#if you had any interest at all in watching a Rollin film‚ then watch any of them but this (but ideally The Iron Rose or Living Dead Girl)

[mariocki]

Le lac des morts vivants (Zombie Lake, 1981)

"Stories about the lake of the damned go back to the Inquisition. They used to celebrate Black Masses back in the Middle Ages: they would sacrifice children, which they threw into it so as to appease the spirits which otherwise rose out of their watery grave in search of blood. And we too, we've used it as an unholy grave during the war. But the soldiers we threw in were not a sacrifice... and they're coming back with a vengeance."

[agentcable]

Law & Order Special Victims Unit Season 23 Ep. 8

Carisi requested SVU's assistance with a murder investigation after one of the witnesses, Alison Thornton, displayed signs of abuse. This prompted Benson and the SVU team to launch an investigation.

If you want to watch the series for yourself, stop reading! This post contains spoilers to the storyline.

In the back of a cab, a man convinces a woman to send a suggestive photo to another man. Another woman expresses interest in joining. They receive an invitation and provide the address to the driver.

Later, a man is editing a rap video while his partner is under the influence. According to reports, a group of girls were present at the scene when a male individual robbed and shot one of the guys. The perpetrator then forced another individual to hand voer all the money in the safe before shooting the owner of the establishment. During the incident, one of the girls became distressed.

Rollins has informed the group that Carisi wishes to meet with them. Carisi informs them that the suspect has been beaten and has STDs, and that she may be a victim. Tori, an honors student, has been texting Chris and is afraid. Benson requests that Tori be brought in for questioning regarding her involvement in the case.

Carisi informs Tori that she will be charged with three counts of homicide. They request that she disclose any information she has about other individuals involved.

Tori agrees and cooperates, revealing that Jasmine was once her friend and that G was the mastermind. Velasco discovered G's channel. Tori and Jasmine appeared in a new video that was just released. The video seems to be a confession. Fin commented that these individuals are seeking fame and are doing their jobs ofr them. During questioning, Tori provided the address where the videos were being made. The NYPD conducted a raid at the location and G attempted to flee but was apprehended by Rollins and Fin. G accused Tori of being the mastermind and claimed to have evidence to support his claim. Benson stated that they had sufficient evidence against G. However, G appeared indifferent to the consequences of his actions. He is blaming Tori and stating that she should go down with him. G claims that the crew disrespected them and that Tori knew Chris from school. He alleges that the robbery was Tori's idea, suggesting that she offered to hook up with Chris and he wouldn't resist her.

Chris informs Rollins that he is not a gangster but a movie enthusiast. He was uanble to attend film school, so he created videos for his brother. He feels remorseful for his brother's death and trusted Tori.

Jasmine alleges that Tori was willing to do anything and was the most adventurous. Tori is upset about being incarcerated despite her cooperation. Rollins and Benson explain that G and Jasmine claim Tori was the mastermind. Tori insists she was coerced. Benson tells her she will have to explain everything. Tori requests a lawyer.

Later, Tori reveals that she befriended Jasmine, who introduced her to G. Tori found G attractive and willingly had sex with him. According to the lawyer, Tori's age of 15 qualifies the incident as rape.

Additionally, Tori alleges that she was trafficked and physically abused by G whenever she attempted to escape. Although G had complete control over her, Tori also had feelings for him. At this point, she was working as a stripper and prostitute, giving all of her earnings to G. Rollins asks if she's doing well in school. Tori replies that school was easy, but the nights were difficult. She couldn't escape. He forced her to text Chris and threatened to kill her if she didn't comply.

Benson and Carisi both believe Tori, but Carisi is doubtful about his ability to negotiate a deal for her. He discusses Tori's case with the homicide prosecutors, but tehy are not interested in making a deal while the case is under such scrutiny. Additionally, they are hesitant to charge a Black man without also charging the white girl who initiated the crime.

Benson and Rollins are approached by a woman with an accent who claims to be Tori's mother. She expresses confusion about Tori's situation and mentions her own busy work schedule.

The three arraignments proceed, and Carisi requests remand for all three. Tori's mother becomes upset. Benson suggests that sharing Tori's story could be the tipping point. She intends to investigate G for rape and trafficking.

Carisi and Benson present evidence of Tori's abuse to the lead prosecutor, but the prosecutor shows no interest. Benson offers to testify, but the prosecutor insists that the law is clear. Carisi argues that the jury and the press will be swayed and offers Tori a plea deal of 25 years for conspiracy. Tori's actions resulted in the deaths of three people, according to Benson. Tori claims she was unaware of the plan to kill anyone. Carisi warns that the deal will no longer be available if she doesn't accept it immediately.

Fin is disappointed that Tori is refusing the deal, but Velasco understands her decision. Fin says she experienced a taste of life, and anything can go wrong. Velasco understands Tori's situation. AT 14, he attempted to impress a gang leader and lured a man to the gang, wherre he was tortured. He made a vow to God that if the man survived, he would do good from that day forward. The man survived. He kept his promise and got away with it. Fin agrees that he did a lot of dirt back in the day and is still trying to balance the scales.

The news is reporting on the scene, and Benson talks to the lead prosecutor who says she doesn't know if Carisi will be a good prosecutor for them.

Jasmine did not anticipate that anyone would be killed During the trial, Jasmine testified that Tori had suggested that she could convince Chris to let them in and that it was Tori's idea to break in. Tori initiated the break-in and was the first to enter the premises. The defense attorney attempted to discredit Jasmine by calling her a rat, but the objection was sustained.

Chris also testified. Tori texted him and he became excited. He blames himself for his brother's death. During the trial, a woman jumps up and shouts "murderer", but the judge quickly puts a stop to it.

After lunch, Tori is scheduled to testify, but her mother refuses to leave. Tori testifies about how she was abused by G. According to her, G was the one who came up with the idea of the robbery and kept pressuring her until she texted Chris. She was afraid that if she refused, he would sell her to someone else since he had a gun. Although she felt terrible about involving Chris and Mike, she didn't want anyone to get hurt and had no choice but to comply.

During cross-examination, Carisi questions why the victim, who had a straight A average and went home at night, did not report the abuse to anyone. Tori admits to drinking and doing drugs but claims she did not think to call the police. Tori didn't want G's gifts, but she felt obligated to wear them to avoid upsetting him. Initially, she enjoyed receiving them. Carisi believes that G is a dangerous individual, and Tori admits that she tried to refuse his advances. According to Carisi, Tori was never physically restrained, and she traveled to Poland voluntarily. Tori did not disclose the abuse until she was arrested. Tori admits that she never told anyone. Carisi questions how the jury can determine if this is the truth or an excuse.

Carisi is disgusted by his actions, but his superiors are proud of him. Rollins is upset that Carisi may have caused Tori to be convicted. Benson wonders if Jasmine was also trafficked. The police speak to Jasmine, who claims her injuries in the last year were due to clumsiness and rough play. Jasmine refuses to cooperate. Fin asks who forced Tori into prostitution, Jasmine or G? Velasco knows that Jasmine is afraid of G. Jasmine mentions that she will be spending the next ten years in prison and asks what her life is worth.

Carisi informs his boss about SVU's involvement in their case, which angers the lead prosecutor due to the potential loss of the Tori case. Despite Carisi's explanation that he is only providing a heads up, the prosecutors remain unconcerned. The case in question is a murder trial. Carisi states that the discretion is used for wealthy and influential individuals, so why not now? He successfully persuades the prosecutors not to pursue charges against Tori and Jasmine, who are victims. Following a press conference, he and Rollins reconcile.

Benson visits Tori, who has missed her last two probation sessions, which is a violation. She wonders if Tori believes she deserves to be in prison. Tori admits to missing the excitement but acknowledges the loss Chris has experienced while she remains free. Benson assures her that feeling guilty is natural. Tori was only 14 when this began and had to put on a lot of armor to protect herself. Benson promises Tori that she will eventually be able to take off the armor. She advises Tori that it may be uncomfortable and that she will need to retrain her brain, but that she can do it if she is patient with herself. When Tori expresses a desire to leave, Benson encourages her to stay and work her program.

[lunaajade]

Everything You Need to Know about “Shadow and Bone” on Netflix (*UPDATED: POSSIBLE LANGUAGE OF THORNS ADAPTATION INFO)

 Since it’s recently been confirmed that we’d be getting S&B content in a few days (finally!), I thought I’d compile and summarize as much info as I could to refresh everyone’s memories! Please spread the word/share this post to those who aren’t up to date! (I’ve seen some people online who are worried about how it’s going to turn out, and I’d like to be able to hopefully reassure those people)

Now, there’s a LOT of stuff, so there’s always the chance I missed/forgot something. This post will be split up into categories based on type of info, so here we go! I went back and listened to/watched both of the big live streams (NYCC and the S&B Charity Competition), went on the Grishaverse Reddit, etc. to find as much (extra/bonus) stuff as I could. (If I missed anything/got something wrong, please feel free to leave a comment!)

Update: A lot of people have been asking where it was confirmed we were getting content soon. I found out from one of the update accounts I follow.

Thanks for reading, everyone!

General/Key Info About the Show

-This first season will be adapting both “Shadow and Bone” and what has been dubbed a “Book 0″ (most likely meaning prequel/backstory/set-up) for “Six of Crows” -In relation to the above point, the timelines are being brought together for the show. (Normally in the books, the two series are set two years apart)(We don’t know how exactly or what this means for the story, but I have a really interesting theory that I thought up in relation to this, message me if you’d like to hear it.) -Leigh acknowledges and understands that some of us have doubts and are worried about the show, but she has publicly assured us (numerous times) of how much she loves the show and cast, how well she thinks the crew/writers did in bringing the Grishaverse to life, etc. See a later point below in the Facts/Tidbits section -The first season will have 8, one-hour long episodes -Alina has been made half Shu (half Asian) for the show! Leigh stated that was decided on after she and Eric had a lengthy discussion on Alina’s character. -The main cast (as in confirmed to be in all episodes) is comprised of Jessie Mei Li (as Alina), Archie Renaux (as Mal), Ben Barnes (as the Darkling), Freddy Carter (as Kaz), Amita Suman (as Inej), and Kit Young (as Jesper) -Wylan and Nikolai are NOT in the first season. (Nikolai didn’t appear until the second book, and Leigh confirmed that at this point in the story, the Crows had not met Wylan yet.) -Other cast members include Danielle Galligan (as Nina), Calahan Skogman (as Matthias), Daisy Head (as Genya), Sujaya Dasgupta (as Zoya), Luke Pasqualino (as David), Julian Kostov (as Fedyor), Simon Sears (as Ivan), Zoe Wanamaker (as Baghra), and more! -The Darkling will also be called “General Kirigan” in the show. From what we know, The Darkling will be the “enemy” to Ravka (so in essence, General Kirigan is his alias/fake persona (what he’ll most likely be referred to for most of the show), and no one knows that he’s actually their enemy. (Meaning it’ll most likely a super big moment when they learn their general was actually the Darkling in disguise)). -The show was shot on location in Budapest, Hungary. (And additional filming took place this past fall in Vancouver) -In order, the 8 episodes are titled the following: “A Searing Burst of Light”, “We’re All Someone’s Monster”, “The Making at the Heart of the World”, “Otkazat’sya”, “Show Me Who You Are”, “The Heart is An Arrow”, “The Unsea”, & “No Mourners”.

Other (Fun) Facts/Tidbits About the Show

-Upon seeing Jessie’s audition, Leigh loved her audition/portrayal of Alina so much that she apparently stated that she wanted her to play Alina or she’d be out of the project. She was sent five auditions to watch, Jessie’s was the third, and she said she didn’t bother watching the rest of them. -Leigh stated that she and Eric Heisserer (the creator of the show) said they were on the same page from the first meeting. All other past meetings with producers and companies about possible adaptations had left her with a bad feeling, but she said they’d had the same ideas about inclusion, story, staff, etc. She said she’s loved the respect he’s shown towards the work (and, in a way, to us the fans) -Netflix apparently also has the rights to adapt “The Language of Thorns” , though we’ve gotten no info on that adaptation yet. (UPDATE: I just watched a Leigh Bardugo event from Feb 2019 (a few weeks after the show was first announced, I think): As of  that day, she said that she thought that they were going to use LoT more for "texture” (IMO that might mean worldbuilding?) in the show. And I don’t know if she was talking about LoT specifically because she was very vague, but she said that there were certain things in the show that she thinks readers will be really excited about. Again, this was over a year ago, back when they were still in pre-production and stuff, so don’t take my word for it. Besides this, I couldn’t find anything else relating to a possible LoT adaptation. Maybe they’ll have the stories from LoT appear as actual folk tales told in the show, and that’s the “adaptation”? IDK. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpHnw8Ygw5c&t=1906s)) -Leigh is an exec. producer on the show! I’m no expert, so I don’t know how much say/power she had in the process, but she definitely had some. -There is a RAVKAN edition of the “Shadow and Bone” book that Leigh says makes a cameo in the show! -Jesper’s guns had custom etchings done on them by a Hungarian antique gunsmith! (And they were so good that Leigh and Eric said that it looked like it belonged in a museum--they were also described to be quite heavy!) -Eric Heisserer is the creator of the show, he is an award-winning writer, well known for “Arrival”, “Bird Box”, and more. (If I remember correctly, Leigh said that he’d reached out to her about making the show!) -A DeKappel painting (maybe the one owned by Van Eck?) was confirmed to be in the pilot episode. -Pekka Rollins and Tante Heleen have been confirmed to be in the first season, but their casting has (up to this point) not yet been revealed. -Bo Yul-Bayur is confirmed to be in the show! (Though Kuwei has not) -Leigh will have  a cameo in (I think) Episode 5! She will be wearing a Materialki kefta and will be opening a door, if I remember correctly. -A lot of the crew was also extremely passionate about the project and fans of the books -The “Lives of Saints” book that was published in October is an actual book/prop that is appearing in the show! -I’m personally fine with Mal, but Leigh says that Archie is going to change everyone’s minds with his portrayal! -The costume designer for the show is Wendy Partridge, known for her work on “Thor: The Dark World”, “Pompeii”, and more!  -The composer for the show is Joe Trapanese, known for composing for “The Greatest Showman”, “Straight Outta Compton”, “Lady and the Tramp”, and more! At the NYCC Grishaverse panel, they revealed a little bit of the score (”Grisha Theme”): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFxIEbsHKJA 

Fun Cast/On Set Stories/Facts

-The cast all loves each other, and are all extremely passionate about this show, which is great! (Leigh said that on her second visit to the set, she heard them singing together) -Leigh says that Ben Barnes once snuck up behind her on her first day on set and scared her by whispering “Fine, make me your villain” -Freddy’s favorite Grishaverse book is “Six of Crows”, but most specifically the first line of chapter 2 (”Kaz Brekker didn’t need a reason.”) -Jessie would apparently come to set on some of her days off to support the cast and crew! -Sujaya has stated that her favorite Grishaverse character is Nikolai! (#Zoyalai) -Freddy has become famous/popular with the fandom, one of the reasons being because he often comments on posts/live streams asking something along the lines of “What was it like working with Freddy Carter? xoxo” -Danielle loves Nina and her journey in “King of Scars” -According to a Tweet, Freddy and Leigh said that there had been a scene with “a very pesky gate”--Freddy said that it “wouldn’t be proper to tweet the expletives [he] used that day” and that he thinks he “scarred” Amita and Eric. -Amita’s favorite thing about Inej is her silence, and her favorite Grishaverse book is “Six of Crows” (as of May, where we learned this during a live-stream, she said she’s read it three times and listened to the audiobook twice.) -There was a waffle truck on set on the last day of shooting! -Calahan says that if he could play any other Grishaverse character, he’d want to play Nikolai! -While she did work with the trainer to get more physically fit, Amita learned most of her knife techniques by herself! -Leigh said she cried a lot while on set! (She said there was one scene they were shooting that she has a very clear, vivid memory of writing many years back--based on the context of which she was talking about it, if I had to guess, I’d guess she’s describing the Winter Fete.) -Leigh also said that on one of her first days on set, it was funny/weird to see all the extras in First Army uniforms chilling on their phones, drinking coffee, etc. -One of Calahan’s favorite character dynamics in the books is the dynamic between Kaz and Matthias -There was a moment where Amita was fully in costume and doing amazing, graceful knife work, only to trip and fall when she’d finished. -Amita and Jessie and Sujaya were best friends on set. -Sujaya loved everything about playing Zoya. (Especially her confidence) -Leigh says one of her favorite props was Kaz’s cane, especially because of what it meant to her and the story. -If he could be any Grisha order, Calahan says he’d want to be a Corporalki -Calahan loves Matthias’s journey/arc. -Kit’s favorite Grishaverse book is “Crooked Kingdom”!

Links

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X65iI1YXrbU (NYCC Grishaverse Panel) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHou5rVs6o0 (S&B Talent Show Charity Live Stream ft. the S&B Cast!--the IG video got taken down because Archie deleted his IG account and switched to a new one) -https://www.netflix.com/title/80236319 (”Shadow and Bone” on Netflix!) -https://twitter.com/shadowandbone_ (Official “Shadow and Bone” Twitter!) -https://www.instagram.com/shadowandbone/?hl=en (Official “Shadow and Bone” Instagram!) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRh-Pmbynww (Annoucement made by cast when filming wrapped! (can be found on the social media accounts, but here’s a link to YT)) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bpY8uLtyB4 (A S&B Cast Crack video by HeartPhantom--it highlights a lot of the inside jokes and memes that we’ve gotten to witness among the cast, and also just generally shows off how hilariously chaotic everyone is (this cast is the definition of chaotic good, lol))

[tricewithaz]

THOTS ON SHADOW AND BONE

Hello everyone! it is I, Trice, and i come with my thoughts on the Shadow and Bone show cause ive got many

I'm gonna divide this in what i liked, what i disliked, and what i think could have been better but didn't really bother me. Feel free to send your opinions too!

As a whole, I really liked the show and I think it's a great adaptation that both fans and newcomers will enjoy. It's super well done! and every episode had me glued to the tv even though I knew what was going to happen.

Beware this is long

To start,

What i liked

Mal and Alina

I never really liked Mal in the books, mainly cause he had like, nothing going on for him, and not having his pov made him no favors whatsoever. Alina's perception of him was everychanging, two factors that didn't make him unlikeable necessarily, but that made me not want to read about him. In the show he's way more likeable and even though he still doesn't have a lot going on for him, you can see that he's always trying to protect alina, and you also see a bit of his demeanor through Archie's acting. I think he made a great job at portraying him. And Alina! Alina who in the books was essentially a y/n sort of character (although she did get better over time), her character, likes, dislikes, her DRIVE was incredibly portrayed in the show. Also Jessie (loml, marry me) and Archie have incredible chemistry together and they sold their yearning SO WELL (and so did the kid actors portraying them as children oh my GOD)...yall...i cried when they held hands. My favourite scene was definitely when Alina took care of Mal's wounds (a favorite trope of mine). And the HURT in their eyes whenever they thought the other was in danger....i saw the show dubbed but I'm sure their voices made it beyond incredible as well, their face acting was just on. point. Overall the show rEALLY makes me root for them both individually and together which is something the books didn't manage to do.

The Darkling

AAAAA i really enjoyed the Darkling omg, incredible charisma, Ben does such a great job (and so did his voice actor in Spanish oh my GOD). His acting was just as I imagined it in the books and i loved how he could be as sweet and mysterious as he could be menacing. In fact! i liked him more than i did in the book, and i think it was a great choice to make him more human. I'm not sure if this was Ben or the writing, but i could really see his yearning for an equal, for Alina, his loneliness and his thirst for power and control too. Great love interest, even greater villain. And his wardrobe was phenomenal. I also really liked how they implied that The Darkling was a name given by other people, it was very believable that people would call someone who literally controls shade something akin to "son of the dark" or something of the sort, instead of it being a name he gives himself or his job title (both if which are incredibly pathetic and cringy to think about).

Jesper

No comments. He was just great. I love Kit.

Nina

Omg Danielle did SUCH a great job at portraying Nina, it's exactly how i imagined her in Six of Crows.

Helnik

THE. YEARNING. THE. CHEMISTRY. I didn't love their scenes at the boat but once that was over I was practically screaming at the screen to jUST KISS ALREADY. Calahan and Daniell have such good chemistry together and the few changes they made only served the story better. I did wish they had development over more time cause Matthias' change of mind felt too quick, but i get why they had to rush. Because of how good their chemistry was, their fallout also was incredibly painful.

Inej's fear of the Menagerie and her morals

Amita's portrayal of Inej's hurt, devotion and her refusal to kill (and later hurt cause she has killed) is incredibly subtle but so SO effective. She's so talented really and truly sold Inej's feelings throughout the show.

VFX

Man.....the fold, the volcra, the grisha powers.....kudos to the animators and overall artistic team cause they were incredible. Also seeing the different title animations in each episode was such a tiny detail that made me so excited and they all looked so good.

Ketterdam

Again, kudos to the artistic team, everything about Ketterdam felt so alive (and weirdly moist), truly sold a kind of aesthetic and life that is so characteristic if the Barrel, even when i didn't imagine it that way in the books.

David

He appeared like, twice, and both times were so cute and charming I can't wait to see more of him both on his own and with Genya.

The Wardrobe

So, at first i hated the keftas. I thought the looked tacky and costume, but when you see them on screen they're just perfect (although i have to say the patterns on some of the keftas were kind of...cheap looking? and the training keftas were just kinda boring. My favourite was the Darkling's. Aside from that, i really liked Kaz's and inej's clothes too. Very distinctive and recognizable (although it was kind of weird seeing Inej in teal instead of purple lmao).

And the queen's dresses. Chefs kiss.

It's...so cheesy (affectionate)

The whole show felt like the kind of movies I would watch as a kid like Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean. The writing was stylized enough to make it incredibly dramatic and overall there was just so much heart behind all of it. Definetely a show to watch again and again and feel all of it, cause that's what it being so cheesy managed, to make me actually feel for it. It feels like something to watch on a rainy afternoon after a bad day....it's great okay i really enjoyed it, even (specially) the most unbelievable parts of it. And here's the thing, it's something that i think a lot of newer tv and film have lost, so this is good.

What i didn't like

Zoya

Mostly cause of the writing. Originally, in the first book, i didn't like her, neither as a character (stereotypical mean girl with no other motivation than to bang the love interests....all three of them....what's new i still think it's an incredibly sexist trope) or a person (hey at least this was intentional), but over time i grew to LOVE her (mean girl turns out to have a good heart and actually respects the mc and decides to fight alongside her cause it's what's right, without necessarily liking her or giving up her character??? AND she has strong motivations??? now THAT'S new). In the show, i hoped they would keep her mean girl nature while foreshadowing her depth, but all they did was turn her into a petty seductress with barely any screentime, and that only makes her not even a bad antagonist but just a boring character to watch. Not only that but they took away a big part of her character that needed to be developed in the next books. I wanted to watch her rivalry with Alina, her unjustified venomous tongue too, I wanted to be entertained by her and I wasn't. This was also a problem cause when she finally changed teams, and when she hugged Alina, it was incredibly unsatisfying, it would have had a way stronger effect if we had seen her being Ruthless Zoya with a big ambition. I also didn't like how we were told that she didn't like alina, or that she had a family, instead of it being shown on screen. Just from the show, all i can tell you about her is that she likes to bang people and she has a good moral code i guess. Yall, I'm so petty about this.

Kaz

So, I didn't hate him, in fact i think I would have enjoyed him if I hadn't read the books first, cause the two things that bother me about him were two essential characteristics of him in the books. FIrstly, he seems so strained, instead of the seemingly laid back, almost chill looking (even though we know he's not chill at all) Kaz we see in the books, the Kaz that always knows something that you don't. Show Kaz doesn't seem to always be in control, to always have the last word, the last laugh. Instead he seems strained, all the damn time. And I think this is mainly a writing and directing issue. And he also seems weak, something Book Kaz would never do. This is also an issue cause because he doesn't have the same presence he has in the books, the times where he is weak, don't seem as effective. Sure, Pekka Rollins has essentially reduced him and humiliated him, but I haven't seen enough of Kaz being actually dangerous for this to be shocking and for Pekka to seem even more hateable (and, i really liked Pekka, loved him as an antagonist more than i did in the books). Idk, Kaz was so charismatic and just fun and engaging to read in the books that his portrayal in the show felt lacking.

Alina's power's VFX

The little suns were cute and all but the light coming from within her was just ugly I'm sorry.

SFX

A lot of the sound design was just too stylized for the tone of the show i think. I particularly remember the sound of Mal's punches....what's that about.

What i think could have been better, but didn't particularly dislike

The Crows' storyline

And i think part of this is a consequence of Kaz not being as witty as he was in the books. Where's the incredibly complicated heist moves? the even more unbelievable C and D plans when something goes wrong? I didn't like that them getting Alina was essentially just luck, cause i didn't see enough of them being smart and quick on their feet. I also think it was unnecessary to have their storyline mixed with Alina's, i would have enjoyed watching a different heist, maybe in Ravka as well, and them incidentally crossing paths with Alina, more than i liked this storyline. ironically enough, the heist was the part i was least interested in

Genya and Alina

I just feel like her relationship with Alina wasn't strong enough, and i think it's because the show tried to make us believe they were much closer than they were without spending the necessary time in them.

Overall, I really really enjoyed the show, i will be watching it again (particularly cause i want to watch it in English) and i cannot wait for the second season omg (although i have to say, I'm scared for Nikolai)

I think that's all! I would also love to read yall's opinions and have a conversation.

[watching-pictures-move]

Viddying the Nasties #41 | Zombie Lake (Rollin, 1981)

Jean Rollin's Zombie Lake is about a lake full of zombies. The end. Okay, that's not all. During World War II, a German army unit was killed by the French resistance and had their bodies dumped in a lake. (Full disclosure: having grown up watching movies like The Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare thanks to my dad, I have an almost Pavlovian positive reaction to World War II stuff in movies. Get some guys in era-appropriate uniforms, fire off a few rounds, a couple of explosions and there's a non-zero chance I'm doing some serious internal hooting and hollering.) Several years later, they've risen from their watery graves and are now exacting bloody vengeance on the locals. Of course, it turns out one of them, the only sympathetic one of the bunch, fathered a child with a local woman, which certainly complicates things. A mayor, played by Jess Franco regular Howard Vernon, takes Murray Hamilton's character in Jaws as a model and tries to brush off the situation, but eventually the problem becomes too big to ignore.

From my experience, this tends to be called one of Rollin's worst movies, and from the plot description, it doesn't sound much like a typical Rollin joint. Indeed, Rollin was brought in to direct after Franco left the movie early on. Yet the incongruity of his style to the material played a big role in my enjoyment. Rollin's direction tends to be characterized by a delicate, low key sensuality, which is a natural fit for movies about sexy vampires in the nude, but an ungainly one for lumbering, decaying zombies, but that dissonance adds to the tension. These zombies simply don't belong here, and clash heavily with the earthy textures and overcast skies of the French countryside, which I think parallels the narrative in how the French locals are trying to bury the past yet are beholden to the legacy of the Second World War. It's not an especially forceful dynamic, as Rollin isn't an especially forceful director, but there's enough here for the movie to have carried a bit of dread and even excuse the uselessness of the Vernon character. (I've liked Vernon elsewhere but suspect he might have gelled less to Rollin's direction than Franco's. Would the movie have been better with a Rollin regular in the role? Get Brigitte Lahaie as the mayor, and there's a non-zero chance I'm doing some serious internal hooting and hollering.) And with the one sympathetic zombie and his relationship to his child, this also anticipates The Living Dead Girl and its poignancy about the undead condition. This isn't quite as effective as it doesn't have any performances as good as Francoise Blanchard and Marina Pierro in the other movie, but with Antonio Mayans, another Franco regular, as a zombie, you do get some actual acting in these parts.

Of course, one must note that this isn't terribly effective as a traditional zombie movie, mostly because the zombies wear Namekian green makeup and Rollin has no great enthusiasm for splatter. And fans of Rollin's elegant delivery of the prurient elements in his other movies might be disappointed at the perfunctory nude scenes here, with the Jaws-inspired opening scene and the introduction of a female basketball team who decide to go skinny-dipping. I am shamefully easy to please and could look past these shortcomings. Now if one is interested in seeing what Franco's original vision for the movie might have looked like, Oasis of the Zombies might merit a gander. It takes its Nazi zombies and transplants them to North Africa, throwing in a plot about buried treasure. (A key to grasping their different flavours is through the use of music. Rollin's scoring feels wistful and familiar while Franco's emphasizes the exotic, which reflects the milieus and atmosphere of their respective movies.) I understand for years that it's been one of Franco's most easily available movies, and also considered one of his worst, but truth be told I enjoyed it as well. Zombie Lake is a better movie in most conventional ways, but Oasis, thanks to Franco's comparative disinterest in the plot and characters, periodically locks into a somnambulist, medicated wavelength and gets great mileage out of its setting. I watched it while contemplating and deciding against a nap, which is probably the right state of mind to enjoy the movie. (Franco left Zombie Lake after fighting with producers, and I'm curious as to what his grounds for leaving were. At a glance there's no great gulf in artistry or compromise between the two films, but it's possible Franco's working methods might have been more easily accepted than Rollin's.) I should note that it has even sorrier looking zombies and its style is less fluid than most of the others I've seen from Franco, but if you can bask in the desert atmosphere and try not to worry too much about all its shortcomings, you might get some enjoyment out of it.

[desiraypark]

To Feel Something

Characters: Charlie Barber x Black Female Reader  Content: A little world and story building/back story; N*FW - smut in your classy LA home; new lovers; secret lovers. Word Count: 2,883

All clear. Read at 10:48pm. You’d been in a good mood. In fact, the last few months were amazing. You were riding the wave of your first movie in four years. There was Image Award buzz, Oscar buzz, Globe buzz - all kinds of buzz. The director was getting high praise, too. It was Charlie Barber’s call to cast you as the love interest in his debut film. You, a 35-year old Black woman you’d thought the world had forgotten about. He said he’d loved you in Whiskey and Herbs (the movie that immortalized you as a “star” almost fifteen years ago) and felt that you were perfect for his new project. 

You’d been in a handful of movies and television shows before that, but your role as Torey, the sexy-but-flighty Blockbuster employee in Whiskey and Herbs is what catapulted you to so-called superstardom. And it wasn’t even because the role was actually good (it was). All the world got to see your tits, and next thing you knew, you were on every red carpet and posing for magazines like King and Playboy. Famous designers were practically throwing their clothes and accessories at you, and you were on yachts, popping champagne with the best of them. 

Then, you’d married at 24, had a kid at 26, and were divorced at 29. By 30, you were being pushed out of the way to make room for the new “it” girl. Because in those days, there was always only room for just one. The phone had stopped ringing, and soon, your movies were going straight to DVD, instead of to the big screen. 

Now, you make most of your money doing stage plays, television guest spots, and even blogging from time to time. And you can’t leave out the conventions! Your role as Karla Rollins (aka Dragonfly), Hurricane Man’s “sassy” sidekick in the box office bomb, Hurricane Man, had a cult following. You’d need all the fingers in the world to count all of the photos of you in a blank spandex suit and creepy ass wings you’d signed. 

But even after all of that, someone remembered you and thought you were great. Most of the fans never left your side, but something about being sought out by a director gave your confidence a major boost. The Divorce was an indie-film set to go straight to LuHu. Of course, you were super excited to co-star in a movie that would end up on such a big platform, but life so far had taught you not get your hopes up. So, when the film premiered to rave reviews--especially for your performance--you felt the need to throw a little get-together. You invited close friends and industry friends--old and new. But no one who’d dropped you like a bad habit when your career went in decline. 

On the set of The Divorce, Charlie treated you like an A-list star. Not in a way like he gave you special treatment--but he asked for you and your co-star’s opinion. He made sure you were comfortable. It was the bare minimum, but it was more than any other director had done when you were actually at the top of the food chain. You and Charlie talked early in the gathering. Then, throughout the evening, you’d sneak glances at him, and he’d catch them. He’d sneak some at you, and you’d catch them. Caught glances turned into smiles--even when you were in your kitchen, telling your daughter “goodnight” over the phone. She was spending the night at her best friend’s house. Just as the night was winding down, you found that you didn’t want Charlie to leave. You wanted to be held, tonight. You wanted to feel something. So, you walked over to him while he was pouring himself some punch and asked if he could step out on the patio. He did, with his punch. As balmy as the air was, you still shuddered. You took your time.  “Charlie...would you like to spend the night?” is what you asked. And he said “yes”. He left the party when everyone else started to leave and parked somewhere, waiting for your text that everyone was gone. When he got it, he made his way back to the house...

____________________ You opened the door and he stood on the other side--a full moon behind him, his eyes patient. He slowly stepped inside, and you closed the door. When you turned around, he was looking you over with narrowed eyes. Then, he stepped in close and pressed his lips to yours. You fell weak to his touch and wrapped your arms around his neck. You slipped your tongue into his mouth, and he greeted it with his own, and let his hands fall to your waist. 

Charlie began to step forward, and you responded by stepping backward. You pulled your lips away, took his hand, and led him up your staircase. Your vintage Tiffany lamp was the only light on in your room. It filled the space with a warm, amber glow. Charlie pulled you in an embrace again and kissed you--drinking you in with passion and a hint of desperation. You stepped backward--pulling him with you by his shirt--until you fell on your mattress with him on top of you. 

You kicked off your pumps and wrapped your legs around his waist, and he created a trail of kisses along your jawline and onto your neck. Kisses turned into sucks that made you moan and sent heat between your thighs. Soon, you felt a hand slither up your thigh and under your dress. He rubbed his fingers against your right inner thigh and against the crotch of your G-string. Aroused by your arousal, he quickly stood up--taking his body heat and the scent of cologne with him.

He pulled his wallet out of his pocket and retrieved a small gold square, then put his wallet back. As he unbutton his shirt, you reached for his belt and unbuckled it. You looked up at him, and he was smiling down at you. You blushed and removed the belt, unfastened the button, and as you tugged on his zipper, he’d dropped his shirt on the floor, revealing a black undershirt. You pulled down his pants and he stepped out of them. His dick was pressed against his boxer briefs, and you relieved it--peeling the briefs down just enough to make it pop out like a spring.

You grabbed the shaft and looked up. Charlie’s eyes met yours--his chest moving up and down. Air audibly left his nostrils. Without taking your eyes off him, you flicked your tongue against the head, then you wrapped your lips around it. Charlie let out a breath that almost sounded like a sigh of relief. You took more of him in your mouth every time you went down, until you had enough of him in to gag yourself. At the gagging, you pulled your lips away and watched the strings of saliva that clung to your lips and the head. You stroked the length, shining it up with your spit, then sucked him slow and tenderly. What your mouth didn’t cover, you stroked with your hand, and your eyes fell down to watch your own moves.

“Look back up at me. I want to see those pretty eyes,” Charlie said. His request turned you on and made you hum on over his length. You looked back up at him and he rubbed the palm of his hand against your cheek. Then, you picked up the pace. Charlie’s hand left your face and he threw his head back. “Fuck...” he mumbled. He looked back down and you were still gazing at him with suctioned cheeks and his stiff flesh disappearing and reappearing between your red lips. “Fuck...you’re amazing.” Charlie praised your skills as you exercise your jaws for a few more moments. You thought he would come right in your mouth when you began to squeeze and massage his balls. He moaned to the ceiling and held your face again. You realized that he really wanted to grab your hair--your perfect curls. So, you grabbed both of his hands and placed them on the sides of your head, and without hesitation, he held on tight and began to fuck your mouth.

“Tap my thigh if it’s too much, baby,” he said. He took his time at first--merely stroking your wet tongue with himself. Then, slow strokes turned into hard thrusts that made you gag and grip his thighs for supports. Your throat and your spit seemed to be in competition for who could make the most noise. When your eyes started to tear up, you tapped Charlie’s thighs, and he quickly pulled himself away. He stroked his dick and watched your chest move up and down as you caught your breath.

“I’m dying to taste that pussy, baby. Lie back for me,” he said. You scooted back some and fell against the mattress. Charlie got on his knees, grabbed your legs and pulled you back to the edge. He placed your legs over his shoulders, and lifted your dress some more. Cool air hit the puddle that lubricated every part of your pussy--the lips, the clit, the vagina. You were a leaking mess and Charlie was admiring it. He spread your lips apart with both hands, stared, and took in a deep breath. Then, he removed a hand, spread the lips with his thumb and index finger, and dipped his head inside. He licked a long, stripe over your folds with his flat tongue, then he flicked the pointed tip of it against your clit. “Uhhh...” you moaned, closing your eyes.  

Charlie licked and even took little nips at your folds. He savored your clit like it was apart of the evening’s dinner spread. Any juice that leaked out of you, he licked it up and let his tongue absorb it. You were a moaning and screeching mess--your thighs kept closing on his head and the soft fabric of your blanket melted in your palms. You lifted your head a little, and Charlie’s eyes met yours. Your head fell back against the mattress as shock-waves rippled through your body at the sight of his face in your pussy. Charlie wrapped his arms around your thighs, and you could feel his tresses brushing against them as he rotated his chin over your folds.

“Fuck...fuck...fuck...” you whimpered. 

Suddenly, you felt warm fingers slide into you. “Shit...” As he kept his mouth over you, Charlie stretched you open with his index and middle fingers. You lifted your body at the waist, took hold of his hair, and began to hump his face. As you smeared your wetness over his mouth, he made firm eye contact with you--the brown irises seeming to dare you to come in his mouth. He turned the pads of his fingers upward and rubbed “come hither” motions along the ridges at the top of your pussy.  “Ahh!” you squealed, trying to squirm away. He pressed his free hand against your waist and relentlessly attacked your soaking pussy. “I’m coming...” you whimpered. Charlie closed his eyes and didn’t skip a beat. He maintained the steady, fervent rhythm over and in your pussy until you fell apart over his mouth--rasping out a scream that you were sure the neighbors could hear. Your legs fell limp on his shoulders and Charlie ate you through the fall of your orgasm. 

He pulled his mouth away and while still knelt between your legs, he pulled off his undershirt. You sat up and pulled your black dress up and over your head, revealing a solid black bra - no lace or frills, just your pillowy bosom entangled in the smooth fabric. As you were pulling the dress off, Charlie had rose to his feet and pulled his boxer-briefs completely off. You unsnapped your bra and watched him pull off his dress socks, then reach on the bed for the condom. He opened the wrapper, pull out the rubber, and slid it onto his throbbing dick. Then, you scooted far back on the bed and opened your legs, impatiently waiting for Charlie to enter you. 

“Fuck,” he mumbled. “You look so fucking good...”

You blushed and bit your bottom lip. Then, he climbed on the bed, hovered on top of you, and peppered your face with kisses. You ran your fingers through his hair and felt the absence of his right arm beside you. Something smooth and stiff rubbed against your slit, then pushed through your core--stretching you open with a sting that burned so good. He withdrew some, then slipped back in, and with every forward movement, he pressed more of his length into you. “Just ram it into me, Charlie,” you said breathlessly. He smiled and heeded your command. 

He slammed all of his inches into your hungry pussy, making you moan loudly. Then, he picked up a steady rhythm and massaged your warm walls with his pulsing dick. He pressed his knees into your mattress and held your arms back over your head--digging into you just like you wanted. Like you needed.

“Yes, baby, yes...” you moaned in ecstasy.  “Does it feel good?” he asked. “Yes, baby...” you echoed, head in the clouds.

“Tell me how it feels...” “It feels good...it feels so fucking good...don’t stop..please, don’t stop.” Charlie whimpered and moaned just as much as you did, if not louder. He let go of your hands and held your left leg back, giving him room to dig deeper into you. You cursed and moaned and screamed under the weight of him, and pressed your fingers into the flesh of his back. 

“I want to ride you,” you blurted out. 

“You think you can handle it?” Charlie asked, still drilling into you.

“Yes, I can handle it,” you said through clenched teeth. You bit down on your bottom lip.

Charlie pulled out of you and mumbled a lusty “Fuck”. 

Then, he lied down beside you. You sat up, threw your leg over him and lifted your lower body. You lined him up at your entrance and sat down. With your hands resting against his torso, you bounced up and down--feeling every vein and every ridge of his dick gliding against your velvety insides. When you got a good motion, you were able to rotate your hips, and slide up to the tip--and crash back down. 

“Fuck, you’re making me feel so good, baby,” Charlie groaned. He grabbed your breasts and massaged them.

“You feel so good in me,” you moaned back. Charlie released your breasts, and with his thumb, he rubbed soft strokes against your exposed clit. The sensation made you throw your head back and bounce on him harder.

“That’s right,” he said. He smacked your ass. “Bounce on that shit. Just like that...” “Yes, baby. Smack my ass again...”

Charlie gave your cheek a hard smack in the same spot, making you groan. He rubbed the stinging flesh and held on to it.

“Does my pussy feel good?” you asked.

“Your pussy feels fucking amazing...”

“I think I’m gonna come again...” you said with a squeal.

Charlie groaned and rubbed deep, hard circles around your clit. You bounced a little faster and took him deeper as he rubbed your hot, throbbing bud. Then, you felt the rush over your body. You lowered yourself to take all of him in and maneuvered just enough to hit the spot.  “Fucckkkkk!” you cried out, as you gushed and squirted on over Charlie’s fingers and crotch. 

“Shit!” he shouted. You felt him thrust up into you a couple of times, but he stopped so you could rest your knees at his sides. Then he pulled you down flush with his chest. As you rested over him, he wrapped his arms around your waist and dipped into you with slow strokes. 

Charlie looked up at your sweaty face and its dazed expression.

“You okay?” he asked. You dropped your face onto his shoulder. 

“Yes...” you whimpered.

“I’m about to fuck you hard, baby. You ready for that?” he asked.

You reached up and rested your hands on Charlie’s shoulders, and he tightened his embrace around your waist. Then, he picked up the pace and pummeled your sweet, dripping core--making you squeal, groan, and slobber into his shoulder. He was thrusting so deep and fast, that you could feel and hear his balls slapping against your ass. Eventually, he slowed his pace, but kept fucking up into you with deep, shallow strokes. 

Charlie held you tight and sat up with you in his arms. Just when you lifted your head to see what he was doing, he’d placed you back on your back with your head at the foot of the bed. Next, he lifted your legs, crossed them at the ankles, and held them up. After he gave one of your Achilles tendons a kiss, he fucked into you again. The two of you moaned at the sensations of the angle. 

Soon, the position morphed into him resting between your legs once more and thrusting into you until you felt him tense up. The unmistakable heat filled your core. Charlie moaned and stroked his climax to its end. He stared into your eyes and initiated the evening’s final kiss.

[jessystardust]

Quarantine questions

Tagged by @suchasinistergame and @missoneminute to answer some questions about the current situation... I used it as a good opportunity to reflect on things :)

Are you staying home from work/school?

I work for the NHS, so unfortunately, despite suffering from asthma, I’m still at work Wednesday to Friday. I’m working from home on Mondays and Tuesdays. This is all they can offer me at the moment, which sucks, but it’s better than nothing - it basically involves me half-heartedly typing reports while I watch films, lol. 

If you’re staying home, who is with you?

Two weeks ago yesterday I moved back to my parents’ house because Boris scared the shit out of me and I couldn’t face isolation by myself. I’m a very independent person, but I’m close to my parents and I knew that not seeing them for potentially twelve weeks would just be too much for me, and it would seriously damage my mental health, so I made that decision (and brought most of my posessions with me - my dad wasn’t pleased lol). 

Are you a homebody?

This is a really reflective question for me because it makes me realise how much I’ve changed. A few years ago, especially about five years ago when my depression was pretty bad, this would’ve been a great situation for me. But now, I’m used to socialising a lot, so this has actually been quite tough. I really struggle to sit around doing nothing now, which is strange in itself because I used to love doing that haha. 

An event you were looking forward to that got cancelled?

I had lots of cool plans for my birthday and they got cancelled which was a shame. Also, lots of little trips have had to be postponed too. I’m still waiting to hear about the Libs gig in Norwich (I’m planning to spend a few days in Cambridge just before it, but not sure what’s happening there) as well as my city’s annual festival which I’m really looking forward to. So we’ll have to see!

What movies have you watched recently?

So as I’ve mentioned, I’m not so great at sitting and doing nothing these days; I can watch films while I write, or play Sims, or play some other games. But I struggle to just sit and watch films, I get really bored. I’m halfway through I, Tonya, and I’ve been watching a lot of films on Disney Plus whilst working; yesterday I watched A Bug’s Life, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Pocahontas, and Pocahontas II. 

What shows are you watching?

I need to watch Tiger King still (it just doesn’t look interesting to me but I’ve heard so much about it), I’ve mostly been watching Disney Plus, but I’ve also watched some Friends, Masterchef, and American Horror Story. 

What music are you listening to?

Hardly any! I don’t listen to music anywhere near as much as I used to really. But yesterday I went walking and listened to the Libs, which was really nice because I haven’t listened to them in a while. 

What are you reading?

I’m planning to read Melanie Murphy’s book during Easter. I used to read sooo much, but now my attention span is so short that I hardly ever bother; I’m hoping to change this though. 

What are you doing for self care?

Self care is something take very seriously, because it does wonders for my mental health. I allow myself “dead days” where I don’t get dressed or shower do my hair. This is relaxing and takes the pressure off. But I always follow these with days where I get up, shower thoroughly, blowdry and straighten my hair, do my makeup, wear nicer clothes and make sure my nails are painted etc. This is sort of a way of restoring that balance. I also do face masks and hair masks once a week or so. Self care is also about time alone, so I go on walks by myself every few days to clear my mind, and I like to cook for my family which relaxes me.

Tagging (if you’d like to!): @playit0ut @westolethelight @lookthemoonissinging @aliskirenn @ohdrey89 @whitedeadflower @alora09 @martianmadness66 @stonerose-elephant @aquarelleskies @withthekaleidoscope-eyes @martha-my-love @alreadyadored @ubeetlebum @rock-n-rollin-bitch @timeforher-es

[wayward-wren]

Alright! I descovered that my flat has ice-cream in the freezer so time for a bowl of ice-cream and Empire Strikes Back. It's been roughly... five? maybe even eight years since I've last seen this it's gonna be great!

Once again. The opening. So many memories associated with these movies and the opening crawl brings me right back.

Ngl, tauntauns are one of my favourite creatures. We had the Hoth base in lego so maybe having a lego version of one added to that

Oh rip tauntaun

Leia's Hoth outfit is great

Tbh all of her outfits are great.

Han slapping a hand over 3PO's mouth amuses me greatly

Man I forgot how much of this movie I've forgotten.

And I think Wampa's arm is the third arm removal of the trilogy so far?

Lol rip Mark Hamill wandering around in a blizzard while the crew film him from inside the hotel.

Tauntaun noises are great

Oh noooo Chewie when the door closes with Han and Luke still out there no bby he's so saaaad

Rip second Tauntaun

I still can't get over the fact that Han full on put Luke into a dead Tauntaun. I don't think I'll ever be over it

Oop there's the kiss. Luke looks so smug afterwards wow.

I want a hug from Chewie he looks like he gives good hugs.

Hm random headcanon/story idea that the Hoth base was found/started by the Bad Batch and maybe Echo died whilst securing it or something idk and that's why it's called Echo Base.

I love how the AT-ATs just explode once they get knocked over, like they hadn't been too armoured to be damaged before

I forgot how much I love Han. Honestly all three of the main OT trio are so good.

Yoda!!! Honestly feral swamp gremlin Yoda is my favourite

Hmm I feel like Han is almost a little too aggressive in his flirting with Leia. And I know it's been talked about before, but Leia had barely shown any romantic interest in him before & he keeps pushing and then kisses her and it just doesn't sit entirely right. I do still love them, but mmm

Oh hey its ol' Shady Sheev.

Aw poor R2 left out in the rain

Rockin', rockin' and rollin', down to the beach Yoda was strollin'

Han just shoots the ground to test his hypothesis about the big space worm what an idiot I love him

Run, run run run, I can be a backpack while you run.

Honestly I feel like the weird slow-mo of the degobah cave scene always weirded me out more than the actual content of it, I've always been bad at recognising faces so it took me a while to realise it was supposed to be Luke's face in the helmet.

Oh yeah the bounty hunters!! Boba my boy!!

I love all the snakes and reptiles just chilling in the background on the degobah set.

Honestly shout out to that dude who took the blame for losing the Falcon knowing what would happen he's a real team player.

Man I completely forgot Slave I was in the released garbage and it made me excited to see it.

Lando!

Rip 3PO just getting exploded tho

"Luke I don't want to lose you to the Emperor like I lost Vader" oof my heart

"There is another" honest I wanna see more force sensitive Leia. AU where Luke turns to the darkside and Leia has to become a Jedi to fight him

Cloud city is really cool tho

Why is Chewie frantically rescuing 3PO's parts making me so sad?

Han i n s t a n t l y firing at Vader is iconic

Chewie keeps making me saaaaad

I'm honestly so glad Lucas was talked out of killing Han, the carbonite scene was painful enough even knowing what happens

Leia said "it's a trap" before it was cool

Boba's voice was bugging me because it was too close to Temuera Morrison so I googled it and turns out yeah, they replaced his voice in 2004, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. Makes sense in universe but I kinda wanna see it like it was when the movie was first released. Anyway shout out to Jason Wingreen, the OG Boba voice

Ice cream maker guy! What a legend.

I have seen the big reveal so many times its legitimately lost all meaning to me ngl

Vader: join me. Luke: *yeets into the void*. Vader: oh huh guess that works too? Bye?

Everyone standing on the bridge being very still as Vader walks out when they lose the Falcon amuses me

It has been far too long since I watched that movie last! Twas really good to revisit!

Deleted scenes time!

Is Boba's name only mentioned in this one deleted scene? I feel like it is, at least in this movie

I'm giggling at the description of this one: Luke and Leia share a rare, quasi-romantic moment together in Hoth - well before their kinship is established in Return of the Jedi. Luckily, R2-D2 makes a well-timed interruption.

R2 be like "Oh man no I gotta stop this they're siblings!" cos he knows. (I'm pretty sure he knows at least? Honestly at this point I just assume R2 knows as much as I do)

I like this scene apart from the random Luke/Leia almost kiss, Leia being all riled up and feeling like she can't count on anyone cos both Luke and Han are leaving adds a fun aspect to her character

Ehehehe the best deleted scene, the wampa yoinking the snowtrooper after 3PO removed the sign to the door and then Vader walking up and just looking so disappointed. I'm disappointed we don't have sound for that.

[kinkymagnus]

Twi YouTube AU?? 👀

dlgjk ok i dont have a coherent au idea i just like the idea of like. 

alec being this confident youtuber man who does all sorts of shit, like funny vlogs and maybe some sketches with his siblings or some lets plays or something, idk, he’s just a popular youtuber like, idk, fuckin markiplier or something, you know, kinda does a lot of stuff. maybe some fashion/interior design shit? idk? but like. he’s pretty popular and if there’s any list on tumblr that’s like “some queer creators you should try watching” he’s always up there because he’s pretty open about being gay. maybe at first he wasn’t in the earlier youtube days but he had a pretty emotional coming out video and everyone was like “holy shit” 

meanwhile magnus is like, a quietly popular youtuber, you know? kind of a niche audience, but with decent numbers. he does a lot of things, like vlogs about being trans. like, oh my god. magnus documenting his transition? would that even be a thing? wait oh my god is this mundane au, or is this canon? because twi magnus who’s actually a warlock with a youtube channel would be hilarious but maybe not a good idea. you know what? how about a mix. he’s mortal and was born in modern times and all, he’s like the same age as alec–idk why but i’m thinking he’s like a few weeks older or a month or two older than alec and alec jokingly teases him about being old–but he like…. still has magic, because why the fuck not. actually, you know what? fuck it? it’s an au where magic is just openly a thing. not even necessarily canonverse magic, just. some people have magic. magnus does little tutorials and shit, he has a real talent for it and he’s actually really powerful but he hides that. (possible plotline: some paparazzi discover he’s like, a level ten mage, and it’s a scale from 1-10 and 8 is the most powerful u get most of the time, there’s been a few really famous 9s and there’s been one 10 ever and that was fucking merlin. you feel. because why not. idek fuck.) anyway he has little diy make your own magical charms and weaving enchantment and safe summoning circles and tips for writing magical contracts and shit like that. he’s this cute little nerd but he’s like incredibly knowledgeable and he knows how to teach it in a way that’s understandable and accessible? and he answers questions in really clear ways, and he does amazing demonstrations that look so cool people accuse him of editing but he’s just That Good. and he’s like, actually a really well-published wizard/magic scientist, he invented the fucking portal, but probably under a pseudonym because he doesn’t really want the attention. (his last name is fell in honor of his mentor. yes. although if he does multiple ones he may or may not also use loss, santiago, rollins, etc.) anyway he’s just so fucking good, he has all these videos explaining magical theory in pretty easy to understand ways (maybe going from really simple to like “i understand the basics here and am ready for the technical terms but need an overview” videos you know. 

also he doesn’t just do magic videos, because i said so. also maybe some blogs, and like. because i want to. some fashion/makeup tips. and it’s weirdly endearing because it’s not something you’d expect since he doesn’t wear makeup that often–although a) there are def gifsets of his full makeup looks on tumblr, and b) when he does occasionally decide to wear lipstick or eyeshadow or whatever, most of his fans are like omg yes!! u look cute! also headcanon: twi magnus wears less makeup in general but he still indulges in nail polish. mostly dark/muted colors on his fingers, but bright silly colors on his toes. NAYWAYWYA

also magnus bane is his chosen name because he wanted something cool and wizardy sounding and undeniably masculine. 

also he’s so fucking sweet like look his videos are pretty popular because they’re just handy but he’s not exactly like, a super popular celebrity or anything, you know? but when he does meet fans he’s so incredibly sweet and he does selfies and he’s very appreciative of his followers? he’s so genuine? 

and alec is way more popular–not that he’s not kind and appreciative of his followers. it’s just the thing is, magnus and alec are totally opposite sides of youtube. alec is friendly charismatic completely non-magical youtuber, he plays video games with his sister and like, does vlogs and reaction videos and shit you know. magnus is out here with educational tutorials and excited rambles about magical theory. (i feel like sometimes he accidentally starts doing groundbreaking research for a video and forgets to like, publish it first, and people are like wait what the fuck holy shit) 

but then they fucking meet. 

and a) they’re Instantly smitten. b) this will eventually result in the weirdest collab ever. 

like NO ONE would expect magnus bane, tarot reader and tutorial on magic diy and shit, occasionally does makeup videos and little vlogs and talks about Issues sometimes, to collab with typical hot vlogger gamer man alec lightwood. but it happens, and somehow it’s the best fucking thing ever.

i’m not sure how their channels collide. maybe alec plays a game involving magic and magnus talks about all the ways it’s right/wrong but it ends up just being bantering and giggling and magnus may or may not end up leaning into him on the couch their sitting on and giggling as he makes a stupid joke with the character in the game and immediately everyone’s like…… we ship it

not that i support irl shipping but u know how it goes, everyones like “damn they’re cute” and they’re both openly queer so there’s that. i mean, still not cool, but you know

but really tho they keep doing collabs after that and become actual friends and both start kind of….. doing things for each other’s channel? magnus does a thing like “interview with someone who knows nothing about magic” and we just see a total mundane take on magic and honestly it’s really interesting for both of them, we have more “magnus, who’s an Old Soul and despite having a youtube channel is actually not that great with technology, raphael does all the editing, tries to play video games and kinda fails at it but he gets the hang of some of them”?? he likes puzzle games and mariokart, he does NOT like super smash bros because “THE CHARACTER NEVER DOES WHAT I WANT IT TO ALEXANDER” “you’re just jealous bc i beat ur ass” “you wanna play mariokart again, lightwood?!” 

magnus does a tarot reading for alec, alec does a vlog with him just like “day in the life of alec lol :P” and there’s moments where he just comes up behind magnus like “hey what’s up” and magnus, who’s in rumpled home clothing, sees the camera and chuckles and kinda half heartedly waves it away, and the audience loses their mind at how cute he looks lkdhjgfh

they just become actual good friends, you know? it’s weird bc you wouldn’t think it would work but it really, really does

also on of alec’s fans at some point tries to make a transphobic crack at magnus during a livestream and alec goes OFF on his ass and it’s trending for the next week, the clip goes viral, it’s like “HIMBO GOES OFF ON HATERS FOR BEING TRANSPHOBIC TO HIS FRIEND/POSSIBLE LOVER?” and alec apologizes to magnus for all the attention it brought them but magnus is like “it’s okay, we can use this” and they end up using the hype to do one of those charity livestreams youtubers do and all the proceeds go to something like mermaids or the trevor project, you feel? they’re like “suck it transphobes look at all this money you got trans ppl” khjfgh

ok but eventually they do get together, not on camera, and while it’s slow at first and kind of secret (from the internet, not from friends and family) they’re also not super subtle. they know they’re not, but they’re just sort of like “it’s no one’s business, we’ll announce it when we’re ready”

and honestly tho they love each other so much

also i’ve just decided it’s not uncommon for strong magic-users, even like, level 4 or 5 and up, to have marks, so while his cat eyes are usually glamoured maybe he showed them after a q&a or in a vlog or something? and there are like. lots of gifsets of this, okay, and like, lots of thirst comments. which are like, this weird mix of slightly uncomfortable, really flattering/validating, and embarrassing (in a good and bad way). anyway, magnus has cat eyes in this au, because i fucking said so.

ANYWAY back to their relationship, they’re in love

how did they meet? maybe at a con they bumped into each other, or a totally random fan was like “y’all should do a collab” and everyone was like “what”

or maybe a mutual friend and fellow youtuber, meliorn, who is a nonbinary youtuber who fucking has a sword don’t question me, introduces them? 

idk. but when they meet they hit it off instantly and flirt and end up getting coffee and they don’t date for a while (maybe mutual pining/misunderstandings like “oh he doesn’t like me like that, but it’s okay, we can still be friends :)” or something lkfgjhfgh) but eventually they end up getting together

how? no idea. let me think about it.

idk why but im thinking they’re filming at magnus’s apartment and they’re on his couch and just. late night. they’ve finished up filming but they’re still bantering and maybe playing some video game like mariokart or watching a movie together and just. magnus is leaned all the way into alec, just snuggled up and pressed close against him, alec ends up putting an arm around him, and alec cracks a joke or teases him and magnus sits up a bit to like, poke his chest or flick his nose (you know what i mean? like in an otp person a shifts, still kinda sitting in their lap, and is like [playfully hits shoulder or boops nose or something] and now they’re making eye contact and person b ends up pulling them into a soft kiss???) anyway THEY MAKE EYE CONTACT AND ALEC PULLS HIM INTO A SOFT KISS and alec almost pulls away when he realizes what he’s done but magnus makes this soft little happy noise and leans into him, kissing back, and they just end up kissing for a bit and when they break apart alec is just looking up at him with breathless wonder and magnus is looking down at him with that same soft reverence and alec blurts out something like “you’re magical” and magnus just loses it and he’s giggling and leaning against alec’s chest and alec starts laughing too and magnus can feel the vibrations in his chest and it’s just so nice and pleasant and wonderful and they may or may not end up making out 

they have to talk about it in the morning when they end up falling asleep together in magnus’s bed, cuddled close, but they find, to both of their delights, they both want to date and be in a serious relationship and it’s so fucking good ok 

they go to dinner and the transition from friendship to romance is a little awkward but so worth it, especially when they realize HEY IT’S BOTH YOU DONT STOP BEING FRIENDS WHEN YOU DATE. i mean like, they didn’t not know that, but it’s like, idk how to explain you know they’re kinda like “are we doing this right” and then they’re like “fuck doing it right we can keep cuddling on the couch and giggling and bantering over stupid shit and watching dumb movies and kicking each others asses in video games it doesn’t matter we just also kiss and have dinner more often and sleep together and also we may or may not be in love” 

also they’re That Couple. they’re like straight to the honeymoon, they’re domestic from the first week. magnus is casually doing magic around the house (imagine: he just dyes his hair on a whim and grows it out a little bit and alec is like “i love u no matter how u style ur hair and stuff, and like, ur usual look is so fuckin cute and handsome, but also I Love This.”) but like he’s like (casually summons small ball of light to read book at night) (casually makes alec little protective charms–side note alec def makes him some of these too, but he asks magnus’s old mentor, ragnor, and two of his friends that can do magic, catarina and dot, to enchant it, since he can’t himself, and having magic woven by people who care about him will make it stronger. oh mhyhogfd) and just like. magic used to be something he mostly kept to himself (this def has something to do with his parents–his mom, who he thinks killed herself because of his eyes/magic, his birth dad who’s a powerful sorcerer–level 9, actually, and they think magnus is level 8 for a long time–who was an abusive fuckstick) and then he started doing youtube and it was a kinda show, a gift, something to share, but still not really something he just used openly in front of people he cared about (other than his close friends, since most of them do magic too anyway) but with alec it’s so easy to do that casually?? it’s so easy to just feel comfortable and safe????? yes

anyway they do eventually “come out” as boyfriends, maybe something short and sweet like just. a tweet of magnus sleeping curled up on alec’s chest and he’s like “god i love my boyfriend

they were already not subtle but now that they’re not hiding it they’re so fucking blatantly in love tbh. they do one of those boyfriend tag videos and it’s fucking adorable, at high request they do some couples games kind of videos, like the newlywed game and fuck marry kill (mostly on alec’s channel but magnus has a few, too) and it’s just HIGH QUALITY FUCKING CONTENT

also originally i was just thinking something along the lines of “in canon verse, twi alec is instagram famous/famous on social media and he gets cute tarot boyfriend and is like look at my cute boyfriend and then magnus’s small insta account mostly for his business gets a fuck ton of new followers and alec’s gets a considerable amount too” and now i’m imagining everyone from their respective audiences first thirst-following the other, then actually getting invested 

but really tho they’re the internet’s hottest couple for a while it’s great

for some reason i’m picturing them doing a live tour now, with like, accessible tickets and magnus does magic live on stage and idek what else they’d do tbh but it’d be fun as fuck

anyway this au got away from me

me: i dont have any real coherent ideas

also me: [vomits a 2,500+ word ESSAY] 

[andymull]

WWE Wrestlemania 36 - Preview & Predictions

Heeeeeyyyyy heeeeeeeyyyyyy its Wrestlemania....fighting to survive....

............. Coronavirus, social distancing, injuries, sickness, poor booking, late booking changes, trying to get people to pay $60 on PPV instead of free on the Network, etc etc etc

Brock Lesnar (c) vs Drew McIntyre: WWE Championship Match

I really really feel for Drew here, probably the most out of anyone on the show with the lack of an audience as well as the lack of crowds being able to watch in Scotland in bars at the Hooked On Wrestling events, as they would have been SUPERB for both atmosphere and something they would show constantly on tv after the win.

But no, sadly instead of holding this off till later in the year we still have to proceed and deal with it, gutted.

I feel this match could go 25 minutes long and be one of Brock’s longest matches for awhile, in them asking Brock to make Drew look THE STAR in beating him and beating him well. Plus, they cant have both this AND the Goldberg match go less than 5 minutes.....can they?

Wish they would have gone OTT with this and had it filmed at Lesnar’s ranch and be falls count anywhere, Drew turns up saying nothing will stop him from winning the title so he’s there to claim his prize on Brock’s turf. Then gone made fighting around the farm, oh well there’s other matches on this show that will seemingly be booked to shit.

Drew wins, they need to make sure he then moves into feuds with big names and wins clean each time to really invest it all into Drew and see what happens - MCINTYRE

Goldberg (c) vs Braun Strowman: WWE Universal Championship Match

What is there to be said here, Roman had to drop out because they stupidly had him around sick people with his health past, they decide to replace him with Braun who last month lost his title to Sami Zayn, not to mention they didnt even announce it till Smackdown last night without even mentioning Reigns by name after having HHH announce earlier in the week it would be done in an interesting way.............

This should go short with ideally Braun going over, have Bill take the lead hitting all his offense, big spear then as he goes to lift him for the Jackhammer he cant lift him and Strowman bursts out of it hits his finish and pins him clean while in monster mode.

Braun starts the big push from nowhere while at the same time this leaves it open for Goldberg to potentially come back for a rematch, as he didnt have anytime to prepare for Strowman and his game-plan for the bout. Not that I want Bill always around the title scene when he turns up but if they can get Braun going over him clean twice it really helps out a current full time guy under contract WHAT A CLEVER IDEA THAT WOULD BE!!! lol - STROWMAN

The Undertaker vs AJ Styles

I really have no desire to see Taker in a big singles match at Wrestlemania or any other big show ever again, let alone it being in a match with AJ who could have an awesome match with most others on the card. This match should really have turned into the OC vs Taker/Aleister Black if they HAD to go with these guys together, the rub that would have given Black would have been MASSIVE!! Imagine the innovative entrance they could have come up with for both guys together, truly letting Taker pass his aura across to someone new....just goosebumps thinking of how they would look....but nope.

Instead we end up with a feud built around shoot promos about Takers wife doing AJ’s Styles Clash finisher.....

The worst part is that I see Taker going over, not sure if it was confirmed but it was mentioned he’d have 2 others with him who most likely will turn the tide of the match, dont get your hopes up for Black here instead, im guessing its Kane and Big Show....seriously....please be wrong - UNDERTAKER

John Cena vs The Fiend Bray Wyatt

I really wish if they are going to bring back guys who haven't been on the road full time then PLEASE bring them back with a solid storyline that makes sense and that’s been built up for awhile to make sense.....not this. Truthfully they need to build these matches with the sole purpose of having the other guys who could/should have been the spot to be able to turn around and say, ‘you know what, this makes alot of sense and will be great so I cant hold it against them and moan’. Honestly that’s all it needs.

And secondly they really are lucky there wont be a live audience there for the match, the cheers the Fiend would have received over Cena would have drove them wild in editing after trying to build Bray as the crazy heel.

After dropping the title Bray NEEDS the big win here to keep his aura something they can use well, the more they have him lose the quicker that appeal will drop, and for me with Wyatt that doesn't mean he can take loses as long as he isnt pinned like others can ANY loss hurts someone who can teleport (?!?!) - WYATT

Edge vs Randy Orton: Last Man Standing

Edge is the guy in second place behind Drew for me feeling gutted there wont be an audience around for this, imagine coming back after years away and the thought you could never wrestle again through fear of dying then finding you CAN wrestle again.........only to be risking it all in an empty building.....FUCKS SAKE!

This should be great and given the time to have the emotional side of it pour out strong, we should be getting Edge taking a beating to the point that Beth will come out to support him then have her feelings develop to the point she will want him to stay down and stop the pain. Yeah this will be great - EDGE

Becky Lynch (c) vs Shayna Baszler: Raw Women’s Championship Match

I dont think the result should be in question here, Shayna HAS to win and go on a dominant run with the belt, ideally booking Becky to come back in contention for SummerSlam to rematch.......sadly everything's in the air with the world.

For me, and remember those words, Becky’s reign has been abit of a meh fest in-ring, apart from the Sasha bouts, and the extra focus on her has highlighted her ring work which really isnt the strongest part of her game (Not saying she’s terrible at all, but could she please drop the awkward leg drop from the ropes lol). At the same time alot of that is down to how she’s booked as management seem to go on a few months run of wanting the women to be the main focus, then quickly changing their mind and dropping it back massively. Also, the lack of depth with the women’s division's is a problem with them being split over the shows, same with the men to a degree and is the reason we see feuds get dragged and dragged for months, with less women it means we hardly get anything that feels fresh which needs to be key - BASZLER

Lacey Evans vs Sasha Banks vs Bayley (c) vs Tamina vs Naomi - Smackdown Women’s Championship Fatal 5 Way Match

What a mess this is, I have no desire to see Banks/Bayley again for at least another 5 years...........but id much prefer that to having Tamina suddenly dragged on tv and put into the title picture. I get that the roster like her and she’s probably a really nice person to be around and supports the other women massively when needed, but for a viewer she brings NOTHING and hasn't for YEARS, all she’s doing is taking up a roster spot that someone way more deserving could be in from NXT for example. And yes, ive seen the random accounts on Twitter hoping she wins the title............jeez

Wouldn't have a problem with any of the other women taking the win here, sucks that Dana had to pull out as she has really shown improvements the past few months and deserved her place here easily - BANKS 

Rhea Ripley (c) vs Charlotte: NXT Women’s Championship Match

So we definitely are back to saying ‘women’s’ champion again are we? They dropped it the other month but seem to have quickly gone back to it.

Big match for NXT here getting a Mania slot, I really hope that Charlotte doesn't get the win and belt but her winning opens up more fresh options for the future on the women’s division on the show. As long as Charlotte doesn't keep doing her thing of wearing massive heels in-ring to show how much bigger she is to everyone else, for some random reason it annoys me and doesn't need to even be done.

I feel if Charlotte does win the title they will very quickly move another NXT star over to Raw/Smackdown to replace her or hype a new debut upto the draft which MAY be soon - CHARLOTTE

Kevin Owens vs Seth Rollins

The problem with having so many matches at Wrestlemania is that one like this goes so far under the radar its criminal, both guys are great and can pull out something special for the big show....not sure they get the time they will want even with a two night show. This feud will most likely continue so dont worry about who goes over - ROLLINS

Sami Zayn (c) vs Daniel Bryan: Intercontinental Championship Match

Exactly the same as the match before and even more so, a quality match that probably wont get the most time but will be a really fun ride to be on - ZAYN

Jimmy Uso vs John Morrison vs Kofi Kingston: Smackdown Tag Team Title Ladder Match

Yeah dont ask, they had to remove the Miz as he had Coronavirus symptoms but still wanted to do the ladder stipulation...

Honestly the tag division has to be up there for the most stale division in the company, similar to what I said about the women having the Uso’s and The New Day in a match in any combination is just soooooo over done.

Last month I predicted Morrison and Miz to retain and drop the titles tonight but now I hope they keep them, then drop them to Heavy Machinery as soon as they can - MORRISON

The Street Profits (c) vs Austin Theory & Angel Garza: Raw Tag Team Championship Match

Love the SP’s but this really isnt needed in the slightest, I guess the next few matches will be exactly the same. - STREET PROFITS 

Elias vs The Baron King

Exactly - Elias

Aleister Black vs Bobby Lashley

Please have Black go over quick - BLACK

Otis vs Dolph Ziggler

At last a match that deserves its spot on the card, a long term story that’s been developed well and is building to more with the stakes changed down the road. Easily an Otis win with Mandy ending up in his arms for the big smooch - OTIS

The Kabuki Warriors (c) vs Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross: WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match

Lets throw the titles we’ve forgotten about on the show too!! Feel for all the women that have been around the title scene here since the belts came into existence, so much promise over multiple brands that went NOWHERE! - CROSS/BLISS

Kick Off Matches

Drew Gulak vs Cesaro

I think Gulak sneaks the win out with his TECHNIQUE!!! - GULAK

Natalya vs Liv Morgan

I hope Liv picks up the win and they give her more tv time and focus, Nattie winning doesnt really do much for anyone apart from her - MORGAN 

2 nights, lots of matches, lots of things not needed get ready to be mildly hyped!!!

Enjoy

Bye for now

Andy

[chiseler]

The Chiseler Interviews Tim Lucas

Born in 1956, film historian, novelist and screenwriter Tim Lucas is the author of several books, including the award-winning Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark, The Book of Renfield: A Gospel of Dracula, and Throat Sprockets. He launched Video Watchdog magazine in 1990, and his screenplay, The Man With Kaleidoscope Eyes, has been optioned by Joe Dante. He lives in Cincinnati with his wife Donna. 

The following interview was conducted via email.

*

THE CHISELER: You're known for your longstanding love affair with horror films. Could you perhaps explain this allure they hold for you?

Tim Lucas: I suppose they’ve meant different things to me at different times of my life. When I was very young (and I started going to movies at my local theater alone, when I was about six), I was attracted to them as something fun but also as a means of overcoming my fears - I would sometimes go to see the same movie again until I could stop hiding my eyes, and I would often find out they showed me a good deal less than I saw behind my hands, so I learned that when I was hiding my eyes my own imagination took over. This encouraged me to look, but also to impose my own imagination on what I was seeing. Similarly, I remember flinching at pictures of various monsters in FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND magazine, then realizing that, as I became able to stop flinching, to look more deeply into the pictures, I began to feel  compassion for Karloff’s Frankenstein Monster and admiration for Jack Pierce’s makeup. You could say that I learned some valuable life lessons from this: not to make snap judgements, not to hate or fear someone else because they looked different. I should also point out that beauty had the same intense effect on me as ugliness, in those early days at the movies. I was as frightened by the glowing light promising another appearance by the Blue Fairy in PINOCCHIO as I was by Stromboli or Monstro the Whale. I also covered my eyes when things, even colors, became too beautiful to bear.

As I got older, I found out that horror, science fiction, and fantasy films often told the unpleasant truths about our world, our government, our politics, and other people, before such things could be openly confronted in straightforward drama. So I’m not one of those people who are drawn to horror by gore or some other superficial incentive; I have always responded to them because they made me aware of unpopular truths, because they made me a more empathic person, and because they sometimes encompass a very unusual form of beauty that you can’t find in reality or in any other kind of film.

THE CHISELER: I'm fascinated by what you term "a very specific hybrid of beauty that you can’t find in reality or in any other kind of film.” Please develop that point.

Tim Lucas: For example, the aesthetic put forward by the films of David Lynch... or Tim Burton... or Mario Bava... or Roger Corman... or Val Lewton... or James Whale... or F.W. Murnau. It's incredibly varied, really; too varied to be summarized by a single name, but it's dark and baroque with a broader, deeper spectrum of color. I’ll give you an example: there is a Sax Rohmer novel called YELLOW SHADOWS - and only in a horror film can you see truly yellow shadows. Or green shadows. Or a fleck of red light on a vine somewhere out of doors. It’s a painterly version of reality, akin to what people see in film noir but even more psychological. It might be described as a visible confirmation of how the past survives in everything - we can see new artists quoting from a past master, making their essence their own.

THE CHISELER: Your definition of horror, to me, goes straight to the heart of cinema as an almost metaphysical phenomenon. My friend and frequent co-writer, Jennifer Matsui, once wrote: "Celluloid preserves the dead better than any embalming fluid. Like amber preserved holograms, they flit in and out of its parameters, reciting their own epitaphs in pantomime; revenant moths trapped in perpetual motion." Do Italian directors have what I guess you can call special epiphanies to offer? If so, does this help explain your Bava book?

Tim Lucas: The epiphanies of Italian horror all arise from the culture that was inculcated into those filmmakers as young people - the awareness of architecture, painting, writing, myth, legend, music, sculpture that they all grow up with. It's so much richer than any films that can be made by people with no foundation in the other art forms, people who makes movies just because they've seen a few - and maybe cannot even be bothered to watch any in black and white. I imagine many people go into the film business for reasons having to do with sex or power rather than having something deep down they need to express. The most stupid Italian and French directors have infinitely more in their artistic arsenals than directors from the USA, because they are brought up with an awareness of the importance of the Arts. No one gets this in America, where we slash arts and education budgets and many parents just sit their children in front of a television. Without supervision, without a sense of context, they will inevitably be drawn to whatever is loudest or most colorful or whatever has the most edits per minute. And those kids are now making blockbusters. They make money, so why screw with the formula? When I was a kid, it was still possible to find important, nurturing material on TV - fortunately!

Does it explain my Bava book? I don't know, but Bava's films somehow encouraged and sustained the passion that saw me through the researching and writing of that book, which took 32 years. When my book first came out, some people took me to task for its presumed excess - on the grounds that “our great directors” like John Ford and Orson Welles, for all their greatness, had never inspired a book of such size or magnitude. I could only answer that my love for my subject must be greater. But the thing about the Bava book, really, was that - at that time - the playing field was pretty much virgin territory in English, and Bava as a worker in the Italian film industry touched just about everything that industry had encompassed. All of those relationships needed charting. It would have been an insult to merely pigeonhole him as a horror director.

THE CHISELER: I discovered your publication, Video Watchdog, back in 2000 when Kim's Video was something of an underground institution here in NYC. I mean, they openly hawked bootlegs. There was a real sense of finding the unexpected which gave the place a genuine mystique. Now that you've had some time to reflect on its heyday, what are your thoughts, generally, on VW?

Tim Lucas: It's hard to explain to someone who just caught on in 2000, when things were already very different and more incorporated. VIDEO WATCHDOG began in 1990 as a magazine, but before that it was a feature in other magazines of different sorts that began in 1986. At that time, I was reviewing VHS releases for a Chicago-based magazine called VIDEO MOVIES, which then had a title change to VIDEO TIMES. I pointed out to my editor that his writers were reviewing the films and not saying anything about their presentation on video, and urged him to make more of a mandate about discussing aspect ratios, missing scenes (or added scenes) and such. I proposed that I write a column that would start collecting such information and that column was called "The Video Watchdog.”

In 2000, VW's origins in Beta and VHS and LaserDisc had evolved to DVD and Blu-ray was on the point of being introduced, so by then most of the battles we identified and fought had already been won and assimilated into the way movies were being presented on video. But in our early days, my fellow writers and I - were making our readers aware of filmmakers like Bava, Argento, Avati, Franco, Rollin, Ptushko, Zuławski - and the conversation we started led to people seeking out these films through non-official channels, even forming those non-official channels, until the larger companies began to realize there was an exploitable market there. Our coverage was never limited to horror - horror was sort of the hub of our interest, which radiated out into the works of any filmmaker whose work seemed in some way paranormal - everyone from Powell and Pressburger to Ishiro Honda to Krzystof Kiesłowski.

Now that the magazine is behind me, I can see more easily that we were part of a process, perhaps an integral part, of identifying and disseminating some very arcane information and, by sharing our own processes of discovery, raising the general consciousness about innumerable marginal and maverick filmmakers. A lot of our readers went on to become filmmakers (some already were) and many also went on to form home video companies or work in the business.

I'm proud of what we were able to achieve, and that what were written as timely reports have endured as still useful, still relevant criticism. Magazines tend to be snapshots of the present, and our back issues have that aspect, but our readers still tell me that the work is holding up, it’s not getting old.

When I say "we," I mean numerous writers who shared my pretentious ethic and were able to push genre criticism beyond the dismissive critical writing about genre film that was standard in 1990. I mentioned this state of things in my first editorial, that the gore approach wasn’t encouraging anyone to take horror as a genre more seriously, and I do think horror became more respectable over the years we were publishing.

THE CHISELER: My own personal touchstone, Raymond Durgnat, drilled deep into genre — particularly horror films — while pushing back instinctively against the Auteur Theory. No critic will ever write with more infatuated precision about Barbara Steele, whose image graces the cover of your Bava tome. Do you have any personal favorites in that regard; any individual author or works that acted as a kind of Virgil for you?

Tim Lucas: I haven't read Durgnat extensively, but when I discovered him in the 1970s his books FRANJU and A MIRROR FOR ENGLAND were gospel to me. Tom Milne's genre reviews for MONTHLY FILM BULLETIN were always intelligent and well-informed. Ivan Butler’s HORROR IN THE CINEMA was the first real book I read on the subject, along with HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAUT - and I remember focusing on Butler’s chapter on REPULSION, an entire fascinating chapter on a single film, which I hadn’t actually seen. It showed me the film and also how to watch it, so that when it finally came to my local television station, I was ready to meet it head on. David Pirie’s books A HERITAGE OF HORROR and THE VAMPIRE CINEMA I read to pieces. But it was Joe Dante's sometimes uncredited writing in CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN magazine that first hooked my interest in this direction - followed by the earliest issues of CINEFANTASTIQUE, which I discovered with their third issue and for which I became a regular reviewer and correspondent in 1972. I continued to write for them for the next 11 years.

THE CHISELER: I was wondering how you responded to these periodic shifts in taste and sexual politics, especially as they address horror movies — or even something like feminist critiques of the promiscuity of rage against women evident all throughout Giallo; the fear of female agency and power which is never too far from the surface. Are sexism, and even homophobia, simply inherent to the genre?

Tim Lucas: None of that really matters very much to me. I've been around so long now, I can see these recurring waves of people trying to catch their own wave of time, to make an imprint on it in some way. For some reason, I find myself annoyed by newish labels like "folk horror" and "J-horror" because such films have been with us forever; they didn't need such identification before and they have only been invented to get us more quickly to a point, and sometimes these au courant labels simply rebrand work without bringing anything substantially new to the discussion. Every time I read an article about the giallo film, I have to suffer through another explanation of what it is - and this is a genre whose busiest time frame was half a century ago. Sexism and homophobia are things people generally only understand in terms of the now, and I don’t know how fair it is to apply such concepts to films made so long ago. Think of Maria’s torrid dance in METROPOLIS and all those ravenous young men in tuxedos eating her with their eyes. Sexist, yes - but that’s not the point Lang was making.

I don’t particularly see myself as normal, but I suppose I am centrist in most ways. I don’t bring an agenda to the films I write about, other than wanting them to be as complete and beautifully restored as possible. That said, I am interested in, say, feminist takes on giallo films or homosexual readings of Herman Cohen films because - after all - we all bring ourselves to the movies, and if there’s more to be learned about a film I admire, from outside my own experience, that can be precious information. I want to know it and see if I can agree with it, or even if it causes me to feel something new and unfamiliar about it.

My only real concern is that genre criticism tends to be either academic or conversational (even colloquial), and we’re now at a point where the points made by articles published 20 or more years ago are coming back presented as new information, without any idea (or concern) that these things have already been said. As magazines are going by the wayside, taking their place is talk on social media, which is not really disciplined or constructive, nor indeed easily retrievable for reference. There are also audio commentaries on DVD and Blu-ray discs. Fortunately, there are a number of good and serious people doing these, but even when you get very intelligent or intellectual commentators, they often work best with the movie image turned off, because it’s a distraction from what’s being said. Is that true commentary? I'm not an academic; I’m an autodidact, so I don't have the educational background to qualify as a true intellectual, and I feel left out by a lot of academic writing. I do read a good deal and have familiarity with a fair range of topics, so I tend to frame myself somewhere between the vox populist and academia. That's the area we pursued in VW.

THE CHISELER: David Cairns and I once published a critical appreciation of Giallo, using fundamentally Roman Catholic misogyny — and, to a lesser extent, fear of gay men — as an intriguing lens. For example, lesbians are invariably sinister figures in these movies, while straight women ultimately function as nothing more than cinematographic objects: very fetishized, very well-lit corpses, you might say.

Tim Lucas: See, I admire a lot of giallo films but it would never occur to me to see them through a lens. I do, of course, because personal experience is a lens, but my lens is who I am and I’ve never had to fight for or defend my right to be who I am. I have no particular flag to wave in these matters; I approach everything from the stance of a film historian or as a humanist.

There is a lot of crossdressing and such in giallo, but these are tropes going back to French fin de siècle thrillers of the early 1900s, they don't really have anything to do with homophobia as we perceive it in our time. In the Fantomas novels, Souvestre and Allain (the authors) used to continually deceive their readers by having their characters - the good and the evil ones - change disguises, and sometimes apparently change sexes.

I remember Dario Argento saying that he used homosexual characters in his films because he was interested in their problems. He seldom actually explored their problems, and their portrayal in his earliest films is… quaint, to be kind about it… but it was a positive change as time played out. I think the fact that Argento’s flamboyant style attracted gay fans brought them more into his orbit and the vaguely sinister gay characters of his early films become more three dimensional and sympathetic later on, so in that regard his attention to such characters charts his own gradual embracing of them. So in a sense they chart his own widening embrace of the world, which is surprising considering what a misanthropic view of the world he presents.

THE CHISELER: But Giallo is roughly contemporaneous to the rise of Second Wave Feminism. Like the Michael & Roberta Findlay 'roughies', this is not a fossilized species of extinct male anger we're talking about here. Women's bodies are the energy of pictorial composition; splayed specifically for the delectation of some very confused and pissed off men in the audience. I know of no exceptions. To me it makes perfect sense to recognize the ritualized stabbings, stranglings, the BDSM hijinks in Giallo as rather obvious symptoms of somebody's not-so-latent fear and hatred.

Tim Lucas: I think that’s a modernist attitude that was not all that present at the time. Once the MPAA ratings system was introduced in late 1968, all genres of films got stronger in terms of graphic violence and language, and suspense thrillers were no exception. At the time, women and gay people were feeling freer, freer to be themselves, and were not looking for new ways to be taken out of films, however they might be represented. Neither base really had that power anyway at that time, but at any rate it wasn’t a time for them to appear more conservative. That would come at a later period when they felt more assured and confident in their equality. Throughout the 1960s, even in 1969 films like THE WRECKING CREW and BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, you can see that women are still playthings of a sort in films; there are starting to be more honest portrayals of women in films like HUD, but the prevailing emphasis of them is still decorative, so it makes sense that they would be no different in a thriller setting. There’s no arguing, I don’t think, that the murder scenes become more thrilling when the victim is a beautiful, voluptuous woman. It’s nothing to do with misogyny but rather about wanting to induce excitement from the viewer. If you look back to Janet Leigh’s character arc in PSYCHO, the exact same thing happens to her, but because she’s a well-developed character and time is given to explore that character and her goals and motivations, there is no question that it is a role women would want to play, even now. However, the same simply isn’t true of most giallo victims, which should not be seen as one of their rules but as one of their faults. In BLOOD AND BLACK LACE, I think Mario Bava shows us just enough of the women characters for us to have some investment in their fates - but when the giallo films are in the hands of sausage makers, you’re going to feel a sense of misogyny. It may be real but it may also be misanthropy or a more commercial mandate to pack more into a film and to sex it up. I should add that, because I’m not a woman or gay, I don’t bring personal sensitivities to these things, so I see them as something that just comes with the territory, like shoot-outs in Westerns. If you were to expunge anything that was objectionable from a giallo film, wouldn’t it be just another cop show or Agatha Christie episode? You watch a giallo film because, on some level, you want to see something with the hope of some emotional or aesthetic involvement, or with the hope of being outraged and offended. There is no end of mystery entertainment without giallo tropes, so it’s there if you demand that. Giallo films aren’t really about who done it, only figuratively; they are lessons in how to stage murder scenes and probably would not exist without the master painting of PSYCHO’s shower scene, which they all seek to emulate.

THE CHISELER: You mentioned Val Lewton earlier. Personally, I've never encountered anything like the overall tone of his films. There's always something startling to see and hear. Would you shed a little light on his importance?

Tim Lucas: He's an almost unique figure in film in that he was a producer yet he projected an auteur-like imprint on all his works. The horror films for which he's best known are not quite like any other films of their kind; I remember Telotte's book DREAMS OF DARKNESS using the word "vesperal" to describe the Lewton films' specific atmosphere - a word pertaining to the mood of evening prayer services, which isn't a bad way of putting it. I've always loved them for their delicacy, their poetical sense, their literary quality, and their indirectness - which sometimes co-exists with sources of florid garishness, like the woman with the maracas in THE LEOPARD MAN. In THE SEVENTH VICTIM, one shy character characterizes the heroine's visit to his apartment as her "advent into his world," and when I first saw it, I was struck by the almost spiritual tenderness and vulnerability of that description. Lewton was remarkable because he seems to have worked in horror because it was below the general studio radar, which allowed him to make extremely personal films. As long as they checked the necessary boxes, he could make the films he wanted - and I think Mario Bava learned that exact lesson from him.

THE CHISELER: I've always been fascinated by a question which is probably unanswerable: Why do you think it is that movies based on Edgar Allan Poe stories — even those films that only just pretend to sink roots in Poe, offering glib riffs on his prose at best — invariably bear fruit?

Tim Lucas: Poe's writings predate the study of human psychology and, to an extent, chart it - so he can be credited with founding a wing of science much like Jules Verne's writings were the foundation of science fiction and, later, science fact. Also, from the little we know of Poe's personal life, his writing was extremely personal and autobiographical, which makes it all the more compelling and resonant. It's also remarkably flexible in the way it lends itself to adaptation - there is straight Poe, comic Poe, arty Poe, even Poeless Poe. It helps too that a lot of people familiar with him haven't read him extensively, at least not since school, or think they have read him because they've seen so many Poe movies. The sheer range of approaches taken to his adaptation makes him that much more universal.

It also occurs to me that people are probably much more alike internally than they are externally, so the identification with an internal or first person narrator may be more immediate. But it's true that his work has inspired a fascinating variety of interpretation. You can see this at work in a single film: SPIRITS OF THE DEAD (1968), which I’ve written an entire book about. It’s three stories done by Roger Vadim, Louis Malle, and Federico Fellini - all vastly different, all terribly personal expressions of the men who made them.

THE CHISELER: Speaking of Poe adaptations, I've long thought it's time to confront Roger Corman's legacy; as an artist, a producer, an industrial muse, everything. Sometimes I think he's the single most important figure in cinema history. And if that's a wild overstatement, I could stand my ground somewhat and point out that no one person ever supported independent filmmakers with such profound results. It's as though he used his position at a mainstream Hollywood studio to open a kind of Underground Railroad for two generations of film artists. He gave so many artists a leg up in a business where those kinds of opportunities were never exactly abundant that it's hard to keep track. Entering the subject from any angle you like, what are your thoughts on Corman's overall contribution to cinema?

Tim Lucas: I can think of more important filmmakers than Corman, but there has never been a more important producer or mogul or facilitator of films. I said this while introducing him on the first of our two-night interview at the St. Louis Film Festival’s Vincentennial in 2011. He was largely responsible for every trend in American cinema during its most decisive quarter century - 1955 through 1980, and to some extent a further decade still, which bore an enormous influx of talent he discovered and nurtured. People talk about Irving Thalberg, Darryl F. Zanuck, Steven Spielberg, etc. - but their productions don’t begin to show the sheer diversity of interests that you get from Corman’s output. He has no real counterpart. I’ve spent a lot of the past 20 years musing on him, first as the protagonist of a comedy script I wrote with Charlie Largent called THE MAN WITH KALEIDOSCOPE EYES, which Joe Dante has optioned. A few years ago, I decided to turn the script into a novel, which is with my agent now. It’s about the time period before, during, and after the making of THE TRIP (1966). It's a comedy but one with a serious, even philosophical side.

You know, Mario Bava once described himself to someone as “the Italian Roger Corman.”  It’s incredible to me that Bava would have said that, not because it’s wrong or even because he was a total filmmaker before Corman made his first picture, but because Bava has been dead for so long! He’s been gone now almost 40 years and Roger is still making movies. And he’s been making movies for the DTV market longer than anybody, so he sort of predicted the current exodus of new movies away from theaters to streaming formats.

THE CHISELER: Are there any other producers/distributors you'd care to acknowledge, anyone that you think has followed in what you might call Corman’s Tradition of Generosity?

Tim Lucas: No, I really think he is incomparable in that respect. I do think it’s important to note, however, that I doubt Roger was ever purely motivated by generosity of spirit. I don’t think he would put money or his trust in anyone merely as a favor. He’s a businessman to his core and his gambles have always been based on projects that are likely to improve on his investment, even if moderately. I have a feeling that the first dollar he ever made is still in circulation, floating around out there bringing something new into being. I also don’t think he would give anyone their big break unless they had earned that break already in some respect. And when he does extend that opportunity, he’s got to know that, when these people graduate from his company, he’ll be sacrificing their talent, their camaraderie, maybe even in some cases their gratitude. So yes, there is some generosity in that aspect - but he also knows from experience that there are always new top students looking to extend their educations on the job. I wish more people in the film business had his selflessness, his ability to recognize and encourage talent. It may be his greatest legacy.

THE CHISELER: You introduced me, many years ago, to Mill of the Stone Women — I'll end on a personal note by thanking you and asking: Would you share an insight or two about this remarkable gem, particularly for readers who may not have seen it?

Tim Lucas: MILL OF THE STONE WOMEN was probably my first exposure to Italian horror; I saw it as a child, more than once, on local television and there were things about it that haunted and disturbed me, though I didn't understand it. Perhaps that's why it haunted and disturbed me, but the image of Helfy's hands clutching the red velvet curtains stayed with me for decades (a black and white memory) until I got to see it on VHS - I paid $59.95 for the privilege because my video store told me they would not be stocking it. It's a very peculiar film because Giorgio Ferroni wasn't a director who favored horror; the "Flemish Tales" that it's supposedly based on is non-existent, a Lovecraftian meta-invention, and it's the only Italian horror filmed in that particular region in the Netherlands. It looks more Germanic than Italian. I’m tempted to believe Bava may have had a hand in doing the special effects shot, which look like his work, but they might also have been done by his father Eugenio, as he was also a wax figure sculptor so would have been good to have on hand. He seldom took screen credit. So it's a film that has stayed with me because it's elusive; it's hard to find the slot where it belongs. It's like an adult fairy tale, or something out of E.T.A. Hoffmann. I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve wasted, trying to find another movie with the unique spell cast by that one.

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | Vampire Ecstasy (Sarno, 1973)

As a teenager in Toronto in the 2000s whose parents had Rogers Cable, one of the key drivers of my horror fandom was a channel called Scream. Launched in 2001, this was a channel that specialized in horror films, and provided me with an opportunity to catch such classics of the genre as Evil Dead II and Blood Feast (although I did not appreciate the latter at the time). On one hand, my budding cinephilia was nourished through whatever Criterions I could get my hands on at the public library, which lent itself to a kind of curation. On the other hand, my interest in horror was fed through a more omnivorous approach, as I would devour whatever movies I managed to catch this channel during its regular generous free preview periods during the month of October. (Looking back, I feel a bit of guilt around this, as the channel rebranded to a more milquetoast iteration known as Dusk in 2009, and then ceased operations in 2012. Were people like me to blame? I can only atone by buying an ill-advised amount of Blu-rays to support companies selling horror titles going forward.) Even though I was cursed with certain ideas around "good taste" at the time, I recognized this channel for the boon that it was to my cinephilia.

Those ideas however led me to squander the channel that was one up from Scream, Drive-In Classics, which specialized in exploitation movies. (Amusingly, after Drive-In Classics ended operations, it was replaced by the Sundance Channel, which is about as far as you can get in terms of programming.) Before my tastes had become sophisticated and/or debased enough, I naturally assumed what was shown on this channel was a heap of garbage and didn't spend a lot of time watching it, although every once in a while curiosity would get the better of me and I'd hit the channel up button to see what was on. During one of these televisual excursions, I stumbled across a scene of some kind of strange ritual, characterized by boobs and bongo music. Despite being relatively prudish as a teenager, I was transfixed for reasons that were beyond me at the time (okay, that's a lie), and watched with rapt attention for a few minutes with the sound really low only to quickly change the channel before anybody else came in the room. That scene was from a movie called Vampire Ecstasy (AKA The Devil's Plaything), which for years held a great deal of psychic weight over me yet I'd found it hard to come across a copy and had never seen mentioned in my internet circles during all these years (it doesn't even have a Wikipedia page). But now, through the miracle of Tubi and the Film Movement Blu-ray label, I found it was available to stream in a beautiful HD transfer, so after many years, I was able to finally sate my curiosity.

Sometimes you see a bit of a movie out of context and develop an idea of what the movie's like that's completely divorced from the real thing. For years, I'd imagined Weird Science had some wacky extended chase where the heroes escape from an evil pimp played by Bill Paxton, wearing his yellow suit from Predator 2. When I finally watched it last year, I realized I'd extrapolated much of that entirely from the "malaka" scene and had actually only seen the first few minutes. Other times, as in here, you see a part of the movie that proves to be entirely representative of the whole thing. Vampire Ecstasy has many, many, many scenes of nude female characters conducting some kind of weird sex ritual in a dungeon, set to bongo music. Some of these scenes involve marital aids, like dick-shaped candles and wooden cones, as well as the occasional dude, but others merely involve them writhing to the bongo music. (There is occasional gyrating as well. What is the difference between writhing and gyrating, you ask? Well, I'm not a man of science, but I would wager that the direction and intensity of the oscillations plays a role in distinguishing the two.) Now, I'm not against any of this in principle, but the movie runs an hour and forty-three minutes long, and these sequences ensure you feel every second of that runtime. (It's also unclear whether the bongo music is diegetic, as other characters seemingly hear the bongos, yet nobody is ever seen playing them. Such are the mysteries of Vampire Ecstasy.)

However, the movie does offer some of the pleasures you'd expect from a movie called Vampire Ecstasy. One can try to dissect the particulars of the plot, but all one really needs to know is that there are a group of sinister lesbian vampires (the ones conducting the aforementioned bongo rituals) combating a professor of vampire history (or some shit), who may have an incestuous attraction to her brother. Aside from the numerous, numerous nude scenes featuring fairly attractive participants, the movie benefits greatly from being set in a castle near the Bavarian alps, which lends the movie an appropriately chilly atmosphere. Combined with the vaguely German accents of most of the cast and the death metal font of the opening credits, this plays credibly like a Eurosleaze vampire movie, perhaps like one Jean Rollin would have made at the time, so it surprised me that it's directed by a Joe Sarno, an American. Sarno was a prolific director of both softcore and hardcore pornography whose work I'd like to delve further into, as by all accounts, he made some pretty good ones. (During one of my other bouts of interest in Drive-In Classics, I distinctly remember seeing Abigail Lesley is Back in Town appearing on the programming guide, tantalized by the NC-17 rating noted in the movie description but too afraid to be caught actually flipping to the channel.) I suspect Vampire Ecstasy isn't the greatest entry point for his career, and unlike Rollin, he never manages to imbue enough of a sense of threat into the movie, so whatever atmosphere is present never accumulates into dread. As a result, this is hard to recommend as an actual horror movie, but it holds some interest as a curio. Given my interest in clothing, I must note that one of the female characters arrives in a fedora, pinstripe suit and tie, so she immediately became my favourite character. There is also a scene where the heroine's clothes all fall off as she's attacked by bats, in a scene less gruesome yet similarly entertaining as the bat attack in The House by the Cemetery. See, it's not so bad.

[casbooks]

Book Review: Under the Big Black Sun

I grew up constantly bouncing between the San Fernando Valley and Orange County in SoCal during the 80s and 90s at a time when punk, post punk, and new wave were deeply entrenched in the landscape thanks to the efforts of DJ Rodney Bingenheimer and KROQ. It was a time of change, with Alternative and Grunge coming onto the scene with Nirvana and Sonic Youth, but at the same time bands like X were held in a state of godlike reference. 

This was before the internet, before spotify, before even cds! I would bum rides from anyone and everyone to go to all ages shows, even managing to convince a friends older brother to take us all the way up to Gilman st in the bay area!

But the thing is... there was another story ... a story about the scene before my experiences... the scene in the late 70s and early 80s where anything went, where art, and music, and style all merged and began. I’d heard people talk about those days, the days of the Masque club and Brendan Mullen, and the Canterbury Apartments... I was lucky enough to go to the Hong Kong Cafe a few times when it reopened in the 90s, and I heard tales of how it USED to be and we all watched The Decline of Western Civilization (on vhs!) which had been shot there! 

I had bootlegs and tapes from bands that no longer existed, stuff from the Germs, The Screamers, and The Minutemen. I knew D.Boon was from Pedro and that he was dead, but that was all I knew... and yet I fucking LOVED their songs. 

So when I grabbed this book, I sat down to read it hoping to find an enjoyable overview of who was who and what was what. Instead what I found was a history book, an academic primary source of how the LA Punk scene was, how it began, who the major players were, and how it changed over time thanks to the influx of violent OC punks and heroin.

Instead of a single author, you have differing experiences and viewpoints from the people who were there. People like John Doe and Exene Cervenka from X, Jane Wiedlin from the Go-Gos, Pleasant Gehman, El Vez, Henry Rollins, Mike Watt, and more. 

Some chapters are better than others, Mike Watt’s is an homage to D.Boon in the most loving way, as well as a history of the scene from their San Pedro perspective. Jane Wiedlin’s chapter is probably the best written and most informative. Together with Charlotte Caffery, you get a real experience of what that time was like and how things all happened from the drugs, to the fashion, to just who was who. Jack Grisham’s chapter, in contrast is barely worth inclusion, and I’m saying that as someone who really does love a lot of T.S.O.L songs... he’s just a big piece of shit. Dave Alvin digs into Cowpunk and the Blasters experiences playing with bands like Black Flag which is really good, but I was disappointed in Henry Rollins addition to the book. I’ve heard him speak, and read his words elsewhere and expected a lot more. 

If you have any interest in the bands, the music, the scene, or in Los Angeles culture at all, you’ll love this book, hands down. It’s the only book on the topic that really captures the geographical divides that exist here, and that punk overcame. Where you had bands from Chula Vista/San Diego, San Pedro, Hollywood, the Valley, the beach cities, as well as East L.A’s unique chicano/latino contributions to early punk. 

The thing you hear over and over is how art and inclusion of all sorts of outcasts is how it began, but then it became corporate and overrun by violence and anger and exclusion. How women were a major force in the beginning, and how they became excluded and pushed out later. 

This was not my generation... I came after.... but it is because of all of these people, the music they made, the clothes and style they created, and all that they did in a fuel of alcohol and drugs that laid the foundation for what I was able to experience. This is their history, this is their story, this is what happened from their own mouths. Too many of their friends and bandmates are dead, but they lived and thanks to this book, we have their stories. 

5 out of 5 stars

===========

Title: Under the Big Black Sun

Authors: John Doe

ISBN: 9780306824098

Tags: Agent Orange (band), Alice Bag (musician), Alley Cats (band), Art, Avengers (band), Belinda Carlisle (musician), Bill Bateman, Billy Joe Armstrong (musician), Billy Zoom (musician), Black Flag (band), Black Randy and the Metro Squad(band), Blondie (Band), Bomp! Records, Brendan Mullen, Charlotte Caffey (musician), Chris Desjardins (musician), Chris Morris, Circle Jerks (band), Circus (Magazine), Claude Bessy (musician), Club 88, Crass (band), Creem (Magazine), Dangerhouse Records, Darby Crash (musician), Dead Kennedys (band), Dennes D. Boon (musician), Devo (band), DJ Bonebrake (musician), Dwight Yoakam (musician), Exene Cervenka (musician), Farrah Fawcett Minor (musician), Fear (band), Glitter Rock, Green Day (band), Greg Ginn (musician), Hal Negro and the Satin Tones (band), Hellin Killer (musician), Henry Rollins (musician), Hong Kong Cafe, Iggy Pop (musician), Jack Grisham (musician), Jane Wiedlin (musician), Jeffery Lee Pierce (Ranking Jeffery Lee) (musician), Jenny lens, Joan Jett (musician), John Belushi, John Doe (musician), K.K Barrett (musician), Kickboy Face (musician), Kid Congo Power (musician), KROQ, Lee Ving (musician), Lorna Doom (musician), Los Angeles, Los Illegals (band), Los Lobos (band), Matt Watt (musician), Max's Kansas City, Minutemen (band), Music, New York Dolls (band), Odd Squad (band), Orpheum Theater, Pat Smear (musician), Photography, Pleasant Gehman (musician), Punk Rock, Regan Youth (band), Rhino Records, Rik L Rik (musician), Roberto Lopez (El Vez) (musician), Rockabilly, Rodney Bingenheimer, Rolling Stone (Magazine), Ruby Records, Saccharine Trust (band), Self Help Graphics and Art, Sex Pistols (band), Slash (Magazine), Slash (records), SST Records, Stardust Ballroom, Stiff Records, Suburban Lawns (band), T.S.O.L (band), Teresa Covarrubias (musician), The Bags (band), The Blasters (band), The Brat (band), The Canterbury Apartments, The Clash (band), The Controllers (band), The Cramps (band), The Damned (band), The Deadbeats (band), The Dickies (band), The Dils (band), The Elks Lodge, The Eyes (band), The Flesh Eaters (band), The Germs (band), The Go-Go's (band), The Gun Club (band), The Masque, The Plugz (band), The Ramones (band), The Runaways (band), The Screamers (band), The Stains (band), The Starwood, The Stooges (band), The Subhumans (band), The Vex Club, The Weirdos (band), The Zeros (band), Tito Larriva (musician), Tom DeSavia, Tomata du Plenty (musician), Trudie Arguelles (musician), Upsetter Records, Velvet Underground (band), Whiskey A Go Go, Wilton Hilton (musician), X (band), Zero Zero Club

Subject: Books.General Non-Fiction.Music.Punk

Description: Under the Big Black Sun explores the nascent Los Angeles punk rock movement and its evolution to hardcore punk as it's never been told before. Authors John Doe and Tom DeSavia have woven together an enthralling story of the legendary West Coast scene from 1977 to 1982 by enlisting the voices of people who were there. The book shares chapter-length tales from the authors along with personal essays from famous (and infamous) players in the scene. Additional authors include: Exene Cervenka (X), Henry Rollins (Black Flag), Mike Watt (The Minutemen), Jane Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey (The Go-Go's), Dave Alvin (The Blasters), Chris D. (Flesh Eaters), Jack Grisham (T.S.O.L.), Teresa Covarrubias (The Brat), and Robert Lopez (The Zeros, El Vez) as well as scenesters and journalists Pleasant Gehman, Kristine McKenna, and Chris Morris. Through interstitial commentary, John Doe "narrates" this journey through the land of film noir sunshine, Hollywood back alleys, and suburban sprawl - the place where he met his artistic counterparts, Exene, DJ Bonebrake, and Billy Zoom - and formed X, the band that became synonymous with and in many ways defined L.A. punk. Under the Big Black Sun shares stories of friendship and love, ambition and feuds, grandiose dreams and cultural rage, all combined with the tattered, glossy sheen of pop culture weirdness that epitomized the operations of Hollywood's underbelly. Listeners will travel to the clubs that defined the scene as well as to the street corners, empty lots, apartment complexes, and squats that served as de facto salons for the musicians, artists, and fringe players that hashed out what would become punk rock in Los Angeles. 

[ingenves]

     hello angels ! the name’s moose ( she/her ) & i love bugs and poutine. it’s late af so im off to bed right away but ! i would love to plot with each and every single one of you so definitely feel free to HMU ( on here or u can ask for my discord if u prefer ) or LIKE THIS and i’ll come to u ! i don’t have a wc page or anything sorted out yet but we rollin. you can peep saskia’s pinterest board HERE for the aesthetic™ 

     ⌈ sophie turner, cisfemale, she/her ⌋ hey, is it SASKIA GRAHAM that you’re looking for? you know, the TWENTY-ONE year old ACTRESS. typically i see them hanging around NEPTUNE’S DINER so you could try there! i hear they’ve been in living in KINGSTON for ONE YEAR. gristol wouldn’t be the same without them, right? anyway, whenever i see them they make me think of fresh manicures, sweet nothings whispered in french & broken champagne bottles on a tile floor. 

ok so! lil miss saskia is the only child of infamous director lloyd graham and his second wife anna, a talent agent. they split up when she was a baby and although she was born in london, she primarily grew up in paris where she lived w her father and her step mom anaïs who was just an up-and-coming designer at the time of their marriage

as u can imagine, she grew up living this extravagant and opulent lifestyle that she’s since become addicted to

it was hard to be a normal kid w the parents she had, but.....all of her friends were also a part of the same world she was. as far as her childhood goes, ofc she was super duper privileged so it wasnt HARD but it also wasnt always easy??

she started acting when she was v young. she started her career in theatre as a child actor and then occasionally making small appearances in various movies that her father was working on, but her career rly took off when she hit her teen years.

she’s got a reputation for being a scream queen, most of her filmography consisting of indie french horror and thriller movies. she’s fairly well-known in france and in europe for her work but not so much in the americas unless ur into french / foreign film ig?

her father has always had most of the control over her career. although he had no part in getting her roles, he did police what she could and couldn’t audition for and he did his best to make sure that she stayed scandal-free and out of the tabloids to avoid taking a dump on the family name u know?

which is........kind of funny bc her dad is WELL KNOWN for being horrible to work with, short-tempered, demanding, all that good stuff. he’s also just.....rude. and elitist and he thinks he’s better than everyone else even tho his movies arent even THAT good. satan himself, probably

so ofc saskia didn’t want to work w him either and it was exhausting having to be his DAUGHTER when he’s so controlling

they had this MASSIVE fight eventually, where saskia basically called him out for trying to control every aspect of her life instead of just letting her LIVE and take her career and her life in the direction she wanted to. he claimed that every single one of her accomplishments was because of HIM and because of their name and without all their money she would be nothing and that made her FURIOUS bc as much as yes, her family did help her get her foot in the door and get auditions, all of the work she’s done and every role she’s gotten was because she earned it, not because of anyone else

in an act of spite and to give her dad two big ole MIDDLE FINGERS she moved to the place her father hates the most, new york city. that’s what she told him, at least, but she settled in gristol instead, just a short drive away from the big apple

she never rly pictured herself living there since.....paris is her entire life and she’s never rly had an interest in expanding her horizons to american film but.........now that she’s tryna piss off her dad she just might :/

ditched her big fancy house for a cute lil apartment that she adores

tbqh she’s just been taking a hiatus from her career since moving, straight chillin most of the time , kind of laying low and getting her ducks in a row, letting her father stew while not knowing wtf she’s been doing for a year

but she’s bored bored BORED and she doesn’t want to go back home so she’s just getting her career going again, going to auditions and doing the whole dealio u know how it be

that abt sums it up??? let me talk abt her cancer ass now

she’s SUPER good at keeping a facade and then going home to cry herself to sleep afterwards

lowkey insecure af

riddled w trust issues

as u can tell, she is a spiteful little shit

she doesn’t like to talk abt her feelings but then.....gets offended when ppl dont realize when she’s upset or angry??? *lisa from the room vc* i don’t want to talk about it

she takes criticism very personally and will most definitely get angry at u if u criticize her in any way

wtf is a stable emotion???? she has no idea

her life is a constant cycle of overreacting to things

don’t get me WRONG she is actually quite a sweetheart but it’s when u try to call her out or break her trust that she does a fuckin flip flop and goes bananas

she out here destroying herself so no one else can :/

she gets stressed out v easily and always has to take time for herself ahdsjkfg. spa days are what keep her going

loyal af to the ppl who are loyal to her!!!!!

can be lowkey manipulative without even realizing what she’s doing. just a smooth talker rly

ok some lil extra bits for ur consideration

she rly.....had no idea how to live by herself tbqh after moving out. she was LOST. didn’t know how to do laundry or make coffee or do the dishes, she didn’t know SHIT MY GUY. for someone who is v intelligent she rly......had a hard time adjusting to Real life.

occasionally walks the runway for her step-mom but her true Passion is acting

she has to take a nap every day or else she is impossible to deal with

likes to Partay but she always texts her exes when she’s drunk :/

a sentimental BITCH!!!! keeps every letter and birthday card anyone has ever given her. she has money so like.....she prefers to receive sentimental gifts that make her lowkey soft heart Melt.

loves spontaneous trips and adventures

since moving to gristol she’s become less of a fashion bitch and more of a casual comfort hoe but.......the gal always has her nails done

she hasn’t spoken to her dad since she moved away but she talks to her step-mom almost everyday bc she adores that womaN

she absolutely.....adORES american culture. she watched a ton of american tv growing up and she idolizes that shit dude

fluent in french & english ofc!! has a lil french accent

ok that’s all i have rly thank u for reading this far if u did and if not i feel u man and i still love u 

[ajoblotofjunk]

Z Nation re-watch: 4x01 The One With The Flying Manta Ray

Season 4, here we go!

This is the season I have re-watched the most BY FAR so I remember a lot more than in previous seasons. It will be interesting to see how it feels as part of the whole, being watched so closely on the heels of the first three seasons.

2018: The Motto

We start off with Warren as we saw her in season 3 but having the now-familiar season 4 Black Rainbow vision.

Warren emerges from the pristine white hospital room like she's burst from a grave and it's an appropriately horrific scene done with no dirt or grime.

The hospital boot heels are HILARIOUS to me, I don't know. Like. Why did they put those on her? Look how tall they are! I would break my entire leg trying to walk in those.

She is extremely traumatized by what's happened and doesn't even know why yet, but she also grabs a coat and a big old mallet so her instincts are still on point. ZONA must have been THRILLED to grab her when they got Murphy; especially with The Man gone, Warren is pretty much the only person you could trust to survive the apocalypse long enough to fulfill their messed-up plans.

I wish we'd seen more of the children of ZONA! Also that girl had to have been a tiny baby when the apocalypse started, why is she screaming now? Zona must have been a very safe zone to live even in the middle of zombies.

Oh, Murphy.

I have watched this scene many times for fic purposes. Hee. It's a great intro to the season.

Both actors are SO GOOD here dealing with the tragedy of the loss of their friends. Kellita's "god damn apocalypse" is brutal.

Warren: The elevator knows your name? Murphy: Around here? Everyone knows my name.

There's gonna be a lot more of this in these recaps because the SHOW gives us a lot more of this. (Sorry not sorry)

It's been 8 years since Day 1. Must feel like decades.

Warren's hopeful face here when she asks "so the vaccine worked?" is just. Think of all she sacrificed and lost to get to that moment.

Murphy: "Of course it worked! With my blood and the best scientists bitcoin can buy, what could go wrong?" Oh, MURPHY. Warren knows.

He is just super enjoying showing her around.

These Zona guards are creepy as heck, needing to see her barcodes. And listen, I don't think you can (or should) watch these Zona scenes without the political overtones of today - Black Lives Matter (a black woman here surrounded by two white policemen), wealth inequality (all the poor people left to die in the mainland), and the racial components of wealth (the makeup of Zona is overwhelmingly white and the men are mostly older white males; the women presented visually as trophies). It's really smart film-making and it matters when we feel so uneasy about Zona without anything overtly being wrong.

lmao her face when the guy calls her 'General Warren.'

Things I appreciate in retrospect: why she could still walk around after having been in a coma for two years. There was no muscle atrophy because, well, you know if you've seen the season.

The silhouettes in this Reset poster are interesting; what is that fencing? And are they...dancing? It's odd.

Warren: "I like a man behind the wheel." Maybe the single piece of dialogue in the entire show that bothers me most. There was no reason for her talking about it and if she had to, why could she have said "I like to be behind the wheel" or even "I like a human (or person) behind the wheel"? She has done like 85% of the driving in the show! It's such a throwaway line and it annoys me disproportionately to it's purpose and YET. Every time I hear it it bugs me.

Warren is still worried about the rest of the planet, because she is THE BEST.

Gandalf Doc is hilarious. He's gotten more ferocious, too, with his double hammers.

Why were Doc and 10k (and Red) separated for two years? I want to know what happened there, why on earth they would have split up.

10k does not want to return to community, he's been enjoying his solitude with Red.

Addy's & Lucy's entrance is so good here, I love it. I would read All The Fic about their two year adventures.

Why is ZONA still after Lucy, when they already have Murphy?

My season 4 source is much lower quality but Murphy not wearing socks with his suit is a baller move.

Warren: "It wasn't easy, considering half the time I wanted to kill [Murphy] myself." Murphy:

UGH he is SO DELIGHTED to have her back I can't take it.

The Founder: "We'll want you in the gene pool." Me: *FULL BODY SHUDDER* Warren's face:

Murphy's face:

MURPHY.

This scene with the slow-building applause for Warren creeps me out so much. Also Mr. Sunshine's one hand backward clap is oddly TERRIFYING.

Sun Mei has been with the camp, leading it and making people feel comfortable.

And look, here's Henry Rollins! Giving people hugs. Hee.

10k not knowing about Gandalf ("history was never my best subject" lol) is so perfect and one of those small world-building things Z Nation does so well.

Murphy: "One time she chopped off the head of a mutual friend of ours!" Warren: "He was already dead. We hardly knew each other." I mean...he's talking about Vasquez right? I can't think of any other mutual friends whose heads she's chopped off. Murphy, still bad at reading the room eight years into the apocalypse.

Warren: "He exaggerates." Murphy: "A ton!" loooooooool

Heyyyy it's the zombie ball of Zs! Which I'm still convinced is the cheese wheel having turned into the zombies-eating-each-other-wheel.

Addy and Lucy Adventures is the Z Nation spinoff I really want.

Fuckin Murphy telling the 'Aristocrats' joke.

This woman sitting next to Murphy with her squash and her 'staying in shape for that special man' is awkward af.

Murphy is SO PROUD of his zombie cake for Warren.

Doc and 10k laughing together is good for my heart.

I really like Sun Mei & Red's interactions. They had a nice dynamic.

Murphy wants Warren to just be okay. And I don't blame him - he feels like he's had security and peace for two years, I wouldn't want to give that up either. But if something is wrong with her, if she knows something is off, his instinct is to believe her. And if Warren's right - of course she's right, he trusts her always - then he's got to leave the only safe place left.

This is still one of my all-time favorite shots on the show. If all else fails, call Warren.

Murphy's worried Warren could have killed the guards, he knows they couldn't take her down.

Murphy: "The mission is over Warren, there's no one left to save but ourselves. So don't go all PTSD on me and blow the first good thing that's happened since day one."

Every single time Warren cries this season it is TOO MUCH.

Red doesn't want kids, but it seems like 10k does.

Lucy does not give one shit about humans, which is an interesting character trait that doesn't get explored much beyond this first episode. It's too bad, I would have liked to have seen that play out a little more.  

Addy and Lucy can talk to each other telepathically, and Addy has a bite on her right hand.

It's Dr. Teller. Fuck him.

Knowing what we know now about what's really going on, watching Mr. Sunshine's face when he's testing the gas is very telling. He looks horrified, not happy. He steps away, appalled. He really is the good guy here, trying to stop what's about to go down. And he can't trust anyone because he knows the depth and reach of Zona's power. It's actually pretty cool foreshadowing.

[milquetoast-on-acid]

Milquetoast watches X-Files: Squeeze

Squeeze 1x3

IT Clowns, Love Triangles and Rollin’s Baby Daddy

Hey, it's that government official that secreted away some evidence that Scully had found in the pilot. They keep showing shots of this dude walking along with some sewer grate. Sewer grate kind of like this one:

That creepy aliens eyes are pretty sweet looking. Is he a clone of this dude?

The director of this episode is obviously a fan of horror films or an actual horror film director. Cuz I feel like I'm watching a slasher film right now. First the IT reference with the sewer grate and now a cable that's about to snap on an elevator. And this dude alone in an office all by himself just ripe for the picking.

Well I've since realized that this is not the dude who I thought he was. This is just some rando in an office.

Well, there is some typical horror film score right there with the creepy picky Twinkie music. I don't know how to describe it, but that is horror film music. That's some dirty fingers about to snatch him up.

Just a random thought coming in here but do mulder and Scully have a ship name? Because if not it could be smolder.

Sorry I'm just cracking myself up over some dumb joke.

This alien is so strong that he can break the door but a lock can stop him? This really doesn't make any logical sense to me. Maybe he's just dumb or just primal? Why is this alien even after this dude? Does he want to eat him? I just don't have enough information here.

How is this alien so dumb that He can't open a lock but he knows how to screw a freaking grate back to the wall!

Oh god doug Hutchinson is in this episode! He's not a bad actor but that dude is a creep! And if you don't know who that is... Here's his most famous role:

And why is he a creep? He was a 50 year old dude that groomed and then married a 16 year old.

Oh look it's also Declan! Declan from SVU, who I don't know his last name. Or is Declan his last name?

So is this supposed to be scully's boyfriend? I kind of pegged her as married to the job. Oh so he is just some colleague who's got some sort of weird case for her.

Furthermore, I don't get this nickname spooky Mulder. I get that like he's got some sort of reputation for getting into strange cases and going for paranormal and bizarre. But that's a really dumb nickname.

I love seeing this dude be messed with by Mulder. How long is he going to realize that Mulder is just fucking with him? He thinks that mulder believes in the absolute ridiculousness so mulder pegs that and then just gives them exactly what he wants.

Declan Colton: So I'm Mulder what do you think? Is this the work of little green men?

Mulder: Gray

Declan Colton: Excuse me

Mulder: Gray. You said green a reticulant skin tone is actually gray.

Mulder: They're notorious for their extraction of terrestrial human liver due to the depletion of iron in the reticulum galaxy.

Declan Colton, you can't be serious?

And if you didn't catch that Mulder was just screwing with the dude they add this line:

Mulder: do you have any idea how much liver and onions go for in the reticulum Galaxy?

Jack would also agree with Mulder. Even if he's just messing with the guy.

Also:

Scully is a profiler now? I thought she was a medical doctor. She's over here profiling serial killers.

It's interesting that she highlights the liver and its functions. She says that it has regenerative properties. So perhaps this alien is taking people's liver's in order to keep on living.

The fact that Scully goes to a stakeout on her off time. Does this girl do anything besides work? Clear workaholic who has no life outside of the job and even when she was doing something off the clock it was about work.

Someone is in the vent!

It's doug hutchinson!

That guy is certainly disturbing enough to play a serial killer.

I love how they give this dude a lie detector test because lie detector tests are so fallible. They do not use them in court as evidence. But they sure do look good on TV.

So they think because the dude automatically passed the lie detector test that he is not the killer. You can lie on those things and not get caught. That is why they do not use them in court.

I just called Mulder and saying two Scully like right in front of him?

I think I like about Mulder here. He’s the only one who believed in Scully when none of the rest of them did.

And then Scully just called Mulder out for being territorial. This is a love Triangle! I wonder if we're going to see Declan Colton again.

Declan Johnny Coltan: Look Dana, who's side are you on?

Scully: The victims.

There really is two dudes fighting over a chick here! Looks like you've already lost declan Colton.

Conveniently the only items that they have found have a spotlight on them. It's just a pile of vintage stuff which is obviously supposed to be the trophies that the ageless alien killer has collected.

So he took her necklace. Does that mean that she's a target?

This guy is such an asshole to her. Like how was this guy her friend or even someone that she might have dated?

Well I was right she's a target so the creepy killer dude is about to take Scully liver.

So that's how mulder figures it out. He sees scully's necklace and now he's going to go after her.

The consequence of ethnic cleansing? WTF?

Is this guy reading a newspaper about Nazis?

What is that about?

So they're just going to let him build this nest? I need to go in and sweep that nasty stuff up.

Of course! He's going to be able to fit through that tiny little food slot.