#in the 80s there was cold war drama

[greenranger16]

Look idk why all you people keep saying The Bite. You're a decade off. That was 1997. Look

[transformersfunnies]

We as a society don’t talk enough about how G1 Dockworker Orion Pax was actually probably a lower caste than G1 Military General Megatron.

Like, G1 has the unfortunate position of being a cheesy 80s cartoon devoid of most pre-war nuance, and by the time we actually got that nuance Orion had been moved to more middle class jobs.

But like, in another universe G1 Orion could’ve very well had it just as bad as like, IDW Megatron, as a hard laborer and I just find it fascinating that no one talks about this!

(Imagine if G1 Optimus was even cold constructed, like, the drama, the ANGST!!!)

[tobiasdrake]

hearing you call live-action sonic surprisingly conservative in your post about media moving forward felt like being shot in the heart

i mean, sonic as a character is pretty leftist. his whole deal is being free and setting people free,

beating up enemies in the game is literally breaking the shell that the animals are stuck in

Eggman was an analogy for pollution, with him destroying the environment for personal gain, and later being more of a fascist dictator

and his thing is always turning people into products, into literal machines he can control to do his labor and fight his wars, which would be every capitalist’s dream.

and so i never put the pieces together when it comes to the movie being conservative.

damn.

ouch.

could you elaborate more on it? idk, the conversation hurts but i’d like to know what your thoughts are on live-action sonic specifically

Oh, sure. We can talk about the surprisingly conservative themes and ideas of the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog films. With the caveat that this is old-school traditional conservatism, not modern nakedly fascistic conservatism. The Sonic movies are conservative in a Home Improvement sort of way, not a Lady Ballers sort of way.

What it amounts to is that Paramount approached the films not with intent to make a Sonic the Hedgehog movie but with intent to make a "relatable" story for an audience that also has Sonic the Hedgehog in it.

Have you ever seen 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters? A film which centers a broken family trying to connect with each other, while also there's a disaster movie happening around them? Like. Godzilla and Mothra and Ghidorah is all stuff that's happening, but what really matters here is whether this daughter can forgive her mother.

It's the of writing a low-stakes personal drama and then stapling the film premise to it. The kind of move that makes sense with something like The Day After Tomorrow where the premise is just "It got fucking cold" so the movie kinda needs something with some actual characters that it can be about.

But when it's an adaptation, it shows low confidence in the IP itself to carry a film. It says, "I don't think a Sonic movie would work, so instead I'm going to just make a movie and have Sonic in it."

And the a movie that they made centers some conservative values. But, like, old-school conservative values, not the hyper-fascistic transphobia and white supremacy and stuff you see around today. Things that were considered commonly recognized conservative values in the 80's and 90's, when white people were still supposed to believe that racism was over and all that jazz.

For one, Tom is a cop. Which is a wild choice for a film coming out at the height of BLM and ACAB. The film, as well as its subsequent sequels and spinoffs, play Tom's policing very sympathetically. A major theme of the first film is that Officer Wachowski is a vital and valuable part of his community.

There is no ambiguity; The cops are the good guys here. They're kind of wacky but we're meant to love both of them, Tom and Wade. They are, however, contrasted by the wickedness of the Feds.

Eggman, in the film, is reimagined from an industrialist to a federal agent. He represents the long arm of Big Government overreach coming for the sleepy town of Green Hill. Which is then further represented by G.U.N., who oppose Eggman once he goes rogue but are still the enemy nonetheless.

Even the Knux series still manages to be about fighting the Feds. The federal government has been the antagonist for 3 out of 3 entries thus far, when Eggman himself has only been the antagonist for 2.

The films leave the environmentalism of the original behind, instead centering family values. Rather than setting out to rescue woodland creatures from industry, Sonic has heart-to-heart chats with Tom about growing up and finding his calling. Knux isn't the guardian of Angel Island, but Sonic's adopted brother. Maddie can ground him for inappropriate behavior.

The first film also features the popular old-school conservative theme of Rural America vs. Urban America. Tom is a small-town cop who yearns for the glamour of the big city. He thinks his calling is there. But, over the course of the film, he learns to appreciate the value of small-town living and his importance to his community, and sets aside his foolish dreams of urbanity.

"I wanted to run away to the city but then learned that my Real 'Murica small hometown is where I truly belong" is probably the single most popular conservative story in decades of film and television.

It's worth noting that the film does feature an interracial marriage, which is something I hear brought up a lot as a way of saying "Actually it's not conservative because...."

But for as much credit as Maddie might warrant... There is the issue of Rachel. A character who exists primarily in the film to be a Sassy Black Woman who reacts with furious histrionics towards Tom for no apparent reason. She just. Hates him. From the bottom of her soul, despises "Relatable Cop Boy".

Like. So far as the film's concerned, it needs no explanation. Her relationship with Tom is just an eyeroll, sly glance at the camera, and "In-laws, amirite?" The second film at least gives her more to do, but the first concludes her subplot by having them tie her up and steal her car.

Like. That's it. That is what she amounts to. Maddie's sister yells sassily until she passes out and then the payoff is that they steal her car and leave her tied to a chair as... I guess her karmic retribution for being so sassy and mean to Tom? It's hard to really say whether this is mean-spirited because we do not know what her beef is. The film doesn't think we need to know. "In-laws are crazy, amirite!?"

When you set aside the cool action scenes of Sonic punching robots and look at what the films center as their emotional heart? You get a story about a small-town cop learning to appreciate his rural roots and build a family with his wife despite her unreasonably psychotic relatives, while the wicked federal government attempts to destroy their home, town, family, and way of life.

[agentnico]

Rivals - season 1 (2024) review

Blimey Disney - you dirty!!

Plot: Into the cut-throat world of Corinium television comes Declan O'Hara, a mega-star of great glamour and integrity with a radiant feckless wife, a son and two teenage daughters. Living rather too closely across the valley is Rupert Campbell-Black, divorced and as dissolute as ever, and now the Tory Minister for Sport. Declan needs only a few days at Corinium to realise that the Managing Director, Lord Baddingham, is a crook who has recruited him merely to help retain the franchise for Corinium. Baddingham has also enticed Cameron Cook, a gorgeous but domineering executive, to produce Declan's programme. Declan and Cameron detest each other, provoking a storm of controversy into which Rupert plunges with his usual abandon. As a rival group emerges to pitch for the franchise, reputations ripen and decline, true love blossoms and burns, marriages are made and shattered, and sex raises its (delicious) head at almost every throw as, in bed and boardroom, the race is on to capture the Cotswold Crown.

One can recall the time when Disney first announced its streaming service, and how many scratched their heads thinking the platform will be mostly family/children orientated content, as well as Marvel and Star Wars. Since then though the House of Mouse seemingly has grown some cojones, for now they are unashamed to release stronger more provocative mature content. In cometh Rivals, an adaptation of the 1988 Jilly Cooper novel known for its filth and sexual content. And the TV series goes full Game of Thrones in that respect, as it not all all shies away from all the sex, and in fact I even found myself wishing there wasn’t as much sex happening on screen, and to leave a little to our imaginations instead. Then again from what I heard Cooper’s novel was overly erotic in itself, as such can’t blame the series for being faithful. Seriously though, seconds into the first episode we're confronted with a man's bare buttocks furiously humping away in an airplane toilet, as his partner at the mile-high club grinds her red stilettoed heel into the bathroom wall. Yep, this may just be the most expensive porn I’ve ever seen.

Rivals is campy, colourful, glamorous and silly fun about terrible people and inappropriate jokes. Essentially every character is a diabolical self-centred human being, very much emphasising the stereotype of television stardom celebrity. Yet also every single horrible individual is dripping with endless charisma and charm that you can’t help but enjoy seeing them trying to outdo one another. This is a very glitzy period drama set in the backdrop of the 80s, and speaking of the era, the soundtrack of this show is a superb mixtape of the greatest 80s hits. Every other scene another banger is dropped, which was bit another cherry on top of what already was a very delicious cake.

Disney have also forked out for a stellar cast here. David Tennant (ex-Doctor Who) plays the mean and slimy Lord Tony Baddingham, with the “Bad” in his name not without purpose, as he’s a cold-hearted control freak that wants to own the regional TV network, and destroys anyone that come in his path. Especially with his past in Doctor Who, as well as his fun shenanigans with Michael Sheen, I’m used to Tennant being the loveable personality that he is, but he is truly despicable in Rivals. Then again he played a heck of an antagonist in Jessica Jones, so I shouldn’t be so shocked. Aidan Turner plays possible the only human being in this show with a soul and moral compass as television presenter Declan O’Hara, who’s a riff on Jeremy Kyle, only that he’s not 100% a dick. Turner, who most would know as the good-looking dwarf from The Hobbit movies, is a delight here, and the only one you can actually properly root for. He’s a good guy in a pent house full of wolves. Alex Hassell has possible the most challenging job of balancing the “handsomest man in England” role of Rupert Campbell-Black, as he is both a hero and an antihero. He���s extremely watchable, playing a part-villain, part-Adonis, part-whimpering child, and he plays the role with credibility. Then there is Danny Dyer, who one wouldn’t think would be able to perform on the level of his other cast members, but he was truly delightful here. He plays a self-made millionaire who refuses to adhere to the social rules, or dress codes of the upper class, and is made fun of for it. But it his his romantic side-plot that showcases Jilly Cooper’s more sensitive and sentimental side. Finally we have Bella Maclean as 20-year old daughter of Declan, who acts in some capacity as the viewer’s innocent perspective into the madness of the rich, from the raunchy parties to the endless innuendos. Yet she also has a controversial will-they-won’t-they fling with RCB, and even though the age gap is a tad concerning, the two have such off the charts chemistry that I couldn’t help but ship that boat big time.

Rivals is at its best when it does not take itself too seriously. There are darker moments in this also, from references to the AIDS crisis, to Margaret Thatcher’s political strategy, and more notably sex without consent. I totally get why the latter was included, as it was a reflection on terrible people, especially rich and powerful ones, getting away with terrible things due to their stature. Again though, the show is at its most entertaining when it lets loose and throws these characters in fun stand-offs, and I was truly invested from the first episode till last. It’s rare for me these days to be excited for another season, but goodness do I want, nay NEED season 2 of Rivals ASAP! Please Disney, do one thing right for once and renew this show!

Overall score: 8/10

[bedlamsbard]

@captainhelion:

So I think that there's a story to be found, though it's not one I'm interested in writing because I don't really deeply care about any of the characters around in the '80s -- and like, we know who most of those characters are, because What If actually tackled "what if the Avengers had to form in the '80s" in one of their rare good episodes. so let's lay out who's around in the '80s that we know about -- let's just say 1985, middle of the decade, before the real drama starts happening.

Howard Stark (director of SHIELD science, CEO of Stark Industries)

Peggy Carter (director of SHIELD)

Hank Pym (Ant-Man, SHIELD)

Janet van Dyne (Wasp, SHIELD)

Bill Foster (Goliath, SHIELD)

T'Chaka (Black Panther, Wakanda)

Bucky Barnes (Winter Soldier, USSR)

Alexei Shostakov (Red Guardian, USSR)

Melina Vostakoff (Black Widow, USSR)

General Dreykov (director of the Red Room, USSR)

Thaddeus Ross (probably a colonel at this point, U.S. Army)

Obadiah Stane (Stark Industries)

Xu Wenwu (Ten Rings)

also the entire Asgardian cast, and the rest of the Red Room, and some of our mainline present day MCU characters as younger characters --Tony, Rhodey, and Bruce would all be in their mid-late teens, most of the others are born, but very young. (Natasha would be one in 1985.)

In terms of emotional impact, the biggest difference between an 80s discovery and the 2010s discovery is that most of Steve's people are still around in the 1980s -- it's entirely possible that all the rest of the Howling Commandos are still alive by then, for example; we know that Howard and Peggy are alive. I actually think that having Steve show up in the '80s would make Tony's relationship with Howard way, way worse, since Howard's actually there to have the feelings about.

what I think plot-wise, barring some kind of major alien threat like What If produced in their shockingly-actually-good episode, it does actually have to go to some kind of Cold War conflict between SHIELD and either the Red Room or Hydra. I will bang my drum again about actual MCU canon being pretty clear that the Red Room is not connected to the Winter Soldier program at all, so those are two separate entities. you probably get something relatively close to CATWS, just played out early and with a different emotional resonance -- you kind of have to chase down the SHIELD/Hydra connections here, with Peggy and Howard both still around.

so like, there's a story there! not one I'm interested in, but one could certainly do something with it. (I'm sure actual Marvel comics canon at some point has pulled Steve out of the ice in the '80s and had some elaborate political metaphor, though in the '80s that would have been twenty years before the Winter Soldier was created.)

[homesickfornowhere]

Books that I’ve read recently and would recommend. 🖤 Part 2

A Dowry of Blood by S. T. Gibson. A reimagining of Dracula’s brides, written in letters to Dracula from his first wife, Constanta. I love anything vampire-related and can’t even describe how much I loved this book.

A God in the Shed by J. -F. Dubeau. A fantastic horror novel set in a messed up little town. A murder investigation, a serial killer, a god trapped in a shed (literally), the occult, ancient evils, blood and gore, and lots of twists and turns.

The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang. A historical/grimdark fantasy novel heavily inspired by the Second Sino-Japanese war. Very violent and graphic, but an amazing read.

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix. A fun 80s demon possession story set during the satanic panic. A teen girl drops acid, gets lost in the woods, and accidentally gets possessed by a demon — and it’s up to her friend to save her. Gorey and campy.

Maggie’s Grave by David Sodergren. A pregnant woman, falsely accused of being a witch and brutally murdered, takes revenge on a Scottish town centuries later. Fun, fast-paced folk horror meets splatterpunk with an endless amount of gore.

The Island by Adrian McKinty. A tense, fast-paced thriller set in in an island off of the coast of Australia. This book genuinely stressed me out and made me want to bite my nails, but I couldn’t put it down. A bit of Wolf Creek vibes.

Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury. A ghost story and psychological horror with dual timelines. Family drama, a haunted house, toxic parents, etc.

Never Lie by Freida McFadden. A psychological thriller with a great twist. When their realtor doesn’t show up, newlyweds take shelter from a blizzard in a manor that belongs to a missing psychiatrist.

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim. This book and the world within it makes my heart flutter. A dreamy, whimsical fairy tale blended with East Asian folklore.

The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf. An atmospheric mystery/thriller. A writer travels to an isolated farmhouse where two unsolved murders and the disappearance of a girl took place decades earlier, and plans to finish her book while snowed in. Things go down hill after she finds a young child outside and decides to bring him in from the cold.

Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati. A retelling of Greek mythology, and such a beautiful and heartbreaking book.

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon. A a high fantasy novel and standalone prequel to The Priory of the Orange Tree. Amazing world building, amazing writing, amazing characters, and dragons.

Ring by Koji Suzuki. I’ve always loved the films, both Ringu and The Ring, but I’ve never read the book until now and I highly recommend it if you haven’t either.

[the5n00k]

M*A*S*H and the power of pure unadulterated sorrow

(this series is marketed primarily as a comedy! :D what a scam! /hj)

⚠️long post⚠️

I want to point out one of my favorite aspects of this series which is how different it presents its drama compared to other shows marketed as dramas that I've seen. ESPECIALLY modern film

The last movie I can remember portraying this sheer level of raw grief and despair was Hereditary. Such a powerful film about how grief can tear a family apart, it's honestly uncomfortable to sit through because of how well written and acted some of the scenes with the family are. And that's the point; tragedy isn't pretty. So many times you will see characters die on screen and the actors around them reacting to it with a single tear or burying their face into their stone cold main protagonist's shoulder. I have been craving that Hereditary level of despair from something for a long time now. That raw emotional breakdown that completely shatters the mask of a usually well put together facade.

Then my friends recommended M*A*S*H to me.

Yes you can make all the "crying breakfast friends" jokes you want about how often I latch onto a heart wrenching emotional moment in a show but I can't help it when it's so well executed. I can see a million silly Disney sidekicks die and feel nothing but this show has made me cry even on rewatch. And that is RARE for me, usually it's a one and done thing but this show still manages to tear me to pieces.

Not saying the show doesn't have any fun in it, of course it does, that's how the emotional moments hit harder. If you never saw the characters at their highest highs, seeing them at their lowest would just become numbing and unengaging.

Spoilers ahead obviously, I'm going to be talking about a lot of really important character moments throughout the show please if you are at all interested watch the show and come back. It's 11 seasons but it's well worth your time

Something that has always been powerful to me has been grown men crying. Perhaps it's because I never really had a good emotional connection with any men in my life and always saw them as stronger (emotionally) than someone who is erratically emotional like myself. Especially during the timeframe this is set (the 50's) and shot in (70's-80's) I was not anticipating the level of raw acting talent from the guys in this show. Especially once you get past season 4 and shit really starts hitting the fan

To see these grown men who take so much pride in their important positions as doctors and men and who they are just break down weeping like a scared child. It never ceased to break something in me. I cried the hardest at the amnesiac soldier who lost his brother (FANTASTIC scene it should have won 60 awards) but the two characters that have always stood out to me with this particular subject have been Hawkeye and BJ

Clearly if you've watched the entire show you understand what I'm talking about and obviously the other cast members have their moments (Winchester my beloved one day I will put you under a microscope and pick you apart) but for this subject, I'm going to use the two of them as examples because I consider these moments the most prominent to me personally

I'll start with BJ because there's a lot to unpack with him and simultaneously not a lot at the same time. Because he's so closed off and disconnected from most things happening all the time, choosing to opt out of anything whenever he can unless provoked, characters don't really know that much about him. As an audience, you're forced to pick apart his little mannerisms and priorities to see where his head's at. Some people might not like that but frankly I love it. He's a simple character on the surface but underneath, he's a terrified father and husband trying to keep his head down long enough to snap out of the nightmare that is war and wake up at home. I relate to him in that way, just trying to stay in my own corner and occupy myself until I have to wake up and do it all over again. Coping with the monotony is slowly driving him crazy

Then in Period of Adjustment, he gets a letter from his wife about how she and their daughter Erin saw Radar at the airport when he got sent home. And his thin thread of stability finally snaps. He's pissy for the entire day and doesn't want to tell anyone why, he'd rather just go through the motions and repress it just like everything else. But it keeps outwardly affecting everything around him whether he likes it or not. Then, at his lowest, he physically assaults his best friend in their own tent and destroys their only lifeline, the still they use to (poorly) make gin, and runs out.

After getting so intoxicated he can't stand up, Hawkeye finally finds him again and laughs that he's wearing a helmet to see him, still trying to make light of how much he's suffering. He tells him he's sorry for punching him and Hawkeye sits down with him. He finally is completely and truly honest for probably the only time in the entire series. He is completely vulnerable and open and tells him what's been bothering him. His infant daughter mistakenly called Radar her dad. The first person she ever called dad wasn't him. And he breaks down. He barely got to see her when she was born before he got drafted, he missed so many milestones of parenthood with her already and she ends up calling someone else dad. BJ tells Hawkeye he is furious at Radar and knows it's not his fault but he's still jealous. He even mentions how he's envious of Trapper, Hawkeye's old bunkmate from before he got there, which is still a huge sore point for him because of how abrupt his departure was. But he doesn't reprimand him for speaking badly about two people he'd considered close friends. He holds him closer and lets him cry. This isn't a single tear cry, this is a full vulnerability twisted face cry of pure pain. He can't say anything to ease the pain either, nothing he could say right now could help his friend. He just has to let him work through it.

They rebuilt the still together but BJ still remains broken. This is sort of touched on in Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen when he tries to get sent home before Erin's second birthday and misses it. It's not held on but you can obviously tell that he's still barely holding onto mental stability whenever he brings up his family. If you go into this series thinking every conflict has a resolution or closure of some kind I have bad news for you lol it's safe to assume when he went home, there was a rough adjustment period reclaiming his place in the house since Peg took on so much responsibility by herself but we don't really know what happened after everyone went home.

My next example is from Bless You, Hawkeye and I always rag on this episode with my friends but the scene between him and Sidney physically shook me. Everybody probably talks about That One Scene with Hawkeye and Sidney from GFA so I'll refrain from using it as an example here, I think this one is more appropriate for the point I'm trying to make anyways.

Hawkeye has never been mature. At all. His entire character is built on being obnoxious and causing trouble. Unlike BJ, he will share nearly anything about him when asked. Except when it's serious.

In comes everyone's favorite coping mechanism, ✨ unconscious repression! ✨

Again, a part of his character that got used again in GFA, whenever something upsets him in a way he can't manage, he buries it. He rewrites the memory into something happy or positive. So when a wounded soldier soaked in dirty water smelling of mold and musty clothing triggered a psychosomatic response, nobody knew why.

Processing scenes like this is something I remember so vividly from my first watch. Seeing all the pieces fall into place until that sinking feeling fills you is something this show is so good at.

Hawkeye starts talking to Sidney about something from his childhood; being out on a lake with his cousin Billy when he was seven. He claims Billy saved his life by pulling him out of the water but the more he talks, the more his story changes. It gets to a point where even he realizes he wasn't saved. He was pushed. Billy had to have been around 13 at the time, old enough to know how mean pulling something like that is. The way he admits it is when the gravity really sank in for me. His voice breaks, he starts loudly and violently sobbing like a scared child, he's probably been holding in this breakdown for 20ish years. In any other show, I could see them trying to play this for laughs. Oh Hawkeye, you shouldn't be so upset by a silly prank from when you were a kid! Look at this grown man break down! What a baby! But they don't treat it like that. It's treated completely seriously, it's allowed to play out and he slowly works through grief for someone he idolized in his childhood, anger, and acknowledgement. It was a permanent scar that wasn't allowed to heal.

This wasn't the first time in the series Hawkeye has cried but it was the first time he truly let it out. Every other time he knew he'd have to pick himself up, dust himself off, and keep going. I'm not certain if he properly processed anything he went through in Korea because he kept (pardon my language here) drowning himself in alcohol and burying himself in work and antics. So his eventual breakdown just. Getting it all out in one gutteral, primal cry, borderline screaming was cathartic for both him as a character and myself personally. Very rarely do I ever get a moment to have an emotional release like this so I also bury myself further into my job and hobbies until I can't feel what's bothering me anymore. His man's father better have booked him therapy when he got home because I know for damn sure this jackass won't do it himself

Overall, I'll say it again, the actors in this show are insane. None of the emotions felt cheap and the way the characters are written feels accurate to how most people approached the horrors of war and the mental health crises that followed. I'm so happy this show exists. I'm a little disappointed in myself that it's taken me this long to give it a chance but I love it nonetheless. I'll make a post about the characters specifically sometime like I said I would, I just want to make sure I do everyone justice and I'm not just repeating what everyone already knows. I want to add to this wonderful community that I'm happy to see is still active on this app/site and I hope you all enjoy my ramblings lmao there is more where this came from

[silverslipstream]

writeblr intro!

Well, hello there! Welcome to my page! Thought I'd finally get around to writing and pinning an intro, seeing as my writeblr recommendations post has gone STRATOSPHERIC and I've followed so many new accounts!

I'm Jeb (he/him), 20 years old, and an aspiring writer, poet and disaster dork from New Zealand (who currently lives in the UK - England, to be more precise). I'm a huge lover of writing and reading science fiction works, particularly hard sci-fi - Arthur C. Clarke's Space Odyssey series and his novel The Songs of Distant Earth were the works that inspired a young me to start taking writing seriously. I also write fanfiction, romance, horror, a smidgen of fantasy, spy fiction... whatever takes my fancy, basically! I also love writing and reading poetry, and hope to have some of my poems published professionally by the end of 2023!

Outside of writing, I'm a huge motorsport lover. Formula One is my main passion, and in fact I originally joined tumblr to post about my then-WIP, The Edge Of Control. TEOC may be in cryogenic storage, but my love of speed and high-octane racing remains: I regularly watch F1, IndyCar and the World Endurance Championship. I also love spaceflight, astronomy, Shakespeare, teen movies from the 80s/90s (ESPECIALLY John Hughes' work), many cheesy romcoms and lasagna. (What? It's literally the perfect food!)

Right, now with all that out of the way, let's get onto the real good stuff... (sorry in advance for the lack of taglists, I haven't remembered how they work!)

links to my work:

jebberjabber on AO3 (my main account, for fanfiction) degnercurve130R on AO3 (for F1/racing works) KesslerCascade on Wattpad (for original works)

works-in-progress

You Can't Take It Back Now!

type: fanfiction (fandom: Bittersweet Candy Bowl, Webcomic) genre: romance (of the sapphic, friends-to-lovers variety) summary: Sue and Amaya have been best friends ever since they met in second grade. They're proudly inseparable, but when a secretive confession from Amaya turns into a sudden kiss from the assuredly-straight Sue, everything changes. Can they navigate their friendship while dealing with their rampant emotions? Is it just drama, or did Sue have more investment into their kiss than she let on? status: six chapters currently complete, with two published on AO3! Bi-weekly updates planned. link: You Can't Take It Back Now! on AO3

White Sky

type: original work genre: hard science fiction/mystery/thriller summary: It's 2094, and the Earth-Luna Treaty Organisation (ELTO) is planning the upcoming 125th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Meanwhile, Katarina 'Kat' Lloyd, a reclusive scientist, is framed for a crime she didn't commit and forced into outer space. Seeking refuge aboard the cislunar debris hauler Dowager Caroline, Kat and the Caroline's motley crew discover that her framing was simply a cog in a much bigger plot - one with dire consequences for mankind... status: currently in the planning stage, rough draft established and plot outline written

works published on Tumblr:

An Acquired Taste - In a post-cyberpunk/solarpunk imagining of 22nd-century New Seoul, a corporate engineer makes a chance meeting with a street vendor and makes an important discovery.

Executive Decisions - In an alternate history where the Cold War went hot, a US Air Force nuclear-bomber crew face a moral dilemma as they near their Soviet target. Operation Trident - A soldier experiences a combat drop on the Belgian coast, as part of an ongoing human offensive against an alien occupation force. Ignition Sequence - An experiment with a second-person perspective where the watcher observes a Space Shuttle launch in Florida.

[micamicster]

Micaaaaaa I am in need of a good TV show. IWTV left me craving for some good writing, please help 💙 I know some of your all-time favourites are Black Sails and The Wire, I gave them a try, but I'm afraid they're a bit too bleak for me :(( Any good recs?

Bestie this is a great question and im honestly a terrible person to direct it to because the truth is I really don't watch a ton of tv! But I'm gonna do my best!

Beneath the cut find a list of shows I think are particularly well written, divided into vague and confusing categories based on how similar to iwtv they might seem?

<3 <3 <3

(Totally get Black Sails and the Wire feeling too heavy. The wire in particular is imo the single most upsetting thing thats ever been put on television so I completely get not being up for it. But if anyone else is looking for shows I think are really well written those would be good places to start! Black Sails would be my first rec for iwtv fans tbh)

Dramas with syfy/fantasy elements:

Russian Doll: for literally anyone other than you (who's already watched it!) this would be my number one rec. One of the best (and specifically best written) shows of all time, has those spec fic surrealist elements, combines comedy and drama, just love it.

Andor: I know, I was surprised too. But despite being a star wars tv show it actually has writers that do a? good? job? And Diego Luna is spectacular. (If black sails was too grim this might also feel that way given our knowledge of the main character's fate, but it might be worth checking out anyway)

I forgot what i was going to put here

Not sf:

Reservation Dogs: Taika Watiti can be hit or miss for me, but this show is the best of his particular combination of humor and pathos. Also he's just really good at writing kids? (I would be remiss if I didn't point out that he has been (rightfully!) criticized for the antiblackness of couple of minor characters who appropriate black culture pretty egregiously, iirc they don't feature after season 1? But it is a flaw to be aware of). Why didn't I put this with the sitcoms? My mind is mysterious even to me

Bad Sisters: great 1 season irish show about a group of sisters trying to murder their sister's abusive husband. Again a really strong writing combo of humor and genuine emotion!

The Get Down: still not over this cancellation it hurt me in ways I can't even begin to explain... anyway a great show about the birth of rap in 70s nyc with beautifully thought out costumes, music, writing, visual style <3

The Americans: two russian spys undercover as an american suburban couple in the 80s is actually a vehicle for a probing exploration of marriage and intimacy. Also pretty grim (the cold war. yeah.) so idk if it would be for you.

The Knick: nobody ever watches this when I rec it because it's too gorey but I don't care! I love it! Period drama about a public hospital in early 1900s new york.

Sitcoms!: (sorry I know you've watched half of these just wanted to include them in case anyone else looked at this list!)

Derry Girls: this show is just hit after hit. Best written show about teens in the world!

We Are Lady Parts: See this entire blog. Genuinely one of the best shows ever made

American Vandal: Ok technically this is more of a mockumentary than a sitcom but i wasn't sure where else to put it. Season one in particular is some of the best tv show writing I've ever watched it is perfect in every way!

MASH: 70s sitcom about a US military field hospital during the Korean War. At its best it's hysterically funny, absurdist, and bitingly furiously anti-war. (At its worst it's racist, sexist, and boring. It was the 70s) This show was a cultural phenomenon, but it has literally over 200 episodes so I would recommend just googling for a best-of list and watching a handful to see if it works for you.

Atlanta: Donald Glover's surrealist sitcom about trying to manage his cousin's rap career in Atlanta. That's such a bad explanation of what this show is about i'm sorry but I'm not sure how to do better.

Shows I've watched between 1 episode and 1 season of, thought to myself "wow! this show is amazing!" but can't in good conscience recommend because I never really watched enough of them to qualify as an expert:

The Sopranos: everyone says it's the best tv show of all time and i watched season one, said wow they're right! and still haven't managed to get back to it! The pilot itself is so fucking funny like... mobster goes to therapy for his anxiety had to have been the pitch of all time

Station eleven: LOVED the book, heard really good things about the tv show, thought the pilot was amazing, got busy and couldn't finish it.

Babylon Berlin: this has the darkly romantic, opulent qualities of iwtv so it might be for you! Unfortunately I've seen less than half of it so I can't promise it doesn't go off the rails.

Breaking Bad: people are right! it's good! It's also (at least in season one, the only season I've watched so far) like someone made a slapstick comedy about a man cooking meth. In a good way!

You might want to just watch a couple gothic romances to scratch that iwtv itch! Check out an adaptation of Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights!

WOW this is too hard. Just watch supernatural i guess

[rolandrockover]

Out on the Streets for the Glory

All For the Glory is one of those songs on Sonic Boom (2009) that is a little more cleverly linked to previous, mostly clearly older Kiss klassiks. To this end, I'd just boldly suggest that All for the Glory has a fundamental core in common with Black Diamond from Kiss' Debut album (1974) .

I think most readers here should be familiar with the ending of Black Diamond on the debut album. You know, the one that sounds like the tonal equivalent of a melting chocolate-caramel bar that slowly and ever-so-slowly drips out of a even slower-moving, overweight person's back pocket, who ends up sitting on it, like in slow motion, and until ultimately not much more than a flat, unidentifiable mass remains.

I have to tell you I'm not at all concerned with this passage (1) , but a whole lot more with this suffering, endlessly drawn-out guitar solo drama that wraps itself around the slowed-down main riff, right before this chocolate-caramel meltdown.

And this is precisely where All for the Glory picks up, and most of all, builds on on its own. With a feel of that Black Diamond solo drama and the attitude of a sports motivation trainer. Which seriously tempts me to come up with another camparison, this time one from the world of sports movies:

If Black Diamond is Rocky, then All For the Glory is Rocky III, oder maybe even Rocky IV.

And if you briefly consider that the original Rocky movie was a sensitive love story and underdog sports and social drama with one of the most culturally memorable soundtracks of the 70s, and Rocky IV on the other hand an over-stylized 80s video clip montage with a good shot of revenge movie fighting action with wealthy bodybuilders, and a Cold War focus on top of that, these two films could hardly be more different in all their devices and messages. They both work quite well independently of each other, but still remain linked to the central subject of an somehow likeable soul who, armed with more heart than brains, simply refuses to give up, and keeps fighting.

Except for the one time when Rocky gets knocked out by Clubber Lang, to which the chocolate melting sequence from Black Diamond would fit perfectly on the other hand.

But wait a minute, that happened in Rocky III.

Side Note:

(1) I just love the comparison and felt the need to smuggle it in somehow.

All For the Glory (2009)

Black Diamond (1974)

[the-crimson]

Ok ive read many takes on both sides and gathered my thoughts on the whole Dream vs Quackity war in reguards to his tweet.

Dream should not have made this tweet. The entire way he presented the tweet was intentionally written to stir up drama and anger within his fans. Adding a “don’t harass anyone uwu” at the end does nothing to placate the anger he deliberately stirred within his fans. He created this tweet to elicit a negative response from the fan base to force Quackity to respond. It’s immature and irresponsible considering how massive both of their fan bases are.

80% of his tweet was personal information that has zero purpose being in this tweet other than to stir emotion and rage. He cold have literally just said:

 “I’ve been trying to talk to Quackity about our SMPs so that they can coexist and be unique from each other but he hasn’t responded. I don’t want there to be any conflict between our two servers or fan bases and the sooner we work this out the better.”

And even then, he would still be using social pressure to get Quackity to respond - which is not how the situation should be handled - but it gets the exact same message across without all the emotional manipulation.

Quackity’s silence in regards to the USMP and the lack of leadership he’s shown with the QSMP is also making the situation worse. This drama has been building for literal weeks and Quackity has not addressed it or taken steps to prevent it.

First, his refusal to acknowledge the USMP at all caused his fans to lash out at Dream for being a copycat (i don’t have an opinion whether or not this is true, i don’t have enough information, but their reaction was completely inappropriate regardless) which caused a huge schism in the fandom over literally something that could have been prevented with a single tweet or retweet.

Then, Quackity does the bare minimum of removing a racist mod but doesn’t hold any of the cc’s accountable for how they interacted with the mod and doesn’t address the fact that the mod caused harm within his community. Many fans rally behind this silence and deny that the mod was racist at all which alienated even more people in the fandom. Quackity needed to address these fans and the growing toxicity within his fan base as the leader of this fandom he created but he didn’t

And now we are brought to the current storm. Dream fans and some neutral parties are whipped up by his intentionally pathos heavy tweet and pitted against fans who have blind loyalty to Quackity. Unstoppable force vs immovable object. And all the neutral parties in the middle being drowned in the drama.

This is an entirely avoidable situation and both Quackity and Dream played a part in making it worse. Both fandoms need to seriously go outside and touch some grass. Dram stans and Quackity stans are equally toxic and terrible and yall need a serious reality check.

You don’t know Quackity or Dream. They are not your friends. You are literal pawns in their personal conflict. Wake up.

[canichangemyblogname]

They made some interesting choices with this second-to-last episode of TLT. ⚠️ Spoilers for the Episode and discussion of the books.

I did not find Hades very-- I dunno how to put it-- convincing? His characterization was... bland. Compared to his introduction in the book, Hades wasn't bitter, he didn't seem aggrieved, and he was not angry or vengeful or harsh despite believing Percy had stolen from him. This is supposedly a god who is widely feared and despised, yet he offered Percy and Grover snacks. It's like he had no bark or bite.

This is the same man who will look his son in the eye and so cruelly and coldly say that he wished that very same son had died instead of his daughter. He will later imprison Percy for fucking shiggles because he doesn't like the fact the kid exists.

He also just took Percy's word on Kronos??? And used Percy's words to go back on his own word. Essentially like, "Actually, yeah, give me the bolt, so I have all the power to defeat Kronos single-handedly. If Kronos is alive, that is. 😉"

This is a god who was also characterized as hardworking, intelligent, and-- I dunno-- just, I suppose, in the way death is; cold-hearted but even-handed. This god never broke his oath. This god does not like those who cheat justice or death. He was often characterized as "infuriated" by "unfairness," like those who escape punishment for their crimes. But it seemed like he was toying with Percy before withdrawing from his promise. While he was described as a crafty and sharp-witted god, he was never portrayed as dishonest.

This is a god full of great grief and loneliness and capable of great cruelty, but this narrative did not convince me that he was imposing. Up until this moment, he is believed to be the big bad and he just... offers them juice boxes? This really was like the Wizard of Oz. Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. This supposedly cunning and imposing big-bad god who wanted to start a war was... just some dude. And he offered them snacks. "Hey, Fellas." Are you my 80 y/o granddad???

LIKE. He's a god who's KNOWN to hold grudges. His children's fatal flaw is often grudges. And he says, "Family drama is why I don't [visit family] anymore. These grudges go on forever. Super unhealthy." HUH??? "I don't do jealous." WHO? You tried to kill Zeus' daughter because you had a grudge. My guy...

IDK man. Where's the Hades with "eyes like tar" that shone with the suggestion of either a genius or a madman? Where's the purple fire and robes made of screaming souls? That man was GREASY and haggard and gloomy. But the man they gave us looked like he'd just clocked in as CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

I also don't like that this episode got rid of Annabeth-- like-- 1/4 of the way into the episode. Just... POOF. Back to the sea. C'mon. Why'd we have to write her out?

IDK how I feel about Crusty's.

Charon was cool, tho.

[darkcrowprincess]

i saw this rec from the threads app on my insta and i just had to share 😭😭

i think it's fairly accurate considering everything HRJFKDKD

other than fighting rick on a daily basis i also dabble in shipping certain things out of spite which i love that you do as well HHAHA they can pry my ships and hcs from my cold, dead hands-

im curious! what's your go-to trope/au when it comes to your fave ships? im personally a sucker for soulmate aus or anything with angst FJGKDK

I'm going to separate my favorite tropes/aus into normal and problematic/unhingedv

Normal tropes : fake dating, soulmates, forbidden lovers, best friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, friends to enemies to lovers, 7 minutes in heaven, fake out makeouts, kissing to distract the other person and being into it, sword training, secret identities shenanigans, bad boy/punk and nerd/sunshine, friends with benefits that gets real real quick,hand holding(its more sexy that kissing at times), showering a person with kisses, taking your time kissing everywhere but the lips to build anticipation, girly girl characters, nerdy bookworm girl characters(not Bella Swan, hate her) weird girl characters. Rich person x broke person, meeting at a bookstore(hate coffeshop tropes). Couples who have the same humor. Using humor to cope. Found family(but no one calls each other siblings. Hate that new trend) squads, squad are idiots, hot boys, love letters, diary stories, texting fics(to a point, hate it when it gets dumb). Saving person from drowning/fire/falling to there death/just saving someone in general. Protectiveness. Battles couple, power couple.

Normal aus: Period drama aus, Fantasy aus, sci fi aus, pirate aus, fairy tale aus, cowboy aus, ancient times aus(Egypt, Greek, roman, China, Korea, Middle ages), mythology au, reincarnation aus, time travel au, time loop aus, fix it fics, 80s 90s au. Hate anything high school or modern times(unless it's teen wolf, or dear Evan Hansen), road trip aus, running away aus, royalty aus, multiverse aus

Ok now for my unhinged/problematic faves. Stop reading if this makes you uncomfortable

Problematic tropes: Kidnapping, Monster fucking, age difference, student teacher/mentor and mentie romance, sugar daddy and sugar baby, ice play, knife play, some pain play, bdsm but not too much hate name calling, choking kink, prasie kink, possessiveness to the point of craziness, finding someone killing for you hot, abo, bandage, rape fantasy, dubious consent, extremely dubious consent, captor and captive, stolchm syndrome, secret relationships, dark romance to a point, villians getting the girl/guy, hot villians, evil female villians, evil queen, evil female characters, evil female characters winning, bad guys kidnapping kids and being good parents(but they were still kidnapped) evil found family, villian x female character, villian x hero, villans winning, killing abusers,killing horrible guys, gray mentality

Unhinged aus: beauty and the beasts au emphasize on the beast and kidnapping and captor and captive au, the lives and drama of the rich, dirty secrets(pretty little liars level, vc andrews level), arranged marriage, monsters, falling in love with monsters,evil queens conquering and being happy and in love,royals conquering, daddy issues, abusive parents, abo au, war bride/husband, men(mainly straight) being evil and getting what the deserve, werewolves, mates, gothic romance aus, gothic horror au, teacher and student/mentor and mentie. Gotham like or purge like world aus. Zombie world aus where there's just no laws. Supernatural type au with emphasis of the monster and dark. Romeo and Juliet aus. Jail aus.

[scotianostra]

On July 25th 1980 Alan Wells won the Olympic gold for the 100 metres.

For most Scots the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow remain memorable for two principal reasons.

Their first recollection, of the political wrangling and boycott of the Games, will be shared by many worldwide.

The second, more powerful, memory is Allan Wells becoming Olympic 100m champion.

On 19th July 1980 the world watched as Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev opened the XXII Olympiad.

Three months earlier all the international focus had been on his Cold War rival, the American President Jimmy Carter. In 1980, the United States led a boycott of the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow to protest the late 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In total, 65 nations refused to participate in the games, whereas 80 countries sent athletes to compete.

The US was joined in the boycott by more than 50 countries including West Germany, Canada, China and Japan.

The British Government backed the boycott.

However the British Olympic Association did not, and on 25 March 1980 the BOA voted to send the British team to Moscow.

The vote was decisive, with only hockey opposing the decision to go. The British team, minus the hockey squad and some individuals who did not wish to participate for their own reasons, decided to travel.

While world leaders played politics with the Games, the athletes continued to prepare themselves.

For many it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take part on the biggest stage their sport offered.

At 28, Wells was considered old for a sprinter, but he travelled to Moscow with medals in mind.

Preparing for the Olympics as a sprinter was not what Wells originally had in mind when his athletics career began.

It was the triple jump at which Wells first excelled, becoming 1970 Scottish junior champion before moving on to the long jump.

The decision to concentrate on sprinting only came in 1976 and yielded sparkling results.

A time of 10.55 seconds was clocked for the 100m and Wells took almost a second off his previous best 200m time, to record a 21.42.

At the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, the gold medal in the 200m event belonged to Wells and he lost out by only 0.04 of a second to the great Don Quarrie in the 100m.

Progress continued to be made. Wells was the British record holder at both 100m and 200m when he travelled to Moscow, having completed his training in his home town of Edinburgh, then Australia and Cote D'Azur.

Wells was a medal prospect going into the start of the 100m event in Moscow. By the end of the second round, after a blistering 10.11, that had changed; he was now a gold medal contender.

Detractors claim the 1980 Olympic Games were tarnished due to the non-participation of strong countries such as the USA and West Germany.

However, the Moscow games saw the setting of 73 Olympic records, 36 world records and 39 European records.

In the case of Wells, the 100m field for the final contained many first-class sprinters - Silvio Leonard of Cuba, Marian Woronin of Poland, home favourite Aleksandr Aksinin and Bulgarian Petar Petrov.

With his wife Margot watching the final from the stands, providing strong vocal support that was relayed to a watching nation by the BBC, Wells took to the starting blocks. He had previously performed in competition without blocks but was compelled to do so due to an Olympic rule change. Back home, hopes were high that Wells would be the man to strike gold and emulate Harold Abrahams who had won in Paris 1924.

Wells had been drawn in lane eight with Silvio Leonard far to his left in lane one. It was from the two outside lanes that the drama would come with the bronze medallist emerging from those sandwiched between.

Just 10.25 seconds after the starter's gun had fired, the race was over. Momentum carried Wells, Leonard and the whole field past the finish line but the result was unknown.

The Cuban and the Scot had fought neck and neck the whole way down the track and a photo-finish was required.

After a wait in which the identity of the gold medallist was the subject of intense debate, Wells was declared the winner. Scottish celebrations began.

For Wells the Games were not yet over. Having beaten the world record holder at 200m, Italian Pietro Mennea, in the 1979 World Cup in Turin, Wells knew that there was the opportunity for a second gold medal. In the final a British record run of 20.21 was superb but Wells could not hold onto the race lead; Mennea's time of 20.19 was enough to push Wells into second place and bring Italy gold.

While the sprint double had eluded Wells, he departed from Moscow as the Olympic champion of the blue riband event, and he was in no doubt to whom his victory was dedicated.

When asked by an English journalist if he wanted to dedicate his win to Abrahams, who had died 18 months previously, Wells replied in typically frank fashion: "No disrespect to anyone else, but I would prefer to dedicate this to Eric Liddell."

Because Wells won the gold with so many athletes missing due to the boycotts, many detractors thought it was a tainted victory. Had the Americans, particularly Stanley Floyd and Mel Lattany, been present at Moscow, then surely they would have won, so the argument went.

Fired up by such talk, Wells decided to race in Germany just two weeks after his gold medal win. Still plagued by back trouble and exhausted after a tiring season, it was a huge gamble to take. Had he lost, the critics would forever have held the ammunition to degrade his accomplishment. But Wells was determined to prove to everyone that he was the finest sprinter in the world. And so he did. Beating the field to win the final, Wells was approached by Lattany shortly after the race finished. The magnanimous American wanted to let the Scotsman know that, regardless of who was running, Wells would have won Olympic gold in Moscow.

[agentnico]

Tetris (2023) Review

Not going to lie, but using “The Final Countdown” as a song for your movie trailer immediately means the marketing team from Apple TV+ deserve a raise! That song slaps!!

Plot: Henk Rogers discovers Tetris in 1988, and then risks everything by travelling to the Soviet Union, where he joins forces with inventor Alexey Pajitnov to bring the game to the masses.

You hear a movie titled Tetris is coming out and one has to wonder if we have another Emoji Movie on our hands, where we’ll get little tetra shaped characters goofing about in some animated mathematics world trying to force an unfunny joke upon our poor heads. Then we get a random celebrity cameo like Orlando Bloom voicing an L-tetromino and making a joke that his character’s full name is Legolas. Actually, wouldn’t mind seeing that last part, just saying. Regardless, Tetris isn’t actually some ridiculous animated affair based on a pop culture phenomenon, but instead is the backstory for how the game was brought to the world masses. So no talking tetrominos, but instead we have ourselves a legal drama.

Look, before you all shut your eyes away upon the news of another legal drama, this movie is actually surprisingly engaging and the story of the battle for the licence of worldwide distribution of this little game is filled with twists and turns, as well as an element of spy espionage, due to the original game owners being Soviet Russia. That’s right, there’s an element of the Cold War in these proceedings, with Henk Rogers and others trying to persuade the Russians to sell them the rights, however as known the Russians don’t trust anyone. Speaking of the Russians, the communist backdrop is handled really well, with this idea that when in Moscow you’re always being watched, as well as digging into the corruption of the Soviet regime. Even Gorbachev shows up at one point, thought that element I imagine didn’t happen in real life and was more so added to up the ante of this film. 

Speaking of upping the ante, even though many scenes revolve around characters sitting in rooms discussing legal stuff, the movie also involves car chases. That’s right, the writers definitely added a bit of a fictitious element to this story to make it more exciting for the casual viewer. I enjoyed that. It made this movie stand out more from others of its genre, and of the said car chase as well as other sequences, there are visual moments where the screen turns into this very early shonky computer graphic pixelated look, which I found to be quite the clever little gimmick. This backed up with an 80s techno soundtrack as well as various renditions on the classic Tetris theme made for an overall exciting watch.

Taron Egerton as always is super likeable and charming as Henk Rogers, in some ways channelling a young Gary Oldman, although maybe its just the Jim Gordon stache. The character of Rogers himself is the typical underdog one loves to root for. He’s the reckless entrepreneur who bets his entire house and life on this one game that he believes has the power to become something massive. He’s described by one of the other characters as “stupid but honest”, as Egerton leans into that heavily. His friendship bond he builds with the Tetris game creator Alexey Pajitnov (played by Russian actor Nikita Efremov in a very endearing way) is also really delightful, and a scene where the two of them go to a Soviet nightclub is a highlight. Roger Allam and Igor Grabuzov relish their villainous roles, and Toby Jones pops in doing some kind of European accent, though hard to pinpoint exactly which one.

Overall I really enjoyed Tetris, and was surprised at how the creative team managed to make this story as engaging as it is. Also naturally there is an element of nostalgia, as like many back in the day as a kid I used to enjoy rinsing Tetris. I even had a little handheld console that was designed specifically for Tetris. It wasn’t the branded stuff like the GameBoy (though I had that too for Zelda and such); it was literally this little Tetris console my dad got me in Russia, and that was the beginning of my screen addiction, which later turned into my smartphone....dark times. Regardless, a solid watch and currently my favourite film so far this year, though that’s not a difficult feat seeing as thus far this year’s movie releases have been really average. I look forward to the inevitable Rock, Paper, Scissors movie!

Overall score: 7/10

[derryderrydown]

I clearly wasn't in the right headspace last time I watched Deutschland 86, because it did nothing for me. But I'm currently rewatching it (because I'm on a 70s/80s European Cold War drama bender) and it's hitting very differently.

By which I mean, please carry on inflicting injuries on Martin. He suffers so beautifully.