great writing choices, so if we quietly ignore some of them, maybe that’s for the best.

*I only later learned that Netflix actually chose to continue with Ellis’ season 4 scripts. It is not lost on me that maybe Ellis doesn’t know how to write about the lasting effects of traumatic sexual experiences or how power dynamics can make a sexual relationship problematic because he doesn’t understand that those things exist.

Characters Being Nobody and Nothing Happening

Pretty Pictures, Not Much Else

Unfortunately, the disconnect between seasons 3 and 4 isn’t the only problem with this season. Although I felt that season 4 was a bit less boring than season 3 (I particularly enjoyed some of the earlier episodes of season 4), it suffers from the same basic problems of Characters Being Nobody and Nothing Happening.

None of the characters experience any significant development, let alone any sort of coherent arc. Sypha has changed slightly, becoming more rough and jaded. I did really like the scene where she talks about becoming the kind of person who says “shit.” I think it really speaks to how entering into a relationship with someone means taking on aspects of their lifestyle, and how that can change you in ways that you can’t predict and therefore can’t exactly “agree” to. Sometimes those changes are good, sometimes they’re bad, sometimes they’re neutral, and sometimes it’s difficult to know. But you have to accept that you’re sacrificing some aspects of the person that you could have been if you chose to live completely independently, or with someone else.

Trevor really hasn’t changed since season 1 when he first decided to take up the mantle of hero again. Likewise with Alucard. Hector and Lenore change, as previously noted, but that change is sudden, jarring, and occurs completely off screen in between seasons 3 and 4. Carmilla dies as exactly as she lived: bitter, angry, and violent. Saint Germain just kind of...gets fucked over in a nonsensical subplot, which is its own whole can of worms.

We also get several new characters in season 4, none of whom have developed personalities or motives, nor do they develop any of those things over the course of the season: Greta, Zamfir, Varney, Ratko.

And nobody. Does. Anything.

Trevor and Sypha spend the entire season trying to explore and aid Targoviste, which comes to absolutely nothing. They’re unable to help anyone, Zamfir dies, and they end up just jumping through a magic portal to the actually relevant subplot in the finale. Carmilla literally does little more than draw maps until she’s ultimately killed. Hector plays a minor role in Saint Germain’s extraction of Dracula from Hell; otherwise, he and Lenore basically just exchange banter. Saint Germain does sort of do some stuff? But it’s often unclear how he’s made his connections, who the people who are helping him are, or what exactly he’s doing in terms of his magic beyond “whatever it takes to get back to his lover.”

Sure, there are fight scenes, but they feel meaningless. There’s no context, no stakes. There’s also a LOT of dialogue, and it is. Not well written. Exposition is embarrassingly clumsy at times, and the philosophical musings are cliche at best, muddled and confusing at worst. There’s just not all that much going on.

That is, except for Isaac. But more on him in a second.

What Kind of Show Is This?

When the plot line adapted from Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse ended with season 2, the show struggled to establish a new identity.

Despite nominally dealing with themes like whether humanity is inherently good or evil and how to cope with wrongdoing and loss, seasons 1 and 2 ultimately boiled down to a pretty generic action-adventure/fantasy plot with found family/power of friendship elements. Main characters Trevor, Sypha, and Alucard don’t really wrestle with big philosophical questions or suffer any major defeats. They know that they have to take down Dracula for the good of the world, and they work together as a team to do it, with a little character development relating to their various backstories sprinkled in.

Then season 3 happened, and things got weird. The trio is broken up for what feels like a pretty trivial reason—Alucard has to protect the castle and Belmont hold, I guess? And the result of that decision is that the dynamics for the three main characters are completely unbalanced.

Ellis openly admits that he basically went feral with the writing of season 3, and it shows. The messaging in seasons 1 and 2 was cliche, but consistent. The message of season 3? Anyone’s guess.

Season 4 reversed the darkening of tone from season 3, but shares its inability to pick a story and tell it.

Isaac is the Main Character

Always has been.

While I can’t say that his character or arc are perfect, I can say that he actually has a character and an arc. He starts off motivated by his fierce loyalty to Dracula, then has to struggle to find his purpose once Dracula is gone. He goes from subservient to agentic. He goes from fully endorsing the genocide of humanity and not caring about his own life to seeing some worth in humans and genuinely wanting to live. He has an interesting moment that deepens our understanding of what night creatures are, while also serving as an exploration of the meaning of one’s fundamental nature. Most importantly, these changes happen naturally over the course of the show. They never feel forced or out of the blue, and while I feel like even more could have been done with Isaac’s character, there’s a lot to appreciate about what is there.

If there’s any thread holding Castlevania as a single, coherent work together, it’s Isaac. Not only is his character the best executed and the most coherent over the course of the show, his character explores themes that are larger than himself and relevant to the show as a whole, like those mentioned earlier: misanthropy versus a belief in the value of humanity; the ability to go beyond one’s “nature” or initial circumstances; and how to respond to being wronged or losing something important to you. Exploring the individual lives of characters is great, but really good writing usually requires going beyond that to reflect on broader questions and ideas. Isaac is the only character here that serves that larger purpose.

Sorry...I Just Don’t Buy It

The season 4 finale is crazy, although in a different way from season 3′s.

Varney being Death makes no sense on several different levels. I’m not going to spend a lot of time picking that particular plot twist apart, but I will talk about why I think it doesn’t work at the largest scale, and how I think season 4 might have been done better.

Last minute twists with zero foreshadowing are rarely a good idea, and this is no exception. Why introduce this “Death” entity at the last minute to be the most important battle of the season? The finale of the entire show, even? Besides the lack of logic or emotional buildup, this robs the show of the opportunity to make use of the antagonists that it already has. Since Dracula died, Carmilla has been the obvious choice for a new big bad. Why hasn’t she done more?

Season 4 feels crowded with characters and plot lines that amount to nothing. Why not bring some of these characters together? If Carmilla is the main antagonist, how come she never meets any of the protagonists (except Hector, who is a pretty minor player in this ecosystem) or even affects them in any way?

Season 4 feels like maybe it was trying to make something out of season 3 and the model that it presented, but it ultimately fails to do so. The writers throw the trio back together at the end anyway, so why not have them rejoin sooner and work together? Maybe Sypha and Trevor’s past experience with Saint Germain could have helped Alucard and Greta piece together what he was plotting sooner, rather than all four of them being completely blindsided by it in the penultimate episode. (Sypha and Trevor know that someone is trying to resurrect Dracula, but they fail to find out any actual detail about the plans, despite their supposed attempts.) Have characters actually do stuff, figure stuff out, advance the plot!

Likewise, maybe Carmilla becomes aware of Saint Germain’s scheming, sees it as a threat, and tries to take him down. Maybe she tries to get involved and somehow use alchemy or the Infinite Corridor to her own benefit. What does it look like when power-hungry Carmilla, who wants to rule the world, finds out there’s an entire multiverse out there? That could easily set her up to be a foil to Saint Germain, causing him to realize that what he’s doing is wrong.

What actually ended up happening in the show feels disjointed and often empty. In particular, most of the events that happen in the last two episodes just don’t really work for me. I didn’t like Trevor suddenly sacrificing himself to this random, new, super powerful enemy, or how the gems and dagger that he found just happened to be the perfect weapon to kill this new enemy, or how he inexplicably returns from the dead.

This kind of thing is what I mean when I say that this season feels like fanfiction. Trevor comes back from the dead for no discernible reason other than that it would really suck if he died. Greta as a character seems to literally only exist to be Alucard’s girlfriend and support him so that he doesn’t have to continue to be alone and potentially turn evil. Alucard’s trauma from Taka and Sumi and Hector’s trauma from Lenore are both conveniently erased. Even Dracula and Lisa are resurrected somehow and get their happy ending. And it’s like, I guess I prefer deus ex machina to the opposite (Does that have a name? When everything is going well but then something terrible happens for no reason other than to make things worse for the characters?), but they’re both bad writing.

God. This isn’t even getting into what happened with the Council of Sisters. And I don’t even really like those characters, but that doesn’t mean I want to see their characters handled poorly.

I’m not sorry that I watched until the end, but I can’t in good faith recommend the show as a whole. If you’ve yet to watch Castlevania, just stop at the end of season 2. While there are some shining moments in seasons 3 and 4 (4 more than 3), it’s just really not worth it.

#review #thoughts #television #animation #adult animation #video game adaptation #fantasy #Netflix #Netflix Original #Castlevania #storytelling #writing #characters #plot #character development #vampires #Isaac (Castlevania)

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