#he's from 1968 btw

[bburn-art]

My newest vtm character, Ivor O'Donnell. He's in the IRA!

[softgrungeprophet]

amazing spider-man annual #5 add that to the list of comics in which peter is indirectly responsible for the death of someone trying to kill him lol

[eggmeralda]

really in the mood to send my sister random screenshots of dennis tanner but I don't want her or the rest of my family to think I'm obsessed with him

[m1ssunderstanding]

Understanding Lennon McCartney Rewatch Part 2.2

Prettyyyyy

Maybe John's not actually crazy for thinking Hey Jude is to him? “For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool by making his world a little colder.” fool is, in my tin hat world, often a code name for Paul in their songs. And that description is certainly him to a t actually. I wonder why I've never considered it before. 

John: are you happy here, honey? Paul: I ain't happy here my honey, can you take me back? How many songs does Paul write from 1968 on about trying to go back? One day I'm going to make a list and it'll be a long one. 

And thus begins the phase of they just can't help it, can they? But they really wish they could. They make each other so so happy, but they really wish they didn't. It would hurt less that way. 

I love the comparison of Linda's pictures of everyone else and then of John. It just shows that it's not a her problem – that's such a lovely one of George, who Hates Yoko – it's how he feels about her.

John, coming up with every possible weapon to provoke Paul, finally has Yoko sing Paul's part in one of their songs. It really is such a slap in the face. But of course breaking the sanctity of their music is what does it best. And still, all he gets out of him is a look before he walks away. Whatever it is that John wants, I think Paul literally can not give it to him. 

Btw the white album is my favorite, probably. There's just such incredible diversity on it. It's so much fun, you never get tired of it, and it's an excellent display of their genius and versatility. 

He looks like an abandoned puppy. 

What do we think? John says Paul drummed on WDWDITR. Paul says Ringo did. Who is telling the truth?

“It was getting to be where he wanted to do it like that but he couldn't make the break . . .” So John thinks Paul doing his songs by himself means he wants to break the group up? I personally read it as him not wanting to annoy everyone with his bossiness, but that's just my take. 

John talking about how it's him and Yoko now, but before, it was . . .

George needs to send them a cease and desist notice or he'll sue them for breech of character the amount of times they drag him into things he's not a part of. Especially if they're not going to even fucking spare him a glance in reality. Please and thank you, Hare Krishna. 

Paul's epigraph on the two virgins cover. “Battles to prove he was a saint”? What kind of passive aggressive shit is that, Paul?

The eternal question: what happened in India? And does John really not know? Or is he just unwilling to tell what happened to rolling stone?

Somebody please engage with that poor little boy, preferably, you know, his father. Ugh, Cynthia must've had so much anxiety watching that footage, or really any time Julian was with John. And that footage is placed in the doc right after a pic of Paul already being Heather's dad just so naturally. 

But hell, if I've ever seen attention-seeking behavior, this is it. Singing about wanting to die while seductively undressing the closest thing Paul would've had to career competition at the time. 

I'm sorry but it will forever be hilarious to me that when John's singing his part of “I've Got a Feeling” with Yoko it's “soft dream” and then with Paul it's “wet dream”. How John and Yoko tricked everyone into believing they were too horny for each other to control themselves is beyond my imagination. 

On the day John plays their sex tape, “Unusually, Yoko is not present.” LMAO girl same. John: I'm going to play our sex tape for the band tomorrow. Yoko: oh was that tomorrow? Damn, I forgot, I have a thing. 

“Well that's an interesting one.” What did John honestly expect, though? Like I know he wanted Paul to be like, “that's it! Enough is enough I'm taking you home and doing you right!” Or whatever. But what did he honestly, realistically expect?

Always saying the same things at the same time, always on the same page, same word. About everything, it seems, except their relationship. 

Paul: but you won't say anything about it. John: I said what I've been thinking. Paul: Are you still thinking that now? What are you thinking now? John: I'm still thinking about it. Infuriating. Whatever it is John's been thinking, he doesn't want to talk about it in front of cameras. Is it quitting the band? I think it's something more complicated than that but I've no idea what. 

“John, John, joooooohn!” X “Martha my Dear” crossover my beloved. The fact that literally Everyone reacts and tries to get her to stop except Paul is so extremely telling. Yoko: joooooohn! Ringo: He's busy! Yoko: joooooohn! John: Stop that! (And he looks and sounds genuinely pissed) Yoko: joooooohn! Paul: (plinking and pounding away, definitely not thinking thoughts about what he would do right now if he was a girl that will come out of his mouth fifteen years later)

Everyone's trying to figure out the problem with George vs JohnandYoko and Paul's saying “and like with Yoko, they’re real. They mean it.” Linda laughs. “I don't dig that.” You don't, Linda? What about them isn't real to her, I wonder. Does she think they don't really love each other? Or what?

Linda: *Makes fart noise* Go away! Paul: continues to defend them. Neil: everybody cough. See and this is why it sucks that get back was so edited. Because it's important that Paul's defending them here not just going on and on where nobody asked. He knows he's hurt John, and he feels bad enough about it to let him have his mommy with him at all times if that's what he needs.

If what??? Someone needs to force them to finish their damn sentences. Because I feel like he cuts himself off here when (I swear!!) he's about to say what it is that's hurting John so badly.

Anyway, here's where (imo) he's kinda wrong. Where he says "if it came to a push between Yoko and the band, it's Yoko." I think I said it in my get back posts, but I'll say it again. Yeah, if it was Yoko or the band, it's Yoko. But if it's Yoko or Paul filling all the gaps Yoko is currently filling? It's Paul. You know? And I think that's what John wants so badly at this time, actually. Is “a push between Yoko and [Paul]” ending with Paul stepping up for him in some way that he wasn't before, you know?

He really does get it though. John wanting to be as close as possible with Yoko so he doesn't lose her and their connection. Don't forget he does put Linda in his band. He gets it because it was the same with him and John. 

I really do think it's a huge myth that they just never talked about feelings or anything serious. Look at them. This is how they talk in a crowded place with their girlfriends sitting right there. They didn't just get through fifteen years of one of the greatest collaborations in history never actually talking. They talked about deep stuff. And frequently. 

[undying-love]

Quotes to think about

"One of my feelings even when he used to lay into me was that he really didn’t mean it. I could always see why he was doing it. There was this attempt [on John’s part] to get rid of the spectre of me, which I understand, because he had to clear the decks just like I did."

"Then also we were like married, so you got the bitterness. It’s not a woman scorned this time, it’s two men scorned — probably even worse. And I had to make way for Yoko. My relationship with John could not have remained as it was and Yoko feel secure."

"Really all that happened was that John fell in love. With Yoko. And so, with such a powerful alliance like that, it was difficult for him to still be seeing me. It was as if I was another girlfriend, almost. Our relationship was a strong relationship. And if he was to start a new relationship, he had to put this other one away."

"I understood what happened when he met Yoko. He had to clear the decks of his old emotions. He went through all his old affairs, confessed them all. Me and Linda did that when we first met. You prove how much you love someone by confessing all that old stuff. John's method was to slag me off."

-----------------------------------------------------

I don't think we pay enough attention to these crazy statements made by Paul and how telling they are. What guy needs to put his relationship with his "friend' aside so he can be with his girlfriend? "If he was to start a NEW RELATIONSHIP, he had to put THIS OTHER ONE away". I'm sorry, but WHAT? And why did John needed to "get rid of Paul's spectre" in order to be with Yoko? What did Paul mean by "John confessed all his old affairs to her...his method was to slag me off". Is he implying that he was one of John's "old affairs"? It seems like he is not very aware of how revealing his words are.

Based on these quotes I think it is quite reasonable to assume that theirs wasn't a platonic relationship. And I don't get why so many people think that it was one-sided on John's part and that Paul rejected him romantically. Paul was (and still is) obsessed with John the same way John was obsessed with him. And you seriously think that two guys who are obsessed about each other would wait more than 10 years (from 1957 to 1968 in India) to make a move? (Btw, I dont think India was as much of a turning point as people think, as they were reportedly still very close while they were in New York a bit later). People who knew them have all made many suggestive comments about them, as well as many biographers. Clearly something was going on that was not platonic or one-sided. And let's not forget John screaming at Yoko "I wish I was back with Paul" during an argument. What does that imply? It does not make sense to yell at your wife that you wish to be back with a "friend" while you are having a fight, right? Saying you want to "be back" with someone sounds like wanting to return to an ex.

[decolonize-the-everything]

I was wondering how accurate this was so I did some fun googling and yall.

So starting with the fact that police in the USA were formed when Dems had Congress and Senate and the same was true when the first organized police department was founded (in Boston, btw)....

1963. Dems had Senate and Congress.

While this allowed for huge strides in civil rights police brutality still continued to be largely unaddressed.

1966. Dems had Senate and Congress.

To point out further racial oppression James Meredith starts a 270 mile walk from Memphis, TN to Jackson, MI. He's shot by a sniper the second day which causes an influx in support from allies & prominent civil rights members (such as MLK) who fly out and walk in his stead.

Governor Johnson (d) of Mississippi, who ran on a segregationist platform but changed platforms when he saw that Black people were gaining more supporters, promises to protect marchers as they pass through his state. Police then tear gas them as they were setting up tents for the night in Canton, MI (pictured). 15k show up to Jackson. It's the biggest march in MI history and more successful than Meredith had planned.

No bills were introduced that year.

1956-1979 Dems had senate & Congress.

In 1961-69 they even had a governmental trifecta with Congress, Senate, and the presidency and again in 1977-79. The director of the FBI at the time was Republican J. Edgar Hoover. Head of Intelligence was Democrat William Sullivan. Attorney General & democrat Robert F. Kennedy authorized several programs for them such as wire-tapping MLK.

1968. Dems had Senate, Congress, and presidency.

President Lyndon Johnson (Democrat president while Dems had Congress & Senate) signs the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, birthing the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration & granting federal funds to local governments in order to obtain military resources to quell potential riots. A direct response to the protests and riots throughout the 50's & 60's. Protecting police from protesters.

Democrats do this instead of protecting the public from police and their prejudice.

1992. Dems have both Senate and Congress.

After the verdict of the 4 police who beat Rodney King on camera is announced & they are Not indicted the public starts rioting. The national guard, fire department, and several police departments are called in by then democratic mayor Tom Brady. After the riots a separate federal trial is held and finds 2 of the 4 officers guilty. All were fired from LAPD.

The Police Brutality Accountability Act of 1991 is introduced. Only introduced.

1994. House & Senate under dem control.

They pass the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act instead. It's drafted by democrat Joe Biden and sponsored by Texas Rep Brooks (D). It's an infamously harmful bill that results in the prejudiced mass incarceration of minorities, especially Black people. This bill funded police departments instead of holding them accountable aiding their further militarization as well.

2020. Dems have both Congress & Senate.

Which brings us to recent times. Where Democrats have again pretended to support and listen to the public demands to decrease/eliminate police brutality only to turn around and insist protests are the reason they keep funding the police instead of giving us rights.

"See? You're too dangerous to Not have a militarized police force."

As if we aren't protesting because the police are already too dangerous. Like that's not what started all this.

At this point a pattern like this can only be seen as intentional. A planned out excuse for funding police again and again and again instead of Stopping police brutality. Instead of enforcing or creating ACTUAL effective reform or regulations. They just keep throwing money at police departments and saying "hey here are billions of dollars that we want you to use to be less violent racists. It's also to help you be more safe when facing the people who are protesting your racist violence. Also we aren't gonna make sure you actually become less violent or less racist but we definitely hope you don't use this all this money to get worse."

Which has backfired across decades at this point. They keep doing investigations and making committees and for what?

We've done that. We know police are racist. We know they're violent. We know they're only spending enough to say they provide 6 months (if that) of sensitivity training and spending the bulk of that money on militarization gear. So what. We know that.

Now what.

What, after 100+ years could their excuse possibly be for STILL doing the same thing. For STILL not addressing it. For STILL not passing reform despite the MANY opportunities they've had? What could police departments Possibly be doing for them?? What excuse could be good enough?

I'm glad you asked.

There isn't one. There are answers of course. Greed, power, privilege, etc. The list goes on.

But are they good enough for you? They're not for me.

I have to beg on Tumblr just for my rent to get paid or for my kid to have dinner sometimes. The success of Democrats or my "country" doesn't mean shit to me, it does nothing for me. It only does things to me. Success enables police, it increases funding, it makes them More afraid of having their ideas of success taken from them, makes them more protective of their status quo. Their success hurts me. Fuck their success.

What matters is that time and time again Democrats have insisted they'd be there for minorities and then empowered the people oppressing, killing, and suppressing us and our rights.

What matters is that time and time again they've said they're powerless and their supporters insist they just don't have a majority to do anything with or that republicans keep blocking them or-

But passing bills to harm us? That's easy. And they don't Have to keep doing that. They just keep saying they do... To protect police. And they only keep "needing" more protection for police because they refuse to give us any. We continue to express our right to protest and they continue to try intimidating us out of it.

All the rights we have? They didn't give to us. Look at those posts. We fought for them while Democrats were in charge. They didn't give us those, they didn't stand with us. They still don't. They stand with the police as they always have.

August 2022.

For hundreds of years we've dealt with this. How much longer is it gonna be. How many more generations are going to have to put up with this government trying to insist that mediocrity is the best they can do indefinitely?

And if you still refuse to hold Democrats responsible, if you still find yourself compulsively trying to point out all the ways that Republicans are worse please know this: I know.

I know you're going to say "well Democrats are our best shot"

And to that I say if this is our best fucking shot....and they're *gestures vaguely at the post* like that.... Can we agree that it points to a much wider issue. If Democrats are our best shot and they're Only this effective and they're only making the most Minimal effort possible year after year. If we Know that their hands are tied by Republicans at best and at worst theyre fascists benefitting from the exploitation of BIPOC and other marginalized communities....

Can we admit that our systems are broken. That it goes further than Republicans or Democrats being bad. That it's Everything? That even if Democrats were actually perfect that everything would still be wrong and fucked up because the system itself holds them from making any effectual change?

That the checks and balances that the founding fathers put in place to make sure that our politicians are fair and just and give a shit about the people they serve aren't working.

Because if they were why would it take HUNDREDS of years for a community to get one thing. Just stop police brutality. That's all we asked. That's it. Stop hurting everyone who isn't a white cis man. Stop killing us in broad daylight for demanding you give us rights and respect the ones we Already have.

So why are we still starting 2023 with brutality making headlines?

If a government is effective and cares and listens and it's representives Truly represent it's constituents and fight for them and it's not just about profit or greed or winning elections or keeping minorities in line then why are we still here?

Why are we still asking for the same rights as our great-great-great-great grandparents?

If that progress? Is that success?

What the fuck are we doing. Like actually. How do we throw a wrench in this system. What will it take for Democrats and liberals and You to realize that all we are doing is driving the future into the hands of fascism.

What do we do? When do we finally do something?

°•°•°•°•°•°•°

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[dead-lights]

deadcanons: the vatores (earlyish stuff)

I've been slowly typing up headcanons lately while I'm waiting on renders - I'll put them up as I finish them! These are my ramblings about what I think the vatores' early vampire years were like, starting a bit before Lilith turned and ending around when Caleb was a prime vampire. This is pretty long.

Caleb, Lily, and Lilith were born in Veronaville in the late 1930s/early 1940s, meaning they came of age as occults in the 1960s.

Lilith met Vlad shortly after her parents, along with Lily’s, died in a horrific car accident back in the good ol’ days before cars were required to have seat belts (which btw, in the US wasn't until 1968). He preyed on her grief and her fear of death and human weakness. At the time, Lily was lost in her own grief and Caleb was jealous of the attention Lilith was getting from Vlad.

While Vlad was absolutely manipulating Lilith, she did ask to be turned.

Caleb was super naive when Lilith first turned. He thought he’d be able to spend time with his sister as usual and didn’t recognize the danger in being the lone mortal barhopping with a bunch of unruly vampires. Lilith used to hang out with the Rebellious Vampires amongst others, soooooo...

Lilith told her new vampire friends that Caleb was off-limits. No feeding, no turning.

Caleb had fairly recently finished culinary school, and was working as a sous chef in an Italian restaurant. He was so stoked.

Though Lilith respected the fact that becoming a vampire would destroy Caleb’s life - you can be a vampire, you can be an Italian chef, but you definitely cannot be both - she quickly realized that she didn’t want to do the occult thing or live the immortal life without the people she loved. Shortly before Caleb was turned, he and Lilith talked it out and decided that he should become a spellcaster, with the hope that he could cure Lily with magic and make her a spellcaster too, and then they could all be immortal together. Miss Hell got to him before he could figure out where the portal was, and their relationship with Lily only got worse from there.

Miss Hell was turned a few years before Lilith was, but they became minor vampires at around the same time. They were rivals for Vlad’s approval, and he had fun playing them off each other. Very much a "Daddy loves ME best!!!" kinda dynamic.

Miss Hell is kind of a shitty vampire - like I get big Team Rocket vibes off of her. Caleb surpassed her within a few decades.

After some petty disagreement between Lilith and Miss Hell, Vlad suggested that turning Caleb would be a hilarious prank and a great way to get back at Lilith. Vlad wanted Caleb turned because it would give him an extra level of control over Lilith, but he didn’t want to do it himself because he thought (correctly) that Lilith would never forgive him, and might even leave the coven.

Caleb felt comfortable around his sister’s new vampire friends because he didn’t think any of them would go against Lilith’s order not to harm him. He didn’t realize that Miss Hell was more of a frenemy than a friend, so one night when she asked him if he’d like to find somewhere a little more private, he really didn’t think it’d be his blood getting sucked.

Lilith was not amused by Miss Hell’s “hilarious prank.” After she found Caleb and got him safely home, she stormed over to Vlad’s mansion and tried to beat Miss Hell to death with her bare hands in front of the entire coven. At this point, Lilith had started to develop supernatural strength, and she would’ve ripped Miss Hell’s shriveled heart right out of her chest if Vlad hadn’t called her off. Vlad was very impressed by Lilith’s ferocity. She gained his favor, but he lost her loyalty. Miss Hell wound up sidelined.

Caleb has always served as Lilith’s moral compass. She is aware that she is selfish and lacks empathy - she has trouble truly caring about anyone except Caleb and Lily - and she doesn’t like that about herself. She deeply loved and respected her parents and feels bad that she struggles to live by the values they taught her. Caleb, on the other hand, has their father’s compassion and patience (as well as his ambitious and materialistic traits), and she generally looks to him as the authority on what their parents would’ve wanted. After Caleb turned, he got fully caught up in the chaos and debauchery, turning his back on the person he was. Without Caleb to moderate her worst impulses, she fully embraced her darker side.

Caleb’s journey back to the light started when he developed his guilty drinker weakness as a minor vampire. I don’t see this as just switching on like it does in-game, but rather developing over time. He had trouble figuring out what was happening to him for a long time, and it’s not like Vlad had any advice for him beyond “stop being a goddamn baby.”

Caleb met Inna at a gala the Bloodvein coven was hosting when he was a minor vampire. Bloodvein, her owner at the time, had her mesmerized and was more or less showing her off like a trophy or pet (like this promotional render). Something about that made Caleb deeply uncomfortable, though he wasn’t entirely sure why.

At that point, Caleb was struggling to maintain his place in the coven - Vlad was increasingly disappointed in him and Caleb badly wanted to win back his approval, so he had the idea to pull a hilarious prank against Bloodvein for some perceived slight. He thought it would make him look cool in front of Vlad. At first he thought about drinking from Inna - feeding on another vampire’s thrall is an enormous mark of disrespect - but something about that made him feel deeply uncomfortable, so he decided to turn her instead, essentially doing to her what Miss Hell did to him. He still feels deeply conflicted about the whole thing - he legitimately was not trying to help her and he didn’t ask permission, and yet it ended up being the best thing that could’ve happened to her. They've remained friends, though he feels incredibly guilty when he's around her.

Lilith started coming back to herself when she realized just how miserable Caleb was. If feeding on humans made Caleb feel that bad, they must be doing something horrific, even if it didn’t feel that way to her. She started making plans to get her and Caleb out of the coven.

[weirdmageddon]

any dave music hcs? :) my playlist for him mostly consists of relatively popular rock music. besides wacky but awesome garageband beats, i personally think he’d be a rocknroll radio hits kinda guy, at least for pre-sburb dave, i don’t think he’d have as much freedom to really explore music the way he wants before then. some of my favorites for him are all mixed up (311), superman’s dead (our lady six), bound for the floor (local H), everything to everyone (everclear), inside out (eve 6) and birds (butthole surfers). i also think he’d like metal too! particularly nu metal. even if mixing music and rapping is an outlet for him, i see him relating to these types of songs a lot and maybe at the time when his #ironiccoolguy persona is most prevalent + affecting his interests/personality heavily, he’s embarrassed about admitting his popular favorites b/c it’s not cool to him to like what’s mainstream. but you know character arc! and besides when the earth explodes no music is really popular anymore LOL. btw i liked your davejade music posts ^_^ so i’m very curious if you have any thoughts for dave music on his own!

one of the first things we know about dave is “You like to rave about BANDS NO ONE'S EVER HEARD OF BUT YOU” but its never brought up again. so i can see him having a bit of a punky existence. but its pretty impossible to list bands that people havent heard about but him. it doesnt mean he can’t like known acts. pink floyd are one of the most well known music artists of all time but i think he would like it for instance

but of those known acts i know his ass does not listen to fallout boy or whatever

idk dave he strikes me as someone who listens to both brian eno and death grips but at the same time theres a lot of stuff i CANT see him listening to

i think he probably likes beastie boys. paul’s boutique (1989) is probably one of his top albums. deltron 3030 (2000) too. both experimental hiphop, paul’s boutique utilizing plunderphonics while deltron 3030 is a bit more epic and psychedelic.

i think both wouldve changed his life. paul’s boutique for for his pragmatic bent (sampling)

and deltron 3030 on the psychological / reflection / journey / listen and close your eyes rock opera side (“It is a rap opera concept album set in a dystopian year 3030. The album's story casts Del in the role of Deltron Zero, a disillusioned mech soldier and interplanetary computer prodigy rebelling against a 31st-century New World Order. In a world where evil oligarchs suppress both human rights and hip-hop, Del fights rap battles against a series of foes, becoming Galactic Rhyme Federation Champion. Del the Funky Homosapien's lyrics veer from serious social commentary to humor to epic sci-fi battles, while producer Dan the Automator creates an eerie and dense atmosphere.”)

come on man

nmesh dream sequins is another album i can see him listen to, the cream of the crop for experimental vaporwave (the type of slowing samples in vaporwave was a technique pioneered by dj screw who i think dave would also dig, as it essentially manipulates time and thats Cool). probably likes oneohtrix point never too, an experimental electronic artist who also took inspiration from screw

maybe a bit of biting tongues, one of my favorites. he couldve been led to it going down the eno hole. probably his favorite album being recharge (1989)

as for rock i’m pretty sure dave strikes me as a psychedelic / experimental rock type of dude. so yeah pink floyd is still on the table especially early with syd barrett (the piper at the gates of dawn (1967) and a saucer full of secrets (1968)). but i think he can like later after that (of COURSE he feels drawn to the song ‘time’ lol i bet he’d want to replicate the atmosphere of the song’s beginning in his own stuff). he likes this kinda sound. he i can definitely see him being a ween fan for sure, especially quebec (2003) or their satire art/prog rock album the mollusk (1997) —the latter of which i could see him bonding with jade over DEFINITELY just listen to the titular song — but really the whole discography. or a zappa fan. maybe a dip into metal if its experimental or funky like primus or zillatron (bootsy collins alias)

i have to mention that these are all bands i like to some degree because to know what they sound like and if they fit dave ive had to listen to them lol. but yeah so that could put some bias into it and theres surely more stuff he would listen to i dont know but heres a portion of what i see from where i am

the common denominator between all the music i talked about was that theyre experimental

[iloveschiaparelli]

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: My Love Letter Part 1

Okay okay okay SO Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes longpost time just my whole opinion/analysis/love letter for the whole film beginning with my Wes Ball backstory so skip to the Ruin screencap if you want to skim past all that.

I haven't talked about it on tumblr yet but I'm actually like a huge fat fan of the Maze Runner cinematic series directed by Wes Ball. Really I'm just a fan of Wes Ball. It not only singlehandedly got me through my first year of high school but also became the reason I ended up entering the film industry. I've watched all 3 movies at least 4-5 times each. Probably like 20-30 for Scorch Trials at this point because it's my favorite. I can quote probably at least half of it from memory. I've watched all of the BTS content that was on the DVDs + the bloopers on youtube like i was obsessed ok.

2019 was like the second worst year of my life so imagine my distress in january 2019 when I found out about Wes Ball's next movie, Mouse Guard, got Super Hyped Up for the multimillion dollar mice-with-swords movie (I eventually read some of the comics btw it's insanely good) And then within the same week found out Disney pulled the plug on the project after acquiring 20th Century Fox. TWO weeks before production was scheduled to begin. I was livid. I'm still bitter about it. Wes Ball then released the demo reel for the film to the public which iirc also had temp music.

So anyway yeah that was awful but then! I think it was later in 2020 that it was announced that Wes Ball was going to be directing the 4th POTA movie. This kicked off me seeing the original 1968 film and then the trilogy and wow did doing so increase my excitement. In my opinion Rupert Wyatt/Matt Reeves' directing styles and Wes Ball's were/are very compatible. I also took the time to get caught up on as much of Wes Ball's old projects as I could get my hands on at the time, including his animated short Ruin (screencap below). Which is fantastic BTW and apparently was purchased by Fox for a feature film that was never made (???) I swear, filmmakers have their past works splattered all over the internet like body parts after a landmine explosion: Good luck finding everything.

Now, Finally Finally FINALLY!!!!!!!! Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is out. I meant to see it on the premier night but my boyfriend broke up with me 2 days before so I forgot. I saw it tonight instead! So now with the backstory out of the way I can finally talk about the actual movie.

First of all, the beginning of the film absolutely WOWed me!!!! It honestly feels like a callback to Ruin, the way that the buildings are overgrown and the post-apocalyptic setting is super evident and feels so delightfully reclaimed by nature. It's also really neat to see how far VFX has come since Ruin was released if you compare the opening shots of the movie with the wide shots in Ruin. Wes Ball himself is also a VFX artist, so it's really neat to see how that affects his work especially since Planet of the Apes is by nature a very vfx-heavy franchise. This movie absoutely popped off in that area but we'll get to that.

Secondly, I forgot how much I missed Ball's directing! Oh my goodness, the performances he gets out of the actors are always so authentic. I still have yet to see a performance by Dylan O'Brien that was as raw and believable as in the Maze Runner movies, and I'm like halfway through Teen Wolf already. In the action scenes especially, I love how characters in Ball's movies, you can really feel their pain. Since pain and physical discomfort aren't communicated directly through film, we often forget just how hard it is to get back up again after getting kicked down, but with Wes Ball you never forget. Ugh, when Noa was getting beat up on top of the bunker at the end of the movie, I caught myself catching my own breath when he coughed up blood. Like, yeowch!

Additionally, everything this man makes is just, like, a masterpiece? On a technical level at least. That's really the mark of a good director, whose job is not only to evoke a performance from the actors, but also to tie together the whole crew. And KOTPOTA really showed off how well the team worked together. Just the establishing shots alone in a lot of these scenes! Oh. My. Word. You can clearly see the fruits of labor of not only the concept artists, but also the VFX artists and production designers, and how they worked with the DP and actors to get the shot. Here are some examples of what I'm talking about:

There are more that I'm thinking of, but unfortunately without a digital release available yet there's a limit to the screencaps that I'm able to obtain. The shot where Noa is walking up the escalator following Raka and you see the plane in the background indicating that Raka lives in an airport is one of them. There's also one or two establishing shots in nature that just show off the setting. The opening shots, of course. And then the shot where it pans up and you see Eagle Village for the first time. There's also an aerial of Proximus Caesar's camp, but I'm unable to find that one as well. The main one I want to look at is the telescope.

Just, like, Hello???? It looks like an art piece. This screencap is a little closer in than I'd like, but in the full frame you can see the absolute mastery of composition that it is, you can totally imagine it as a painting. Which in my experiences usually means there's a painting behind it somewhere in the process, lol. Let's go concept artists!!! But then you see how the colors are just, perfectly balanced, the plant growth is realistic and accentuating the set, and so on and so forth. It was just absolutely breathtaking to see for the first time. I'm pretty sure I audibly gasped. I did a lot of stimming during this movie just to stay quiet and not start babbling about the film pipeline to my father in theater auditorium.

Even more magic happens when Noa steps onto the set, and starts messing with the telescope. Suddenly it's real, it's tangible, it's touchable. Transforming what was likely a matte painting at one point into a set that the actors can interact with, and then into a shot where almost everything is overlaid with VFX, and having it look so real like that is truly magic.

The ship also had me dumbstruck, but slightly less so because we saw a similar setting in The Maze Runner: The Death Cure in 2018. Although it was slightly different for sure. What had me going even more in this movie was how much the characters interacted with the ship, moving in and around it, and trading glances with one another from on the ground and up inside. In TMR:DTC, you really only see the decrepit ships in the background, and one is referenced as a plot point but the characters never actually physically interact with any of them. So it's much easier for our brains to categorize the ships as gimmicks to help us believe the scene.

It's when props like these are woven into the scene as tangible objects that our brains start to shut up about the CGI and really start to believe what's happening onscreen! and KOTPOTA did an amazing job at this. Please bear in mind like, I literally have zero specialization in VFX, it's not my field and although I draw, I've never done concept art for film. I honestly believe that I'm simply in an appropriate level of awe for what this film accomplished.

The other thing that amazed me was how stylized the setting was. The greenery was so green, the ocean felt like a painting, the ship was red, the telescope shot is very, very blue. Several of the shapes used in the ape's costume design are simplified. And yet, despite the stylization, it never feels cartoony or polygonal, it still feels completely grounded in reality, and I could really believe I'd see it in real life. I think this owes partly to the fact that we rarely inspect any of these simplified items at a close distance, aside from Raka's necklace which appears to be made of either bone or whittled wood. It also owes to absolute geniuses in color grading that kept the stylized colors realistic enough for our brains to believe. Overall I'd take the visual style of the film to be Impressionist. I love impressionism.

My main interest in filmmaking is writing/directing. However, most of my experience lies in costume design (Student films rarely need costume "design" so its usually coordination) and production design. As a result I spent a good deal of my time watching KOTPOTA zeroed in on the production design.

I love post-apocalyptic science-fiction/fantasy worlds like this partly precisely because of how much you can learn from the production design alone. When Mae enters Trevathan's room for the first time I swear I was eating it up. Every single prop in this movie was carefully thought out by the PD, which is why his room absolutely stood out from the rest of the setting that we had seen up to that point. It was distinctly "human-centric" as opposed to the rest of the movie. I remember seeing it in the theater earlier today, laying eyes first on the bed by the door, thinking that it must be something they set up for Mae, but then wondering why or how the apes would know or want to set up a human-style bed for Mae when we're so many generations removed from human-dominated society.

Next it was on many miscellaneous table objects, thinking to myself "That looks like how a human would treat a space. Apes are generally too big to decorate at that scale." and then my eyes roved on to the furniture, seeing a human-sized table, human-sized chair, human-sized junk everywhere! Slowly, by observing the room, I gained a stronger and stronger sense of "there is another human here," which upon observing the rows and rows of books became "a smart human like Mae, who unlike her can read" (Remember at this point we still believed that Mae and her mother were the only smart humans that Mae had known growing up, and that she had been pursuing the opportunity to meet other smart humans and join them).

It was only upon the instant of realizing that this was a smart human that Trevathan spoke and appeared on the stairs. It was absolutely perfect timing. THIS, guys, is exceptional production design. It was honestly my absolute favorite piece of production design in the entire film, especially because of how much it contrasted what we've become used to seeing in the series as humans have diminished in population and apes and nature have taken over the space instead.

That exact sense of change or "otherness", that noticeability of contrast upon seeing what is honestly a pretty "normal" human space if you look at it in the context of our existing society, is only present because of how well PD treats the rest of the movie. In order to make a completely normal space feel strange, you have to change literally every other space to something alien but consistent with itself. And KOTPOTA does just that. The job was begun in the original trilogy, with the decline of humanity depicted across decades, nature taking over the gas station and the dam and even the city. But this movie had the biggest challenge because of simply how many years had passed before the story even began. Society as we know it today is completely and totally obliviated in KOTPOTA's setting. In every set that the characters interacted with in any way, PD had to fabricate a space where humans had been but the virus, decades of decay and post-apocalyptic living, and ape encroachment had transformed it.

This also brings me into the subject of the rich culture we see emerging in the world of the apes through this movie. The original trilogy, especially the first and second film, was all about the ape's identity. In the first film Caesar wonders whether he is human or ape, and whether apes are pets or equals to humans. He eventually comes to the realization that humans are never going to look out for apes the way that apes will and decides to become that person. In the second film, Caesar and the other characters involved have to figure out what being an ape means. Does it mean strength is power? That humans are always an enemy to defeated? Or a similar species to live alongside? It's about establishing what the ape race's relationship is to the human race. The third film I didn't get to rewatch before seeing KOTPOTA, but iirc it was about whether humans and apes could ever coexist, which is a theme we see continued in this movie, albeit in a slightly different way. Either that or more likely it was about whether apes will repeat the same mistakes as humans.

Anyway, I digress. In the script we already see a rich culture emerging in hints, right from the start of the movie. It's in the hunt for the eagle eggs at the beginning with mentions of some kind of coming-of-age ceremony, followed by Noa reminding Anaya and Soona that they must "leave one egg always. It is the law." Already in the first five minutes we've established that this particular ape civilization not only has cultural traditions surrounding youth and coming-of-age, but also rituals and laws surrounding their relationship with and the conservation of nature. And through dialogue we extrapolate that these apes have bonded animals (eagles). It honestly felt like a crossover between Native American Indian hunting practices and How To Train Your Dragon, which is wild I know. (Also can we talk about how the eagles in this movie actually made eagle sounds???? And not falcon sounds! Finally we're breaking the bad habit of making up animal noises to sound cooler when the original already sounded super cool by itself.)

So in just a few minutes guys!! We already have so much. Then the trio heads back to the village and has their first encounter with the Echoes (Ekos? If anyone could get spelling on that for me that would be fantastic) but are too afraid (or law-bound) to get too close to or cross through the tunnel "into the valley below". So through these we establish that there is a taboo around not just humans but also around leaving the village. The clan has taken an isolationist approach wherein they not only forbid their young clan members from leaving but also withhold information about the outsiders from them until they've come of age. Guys the cultural system arising here is absolutely wild. Like sorry not sorry but I eat this stuff up. (Screenwriters-- this is prime example material of "show don't tell")

There's also all of the ape social communication rules that we've already gotten used to, mainly a variation of the palm-up/palm-down gesture as a means of showing respect (submission) and asking for permission/approval.

In this movie however the hands are mostly closed and the palms are down for the sub as well as the ape they're seeking approval from, as opposed to the trilogy in which the submitting ape always had their palm up. At first I chalked this up to cultural differences among clans since we learned that this clan is not the clan descended from Caesar's apes in the trilogy, but then Caesar's descendants were doing it this way too? So I don't really know what to make of it but I'm going to decide that it's just global cultural evolution (at least, as global as the real-world evolution of Old English into modern English).

Through the production design of the beginning sequence in Eagle Village, we see that the eagles catch fish and then the vast quantities of fish and the smokehouse indicate that fish caught by the eagles are the main source of food for the Eagle Clan. We also see feathers as a motif throughout, worn especially by the parents and the elders as a sign of social status (we know it's social status bc Sylva rips it off of one of the elders as an intimidation tactic and everyone audibly gasps, indicating it worked). That last bit is honestly more costume design, they popped off too but one thing at a time or I'm going to become incomprehensible. I will repeat myself. It is inevitable.

Then throughout the film we learn that not only do they adhere strictly to the "law", but that that law is set by the elders alone. We also learn that they primarily relate to their eagles by singing to them which!!! is just!!!! so!!! metal!!! I love it. The way it plays into the end scene with Proximus just AGHRGHJHRHGR GROWL BARK BARK FERAL NOISES>

ahem

Also we see them building nests at home for their eagles and they've figured out falconry tools for the aerie and everything on their own like??

Then in contrast we see what's left of Caesar's clan, it's descendants. Proximus Caesar, we learn later from Trevathan, has gone completely fangirl over the ancient roman empire and decided to emulate it because "he likes it" and it makes him "feel good" (yeah he's probably the most textbook tyrant I've ever seen in media), choosing to morph Caesar's teachings into his own new worldview rather than adhering to them properly.

So the culture of Caesar's clan is very heavily roman-influenced, often copying practices outright such as the insitution of slavery, a lot of the fashion choices and even the way that banners are put up around the camp and the way that Proximus dines at a low-set table filled with an overabundance of food. And he has a throne and crown, and there are roman numerals inscribed on both his and Sylva's necklaces. But we still see influences of Caesar's original society, most noticeably the persistence of the window symbol and the architecture of the dam. The architecture wouldn't be significant at all, instead being noted as a stylistic choice for the whole series, if it weren't for the fact that it's different from Eagle Clan's architecture.

If Eagle Village resembles those spaghetti bridges that engineers build for class, with thatched roofs, then the dam at Caesar Clan's camp is much more brutalist by comparison. Eagle Clan was very spindly and focused on height and lightness of building materials: many of the logs were thinner and longer, more spaced out, and sometimes rounded at the ends. By contrast, Caesar Clan's dam is built with stumpier logs, closer together, and spiked at the top. The dam is also shored up with soil and other materials. Which yeah, is typical of beaver dams but is also typical of the structures in the original Caesar's village in the trilogy.

Unfortunately, there's only one image currently available of Eagle Village and it's after it was burned down. But you can still see how it differs from Caesar's village, instead of being chaotic it's more organized, allowing for a more lightweight structure.

This (below) is the closest I could get to having a picture of the dam's architecture, but you can still tell how it's more similar to OG Caesar's architecture than it is to Eagle Clan's, even though it's using a completely different building material (scrap metal instead of hewn trees).

Eagle Clan's architecture is also a further effect of how their society revolves around making a life bond with eagles, which are flying creatures. So of course they would be inclined to taller structures, especially ones that are more lightweight and have structural patterns, imitating the way that birds are built (see above).

I'll continue in part 2 as a reblog because it's 1 am and I'm running out of steam but YALL I need you to understand: It's been 6 years since the last time I had a Wes Ball film to overanalyze and rave about. I have SO MUCH to say about this film.

[douglas-rain]

Happy Birthday to Douglas Rain!

Today would have been the 96th birthday of Canadian actor Douglas Rain, born 9 May 1928.

[Pictured: A press photo of DR for the 1958 season of the Stratford Festival of Canada, where he could be seen performing the role of Prince Hal (no, not that one) in Henry IV, Part One and the Young Shepherd in The Winter's Tale.]

Of course, Douglas Rain is mostly remembered these days for providing the voice of HAL 9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey, but I'd like to invite you all to join me today and take a little tour through the rest of his work, a selection of which I have managed to track down over the past few months. We've got documentaries, radio dramas, TV movies and of course stage plays!

It's a very incomplete collection (one day I will raid the CBC and find out where they're hiding all the radio work DR has done, mark my words), but it currently includes highlights such as

King Henry V from the Shakespeare play of the same name, who spends most of the runtime going through every emotion known to man (and a few more we had never seen before)

Dunstan Ramsay, the protagonist of Fifth Business and the human embodiment of the phrase "sure, why not?"

Orgon from Tartuffe, who is just. The dumbest bitch you've ever seen

That moment from the narration for The Man Who Skied Down Everest where, after an hour and fifteen minutes of calm and soothing monologue, DR suddenly starts mumbling and I Have Never Been More Scared In My Life

And many more!

[Pictured: DR in the 1966 TV broadcast production of Henry V, the 1968 production of A Midsummer Night's Dream (both with the Stratford Festival) and the 1969 London production of Hadrian VII.]

Btw if you've seen his birthday listed as 13 March anywhere, ignore it. Here's the article I wrote detailing my descent into madness trying to figure out which date is the real one, but the tl;dr is that it's 9 May according to writer and former NFB producer Gerry Flahive, who emailed Mr Rain's ex-wife Martha Henry about it in 2018. Anyway.

[bigboxcar]

Mugshot Monday - "Presidential Slogans Mug" by The Unemployed Philosophers Guild with Ethiopia Light Roast by Peace Coffee

No other US presidential candidate has ever run a campaign with the slogan, "CONVICTED FELON".

It's feeling like former president and current GOP front-runner Donald Trump may be unable to shake this new political slogan as it appears to be sticking. He was found guilty of 34 felony counts on May 31.

This Political Slogans mug was made in 2013, so it doesn't include Trump's MAGA "Make America Great Again" slogan.

I bought it after the the 2016 election, I had not realized that Reagan's slogan "Let's Make America Great Again" was co-opted by Trump's campaign.

So I thought it'd be cool to familiarize myself with these historical slogans.

I remember many of them from school like: "Who? Who? Hoover", "For a New Deal" and "I Like Ike".

But there were some others that I didn't know, like: "Keep Cool-idge", "Give 'Em Hell Harry!", and "Turn the Rascals Out". 😂

It doesn't look like mug maker is going to refresh the design to include modern slogans, but I'd make a case to go with the felon one rather than the MAGA one for 45.

Has someone created a red MAGA hat yet that says "CONVICTED FELON"? Guessing we'll see it soon enough. I think it's quite fitting.

Btw, for all you political nerds, here's a list of all the slogans on my mug matched to presidential campaigns. Enjoy!

Back to Normalcy - Warren G. Harding 1920

The Rail Splitter of 1830, the President of U.S. 1861 - Abraham Lincoln 1860

Who is James K. Polk? - Henry Clay 1844

Nixon's the One! - Richard Nixon 1968

I Like Ike - Dwight D. Eisenhower 1952

Grant Us Another Term Ulysses S. - Grant 1872

Keep Cool-idge - Calvin Coolidge 1924

LBJ for the USA - Lyndon B. Johnson 1964

Not Just Peanuts - Jimmy Carter 1976

My Hat's in the Ring - Teddy Roosevelt 1912

Tippecanoe and Tyler Too - Wiliam Henry Harrison 1840

Turn the Rascals Out - Horace Grealey 1872

For a New Deal - Franklin D. Roosevelt 1932

I Ask No Favors and Shun No Responsibilities - Zachary Taylor 1848

Win With Wilson - Woodrow Wilson 1916

54-40 or Fight - Anti-James K. Polk 1844

Yes We Can - Barack Obama 2008

A Cure for the Blues - Bill Clinton 1992

Let's Make America Great Again - Ronald Reagan 1980

No Crown of Thorns No Cross of Gold - William Jennings Bryan 1896

Give 'Em Hell Harry! - Harry Truman 1948

All the Way with Adlai - Adlai Stevenson 1952

Peace - Eugene McCarthy 1968

Who? Who? Hoover - Herbert Hoover 1928

AuH20-64 In Your Heart You Know He's Right - Barry Goldwater 1964

Free Soil Free Speech Free Press Fremont - John Fremont 1856

A Time For Greatness - John F. Kennedy 1960

No Third Term! - Wendell L. Wilkie 1940

Let Well Enough Alone - Willam McKinley 1900

See also my 730+ photos from the Mugshot Monday project here: www.MugshotMonday.com– Every Mug Has A Story

[wearepurplejackets]

Jibaku Shonen Hanako-kun 115 Theory

Okay, okay, OKAY.

(Spoilers btw.)

Long time not see, sorry, like a lot. I was busy... crying.

1,2,3 LET'S GO! So, if I understand what is going on correctly, in this new timeline...

Hanako is dead. I mean: DEAD. Like for real. Like no spirit or whatsoever. (Also TERU AND KOU'S MOTHER IS ALIVE OH MY GOD, EVEN IF I EXPECTED IT, OH MY DOG.)

Or not, (yeah, maybe not, sorry for the heart attack) it depends if the clock keepers went to the exact moment when Amane killed his fake assassin kind of a brother in the school for real. (And then he did a seppuku or something.) with the kitchen knife.

Or to the moment Tsukasa went straight to the cursed pit of their house when they were like... 5(?) years old to save Amane because he was dying of... some 1960 illness I don't know. He was pretty ill all the time. (My baby, you never have a rest, eh. I don't know what God is doing right now, but doing a good job is not on the list.) So if Tsukasa never met the THING and made a deal with it to save his brother, Amane could have died in the end, #killme :((((((

Anyways, what do you think? Are the other kids like number 3 gone for sure too? Pffft, my poor girl T.T The thing with number 6 never happened so he is still wandering in the other side not remembering a shit again? Will Aoi-chan (seriously, why these two have to be called the same? AidaIro what were you thinking, this is so confusing???) remember the other timeline/correct timeline?

I don't know but Kou is going to be so destroyed when this is over, Teru you are gonna need to contact a therapist this time, I mean, this kid got his dear mother and his (boy)friend back, my poor soul. At least hot (traitor) senpai didn't killed Mitsuba with this sh*t happening, I GUESS AIDAIRO. I DOUBLE GUESS.

I also think is pretty stupid for the clock keepers to go to the instant when Amane killed Tsukasa. Even if we saw the 1968 number all over last chapters. I think it could be smarter if they stopped the THING to come over to little Tsukasa in the first place. Or are they going to let Amane kill him and let them be, nah.

Or at least to stop Tsukasa to come back to Amane when they were little. So that way Amane would be alive (and traumatized for life anyway because his brother dissapeared) and their parents... too... Leave me alone, I'm sad.

I think this last one possibility is the most reasonable since the three girls who did the ouija thing/ceremony in class (there is no better place to do this sh*t? What is going on in Japan's schools anyway??) talked to some spirit called Tsukasa. And then one of them dissapeared, like, yeah. F*ck. Try again. (Even when they knew some other girl did this sh*t in the past and they never saw her again. Jezz, you were asking for it!!!)

Maybe Hanako saved everyone when he killed his brother and make himself one of the protectors of the school because WOW, you let this kids by themselves for a second and they are already dying like flies!!!

And I still think Yashiro is going to die either even if they changed this timeline, sorry not sorry, my girl will survive of course. But this present is so fake. Hanako wil try to find her to save her.

I KNOW. Believe in the... me, that believes in Hanako. (Still pretty weird the scene where we saw that old Yugi as a teacher wandering the school while the girls did the ouija. And the creepy smile in his face. Do you think that's really Hanako? Cause I don't know Rick,)

And what with the Hot senpai??? You have cursed blood eh, I knew something was wrong with this guy since the moment he survived EVERYTHING FROM THE START. (And you start to use it now, AidaIro, you both are ruffians. I love it, let them cook, let them cook...) This guy is immortal and bored to death, change my mind I dare you.

Well, that's all. But you know what? Let me dream and find in this plot something interesting and different, AidaIro. You never let me down. (Believe in the me taht believe in Hanako that believe in AidaIro that believe in Akane was so handsome in this last chapters like I BELIEVE IN ANGELS) I want to believe that the Yugi Tsuchigomori is talking about when he was asked about his broken watch, note that he said only Yugi as a surname (strange isn't it), so... what if that was Tsukasa? And not Amane.

What if Tsukasa is the one old and alive in this time line? It would be so cool to have Tsukasa and Yashiro working together to bring his brother back. What if Amane is now the evil psycho little kid.

Let me dream or write the fanfic. (Nah it wont make sense, the girls of the ouija called for Tsukasa, sighs.) BECAUSE WHO KNOWS, SOMETHING IS GOING ON IN THIS TIMELINE AND IS NOT OKAY.

ANYWAY, HANAKO KUN MANGA.

IS CINEMA.

[fibula-rasa]

Favorite New-to-me Films—April ‘24

(listed in order pictured above, L to R)

READ on BELOW the JUMP!

They Came to a City (1944)

[letterboxd | imdb | tubi (US)]

In a thought experiment about post-war Britain brought to life, nine strangers from different backgrounds are spirited away to get a glimpse at a socialist utopian civilization. Their reactions are, as expected, varied.

A film adaptation of the J.B. Priestley play of the same name, They Came to a City isn’t thoroughly translated into something cinematic. The sets are visually interesting, but the film never escapes stagey-ness. Regardless, it’s an interesting film worth watching for its candor on social/political attitudes in Britain in the 1940s and the great character writing and acting. (BTW, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Googie Withers give a performance that’s any less than stellar.)

——— ——— ———

Love in the City / L’amore in città (1954)

[letterboxd | imdb | kanopy (US)]

This Italian documentary anthology dives into love, in many forms, in the city of Rome. Six directors each give an angle on life in the city. Carlo Lizzani provides a portrait of the lives of sex workers. Michelangelo Antonioni profiles women who attempted suicide over love gone wrong. Dino Risi captures a fleeting glimpse of dance hall life. Federico Fellini goes farcical, recounting a story of a “werewolf” applying to a marriage agency. Francesco Maselli and Cesare Zavattini share a sympathetic narrative of a mother who abandoned her baby. Alberto Lattuada provides a satirical look at men ogling (and harassing) women on the street. 

As with all anthologies, the quality varies. Fellini’s segment was unsurprisingly my favorite (the same happened with Spirits of the Dead (1968)). I also deeply appreciated Antonioni’s tackling of such a sensitive topic and Maselli and Zavattini’s attempt to give a more humane spin on Caterina Rigoglioso’s story.

(If you live in the US, the film might be free to watch on kanopy with your library card!)

——— ——— ———

Two Monks / Dos monjes (1934)

[letterboxd | imdb]

When a new monk arrives at a monastery, he is unexpectedly attacked by another monk with a large crucifix. The other monks try to get to the bottom of this insane and seemingly random act of violence and uncover a tragic story of romantic rivals.

Stylistically, Dos monjes doesn’t completely live up to the outstanding gothic-expressionist monastery scenes—the bulk of the film recounting the monks’ past is shot and constructed less adventurously. However, I do think that the execution of a single story told from two different perspectives was strong.

——— ——— ———

Scenes of the Occupation from Gaza (1973)

[letterboxd | imdb | youtube]

Edited together from footage shot by a French news crew, Scenes is a short documentary on the conditions in Gaza following the devastating events of 1967. While an important film historically, it is short and very specific in its subject, so I can only properly recommend it in its historical and political context. That is to say, this film might be lost on you if you aren’t already well-versed or currently educating yourself in the history of Gaza and Palestine. More information about the film can be found on the Tokyo Reels website (info in English is on pages 19-20, the rest is in Japanese and Arabic).

——— ——— ———

Poplar Tree / Тополя (1996)

[letterboxd]

Gorgeously stop-motion animated under the direction of Valentyna Kostylieva, Poplar Tree interprets the Taras Schevchenko poem of the same name. It’s a short story about a woman coping with lost love when those around her wish her to move on.

There is a lovely digitized copy on the Ukrainian animation channel, with no subtitles. However, an English translation of the poem is available here. If you read the poem first, you’ll be good to go!

——— ——— ———

Night of the Seagulls / La noche de las gaviotas (1975)

[letterboxd | imdb | tubi (US)]

A doctor is assigned to a small, seaside village, but when he and his wife arrive, the welcome they receive is ice cold. The doctor and his wife, with the help of their assistant and an abused disabled local, uncover a tradition of sacrificing young women to an undead, demon-worshiping cult of Templar knights.

Night of the Seagulls is technically part of a series, but the films don’t have an overarching narrative, so it doesn’t matter if you’ve seen any of the other films. I have a penchant for supernatural stories that have to do with the sea, so years ago, with no context, I watched Ghost Galleon (1974). My feelings on that film were mixed, but I saw others online recommend Seagulls as the best of the series. I did like this film more, but my feelings are still mixed. A lot of the scenes with the disabled villager are rough to watch and his character on the whole could have been handled much better. The special effects makeup for the skeleton knights was fantastic. I appreciated that the doctor does not dismiss his wife’s concerns off-hand, which is atypical in this kind of story. I also liked how imminent the threat was—the demon knights are already here, so what are the outsiders supposed to do?!

Unique use of crabs.

As an aside, I was struck by how many similarities Seagulls had with the Thriller episode “A Place to Die” especially as they came out within a few months of each other!

——— ——— ———

Hercules in the Haunted World / Ercole al centro della terra (1961)

[letterboxd | imdb | kanopy (US)]

Hercules’ betrothed, Dianara, has been overtaken by dark forces. Her only hope is for Hercules, his best buddy Theseus, and their new friend Telemachus to travel to the underworld and capture the stone of forgetfulness. However, it’s Dianara’s own guardian, Lico, who is behind the plot.

Maybe my favorite new-to-me film I watched this month, Bava’s Hercules is a colorful nightmare and Christopher Lee is pitch perfect as the villain.

——— ——— ———

The Sisters / Le Sorelle (1969)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Diana, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, decides to visit her sister, Martha, at her home in the country. They haven’t seen each other in years, and we learn quickly that their relationship is extremely sordid and neither has dealt with the psychological or emotional consequences of that. It does not end well for either of them.

This was a genuinely strange movie. All things considered, I do think The Sisters would have perhaps worked a bit better/been more meaningful if they were not biological sisters but rather just grew up together (which at points I thought might actually be the case). Great execution of the awkwardness and tension around the men in the film, Martha’s husband and Diana’s suitor, and their slow realization of how profoundly messed up Diana and Martha’s past was. The film touches on so many heavy topics, I don’t freely recommend this. I didn’t even enjoy it, but it was such a unique film, I’m glad I checked it out. It’s definitely going to stick with me!

That said, The Others / Le Altre (1969), which Alessandro Fallay also worked on, I do recommend freely. That one is a sweet dramedy about a lesbian couple in Rome trying to have/raise a baby—essentially the polar opposite queer film to The Sisters.

——— ——— ———

Slayers: The Book of Spells / スレイヤーズすぺしゃる (1996)

[letterboxd | imdb]

Also: Slayers Excellent (1998) & Slayers: The Motion Picture (1995)

The Book of Spells is an anthology/OVA set of three adventures of Lina Inverse and Naga the Serpent, her companion and/or rival, depending on the day. In “The Scary Chimera Plan,” Lina tries to avoid getting chimerized by a crazed wizard, but gets ten extra Nagas for the trouble. In “Jeffry’s Knighthood,” Lina and Naga accept a job as bodyguards for an anemic prince with notions of becoming a knight. In “Mirror, Mirror,” Lina and Naga uncover a rogue magician’s plot to find a long-hidden magic mirror that creates mirror-image dopples of whoever gazes into it.

We watched a whole mess of Lina and Naga movies/OVAs this month. I’ve only seen some of the Slayers TV show and so only really knew about Naga via osmosis. Now, the sound of eleven Nagas laughing in unison will live forever in my nightmares.

——— ——— ———

As always, if any of these films catch your eye, but you need specific trigger/content warnings, don’t hesitate to ask for them!

——— ——— ———

This past month the blog quickly took on a Natacha Rambova theme.

The research I did for my closet cosplay of Rambova, raised so many questions for me about the production and release of her independently produced film, What Price Beauty? (1925), that it became the subject of my next installment of Lost, but not Forgotten.

Cosplay the Classics: Natacha Rambova

Lost, but not Forgotten: What Price Beauty? (1925)

This unplanned theming also informed what gif and still sets I made:

Salomé (1922) 

[This one I actually gif-ed for reference for my upcoming cosplay of Nazimova, which my generous supporters on ko-fi and amazon have made possible! Nazimova cosplay is coming up as the next installment of Cosplay the Classics!]

Camille (1921)

Why Change Your Wife? (1920)  

Forbidden Fruit (1921)

Twilight Q: Time Knot: Reflection (1987) 

[This one had nothing to do with Rambova BTW]

——— ——— ———

As for this month, I hope to highlight some silent stunt spectaculars as I finish putting together the pieces for my Salomé cosplay.

Happy viewing!

☕Appreciate my work? Buy me a coffee! ☕

[lectern-fullcauldron]

Hermits as Norwegian Eurovision Songs (because I do what I want)

this is pretty much 100% on vibes and I'm sleep deprived but let's go!

ZombieCleo - 2013

hot, sexy, will kill. ominous love song. absolute banger. it threatens arson and stabbing and is perfect for Cleo. the whole world is theirs

Joe Hills - 2012

this got no points but it compels me. I love this song it's a banger and I don't know what I'm doing tonight but this rush is taking me higher. it just sounds like Joe to me. maximum effort, no idea why we're here, lets go

Scar and Cub - 1984

This is THE Norwegian Eurovision Song. This is joy incarnate. This is the first win from the country with the most last places. It followed nil points the year before. This is not caring about the results and just having a good time. This is the joy the convex bring when they're together

Xbcrafted - 2000

a chill song for a sweetheart. keralis calls him princess and my heart goes boom! also I want to see xb in these outfits please

Geminitay - 2023

girlboss song for stabbing and killing (Alessandra is a total cinnamon roll off the stage and when she won the national final she sat on the stage and cried with joy)

Iskall - 1968

hehehe this song is called stress but it's got the energy of an iskall noise montage and I love it

Docm77 - 2005

Hello doc put the costume on and scream for me please. I would enjoy it

Ethoslab - 2017

the voice in his head is Cleo btw. My guy is washed up but he's great and I adore his work.

Keralis - 1997

Incomprehensible. Flawless. Boogie woogie. You could pool party to this. Keralis could silly little guy to this (it got no points)

[aegor-bamfsteel]

It's almost funny how anti-feminist fire and Blood actually is. All the female characters either have cartoonish characterization (the evil stepmother, the tyrannical queen), or have no personality whatsoever. Rhaenys is the "Queen who never was" but actively supports the murder of her son and the daughter of her 'usurper' cousin? Laena is the rider of Vhaegar and... brave? Baela and Rhaena love their stepmom and stepsiblings, have no ambitions, character defining traits or resentments.

GRRM actually goes out of his way to mock American feminism in Fire and Blood. He has Mushroom, a crime and sex addicted (male) jester, refer to the Maiden’s Day Ball of 133–in which Aegon III was to choose a bride amongst the maidens of the Kingdoms—as “the Maiden’s Day Cattle show”. This is a reference to the radical feminist protest of the 1968 Miss America contest at Atlantic City, which included signs such as these:

Although maybe not as well known today especially outside the USA, the protest had a profound effect on the image of second wave feminism. The protesters claimed in a 10 point manifesto that the pageant judged women like animals at a county fair (to the point they mockingly crowned a sheep Miss America), was racist (having only crowned white women so far), supported the military-industrial complex, was consumerist, led to double standard stereotypes (“both sexy and wholesome, delicate but able to cope, demure yet titillatingly bitchy”), celebrated mediocrity by elevating beauty rather than intelligence/ambition as the goal for girls to aspire. They also set up Freedom Trash Cans in which to throw away makeup and bras (the inaccurate report that they’d burned these items gave rise to the stereotype of feminists as bra burners), among other tactics.

All right, so I think it’s obvious that GRRM intended the “Maiden’s Day Cattle Show” to be a reference to the 1968 “Miss America Cattle Auction”, since women were judged based on their appearance and perhaps a brief interview for the ultimate benefit of a young man, Aegon III. There are a few things I found annoying about the reference. One, is that the narrative does not criticize the pageant, quite the opposite; the great lords forced the cruel Lord Peake’s hand in letting Aegon get a chance to choose his new bride, rather than be betrothed to Myrielle and thus give the Peakes long-lasting power. Two, is that it’s Mushroom—who, as mentioned, delights in telling us about the sexual exploits of especially noblewomen—who mocks the ball as a Cattle Show, rather than a woman of any social class; this takes the criticism of beauty standards and women reduced to objects for the pleasure of a male audience (as it was in the original protest)….and turns it into a sassy remark by a man who loves to talk about women as sexual objects. It’s not the families or House Targaryen being criticized for having the ball take place (in fact, Rhaena and Baela presenting Daenaera with a “found your queen” is presented as a dramatic, triumphant moment over the grasping Lord Peake) and parading their daughters around, it’s Mushroom mocking the women as objects only worth their carnal beauty and riches (“Each maid seemed lovelier than the last…. It would be hard to picture anything more beautiful, unless perhaps all of them had arrived naked”. Btw yes, he does wax lyrical on Daenaera’s beauty even though she’s 6). GRRM was so proud of this reference that he partly named the chapter after it: War and Peace and Cattle Shows. Knowing that it comes from an iconic USA feminist protest against beauty standards for women, and how he used it as a joke for his favorite character Mushroom to mock women, I can’t find it funny. Just annoying, and maybe a little insulting.

tl;dr yes I agree, F&B wrote many female characters lacking in nuance (either evil stepmothers, Mary Sues, or tragic victims. Not to put the blame on victims, but that GRRM uses these types of characters to just suffer and then die horribly, with little attempt to treat the issues they face from their POV). The author mocked feminist iconography in a few instances in this book. Not just with the “Maiden’s Day Cattle Show” (though that just seemed the most obvious) but with his one-note stand-in (whose role in the story is to get hundreds of Faith Militant killed in an unsuccessful rescue from a public execution) for Joan of Arc “the Maid of Orleans”, who has been an icon of Western feminism since the contemporary writings of Christine of Pisa; as well as naming a Green-Allied pawn who gets unceremoniously killed after William Moulton Marston, the creator of Wonder Woman.

[the-rewritten-railway-au]

Rhys

🩷 Autumn 1899; December 1968

CW/TW: Pre-transition period (Edward), hostile work environment, gaslighting, mentioned character death, mentioned workplace violence

Buckled Tracks and Bumpy Trucks - Season 20 Episode 17 (edited)

Word Count: 1,823

Someone else was his first love interest.

A/N: "Rhys" is pronounced "reese." I didn't come up with that, btw. His crew did.

~

In the chilly autumn weather, passengers walked about Barrow-in-Furness Station. The leaves cluttering the ground crunched as folks stepped on them, awaiting the next passenger train.

A sharp whistle, reminiscent of the squawks of seagulls flying by coast line, went off in the distance, pulling in the passengers’ attention to the Indian-red tender engine approaching. She steamed into the station with a range of blue coaches with white trim, easing to a stop.

She was a Class 21, a class of engines dedicated to express passenger services. The sunlight reflected against the brass trim of her splashers and brass dome, giving it a gleaming shine. The oldest of the Class 21s greeted the awaiting passengers with a warm smile, as steam gently spewed from her chassis.

The weather was nice that day. There was no wind. Just the gentle breeze against her frames. It was like a soothing touch, which she appreciated.

Coming in the opposite direction, a small four-driver tender engine came by, hauling a goods train for someone else to take care of. Once he blew his whistle, the eldest Larger Seagull groaned. She would be foolish to not recognize it.

“Guid day, Coppernob,” she greeted through clenched teeth, trying to sound as nice as possible. Her crew reminding her to be nice to the elderly engine had become a daily routine, despite how arrogant and bossy he was. She didn’t need to turn the scolding into a daily thing.

Coppernob wasn't taking her forced greeting. “Don't treat me like a fool, young engine!” he hissed. “Such disrespect. You're better than that.”

“I wid if ye'd just go awa’,” she grumbled, “and didnae go around, gossipin’ aboot me.”

“It’s for the well-being of others, Alice,” he reminded her as her crew hushed whispers, telling her to knock it off. “We can't have your reckless behavior ruin the reputation and workflow of the Furness.”

Alice scoffed. “It’s always aboot thaim wit’ ye.”

“Bunny!” hissed her driver.

Before Coppernob reprimanded her, a Furness Railway 7 class steamed up to the platform adjacent to Alice’s. Unlike Coppernob, he had splashers, designed in a style similar to hers.

“Good day, you two,” he greeted. “Anything new I missed?”

“Nah! Nah!” Alice squawked out, immediately blushing out of embarrassment from the slip-up. She ignored the piercing glare from FR No. 3. “Nawthing new, Rhys.”

Rhys hummed, not convinced. A Furness engine would have to be a fool to not notice the conversation from kilometers away. And not to notice how furious the glare directed towards him was. However, he chose not to poke any further. Yet.

Alice’s guard blew his whistle, interrupting the thoughts going through the engines’ minds.

“Och!” she perked up. “Thon’s me. Guid-bye, Rhys!” With a quick whistle that resounded throughout the station, Alice departed from Barrow-in-Furness, heading north on her railway line, the Cumbrian Coast Line.

Once she was gone, Rhys sighed before glancing at Coppernob. “What is it you have against me?”

Coppernob didn't respond. Instead, he stormed off, leaving the other confused.

…

About a week later, Alice and Rhys met again but at Roose Station. The latter had finished telling a story that left Alice squawking.

There was just something about spending time with Rhys that comforted Alice, making her feel warm and appreciated. It was different to the way her sisters would comfort or check up on her every evening, especially if she’d had to defend one of them from one of the other Furness engines.

It was different, yet she couldn’t figure it out.

As she calmed down, a saddle tank engine pulled in, hauling a small freight train of steel rails, coming from the Barrow Haematite Steelworks.

“Diane!” exclaimed Rhys, noticing the black tank engine. “How’s the Steelworks going for you?”

Diane gave a quick smile to Alice, who smiled nervously, before replying. “Exhausting!” she exclaimed. “But it's good work!”

“Good to hear, dear! Good to hear!”

“You know, I’m surprised the old horse hasn't tried physically separating you both,” Diane noted. “He complains about you two whenever he runs out of things to whine about.”

Alice hummed, her freckled face crunching at the mention of Coppernob. “I din’ get why he diz’nae want me near Rhys. He diz’nae make sense aboot it.”

“Remember, dear,” Rhys assured. “He just… wants the best for you.”

The Larger Seagull frowned.“Well, he huz a funny way o’ showin’ it.”

Just then, her guard blew his whistle. With a heavy sigh, she bid farewell to the other two engines and promptly left.

Once she was gone, Diane shot a glare at Rhys. “Have you told her?”

The 7 class winced.

“Rhys!” she scolded.

“I know! I just-” He took a deep breath. “It’s too soon. We don't know when.”

“But it’ll be soon, Rhys!”

“I’ll tell her tomorrow, I promise!”

“You better!” she exclaimed before steaming off to Ravenglass, leaving her friend to go his way with the daunting thoughts in his head. His crew tried to soothe him, but it only made him feel more guilty.

…

“Alice! Stay away from that engine!”

Her safety valve was ready to burst. Earlier that morning, she fended off one of the Seagulls, her predecessors, up at Foxfield after seeing them pester one of her baby sisters. The utter annoyance those older engines could be.

And then they wonder why they could’nae get me and ma sisters tae ‘behave’ being the thought to go rampant in her mind after every confrontation.

“Bug’ aff! I'm no’ dealin’ wit’ ye today!” yelled Alice before storming off.

Coppernob chased her down. “Listen to me, young lass-!”

“Shut it!” she screamed. “Yer raps ma knittin’!”

“Watch your tongue-!”

“Or whit?” she taunted. “Whit'r ye goin’ tae dae? I'm no’ afraid o’ ye!”

“I want you to get away from that engine…” hissed Number 3, the words seething like painfully hot steam. “And you will do it as soon as you see him.”

“Ye cannae control me!” Alice argued. “Why is it thon when I’m finally doin’ better, it’s all wrong?”

“It wouldn't be wrong if you weren’t acting like that with him!”

Still furious, she looked at him confused. “Like whit? Whit’re ye implying?” she questioned.

Coppernob stared at her in horror, eyes going wide.

The look brought tension to Alice’s frame. “Copper-?”

“You can't even see it, can you?”

“See whit-?”

“You’re too far gone,” he mourned.

“Excuse me-?”

“Stay away from Rhys,” he hissed. “I don't want to find out that he’s broken the same way you are.” With that, he steamed away, returning to his work leaving a stunned Bunny behind.

“Broken…?”

…

That evening, Alice returned to her shed, only to find Rhys, resting in a siding. His crew were smoking cigarettes, unaware of the larger engine. Coppernob’s words had stung her to the core. She spaced out momentarily when Rhys called out for her.

“Alice! There you are,” he hollered, alerting his crew. They quickly climbed aboard into his cab. “Listen. I-”

“Am I broken?”

“...Pardon?”

“Am I broken, Rhys?” she asked again, looking Rhys straight into his eyes. “Coppernob said I’m broken.”

“What-?” He was dumbfounded as he approached the young Victorian engine. “No, of course not, Alice! Don't listen to Coppernob. His age is getting to him,” he reassured her.

“Okay…” was all she said before letting the silence overtake.

Her mood upset Rhys, making him rethink his choice. Should he? He didn't want to upset the young engine even further, but she needed to know.

It would be worse if she went about her life, not knowing what happened to her dear friend.

“Did… ye want tae say somethin’?” asked Alice after a while of silence. “Sorry if I-”

“I'm being withdrawn.”

Bronze pupils shrunk as her eyes went wide. “Ye're what-?”

“I'm being withdrawn, Alice. I don't know exactly when… but it might be soon,” he stated, carefully wording his sentences.

“Soon? How long have you known?”

“Alice-”

“How. Long?” she asked sternly. Her eyes burned in frustration and despair.

Rhys sighed with guilt. “A month.”

“And you didn't tell me?”

“I don't want to break you.”

“Break me?” she scoffed, offended as tears brewed up and her voice began to crack. “I'm not fragile, Rhys!”

“But you're still growing out of your old behavior!” he exasperated as both crews held onto the brakes of their respective engines. Alice’s crew held extra tight, making sure they didn’t let go as their engine tended to be hostile, especially out of emotion. “Alice, please promise me you won't go back to your old self.”

“Rhys-!”

“Alice, please,” he begged. “Please, do it for your sisters. For Diane. For me. The board isn't going to tolerate it any further, and you know that.”

At the mention of her little sisters, Alice agreed. “I promise, Rhys,” she sobbed. “I promise.”

…

“I hope ye're happy,” Alice sneered. It was the following morning and she’d come across Coppernob at Barrow-in-Furness once again.

“What?” scoffed Coppernob.

“Rhys is bein’ withdrawn.”

Shock went through the older engine's frames. “Whatever for?”

“I dinnae ken. Go ask him yerself,” she sneered.

“Alice!”

“Dae me a favor and boil yer smokebox,” she hissed before storming off, jerking the coaches by accident. The sentient ones yelped and her passengers were startled as her crew scolded her severely, and Coppernob called out for her.

She blocked out the sounds of the world around her as her four driving wheels pushed her north towards Foxfield.

.

.

.

Later that week, Rhys was withdrawn. He was able to bid farewell to Diane but not Alice. Diane was the one to break the news to Alice.

Alice broke her promise.

And Edward made a realization.

Rhys, I’m so-

“Edward?”

Said engine jerked, accidentally jostling his trucks.

A few days had passed since he left the Steamworks with his pistons fully repaired. He’d spent a week waiting for the parts to arrive.

“Did you even hear what I was saying?” James asked again, concerned as the extra Troublesome Trucks Edward hauled yelped and complained.

“Guidness, naw,” Edward replied, guilt building on his panic. His freckled cheeks burned. “Och, dear. I’m sae sorry-!”

“Are you okay?” James interrupted. “You spaced out for a bit.”

“Er, somewhit?”

“We can stop-”

“Naw, naw!” he exclaimed. “No need to! It's just- You reminded me of something.”

“Something you'll tell me?” James asked with a glimmer of curiosity in his heterochromatic eyes.

“N-No’ today…” He looked down. “Sorry.”

“Oh…”

“B-But-!” Edward stammered, “what about your adventures on the Mainland, hm?”

“You're gonna have to be more specific, Ed,” chuckled James.

The smaller engine pieced together what he could recall from the conversation that had taken place. “That incident with the twins! Up in Whitehaven?”

James winced playfully. “Oh, what a mess that one was-”

As James continued to ramble on, Edward's mind focused in. But not after he processed what he'd realized.

I wis in love wit’ Rhys, and I didnae even ken…

~

AND then his twin baby sisters were built the following year and things are all good again, right...?

...right? :)

Well damn, i guess I did end up writing a story before the 1910s ovo ANYWAYS, first EoSR story of 2024 and it ended up being a ship-verse story but its angst-

very normal muxse behaviour

i got to actually sit down and work on Edward's backstory a little more. It was EXTREMELY vague before so hopefully this starts adding up, especially for "You've Got Mail." (i'm a bit all over the place with my fics)

Being the oldest of a new generation is already a lot of pressure but how would it feel when its tradition for them to try to shape you in a way that is deemed appropriate in your railway. This usually works but Edward was different.

Notes:

Rhys had zero romantic interest in Edward.

Rhys' basis: 16 - FR Class A3 0-4-0 - built 1858 by W. Fairbairn & Co., Manchester - 1899 withdrawn

Introduced Diane (FR 17 "A5" class) and Old Coppernob (FR 3 "A2" class) sooner than I thought ovo Oh well.

The family relations on the Furness are a bit odd because the A2, A3, and A5 don't have a specific designer, just like the K2s. Just know that Edward isn't related to them. To my understanding, the Furness Railway 21s were designed by Sharp, Stewart & Co. Neither Pettigrew or Mason designed them. Same goes for said classes. Only the A5s were built by Sharp, Stewart & Co. but in the original Manchester location.

^ that being said, Diane and Edward are probably distant cousins for that reason, but Old Coppernob and Rhys aren't related to them. :p

Rhys translates to "ardor" in Welsh. Ardor means a strong intense feeling, which i think perfectly describes what engines feel when they're in love. :)

there was a lot of back and forth on previous love interests for these two. at one point, i considered Goldilocks to be James' first love interest but went against because i just thought it was weird and it would imply that Edward is a replacement for Goldilocks. I did not want that so i scrapped it.

Edward and Old Coppernob are basically the failed unintentional attempt of a healthy father-son relationship. They're both at fault for this. (yes, Edward has daddy issues. it just kinda happened but it also feels like it makes sense considering his role as the oldest and the issues he has)

guys i dont JUST write angst, i swear- :((((

evidence:

ps if i made you sad, read "He Squawks!" (one of my favorites /bias) it has pre-2x5 fluff + silliness (not the main focus but the silliness is :p the screenshot is unrelated :p)