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blackkatmagic · 3 years ago

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It's just turned monday here and I know I'll forget about it in the morning so... For some reasons (insert furious handwaving) Maul was married off to Jaster to cement an alliance with the Mandalorians. Maul is pissed off but can't afford to be sent back so he's just. Silent and glowering. This is torture for Jaster, who has SO MANY QUESTIONS about the force and can't get a word out of Maul. Jaster learns to echolocate facts about the force by confidently saying things and measuring how wrong they are by how much Maul grinds his teeth. (Maybe he'll hit upon the thing that will make his new husband finally open his mouth and correct him)

Maul is going to make himself a widower in short order.

Murderous, faintly sleep-deprived, entirely fed up with absolutely everything, Maul slouches in his chair, one foot braced on the seat, and glares across the table at his new husband, contemplating whether he can refine his technique enough to actually murder someone with his eyes. Even if he can't, the excess of gold he’s wearing has to be good for something. Jaster won't be able to spout his stupid theories if he’s choking on five kilograms of jewelry.

“Don’t be silly, Arla,” Jaster says, in that particular confident tone that truly drives Maul to the edge of homicide. “Force-users have a long history of translocating themselves across vast distances.” There's a pause, and Maul ignores the dark eyes on him, watchful and amused, and instead contemplates how hard he’d have to throw the delicate curls of gold currently wound around his horns for them to kill a man.

Then, with the conviction of a man who’s never been mauled by a Zabrak for his sheer idiocy, Jaster says, “And besides, everyone knows of their ability to change their shape on a molecular level.”

A vein in Maul's temple probably throbs. He definitelygrinds his teeth, trying desperately to remember that Savage and Feral are both currently under Mother Talzin’s thumb, both sold into their own marriages to bring her power as she plays all sides. Serving the Sith Lord before his untimely demise wasn’t precisely better, but—

At least the safety of his brothers didn’t rest on Maul's ability to tolerate sheer stupidity.

Jaster doesn’t show any signs of recognizing that his lack of intelligence is causing Maul physical pain. He simply sinks back in his chair, swirling his wine in his glass, and smiles at Maul like he’s won something. “No shapeshifting, then?” he asks, amused.

Maul narrows his eyes, tips his head back to look down his nose at Jaster. Thinks, determinedly and a little bit mulishly, of Feral married to the clone army’s Marshal Commander, of Savage wed to a Jedi and forced to play husband to the new Master of the Order. Kit Fisto isn't Obi-Wan Kenobi, but Maul has no faith in a Jedi’s willingness to guard his younger brothers from Talzin. Clearly it falls to Maul to uphold this bargain, at least well enough to establish a safe place for Savage and Feral to flee to when they’re inevitably betrayed.

“Still no words for me, husband?” Jaster asks, still smiling. Maul might think him attractive if he weren’t so frustrating. “You were willing to exchange words at the wedding, but I've rarely been blessed with your opinions since.”

“Jaster,” Arla says, rolling her eyes from further down the table. Deliberately, like she’s making a point, she reaches out, tips more wine out of the pitcher and into her cup, and then downs it. “Please. Some of us are trying to eat here.”

“I'm hardly stopping you,” Jaster protests, entirely innocent. Maul twists one of the rings on his fingers and contemplates how much force he’d need to embed it in the wall above Jaster's head, as a warning. “I was just saying, Maul can finally confirm what I've known for years, which is that as the Force is the manifestation of a vast creature of entropy—”

Maul is going to break a tooth, he’s grinding them so hard. He digs his fingers into the arm of his chair, the black cloth of his formal wear, and fixes the image of Feral in that last moment before parting in his mind. Feral, thin and weak from punishment at the Nightsisters’ hands, being tradedto Commander Cody, passed into the ranks of the vast army made with stolen DNA and set against the Republic. Feral will suffer if Maul breaks this alliance. Talzin made that very clear, and Maul has little enough family as it is. He isn't about to lose his brothers. Not for this.

Jango, slumped down on Arla's other side and looking as though he greatly regrets agreeing to this dinner, groans and buries his face in his hands. “Old man, if you can't even flirt normally—”

“It’s not flirting, it’s science,” Jaster says. “I have a theory. Maul, would you care to help me prove it right?”

Since Maul would much rather attempt to drown Jaster in his soup, he bites his tongue and glares.

Jaster beams. “The Force,” he says, and Maul braces for impact, “is the expression of a vast hive mind beyond the known galaxy—”

It’s worse than Maul thought. He’s going to physically implode if he has to listen to this for one second longer—

“The Force,” Jaster says again, still watching Maul, “is an energy field created by living things.”

Not quite correct, but certainly more so than hive minds, and Maul only rolls his eyes a little. “If you're quite done,” he says darkly, because he knows what Jaster is doing, but that doesn’t exactly make it easier to bear.

Jaster chuckles, leaning across the table to pour Maul more wine. “For now,” he promises. “Though if you're open to a debate on the origins of the Jedi as a cohesive order—ow!”

One of the small, bright red fruits pegs Jaster squarely in the side of the head and bounces off. Not, surprisingly, thrown by Maul, and he blinks, casting a look sideways down the table, to where Jaster's majordomo is veryinterested in the last few spoonfuls of liquid remaining in his bowl. There is, notably, a bowl of the fruits right in front of him.

“Treachery,” Jaster complains, straightening with an offended expression. “Jango—”

“If it had been me, I would have thrown my whole plate at you,” Jango says, raising his hands. “Blame Arla.”

“If it had been me, it would have been a knife,” Arla says, clearly already a little tipsy, and single-mindedly trying to get herself right to drunk.

Well. Maul can appreciate the assistance of an ally, when the circumstances are right. He opens his mouth to take credit—

“Did you know,” Jaster says, perfectly certain, “that each lightsaber’s color represents the phase of the moon under which it was mined, and the resonance of them—”

Maul is going to murder him, delicate political alliances be damned. Feral will understand. With a low growl, he shoves himself up, lunges across the table, and grabs Jaster by the collar of his shirt, hauling them in until they're eye to eye.

“You,” he bites out, “are the most imbecilic manI have ever had the vast misfortune to meet. That is not how lightsabers work.”

“Oh?” Jaster asks with interest, leaning in even as Maul's eyes narrow. He smirks, his hand curling over Maul's, lacing their fingers, and then he deliberately, like a dare, raises Maul's hand to his lips. “Tell me more?”

Maul picks up his soup bowl and coolly upends it over his head. Truly, such a request deserves no other possible response.

[On AO3]

#my writing #PBP I HATE THAT YOU MADE ME SHIP THIS SO HARD #jastermaul #jaster mereel #darth maul

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ur-favorite-queer-queen · 4 years ago

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Second Chance

For Maribat March day 12 theme second chance

Master List

Sometimes Marinette really wished Penny and Jagged hadn’t adopted her. It’s not that she didn’t want to be a Rolling-Stone, no that wasn’t it. In fact, she was grateful that they had saved her from the horrors that Paris now held for her. It’s just they dragged her to stuff like this, some rich man’s gala.

She had slept for a full 12 hours after finishing Penny’s dress, only to wake up to the news she was coming with them. She probably should’ve seen it coming. Although she was hoping this would be one of the lucky cases where she didn’t have to go. Despite her protests they insisted she needed to interact with other humans who weren’t serving her coffee. In Jagged’s words, “Who knows, you might make a rock n roll friend!”

Now here she was, in her black and purple dress that matched Penny’s and Jagged’s outfits. Letting a bit of her anxiety out as she fiddled with the strap of her matching purse. Watching her parents mingle with the rich folk while she stood off to the side. Every once in a while they would cast her a ‘go make a friend’ look but it never bothered her, she just needed to wait until they stopped turning to look back at her.

After about 10 minutes they stopped, perfect. She casually asked a waiter where the bathroom was and made her way there. Once inside she slipped off the pearl anklet that was Daizzi’s miraculous, letting the kwami make her way into her purse, before pulling out a familiar nose ring. Now that Jagged and Penny were letting her do her own thing, she could go back to scaring people into not socializing with her. While she would’ve loved to keep Daizzi’s miraculous on so that it could combat Stompp’s miraculous side effects, she learned that it took too much energy to do so. And she didn’t want to explain why she was so tired after the gala if she wasn’t talking to anyone.

She schooled her features before making her way back out sending a cold look to anyone who tried to come up to her. She pulled out her phone only to see that 2 hours had passed, she still had 4 more to go. Time was moving much too slowly for her liking.

A clearing of the throat brought her out of her thoughts. She rolled her eyes, putting her phone back in her purse, getting ready to glare at the person who was going to try to talk to her, only to stare in shock at the green eyes that were watching her. The same ones that had bumped into her just days before. The same ones she had sworn she probably wouldn’t ever see again.

Her mouth moved without her permission, again she blames Stompp, “You.”

He smiled or maybe it was a smirk, responding with way too much amusement, “Me.”

She once again schooled her features to look bored, but she’s pretty sure her eyes gave her away with the way he reacted, “What are you doing here?”

Just like before it took him a moment to reply, his smirk growing just the tiniest bit, “I’m always invited to these things, I’ve never seen you before though.”

“With any luck this will be the last time you see me.” She remarked. She didn’t mean to be so rude again she blames Stompp but she really hadn’t expected to see him. To his credit he didn’t seem deterred by her cold vibe, if anything he seemed more determined.

“Why would you say that?”

“These types of things,” She waved her hand around, motioning to the room, “Just aren’t my thing. My parents make it look so easy, but I’ve never been one for this kind of scene. Plus I leave Gotham in a few days.”

“Desperate to get out here?”

“You could say that.”

“Who are your parents?”

She raised an eyebrow, “Wouldn’t you like to know.” If this was the game he wanted to play she would play it. Trying to find out who she was by asking about her parents, real subtle. Well Mr. Hot shot, she’s letting Stompp take the wheel now.

“You know, you make trying to have a conversation pretty hard.”

She rolled her eyes at him, not even trying to stop them from rolling, “Who says I wanted this conversation?” It was a rhetorical question. She turned to leave only for him to grab her wrist.

Suddenly she was brought back to that night. The night that changed everything. Three pieces of jewelry in her hand, two brooches one ring, her earrings 2 beeps away from her transformation leaving her.

A pale hand holding her wrist, keeping her from running away. Green eyes and blond hair belonged to the owner of the hand.

It had happened too fast. One second she was getting ready to run and detransform. Then someone had stopped her, she turned around to meet hungry green eyes. She froze as she felt lips pressed onto her own. It was only the beeping of her earring that brought her back to reality. A knee to the groin, and she pushed him off of her. Letting the police deal with the trio as she fled.

She turned to the owner of the tan hand that was holding her back and could only register green eyes. She wouldn’t stand still this time. She twisted her hand so that he was forced to let go. A knee to the stomach had him holding his gut and as she raised her arm ready to punch him was when she finally registered that this wasn’t Adrien. It was just some weird stranger who was persistent in getting past her walls.

She could hear people talking around her and when she dared to glance around they were all staring. She forced the embarrassed blush that wanted to grace her cheeks down, she wasn’t 13 anymore, she was 16 god damnit! Locking eyes with the mysterious yet persistent guy again, she ran. Ran until she found herself on a balcony, the cold air brushing her face as she gripped the railing.

Why did she react like that? Why did she always have to be so aggressive? Why couldn’t she just let go of the past and take this damn nose ring off so she didn’t have to go and do stupid shit like this? Why couldn’t she just be normal and let people in?

Oh yeah, because she had a bunch of shitty friends that all turned on her because of a liar. The same liar turned her already neglectful parents against her. So Jagged and Penny got custody of her in order to get her out. Her parents didn’t even put up a fight about it, too busy gushing about precious LILA! And now she has major trust issues despite wanting to open and trust people again. Man, she is a wreck.

“Hey, are you out here?” The mystery guy spoke from the entrance of the balcony.

“No, I’m not.” She didn’t see the point in not acknowledging him, he could probably see her from where he was standing.

“I’m sorry about earlier, you were obviously uncomfortable and I pushed your limit. So I really am sorry.” He apologized.

“Yeah, sorry about kneeing you in the stomach. I thought…” She cut herself off, she didn’t need to pour her whole life story out to a stranger. He probably didn’t even want to know either.

“It’s okay, I deserved it.” He made his way to the railing, he was a good distance away that she still had her own space, but close enough they could still talk. She relaxed a little thanks to the distance, resting her elbows on the railing. He leaned his back against the railing. They stood there in silence and Marinette decided she wouldn’t mind seeing this mystery boy again. Wait she didn’t even know his name.

It seemed like he had the same thought since he spoke up, “I don’t think we ever introduced ourselves.”

“We didn’t.” Damn her being so cold, she should probably take this nose ring off. So that’s what she did, took the nose ring off and placed it in her purse. Maybe this would be good for her.

“Well, I’m Damian Wayne.” He stated, holding his hand out to shake.

“Wait, Wayne as in Bruce Wayne? As in the Ice Prince of Gotham?” She questioned, shocked.

“Oh, so you’ve heard.” He seemed a bit disappointed.

“Yeah, but I won’t judge if you don’t judge.”

He raised an eyebrow at that before she continued, “My name is Marinette Rolling-Stone.” Now he looked surprised.

“You're the elusive Diamond Stone?” He asked, disbelief made its way into his voice.

“That’s what they’re calling me now. At first it was Sapphire Stone. Guess that’s what happens when I stay out of the media too long.” She chuckled a small smile making its way onto her face.

“Wait, where did your nose ring go?” He looked around as if expecting it to magically appear.

“I took it off.”

“Why?”

“Well at first I wore it to scare people off. People are scared of people that have piercings. I was thinking of getting a tattoo but I’m too young and they’re too permanent.”

“Why would you want to scare people off?”

“I have a complicated past. Sometimes putting your trust in someone takes too much risk, I tried to avoid it altogether.” She pulled her sketchbook as she wrote something down.

“Tried?”

“Why do you think I’m talking to you?” She tore the paper out.

“You're putting your trust in me?”

“No.” She quickly answered, “But maybe one day.” She handed him the paper and left.

As she walked away she released a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding. Maybe giving people a second chance wouldn’t be such a bad thing. But right now she just needed to find her parents so she could head home.

Damian hated galas. He hated having to talk to the stuck-up rich folk who thought they were better than everyone just because of their wealth. The girls who would try and flirt with him in order to gain his last name. And their parents who tried to push them together.

Yes, he definitely hated galas. What made this worse was that his family wouldn’t stop teasing him about the girl who he knocked over that one time. Threatening bodily harm did nothing but amp up the teasing. It was times like this where he truly wished there was a not a no kill rule. If only to give Jason Todd some revenge.

2 hours into the gala and he was already done. 4 girls had already tried to drape themselves over him and it took all his self-control not to hurt them. He was ready to storm out of this gala when he caught sight of her.

The mystery girl he had bumped into days before. She was here, at a Wayne gala. Her outfit certainly looked the part of a rich socialite, She wore a long halter dress that flared out at the waist. It started out black at her neck before turning purple at the waist. The bottom of the dress had black music notes dancing across and she had a matching black and purple purse hanging off her shoulder.

Her hair was down and she seemed to be wearing a little bit of makeup. The only reason he was able to tell it was her was because of the black nose ring that stood out against her fancy look. It looked so out of place compared to everything else.

He watched as a man tried to approach her only to receive the same glare he had gotten days before, quickly moving on to someone else. Seems like he wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to be here.

He made his way over to her, perhaps to give himself a second chance at a new impression. She proceeded to pull out her phone and look at something before deflating the tiniest bit.

He cleared his throat to grab her attention, she looked at him with the same glare once again before her eyes took on a look of shock.

“You.” She seemed surprised that she had stated this as well.

He couldn’t help the smirk that spread on his face, she remembered him and still had the same spunky attitude, “Me.”

Her features took on a look of boredom, but her eyes looked only curious yet cautious, “What are you doing here?”

The fact that she didn’t recognize him as a Wayne was surprising. He thought that she was only in a hurry before that’s why she didn’t register it was him, but now he knew she truly didn’t know it was him. Perhaps he could use this to his advantage. “I’m always invited to these things, I’ve never seen you before though.”

“With any luck this will be the last time you see me.” She said it with such confidence he felt inclined to believe. It was strange. He seemed to be the last person she wanted to talk to and yet he still wanted to talk to her. He didn’t want her to leave. So the next best thing is to get answers.

“Why would you say that?”

“These types of things,” She waved her hand around to motion to the room, “Just aren’t my thing. My parents make it look so easy, but I’ve never been one for this kind of scene. Plus I leave Gotham in a few days.”

Well that sucked for him. “Desperate to get out here?”

“You could say that.”

“Who are your parents?” Maybe he could try to get his father to arrange a meeting with them.

She raised an eyebrow, “Wouldn’t you like to know.” Nevermind.

“You know, you make trying to have a conversation pretty hard.” He didn’t mean to say that, that was rude.

She rolled her eyes at him, it looked like he was meant to see that, “Who says I wanted this conversation?” She turned to leave, but he grabbed her wrist. He didn’t want her to go just yet. He felt her freeze then tense when he touched her, her breathing became a little more forced, and she seemed to shake a little.

Suddenly she twisted out of his grip and kneed him in the stomach. She raised her arm and looked ready to punch him. Her eyes looked far and distant and afraid. They seemed to refocus on him as she dropped her arm and glanced around the room. Of course, people were talking about them.

She locked eyes with him once more before running. He ran after her before his path was blocked off by Dick Grayson. “Damian what-” He didn’t get to finish that question as he dashed passed him, determined not to lose the one girl who wasn’t a stuck up brat.

He thought he had lost her but then he heard someone taking deep breaths from out on one of the balconies. He was about to go up to her, but from the way she reacted to his sudden hold on her arm earlier, it was probably best to give a warning. “Hey are you out here?”

He walked out onto the balcony. “No, I’m not.” She likely didn’t want to talk to him.

“I’m sorry about earlier, you were obviously uncomfortable and I pushed your limit. So I really am sorry.” He apologized. Which was so unlike him because here Damian Wayne was apologizing to a stranger. The weird things she made him do.

“Yeah, sorry about kneeing you in the stomach. I thought…” She cut herself off, it looked like she wanted to say more but wasn’t going to.

“It’s okay, I deserved it.” He walked over to the railing, making sure he was a good distance away that she had her own space, but close enough so they could still talk. She seemed to relax a little thanks to the distance, resting her elbows on the railing. He leaned his back against the railing. He quite liked the silence, her company was nice. Oh god he didn’t even know her name.

“I don’t think we ever introduced ourselves.”

“We didn’t.” She stated in what he was pretty sure was a cold tone. Maybe she wanted to stay mysterious, so he would just introduce himself.

“Well, I’m Damian Wayne.” He held his hand out to shake.

“Wait, Wayne as in Bruce Wayne? As in the Ice Prince of Gotham?” So she recognizes the name, not the face. Great.

“Oh, so you’ve heard.”

“Yeah, but I won’t judge if you don’t judge.” Why would he judge her?

He raised an eyebrow at her before she continued, “My name is Marinette Rolling-Stone.”

“You're the elusive Diamond Stone?” He asked, disbelief accidentally made its way into his voice. He couldn’t help it. She was claiming to be the adoptive daughter of famous Jagged and Penny Rolling-Stone. The girl that made Jagged’s stage outfits from scratch and managed to get the ferocious Fang, Jagged’s pet crocodile, to love her. The media could only ever get a hold of the back of her head, but those that had talked with her said she shined as bright as a diamond. Hence the nickname, Diamond Stone.

“That’s what they’re calling me now. At first it was Sapphire Stone. Guess that’s what happens when I stay out of the media too long.” She chuckled, a small smile had made its way onto her face. Sapphire Stone, he hadn’t heard of that nickname but he could always do some stalking research. That’s when he noticed.

“Wait, where did your nose ring go?” He looked around trying to see if it had fallen off her face and she hadn’t noticed.

“I took it off.”

“Why?” He was truly baffled.

“Well at first I wore it to scare people off. People are scared of people that have piercings. I was thinking of getting a tattoo but I’m too young and they’re too permanent.”

“Why would you want to scare people off?” That seems like something he would do.

“I have a complicated past. Sometimes putting your trust in someone takes too much risk, I tried to avoid it altogether.” She pulled out what looked like a sketchbook as she wrote something down. Wait what did she mean by ‘complicated past.’

“Tried?”

“Why do you think I’m talking to you?” She tore the paper out of the sketchbook.

“You're putting your trust in me?” He asked, she didn’t seem like the type to trust people quickly.

“No.” She quickly answered, he thought so, “But maybe one day.” She handed him the paper and left. As he looked down at it he saw it was her number. There was a message attached below ‘My number. Maybe we can meet up somewhere before I leave.’ He certainly wanted to take that opportunity.

He tucked the paper into his pocket and made his way back to the gala only to be met with his annoying family. By the curious look in their eyes they wanted to know what just happened. This was not going to be fun to explain.

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Hi, I have not disappeared, just didn’t want to write for prompts 8-11. I was honestly going to do prompt 8 but then stuff came up and I didn’t have the time to write. I was also planning to write something for tomorrow’s prompt but then I found out I have something I need to do tomorrow so nothing for tomorrow either. Because I had a specific thing I wanted to write for tomorrow I’m changing it to fit day 14′s prompt. Which means it’s not going to be mega angsty like I originally thought was gonna be 14. You have escaped mega angst and now it will only be medium angst.

On another note that was a bitch to write and edit. And the fact I had originally planned to write more for it baffles me. I feel like I left it kind of open ended so if you want a part 3 to what I have going on here go ahead and tell me. I’m still trying to decide if I should do a part 3 yet. For those who are confused today was a part 2 to day 6′s prompt, miraculous side effects. Go to my master list and you can find it.

You can also see on my master list that there are days that are crossed off, which means I won’t be doing those days. I can’t do every single day if I want to still get decent grades. Why I skipped days 8-11. Sorry for that long explanation/rant. Also sorry for posting so late again. I do these things all the way to the last minute. Let’s see if I can break that habit throughout the month. Probably not but a girl can hope. Anyways hope you enjoyed.

@maribatmarch-2k21 @birdiesthings @buginetye

#maribatmarch2021 #maribat #maribat march #marinette dupain cheng #damian wayne #damian x marinette #daminette #tell me if you want a part 2 #i'm still deciding

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life-rewritten · 4 years ago

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DISMAYS VS RELIEFS AKA REVIEW/RANTS OF BL IN SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER

It's been an interesting experience this past few months. BL came back in full force, took mostly all days in the week and you know what? It surprised the hell out of me. Mostly because I was moving back and forth from the decision of whether to stop watching or to wait and trust something extraordinary would happen like last year. And then October/November happened before I knew it I was falling again for some storylines, I was excited again to analyse and talk about these shows, and also I was incredibly grateful for some of the messages I received from these shows, they educated me, humbled me and even pushed me to my own version of self-acceptance, learning and love. So there are some disappointments with some of the shows mentioned here, but overall I'm grateful we got to see these shows and wait for them every week to air. This is the first part of this list because in another two weeks I have more shows ending. December is shaking!

Ratings: From 1 to 5 (1 being least excited to watch, 5 being most,) how excited am I to delve into these shows?

DISMAYS

1. MY GEAR AND MY GOWN

Genre/Themes: Romance, Melodrama, Angst, Drama, Friendship, Unrequited Love, Family

Country: Thailand

Verdict:

Um, this show. I've been through a lot with this show, I've been angry, frustrated, tired, annoyed but weirdly I love this show, by the end of the finale, this show left me with warmth and this energy of bliss and joy. I realised that the reason why I was so harsh to this show was because of the potential I saw when I first saw the first episode. I fell in love because I could tell it was symbolic, it was deep, and it also had interesting devices used to tell the plot. Who knew that the pacing and directing of this show would nearly leave me mad and furious because it could have been better. This is all on the director, and sometimes the actors, they weren't expressive enough, they weren't emotional enough, and they didn't entirely sell me on what they were meant to be feeling. Sometimes it felt awkward and stiff and unbelievable, and at those times, I felt disappointed and bored. But the characters of this show and especially some actors (FIAT and JJ) really stole my heart without me wanting them to. I fell in love with the couples, I loved analysing them and feeling their angst and understanding their character dynamics. I lived for their friendship and enjoyed watching how it all came together. Even some of the romantic scenes made me swoon and excited, and I was just so happy to watch these couples choose each other.

I also think the relationship dynamics, whilst sometimes annoying, was actually sweet and wholesome. Itt and Pai's love is so cute and memorable, and I understood why they wanted each other, they both helped each other so much, and I thought it was beautiful. Pure and Folk; everything, no words, they were incredible despite rushed and late, I enjoyed watching their love on my screen, and it left me so disappointed that we could have had more if the pacing was done right. Either way, despite the rants and criticisms this show was a gem to me, one of my favourites just because of the couple dynamics. I will miss it, and I will miss analysing it. But please NEW sort your self out, and stop with the slow pace directing; you're killing your shows, (just my opinion) but you're making me dread the shows I've been so excited for in 2021, and I really pray you won't ruin them. Nough said.

Ratings:3.8/5 I can't rate it higher, but I do think it deserves credit, this show is very underrated as much as it annoyed me it's actually a decent show, it's very educational sometimes. It also has character development and growth. The romances are sweet and definitely should be paid attention to.

2. A CHANCE TO LOVE/ LOVE BY CHANCE SEASON 2

Genre/Themes: Comedy, Romance, Drama, Friendship, Rich, poor dynamic,

Country: Thailand

Verdict:

MGAYG was not the only show that New produced/ directed. There was this atrocity. No offence to everyone who loved this show, I love TinCan, I like most of the couples of the show, I didn't even complain when the show was rebooted, I didn't complain when there was not enough plot for the side couples for the first 8 episodes. But what annoys the hell out of me with this show is the lazy writing. I am so disappointed with this show, I realised that by the finale I was just tired and I was only watching it for some actors not even characters ( I was watching it to see a glimpse of Meen and Est), and it really made me sad. Because I started off with this show a bundle of joy, to see Tin and Can fall in love with each other again, I ignored when the haters said it was boring, awkward or stiff. I even accepted the massive amounts of product placement that was placed lazily and annoyingly. I was ready to forgive everything with this show. But I ended up feeling slighted, not me the actors should feel slighted, Cooheart, Mark Siwat, Gun, Title, Meen, Est should feel slighted by this show because this show wasted their potentials and only showed them for minutes in the whole 12 hours that this show aired for. I am so angry at the writer because she was lazy. She had clocked out when it came to this script (Though I don't blame her when everyone kept on sending her threats to how she told the previous story, she silenced her own creative ideas and muted everything, hence why Kengla and Techno's story was destroyed and became lazy and not needed and confusing, and Tum and Tar and Keen made no sense). Mame had given up on this show long before it aired.

But as much as I am disappointed at her for doing so, I also have to take this back to New, he's the person again who ruined this show with his pacing and directing. I love New, but this year it wasn't it, he is the main flaw in both his shows, he doesn't know when to pace things properly, he rushes plots at the end, and he doesn't give enough time to side couples for them to make sense. He did well in season 1 I think, but this season was atrocious. I am heavily disappointed, and I want to forget this show exists. I do have to give credit to Mean because I think he carried the show, I think Plan was cute but he was uncomfortable, and he ruined a lot of moments for me despite how much I love his chemistry with Mean. So yeh LBC was a disappointment, but it still holds a special place in my heart because I did care about the cast (maybe not as much anymore because of their homophobia) but LBC was one of my first loved BLs to see such a disappointing follow up is just heartbreaking.

Ratings:2.9/5 I couldn't bring my self to rate it even a three because I genuinely don't want to rewatch or think about this show again that's a pity because I genuinely love TinCan and MeenEst. But hey ho, c'est la vie.

RELIEFS

Gaya Sa Pelikula

Genre/Themes: Romance, Drama, Comedy, Angst, LGBTQ+ Education, Contract relationship, Haters to lovers

Country: Philippines

Verdict: We finally reached the end. And the way I didn't want this show to end, is just too much. I completed this show on the floor sobbing, clenching my heart and just reflecting and thinking about everything. One I was in shock, wasn't expecting something like this when I first watched this show. I had a lot of doubts despite the sneaky light in my heart from the comedy and energy and charisma from the show. I fell. Hard. For everything. Before I knew it, Fridays meant everything to me, if I could get to keep watching this show, it made laugh, smile, cry, weep, and it made me think and learn. It's weird how a show can mean so much to people, this show wasn't for me, it was a love letter to the LGBTQ+ community, a beautiful one, and with everybody's reaction, I think I can say for all of us, that this show was a masterpiece. It had everything, a plot that was so deep, interesting and unique, characters that felt real, understandable and relatable, lessons that made everyone think and question how they acted, how they viewed things, what we say, how we consider our selves, what is our story that we want to tell to the world?

It's just incredible, not only that this show had terrific production, directing, acting and music that will stick with me for a long time. The music was perfectly used, perfectly mixed in, and it touched everyone's heart. This show left me feeling healed, it was weird, I don't know how to relate to the struggles of Internalised homophobia, but I get anxiety, I get feeling like you're not the main character in your story, I get feeling like your life was already planned out and your dreams don't matter, I get hiding and running away from the world and finding a place to stay in your head and find peace and I get feeling overlooked and misunderstood. Overall I get the fight for self healing, acceptance and love. And Vlad and Karl went through that, and it was so beautiful to see them grow and become what they wanted to be, even if they couldn't be together because of that. Everything including the side characters in this show meant something, each had their own story, flaws and importance for why they were there, and I loved it. Words can't explain how good this show is, and the fact that no one came into it, knowing anything is just such inspirational and hopeful thing, out there, there are content and stories to consume that can teach and affect you and make you want to do something with your own. And Gaya Sa pelikula was one of those for me. I don't wanna say Goodbye, and hopefully, we get to see them again soon.

Ratings: 5/5 I would give this more than 5 if I could. That's how much this show means to me.

4. I TOLD SUNSET ABOUT YOU/ TRANSLATE MY LOVE WITH YOUR HEART

Genre/Themes: Romance, Melodrama, Coming of Age, Angst, Drama, Childhood friendship

Country: Thailand

Verdict: Wow. All I can say is wow. I find my self not able to talk about this show, because like what else can I say that everyone hasn't said. It's outstanding. No words. I think this show was just out of nowhere, I mean probably not; because it was a Nadao production but still, for a BL? Out of nowhere. The effort, the acting, the music, the production, the themes and the way it was all so perfectly told? It was a journey, I ended up at times also on the floor sobbing, shouting and just like feeling so single. Haha. But really this show is ridiculously good, it's like something that can't be fully explained, it's still a shock to me (and I really need to start believing in potentials of BLs more), it is, I'm just thankful I guess, for the 5 hours spent with this show, the number of essays derived from this show, the way Teh and Oh snuck in my heart and refused to leave. I think we all want a love like Teh and Oh, someone who completely takes your breath away, is selfless for you and is your number one supporter and fan. Someone who the room spins around for and your world only focuses on, someone who makes you brave.

And I think Teh and Oh found that with each other, and it was beautiful to witness, it was heartbreaking as well to see them struggle with it, it was also peaceful to reach the end and see them safe and secure with each other. ITSAY was everything, it also means a lot to me because the writing and directing are effortless, it's inspiring and beautiful to see how it came about, its so fulfilling to see how much effort went into this production. And I can't wait to see how Part 2 unfolds next year. I will say that with all the angst and longing, the ending did feel unsatisfactory because I just felt that all the tension and emotion invested just became really tame at the end, all the angst just fell apart so rapidly, and it felt weird that it ended in a hug? But with all the theories about sad endings and the other directions the writer could have gone with I'm happy it was a happy ending, and I'm delighted our boys reunited and became each other's most immense success/happiness.

Ratings: 4.5/5 Yeh I want to give it a 5/5 but the ending like I said felt a little bit empty for me, I didn't feel satisfied or like complete but that's because there's a part 2 coming. Still is the best Thai BL ever created. And it deserves all the praise.

November was a ride, I think I've cried so much during these past weeks, but honestly, I'm so glad BLs are just improving and putting more effort in, BLs are no longer just for fujoshis to consume. Still, now they represent and educate about LGBTQ+ experiences, they feel relatable and understandable. They're not as toxic as before. We're getting healthier relationships, we're getting depth and unique plots, we're getting happy endings as well. It's very lovely to see the growth, and I can't wait to see what December brings or next year. I'm just so proud of these actors, I'm proud of actors who actually respect this genre and understands why people like it, for me I really enjoy learning about things I never thought or experienced, it humbles me, and it inspires me so much. I'm grateful for these shows. Hopefully, there's many more like ITSAY and GSP to come. Please.

#thai bl #bl drama #bl series #itsay #i told sunset about you #gaya sa pelikula #gsp #like in the movies #wrpup #november #my gear and your gown #mgayg #a chance to love #love by chance #lbc #tincan #tulhin #mark siwat #pinoy bl

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sometimesrosy · 4 years ago

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I am so glad that the show ended in Season 5 with some bonus episodes where we see Bellamy save Clarke, Clarke in pretty dresses and dancing, and playing with doggo

We get to engage with the show anyway we want.

I know I’ve said a lot about sticking to canon, but I got to say, season 7 isn’t worthy of analysis anymore.

I don’t analyze EVERY story. Most tv shows are not complex enough to stand up to analysis. The don’t have a cohesive story that has a narrative you can count on. Until s7 this show DID. Now it doesn’t.

All I can say now about the full season 7 arc is... it had six seasons of comprehensive narrative with Clarke as the hero, Bellamy as the secondary hero and Bellarke as the backbone of the story. It was about what we would do to survive in the apocalypse. It was about learning to lead, and being a moral person. It was about making sure we deserved to survive. It was about healing from trauma and fighting to decide what to do with your own life. It was about looking evil in the eye.... even within yourself, and doing better. It was about how love is NOT a weakness. It was about getting up again every time you get knocked down. It was about fighting for those you love and for humanity.

Season 7 was not this story. It was a different story. It was about the transcendence of the human race as discovered by a cult leader from before the apocalypse. It was about how humanity died and how we were out of chances to try and improve, grow and fix things.

Clarke and Bellamy were only part of an ensemble cast. All of whom died, but Clarke. Murphy, Emori, Miller and Jackson’s stories were completely removed from the main story of transcendence, and were only about their love and ships, but lovely. Echo’s was irrelevant. Octavia was a half hearted resolution to her blodreina/skairipa storyline where she was like, ‘come on guys, let’s not fight.’ Good for her. Although the last war was definitely anticlimactic. Raven got to be the one to change the mind of the all powerful magic alien god, so someone finally gave her credit for how awesome she is, even though her road to get there was mostly irrelevant to the main conflict. Indra’s journey to taking charge of her people was pretty good, but it ended with her just blowing Sheidheda away to finally get rid of him... which was cool but it should have happened about three different times earlier in the season and that it didn’t, for no reason, seems to be to make him a plot device. Now everything in a story is a plot device, but when there’s no reason for them to be there BUT the plot device, that makes it cheap. PLUS his death was anticlimactic. Boom. gone. Over. Stupid. Bellamy’s ending was the worst. It just went poof as if he weren’t important. However, tertiary characters got better deaths than he did. Shit. The pathos of Tor Lemkin in season 1 was what made me fall in love with this show. Bellamy puffed out into nothingness the way Sheidheda did with the earth mover. As if he never existed in the show before.

And then there was Clarke’s ending. Which was HORRIBLE. Not so much horribly written as a nightmare of blaming Clarke for all of humanity’s sins. Like how could you do that to Clarke? She became a CARTOON of her own self, storming through Bardo killing people left and right for vengeance.

Those are the characters.

Except for Raven, Indra and Octavia, none of them had any agency in how this story turned out. None of their goals were realized. They didn’t save anyone. They didn’t lead their people. They didn’t make life better for anyone. They didn’t find love... oh wait. Octavia and Levitt. (ugh so bad and cheesy sorry levtavia fans. it COULD have worked but they didn’t earn it imo. it again seemed forced so that they could have an inside man plot device which they should have had with Bellamy. and speaking, why did levitt, who tortured octavia, get forgiveness while Bellamy, who was their hero forever, did not?)

Clarke, who started out the series wanting to do what was right, ended the series mindlessly gunning down people. And that COULD have been her long term trajectory, except in season five and six, she came back from being broken and alone and committed to doing better, to being better. Not to mention, we DID that broken hero with Octavia in season 3, 4, and 5, and she ALSO came back. Not to mention we did it with Bellamy in season 3 and he ALSO came back. And with Diyoza. Who got her redemption in saving everyone and turning to crystal.

UGH.

In a story about the redemption and salvation of humanity, about not always being sure if they’re worthy of survival, about trying to be the good guys and failing sometimes, season 7 was about-- nope, humanity are pricks. They’re either mindless sheep who follow, or violent creeps who destroy, or psychotic cult leaders who dominate.

LOL. There weren’t any heroes left. No, wait. Last minute clutch players, Raven, Octavia and Indra. Who didn’t have ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE DRIVING CONFLICT THE REST OF THE TIME.

HOLY MACARONI this season was a mess.

And then in the story about the redemption and salvation of the human race, they DELETED the human race by Deus Ex Machina. Just like they deleted Bellamy by unearned brainwashing, and deleted his impact on the story by “so much for together.” The center of the narrative was poofed away, unearned.

Clarke was PUNISHED for everything she did to save them, even when she sacrificed herself. And she was CANONICALLY attempting to save humanity as a whole and canonically the only person who was NOT tribalistic. And they poofed away her character and made her a crazy Dany.

Also the concept of bittersweet ending, of victory at a cost, was completely reversed. This was not a victory at a cost, it was a failure with consolation prize. VERY different ending.

New theory.

Season 7 was written by someone else. None of it fits the rest of the show.

I am now blaming Kim Shumway. The bitch can not, as it turns out, tell stories. Maybe she can write when someone else directs her what to say but she should never be in charge of a story again.

Ulitmately it was JR’s responsibility so he doesn’t get a pass. And he didn’t care enough about his story to see it through but instead was enamored with the prequel.

But this is a different story told by a different vision. It is NOT The 100.

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handonhaven · 3 years ago

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I wasn't planning on talking about this, but ever since the trailer and the summery of episode 1 came out certain people have gone into overdrive. Pretty much all the same stuff they always say. "Hope should just dump Landon, he doesn't deserve her love and devotion" 😑😑😑 and "They made Hopes whole story just be about a boy. Why does Landon/Handon get so much screen time over all the other characters?" Etc etc.

Okay look Landon is the only one who's actaully earned Hopes love and devotion. Everyone else just acts as if they're entitled to it. With how they always treat her(very unpopular opinion I know but it's true).

Hopes story has never been all about Landon. It's always been about saving everyone else, doing what's best for everyone. Even if it means sacrificing herself and what she wants/what makes her happy. Season 3 was the first season she actively put herself and what she wants first(and even then she still was doing what was best for everyone else at times). And a part of that just so happens to be Landon because she loves him and he's the one who makes her the most happy. And in 3x05 when Hope was in the therapy box was a whole give a way. That she's just tried and done always putting herself last and sacrificing what she loves(ie Landon and what else she just doesn't want to sacrifice anymore) just to save everyone else. And I honestly don't blame her for some of the things she did in s3, not excusing what she did not at all. But at the same time I don't blame her.

Now what I'm about to say might upset some people but there's two reason why Landon/Handon gets so much screen time is bc 1. Landon is a lead and at the very core of legacies is Handons story, so of course they'll be getting more screen time. And I think 3x16 was trying to drive that home of a lot of people. As well as about a 100 other that have been shown/said throughout the show.

2. The other reason why other characters don't get much screen time or even a storyline is bc more often than not is bc the writers/showrunners just don't really care all that much for those characters. One example of that is Rafael. And as much as I love his character, you can just tell the feeling wasn't the same for them. Bc he was gone for must of s2 and when he was around they made him be all about his feelings for Hope. Same thing goes for the twins. You can just tell that they didn't really want to have them in the show in first place(even Juile herself said she didn't want the twins. But things change I guess). Because they've haven't been doing anything with their characters, they've done more with Cleo's character than they have with the twins. I think the most I've seen them do with the twins was the whole dark Josie storyline. The rest of the time their storylines have been about love interests. I'm not sure if I forgot any of their other storylines bc once s3 hit I just kind of stopped paying attention to their storylines(not bc I don't like their characters but bc their stories just kind of just keep going around in circles and I really don't want to watch the same thing over and over again). And idk if in season 4 they're going to start giving the twins and other characters more screen time/ more storylines but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't.

Wow sorry that got long haha. But any thoughts on this?

It’s just the same old thing with the antis, can they really not think of anything else to say? But yeah, everything you said. What is it Landon has to do to earn Hope’s love and devotion? You’re so right, he treats Hope far better than any of the other characters do, unpopular opinion or not, that’s the truth. He’s not done anything that’s made him undeserving of her love. And for them to even say that after he went his whole life without being loved is horrible. And I’m so tired of them saying Hope’s storyline revolves around a boy (especially when all most of them want is for her storyline to revolve around Josie), because exactly! They must not be paying attention to the show if they don’t see that Hope’s storyline has always been about her being the hero and saving everyone. Which is why them saying that Landon is all Hope cares about and all she thinks about contradicts her actions throughout the show when she has continuously been there for everyone. And yep, to the point where she has sacrificed her own happiness with Landon for the sake of everyone else. And yes, I loved Hope’s development in s3 because she was finally putting herself and her happiness first. And that didn’t mean that she no longer cared about her friends because, like you said, she was still trying to be there for them and do what was best for them too. And exactly, Landon is the one who makes Hope happy, and I felt so bad for her in the therapy box in 3x05. That really did say it all, you could definitely tell that she’s so tired and just wants to be happy for once. And same with in 3x10, when she said “we can never just be happy,” it never seems to end for her. And I don’t blame her for what she did in s3 either. And you’ve also gotta consider that everyone had pushed her into a position where she was most desperate and left with no other options. Plus she also didn’t even think Lizzie or Josie would be in danger in 3x08, and she believed they could make it until the dark magic started to infect them and then she apologized. But what she did still ultimately ended up saving Landon from the prison world, otherwise they may never have found another way if they hadn’t created a rift.

And very true about screen time for Handon. People still refuse to believe that Landon is the male lead despite Aria’s name appearing right after Danielle’s in the credits and Julie literally saying that they casted Aria to be the leading man of Legacies when he auditioned for TO. Both Hope and Landon are the leads of the show, and yep, their story is the main story, so obviously it’s gonna get more focus. And yes, that’s been made clear throughout the show.

It does seem like the writers don’t care as much about the other characters. And I love Raf too, don’t get me started on the way they treated him. And it’s so weird because it seemed like they had bigger plans for him at the beginning. It took them a while to find Peyton, if I remember right. And I thought he and Landon were gonna be the brothers of the show, it seemed like they were setting up a love triangle of sorts with them and Hope (not that I wanted that), but then, like you said, he was hardly in s2. It’s like they scrapped any plans they had for him and didn’t know what to do with him after s1, even though there was so much potential.

And yeah, same with the twins. But idk if Julie said she didn’t want the twins on the show? I just thought having them on the show, at least as mains, wasn’t always part of the plan. They had always talked about a “Hope spinoff,” no mention of the twins. Julie had said Hope and the twins wouldn’t be friends because of the age gap. And from 5x12 of TO, I’d guess they hadn’t planned on them being mains for Legacies at that point either, otherwise they wouldn’t have made the age gap so obvious. And they had no interactions between Hope and the twins either, yet they made sure to establish a relationship between Hope and Landon in that episode. So I do feel like Handon was always part of the plan and they most likely decided to have the twins be main characters later on. And that really does show because they don’t seem to know what to do with them anymore either. True, they definitely did more with Cleo last season than the twins, and I do feel like the dark Josie storyline was the last real storyline they had. And I agree, their storylines now mostly have to do with love interests, and they do feel repetitive or just like they’re not going anywhere. And people will complain about Handon being repetitive, but look at what they do with the other characters, it’s far worse. Despite there being some repetition with Handon, like with them being separated and being put through horrible things all the time, there’s still development and progression. But with the rest of the characters, I feel like there’s hardly any progression at all. I feel like they’ve even gone backwards with some of the characters as well, especially last season. I actually thought the writing for the twins, and all the characters, was pretty good in s1. I liked all the characters and was interested in their storylines, but now, especially after s3, I’m just not interested anymore. S3 really changed my mind about some of the characters tbh, mostly because of the way they treated Landon and Hope. So idk if they’re gonna give the other characters more screen time or better storylines in s4 either. But honestly, because some of the characters have kinda been ruined for me, I’m not even sure if I’d care much if they did give them more of a storyline. I’m really just watching for Hope and Landon at this point, ngl. But hopefully, for everyone else’s sake, they can do more for the other characters next season that other fans will enjoy.

#answered

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365days365movies · 4 years ago

Text

February 6, 2021: Romeo + Juliet (Review)

This movie is, in two words, a LOT.

Now, it’s not exactly a bad thing to be a lot, but that still means that it’s a lot. Of course, that’s to be expected of a Baz Luhrmann film, so I really shouldn’t be complaining. Before I get into my breakdown, though, I should probably consider what I think of Romeo and Juliet as a play, as well as other adaptations. Well, other adaptation.

Fact of the matter is, Romeo and Juliet definitely isn’t my favorite of the Bard’s plays. Maybe it’s because of overexposure, maybe it’s because of the romance...and maybe it’s just because I find the teenage love story and the protagonists overly melodramatic and not terribly convincing.

And, yeah, that really isn’t a good argument, and this play is an undisputed classic, of course. I mean, one of my favorite Shakespeare plays has a vengeful magician in command of a fairy servant and a mutant monster-man. Another one of his plays has a man bake his enemy’s children in a pie, for god-sakes. So, yeah, the “convincing” point isn’t fair. But, yeah, this has never been one of my favorites. However, I LOVE Franco Zeffirelli’s adaptation, which is legitimately fantastic. And, yes, I like it more than Luhrmann’s version. Is it my favorite adaptation of a Shakespeare play with the original play’s dialogue used? Well...

Goddamn it, Tumblr, you dropped the ball on this one! WHERE THE HELL ARE THE IAN MCKELLEN RICHARD III 1995 GIFs?!? Am I gonna have to make a GIFset myself? ‘Cause I’ll do it!

Anyway, let’s get into reviewing this mess, shall we?

Review

Cast and Acting: 7/10

Fin fact, that I already mentioned in the review: Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes HAAAAAAAATED each other while filming this movie. And I’m gonna be honest...I’m not surprised. I’m not saying that their chemistry was bad, but I AM saying that it wasn’t as good as it should be. That might be because of their feelings towards one another...or it might be the fact that they aren’t great here. In the case of DiCaprio, he was good, even if he was a little clumsy with some of the lines of the play. And, to be fair, some of it can be blamed on Luhrmann’s direction. Danes...Danes isn’t great as Juliet, sorry. Compare her to Olivia Hussey and she’s WAY worse in the role. Not trying to be too harsh, but they aren’t great. They aren’t exactly bad, but making this lines work takes a real comprehensive knowledge of how to speak and read Shakespeare. DiCaprio sometimes shows that...Danes shows that skill far less.

Everybody else, though? I mean, Harold Perrineau is GREAT, as is Postlethwaite, Margoyles, Sorvino, Curtis-Hall, and even Mihok sometimes. John Leguizamo...let’s just say that, the entire film, ALL I could hear was Sid the Sloth threatening to destroy the Montagues.

Plot and Writing: 9/10

I mean...it’s Shakespeare. Might not be my favorite of his play’s but it’s still a timeless masterpiece. Not that all of his plays are amazing (coughcoughThe Taming of the Shrewcoughcough), but this one is perhaps the most timeless of all of them, with Hamlet as a possible rival. And since this is a direct-word adaptation, I’ll have to judge something else: the screenplay. That is, HOW the text is interpreted on-screen. And, uh...guns are called swords, and have swords on them, which is silly. And that’s the only real flaw I’ve got. Craig Pearce and Baz Luhrmann had the unique challenge of making a direct-word adaptation that could be accessible to the viewing audience, most of whom aren’t Shakespeare scholars. And in that purpose...yeah, it totally works. Credit where credit’s due.

Directing and Cinematography: 7/10

Cinematography throughout this movie is pretty goddamn great, not gonna lie. Now, there are many reasons for this, but at the end of the day, this film organizes its shots quite well. Nice one, Donald McAlpine! Directing...directing. Baz Lurhmann is..a lot. But that’s not entirely his fault. However, the way certain actors are directed is ENTIRELY his fault, and there are points taken off for that. Because sometimes...sometimes...just...SOMETIMES...

Production and Art Design: 10/10

NO hesitation with this one, this film’s appearance is iconic, memorable, visually distinctive...amazing. It’s an amazing looking movie! Yeah, this one’s a perfect score, no goddamn joke there!

Music and Editing: 3/10

...Look, the music is fine. Three people (Nellee Hooper, Marius de Vries, Craig Armstrong) worked on it, and both the original score for the film, and some of the premade songs use work quite well. Some of them, however, like “When Doves Cry,” are just...weird. But, still, credit where credit’s due. So, then, why the low score?

BECAUSE JILL BILCOCK’S EDITING MADE ME STROKE THE FUCK OUT, THAT’S WHY. This movie’s frenetic editing, while typical of the Luhrmann-Bilcock collaborations, HURT MY GODDAMN MIND. And, yeah, this movie was nominated for Best Visual Edting, and Best Sound Editing, AND ABSOLUTELY DESERVED NEITHER. Listen to me, OK? Editing is a notoriously difficult thing to judge, and that goes for the Oscars committee as well. Often, the editing that makes it to nominations is the editing that’s easiest to see, and therefore easiest to judge. But just because your editing is obvious DOESN’T MEAN IT’S GOOD GOD FUCKING DAMMIT MY EYES ARE BLEEDING

All things considered, I’m going for a 72%

It’s fine...but it’s also a lot. As Shakespeare adaptations go, this definitely isn’t the worst. Hell, as RaJ adaptations go, it probably isn’t the worst, either. But in any case, this one just...hurt my mind. MOCK ME IF YOU MUST, but that editing really took a toll on my psyche.

I could do more Baz Luhrmann, and tackle Moulin Rouge...buuuuuuuut, no. Not now, anyway. How bout we go for another adaptation of a British author’s story? And for that matter, let’s go for a recently popular one!

February 8, 2021: Emma (2020)

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crossdressingdeath · 4 years ago

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(1/3) It always amuses me how stans try to justify JC actions by his abusive upbringing while there were 3 children in that family and both others turned very kind and/or very moral and not at all like JC (and frankly, he didn't even have the hardest position in the dysfunctional dynamic). Or LXC and LWJ whose upbringing was even more screwed up with a LQ who was certainly playing favorites and wanting perfection, and yet this never draw a wedge between them or created any jealousy.

(2/3)LXC loves for LWJ to excel! Same with "but JC had it so hard rebuilding Lotus Pier, WWX was goofing off with the Wens"...JC was paying people to do that for him, yes, while WWX was trying to start from scratch a settlement over a mountain of corpses with a bunch of weak or old people and not to die of hunger comes winter. While separated from all his friends and hated as a monster by the cultivation world. "But JC was so lonely during the 13/16y, so that justifies him lashing out" And WWX

(3/3) was dead, killed by his brother and thinking that there was not a person left on his side in the end, and yet, that didn't make him act like a dick? Or athg else really, because everything that JC went through in the past, WWX did also, but in a worse way because he lost his parents young, lived in the streets, didn't have JC societal privilege or money and has to harness an unstable necromancy practice on top of that. And yet no one uses it as arguments to explain his actions, only for JC

Honestly? While none of the Jiang kids were in a good position, out of the three of them... JC did have it the easiest. It was still awful for him, don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting his childhood didn’t suck, but given it was made very clear to JYL that her only purpose was to be married off to JZX so her mother could tie her bloodline to her best friend’s and WWX was treated like a servant at best... Yeah. If I had to pick, I’d choose having a distant father and dealing with a mother who’s constantly emotionally abusive over having a distant father and dealing with a mother who’s constantly emotionally abusive and being treated like a bargaining chip/treated like a servant and/or bastard and being whipped for actions that would get the rest of the clan a lecture at worst. Again, I’m not saying JC didn’t have it bad, but his siblings having it worse is... interesting, given neither of them decided to be dicks to Literally Everyone over it.

I do have to say, even though this is about JC, there’s nothing suggesting LQR was playing favourites with LXC and LWJ. He was strict, yes, probably stricter than he should’ve been, and LXC probably did get more one-on-one interaction with him, but given LXC was going to be sect leader/became sect leader at a young age that makes sense. This is not super important to the point of this post, but I do find it odd how often people make LQR out to be this horrible person who’s always awful to his nephews because he’s Strict when we... don’t actually know anything about how he raised them. I don’t like him all that much, and he probably didn’t do a fantastic job of raising them, but the man did try, and he clearly wants his nephews to be safe and happy (even though he has inaccurate views of what that entails...), and given how the parents/parental figures of the cast generally act he deserves some credit for that. Also the Twin Jades ended up considerably better-adjusted than most of their age group, which... isn’t saying much all things considered but it does say something. If nothing else neither of them seem to feel actively unsafe around him, so he’s definitely not the worst parental figure in this novel.

...I had a surprising number of thoughts on LQR there. Whoops, sorry about the tangent. Maybe I’ll make a post about him at some point. Anyway, yeah, LXC and LWJ clearly adore each other! LXC would be delighted if LWJ surpassed him at something! Same with Nie bros; they argue a lot, but there’s no denying that they love each other. That’s what insults and threats out of love look like; NMJ threatens NHS all the time, but NHS clearly isn’t all that bothered by it until JGY starts fucking with NMJ’s mind and the threats become more serious, which really isn’t NMJ’s fault. It’s because in the other sibling relationships both parties are invested in staying close. They love each other and want to be close for the rest of their lives! Meanwhile JC is obsessed with WWX outperforming him at Literally Everything, and WWX genuinely believes that JC is allowed to treat him the way he does and it’s fine and healthy.

And yeah, JC wasn’t exactly rebuilding Lotus Pier all by his lonesome with his own two hands. In fact, going by what we see all the rebuilding was done well before WWX left! And I don’t doubt for a second that WWX was involved in that process; I have very mixed feelings about the scene in CQL where he blows off his duties to go and get drunk, because on the one hand it does do a good job of showing just how bad his mental state is getting (and how JC refuses to acknowledge it despite WWX obviously being Not Okay), but on the other hand... I just can’t see WWX not throwing himself into helping JC with everything he’s got even while his mental state is coming crashing down around him. I mean, this is the guy who created an incredibly powerful weapon that even he couldn’t fully control, not knowing what using it would do to him, to help his brother win a war. I’m pretty much certain that WWX ran himself into the ground helping JC rebuild and run the sect... then when he found himself in charge of a small group of desperate people, scrambling to keep them fed and clothed and healthy, JC just abandoned him to deal with it on his own.

And the whole “Oh, but JC was so lonely, don’t you feel bad for him?” shtick. I hate it so much. If he didn’t want to be lonely, he should’ve considered that before alienating everyone in his age group and leading an army to murder his brother, the only person left who was willing to put up with him! It’s... really hard to feel bad for someone who’s brought most of their suffering on themselves through a series of generally shitty and frequently downright cruel actions with easily foreseeable consequences. If he got sick of being alone, he should’ve apologized to his peers for being a dick to... literally all of them and tried to make amends and strike up some sort of relationship. Or, if that didn’t work, go out! Meet new people! Try not to be as awful to them! Also, he’s a sect leader. If he couldn’t even maintain a positive relationship with other sect leaders, people who, let me remind you, he has to work with on a regular basis and several of whom are actually nice and friendly people, that is on him. If you are awful to people you will end up alone. And then JC decided to respond to learning that the people he was a dick to every time he saw them (and, in LWJ and NHS’s cases, caused the death of someone they cared about) wanted nothing to do with him... by whining about how lonely he was as if that wasn’t largely his fault. Like, he lost his family and that’s awful, but he could have had friends to help him through his grief, and it’s his own damn fault that he doesn’t.

WWX’s life was miserable. He had plenty of friends, yeah, but he spent years on the streets after his parents died brutal deaths; was raised in a family where he was treated like a servant and a scapegoat; lost everything in an event he was blamed for despite having nothing to do with the attack; had to sacrifice his incredibly powerful golden core (thereby losing his primary means of defending himself while on the run and drastically shortening his lifespan) to keep his brother from letting himself die; was thrown into a corpse pit for three months where he had to create an entirely new and experimental (and as such incredibly dangerous) form of cultivation and probably resort to cannibalism just to survive; had to fight a war almost immediately after escaping; spent a... good portion of time (not sure how long exactly because the MDZS timeline is more a suggestion than an actual coherent timeline) being treated alternately as a tame pet or a rabid animal and having to pretend everything was just fine while everyone tried to either control him or remove him and his brother very obviously got increasingly resentful of his skill and power; had to abandon his home, his family, and everything he had left of his old life to save a bunch of innocent people while everyone, including his brother, acted like he’d gone mad for not wanting to let them die horribly; had to go back to the corpse pit he spent three months in because it was the only place where they might be safe; accidentally killed his brother-in-law due to losing control after being ambushed on the way to a celebration for his nephew that he was invited to by people he trusted, almost certainly making him wonder on at least some level if that was why he was invited; lost two members of his new family who he clearly loved because of said accidental murdering; learned their deaths were for nothing and, when he retaliated against the planned attack that shouldn’t have happened because that’s what WQ and WN gave their lives to prevent, saw his beloved sister die to save him; and, after all that, lost the rest of his new family to a siege on a civilian population led by his brother. And after all that, his response was... to destroy the incredibly dangerous weapon he’d made because he didn’t trust the sects to not destroy each other and themselves with it and kill himself rather than risk losing control again and hurting anyone else. In the novel too; I don’t doubt for a second that WWX planned on dying in that siege, even if he didn’t expect destroying the seal to do it.

Take a look at that paragraph. All those things that happened to WWX. And in the end, he was kind. He was so, so kind, and remains kind even after thirteen years of being dead. He would have been well within his rights to go all “Then let me be evil” on the sects, but every time he attacked them they struck first, and most of the serious damage he did happened as a direct result of losing control of his experimental and mostly unknown new cultivation, which is a real risk even with spiritual cultivation; NMJ probably would have happily killed everyone in Qinghe if the qi deviation hadn’t gotten to him first, given how easy it was for him to attack even his beloved little brother. Everything bad that happened to JC is on that list, pretty much. Everything that JC suffered WWX did too, with some variations in the details (and of course dead versus alone for the same period of time). JC had the advantage of a sect at his back and a high rank by virtue of his birth, while WWX’s position was entirely reliant on JFM and, later, JC. And yet some people insist that WWX’s trauma doesn’t excuse his actions but JC’s somehow does. Now, some people argue it’s different because WWX was a mass murderer. Yeah, well, JC’s a fucking serial killer, and he doesn’t have the excuse of losing control due to using resentful energy to cultivate and being attacked by everyone he’d ever known and trusted.

...I’ve kind of lost track of where I’m going with this. Short version: I very strongly disagree with anyone who insists WWX’s trauma doesn’t excuse his actions while bending over backwards to argue that JC’s trauma excuses his.

#well that got... long #and probably not super fun #i have Thoughts about this particular subject it seems #grapehate #asks #anon

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green-eyed-whumpster · 4 years ago

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My OC Universe: Rowan 129

Chapter 129 Summary: Rowan gets told off by Peter for apologising and considers what he can do with his life once William is finally gone. (Tags: @just-a-whumping-racoon-with-wifi, @much-ado-about-whumping, @abitefullofeverything, @whump-me-all-night-long, @sky-or-something-idfk and @tears-and-lilies)

Trigger Warnings: Reference to previous abuse, PTSD whumpee

Rowan clutched the tea in his palms through a blanket, the heat seeping through the cloth welcome on his chilled fingers. Peter had brought in almost everything he used during the day: the books he was slowly reading and the notebooks he would scrawl in, his knitting needles and the length of scarf that was now longer than Rowan was tall, and even the chisels he was working away at the spoon with, he hadn’t done much since his hands were unbandaged from last time, he was very careful not to hurt himself again. Peter would preach how awful hand injuries were, and while Rowan didn’t want to worry him, he mainly didn’t want to have to listen to the lecture anymore.

“Thank you,” He smiled as his eyes followed the graceful movements.

“Don’t worry about it,” Peter replied, resting beside Rowan once everything was lined up on the windowsill. “You shouldn’t be alone in here for long, it would be torture.”

“It definitely wouldn’t be torture,” Rowan almost scoffed, imagining his weeks in the dungeon where his joints were dislocated and his skin was torn and his body ravaged.

“There’s more to torture than just hurting someone,” Peter answered. “If…if he tortured you physically then that was because your mind was already broken. For those who won’t submit, they generally try to break your mind, solitude will fracture it in no time at all.” He paused for a moment before his frown deepened. “And it will only be easier with a head as haunted as yours,”

“How do you know?” Rowan asked. “How would you know what torture is?” As he asked the sentence he heard the accusatory way it left his lips, but Peter only gave him a small, melancholy smile.

“I didn’t just, appear one day in the forest, Rowan, I had a life before you stumbled into my trap,”

“I-I didn’t mean-oh Gods, no, Peter I didn’t mean to –“

“It’s all right, Rowan,” Peter smiled, cupping his cheek gently. “I know that you don’t mean it that way. You remember that battle along the border? You would have barely been fifteen, William’s father was still alive then and since most of his army had been depleted from his most recent dispute with rebels, he called for an emergency conscription.” He explained, lowering his hands and resting them in his lap. “I was a part of the army for three years.” Rowan remembered the war, it was brief, but it was longer than three years. Peter was being generous with his assumption, Rowan was thirteen when it began, he heard it from a beneficiary he had at the time.

“Did they…torture you?” He asked nervously, he didn’t want to hear that someone had subjected Peter to the same agony he had survived.

“Not as bad as some,” Peter admitted. “The closest I got was when I was separated from my legion and a few patrolling enemy soldiers found me. They weren’t interested in prisoners so they, had a bit of fun, as they called it. Roughed me up a bit and left me for dead,” Rowan heard how nonchalant Peter’s voice was and felt a tremor of dread and shock run down his spine.

“They hurt you enough to almost kill you?” He exclaimed, looking at him in shock.

“It’s old pain,” Peter soothed. “And not the point of the story, I learnt of common techniques used by higher ranking officers during interrogations, and saw some of the results of them. But they never treated me that way.”

“Gods, I know nothing about you and you know every little thing about me!” Rowan gasped, covering his mouth as he turned his head down. “Oh, I’m so selfish!”

“That’s ridiculous!” Peter replied. “I don’t like to talk about myself, and you need to talk more than I do, so I’d rather let you speak. I know far more about you than you do about me because I chose to only ask about you. You are far too used to not being allowed to exist in your own right.” Rowan grumbled in dissent and shook his head softly.

“I still feel bad,”

“Rowan, you’re always going to feel bad!” Peter chuckled. “If it starts raining while I’m checking my traps you’d blame yourself!” He lifted Rowan’s head with his thumb and grinned at him. “If you stop apologising for things that aren’t your fault, I’ll tell you more about my life,” He bargained and Rowan nodded eagerly.

“All right! I’ll-I’ll try!” He promised and Peter smiled kindly.

“I know, I know you will.” He said, lowering his hand from Rowan’s chin.

“How are you able to care so much about someone when you’ve also been hurt?” Rowan asked seriously. “How could you risk letting me into your house without being sure I wouldn’t hurt you?”

“Why are you asking me this?” Peter wondered as Rowan dipped his head again.

“Well, I always thought that you were kind to me because you didn’t know. That you hadn’t, felt what it was like to be hurt by your own kind. I would have, if I found someone in my trap, I probably would have just, released them and told them to leave. I don’t know how you can bear spending so much energy to care for someone, who hasn’t done that much for you,” He admitted, his cheeks flushing with shame. “I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have assumed, but…”

“I understand,” Peter smiled. “It’s all right. I know what you mean.” He sighed heavily and looked away as he considered how to explain it. “After the war I found it hard to cope,” He admitted. “Everyone was always so worried about me and my wellbeing, granted I looked rather spectacular when I returned, and I didn’t feel that I deserved any of it. I isolated myself, out here, to escape the constant sympathy, when Cordelia came along she,” He paused for a moment and shook his head. “I won’t tell you any details until she gives her permission, but she wasn’t in any state to hurt me, and I liked helping her, it made me feel better about all the misplaced pity that people gave me.” He explained.

“I’m so –“ Rowan stopped himself from finishing his sentence and flushed as Peter began laughing again.

“Good job,” He grinned. “Keep it up and maybe I’ll tell you how I learnt the hard way to properly build a roof,” Rowan began laughing and covered his mouth in a vain attempt to suppress his giggles.

“What?”

“It is an entertaining tale,” Peter promised and patted Rowan’s leg gently. “I’ll come back in a bit, I should check on William.”

Rowan didn’t mind too much, being on his own. William would leave him alone for hours with nothing to do but stare at the wall and count the stitches in the embroidered pillows. Here he could entertain himself, even if he got bored, he could move on to something else. His knitting was almost finished and he realised with regret that he would have to cast-off soon.

Occasionally he would hear sounds from the main room, Peter walking around in the room or William shifting heavily. He wondered how painful it was, sitting in that same position for hours, unable to move. Then when he remembered how he was forced to kneel on his hands and knees until he collapsed onto an uneven stone floor only to be dragged back up after less that ten hours to endure it all again – and he was tortured on top of that. It was surprising to find that he could recall the sensation almost immediately. He decided, after pushing the pain from his mind, that William deserved this, and everything else that happened to him.

“How are you going?” He looked up and saw Peter at the door, he held a plate in one hand and balanced a cup with his other as he slid the door shut.

“Good,” He smiled. “I need more wool, though,” He held up the knitting needles with the foot of yarn that remained dangling beside the rolls of knitted scarf.

“Really?” Peter put down Rowan’s lunch beside him and picked up the length in wonder. “Look at all this! You could wrap yourself down to your ankles and back!” He chuckled softly and looked up at Rowan, who shrugged sheepishly.

“I don’t actually know any patterns or anything, all I can do is knit scarves.” His skill seemed less impressive now that he admitted that he can’t do much with them.

“That’s all right,” Peter said. “I know women in town who can give you patterns, and teach you the stitches,” He began laughing to himself and turned his twinkling eyes to meet Rowan’s. “Some old women meet every week for an afternoon, just to get out and socialise, they do knitting and art and such, I’m sure they’d love to help teach you!” He suggested.

“Really?” Rowan asked nervously. “They wouldn’t mind me being there?”

“Oh, I’m sure they wouldn’t.” Peter answered with certainty. “Many younger generations aren’t as fond of these skills, they’ve tried teaching their children and grandchildren and they just don’t care.”

“Is it really?” Rowan asked, he knew you could make blankets and clothes out of it but it wasn’t as efficient as weaving.

“Absolutely it is,” Peter said. “With the efficiency of weaving, very few people rely on knitting to make clothing. Being able to clothe and keep yourself warm is an invaluable ability, even if you don’t use it frequently.”

“That’s kind of impressive,” Rowan considered quietly. “I’d like to know at least one important skill,”

“You know more than one!” Peter replied indignantly. “You’ve gotten quite good at carving, once I teach you how to finish, you can make almost anything, you have to give yourself more credit, Row,” He sighed softly and smiled. “Many people learn one skill and rely on that for their whole career. You keep picking up new abilities and you’re always trying to learn, you can do so much that others can’t, I can’t knit, for example, I did learn but it’s been years since I last tried.” Rowan smiled slightly and looked down.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Rowan looked back up and chuckled slightly.

“What are you giggling about?” Peter asked curiously.

“You look a bit like you have a bird’s nest on your head,” Rowan smiled and flinched away as Peter began laughing.

“Oh, do I?” He asked, reaching up and pulling the leather tie from his hair. “I was trying out a new look, I suppose it didn’t work, then,” Rowan giggled as Peter shook out the supposed ‘bird’s nest’ on his head. “You know, you can be really cruel sometimes, Row,” He grumbled as he worked his fingers through the long tangles.

“I’m sorry!” Rowan grinned and shrugged weakly. “But you told me to stop apologising,” Peter scoffed indignantly and looked at him through a veil of mussed hair.

“What have I created?” He asked regretfully and Rowan smirked.

“A monster!” He said in his attempt at a menacing voice.

“I like who you are now,” Peter smiled, inching closer, Rowan covered his cheeks as he flushed and shrugged gently. “It’s nice that you can joke with me.”

“I like it too,” He admitted. “But it feels weird,”

“You shouldn’t be afraid to be who you want,” Peter said, dragging his fingers along his scalp. “I’m not going to punish or reprimand you,”

“I know, I know in my head, but it…it feels like it’s a part of me, to be wary.” Rowan admitted.

“In a few days William won’t be here anymore,” Peter promised. “And you can finally be free to be yourself.”

“I could go to the river,” Rowan muttered.

“Yeah,”

“I could learn to knit from the old women,” He smiled.

“Yes, you can,”

“I can get to know my brothers and sister!”

“Absolutely!” Peter confirmed. “You haven’t had an easy life, but at least now there can be nothing else to hurt you. You’re safe with me, your captor is going to go back with the Queen and be killed, and no one will ever lay a hand on you again. The rest of your life can be nothing but happy,” Rowan nodded eagerly and pressed his hands to his cheeks.

“I never expected to make it to adulthood,” He murmured, looking at Peter through enormous, wet eyes. “Let alone be with someone who cares for me so much, I’m so grateful that you found me,” He sniffed, inhaling a shuddering breath. “And I wouldn’t risk changing a thing,”

“Row,” Peter breathed, moving close enough to embrace him. “I would do anything to have spared you some of this cruelty but I’m so grateful that I did find you, and that I’m the one who could provide you with a life you deserve. Even though you deserve so much more, I’ll give you everything I have to make you happy.” Rowan wrapped his arms around Peter’s neck and buried his face into the crook of his shoulder.

“I already have everything.”

#whump #medieval whump #my writing #oc #Rowan #William #PTSD whumpee #reference to previous abuse #restrained #fluff #comfort #recovery

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meimi-haneoka · 5 years ago

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Comments on Chapter 43 of Clear Card

What’s the most appropriate GIF for this chapter?

Let’s see...

Yes. Yes I think this is the most appropriate one!

Ohkawa last month must have drank something good, really good. Stay with me and you’ll find out why! Spoilers under the cut!

Momo’s backstory

The chapter starts with Momo’s backstory, told by Kaito while he’s taking her measures. We kinda anticipated who-knows-what kind of majestic true form for Momo, but actually, it seems pretty simple? She had longer and beautiful ears in the past, and....that’s about it ^__^” it’s so underwhelming that it makes me almost doubting this is her final form at all! XD

We find out that Momo was born together with the white book, and that book is capable of granting a special kind of time magic to those who make a contract with it...unfortunately, as we CLAMP fans well know, messing with time is NEVER a good idea (glaring furiously at TRC) and this book is no exception: whoever tried to use it before didn’t end up happily...and Momo, out of guilt and tiredness for seeing so many people ruin themselves, almost decided to shut everything down and not allowing the use of the book anymore. Until....a single asshole came into the picture and showed interest in using the book regardless of all the risks...We all know who I’m talking about, right? XD

It’s at that point that we go back to present time, and Momo bashes Kaito for telling her past story in such a sloppy way XDDD We switch to the girls at school, and apparently Akiho decided to challenge herself with a new hobby: starting with plushie clothes, she plans on making an handmade outfit for Kaito. ^___^ you really don’t deserve her, jackass... Tomoyo takes the chance to offer herself as a teacher for both Akiho and Sakura, who needs to do something for SYAORAN’S BIRTHDAY!! Yes it’s coming up and it’s the first time it’s mentioned in canon!!! I’m seriously excited for that....the least we can expect is some tragedy happening. LMAO.

Creepiness intensifies

However, Tomoyo wants to try something out. She takes Akiho’s measures, and she states that not only their height, but also all the other measures of Sakura and Akiho are exactly the same. Okay. Okay this is definitely getting TOO CREEPY to be considered cute anymore. And the girls realize this too, their realization face isn’t really excited in a positive way. Who's got the feeling that Tomoyo might have a theory or two about what is going on? Because it’s definitely not normal for two human beings to be this similar. But thanfully Naoko comes in to interrupt the disconcerting mood, as she’s got something to announce... We find out what that is from Syaoran and Sakura, walking back home: their school is going to participate to an exchanging event with all the other schools of the city (or at least that’s how I understood it), and Tomoeda Middle School will do a school play for the occasion.

No more Sleeping Beauty

Syaoran loses ABSOLUTELY NO TIME in clarifying that he will ONLY be a stagehand XDDDD Sakura lowkey tries to convince him, but he’s even more on fire XD more than 2 years later and he still didn’t overcome the embarrassment of playing as a princess in the Sleeping Beauty play, of which Sakura gently provides us with a memory...

But then...the unexpected happens...the scene that made me say, at the beginning of this long ass post, that Ohkawa got drunk...

Sakura and Syaoran pass by the Penguin Park, and when she sees the swings of the park, she suddenly remembers one of the most painful, heart-wrenching and yet romantic scenes of the whole Cardcaptor Sakura story: when Sakura confessed to Syaoran that she was turned down by Yukito. Sakura reminisces both what Yukito and Syaoran told her, on that day....and Syaoran doesn’t let himself be caught unprepared: he remembers every single word he told her. And, while he recites the same words, which back then were powerful like a magic charm, he’s so serious. I loved how Mokona decided to make him go suddenly serious and solemn in this part. Because his love for Sakura, and the mission he took on himself when he went back to Hong Kong, are like a sworn oath to him. He’s absolutely, without fail, serious about this.

Thank god I found you

Sakura happily states that yes, she finally found The One she loves the most, and who loves her the most in return. Syaoran was right, and the thing she was hoping for was in front of her the whole time. Sakura also sounds so “mature” in this scene, with that “I didn’t understand very well what Yukito-san meant, back then”. My kids have grown up so much, and they still will, from now on T___T

This scene of course caused a ruckus in the fandom, because it recalls all too much another infamous scene in Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicle...actually, more than one. Even the concept of not being able to touch eachother (this time not for a ritual but because Sakura risks to electrocute Syaoran on the spot) is the same, and I am particularly worried for what this will entail once the final showdown will be happening. Cause of course, at this point, it’s pretty apparent this won’t be resolved until the end of the manga... Still, the two lovebirds managed to turn the scene into one of the most beautiful ones, even without touching eachother. That’s the power of their relationship for you. That’s how evocative are CLAMP’s manga panels.

Scene changes to Yukito’s home, of course Nakuru is there, but Sakura came over and she brought Kero and Suppi too. There’s a HILARIOUS scene of Kero yelling all of his frustration for having to witness that sappy scene inside of Sakura’s bag...Nakuru is having the time of her life, but when Sakura comes in and sits down at the table to eat the snacks, she suddenly asks Yukito:

“Have you done something?”

aaaaand this is the moment when the whole fandom went...

I have to give credit, CLAMP are particularly GOOD at this. At throwing stuff from left field at the less expected moment. And it’s completely useless to even start theorizing, because the wording is so VAGUE and the timing is SO OUT OF THE BLUE, that one can’t really help but feeling confused. At first I thought (blaming the English translation for this) she was asking him to confess if he was the one casting the spell that is making SyaoSaku unable to touch. But no, the Japanese line is actually very vague and it could be relating to the thing that happens right after: Sakura feels “something”, runs outside, and finds out that it’s already night. Even though it should be, like, 3 pm? (saying that Touya would be back for 4 pm was done purposedly to tell the readers what time was at the moment).

And all we are left with is an intense cliffhanger in our faces, which are more or less like this:

I’ll have to say this, though: SAKURA IS A F*CKING QUEEN.

She’s the sweetest girl, she might seem naive and oblivious to stuff, BUT NO, DAMN SHE’S NOT, SHE’LL SHOW YOU RECEIPTS WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT IT. She did it with Syaoran before, and now with Yukito. And judging by his face, she definitely caught him red-handed. I will never, never get tired to praise her for this.

What else to say, I really enjoyed the lighter tone of this chapter, especially considering what is going on in the world right now, but I also expect next chapter to go back to creepy atmospheres and anxiety. I feel the finale might be near...we’ll see.

Thank you for reading and let me know your thoughts on this chapter!!!

#Card Captor Sakura #cardcaptor sakura #clear card arc #clamp #sakura card captor #ccsakura #ccs spoilers #chapter 43

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lexicals · 4 years ago

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Jfc I am BUZZING what a fucking episode. The first part of this is mostly screaming tbh

I love happy juno but also grumpy juno is my favourite welcome back

I love how firm peter is with him in stopping him from spiralling? It's good

Rita coming into her own!! Learning lessons!! Growing up!! Yes!!!

SO MUCH INFO THOUGH. Dark matters wants the crime family and they want them alive and they don't know anything about two of them but!! Which two!!

You'd presume nureyev is one but..... who knows ahh

This is gonna be mostly screaming I have no time for coherent thought rn

Juno being protective over rita godd

Juno comforting rita while she's panicking ;;

OH HEY FUCK THE NAME? I MEAN LIKE IT WAS ALWAYS A POSSIBILITY BUT RITAAAA

Me thinking no surely he wouldn't have just abandoned them and breathing a sigh of relief when he hadn't only for my boy to DO THIS?? ET TU PETER??

PETER

NUREYEV

DESERVES

BULLIED

I'm not serious but my guy had BETTER have a good reason for this. I would hope it's a long con of some kind or SOMETHING but PETER

Anyway if these people know his name idk if this is either 1. Blackmail or 2. Maybe he didn't get away from brahma all by himself after new kinshasa after all. Maybe he had help and it's finally come back to bite him in the ass. Who knows but I'm fucking 👀 PETER.

MISTER WHO

Also. Robot kisses 🥺

ALSO. Juno just. Picking him up and carrying him out of the room fhshdhdgs

MAMA BUDDY SO ANGRY THOUGH. I thought this would be the case but ooof

LESBIAN WEDDING TIME THOUGHHH Buddy and vespa inventing romance once AGAIN

I mean I'm sad they're retiring (although depending on what nureyev is doing here this "last job" could be UHHHHH DERAILED) but!! Yes!! Married!!

Knife girlfriend will finally be..... knife WIFE

Juno sniffling in the corner like ME TOO BITCH THE FUCK. Secretly a sap as usual though mr steel I love you

I can't remember other things I just. So much happened. I'm gonna need to listen again at least a few times here

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Oh FUCK also rita!! "When someone tells you what they want you to call them that's what you call them"!! Penumbra said trans rights once again thank you kabert and also ms jones. Bless

Not a second listen yet but more Thots:

Rly good episode...... and the robot kisses were very cute...... but I had this thought in pt. 1 and again this episode that I'm kinda bummed out that we've kinda just.... skipped over all the relationship development for juno & peter. Like on the one hand it's kind of unavoidable to miss stuff given the series format this time around but on the other it feels like 2 seasons of build up for something that.... just happened offscreen :/ Idk I was hoping for a first kiss back together or Something

On the one hand while it seems like nureyev is being a Snake™ I'm gonna hold back on actually saying he's gonna betray the crew bc he's been so consistently set up as the villain, going back to s1 when juno refused to trust him all the way through to shadows of the ship, and he's never actually proven himself untrustworthy a single time through that? Like, murderous mask has been the only time he's actually fucked anyone over for his own gain, and he went back on that one pretty quick

Plus the fact that he's only claiming to deliver the four items they need, not the curemother itself - it could be that he's planning to wait until after they've stolen the curemother when they no longer have a use for them, or at least I'd like to think so peter I'm fucking Watching You

Another thought: you know how else you might describe a debt? Something you owe to someone because, maybe, they have something of yours? A fucking ransommmmm

Also, why! Did! That! Bot! Not! Self! Destruct! Or at least not straight away. It's almost like someone wanted them to get away in the nick of time. There's a part of me that's wondering if the fact that dark matters is under mysterious new management and the fact that nureyev has made himself what seems like a very powerful enemy are linked, but we'll see. Either way I think someone definitely facilitated their escape, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was whoever is holding peter's debt, using the crew as a tool to get their hands on the four items they want and keeping nureyev as a source on their progress

Looking forward.... other people have said this as well, but I don't think nureyev is ever going to be cast as a villain here. At the very worst, he'll do something well-intentioned but kind of stupid, and it's gonna blow up in his face. Like, it's gonna hurt, but I think he'll come out of the other side better for whatever happens. Currently, my thoughts are on whether or not we'll see a repeat of new kinshasa - a high-stakes choice between someone dear to him, and the choice he feels he has to make, whether that's other people's lives again or something else. Idk, maybe not, I'm just thinking about the theming of the series with the past always coming back to haunt them, the fact that he's been said to be at a crossroads back in man in glass, and the part in tools of rust where the ruby gives jet the opportunity to make the same mistake he did fifteen years ago, and he chooses differently. Tbh as usual I'm just excited to see how things play out however that is

ACTUAL second listen this time:

Rita redacted I love you so much x3 combo. I missed this earlier but it needs to be said

Rita says she found nureyev's name by hacking into buddy's notes on him and comparing them to the outer rim criminal records which leads me to ask the question how much does buddy know? Why would rita be checking outer rim records unless something in buddy's notes pointed her in that direction? I've had my suspicions that she knows more than she's saying for a while but 👀

Nureyev sounds so nervous/scared too...... :(

I had this thought on the first listen but didn't write it down: nureyev is so goddamn smart, like so smart, I don't think he gets enough credit for that. Also him saying "one problem at a time, like [buddy] would say" was - oof. Considering how much time he spends referencing mag's advice in man in glass, even if he's bitter about it, I think that reference is very telling on how he thinks about her

Love the way he skirts around saying they have to move sneakily dhsgjf. Also "only twice" I do love him

Juno joking about his track record on not dying.... oh he's come a long way though

The way that nureyev talks to rita throughout them moving around - he's kind of a natural leader (which, ouch), but also it's clear that he has absolute confidence in her, he doesn't ever doubt for a second that she wouldn't be able to do something. It's obviously a little unempathetic when she's so shaken and doubting herself but also he clearly trusts her almost as much as if not as much as juno, and I do love to hear it

Detective falco? 👀

Juno looking on the bright side! Not blaming himself! Saying maybe it's gonna be okay and believing in her! I cry!

Except for when nureyev is in danger though ): I love that this story never shows recovery in a linear way, that juno is still inclined to beat himself up even if he is better than he used to be. He's growing but it's always gonna be a work in progress!

The fact that dark matters seems to be moving entirely towards remote operation now? Like it makes sense tactically, there's no risk of expending agents in a fight, I'm interested if the writers are gonna dig into that considering the real-world state of drone use in the military and law enforcement

Calling their heist marks "radicals", it seems like dark matters is trying to keep track of or maybe capture rogue (or radical) elements out in the universe - things like the knife and the key, which is probably why they were after m'tendere, they themselves being a radical element. I wonder if this is what brought the crew to their attention in the first place; it's definitely why they want to capture them alive at least, they want information out of them on why they're collecting the same marks

They specifically say two radicals though, and potentially a third, depending on whether the book is counted as the third that might mean they don't know about the map at all, maybe

I mentioned this another time but I'm wondering Again if dark matters was behind the mysterious disappearance of all the theia soul chips except for juno's, esp with what rita said about the interface for the bots being like theia tech - experimental tech like that would deffo be considered a radical element and they definitely could have used it as a basis for these new bots

Peter........ he's in a ROBOT stop being HORNY

"Galaxy-class criminals" huh.

Someone else pointed this out elsewhere idr who but buddy's line that sometimes helping people means trusting them to help themselves despite your concerns, when paired with what's going on with nureyev is.... interesting

WOW buddy is mad though

I'm REALLY wondering how much she knows about what's going on tbh, especially seeing as her pov is probably up next. Aaaaa I'm gonna be yelling for the next however many weeksss

Jet sounds so happy about the ruby being fixed aw

Vespa so nervous about making her announcement AW

Buddy sounds so HAPPY AW

Peter starts laughing right at the end when vespa starts threatening juno which,, oh boy ): I rly hope everything turns out okay ;;

Rita saying that sometimes trying to help someone in pain is being selfish because you just don't want to look at the hurt is a really interesting thing to come from her considering her long-standing relationship with juno, huh

“Before the year is out” is a very vague timeframe, once again thinking that nureyev’s plan may well be to only hand the items over once the heist is done

Anyway once again AAAAA

#wastepaper basket #tpp #tpp s3 #tpp spoilers #tpp s3 spoilers #tpp meta tag

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blapis-blazuli · 5 years ago

Photo

So last night my girlfriend and I watched the live action Sonic movie together! I have Thoughts on it, but in short: I enjoyed it more than I expected! (Put under the cut because I get rambly. Also spoilers I guess.)

In no particular order:

I’m not really a fan of live action/CGI hybrid movies based on an already existing property, but this one seems to be one of the better ones. Not groundbreaking by any means, but certainly watchable.

The CGI for this film is actually pretty good, especially regarding Sonic.

That being said, I do have issues with how the animators were forced to go in and redo so much with him after the severe backlash regarding his first design looking... well, horrible. (I know there’s some people who liked that design but... no, I’m sorry, just... no.) I’m not putting the blame for the older design on the animators as they were just doing their jobs, but I do have to question what was going through the heads of the higher-ups who thought that design was a good idea. I heard the thought process was “well he’s in the real world now so we have to make him look more realistic” but given how most audiences generally don’t seem to like the whole “realistic live-action/CGI character design” thing, you’d think they would avoid doing that.

Actually, I have to question why there didn’t seem to be more involvement from people who had worked on the franchise before (namely Tyson Hesse, the guy who came up with Sonic’s redesign, but is probably better known for his work on some of the comics and some animated Sonic shorts that you can find on Sega’s official Youtube channel which you should definitely look at because they’re cute) from day one. You’ve got well over two decades worth of cast and crew you could’ve worked with, so why not bring more of them in to help? (Just not Ken Penders.)

Ben Schwartz is alright as the voice of Sonic. I won’t go calling him my favorite any time soon, but he did okay. I do feel like I have to question the choice to cast him though, but a little more on that later.

In case you didn’t know, I’m an absolute slut for Eggman, so I had... concerns when I heard that they cast Jim Carrey as my favorite (even leaving aside how I’m autistic, headcanon Eggman as autistic, and as far as I know Carrey is still an anti-vaxxer). For this movie, though, he fits the role of what Robotnik is like in this universe (a bitter orphan who grew up preferring robots to humans and is so unhinged that even the U.S. government thinks he’s nuts even though he works for them) just fine. I don’t think I can ever fully accept him as Eggman (though admittedly I don’t know who could make for a decent live action Eggman), but I could live with his performance in this.

I need to know more about what the deal is between Agent Stone and Robotnik, because I am intrigued more than the filmmakers probably wanted me to be (most likely because Carrey and Lee Majdoub worked together to make their characters dynamic more fun) and now I just want more of them interacting. I’m kinda disappointed that he wasn’t in this more, honestly. I get why since it’s supposed to be focused mostly on the actual characters from the games, but... I want to know more.

Tom the cop... I was really skeptical about this, especially since the first Sonic game I ever played portrayed the police and military as bad people (and, you know, real life cops are bastards), but... honestly, did Tom even really need to be a cop in the first place for this plot to work? I’m sure they could’ve worked something out where he didn’t need to be one. Anyway, there isn’t much to say about him, but he’s alright.

There’s honestly even less to say about his wife, but you know what? Props to this movie for having an interracial couple where them being an interracial couple isn’t the central drama (her sister’s mistrust of him doesn’t fully count as that’s not the focus) and didn’t draw loads of attention to it or have it come off as them doing this in an attempt to seem “woke”, unlike some other studios I could name. (coughDISNEYcough)

Is Owl Mom okay?!

Some of the humor is kinda hit and miss for me, but that seems to be true for the writing of the games themselves, especially after the change of staff since Colors (note to the writers: Baldy McNosehair is not as funny as you think it is), and I’ve seen live action/CGI hybrid franchise movies with worse humor (hell, media in general with worse humor), so I’m a bit more forgiving of it here.

That being said, the joke about Sonic wasting most of a bar/restaurant’s toilet paper to wrap it around some guys in a bar fight and later saying whoever used the bathroom next was going to have a problem... yeah, I don’t think I need to explain how poorly that aged, albeit unintentionally.

Robotnik does not say “Snooping as usual”, but Sanic made an appearance, sorta. That was something.

I’m still reeling from how “The Doctor thinks you’re basic” is an actual line in this movie and not something someone made up on Tumblr as a joke.

Given how people griped about the Olive Garden product placement in this, I was expecting it to be infinitely worse than it really was. Honestly it felt more like a brick joke to me, only with product placement.

The end credits scene with Tails was nice, especially since they brought in his current voice actress from the games to voice him! Though that has me thinking that if they did that then there wasn’t any reason for them not to bring in Roger Craig Smith (or any other former Sonic voice actor, come to think of it) to voice Sonic. Well, aside from “celebrity voice might put more butts in the theater seats (well, couch cushions currently)”. This bothers me so much. You have an established animated medium with an established voice cast, you’d think that bringing them in to voice their character for a big screen adaptation would be more common, but I guess not (unless you’re SpongeBob or The Simpsons I guess). Voice actors deserve way more than what Hollywood does to them, that’s all I’m saying. (This also bothers me given what I know of the First Sonic Voice Recasting Controversy way back when Sonic X was a thing.)

Speaking of end credits scenes, Sonic X, and the voice actors from the games/shows/etc, my girlfriend mentioned that she and her sister thought that in Carrobotnik’s last scene there was a point where it almost sounded like Carrey was doing an impression of Mike Pollock (the English voice actor of Eggman for seventeen years and by far the longest-lasting English voice cast member), and I thought so too. I’m used to voice actors imitating celebrities for their performances even when they’re not voicing said celebrity, so hearing it the other way around for a change even briefly was fascinating (and further proves to me how much of an impact Pollock’s left on the character that even the live-action actor has ended up doing an impression of his take on the same character).

I know they’re already talking about making at least one sequel (and for once Carrey seems to want in on said sequel), and you know what? I’m all for it. Please bring Stone back too, I want to know more about him.

I know it looks like I spent a lot of this going “eh” and “but why”, but I really did enjoy this! If you’re curious about it, please check it out.

#long post #bold text warning #capslock warning #shut up Blapis #spoilers #Sonic movie spoilers

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baddcop · 5 years ago

Note

🎵🎵🎵🎵

MUSE MUSIC MEME. * ( NO LONGER ACCEPTING. )

You sent four so I’m bouta go apeshit and do 4 songs oop. 👀

I’M NOT A SAINT. - BILLY RAFFOUL.

Well I’ve had one too many cigarettes burning up my lungsHad the taste of one too many lips hanging of my tongueSunday morning getting high, drinking here aloneThinking up a brand new alibi for not coming homeAnd I’m sorry I say “fuck” so much.

I’m not a saint, but I could be if I tryLord knows I’ve got habits to breakI’m really good at being good at goodbyesI’m gonna give you fair warning that II’m not a saint, but I could be if I tryLord knows I don’t learn from mistakesAnd I’m not here unless I’m here by your sideI’m not a saint, but I could be if I

I’m sure at this point it’s been made painfully aware how much Gavin depends on drinking, sex, fights and so on to cope with how he feels. (Although he doesn’t show it) and while he knows he shouldn’t do so he tends to self sabotage his relationships out of fear of rejection, which usually works. He tends to use it as a shield while also feeling guilty about it, as well as feeling angry and wanting someone to blame. It’s a sort of vicious cycle he’s in and he’d really rather be better because he knows he could be. Gavin is painfully smart, a lot smarter than I think he’s given credit for and a lot smarter than he lets on. It’s part of what makes him good at his job (and he is good at his job when he wants to be of course.)

Sober up and settle down, give a little talk‘Bout how I can’t keep from runnin’ ‘roundSay it’s not your fault, oh, ohAnd I’m sorry I lie so much

Gavin lies, he lies and fronts and is aggressive because that’s his only defense. He can’t seem to get out of the cycle he’s put himself into even though he knows he could be better and even though he knows it’s not exactly good for him. Misery is a comfort to him, it’s all he’s ever known, pain and being alone is what he understands and anything outside of that frightens him. It frightens him because he’s scared it will end, scared about how much it’s going to hurt when he has to go back to what he knows. And it’s a case of a self-fulfilling prophecy. He pushes people away or doesn’t try and eventually they leave and it solidifies that beliefe that he can’t be happy, that he doesn’t deserve it and that any happiness he feels is a fluke and will eventually end. It’s scary for him because he can’t control another person and he thrives on being in control, having it taken from him or having to be out of control is mortifying and he never wants to feel like how he felt when he was a kid ever again. Unfortunately, he’s gone to extremes to do so and sadly it’s worked just how it was supposed to, whether he intended to do it or not.

I’m gonna give you fair warning that IWill be the reason for the tears in your eyes

Gavin knows how he is. He knows he’s messy, depressed, angry, jealous and possessive. He knows how he acts and how he keeps people at bay and he doesn’t know how not to do so. So when someone gets close to him he tends to lock up and try to warn them, another sort of self-fulfilling prophecy type of situation where he uses it both as a means of keeping people at bay and at removing responsibility from himself to try and avoid guilt. A lot of the time he’ll use the “Well I told you– I told you how I was. This always happens. It was bound to happen again” stuff as an excuse because he hates how guilty he feels and he doesn’t want to admit that vulnerability.

GO FUCK YOURSELF. - TWO FEET.

Fucked and drank all nightActed all alrightHad no need to fightTonight, tonight

As stated previously, Gavin uses sex, alcohol and so on to cope. It definitely helps him to release his built up aggression, his need for touch, and control. Effectively, it’s the perfect means of guarding himself. He’s allowed to be in full control, he can play the role of a charming stranger for the night, he receives touch and sexual attention with no strings. Usually, if he’s looking to sate that need he’ll avoid fighting and opt instead for keeping his face unbattered to better catch people’s eyes. Men or women or whatever he doesn’t care. As long as he gets to be in control he enjoys it. Every now and then he caves and submits, is raw and relinquishes control to his fling and disappears into the night glad to never see them again and have to deal with the baggage and embarrassment of them knowing some weakness he perceives himself to have.

Cast me far awayPlay these little gamesActin’ all okayToday, today

Using his anger as a shield, as well as his rather rough behavior towards friends and coworkers, comes to him like second nature. He’s been doing it for so long he can’t imagine not pushing people away. It’s effectively the way he keeps people’s eyes off of him, no one cares to look for long when they don’t care and when they don’t really know how deep that hurt runs. He’d rather he keep people at a distance and that they return the favor, it’s much safer for him like that. Tina, Christ, they don’t know how much he carries around or just what he’s gone through. And he likes it like that.

ME, MYSELF & I. - G-EAZY & BEBE REXHA.

Oh, it’s just me, myself and ISolo ride until I die‘Cause I got me for life (Yeah)Oh, I don’t need a hand to holdEven when the night is coldI got that fire in my soul

Gavin effectively believes he’s going to die alone. He’s thought about it more than once, he’s thought about it when he was younger and he kind of tries to come to terms with that “fact” by ignoring it completely. He tries to convince himself and others that he’s better off alone and that he’ll be fine on his own. It’s a lie. He finds it really hard to trust people as a direct result of how much he was kicked around, abused, neglected and moved around like baggage as a child.

Hun, and as far as I can see, I just need privacyPlus a whole lot of tree, fuck all this modestyI just need space to do meGive the world what they’re tryna see […]‘Cause this hunger is drivin’ me, yeahI just need to be alone, I just need to be at homeUnderstand what I’m speakin’ onIf time is money I need a loanBut regardless I’ll always keep keepin’ onFuck fake friends!We don’t take L’s, we just make M’sWhile y'all follow, we just make trendsI’m right back to work when that break ends, yeah.

Everyone else in the precinct effectively has some kind of life, something outside of work. In my own personal headcanons, Tina is married, Chris is a father, Hank is babysitting Connor now that he works there. (no one with these muses has to agree to these I was just trying to flesh out the world Gavin is involved in) Everyone but Gavin at the office seems to have some sort of family or closeness outside of work. Gavin, however, does not. He’s given everything he can to this job, his career is everything to him and he uses it to keep people at bay once again. He is absolutely a very intelligent and driven man underneath all of his issues, and he’s smart enough to be bothered by the fact that he feels incredibly lonely. Yet, instead of changing, he once again just delves into his work, using anger as a means to guard himself claiming that he just needs his privacy, wants to focus on his career, trying to use his hunger to advance his career as a means to put himself above his coworkers.

Yeah, and I don’t like talkin’ to strangersSo get the fuck off me, I’m anxiousI’m tryna be cool, but I may just go ape shitSay “Fuck y'all!” to all of y'all facesIt changes though now that I’m famousEveryone knows how this lifestyle is dangerousBut I love it, the rush is amazin’Celebrate nightly and everyone ragesI found how to cope with my angersI’m swimmin’ in moneySwimmin’ in liquor, my liver is muddyBut it’s all good, I’m still sippin’ this bubblyThis shit is lovely, this shit ain’t random, I didn’t get luckyMade it right here ‘cause I’m sick with it, cuddyThey all take the money for grantedBut don’t want to work for it—tell me now, isn’t it funny? (Nah)

I really really think that Gav actually has anxiety and depression as a result of his trauma. This isn’t made very stereotypically obvious as he uses his sort of brutality and anger to overcompensate and impress people. But he can’t stand silence. He tends to bury that anxiety beneath his anger so he can more “safely” express it as “Fuck you”s and so on. Coping with his feelings via alcohol, fighting, looking for an adrenaline rush. He’s absolutely reckless sometimes both because he doesn’t care, and because he absolutely thinks he’s smart enough to get away with it. The success he’s achieved thus far isn’t something he ever places on luck no matter what, it’s the one thing he holds firm on that he worked hard for and he will without a doubt drag you if you’re not willing to put the time into your craft or goals to achieve it.

Yeah, lonely nights I laid awakePray to Lord my soul to takeMy heart’s become too cold to breakKnow I’m great, but I’m broke as hellHavin’ dreams that I’m foldin’ cakeAll my life I’ve been told to waitBut I'ma get it now, yeah, it’s no debate.

The detective has spent a lot of time on his own, that’s no surprise and I’ve probably overstated it at this point. The nights he doesn’t go out looking for a fight or fuck are… much worse honestly. He drinks himself into sleeping after a night of blasting music, screaming and howling into the night, breaking things and punching walls. Knowing full well he’s exempt from noise complaints being filed because of the landlord. He tries to do anything to drown out the noise in his head. Reed is completely aware of how cold he is, it keeps him safe but he’s absolutely broken up about it, although he’d never admit it and tries never to show it. Emotions have never been “safe” for Gavin to show, he’s been screamed at relentless inches from his face for it as a child, for crying for being sad, for being a child. Always pushed aside, never made a priority until much later in his life, until he self-sabotaged that too. Now that he’s been on his own for so long he’s not stopping for anything anymore, he’s going for what he wants and only what he wants even if it destroys him. He is angry and wounded about his past still and wants to hurt people because of it, wants to take it out on them, despite knowing it’s not really their fault. It’s just another unhealthy outlet.

ASSHOLE. - HOOLIGAN CHASE. (TW: FOR DRUG MENT.)

Baby, I’m a bad boy, I might hurt youI need a therapist and a perc too[…] I ain’t got no drugs, I’m turnin’ to an asshole

This song effectively encompasses everything about Gavin’s front. It’s a lot more vulgar and Horny than the other songs on his playlist, the entire beat just radiates his energy and so do some really key lyrics. Reed, as stated before, tends to warn people that he’s an asshole when he’s gotten into relationships as a means of omitting guilt “when” it goes wrong and to keep himself safe. Despite being a cop now, Gav’s nose wasn’t always clean for lack of a better phrase. (While he’s mostly clean now he narrowly avoided getting into quite a lot of trouble.) While he’s aware he needs some form of professional help subconsciously, he’s far too afraid to get it for himself and doesn’t really see a point as he views himself a bit like a lost cause.

#tw: drug mention #// drug mention #this is so long oh my god im sorry #but also thank you for letting me scream abt this man #missioncoded #* [ out of character. ] » ⟨ 𝙙𝙪𝙢𝙗 𝙤𝙛 𝙖𝙨𝙨. 𝙥𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩. ⟩#* [ asks. ] » ⟨ 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠 𝙙’𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩? ⟩#* [ headcanon. ] » ⟨ 𝘿𝙋𝘿 > 𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙨 > 𝙙𝙚𝙩. 𝙜𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣 𝙛. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙙. ⟩

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thisguyatthemovies · 5 years ago

Text

Why so quirky?

It took more than 14 years to get around to it, but the other night I watched the 2005 Cameron Crowe train wreck “Elizabethtown,” a film that sometimes shows up on Worst Movie Ever lists. It’s bad, but its “worst” status is more about disappointment, given the writer-director’s previous track record {“Say Anything…,” “Almost Famous,” “Jerry Maguire,” “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”). Still, did I mention it’s bad? A ridiculous premise, plot lines that go nowhere, obvious and heavy-handed symbolism, multiple and sickeningly sweet (and annoying) “meet cutes” and quite possibly some of the worst casting in a major motion picture ever all add up to a movie that deserves much criticism.

“Elizabethtown” also is notorious for inspiring the term “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” (or MPDG). The phrase usually is credited to Nathan Rabin, who wrote a piece about the movie, “The Bataan Death March of Whimsy Case File #1: ‘Elizabethtown,’” for AV/Film nearly 15 months after its release. In it, he describes Kirsten Dunst’s character, Claire, the inexplicably bubbly love interest of suicidal-but-handsome protagonist Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom), as the embodiment of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Rabin describes the type as such:

“The Manic Pixie Dream Girl exists solely in the fevered imaginations of sensitive writer-directors to teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures.”

By that definition, applied retroactively, Dunst’s Claire isn’t the first MPDG in movie history (some include Katharine Hepburn’s early roles on MPDG lists), nor is she even the best example of one (think Natalie Portman in “Garden State,” or Zooey Deschanel in “Yes Man” or the TV show “New Girl”). And the term, which Rabin reportedly now regrets coining, has become better defined with attributes that don’t necessarily fit Claire, even though she will forever be considered the epitome of the trope.

In case you have not seen “Elizabethtown” (and you’ll probably be just fine never seeing it), Bloom plays a shoe designer who works for a company not unlike Nike. Somehow, he is saddled with all the blame for a shoe that is so bad that it is recalled and will cost the company (somehow) nearly a billion dollars. Bloom’s Drew Baylor is fired and decides to off himself, but a phone call about the unexpected death of his father interrupts him during his first attempt. Drew, a West Coaster, is enlisted by his family to travel to Elizabethtown, Ky., his father’s hometown and where the elder Baylor has passed away, to bring the body home for cremation. Relatives in Kentucky have other plans for his final resting place.

Drew takes a flight to Kentucky and – wouldn’t you know it? – is the only passenger on the plane. That’s where Claire comes in. She apparently is the lone stewardess, and she is a talkative one at that. She won’t leave Drew alone from the get-go, and she (somehow) senses Drew is troubled and needs help because, for a guy who had a relatively important position with an internationally known shoe maker, he has no idea how to live this thing we call life. She does what any upstanding MPDG would do – she makes the repair of his damaged soul her sole purpose in life.

Claire would seem to vary from the standard trope in that she has a life of her own, at least when she and Drew meet. Her career would afford her at least a modest independent existence. She seems to have a nice place. She even has a boyfriend, though it is not clear if the guy really exists or, if he does, he is all that into her. But Claire quickly becomes a genie let out of the bottle; Drew’s every wish is her command. She just happens to show up wherever Drew is so much that if the roles were reversed, Drew would be accused of stalking. She says all the right things, even as Drew continues to hint at ending his life. She even (somehow) has the availability to, within a brief period of time, piece together a scrapbook (including hand-drawn illustrations) that will help Drew navigate a soul-discovering solo cross-country road trip AND (this being a Cameron Crowe movie) has provided the soundtrack via mix CDs that are (somehow) timed perfectly to coincide with landmarks during Drew’s travels. So omnipresent, so magical is Dunst’s character that some have suggested she was written to be a guardian angel sent to save Drew’s life. That interpretation at least makes some of Claire’s story semi-plausible and almost tolerable.

Claire is selfless to a fault, and she certainly is strange, maybe unstable. But, if anything, Manic Pixie Dream Girls lost even more sense of self and picked up more strangeness as the stock character turned into a full-fledged trope. Think Deschanel as Allison in the 2008 Jim Carrey vehicle “Yes Man.” As is always the case in these things, Carrey is a cynical, disillusioned man looking for meaning in life. He happens upon Allison, who hits a lot of stock MPGD notes. She zips around town on a moped. She wears mismatched clothing from vintage stores. She performs avant garde (and awful) music. Her primary means of supporting herself (?) is by teaching a class that combines jogging and photography. She is everything Carrey’s Carl Allen is not, mostly carefree. They, of course, engage in romance, even though Carl is notably older than Allison (that’s the case in many films, not just MPDG movies).

In 2010’s “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” two characters combine for the role of MPDG. The titular character, played by Michael Cera, is a slacker musician a few years removed from high school. That doesn’t stop him from dating a high-schooler, Knives Chau (Ellen Wong), whose sole purpose is as a superfan for Scott’s band. Then Scott meets the girl of his dreams (literally), Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who is at least older than Knives but still is quirky (she works delivering packages while on roller skates) and impulsive (she often changes her hair color) but is too aloof and serious to be a full-on MPDG. She does, however, end up being a sort-of trophy, to be won if Scott can defeat her seven evil exes. So, her existence still is minimalized.

Some movies have addressed the MPDG thing head-on. Though sometimes cited as a MPDG, Kate Winslet’s Clementine in 2004’s “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is actually the anti-MPDG. Sure, she wears orange hair and gloves with the fingertips cut off, and she’s impulsive. But she also is flawed, sometimes dark and independent (MPDGs typically don’t get any of those traits). And she says this, which seems like a direct response to the trope, even though the term didn’t yet exist, as written by Charlie Kaufman: “Too many guys think I’m a concept, or I complete them, or I’m gonna make them alive. But I’m just a fu**ed-up girl who’s looking for my own peace of mind. Don’t assign me yours.”

Those are sentiments Claire in “Elizabethtown” never would have expressed, her focus being on a lost, sensitive young man and his happiness, not hers. Nor would she be allowed to even think such, given she and MPDGs like her are the products of writers and filmmakers who want to believe that this idealized version of young women is out there. That will probably be the case as long as men are writing movies, just as the male equivalent of the MPDG – the ridiculously handsome man with washboard abs who manages to accumulate much wealth despite always being around to tend to a woman’s needs and whisk her off to beaches on his private jet – will always exist as long as women are fantasizing about them and flocking to see them in rom-com-drams and reading about them in romance novels.

A little healthy fantasy is fine, but movie tropes and stereotypes are not, if we believe they can shape how we live in real life. Manic Pixie Drew Girls, though not totally a thing of the past (Joi, the A.I. girlfriend in 2017’s “Blade Runner 2049,” comes to mind as an updated version), are becoming outdated as more and more females are having their voices heard in Hollywood. MPDGs are being replaced by independent women who are the focus of the story and don’t have to be bubbly if they don’t feel like it, who aren’t required to be quirky and can chase their own happiness. These characters, unlike Manic Pixie Dream Girls, are multidimensional. They give a movie depth, not just gloss.

Imagine if that’s the kind of character Dunst’s Claire could have been. “Elizabethtown” wouldn’t show up on so many Worst Movie Ever lists. And it wouldn’t have been forever linked to a tired movie trope and the terminology to describe it.

#movies #movie review #movie tropes #manic pixie dream girl #elizabethtown #kirsten dunst #eternal sunshine of a spotless mind #kate winslet #yes man #zooey deschanel #ramona flowers #scott pilgram vs the world

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potpie8 · 6 years ago

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Thoughts/Theories

So I saw a few posts where people were saying they felt this season painted the Prophets($) as all bad, but humanized the Santos. I'm personally not offended, and don't necessarily see it that way(speaking for myself here), and I think the humanization of the Santos is purely due to the fact that one of the main characters is being raised by the Santos. I also think it's one of those situations where there is more than one side to the story and it's up to the interpreter. For example in the episode where Monse was trying to down play the gang violence in Freeridge to her dad she says, "you were raised by Prophets, your dad was a prophet, I don't get the difference". Her dad responds these Prophets are not like the ones I grew up with, when they changed that S to a $ things changed. So Oscar and Chivo are saying the Santos didn't start off that bad, and it sounds like Monty is saying the Prophets didn't start off that bad. Also, let us not forget a big part of the gang war involves the fact that the Santos stole a bunch of money from the Prophets. So I def don't see the Santos as the innocent knights. I'm also curious to see if Tyrone is going to show back up in season 3, I thought for sure he was going to be one of the Prophets this season (pay attention to ep 4). I thought his character was going to be the humanization of the Prophet's that people have been talking about. I might be totally off base with this though, maybe the gangs won't even be a big part of the story in season 3. Anyways with all of that being said, I do think that they can incorporate black culture and history into the show more. I personally love the cast, I think the core 4,(sometimes 5),is perfect as they are right now. The chemistry is good. I just think that we get big dose of Latin culture in the show, the quinceanera in season 1, and the scene where they were making like tamales with Abuelita,(which is beautiful), but maybe in season 3 we can get a scene where the squad goes to Jamal's house and they eat soul food. I think little things like that would go a long way.

Something that I will never stop giving the writers credit for this season is the portrayal of positive black male role models. I loved the fact that we got to see Jamal and Monse's says Dad, (Monty), more this season. I definitely want to see that aspect of the show roll over into season 3, especially the budding relationship between Monty and Cesar. I think the fact that Monty was raised by Prophets, but was able to make it through life without getting into that life makes him the perfect role model for Cesar. I know Oscar loves Cesar but he's so deep in the life that it just makes him and Caesar's relationship complicated. I think Monty is the guy on the other side that can really help Cesar.

What I want to see next season:

1. Monse and Cesar thriving, both separately and together. Life has put these two kids through the wringer, they deserve to be happy. They both have abandonment issues (Cesar even more so than Monse), and that's what makes us want to pull our hair out, but that's also why we sympathize with them. They love each other deeply, but their life circumstances hasn't taught them how to love properly. So I want to see them loving each other the right way next season.

2. I just want Ruby be happy. I want him to find what makes him happy, if it's planning events then let the Ruby fancy festivities continue lol.

3. Jamal (prob my fave). Same as everyone else, I just want him to be happy and to find himself. Brett Gray has a great voice so if they can find a way to incorporate singing into Jamal's story that would be great. Ruby and Monse better put some respect on his name. One thing I do appreciate about Caesar's character is that when crap blows up, he never blames his friends. He didn't blame Ruby for getting him deeper into the gang, he wasn't mad at Jamal that roller world might not be real. Anywho, I also want to see more of Jamal's parents, I love them!

5. Jasmine deserves to be happy as well, and I want her and Monse to become friends.

6. Another of my favorite things about this season was how much time the squad got to spend together. So I hope that continues into season 3, at the beginning of season 1 the squad was spending a lot of time together, but as the season progressed life started pulling them in different directions away from each other. This season we saw how the tragedies of season 1 has made them even closer. In season 3 I just want to see them continue to grow, but also maintain these friendships and relationships they've built with each other since kindergarten and 4th grade.

Bonus: Can they please explain where the heck Oscar and Cesar's parents are?! I don't need a long drawn-out story line, I just want to know if those deadbeats are actually dead, in jail, or if they're alive and just don't give a crap about their kids.

#on my block #monse finnie #monse x cesar #jamal turner #ruby martinez #jasmine flores

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