#i think an LYS sequel would be fun to work on but for now MO is my sole focus!

[deerspherestudios]

Can't remember if I sent this already or not(feel free to ignore if I did)

Alma is attached to the building she died in right? So what if something happened to the building? Like it gets heavily damaged from a a storm or some other natural disaster and the building is torn down, would she be free or would she still be stuck in the area the building once was?

Since this is regarding a fictional ghost character in a fictional supernatural setting, my take as the creator is that they'd cease to exist if the building they're tethered to is destroyed; whether to the afterlife or elsewhere, I wouldn't know.

Unrelated but if you'll allow me to ramble for a sequel I had in my head:

First and foremost I should say I don't plan to make a sequel!! This was an idea I had before I started working on Mushroom Oasis, but this is what I had when people asked for a continuation of Lift Your Spirits:

Continuing the story from the good endings, MC and Alma would've gotten close enough to the point where MC would wanna try and 'rescue' Alma from the building. After some research, TLDR; they managed to come up with a way for Alma to possess an item of theirs, like a necklace or a bracelet (this is gonna be so random but think Dude, That's My Ghost for anyone familiar with that show).

After performing a ritual, instead of the campus building, they're tethered to you instead. So yes, Alma can leave and accompany you if you consent to that living situation.

Afterwards the game would be heavily slice-of-life where you go about getting used to having a ghost tail you around for the rest of your life, and depending on the route you'd either end up as cherished friends or romantic partners until you grow old and join them, so to speak!

[davidmann95]

sooo... the snyder cut's out

I liked the Snyder Cut. This sucks.

Me thinking about this movie, apparently

Do I think it has revolutionized superhero cinema forever? Nah, if nothing else it mostly plays it too unexpectedly safe for that. But this was evidently always going to be his version of a straight take superhero teamup adventure after BvS, and as it turns out, he’s really good at that? There’s a better version of this that trims at least half an hour of pure bloat - and I don’t mean ‘inessential’ character beats, strictly redundant exposition - but by and large this is a terrific meat-and-potatoes superhero flick realized with the sweep and style Snyder brings to his work. There’s a ton of stuff I could nitpick, and its biggest sin is it loses momentum over time because Snyder clearly used literally every single thing he had filmed regardless of utility, but by and large this was a fun time. Assorted notes (where I get into spoiler territory) below:

* Why wasn’t the weird Motherbox opening credits sequence kept? They showed it off just a few weeks ago!

* This is very Morrison JLA in that only the junior members of the group get character arcs, and fairly bare-bones at that, but everyone gets their Big Iconic Stuff. Except oddly Batman, who shockingly gets short shift here while Superman in his minimal screentime is as much a sudden 180 “hey here’s just regular ‘ol Superman now” as what we saw in 2017.

* Flash’s opening setpiece was the best of the movie by miles, a jaw-dropping realization of that power and the necessary delicateness that comes with it that’s one of my favorite moments in any superhero media period. His big time travel moment was nothing to sneeze at either. They never explain where his powers come from though?

* Steppenwolf is actually pretty damn fun in here as a guy who’s in-universe a fake final boss who’s really a put-upon self-loathing failed lackey.

* (Darkseid meanwhile sucks and is nothing but that isn’t surprising.)

* This looks better all around, obviously the action and composition is gorgeous and even Flash and Cyborg’s dopey looks are considerably more tolerable, while Superman’s black suit helps cover a bunch of the noodly nonsense.

* Yes, this is better than Whedon’s version. Not exponentially so, at least for my tastes - Batman of all characters felt like he had a lot more going on in that - but I’m loathe to give it much credit, and I think a lot of relative strengths it had were purely due to it keeping leaner.

* I’m not clear at all why WB felt the need to damn near remake the thing when this was so very much Snyder playing nice, other than maybe no one could figure out how to wrangle down the runtime comprehensibly? I certainly can’t fathom how the assembly cut was reportedly declared ‘unwatchable’ by producers.

* No, the Martian Manhunter stuff makes no fucking sense whatsoever, but it’s worth it because his presence means that the last words in Zack Snyder’s Justice League are Martian Manhunter, which is incredible.

* At heart it’s no more a sequel to MOS or BVS than what Whedon did beyond the raw fact of progressing the plot: this isn’t a meditation on power or politics or duty or vengeance beyond the thinnest of notes with some of the side characters, it’s a bunch of cool superfolks putting aside their personal problems and learning to believe in themselves/each other to save the world from a big bad thing, even if it still operates in the broad thematic realm of “life snatched from death” prevalent in both versions.

* It’s consistently at its best when it’s Snyder getting to go buckwild with the powers, imagery, and pure vibes; the character work is fine and the actors all do well enough, but the point here is this is Snyder setting up Space Superhero Lord of the Rings with impossible beings operating on a grand scale.

* I kind of wish it had the manic unselfaware energy throughout of the opening Wonder Woman sequence where she saves the kids as in the theatrical cut, but the head terrorist says fuck, Wonder Woman’s clearly killing them all...and at the end she smiles and gives an earnest girl power line to one of the hostage kids right after disintegrating a fool in front of them. It would be a worse movie, but an even more entertaining one.

* The Batman/Joker scene is perfectly fine, and while it would have been better for this movie unto itself if the reshoots had been used to tighten some stuff up instead I don’t begrudge Snyder for going that extra mile to ensure folks absolutely fucking demand he get his sequel (I know he says that’s not why he did it; he is transparently lying). Affleck sells his f-bomb.

That’s pretty much that! I think the purpose of this movie as Snyder conceived it was to win over rubes like me without alienating the true believers to get the leeway to do JL 2&3 however the fuck he wanted. And god help me, especially with the worst possible avenues closed off to him I do want to see what those would be, all the absurd operatic bombast of BvS as applied to a big cosmic superhero epic functioning from what we’ve heard in the more straightforward mode of operation established here. The fandom force of will both joyful and horrific will be there in spades, so I guess it’s a question of what kind of numbers this does.

[zarrycats]

11, 26, 33 (hearts will beat as one), 40 -Mo

11. do you listen to music when writing?

Not usually. Sometimes. It depends on what I’m writing and if I’m actually motivated, you know?

26. story you’re most proud of

Hmm.. I’m proud of a lot of my fics in different ways. I’m proud of your love is a waiting game bc I actually wrong angst (????) and that never happens. I'm proud of my early chapter fics bc I actually wrote something when a lot of ppl made fun of those fics and sent me a lot of rude shit when I wrote them. I'm proud of every wave drags you to sea bc I wrote a 76k one shot??? I'm proud of swm bc I made ppl cry (sorry that’s mean but it’s nice to know ppl felt something.) So, yeah. I’m proud of a lot of my stories. 

33. alternate ending for hearts will beat as one

Oh nooooooooo an alternate ending. Hm... maybe it could end differently with the two of them in bed and Harry is watching Zayn sleep and he’s thinking about him and the life that they’re in now and feeling happy that he found Zayn in this one, and I just like to imagine it ending with the quiet of night like it does now, in the same intimate way, but perhaps it’s more of a familiar way, like lying in bed next to each other. It’s something that they’re both familiar with, regardless of who remembers their previous lives. But before Harry goes to sleep, I think maybe Zayn would say something that hints that he knows the dreams he has about Harry aren’t just dreams but something more. Maybe something like that. I’m quite happy with the very last lines of the fic, but this could work as well. 

40. which one of your stories would you most like to see as a movie/series

Oh, hmm.. I think when I’ve finished just like the ocean, it’ll make an interesting movie. If I can accomplish what I intend to accomplish. When and if I ever write a sequel, I think use a light to guide me home would be really great, as well. As for works that are finished, maybe don’t think twice, it’s alright bc it has some humor to it that would probably translate well to film. 

[albertoajman-blog]

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

The first time I ever saw a Guillermo del Toro film was back in the summer of '96, when my friends and I caught Mimic.  I actually had a good time with it, and thought it was - for a creature feature, basically - well done with some good scares and effective FX and design.  After seeing Blade II, the man was definitely on my radar, and I distinctly remember watching The Devil's Backbone a few months later at home and thinking "This guy's got some serious moves."  Well, the original Hellboy and then Pan's Labyrinth seem to have solidified that in my mind - for my money, there's really no one out there right now making movies like del Toro does.  He loves the grotesque and the darkness, but possesses a sweetness and soul that make all the arguments about whether or not genre flicks can have a head AND a heart along with the creepy-crawlies pretty much worthless and wholly without merit.

After having such a blast with the first Hellboy, a phenomenal comic-book outing based on the great series by Mike Mignola, I really hoped that del Toro would raise the bar a bit with the sequel; go further and up the ante, if you will.  I had no way of knowing that my hopes would be FAR surpassed with Hellboy II: The Golden Army - if you liked the first one, you should absolutely adore this flick.  Everything the first one had, such as great characters, FX work, humor, action and adventure, even a touch of lost and lonely romantic longing - we've got all of that here, just more of it.  That's the best way to put it, I think; all the great aspects of the first movie, but MORE.  How can you not love that? Our heroes are still working for the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense - which of course is in New Jersey - and Hellboy (Ron Perlman) and Liz Sherman (Selma Blair) are now in a relationship that doesn't always go smoothly.  Well, most don't, but as you might imagine, theirs is perhaps a bit. . .difficult.  Abe Sapien (Doug Jones, handling vocal duties this time around as well) is still the quiet, competent, soulful aquatic empath and fan favorite; Manning (Jeffrey Tambor) remains the blowhard bureaucrat, despised and tormented by Hellboy.  Unknown to this motley crew, the fantastical denizens of the forests are plotting their revenge.  It seems that man made a truce with the elves and trolls years before, after a bloody war (beautifully rendered in a pre-credits flashback sequence that brings John Hurt back as Professor Bruttenholm) almost wiped all of them out.  The deal was:  men get the cities, the elves get the forests.  Now, after man has gone back on his word and seemingly thought, "Isn't that a lovely meadow?  I'll bet a parking lot or business park would look great there," Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) has decided enough is enough.  He will find the last piece of an ancient crown, one that will allow him to control The Golden Army, created for the last war and now lying dormant and unused.  With their power, he will wage war once again on mankind, and they will regret having gone back on their word.  Yet his sister, Princess Nuala (Anna Walton), does not share his sentiment, and escapes with the crown piece, looking for help where there is none to be found. . .unless you count the BPRD, that is.

Honestly, this flick is amazing.  It's thematically deep and while I get that Nuada is the antagonist, I could never fault his logic; he's completely right in the terms of his own outlook.  He's not doing it to end the world - he's doing it to ensure the survival of his kind.  It's visually stunning, just completely beautiful to behold.  del Toro goes above and beyond here, and you'll see that the man simply cannot be faulted for his eye.  Nor his heart, as the two main love stories - that of Hellboy and Liz, and Abe finding, to his own surprise, that he has fallen for Nuala and will do anything for her - are moving, touching, and entirely bittersweet.  Our heroes learn that there is no love without regret, and no pleasure without pain; the price to pay may be steep, but they'll pay it, and gladly, for that love.  The action sequences are top-notch and about as thrilling as they come in these big-budget comic book extravaganzas (the final fight between Hellboy and Nuada in particular is the finest throwdown I've seen del Toro pull off yet; high praise indeed, which you'll understand if you've seen Blade II).  The Troll Market, already hailed as the next coming of Star Wars' Mos Eisley sequence is. . .well, basically that.  It's a feast for the eyes that has me counting the days until this hits DVD so I can go frame by frame and see all the amazing costumes and creatures that lurk around the edges, in the background, everywhere.  

The cast continues to be the glue that holds these exuberant, sometimes messy but always exhilarating flicks together.  As Hellboy, Ron Perlman displays exactly why he's regarded as a character actor par excellence.  There's not a single person, in my mind, that could play this part anywhere NEAR as well as he does.  The blue collar attitude, the snarky one-liners delivered perfectly, the little-boy-lost quality that permeates his interactions with Liz, and the utter and complete badassery that add up to Hellboy are never steered in a single wrong direction.  He is perfect in the role, and I am beyond thankful for it.  Blair is also superb, once again, and is given a bit more to do this time around - which I am also thankful for.  Abe Sapien, the creation not just of the FX wizards but of performer Doug Jones, has the most surprising (and heartbreaking) arc this go-round, and the movie is richer for developing his character further.  Goss and Walton, as the twin elf siblings, play their parts with elegance and style and actually FEEL like their characters - as fantastic as they are - might actually exist somewhere.  Not just in our imaginations, but in a place that the world needs, somehow.  Oh, and then there's the new character of Johann Krauss, brought to the BPRD by Manning (Tambor is just as slimy and boobish as ever, and still a joy to watch) to straighten things up a bit.  Would it surprise you if I said that Krauss is basically a cloud of gas inside a old-time diver's suit?  Or that he's voiced to near-perfection by Seth McFarlane, abusing a German accent?  Yeah, it didn't surprise me either.  It's all just loads of fun and pathos and thrills, and all of these actors are mostly responsible for it.

Except for the one man who is almost completely responsible for it; that would be del Toro himself.  I can't say enough about the man, how he seems to have been given to us by the geek gods to show us sights and sounds and make us clap and giggle like the children we hold so dear inside ourselves.  He is able to do that because he is one of us.  He makes movies that he himself would wish to see, and has been blessed with the talent and drive to put those before us, as much for his pleasure as ours.  This is a man with the imagination and love for these stories and these characters - for these worlds - that is big enough to dwarf even his largest and most terrifying creations.  I love his sense of humor and his generosity, and since I could literally go on and on about him, will close by saying that he's the first filmmaker in a very long time that I have decided to follow wherever he goes, knowing that wherever he takes me, it will be to see things I've never seen and give me experiences I've never had.  The things I never knew I was missing in my life, but needed so much.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army is easily one of the best things I've ever seen in a theater in my entire life.  It reminds me of what movies are capable of.  The sense of wonder they can give you and the joy inside that can't help but sing when you realize it's got just the right touch to play that instrument that you possess.  This is, of course, merely my opinion, and my reaction to it, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.  It is a wonderful piece of art - and to paraphrase a character in the film, without works such as this, the world would be lesser for it.