#guess who's started hur hur | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

dashofmonsters · 5 months ago

Text

Dreamers & Delusions- Pt. 8

merman x female reader

After you finally agreed to live with Tao he told you to take a few days to heal up. You were worried that you'd get fired from your job being out so long but apparently on his little jog out to get you clothes he also stopped by the diner.

He informed Mikey that you won't be back in for a few days due to your injuries. He also mentioned that he may or may not have threatened him after he said some horrible things about you under breath. Apparently Jes was there to stop him from beating Mikey black and blue.

You spent the first day just lounging about in the nest room, reading your romance novels you've stashed away at Tao's. He had to go back to the beach to asses the damage and help with clean up. When he came home he looked drained but quickly perked up when he saw that you made dinner

The second day Jes came to visit and the two of you talked up a storm.

"Girl you are so lucky to be alive right now! You could have fucking died!" She shakes you before giving you a rib crushing hug.

"I know, I know. I just couldn't be there anymore, I needed to get away," You cry against her shoulder and sigh.

You give Jes the run down of that fateful night and leave nothing out. She listens, shaking her head here and there and holding back tears when you talk about how terrified you were.

"And I've been here since. I don't know if he's told you, but I'm moving in with him," you tell her as you wipe your eyes with your sleeve.

"I think that's for the best, but what about... well, you haven't been to keen on getting any closer to him because of the... you know, mates subject," She sighs and scrubs her face.

"I'm trying not to think about it. I'll still keep him at a healthy distance, even though he seems to want the opposite. Not sure if he's taking this fake dating seriously or if he's just being over protective of me because he sees me as his shoal mate," you shrug.

Jes' brows hike up her forehead and she grins, "Shoal mate?"

"Like werewolves have pack members Jes, nothing special," you glare.

"Sure sure, and I'm guessing all those clothes and lacy things aren't special either?" Her grin widens.

"Jes, no. He's just being nice, he even said it was because I didn't have anything to wear and all," you roll your eyes and groan. "Besides he would probably buy even more expensive clothes for his mate, treat her even better and all. I'm just practice, that's all I'm ever good for."

Without warning a hand clamps down on your face and shakes you, "You listen and you listen good, I am sick and tired of hearing your woe was me bullshit! You are kind, smart, dependable, funny as fuck, and loving as hell and if no one can see that in you, they don't fucking deserve you. Tao included ok?"

You nod your head and whimper, "But when he finds her won't h-"

"And what if you are her? What then?" She asks you.

"How can it be me though? There's been no sign, no marks, no moment where we look deep into each others eyes and just 'know'. There's nothing Jes, just two friends who are fake dating," you start blubbering, tears rolling down your cheeks again.

You've bottled up these emotions for days now, unable to vent them since you're in the same living space with the merman who's causing them. You needed this, needed to talk to Jes and just let it all out.

"A part of me wishes he wasn't so goddamn nice to me ya know. Like it'd be so much easier to fall out of love with him. And now look at me, I'm about to move in with him because it's safer here than with my own fucking family. I can't win Jes, I can't," you sob into your hands and she pulls you in for a hug.

"You'll be alright sugar, maybe not now but eventually. I'm not going to sugar coat shit and say things will be fine because I'm no fortune teller girly. This is going to be a fucking journey, but it's all about how you navigate until you reach the end. Nobody needs to get hurt ok?" Jes pulls back and wipes a tear from your cheek. "But if he does hurt you, I will be more than happy to put my foot up where the sun don't shine."

You manage a teary chuckle and nod, "Thanks for being real Jes. I guess I needed to hear that and not some fake positivity bull shit."

"I don't do that wishy washy fake support girly, I tell it like it is," she grins and winks.

After you calm down Jes segues the conversation from you and Tao to her and her wild fae fiancé. You start cackling when she tells you about the gifts they've already received from friends and family. Apparently it's common practice to gift some fun things for the bedroom before the wedding so they can enjoy them afterward. Jes admits that she's lost count of how many of these gifts she has received.

"But here's the real kicker, because he's a wild fae our wedding has to be officiated by a wild fae who has worked law between both worlds for it to be legal in both," Jes sneers and tosses her hand back and forth.

"Won't that kind of be near impossible? Aren't wild fae against going into law? I thought they'd be more free spirited?" You try to imagine someone with wild hair and wild magic working in a court of law and quickly shake your head.

"That's what I thought, but there's one. Just one, fresh out of college too. He has a degree in law in both worlds. His name is Varen, very straight laced and way too normal for anyone to look at him and think wild fae. But Artek told me that this kid's one hundred percent a wild fae, could tell by the ebb and flow of his magic," She explains and goes into greater detail about this weird wild fae.

That conversation lead to another and another, talking and bitching turned to joking over lunch and eventually, like all good things, ended after cake. Jes left and you felt lighter though the dread stayed pooled in the pits of your stomach. It was manageable now, but still there.

You distract yourself by starting on dinner. You take it easy as to not overdo it and reopen any wounds again. You've splashed some healing potion on yourself this morning but should probably cleanse yourself with another dose soon.

Little by little you get everything together and toss it into the oven. Easy, simple bake for a dinner. While it does its own thing you whisk away to the bathroom and quickly strip as you run the bathwater. You've just finished pouring the potion into the bath when the door flies open haphazardly and Tao freezes.

You can't help but to laugh especially when he attempts to close the door that keeps slipping from his grasp.

"Dude you've seen me naked probably a dozen times now, nothing you haven't seen," you plop into the bath, still laughing.

You hear the door shut and Tao sighing and to your surprise you see him sitting right at the closed door. He looks a bit roughed up and tired as hell.

"Tough day at work," you ask as you settle in for a soak.

Tao groans, "Tough would be an understatement. Two vacant houses tumbled and shattered onto the beach during the storm. We started out with plenty of volunteers but once they realized how much work goes into the clean up, well we lost a good sixty percent."

"Sixty percent?!" you turn and nearly slip against the tub.

"And if that wasn't bad enough, a certain someone came to the beach looking for you," he adds with disgust that he doesn't even attempt to hide.

"You've gotta be shitting me... She came to the fucking beach after all that had happened?" you ask.

"She was cordial at first since there was a lot of people but when I wasn't giving her the answers she wanted she started saying horrific things about you in relation to, well, to us," he says.

You know how unhinged your grandmother can be with insults and name calling but to slander you or Tao, especially Tao, in public, that was crossing a whole new fucking line.

"What did she say?" you grit your teeth and exhale, trying to remain calm.

Tao doesn't say anything, but you hear him clear his throat and shift. You turn in the tub, keeping low enough that only your shoulders and up are visible, "Tao, what did she say?"

He looks at you and looks down, "She said a great deal of things that I am very certain would cause you to become quite enraged."

"I need something a little more specific buddy. How bad was it?" you keep pushing, knowing that Tao isn't fully comfortable with this but you need to know.

"I'm not sure if I-"

"If I promise to remain calm will you fucking tell me at least one goddamn thing she said?" you nearly yell, starting to get frustrated.

Tao's eyes widen but he nods his head, "She said...well she compared you to your mother saying that you're some slut for dating me and that I'm some freak with a human woman fetish that's lowering whatever qualities about you that would be desirable to human males."

You promised to remain calm, and you're no liar. Instead you start getting out of the tub. You quickly wrap a towel around yourself before Tao can say anything but to your surprise he seems rather speechless. His eyes are back onto the floor and there's this limpness to him. You squat down next to him and he doesn't flinch.

"There's more to this isn't there?" you ask.

"I couldn't say anything... I couldn't defend you or she'd know where you were. I wanted to tear her apart so bad, not physically of course, but I wanted her to know how wrong she was," Tao admits.

You lean up against him and he stiffens a bit before relaxing. He smells of the beach and whatever trash was on beach and it makes you crinkle your nose.

"I'm going to go get dressed and finish up dinner while you take a much needed shower. Let's try to get me moved in asap. I don't think I can tolerate my grandmother any longer," you shimmy up against the door to stand up as Tao shoves up and wobbles.

He seems a little off but mostly tired.

"Try to get some rest tonight ok? We have plenty of time to talk till we both pass out," you smile at him before leaving to go get dressed.

You throw on some comfy pajama bottoms that Jes bought for you and a large shirt that Tao had got you with all the other clothes. You slip into some comfy slides and head to the kitchen to check on dinner. It's a simple chicken bake that your older brother used to make and it made you feel like a normal kid when you ate it.

You wanted to share with Tao a taste of your world since the both of you always cooked his style. It's not that he can't eat or doesn't like to eat normal human food, it's just that you've been busy practicing his style for a while now.

It's just chicken breasts baked over carrots and potatoes that you've oiled and seasoned properly, but this was the one thing that kept you going on the hard days. You made it for your younger siblings when your brother got older and left, but it was never quite as good as his.

You start prepping some broccoli to go with it, something you added so everyone could get their vegies. You can't help but to smile when you think of your little sister grimacing when she took her first bite of broccoli. You had to convince her that they were tiny trees and she'd become a giant if she ate them. Before you left home, she admitted that it didn't work but she knew you were trying so she kept eating them even if she still didn't like them. Hearing that almost made you break down in tears.

You oil up the pan and turn to grab the broccoli when you run right into Tao.

"You have got to start warning me when you enter a room dude, this is going to keep happening if you don't," you laugh.

Tao chuckles and holds your arm, "I'll try to remember that for next time. How are your wounds?"

"Itchy," you shrug, "But manageable. How about you? How are you feeling?"

"I'm...," He pauses and sighs. "Tired, tired and drained. All I want to do is bury myself in a pile of blankets and pillows and pretend that the rest of the world doesn't exist for a while."

You want to laugh because you've been there, and you feel like this isn't the first time Tao has felt like this but it's the first time he's expressed it.

"Well how about we do just that after dinner ok? I could do with wrapping myself up in that fluffy green blanket like a lettuce wrap," you giggle.

Tao gives you a soft smile and nods, "Sounds like a plan."

His hand roves up from your forearm and to your shoulder, your heart pounding a mile a minute until his nose crinkles and he nearly shoves you away as he picks up the smoking oiled pan off the stove top.

You try to apologize but Tao stops you saying it's his fault he distracted you. He offers to help with the last bit of dinner but you stubbornly decline and banish him to the barstools.

The chicken bake finishes just as you toss the broccoli into the newly oiled pan and you hush up Tao when he offers to help again.

"Can't make you a thank you dinner if you keep trying to help now can I?" you poke at him.

"Wait, what do you mean?" he asks, almost shocked.

"I thought I'd make you something from my world as a thank you... Like we're always cooking stuff from the little book you made me or stuff based on that so I thought I'd try something different...," you feel your heart sinking a bit at how silly you sound.

You should have asked instead of jumping into this, should have double checked and now you're probably just cooking for yourself because he probably won't want t-

"I can't wait to try it then," he says.

You look up, realizing that you had been looking down at the broccoli and were probably about to salt it with your tears.

"It's nothing fancy, just a chicken bake my older brother used to make for me when I was a kid," you smile.

He smiles back and yawns looking more tired than usual, "Like I said, I can't wait to try it."

You feel your cheeks heat and your heart flutter but it doesn't last long as you mentally dunk yourself into cold water.

Just a friend, just a friend...

Shaking yourself out of your girly lovey dove self you focus on finishing dinner. As simple as it is you want to make it especially presentable. You give Tao two chicken breasts and a good helping of carrots, potatoes and broccoli. You wanted to serve dinner rolls with it but you had polished them off a couple nights ago.

Tao is unable to stay seated much longer and takes the plates to the one place you'd thought they'd be forbidden from entering, the nest room. Though not without trays which he asks you to bring. You grab them along with some bottles of water and the dessert Jes had brought earlier from the diner.

Tao has you set the trays and things down at the doorway so you can hold the plates. You watch with bated breath as his claw slowly slices through the air, dragging golden glowing ruins with it. The room shifts and the nest room transforms into something akin to a magical pillow fort. The plates you're holding float out of your hands and the trays fly up to support them.

You look down for the dessert and waters but they had already transported to Tao's hands. He smiles again and gestures for you to follow him into the pillow fort.

He plops down onto a beanbag that you had no idea was even in the room and the tray lands gracefully on his lap. You follow suit and snuggle up into a pile of pillows with your tray landing next to you.

"I gotta say Tao, had I known you as a kid I would have invited you over to build pillow forts and hang out because this is fucking nice," you joke.

Tao doesn't say anything because all of his focus and attention went straight into the dinner you had made. Though he's tired, his eyes turn solid black as he rips into the chicken like a beast. It's no feeding frenzy like he did at your grandmother's house, no he still seems conscience.

You take his silence and focus on the meal as a complement and tuck into your on plate. As you eat you realize that it's still not quite like your brother's.

Guess I'll have to hunt him down and shake that recipe out of him one of these days.

You're halfway down eating when you feel Tao snuggling up to you. You glance over at him, his eyes still all black.

"If you're still fully aware in there let me finish eating dude," you tell him.

Tao grunts which you suppose is a good sign as he slinks down and lays next to you. You stab at your food and eat as slowly as possible hoping that Tao will just pass out while waiting for you.

You're not against platonic cuddling or whatever sharky merfolk due to stay warm, but you need some distance. You need to be a little colder until you've sorted your feelings out.

He's been so good to you, kind and caring that it hurts more and more as the days pass and you haven't even officially moved in yet. You keep things as professional as you can but he keeps doing things like buying you snacks and little gifts like candles and bubble bath stuff.

It drives you absolutely crazy because you know this isn't going to last, that even though you'll still be shoal mates and all, you won't be anything more than just that.

You finish eating and check to see if Tao had passed out. Once you're certain he's asleep you clean up the pillow fort and take everything to the kitchen as quietly as possible. You shake your head and almost cry as you laugh about hanging out with Tao in a pillow fort.

If you weren't in love with him you'd probably have a blast. You'd probably try to wake his ass up and try to teach him some games the both of you could play.

But you're in love with him and he's tired. You're tired too.

You had allowed yourself to laze about while physically healing but mentally and emotionally you still feel like your wounds are wide open and bleeding all over the place.

Tip toeing back to the nest room, you quickly swipe the fluffy green blanket and a couple pillows to take back to the living room. You toss yourself onto the leather loveseat and curl into a ball before passing out.

~~~~~~

Tao:

My eyes feel crusted and practically glued together when I wake up. I'm cold even though I'm wrapped up in a heavy blanket. I reach out to get a feel of my surroundings when my memories of last night start flooding in. I snap up and and furiously wipe my eyes till I can open them.

The nest room is as I remembered, magicked into a cave of pillows and blankets but absent of a certain someone. I quickly untangle myself from the blankets and nearly trip as I make my way out of the room.

I search the nearby rooms to check for her before heading to the kitchen. My heart sinks when I peer into the living room and find her curled up on the couch. I quietly pad my way over to her and I fall to my knees when I see notice the tears stained on her face and the puffiness of her eyes.

Had she spent the entire night out here alone crying her eyes out?

I grab a fistful of my hair as I try to wrack my brain for anything I might have done to upset her. I start to worry if I offended her with the way that I ate last night, I did try my best to suppress my instincts. I know that going into a feeding frenzy can disgust humans but she's been fine with it before.

My heart starts racing and I can hardly breathe as I continue to spiral into a state of panic. I'm obviously not quiet about it because she stirs then shoots straight up. I hear her worrying over me, her warm hands cupping my cheek so gently. Without think I hold her hand in place as if I'm afraid this will be the last time she touches me.

Her thumb soothes short lines near my eye and I feel myself slowly calming down to the point that I almost doze off again. She keeps talking but it's muffled. She tries to pull her hand away then and I snap out of whatever trance I was in.

"Tao, you need to go in the tank dammit! You're dry as a bone!" she yells at me.

It takes a moment for my mind and body to sync up and that's when I realize the severe discomfort my skin is in. Not just my skin but my mouth feels sticky and my gills are on fire. I stumble as I stand, no longer operating on anxious energy. It's so difficult to move, to breathe in this state.

I haven't neglected myself like this in ages and now I'm doing it in front of her. For a moment I think she might scold me, rage at how stupid I was for not taking better care of myself until I feel her small hand at the mid of my back.

Slowly she helps me to the hatch, my breathing becoming more and more labored with each step. My gills feel stuck and itchy to the point of sheer madness. I try my best not to scratch at them in fear of them becoming raw.

She sits me down on one of the benches and helps me out of my shirt. For a moment I think that it's kind of her to help me out like this until I remember that I'm wearing pants too.

In a sudden bout of panic I shoot up and kick the hatch open. I hear her talking but not a single word is registering. I quickly start stripping my pants off and before she can see anything I try to dive into my tank but trip over my own feet. I nearly miss the edge when I hit the water and thank the goddesses I made it before I feel unconscious.

There's a weight on my shoulder, a stinging pain too. I suppose I did hit myself but not as bad. I peel open my eyes in horror when I see my shoal mate's limp body slowly floating away from me with blood trailing from her head.

~~~~~~

You could see Tao struggling and you tried to stop him before he hurt himself, instead you ended up bonking your fucking head on the edge of the hatch. It stings like a bitch from the saltwater so you must have sliced it on impact.

But you quickly shove that though from your mind because you're underwater and you're breathing somehow. Memories flood back and you recall holding onto to his shoulder for dear life and Tao pulling you in and how his mouth opened yours up so he could breathe for you. He said something and you nodded before passing out again. He most likely cast a spell to allow you to breathe under water then.

You slowly open your eyes but there's not much to behold. The tank is dark save for the light near the surface. You feel around yourself and notice something smooth nearby. You give it a good poke a guess by the texture and smooshiness of it that it's Tao's tail. Suddenly you're being pulled against him, his nose nuzzling against your ear and his claws rest gently against your bare skin.

"You scared me half to death," he groans, his voice hoarse.

"Ditto dude, you were having a full blown panic attack. What happened?" you ask as bubbles exit your mouth. You have a good idea based on how he's responded to anything you do in the past but it doesn't hurt to check.

Tao's claws twitch and he hums, "I was worried that I had offended you somehow. When I awoke, you were not in the nest."

"You didn't do anything wrong Tao, I just... I needed some space. That and uhh...," You pause, knowing it's now or never and decide to rip it off like a band aid. "You don't have to keep up the fake dating act when we're alone. I mean whenever you find your mate or something I think you'll do good."

You continue to praise him and how he'll make someone super happy one of these days while doing your damndest to mask the ache in your heart. You slip up though and your voice cracks but you laugh it off or at least try to.

The slip doesn't go unnoticed and Tao pulls you into his arms again, crushing you against his body. You're stiff yet somehow you're trembling as he cradles your head and gently kisses your cheek. He doesn't say anything really but you do hear him purr. It's a low thrumming sound and it's oddly soothing.

"We were supposed to relax and pretend as if the world did not exist in the nest room. I ruined that by allowing my instincts to take over again," He says remorsefully.

"No you didn't Tao, I just... I needed space and... you've been great, maybe too great. It just feels wrong somehow to keep up the fake dating act twenty four seven. It's been messing with my head so much so that, I don't know... I just think we should tone it down and just be friends when no one is looking," you bury your face against his chest and sigh.

Tao taps his claws against the back of your head as his purring somehow intensifies, "Then how has it been messing with your head? Did I do something to overstep any boundaries?"

It's a genuine question, you know it is but it irritates you because it's digging so close to the truth, "You haven't overstepped anything, if anyone did that would be me. You've been nothing but kind and respectful and all that and it's been making me think how great it would be if there was someone who could treat me like you do but they actually loved me."

That last part stings your soul because you don't want just anybody, you want Tao.

Without thinking you keep blubbering on, your emotions taking charge now, "And then I started thinking how nice it would be if I was your mate, not just shoal mate, but that'd never happen. So I just kept telling myself we're friends and that you'll eventually find your fated mate and I'll be tossed aside. So I've been trying my best to shut those feelings off, to put some distance between us but somehow someway we keep coming into contact with each other."

At this point your laughing, possibly crying but it's too hard to tell since you're still underwater. Tao holds you even tighter, pulling you up until your chin rests on his shoulder.

"I pray to the goddesses every night that I never meet my fated mate or that I will have the strength to reject her if we do meet," he admits.

"Why would you do that?" you ask with a broken voice.

"Because I want to choose my mate and fated mates among merfolk are rare anyways. I came to this world for a new life, I can't hold onto old traditions and wishful thinking," he answers, his claws once again tapping the back of your head.

"Did you decide this because you've already chose someone?" The question slips and Tao's fingers still against you.

His purring is so loud now and his heartbeat is thrumming against it. He doesn't say anything for a minute but then nods, "Yes, I suppose I have."

You go limp in his hold for a second before looking up at him. His golden eyes glow in the darkness and his hair moves in waves around his head like an inky crown. He looks more feral at this moment than he does when his instincts kick in. For a moment you're terrified of the question fighting its way out but when he touches your arm oh so gently is just flies out.

"Who is it? Who did you chose?"

#monster boyfriend #monster x girl #monster x human #monster x reader #monster lover #merman #Tao the merman #merman x reader #monster romance #merman boyfriend #monster love #merman x female reader #monster boyfriend oc #monster bf #slow burn #slow burn romance

88 notes · View notes

velvet4510 · 8 months ago

Text

I guess I’m one of those weirdos who so deeply feels the essence of an instrumental leitmotif from a film score associated with a particular character or couple, that I start associating said leitmotifs in my head with ANOTHER character from an entirely different film/book/series. And I’ve built up a whole library of leitmotifs for LOTR characters even though I ADORE Howard Shore’s original score for the trilogy. I consider these leitmotifs to be add-ons, NOT replacements.

Nor do I intend to completely disassociate all of these themes from their intended films/characters; some of them are perfect fits for the films they were written for. It’s just my mind going wild like usual. (But I admit, in some cases, the pieces are from films I dislike, and thus I would rather see these great songs associated with something of LOTR quality rather than what they were actually stuck with, especially when the lack of lyrics gives you the freedom to let the melody take you wherever it takes you, personally.)

In the case of Silmarillion characters and relationships, well, it’s a different story - it really is my attempt to cobble together what could be a hypothetical score, if it were brought to the screen. Obviously it’d never be this exactly, but I would hope a composer for a potential screen adaptation of The Silmarillion might be inspired by themes like these.

In some cases, the characters these themes were originally written for don’t resemble the corresponding LOTR characters very much, or at all. Also some of them have titles that by themselves could not be more different from and unfitting for Tolkien’s world. It’s just the melodies on their own, without context or even name, performed by these gorgeous orchestras, that have come to remind me of particular Tolkien figure(s).

I also have found lots of “love themes”, both romantic and platonic, for character relationships, as you’ll see. I’ve included romantic themes for canonical couples, as well as for pairings that I personally ship. I know Shore already gave Aragorn and Arwen a theme, but as I said, these are all extra additions and not replacements.

And yes I have a lot of Star Wars stuff in here, because I love Star Wars…but I love Tolkien more.

For the heck of it I’ll share some of these, with links to each song on YT. It’s hard to explain why I made these choices/associations, but maybe you’ll get it if you listen to some of them.

CHARACTER THEMES

The Valar = “Guardians of the Whills Suite” by Michael Giacchino

Lúthien Tinúviel = “Once Upon a Time in the West” by Ennio Morricone

Túrin Turambar = “Anakin’s Theme” by John Williams

Nienor Níniel = “Helena’s Theme” by John Williams

Frodo Baggins = “Romeo” by Nino Rota

Sam Gamgee = “Rey’s Theme” by John Williams

Aragorn = “The John Dunbar Theme” by John Barry

Gandalf = “Yoda’s Theme” by John Williams

Legolas = “Rose Tico” by John Williams

Éowyn = “Marion’s Theme” by John Williams

THEMES FOR LANDS/LOCATIONS

The Undying Lands = “Out of Africa” by John Barry

ROMANTIC LOVE THEMES

Frodo x Sam = “Love Theme from Ben-Hur” by Miklos Rozsa

Beren x Lúthien = “Love Theme from The Godfather” by Nino Rota

Faramir x Éowyn = “Han Solo and the Princess” by John Williams

Aragorn x Arwen = “Love Theme from Cinema Paradiso” by Ennio Morricone

Sam x Rosie = “Love Theme from Dances with Wolves” by John Barry

Bilbo x Thorin = “Andante Cantabile” by Bernard Herrmann

Thingol x Melian = “Indecent Proposal” by John Barry

Fingon x Maedhros = “Wuthering Heights” by Alfred Newman

Galadriel x Celeborn = “Central Park” by James Newton Howard

Finrod x Bëor = “Somewhere in Time” by John Barry

Aegnor x Andreth = “Love Theme from The Scarlet Letter” by John Barry

Finduilas x Gwindor = “Deborah’s Theme” by Ennio Morricone

Túrin x Beleg = “Across the Stars” by John Williams

Mablung x Nienor = “Wanda and Vision” by Christophe Beck

Tuor x Idril = “Conversation Piece” by Bernard Herrmann

Eärendil x Elwing = “Tennessee” by Hans Zimmer

Elrond x Celebrían = “And Then I Kissed Him” by Hans Zimmer

Pippin x Diamond = “Love Theme from East of Eden” by Leonard Rosenman

Merry x Estella = “Love Theme from Rebel Without a Cause” by Leonard Rosenman

Elanor x Fastred = “Theme from A Summer Place” by Max Steiner (arranged by Percy Faith)

PLATONIC RELATIONSHIP THEMES

Elrond & Elros = “Brothers” by Hans Zimmer

Merry & Pippin = “Flying” by John Williams

Legolas & Gimli = “Rain Man” by Hans Zimmer

Boromir & Faramir = “Luke and Leia” by John Williams

Bilbo & Frodo* = “The Mother’s Love” by Miklos Rozsa

Sam & Elanor = “The Ludlows” by James Horner

I may add to this as I think of more, or even replace certain songs entirely if I come across a better match. Always return to the pinned post here to see the most recently updated list.

* Bilbo & Frodo’s melody is heard in the first minute of the linked track, 0:00–1:01, and again at 1:48. Also, the love theme I associate with Frodo & Sam starts playing at 1:03, making this whole thing fit all the hobbits even better.

79 notes · View notes

mysticalgardensandwich · 2 years ago

Text

FEM ALIGNED PLEASE DNI!!

Promt: you (m/n) get home from school and because price adopted you when you get home it's at the base. One day school was just not it for you so you came home pissed and the team comforts you

M/n pov

I was about ready to generally kill someone, people and teachers all day have been yelling at me and looking at me weird, I have no fucking idea why but they are and it's annoying. I sit down on my bus not wanting anyone from the team pick me up today "hey you!" I sigh and turn to the group of people behind me "what" I don't want to talk to anymore people than I already have to so finding out what these people want will hopefully make them the last people I need to speak to. "Is it true that you got adopted by a military team?" Confused I nodded "yeah the captain was allowed to legally adopt me" they all started to giggle and laugh, rolling my eyes I turned back around and watched as the bus drove by place by place "are you sure they won't use you as an experiment, stupid lab rat, how did they even find you" I stayed quite and looking at them at all. It was finally my stop about a few minutes away from the actual base "go have fun doing tests LAB RAT!" I started walking kicking a rock as I don't not bothered to look up at all.

When I get to base the first person to greet me like normal is Ghost, or as I call him Si because well, we are close, duh wtf, anyways. I look and ghost and I think he can tell im not in a good mood, this was proven even more as I bumped into him not bothered to even apologize or help him up because he didn't expect it from me he ended up falling. I was walking to my room any recruits that was by me moved out the way.

Ghost pov

I didn't expect to be pushed into the ground today but I guess I should have been because m/n just stormed off "what's wrong with the lad?" I dusted my pants and turned back to soap who had asked the question "I don't know. Definitely something with school though" suddenly a newer recruit came up to us in a slight panic "Is l/n ok?? He's crying in his room and-" (btw l/n means last name if you didnt know💀) I felt worry bubble up inside worried for what he might have done to himself by now or what had happened while at school

Nobody pov

"we will go check on him" Soap and Ghost both shared a look before they went to go get Gaz and Price to check up on you, they all got to your room to hear you break something that sounded like glass so price's fatherly instincts kicked in and he opened the door and went to make sure you are ok but when he got close and you backed away teary eyed it made him pause "it's ok, can I make sure you didn't hurt yourself?" You shook your head and grabbed the closest item to you which was a a hard cover book "don't get close. Get out. Leave me alone." The hurt look in all of their eyes was unreal, price shook his head "we cant leave you alone. Your throwing stuff and you might get seriously hurt" you started to cry even more "m/n please. We can help with whatever feelings you might have right now" you continued to not let them near you.

"JUST GET OUT. I'M NOT YOUR LAB RAT. GET. OUT. I WON'T LET YOU NEAR ME, YOUR JUST GOING TO USE ME FOR EXPERIMENTING" you threw the book and started to scream at them all to get out. So they listened for once and stepped out the room in shock by what you had said "does he..... Does he think we are using him as an experiment.... Oh god.... What did-" they all sat outside your room listening to you cry and mumble stuff they couldn't make out into sentences, finally your door slowly started to open a bit and there was a hushed whisper "um...hey pa...can you... Can um... Help me... I cut my hand on the pot I broke....if you don't that's fine it's just.... It hur-" price instantly opened his pocket and came towards your door "of course I'll help you buddy, that's what I'm here for isn't it? To help people. Especially my son" slowly the door fully opened and you showed price the cut on the palm of your hand and he took the bandages along with some alcohol wipes "it's going to burn" he then started to clean it while you sucked in a breath from the pain "and there we go. It should be good in a few days maybe a week or so" you nodded and looked down at the ground.

"I'm sorry.. For.. My lash out... If you want to make me clean around the base or help clean up after practice and stuff I will....i'd understand if you even wanted to ma-" there was a little bit of laughter and you look at them confused "you did nothing wrong and I won't make you clean up anywhere. Other than your room. But you were simply trying to deal with emotions which is difficult when you are young. We weren't and aren't mad at all. We were just worried about you" he opened his arms and you hugged him tightly tears spilling over again

(Time skip to dinner time)

You were allowed to have your phone out during dinner sometimes and because of what had happened a few hours ago they let you have it out while eating, you were clearly texting a very long and thought out text to whom the team had no idea who "not to introduce bud but who are you texting? That's a long time you've been texting and you haven't stopped" you stopped and looked up confused "oh my friend who lives in Florida" (idk my bff lives there so I'm baseing it off of that 😭😭 btw I have no idea if the base is in the US or in the UK bc yk.....ghost price and gaz and British.. So.... Don't murder me😭) they all were happy you have someone other than them to talk to but they were also confused on what was so important or interesting to type that long "aboutttt.... What exactly..." You looked at your phone typeing a few things before pressing send then turning your phone towards them Ghost taking it carefully "it's long so while you read that I'mma finish eating" they all nodded and surrounded Ghost to read the conversation

(Blue crayon eater is your bff btw and u/n is your username)

🌈blue crayon eater🌈: hey how have you been?

U/n: not that good to be honest, eating dinner rn but they let me have my phone so here I am

🌈Blue crayon eater🌈: you wanna vent to me about it?

U/n: as long as it's ok with you then yeah that would be nice

🌈Blue crayon eater🌈: ofc you can talk to me, send as long of a text as your want and I'll still read it

U/n: thanks dude, give me a bit I'm going to type a bunch now 💀

🌈blue crayon eater🌈: ok 👍

U/n: so today on the bus a group of kids asked me if it was true that I was adopted by Price and the team and when I told them that I was they all laughed and called me a lab rat and it hate me feel fucking terrible but I also know that they don't know about how my parents literally left me in the middle of a building that they knew damn well was going to be attacked and that if it wasn't for Soap finding me while making sure all enemy's were gone and taking me out of that shit hole before it got blown up. To make matters even worse this practically destroyed my confidence to ask the team and Laswell If they would even show for bring a hero to lunch but now I feel like they are to busy or wouldn't care to show up for me, I just wish that kids werent such shit and that the team isn't mad at me for getting angry

🌈Blues crayon eater🌈: Maybe talk to them about it? I'm sure that they would make sure that they can show up for it, they love you and if they didn't love you then they wouldn't have saved you or comforted you when they broke down today

You were looking at you food not bothering to look up at the team scared of what they would say "I can ask Laswell if we are free tomorrow, we should be because from what I remember we have nothing going on" you nodded still not looking up "and we were never mad at you, also if would would like we can talk to the school about those kids" you smiled and nodded looking up at them now "thank you guys, I love you so much" you got your phone back and said thanks to you friend then told them you were going to finish eating.

(Time skip to the lunch thingy)

You were in your science class when the teacher got a call and obviously had to pick up the phone, what confused you was when it was the office calling you down so you get a pass leave your stuff and start walking to the office to see what they need from you or who's here for you. What you didn't expect was the team (still in gear and looking absolutely terrifying) and Laswell "what are you guys doing here? Don't you have work or something of the sorts?" Laswell shook her head "nope, I cleared our schedule for today and now we're are going to be here for lunch with you and we told the office about the kids and they said it's fine for us to be in the back of classes to make sure nobody trys anything" you smiled and hugged her "thank you so much"

When it came time for lunch the team had brought you your favorite food so you all sat at your normal lunch table ignoreing all the looks and the people talking "did you all purposely show up in gear or??" They all smiled and shook their heads "laswell honestly just told us to get into the car and that we are going to be at your school" you laugh and continue to eat. Everyone decided it would be nice to go outside and walk around chatting and enjoying the company, this was until the same kids that had called you a lab rat had seen you with the team and walked up to you all laughing making to uncomfortable and your mood change which the team took notice of instantly "hey m/n are these the people you mentioned?" You nod slightly "nice to meet you I'm a friend of his" you feel Simon get closer to you by the look on the groups faces "wow you mask is so cool! Why do you wear it? Insecu-" "you shouldn't ask that...its private and personal information you-" you were cut off by a slap to the face "nobody was talking to you Faggot" (I'M GAY I CAN SAY THIS BTW DON'T GET MAD!!) your eyes went wide as you felt the burning hot flesh, suddenly you we pulled back and behind the team laswell making sure you were ok "don't you ever, and I mean EVER lay a single finger on my son" you had tears in your eyes and your legs felt weak making you fall to the ground laswell making sure you didn't fall to hard "hey, hey, m/n are you alright?" You saw one of the teachers start to walk over to you and price looked at her "what happened here?" Prince looked at the kid and then back at the teacher "this kid hit my son and called him a slur in a hurtful way, this kid and his friend group has also called my son a lab rat just because he was adopted by a military team" the teacher yelled at the kid and their group making them go to the principles office.

Meanwhile laswell was still trying to calm you down, the team turned and saw your current state and all went to comfort you "hey hey, m/n, breathe, take deep breaths" Price started to do breathing exercises while everyone else whispered quite encouraging words.

I GAVE UP AT THE END I RAN OUTTA IDEAS 😭🙏🙏. I ALSO DIDN'T EXPECT THIS TO BE THIS LONG BRUH. anways-

#male reader #ghost x male reader #x male reader #john price x male reader #soap x male reader #gaz x male reader

123 notes · View notes

theaddictedwatcher · 3 months ago

Text

Hello everyone!

We're meeting again today to talk about a show that's very different from the ones I'm used to reviewing, but more importantly, different from the ones I'm used to watching, so I just wanted to thank you for the opportunity you've given me and for choosing it in the poll on Instagram (@theaddictedwatcherrewiews) last Saturday. The series I'm about to tell you about is an adaptation of Daniel P. Mannix's 1958 book of the same name, which was re-released in 2001 as The Way of the Gladiator. The book is said to have inspired David Franzoni's screenplay for Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000). The series' release on Prime Video at the end of July this year could also suggest that it is paving the way for the release of the film Gladiator 2, scheduled for November 2024. As some of you may have guessed, I'm going to tell you about Those About To Die.

And as usual, a short synopsis : Rome, year 79, a few years after the death of Princeps Senatus Nero. The population is tired and bored. Some are starving, mainly because of the slow arrival of grain from Egypt. The ageing princeps Vespasian, who had initiated the construction of the Flavian amphitheatre, tried to distract and entertain the people with gladiatorial fights and chariot races. All this kept many people busy behind the scenes, providing a real 'spectacle' for the people. The new amphitheatre also provoked jealousy among the Roman elite, who resented Vespasian's desire to share the site with the people. Vespasian also had to deal with the rivalry between his two sons, Titus and Domitian. Against this backdrop, we follow the fate of Tenax, a man who starts from nothing and tries to reach the upper echelons of Roman society. Along the way, he crosses paths with Cala, a mother who has come from Numidia to recover her three children, who have been forced into slavery and transported to Rome. And now a short technical presentation: - Created by : Robert Rodat - Music by : Andrea Farri - Starring: Iwan Rheon, Sara Martins, Tom Hughes, Jojo Macari, Moe Hashim, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Rupert Penry-Jones, Gabriella Pession, Dimitri Leonidas, Emilio Sakraya, David Wurawa, Pepe Barroso, Gonçalo Almeida, Eneko Sagardoy, Lara Wolf, Anthony Hopkins.

As I said at the beginning of this article, this series is an adaptation of the novel Those About to Die by Daniel P. Mannix (1958, reprinted 2001) by Robert Rodat, the man behind films such as Saving Private Ryan (1998) and the Falling Skies series (2011), both directed and produced by Steven Spielberg.

In this work, which takes the form of a peplum, we find many of the codes found in other well-known productions such as the films Gladiator (2000), Spartacus (1960) and Ben-Hur (1959), as well as the series Rome (2005) and Spartacus (2010), to name but a few. The title of the work is a direct reference to the Latin salute given to the princeps during the games: Ave Caesar, morituri te salutant, which translates into English as 'Hail Caesar, those who are about to die salute you'. It's a quotation that is used almost systematically in all types of works dealing with gladiatorial fights, chariot races and, more generally, the Roman arenas, as in the comic strip Asterix Gladiator by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny (album published in 1964).

But let's stop for a moment. What is a peplum? The Latin name peplum is derived from the ancient Greek word péplos, meaning 'cloth used to cover the body to make a toga'. Since the twentieth century, it has been used to describe a genre of historical fiction films set in antiquity, particularly ancient Rome, ancient Greece and ancient Egypt. There are also biblical epics based on the Old or New Testaments. Its place in the history of cinema is proof of its importance. At once noble - because it deals with history and religion and uses authors such as Homer (The Iliad, The Odyssey) or Gustave Flaubert (Salammbô) - and vulgar, because it exploits violence and eroticism, the ancient genre is associated with epic, comedy, fantasy and even the miraculous through its use of various mythologies. The basic recipe for the American peplum was laid down by Cecil B. DeMille: a handsome hero, preferably muscular, a beautiful heroine, spectacular action (orgies, battles), lavish sets and costumes.

Now that we've looked at the genre, let's take a brief historical look at the characters and the various themes.

BACKGROUND

Before we begin, this section will probably contain some historical spoilers about some of the main characters, but you need to know a little history to understand what's at stake.

Although the series begins in 79 AD, under the reign of Princeps Vespasian, we need to go back a little to understand the socio-political context of the time.

Before Vespasian

After the death of Nero in 68, the Roman Empire plunged into civil war, known as the Year of the Four Emperors, and power was hotly contested, leading to a highly unstable political situation. While the usurper Vitellius took power during 69, the Roman legions in Egypt and Judea declared Vespasian emperor on 1 July 69. He marched on Rome with his larger legions and defeated Vitellius, ending the civil war and becoming the first representative of the new Flavian dynasty.

Princeps Vespasian - played in the series by Anthony Hopkins

On 20 December 69, it was announced that Vespasian had triumphed over Vitellius, and his appointment was confirmed by the Senate the following day. Vespasian's reign was marked by a series of financial reforms and ambitious building projects. His most famous project was the Colosseum, an amphitheatre the size of which had never been equalled. Through his delegate Agricola, Vespasian also pursued the conquest of Britain.

Vespasian was the first Roman princeps to come from a family of the equestrian order (the order that followed the senatorial order in the hierarchy of classes), and was also the first Roman princeps to be succeeded by his natural son, Titus, on his death in 79. His military career was the source of his fame (Roman conquest of Britain in 43, Roman domination of Judea - modern Israel and Palestine - during the Jewish revolt of 66).

Princeps Titus - played in the series by Tom Hughes

The son of Vespasian, Titus reigned from 79 to 81. Initially serving under his father, he rose to prominence as a military commander during the First Jewish-Roman War. Titus aroused the suspicion of the Romans when Vespasian became princeps, not only because of his status as prefect of the Praetorian Guard, but also because of his relationship with Princess Berenice of Judaea. Despite several breaches of Roman morality, Titus became increasingly popular after Vespasian's death in 79.

His reign, though short, was marked by a series of disasters. Having just come to power, Titus had to deal with the aftermath of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and distinguished himself by his great generosity towards the victims. The following year he had to deal with a fire that ravaged Rome just as the construction of the Colosseum was nearing completion. Finally, he personally intervened to help the victims of a plague epidemic that killed thousands in the city. Considered a good princeps by ancient historians, he died of a violent fever on 13 September 81.

Princeps Domitian - played in the series by Jojo Macari

The youngest son of Vespasian, Domitian succeeded his older brother Titus as Princeps from 81 until his death in 96. He was the third and last of the Flavian dynasty. As Princeps, Domitian strengthened the economy by revaluing the Roman currency, reorganised the frontier defences and embarked on an ambitious building programme in Rome (including the construction of the Arch of Titus in honour of his brother). His foreign policy was marked by Agricola's campaigns in Britain and the wars against the Germans and the Dacians.

He is also remembered for expelling from Rome the philosophers who, by spreading their ideologies, were creating opponents of the regime. Domitian's government, and in particular his policy of centurionism, showed many signs of despotism. Indeed, he saw it as his destiny to lead the Roman people into a new golden age. This image was conveyed through propaganda developed on religious, military and cultural levels. In fact, Domitian was popular with the people and the army, but he was considered a tyrant by the senators, to whom he had left only vestiges of power. Domitian's reign ended in 96 when he was assassinated by members of the court. After his death, like Nero, he was condemned by the Senate to abolitio nominis ('suppression of the name'; the modern equivalent would be damnatio memoriae, which literally means 'condemnation to oblivion' but was not coined until 1689), and Latin historians such as Tacitus and Pliny the Younger published versions of Roman history in which he was described as a cruel and paranoid tyrant. Since then, modern historians have rehabilitated his reign, whose political, economic and cultural programmes helped usher in a flourishing era for the Roman Empire.

Berenice of Judea - played in the series by Lara Wolf

Berenice, also known as Julia Berenice, born around 28 BC, was one of the daughters of King Agrippa I. She was a descendant of the Herodian dynasty, being the great-granddaughter of Herod I of Judea. She was a descendant of the Herodian dynasty, being the great-granddaughter of Herod I of Judaea, known as Herod the Great.

She was married for the first time at a very young age. After this first marriage, Berenice spent some time in Alexandria until her husband's death. While still a young girl, she remarried her uncle, Herod V, King of Chalcis (south-eastern Roman Syria), with whom she had two sons. Widowed again around 48 AD, she married for the third time to Marcus Antonius Polemo II, the client king of Cilicia (in modern Turkey), whom she left to return to her brother Agrippa II in Jerusalem. At his side, she performed the duties of queen, a status that was recognised even though no wife of Agrippa is mentioned in ancient sources.

She became the mistress of Titus, the eldest son of Vespasian, while he was in command of some legions trying to crush all resistance in Galilee (northern Israel) between 67 and 68. Their relationship continued while Titus crushed the Jewish revolt of 66-70, known as the Great Jewish Revolt or the First Jewish-Roman War. Titus returned to Rome to witness his triumph (late 70s) and to help his father. Berenice joined him around 75. Because of negative rumours about the affair, he sent her back to her brother in Jerusalem when he became Princeps in 79.

The charioteer Scorpius - played in the series by Dimitri Leonidas

Flavius Scorpus, also known as Scorpius, was a famous charioteer in Roman times who lived at the end of the first century AD. Scorpus amassed 2,048 victories (that's almost 10 chariot races a week).

As one of the most famous chariot drivers in Roman history, Scorpus earned extraordinary sums of money; his income exceeded that of professional Roman sponsors.

Geographical context

A number of places are used in the series, and some of them have changed names over the course of the story, so here's a short list so that everyone knows where we're talking about:

Some of the characters are from Numidia, which now would be Algeria and part of Libya.

Berenice is from Judea, the kingdom that included Israel, Palestine and part of the modern West Bank.

CASTING

I'm not going to beat around the bush so I'll be quite honest about my feelings. This is just for me, and you are free, of course, to have a different opinion.

One of the main reasons that made me want to watch this series, apart from the subject matter, was the presence in the cast of Anthony Hopkins (Silence of the Lambs, Elephant Man, Dracula, One Life) and Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones, Misfits, Inhumans). The former, used to very charismatic roles, plays a Roman Princeps, so the casting could hardly have been more dreamy. As for the latter, whom many of you, like me, discovered in Game of Thrones, he plays Tenax, a secret crime boss and owner of the biggest betting tavern in Rome. It's a new role, full of duplicity and manipulation, and I was curious to see how it would differ from his role as Ramsay Bolton. So why not give it a go?

With the exception of them both, the entire cast was unknown to me, at least by name, and sadly I think for many of them, this isn't the show that will showcase their talents. And I'm not necessarily talking about a lack of talent, although some of the performances leave something to be desired, but I'm mainly talking about visibility. The show is packed with so many characters that the main cast of the show is also immense, and the distribution of screen time between each of them leaves them with only meagre moments of appearance per episode.

For my taste, the interpretations of certain characters are either too caricatured or too effete, and this gives the whole thing an unpleasant lack of harmony. In fact, when you go from a very intense scene full of political stakes to a scene of discussion between two pages (this is just an example, but I think it's representative enough), the emotion created by the first disappears and, with it, a large part of the viewer's attention as well.

However, I have to admit that I discovered some talented actors that I didn't know and who deserve to be seen more. I'm thinking in particular of Jojo Macari (Morbius, Sex Education, Harlots), who gives a brilliant performance as the ambitious and manipulative Domitian Flavius, the youngest son of Princeps Vespasian, and also as Aedile Ludi, the person who organises the gladiator fights and chariot races in Rome.

But I'm also talking about Sara Martins (Les Petits Mouchoirs, Petits Meurtres au Paradis, Alexandra Ehle), a French actress who plays Cala, a Numidian merchant and mother of three children - Kwame, Aura and Jula - who does everything she can to free them from the clutches of the Romans.

They're not the only two, of course, but their performances and complex characters contributed greatly in making me want to watch beyond the first episode.

Although the characters played by Anthony Hopkins and Iwan Rheon are both very interesting and their stories could be explored in greater depth. Their presence in the cast isn't enough to make up for the lack of material in the script. It's a flaw I've already mentioned, and I'll come back to it later in the article.

However, I would like to pay tribute to the work of the actors/stuntmen in the race scenes and the arena fights.

THEMES

There are several important themes in the series, and although they are not always tackled with sufficient depth or with a fresh eye, I won't list them all here as it would take far too long. Themes inherent to the genre such as politics, rivalry, but also slavery and arena fights as entertainment are all part of it.

However, I can't help but mention one of the key themes of the genre, and of historical works in general: the exploitation of sex. It's an interesting topic, not only because of the importance of understanding the sexuality of the characters, but also because of their sexualisation. In many works of this kind, when male homosexuality is depicted, it's not so much to show relationships between men as to show the decadence of Rome, whether through fascination or moral condemnation. While male homosexuality is suggested and (self-)censored, this is not the case with female relationships, which are instead shown with voyeuristic force to satisfy a male audience, as in Sapho, Venus of Lesbos (1960) or Sodom and Gomorrah (1962). When the characters are explicitly lesbian, they are portrayed as hating men, and it wasn't until Xena the Warrior in the 1990s that on-screen sapphism was appreciated and reclaimed by lesbian culture.

What I like about the show is that although there are - far too many - carnal relationships between numerous characters, they are mostly brief and often censored by a frame or a well-placed sheet. Sexual vulgarity in the primary sense is not necessary to understand the stakes of the story and therefore doesn't need to take up so much space. However, it is notable that the majority of relationships between characters of opposite sexes almost systematically involve some form of sexual relationship or exploitation, which prevents the creation of the slightest connection between the two genders portrayed.

Another important theme is rivalry, especially political rivalry. Whether it's the relationship between Titus and Domitian as they fight over who will inherit the title of Princeps, the factions trying to seize power from the Flavian dynasty, or the relationship between Roman rulers and their provinces - in this case Numidia and Judea - political rivalry abounds. And yet, for most of the season, I got the impression that none of this was more important to the characters than their choice of dinner.As I said in the casting section, the sheer number of characters leaves too little room for each plot to develop, which is a shame because politics is one of the two main themes of the series. In fact, that's why I was considering watching this series in the first place: to better understand the political stakes behind the Circus Maximus games and, more broadly, to better discover the era of ancient Rome. But here the relationships remain superficial, predictable and therefore, for the most part, rather boring. Nevertheless, as Roland Emmerich himself said when the trailer for the series was released, "So much of it seems relevant in today's society, from the intertwining of politics and sport to the disciplines of the games, which haven't changed much in the last 2,000 years. The most electrifying spectacles for the general public still involve two men in an arena fighting each other, and today's chariots are called racing cars, whose drivers still have accidents and often pay with their lives". And I quite agree, if you look at the dirty tricks played by our politicians - anywhere in the world - the way celebrities are stripped naked as if they were gods, certain aspects of life back then are easily transferable to our times.

Finally, the approach to slavery with Cala's family remains, in my opinion, one of the rare successes of the series. Although certain events remain unlikely for the period, the recruitment of her children into the service of the Roman Empire and their sale into slavery remains plausible. I particularly appreciated the writing of Cala's character, who, as a visibly single and black mother, knows how to use these two characteristics to her advantage in order to manipulate her environment and try to free her children.

She's a strong, determined woman; she doesn't back down until she gets her way, and for once I find it refreshing to see not only a woman fighting to save her family, but to see slaves in a position of strength, all proclivities aside, of course. Speaking about the series, actress Sara Martins - who plays Cala - says: "Narratively, it's a side of Rome we've hardly seen. It's not just about the rich, the patricians, the ruling family and their opponents. It's also about all the workers, the slaves, the wealthy… everything that's behind the curtains of a city like Rome, like all the slaves who built those beautiful buildings. It shows life in Rome at that time and on all social levels". And I agree that through her character's and other's journey, the show gives us a glimpse of that, and it's enjoyable.

PRODUCTION

With a budget of over $150 million for a ten-episode first season, the series marks the first venture into television for German filmmaker Roland Emmerich, known for his disaster films such as Independence Day (1996), Godzilla (1998), The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and 2012 (2009).

Along with Marco Kreuzpaintner (Trade, The Collini Case, The Lazarus Project), with whom he had worked several times in the past, Roland Emmerich had already been commissioned by the American network Peacock back in July 2022. The script was to be written by Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan, Thor: The Dark World, Kursk), with whom Roland Emmerich had already worked in 2000 on The Patriot.

But apart from the very ambitious technical aspect, which I'll come back to shortly, the production made a few mistakes which, in my opinion, are very detrimental to the series.

Firstly, the show jumps straight into the action without taking the time to set context, which is very important. The only introduction we get is a short monologue by Iwan Rheon's character, Tenax, who briefly explains how the circus games work and his role in them. As a result, viewers who aren't historians specializing in Ancient Rome - which is frighteningly specific in itself - will lack many of the elements needed to even understand who half of the main characters are and what's at stake politically in the series.

Secondly, the terminology is sometimes historically incorrect, although this may be done to help the viewer understand certain elements. For example, when talking about Andalusian horses, they should have said that they were horses from the Betic region, as it is incorrect to speak of the region of Andalusia 700 years before its creation. In fact, "Al Andalus" - which gave Andalusia its name - originated with the Arab invasions of Spain in the 7th century. At the time of the series, it would have been more accurate to speak of horses from Betica, a region created during the reign of Augustus [63 B.C. - 14 A.D.] by the division of Hispania Ulterior, which at that time covered the south of what is now Spain and roughly corresponded to present-day Andalusia. Its name derives from the Latin name of the Guadalquivir River, Baetis.

Finally, and this is perhaps the thing that annoyed me the most, but I've already mentioned it, is the over-numbering of characters, which drowns out the stories of all the characters, doesn't really bring anyone into the spotlight and loses its own purpose in random, superficial scenes.

Book adaptation

I won't go into too much detail on this, as I haven't read the book, but from what I've been able to skim through and understand from the various analyses of it, Daniel P. Mannix's work seems to cover several centuries of Roman history, and not just the principate of the Flavian dynasty, which may make it a more complete and complex work than the adaptation suggests. Indeed, on the very first page of the book, a single sentence briefly introduces the primary context in which the novel begins, as we are told:

"The situation here is out of control. The emperor is mad, the army is on the verge of mutiny, and the people are dying of hunger. For God's sake, get the sand! We must take their minds off their troubles! - Daniel P. Mannix, Those About to Die, Reed. 2024, p.7.

This only reinforces my feeling that the TV adaptation lacks a crucial introduction to the situation.

SPECIAL EFFECTS

I'd like to delve for a moment on the visual aspect of the series.

The series was filmed at the iconic Cinecittà Studios in Rome. This is one of the largest film studios in Europe and was originally a propaganda machine for Benito Mussolini's fascist government. It has been in operation for almost a century and has been used as the backdrop for classic productions such as Roman Holiday (1953), Ben-Hur (1959) and Cleopatra (1963). In fact, the site has become so popular with American film-makers that it has become known as 'Hollywood on the Tiber'.

The fact that the cast and crew of Those About to Die were able to film in the city where their story was set allowed the show's creators not only to shoot in the Eternal City, but also to immerse themselves in its history while telling a fictionalised version of real events.

"We shot the series in Rome and we're surrounded by buildings built by these emperors. You are constantly surrounded by their legacy. So you can read as much as you want and research as much as you want. But when you go into Domitian's bedroom, which is still on the Palatine Hill, there is nothing like it." said Jojo Macari who plays Domitian.

Of course, the production couldn't necessarily film in the actual bedrooms of Roman statesmen, so ancient Rome had to be recreated through sets and visual effects. The sets for the series were designed by co-production designer Laura Pozzaglio, a native of Italy, who was inspired by archaeological discoveries made in a number of important Italian cities, including Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Ercolano and Oplontis. Together with Johannes Muecke - the production's co-designer - and the production team, they worked with a number of museums to reproduce certain objects for the props. A team of sculptors also reproduced statues from the period and carpenters reproduced furniture they had seen in Pompeii or in history books explained Laura Pozzaglio in the production notes, underlining the effort made to achieve precision.

What could not be achieved in practice was left to visual effects supervisor Peter Travers, who used the Volume LED video wall technology pioneered by The Mandalorian. He explained that the digital wall used was huge: around 51 metres in circumference and eight metres high. It's made up of LED panels and can be stretched infinitely, so even the smallest conversation scenes could have the Colosseum or the skyline of ancient Rome in the background, giving the actors the impression of living in ancient Rome.

And it's true that although the sets - be it the various patrician residences or the outdoor settings such as the Basilica of Julia or the Temple of Vesta - are grandiose in their excess, there's a big problem with the lighting in many scenes. This problem of light contrast is very present throughout the season, and as a result we sometimes can't see what's going on or even the physical reactions of the characters.

There are also problems with the use of special effects. The green screens are sometimes visible in some of the distant shots - particularly the aerial shots of the city at the beginning of the series. And I'll just mention the CGI of the lions, which is absolutely terrible.

However, I must admit that most of the cinematography of the chariot races and gladiatorial fights - particularly in the last two episodes of the season - is quite beautiful, and the photography of the scenes in the Circus Maximus is reminiscent of works such as Ben-Hur. I also think that the athletic realism of the chariot races is due to the fact that the horses were real animals and the races were not digitised. Of course, they were choreographed and stuntmen were hired for the most dangerous scenes, but the actors, including Dimitri Leonidas - who plays the charioteer Scorpus - had to learn to drive a real chariot pulled by real horses. Of this experience, he said :

"Learning the several stages [of racing] before they let us get onto chariots and practice with the chariots was a lot of fun. And then finally when the stunt guys let us on the four-horse chariots to try and learn, the feeling is just incredible. There's nothing like it. Four giant Hungarian horses going all out. It's like riding an earthquake. It's hard to describe, to be honest. All I can say is those guys that do it, the stunt guys and then the guys like Scorpus who actually raced, you'd have to be insane. It's completely bonkers what they're doing. [...] I didn't go that fast except for one moment where we were sort of training and the horses decided they wanted to race and I just got dragged along. There's a great photo, actually, one of our set photographers took just as the horses went, and you can see me and one of the other actors just trying our best to stop them as we hit the turn on Circus Maximus. And he said to me that he stopped taking photos because he thought something bad was going to happen. To be fair, I was on the chariot and I thought something bad was going to happen. But that's why you do all that training. You have to just train as much as you can, hope that everything goes smoothly, but then trust that if something does go wrong, you know the protocols and you know how to make it safe. But I'm glad I got to experience it because that was the only time really that I got to feel them go full pelt was when I wasn't expecting it. And it's wild. It's completely wild. And gave me a newfound sort of respect for Scorpus and all those guys that were doing it." - Dimitri Leonidas in an interview for NBC on July 12th, 2024.

The colouring of the series is also of high quality. They make up for a lot of empty moments in the plot by captivating the viewer's eye with grandiose imagery, which, combined with the spectacular sets and opulent costumes, is one of the show's few strengths in my opinion.

COSTUMES

My penultimate stop is the costumes! This is one of the great strengths of the series, and one that I have no criticism for: the costumes in this series are breathtaking! Under the supervision of Gianni Casalnuovo as head costume designer, not only the characters' outfits, but also the armours are of the highest quality. With the help of costume supplier Peris Costumes - which is based in Spain but also has a branch in Rome - the production team had access to rare, high-quality pieces that were tailored to fit the needs of the show. No stranger to film and television sets, Peris Costumes has also worked on projects such as Gladiator II and House of the Dragon. Together they have created a costume collection that faithfully reflects the opulence and grandeur of the great age of Rome.

The only downside would be the blood splatters, prosthetics of severed limbs and gashes in the gladiators' flesh which at times look crude, but in the heat of the action are almost negligible details.

MUSIC

The soundtrack of the series, composed by Andrea Farri, is quite interesting and epic enough to seduce the viewer. However, if you listen to the music outside of the episodes, you won't always be reminded of ancient Rome. Nevertheless, the violin and cello compositions are very beautiful and will appeal to music lovers, even if they do not match the instruments of the time, as the violin and cello were only invented in the 16th century.

What's more, the work on the show's theme music - which depicts rivers of blood running down the streets of Rome and its emblematic monuments - is reminiscent of many of the show's themes in recent years: Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, Westworld and more. Set to music by Woodkid, the epic status announced by the show's synopsis is truly palpable.

CONCLUSION

Despite having called on some big names for this series, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. While the superb costumes and some of the sets may appeal, the lack of any real depth to the story leaves room for the clichés of the genre, which have already been exploited far too often. Even the presence of Anthony Hopkins isn't enough to restore the reputation of this epic, which is fantastic in name only…

I won't go through the whole review again, I think it's self-explanatory enough for you to understand that this series was a big disappointment for me. Although peplums are far from my favourite genre, I was looking forward to another chance to be proved wrong, to learn more about an era I know so little about, and what's more with Anthony Hopkins and Iwan Rheon in the cast! Well, what I'll take away from this is yet another disappointment that has the bitter taste of time wasted…

I was expecting the exploitation of the games to highlight the political issues of the time and this is partly achieved. However, I think they could have emphasised the politics and toned down the sexualisation of the characters. Perhaps this is due to the period chosen, which is not the most eventful in history? Perhaps another period of the Roman Empire would have been more suitable for a series?

So I won't be going to the cinema today to see the next Gladiator, and I almost hope that Amazon doesn't renew this series, because there's nothing really at stake in this dull story. It would save everyone time and money… If they do decide to renew it, maybe they'll choose to do a temporal ellipse and focus on a period where the stakes are potentially higher. They had the opportunity to diversify and innovate with the peplum genre and, in the end, they chose to stick with the outdated clichés it's full of. Hopefully this is a mistake they won't make again if the show is renewed for a second series.

That's all I have to say about Those About to Die. I hope that those who have made this choice will still be curious enough to give it a try, if only to see for themselves. Maybe you won't be as picky as I am?

I'd like to give a special thanks to my partner, who watches all these series with me. She proofreads each article, supports me and, especially for this one, was my historical advisor, as this is her field of study.

Until the next article, I hope you enjoy your viewing, have a great week and see you soon on Instagram (@theaddictedwatcherreviews) to choose the next article!

Eli

11 notes · View notes

novemberhope · 6 months ago

Note

zoro + neri for the oc ask game pls if you want

ofc!! if you want to read about another couple, feel free to send them in. this is refering to this ask game.

The Swordsman & The Mermaid

who made the first move: Neri because Zoro is not always the smartest and didn't understand her intentions until she made them super clear who kissed who first: Zoro after Neri made sure he understood what she wanted who started the relationship: they kissed and made out and it evolved from there who remembers things: depends on what it is… Neri remembers the little things, Zoro is only able to remember really important stuff (and anything to do with swordfighting…) nicknames for each other: ~still have to figure that out, need to find something cute who is more likely to pay for dinner: Zoro is, I don't think Neri has much money most of the time because she likes to spend it a lot who normally cooks: Sanji xD Well, if it would be just the two of them, probably Neri… she's not the best cook but at the very least she's better than Zoro whose cooking mostly consists of serving booze with whatever he can grab from the fridge who remembers anniversaries: Neri what would they get each other for gifts: Neri would put a lot of thought into gifts but due to the fact that they only have the pocket money each strawhat gets from Nami, those might not be the most expensive gifts. Neri probably keeps an eye out for Zoro's favorite booze or something. Neri herself likes all kind of cute little things so if Zoro pays enough attention, he's going to find something she's really excited about.

most trivial thing they fight over: probably when Zoro was supposed to do something and forgot or when Neri doesn't let him sleep how often do they fight: rarely and it's mostly being annoyed for a bit and then goes back to normal who uses all the hot water: Neri who calls up the super/landlord when the heat’s not working: I guess both of them would go and see Franky about that who leaves their stuff around: I don't think Zoro has that much stuff, so that would be Neri who remembers to buy the milk: Neri. Zoro barely remembers anything that doesn't have anything to do with swords or fighting or booze - ok that sounds mean but I really can't see him bothering with household chores - in reality, wouldn't that be Sanji's job anyway? So one more reason for Zoro not bothering... xD who controls the netflix queue: if they had Netflix, probably Neri. I don't see Zoro as someone who watches a lot of tv. He might join Neri sometimes but ends up falling asleep at some point. who steals the covers at night: Neri. But Zoro doesn't need covers, so it's fine with him. He can sleep anywhere, no matter how uncomfortable. Neri, however, is the type who likes a lot of pillows and blankets. who cusses more: Zoro who does most of the cleaning: Neri what’s their favorite non-sexual activity: just spending time together, maybe going to the beach or keeping watch together at night and even train together. It's nice when it's just the two of them. Neri kind of loves it when they have some money and they go eat somewhere on one of the islands, trying food they have never eaten before and sometimes taking the food with them and eating it somewhere sitting on the beach or something. who’s the cuddler: Neri but Zoro has grown to like it and now he kind of misses it when she's not around who’s the big spoon/little spoon: Neri is the little spoon, Zoro the big spoon

who’s more dominant: Zoro who is the dirty talker: Zoro what do they do when they’re away from each other: Zoro can focus on his job / fights and does not get distracted easily. He does miss her though when the group is apart from each other and they're in opposite groups. For Neri it's harder, she's a lot more clingy than he is. He focuses on the job needing to get done while she tries to distract herself and spending more time with her friends. what would they do if the other one was hurt: After Zoro had sliced and diced the one that hurt her, he would grab Neri and carry her back to the ship or to where Chopper is so she would be tended to. Neri would probably freak out a little and would try to get Zoro out of danger, even if she would get hurt in the process herself. a headcanon: he doesn't talk much but he likes to listen to her talking a lot. On the other hand, she feels completely save around him, sometimes just sitting there with him in silence. She doesn't care that he's grumpy a lot or that he doesn't have any sense of direction while he doesn't mind that there's so much she still doesn't know about the surface world and sometimes makes a fool out of herself because of that. They just… work…

5 notes · View notes

hideawaysplace · 28 days ago

Text

“Why is there a hammer in one of these draws?” Alec asks, picking it out.

“What?” Lefty turns around, “No! That is not a medical tool! I don’t know who put that in there!”

“Yeah, give someone a concussion you have to treat, hur-hur,” Alec laughs.

“Put that down,” Lefty sternly says to him which prompts Alec to immediately put the questionable tool down, “I’ll put it away once I’m done with this,” Lefty says as he turns back to Helpy, wrapping the split around his arm.

Lefty is silent as he treats Helpy’s injury, Alec quietly looks around the first aid room, he hadn’t been in here before which surprised him, then again Lefty did explain the room was usually kept locked so little kids couldn’t wander in and eat the medical gummies. Alec being bored picked up the temperature gun and pointed it himself, seeing he had a pretty normal temperature which read 95°f. He then pointed it at Lefty, not expecting to see anything weird but he saw Lefty’s temperature was detected as being 107°.

“Why do you run so hot?” Alec asks, questioning the temperature, Lefty then turns to him, seeing the temperature gun pointed at him.

“Oh, it’s my internal systems, I have a lot of systems all running at once, I thought you knew that.” Lefty says.

“I thought you ran on a battery?”

“I do: the battery gets hot usually, it’s nowhere near danger territory,” Lefty says, opening his wrist panel and showing Alec his temperature gauge dial was in the middle of the good section.

“I guess that’s good…” Alec nods his head. “Do all animatronics run on a battery?”

“We all do in the pizzeria.” Lefty says as he adjusts the split for Helpy’s little paw.

“What about an older model?”

“Older… model?” Lefty asks slowly, not understanding.

“Does Funtime Freddy run on a battery?” Alec asks, throwing a random name out there.

“Funtime does have a battery, but it seems faulty.” Lefty says. “I suspect it can’t be charged normally.”

“Normally?” Alec questions the use of the word.

“You know I can sleep to recharge right? Well there are other ways to recharge a battery, you know like car batteries.”

“Wait- wait- you’re telling me you can be charged with jumper cables?” Alec asks.

“Yes-“ Lefty says as Alec bursts into laughter.

“Oh that’s hilarious! If you ever run out of power, we can just carry around a car battery, hook it up to your ears and zap!” Alec giggles.

“Yeah- but the electrical output is often high, I don’t want you electrocuting yourself.” Lefty says. “Trust me that ain’t fun.”

“Hey, I can be a tough bear.” Alec says, trying to puff his chest out to make it clear. “You’re talking to me, I’ve seen scary shit.”

“I wish you didn’t have to,” Lefty says, Helpy then sits up and starts waving his arm around, making sure it doesn’t pop out. “Stop trying to reinjure yourself-“ Lefty sternly says, he then gives Helpy a colorful lollipop which he immediately takes and starts licking the sweet treat.

“Can I get one too?” Alec asks.

“Alright, it isn’t bad for your braces, just no chewing.” Lefty says, giving Alec a lollipop also.

“Yes, I know.” Alec says as he sits down in a chair to enjoy the lollipop, sort of feeling like a little kid again.

#crawls out of my hole to give you this #Yes I'm still alive #Just very very unmotivated but I'm getting back to it!#Five Nights at Freddy's #Fazbear Frights #Lonely Freddy #I am Machine AU #FNAF Alec #Lefty the Bear #Helpy the Bear #Hideaway's Writings #Drabbles

6 notes · View notes

olderthannetfic · 2 years ago

Note

I think I'm going to get crucified for this opinion since it's Tumblr...but I really don't like extensive meta. I don't really see the point. At least how it is in my fandom. I never really encountered such detailed, looong character, theme, narrative etc meta until I got on Tumblr (and one of the reasons I almost never come back except to check in on a few blogs such as yours from time to time).

The thing that I'm finding is once you read one meta, you've basically read 97% of them. None of us has access to the original creator so we speculate, and in my fandom, things and subtext are pretty clear. There's very little to speculate or have wildly differing opinions on so it's just people posting the same essays ad nauseum. There's one in particular who's very popular that posts a panel by panel dissertation of the manga and on the surface it looks very deep and thoughtful but once you read it, it's just description of what's happening or things that are quite obvious, and they also italicise and strikethrough words in every sentence or two. And not important or challenging words. Just words like 'evil' and 'naturally'. Just italics after strikethroughs after italics.

I mean, yeah I just mute and I guess it's a fun hobby for some people. I don't mind that. But I think the thing that really bugs me is 99% of the meta-ists that I've come across write with this air of "I'm the first/only one that has thought of this. I'm the only one that that understands the character on such a deep level" when they're just saying things that are pretty obvious most of the time and most other people already think too and it just makes me kinda -.-' And it just goes round and round. I also feel like in my fandom at least, there's this elitism around meta posts. Like there's this unspoken belief that permeates the fandom that the people who understand the characters and story best and almost own them are ones that pump out these meta posts day after day. It feels like people don't recognise that you can show your understanding of pretty complex ideas through fanfic and fanart.

My own medium is fanfic because I find it much easier to express my very well thought out and intense thoughts and feelings about characters through prose and metaphor than analytical, formal style writing but fanfic in general just seems to be seen as an 'entertainment' while meta is seen as 'intellectual' even though I feel I capture so much good, psychological nuance in my writing, but I guess I'm frustrated that people don't see it that way because fanfic horny hur dur while the same recycled meta is held in awe. I guess I'm disheartened over the situation.

And no one please suggest I start writing my own meta ^.^' I tried, I don't like it. My brain just doesn't work that way. I want to make the characters come alive and show understanding through narrative, not analysis, and I'm very skilled at it. Just somewhat frustrated at the perception of different types of content in my fandom.

Nonnie...

I'm dying.

What do you think my tumblr is?!

50 notes · View notes

boasamishipper · 5 months ago

Note

Hi, I’m intrigued by the Night Court content I’m seeing from you. How did you start up with this show from 40 years ago? Which episodes give you Harry/Dan vibes? (Truly curious! I’m watching the show rn on FreeVee because of you.)

how did i begin watching night court, you ask?

okay so the story ACTUALLY begins several months earlier. i'd been seeing ads for new night court on tv, and i was like hey!! that's the guy from richie rich!! and so i looked up old night court on tvtropes and ao3, found some fics for the show, skimmed them, and moved on with my life.

THEN in november 2023 i got laid off (corporate reorgs my detested) (dw i have since found a new job) and started looking for non-indeed.com ways to fill my hours. cue another commercial for new night court, which was returning to nbc in january. huh, thought i, jokingly. wonder if anybody on here watches this.

one quick tumblr search informed me that there were, in fact, other people who watched this show. specifically the original show. and then i saw this post, thought 'boy that judge and that prosecutor sure have Something going on' and proceeded to devour all nine seasons over the course of two months. (then i caught up with the reboot and watched s2 as it aired.) i posted my first fic, Zeitnot, nine days after i started watching the show, and told my bestie caroline that now that it was up, i had gotten all of my night court thoughts and feelings out of my system and would shortly go back to finishing my other wips.

(narrator voice) she did not, in fact, get all her night court thoughts and feelings out of her system.

anyway so 90k+ words of night court fic later here i Still Am and here i Still Plan To Be for a good long while.

so why night court?

well, to begin, it's the wildest show i have ever seen in my life. it's set in - you guessed it - the night shift of a manhattan arraignment court during the 1980s. the judge (harry stone, played by harry anderson) is a gangly goofy cutie pie dork who loves magic and mel torme and sees the best in people and has the saddest backstory of any of the cast. the prosecutor (dan fielding, played by john larroquette, who won four emmy awards in a row for this role and would have won more if he hadn't taken himself out of consideration to give someone else a chance to win) is a womanizing lecherous pervert with a heart of gold, a sharp tongue, thick hair, and an ass you can bounce a quarter off of. harry shoots plastic snakes in dan's face in their very first meeting and by the end of the show the two are partners in shenanigans and platonic soulmates and perv4perv best friends. (another anon asked me my top harry/dan episodes; i'll answer that in their ask.) other characters include Tall As Fuck Intimidating Ditzy Bailiff Bull Shannon (richard moll), Spunky Naive Morally Upright Prude Public Defender Christine Sullivan (markie post), Hot Court Clerk Who Is Done With Everyone's Shit But Will Nonetheless Participate In The Shenanigans Mac Robinson (charlie robinson), and a collection of short, snarky, tough as nails bailiffs (selma diamond in s1-2, florence halop in s3, and marsha warfield in s4-s9).

the show is incredibly funny. if you don't like one joke wait five seconds and there will be another, even funnier one. physical comedy galore. hijinks and shenanigans everywhere. logic and realism? don't know her. wile e coyote once showed up as a defendant. dan once got so horny he locked himself in a closet and shoved a firehose down his pants. in another episode bull twisted dan into a human pretzel. it has to be seen to be believed.

but what i love most about night court is its heart (something that the sequel series has not found yet, but that's a rant for another day). the characters (at least as long as reinhold weege was involved with the show - again, a rant for another day) feel like real people. they have real flaws. they make hard decisions. they love with all their hearts, and we love them for it. they hurt, and we hurt with them. and the show - especially in the earlier seasons - balances the heart with the humor incredibly well. in 4.01, harry tries to reach out to his mother, who abandoned him when he was five, only to find out that she died, and the show does not shy away from his pain and conflicted emotions. that's the a-plot of the episode. in the b-plot, a ventriloquist's dummy commits suicide. not the ventriloquist. the dummy. and it's one of the best episodes of a start to finish stellar season.

and if you are still not convinced to give the show a try, watch this compilation of the best dan fielding moments. then watch all nine seasons of night court (available for free on freevee!) for more.

#thanks for asking!#night court #this has been sitting in my inbox for three months #i'm so sorry it took me so long to answer this ask nonny but i am so happy you're enjoying night court!!!#the show Rocks #night court nation if y'all want to reblog and add more reasons to watch the show in the tags please do

6 notes · View notes

adultswim2021 · 6 months ago

Text

Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job #50: “Man Milk” | May 3, 2010 - 12:30AM | S05E10

Tim & Eric wish you happy holidays in this special half-hour series finale (unless you count specials) of Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job. In this episode, we get a little bit of everything. But is any of it classic or good?

Yes, one is, it’s the sketch where Paul Rudd plays a businessman who who sits down at a computer to view virtual dancers, all of whom resemble himself. They have names like Celery Man (a skinny tie, shiny-suit wearing slickster), Oyster (a rough-around-the-edges-but-slightly-contrived punk), and Tayne (a hedonistic hat-wearer with a vaguely mambo flavor). He is turned on by these sexy dancers to the point where he ignores an emergency phone call from his wife. He asks the program for a print out of Oyster smiling, and, most controversially, to generate a nude Tayne. The computer warns him that it’s not suitable for work, but he presses ahead.

To my knowledge, this is the only thing Paul Rudd ever appeared in that was Tim & Eric related (Tim does show up in one of the Ant Man movies, but that’s On Cinema Tim, so I won’t count it). This one’s really great, and pretty irresistible. Silly dances with silly names are pretty standard fare in the Tim & Eric universe, but this is basically a one-man show with Rudd being hella charming and legitimately very funny. This one has absolutely earned its reputation as a viral hit, which is why I’m naming it the Talk Soup Clip of the Week.

There’s the Italian Massage sketch, which is fairly funny but nothing too deep. Tim & Eric do dumb accents and pour pizza toppings on a fat guy and rub it around. It’s brief, and features a cameo from Fred Armisen, but I like it anyway. This one is reprised in one of the weaker “Great Job” interludes, where we see a man in the restaurant react to multiple hairy bites of his nasty pizza slice. I’m not even sure why they bothered shooting that.

Another sketch features Tim & Eric pitching a partnership with Ben Stiller and their freak slave Ben Hur. They show him a jingle proposing that Ben change his name to Ben StillHur. Stiller is baffled, because there’s no actual project attached. Ben Hur just sits there and winks at Stiller in a flirty manner. Stiller does his Hollywood prick shtick that we should all be tired of by now, but it’s not too bad all things considered. Later, Stiller chases down Ben Hur in the parking lot to become partners, but cut Tim & Eric out of the action, and the entire time you can see a disgusting redspot on the back of Ben Hur’s head, which Stiller gets perilously close to when he starts stroking Hur’s bald head during a spirited hug.

This one hearkens back to their Rolo jingle from, I think, season one, and the Tom Skerrit jingle from not season one. Tim & Eric’s old website had a whole section with bogus would-be jingles for various companies, and those sketches (and this one, too) are a continuation of that. This isn’t that great, but I guess it’s exciting to see another movie star being bad on TV.

The Cinco Privacy Helmet brings Tennessee Winston Luke into the Tim & Eric fold. This product is a helmet that plays a loud beeping noise and sprays vision-obscuring fog in front of your eyes while your head is completely encased in an unwieldy spherical helmet. This is so you can hang out next to people having sex. The commercial specifically advertises its intended use for guys sharing dorm rooms (“Cinco helps you bang girls in your dorm”).

Despite that last bit coming off sorta college-humor-esque, this is maybe another highlight for the episode. It does return to the well of having weird old guys act like college dudes like in the Cinco Sleep Watching Chair (Doug Prish-Preed saying "they gotta be hot" is funnier than anything in this). Those two sketches might have benefited from airing in separate seasons. Still, I like this one quite a bit. The more traditionally-college-looking guy is truly a terrible actor. Also the girl in the sketch is actually pretty hot, tell her I said wazup.

Richard Dunn gets one final starring role in Bald Face Predictions, where Dunn shaves a child’s head in order to show them how they’re going to go bald as they succumb to old age. I am a sucker for comedy where grown men disappoint children, and I think this one plays to Dunn’s strengths. Him gleefully growling about the kid becoming a weird-looking old man some day is pretty fun, and him offering to see him every week so he can “bald (him) out” is also good. He kisses the boy’s head and throws his head back and utters the line “hairy LIPS!” which I’m not sure is actually funny, but that line comes into my brain every time I kiss a beloved pet on the head.

Short/bad-sketch speedrun: Quallstions has James Quall answering sincere questions. It’s not funny, but it seems like it’s meant to be not-funny, but it’s still not funny. One last “Where’s my Chippy”, which was nice to see. I like when Eric crosses out the chipmunk on screen. A Brule sketch where he briefly discusses the difficulties of e-mail. Finally: a medical-themed sketch about what to do if you suspect that you have pools of blood in your stomach. That one’s total nonsense and it doesn’t pay off, and it rehashes the “be provocative, be organized” chant from Crows.

The wraparound for this one is fairly mixed; not exactly a home run but not terrible. Both Tim & Eric develop long swollen nipples and start lactating. Their milk is indisputably delicious, so they decide to bottle it up and give it as a “gift for free”. Luck would have it, Eric’s little nephew Koy is in town, hiding behind their Christmas tree, and they have him hand-deliver their Man Milk to various Tim & Eric cast members. Eventually, they realize that all the milk they sent out was unpasteurized, and it proves to be fatal for all involved (except Tim & Eric themselves). Merry Christmas.

This one has an air of effort to it; it’s shot particularly well, almost seeming like a dry-run for their upcoming feature Billion Dollar Movie. The things that fall flat are some of the horse-around aspects, as well as the unfunny, musical number. It feels like padding. Also, the use of the word “tit” just sounds wrong for some reason coming out of their mouths. You expect “bubs,” “bub-bubs,” “blobs”, or maybe even “swollen hammers” to come out of their mouths before the unrefined “tit.” But in the spirit of Christmas, I will forgive them. The montage of their misfit character actors all succumbing to their lethal juices is pretty satisfying, even though it’s a little sad to see Dunn die on screen in retrospect. Guy died for real a little over a month later. RIP pep-pep.

That’s roughly the end of Awesome Show. Scrappy and imperfect, and sometimes fairly lazy, but when it was funny it tickled me like nothing else. I always found the show charming enough to watch even when it was at its worst. Not sure if I can do my customary “top ten” until sometime later. I just don’t have it in me right now. Maybe for…Chrimbus? Oh! Maybe I’ll wait for the 10th anniversary special!

Okay you know what actually I just did one just now without really putting a ton of thought into it. If I were to mathematically go through every episode and rank each sketch and weigh each episode in some highly scientific way, it’d probably shake out differently. I just went by what grabbed me after going through the episode guide real quick. It's in airing order, not preference.

S01E01 Dads

S01E08 Anniversary

S01E09 Hamburger

S02E05 Forest

S02E10 Embarrassed

S03E02 Chan

S03E06 Jim & Derrick

S04E03 Universe

S04E09 Brothers Cinco

S05E09 Greene Machine

#adult swim #adultswim2021 #tim and eric awesome show great job

2 notes · View notes

ohhgingersnaps · 1 year ago

Note

THIS CAME TO ME IN A DREAM (and by that i mean i was listening to set it off's partners in crime) supervillain au for wdstf. would it fit their characters, maybe not. would it be fun and hot and cool. Maybe.

Okay, so this is a phenomenal idea, thank you for providing me with such a fun sandbox to play in!! My brain immediately latched onto this and decided that I had to find a way to make it line up with canon. I’ve been rotating this in my mind for like six hours now

You’re right that Ava and Sebastian wouldn’t choose to become supervillains in the traditional sense, because they both try very hard to be good people, but also consider: The categorization of supers into “hero” or “villain” in WDSTF!verse is socially-constructed, and is less about whether they’re actually good people and more about like… Whether their vigilante activity is seen as “acceptable” by the general populace of Zuzu City. A lot of things factor into that (e.g. how much collateral damage is caused, who materially benefits, whether it’s pro bono, and— frankly— how the super in question chooses to present themselves to the public).

You’re also right that a villain AU would be fun and hot and cool :)

So! In light of the above, consider the following as a possible character-compliant WDSTF Supervillain AU Origin Story (below the cut because this became fic-length (1.5k)) (this is maybe not the fun exciting supervillain shenanigans you originally intended but it sets up the foundation for the shenanigans at least?) (cw: angst, fire, very brief mention of dissociation/panic attack):

Ava/Phoenix

After the JojaCo fire, Phoenix disappears, Ava quits her job, and she’s got two weeks where she’s lying around her house, fruitlessly applying for jobs, with no way to contact the only remaining member of her superhero support system (Memento). She’s burned out! She’s frustrated! She feels like a failure, she feels like she’s lost control, and she wants proof that she can do one thing right.

And she goes, Okay, you know what? I deserve to try doing a little hero work again, as a treat.

She patches up her suit and goes out on a solo patrol, and she sees a civilian, and she smiles and waves, in spite of how exhausted she feels, because that’s what she does. She’s used to the civilians waving back, but this one just goes tense and averts their eyes, hurring away.

They’re scared of me, she realizes, her heart sinking.

(She’s not exactly right. The public isn’t quite scared of her— not yet, at least— because she has a good reputation. What they are is wary. Fire is powerful and intimidating, and the JojaCo incident happened only a few weeks ago, and JojaCo’s smear campaign against her is relentless, mostly because they don’t want folks to start asking why they’re allowed to keep so much flammable material in their dumpsters. Memento’s trying his best to defend her, but there’s only so much he can do.)

Later that night, she finally does help stop some minor crime— she stops some guy from robbing a local corner store, or something— but when she calls the authorities in to collect the perp, they totally ignore the robber and try to arrest her, instead. She escapes, but she realizes that no matter what she does, she’s not going to be seen as a hero again.

She’s so burned out and exhausted, and the whole thing just strikes her as incredibly unfair. And she needs control, right now. She needs to prove she can do something right.

And, well, she does need a way to pay the rent.

You want me to be a villain so bad? she decides, hands prickling with heat as she looks over the city. Fine. Guess I’m a villain.

(Because if she’s choosing to be the villain, that means she has control over the situation. That means it was her choice, and that’s a lot easier for her to swallow than the idea that her actions don’t directly correlate to how she’s perceived or treated.)

She does try dabbling in work as a villain-aligned merc for a bit, but she still sticks to her usual set of principles— protecting civilians is a big one— so she ends up mostly working alone. She tries to operate in a way that results in minimal harm, only stealing from large corporations or rich folks who can afford it…

Working as a villain can be a lot more dangerous than working as a hero, though, and perception is everything, right? So she absolutely plays into the villain role and lets people think she’s a lot scarier and more ruthless than she is. (Think Megamind: Very into pretending he’s going to kill Metro Man and take over the city, but never has any intention of actually doing it.) She plays into the villain persona a little too well, and that’s how she accidentally ends up becoming a supervillain.

Sebastian/Memento

So that’s how Phoenix becomes a villain, but what about Memento? For this to work, we’ve gotta remember three things:

1) In addition to heroes and villains, there are also mercs, who are basically contract-work supers. They’re not categorized as heroes, since they’re paid directly for their work, but a lot of them are considered “hero-aligned” or “villain-aligned” because of the nature of the jobs they choose to accept or reject.

2) Memento started as a hero-aligned merc. This isn’t addressed in the main fic, but before the JojaCo fire, he does merc work as a side gig, in addition to his above-the-board freelancing jobs. (The general populace mostly ends up categorizing him as a hero because he does so much pro bono work with Phoenix lol)

3) Memento loves Phoenix.

So when he hears that Phoenix has finally reappeared, nearly a month after her disappearance, he immediately throws all of his effort into finding her and reestablishing contact. He doesn’t care if she’s a villain now— even if she is, she must have a good reason— but he doesn’t even really believe the rumors at first, because the Phoenix he knows isn’t capable of half of the things people say she’s done.

(He’s right not to believe most of the rumors. She’s really playing up the whole villain thing.)

Still, he wonders: If she’s back, why hasn’t she contacted me?

When he finally does catch up with her a few weeks later— in the middle of stealing something from a museum, of all places, and why is she stealing something from a museum?— he tries to talk to her over the PA system, like he did when they first met. He asks what she’s doing.

Phoenix immediately freezes, as soon as she recognizes his voice, then gets a distant look on her face that he hasn’t seen since right after the fire at the club. She’s panicking, her breathing going funny, and that’s when he realizes that at least some of the rumors were true. She really has become a villain.

She’s a villain, and she’s alone, and she’s terrified.

“You should leave,” she snaps, but her voice is shaky. She says should in a way that means, this is what ought to happen, instead of, this is what I want, and is that why she never reached out? Because she knew he’d disapprove? Because she thought he’d abandon her instead of trying to understand?

“I’m not going to do that.”

She throws her hands out. They catch fire. “Don’t you get it? I’m a villain; I’m a bad guy; I’m literally in the middle of robbing the Zuzu City Institute of Art and Antiquities!”

“Yeah, I get it,” he says, even though he doesn’t get why she’s doing it. “Still not leaving.”

She extinguishes her hands. For a minute, it looks like she might cry.

And then he asks: “Do you want help with the security system?”

They meet up, afterwards, at their geocache spot, under the tree on Amber Hill. What good is her civilian identity to her, now that she’s a villain, after all? They spend a very long time just standing there hugging each other, because spirits, they’ve missed each other so much. She cries into his shoulder. He cries into her shoulder a little bit, too.

She tells him everything, and she tries to explain things in a way that he’ll understand. In a way that he’ll accept. He still doesn’t understand, but he does accept it, because he loves her. She’s so convinced she’s a bad person for doing this, but he doesn’t believe that for a second. She’s a good person, so this has to be the right thing to do. Right? (Right?)

He promises to help her with her villain work, despite her protests, because he knows she won’t let anyone get hurt… Aside from maybe herself, that is, which means someone has to look after her. Someone has to support her, protect her, and keep her from self-destructing again. And if aligning himself with a supervillain is the only way for him keep Phoenix safe, it’s not even a question. He’ll do it in a heartbeat.

He holds Phoenix tightly in his arms, stroking her hair, and resolves to pick up some merc work on the side that specifically targets JojaCo. He kind of feels like they deserve it.

Besides, he’s a villain now, isn’t he? He’s allowed to be petty.

(That’s the excuse he’ll use if she ever asks him. The truth is, he doesn’t think he’s being petty at all— JojaCo ruined her life, and he wishes she'd burned it to the ground.)

#wdstf #stardew valley #sdv #sebastian sdv #asks #this got so long #they are maybe not being their best selves in this au but they ARE very interesting to play with :)#i would apologize but actually i spent several hours planning/writing this and i had a lot of fun so?? not really that sorry #unfortunately this ended up being more angst than Fun Villain Shenanigans but it sets them up for shenanigans u know #like. think megamind. that's the vibe we are going for #i think it's very funny for them to have to keep up the pretense of being Big Bad Villains (TM)#it ends up leading to a lot of the Even Evil Has Standards trope but it's with like /everything/ if you're keeping track #i want to actually write more of this au now oops #phoenix #thank you again for this!! this was very fun #villain!seb DOES have a vindictive streak when it comes to jojaco. he singlehandedly causes their collapse and we love him for it #(tentatively naming this au 'hold me like a grudge' for tagging purposes but i'm still workshopping it a bit)#hmlag

8 notes · View notes

blazehedgehog · 2 years ago

Note

Got a top 5 or 10 most wanted Fortnite skins?

I've been playing Fortnite regularly since 2019. I've had every Battle Pass since Chapter 2. I get free currency daily for having a Fortnite Founders Pass (hence why I have every Battle Pass).

I am drowning in so many skins that the 100 locker presets Epic gives you is nowhere near enough. Every time I get or buy a new skin, I have to make the hard decision of what I can safely replace.

It actually genuinely influences my spending habits because I'll think, "I've wanted this guy for a long time, but I don't feel like deleting anything for him."

If you mean: are there any skins not in Fortnite that I really want? I don't know if I can answer that. Partially because of what I just described, but partially also because of "Santa's Lap Syndrome" where I'm sure I've said "oh I want that in Fortnite" but now I cannot for the life of me remember a single thing.

Following through on Samus would be nice, I guess. It seems like she was really close to releasing and then got held up at the last second. There's a fair amount of evidence in her favor (but this post is long enough as it is), and I was all prepped an ready to buy her back when I thought she was right around the corner.

As for skins already in the game, I can just skim a list to tell you that.

Envoy. She's priced cheap and I think she's cute.

I'd love to have Calamity, but she's a battle pass and as such will never rerun. She's just a cool cowgirl and has lots of alt styles.

I've come very close to buying ISO and her male counterpart. They're actually in the shop as I'm writing this. FIGHTING POLYGON TEAM

Sandshark Driver reminds me of Gum from Jet Set Radio. That's enough for me.

Mezmer is another guy I've come EXTREMELY close because I think his mask is rad.

I think Peekaboo's juggalo/goth clown alt is hilarious but I've never been able to bite the bullet and buy her.

The Joker is fun but he's always a real money skin and he's only sold in a pack with other stuff for like $30. Barf.

Mariana looks super cool but I wonder how visible she is at night.

Trog was a Battle Pass skin so he's gone forever.

I like Errant because you can apply gun wraps to his armor, giving him hundreds of customization options. But I own another skin that functions somewhat similarly.

Silver Surfer just looks cool.

I have Deadpool, so the other X-Force members just make sense, like Domino and Cable.

I regret not being on the ball enough to get this Playstation Blue variant of Versa. (it was free for PS+ subs) Vanilla Versa is definitely a "one day when I have enough vbucks to spare, I'll buy her."

The Classic Storm Trooper is also just a good in that "I always had this skin in Quake 3" way.

Blackheart is another Battle Pass skin I would die for. Blackheart/Blakebeard is one of THE best characters in STW, Fortnite's campaign mode. AND HE HAS GHOST PIRATE STYLES

Dire is yet another Battle Pass skin I missed. He was the Halloween skin one year and is basically just a cool werewolf, and you can toggle how far in to the transformation he is.

Spider Knight is just a cool looking... uh, Knight. Really, I also want his glider, which is a giant flying black widow spider. But the skin looks great, too.

I've come very close to buying Ghost Rider.

I've waffled back and forth on Rustler because I don't know how much value there is for me personally in just going "hur hur it's my little pony." It's still funny it exists, though.

I've thought about getting the OG Beef Boss, but I already own a couple of other variants, so it's less important now. Same for Tomato Tom.

They put a freakin Gundam Wing parody (Sentinel) in the Battle Pass and it is maybe my #1 regret not having it.

Sometimes I want Crackshot, but I have a friend who uses him pretty often, so it'd be kind of weird? (Another STW all-star character)

When I first started playing, Moisty Merman was the top of my most-wanted list. Now I've wondered if I still care.

Deadfire is in the same camp as Calamity as far as "cool cowboys" go, but this guy is also a phantom cowboy. Double cool!

Order Remnant is the same category as Envoy where he's not very expensive and I just like the way he looks.

Madcap is a fun concept for a character and I like his colors.

A World War 1 gas mask guy is a weird thing to see in Fortnite, and that's the entire reason I want Sky Stalker.

I don't like Chiara's default (with the silver paint), but I love her alt.

I didn't love Kill Bill, but something about Siren is still cool.

Taskmaster is like The Joker where I'd like to have him, but he's in an expensive real-money pack and no thanks.

Eternal Voyager was a Battle Pass skin from the season before I started playing regularly and he's awesome. That skull alt...

...Honestly? That's a lot more than I expected. And I'm probably forgetting or missing some. For comparison, here's a (also probably incomplete) list of all the skins I already own.

If I had to boil it down to a top ten most wanted, I'd say: Chiara, Versa, Mezmer, Ghost Rider, Sky Stalker, Taskmaster, Madcap, Deadfire, Domino and ISO, I guess.

#questions #Anonymous #fortnite #wishlist

2 notes · View notes

marshmallowprotection · 2 years ago

Note

Hi-hi, may I ask some comfort from the Choi twins? And I'm sorry in advance for how long this is going to be...

It's exam season in my country now, and that means I'm helping my friends study and/or making sure they're taking proper care of themselves. This year is special though, 'cause a lot of them are graduating! Of course, I'm super happy and proud of them, but it does make me feel a bit conflicted.

Like, I left uni to work as a simple batista, and I don't regret this choice of mine. I'm the happiest I've ever been, and I know I wouldn't be true to myself if I forced myself to pursue higher education just because it's something I'm supposed to do in order to be successful. While I've cut ties with my mother and her side of a family a long time ago, 'cause she is the source of all my childhood trauma, I still talk to my dad. He's a great guy and I know he loves me - hell, he put up with a loveless marriage just because he wanted to be by my side, since he knew he wouldn't be able to get custody of me. But, uh, that's a story for another time.

Thing is, I was always the 'gifted' kid. I was the smartest, the quickest, the one who has so much potential it's borderline uncanny. While my home-life was disastrous, all of my teachers, friends, colleagues always told me the same thing. You're going to make a name for yourself, just wait. And, well... Now I'm just a simple batista, nothing less, nothing more. It's a choice I made for myself, because I hated the way the world worked. I didn't want to compete for a good position and I didn't want to always live with this pressure to be innovative, to be better, to be quicker on my shoulders. I realized that I didn't want my career to be the source of my happiness and my worth.

So, I left. But now... As I'm approaching the moment I'll be watching my loved ones get their degrees and start on their professional journey... I'm feeling kind of bitter. My dad never approved of my choice, neither did my teachers. The all think that it's a huge shame. That I'm so much smarter and better than any student they've ever met, and that I would be so successful if I just tried. Basically, I'm burying my own huge potential, and... even though he never said such a thing, I know that my dad is ashamed of me. I mean, what is he supposed to say to his relatives about his amazing daughter that is always held up as a role model for their kids? That I work in a cafe as a fast-food worker? (that's not really what I'm doing but it gets viewed this way)

I guess I'm letting these negative opinions get to me. I know I wouldn't be happy as a career woman, even if I do have the potential for it. My life right now is simple, and that's how I like it. I don't need to worry about following any recent trends, beating my opponents so that I get the position I want or pretending to be someone I'm not. I make tasty drinks and I make these career people who come to our cafe during their breaks smile. Maybe I could have gotten into a creative field, but, again, I hate the way the system works. I don't want to work hard to make a name for myself. So, I'm fine creating as a hobby, not as a job.

I guess I just want someone to look at me as I am now - happy, at peace with myself and free - and tell me that they're proud of me and that they accept me as I am. I don't want to hear any more talk about me burying my own potential and living a life I seemingly don't deserve 'cause I'm meant for something greater. Getting some much needed comfort from these boys whom also probably had to deal with such remarks once they're free to do whatever the want, would be a dream :(

Saeran and Saeyoung aren't going to tell you that a simple life is a wasted life. All they've ever wanted is a chance to experience a life that anyone else could have. You don't need to do impossible feats for you to have a fulfilling life. A life is a life, and they're all worth the journey you take. As long as you're happy with the road you're on, it isn't hurting anyone. You don't need to make others happy, you only need to make yourself happy.

Sure, there are plenty of people who would look at Saeyoung and think he could be anything he wanted with his brains. He could get another massive intelligence unit started, he could fund a company that makes toys for kids in need, he could advance technology to be accessible for disabled people, and so much more. Sure, he could do all that. He might even! But, he doesn't need people telling him to do that. He needs people telling him that he can do whatever he wants.

Even if that means he's doing "nothing".

If Saeyoung is content with a normal life that has him tinkering in a basement for fun while he lives with his family, that's fine. That's his life to lead and the only thing that matters is that he's happy. It's the same for his brother, too.

Saeran is free from everything he suffered, too. He could go on to do anything he wants to do with his brilliant mind. He even spends a lot of time talking to his MC about what the future would look like cause' he hasn't decided where he wants to go or what he wants to do. But, that's his right. He doesn't need to suddenly do something drastic or make a decision right at that moment. He can even change his mind later if he makes a choice today.

He is allowed to do whatever he wants. He can travel the world with nothing in mind but the experience ahead. He doesn't need to find out what's next. He can be "lazy" for once and he can "take a break". He doesn't need to be doing something every step of the way. He's allowed to relax. He doesn't need to know what he's doing tomorrow or the next time. It's not wasting his life.

It's the same story for you. You don't need to let anyone decide what is and isn't a perfect life for you. You're not a failed dream nor are you someone who needs to pay back into what was given to you as a kid. You just need to experience life as you make it. You don't need to go out and make a name for yourself, dear. All you need to do is make a life that makes you happy. If that means being a barista, by all means, you're not wasting your life.

You can't waste your life if you're doing something that makes you feel complete. Never let anyone tell you otherwise. You can always linger on the "what if" and that's okay. But, don't count yourself out. You can do something different tomorrow if you want, but if you're okay with what you have today, that's just as good.

All that matters is that you know you're happy with where you are and that it's okay if it changes in the future. But only you are the one that gets to decide when and if that's the case. That's what Saeyoung and Saeran would tell you.

#ask #anon #mod kait

6 notes · View notes