#i had no real reason to root for the lead(s)

[lamardeuse]

well. shit. the Kenny interview just made me realize this may be really happening, huh? if it's real, here's the thing:

Tim Minear is not special. There have been so many TV powers that be, whether creators or showrunners or networks, who have been fundamentally incapable of guessing the ingredients in the secret sauce, the magic stored in this creative endeavour they've been entrusted with - even if they played a hefty part in making it. I'm sure all of us could name a dozen shows like this: shows we loved where that magic gets lost when TPTB think the format needs a "shakeup" or the program needs a "broader appeal". Sometimes it's a reaction to something happening behind the scenes, such as an actor asking for what they consider to be too much money or a Black woman knowing her worth and having the audacity to ask for better treatment (yeah, I'm talking about more than one show). They decide that they know better than the audience what the audience wants, enjoys or expects from the show. And nine times out of ten, it backfires.

911's special sauce is, first and foremost, that its core cast is incredibly fucking talented and - more than that - beyond happy to work together, in a way I haven't seen on many TV shows. There seem to be no prima donnas on that cast, and the #1 and #2 on the call sheet lead by example when they have every right by Hollywood custom to put up their feet and demand star treatment. I defy you to find an actress of Angela Bassett's calibre, experience, and status who would go through that whole cruise ship filming ordeal, but she did it. Krause puts himself through the same longass overnight shoots the rest of the cast does. The show itself is not great art, it's basically a high concept soap opera that only works because the writers have created loveable characters and the actors make you root for them no matter how silly the plots get. And because everybody lives and nobody dies.

If we wanted to watch a show where people die on the regular, we have a hundred other options. But this is one of the reasons we tune in to this show. We LIKE the stakes being low, we like our escapist nonsense, we're good with it.

One of the pitfalls of being in charge of a TV show, it seems, is you get to the point where you think you're making Great Art, and worst of all that you're smarter than the audience. Tim decided the audience (and who knows, maybe the actors) needed a lesson, needed to know after seven and a half seasons of keeping everyone intact that people could actually die. But here's the thing: we're not fucking stupid. We know all of this shit everyone survives could have killed them several times over in the real world, or on a TV show that was based in reality. But 911 has never been based in the real world, and we don't care.

Tim could have been happy that he and the other writers and cast and crew had created a show where the audience was able to suspend its disbelief to a frankly ridiculous extent because they loved the characters and actors that much, but instead he decided he was making a different show after seven and a half years. And if this is real and Bobby is really dead - and right now it seems like the only way it might not be real is if Tim hasn't told the actors what he's planning for the finale - I can't help but wonder if the secret sauce is gone forever.

Fuck.

[warblogs17282]

I wonder what mental health services/support and rehab are like in Helluva Boss.

Like we know there's rehab, as seen with Barbie Wire in s2 e5 and Verosika in s1 e3, for alcohol and drugs. But that doesn't really tell us much about mental health services, or show that the rehab is even effective, considering both of them got back into their addictions after they got out of rehab.

So it wouldn't really be a stretch to assume mental health services are quite bad, even more so for a diagnosis. As we both know, Blitz and Stolas are very clearly suffer from mental disorder(s) and/or are neurodivergent. It makes a lot of sense why those two didn't get diagnosed, it would be a problem, mainly it could quite possibly screw up the respective abuse both fathers gave to their children.

Also, considering Blitz did go to a therapist before but never was able to take it seriously really does not paint mental health services in a good light as well, sure Blitz has deep rooted trauma and has developed strong negative habits to try and ignore the deep rooted problems he has, just like Stolas, both of them slipped through the mental health system, got ignored for various reasons, if there's even one to begin with.

Now, Stolas does have those anti-depressants he takes, but without follow up to them with a professional, it really doesn't mean a whole lot, like they're just trying the bare minimum so that Stolas can survive, instead of adding that bare minimum with something else, to create an actual solution that leads to actual healing. Of course the deep rooted abuse of the Goetia, Paimon and Stella in particiular wouldn't allow that actual healing because it would wake Stolas up to the truth, breaking the abuse they had tried so hard to keep up for years upon years. Making Stolas slip through the system as a result.

Finally, we have the alcoholism Stolas has a bad case of, twice in s2 e1, with the second time in that episode Stolas getting blackout drunk to numb the pain, and another case in apology tour, where Stolas gets incredibly drunk, having an entire bottle in his hands at one point, and stealing someone else's drink, leading to that one-night stand which let's be real there's a good chance Stolas is gonna regret that one when he wakes up. It makes sense why he didn't go to rehab for this, while I read somewhere that Stolas finds the alcoholism embarassing, the deep rooted abuse prevents him from seeking help, plus no one else really knows how bad the alcoholism is for Stolas, so no one else can actually say to Stolas 'hey you should probably seek help for this', so he just stays in this cycle of being dependant on alcohol to numb the pain away.

Most likely than ever, the only way Stolas actually is able to get into scope how bad it's gotten and actually get help, it's gonna start by telling/accidentally slipping it to someone, who might actually wake Stolas up to that specific problem in his life, which may also lead into Stolas starting to come to terms with some of the others problems in his life as well he needs to work on.

[red-balloon12]

I just “watched” episodes 7 and 8 of Hazbin and I have a lot of thoughts.

But let’s start off with episode 7

Rosie and Camilla were EVERYTHING this episode. I love them both and I didn’t really have much to say about avails before this episode but like…I loved them a lot. Rosie is an absolute sweet heart (despite her being a cannibal)

Vaggie has wings now….Y E S. There’s SO much visual potential for this. I can just imagine her carrying Charlie bridal style through hell and her expressing with them as. I know a lot of people were confused but I’m gonna give explanations now: Lute ripped off her wings, she didn’t cut them with an angelic weapon which means Vaggie was able to grow them back through “The Power of Love”™️ and sheer will power.

At first I was a bit disappointed that Charlie and Vaggie didn’t actually properly and I was a bit underwhelmed by Charlie’s reaction to Vaggie’s but I’ll tell why I’m not as disappointed anymore.

Alastor was behaving a little bit like Charlie’s father figure in this which is funny considering episode 5. (But I know Chalastor shippers are gonna be weird about it and use the scenes for their fuel. Smh.) Not to mention I can see Camilla becoming a mentor/motherly figure for Vaggie in the future. But oddly enough I can also se Rosie being a mother figure for Charlie too.

Camilla’s song is probably my favorite out of the song list so far and while I’m a little disappointed it wasn’t a duet between her and Vaggie like the first song kinda was, we did get a training montage out of it and the explanation about Camilla defeating an angel leading up to it was freaking cool. (I really like how Camilla’s footwear was used as instruments in the song, I love stuff like that)

And now….for episode 8

I really liked Vaggie’s war outfit, Charlie’s was okay too.

I’m not gonna lie to y’all, I lowkey was kinda rooting for Adam when he was going up against Alastor. I’m sorry but I just…do not like him…or his fans for that matter. And GOD DAMN was it refreshing when Adam broke his staff, that man needed to be humbled….I just wish it wasn’t Adam that did it…cus I don’t like Adam either. And I feel like Alastor’s fans are coping with the fact that their precious deer demon daddy lost to a damn angel. (And yes he did loose to him. Cope and seethe) My guy wasn’t gonna land a scratch on Adam without an angelic weapon, what did people think was gonna happen?? But I’ll give Alastor props for holding out as long as he did.

Speaking of him, the reason why I didn’t mention the deal he made with Charlie yet is because it connects with this episode. So I’m 95% certain he has a contract with Lilith and it had something to do with that stick of his. His staff was probably the source of a lot of his power and it can’t be regenerated because it was broken by Adam’s guitar/axe. That “favor” that Alastor wants from Charlie might be to have her make him a new one, a more powerful one that he could possibly…idk…kill Lucifer or Lilith with? Idk dude, the man’s be scheming. But I’m like…98% certain his gonna be the BBEG by the end of this…and if not him, than Lilith.

CHAGGIE DUET- STARMOTH DUET- I’m so ill about them. This is why I wasn’t so mad about them not talking because of THIS SCENE. At this point, I could care less if people still think they have no chemistry after this or they think they’re boring. They’re real, they’re canon and they are beautiful. COPE AND SEETHE, BITCHES! I just hope they get more original duet pieces and not reprises in S2 but the fact they used the same song from Charlie and her dad is really cute.

I liked Vaggie calling Charlie petnames during battle. Little things like that is what makes these two so nice to watch.

Vaggie Vs. Lute…dispite me hoping Vaggie would be on even footing with Lute, it wasn’t realistic, and I’m glad they kept it realistic. Vaggie was out of practice for YEARS meanwhile Lute was not only going at it after Vaggie’s falling but she was also the lieutenant. But this is where Camilla’s advice came into play. Lute fought Vaggie with vengeance in mind as well as her thinking she was indestructible. This lead to her downfall when Lute was so caught up in mocking Vaggie, she accidentally gave Vaggie time to think of a way to outsmart her. Lute fought hard but Vaggie fought smart and it paid off in the end. And we got that BADASS line from Vaggie at the end of it. I love it when my girl gets W’s.

I’m disappointed how Charlie was overpowered by Adam though. I was so ready for her to throw hands with him. But I can see why this is the case as well. Charlie never really had to go all out before in her life. So she’s kinda rusty and inexperienced compared to Adam and Lucifer. (Also rip Razzle or Dazzle. You will probably be missed) But she did get two good hits which I can appreciate and she was the first to actually do damage to Adam. Something I can also appreciate.

Speaking of which, Lucifer absolutely OWNED Adam as he should. We stan a short king who loves his daughter.

Sir Pent was absolutely ROBBED of his moment by Adam and I don’t care that they made up for it by him going to heaven (I do care but sksnjs I’m still salty) And am I the only one that like…didn’t care all that much for his crush in Cherri? Like, I do like it in theory but the pacing…OH THE PACING IS THE REAL VILLAIN OF THIS SHOW. I wish they had a little bit more build up to that kiss. But hey, at least we have confirmation that the hotel does work. Rip Sir Penny. You WILL be missed.

I don’t know how I feel about Nifty of all people being the one to end Adam. On one hand it WAS foreshadowed at the beginning but one the other hand..it felt cheap(?). Like it would have been more satisfying for say Vaggie or Charlie to land the final blow, from a narrative standpoint at least. But…it was Nifty. And uh…was I SUPPOSED to feel bad for Lute seeing Adam die? I’m sorry but they both deserve to get their wings cut off. Adam was a fun villain but I’m glad he’s dead.

Hopes/Predictions for S2

I want more Early Stage!StarMoth. One of the criticisms people have with their relationship is how little set up they have. The best way to rectify this is to show how they were when they were still crushing on each other. A good example of this is Ruby and Sapphire from Steven Universe. Ruby and Sapphire were already established as a couple for Y E A R S but because we got to see how they fell in love and how they worked in the early days, people got more invested in their love story. So I hope Hazbin does the same with Charlie and Vaggie.

I also want Vaggie on her own. I know this is contradictory to my first want but I’ll explain. The theory as to why Vaggie seemed a bit shallow for a lot of people in the show was because they felt like Charlie was Vaggie’s whole personality which is something that I semi do agree with. So I want Vaggie to pick up a new hobby in S2. Whether it be her doing some dancing or maybe she becomes a musician. I just want more of VAGGIE.

And speaking of…I want Camilla to become some sort of mentor for Vaggie. I mentioned it earlier but I’m gonna do it again. Lute’s gonna come back in S2 and she’s gonna want revenge on Vaggie. We’ve seen how underpowered Vaggie is compared to Lute when it came to raw skill. But Camilla knew how to fend off from the angels and Vaggie did use her advice. I think and hope that if Vaggie keeps on training under Camilla, she can definitely surpass Lute and become a better fighter from it. Hell, Camilla can even help Vaggie deal with her anger issues.

It would also be fun if Lucifer trained up Charlie to be a better fighter (or Vaggie and Charlie can train together. It would make for some good moments between them)

This is a smaller want but I want Vaggie to cut her hair…she looks so much more cooler with shorter hair. And maybe a name change??? Maybe?

I want Charlie and Alastor to fight. It’s probably gonna happen with that deal and all. Some one is gonna suffer and Charlie (after having more experience) is gonna take on Alastor and I want her to remind him why she’s the damn Princess of Hell.

I just want the cast to interact with eachother more. Don’t let it just be Charlie and Vaggie or Angel and Husk. I wanna see how Vaggie and Husk would interact. They’d seem like a pretty chill duo.

I predict Lilith is gonna be the BBEG if not Alastor. She’s either gonna have to throw down with Charlie or Lucifer. And if somehow Alastor reforms, he may throw down with her. Lilith is gonna fight SOMEONE. (And Charlie may have to do a sing-nu-jitsu on her)

I predict Angel and Husk are gonna have to face with their soul binders (Alastor and Valentino) and both of them are probably gonna be rushed.

I predict Lute and Vaggie are gonna fight again and I HOPE Vaggie is more ready for it than in the finale.

I predict either Angel or Husk is gone be next in-line to be redeemed (which means either one is gonna “die” next season)

I predict another standoff between Alastor and Vox…and this time Vox is more cocky since Alastor took a BIG hit in the finale.

I predict Emily is gonna become a sinner.

And last but not least…I predict Vaggie and Charlie are gonna have a wedding at the end of the show.

My “final” thoughts for Hazbin Hotel S1: Pacing and tone shifts were the biggest flaw for this season. Moments, relationships and topics suffered from the poor pacing and while some of the blame goes to the lack of episodes, most of it goes to the writers. I can’t tell you how many moments fell flat due to the rushed episodes. You don’t really have time to breath with this show and the moments that you do get to breath are some of the best moments of the show.

(There’s also bias issues but that’s a separate topic-)

But for what it had…it wasn’t the worst. And I’m actually kinda looking forward to season 2.

[bookblrihardlyknowher]

Feminist Horror Masterpiece or Not Like Other Girls Manifesto?

Maeve Fly Book Review

Title: Maeve Fly

Author: CJ Leede

Genre: Slasher/Horror

Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Start Date: July 29 2024

End Date: July 31 2024

Favourite Quote: “I have never understood, and still do not understand the notion that a woman must first endure a victim hood of some sort…to be monstrous. Men have always been permitted in fiction and in life to simply be what they are, no matter how dark or terrifying that might be. But with a woman, we expect an answer, a reason.” Page 130

What Iiked & general thoughts:

Before I say anything else I have to say the cover art is one of the best I’ve seen in a long time, it is gorgeous and I just love looking at it.

I really liked this book and will read CJ Leede’s next work immediately when its published. The atmosphere, the imagery and the scene building was so good, I gained an appreciation of LA through Maeve and it perfectly mixed the disgusting imagery with the beautiful. The characters were also fully fleshed and felt so real. I knew Maeve, understood her, and it was so easy to get into her head space. She is a well-written, complex, interesting character who I couldn’t help but root for and forgive her horrific actions. It’s a love letter to 80’s/90’s horror and LA, with some interesting kills. It’s one of my top reads this year. It’s not perfect but its a book I will definitely recommend.

Criticisms:

I’ve seen a lot of comments about how she gives not like other girls and I agree, however I don’t have a problem with it in this case: she isn’t like other girls…shes a serial killer, we’re not supposed to relate, we’re not supposed to love her. All that to say, I understand why this turns people off, but its not something that turned me off of the book. The book takes a long time to really kick off 2/3 of the book is lead up, then the last 1/3 is pure gore. Personally, I don’t hate slow starts and really need to understand the characters to care about the story, but if you want a fast paced splatter punk then this is not the book. I would’ve liked it to go a little faster and there was a little too much description of surroundings that I ended up skimming.

SPOILERS BELOW

The Ending: I understand why Maeve kills Gideon and it fits with the character, I just don’t know how i feel about it … in the moment I was pissed that he died but after reflecting I realized that its the best ending. Her character is trained to kill, shes had a mental snap and the guy she has complex feelings about that she doesn’t know how to cope with found her bodies, of course she didn’t hear him out. Also if they had ended up together: it would’ve been a dark romance not a horror, if the horrible person gets a happy ending and can suddenly control her urges, that would’ve made me hate the book if we’re being honest. Maeve is a complex, but ultimately horrible person who doesn’t deserve a happy ending and would never be able to control her urges and emotions enough to have a happy ending make sense. So idk I don’t hate the ending but I understand why people do.

The Doll: This is my biggest criticism, I don’t understand why the dolls were there. They were placed in the story randomly, weren’t focused on and didn’t get a resolution. The whole doll ‘storyline’ could be taken out of the book and nothing would’ve changed.

[streets-in-paradise]

As I was looking at something else (but related), your post on how much Troy (2004) builds on/is a reaction to earlier movies - especially Helen of Troy (1956), wasn't it?

Because I was reminded again the other day how closely Paris the Musical's first act is based in that movie's events for the same part of the story. (Paris and Helen meeting after a shipwreck, the way the Greek kings are plotting war already, and such.)

And it's just interesting/funny that this movie seems to have had such an effect on later adaptations!

Hi!

I haven't got into the musical yet, partially because I don't listen to/watch many musicals and so I have to get in the mood to pick the two I have yet to check: Paris and Epic.

That being said: you are absolutely right. And the thing is it had such strong impact but this influence remains pretty much forgotten by history. Every now and then, a new Iliad adaptation pops out and people start to make the same questions about why they took certain choices that don't happen in the text without really digging for the root. I got genuinely curious about this topic, so i recently started searching about the history of trojan war on film. Youtube is full of peplum films you can watch for free, so i began watching and rewatching every film adaptation i could find.

I recently rewatched this one again and found out Helen of Troy (1956) is responsible for the following creative liberties that happened in Troy (2004), yet can often get repeated in other trojan war media :

-Paris portrayed in an heroic and/or romantical light. ( Although in this one they made him a full gary stu action hero because it's the 50's. They won't risk it with an effeminate, coward lead guy/love interest.)

-As a direct consecuence, Helen x Paris as star-crossed lovers.

-The idea that the greeks already wanted war with Troy for economical reasons linked to a rudimentary concept of imperialist development.

-Agamemnon and Menelaus as a power villian bros duo that push the war for these interests.

-Menelaus being older than Helen, an irascible man, and somewhat aware she doesn't want to be with him because in this version is a convenience marriage.

-Paris for real going on a peace mission in Sparta and meeting Helen there, not him using a pre existing political conflict as excuse to go find her.

In this point, some versions also took the concept of them meeting after a storm threw Paris like a sad wet cat on Helen's shores. Troy avoided it only so they could introduce both Hector and Paris in the same Sparta scene.

-Trojans portrayed in a peacefull, sympathetic light as a mighty, more civilized city threatened by some barbarian danger.

Not all of the adaptations influencied by it that followed took every single element on this list, like Troy did, to a point where you can literally get the feeling that the ending of the movie is a fix it giving the 1956 the happy ending that was abrutly taken away in its final scene.

However, i find extremely curious that this movie also influenced so many other later portrayals of the trojan war, because it wasn't a successfull one. With a budget of 6 million dollars, it only made 3.5 millions.

Not only it wasn't a box office hit, it's not very remembered. Despite it belongs to the golden age of classic historical epics, it's not a Ben Hur or Cleopatra. It didn't make it to movie history in a similar light and according to what I have read in the standard online sources for movie trivia, some critics teared it to shreds.

One can wonder, ... how a movie with this reception had such huge impact in everything that came later? And yet I have no answer. It failed at its time, but silently made history sneaking into the imaginary of many creators for future versions like a game of telephone. Everyone has been there, but no one mentions Helen of Troy (1956) as an influence of theirs because they may not even realize it.

It's hilarious, it's fascinating. I will be forever intrigued by this fact.

[sshbpodcast]

Fantasy Casting: The Muppets

by Chris

So the idea of doing a Muppet recast has been bouncing around my head since guest Carl made Johnny Fiama his Vic Fontaine in his DS9 Recurring Characters fantasy cast. Since we did a last-minute swap to cover the new USS Callister episode of Black Mirror this week this left a gap that I decided to fill in. I'm on my own this time, so follow me through my thought process as we swap out the TOS cast for everyone's favorite felt actors...

Captain Kirk: Pepé the King Prawn

The trickiest part of this whole exercise was trying to decide how much to lean into Trek and how much to lean into The Muppets. We've talked often over the years about "Kirk Drift"; the idea that Kirk is this brash ladies' man who constantly breaks the rules. But looking at TOS he's much more by-the-book, and the constant falling for the ladies really only picks up in season 3, and is still nowhere near as common as people like to say.

But let's be honest, there's going to be at least some element of parody to a Muppet take, so let's go with the effortlessly cool and suave Pepé as our Kirk. Imagine a Kirk chop with that many arms!

And yes, I briefly considered Link Hogthrob but threw him out for two reasons:

he's more a take on 1950s sci-fi captains

That is a terrible surname, and I really only brought it up so I could remind you all that it is legitimately his full name, which is horrifying.

Mister Spock: Kermit the Frog

"Wait," I can hear you say, "shouldn't he be Kirk? He's the Muppets leader!" True. But he's also one of two obvious straight men in the cast, the other being Sam the Eagle. But while Sam is stern and humorless, Kermit himself can engage in the shenanigans, too, albeit often in a subtler way. This would translate well to Spock's human/Vulcan struggles, making him a natural fit for the role. Also, it ties into...

Nurse Chapel: Miss Piggy

Our original TOS recast didn't involve Nurse Chapel, but as soon as I hit on Kermit as Spock I had to include her just to do this. Christine's pining replaced by Miss Piggy's very active pursuit of her Kermie would lead to some excellent scenes. And you know she wouldn't take the Plomeek soup incident from "Amok Time" the same way...

Bones: DeForest Kelley

Look, there's always at least one major recurring human. And you know the one you want to see surrounded by Muppet madness if everyone's favorite irascible Starfleet physician. You cannot tell me you don't love imaging him and Kermit-Spock arguing about human nature.

Scotty: Gonzo (With Rizzo)

If, like me, you grew up on A Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island it's hard to separate these two. So borrowing a page from the Kelvin timeline's Scotty/Keenser combo we've got Gonzo as Mr. Scott, but with Rizzo serving as his always-present sidekick. I also imagine the rest of the engineers would be the various Muppet rats, like the diner staff from Muppets Take Manhattan and the bookkeepers in Christmas Carol.

Sulu: Fozzie Bear

Let's be real, you can't have a Muppet Project without Fozzie. Trek has Kirk, Spock, McCoy' Muppets has Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo. And while I cast them all differently than you might expect they all have to be here. And yes, the main reason I chose him for Sulu is because he's the primary driver in The Muppet Movie and Sulu's the navigator, so I figured that worked well enough.

Uhura: Janice

The Muppets unfortunately have a terrible lack of major, named female characters. But still, her role as a musician makes Janice feel like a natural fit for The Enterprise comms officer. Plus we know she can sing, like her human counterpart. And there's certainly an unflappable quality to her, even if the root of it feels a little different.

Chekov: Walter

Introduced in 2011's The Muppets, I promise I picked Walter without considering the fact that he shares a name with the original Chekov. It's his youthful enthusiasm that seemed a natural fit for what the producers had wanted with the character, who was meant to appeal to the young people. But once I realized the coincidence I knew I had hit upon perfection.

And that's that! I hope you enjoyed this last little thought exercise. I've personally no plans to try the Muppet game with any of the other casts, but never say never. Or maybe another member of our group will take up the challenge. Either way, for now this serves as the end of our recasting exercised. I hope you've enjoyed them! Feel free to share thoughts with us here, our Facebook, or our BlueSky.

If you found us some other way, we're a podcast that has been working its way through Star Trek since 2016. We're working on season 2 of Discovery right now, so why not check out our Soundcloud or YouTube channel and consider adding us on your favorite podcasting app?

[thealmightyemprex]

Universal Monsters Watch Through thoughts 6

So my watch through of Universal Monster films ends....On a whimper.This was the hardest batch to get thorugh cause the films were kind of meh and I was a little burnt out

26.Abott and Costello Meets the Invisble Man (1951)

So I always heard this was the funniest of the Abott and Costello Monster trilogy ,and while I personally prefer Meet Frankenstein...This was pretty fun .Arthur Franz is decent as an invisble boxer accused for murder,William Frawley has a fun role as a cop ,and the wronged man plot works here.The highlight of the film is the boxing match where the Invisible Man helps Lou pretend to be a boxer.My big complaints are....I dont like Bud here,hes too mean and conniving ,and honestly the comedic premise of Lou getting scared and Bud not beliving him wears thin for me

27.Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954)

So this is really the last film of the big ones,the last Universal monster introduced ,and owing less to the gothic feel of most of the other monsters ,we are firmly in the era of 1950's monster movies .Aside from Frankenstein,The Creature or Gill Man is the monster I have the most nostalgia for,for two reasons :First is when I was very young I actually went to Wakulla Springs for a fieldtrip ,where they filmed the underwater scenes from the movie (And got scared by a tourguide who implied the Creature might be real ).Second is when I was 12 I went with my Moms side of the family to Universal Studios Florida ,and spotted in the gift shop a bunch of Universal Monster DVD's ,but my mom said I could only get two ,so I got the FRankenstein set(Cause Frankenstein was already a favorite) and the Creature from the Black Lagoon set (Due to the Wakulla Springs trip which got me curious to see the movie )....Also due to getting those sets we got a few free tickets for Mummy 3 Tomb of the Dragon Emperor so that was fun .Anyway I watched Creature many times as a kid .....But while I have nostalgia for the film and love the Gill Man ....Every time I try to watch this film as an adult....I just feel it lacks something.The plot kind of meanders ,while the actors are great (Especially Julie Adams as the leading lady and Richard Dennings as the villain )I find the characters stiff and the ending is a big anticlimax .Not even mentioning the fact the Creatures theme is kind of annoying with how much it is used ....That said I do think this IS a good movie ,with excellent underwater cinematagorphy,the cast is exccellent as I said,the scene where Adams character and the Creature swim together is like an iconic movie moment,.....And the Creature himself is pretty great ,with an excellent design and being a monster I feel for .Also props to his two performers,Ricou Browning (For underwater scenes) and Ben Chapman (For the on land scenes ).Also one cannot deny the legacy of the film and influence it had,especially on filmmakers like Stephen Spielberg and Guillermo Del Toro

28.Revenge of The Creature(1955)

I mean...Its alright .I like the premise of the Gill Man being put on exhibit in Marineland in Florida (Also as a Floridian I am so delighted how much Florida has to play in the Universal Monsters verse,also being the setting forAbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein ) ,I feel true sympathy for the Gill Man who is being prodded and detained by scientists and its a pretty well made film.....My problem is I am rooting soley for the Gill Man as I dont give a damn about John Agar or any of the human characters .Also dont like the big ping pong eyes of the creature in this film.Though the film is fun to watch to spot a young Clint Eastwood .Not a bad film,decent sequel but not one of my faves

29.Abott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)

Tired.Thats the word to describe this film,tired .This was the comedy duos last film for Universal and it just feels routine ....But also over stuffed,with Bud and Lou having to deal with multiple factions of characters and the Mummy is barely in it .There is one funny bit where Bud and Lou keep switching a cursed amulet ,got some laughs and its better then most of the mummy flicks but I didnt have a fun time with it .Not even Michael Ansara could save this

30.Creature Walks Among Us(1956)

And at last we get to the final film in the Universal Monster cycle.....And while not a complete dud ,its pretty boring.Aside from the villain being a jealous husband the human characters might as well be carboard and not a lot happens.IT does have a cool premise though with the Gill Man getting burnt and surgically becoming more humanoid....And it solidifies the Gill Man as one of the most tragic of the monsters and the one with the most complete story.Will say while I dont like the movie .....The ending is great and a fitting capstone to this watch through

Final thoughts:This watch through was fun ,there were some duds (Mostly the Mummy movies ) ,but it soldified my love of these monsters ,actors and characters.Might do one more post about my overall thoughts but till then here is all 30 films ranked

The 30 Universal Monster films rankes

30.The Mummys Tomb

29.Werewolf of London

28.Invisble Agent

27.She Wolf of London

26.Mummys Hand

25.Mummys Curse

24.Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy

23.Creature Walks Among Us

22.Son of Dracula

21.House of Dracula

20.Invisible Woman

19.Ghost of Frankenstein

18.House of Frankenstein

17.Revenge of the Creature

16.Mummy

15:Mummys Ghost

14.The Invisible Mans Revenge

13.Abbott and Costello Meet The Invisible Man

12.Dracula's Daughter

11.Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman

10.Creature from the Black Lagoon

9.Dracula

8.Invisible Man Returns

7.Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

6.Invisble Man

5..Son of Frankenstein

4.Phantom of the Opera

3.Wolf Man

2.Frankenstein

1.Bride of Frankenstein

@ariel-seagull-wings @piterelizabethdevries @countesspetofi

@themousefromfantasyland @the-blue-fairie @theancientvaleofsoulmaking

@princesssarisa @amalthea9 @barbossas-wench

[liedownquisition]

The real villain in Roy's characterization & backstory & relationship with Ollie getting butchered is something Lobdell wrote around but had no control over: the compressed timeline & the fact that DC execs decided to Significantly Shrink the gap between the ages of the Titans to their mentors. People mention this sometimes with Dick and Bruce but their relationship holds up a lot better with the shift from "pseudo-parental mentor figure" to "pseudo-sibling mentor figure" than Ollie & Roy's does, in particular when you include Roy's addiction & their falling out.

I don't know what was going on in n52's Green Arrow run and I'm scared to read it (Ollie's naked face feels wrong), but at least within RHATO itself, Tynion writes a far crueler rendition of their relationship and it falling apart than Lobdell, who at the very least did have a moment when it looks like Ollie really realized how badly he'd screwed up with Roy & had harmfully perpetuated his alcoholism. He does seem like he means to help, but Roy already felt betrayed by him and refused it. This is not portrayed as a moral failing on either of their parts, but rather a conflict between people who love each other and hurt each other and don't entirely know how to fix it.

Contrast to Tynion's depiction where Ollie pretty much... picked him up for techy utility reasons only. Constantly abandoned him and refused to listen to his council despite literally being entirely what he kept the kid around for. Roy was Ollie's Q (& comms guy, technically) if Q was a literal child who received absolutely no respect and was constantly denigrated.

Tynion's relationship for them was (largely) unpaid child labor, arguably even borderline slavery itself. The... space where he was depicted working from felt like it was... just a trailer. Cramped and isolated feeling. Don't even get me started on the "therapy with Hugo Strange" bit. (<- that's a tangent for a different post, that plotline gives me a headache)

Lobdell re-spun that into opportunity: an internship with someone that Roy admired, a workspace with unlimited resources and free reign to make anything he wanted, a friend to rely on, and took him along to parties so he wasn't always cooped up.

Of course, the biggest issue for me with Lobdell's re-spinning of the re-spun relationship is... well. It doesn't really explain how Roy became a vigilante himself. He didn't know Ollie was Green Arrow & that revelation is how they fell out. How does that lead to his own costume & the Titans?

And, with Tynion's the biggest gap of information (note I'm not saying it's my biggest issue bcs I hate every fucking thing about it) is... well. Roy is depicted much younger in Tynion's version then Lobdell's, but still retains the idea that "Ollie picked him out of a drunk tank to be his tech guy." Set aside the issue of "How did Ollie even know he was CAPABLE of being a tech guy," I want to know what the fuck a child that looks anywhere between like... 10-14 is doing in a police drunk tank. Is he homeless?

Lobdell's implies Roy's living in Star for education purposes (mildly horrifying to me in a "I know he's actually white but especially considering they didn't entirely retcon his Native roots, despite not talking about them much, I have some concerns on the relevance of boarding schools to this matter") & idk, I think his dad might not have been dead? or at the very least died later. Which could be a catalyst for the drinking.

[velvet-vox]

The dark side of Steampunk: Nox (Part 2)

Milien spent the entire night obsessively analysing the artifact, instead of sleeping with his wife, and in the morning, he was forced to face the consequences.

Fully immersed by the possibilities given to him by the Cube, Milien is already at work to capitalise on them in order to get out of the vicious cycle he's gotten into by borrowing money to keep himself afloat.

Here's where the milk gets finally spilled and the truth starts to knock on the door. Milien's ego, up to this point, was only the fruit of an inferiority complex set by the inability of his inventions to catch popularity; but now, it's finally revealed that Nox's obsession for the cube and it's constant need for validation from his family is also a result of Milien's antisocial behaviour probably rooted from a societal lack of care for individuality and creativity.

Ironic, since, by this very statement, Nox undermines other people's individuality and creativity to place his own higher. This is a major extreme of Steampunk, when either the society or the industry reigns over the other, the outcome can only be disastrous, as true balance can only be found when the two sides support and complement each other.

This isn't too much of a major flaw for Milien, as long as it gets addressed, it's pretty common for his archetype and it's often overcome by the end of the story.

Ah. S##t. He doesn't overcome it.

These GIFs speak for themselves; the ego boost given to him by the artifact allows for the insanity to take place, even his wife, who he has been shown capable of repressing his negative traits for, can't calm him down anymore; the next time she visits him, Galanthe tries to get Milien to throw away the Cube and go back to his family, but in response, Nox shuts her out of the door, since what she is suggesting would rekindle his inferiority complex and bring him back to square one.

Briefly touching on this particular moment, Noximilien knows the Cube's real name, despite the fact that he apparently shouldn't know what it was right until his confrontation with Grougaloragran 200 years later.

It could just be a continuity error, but I want to give tot the benefit of the doubt this time and assume it's instead intentional; back when we had only season 1, the Eliacube was this mysterious, corrupting entity whose origins were never made fully clear. So, for us to not be able to find any sense behind this discovery of his, leads us to be unnerved by the eldritch horror vibes that were originally backed into the Eliacube's concept.

As time goes by, Galanthe decides to take away her family from her husband, in hope that this will force him to get rid of the Eliacube and go back to them.

And for a brief moment, her plan almost works. Milien is taking the situation seriously, and it's about to abandon everything to go join his wife, but then... Nox doesn't.

I don't really know the meaning behind that owl shot with one weird eye, but by judging the fact that the very next shot is Noximilien's laboratory emitting smog into the air, I'll interpret it as a metaphor for pollution brought by the industrialization of Nox's operation, mindlessly destroying the planet without a person's notice.

I really like how the ticking sound of clocks gets faster before turning into knocks at the door, it makes it feel like an unfathomable amount of time has passed.

As for the reason why the beggar decides to check up on Nox and inform him of his family, I've actually come up with a way better explanation than just simply "the beggar was actually a good person, just a little short tempered and grumpy", which works well enough, but it could be much more compelling;

You see, in the previous part I've said that the beggar is the representation of the strict Victorian society and Milien the freeing Industrial revolution, their clash and tension is what gives Steampunk its meaning and charm; so here, it's almost like the beggar is saying "Bro, WTF? Shouldn't we clash against each other? I haven't seen you in months? What happened?" since, if the clockmaker doesn't want to free himself from the claustrophobic expectations of society, then... what is his purpose in the narrative?

As the rage, regret, and madness of the ensuing moment unfolds, the Steampunk narrative is completely shattered:

No longer Noxy wants to advance society to the next level of evolution; now, he just wants to bring everything back to how it was.

No longer Nox is going to use his inventions to bring wonder and joy to the world; now, he's going to use them to destroy lives in order to restore his own.

Steampunk is dead, and its rotting corpse is now being used as a vessel for the Eldritch Horror narrative that is about to ensure.

Milien is dead; a legend is born.

A terror is born.

NOX.

<<<<Previous part

Qilby analysis

Oropo analysis

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[noahsbookhoard]

📚December 2024 Book Review📚

Happy New Year everyone! And to end it up with only one day of delay here's the last reviews for 2024!

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

It was interesting but not my favorite Atwood so far. Grace's point of view was sometimes hard to follow, but the change of writing style to mark the difference of class and education between her and the doctor was a meaningful choice. I liked the mystery, the contradicting versions of what happened and the confusion of the poor doctor trying to unravel all this.

I am not opposed to open endings so the lack of answers at the end was not a problem to me but I understand that it can bother others. When you write about real events it's delicate to whether someone is or isn't guilty, better to let the readers judge by themselves.

Le Père Porcher (Chroniques du Disque-Monde #20) by Terry Pratchett

I wanted to reread it for Christmas season and, for a twist, to read the french translation by Patrice Couton. I don't credit translator enough but I always heard the highest praise for his work on the Discworld Novels. They are well deserved, the translation is amazing! Incredible work on the names, hilarious translations of the puns, it works so well! The story itself is just as good as I remembered, Death is really an amazing character.

Soie by Alessandro Baricco

I don't see the appeal. There is some nice writing, the repetitive aspects give it a nice fairy tale vibe but that's it. It barely mention the journey to Japan, barely mention silk. Which is the damn title. Instead you have a guy that travels across Europe and Asia to cheat on his wife. This wasn't was I hoped for from the title and blurb, I am just disappointed.

A Day of Fallen Night (Root of Chaos #0) by Samantha Shannon

I loved The Priory of the Orange Tree when I read it three years ago so I was excited to read the prequel. If you are like me and picked if long after reading book 1, I strongly recommend catching up on the lore before reading and if you haven't read book 1 yet DO NOT start with A Day of Fallen Night: this might be a prequel but it is not an introduction.

That said I loved it, convoluted and lore heavy as it is: it brings back all the places I loved in book 1 with even more details put on the world building and tradition. The multiple point of views are well used and they come together in really satisfying ways. Even if the threat is more or less the same as in The Priory of the Orange Tree the way they figure a solution and the fight was so good!

Retour à St Mary (Cosy Christmas Mystery #1) by Carine Pitocchi

Plain bad, and that's not the just me saying it, that's 100% of my local book club. Don't hope for a whodunit, the mystery barely qualifies as a police novel, the investigation is confusing and the culprit, obvious. This is also half of a Christmas cheesy hallmark romance. The bad half that is, because at the end Unsufferable Female Lead takes a train and just leaves behind Secretly In Love Childhood Best Friend Who Happens To Be An Anglican Priest For Some Reason Male Love Interest. It just sucks. Don't bother.

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

I really liked it, the main character spiralling down pulled me down two and at several moments I was genuinely spooked. I read it a little too quickly to fully appreciate it tho I think, I will need to reread it again!

Prince Caspian (The Chronicles of Niania #02) by C S Lewis

I don't really have much too say. Just like the first book I had watched the movie a hundred times before and I was just too old for it. It is a cute story tho, I love the talking animals, especially Reepicheep.

Winter Spirits short story collection

Overall a nice read: this is an anthology featuring 12 different authors which means 12 different spin on the spooky christmas ghost story. There's only one I actively didn't like and four where I went to check what else the author had done because I needed to study how their brain worked. I originally picked the book because it features a story by Stuart Turton, who wrote The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. His story is good but I especially loved those by Laura Shepherd-Robinson, Andrew Michael Hurley, and Natashe Pulley.

The Agatha Christie Book Club #1 by C A Larmer

This was fun but not as good as reading an Agatha Christie novel. The investigation is a little convoluted, with clues that aren't really clear to the reader. And honestly if I were the characters being interviewed by the book club member twenty seven times in one week I too would have been annoyed and slammed the door. It was a bit frustrating that the pay off required to have biographical knowledge of Christie's life. It was all explained in the end but you couldn't really follow along. The book is good but my expectations were miscalculated, I'll adjust when reading the rest of the series.

The Stardust Grail by Yume Kitasei

This wouldn't be enough to call it Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade In Space but this is very much what it is. And more. It has some really cool element of world building and alien species with complex history and dynamics. The characters were very good too, the relationship between Uncle and Maia I was especially fond of, medic is touching too, I just took most of the book to warm up to Will. Emotional, action packed, full of twist and investigation and museum heist. Very warm recommendation.

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

Gut punches galore. It had been a long time since I read a horror novel that genuinely scared me and boy was I scared. I have next to zero knowledge of the US South but the description were so vivid I could feel the heat. Also a gold star for most fucked up gay relationship to Andrew and Eddy, this should be so hot but somehow it is, good luck to Sam unpacking this mess.

A Local Habitation (October Daye #2) by Seanan McGuire

This. Was. Wild. Never saw so many deaths and especially main characters narrowly avoiding death I was SO SURE I had figured it out and in the end I was barking at the wrong tree. What a ride. I am growing very fond of October Daye and I hope we get to see more of Quentin too because he's a good kid. I was promised by

[abandonedcyberpunkspidermech]

About Canon Events:

I have some things to say about the Canon Events in Across the Spider-Verse:

(Edited because this got flagged as mature for some reason)

1. How on every Earth was Peter B. Parker on Miguel’s side regarding Miles at any point? Like… the dude said that the reason he stopped being a pizza hobo, got back together with MJ, and had Mayday is an anomaly who shouldn’t have been Spider-Man. And if Miles wasn’t Spider-Man, Peter and him don’t meet (or at least don’t stay together long) and Peter just stays his loser self. Or… desurvivalizes. And doesn’t have a family. I’d get it if Peter was like “look, I’ve personally seen screwed up stuff when Canon breaks, but I’m just trying to figure stuff out for myself since my world apparently broke Canon when we met and is still fine, so something’s a miss”, but he doesn’t do that.

2. The model Christopher Miller put on twitter makes even less sense.

If this model of the multiverse as a web with lines representing realities intersecting at nodes representing Canon Events is to be taken as correct, then…

1. Only a finite number of realities must go through each Canon Event, not every reality as Miguel claims.

2. Each reality must go through exactly two Canon Events, not all of them as Miguel claims.

This “Web” doesn’t even align with Miguel’s claim that all Spiders must go through all Canon Events. That’s not even a Web, that’s a bundle of cables.

3. The morality of the Spider-Verse trilogy is dictated ENTIRELY by how the rules of the multiverse work.

Look, every Spider is a hero, even Miguel. The reason the Spider-Society is against Miles trying to save his father is because they think it will wreck his universe and the entire multiverse, and the only reason Miles thinks it won’t is because he thinks he can “do both”. You’d want to root for Miles, but you need to know what happens if Miles saves his father to see who’s right in this. If nothing bad happens, Miles is right and the right thing to do is save his father and the multiverse. If something bad happens (that can’t be fixed), Miguel is right, Miles can’t and shouldn’t save his father, the Spider-Verse trilogy and it’s hypetrain end with a confirmation that Miles shouldn’t be Spider-Man, and Miles probably has like 3 months tops before he gets fridged/retconned in comics. And just for the record, if the choice is ABSOLUTELY between saving one person and an entire world, Spider-Man will save the entire world. Just ask Insomniac Spider-Man, who let his Aunt May… desurvivalize… so they could work out the antiserum to Devil’s Breath. Once we know how canon works for real, the moral dilemma becomes resolved immediately, and this feels like it could be a weak point.

4. We don’t know enough to confirm or debunk Canon yet.

Okay, yes, we know that Earths 65, 616, 1610, and 42 are all intact despite their Canon being broken in a number of ways, and that’s enough to motivate people into taking action against Miguel, but…

On Earth-50101, after Miles saves Inspector Singh and the quantum hole opens up, the Spider-Society IMMEDIATELY moves to contain it, knowing exactly what it is. And back on Earth-928, Miguel confirms that, if nothing else, THIS is something the Society has dealt with before to varying degrees of success, and Miguel correlates the quantum holes with Canon violations. This indicates that, if nothing else, there is some correlation between the Canon, quantum holes, and perhaps the Spot, since you can see a darkness encroaching upon Earth-50101’s Alchemax before Miles saves Singh and maybe even before Spot gets his power boost (I only saw it once in the theaters). This lead to:

5. What IS the case with Canon?

No idea. You could say that it can only be people within a specific reality who can affect that reality, but that doesn’t explain how Dr. Ohnn stopped Miles Morales of Earth-42 from being but without repercussion. It’s possible that Spot caused Canon retroactively (as in, somehow overheard talk of it, realized it was BS, but decided “Hey, why not try to make this true to be a jerk to Spider-Men”), but time travel is a can of worms, tense trouble, and Internet fights BTSV may want to steer clear front. They might even go with the comics’ Spider-Totem route for all anyone knows.

6. For that matter, how can Miguel predict anything to any degree of accuracy? There are thousands of realities with equally many variables. Being able to predict ANY Canon Event shouldn’t be possible by the mathematical laws of probability.

I may add onto this later, but my point is that Across the Spider-Verse makes its audience ask a LOT of questions that Beyond the Spider-Verse needs to answer to be satisfying.

[pynkhues]

Hey, just wanted to know your perspective on Shiv's decision. There's a huge discussion going on whether the decision was emotionally driven just to spite Kendall? Was it calculated in any sense considering her children's future or getting any power through Tom? Was she seeking Tom (the powerful man now)'s approval?

What do you think? I personally think it was multi faceted and complex and included all the things a little bit and lead her to the decision.

Would she have taken the same decision if she had no idea that it is infact Tom that Mattson's eyeing?

Hey! Oh man, it’s such a great moment and it’s one I’ve been thinking about a lot. I agree with you in the sense that it was such a multi-faceted and complex choice, and one that had many trigger points both in the sense of Shiv’s reality, her sense of power and control, and the real and mangled emotional root of her place in her own family.

Do I think it was strategic? A little, but I think she was passed the point of being able to strategise in part because she was out of time, but also in part because Shiv’s impatience means she’s just not very good at it.

I think one of Shiv’s greatest strengths is also one of her biggest flaws in that she tends not to see the wood for the trees. She’s a big picture thinker, she sees the end result she wants but not the daily machinations to get her there, which we see over and over again. She’s impatient, lives life on the backfoot so is always trying to hurry, overtake, skip steps, take shortcuts to get ahead, and when she’s asked to operate in a system where she’s forced to stop and acknowledge the reality of the moment, I think she can for once see everything for exactly what it is.

Funnily enough, I feel like the telling moment in terms of Shiv in that finale isn’t actually with Kendall or Tom at all, it’s the moment Sandi says yes in the boardroom. It’s the tiniest of beats, which Sarah plays beautifully, and it carries over from Stewy telling Shiv only moments before (after Kendall offers him Chair in their father’s office) that he thinks Shiv can still sway Sandi. We don’t see the scene, and I kind of wish we had, but the outcome is felt all the same. Shiv can’t do it, she doesn’t convince Sandi, the only woman she’s on any sort of equal footing with to vote with them, which means she has no accomplice at that table, no allies, no position, no weight, only brothers who have shown just how quickly they’ll shut her out.

I think its that failure with Sandi that ultimately untethers Shiv, because with that loss comes the loss of any way forwards for Shiv at the company. She’s no longer an heiress of her father’s making or even one of Matsson’s, she’s just a little sister, staring at her big brother, at the best friend he offers Chair to as a joke in his office when she could only play ‘behind the scenes’ so it didn’t look ‘wonky’, the person she’s spent her entire life trying to catch up to and beat, and I think she meant it, what she said to Kendall after.

She can’t stomach it.

If she can’t have it, he sure as hell can’t, and at least with Tom she has some sort of in, she has something. Not an accomplice at the table, but a trap door she could sometimes scratch her way beneath, someone who might not want a relationship with her, might not be loyal, but someone who’s bound to her, if nothing else, and someone who has no use for her brothers anymore.

Shiv would rather break the toy than let Kendall have it, even if she cut her own hands in the process, and honestly, it’s one of the reasons she’s a character of all time to me. She’s a survivor in a way none of her brothers are, but she’s also petty and selfish in the way all three of them absolutely are, and to see her really do what none of them could and cut their strings in the 11th hour was so thrilling to me. She’s kept her in, but she also knows she’s out, but at least Kendall and Roman are too. At least the three of them are locked out of the house together, even if, for a moment, they’re apart.

[pondslime]

find the word wip game

rules: search your wip(s) for the words given to you and share a sentence, then assign words for the people you tag

@visceravalentines MEG TYSM FOR THIS TAG this was so SO fckn fun. what an electric concept!! I shared more than a sentence for each bc I'm a fiend

my words were mouth, fall, dirt, teeth, and open!! cracking my knuckles like wooooooooo let's GOOOO

MOUTH;

from sacramentum (midnight mass // father paul hill x reader)

What happened to Mary in that cave? Alone, having stripped herself of all other pleasures—nothing but her thoughts and the one book she’d allowed herself. Wandering the seaside and building crucifixes out of sticks and roots, tied together by some stray fishing line. Had she looked down on his face, whittled crudely out of stone, and wished for steadier hands to carve his likeness? How many times had she woken with the sound of the sea in her ears? Perched by the mouth of the cave, watching the sky turn from gray to blue to gold to black?

Did she ever see ships on the horizon? What did she think of them? Had she ever thought of flagging one down? And what was the punishment she’d given herself for that?

When did you stop feeling hungry? You couldn’t survive on tears alone.

FALL;

from dancing in the moonlight (an american werewolf in london // david kessler & jack goodman x reader)

“We could’ve gotten frostbite.” Jack mutters.

“In the worst case scenario, yes, I suppose.” David replies, helping himself to a bagel.

“We almost got trench foot.”

“We did not!” David exclaims, laughing.

“That’s why I said almost, poindexter.” Jack counters. “One more night of wet socks and my toes would’ve fallen off. One by one—” He flicks his index finger three times, making a popping noise with his lips. “And it would’ve been all your fault. Good luck explaining that to my mother when we get back in the states. Oh, sorry Mrs. Goodman, I had Jack trekking through miles upon miles of soggy moorland and now he’s toeless. Those socks you knit him, forget about it. Maybe give it ‘til next Hanukkah and he’ll regrow his toes—oh, wait…”

“You’re ridiculous.” David shakes his head.

“Oh yeah? I’ll remember that when I’m decomposing next to you. Toes gone. Rotting.” Picking up the tongs, Jack wavers above the platter of croissants. “Sure you’ll find me real funny then, you schmuck.”

DIRT;

from sometime after midnight (house of wax // bojangles sinclair x reader)

The dull blue glow from the keypad barely illuminates the ground, but you can make out the unmistakable sign of cherry red fluid leaking onto the dirt. A steady trickle of it drips from the underside of the car—and it's not stopping anytime soon.

Your transmission is fucked.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” You exclaim.

TEETH;

from serotonin (house of wax // carly jones x reader)

She pictures her tank top, bloody and tattered, stuffed into a plastic bag labeled with EVIDENCE in bold letters. The prosecutor clicks to the next projection slide and there she is, another picture.

“Who are the women in the photographs? Are they still alive? It’s difficult." The detective on the screen grimaces. "We only have remnants of them. We’ve found teeth…clothes. The trophies they kept of these women will hopefully lead us to discovering their identities. I don’t know how long it’s going to take. But they deserve to have their names given back to them.”

“Carly?”

OPEN;

from a handful of bluebonnets (tcm // thomas hewitt x reader)

He’d been young. Young enough to still show his face, but old enough to know that it was the reason people were staring. He didn’t remember much from that day, just open-mouthed stares and the cow at the county fair with big watery eyes. Black, shining irises eclipsing the thin white sclera, framed with long lashes. She was a regal old thing, standing with her neck held high, ears twitching.

He thought he saw her again once, years later.

Her coat was duller, her head dropping. She’d traded her blue ribbons for slippery red blood, splattered along the wall and running down the grate. You use up all your usefulness on pride and this is where you’re bound to end up.

Maybe she’d been the first one. Spoiled with the heartbreak of a life that never came to be.

tagging @possumteeths, @f1nalboys, @pretty-possum, and aaaaaaa I'm blanking on who else might have wips fdjshjhfdsjhsdf

so!! whoever else wants to do this!!! pls consider urself tagged!!

your words are blood, eyes, sleep, skin, & break 👀👀👀

[a-vampire-culturelover]

Junkclan Introduction!

So after a bit of deciding, I decided I will post stuff for Clangen on my main blog instead of starting a Sid blog I'll probably forget about after a week! I may not be able to do anything like fancy comics or big drawings for it like other blogs, but I really do hope people can enjoy this Clangen thing even without that put into it ^_^!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _

Originating from the far Coast of an Ocean clan named Whaleclan, a group of several rebelling cats flee to the far North of their old home in search of somewhere to call their new Clan.

In a far area abandoned from human interaction, and overgrowth at it's brim, The small group of cats find their new home in the form of an abandoned place for Twoleg Amusement; Starview Park.

After their Leader, Lionmane, slept in a den made from a hole under the Park's statue of it's mascot, Jingles the Cat, a young cat from ages ago granted them Nine Lives, leading Lionstar to both regain faith in her ancestors, and faith in a new, although uncertain figure too.

The Cats of Junkclan, after an year of existing;

Lionstar, Clan Founder and Leader of Junkclan: A long-furred golden tabby and white she-cat.

Lionstar had not always been the Amusment Park Mascot-worshipping Leader of Junkclan, but rather a warrior of Whaleclan, Beach cats from the South of Junkclan's territory. She had always had a rebellious streak, going against her father Barracudafury's words of violence and hatred towards those in need, and went as far as to prank him from time to time in her youth. When her father had mysteriously became leader of Whaleclan, thus implementing rules of no good rhyme or reason, Lionmane stood up along many others and threatened to fight him if he continued. He had unfortunately won, send the fleeing cats far up north, where they found a strange, abandoned place where Twoleg scent wafered faintly from a forgotten past. Lionmane became infatuated with the place's mysterious "Diety" named "Jingles the Cat", and after sleeping under a hole under the Statue, gained her nine lives and began to worship the Statue as some sort of forgotten god of sorts, like a Guide from Starclan itself.

76 moons (9 lives remaining)

Trait: Rebellious

Skills: Steady Paws

Formerly apprenticed Egretleaf

Morningsting, Clan Founder and Deputy of Junkclan: An unusually spotted silver tom with a scar from a broken jaw.

Morningsting had been a young cat of Whaleclan previously, and once was Barracudafury(star)'s apprentice. When his own daughter stood against him and lost, Morningsting and Ferretstreak, two of Barracudafury's apprentices, were sent by him as espionage to take away Lionmane's dreams of peace and hope in her own new clan. Despite his true reason for joining Junkclan, his advice is admittedly well vied, and his hunting skills gained him praise in their new home.

25 moons

Trait: Troublesome

Skills: Helpful insight and good hunter

Waspflare, CLan Founder and Cleric of Junkclan: A long-furred dorsal-striped dark brown tom.

Waspflare had not always been the Cleric of Junkclan, but rather a mere warrior of Whaleclan. Abandoned by his real parents as a kit, he was mistreated by his foster parents, who saw him as weak for his outsider roots. Many helped him through the abuse, although his parents eventually became the Double Deputies of Whaleclan under Barracudastar's rule. Waspflare sided with Lionmane due to many visions and omens that predicted Barracudastar's cruelty, and left alongside many. When they had arrived at the territory and camp, Starview Park, Waspflare had been promoted to a new clan ranking, Cleric; As the First Cleric of Junkclan, Waspflare has the same duties as a Healer, but also blesses members of the clan on important events and predicts their fates, although not without explicit permission.

67 moons

Trait: Insecure

Skills: Prophet

Apprentice: Flowerpaw

Flowerpaw, Clan Founder and Cleric in training: A long-furred golden tabby and white tom wearing a single red poppy on his right ear.

Flowerpaw, soon to be Flowerheat, had once been a kit of Whaleclan, young but bullied by other kits for his lack of courage and will to fight in battle. Two other kits, Jadekit and Egretkit, now Egretleaf and Jadestalk, had been his only real companions due to their support. He had secretly tagged along with the two when they willingly left Whaleclan witlaonmane's group. Now a soon-to-be Cleric, Flowerheart simply hopes to make the right choices and hopefully grow a bigger spine.

13 moons

Trait: Insecure

Skills: Confident with words & Never sits still

Slumbershade, Clan Founder: A dark ginger and white tabby tom with fur covering his eyes.

Slumbershade is the sleepiest member of Junkclan, but also very resourceful and beloved by the kits in his games of Moss Ball and Hide & Seek. He had been called 'Lazy' and 'Unmotivated' by Barracudastar, which had motivated him to leave Whaleclan with Lionmane's group.

88 moons

Trait: Responsible

Skills: Beloved KItsitter and Very Clever

Former apprentice: Jadestalk

Thunder, Formerly a Loner: A speckled Dark brown tom.

Thunder used to live as a loner, but after another cat chased him from his home, he took refuge in Junkclan.

75 moons

Trait: Confident

Skills: Great Speaker and Great hunter

Ferretstreak, Clan Founder: A long-furred dorsal-striped gray she-cat.

Ferretstreak had been one of Barracudastar's apprentices, much like Morningsting, and had also been sent as Espionage to sabotage Lionstar's plan for a fresh start in their new home and this new land. Has a peculiar hatred for Egretleaf.

30 moons

Trait: Ambitious

Skills: Great Mediator and Learner of lore

Apprentice: Robinpaw

Jadestalk, Clan Founder: A gray, slender tom with short fur and strikingly green eyes.

Jadestalk, while childish and stubborn, is well revered in the clan for his upcommance against Barracudastar at the age of 4 moons alongside his moon younger friend Egretkit, and their Tag-along friend Flowerkit. He was revered for his gracious swimming abilities in puddles at Whaleclan, and peered the same in Junkclan during particularly flooded days.

16 moons

Trait: Childish

Skills: Good swimmer

Apprentice: Chaffinchpaw

Egretleaf, Clan Founder: A long-furred speckled pale ginger she-cat, herbs covering her pelt.

Egretleaf was the charismatic, slick and if not "Rizz Master" of Junkclan, and similarly so in kit hood in Whaleclan. Hateful of Barracudastar's cruelty and injustice, Egretkit left with her older friend Jadekit and younger friend and misfit of Whaleclan, Flowerkit on the journey to a new home.

15 moons

Trait: Charismatic

Skills: Good Climber

Chaffinchpaw, born to Lionstar with Outsider Roots: A long-furred white and dark ginger tabby tom with a heart pattern on his pelt.

Born to Lionstar of Junkclan in a fling with a wandering Loner exploring the Amusement Park territory.

8 moons

Trait: Bloodthirsty

Skills: Curious about Starclan and Active imagination

Robinpaw, born to Lionstar with Outsider roots: A long-furred pale ginger ticked and white she-cat with white eyebag markings

Born to Lionstar of Junkclan in a fling with a wandering Loner exploring the Amusement Park territory. Inherited her mother's rebellious streak.

8 moons

Trait: Rebellious

Skills: Quick to Make peace and Fascinated by Prophecies

Deceased Cats: Starclan

Starclan Guide: Apricotpaw

Apricotpaw had once been a young, kind Healer's apprentice of Whaleclan, a clan that lived in a cave by the Ocean was know for the Whale bones of an old carcass nearby camp. Apricotpaw had dreamed of becoming a hero and legend to Whaleclan as a Healer, often imagining her older brother becoming Leader alongside her as well. Her dreams were short-lived when two warriors, Rustbucket and Sharktooth, two old and bitter warriors, had plotted to kill Apricotpaw for seemingly no reason. They had killed Apricotpaw viciously in the night, mauling her into bits and pieces that bad to be taken in many trips to bury outside camp. After her bother Plumwhisker's death moons later, and after Junkclan had been founded, she grew interested and left to guide them as their righteous duty was to.

8 moons (in life) 189 moons (in death)

Traits: Righteous

Skills: Clever and easy runner

Holds a grudge on Timberdusk for their parent's crimes.

Cause of death: Killed by Rustbucket and Sharktooth

Jaykit, Clan founder and child of Lionstar with Outsider roots: A brown and cream colored Rosette she-cat.

Was born to Lionstar and an wandering loner from a fling, died of kittencough.

4 moons (in life) 4 moons (in death)

Trait: Impulsive

Skills: Picky nest builder

Cause of death: Died from Kittencough

Deceased Cats: The Dark Carnival

Timberdusk, Clan founder and Elder: Smoky brown tom with striking yellow eyes.

Timberdusk was an old elder of Junkclan, but once a warrior of Whaleclan, it's Father Clan. When he was young his parents, Rustbucket and Sharktooth, were exiled sometime before he was even conceived, after the Cause of death of Healer's Apprentice Apricotpaw was traced back to them. He had vowed to get vengeance for them and planned for many moons to kill Plumwhisker, Apricot's older sibling and deputy of Whaleclan at the time of his birth. When he had graduated to Warrior, he had planned to go out on a nightly patrol with Plumwhisker and push him off a cliff into the Unforgiving Sea. What he had not realized was that Plumwhisker had believed in him, thinking he would never go to the same lengths as his parents who had genuinely done wrong. Heartbroken at this elevation, he couldn't stop his body from enacting his revenge, and Plumwhisker died, his body found pulverized from the spikes under the cliff. It was deemed an accident and Timberdusk was consoled by others, but truly a changed cat. He retired early to the Elder's den at 15 moons young, and became bitter and sour, his guilt eating away at him for many moons. When Lionmane stood up against Barracudastar and fled with her many colleagues, Timberdusk tagged along thinking he could redeem himself. After his heart attack, Apricotpaw had banished him to the Dark Carnival, Junkclan's version of the Place of No Stars, due to Apricotpaw's anguish and grudges held over Plumwhisker's death.

163 moons (in life) 8 moons (in death)

Trait: Grumpy

Skills: Good fighter

Cause of Death: Heart Attack from old age.

Junkclan's Territory:

[whentherewerebicycles]

oh i am powerfully grumpy today let me list the reasons why to break their hold over me! and then i will list the substantive good things that will counterbalance the grumpiness.

WHY AM I GRUMPY

didn’t sleep well and got up too early (this, as you will see, is probably the root of all other ills)

was pretty cranky with ruthie at 5am because she wouldn’t poop and wanted to just wander around outside & take a little walk instead. which fine but i was so tired and grumpy already haha. and then i always feel like a CRUEL MONSTER after i have spoken to her a bit sharply because she is a sweet little girl and sometimes you just don’t have to poop ok! also sometimes when i have been short with the dogs i am like oh great this is like a two-second glimpse of the lowest setting of sleep-deprived parenthood i bet i am going to handle that GREAT. (you can see here how i was already in that Mood where your crabbiness starts magnetizing all other free-floating crabbiness in the ether towards it)

got a little cranky on the phone with my mom because it felt like she was taking a liiiittle dig at me about the salary cut i’m taking (i don’t think she intentionally was i was just already kind of grumpy and sensitive) 

i am experiencing some lowgrade anxiety about the HSG test tomorrow, partly because i have read that is going to be moderately painful and partly because i am worried it will reveal bigger problems

my lead just straight up stood me up for a meeting today lol... i was on the teams call for 10 min just waiting and then she didn’t respond to any of my messages so i hung up but can’t really wander away from my laptop in case she calls me back... i’ve been just kinda Over It for a while but man it is annoying when she does stuff like this. also lol she did the thing in a meeting yesterday where i offered to review this tiny inconsequential project real quick with my boss and my lead jumped in to be like “to make the best use of [boss]’s time, i think it’s best if i review the content first to ensure everything looks okay” which is code for “i am going to make one formatting change and then schedule a meeting with our boss without inviting you where i imply that your work was so shoddy i had to make MAJOR changes to salvage it.” i was just like sure girl. whatever. enjoy these last few days of getting to powertrip over me. you are so close to being in my rearview mirror forever.

i only have like 1-2 pointless work projects left before my last day (next friday) but they are so pointless and so hazily defined that working on them plunges me into a deep work despair spiral even though i am SO close to being done with this stupid job. i know i need to just pull myself together and finish them but wow. i hate this.

some IRL friend stuff is making me a little bit irritated and i just need to sit down for a minute at some point and decide if/how i want to react to it. it’s genuinely not a big deal it’s just one of those situations where there have been multiple small annoyances that are not exactly anyone’s fault but cumulatively just make me feel a little put-out. however i am aware that if i’d slept 2 more hours last night i might feel totally different about it so i am just bracketing it today.

phew okay. now WHAT ARE SOME OF THE GENUINELY GOOD & MEANINGFUL THINGS IN MY LIFE THAT ARE FILLING ME WITH A SENSE OF GRATITUDE THAT I GET TO BE ALIVE IN THIS WORLD IN THIS MOMENT?

i wrote for 3+ hours this morning and feel really intrigued by the project... not sure if i have a sense of where it’s going yet but it’s been quite a while since i’ve been in that headspace where you wake up and reach blearily for your phone right away because you’re just HUNGRY to review the writing you did the previous night & start working on the new draft. i am very, very much hoping that a change of job and scenery will jumpstart my creativity a bit... i think it’s just challenging to write when literally nothing is happening in your life. you have all this open unstructured time, which means you don’t value any of the time you have (because if you don’t write in THIS empty moment you can always put it off to the next empty moment!), and then you are just sitting at home not experiencing any social or intellectual stimuli so i feel like you don’t get that “lots of ideas sloshing around in my brain... new encounters triggering new ways of looking at or connecting them... back-burner brain stuff simmering while doing other activities” stuff going. ANYWAY this is all to say it feels good to be writing again & feeling excited about writing whether or not this one sticks. i am just happier when i am engaging in the practice of making things even if i am not finishing things.

part of why i started writing again is that i got two extremely long, detailed, thoughtful comments on my last story from another writer that just made me feel so, so good and creatively energized. all comments are soooo good/valued but i feel like there is something extra special about getting that kind of extremely detailed feedback from a talented writer who picks up on why you did certain things and has a very clear sense of the really, really time-intensive revision and redrafting work that goes into weaving multiple layers into a story. i read the comments yesterday and at first was happy but also kind of in a funk about it - like it was SO nice and affirming to receive them but i have also kind of built that story up in my mind to be the best/most fully realized thing i’ve ever written and can sometimes get down on myself feeling like i’ll never be able to top it or even repeat it. but then i read the comments several more times and started thinking about some of the specific scenes or choices the person was highlighting and just remembering how many times i patiently reworked not-great versions of those scenes to just steadily make them better and more effective. and i was just like okay listen. it just takes hard work and time. i have to put in the hard work. i have to invest the time. i have to give up the fantasy that the first version i write (or the second version or the tenth version) is going to be, or should be, perfect. i’m so proud of that polished final work but to get there i had to really keep the draft shitty and unfinished and patchworked-together and rough around the edges so that i could have the flexibility to rearrange things and torpedo what wasn’t working and generate new ideas through new combinations of rough material. so get over yourself and get to work, you idiot, or you really will never make anything again because you’ll have gotten wrapped up in some fantasy of doing things perfectly the very first time. ANYWAY it was a journey haha but those comments got me moving again and it really made me remember again how much i value being part of a creative community where you get to have that kind of engagement with other readers and writers.

i think it’s going to be a stupidly gorgeous day out! and then a stupidly gorgeous next week or two! soooo nice to have nice weather!! spring is here!!! i scrubbed down the deck last night before bed finally and am now just awaiting the delivery of the outdoor rug and side table.

 i had a really, really good catch-up call yesterday afternoon with a former mentee i worked closely with for a few years in my last job. i thought she was probably reaching out to ask about a letter of rec or something but it turned out that she actually just wanted to tell me about how this project she started years ago with me has continued to grow/evolve and has led to these pretty major institutional changes around making caste a protected class at our university. she was just like, ‘i’ve been thinking about you so much all year because everything we’ve been doing is rooted in the research ethos you taught me in that program. and then it just occurred to me that instead of just thinking about you i could reach out to tell you about how much you shaped this work.’ it was just so good to hear from her and so amazing to hear about this stuff she and her co-organizers have been able to achieve in the last couple years!! it made me feel really good/happy (for her but also obviously it’s just nice when people say nice things about your teaching impact!) and i also feel like it kinda lit a fire under me a little bit... like this past year has been so isolating and i think one thing i’ve missed is the way that students’ passionate commitments push YOU to be more engaged in your own life/community and more awake in your own life. i feel like this student in particular always pushed me to be more honest you know... she’s one of those people who is continuously pursuing difficult, important work because she believes it’s the right thing to do and she knows she has the skillset to do it. so i just want to hold onto that feeling you know... like as i begin to become more involved in the life of a campus community again and more connected to students i just want to keep pushing myself out of this period of isolation and into the world to do meaningful work.

[zel-shadedreviews]

Today, even over a decade, it still baffles my mind how this idea was processed and pitched, before becoming an actual film that people made. Who directed this was the same guy behind the Madagascar holiday specials, David Soren, where this was his first crack at a feature-length film.

A garden snail dreams big of being joining the race cars, but is mocked by his peers. However, he’s caught in a drag race car and gets caught in the nitro engine, enchanting him with abilities of one. This then leads him in the care of the taco workers who bet on actual racing snails, where when he sees how fast the snail can go, he has the brilliant idea of signing him up for the race.

This was, by far, the worst idea I’ve ever seen on paper as it really shouldn’t have been extended into a feature-length movie. In what idiotic manner that a snail that can go at the speed of a race car was a brilliant idea for a movie? Well, this is the result and does it really work on its own? To be fair, it completely doesn’t stand on its own single foot, feeling like a movie that they made to pander towards infants with the mind span of zero. Its storyline was as mere as its existence, featuring the dreaming underdog who gets what he wants and then that’s it. It slaps felt that it was trying to ride the tail of Ratatouille, only that the film desperately wanted you to root for the main character who received everything by the public.

As for what it is, it’s just a film that exists and is far too predictable that it’s just insulting. I would have wasted an hour and thirty minutes of my entire time on Earth by watching the most dated and cringiest of in-universe videos that could put Space Jam: a New Legacy’s rap battle, Oscar’s Hammer Time dance and Hotel Transylvania 2’s remix to shame; that would be the YouTube video of how a snail goes fast.

If I really had to find something that doesn’t keep me from passing out from utter boredom, as that ironically happened to me during a specific horrible moment, it would be some displays of racing and lighting effects; they’re adequate enough to keep my eyes open, but I could always find some more potential with Cars 2. This was easier than using bare fingers to scrape barrel bases in the unfortunate disaster that infected Megamind.

The characters lack the memorability as you’ve seen them in millions of media everywhere else, where even those felt more believable than the film’s features. The snail is just Remi without any charm or any sort of character development whatsoever, who you can’t find a single amount of relatability towards as he’s served fame and fortune just like that from just something he wanted and received. No matter how much they gave Ryan Reynolds the reins, he couldn’t deliver any comedy of execute a single line as his character reeked of was that obsessive little undersnail who learns nothing through his journey. The only time he actually suffers from anything was how there’s a huge crash of nearly all of the cars behind, but he tragically loses his ability to slither at the sound of light. Exactly what does he do to win the race? He gives up for no real reason as everyone was down and out, but he doesn’t achieve the courage to persevere.

Then, there’s his brother who’s just the pessimist who frequently disapproves his actions, before giving him an out-of-nowhere pep talk by the ending where he loses his ability. With Turbo and his brother, the other snails share the forgettable trait, as despite they’re given different backgrounds and are really forgettable, where Snoop Dogg’s appearance I remembered having no justification.

There are some human characters with the supporting one being a Spanish taco vender, where that I found as insulting as it’s overall presentation. This was some weirdly-stereotypical representation where even for DreamWorks around that time, there could have been way more space for improvement. This was some dated stereotype that they really had to pick.

Throughout the film, the snail believes in the champion racer, Guy Gagné, who turns out to be a huge competitor, where the film had the outright gall to make him a villain just because he felt his credibility would be tarnished. While there are some really shoddy examples of the twist villains, ranging from Bellweather and the alternative Buzz Lightyear, this whole choice to make him as such never would have amounted to anything. From the beginning, Gagné who showed so much passion in his own racing, but after he revealed his true colours towards the snail, he’s suddenly aching horrible towards his crew. You honestly could have scratched him from the movie without any changes.

This was the only time I actually fell asleep, where this twist made no huge impact on the storyline or any remote point in this flick.

The film really could have been scrapped from your memory and then nothing would have changed. There is no real reason to actually watch this film as viewing paint dry or real snails slither across racetracks would have amounted to something.

Final Rating: F-

0/10