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soullessjack · 6 months ago

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i don’t think there’s anything new I can add to the performative-jack studies because it’s like..very cut and dry, guy who’s constantly perceived as a threat does his best to seem innocuous and friendly..but there is an underlying layer of exactly how jack tries to present himself to others (that I’ve definitely already posted about but whatever).

soo like. take this outline for example:

Jack: “He still has to be killed.” Cas: “Doing that might kill Dean as well, so [I] doubt any of [us] would be willing to do that.” Jack: “I would.”

‘Cas is a little shocked by how calmly Jack says this, and Jack says he knows what Cas is thinking; that this is Lucifer’s gene pool talking. It’s not. “I’m not my father. I’m not my mother. I’m me.”

“You’re all so focused on saving Dean, but Dean is Michael’s vessel. There’s a good chance Dean isn’t even alive. Is Jimmy Novak still alive?* Could anyone save him? It’s Michael. And Michael has to die.” ‘Cas stares at Jack, who looks coldly collected.

post-war jack is straight up traumatized and jaded by everything he’s seen and experienced in apocalypse world, still making efforts to be kind and sympathetic of course, but with a bit more edge to him now. for six months he’s been fixated on killing Michael, and he’s way more willing to do the Hard Thing (kill Dean) than he might’ve been before to do so (which actually reminds me a LOT of the chicken/snake story from ouroboros but we won’t get off subject).

obviously he still cares about/loves Dean, we’ve seen that in the rest of S14, but he’s also seen what Michael did to another world and wouldn’t put anything before preventing that. *he’s also very willing to hit Cas where it hurts with the Jimmy comment

but the thing that sticks out is Castiel immediately assuming that Jack’s calm, cold collectedness in the way he talks about killing Dean/Michael is somehow evidence of Lucifer’s influence or heritage; that Jack couldn’t possibly feel this way by himself. even Jack refutes it, stating that he’s neither of his parents (ie, it’s his own decision to kill Dean if it’s necessary). I think it’s also interesting he mentioned not being his mother, because I think that’s why Cas is so surprised by his demeanor and jumps to attribute it to Lucifer.

from day one Kelly’s heritage was the only argument Sam and Cas had against the idea that Jack would be evil. to be fair, Jack does take after Kelly a lot; he even looks like her to some extent. but treating Kelly’s heritage as the It-factor that makes Jack good, treating him as basically an extension of Kelly who must be good and kind because she was good and kind (literally an inverse of how Lucifer’s heritage is treated) is still just dehumanizing.

the distrust he faces is understandable coming from AU Bobby and people who are being actually displaced and exterminated by Michael, but the fact that Jack is subject to the same scrutiny from his own chosen father as well adds to why he represses these parts of himself so much, why he puts on that naive nuclear-son personality and basically butters everyone up all the time.

I think the only times when Jack has actually unmasked himself were at points of extreme low empathy, because most of the time his facade is put on for the sake of other people and the fear they feel towards him. he obviously wouldn’t have to worry about that while he’s human, but like I said, he’s literally a war veteran/criminal by this point. he’s gonna have a little more edge to him than before, and a little less empathy for the small things.

the second and probbaly more obvious one is his behavior while soulless, completely lacking the empathy required to care about keeping up his facade—so much so that he just bluntly tells Mary that he’s annoyed by everyone eggshell-walking around him like he’s a time bomb again. then, *checks script* like a flip switched, he goes back to that facade and reassures Mary that he knows they’re doing it out of love. He’s blatantly performing his emotional responses now.

jack is still soulless for like…three (?) episodes in S15, and still incapable of really feeling any emotion despite being able to logically process them. like he is literally so empty inside that he resorts to binge eating to feel some kind of sensation. but he’s consistently playing up the happy-go-lucky shtick when he isn’t just depressed and withdrawn (especially the church basement scene where he immediately gets the dumb Bambi look when he sees Cas after his failed cannibalism attempt).

got a headache while writing this so I’ll just leave it here but like. A Lot of the reason why Jack performs so much is because specific traits he shows are not only taken as threats, but are also associated with Lucifer and treated as signs of his “true nature” <- click that link it’s important for context

Mk that’s all byeeee (*´ -`)

#cal.txt #spn #supernatural #spn meta #spn analysis #jack kline #jack meta #castiel #cas and jack #tfw2.0 #spn scripts

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honeyandthmoon · 1 year ago

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ranting about wonder woman's daughter (spoilers ahead)

I gave tom king the benefit of the doubt so many times and i liked some of his most controversial stories... i have lots of his books in my shelf, but that's just insane to me, wonder woman is my favorite one, this is just garbage.

retconning the contest/trial just to have diana punch her mother? to have lizzie punch diana?

it still sucks for me that his idea was to create the sovereign, a "joker/lex luthor" type of menace as if she doesn't already had villains powerfull enough to give her a hard time. it still sucks that he decided to give diana a daughter even if fury still exists (somewhere in the multiverse). and it's not her first child in recent years too! who remembers that one justice league story from a few years ago when they gave her a son that she supposedly abandoned because he was a boy? oh in the same storyline where hyppolita became a mindless monster (also called the sovereign!). that's just recycling of bad ideas. but he probably didn't even knew about that. probably just a bad coincidence. and that's me again giving him the benefit of the doubt.

it still sucks that lizzie is not her biological daughter. it still sucks that she's called wonder woman's daughter when diana herself doesn't see herself as a mother. it still sucks that she's called wonder woman's daughter when diana didn't even raise her? what is up with those weird stories of jon and damian raising her? wonder robin? a mural of batman and superman in themyscira? with batman front and center? IN THEMYSCIRA???

if she's not her biological daughter and was saved by diana and trained as an amazon, what differs her from donna? and why aren't donna and cassie part of her upbringing? why are the supersons responsible for this child?

what's the point of giving diana a daughter if you strip her of every aspect of motherhood?

I defended g willow wilson against people online who hated her run, i thought she was so great, even if she didnt knew much about her at the beginning but she at least was able to reconcile diana and veronica (sort of) and bring her back to themyscira, continue previous plots from the rucka's run and bring ares back (bonus point for putting steve always shirtless and in need of saving)

i was even one of the few that actually enjoyed becky cloonan and michael's run. the stories sure could've been better planned but they got the spirit, build a strong wonderfam in activity and set the ground for a more modern structure of amazons in this new context. they gave me etta and diana acting truly as friends, they gave me three founding mothers for themyscira, they gave me doctor psycho stories (he is really fun to read).

I defended james robinson (!), he at least knew diana was strong enough and had her defeat darkseid and free the gods by herself

i've been reading wonder woman for years. i still have some runs i hadn't had the chance to read fully but basically everything in the past 20 years + perez era formed my love for this character. i hate how out of character she is right now. they should bring back that one rule if you wouldn't do this to batman or superman you shouldn't do it to wonder woman, that's truly disappointing.

#wonder woman #trinity #elizabeth marston prince #lizzie prince #diana of themyscira #tom king #i'm just so done with that #what's left of wonder woman media for us? the suicide squad game where they're still yapping about daddy zeus?#no animated movie. no secondary ongoing. no animated series. almost three years without any news about her solo game. no movie announced.#NO NOTHING #and she is supposedly one of the big 3

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yanderes-galore · 1 year ago

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Michael Myers yandere alphabet please!?

I don't think there's many changes from the DBD one, but I'll do my best!

Yandere Alphabet - Michael Myers

Pairing: Romantic/Platonic (Unclear)

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Stalking, Violence, Murder/Death, Blood, Possessive behavior, Kidnapping, Isolation, Marking with a knife, Forced companionship.

Affection: How do they show their love and affection? How intense would it get?

Michael is someone who would stay out of his obsession's sight for a long time. He is also shown to fixate on one target for long periods of time. His obsession is observing you, staying out of sight yet causing you anxiety.

Most of his obsession is the stalker stage. When he actually gets his hands on you his "affection" is rough. He is a yandere who seems more docile until he actually closes in on you... then he's intense.

Blood: How messy are they willing to get when it comes to their darling?

Being a slasher and called literal "evil", safe to say he thrives off the mess he makes. He shows little emotion in general, especially towards blood and corpses.

Cruelty: How would they treat their darling once abducted? Would they mock them?

Michael is silent yet imposing once he takes you in. He makes no sound but it's clear he wants you to stay where he's put you. He doesn't mock... he doesn't say much of anything, really.

He just likes to stare at you... the only thing you hear is his breathing through the mask.

Darling: Aside from abduction, would they do anything against their darling’s will?

If he feels you're going to try and avoid him, yes.

Exposed: How much of their heart do they bare to their darling? How vulnerable are they when it comes to their darling?

Not vulnerable and hard to read. Michael doesn't let you know anything about his intentions. Not being able to read him keeps you on edge.

Fight: How would they feel if their darling fought back?

Silent and stoic as usual, you can't tell. What you do know is he is at least annoyed due to his attempts to restrain you.

Game: Is this a game to them? How much would they enjoy watching their darling try to escape?

Hell: What would be their darling’s worst experience with them?

Hard to tell but I'd say no and he seems annoyed if you try to leave.

You're trying your luck.

Ideals: What kind of future do they have in mind for/with their darling?

With Michael there can be a lot. I'd say him killing your loved ones or even being rough with you to try and make you more docile.

Isolating you after the trauma that comes with getting rid of your loved ones is probably the worst.

Nothing specific comes to mind for him, he just feels he wants you... so that's that.

Jealousy: Do they get jealous? Do they lash out or find a way to cope?

Hard to tell but he lashes out anyways, which makes it hard to tell if he's jealous or not.

Kisses: How do they act around or with their darling?

Love letters: How would they go about courting or approaching their darling?

He's not a fluffy type of affectionate, he's rough and intimidating. While he mainly stalks you, if he's up close his "adoration" comes off as violent. I doubt he knows how to show genuine affection.

I've stated before that he'd be fascinated if you had hair, to the point of tearing some out to keep it. He keeps all sorts of belongings that remind him of you.

He isn't empathetic and just knows to take what he wants.

Which ends up in some pain for you... on purpose or not.

Mask: Are their true colors drastically different from the way they act around everyone else?

Would start by stalking you. He watches your routine for possibly even months before he approaches. He takes things from you to soothe his obsession.

That is until it all builds up... leaving him desperate for more...

Right until he takes you away.

Not really. His mercy isn't even entirely mercy.

Naughty: How would they punish their darling?

Oppression: How many rights would they take away from their darling?

I imagine Michael would do some cruel things to punish. What comes to mind is cutting your skin ever so slightly. Enough to learn your lesson... but not enough to kill.

Cruel, but he's done worse...

He could do so much worse.

Most if not all of them.

Patience: How patient are they with their darling?

Very patient.

Quit: If their darling dies, leaves, or successfully escapes, would they ever be able to move on?

Regret: Would they ever feel guilty about abducting their darling? Would they ever let their darling go?

Hard to tell... but it seems like yes or he just doesn't let people know.

He will get volatile if anyone brings you up... so I guess that's a hint.

No and no.

Stigma: What brought about this side of them (childhood, curiosity, etc)?

Hard to say, upbringing?

Tears: How do they feel about seeing their darling scream, cry, and/or isolate themselves?

He leaves you alone for the most part, maybe feels a bit irritated but gives you your space.

Unique: Would they do anything different from the classic yandere?

I'm just not going to answer this question as the answer is most likely yes when it comes to my work

Vice: What weakness can their darling exploit in order to escape?

Signaling help or trying to incapacitate him. Good luck, you'll need it.

Wit’s end: Would they ever hurt their darling?

Yes, unfortunately.

Xoanon: How much would they revere or worship their darling? To what length would they go to win their darling over?

Not a worship yandere but would slaughter any who try to take you.

Yearn: How long do they pine after their darling before they snap?

Months, maybe even years.

Zenith: Would they ever break their darling?

Yes.

#yandere slashers #yandere slasher #yandere michael myers

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ingravinoveritas · 1 year ago

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So Al post always have to make sure she the centre of attention on Ms big night which doesn't come as a shock in that photo michael look tense and stiff and where the smile it exactly same as the other he pulls when he with her georgia one on seems more general and supportive of her friend and husband best friend then his actual parter

Would love to hear ur thoughts on this one

Hi there! Well, my DMs have been blowing up all afternoon about these various posts, and...yeah. A lot to unpack here, for sure.

It's interesting to see the use of two very different pictures here--one posed, one a candid pic/selfie--and how that frames everything else that is going on, and highlights several contrasts that are much too great to ignore. Perhaps the most significant contrast is that in the posed photo, Michael and AL are barely touching, and the photographer seems to have made the choice not to pose them like a couple. There is also no apparent "pull" that is unconsciously bringing them together, in spite of whatever direction they might've been given. In the picture of Michael and David, however, not only are they sitting very close together, but that "pull" is readily visible, and you can see them leaning/melting into each other without any effort. So that by itself on a foundational, fundamental level puts these pictures into two very different places.

The second aspect of the contrast--again, in my opinion--is the impersonal nature of Anna's post vs. Georgia's. Anna is posting a Getty Images picture with a watermark with another generic "Darling" caption (the same as she did in another post when the first episode of The Way aired a few weeks ago). At this point it feels, as @invisibleicewands previously described, akin to a "Best regards" at the end of an e-mail. And again, it's not only a photo shoot pic instead of a personal one--an especially strange choice given that Michael has repeatedly talked about how much he hates photo shoots--but a shot where Michael looks stiff and so uncharacteristically subdued.

In the picture Georgia posted, we see that twinkle in his eye, how relaxed he looks, full of that life and joy that we've come to so strongly associate with Michael, and it makes it even more stark how absent that is from the second picture. And further adding to all of this is what you mentioned, about AL centering herself/how she and Michael look in this post, as opposed to the opening of the play.

If we had any doubts about this, Anna seems to have taken the point home this with the story she posted immediately following this one:

For those who may not know, this is a photo from the show Schitt's Creek, of the actors who play the main family (special shout-out to Catherine O'Hara and Eugene Levy, my loves). I have not actually seen the show, so I can't attest to anything specific about the characters' personalities, but it appears this is who AL thinks she and Michael look like. I would say, though, that what is apparent to me is that Anna's priority in posting that first Insta story was the aesthetic/the picture, rather than celebrating Michael or the opening night of the play. Putting these two things together, Michael almost seems like the smallest part of the post, which is an odd thing to do when tonight is the opening night of his play.

And this again wildly contrasts with Georgia's post, where the picture is merely a vehicle for something much deeper, and much more meaningful. Just the positioning of the word "Michael" at the center of the picture is a visual cue that lets us know what this post is about, and this is further augmented by the caption for all of the reasons I enumerated here. I also can't help thinking that there was a reason that a picture of Michael and David was used--not a picture of Michael by himself, and not a picture of Michael and Georgia--and given that this Insta story was posted after AL's, it makes me wonder if that was a deliberate choice, for multiple reasons...

So yes, those are my thoughts on these two Insta stories/pictures from today. I'm definitely interested to see what posts or pictures we might get following tonight's performance/press night (and fingers crossed that David actually made it to the show this time). Also glad as always to hear from my followers about your take on these posts. Thanks for writing in! x

#angel19924 #reply post #michael sheen #welsh seduction machine #david tennant #soft scottish hipster gigolo #georgia tennant #nye the play #national theatre #when your boyfriend and his wife hype you up more than your own girlfriend #also every time she posts something now it just seems to get more awful #if you had her post without Georgia's it would look a lot different #but that picture of Michael and David is like night and day to the one with AL #and the more she tries to look like she owns him the more obvious it is she doesn't #choices #not all of them good #but i will leave it to my followers to make up their own minds #anna lundberg #discourse

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misc-obeyme · 2 years ago

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Oh hey, it's CC, your local fluffy fanfic writer who seems to think they can write theory posts. I really should just stick to what I'm good at, but here we are.

I'm back on my Solomon and Barbatos theories, brought to you by the insanity that was hard Lesson 20. I'm also just thinking a lot about that whole situation, so.

Spoilers below the cut, as always!

Here is my first post about hard Lesson 20.

I went back and read the lessons with Raphael in them because now that I know it's actually Michael pretending to be Raphael, it changed the meaning of everything Raphael was originally saying.

Now obviously Michael is still pretending to be Raphael at this point, so it's hard to say how much of it is Michael saying what he thinks Raphael would say and how much of it is Michael just saying what he wants to say.

There were a few general things I wanted to talk about, specifically that I think Michael is a coward. When he was in the Devildom as Raphael, he kept saying stuff like "Michael wants to send you this message" and "I know about this from Michael" like why didn't he just come on down as himself and own it?

Raphael actually calls him out on this.

I'm seriously starting to love Raphael. He's just like, you're an idiot and I don't have time for your nonsense lol.

But anyway, there were a few things that Michael said as Raphael that I found interesting. Most of the stuff he said to the brothers was very official stuff like "The Celestial Realm has pardoned you" and "do you doubt our Father?"

But when he talks to Simeon and Luke, he's completely different. He showers them in gifts (which is especially funny because he's still pretending to be Raphael, so it's like here is Michael acting like he's Raphael giving gifts to Simeon and Luke that he says are from Michael...) and he tells Luke he might consider being a principality and watching over humans.

Though when Simeon questions whether or not this what He really wants (assuming we're talking about Father/God here), "Raphael" is like are you doubting?? It's like he cares about all these people, but the second they do something he doesn't like, he gets weird about it. He can't just be like okay, I see that you needed to make this decision for yourself and I'm happy for you. No, he's like you are wrong and I'm going to try to convince you of that. So I'm going to do some crazy stuff and stress everybody out.

All of this is to say that I'm not sure how I feel about Michael, but so far I'm not impressed.

OKAY but now on to my Solomon and Barbatos stuff.

My original Solomon theory can be read here.

Basically, I was speculating that we're dealing with two different Solomons, one of which is the past version and one of which is the future version that came back to help us.

However, I'm not sure that's exactly what's going on.

You can read this post about Lesson 17 for a little context on this, but I also talk about Solomon switching outfits a lot. Because he does and he seems to be the only one who does.

So now, I thought this particular exchange was interesting:

Okay, we all remember this line from Diavolo, but I'm interested in Barbatos's "..." that comes after. Why would they include that? And right after Diavolo calls Raphael "Seraph Raphael?"

I think it's because Barbatos knows this isn't really Raphael. Why would they put that in there at all if it didn't have some significance? And I can't imagine what else it could mean, now that we know that wasn't Raphael at all. Does Barbatos know that it's Michael? I'm not sure. Maybe. But it could be that he just knows it ISN'T Raphael.

I also noticed that any time Raphael and Solomon are in the same place, Solomon is wearing his casual sorcerer outfit, the one I think belongs to our original present timeline Solomon.

But after Raphael leaves the first time, Solomon and Barbatos have tea at the Demon Lord's Castle and he's wearing the trench coat.

It's a fascinating conversation. Because if Barbatos can tell when someone is not who they seem, and this Solomon is not our Solomon, then Barbatos is fully aware that this is not Solomon.

However, they keep up the pretense that this is the same Solomon. They even talk about his hangover and stuff.

BUT.

Then they talk about why Barbatos is angry at Solomon and Solomon is very much just like ??? about it.

SO here are my theories.

I think we are dealing with two Solomons, one who wears the casual sorcerer outfit and one who wears the human world trench coat outfit.

The trench coat one is not our original Solomon. He might be a version of Solomon - such as past!Solomon - but now I also think he might be a completely different character disguised as Solomon.

Barbatos knows that MC is from the future, I think. I can't imagine why he wouldn't know. I think he also knows trench coat wearing Solomon is not the original.

And I kinda think it might actually be Michael who's pretending to be Solomon?? But as I mentioned in my original hard Lesson 20 post, that would also mean he made a pact with Asmo and that part doesn't make sense.

But the conversation Barbatos has with Solomon after Raphael makes his ultimatum really makes me feel like they are talking about something else. Without getting into ridiculous amounts of detail, it just sounds like Barbatos is saying I'm mad at you, but he's not saying it to Solomon, he's saying it to whoever is disguised as Solomon. He calls him an imbecile multiple times. And yet, Barbatos always used to say how smart Solomon was, so it just doesn't add up. I can't imagine anything that Solomon himself could have actually done to make Barbatos so angry with him. It makes more sense to me for it to be someone else entirely.

I also think that whoever is disguised as Solomon doesn't know that Barbatos knows that it isn't actually Solomon. Like okay, let's just say it's Michael to make it easy. If it's Michael that Barbatos is really mad at, but Michael doesn't know that Barbatos knows that he's Michael, then Michael would continue to respond to Barbatos as though he was Solomon. So if Barbatos is like I'm mad you (meaning Michael) and Michael is thinking okay what did Solomon do but he just has no idea, it makes sense that he would just have to default to saying I don't know why you're mad.

That's a bit of a convoluted mess, though. So I think it's probably unlikely?

Because I will say that I am really reading into things, though. And with this game, it's hard to say what any of what is said actually means. I just thought of the past/present Solomon theory and now I'm always looking for additional proof of it lol.

In the end, I'm still pretty upset with the way Michael decided to just show up and traumatize our poor boys further by granting them a pardon and telling them they can come back, but with all those strings attached. I don't know if this happened because he's just out of touch with everything and didn't realize how stressful that would be for them or if he's really just selfish. He just wants them back and he has the power to do it, maybe? I don't know, but man just leave them alone already would ya!

As for Solomon, I love him no matter what, so I hope that if my theory is correct, it gets resolved in a normal, non-heartbreaking way, thanks. Honestly, I'd rather be wrong about everything if it means sparing us from painful times with Solomon. He's been through enough, too.

Anyway, I just needed to get all this out of my head so I'd stop thinking about it lol. If you made it this far, thank you for reading the whole thing, I am sending you kisses.

#obey me #obey me shall we date #obey me nightbringer #obey me theories #obey me nightbringer hard lesson 20 #obey me nightbringer spoilers #obey me raphael #obey me michael #obey me solomon #obey me barbatos #misc talks about characters #misc rambles

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kepnerandavery · 9 months ago

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Sorry to keep going on this topic but HOW are they supposed to go forward with the fact that Michael knows Fran wants a baby and that's part of the reason he seduces her, he's a rake that's his whole thing! How is Michaela going to be able to do the "I'm not letting the woman I've secretly loved for years get a baby with a stranger, I'll seduce her instead even if it kills me with guilt"

Also, regarding your last ask, I pray we forget about all this in a while and the show goes to hell

It's alright. Discussing this makes it easier for me to accept it. I disagree about him seducing her for that reason. This is my take on this...

For two years, Francesca and John's marriage, his brotherhood with John, and the love/respect he had for both of them was the emotional barricade Michael had put in between him and Francesca. And after John, Michael was the person Fran was closest to, and she turned to him for support after John's death, but Michael couldn't let her lean on him without crossing the boundaries that he had created between them because that barricade was no longer there. And he knew she needed him to replace John more than she needed him. So he left Scotland.

When he came back, four years later, she had decided to find a man to marry. But there was already a lot of confusion, anger, betrayal, longing, and yearning that had built up between them during the time he stayed away. And Michael obviously felt a newfound responsibility, jealousy, and possessiveness toward her. Michael expresses that he wished that she would have already been married before he returned from India because it would have made Fran unavailable once more, thereby not giving him a chance to betray John, and also not lose her in front of his eyes. While he was processing all of this, Francesca was starting to realise her feelings for him, and she ends up initiating their first kiss, which makes Michael finally see that she sees him in a different light than she did before. To top it all off, Michael sees that most of the men who pursued Fran were ungentlemanly (to say the least). And when Colin realises Michael's feelings for her and urges him to marry her himself, he finally accepts that he is the right choice for her because he would never hurt her.

He then tries to convince her to marry him by using logic (by bringing up her lost title, the management of their estate, their mutual respect and friendship, and the idea of giving her children. She denies, and he decides to seduce her (with her consent) because in his mind, men and women had to get married if they had been intimate. But she still denies his proposal after that, and tells him that she would only marry him if she became pregnant. So Michael begins to think that she would marry him if he gave her the only thing she desires (because neither of them realises that she also desires him), and tells her that he would give her a child if that is what it would take for her to agree to marry him, because he convinced himself that he's fine with her marrying him just for the sake of a baby, as long as she became his wife. And so, this becomes their excuse to continue their affair. And after a while, he decides to impress her by courting her (the poor man really pulled out all the stops 😭), but she ends up making it clear that she misses the intimacy between them. She ends up reaching for him even after finding out that she isn't pregnant, agrees to get married, admits her love for him, and spends five years with him happily before they have children.

All of this to say, their story is so painfully angsty, and romantic, and I doubt the writers would have been able to portray it's nuances and not ruin it (how they wrote kanthony in season two is proof of how well they can mess up the beauty of the books). Polin was the only ship that they wrote well, because they still managed to include all of the key points of RMB despite changing the arc of its story. Even Simon's speech impediment was glossed over in season one, so diminishing Fran's fertility issues is nothing for them. So, if Fran gets a season (which I doubt) it will most likely feature a "new and original" story created by the writers.

Yeah, me too. We will. There's so many other shows out there for us to obsess over, so don't worry. PS: I have recently started watching german shows, and would recommend them to anyone trying to distract themselves from this hellish show :)

#hope you don't mind the long answer. I almost summarised the whole book cause I'm just way too invested in it lol #michael stirling #francesca bridgerton #franchael #when he was wicked #bridgerton

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charleezard · 10 months ago

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My reactions and opinions on (almost) all songs on the Eurovision final

Sweden was kinda catchy and good. Not anywhere near the best but it was a nice start. Maybe a bit basic. 5/10

2. Ukraine was amazing. It gave me chills, the voices were amazing, the visuals were amazing. 9/10

3. Germany honestly didn't stand out to me. Idk, it wasn't bad exactly, but it also wasn't good? It was kinda just there. 3/10

4. Luxembourg was quite good. While it wasn't one of my faves, it was definitely a solid song and performance. 7/10

5. Yeah, no Netherlands. Keep in mind I only watched the finals and hadn't listened to any of the songs prior to it, so I haven't even heard the song yet. I don't think I will either. ?/10

6. Israel was amazing, Eden has an amazing voice, great stage presence, she looked absolutely etherial. The song conveys all the pain it's supposed to. No doubt my favourite and if I had voted I would have voted for her. 10/10

7. Lithuania, the song wasn't bad, kinda nice to listen to, the performance was also kinda good, but it didn't stand out long term. in fact while making this list i had to rewatch the performance because I remembered nothing of it. So yeah. Extra points for not being a basic english song. 5/10

8. Spain, I have complicated feelings about you. It definitely stood out. Sadly the most forgettable part of it was the singer, which is a very important part. She had presence, and the concept was definitely good and showy, but her voice was meh, a bit weak. I think the backup dancers lowkey carried the performace on their back. Overall, 6/10

9. I straight up did not like Estonia. I'm sorry, no offense. Also one of the guys looked like Michael from VSauce and that was very distracting, but I'm not docking points for that. 2/10

10. I know Ireland had some controversial reactions. BUT. I adored it. I'm sorry I did, it was one of my favourite performances, they did amazing, I have nothing to point out exactly. Idk, 9.5/10.

11. Latvia didn't do much. Kinda boring, forgettable. Maybe it was also not a great idea to put such a lacking performace right after one of the most amazing ones, that might have biased my opinion. 3/10

12. Greece wasn't my style of song but as it went on it kinda grew on me. It was catchy and fun. Not amazing exactly, for me personally, but solid, good. 6/10

13. Ok the UK, listen. I'm biased, because Olly Alexander is the main actor in one of my favourite shows and i think that skewed my view of the song. It was entertaining, fun, nice to watch. Nothing amazing, but good. 6/10

14. Norway, complicated feeling. It looked great, it sounded great, but something was lacking. It felt like they were trying to reach very far but not really getting there? Idk how to explain it. Something was missing from it. 6.5/10

15. Italy was quite good. I've seen people say it wasn't, but I don't see why. I liked it a lot, even tho it wasnt one of my top songs it was still really good. 7/10

16. I'm not sure it was my style, but Serbia still had a very solid song. It was good, and looked beautiful too, and her voice sounds magical. Good vibes. 7/10

17. For Finland... Did I love the song itself? No. Did I love the performance? Yes. I laughed so hard and it was so unique and funny and entertaining. Like, I could just laugh at how silly and random it was and that felt good. 8/10

18. Portugal, listen. You always bring sad fado-sounding songs. It's not that it's bad but people don't care. Get new material. That's boring, bring something fun that gets people smiling and dancing and it's catchy and unique. You're forgettable. Extra points for being my country, and for being Yom Kippur ready with all that white. But damn, I'm not pleased. 4/10

19. Armenia was great. I love when they include unique and personal vibes in these songs. This didn't feel like a boring generic english song. It felt unique, it had so many different and special elements and that made it really stand out to me, and I think they were SEVERELY underrated. 8/10

20. Cyprus was a bit basic and boring. In fact I again had to search for the video because I didn't even know what the Cyprus song was. 2.5/10

21. Switzerland won as we know. At first the song didn't stand out, but I think it's one of those songs that the more you listen the better it gets. Also the vibes? Perfect. Nemo slayed and I'm not upset at all with this win. 8/10

22. Slovenia was good, it was solid. Despite that, it wasn't great, but it had a nice energy to it and I had a good time watching it. 6.5/10

23. Croatia, I had heard rumors they were the favourite to win, and truly they placed first in the public votes. I can see why, they were great and it was very catchy, the energy was contagious and I cannot stop listening to it. Also, it's fun. 9.5/10

24. Georgia had a fun, energetic, powerful sounding song. I appreciated, it was a good listen, but it wasn't amazing, didn't stand out that much. 6.5/10

I didn't have time to watch France and Austria, sadly, because I had to go out, so no ratings there.

Note: I'm rating the songs and performances I watched!! I'm not commenting on personality or actions outside the stage, or some people here would sadly have had much lower scores

#eurovision #eurovision 2024 #esc 2024 #esc #eurovision final

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the-ellia-west · 9 months ago

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Ok so this is regarding the post you made a little but ago.

My WIP as you might already know is called Bolt Runers.

There are technaiclly three main characters. Ray, Talia, and Micheal. (Rey and Talia are twins btw) But Micheal is the most main character.

This is a superhero story where Micheal is the main hero of the story while Talia and Rey help from the sidelines. Rey as tech support who makes his suit and helps him control his powers and Talia who also gets a basic suit to sometimes help Micheal in battle.

Micheal at first tries to get rid of the crime in the corrupt city he lives in but later has to fight villains with different powers like him. As well as an evil scientist/CEO.

He has to try to balance his hero life with his normal life as a basic sixteen year old and also has to gamble around his father who is completely loyal to the main antagonist the CEO and wants Micheals hero persona gone without knowing its his son. Leaving Micheal to feel unsafe and unhappy in his own home.

One of the most prevalent villains he has to fight is a boy named No One. he has the power to puppet the body of anyone he touches. He uses this power constantly to mess with Micheal to the point he has to hurt people who cant fight back or get hurt himself. Wich leaves him very drained.

No One is actually being compensated by the CEO to mess with Micheal and get his guard down so he can capture him and figure out why he has these powers. He claims he’s doing this so he can build a better future but deep down even he doesnt believe that. Micheal ends up being captured in the end of book one and basically tortured before his father finds out and basicly abandons him out of fear and guilt. But not before he tell Rey and Talia so they can go rescue his son.

Thats pretty much the VERY basic summary of book one. I would greatly appreciate some feedback on this. And also maybe some ideas for villains because I really only have three. The main antagonist, No One, and a girl named Serita whos just a tech wizz and has a rivalry with Rey. :]

Sorry for how long this is lol

I LOVE HOW LONG IT IS

And thank you so much for the Ask @urnumber1star , I want to hear you ramble more >:]

And I'd absolutely love to go through tons of stuff and discuss stuff with you!

But anyway

THIS IS A FUCKING FANTASTIC PREMISE

I especially love that there's a golden trio, and the thing about Michael's father and I'm extremely excited to see how you pull it off!

I also really love No One, and he has the potential to be a FANTASTIC villain.

(Also: I totally didn't misread the last paragraph in white as the CEO compensation nobody and I had to read it again)

ALSO THE ANGST POTENTIAL of Michael being tortured.

So this had the potential to be an absolutely wonderful story if you pull it off right, but also could go the other way.

Though I have no doubts you can do it :]]]

And I'm already seeing a LOT of really promising stuff. Keep it up!

Also... okay, okay, hear me out, Serita x Rey enemies to loversss???

But anyway, you could have a villain henchmen who is Talia's arch nemesis. You could also do a fake ally/traitor subplot if you wanted.

I personally REALLY LOVE hero on the run plotlines and confrontations with shitty parents.

And my all time favorite trope has got to be a well-executed redemption arc. So if you could put one in there, even for a minor villain, I would absolutely lose my shit.

Also, you could have a thing where a new villain pops up who's the perfect foil/counter to Michael's powers and he has to play it smart and brainstorm ways to defeat this new villain with the twins.

>:]

#creative writing #fiction writing #writing community #writer things #writerscommunity #writers on tumblr #writeblr #writing #writers #writer #wip writing #writing wip #my wips #wips #current wip #wip

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theonevoice · 2 years ago

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Rumination n. 2 - About Fallen Angel

One aspect of Good Omens that I don’t see as much praised as the amazing writing of Neil Gaiman and the unbelievable performances of Michael Sheen and David Tennant, but I find crucial to the gut-wrenching beauty of this second season in particular, is the wonderful soundtrack by David Arnold.

The music of this show is just brilliant, to a point where it feels almost arrogant for me to point it out, like it would sound weird if someone came out of the blue saying “You know, that Beethoven guy is actually rather nice”. So I will just pick one single track that, to me, summarizes how much the soundtrack helps carry the weight of the story, packing layers over layers on each scene and adding to the writing and the acting an extra expressive space that can be filled with even more facets of the main themes.

I’m thinking in particular of the scene at the end of ep. 2, with the pivotal dialogue that, for the first time, really cement the alliance between Crowley and Aziraphale as two individuals who are not entirely conforming to the expectations of their respective sides. By the time this dialogue rolls in, something massive has just happened: each of them has been caught red-handed by the other, doing and feeling things that negate their respective “company policies”. Crowley has been found out not wanting to destroy Job’s goats, let alone kill his children, and Aziraphale has been found out unable to endorse the dire implications of the Bet. Lucky them, this all happened between the two of them, nobody else is involved or informed, and this reciprocity allows them to pause for a moment and start reflecting on their situation. We know, of course, that this moment was waiting to happen since the conversation on the wall of Eden, when Aziraphale is visibly touched by the slightest sliver of doubt (his expression tells us that what Crowley is saying about God putting the Tree in such a prominent spot, as if to induce temptation on purpose, does make a point, despite him not wanting to speculate, possibly because he remembers all too well how dangerous it is to ask questions in Heaven), and since their meeting before the flood, when Crowley realizes that he doesn’t like the perspective of having innocent people killed, which is not a strictly demon-like thing to feel (and he knows it because his comment about the indiscriminate extermination of everyone via the flood is “this is more the kind of thing that you would expect my lot to do”, which, transitive property applied, means that he is upset about at least some of the things that Hell throws at the earth). But the Job encounter is the first time that all of this has actually been said (more or less) out loud by both of them.

So what about the music?

The track playing with the final dialogue is titled Fallen Angel, and I find that there is something heartbreaking in it. Yes, of course, it is a quote from Aziraphale’s line, when he desperately refers to himself as “a fallen angel”, but “fallen angel” is also what Crowley is, despite what he himself would like to think.

We talk a lot about how much Aziraphale is the one in constant denial – denial of Heaven’s dark sides, denial of his own sometimes shaky moral stance (let’s not forget that, between the Arthurian period and the meeting at the Globe, he has agreed to go around tempting people on behalf of Crowley, which means quite literally doing Hell’s work), most of all denial of his own feelings – and this is certainly true. But I feel that we should also recognize how much Crowley is in denial in his own way, specifically denial of the traces that his original angelic nature has left behind. Or rather, of those parts of angelic nature that he held on to even after being cast to Hell. Now, as much as I love the interpretation of their last exchange in ep. 6 as Aziraphale offering to “change Heaven for him” rather than asking him to change for Heaven, I still think that Aziraphale has been forcing on Crowley a distorted still-an-angel portrait because in doing so he is blocking out at least some of his internal struggle (and this “weakness”, in my opinion, makes his character even more vivid and lifelike). But I also think that Crowley’s angry reactions to having his chosen identity denied by the only person in the universe that is dear to him are tinted by the trauma of the Fall.

And the music in that scene, I believe, is telling us just that. Of all the tracks in season 2, I find Fallen Angel to be the most melancholy one together with The End?, and possibly even sadder: because The End? starts playing when both us viewers and the protagonists are in a literal, I would say almost medical state of shock, unable to master the emotional resources needed to process what just happened. Fallen Angel on the contrary is a desperately calm moment of reflection on what their situation in the universe is, on how their respective cages are hurting them, and how painfully hard it is to summon the courage to escape them, to even think of escaping them. It seems to me that even the set choice confirms this mood: after an entire episode spent almost exclusively in closed, sometimes claustrophobic spaces, they are finally “outside”, on the top of a cliff (like when they briefly met at the beginning of the episode, but now the dry canyon is a beautiful gulf), watching a calm blue sea under a calm blue sky: everything is wide open, vast, unobstructed, with no living thing around as if they are alone in the universe, their thoughts and fears can flow freely and unrestricted. And in this moment of honesty, when they for the first time open up to each other, we have Fallen Angel, which is not just sad, is also nostalgic. But how and why can it be nostalgic? If the title only refers to Aziraphale, nostalgia makes no sense, because his feelings in those moments are feelings of desperation and angst. But if the title refers to both of them, then it does make sense, because nostalgia is the pain of something that has been lost, and while Aziraphale has not lost anything yet, sitting next to him there is someone who has lost something that cannot entirely be forgotten. Surely, one could say that by now Aziraphale has lost his original “innocence”, but I would argue that, on the wall of Eden, having just given away the flaming sword, he was already letting that sliver of doubt creep in, and he was definitely not comfortable with discussing the flood. Furthermore, telling his first lie counts as a loss (of innocence and peace of mind) no more than it counts as a gain (of awareness, freedom, and self-actualization). On the other side, Crowley was denied the chance to work his situation out in such a safe space. He just lost his original status over asking questions.

If Aziraphale is in denial of the traits of his personality that make him not entirely angelic, Crowley is equally – if not more – in denial of the traits of his personality that still link him to an ideal of good that is, or at least should be angelical. And it is a quite visible denial. He is annoyed by the smallest allusion to his good qualities, but as soon as he lets his guard down he goes back to remembering that he “didn’t mean to fall”, just “hung around the wrong people”, that he “didn’t really fall”, just “sauntered vaguely downwards”. That’s why Fallen Angel can be nostalgic. It’s not just about Aziraphale contemplating for a moment that he could be (or deserve to become) a fallen angel, but it’s also about the actual fallen angel sitting next to him, who, as much as he wants to paint himself as tranquil and satisfied with his situation, is still aching from the absolute pain and terror that he felt when he was cast out of Heaven. He used to be, after all, the angel that we see before the Beginning: he was so sure that just asking questions could not get him into trouble, he had no intention of rebelling or leaving. This – obviously – does not mean that Crowley is still an angel or wants by any means to go back to being an angel: he could never go back to that, exactly because he has experienced too much grief to be ever able to fit in the narrow mould of an angel again, to be able to just bask in the joyous light of God’s will in the unshaken certainty that it is entirely Good and Just and Forgiving. He has first-hand experienced that it can be cruel and unjust and unforgiving. He has forged and conquered an identity of his own, but it is an identity born out of the pain of not having a place to belong. He had to carve out a new path for himself, he didn’t mean to, he barely realized that it was about to fall (“didn’t have anything on the rest of the afternoon… next thing I was doing a million light year freestyle dive into a pull of boiling sulfur”).

So let’s look at what is happening from Crowley’s point of view. There you have an angel that has just violated the Heavenly code of conduct, and he is so pure of heart that he is just going to turn himself in to a blind and vindictive authority. If he let him go ahead, there is a chance that this could give him a fellow “demon who goes along with Hell as far as he can”, but at what cost? If Aziraphale’s conflict is a conflict between living by his own independent judgment (which includes choosing Crowley over obedience to Heaven) and staying true to the side “of good, of truth, of light”, Crowley’s conflict is a conflict between the need to escape solitude by pulling Aziraphale to his side and saving Aziraphale from the trauma that the Fall gave him and that being fallen still gives him.

A couple of millennia later he will joke about how being damned “is not so bad when you get used to it”, but Fallen Angel playing under this dialogue in ep. 2 tells us that he would never put Aziraphale through what being damned really means. He is a demon who is actually saving an angel from the risk of becoming a demon himself, because he knows how deeply and irreparably that can wound your soul, to the point that you would rather lie than admit it. “I’m a demon, I lied”: I know what it means to be in this place, don’t drag yourself here, it’s a realm of exile and loneliness, let’s agree that an angel can still be an angel even if he steps out of line from time to time, let’s create a margin of maneuver that did not exist when all this happened to me. Now it’s too late for me, but not for you.

So, to wrap up, thank you David Arnold for your invaluable work.

#good omens 2 #go 2 speculation #go2 spoilers #good omens #david arnold #fallen angel

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ethanhuntfemmefatale · 1 year ago

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Thank you for being so kind! I’m always a little self conscious taking film thoughts directly to someone because they uh…Go Hard. But I also just can’t ever shut up, and it’s got to go somewhere 🙈

Your point on voyeurism is interesting. I’ve never really thought about it from that angle but it’s funny, because one of my favourite shots in the movie is when the camera moves to over Max’s shoulder when they’re watching the coyotes, and Tom Cruise’s eyes are doing something unknowable but devastating as Vincent cracks open a little, and it’s obscured by the partition glass of Max’s cab. I’ve always found that obscuring to be impactful and significant and I’ve never really thought about why, or why Mann blocked it like that. In terms of the gaze, I wonder if part of the emotional power of that shot is to do with the obscuring of Vincent from ours.

In terms of ‘doomed to death for a neat narrative’ I can see how that would be the likely case for lots of films, but I’m more doubtful of it in a film made by Michael Mann. I do think watching Mann’s filmography is enriching to all of his work in a way that is different from most other filmmakers - Mann is so consistent and so preoccupied by the same themes and questions that his entire career has been a return to the same conversation. I think you can feel his respect for Vincent - He values ethics, integrity and skill, and he gives Vincent heaps of it. Even Vincent’s backstory (or lie, depending on what parts you believe) is something he shares elements of with Mann’s other protagonists who are his special little dudes who get to wear well tailored expensive grey suits (honestly this guy, Michael Mann the mind that you are). And I do think Mann is deliberate not to pit Vincent and Max against each other in terms of classical good vs bad. In another life Vincent is Max’s life coach and Max is Vincent’s therapist, and you feel that potential in them. I love their genuine, cosmic chance connection but I also love that they don’t want to kill each other - they might have to, to fulfill their own sense of duty, but it’s not their motivation. And I think Mann is careful to emphasise the luck involved in the outcome. It keeps Vincents death from being a condemnation. In a way Vincent’s death is a fulfilment of his pure dedication to his ethical structure, and in that way his integrity remains intact. Max not leaving him to die alone and unnoticed is Max coming into a fulfilment of his own, and it’s a less nihilistic ethics than Vincent’s that he embodies. In doing that, he shows up the falsity of Vincent’s belief that there is no human connection in the world, because there he sits sharing one with Max in his last moments. And genuinely, I think it’s a feeling of missed potential between them that really lingers. There’s a real loss to it.

Ok I am back to answer this ask now that I’ve seen a couple other Mann movies, I still cannot boast of anything like Mannderstanding but I stg the coffee scene of Heat alone puts collateral in an entirely new light. Also……Heat…..what a film holy shit

I love the points you make here. I started a rewatch of collateral last night and I have some thoughts, also responses to your ideas, mostly just a kinda meandering rant as a thank you for your ask

First of all…I definitely see what you mean about special little guys in grey suits. So iconic mr mann. Second of all definitely I strongly see your point about the two of them being driven to kill each other, but ultimately not wanting to at all, and that’s presented so strongly in Heat too. Their sense of ethics, and the people (or in Vincent’s case, jobs/systems) they’re responsible for, make conflict inevitable, and there’s respect and intimacy/kinship and regret that comes with being equals and opponents.

Heat to me felt like it set up a lot of ideas about the near-omnipresent conflict of love and duty, and how in a sense, love ends up always being love Despite. And people who care about each other are set against each other constantly in a thousand ways by the systems that they are beholden to. I can’t help but see that strongly in this movie too. There’s a constellation of people with character traits in common, who have a capacity for connection, to help each other or care about each other, and most of those possibilities are cut short before they can even begin. Not just Vincent and Max’s connection, but the jazz trumpeter Vincent kills (the affinity between them is pretty devastating) and there’s a lot of similarity between Vincent and Annie, too, even though they never really interact! And Fanny, whose death is shockingly sudden, feels like a Mann protagonist, and has a brief but important connection with Max.

On the topic of Annie-Vincent affinity, I really love the juxtaposition of their initial conversations with Max, because there’s so many parallels. The two of them react to Max in pretty similar ways, although Vincent’s bluntness and cynicism rubs Max the wrong way. The song choices even feel similar, the one for Vincent’s conversation in particular is striking to me, the gentleness and intimacy it gives that scene that lends it an almost meet-cute quality despite the fact that Max is a bit put off by Vincent, and Vincent misreads him (you’re a guy who does things instead of talking about them…ironically by the end of the movie that becomes true). When I first watched the film I took the similar conversation beats as a measurestick for understanding that Max didn’t like Vincent too much—but on rewatch it’s more complicated, the three of them are tied together in a way. And Vincent is close to being the kind of person Max could really like.

It’s interesting that you mention that Vincent’s backstory isn’t unique to him in the Mann filmography. I’m interested to see the other examples of it because that moment hit me so hard. The backstory itself, and the particular sequence of it, is so evocative of Vincent’s relationship with his past. It’s interesting to me how readily he confesses it—both his mom’s death and his father’s abuse—especially in combination with “I like to think of myself as his friend” in the hospital, Max’s mom talking about Max not having friends, really everything about his interactions with Max’s mom and with Max about his mom. There’s complicated emotion happening there, identification, discomfort, probably envy, a sense of connection that is unusual and overwhelming for someone as isolated as Vincent. All of that makes it simultaneously more likely for him to admit to his own past, and more difficult. (Vincent is pretty forthright. But it still surprised me that he talked about it.) And then when he says he murdered his father…that’s the crux of it, when he says he killed him, specifies that he was twelve, and then says he was kidding. That to me represents the fixation, simultaneously a fantasy and a source of horror, on killing his dad, and also an unwillingness to commit to it entirely, even to commit to the lie. The way he invokes the specter of patricide, arguably a more “monstrous” sin than anything he does in the movie, not to mention a personal murder—then walks it back. It speaks to how much he increasingly is invested in Max’s perception of him, wanting to prove his own viciousness and also disown it. It’s a devastating scene ngl. Then Max saying “I’m sorry,” Vincent saying “no you’re not”—a mixture of defensiveness and honesty. It’s also a cracking of Vincent’s persona, which has been almost disconcertingly pleasant so far despite the violent threats. Anyway I fucking love that bit

It’s interesting to me to compare the Vincent/Neil dynamic in Heat to the Vincent/Max dynamic here. They seem like they’re in conversation with each other. Definitely the final scenes are directly evocative of each other. Vincent and Neil have an immediate affinity Despite—a lot of interchanging shots where the two of them are in the exact same position, with the same expression—not to mention everything about the coffee scene. They’re very similar men with a lot of professional respect for one another, and so despite the very few direct interactions they have their connection is obvious. Vincent and Max are different men who don’t connect immediately, which works well for a movie that pairs them so often, keeping their relationship exciting and dynamic. Like we’ve talked about before, they have important aspects in common, mostly their situations as invisible outsiders with no support network, highly effective silent cogs in a wheel. And you can see in their initial conversation that idea you mention—Vincent as life coach, Max as therapist—that these are two people who maybe could grow to care about each other a lot, help each other a lot, given time. Then Vincent’s job throws a massive wrench in the works. Still they get shoved together and they grow to care for each other despite themselves, in a way that goes against both of their instincts. And they cause each other to develop in ways that ultimately set them as opponents, equals like Vincent and Neil. interestingly, through that process the kind of metaphorical “positioning” of the characters change—through most of Collateral, Vincent is behind Max, and there’s a divider between them, but in the end, the two of them are face to face.

(Incidentally I am also fascinated by the way Vincent is obscured in the coyote scene. To me it adds to this sense that we, like Max, are witnessing something we maybe aren’t supposed to.)

Max is an unusual Mann protagonist in the beginning of the film (says guy who has seen only three Mann films) until Vincent pushes him increasingly towards the commitment, drive and sheer gutsiness of Mann’s idea of the masculine hero. To your point about Max’s code of ethics, the one you describe that he develops through the movie and fulfills by shooting Vincent and then staying with him while he dies….his ethical structure in the end seems to me to be the movie’s response to Vincent’s own code, which relies on detachment, the idea that no one cares about random death, so neither should he. The care Max holds for Vincent (like the care the audience holds for Vincent) happens against all odds, but it is there, and it proves something that’s inherently contradictory to Vincent’s ethical structure. Which is why that structure has to unravel in the end. Heck, Vincent only is set against Max because Max cares so much about a woman who rode in his cab once that he is prepared to risk his life—even kill—to save her. I love your point about Vincent fulfilling his own ethical code in the end. It’s hard to say that he failed when his job wasn’t about survival in the first place.

Anyway those are some scattered thoughts and I would be very interested to hear more of yours but also completely understand if you are tired of back-and-forth ranting lol. I deeply relate to the idea of having Thoughts and nowhere to put them and would like to say that I love getting your thoughts! And love to discuss. Pretty much always.

#THANK YOU FOR THE ASK……………so much……………#cecil meta #collateral #long post

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liquidisedfrogs · 2 years ago

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EUROVISION ABSOLUTE FUCKING BRAIN DUMP

Tonight, the night where... some... of Europe comes together and sings in an ..... something way, is the night I am willing to barf my brain out onto a page and commentate on the entire thing start to finish. THIS IS JUST MY OPINION!! Strap in motherfuckers....

We started the evening with the performance of last year's winner Ukraine (MWAH) starring Kate Middleton for some reason and Sam Ryder stood on top of some building in Liverpool. I had totally forgotten how earwormy that song was. I literally can't get it out of my head even now. We saw the countries come out onto stage to a very random compilation it seemed. I think Australia stole Germany's flag though.

PERFORMANCE 1 : ALBANIA- WHO THE HELL IS EDGAR? - TEYA & SALENA I'm not lying here when I say I LOVED this song. I loved how it took so much inspiration from Michael Jackson in the dance moves. The girl with the black hair was mind-blowing. Like, she was unbelievably gorgeous. I'm not saying the other one wasn't- they were both incredible. I loved how much colour and enthusiasm they seemed to have. IT WAS SO RANDOM AND I FREAKING LOVED IT. Rank no.5

PERFORMANCE 2 : PORTUGAL- AI CORAÇÃO- MIMICAT The dress. Oh my god that dress was DIVINE. I loved how like bright it was to be honest. It was just so dramatic and it felt like it had a lot of variety. I don't really know why it just really appealed to me. Her voice is DIVINE too. Rank no.6

PERFORMANCE 3 : SWITZERLAND- WATERGUN- REMO FORRER I'm not lying when I say that this song brought a tear to my eye. It was so moving but god, that guy needed to put a few more clothes on. I really liked it. Remo Forrer can sing so beatifully and yet I didn't know who he was before tonight. That low note made my jaw drop. Powerful. All I can say really. The guy also reminded me of Noah Schnapp for some goddamn insane reason. Rank no.7

PERFORMANCE 4 : POLAND- SOLO- BLANKA I had to rewatch it cause it was kind of forgettable. Felt like it had been done so much before. I don't mean any hate by this but I just didn't like it. I wasn't as WOW as other songs have been. It gave me the vibe of the Stuck In The Middle theme mixed with Despacito. It just didn't feel if you know what I mean. Rank no.23

PERFORMANCE 5 : SERBIA- SAMO MI SE SPAVA- LUKE BLACK Perfection. It was so.... I don't have words for it. It was just fantastic. It showed so much talent and I loved the Graham Norton description of the nerdiness and that definitely came across so incredibly in the performance. It was just like smoke sweat and tears. I LOVED THE VIDEO GAME BIT. It's a great song, it's a wonderful performance. It's the best. Also, take a moment to consider how fit the guy was. This was no doubt the best act in my opinion but I know not many people have the same opinions as me so I'm accepting the fact that he's probably not gonna win. Rank no.1

PERFORMANCE 6 : FRANCE- LA ZARRA- Évidement It had such a french vibe to it for some reason. It's stuck in my head. I really enjoyed it to be honest. The outfit was genuinely on point and the vocals were stunning. The chorus kinda gave me Dua Lipa vibes but there's nothing wrong with that is there. The lyrics were kinda dramatic. Overall, I ate it up. Freaking glorious song there was just a lot of good competition. Rank no.10

PERFORMANCE 7 : CYPRUS- BREAK A BROKEN HEART- ANDREW LAMBROU Not memorable. It was quite sad. He's got a good voice, there were just better songs to be honest. It was quite repetetitive. I didn't enjoy it particularly it was just there. A few more layers would be nice. He sung quite high and it wasn't necessarilly appealing. THE FIRE THO. That arena must have been so hot. His voice at the end was beautiful, fight me. Rank no.16

PERFORMANCE 8 : SPAIN- EAEA- BLANCA PALOMA The bit at the beginning with the vocalisations (I think that's what they're called) was incredible. It gave off quite a middle eastern movie vibe which I wasn't expecting from Spain. Her top genuinely looked like it had been melted by heat which made me laugh. It gave off a Satanic ritual vibe. I liked the song but the electronic parts really didn't fit her talented and gorgeous voice. Rank no.22

PERFORMANCE 9 : SWEDEN- TATTOO- LOREEN I loved the vibes she gave off espescially in the introduction bit to the song, she looked like a batty pintrest witch which is a look I adore. Her hair was just stunning but for some reason it didn't look real, I don't know. THE NAILS!! God, they were so long. Her whole set was just tattooine(hmm maybe she thought about that) to me. It gave Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus. I really liked it. The whole song was so nice. There's not really any other way to say it than that. I really liked it though. I'm happy it was her that won. Rank no.12

PERFORMANCE 10 : ALBANIA- DUJE- ALBINA & FAMILJA KELMENDI I really looked forward to this one because it was a family quite like me and my siblings but I felt quite sorry because only one of the girls really got to sing in it. You could tell who was the favourite child. I loved the sister's outfits and the bit where it basically turned into the parents' love song was great. It was a good performance but it wasn't anything special. Rank no.15

10 down, 16 to go!

PERFORMANCE 11 : ITALY- DUE VITA- MARCO MENGONI I liked the top, make me one. He has a gorgeous voice. It was quite moving in some ways but I did get distracted by the trampoline guys in the back. I LOVED THEM. The lyrics were a bit random, I had it on translating subtitles. It was okay, I didn't think it was anything special though. It was a sway with your arms in the air type of song. He's such a good singer, I swear, I just didn't love the song. Rank no.19

PERFORMANCE 12 : ESTONIA- BRIDGES- ALIKA It was a magical song. I really enjoyed how it gave off fairy Elsa vibes for some reason. I don't really have many words it was just lovely. She has such an incredible voice. I loved her outfit as well it was fabulous. It was just a gorgeous song, I really liked it. She has such a powerful voice. It was divine. Rank no.8

PERFORMANCE 13 : FINLAND- CHA CHA CHA- KÄÄRIJÄ If you're here for a specific song, it's probably gonna be this one. The hulk forgets to put on his chestpiece and he's on the stage at Eurovision singing a heavy-metal-techno-pop number. I still can't understand what the fuck this song was about. It's really confusing but it's a bop. I'm just blasting out CHA CHA CHA CHA CHA CHA CHA in my brain the whole time. I really liked it. It was a proper random Eurovision song and I LIVE for em. The guy's got a good voice on him though, the prolonged shouting must have been hard. Rank no.9

PERFORMANCE 14 : CZECHIA- MY SISTER'S CROWN- VESNA It gave ballet recital gone wrong for me. It sounded a bit too like the winning song from last year for my liking but it was incredible with the harmonies. I didn't really get the hair message. They were doing feminism stuff but sticking directly to the gender roles traditionally set which I didn't understand. It was powerful and I did like it. Rank no.18

PERFORMANCE 15 : AUSTRALIA- PROMISE- VOYAGER I love watching forty odd year olds dance around on stage like they're twenty one. It felt like someone had gone through my playlist, taken the best bits from each song and melted them into a pot together. It is an anthem and I adore that. I loved the woman on guitar. She was so good. I loved the vibes it sounded like it could be in a video game and honest to god it was one of my favourites of the night. Rank no.3

PERFORMANCE 16 : BELGIUM- BECAUSE OF YOU- GUSTAPH The Boy George vibes were real. His outfit gave rich man goes on safari but there's been an incident with a red sock. It was a BOP like literally. I just wanted to do the macerena the whole time. The start bit reminded me of a musical I can't remember the name of. It was kind of repetetive which I didn't like. It was okay to be honest. Shoutout to the guy who was willing to be a furry stripper for this. Rank no.17

PERFORMANCE 17 : ARMENIA- FUTURE LOVER- BRUNETTE The singer gave me Ariana Grande vibes. It was average. It was a bit like an I'm not like other girls. She has a lovely voice but it did get quite lost in the other countries amazingnesses. It didn't really stick in my head so I had to rewatch the full thing whereas with most of the others I either don't have to watch it or I only need a memory jog. The getup was stunning. The boots should have had black laces though, it would've fit do much better. She's incredibly talented but there were better songs. Rank no.21

PERFORMANCE 18 : MOLDOVA- SOARELE ŞI LUNA- PASHA PARFENI Welcome to the stage... satanic yoga teacher. I liked it. It was so European. It was a great watch. It reminded me of the Mandolorian theme which is a massive compliment in my book. The horny women were great. (They had horns in their hair.) It was very Eurovision esque and I really liked it. It was quite funny and my little brother voted for it. Great song. Rank no.13

PERFORMANCE 19 : UKRAINE- HEART OF STEEL- TVORCHI After last year, I had very high hopes for Ukraine. I enjoyed it. I really liked all the staging it was stunning but it didn't stand out to me very much. The phantom of the opera guy got the night off though! It was a great song. It would be great at a festival, I can see it now. I don't have a ton to say about it. It was good but not mind-blowing. Rank no.14

PERFORMANCE 20 : NORWAY- QUEEN OF THE KINGS- ALESSANDRA This whole song makes make me want to yell with happiness. It just like scratches my brain for some reason. It was the only song this year that I had heard before and even though I had, it did not disappoint. I swear it was a whole vibe. Her outfit was literally straight from SIX, bite me. I loved it. I loved every second of it but there were better songs. The high note showed talent. I mean, I can do it but, but it still shows years of effort and training. Rank no.11

Only 6 left!

PERFORMANCE 21 : GERMANY- BLOOD & GLITTER- LORD OF THE LOST HUGE SLAY. I loved it. In my honest opinion, I would've loved it to be in German but I do speak German so it wouldn't be that hard to understand. They really reminded me of Ghost with the whole red satan type vibe and the song itself. The makeup was FINE! I mean that in an attractive way. The start was so INCREDIBLE. He looked and sounded quite like Bowie and if you know me, you know I love Bowie. The heavy metal singing was on point. I'm suprised that they came last because they were pretty much tied with Serbia in my book I decided the ranks at like 1 am and my 1 am thoughts are always the best. Rank no.2

PERFORMANCE 22 : LITHUANIA- STAY- MONIKA LINKYTÉ The start made me think of the Lion King- just getting that off my chest before I dive into this one. It was lovely, it was beautiful but that's not really the winning characteristics. It was incredible. It gave off the sort of 2014 'Fight Song' vibe which I feel has been done so much already. I want to be able to mark this one higher but I feel I can't because of how high rated the other songs are. Rank no.20

PERFORMANCE 23 : ISRAEL- UNICORN- NOA KIREL Before I say anything, this is just me putting my opinions out there to get them off my head. I really didn't like this song. It was weird and it wasn't a song that I enjoyed watching. It's started off okay with a slight Melanie Martinez vibe but honestly shit hit the fan pretty quickly. It turned into a feminine anthem and, to me, all those songs sound the same. The worst bit was the bit where she said watch me dance and stripped off and basically became a stripper in her dance moves. There were children watching. You can't do that. Rank no.26

PERFORMANCE 24 : SLOVENIA- CARPE DIEM- JOKER OUT This was one of my favourite songs of the night. I adored the whole performance. It was like a step back into the past when Eurovision wasn't as big of an event and they didn't have all the feathers and glitter. It felt quite wholesome to me for an unknown reason. Personally, I don't think it was Eurovision standard. It was a lot more indie than all the other songs and it popped out of the page because of that. It had a very different view and appearance to the viewers. I have listened to this song about five times this morning I like it so much. Special mention to the guitarist because you look fantabulous. Like, you're so good-looking I can't understand wether it's gender envy or attraction. I loved the fits by the way. Rank no.4

PERFORMANCE 25 : CROATIA- MAMA ŠČ- Let 3 This performance made me really uncomfortable. They looked like a rip off of the YMCA and the song wasn't that good to be honest. It was just a bunch of people's grandads singing a dumb army style song and then stripping off. It wasn't enjoyable, it was very mildly funny and I just really didn't like it. It wasn't as bad as Israel or the UK though. Rank no.24

PERFORMANCE 26 : UK- I WROTE A SONG- MAE MULLER It was really just a mid song. She doesn't have the nicest voice and the song choice emphasised that. It was really repetetive and definately deserved the ranking it got. I do feel sorry for Mae though, she must have tried so hard. The staging wasn't that appealing and her outfit didn't fit the set. I would probably rate it 5/10 if I was doing that but I'm not. There was a lot of good competition and it simply wasn't as good. Rank no.25

AND THAT'S A WRAP MY DUDES!!

I think Tattoo winning was a great descision. It isn't one I would've made but it really stood out. I do think Germany deserved a lot more than it was given and I feel extremely sorry for Spain who only got 5 points for the public because that must've hurt.

Shoutout to Sam Ryder with his really nice song at the end, I though it was great. Also, they managed to get ROGER TAYLOR for it. FREAKING ROGER TAYLOR!!!

Have a nice day/night reader and I hope you return next year for another unnecessarily long Eurovision rant.

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landofwindandskyscrapers · 3 months ago

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50/52 Why I joined Mensa

As soon as I joined Mensa, it felt like a thousand million people went up to me with a couple of stock phrases. “IQ doesn't capture all forms of intelligence you know” “Well, but emotional intelligence is just as important, actually it's more important” This is inaccurate. It only felt this was, it’s not what actually happened (probably). But it was still a very weird thing to go through, even though I kind of anticipated it. And these phrases do have a point (although a smaller one than the people saying them believe, I think). The problem is, IQ is kind of the simplest and most easily accessible way to measure something that is correlated with intelligence (and wealth, height, health, etc.) But it also lays bare the fact that people are unequal; that somebody else will be smarter, prettier and more charismatic than you, and nothing you can do will change that. And that's horrible. But it's also true. The world is unjust. Some people are indeed better at…most everything than others.1 It's unpleasant to be reminded of that, but it doesn't make it any less true. Because even though it’s not a full measure of your worth as a person…it kind of is? In specific, narrow slices of life, but…if you have a low IQ, your life is going to be a lot harder than if it were otherwise.2 I joined Mensa because I was insecure about my intelligence. I, Michael Cahoon, fit well in the archetype of “brilliant, but lazy” at school. But it's hard to think of yourself as smart if you're barely passing your exams. (One of my big regrets is not putting more effort in my studies). Doing the test to get into Mensa was quite stressful and daunting. It took a chunk of courage. But if I’d failed it, it would still have been valuable information; it would’ve meant I had to focus more on other things. And so I chose to take the test. And I decide to not understand people who don’t do things simply because they’re scared or they involve risk. Once you’ve done a cost-benefit analysis, and doing something would benefit you…why hesitate? (said he, even though he’s still human and does hesitate. But also actually does go and do scary things) (related, this might be why I enjoy climbing. Difficult and scary but enjoyable). So I prepared myself to eat a chunk of my self-worth and to change my own self-image. Instead, I passed the test3. And now, whenever I feel like an idiot, whenever I doubt myself…I can point to that, at least in the privacy of my own mind. Sure, it might be a narrow slice of intelligence, sure it has some bad connotations (racism & stuff), sure it’s a faux pas to discuss it…but dammit, I can point at something objective and say: “No. I’m not stupid”. And it did have lots of other benefits! In Mensa, I did find a great community which does interesting events, which was actually quite good for my social life. It’s CV padding. It’s a conversation piece I can trot out every once in a while. I’m very happy I joined! But that's not why I initially joined. Subscribe now 1 Exercise for the reader; if what we consider as love, stripped of emotion and self-delusions, is being caring and paying attention to someone…does that mean that people who have less ability to do that are literally less able to love others? 2 There’s a point to be made here that moral worth and pragmatic worth are not the same thing. Even though…they kind of are? But not really, and that’s what trips so many people up. Beautiful people aren’t better than ugly people, but they will have an easier life and everyone - you included!- is going to treat them better. 3 After being kept on tenterhooks for 3-4 months. I actually emailed the test taker asking if she could at least tell me if I’d failed it, and she explained that no, all psychologists in Italy were on vacation and my results were still pending. That was an interesting emotion to feel. via https://ift.tt/CMBjIwl

#from substack

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vindieselsfacebook-blog · 4 months ago

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Omg I was positively foaming at the mouth reading this - thank you for sharing! As the self-proclaimed no. 1 AYITL defender, you're beautifully articulating so many of my opinions, too. I must chime in with some thoughts of my own:

I agree that it feels cozy and comfortable for me, too! It was never going to look as gorgeous as the early seasons filmed traditionally with Michael A. Price at the helm as cinematographer, but the colors and lighting are so much richer and beautiful than S6-7. I think a lot of people bristle at all the cold blues in the first episode, but babes, it's Winter - that's the point??? Fall is stunning. The sets look more expensive and lived-in than a lot of the original series does. On a cozy Sunday night, the episodes I most think about turning on for comfort-watching are the pilot, the last 3 in S4, sometimes the last 3 in S7, and AYITL!

AYITL has SO much gratifying closure and growth - I haaate when fans say they hate it because it feels like no one has grown and they've just been immaturely frozen in time. That's the point! They finally are!!! Wouldn't you prefer seeing that to being told it happened off-screen years ago?

I think the only thing I really disagree with you on is your more pessimistic takes on Lorelai and Rory, but especially Rory. "Rory is self-centered, thinks she is special, and has no idea how to deal with not getting what she wants. The consequences of her actions almost never directly affect her, and when they do, said consequences are quickly stamped on and snuffed out by her mother/friends/family." I totally disagree with this. I think Rory is a chronic people-pleaser with shaky self-esteem. Her family thinks the world of her and she often really struggles with the weight of those expectations. She's expected to succeed where Lorelai failed not just to justify Lorelai's entire life's ambitions, but heal her grandparents' wounds, too. Her father left her and shows little to no interest in her. Her paternal grandparents tell her to her face she's a disappointing mistake that ruined lives. It's not that she has no idea how to deal with not getting what she wants, but she has no idea how to deal with failure when she was doing all she thought she had to to succeed. She's a list-maker, a studier, a rule-follower - when things don't follow her obsessively planned plan, she melts down. Her worst decisions are made when she finally explodes after bottling up her emotions. People often say Rory never suffers consequences but that also isn't true? Headmaster Charleston enforces rules and punishments on her multiple times in S1 and nothing is simply handed to her at Chilton. She really struggles those first few episodes. Dean publicly breaks up with her and calls her out on her shit with Jess. She flounders her first year at Yale struggling to get her articles published then having to drop a class because she can't keep up. She tries to date and has a tough time connecting with people. Mitchum is an asshole to her and makes her doubt her entire career path. She doesn't get the NYT fellowship. The list of Rory's struggles, failures, and consequences go on and on. I really don't get why people seem to gloss over them? Because her mother loves her and believes in her in spite of these things...? Why do women in fiction seemingly have to "earn" love and support?

"Rory’s life rhymes with Lorelai’s." Obsessed with this line - what a beautiful way to put it!

I've truly never thought of a what a perfect metaphor coffee is for Lorelai's vices. You're soo right and it's soo good! Having Luke be the provider of her favorite coffee is also just *chef's kiss*

One of my favorite parts of AYITL is Lorelai redirecting Richard's inheritance from Luke's business to hers. In contrast to her begging for the tuition money in the pilot, this time feels like an empowered decision. Her dad wanted Luke to expand his business because he felt like his daughter's partner should be taking care of her. She says no, I'm the one taking care of myself and expanding my own empire - I don't need my husband to do that for me and I can honor my father's legacy myself. :')

Just to nit-pick, I must remind that Lorelai never "refused" to expand the Dragonfly - she literally couldn't and I think that added to her feelings of frustration and being stuck in place. There was no space at the existing building, protected wetlands preventing expansion, and she couldn't afford another property until she thought to use the money from Richard. Also, as symbolic as it would've been, the Dragonfly Annex isn't the Twickham House. Kind of glad tbh as I always found the Twickham House ugly as hell lol. I hate that storyline for multiple reasons, but the top is that it feels sooo not like Luke or Lorelai???

I'd love to defend Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life for a minute (I don't usually make long posts and may delete this later for that reason) because I feel like writing something inconsequential.

Other people get lots of comfort watching the original show (especially in the fall). I feel cozier watching AYITL. The characters are much older; the dizzy, flighty, still-growing-up feelings for Lorelai and Rory have faded, and it's full of moments that make it clear that certain things in their lives are definitely always going to be there. Constants. Luke, Stars Hollow, family, Kirk, Taylor, the changing of the seasons. Now - for my defense. (I'm rambling.)

Okay, many, many people don't like the revival. I understand. It's different in a lot of ways from the original show, and lots of expectations were not met. When I first saw it, it threw me too. But I didn't dislike it. In fact, the more I rewatched it, the more I thought it was almost better than the first show. The leading ladies are not flashy young stars anymore - Rory is Lorelai's age when the OG show first began, and Lorelai is gracefully and fabulously careening toward grandma times with all her wit and charm, all her most comfy habits, and it makes me want to hang out with her more than Season 1 of the show ever did. And I think the fact that ASP came back to write for these characters again and end it on her terms, at last, was an absolute win, and I love how she did it because it fixed so many things I thought were wrong in the show.

Lorelai is self-centered, terrified of commitment, and has no idea how to put others before herself and not run away during the hard times - unless something involves Rory.

Rory is self-centered, thinks she is special, and has no idea how to deal with not getting what she wants. The consequences of her actions almost never directly affect her, and when they do, said consequences are quickly stamped on and snuffed out by her mother/friends/family.

Emily is self-centered, desperate to be in control, and finds her worth in what other people think, in how things look, and that includes what Richard thinks.

In the show, Lorelai has moments where she learns to stay and learns to put other people who are not Rory before herself. Those moments don't last. She definitely has good intentions, but they're all conditional. She only has good intentions up to a point - and that point is usually when someone or something threatens her happiness and feeling of safety, or Rory's happiness and feelings of safety (understandable; that's her child).

In the show, Rory is told she is the sweetest kid in the whole world. Rory is told she'd never do anything to hurt anybody. Rory is told she's special, she's smarter than her peers, she's not like other girls. Rory 100% believes that. She also probably has a bit of a problem with living up to that image - she wants to be all of those things, and thinks she is, and can't handle it when it seems like people think she's not. (That may or may not have something to do with Christopher, who always had somewhere more important to be, or with Lorelai, who was so cool and strong and sure of Rory.)

And the show has moments, too, where Lorelai has to face the music and see that she's screwed up or is hurting someone with her behavior (Max, Chris, Luke, Jason, Emily, Richard, Sookie), but very very often, Lorelai breezes her way through that music and keeps moving, and flits to the next thing or person that will make her happy, because she does not know how to stay and stand and fix what she's broken. Because it only matters if she is happy and if Rory is happy. (The same thing goes for Rory in the show - consequences come, but Rory rarely has to properly deal with them herself. She is coddled and propped up the whole way.)

Now, to my point!

I watched AYITL and noticed something was different right away. Lorelai is with Luke (she should be), who is the opposite of her - constant, loyal, selfless, determined to stay no matter how hard things get. But they're not married. Lorelai is scared to really commit, and marriage is one of the hardest things you can commit to - ever. And Lorelai is not happy. Rory, for her part, is not perfectly settled as a reporter or a journalist or any of the things she was always told she could be. And she's not happy. And Emily, bless her, has lost her husband and her false sense of control is spinning away, and of course, she is not happy.

And A Year In The Life takes the show's clumsy half-arc of these three Gilmore women and perfectly completes it.

Lorelai's fear of commitment and habit of bolting when things get hard drives her to push every new chef out of the Dragonfly, refuse to expand the inn to better accommodate Michel's needs, shun Rory's tell-all of her past mistakes, shame Richard at his funeral and break Emily's heart, and worst of all, nearly wreck the closest thing to a proper relationship she's ever had: the one she has with Luke. She can't face that she misses her father, loved her father, and that maybe her mother is right about her relationship status. She can't face that people might read Rory's writing and see all her flaws and all her mistakes growing up in printed ink, and she can't run from that. And when Rory insists, Lorelai cuts ties. Lorelai has spent years avoiding marriage with Luke. She has spent years hurting her mother in an effort to defend herself at all costs. And she has spent years ensuring the Dragonfly Inn is exactly what she wants it to be; because changing it would be uncomfortable, and as a result, she won't commit to a new chef, she won't expand, and she's about to lose Michel the way she lost Sookie.

Rory's bubble of self-centeredness and assurance that she's special is popped with the needle of reality at last: she is not special. She's a young woman who has to actually work hard to find a job and make some money, like everyone her age. She is talented and she is smart, but she's not God's gift to journalism, and people keep saying no, and people keep asking her to prove her skills and her merit, and she doesn't know how to deal with that because everyone has always told her she can do anything she wants and she's the best. She wants a distinguished career and can't find anyone who will take her on; she tries to write for a raging batty feminist (hello Alex Kingston I love your work) and that goes sideways; she wants Logan Huntzberger but she turned down his proposal and now he's engaged and it has to be a secret; she wants somewhere to live - just not Stars Hollow because she's better than the thirty-somethings stuck back home. She wants Lorelai to approve of her book and insists her mother give her this, as if Lorelai hasn't always given her whatever she could. And when Lorelai says no, Rory does what she wants anyway and almost fractures their relationship over it.

Emily's control is completely gone - she can't control her emotions, she can't control her tongue, she can't control her maid or her maid's handy family, she can't even control a stupid painting of her late husband. She's on a downward spiral and her anchor is dead. She tries to regain a sense of worth, because surely that will bring happiness back. She tries to gain it from how many possessions she has, that doesn't work. She tries to gain it from Jack, who is not well-suited to her but he makes a matching accessory to the life other people will see. That doesn’t work. She tries to gain it from therapy with Lorelai, control her daughter at last, that doesn't work. She tries to control Richard's headstone, that doesn't work. She even tries to find solace with her beloved D.A.R, and she finds that emptiest of all.

A Year In The Life has these women finally face their flaws head-on and grow. The way characters should.

Rory: Rory is confronted with the fact that she is not special and has to move home like everyone else her age and get a job she does not want, because that's life, and that's what everyone else has to do in the real world. And when she's at her lowest, pouting, she gets advice from someone who has faced his own flaws long ago and has grown and who knows her at her best, and encourages her to get up and work hard (Jess Mariano, ladies and gentlemen). And she does. Rory hits bottom and takes Jess's advice and works at understanding her mother, who is not perfect, and even goes to interview her father, who is also not perfect. She fights with Lorelai over the book and insists on her own way, and when Lorelai refuses, Rory can only blame herself. She has a rabble-rousing night with her LaDB boys and winds up sleeping with Logan in one more bubble of fantasy, one more umbrella-jump of escapism, like the old days, because Logan is her weakness. And when she wakes up the next morning, Rory turns and walks away from Logan and the affair and her insistence on having what she wants regardless of who she hurts (hello, Dean Forrester and her affinity for taking spoken-for men) for the final time. And the consequences of her desires? She’s pregnant. (Come on, we all know the baby is Logan’s; Rory’s life rhymes with Lorelai’s.) She goes to Christopher to interview him for the book and is subtly asking her father why he wasn’t in her life, because she needs to know what to do with her baby and her lover. She didn’t go to Lorelai to figure that out. She went to her dad, because the truth is, Rory didn’t have her father, and part of dealing with the consequences of her actions is to work out how to take care of this baby and whether or not that means involving the father. She’s owning up. She goes to Lorelai and offers to give up this book; she doesn’t make excuses or whine, she wrote the book anyway because she believes in it, but when she’s gotten three chapters in, she respectfully goes to her mother and asks her to read it and then, for the sake of Lorelai, not herself, Rory promises to quit and throw the book out if Lorelai does not approve. Because Lorelai is more important to her than herself. Rory has worked hard and made mistakes and gotten pregnant and she has stared the world in the eyes and seen she’s not special. And she has to deal with that. And she does, finally, deal with it. And she’s happy.

Emily: Emily is confronted with the fact that nothing is inside her control—except what she does. Worth does not come from what she owns or who she’s with or what she’s wearing, and it didn’t come from her marriage, either. That wasn’t why she married Richard anyway. She is miserable and alone, and part of that is her fault. She married Richard because she loved him, and she keeps coming back to Lorelai because she loves her, and she opens up her house to Rory when Rory needs a place to write because she loves her. Emily looks around at what she has and recognizes what has worth and what doesn’t, maybe for the first time, with clear vision. She recognizes that she can’t control everything. At first, that fact keeps her down. She forgets what day it is, the curtains are closed, and she doesn’t get up in the morning. No Richard, no Lorelai, no reason to move. And then Lorelai calls her, and tells her about who Richard was and what Richard did and how it mattered, and that inspires Emily. She can get up. She buys a place on Cape Cod, totally opposite of the sort of life everyone admires and expects to have worth, and she does what she’s really always been best at—she loves. She takes care. She took care of Richard, she took care of Lorelai and Rory when they needed it, and she takes care of Berta and her wonderful family, instead of having a maid take care of her needs. She packs up and moves out, she sends Jack away, she reveals the D.A.R. for what it is and quits them forever, and she takes a job at a whaling museum because she just likes it. It’s nothing fancy, and neither is her oceanic house or the music she plays in it or the clothing she wears, because none of that is worth anything anyway. Her family is. Her friends are. She gets the painting of Richard done right and brings it with her, and she gives up attempting control of everything and only takes control of how she behaves. She gives Lorelai what Lorelai needs for the Dragonfly, and her only stipulation is that she gets to spend more time with her daughter and Luke. She loves, she takes care of others, she helps. And she’s happy. And now, the best for last. The star.

Lorelai: Lorelai sits in that stupid Stars Hollow Musical and hears a song that perfectly describes her problem—it’s never or now. Make a commitment. Do something hard. Make your life about something other than your momentary present happiness and comfort, the way you do with just Rory, sometimes, but make it a permanent change. Make change permanent! Don’t run away! …And then she runs away. She’s been miserable, she’s hit bottom, like her mother before her and her daughter after her. She’s losing friends, she’s losing Luke, she’s losing Emily, she’s losing Rory over the manuscript, and it’s all her fault. Lorelai tries to breeze past it. She does Wild. She does what she’s never done before, she does something hard and uncomfortable, but she does it for herself, and therefore it doesn’t quite work. She tries to hike, Dipper Pines won’t let her hike, she meets other women her age who think this hike is gonna fix things, it doesn’t, and she gives up and goes to get coffee because that’s her go-to. (Coffee is speedy, bad for you, and only a temporary rush—kind of everything Lorelai clings to, actually.) But the coffee shop is closed, and when Lorelai is denied that allegorical Band Aid, she goes around back and sees a great view and finally finds clarity. She didn’t need the hike—she needed to think. She needed a moment of silence and introspection to gain the insane courage to finally stop moving, stick around, and face her fears. To put her eyes on herself and then take her eyes off herself and onto other people—namely the people she loves. Lorelai calls Emily and cries, because it’s hard to do this, it hurts, but with one story, she proves she loved her father, and she knows her father loved her, and the fact that she’s calling shows that she knows Emily loves her too, and she loves Emily, and has loved them both all along. It gives Emily the strength she needs to get out of bed. That was hard, but Lorelai did it. And now she’s going to do more hard things—she’s going to commit. It’s never or now, and Lorelai chooses now. She goes home and the first thing she does is propose to Luke and become Lorelai Danes overnight. Hard. Scary. Just right. She patches things up with her daughter, and chooses Rory over herself—for the hundredth time, yes, but when it’s at its hardest for her to do. “I’ll read it when it’s done.” Lorelai expands the Dragonfly using one of the biggest monuments to her fear of commitment – the Twickham House. She goes to Emily for help, which is also super hard, but this time it’s not for Rory – it’s for her, and it’s for Michel, and it’s for the Dragonfly. And she accepts Emily’s affectionate terms. Lorelai chooses Rory, Luke, Emily, and Michel over herself, and commits, and she doesn’t run away. And she’s happy.

And all of it is earned. Finally earned.

I could talk more about the incredible writing, about ASP at her best, about the perfect themes and scenery and the very intentional end to Paris, Lane, Kirk, Taylor, Dean, Jess, Logan, Chris, and the general cast’s stories, but I’ve already rambled for too long.

Suffice it to say: A Year in the Life is my Gilmore Girls. It’s best version of the story. I think it was expertly done. Not perfect, but an ending that was earned.

#gilmore girls #my gg brainworms #gilmore girls ayitl

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away-ward · 1 year ago

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I personally like the “She is everything” scene and I think the series need more of them, with some variation of course. The other couples deserved to have some sort of declaration scenes. It didn’t need to be to the group, but I felt that it was missing a lot of the time.

yeah the series def needed more of it. but the thing is it did not happen for the other couples maybe except for damon saying in conclave that the only person who can bring ivarsen's dad to his knees is ivarsen's mom or something like that. so again only these two couples get the spotlight and exclusivity of the mmc reassuring the fmc they are the only ones for them. so we know that no matter how many orgies they participate in they will always go back to their respective partners but we don't get that kind of reassurance from the other two mmcs.

Well, I don’t mind that Michael and Rika show up and having an effect on other parts of the series. My issue comes in with the roles they play. I think Rika (and the others that we’ve all already discussed) had too big of a role throughout the rest of the series to the point that it felt imbalanced.

i agree. i think you have heard enough about how rika is everywhere from too many anons so i am going to spare you.

And I don’t mind that the scene happened a year later. I feel like this has probably been building between Michael and Kai for a while as Kai overstepped his bounds with Rika time and time again. It was actually kind of refreshing to see Michael take Rika’s side and defend her, even from his best and closest friend; even from someone who’s not even really a threat and he knows it.

the whole point of corrupt was michael saying he is not rika's savior. and how rika can stand up for herself. so why doesnt she and why does she need michael all of a sudden to express a clear boundary when it comes to kai. why is she a damsel in distress who cant voice her opinion and put kai in his place herself? again this also points to the author making sure rika gets everything while the rest of the girls except alex are just... there.

Hey, thanks for waiting patiently.

so again only these two couples get the spotlight and exclusivity of the mmc reassuring the fmc they are the only ones for them. so we know that no matter how many orgies they participate in they will always go back to their respective partners but we don't get that kind of reassurance from the other two mmcs.

I guess I never needed the author to tell me that the others felt the same? I just assumed it was a given that kaibanks and willemmy would stay together always, happy and in love. I mean, would a scene where I get to see them say that be nice? Sure. But I’m not dying without it, and not having it doesn’t make me doubt the sincerity of their love.

Okay, let’s remove PD and whatever motivation they may have had, and just take the scene as it is.

What we have is a disagreement between two characters.

One character, Michael, is upset that Kai, his closest friend, put the person that he loves the most in the world in the presence of a known rapist and murderer without running it past him first.

Something to note here: Michael says what he's mad about is, not that Rika was put in an unsafe situation, but that Kai and Rika made the decision to do that without telling him. Alternatively, what a lot readers took from it was he'd rather her not be in the situation at all. Either one of those could be the truth.

Kai argues that he didn’t think it would be a problem based on what Michael has previously said. To Kai, if they're all equal and Michael wouldn't be mad if it were Will that he brought along, Rika should be fine as well.

Michael doesn’t care what he previously said. He cares that he was left out of the loop and that Rika could have been hurt (keeping in mind that Rika is all of, what, 5’4” and maybe a 120lbs, and she’s only been training for a year, whereas Kai and Will can handle themselves), and he wasn't even aware that it was happening.

I feel that it’s perfectly fine if you agree with Kai. In this very scene, Rika sided with Kai. If looking at this situation, you think Michael is being a hypocrite and going back on his word, then fine. He’s a liar and a hypocrite.

But, let’s play devil’s advocate. Why would Michael suddenly change his tune when it comes to Rika?

Maybe he was lying in Corrupt when he said he wanted Rika to stand on her own and that he wouldn’t come save her. It could have been that he wasn’t aware he was lying. He never wanted to be anyone’s savior. Maybe he just didn’t know how loving someone would change him.

2. Maybe he thought he could keep Rika at the same level as Kai and the others, and that they'd all be equal in his eyes. But over the past year, that proved to be untrue. And it's that the point of being committed to someone? You hold them in a higher regard than all other, cherish them more than anything else. Try to protect them, especially when they don't see the danger.

3. Maybe the situation has changed. Before it was all a game. It was burning down empty drug houses and running from the cops and wearing masks. Now, his former friend is the enemy, he was forced to kill his brother, and Gabriel Torrance is toying with them. The game has changed, and he’s had to change with it. He never expected that his best friend would take the person he cared about the most to one of the most dangerous people he personally knows, and without warning him. He'd be justified in being mad about that.

4. Maybe Michael thought he could handle Rika being in these types of situations, but now that it’s actually happened, he’s found that he’s terrified of it. Maybe he’s been warning Kai that he doesn’t want Rika in those situations because he’s terrified of what could happen (not in those exact words, obviously). Kai and him are usually on the same page, but recently Kai’s not listening. And that's frustrating, because loving Rika has changed him, but for the first time, Kai can’t relate because he’s never been in love like this.

Idk, take your pick. Michael’s change in relation to Rika could really be anything. I do think that between the ages of 23 and 24, after going through what Michael’s gone through, we could expect him to change just a little.

You can agree with Kai, and that's fine. He has a valid point. Michael did say she was equal. But I still appreciate Michael being willing to change, and to confront Kai over this even if it does make him a hypocrite. He wasn't embarrassed or ashamed to admit how much he cared about Rika, in such a bold display of emotion, which is usually out of character for him.

Maybe this scene would have been better told in Kai's pov instead of Banks', because she wasn't actively involved with the fight.

Thanks for hearing me out :)

-KO

#asked and answered #michael crist #kai mori #series discussion #asked and answered 159 #response to prev ask

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