#i actually really REALLY liked the concept but they just arent good directors so the movie feels too long. even if the movie was 30 minutes

[applemccartney]

gen z is trying to cancel applemccartney for thinking john and yoko arent good enough directors to do the concept of their movie “rape” justice with a 79 minute runtime

[quitealotofsodapop]

HiB Sequel/Au Ideas

I have a lot of thoughts on Monkey King: Hero is Back, and I've complied most of them here. It has such a fascinating concept, especially in regards to how the timeline of "Journey to the West" has been permanently altered by Hundun/Chaos.

Timeline changes cus of Events in Story:

Sun Wukong/Dasheng is pretty much "on probation" since he busted out early + asks for a huge favor from the gods at the end of HiB. Guanyin is the one to agree to change the headband to the armlet/chain cuff/buddha ankle-monitor. SWK might get it removed if he stays on good behavior.

Jiang Liuer (same name as the Tang Monk/Tripitaka when he was young), is a small child + dies at the hand of Hundun, but is somehow revived by the credits. Oddly enough, he's said by the production team to be the Ninth Cicada rather than the Tang Monk's Tenth. Maybe literally dying counted as a -1 life? The tie-in videogame shows it more clearly; Dasheng was involved in Liuer's revival and is shown begging/threatening the gods in the credit art, holding Liuer in his arms.

Zhu Bajie isn't married (yet). He also is probably lying about what he did to reincarnate as a pig demon.

Fa Ming is a cool af old man who isn't even tied to any big mythos character. Just a really cool mortal buddhist who went "Hey, free grandson!" when Liuer floated down the river in the prologue.

Sha Wujing has likely *just* been kicked out of heaven. According to a comment by the films director, this version of Sha Wujing may be fem.

Ao Lie has yet to set his dad's house on fire. Might do it on accident in future. Was a real bro and helped SWK get to Hundun during their battle. And according to the credits to the videogame, helped return many of the kidnapped children to their parents.

Theories:

Sha Ya Tou/"Silly Girl" is actually the Red Child/Hong Hai'er. She was kidnapped prior to the story by Hundun's forces to act as the flame for the furnace. Hence her extreme luck, lack of fear, taste for rare meat, and her little "horn" ponytails. If Hundun had pushed his luck, he would have had a Syndrome vs Jack-Jack situation on his hands. Her parents are currently very worried and tearing every village apart trying to find her.

Hundun/Chaos is literally an avatar of the Great Peril, but he loses his identity when he reverts back to the Original Hundun. His ritual was so he could maintain/prolong his humanoid form. He's sacrificed human children before in similar rituals, and initially set his sights on Liuer (the current Golden Cicada) as a baby for this goal - but assumed him lost/dead after Liuer's birth family were slaughtered.

The "mountain trolls/yaoguai" arent inherently evil, but they follow whoevers the strongest. Hence why they started cheering for SWK when he began overpowering Hundun.

Fic things under Read More:

Potiential Fic Timeline:

LEM has already made a name for themselves by hunting humans that prey on demons, and by spreading the tale of their thought-to-be-lost friend Sun Wukong. Then a Stone Egg smashes down next to him one day just after a solar eclipse. Coincidence? >:3

Meanwhile, Sun Wukong is busy beating down the door to the Underworld wanting his son/tudi/friend/ pest back. The Kings of Hell are hesistant to do anything cus you know, until...

King Yama, uninterested: "Gee, thats a tall order. Buuuut death is a mortal inevitablity, and you're still supposed to be under the mountain so..." Guanyin, phases in: "The child is the Golden Cicada." All the Kings of Hell: "HE'S WHAT!?" "Sweet buddha, get that kid's soul back in there pronto!" "He's not suppose to be dead yet!" Dasheng: *gives Guanyin a thumbs-up* "thanks" Guanyin: "Don't think you get off scott-free, sage. You're still supposed to be getting punished." Dasheng: *nervous gulp as he accepts his fate* *the chain cuff from the mountain is slapped back on Dasheng's wrist* Guanyin: "However, your actions towards this little monk has succesfully reduced your sentence. I believe as long as you stay by him, you won't run into too much trouble" *cheeky wink* Dasheng, relieved: "I suppose I could do a lot worse."

Liuer is able to be revived, but is in a comatose state for around 49 days as his soul internally "reincarnates". In this state he manages to pass on messages between SWK and an "unknown warrior" (LEM) via their dreams.

Pigsy, SWK, Fa Ming, and the newly-welcomed Ao Lie spend a lot of time reuniting the stolen children with their families.

Fa Ming bonds with SWK over the weeks caring for the cometose Liuer. SWK is reminded of Master Subodhi and gets wistful. Fa Ming entrusts SWK to care for Liuer when he's gone. SWK agrees, but is internally panicking.

Bonus complication; Silly Girl's parents have yet to be found. And even with his weakened powers, Dasheng's gold-vision tells him that she's not what she seems...

One night, Liuer manages to convey to SWK that Mount Huaguo is under attack by hunters. SWK in his haste; bundles all of his new little troop onto the Sommersault Cloud and flies towards Mount Huaguo.

SWK goes to rescue his missing/captured subjects from the main hunters camp. He finds the hunters already being torn apart by LEM. They have a mutual "oh shit, its my old crush/best friend I thought died in the war"-moment. Liuer reveals himself to be awake at the very end of the encounter.

Both monkeys see eachother alive + a kid (SWK and Liuer, LEM and the Stone Egg) and a romantic comedy ensues. Until...

Guanyin: "Hey gang, sorry to burst your bubble. But the big guys upstairs are a little peeved. Seems like the manifestation of primordial chaos messing with things on earth, has literally thrown the entire timeline off course. The Buddha needs you to check in on places where chaos is at it's most rampant. Don't worry about directions, I'll cc them to the little cicada. Ok? Byyyeeee!" *leaves* The whole gang: "wut." Liuer, eyes glowing: "We should go westward." Dasheng, groaning: "And I just got back home!"

+Stone Egg Bonus:

After seeing the poster for the upcoming prequel to HiB, I have determined that the baby monkey inside the egg would most likely be born/hatched out with white/cream-coloured fur and very fluffy. Therefore I will declare this little "MK" variant; Xiaoyún/小云 (Little Cloud).

[thesugarhole]

and i didnt really grasp what it meant at first because i didnt remember any of the lore heavy nonsense especially if it was added after i half lost interest and checked in sporadically but theres like, theres four elements going on in the background of the worldbuilding that are order, chaos, good and evil(?). and predictably, he wants to associate good with order and bad with chaos because thats how things go.

theres also two additional elements timeline wise that divide these concepts slightly; the technological/past world that culminated in the spooky scary AI gains Too Much Sentience and kills people (pointing out this event out the culminating many specifically because its relevant onwards). and the magical (grounded on the technological advancements of he past, like theres always a scientific excuse kinda deal)/current world that its where the apocalypse is currently happening -the character captain operates zeers "powers" (system wizard) on both goodness and order, and the rewrite introduces a character that operates by chaos. not necessarily evil (as the character herself puts it and i like to agree not on story context just in general), just chaos.

but the thing is, more than once the "goodness", rather than being like, good morals and ethics, is actually annet's company rules, ironically called the good directorate (gdir for short) and well. they arent very nice rules. extreme post capitalism rules. and idk call me radicalized or whatever but its highly agravating to see captain and other characters constantly shiding snippy for being an outlaw/badboy/unruly/chaotic?!/etc for like. scavenging for supplies. newsflash none of you people need to eat but he does. like come on man its so frustrating

and its actually kinda sad (extremely sad) that the rest of the world thats still alive and not human (not just machinery, aliens and captain too) are abiding by ridiculous rules like no jaywalking no loitering no stealing pay your debts go to your job etc when its all destroyed. one of the various reasons snippy has infinite debt is because he stopped showing up to work BUT ITS ALL DESTROYED!!!! WHATS he gonna do there whos gonna pay him!! hows he gonna track that hes being paid and pay for the food and guns he """"steals""""" if its ALL DESTROYED

thats a slight tangent to try and justify my point but gdir rules are evil (and dont try to "thats the point" me because youd THINK the characters would have realized it by now) and did more harm than good and abiding by them can be order sure. but calling it goodness is wrong for a good couple reasons. intrinsically captain IS a good person. zee is not evil or out to getcha or anything zee is still trying to accomplish the thing gdir created zee for, which is save humanity. but with everything gone and looking at how much harm it brought to the world and especially zees bElOvEd ChArLeS idk maybe reevaluate your morals when you tell a starved human to not take destroyed canned beans off the destroyed shelf in the destroyed walmart off for petty thefts

its incredibly aggravating when captain and infi (chaos character) are having their stupid cringe conversations/confrontations and theyre like oooh youre such a goody two shoes always being the good guy trying to do the right thing etc ok so far so good. by following g-dirs laws. bad actually

it makes sense only at the surface level. i need to read karlx max to explain why following gdirs concept of goodness is inherently bad and magic based on it should not work in the first place

im glad tina said what she said because 'the concept of good works to eliminate people who deviate from the norm' is exactly whats happening here (especially to snippy) but the author himself doesnt realize it and then goes on and on how you have to BE GOOD in order to BE A WIZARD and by BEING GOOD you have to follow GDIR DIRECTIONS

i also might be trying to work something out without having all the info as is usually the case but im definitely growing tired of the yandev approach of "introduce something new, 3 years of bug fixes" to the lore. i keep comparing this to yansim because its so... easy? the lack of foresight into planning your plot ahead into something coherent*, rather let the fans and friends and "contributors" write it for you in details and headcanons and then its a hot fucking mess

⁽*ʸᵃⁿˢᶦᵐ ʰᵃˢ ᵃ ˡᵒᵗ ᵐᵒʳᵉ ᶦˢˢᵘᵉˢ ᵗʰᵃⁿ ˡᵃᶜᵏ ᵒᶠ ᵖˡᵒᵗ ᵖˡᵃⁿⁿᶦⁿᵍ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ᶦˢⁿᵗ ᵖˡᵃᵍᵘᵉᵈ ᵇʸ ᶜᵘᵐᵇʳᵃᶦⁿᶦⁿᵍ ᶦᵗ ᵇᵗʷ. ᶦᵐ ᵂᴱᴸᴸ ᵃʷᵃʳᵉ)

[wackology]

Dumb HBCU/WR movie ramblings

Ok so I've been thinking a bit about the HBCU and a potential Wacky Races movie in development a bit and I got a lot of shit to say about this so buckle your seatbelts and hold on to your hats as you witness my incoherent ramblings and fanon headcanons.

So it pretty much agreed upon that any next installment of the HBCU is gonna take a while to come out considering how WB has put the HBCU in standstill for their dr seuss cinematic universe and liveaction-animation hyprid movies. Hell even the director of Scoob said that. The possibility of us getting another cinematic HB film in the next 5 years are close to none but if we were to get a movie it would probably be wacky races themed. Why? Cuz the Scoob film left off with Dick escaping prison with the wacky races on his mind (or in this case, his prison cell) and it would make sense for WB to continue the HBCU (which they probs don't plan to) with a character we are pretty familiar with and the only likable character in Scoob. Which begs the question, where would the plot go narrative wise?

Dick probably won't be the main character of the story but I can practically guarantee it will be Penelope Pitstop. I mean they already got concept art and i think they have models too that were unused and the people on scoob said they didn't add her to the film because they planned for her to be part of something bigger. Basically, I bet my left arm that the protag will be penny because apart from dick and muttley, she was the most memorable character of the show. We must also consider how they would tie up other hanna barbera characters and properties into a WR film thats part of an HBCU installment.

So basically, with this in mind I have created a few theoretical plots/premises that might happen in a WR movie

1. A Hooded Claw driven girl power film

Claw is an og and classic antagonist for penny, and if they really wanted to make a film centered on her the hooded claw is the perfect character to play the bad guy. I feel like the plot would go a bit like this: In order to kill penny and get her inheritance, Claw sponsored/set up the wacky races to kill penelope under the guise that good ol uncle sylvester was supporting Penny's girl power dreams to be a racer. Basically, he acts all supportive and shit for her to chase her dreams and enter this new race but under the mask actually set the whole thing up as an elaborate plan to kill her.

He lets the most deranged, insane and wacky people enter the race, from a gangster mob, to literal monsters to a pilot racer and a military tank duo with guns and canons thinking that Penny's survival chances in this race will be close to none, especially with it being a sausage fest and him not believing  in girl power. He even hires a professional mercenary with an evil dog to help kill penny in the WR (yes, dick, and yes he was sucessful at killing the pigeon in the scoobverse so he is actually considered quite the exceptional and competent villian in universe).

The rest of the film would be her racing and doing good despite all the odds and ends at her winning the grand finale, much to the frustration of Claw.Basically a film of empowerment for young girls to enjoy. This plot would probably be the most faithful to the original WR and most likely be a prequel to Scoob since the movie implies that Dick was doing all the skull shit after the wacky races sooo yeah.

There could also be a peter/penny subplot, perhaps not as romantic interests but as platonic friends or just some flirty exchanges between them, as well as a dick subplot with him not liking to race much at first and doing it for just the money but coming to love it as the film progresses. This plot would also probably be the least HBCU type film since it is mostly WR based and by nature would already have a ton of characters but they might try to replace some of the less memorable characters with other HB characters that are a bit more memorable than the boring racers but not as well known to have their own films (could see the country bears replace luke and blubber bear as well as any other character replace the lumberjack guy).

2. The Great Race inspired film

So we kinda get the idea in scoob that dick hasn't been in the Wacky races for a while after muttley disappeared and all the skull business happened but as we all know, dick was the character who made the races actually interesting. So the execs couldnt just have the wacky races without dick so what did they do ? They got a doppleganger of course, that being this boyyyy

Basically, the Wacky Races executives used Dick's way less famous twin brother  the Dread Baron and his dog friend Mumbly to fill in for the two once they realized Dick wasn't going to come back after prison. They were wrong of course but dick doesnt know he's been replaced and escapes thinking he was going to join the races again but when he does find out it bruises his ego a lot.

This idea technically serves better as a subplot and could be woven into the hooded claw story above if we just changed a few elements( make it happen after scoob instead of before, perhaps DB and Mumbly were hired by claw to kill penny and dick has to begrudgingly help penny and peter to get his place back in wacky races). After plot stuff happens it ends with dick being in the WR again and DB finding employment elsewhere in the Laffalympics which can easily tie into the established HBCU since it has the yogi gang, mystery gang, captain caveman and the teen angels gang and blue falcon and dynomutt.

Does this theoretical plot draw a lot from my personal desire to see DB just once. Yes. But do i care. No

3. The super HBCU plot(probs the most likely)

So the end credits basically tell us that after the scoob movie that the mystery gang and other HB characters joined the falcon force and are fighting baddies and crap.

Dick has escaped so they will probably start looking for him and in order to do so they get tangled up in the wacky races. Dick isnt the main antagonist tho( he's either trying to sabotage the other wacky racers because he is salty af or begrudgingly has to help out the heros or main antagonist) but the falcon/scooby gang discover a huge conspiracy happening within the wacky races that goes something like this: this race was set up kind of like a scavenger hunt across the world or the US to find mcguffins that are actually really powerful and crap when assembled, which is what the villain was trying to do because evil reasons. Basically wacky raceland done funnier or just Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Steel Ball Run.

In this premise not only would the og wacky racers and scoob cast be in it but i bet there would also be a bunch of cameos and references to other HB characters and they might even join in on the action and be racers too. I have no real clue on who the main baddie would be but I think it would be a johnny quest bad guy or something:( in the end credits they are teaming up with Quest industries after all).

I feel like the entire vibe of a premise like this would be very mad max like but without all the apocalypse stuff and just pure unrefined insanity. I kinda based these ideas off some of the unused concept art in scoob and I'm pretty sure the gang and the falcon force would team up with penny cuz they were planning to do so in the og concept art.

I have a few other ideas in my head but those arent fully developed but I might post them one day lol. But yeah, thanks for listening to my dumb shit lol

[nightcoremoon]

I think part of the reason why I hate horror movies is because of the overreliance on jumpscares and shock value and BWAH SUDDEN LOUD NOISES rather than on atmosphere, believability, tension, fear.

here's a list of horror movies from google and the reasons why I hate them, or why I love them, or that they're not actually horror movies.

A quiet place: haven't seen it yet but it's a thriller more so than a horror. thrillers can be scary though but then again so can comedies. and romances. 50 shades is definitely scary: it is psychological abuse after all.

Halloween: slasher film, automatically boring and shit. I'm including the entirety of the franchise here, by the way, and I'm also gonna be including Friday the 13th, nightmare on elm street, etc. They're all the same brand of sensationalist garbage. maybe the very first in each series could be redeemable but the mass volume of shitty and terrible CGI gorefests have ruined them forever. "oh no the scary unkillable monster is coming after us and he's gonna kill us in overly violent ways" 💩

Hereditary: I don't even give a shit it looks trite EDIT maybe it's okay but I don't give enough of a shit to bother to ~give it a chance~ because hey. that's what fucking horror games are for.

Insidious: boring, not scary, 0/10

Get Out: haven't watched yet but will because it's a cinematic masterpiece that defies genre conventions

Bird Box: IM SO FUCKING SICK OF HEARING ABOUT FUCKING BIRD BOX SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT BIRD BOX HOLY SHIT. It's just the goddamn happening by shyamagofuckyourself and it's an excuse to profit off of sensationalist suicide. oohh so spooky. eat my ass, boggart

It: too much bad cgi makes it a comedy. plus a bunch of kids say fuck a lot. good movie that's technically horror I guess but is it scary? nah.

Suspiria: I've never heard of this movie

Annihilation: same

Split: M NIGHT SHYAMALAN IS A SHITTY FILMMAKER and also it's ableist as fuck so

Mandy: google you suck none of these movies have any mainstream appeal

The Conjuring: 💩💩💩

Hush: ??? you know what fuck it I'm skipping the ones that don't matter

The Vvitch: 🙄 my mom's a witch, my best friend's a witch, I'm a witch. hey yeah maybe let's not buy into christian colonialism please? scary witches are boring as shit. gimme something actually scary. like Catholics.

The Nun: wait shit not like that! and by that I mean BORING AS HELL aside from the jumpscares. which are shit

The Babadook: clearly an LGBT movie, not horror

Cabin in the Woods: a parody and an excellent one at that. at least the gore is in homage, or hilariously over the top

Sinister: the fucking epitome of shitty jumpscares and shock value and lack of atmosphere and bad acting and bad plot and jesus fucking christ this is one of the worst and most boring movies I've ever had the misfortune to see DONT WASTE YOUR GODDAMN TIME

Saw: it's actually a thriller with Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Michael Emerson, and Tobin Bell. it's a campy cheesy low budget true to form horror film with adequate writing, good acting, AMAZING MUSIC BY CHARLIE CLOSER, and isn't over the top with gore considering it's all practical effects. top fucking notch but spawned a dozen terrible sequels.

Shaun of the Dead: it's a touching and heartfelt romantic comedy... with zombies, EXCELLENT CINEMATOGRAPHY, excellent acting, and sad parts that will rip your fucking heart out, stomp on it, and grind it to dust. literally one of the best movies ever made of all time, eat shit tarantino.

The Ring: eh, the original Japanese was better (Japanese horror is its own genre and not a part of this criticism, I actually really like original Japanese horror unfucked up by american audiences as long as it doesn't just gratuitously glorify suicide as Japan does), but this was still a really good mystery thriller with some really cool effects, and is the only movie that has ever actually scared me for real. even now I hate that there's a tv with a vcr right at the foot of my bed.

The Sixth Sense: shyamalan made a couple of good movies. this was one of them. but it wasn't a horror movie and if you didn't know the twist IT WAS A FUCKING AMAZING ONE. like, goddamn empire strikes back levels of supreme and god tier plot twists. it went a little overboard on shock value but compared to the rest of the COMPLETE BULLSHIT on this list (AND IN HIS OWN MOVIES) it really could've gone way further.

The Descent: goddamn claustrophobia. too much horribly cgi'd gore and terrible decisions to be truly enjoyable though. would've been a much better movie without the mutants and the middle finger to physics throat stabbing and the JUST FUCKING KICK IT YOU GODDAMN IDIOT and oh yeah the subtle misogyny. the first half was good tho

28 days later: shitty remake of a merely ok movie EDIT I was thinking of 28 weeks later, 28 days was actually okay I guess

Scream: did not age well but it's okay for being meta, despite the fucking torture porn of drew barrymore at the beginning. allowed for scary movie 1 though, so I'm glad it exists.

Paranormal Activity: PARANORMAL FUCKING ACTIVITY CAN EAT MY ASS, ITS SUCH A SUBLIME FAILURE OF EXECUTION. I WANTED IT TO BE GOOD BUT IT WASNT. oh well at least it inspired five nights at Freddy's. I'll go ahead and throw all shitty found footage movies under this one, including unfriended.

Blair Witch Project: a fucking pioneer of its time. a genre definer. truly scary. good movie. I'll go ahead and throw all good found footage movies under this one, including cloverfield.

The Shining: a thriller, not horror. but goddamn is it the scariest not horror movie ever made. Stephen king you magnificent bastard

Alien: goddamn fucking alien. science fiction masterpiece. director's a little creepy but eh, sigourney weaver kicks ass, and alien isolation is such a good game (despite its many flaws), and it's just so iconic in terms of sheer scope of concept. it's the same horror movie as anywhere else but in space, and I still can't fucking believe this was made in the 70s. this and Star Wars were FUCKING AMAZING, and the xenomorph? THATS ALL PRACTICAL EFFECTS BABEY. NO OVERRELIANCE ON CGI GUTS AND SHOCK VALUE HERE, ITS JUST PURE HORROR AT ITS FINEST. good movie. aliens was better. everything else... eeehhh...

The Thing: same as the descent but with men instead of women, and EVEN WORSE DECISION MAKING. IT IS UNBELIEVABLE JUST HOW GODDAMN STUPID EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM COULD POSSIBLY BE. and in the remake yeah the practical effects were mind blowingly fantastic and inspired dead space which I believe is one of the best horror games if not just best games or horror pieces of media if not just best pieces of media constructed. but the prequel? 🙄 no thanks

The exorcist: masterpiece of practical effects without an overreliance on jumpscares and gore

Jaws: it's Stephen fucking Spielberg in the 70s and one of the most influential horror films and just films in general

Hellraiser: okay I'll give all works by clive barker a pass here because goddamn is he a demented fucking genius if ever I saw one. if only Jericho was actually a good game, it could've been the next doom 3

Poltergeist: an actually good horror movie that depends on atmosphere and effects more so than jumpscares and gore? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP

Evil Dead: campy but misogynist. the sequel was a comedy so it's okay. the next sequel is also a comedy AND ARMY OF DARKNESS IS ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES EVER FUCKING MADE. FIGHT ME. and fuck the remake. sam raimi should've retired after spiderman 3. maybe even before that.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: honestly not bad. it was actually freaky and believable. rednecks really are fucking scary with all their inbreeding and terrible music and hatred of black people. I refuse to acknowledge the original and the sequels.

Psycho: eh, hitchcock's worst is still better than most of the shit on this list.

The Wicker Man: OH GOD NOT THE BEES! AHHGUBLAHH MY EYES! AAAAAHHHHH!!! fucking excellent comedy. but it doesn't have any naked ladies in it like the original did. oh well, can't please everyone.

Night of the Living Dead: THOSE ZOMBIES ARE BULLSHIT. ZOMBIES CANT USE WEAPONS AND THEY SURE AS FUCK CANT TURN YOU INTO A ZOMBIE BY STABBING YOU WITH A TROWEL. THEY HAVE TO BITE YOU. FUCK YOU GEORGE ROMERO. Also, dawn of the dead was just sensationalist garbage. "They tore apart a real pig carcass tho so it looked like real intestines" what? the fuck??? who gives a shit????? I watch movies to escape from reality, dumbass. I don't beat off to chopped up human carcasses. If I want a zombie movie I want the walking dead sans the soap opera bullshit and the racism and then "no one is safe and everyone will die" boring mentality propagated by twd and got and other things I used to like but no longer care about (because why should I give a shit about it if everyone could die? I can already be sad enough about all the real people I know who die. enjoying the pain of the deaths of those important to us is a privilege the cishets have). the walking dead seasons 1&2 was pure horror and the very best kind. don't give me boring contrivances. "but sheena, night of the living dead was a trope definer! everything in it was original!" yeah, you know what else is original? *farting noise* George Romero is just rob zombie without a rock band. his best work was fucking call of duty. that's pathetic. "maybe you just don't like gore" HEY YEAH SURE I DONT WANNA SEE UBER REALISTIC INTESTINES AND ORGANS IF THEY ARENT PART OF A MEDICAL DEAL SO IM JUST A BIG DUMB HATER. I'm the one in the wrong. fuck me, right?

Don't Breathe: A FUCKING TURKEY BASTER FILLED WITH SEMEN. THATS SO STUPID I FORGOT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SCARY. BEST CRINGE COMEDY OF THE YEAR :D

Tremors: legitimately great movie with a hundred shitty sequels. like saw but your faves win so you walk away filled with determination rather than sad and disappointed. enjoyment of tragedies are a privilege awarded to those who are neurotypical.

Zombieland: gore done right. the only casualty is mindless zomzoms and bill murray. good. granted it counts as a romance and a comedy but honestly last time I watched it I cried at the part where you find out buck isn't tallahassee's dog. god I love that movie. AND FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS IS THE MOST BADASS MOVIE OPENER EVER.

The Fly: Jeff fucking goldblum. amazing effects for good reasons. need I say more? the original doesn't exist because 1950s horror movies are all bad because all 1950s movies are bad. the 1950s should just be purged from america's records except for pleasantville.

All other Stephen king movies: hit or miss but mostly still good. although very few are actual horror.

10 cloverfield lane: more of a thriller like above's misery but still an amazing movie.

Peeping Tom: literally a movie about how creepy it is to fetishize the deaths of women WHILE LITERALLY FETISHIZING THE DEATHS OF WOMEN. like, come on man. how do you miss your own point so completely?

Invasion of the body snatchers: it's not horror and if it's made to be horror using gore it's shit. the whole thing is just an allegory to the joe mccarthy communism witch hunts anyway.

Cube trilogy: the ultimate b movies. so bad they're good. and it's such an interesting concept too!

Killer Klowns from Outer Space: fucking alien clowns come to earth to turn us into cotton candy by killing us using carnival fare. THIS IS THE GREATEST BAD MOVIE EVER MADE.

All horror movies based on horror video games: either irredeemably bad, or action movies

All creepy Netflix horror movies: wow any idiot with a camera and basic cgi skills can throw shit together to make a movie these days, huh

The Slender Man: I am literally too pissed off about this movie to insult it.

Marble Hornets, Tribe Twelve, the Slender Man movie on YouTube: triumphs of meta, editing, found footage, proof of concept, and story. Slenderman is such a malleable entity for a perfect horror experience, HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY FUCK THAT UP? YOUD HAVE TO BE INTENTIONALLY SABOTAGING YOUR WHOLE MOVIE TO FUCK IT UP AS BAD AS SOMEone who exclusively directs remakes... oh... oh no.

Wrong Turn: one mediocre movie and a dozen loathesome snoozefests coasting by on shock value

Troll 2:

oh god

they're eating her

and then

they're gonna eat me

...

oh my gooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

(Troll 2 is literally the worst movie ever made and I have to respect it for that at least)

but yeah, horror is just bad for movies. but for video games, though...

[marsixm]

okay its unpopular opinion time: main blog edition because this just... keeps getting under my skin and i really do think its all up to personal bias (read more)

i wanna say this like, just really simply but i also know there is a lot of complexity to this and i need like 30 caveats before i say anything so lol

1. yes there is some good to things like this, and especially in certain cases where say a character is so iconic or their story is already long over (im trying not to name names at all here but i think you know the main example of who This is in reference to and yes im happy about that, because of these reasons) 2. i know actors arent totally in control or happy with choices made for them and some of this can speak to that, but still 3. no im not saying this to go on a yfip witch hunt against anyone because i like everyone this has been about so far it’s just really bugging me, the times and places this has been happening recently, more about the hypocrisy of the response than anything 4. if im wrong about any or all of these i will so very very happily eat my words out of a canon gay ship bowl 5. my issues with anything happening in fiction always always always lie with the content creators/writers/directors

so like why is it that actors on press kits for currently airing movies in which they know for a fact nothing gay will actually happen with their characters are being celebrated for implying it will or saying “it happens off screen”, why is extracanonical nodding suddenly the end all be all, why is it okay all of a sudden to be thrown scraps like this, where is the demand for actual on screen fulfillment. again i know actors arent this much in control and yes i appreciate the nods to gay fans on a level (i absolutely understand the want to be excited about this i really really do), but there can still be lobbying for this before the movie’s done, there can still be, like, Not getting peoples hopes up for something that wont happen before the movie airs. 

again i have nothing against the actors who have done this, really, i like them and this is not a witch hunt, i do not think any of them have been deliberately malicious or anything similar, i think theyre trying to do good things and i appreciate that but i cant shake the notion that its still driving ticket sales for young gays who will still not get what they want, or worse have been lead to believe (also not saying any gay person cant enjoy something with non canon ships ofc, i mean you know what im getting at here)

im like hesitating to post this because theres no way to say “i dont love this concept” without implying i think the solution is to vehemently hate new swathes of people and i absolutely dont want that, and even though i dont feel the same excitement everyone else is i guess i can kind of understand where its coming from (mainly i just cant shake the feeling that it all feels empty knowing it wont happen, but again hey, hopefully for at least some of these it will and i will GLADLY eat my words) and i dont wanna like. make anyones dumb gay fun on the internet boring because trust me i get /that/ its really just weird to me how extra canonical nodding (when it could have been more) is suddenly enough for some people, and how actions that could easily be called queerbaiting (and yall know i hate to use that word) are suddenly being celebrated

[mekatrio]

TAKING back what i said bc im realizing that its instead on a case by case basis, and that there are several illustrations that are in fact illustrated by the anime's key animators;

like this one ⬇️ is definitely illustrated by yoshihiro takeda, their distinct shading style + style of drawing eyes gives it away

while this one is very obviously drawn by yoshitaka yashima ⬇️

with that said, there's still definitely a group of non-animator illustrators, and ive tried to identify some of them down below... under a read more tho bc again, i didnt realize that i would end up making this post this long lol

(also, i say they are non-animator illustrators meaning that they arent listed as animation directors, but its entirely possible that they may have worked on the anime as like, key animators or smth)

artist 1:

this artist has worked on an Overwhelming amount of digimon promotional materials... like a large amount of adventure + 02's promotional art ranging from album covers, calendar art, etc, seems to be done by them. their style is characterized by their squarish-face, the wide distance between the eyes, and their even wider mouths!

artist 2:

this characteristics of this artist's style is SO similar to artist 1 (wide mouths, similar body proportions), that i spent a good few hours deliberating on whether they were the same artist or not... but i eventually decided that these must be two different artists bc of the following differences:

the biggest difference is that this artist draws taichi's hair much more wavier, in that his hair follows more curved lines as opposed to artist 1's more pointed lines

sora's eyes are much more rounder than artist 1's

face shapes are less mishappened and more rounder than artist 1

also, the characteristic of this artstyle really resembles katsuyoshi nakatsuru's art, specifically their concept art of film 1 taichi, and is what made me consider the possibilty that maybe nakatsuru worked on promotional artwork for adventure/02 (btw im not entirely sure that nakatsuru is illustrator of this specific concept art, just that theyre the credited character designer)

whether artist 2 is actually nakatsuru or just an artist with an artstyle that resembles nakatsuru, im still not too sure.

artist 3:

im certain the two album covers (middle row) are drawn by the same illustrator, and that the two DVD covers (bottom row) are also drawn by the same illustrator, but whether both of these illustrators are one person is something im not too confident on, since theres quite a variation between artstyles.. (namely, the width of the faces)

...however its possible that it's just the coloring style that is making these pieces look so different from one another. the cover for the movie collections looks like a balance between both styles, so maybe these really are all done by one artist... maybe 🤔

artist 4:

at first i thought the Brave Heart cover was drawn by artist 3 bc of how much taichi resembled that artist's style, but after realizing that yamato's hair on the Keep On cover is drawn nearly identically to how it is on the Brave Heart cover, i'm certain that these were both drawn by the same artist. (also, the rendering of taichi's hair on both covers is similar)

and im also classifying that the I Wish cover is drawn by this same artist, bc of how hikari's hair shading, mimi's face shape + spacing between the eyes + mouth shape, and the angle of sora's face is similar to how they are on the Keep On cover.

these two album covers also look like they could be by this same artist, but yet theres enough variation between these 2 covers and the first 3 that im not entirely confident...

what makes me think they could be done by the same artist:

the spacing between mimi's eyes are rather consistent between all the covers

taichi has a line indicating a bottom lip on the Brave Heart cover, which wallace and daisuke also have on the film 3 cover

the thin slender fingers on both of these covers are similar to the fingers found on the Brave Heart + I Wish cover

and what makes me think otherwise:

the face shape on both of the covers differ quite significantly from each other And artist 4's face shape

the cover with all 4 girls is much more cleaner... the balancing of the body proportions are very different from the other albums.

the rendering style (lineart + coloring) of the film 3 cover is very different from all the other covers, though this may just be a deliberate artistic choice as it's a album cover for the film instead of for the anime

so i really have no idea whether these last 2 covers are even drawn by artist 4, or even the same artist to begin with ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

final thoughts or whatever, i just need a divider so it doesnt look like im still commenting on artist 4:

theres still a Lot more artworks with styles different from these 4 which i havent been able to find enough examples of to be able to group them under one probable illustrator... so my suffering still continues. it's made even harder by the fact that sometimes these artists are trying to replicate the style of another artist... also classifying illustrations under one probable illustrator is one thing, but to find the actual name of the artist is a whole other thing too......

so much art. so many illustrators. nearly impossible to find the credited illustrators, especially in english. MY PERSONAL HELL CONTINUES

its kind of a given and i should have expected it, but now that im able to distinguish most of digimon adventure's animation directors apart, its become very (belatedly) obvious to me that the artwork for additional material like album covers and magazines illustrations are in fact illustrated by a group separate from the animators...

....though im thinking that majority of them are illustrated by katsuyoshi nakatsuru. that is if im correctly understanding that majority of adventures developmental material were created by them. though another name i ought to look out for is soh moriyama too... hmmmm

[merrysithmas]

"rose and finn's plotline was pointless"

actually it was the most important part of the whole movie bc they inspired those enslaved kids and thus ensured the resistance will live on but k

"they character assassinated finn"

no. they developed his character. in tfa he went from fn-2187 to a person scared of their identity/past so he lies ("im 'with' the resistance") and has allegiance just to one person ("im only here to get rey"). in tlj he went from that to a proud rebellion fighter who got to face and defeat his tormentor, all the while gaining possibly the best understanding of the eternal Star Wars that plague the galaxy. he saw dj (dont join) as the only truly 'free' person, yet came to understand him as a despicable opportunist no better than the war profiteers. both the ambivalent and the warprofiteers contribute to the constant dichotomy btw dark and light. finn is the only one with that knowledge. and standing up to phasma and hux and returning to the first order as FINN was the most bamf thing that happened in the film. and it sets him up to be a liberator in IX. finn reclaimed his status as a deserter as powerful not shameful. which. is. b o s s!!!

"luke wasnt himself!!!"

luke has been a sucky ass mary sue ever since his inception. he finally got some brain and development (yet was still the same know it all asshole) and ppl hated it

"what abt poe!!!"

poe got like the most screentime and was epic the whole fucking film? he had like so many scenes and matured into the person leia will give the command of resistance to? he went frkm believing he was best-suited for the role to understanding he could never possibly be, and thus finally became a real leader. the whole movie was abt the characters each slipping into their own personal 'dark sides' and gaining knowledge from their failures and so rising out of it to become well-rounded ppl. poe saw that sacrifice is sometimes letting people think you are an asshole (which can be applied to a bunch of other characters) and appearing like the villain (like holdo) rather than the hero

"it shoulr have been poe that saved them not general holdo"

yeah calling bullshit. an older 60+ canonically pansexual woman allowed to be a hero in a film is pretty damn cool. my starving for rep pansexual ass is not letting you all erase that.

"stormpilottt"

theyre my main ship of this trilogy and they talked literally the ENTIRE film, had a line where poe was jealous of rose, gave finn and rose the most platonic one-sided kiss on earth, and touched each other constantly. came to one another's aid several times. disney prob had a vice around their balls the whole time and they still gave so much even though disney will never let them be canon before IX for fear of losing the audience... just facts.

"reylo wah wah"

rey literally... rejected him? she was a badass the whole time and rejected luke too. she thought for herself, tried what she thought was right when luke archaically told her not to (even though...he did.... the same thing... to vader... and it worked but k), left to fight the first order even after luke did fuck all to train her bc she's brave af, and closed the door in kylos face after he went apeshit and decided to blow up the resistance. she met him in the middle and then refused to do more to "save" him and the narrative made it clear he needs to do that himself if he ever wants to meet her/anyone in the middle again. she stood up to snoke and caused his demise by influencing kylo to the light, however temporary: aka she learned to become a jedi without the help of anyone and the scene about her being "nothing and no one and not connected to the story" was a direct fuck you to all the ReySky ReySolo fuckboys who couldnt believe she was relevant on her own. she also realized the power/possibility of the darkside in the hands of a good person which is a concept never before explored in the boring af star wars philosophy? (which yoda legit burned lmao).

"kylo ren sucks"

he's legit the only interesting dark side character in star wars history. his scenes with rey are allegorical and are meant to represent the journey of all the other characters in the film (touching their own darkness and having to face themselves to become better). he is fun to analyze esp given his connection to luke, leia, and han. i love that they failed him and thst alone makes him a sympathetic character (in allegory people) bc viewers themselves even outright refuse to believe luke, leia, and han could have not been perfect people athough it is displayed on screen several times. this is like fictional gaslighting and its cool to see that phenomenon play out as a fan. and his fight scenes are epic af cinematography also the actor is amazing??? he is just a fun to watch "bad guy" with actual depth which makes his actions interesting??? tumblrs random on/off boners for bad guys gives me whiplash, if you enjoy watching his character like all the others in sw, you arent a bad evil person you might just have a rare commodity which is critical thinking skills. also?????? it is fucking cool to see a villain who is genuinely tempted toward goodness!!!!! that is a timely and current and important concept!!!!!!

"x scene/plot was pointless"

tbh if anyone's plot was pointless to the plot it was rey and kylos, bc it was just pure allegory. all the actual plot was through finn, poe, rose, and leia.

IN SUM:

tbh i didnt even thinm this movie was that good. i thought the pacing and editing was really bad also, directors. shouldnt. write. movies. they. arent. writers. the. dialogue. always. sucks. but still i refuse to sit here and let people act like the fucking PREQUELS (the worst movies ever made with NO DIVERSITY AND RAMPANT SEXISM and the worst writing ever done in the history of humankind) are better than tlj.

[ramblyravingnnjashark]

Nier Automata - Genius and Madness

the works of Yoko Taro are something that have eluded me for most of my life, and that I have given very little attention to. Probably for good reasons because from the outside, the gameplay of his games range from Mediocre to Average at best and I consider myself a very "gameplay First" person. Some of my Freinds would rave about Drakengard and how weird it is but that didnt quite convince me to look into them much further. However, one Fateful Day a little game called "Nier Automata" was announced, a sequel to Yoko Taros Xbox 360/PS3 game Nier with a little line of Text that would change things in an instant

                                   "Developed by PlatinumGames"

now friends of mine will know that, PlatinumGames is one of my alltime favourite Game Devs for their Crazy High skill Character Action Beat em up titles, containing Larger than Life characters and great and tight Gameplay that owes their roots in the Arcade games of old, which is something I have a appreciation for.

So, with a combination like this I finally decided to take on this series, by means of watching Youtube essays about it because goddamn, the gameplay in these games can get rather mind numbing sadly but honestly? Yoko Taro mighta earned himself now a nice cushy place as one of my favourite Directors, right next to  Hideki Kamiya and Hideo Kojima themselves.

But there is one thing I realised from watching these Essays and actually playing one of them it is one thing to watch a guy sum this series up for you, its a whole different thing to watch the Insanity for yourself

because the works of Yoko Taro arent stories about Heroic Knights slaying Demons and Evil Dragons, or Loving Fathers/older Brothers trying to survive the Fall of Humanity with their Daughters/Little Sisters

they are stories about Love, Hate, War, the meaninglessness of the Universe and the Hope growing from it, what it means to be Human, and what it means to lose all reason and go complete and genuinely Mad

(there will be spoilers, so be warned if you wish to expirience these games yourself!)

so originally, this was gonna be a brief recap of Drakengard and Nier, but then I realised I couldnt do these games justice so I just link this and this recap of these games that should give you a good idea what these games are about but to keep it brief

Drakengard is essentially to RPGs what Evangelion was to Mecha Anime, and thats a fairly approviate comparsion when you just look at, this

its also notable for how it handles its different endings, usually referred to as Ending A, Ending B etc, Ending E of the first Drakengard game was a Joke ending that nontheless became the basis for the setting of Nier, a ruined Planet Earth set hundreds of years after the Fall of Humanity about a Father (in the Western Releases) or a Older Brother (Japanese release) having to fend for himself and his Daughter/Younger Sister in a world under constant threat of creatures known as Heartless Shades

both these games are interesting, because their gameplay is nothing special, in the case of Drakengard its outright terrible,they got mediocre reviews and poor sales and yet these games have a dedicated Cult following and  tons of Novels, Audio Dramas, Manga and even Stage Plays that expand the Universes of these games and its lore

and thats for a simple reason: these games may have mediocre gameplay but, their Stories, their Characters, their Art Direction is actually of fairly high quality featuring intriguing Characters and worldbuilding that makes you invested in them regardless I mean, theres a entire exchange in Nier thats entireley between two Magical Talking Books for cryin out loud, and its one of the best parts of the game!

however, these games have thus far had a life as just that, Cult Classics, that didnt manage to garner a mainstream audience due to its aforementioned quirks, the Gameplay just could never stand up to the well written stories of these games

this is where PlatinumGames comes into play

now, the gameplay of Automata I honestly felt like was more on par with what Revengeance offered: there is stuff you can do with it but all in all its below the likes of Bayonetta and Devil May Cry 3 but thats not to say its poor, of course not, it doesnt encourage you to try anything other than just Mash about, but thats Fine, theres also Chips that your characters can even equip Chips that enhance their abilities and giv e them new ones such as a Bayonetta style Parry and Witch time or give them Heals upon Killing the enemy and while the actual enviroments can be a bit of a chore to go through (until you get Fast Travel), it still felt good to Parkour your way through them, nice snappy and smooth which gives me hopes they take a cue or two from this game for Bayonetta 3 in that regard at least

another thing I loved is the Soundtrack itself. Now I dont consider myself a musical person, however I can tell when a Song is used perfectly, and in Automata? Every Song is used to actual perfection. Music to me can be the deciding factor wether a Area or Scene in a Game or Movie is Garbage, Forgettable or Legendary, and for Automata, every song makes each area fall niceley into the latter fortunatly. One Standout track for me is Birth of a Wish (Become as Gods) a retake of an earlier song that adds in additional Chorus, and the Theme for Pascals village which is a cute Melody involving Children singing.

now onto the game itself, Route A puts you in the sexy and Lucious Thigh High boots of YoRHa Unit 2B, whereas Route B puts you in the cute Boy shorts of her Partner and mostly Good Boy YoRHa Unit 9S both tasked with ridding the world of Machine Lifeforms and making Earth inhabitable for the Humans stuck on the Moon again Both Routes play out roughly the same, 2B plays like a Standard Character Action Heroine with Lights and Heavies and such, whereas 9S is mainly focused around his ability to hack enemies and engage into brief SHMUP segments.

of the two I felt like 2B was a little more fun to play all in all, the Hacking was fine but also felt a teeny bit like a pace breaker but not too much, at least until late in Route B the game throws curvebals and unique hacking segments into the mix

a thing Yoko Taro games have been very good at showing, is showing the process of a Person losing their mental stability and throwing it all away to become a one track minded Mad Man and I find that interesting.

Drakengard had a good example when the Character Inuart completley loses it and becomes obsessed with bringing back his Dead Love interest, causing here to turn into the monster posted above. Automata meanwhile, shows this also but with Machines, being that shouldnt even go mad in the first place but become Insane with concepts like Revenge, Fear or other. Now I am not a Psychology Major or anything but I cant help but feel "this is Intriguing", not sure if thats a bad thing or anything but thats how it is.

now, Route C is where officialy the PlatinumGame ends and the Yoko Taro game begins, in that things become utterly, utterly Bleak. Not to say it was happy funtime before, many of the sidequests end on a very sour or outright terrible note, but here? Shits gon Bad!

YoRHa falls, everyone on the Protagonists homebase dies or becomes infected with a Virus that makes them go insane, 2B dies and 9S is severeley wounded and has his mental state utterly ruined by seeing 2B, his Love interest, die. from this Point onward, you play as Either A2, a former YoRHa gone Rogue and 9S as he tries to kill every last Machine Lifeform, and as hes utterly loses his mind. Focusing entireley on his one Goal so that maybe, he can find Death and be with 2B in the Afterlife.

this is where the game really became interesting to me. Gradually 9S goes from this sweet pure boy to a Violent Mess that only wants to Kill and Kill and Kill, Over and Over, its a Interesting Development for such a Character I feel. A2 meanwhile, while still a Great Character and a Blast to play, I felt like was severeley underutilized, getting very little playtime compared to 2B and 9S, with most of her greatest character Development limited to a Japan only Stage play that got a short text recap on a terminal. and it just goes from there and it keeps going, plot twists happen, reveals happen, callbacks to the first Nier and Drakengard 1 happen, its just this huge Mountain of themes and stuff to uncover and analyse. references to old Philosophers and the Concept of Nihilism itself ebing explored, little details that popped up in the early game and now have much greater meaning, its....actually incredible?

I dont think I ever played a game that had so much going on, the last time I think I did was, Metal Gear Solid 3, maybe?! I think....this might actually be one of the best written games I ever played?

and there is still so much content I could go through, the Stage Plays, the Novels, theres probably a buncha Audio Dramas for it too already its like, Jesus christ. and then theres Ending E, which while rather difficult (and probably causes at least 4 people to fucking hate my Guts) was probably one of the best ending sequences I seen in recent years, I'm not gonna go into detail what it is because, it needs to be seen to be belived, but I find it genuiley incredible.

I dont think theres a single game in the Drakengard and Nier series I would actually consider my "Favourite Game", maybe Nier Automata but thats up for consideration still, but I think I can safeley say that both games story as a whole is easily up there with Metal Gear as  one of my favourite Game stories out there, and friends and followers of mine would know by now how much I love that Franchise and its wacky insane story, Drakengard and Nier are special little series that you dont see enough of these days, but maybe thats for the better

I'm not gonna say "Nier Automata rekindled my love for video games" or anything, but I am glad I got to expirience these two series.

[canaryatlaw]

Well today was overall fine, accomplished enough I suppose and nothing went too terrible. Woke up around 1:30 (bless) which was glorious, ate some cocoa krispies (note: whenever I say I ate breakfast on one of these posts it means I ate cocoa krispies. I always eat cocoa krispies) then got ready and took my little cart thing out and hopped on a bus to make a target trip. There's no route directly there, so I either have to walk a bit east then hop on a bus a bit south, or hop on a bus a bit south and then walk a bit east, lol, and I did the second today. I needed to make the target trip because this week I was actually out of sodastream gas canisters, which are actually what powers my life so I had to get the refills of those, along with a few other random items like, mouthwash. Of course I raided their dollar section (that is really their $3 section at this point, but oh well) and couldn't help but buy like 3 candles and more string lights for my room cuz they're cheap and cute and I don't care, lol. Did some basic food shopping, what I'll need for dinner tonight and the next week or so, and heavy cream if I ever get around to making caramels like I want to at some point. Wandered around the store a bit after that, spent a solid 10 minutes contemplating their underwear selection and trying to decide if I wanted to try something other than the exact brand size and style I've been wearing for like, ten years because everything else rides up and makes me uncomfortable, and ended up deciding to just go with it (for the record, I have tried other stuff over the years, and been unhappy with them). I looked through their pajama selection and really wanted this cute summery set of a gryffindor tank and shorts but it was 98% polyester so there goes that idea. They had a few other things but nothing all that great. I did dare venture over to the clothing section for a few minutes, and got a cute tank top and a pair of sporty leggings that I'm hoping will stay on better while I'm working out (I've noticed lately, mainly when I'm like, in the middle of working out, that whatever sweatpants I'm wearing have a tendency to fall down) then finally headed to check out. Walked a bit back and then had to wait for way too long for the bus but I didn't want another half hour of walk, so I waited. Got home around 5, put my stuff away and started working on the project for about two hours. I was working on perfecting the mission and vision statement as well as working on the portion about future plans for the org. That was hard because like, I want to turn in this plan for this nationwide org with community centers everywhere but like, this is a plan we're making to start a nonprofit lol, not an idea for an already established one, so I had to do some rewriting of my original concept and then think of things to add to the future developments beyond more community centers in different cities. Then I worked on a smaller portion about my experience and how it makes me equipped for the job, which put me just at 11 pages, so not bad. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm gonna handle the actual presentation, cuz like there's very specific parameters set out in the paper for what there needs to be in it, but the presentation is just based on the paper, it doesn't say what exactly, and he's said several times he doesn't want us just reading from a paper, but also saying he doesn't care about PowerPoints or stuff like that- just that we're familiar enough with the material to talk about it confidently and not need to read straight from our notes. So I may make a presentation cheat sheet of major points at some point tomorrow that could be helpful. Basically the presentation is supposed to be us pitching the idea of the nonprofit to potential finders, for them to decide if they would want to fund us or not. I think I have a good amount of info about programs and such set up, I need to do the more technical elements of setting up a board of directors and everything, and actually figure out a budget (which I probably won't include in the presentation but will need for the paper, and God am I not looking forward to doing that) and other tying up factors. But I think I'm in a good spot and I should be able to pull everything together tomorrow for my presentation Monday. At 7 I stopped because I wanted to make dinner. I've been having this issue lately where I'll make my big meal on the weekend but then not want to eat it during the week for whatever reason and end up throwing most of it out which I really had doing, so I thought I'd try to do something I know is good and that I'll want to eat, so I did this cheesy chicken broccoli and rice thing that's fairly easy to make and also tastes way better than you would expect it to lol so hopefully that will do the trick for during the week. After I finished cooking I sat down on my couch to watch some tv, and found out training day had started about 5 minutes prior (it was like, 8:05 at this point). I never keep track of when my shows actually air, so sometimes I'll turn on my tv and find out one of them is actually on). So I caught up on that pretty quickly and watched it. Somewhat of a meh episode for me, not that I didn't like the plot because I did, I think I just missed Katrina Law's character because she was in like, one scene. But that was fine. I didn't have anything else recorded so I went back over to 24:Legacy which I ended up watching for the rest of the night and finishing, and I have to say, by the last 3 episodes I was all in on this in true 24 fashion, finally feeling it like I did with the original show and oh, how I've missed that feeling. It took a while to get there obviously, but it was worth it because those episodes were fantastic. Spoilers ahead, obviously, but I was sad they did end up killing Rebecca, though that much should've been obvious once Sims or whatever his name was did his little speech about after this she would be like a war criminal. But I was sad because I gained so much respect for her character over those episodes, like what a fucking BADASS she is to take on a hostage negotiation like that and just totally call their bluff when he life was on the line, like holy crap she was just killing it. I loved it when her and Eric just went rogue, that finally felt very 24, with its rogue agents receiving unofficial support from CTU. Even Keith (I learned his name and have stopped calling him zoom guy!!!) was pretty awesome in the end of definitely did his part, something not always true for past CTU directors. Of course there was massive incompetence in letting terrorist #1 escape, but that was clearly just because they needed it for the plot, not that it would actually happen like that. I have to talk about the ending with the girl and Eric and Tony though. TONY. My bby. First of all, hearing him utter the words "I have to help CTU" made my little fangirl heart so happy because even after all of this he was going to help them and it just ahhhh <3. With the showdown at the house I was just like, yelling the whole time STOP FIGHTING YOURE FRIENDS YOU JUST DONT KNOW IT so I was pleased when that basically happened lol and of course Tony was like uh yeah of course go take the kid and save Rebecca. This girl though, and Eric protecting her, broke my fucking heart. Like yes, I know, this is all fictional. But that poor little girl. She was so little, so entirely innocent, and treated so horribly by the government that it was abominable. Seeing Eric being so gentle and kind to her was perfect, and that scene where they're waiting for the helicopter and she's telling him about the names of the flowers and the trees had me in like, tears just out of the sheer preciousness of the scene, like, holy crap, it was such a poignant and well done moment that stood out so well from all the violence and terrorism going on around it. I very much enjoyed that, and of course seeing that the girl was in fact safe. They obviously set themselves up for a second season, but I still of course protest to having a 12 episode season of a show called 24 when the entire damn concept is it happens over 24 hours, lol. Also, I freaked out when they time jumped the last 15 minutes because HEY, THAT IS SO AGAINST THE RULES. YOU MADE THE RULES, AND THERE ARENT THAT MANY OF THEM, BUT YOU JUST BROKE A MAJOR RULE AND THATS NOT COOL, MAN. Lol. I'm not sure what to think about John and what he's gonna do now, but it would be interesting to see him as president next season (though tbh I'll just be sad Rebecca isn't there with him because she's just such a badass character I can't help but miss her). But yeah, clearly I had feelings about all of that haha as you can see from all I just ranted. But yeah, I finished that and started getting ready for bed and now it's late and I should go to sleep, so I'm gonna do that now. Church in the morning, then we'll see. Goodnight friends. I hope you sleep well.

[athena29stone]

How to Build Great Teachers

Dan Brown on episode 184 of the 10-Minute Teacher Podcast

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

Dan Brown talks about practical things we can do to help build great teachers. From best practices to policy, Dan shares what works (and some of what doesn’t.) If you’re in preservice education or work with teacher professional development, this podcast episode has some fantastic tips.

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  Below is an enhanced transcript, modified for your reading pleasure. For guests and hyperlinks to resources, scroll down.

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Enhanced Transcript

How to Build Great Teachers

Shownotes: www.coolcatteacher.com/e184

Vicki: How do we build great teachers? Today we are talking with thought leader Dan Brown about this topic. Dan, how do we build great teachers?

How do we build great teachers?

Dan: Building a great teacher takes a village. And it takes a lot of time. I think any kind of instant remedies or quick fixes or “three steps to being great teacher” type of guidance is kind of dangerous.

Teaching is such a complex job; it is really professional work. It requires a really serious body of crafts, knowledge, and skills. Starting early with educators helping high school students explore teaching — I think is really valuable, but anyone at any point when they are starting their journey should really be grounding their practice.

(They need to be) getting a lot of clinical hands-on experience, being grounded in best research, and really taking a seriously that it is a long journey before you are able to be that exemplary teacher that you’ve always dreamed to be.

Vicki: It really is a journey. So when you have that teaching certificate, and when you graduate – you do not necessarily have the great teacher standpoint yet, do you?

The disservice schools do to rookie teachers

Dan: Definitely not.

It can be tricky because in a lot of schools, rookie teachers are given the exact same workload or course load as a 30-year veteran. So they may feel like they have to perform at that level of an accomplished, experienced teacher.

And of course, their toolbox of skills and knowledge and experience is just starting to be built. No, there should be a quest as a lifelong learner, and a willingness to seek out constructive criticism and to build a network of critical friends and to really seek to be transparent about your own practice, and (to find out) how you can get better.

And celebrate your successes!

Vicki: But you know Dan, in a lot of schools, the rookie teachers actually get the worst classes.

Sink or swim is not a good way to orient new teachers

Dan: Yeah, that’s a real kind of pervasive, unfortunate “trial by fire” concept that is out there where rookie teachers maybe kind of looked at as “sink or swim” or “meat to the grinder”… Pick your idiom of not really being valued out of the gate as prized community assets.

And it is a challenge! That’s why when folks are looking for their first teaching job, it’s essential to scout the principal. Make sure you’re going into a functional environment where you have a principal to really help nurture your development and not push you into the toughest possible context when you’re the least experienced.

Vicki: Ah, we could talk about that forever — because how do you tell if there’s a functional environment? Because sometimes some people talk a good game.

How can you tell if a school is a good environment?

Dan: It’s true, it’s true. It’s hard to tell from the internet how a school’s environment and culture really is. You have to ask really probing questions. You have to try to get candid opinions from folks that work at the school — or who have worked at the school, maybe outside of the formal interview process.

And then, really trust your instincts when you do meet with that school leader. If your radar is pinging that something is really kind of off here, don’t look past it.

Vicki: How can we help teachers? Because when you build a great teacher, aren’t you constantly building and rebuilding yourself?

Do we have options so great teachers don’t have to leave the classroom?

Dan: Yes, definitely. And teaching needs to have more sort of ladders and lattices within the profession so that teachers can lead without leaving.

I mean a lot of times, the only opportunity for a promotion from being a classroom teacher is to leave classroom teaching altogether.

So this is where the Center for Teaching Quality has done great work on teacher leadership, advancing the concept of “teacherpreneurs,” and hybrid roles.

https://www.teachingquality.org/

There are more and more states and districts that are looking at how to divvy up teachers‘ time and responsibilities so that they’re not every single year loaded up with the exact same course load, same number of preps.

Because absolutely people burn out.

There’s research about how that career arc can really plateau five-plus years in — unless you give people the opportunity to really activate their passion and spread their instructional expertise and their skills.

Vicki: So let’s back up. We’ve talked about the fact that we need to keep learning. We’ve talked about when you get out of college, you’re not quite there yet and you need to be in the classroom. But how can colleges do a better job of preparing successful teachers?

How can colleges prepare better teachers?

Dan: This is controversial, but I really support the EdTPA, which is a performance-based assessment.

It’s like a mini National Board Certification portfolio that a number of states are requiring students to use to demonstrate their competence on where they can demonstrate evidence — videos of yourself during student teaching.

And it’s scored by accomplished assessors. It’s kind of like a bar exam for teaching.

I think as colleges of teacher education can embrace this concept of the profession having an independent verifier of, “Yes you’re ready.” I think that may help raise the bar for ensuring that instruction that happens at the college of teacher education is really practical, relevant, and clinical based.

Vicki: Why do you think this is so controversial? Is it because college professors don’t want anybody looking over their shoulder? They don’t want the accountability that the teachers in the classroom have right now also?

Why is EdTPA so controversial?

Dan: Yeah, I think for a long time colleges and universities have been fiefdoms of deciding who is going forward into the teaching profession. So this would be an outside arbiter, which infringes on turf issues and can be threatening to some.

And there’s expense. Becoming a licensed teacher? There’s a lot of cost for licensure exams and this also costs money. In some places, it is underwritten by third parties, but it’s tough for young people that want to be teachers to be taking on debt.

There are policy solutions to that. I don’t think aspiring public servants should have to pay out of pocket. Certainly, in high achieving countries outside of the US, aspiring teachers don’t have to have to take on debt. Their education is subsidized but EdTPA; there is a cost to do it which invites pushback.

Vicki: Well, and you know (something that) we teachers are talking about all the time is that you can’t really measure knowledge from a test.

I would argue you really can’t measure whether somebody can teach — from a test. Would you?

Dan: Not a paper test, no.

And I mean, and EdTPA is one instrument, but this is a portfolio-based assessment where you’re submitting lesson plans, videos or tapes of yourself teaching, reflective commentary, artifacts that you’ve cultivated from your student teaching, scored against a really rigorous professional rubric.

Yeah, one assessment would never be holistic enough to encompass all of what teaching involves. But I think it is one key piece of raising the bar for the profession — helping to grow teachers that have that baseline of competence on Day One. I think this is one part of that puzzle.

Vicki: Yeah. The whole point is that it’s not just a test, it’s performance-based, right?

Ben: Precisely.

Vicki: As we finish up, Dan, we’ve covered a lot of bases here on how to build great teachers.

Could you give a 30-second or one-minute pep talk to those whose job it is — whether they’re curriculum director or principal at a school who’s trying to help teachers become better, or a college professor who is really trying to help teachers become better… What do they need to be doing to help great amazing teachers?

How to help new teachers stay in teaching

Ben: Sure. Overwhelmingly, there’s really compelling market research that what young people in early career professionals want most out of their job is impact. Of course, teaching supplies that.

And then there’s NEA research that says that the number one reason that people join teaching — and the number one reason they stay in teaching year after year — is to work with young people.

So that craving to have an impact and to work closely with young people is at the core of what fires up people who want to teach.

So we have to ensure that those opportunities are facilitated when preservice and early service teachers, that they get to have moments of success. They want to do a good job.

They may feel overwhelmed by the work, but to be able to facilitate and celebrate successful early moments — no matter how small. This creates rocket fuel for those young, developing teachers.

It can be a real grind being a new teacher! You feel overwhelmed. You feel like a failure. So anything that veterans and nurturers of the village can do to help those early career teachers really “see” and “dissect and understand” their moments of success and promise and potential, I think, will fire them up to believe in their ability to earn that impact and go forward and be great for the long term.

Vicki: And that’s so very true because I think back on my first day of teaching.

I didn’t come to teaching from the teaching side, I came from the business world, but my mom and my sister were teachers.

At the end of my first day, they brought me prizes. It was like a card and some other goodies to celebrate.

It was like, “You made it through the end of your first day! We’re so excited for you!”

And it was like … I felt like doing the touchdown sign because they made me feel victorious that I had done something that was very hard and very overwhelming. But they celebrated that!

I love the idea, “Celebrate the small wins with new teachers.” I think that this is something that all of us at our schools should ask ourselves. “Are we helping our new teachers celebrate those small wins?”

Dan: Precisely. And that celebration that they provided for you your first day you remember all these years later! It made a big difference!

Vicki: Fifteen years later. In fact, I don’t know if I would have stayed if I hadn’t had all that encouragement the first year because I think that every mistake in the book? I made it. (And even some not in the book that I will not admit to.)

Dan: There’s a great report from TNTP from four or five years ago called “The Irreplaceables.”

https://tntp.org/publications/view/the-irreplaceables-understanding-the-real-retention-crisis

It’s about how just even a small gesture to give a “thumbs up” to a hard working teacher can be the difference between their leaving and staying.

Vicki: Love that. So teachers, we have encouragement to help build great teachers. All of us can help build great teachers — because we can all encourage other teachers. And that is remarkable!

Bio as submitted

Dan Brown is Co-Director of Educators Rising and a National Board Certified Teacher. He lives in Maryland and serves as Vice President of his local public school’s PTA.

Blog: Educators Rising

Twitter: @DanBrownTeacher

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored podcast episode.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.) This company has no impact on the editorial content of the show.

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