#i have very little time for a white person writing me an essay about how i need to shut up when theyre actively centering

[firstofficerkittycat]

ok im not responding to that person anymore but the white reveal holy shit what. you should in fact stop making walls of text whiteknighting for black ppl who have varied opinions on that episode and talking like ur an authority on this. i dont even know what to say lmao i will continue to shut up about it because genuinely what is any of this its ridiculous we should not be the centering our opinions in a conversation about racism. that apology was for who i thought was a black person having no patience for me posting my thoughts on a thingt i do not experience not for a white person absolutely dominating the conversation across the dw tag over a topic that you should not be centering yourself in????

[acatwithstockings]

Could you please, please tell me everything about the 1990's Good Omens (very bad) Movie script? you mentioned not being able to taIk about it because no one is interested (which I very much relate to, but in just basically anything Good Omens related) I was not there for when it was leaked, so I'd really like to know like... all of it (I promise I am so interested, and also very very obsessed with Good Omens. I'll absolutely be your captive audience.)

the only things I think I know are that Crowley's mean and has a nightclub, and Aziraphale has a museum(??). and it's in America??

You don't know how happy it just makes me to ramble on about that one. Could write a whole essay tbh (I try my best not to bc my spelling is atrocious pff ).

Only snagged it myself after a whole year of searching when it got put up on Dropbox for a few hours. Got taken down quickly again. Idk if it was bc of a copyright claim or if the owner took it down themselves bc it isn't supposed to be spread around due to said issues and they (not quite so cleverly) posted the Link on a post that would make it especially easy for the copyright holder to find it. At any rate, I Got really lucky in that regard. The copyright issues around this thing are fascinating in general and could make for a great study in regards to the flaws of that system.

As for the script contents... Well it's something.

Yes Crowley is mean, it would be wrong however to reduce that version of him to that. (I will try and point out why later). Yes he owns a nightclub, the aptly named hellfire on a hill (? Idk enough about british topography to know if that's a hint towards a real part of town or just bc the visual of it is cool ) in London. So It does not play in America and Aziraphale is working at the British museum. Canon explanation why they try everything and anything to not give back the artefacts they stole, I suppose. (That was a joke. In the script itself it isn't even as much as mentioned that our favorite angel has any interest in collecting anything, missed opportunity if you ask me)

In general the whole thing plays out extremely differently from the story we all love. And sadly lacks the Prattchian humor... For obvious reasons. It does have it's moments tho not many but they are there. ( "Crowley un-snakes" will never not be funny)

What follows is a lengthy summary which will have a bit of analysis and personal interpretation mixed into it . Bc who needs good struktur if you can do stream of consciousness? Am I right?

We begin with the protagonist Crowley in company of Aziraphale, who in this version sadly takes a bit of a backseat, playing checkers in Aziraphale's study. In this version they are color coded: with pure white clothing and hair and pure black clothing and hair. Crowley remarks that 'everything is going too well'. To which Aziraphale points out, that complaining seems to be a favorite past time of the demon. in this version he has a knack for putting down/dismissing Crowley on basis of being a demon (" Oh, isn't that just like a demon? Six-thousand years and all you do is complain") and it's part of his ark , kinda. Cohesion and following things through isn't exactly a strong suit here.

It looks like Aziraphale is about to win, however Crowley uses the cliché 'Lock over there' trick to cheat. In the following dialogue we learn that they have been playing one checkers match a week for the past six thousand years. So basically it's presumed they played their first match in Eden before checkers was even invented. (Then again the stage direction describes a painting depicting Crowley as green snake wearing sunglasses in Eden, so they just have been trend setters from the start) . They then set a date for their next match, Crowley makes his distaste for earth known, they meet Aziraphale's assistant Polly, who is very unimpressed by Crowley and then he is off not without causing some mischief with a stolen wallet.

Aziraphale gets a little scene where he is appraising a painting for its authenticity. He gets called 'bramy as a box of fruit bats' and tells the ones that brought the painting that if it were real, he'd know bc he would have seen the master paint it. The interesting thing here is that this scene essentially is there to show us, that despite not acknowledging Crowley's cheating or directly calling out the forgery and its purpose (to gain money), even calling it pretty, he knows what's going on he simply chooses to play/be aloof .

Next we get introduced to the nightclub. Nothing much happens here at first except that we get introduced to the Barstaff. Or well at least Tina (my love) the barman. As it seems Crowley is managing a successful business and outside of a little rant, calling people sheep and wanting bigger cocktail umbrellas, he genuinely seems to be competent in his leadership and friendly to his staff. Even knowing them by name .

Other notable staff members are Warren, I think he has one line and is the handyman/security of the nightclub and Marjorie who gets a few more lines and is part of the waitstaff. Who by the way are put in full body imp costumes bc of course the nightclub is themed after hell.

Crowley then contacts hell, where he ultimately gets told that Satan himself has a special task for him. And we get the first clue that Crowley, who so far has given us very cool very early 90's style Anti"hero' is scared shitless. Not just that, hell thinks he is a bit of a loser, not being impressed by his mission reports and all that.

We then get to the good old Hyde Park scene with a nearly drowned drake safed by Aziraphale's intervention and everything. What is interesting here however is, that Crowley is a full blown nihilist and Aziraphale just very over enthusiastically positive. Aziraphale saying a woman is doing something good by giving her ice cream to a child while Crowley points out that the ice had first been dropped to the ground and been liked by a dog. (Script!Aziraphale as much as I love you but I am with script! Crowley on this one). Aziraphale points out that that hardly matters because the child is happy and that makes it a good deed. Crowley snarkily retorts that happiness is a stupid metric for good things and says he likes one thing about humans : that they are reliable in doing the selfish bad thing.

Aziraphale then tries to get Crowley to reveal why things are going to well. Crowley points out that they are enemies and he shouldn't give out that information despite the arrangement (sadly we don't get more information about that but I would love to know how it looked in that universe) and only is convinced by Aziraphale being hurt about it and giving him sad puppy eyes. Crowley then invites Aziraphale over to his nightclub after hours to talk about what head office actually wants from him.

We then jump to the nightclub again. Crowley is surprisingly decent towards people, Tina is managing the club and all seems rather nice. Madam Tracy is making an entrance. In this version she is an slowly aging out of it IT-girl. It's implied that she had a multitude of affairs and that she has now been payed off big time. (I enjoy Madam Tracy in this version a LOT). She never seems to be quite there but still owns any situation.

Her and Crowley have a little conversation that gets broken up when he decides to deal with a Troublemaker at the bar instead of letting Warren take care of it. (Side note that part of the script gave me the HC that script! Crowley is very short, definitely shorter than script!Aziraphale don't ask me why) . He is having a full blown Anime protagonist moment, including using the bribe the trouble maker gives him to give to the Waitress the Troublemaker had harassed in a very cool™ manner and stopping a punch with one hand. Just believe me it's very anime. But again Crowley seems to be actual decent boss, believe it or not.

He then gets a Call in the bathroom . Satan talking to him through the mirror without prior notice. He orders Crowley to get to a graveyard within 30 minutes. Crowley is keeping it together but he is panicking. He is having a short conversation with Tracy again in which he stays relatively friendly surprisingly enough.

Fun fact this whole film would have had "Every day' as musical theme. Bc from this moment the song gets mentioned continuously.

After speeding and vandalizing a cop car out of desperation since he is late and they determined to stop him, we get to meet satan. In this version he is a cold calculating (but very cool) business man . Crowley, in German we'd say 'legt sich erstmal ordentlich auf's maul' (meaning he trips and falls on the ground). He is groveling before him, bootlicking and trying to appease his Master (for real tho if that movie would have been made there would have been Satan/Crowley shippers bc that shit is some fuel for a toxic ship). At any rate Crowley is making a bit of a fool of himself and Satan is enjoying the Powertrip. In the end he gives Crowley the antichrist with the task to raise the baby or else suffer worse than anyone else in hell. However if he succeedes he is getting to leave the planet (again he supposedly doesn't even like earth in this version)

Anathema is introduced. She is just a little occult girl that felt the antichrist coming to earth. No mentioning of prophecies or anything. Our beloved Agnes does not exist in this universe. Just a little girl with green eyes and a sense for the occult.

Now with a baby he is supposed to take care of, Crowley makes his way back to the nightclub. There he hides the newborn from his employees and gets pulled away to discuss something by Tina. Since he is hiding the baby he puts the newborn down, right into Madam Tracy's money bag. And well, while he is off talking with Tina , Madam Tracy is taking her bag without noticing the child and off she goes. Leaving Crowley with the problem of a lost antichrist and for some reason a slowmo shot of him trying to catch up with a taxi.

He starts drinking. He knows he is done for so what's the point. (The first bottle he grabs is Aardvark Snapps idk why I finde that interesting) . At this point he has accepted that he will end up for an eternity being punished. Hours later Aziraphale makes an appearance and is a little bit judgemental about Crowley being drunk. (Side note: an other hc of mine is that script!Aziraphale is straight edge bc of that scene). Crowley tries to have him join him drinking but fails. And then just tries a to have a little heart to heart. ("I am doomed, Aziraphale") Only getting a little speech about being a demon and therefore inherently being doomed ('duhhh!') back.

Crowley eventually just confides in Aziraphale how much he has fucked up having a bit of a monologue about it. Eventually Aziraphale offers to help find the boy, but only if he is allowed to influence him. To which Crowley reluctantly agrees, because it would mean that he still fails his task of raising a boy that Satan could be proud of. But Aziraphale is a little bit manipulative (also Crowley is still drunk while Aziraphale is sober) so they shake on it. Anyway this exchange is one of my favorites in the script .

We finally jump eleven years into the future and get to meet Adam.

He has been adopted by Madam Tracy. And is now running a bed and breakfast in the quaint little town of Tadfield. Instead of an army base this Tadfield has direct access to the sea. Including it's very own pier. Anyhow I said Adam is running the b&b that's because Madam Tracy is a neglectful parent and as much as I enjoy her script version, she is not doing great here. Adam is running errands, making breakfast for his mom and generally keeping things together. His whole introduction is him being a little adult .

He finally gets some child time and we meet 'the Them' except they are not 'the Them'. Brian, Pepper and Wensleydale are a friend group and they try to talk to Adam because Pepper wants to be friends with him ( I think the intention was to make Pepper and Adam as THING but idk) . But Adam wants nothing to do with them and instead just wants his peace and quite. So he gets insulted for not having a father and sulks off.

Anathema has also arrived at the scene. And has a culture shock bc of the lackluster infrastructure out here. She arrives in Tadfield with some difficulties and now has to somehow find a place to stay. And while the town seemed overrun with places renting out rooms it also has a case of outdated world views and nobody is willing to take Anathema in for some reason or the other. She eventually gets pointed into the direction of Madam Tracy. Where she is informed that she can have a room . And Madam Tracy casually dunks on Picasso which I can support.

Anathema then repeatedly runs into Adam and tries to strike up a conversation but he just doesn't want to and runs off. As both of them eventually go home at the end of the day he accuses her of following him, since they both are taking the same path. As he gets told that Anathema also lives at the same address as him now he gets angry and stroms to Madam Tracy, disrupting a seance to scold her for taking on a lodger without his approval. He is angry that Madam Tracy is so reckless taking in people without proper background check.

Following that, Adam interviews Anathema. And they bond .

At night Adam sneaks off to the pier and we learn that he has build a model of Tadfield in an abandoned arcade.

He and Anathema bond a bit more over breakfast. (And honestly I like that version of them more relationship wise. As much as I love Prattchet, he did have a particular style of writing children that also came through in Gomens . It lends itself great to hypotheticals and punchlines, not so much for interpersonal relationships)

Back to Crowley and Aziraphale. Last time Crowley had been hopeful and appreciative of the angel. Well now he is running out of time and he is getting grumpy and down in the dumps and ready to give up. While Aziraphale is still unrelentingly optimistic. Poly makes an other entrance, Crowley puzzles together an ancient Etruscan pott. All riveting stuff.

Shadwell, or what's left of his character makes a short appearance as 'MAD OLD MAN' shouting and standing on a soap box as set dressing for Crowley to buy a newspaper and... Pay for it . (Honestly I would have not expected HIM to pay for anything)

He gets zapped into hell without notice.

(Side note Miss Ashtoreth is mentioned as secretary of Satan himself.)

Satan wants to check up on his son's progress. Crowley is shitting himself and lies, reassuring Satan that the boy is properly evil and all that . Of course Satan wants to see the boy real soon and tells Crowley to tell the boy that he is ready for when the boy wants to see him. And after taking a look at Adam by rearranging the universe itself to show a likeness in the stars (hell is a very surreal space with an office above the pit and direct view of all of the universe) Crowley gets zapped back to earth. (Also Satan calls Crowley 'Crawler' which is the script version of Crowley's name change, probably)

Crowley Is now properly stressed out.

On the other end of London (probably) Aziraphale's Crowley senses tingle and he just starts running (presumably) towards Crowley. This never gets brought up or explained. And is so bizarre I couldn't skip it.

Back in Tadfield Adam and Pepper get a bit of a bonding moment. Talking about action figures, Pepper giving Adam a lecture about not being sexist , getting fish and chips. The topic of Adams lack of a father gets brought up again and he lies. Telling Pepper he had met his father before and his father is some sort of international business man, that meets with presidents and is very busy. Eventually Pepper asks about Anathema and tries to convince Adam to take her (pepper) to the movies.

Back in London one Angel apparently unable to use public transport arrives at the nightclub. We can assume that he had been running the whole way. He gets pointed towards Crowley by multiple staff members, 'Every day' gets another cameo and he accidentally stumbles into the dressing room for the waiting staff, which is very embarrassing for him but not for the women.

When he reaches Crowley's office, the demon doesn't want to talk. He is panicking and packing to go on the run for the rest of eternity. (Which for him just means a suitcase full of sunglasses) . What follows is the infamous dialogue script!Crowley get his reputation from. (I might make myself very unpopular here but I think that reputation is not quite deserved. Yes he is an asshole but also the harsher exchanges only play out when he is stressed/panicked and usually if he goes too far he will try and paddel back. Still worst of the Crowleys without a doubt just not quite as bad as people like to paint him. Also script!Aziraphale isn't half as naive and helpless as people like to paint him either and in this house we let him have his agency! But also more on that later)

The exchange switches tone once Aziraphale lets his unbreakable optimism fallter and gets sad. To which Crowley immediately reacts bc trying to reassure him that they are in fact friends and that he shouldn't be sorry. Pointing out that he (Crowley) now knows what the boy looks like to counteract Aziraphale's pessimistic statement that they could never have found the boy bc they didn't even know what he looks like. They agree to hit one more town in their search for the boy.

In Tadfield Anathema finally gets to talk about her quest to find the SOMETHING with Madam Tracy. And have her witness a fight between Brian and Adam about Adam's father. (Srly Adam gets constantly bullied bc of that.) Anathema steps between the two to protect Adam. They make a deal to tell each other's secrets. First we get Anathema showing Adam stuff about the antichrist and the weapon she plans on killing him with.

Then we get an intermission with Crowley and Aziraphale discussing how they should choose which town to go to. They decide with a dart throw.

Back with Adam and Anathema. Adam shows Anathema his model of Tadfield. To the question what he plans on doing once that model is done, he tells her, he is going to build the rest of the world and rule over it. He also voices his desire to go somewhere else so he is no longer stuck in Tadfield.

Aziraphale and Crowley arrive in Tadfield during a Thunderstorm and face the same problem as Anathema. No one wants to rent them a room in town. And while with Anathema the whole thing was rooted in sexism, disdain for outsiders (aka read as Americans) and misunderstandings about her occupation, for those two it's the obligatory 'People think they are a gay couple' thing but with a giant side of Homophobia.

Crowley want to give up, Aziraphale want to go on and eventually they end up at Madam Tracy's.

Madam Tracy mistakes them for the gas person, Crowley wants separate rooms, Aziraphale a shared one,(we never get to know which they now took bc the script has both, scenes with a shared room and with a separate rooms. It could also be that Crowley simply stays longer than Aziraphale and therefore the shared room becomes his single room. At any rate it is never specified. And to be honest there are multiple parts of the script where the author very obviously had given up on it , soooo) Crowley praises Aziraphale's skill as homemaker, Madam Tracy tells them, they have to wait for Adam. Adam comes home Crowley recognizes the boy.

Crowley and Aziraphale take a stroll on the beach and come to the agreement that each should spend a day with the boy, despite Crowley trying to avoid having Aziraphale influence the kid. They also witness how Brian's father is getting things set up and ready to tear down the pier.

In the evening they play an other game of checkers. Adam witnessing first hand Crowley's cheating as he gets the both of them to have dinner with the whole house.

At the dinner table they convince Madame Tracey to let them take Adam to London for a day. Adam being obviously overjoyed about the whole thing.

Anathema sees Aziraphale's and Crowley's true nature for a sec. And I am sorry if this part comes across as rather dry, it's also rather dry in the script.

Adam gets taken to London. First Aziraphale get to show him the museum and talk about human creations . (Side note , when I first got my hands on the script I thought I was missing a page bc the dialogue has a really awkward jump in this scene but no ... It's supposed to be like that and either it was the author giving up or it was supposed to be a kid thing. Jumping from one topic to the next with not much logic. We will never know)

Adam then confronts Aziraphale about Crowley's cheating. And here comes the part why I will never see script!Aziraphale as truly naive or helpless. Aziraphale admits to Adam that he had always known Crowley cheated, he just thought it virtuous to not point it out. Bc he played fair and in his mind that was enough to stand above the other and win in a sense and just let him do the cheating. Adam points out how it's stupid, and that was that. Aziraphale is stunned and does what most people with too much money and no idea how to handle kids do, exactly drag him somewhere, where he can buy shit.

Next up is Crowley. First he drags Adam to Soho. Not Good Omens there might be a cozy bookshop somewhere Soho but well 90s it's a bit of a cess pool Soho. With hookers and homeless teenage girls ( and for all those people that take Crowley being displeased with Adam for giving the girl some change as point to call him fundamentally mean/bad... I implore you learn what character motivations are. He has been tasked with raising an evil child, has promised an evil child, obviously he is displeased when that child is doing something selfless. And he wouldn't do something selfless in the presence of said child either bc again he is supposed to influence him towards evil) Crowley then gets him a milkshake and takes him to his club where they have the mirror conversation to Aziraphale's. Ending with Adam pointing out that it is pretty boring to always win for the wins sake by the means of cheating.

On the way back they have a short (also very old couple and married) conversation about their respective experiences with the boy. Accidentally letting it slip that they know who Adam's father is, believing the boy to be asleep. He is not.

That night Anathema finally succeeds in her endeavor of finding the antichrist. Her crystal ball revealing to her that it is indeed Adam. She is so shocked by that, that she lets the ball fall but luckily for her Aziraphale does his thing and it lands safely without breaking. (That another quirk of the script apparently Anathema and Aziraphale were supposed to be something and what ever that is, it's even weirder than Adam and Pepper)

Madam Tracy also finally recognized Crowley from THAT night and they have a honest heart to heart. Or whatever you call it when the otherwise always woozy character suddenly seem lucid and aware of what will happen.

That night Adam goes to Anathema for emotional support bc of the father thing. Anathema however is in the middle of a crisis bc she now knows what Adam is and had tried to get herself ready to murder him but struggles with herself to do it. Eventually Adam notices the knife behind her back and with the first flair of his antichrist powers forces her to show it to him before storming off hurt.

Being emotionally distraught he runs to his hideout on the pier and calls out to his feather. First nothing happens but then after Adam went off the pier and back again it is completely transformed into a bright happy carnival. His Father has arrived. Satan immediately takes Adam under his wings . He even dresses him up as a mini self.

The next morning the whole town of Tadfield is one giant carnival. There is a parade with elephants. And the people from around town are all mindlessly attending the celebration.

Crowley has a short meeting with Satan (on an elephant can't stress that enough) and gets told that he is supposed to come to Satan to talk about his promotion to alpha centauri. AND

( Don't ask me why I find this too funny to not share, my humor is very broken )

The town is being further transformed and more people are made mindless puppets. But now Crowley is happy to have gotten away with his stunt. He is roleplaying flirting with someone in a mirror. (Also in the script notes it literally says James Bond for acting directions for Crowley, and that's such a dorky idea I love the theory of it ... Bit of a waste in this tho).

Aziraphale tries to change his mind but Crowley shuts him down by pointing out that he was the one saying happiness alone is making things a good deed so it shouldn't matter if people have to be made into mindless puppets first. They are happy after all.

Meanwhile Adam is torturing Brian by throwing tomatoes hat him and having the rest of the town join in with the fun. He just wants his father to be proud of him (nawww ) (that naw was sarcastic). In the crowd Anathema is fighting to regain control over herself.

Aziraphale still tries to convince Crowley. Tugging at his heart strings but even the tried and true "I thought we are friends" won't work this time. Crowley wants to seize his opportunity, he wants out and up.

While those two are arguing, Anathema struggles. All she wants it the knife but she is exhausted.

Crowley is looking for a starting point for his launch towards alpha centauri. He is climbing onto a church tower. Behind him Aziraphale still hasn't given up. Despite not liking heights (!? Wasn't mentioned before will not be mentioned again but apparently script!Aziraphale has a fear of heights). He finally gets an idea and challenges Crowley to one last match.

Crowley for once doesn't cheat and it looks like he is about to win but then Aziraphale DOES cheat, desperate to keep Crowley on earth and have him fight at his side. And Crowley just shrugs and accepts. His next line after acknowledging the win already calls Satan his ex-boss and if that is not a very impressive 180° turn then I don't know what is. (Just a throw back to character motivation, we could speculate it's because most of what Crowley has said were lies and half truths and deep down he actually likes earth and bla or he just remembered how much he would miss his nightclub BUT I as number one script!Crowley (not really) defender say ... It's just unfinished/bad writing and there simply wasn't enough time or inspiration or whatever to finish his character ark)

Anathema manages to give both of them the knife. Crowley is so idiotic and tries to grab it but it burns him . I mean, duhh! Anathema literally tells them that this knife can hurt the antichrist why should it be harmless for a way lesser demon? So Aziraphale takes the knife.

After calling Crowley his best friend, Crowley himself calling himself stupid, Aziraphale, presumably (presumably is important here) with the knife, goes off to confront Adam. He tried to talk Adam out of it. Trying to point out that no good father leaves his kid alone for eleven years and if this is really what Adam wants. As he points out that Madam Tracy despite all her flaws still love Adam he gets discorporated, by Adam. But bc this is a Movie script and we don't have much time left he just stays in his true angel form (which is very much just white robes , wings and halo ) right where he is, further trying to talk Adam out of it .

(here is an other line in my mounting pile of evidence that script! Aziraphale is neither naive nor helpless and simply chooses to carry himself that way bc he thinks it's virtuous. He literally acknowledges that people can do bad things. Something he would not do at any point before that in the script. I rest my case )

While Aziraphale is trying to make Adam think about things, Crowley is off confronting Satan, presumably without the knife.

Satan acknowledges that Crowley had lied to him but is still in such a good mood that he still wants to give out the promotion. Even throws in the titel of fiend extraordinar. For a moment it seems like Crowley considers but ultimately he tells Satan that he wants to quit. Satan is not happy about that and after Crowley also pulls out a pink rubber glove and the knife (yhea Crowley had the knife all along , take that continuity or rather scree logic, like not showing how they get a rubber glove is fine, what ever but having the last scene with the knife be the one where it's shown that he can't touch it and Aziraphale had to carry it would have made it feel a bit too deus ex machina.) Satan forces him into half snake form and summens hands that try and drag him back to hell.

Thanks to his already established Crowley senses (probably ) Aziraphale suddenly shows up and charges at Satan. Who in turn is like 'An angel, really? You betrayed me,..' and then roasts Aziraphale to a crisp before destroying the knife .

Adam confronted with a robotic acting madam Tracy, listening to his every command, starts to reflect on his actions. Getting called in by his father to greed the four horsepersons he notices Aziraphale and Crowley.

Adam now faced with all the destruction says: no, I am not doing it. Stan tries to threaten him into obeying but he gets the good old 'You not my dad'. For being a deadbeat for 11 years. Adam then heals Aziraphale and frees Crowley. Now flanked by the two Adam banishes the horseman.

Satan demanding obedience once more, gets reminded by Crowley that he himself once rebelled. And after laughing about that revelation he tells Adam that it was interesting meeting him but as it seemed he wasn't cut out to be a dad. To Crowley he says that he is now banned from hell and to Aziraphale that he should tell his boss, that at least his son (the antichrist) had more guts than his(Jesus and yes the script sadly uses he/him for God).

After Satan vanishes they have to escape a collapsing pier. Noticing too late that Madam Tracy is also still there. Adam ends up releasing her from her trance by calling her mom and telling her that he loves her. Aziraphale ends up saving both of them, flying them to safety on the beach.

At the beach they also meet Anathema, who promises not to kill him, and Pepper . They watch as the pier explodes and burns to the ground. Anathema also has uncomfortable eye contact with Aziraphale while he ripples back into human form . (Don't ask me why it feels uncomfortable, Anathema is described as looking tens while he still full angel and softening once he is human again, so idk)

Apropos Anathema and Aziraphale. The next Morning, he comes to say goodbye and ends up offering a job bc (I forgot to mention it when it happened) Polly, his assistant had a promotion. So he is in search for a new assistant. She end up kissing him on the cheek and calling him angel but in a way where it's ambiguous if she now knows that he is one or if she just thinks he is a good person and something always makes her forget what he really is. At any rate Aziraphale says he had never gotten a kiss on the cheek in six thousand years and knowing a bit about history and cultural practices I am inclined to calling him a liar. But then again this is fiction .... So sure ... Cheek kiss virgin this one.

While that is happening Madam Tracy is asking Crowley if she can keep the boy now . And Crowley reassures her, that after this, no one is going to come for him. He even offers to throw a birthday party for her at his club, all she should do is to just to look after the boy. It's actually a very sweet exchange.

Outside Brian and Adam have a little exchange, Brain trying once more to get to Adam with the father thing. But Adam has no daddy issues anymore. Instead he asks Pepper out to the movies and Brian just tags along without being asked. Where is Wensleydale you asking ? Take your best guess, he was mentioned once said one thing and then fell off the earth. He probably exploded with the pier and nobody even remembers.

With the kids now finally as a group we have the last shot of Aziraphale and Crowley. They are walking along the street , Crowley one stolen apple in hand . Having their talk about good and evil. Accusing each other of being a little bit of a good person (press x to boubt) and just enough of a bastard (oh absolutely). How they both knew the other was cheating all along. And maybe alpha centauri isn't such a good idea after all. You can't even get booze there. The last thing that is said is Aziraphale telling Crowley to 'not start THAT again', after being offered the apple.

I lied one more screenshot bc Every ...it had been for told by the cursed script for ages now. (I am pretty sure it had been in the talks to put go to Every day' even before the script was ordered so that is just a joke)

At any rate I do have to go to work in ....eh three hours ... So I will leave it at the summary for now. I am dyslexic and English mu second language so I am very sorry for all the mistakes I probably made . If someone reblogs this before I get the chance to correct them, let it be said that at least nobody can claim this is ai pfff.

Also not I said the name of the author the two times I mentioned him simply bc I don't feel like acknowledging the name of the person. I got into Gomens bc of Sir Terry and I stay here for him. This little obsession with the shit script happened by pure chance and purely against my will pfff

[salvadorbonaparte]

2024 in Films - Part III

I watched a lot of stuff again, some even for grad school.

August

Lola Rennt (1998) - banger soundtrack and editing

Vertigo (1958) - the most boring of the Hitchcock films I've seen so far

A League of Their Own (1992) - makes me want to watch baseball

White Men Can't Jump (1992) - did not expect jeopardy to be so important in this film, also loved the fashion

The Fall Guy (2024) - my mum loves the original series so we had to watch this and I had an amazing time

Blinded by the Light (2019) - the dialogue is strange at times but a banger soundtrack (obviously) and some amazing editing, very uplifting and I watched this on my flight to the US btw

Good Will Hunting (1997) - I watched this during my first week in Massachusetts before starting grad school here

Alien3 (1992) - this film says so much about gender, actually

Deaf Smith & Johnny Ears (1973) - taking lots of liberties with Texan history and also surprising homoerotic subtext

September

Causeway (2022) - a film that I originally only found meh but then kept thinking about all the time

Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) - equally blood libel as the og with an added bonus of cycle of violence, might write an essay about this

Sleepaway Camp (1983) - another horror film that says so much about gender and I could write an entire essay about it

My Best Fiend (1999) - Werner Herzog must be studied under a microscope

We're All Going to the World's Fair (2021) - not as good as I saw the tv glow imo but asking some important questions about online communities and reality

Jacob the Liar (1974) - the film felt a little too empty but I also don't want to say something negative because I am still angry about a bad review I saw

Chris Grace: As Scarlett Johansson (2024) - absolutely transformed the way I think about stand up comedy

All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) - the old lie dulce et decorum est pro patria mori

The Shock (1923) - as ableist and racist as you expect from the 20s but with a great performance from Lon Chaney

Trap (2024) - I actually really enjoyed this, even though I was waiting for an even crazier plot twist

Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll (2014) - a documentary that nearly made me cry

Hudson Hawk (1991) - technically a rewatch but I need to speak my truth and it's that I like this film

All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) - I have so many issues that this would take an entire post or even conference paper

The Russians Are Coming! The Russians are Coming! (1966) - had me in stitches half the time, I love a good cold war comedy

The Bone Collector (1999) - spooky!

Monkey Shines (1988) - also horror and gender but also silly

Death in Venice (1971) - boring :/

October

UPSIDEdown (2013) - I watched this one twice, once with the director, also had lunch and coffee with him, I had an issue at first with how child protection service is portrayed but that part is apparently real, also he cast a neurodivergent kid, which is awesome

The Master (2012) - I love when men are also poorly trained attack dogs, also can you imagine sending that guy to the cult from Midsommar? Also still haunted by Philip Seymour Hoffman

Like Stars on Earth (2007) - neurodivergent kids need neurodivergent role models!!!

The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975) - I have so much to say about this tbh

Farewell Disco (1990) - at first I found this kinda boring but then I was also enchanted by the inclusion of Sorbian culture

The Kangaroo Conspiracy (2022) - just read the books

November (so far)

Srikanth (2024) - fairly standard biopic, meanders a bit but solid soundtrack and performance

Innocent Witness (2019) - this one impressed me so much I recommended it to multiple people, also I'm an autistic person who is besties with my lawyer so bonus points for that, I could talk a lot about this too

Hunt (2022) - Probably less confusing if you know more about Korean history, fun plot twist and imo some homoerotic tension

Scarlett Innocence (2014) - tbh I didn't even watch the whole thing because I don't go for erotic thrillers, I just watched the scenes where Jung Woo Sung is a poor little meow meow

Inseperable Bros (2019) - some dialogue was a bit awkward but that might have been the translation, I like that this was about interabled platonic relationships

Remember You (2016) - the first plot twist is predictable as hell but the second one hit me in the face like a brick

The Childe (2023) - Kim Seon-ho has the range (creepy and babygirl) (covered in blood and coughing up blood)

The Good The Bad The Weird (2008) - not only the best western I've ever seen but also one of the best films I've seen this year at all

Sympathy for Mr Vengeance (2002) - very unsatisfying, but in a good way

[skytellar]

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author note: hiiiii, this is my first postttt and i hope y’all like it and tell me how i diddd. i’ve never posted anything on this app so idrk how to do it very well…. 😟😟😟… anyway this is something i scrapped a few moths ago. okay i’ve been yapping for a while adios.

warnings: not much it’s fluff, OCD, body insecurity, skin color insecurity, academic validation, cussing (duh) (i think that’s all teehee)

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Could life get any worse god. This essay was actually going to be the fucking death of her. 10 pages, 10 pages of nothingness as it felt. She couldn’t help but repeat the same words, was she dumb? Why was this so hard, this normally comes easy, school is supposed to be easy, the one thing she holds on to. How can school be the one thing shes good at, and I still manages to fuck it all up. 2 pages in, and its due in 2 days, what the actual fuck.

All she feel next to her is humming next to her ear as she tries to continue working, as if her brain is short-circuiting or something. She manages to type maybe 2 sentences more, before she bashes her head into her hand out of frustration, she couldn’t possibly get angrier. The hand around her waist squeezes and she turns around. “Baby, please don’t stress. And please don’t do that.” Rafe commented. He put both hands on her hips and pulls her forward to him, he looks at her forehead that she just hit. He kisses her forehead 3 times, he knows that how she likes it. 3 times.

“Maybe take a break hun, you’ve been overworking yourself for probably four hours now.” He pointed out as he rubbed her temple, knowing it would ease her temper and stress. “No, I can’t take another goddamn break. I’m being so fucking lazy. God.” She snaps. She felt as though she had accomplished nothing, this essay was her semester exam and she had a 5.0 GPA because of all of her AP’s.

She would absolutely wreck it if she didn’t get an A+ on her exam for AP Lit. “Baby, you’re the most hardworking person I know. Farthest from lazy, you’ve been working far too long. How about we go for dinner, grab a Baha-Blast from Taco bell on the way back, and you can write 2 more pages when we get back? Okay?” He said it as though it was a demand rather than a question.

She thought for a moment. It made her feel bad rather than better. He was too good for her, he did too much. She didn’t deserve him. He saw her lack of a response, knowing she was probably overthinking it. He looked her dead in the eyes, giving her a “please-i-love-you-so-much-baby” look. “Get dressed okay? Please bug?” He asks, knowing she can’t possibly say no.

“You’re impossible,” she scoffs jokingly as she gets up to get dressed. Rafe does his little victory dance and goes to the closet to pick out clothes. She’s on the opposite side of the closet, picking her dress from her side of the closet. She goes through probably 10 dresses and sighs. She felt like she wouldn’t look good in any of them. She was nothing like the girls he’d had before. She wasn’t blonde. Her eyes weren’t blue. She didn’t have that perfect hourglass figure. And she wasn’t white.

How could she possibly compare? She didn’t even believe he was ever attracted to her, even though he makes sure to let her know probably every hour of the day. Why couldn’t her stomach just be flat. She wasn’t overweight, but she wasn’t the skinniest either. Her body had always been a sore subject, barely wearing any revealing clothing. Hoping no one would notice that Rafe’s perfect girlfriend was a fucking lazy whale. Her hair was also something she wished was never a problem for her. She has really curly hair, which she has to fight a full-fledged battle with everyday for it to look remotely decent, like she actually washes it. Why did she have to be like this, and why did he choose her?

By the time she’s at her peak of her thoughts, two hands wrap around her waist from behind. She looks up at her 6’2 boyfriend who was a foot taller than her. He was already fully dressed and ready, cologne and everything. God he smelled fucking delectable. “Have you picked what you want to wear yet bug?” He asked in a deep tone. Fuck, he was so hot. Why couldn’t she be on his level, or why couldn’t he find anyone better. “Still thinking, none of these look good on me.” After hearing that, he looks down at her wide-eyed, as if he was in shock. “What? Bug what are you on about?” She raises her eyebrow back at him, her eyes saying, “You heard me.”

He lets go of her and backs up, hands in the air, “This is shocking. I don’t think we are thinking about the same person! My girlfriend?” She rolls her eyes in return and says, “Okay, if you’re so sure, pick a good dress for me, smart guy.” He smirks in return, “Game on.” He goes towards the dresses, and looks through them, trying to find something he knows she will like and look amazing in. He finally stops at a long hot pink dress, with spaghetti straps, and a low cut. He bends down to grab some heels to go with it, picking some white pumps. He grabs the outfit and drops it in her hands.

“As I said, easy.” She lightly pushes him and walks over to the side to change. As she picks up the dress she gives him a look. She doesn’t change and just keeps looking at him. He doesn’t get the message, so she has to say it herself. “Um baby, can you leave while I change.” He is taken aback, but silently. She doesn’t catch his reaction but just continues waiting. He just walks over and gives her a big hug, his arms around her waist, “Bug, you’re beautiful. If you think anything less than that, I’ might as well be a scrap of garbage on the street.”

She slightly smiles at his attempt at a joke, he pulls away from the hug and starts to walk out. But she keeps holding onto his hand and says, “Stay, Its okay.” He goes in for a second hug, even tighter than the last and kisses her head. “I love you bug.” And then he quickly pulls away and sits on the bench in the corner of the closet as she begins changing.

She quickly slides off her t-shirt, but keeps on the shorts so she can wear them under the dress. The silky dress finds its way to slither down her body, and she pulls the straps up. The dress hugs her body in all the right places, making her look amazing. The low-cut made her boobs look fabulous, she turns over to rafe and he feels as though defiantly made the right decision with that dress. “Okay, you win” she scoffs. He practically squeals in excitement. She makes her way to their shared bathroom to do her hair.

She picks up the sprayer to wet her hair, he stands behind her, to watch. She begins to brush her hair with the brush. A struggle, but hopefully it would look at least half-decent tonight. She roughly brushes it to get out the tangles, when a hand takes the brush out of her hand. “Damn, you’ll be bald if you keep doing that. ” His deep voice vibrates against her ear. He lightly brushes her hair, somehow taking out the tangles? It was never that easy for her. He was good at this.

After a few more passes, her hair is completely untangled. She rolls her eyes at his victory smile in the mirror. She grabs her curl products and starts putting them in softly, her hair feeling amazing. When she finishes, she begins touching up her makeup, already having some from today. After finishing most of it, the last step is lipstick, best for last. She begins putting on her favorite Anastasia Sugar Plum lipstick, with cherry lip gloss on top.

She turns around to see Rafe still standing there, just watching her. He leans down for a kiss but she rejects it. “Uh-uh, not with my lips done” He rolls his eyes and kisses her cheek 3 quick times. Since she already had her heels and purse, he picked her up bridal style all the way to his car. She loved how he got rid of all of her problems with a look and his show-it-off shiteating grin.

She loved him.

˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚ ˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

[becquerel]

ive been thinking a lot about rwby and the way the fndm is and how the internet at large behaves about it and i think something ive begun to notice big time is many people only watched those first three seasons at the time they came out. a lot of people lost interest in that hiatus between 3 & 4 (me included!) that many never watched those later seasons. and like to be fair 4 is kinda... honestly not Bad but it isnt the same kind of stakes that were introduced in 3. 5 & 6 are actively bad (5 being so bad its good, great drinking game season; 6 being generally just boring sans Major Lore Content in like episode. one or two.)

but in never revisiting those seasons and never watching past there's this concept (that i think was heavily reinforced by the hbomberguy video) that the first three seasons are the Only Good Seasons and that everything after is just terrible because of the death of monty & him no longer being part of the animation team. and like do not get me wrong, monty was a master class animator, id be insane to deny that, his animation is definitely missed past season 3. (that being said i don't know how i feel about the way people talk about him being almost akin to kurt cobain or john lennon ala genius artist taken too soon & the denial of flaws about their persons or works or in this case their contributions to works) but like seasons 1-3 are not good. they're honestly quite bad in terms of writing and pacing. there is very, very little set up for most concepts introduced. jaune is at his all time worst in the first three seasons. (i do argue he gets better past season 4, once the show stops focusing on him and lets him be a supporting character instead of a main one, he can honestly have his moments in the writing.) the white fang arc is so heavily present through all three of these seasons. the only one that passes in terms of feeling like a story with stakes is season 3, when everything goes to hell. like the longer i think about rwby the less i would want it to be a generic battle high school anime, there's a whole world built out there with genuinely interesting concepts. why would i want to focus on beacon? atlas was fun as hell, the last pieces of rwby released all seem to point toward the refugee crisis in vacuo & the fact it was so heavily colonized by atlas. society if mistral & haven got written well...

anyway this is all to say if you used to like rwby back in s1-3 at their releases its a very fun show to pick apart and discuss its flaws & how it starts doing characters right. and for the love of god stop relying on that hbomberguy essay from half a decade ago, that thing really reinforced the lennonization of monty.

[impzone]

thoughts about an essay i’m struggling to write

i have been trying to write an essay about how harmful being diagnosed with bpd was for me and my self-image now that i found out i’m autistic. how i embraced a view of myself as a monster who’s ontologically incapable of viewing things objectively, and that all my feelings and thoughts and needs are inherently irrational and i am not to be trusted.

i wanted to write about this because i realized how all my symptoms are literally just masked autism that didn’t get picked up on because i was a little girl. and then after i came out i had bpd slapped on me. i don’t think people realize just how pervasive bias is in diagnosis and it makes me angry they view these labels as objective, unchanging facts. do people know that you could display every symptom in the autism chart, but if you’re a visible minority, or trans, you’re probably gonna be diagnosed with a personality disorder instead? that a lot of people with npd likely were really just autistic but they weren’t white boys and so never got picked up?

every time i think about it i just get so, so angry and it devolves into incoherent rambles. this would be very important for me to write, but i just can’t do it now. i’m still thinking of all the care that was denied to me, about how no doctor believed me when i complained about my executive dysfunction, about how my suffering was never ever taken seriously because i had bpd, about how ill likely never have that taken off my record and if i did get autism officially on there i’d still be denied medical care and might not even be able to get my surgery. im still too sore. realization is still too recent. it all hurts and is unclear ahead.

[oldtvandcomics]

Pulptober 2024: 26 - Not Like We Remember

"It's inevitable that, through the adaptation process and the passage of time, people's ideas of what a character is changes. This is for characters where this is...particularly drastic such that the way people envision them is often radically different from how they were originally." - Original prompt by @krinsbez

I have A LOT of thoughts about this, so I'm going to change my usual pattern of going for a character and write an essay instead.

TL;DR: In my experience, one could argue that this is true for all stories that have gone through some adaptations. At least it is in the minds of the general population. Fans who are invested enough to watch/read the original might be a little different, depending on which character you're talking about.

Many fans have pointed out fandoms' bad tendency to simplify and occasionally twist characters in order to fit them into neat narrative boxes, and the way that this hurts fanworks, because they now fail to interact with any of the things that made said character unique to begin with. What I would like to propose:

Mainstream adaptations and popular perception of a story do this too.

Trends that I have observed to happen during adaptations:

All clever characters -> insufferable genius who is full of themselves and keeps rubbing this into everyone's face (Sherlock Holmes; the Doctor, occasionally)

The one woman important for the story -> the hero's love interest, if he didn't originally have one (Irene Adler; Lenore "Casey" Case; Lieutenant Uhura*; Dan Reid Sr.'s wife (who also appears to have changed her first name from Linda to Rebecca in the process? *The 2008 Star Trek movie is ALSO guilty of erasing two out of the three important female officers, leaving only Uhura. If you were to give Spock a love interest, why didn't you stick with Nurse Chapel?! But those movies are a rant for another time.)

"Cool" male hero -> Insufferable asshole who thinks that he is cooler and better than anyone else and treats women like assets to get across how cool he is (Captain Kirk; Han Solo too, at least I personally would argue so)

White hero + partner who is a person of color, both more or less equally competent -> White guy is a complete idiot who wouldn't be able to keep himself alive + partner is insanely competent and does the work for both of them without receiving any thanks (The Lone Ranger + Tonto; The Green Hornet + Kato)

Any period typical prejudices that might have been present in the original get amplified by ten (The Green Hornet; The Lone Ranger; Sherlock Holmes; the First Doctor)

Two very close male friends -> They hate / barely tolerate each other (The Lone Ranger + Tonto; The Green Hornet + Kato; Kirk and Spock (!!); Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson)

Any woman in a leading position -> Girl with a sword and very 21st century attitude (Nimue that one time; Not sure how much Enola Holmes counts because she is an original character, but....)

Woman who is NOT in a leading position but doing her thing -> Screaming damsel in distress (Susan Foreman; Lois Lane in the minds of those who don't actually consume these stories)

There are absolutely more, these are just the most obvious ones that are bothering me. My general attitude towards older stories is to approach them with the best possible intention, and try to read past any outdated language and tropes. There is SO MUCH beauty and diversity there if you do that! But I really have the impression that the people making these adaptations don't always approach the original with the same good faith, if they really read/watch/listen to these stories at all. And then there is of course the inevitable game of telephone between people who know the original and understand the cultural context it was made in, people who know the original but don't understand the context, and people who only know the original through pop culture osmosis.

IDK, the only solution I see is to drastically shorten copyright, so that the people who get to retell these stories are the ones who actually love them, and of course to give Hollywood writers the time and resources to actually do their research. None of which I see happening.

[loonsmoons]

The Marauders and how they’d react to/feel about spiders, because I had a meltdown when I found one in my room this morning :)

James: Freaks out. Screams for someone to get rid of it, but insists on not killing it (it is a living organism after all). “NO, PUT IT OUTSIDE, JUST PUT IT OUTSIDE! FURTHER AWAY, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? IT WILL CRAWL RIGHT BACK IN!”

Sirius: Freaks out as well. But it gets UGLY. You know that meme of that crying woman pointing at the white cat? That’s him pointing at the spider. He also does not care if it’s a living organism, he wants to see it DEAD. “I don’t CARE if it’s more scared of me then I am of it, KILL. IT.”

Remus: Doesn’t care about them, never has. He’s kind enough to take them outside for James and Sirius with that glass and paper trick, but not before pretending to accidentally have dropped/lost it on one of their beds. Because he IS an asshole.

Peter: Used to find them scary, but from the first time on when he came into the dorm and found James and Sirius standing on their beds/desks screaming, he became the knight in shining armour and took it out (not outside, OUT). (He became a little terrified again though the first time he saw one as a rat: “This shit’s GIGANTIC!” But then again, he thought of everything as gigantic … “And- and then Remus … Jeez, he looked like a fucking giant! And Sirius- … Well you were there too, ig”)

Lily: Very much not scared. Thinks they’re fascinating actually. If she finds one outside, crawling over her picnic blanket or smth, she’ll let it crawl over her hand and curiously watch it.

Mary: Will watch it with Lily, joking about being jealous of its long legs. And then she’ll insist on letting it crawl onto her hand as well, but as soon as it does, she’s all “Nonono, take it off. TAKE IT OFF”

Marlene: Very similar to Sirius, perhaps less tears and more aggressive screaming. “KILL IT, FUCKING. KILL. IT.”

Dorcas: Just … Does not care. She’ll find one in her room and goes “Okay cool, you live here now as well, ig” Occasionally she will talk to it like: “Jeez Timmy, you better know how lucky you are … Imagine just not having to write Transfiguration essays …” (Wait, you don’t, do you? Or are you an animagus? You better not be …”)

Pandora: Loves them. Even has a pet spider she’ll force everyone to cuddle with. She’ll occasionally lose it too, and everytime some brave soul brings it back to her, she’s like an old lady with her cat: “Tsk tsk tsk Garry, where have you been again, huh?” Just leaving, not even thanking the person that brought Garry back. So they stand there, awkwardly, as Pandora moves away like: “Always exploring the neighbourhood, aren’t you, lil guy?”

Regulus: Doesn’t really mind them either. Very similar to Dorcas, but he’s a bit more fascinated by them, like Lily. He will look through several books to find out what kind it is, and just … sit there and watch it, or draw it in his sketchbook

Barty: Says he’s all chill around them, until Evan next to him clears his throat and he’s reminded of last week, when he was screaming and crying and running from a leave that fell into his lap, which to him looked like a spider

Evan: Maniac. Will carry them out with his BARE HANDS. Just grabbing it off the wall. And unlike Remus he won’t just pretend to drop it, but actually drop it onto Barty’s bed. (He regrets that every time though, because for an entire week after, Barty insists on sleeping in the common room, even if the spider’s long gone by then). If he finds Pandora’s spider he’ll keep it for another day or two, playing and cuddling with it “What? I’d do the same if it were a cute lil kitten” “Well you see, it’s NOT a cute lil kitten … IT’S A MONSTER FROM HELL!”

[sweetestcaptainhughes]

Who I write for / what I call NHL players.....

so @stayg-0ld requested an updated verison. I made a list a while ago of players that I like, what I thought of them, and my little dumb nicknames for them. Here is the linked list if you wanna read it. But it's time for an update because I realize so many new nicknames aren't on here. So in no particular order here is a list of players I write for and what I call them depending on what's happening. Also if you are looking for pictures or things on a particular player this is also how I tag everything on my blog (minus my writings). I think I remembered everybody but there is a chance I forgot someone so I will go back and edit this as needed.

Quinn Hughes: My one true love, I don't think I can describe to you guys how much I adore this man, it's actually a little insane. As I've said before I am his number one bully and whore. His tag on my blog is #huggy bear 🐻 himself

Other nicknames include but not limited to: king, pretty boy, Quinny., eldest daughter. Shockingly I don't have a unique name for Quinn and that is honestly shocking to me.

Brock Boesar: I just find him to be a very kind dude. I also love the fact that his nickname Mr.Sensitive. I don’t post about him often, so you can look for him under his name, hopefully soon I will have time to go back and add his nickname to all posts so it would #mr.sensitive 🥺

Jack Hughes - He is growing on me more and more each day. His tag on my blog is #oh jacky boy 🥺

Other nicknames include but not limited to: my favorite fuckboy, J, sassy king, society's favorite middle child, angry white man. (okay but like that last one like tell me he isn't truly an angry white man 90 percent of the time on the ice??)

Luke Hughes - He really is just a child but I will say his hair hasn't looked as homeless lately and he really buffed up this summer, so I'm happy for the Lukey girlies. I tried looking and I don't think he has a tag on my page...

His nicknames include: homeless boy, Lukey, savage. (no I don't feel the need to explain any of them.)

Nico Hischier - I feel like I am constantly talking about this man so I won't bore you all with the details. His tag on my blog is #my little european king.

His other nicknames include: pretty boy, and swiss king.

John Marino - It physically pained me to make his name blue just now. 😭 I don't think I can even explain how much I adore this man. Like out of every player (Quinn included) I would love to have lunch with John once. Like I wanna sit down and hear all his thoughts on the Devils, especially the Hughes because I know he used is almost psychology degree to use and psychoanalyzed all of them. I also have used all my knowledge to psychoanalyze all of them and I would love to compare notes. I also think he is closet to my personality like not quite an extraverted but also not introverted. His tag on my blog is #mr.harvard man himself

His other nicknames I call him in no particular order are johnny boy, city man or city boy, east coast king, boston boy.

Cole Caufield - I could talk about this man for days. Cole holds a very dear place in my heart, he's truly a golden retriever. Cole would definitely call his girlfriend mamas. He also gives very big bi energy to me and I can't really explain it. I also ship him with Trevor Zegras like I am CONVINCED something happened when they were on the U.S development team together and I could write an essay about that if asked. His tag on my blog is # my lil bi' baby 🏳️‍🌈

I also sometimes call him baby boy, pretty boy (yes I am refusing nicknames sue me), my little short king. (I do have that as a tag as well on my page but it has multiple people in it.)

Trevor Zegras: I will write for Trevor, I have talked about my many thoughts on this man before. But when I write for him he doesn’t have a Mohawk in my brain. 🤣 like I am probably number one hater for his new hair, and if their are no haters left on this planet it is because I am dead.

Arber Xhekaj: I recently discovered Arber and I don’t think he has a nickname yet on my blog. When he gets one I will be sure to update my tag list. But I do find this man adorable, he seems like a kind guy despite how he acts on the ice…

————————————————————————

Players I won’t write for because THEY ARE CHILDREN. But I do occasionally post about.

Beckett Sennecke - his nickname and tag under my blog is both # my lil baby ducklin 🐥

Macklin Celebrini - his name name is baby shark. But I also call him Canucks number 1 fan. (If you know you know)

Arturs Silovs - his nickname is baby goalie and that is also his tag. (Yes I realize his nickname isn’t that orginal sue me)

Connor Bedard - Connor literally got added today and due to his first fight the other day. His nickname and also tag is #my lil scraper, you know since he’s a fighter now. 😂

[vide0n4sty]

i just read the whole issues with forcemasc scenes and while im agreeing with it, i wanna add my points into it: the scene is heavily white and eurocentric standards focused. like its always about "cutting your hair", not knowing in some cultures, like native american, its a masculine standards to keep a man's hair long. the whole ideas of masculinity has to be rough and shit. you have to have a beard, you have to have fat on, you have to wear this and that. and i remember there were some posts making fun of transmascs wanna be a "twink". like yes i know the existence of conventional beauty standards are harmful, but as long as it made said people happy about their choice and they don't force it into other people, what's the odd? plus this lowkey implying the idea of "you will regret when transition" radfems saying even and it made me cringe. and what about transmasc already had that type of body i thought yall agree on not bodyshame anyone?

do i like forcemasc and the idea of it? yes! but do i like how the community practicing it? i dont. tbh, the only forcemasc post i ever liked is like, something about letting your hair grow and you can wear a dress, you would still be a man

btw you are the only one i trust writing this kink lol no other people could do this justice

i appreciate that a lot, and yeah, i think there are definitely criticisms to be made about how forcemasc positions itself as like. the clean kink as opposed to forcefem, and yet falls back on eurocentric/white centric ideals of masculinity in service of its goal of gender affirmation as opposed to titillation. like if you're going to go into 'shave your head, be a bear' etc., commit to the bit, ya know?

i read this very good essay/post about why forcemasc is largely an obsolete fetish which references "disidentification" (codified by a queer person of colour) as a driving force behind forcefem;

forcefem kind of WORKS because it's a survival tactic, which the original text also connects to being a queer person of colour, taking these absurdly misogynistic and shameful fantasies where Woman is abject, the Othered object of desire (as women so often are in a patriarchal society), and reinterpreting into sexual gratification, gender affirmation, comfort, security, freedom

forcemasc doesn't scratch that same itch because Man (and wanting to be a man) simply is not abject in a patriarchal society, Man is not Othered, Man is not shameful.

and i think the forcemasc boys kind of KNOW THAT, so they have to push it further and lean into. like. eurocentric ideals of masculinity for their lame tboy poetry, as opposed to having a fetish about injecting T and getting a big cock and ooooo you wanna jerk off five times a day, you dumb gross boy, which i think is a little more generic but also a lot more overtly sexual too lmao

IDK!!! FORCEMASC IS A SEX THING. LET'S KEEP IT THAT WAY, LOVES AND LAUGHS XOXO

[girljeremystrong]

i’ve been reading a lot of essays recently and i was wondering if you have any that you’ve really enjoyed? i love digging through your book recs and you would love to know your thoughts<3

hiiiii <3 okay so first of all i admit i don't read a lot of essays! but here are some collections that i read and loved:

miami + slouching towards bethlehem + south and west + let me tell you what i mean by joan didion are all really good. joan didion's style is unique and reading her writing never gets boring. love all about these.

intimations by zadie smith is a little tiny collection of essays she wrote during the pandemic and the various quarantines, and i think zadie smith is a brilliant writer and i really enjoyed this.

what white people can do next by emma dabiri because i am a white person who wants to be better and this little book is filled with very well written and interesting essays.

the fire next time by james baldwin technically consists of two "letters" about racism and how americans (and all people) need to react to it and deal with it.

carry by toni jensen is a sort of memoir sort of collection of essays about her life as an indigenous woman in america and about race and police brutality and gun violence.

we are never meeting in real life + wow no thank you + quietly hostile by samantha irby are collections of very funny essays about her life and pop culture and they're light hearted and great.

little weirds by jenniy slate which has whimsical little essays as well as stories, i think she has a really delicate way of telling her point of view (really looking forward to her second book coming out later this year!)

minor feelings by cathy park hong is a very interesting and important collection of essays slash memoir about race and her experience as an asian american.

the collected schizophrenias by esmé weijun wang i first picked up because there's history of schizophrenia in my family and this book absolutely allowed me to see the issue from a very different perspective. it's very interesting and offers a unique point of view on chronic illness and mental health.

calypso + me talk pretty one day by david sedaris were very entertaining to me. sorry i like david sedaris! i really do think he's funny!

these precious days by ann patchett is a gorgeous collection of essays about writing and books and life and death by another one of my favorite authors. i think this one is so great.

genuinely though i would love it if you told me some of your favorites because i think i need to be reading more!!! hope you can find something you like among these and i hope you're having a great day!!!!!! 💖

[dreamofmysoul-tsc]

James and Matthew headcanons because TLH is over (;-;) and I adore them and miss them everyday

Matthew calls James "darling" because he knows it "annoys" James but mostly because he adores Jamie (I mentioned this in a previous list of headcanons but y'all will hear it again because I love it)

Harry Styles' cover of Juice by Lizzo is how I imagine Matthew's voice to sound

Matthew tries to convince James to be more adventurous with his fashion choices,,,it never works tho

James rarely cries; Matthew can probably count on one hand how many times he's seen his parabatai cry, but when he does, it breaks Matthew's heart into a million little pieces and he inevitably will start sobbing as well

If they lived in modern times and had cell phones, Matthew would absolutely send James a million pictures of things he sees and people he meets on his voyage. It wouldn't be cool landmarks tho, or like pretty scenery, no, it'd be like photos of a rat he saw stealing a donut, him almost falling into the canals in Venice because he stood up too fast on the boat, Oscar chasing a flock of swans, etc

James, Matthew, and Tom all gather at the Lightwood family tomb on Kit's birthday and the anniversary of his death. They bring lemon tarts to share, though they rarely ever eat one themselves, and talk to him about how much the world is changing, how Kit would've been so excited to learn that the mundanes invented airplanes and televisions and they'd even share with him the scientific contributions Grace has continued to share with Nephilim society (i refuse to believe she stopped being a woman in STEM after she figured out the fire messages)

Matthew is the only person allowed to cut James' hair

they both suck ass at cooking but sometimes James will attempt baking cookies or muffins for everyone; Matthew "helps," and by help I mean he sits on the counter and critiques James' technique until James inevitably throws flour at Matthew's very expensive and one of a kind waistcoat how dare you James

I will die on this hill because I've imagined James like this since his first introduction in The Bane Chronicles: his eyes glow, ok. Not like, very noticeably, but if it's very dark in the room his eyes will let off this iridescent glow kinda like the scales of a fish when they shift in and out of the light. People who don't know James very well or are seeing it for the first time can find it a little unnerving but Matthew never once felt afraid. He likes to call them his own personal north stars ✨✨

James and Matthew will share books back and forth. One will read and annotate it and then give it to the other who does the same. They love seeing each other's little notes as they read

Where Matthew is bright colors and expensive jewels, James tends to stick to the same four colors (black, white, navy, and gold) Occasionally Matthew will convince him to wear heavy gold rings inlaid with precious gems or a dashing emerald waistcoat embroidered in gold because "it will look absolutely lovely on you, Jamie" (and of course it does, in fact, look lovely on him)

They of course have that bestie telepathy that I think most people have with their best friend; when you witness something ridiculous and just give them The Look and they know exactly what you're thinking? Yeah, that's definitely resulted in plenty of instances of James and Matthew bursting into laughter for seemingly no reason while everyone looks on in confusion

Similar to James rarely crying, James doesn't strike me as someone who laughs often. That isn't to say he's unhappy, I just think he only laughs when he genuinely finds something funny. James doesn't do pity laughs, ok, if you say something ridiculous he'll just look at you like ._. Matthew made it his personal mission since they met at the Academy to make James laugh at least once a day. Like a full, unbidden, genuine laugh. Matthew could probably write a 10 page essay on how much he loves James' laugh, how to make him laugh, what never fails to make him laugh, etc

Matthew's love language is physical touch (we all saw him clutching onto James' wrist for dear life throughout this series right?); James' is acts of service.

Whenever Matthew has bad days, days where he struggles to be kind to himself, days when it's difficult for him to feel present, he tends to ask for James. James takes this as the blessing that it is, seeing as a younger Matthew would've bottled it up until it boiled over, and spends all day with him. Sometimes they sit in silence, Matthew simply needing to feel grounded with James' presence; other times, James will read to him, tidy his flat, fix that wobbly table leg Matthew keeps putting off (James is surprisingly handy) and on the really bad days James will hold him, rests his cheek against Matthew's head and reminds him of all the reasons he loves him, why he chose to become his parabatai, and that nothing Matthew could ever ask of James could ever be a burden

James gets Oscar a new collar with a matching doggy bowtie every year on his adoption day; Matthew obviously keeps every collar and switches them out so Oscar can feel like a dapper little gentleman

Anyways I adore these two and I'm still manifesting a Matthew short story collection because no amount of James and Matthew parabatai content will ever be enough

[cbk1000]

Hi there!

Ive recently stumbled across your works, and I just wanted to say that I enjoy your writing soso much!! Each time i read any of ur pieces, i feel ever so blessed that i can read them for freee,,, ??like wow!! I absolutely love your characterization of arthur, and any piece of banter you write never fails to make me laugh!

Your writing style is so addictive, ive honestly found myself missing it when I read anything else. Because of this, id like to ask if you have any book recs? hehee anything that inspired that brain and writing of yours seems like it would be a worthwile read!! From ur alltime favs, or recent favs, comfort books, or books that gave u personal epiphanies, pls feel free to not hold back !! (If its not too much trouble)

And once again, thank you soso much for all your lovely works!! 💗

I LOVE talking about books, so thank you so much for this ask. This is a very truncated list of some of my favourite authors and books because if I wanted to talk about all of them, that would be a post as long as one of my fics.

First up is Terry Pratchett, who I came to rather late; I just started reading Discworld in 2020, despite @clonemaster-general and @jinxedwood telling me years earlier I should read him, so they should feel free to be smug about the fact that I ignored their sound advice for a long time and then went, "Ok, where do I sign up for the cult" after reading approximately one (1) Pratchett novel.

Discworld is a fantasy satire series that's over 40 books long, but those 40+ books simply take place in the same world and do not have to be read in order, although I would recommend reading any subseries featuring the same characters in order (the City Watch books starting with 'Guards! Guards', the Witches starting with ''Wyrd Sisters' etc.) Pratchett did write some non-Discworld books, although the bulk of his very large body of work is that series. He was a very gifted writer who was able to present the stupidity and injustices of humanity in a way that made you laugh and feel that it's bearable to live alongside these things. No other author has made me laugh so much at dumb little puns or dick jokes and then suddenly slapped me with a banger of a line about human nature.

'The Once and Future King' by T.H. White. A retelling of Malory's 'Le Morte d'Arthur'. It's silly, it's touching, it asks why humans go to war. If you're tired of relentless grimdark, this book shows you that a novel can explore serious themes and ask serious questions of its readers while also being a bit silly and stupid, because like suffering, silliness and stupidity is an intrinsic part of the human experience.

'The Left Hand of Darkness' by Ursula Le Guin. I could really just say, "All of Ursula Le Guin's stuff" because I've read several novels, a ton of her short stories, plus most of her essay collections and I've loved them all, but I wanted to mention this one particularly because Le Guin was examining our ideas of gender and society in the fucking 60s and I'm tired of hearing right-wing nutjobs bang on about trans people like they're some alien species newly landed on our planet to kidnap our children. Also, what I love about Le Guin's sci-fi is that she was concerned primarily with the culture of alien societies, not laser guns, and her world building is incredibly deep in that regard. Her father was an anthropologist, and you can see how his studies shaped her writing.

'The Lymond Chronicles' by Dorothy Dunnett. I love me a good swashbuckler, and these are some good swashbucklers. There's also some really beautiful prose that really evokes the landscapes of 15th century Europe, and her action/battle scenes are some of the most gripping I've read. The caveat with this one is that I actually don't like the main character all that much; he's a real special guy who speaks all the languages, is good at all the things, is a master strategist at 20, and is hot to boot. But the story is told mostly through the POVs of other characters that get caught up in his exploits so you're not stuck in his insufferable perspective, and I found the books overall (there are six in the series) very hard to put down.

'The Count of Monte Cristo' by Alexandre Dumas. The OG swashbuckler, really. Shipwrecks! Duels! Poison! Revenge! People just don't do dramatic adventure novels like Dumas anymore.

'War and Peace' by Tolstoy. I can't not mention this; I've read it twice so far in English and once in Russian. Tolstoy was an amazing observer of human nature. Also, he clearly thought Napoleon was a little bitch and reading about him from the perspective of a Russian novelist is quite entertaining after reading about him from Victor Hugo's perspective.

'Les Miserables' by Victor Hugo. I also have to mention this one. Yes, there are very lengthy asides on the Parisian sewer system. In the middle of a chase scene. But tbh, Hugo was curious about everything and while maybe he talked about every single one of those things a bit too long, it still endears him to me. Also, he was known more as a poet than a novelist by contemporary readers, and even in translation I think the fact that he was a poet really comes through in the prose.

Also, really anything by Patricia McKillip if you want dreamy, poetic fantasy that feels like being dropped right into the middle of a fairytale where magic has no hard rules and is something a bit wild and dangerous and beautiful.

I also read a lot of non-fiction, so I'll just list a few of my faves: 'Survival in Auschwitz' by Primo Levi; 'The Gulag Archipelago' by Alexandre Solzhenitsyn; James Herriott's 'All Creatures Great and Small' series; 'Landmarks' by Robert Macfarlane (but really any of his nature writing; this one I liked particularly because it's about the power of language to evoke a sense of place and how our vocabulary for the natural world is slowly being subsumed by our increasingly technologically-driven world). 'The Demon-Haunted World' by Carl Sagan, which was written in the 90s but if anything is even more relevant today as we struggle with parsing the mythology of pseudoscience and the real-world harm it perpetuates.

And I read a fuck ton of poetry, so I'll just rattle off a list of some of my favourite poets: Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon, Rupert Brooks, Edward Thomas (I also love his nature writing), Alexandre Blok, Pushkin, Ursula Le Guin (she's primarily known as a novelist, but she has some very good poetry as well), Mikhail Lermontov, Anna Akhmatova, Alexander Pope, Tennyson (particularly Idylls of the King), Seamus Heaney, and Yeats.

Anyway, this is a small sampler of books I've read and loved.

[luxmoogle]

ALRIGHT WASSUP I love your art style and am an art student so I know a little bit bout what makes art recognizable, (not an expert and definitely not good at remembering terms so don't act like this is some art bible) lemme tell you what I think makes your art recognizable and "lux".

First, you got your shape language. That would be what the other person was referring to as proportions. (Since we're talking about Sora, proportions is absolutely not a wrong word to use, but I'm going to talk about shapes specifically.) The cheek? Always the exact same little curve, same spot, the forehead is the same, which creates a head shape that is incredibly recognizable as you. The hair is also always the same, which may seem weird considering your drawing hair that's pre established but you have a very unique way of doing it. The shape of his lower hair on the back of his head especially stands out to me. His body is always the same type of lanky, you draw his arms and hands a very particular type of way. Overall, very recognizable and consistent.

The colors you use. Honestly, I don't even know how to describe this, and I literally took a class on colors. The only word I can think of is "surreal". They're usually very vibrant, but destaturated at the same time? Like you're taking vibrant colors and putting desaturated ones on top? Genuinely hard to describe. It is one of the most beautiful color jobs I've ever seen tho, and I'm not exaggerating. If you could explain I'd honestly love to try (read: steal) whatever technique you use. Also very consistent, even in the black and white photos. I think it's partially lighting but I digress.

The other person brought up your eyes, and that's probably one of THE most consistent parts of your art I notice. I'm not rly gonna go into detail, cause you said you worked on eyes a lot so I'm gonna just leave you to that honestly cause the eyes you draw are iconic imo. Beautiful. Stunning. Breathtaking. No notes just keep it up 🫡

Your lines (and the texture of the drawing) are specifically sketchy, like a very specific type of sketchy. I'm guessing it's the texture of the brushes you use, and it also makes it consistent and recognizable. This is probably one of the things that makes the black and white photos more recognizable as well, since they don't technically have colors to with with and, imo, that's one of the most recognizable parts of your art. The very specific shapes you use are about on par with the colors, with everything else gradually moving down the list.

So yeah. My mini essay on your art. I hope this helps you understand cause honestly? Your art is iconic. Gorgeous. Magnificent. I dream of drawing like you. Pls keep it up cause on god it brightens my day every time I see you post, art or no

I appreciate you taking the time to write out such a long and thoughtful post~! ❤️ This was a very interesting and fun read! I am in many ways completely blind to my own work. Unlike looking at someone else's work, it's very hard to distance myself far enough from my own to see it's prominent features.

For color I can I say I am aware of color theory and mostly follow a sensible routine of cool shadows and warm light points, things that are further away seem more blue etc. etc... But at some point while drawing/painting I do usually fall into adding and prodding the colors into a more impressionistic vibe and away from realism, mostly favoring cool toned colors and adding tones to places that they realistically shouldn't be, but they aesthetically please me, so.

Thank you for all the compliments, I've re-read this quite a few times now, but don't really know what to say besides a boring thank you~! This has left me a lot to ponder, and I'm very glad for your writing..!

Hope you have a wonderful rest of your day, take care~!❤️

[bunnakit]

it is lore-anon back to scream in your inbox again. Thank you for the second link! Yes, I can see it if the individual tweet is linked directory (otherwise twitter bans you from seeing comments and retweets and threads if you're not logged into an account and I continue to want to pitch them out a window for it because I refuse to make one). I read the other four entries but then it was 2AM and I needed to go to bed. But now I am back and

OH NO. I don't know who's entry hurts the worst, (its not supposed to be a stomp on my heart contest guys)

When I watched the Work mv for the first time I had a little moment of 'ha ha Hongjoong and Mingi are out there fighting A Monster Of Capitalism' moment with the money-kaiju. But they really are out there literally fighting A Monster of Capitalism akjghlkadjhgla. My heart. (This is why I am here, for the brilliance of how they can play something off as silly or casual in an mv but they've layered so much metaphor, foreshadowing, and worldbuilding up at this point that if you're a lore person suddenly a lot of little casual throwaway things are the OPPOSITE of casual)

Because, ok, I got an arts degree right? So when they first announced the name of the new era was Golden Hour I was like 'as in the photography term Golden Hour?' because this was a very interesting choice given Golden Hour, and then the names of the album versions came out and instead of A-Diary-Z suddenly it was Blue Hour-Diary-Golden Hour I flipped my shit because that basically confirmed they DID mean the photography concept. And they're SO intentional about everything I was like 'ok, where does golden hour lighting vs blue hour lighting show up in past mv's, out of curiosity?'

(Because, like. I have an offline 'lore' playlist I've setup on my comp so I can watch all the teasers-intros-mvs-outros for all of the mvs together in one place back to back in the order they were released so it makes it easy to check when something new suddenly ties back to something previous. It's over 5 hours at this point. I love them, they feed us so well).

Go back. Watch everything from Pirate King in order. Unlike other kpop groups that go ham on the coloured gels to create mood and atmosphere, ATEEZ basically, dead-on consistently, all the way back to 2018, through Every. Single. Video have essentially 5 types of lighting they shoot scenes with for 95% of the mv shots: that really warm-cast sunrise/sunset golden hour light, the extremely cool-cast twilight blue hour light, a neutral light that is incredibly bright to the point of almost over-exposing the scene, black and white, and BATHED-IN-RED-cast. (The only exceptions are a couple shots that use coloured gels in Turbulence especially Wooyoung PETER-PANNING INTO THE SKY ON THE AIRPORT RUNWAY THAT HAS NO NEW CONTEXT WHATSOEVER NOW, Hongjoong's part in Halazia with the background purple lighting, a couple of shots in Deja Vu, and the deliberate use of gels to simulate all the neon lights in Bouncy. But even then the use of gels in these places REALLY stand out because it is NOT their norm).

And, I would argue, given looking at WHICH scenes in each mv use which type of lighting, because they have been SO consistent about it-

That they have been using lighting temperature to separate something happening in the A world vs the Z world vs dreams vs memories vs recorded-electronically-transmitted messages vs the points where one or more of these has met a point where its merging with a different one, (they have referenced mobius strips TOO MANY TIMES for me to treat the A and Z worlds as separate universes. Oh no, we are playing with 1 or more magic relics at this point and timelines are starting to bleed, Halazia-universe being a created as a literal side-effect in itself,) and the mvs haven't just been telling ONE timeline of events for that mv, but MULTIPLE. At. The. Same. Time. (I swear I could write a 10k essay on how they've used their lighting for world-building up to this point that went unnoticed until they took a megaphone and basically went 'hey, golden hour? blue hour? maybe pay attention to that ho ho' and wrecked me).

Because, like, for fever forward, the mv and the diary version always reference each other, right? but in some mv's I have to look at the mv and then back at the diary version and something on the screen

Whereas the diary versions have only ever been from the A-world pirates perspective. So we know which events are THEIR timeline from their point of view.

and the parts from the mv that don't "fit" as creative interpretations of the diary's contents? They DO tend to make sense if you take it as how the main themes of the diary are/were playing out but for the Z-world pirates at potentially a different point in THEIR personal Z-world timeline.

Maybe its my deep-in-the-lore-sauce-analysis delulu, but like, maybe the Z-world pirates are dead as far as the A-World pirates are currently aware, in their part of their timeline. But I would bet my hat that the Z-pirates are not dead-dead in the larger fabric of the multiple connected universes. There are way too many pointed bits of foreshadowing and too many deliberate loose ends from past mvs that have not been tied off yet for me to believe we've really seen the last of them yet, (this is probably another unhinged 10k essay on my part).

I mean, I am currently convinced that Answer timeline-wise takes place AFTER whatever happens in the Golden Hour era, (that most of the events from the Treasure-era mv's actually belong much later in their timeline than we currently think they do, actually).

And we know who's at the table toasting in Answer.

hey lore anon! sorry, i've been fighting a 2 day headache and work and my brain is basically sludge~ please don't ever apologize for getting excited tho! seeing people get excited about stuff they're passionate about is my fav thing and i've definitely been in my friends dms theorycrafting and spewing some insane shit lmao

i could NOT believe how much of the work mv became lore, especially with hongjoong and mingi!! like!! and the food truck theme! ugh, ugh, ugh. ill never be over how they can take insane shit like bouncy and work and turn it into actually gut wrenching lore. like how??

i absolutely love all your theories and my god you're way smarter than me on the filming and lighting lmao all i have to guide me is literary devices and narrative patterns (written word is the only place i excel in life RIP)

i cannot WAIT to see the path the lore is taking, they really keep us guessing at every turn and that's what got me hooked and ruined my life in february lol

please ALWAYS feel free to climb in my dms either here or discord or wherever if you want! or pls always feel free to send me asks!!

happy golden hour!!!

[scarabjewels]

Jack and the Cuckoo-clock heart: I Truly Think The Movie “Fixed” The Book

I was around 13 to 15 when I first came across a 360p movie on a pirated DVD filled with random animated movies the vendors could download, and it was this goth punk aesthetic 3d movie entitled "Jack and the Cuckoo Clock Heart". It was the most visually bizarre media I watched in a long time. It was hauntingly beautiful, it reminded me of Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland", specifically the White Queen's kingdom. I loved it so much that I fell into a research phase all about it. Matthias is a fucking lucky author, literally a vocalist of a band then they get to make a movie out of it and make music. I still rewatch it and love to consume video reactions and essays about in YouTube, such as BionicPig and RosMo.

I originally intended to write this movie about its similarity to classic but tragic love stories like "Romeo and Juliet" and "Cyrano". But then I decided to read the book and the stark contrast of it should be WRITTEN.

I will be writing 3 parts: 1) The differences of the book and the movie, 2) what they kept and made better, and 3) things I observed that aren't talked about enough

I just finished the book in one sitting right as I am writing this. I have to say, I was not prepared how adult it was.

PART 1: THE DIFFERENCES

Let's start with major observations and comparisons.

Book: Jack mentioning Acacia’s name leading into a lost of temper with a fight with Joe makes sense

Movie: Jack and Joe’s fight starting from a postcard doesn't make sense

Coincidentally, they apparently have the same birthday in the movie and Miss Acacia send Joe a postcard. Jack stumbled across it one day, and gets into a petty fit before ultimately getting into a fight with Joe. It is exactly what I see 14 year olds doing honestly, but ultimately it did not make sense

In the book, Joe (movie as well) warns Jack to not mention as so.much utter Miss Acacia’s name. After years of pent up anger, Jack decides to mention her name then a brawl starts. Now that’s a fight that makes sense and you can still see teenagers doing exactly that.

Book: Joe and Acacia were past lovers. Joe replaces Jack's job as a Frightener at the Ghost Train, and Joe uses their past to taunt Jack.

Movie: Joe and Acacia are seemingly old friends. While Joe sets out to destroy Jack's image, he unkowingly serves as a messenger of vital information.

Joe's intention in both media are the same, to destroy Jack's reputation and win Miss Acacia’s heart. In the book, he tells her about the injury (just that) and she confront Jack about this. In the book, Jack stumbles on his words first before dumping everything that happened. They get into an argument, with Acacia falling silent as he explains everything. They said their I-love-yous before separating. Acacia is clearly confused at the truth, which is why she fell silent as she left, on the contrary to her very fiery personality (it's ×10 in the books, added with extreme stubbornness too). Joe told him the next morning about how she came to him crying and that they hugged and kissed like they once did before, provoking Jack to charge at him. Believing his lies that Acacia in fact had some sort of little affair with Joe, his jealousy continues to sever his and Acacia’s relationship after another confronting argument about Joe's supposed truth.

In the movie, this issue was fixed, well I found it an issue. Instead of taunting with lies, Joe manipulates the truth a little differently, with a suprisingly huge amount of truth too. He told her that Jack’s handicap, his heart, it dangerous to detriment of others and himself, as he is capable of injuring anyone when he goes out of control. He points at his eye patched eye as proof. He tells her about the three rules that Jack must follow in order to stay alive. This makes Acacia’s argument actually have substance instead of just an act of violence. She couldn't bear the thought of him dying, so she pushes him away, telling him not to love her. The injury also came up in the argument, which Jack replies quickly, as opposed in the book. He explains it concisely, saying that it was an accident and that he did not want that to happen, all the while rebutting each of Acacia’s accusatory questions. That's what really solved the issue in the book. There was actual stakes as to why the argument is happening and Jack is standing up for himself, even at the person he loves. He apologizes more in the movie than in the books, and Acacia is a lot more kinder.

I was really losing it when I read the chapters of them arguing in the book. No one was apologizing. Literally none. Acacia didn't exactly listen to Jack, she was trapped with him believing his “lies” and had a hard time seeing what the actual truth was, which leads me to the next difference.

Book: Acacia truly believed that his clock heart was a joke, even when Jack showed her how it worked (and it lead to them …doing it), until the very end

Movie: Acacia was sold the moment he let her explore his clock heart and he trusted his key to her.

As I said, she found it hard to believe him, with what Joe told him. But, in the movies, she did actually hear him out, keenly at that, and it hurt her that she couldn't be with him because it might potentially kill him. At least in the movie, her yells of telling him to stop that actually accounts to something, as in telling him to stop getting angry or else he'll hurt himself more.

Book: (Maybe it more of an opinion?) I don't think Jack and Acacia were in love. It was too heavily sexual and secretive, and the things they share about themselves just lead to more sexual escapades than actual bonding. They strive on heated moments too fast and too often. Acacia had commitment issues from the start to the end.

Movie: They really feel like two teens falling in love. They share sweeter moments, emotionally sharing, have trouble with setting boundaries and communicating like any teenager, and actually ENJOY EACH OTHERS COMPANY.

Book Jack and Acacia were just incompatible. As far as I could see, it was not the kind of love Jack wanted. He liked the bare minimum because it would mean that he could keep seeing the girl he pursued and dreamt of so long that he was so blinded to who she is and how she treated him. She loved him, but she really failed to really be in an actual relationship with him. I understand that some people value their privacy, but when you are kept secret and essentially treated like a convenience, that's not a suitable relationship of love, much less respect. She did not respect his beliefs. She was volatile in reaction, and I personally believe that Joe did not lie about her having a little affair with him. She never really claimed that it did not happen, only telling Jack “you really think I'd go back to him”. In the end, she really did. So, I don't think Joe was lying. Yep, Jack put her too high of a pedestal. He essentially worshipped her. She was basically not human to him. It was already such a failure that I think their ending in the book made sense. He also admits this near the epilogue, that he wanted it to work out so much, that it just didn’t. Acacia wanted to supposedly "keep away from gossip," but that changed when she married Joe in the book, whom she is openly affectionate even when she admittedly was still in love with Jack. The minute Jack came back, despite her feelings, she also left him without saying anything, as well as Joe. She...was a red flag, it was clear she found commitments hard, leading Jack (unaware of his identity) on when he came, even when she was married and was also in love with another man. She might have her reasons, but she also left Joe in the end, so YEAH NOPE.

In the movie, Acacia was significantly a better character, with some flaws from her book counterpart. She was honest about her feelings toward Jack, yet chose to honor her feeling for her first love. She was clear with him, up front. Jack confessed eventually, and answers her question with honesty. They have chemistry and as soon as he confessed, she started to open up to him and he did as well. Their exchange is really good, and very plausible as two teens in love. A good definition of young love, if anything they were simultaneously more mature but impulsive than in the book, ironically the reason why they are compatible in the movie. Their argument had an element of out of love (for their selves and each other). Their ending was that their love was really meant to be their best one yet. Jack's life was worthwhile, despite it being short. A beautiful illustration of “it's better to have loved and lost, than not have loved at all”. But he loved and won in my opinion.

Book: Jack's clock heart was a placebo, representing Madeleine's attachment to him, wanting to protect him even when she knew he was strong enough to live without her or the clock.

Movie: Jack's clock heart was an actual device that kept him alive and more than just Madeleine's attachment to him.

This was so disappointing in the book. I was upset. I wasn't upset that Acacia and Jack didn't end up together, I was upset that what she was telling him the whole time was TRUE. I was at Jack's side until the nurse told him everything. I felt so betrayed. His family betrayed him basically. It hurt me that Madeleine had that unhealthy attachment to him, she could've let him live a normal life. That was painful.

That's why the movie was better. Jack actually couldn't live normally at all, he was a genuine handicapped person. The stakes were REAL. The ending was sad, but it had the perfect build up, that it was worthwhile. Madeleine didn't betray him, and she died trying to protect him.

(Yeah, I realize that I wrote too long of a review but I will be posting the other 2 parts very soon)