#i have Much To Say on this topic lmao

[tenderlady]

Hi there! A while ago, you said in your tags to this post that you believe David Lynch would be one of the best suited directors for making a movie about the Beatles. What can I say, I've been thinking about this ever since, vaguely-yet-passionately agreeing, without putting my thoughts into actual sentences...Would you mind elaborating?

You ever get an ask so good you have to break out your laptop to type up your thoughts with greater alacrity?

My friends and I have this concept that we call "trapdoors," which are basically concepts or things that, if brought up in conversation, will cause whoever is talking to you to tumble into an abyss of information that you are duty-bound to provide. Beatles biopics happen to be one of mine, so if you would like to join me in the abyss, the trapdoor is under the cut.

I actually have a few working directors that I think would do a great job with a Beatles movie, including Sofia Coppola, Peter Greenaway, Park Chan-wook, and even, potentially, Martin Scorsese. But the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that the best-suited director working today for making a Beatles movie is actually David Lynch.

I think a lot of this ultimately comes down to what you want from a Beatles biopic, and what you haven't liked about Beatles movies in the past. For me, I'm tired of Beatles-biopic-as-hagiography and I want more stories that approach them as fully-rounded people. And one thing that is very specific to me personally is that I'm interested in the moments when the Beatles story has occasionally tilted toward the magical and mysterious, for lack of better phrasing. So an ideal Beatles biopic, for me, would be one that is dedicated to showing the Beatles themselves as holistic human beings and doesn't shy away from showcasing their bad behavior, but also one that is concerned with portraying those magical realist elements that I find so fascinating.

Enter David Lynch. Lynch has a well-documented fascination with the pop culture of the mid-20th century and an interestingly sumptuous eye toward production design (I'm thinking about the ambiguously midcentury setting of Blue Velvet in particular here), so I think at the bare minimum, if he were to make a Beatles movie, it would look right. But I'm more interested in Lynch's directorial choices and pet themes than I am in how his films look.

Much of his work is concerned with fame, be it the attainment of it or what it means to have it (ex: Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire), and also with the production of art and what it does to our psyches to create (ditto the above examples). These themes would obviously come to bear in any serious film about the Beatles, but I think David Lynch has historically had interesting things to say about these topics.

Lynch's films (and work in general) often veer into horror in their sudden depictions of graphic violence and sexuality, but that would actually be a more realistic depiction of the Beatles' history than most of what we've gotten. I think a gritty, Wild at Heart-style Lynch movie about Hamburg could be very fun. The leather and the 50s and the weird sex stuff of all of it is very Lynch, but all very true to the reality of what the Beatles' lives were like. Their story is full of these seemingly random spurts of violence (Stu getting kicked in the head, the Bob Wooler incident, the cherry bomb at the concert, John's murder, George's stabbing, just to name a few), to the point where reading about them can feel occasionally Lynchian in itself.

For me, though, the biggest draw of having a Lynch-directed Beatles movie is what Lynch is best known for, which is that dream-(or nightmare) feeling that so much of his work has. Something that drew me to the Beatles as an overeducated adult with lots of music listening behind me now is this strange sense of the mystical that hangs over so much of the Beatles narrative. The story of Paul's premonition of the dream with the gold coins, the John and Paul being mirror images of each other, people in the Beatles circle being visited by dead loved ones in their dreams, John and Paul claiming to have SHARED dreams, the whole Emperor of Eternity thing; like I could go on and on and on. These stories are all so fascinating, but often get underexplored in the (legitimately) very rich text of the Beatles story, so I get it, but I also know that Lynch would see these moments and do something really fucking cool with them.

Primarily, I see a Lynch-directed Beatles biopic going one of three ways: a Blue Velvet-style gothic set during the Beatlemania years about a naive black-Irish twink biting off more than he can chew in the pursuit of fame. David Lynch loves doubles and doppelganger imagery (Mulholland Drive, Twin Peaks, Inland Empire....), so I think he would get a lot of mileage out of the matching Beatle suits and haircuts and all the merch with their likenesses on it. I also want to see some real horror mined out of the hiding in meat vans and getting mauled by girls with scissors trying to cut off your hair for relics. Shit is crazy.

Option two would be a Mulholland Drive-style psychological horror set during the height of the Beatles' Swinging London decadence, like around 1967, potentially including India. It would definitely 100% include the Emperor of Eternity acid trip and would be primarily focused on the strange relationship and identity sublimation between John and Paul. Again, Mulholland Drive-style. Gayest potential option imo.

The last option, and the one that makes the most sense with where Lynch is in his career rn, is a Twin Peaks: The Return-style meditation on nostalgia and memory and time. I think this one would probably be getting a little too close to the present day to be feasible, but I think a lot could be done with the idea of current-day Granddude Paul constantly seeing reproductions of his own younger self and dead friends and lovers everywhere he goes. As much as I love Now & Then, the whole thing does how a weird techno-gothic, Black Mirror sheen to it, one that I think Lynch would recognize and have something to say about. Would this make Paul Coop and John Laura Palmer? Hard to say and much to unpack there, but still.

Regardless: I think David Lynch is the only one out there doing it in a weird, fucked-up way that the Beatles would deserve. (Also he literally got into transcendental meditation because of the Maharishi, so there's definitely some six-degrees-of-Beatles happening there lmao)

If you read all of this, thank you, and I'm sorry, and here is a picture of Kyle MacLachlan as Paul from the David Lynch Beatles biopic that is currently screening in my heart for your trouble

[14dayswithyou]

💖 Day 3.5 is now available! 💖

For the last couple of months, only Server Boosters had access to the 3.5 update... Buuuuut now it's available for everyone to play in the 14DWY Discord — and soon itch.io once I'm happy with the QA and state of the game — so please don't feel pressured to join unless you want to!!

The full devlog + even more screenshots are under the cut ^^

What's been added to the 3.5 version?

📺 Streamer Mode!

I've been told that it's difficult to stream and monetise age-restricted videos on YouTube and Twitch, so I added an option to remove the sexual content and strong language used in the demo.

Now y'all can invite Ren into your bed for cuddles without putting your streamer career on the line /silly /lh

This won't affect the 18+ rating or dark themes/elements of the game, however! Although Streamer Mode will prevent you from seeing any "gruesome" CGs in the future, most of the core elements of the game will still be tied to the choices and decisions you make. So you won't miss out on the overall experience by using streamer mode!!

⚙️ Custom Pronouns!

It only took me one entire year to get around to it, but you can finally choose your own preferred pronouns (or use a set of pronouns instead)... At the cost of being able to change them mid-game ^^;

Since the original pronoun screen wouldn't update until a new scene was displayed, I temporarily disabled the feature. But once I find a workaround, I'll bring it back!

💗 Choose how others perceive you!

You can now choose how the cast and narration perceive you! Originally, the narration was kept strictly gender-neutral (outside of pronouns and genitalia picked by the player), but this will soon change in future updates.

For more clarity: you don't get to choose the words specifically, but you can choose between masculine, feminine, and androgynous terms!

📋 Separate top and bottom genitalia!

You can now choose your tatas and pps separately! >:3

Alongside that, you can also choose your preferred body type!

I removed the "both" genitalia option because a few players still assumed it was an obscure version of "intersex". That wasn't my intention and I don't want to mislead anyone, so I took it out for now ^^;

I also didn't want to include a screenshot of the new genitalia choices in action (because it's NSFW), so y'all get the same character menu screen for the nth time instead lmao

📱 Relationship Screen Overhaul!

You can now change your own status for more immersion, and long-term Server Boosters will eventually be able to submit and use their own icon within the game as well!

Stalking finding your friends has now become easier by using "Buddy Maps"; a new app that allows you to see the location of all the cast members!

I want to offer players more incentive to check the relationship screen since they tend to miss the status updates, so hopefully this might help ;v;

It also says it "updates every few hours" so folks don't go overboard and check every 5 seconds to see where Ren is gdsghf (also keep in mind that he's a hacker lol)

🖤 Additional Scenes Update!

Day 2 received a brand new CG!!!!! Originally, I planned on only adding a few CGs sporadically throughout the game, but it didn't feel right to leave Day 2 so... empty... so I added a brand new CG to (hopefully) make things feel more balanced and natural!

If you decline Teo's offer on Day 3, Leon will now call and try to convince you to reconsider. However, players are still allowed to decline, and if they do, they'll reach a dead end.

After listening to feedback on itch, I changed some of the dialogue during Days 1-3 to make it seem more consistent! They're only small changes though, so it's honestly not worth looking for sdgjssga

🎶 Updated BGM and SFX!

I wanted to try out a different style of music to see if it fits the vibe of 14DWY more! The BGM features more acoustics to suit the "beachy" theme of Corland Bay, though I made a conscious effort to include piano elements as well to stay true to the original!!

I figured it'd be better to give players a live example before I make a poll (to see if they prefer the change or not) and publish it to Itch.

Some new SFX have also been added, though it's very minimal and honestly not that noticeable.

How to download and play the update?

(warning: clicking on the following links will open Discord!!) To download the Day 3.5 update, simply join the 14DWY Discord server, verify your age, and visit the "14dwy-updates" channel!

Alternatively, you can also wait until the update is publicly released on Itch to play it as well!! (It normally gets released shortly after a round of QA testing/getting feedback from the server, though I may release it earlier if I feel like it hehe ^^)

Enjoy!!

[scourge-sympathiser]

SCOURGE SUNDAY 010/???

classic

[lxikobsd]

Maybe I'm just grasping at straws here being in denial about Kunikida's significance to the story of BSD, but I do believe the theories that he might have some connection to "The Book" hold a bit more weight than what I think most BSD fans realize. For two main reasons.

The first reason being the obvious, his ability functions incredibly similar to how we know "The Book" functions. Whatever is written down becomes reality.

of course if you want to get technical about translations, this is what they say in Japanese

Ranpo's English translation is fairly accurate, but what Katsura says is more like "You materialize objects you write in this notebook"

Small side tangent, when talking about "The Book" I often see the word 現実 (reality) being translated into meaning "truth" which is not entirely wrong but can be very misleading. I feel like most people see the word truth and think "truth/lies" when its not that kind of truth. Its more accurate to translate it as reality.

Actually if we're getting into it, another clear distinction to why this isn't "truth" as in "truth/lies", the inverse of 現実 is 理想 (Ideal)... which is interesting to say the least.

But back to the topic at hand, even if the two powers are described differently in Japanese its still a similarity that exists and even Japanese fans have noticed. There's a JP analysis that someone made in 2022 about Kunikida/The Book that I think is interesting, I'll link it here

From what I see, their main reason for thinking the two are different is that the power level is different, being Dazai can nullify objects created by The Matchless Poet, but nothing happened when he touched Sigma. However they do seem to say that the structural similarities between The Matchless Poet and "The Book" can't be ignored.

Now the regulations on Kunikida's ability vs "The Book" are distinct, however its hard to say how much of Kunikida's restrictions are caused by Fukuzawa. Fukuzawa's ability adjusts the power output of people's abilities and allows for them to change the activation requirements. For example, Kenji goes from being an unstoppable force of nature when he's angry, to being just superhuman levels of strong when he's hungry.

Its hard to estimate just how much restrictions Kunikida puts on his own ability, but considering he's one of the only characters who actively avoids relying on his ability, prefers to fight with martial arts, and even teaches Atsushi to fight without his ability, its easy to assume he could be purposely making his ability only mildly convenient in order to avoid over reliance on it. This also aligns with how his Ideals notebooks are limited edition with only 100 copies of it being made a year, he'd prefer to save them as much as possible.

I've seen one or two people claim on other sites that Kuni's ability likely isn't being suppressed by Fukuzawa, but this isn't true since there's evidence to support that he's the reason Fuku learned he had an ability in the first place.

We know this should be the time when Kunikida first joined because the outfit he's wearing is specific, he's only been shown wearing that black striped vest before Dazai joined. Also Ranpo and Yosano's outfits also line up.

I'm getting sidetracked, moving on.

The second reason I think that adds weight to Kunikida's ability likely being more significant than we realize is his ability name.

Kunikida is the only ability user so far who's ability name is not a reference to any work the IRL author wrote and instead taken from the IRL author himself, that being a pen name Kunikida used.

The only other "ability" that's not named in reference to real work the author wrote is Super Deduction, which we all know isn't an ability at all.

A decent amount of people are sometimes under the impression that his ability name is in reference to his works that are called "Doppo poetry", I'm just gonna dis-spell those ideas right now with this image of what the anime Guidebook says about his ability

"能力名の「独歩吟客」はいくつもある独歩のペンネームのーつ"

Rough translation: “The name of his ability “Doppo Ginkaku” comes from one of Doppo’s many pen names”

None of what I said is 100% hard proof of anything, its just something to think about.

While I don't believe in those theories that are like "what if this character IS THE BOOK", I don't think the topics I brought up should be ignored either, they feel too intentional to not be potentially significant, and Kunikida is looking to be the last character of the ADA we're gonna learn about his life pre-Agency since we only know he's been friend with Katai for 10 years.

I think his ability uniqueness, and how he actively doesn't want to talk about his past, would be a bigger topic of discussions and theories if he was a more popular character. Sadly we do not live in that timeline.

Also disclaimer, I am not fluent in Japanese, I did ask my friends who are actually decent in Japanese questions but if I mistranslated anything that is why. I also have not read every single piece of BSD content available, nor do I have access to all the raw Japanese content.

If I missed anything important, or said something wrong please let me know! Or if you have anything you want to add I'd absolutely love to read it and have a discussion.

[willowser]

okay last thing and i know this is easier said than done and i think it's less of final end point and more of a continuous journey but once you let go of your shame and embarrassment over the things that make you happy, you'll have a lot more fun

[feral-ballad]

The issue is not racism or Zionism or anything like that, the issue is that you're posting all this political discourse on a poetry blog. People follow blogs that post a certain type of content and if the blog drastically changes the type of content it posts, a lot of people are gonna leave, regardless of who is being defended, because it's not the type of content they're looking for. It’s just the name of the game called social media. I can see that you’re passionate and your heart is breaking for ones who are suffering, but I’d like to think that not everyone is racist, not everyone is apathetic, and not everyone has to be violent (verbally, physically, or otherwise) to make a point or be validated. But perhaps, I’m an idealist.

you’re right. i’m a mere poetry blog so i’m obviously not a real person. i’m a poetry blog so i can’t spread awareness. if this is the not the type of “content” they’re looking for, then i’m happy that they left. the number followers i have has never been my concern. i have been posting poetry about all types of cultures ever since i created this blog. i have also been spreading arabic poetry for 3 years now. it has always been political. it has always been about culture and identity. people like concepts, but when they see real incidents happening in front of them, they make excuses: “this is not the type of content i signed up for, i come here for escapism and now you’e flooding my feed with politics,” and you know what? sure, i understand. i have been quiet myself this past week because i felt so helpless and devastated. i even deactivated social media because i was hurting so much. but if i’m not acknowledging these people, who will? i’m not a bot. i’m a human being. i have a platform and i have a voice. if i choose to be silent in times like these, then i simply don’t deserve this platform.

[crehador]

brother crab's fall 2024 first impressions: maou 2099

i think i forgot to make a post after the first ep because my first impressions of it were just. not that deep. i do remember going in with zero expectations and thinking hey this is actually better and more interesting than what i'd imagined! but it still wasn't That interesting

HOWEVER

SECOND EPISODE ELEVATED EVERYTHING

first of all peak bishounen demon lord design here. nothing revolutionary but a solid classic. 10/10 no notes

and like okay so the premise of a ye olden fantasy times demon lord being defeated then resurrected into a far future sci-fi world sounded really fun with the potential to be super funny. it made me think of paripi koumei which was basically incredible

the first ep was a little higher on the drama than the humor imo, but the second ep? second ep, the humor really hit

i'm absolutely loving the demon lord's extremely loyal, faithful follower who worked for centuries to resurrect him and is also his number one simp. like this poor girl almost got outed as a demon king otome doujinshi otaku. right in front of her demon king

demon lord's job hunt and the outcome of it is also just. i won't even spoil it because. hilarious. truly

the worldbuilding is also reasonably interesting, i think that was one of the things that impressed me most in the first episode

overall, really pleasantly surprised by this one and looking forward to more!

[cicada-candy]

I get the sense that Nina is gonna haunt the next season.

[cobra-creampuff]

my sister is telling my dad the story of last night and they are hard core both sidesing it. "well, you know, she doesn't take apologies well..." 1. that's her fucking problem not mine. 2. that doesn't have any fucking bearing on the two and a half hours straight of transphobic talk. 3. not taking an apology well is one thing, telling someone they're "lucky" you're not assaulting them when they say they're sorry for being a bit rude is actually a totally different thing LOL!

[blujayonthewing]

being perceived as stupid by people who are as smart or smarter than me sucks because it genuinely sucks to feel stupid, but being perceived as stupid by people who are, at least in some ways, dumber than me makes me insane

[philtatosbuck]

in theory i should be more sympathetic with catherine fox but in reality i do hate he a little bit for abandoning all three of her children in the face of their father's death

[danrifics]

Idgi. They are so clearly teasing us. Idk how anyone can take it as genuine anger.

media literacy is dying that’s why 😭

[cloudysfluffs]

Don’t listen to haters, everything ever spread about Vivzie was disproven. Your art is cute.

LMAOOOOOOOO NO IT WASNT????????!!??!?!?

[oxymoronicdumbass]

if one more person tries to talk to me about college, i swear on everything i love, i will explode

[lexicog]

traitor to the cause forgets national holiday every year KILL HIM

[f1-chaos]

✨ .