#incorrect motherland

[cantotallyeven]

I don't care if she commits atrocities, bro, she's justified by the narrative

[nicascurls]

Rachel: We can do this. Let's make a pact.

Nica: What, to kill ourselves?

Andy: *looks up* I'm in.

Rachel: No, let's make a pact to follow our dreams and fucking make it happen. We can be anything we want to be!

Kyle: And if that doesn't work, just do what I do and drastically lower your expectations.

[reallytinylaura]

Raelle: You've killed people! Scylla: It was a misunderstanding. Raelle: You killed people because of a misunderstanding or it's a misunderstanding that you killed people? Scylla: Scylla: Yes?

[regalshenanigans]

Tally: I think I have a crush on Alder.

Abigail: *gasps*

Abigail: Why am I gasping? I already knew that.

[jaxthepigeon]

The core four being chaotic 

~~~~~~~~~~~

Tally:If I run and leap at Raelle, she will most certainly catch me in her arms

Tally:Coming in!

Raelle:No I’m carrying tea!

Raelle:*drops tea to catch Tally*

~~~~~~~~~~~

Abigail:Is this plan B?

Scylla:Technically this is plan w

Abigail:Plan w? Is there a plan Q?

Scylla:Yeah, but I marry Raelle in plan Q

Raelle:I like plan Q

~~~~~~~~~~~

Abigail:I lost Raelle

Tally:How did you lose Rae?

Abigail:To be fair, she’s very small

~~~~~~~~~~~

*Raelle walking into the room*

Tally:Where have you been all day?

Raelle:Canada

Tally:I thought you were going to see a movie downtown?

Raelle:I was, until I fell asleep on the bus and woke up in Vancouver!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Raelle:Mint is just cold spicy

Abigail:Just stop talking

~~~~~~~~~~~

Tally:I’m smart, a skilled seer, and-

Abigail:Your hand is literally stuck in a vending machine

Tally:I paid for these gummy bears, I’m getting my gummy bears

~~~~~~~~~~~

Raelle:*very injured* I need a glass of boneless ice

Abigail:What?

Raelle:I want a glass of soft ice

Tally:What?

Scylla:She wants a glass of water

~~~~~~~~~~~

Raelle:I might fuck around and let nature reclaim me

Tally:Does that mean you’re going feral or just going to lay in some dirt?

Raelle:Yes

~~~~~~~~~~~

Abigail:Hey, Scylla. Can someone breath inside a washing machine?

Scylla:Where’s Raelle?

[chaliceni]

Bellatrix: I've got nothing to do

Narcissa: You've got nothing to do?

Narcissa: Now can you have nothing to do? How dare you have nothing to do?

Narcissa: I'd LOVE to have nothing to do

[thevampirearchive]

To the world, sincerely, a tired black artists and my fellow creatives

A lot of the weird demonization of Rema’s visuals really made me sad. I’m not surprised at the lack of cultural knowledge about Edo people and Benin City, Nigeria — virtually everywhere outside of the continent, African history, culture and traditions aren’t taught unless you are in special programs or majors. But to call something demonic and satanic because you don’t understand? The blatant xenophobia and racism has me so furious. I know we have a lot of unlearning to do, but I had imagined that the colonial ways of viewing black Africans was not alive and thriving amongst the diaspora. To see so many black Christian’s come together in the name of their white gods and forced religion to call something so sentimental, historically important and significant for Rema and many others demonic is like having a weird ‘dejavu’.

Everyday I think about how I see too many people complain about lack of representation of black people from all around the world in media; wether it be movies, tv, fiction, music genre and other industries predominantly white — and now, given visuals and such cool performance, we do as our oppressors once did. Word for word. It’s disgusting and I hope everybody who partook educated themselves and do better.

When will my people know peace when it comes to trying to share, showcase and be proud of what we’ve created? I never forgot how Fufu became a laughing stock, how so many still mock their parents pronunciations knowing that’s their third of even fourth language. And don’t let me start on Nollywood or the diasporic movie industries — why must you laugh when you don’t understand? Question things, yes, be curious and explore. But mocking?

To all my fellow Africans and black people of the diaspora— one day, we will be in a world where we’re known for more then our struggles. Where were not mocked for our ‘incorrect’ speech of languages violently forced upon us, that we adapted to fit who we are and our origins. One day we will have peace; no more silent genocides, or loud ones. No more having to hide our roots, traditions, practices, art/creations. Be ashamed of any aspects of our culture that does not warrant shame.

I ask that if you want representation, you seek it out because trust me it is out there. The continent has so many creations — sure some harder to find or consume due to language barriers but we all witnessed K-drama’s boom. You can watch French, Spanish and English films — so why are subtitles not good enough when it’s in Igbo? Xhosa? Wolof? Zulu? Bafang?

I ask that everybody, including myself, start to give africa it’s flowers. The more we pour into the good — art, creations, industries etc that inspire more to create and expand, the more we will see the uprise of what has always been within the continent but never given much thought by most of the world because it is African and the quality is regarded as ‘lesser’.

And I hope I get to witness more great artist come from all around the motherland, and be part amongst them when I eventually complete my African/Black centered work ✌🏾

[melziss]

thought I'd make a little ✨️about me✨️ post for ya'll.

so this is me (if you care)

name: mel

age: 20 (scorpio bby)

pronouns: she/her

sexuality: bi (but less and less everyday honestly into girls and girls only

country: brazil 🇧🇷

I'll mostly talk about how gay i am for women, how beautiful women are, and how women are the best thing to exist

I'm also a fucker for incorrect quotes, so you'll find a lot of them in here cause they're easy to do.

ships (aka my ao3 favorited tags): clexa, calzona, marina, supercorp, ronance, skimmons, avatrice, vauseman, lottienat, jackieshauna, taivan, limoreau, avalance, wenclair, bishova, kacy.

now to the good stuff: the fandoms (under the read more, cause i got too excited)

[i won't necessarily post about them, but they might pop up here and there]

music: maya hawke, gracie abrams, conan gray, boygenius, muna, reneé rapp, taylor swift, harry styles and lorde.+ chappell roan, noah kahan and sabrina carpenter + hozier, måneskin and tate mcrae

tv shows and movies:

• current (might pop up more): ncis hawai'i, ncis sydney, legends of tomorrow, wynonna earp, supergirl, madame web.

• favorites (will pop up a lot and then never be talked about for months): yellowjackets, warrior nun, motherland fort salem, scream, agents of shield, station 19, grey's anatomy, hawkeye, orange is the new black, criminal minds, percy jackson, bottoms, stranger things.

• supernatural/post apocaliptical stuff i watched when i was 12 and are now camp to me (I'll talk abt it if you want me too): teen wolf, the vampire diaries, the 100, twilight, wolfblood, the originals, pretty little liars, buffy the vampire slayer.

other random stuff im into: all things mcu, movie commentaries, and long ass deep dives [mike's mic, ur internet mom ash, dylan is in trouble, trin lovell, uncarley], the sims 4, reading fanfiction, art, interviews and press, arrowverse, podcasts, movies directed and produced by women, sapphic media, reading, architectural digest, collecting popcorn buckets, jenna ortega, milo manhein, matthew gray gubler, motherhood, found family trope, fashion and cats.

that's all folks, some other random shit might pop up eventually but im a pretty chill person...feel free to recommend me stuff you think I'll like based on all of the shit i wrote above.

[marykk1990]

It seems like there's a few accounts out there who appreciate my posts in support of Ukraine, which I will be doing another one later this evening. I still need to look up what I want to post about today.

I just want to say that I am not Ukrainian myself, and I didn't really know much about Ukraine before the full-scale invasion by muscovy started. But I was absolutely horrified when terrorist muscovy attacked, and that very day, I started a Twitter thread about Ukraine.

I have been doing cultural heritage threads on Twitter ever since the orange mango (donald trumpf) threatened to bomb ancient cultural heritage sites in Iran, which really pissed me off. Iran's ancient cultural heritage sites are not just important to Iran. They're important to world archaeology. I am fascinated by ancient history. It's the first thing I ever geeked out about in my life. After the Iran thread, I started a new thread on countries that trumpf called "shithole" countries. Obviously, I'm definitely not a trumpf supporter at all. After he lost in 2020, I continued my threads as they were a little popular on Twitter, but I opened it up to different countries, not just ones the orange mango threatened or insulted.

So, I am not an expert on Ukraine or any of the countries I've visited in any of my threads. I get all my pics off of Google, so I don't own them, and I get all of my information off of sites like Wikipedia and other sites. For Ukraine, I do like the Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine. If I post anything incorrect, my apologies for that. I am learning as I go, and after almost two years of posting about the amazing country of Ukraine, I have absolutely fallen in love with Ukraine and Ukrainians.

I am very happy that my Ukraine thread seems to be appreciated, and I will continue doing it for as long as it takes. Ukraine will win!

And, if anyone is interested, I had as my lock screen an awesome edit someone made of President Zelenskyy with the Ukrainian Motherland Monument in the background, but it was before the soviet symbol was removed. Since that has now been removed and the Ukrainian Tryzub has taken its place, I wanted a new updated lock screen, but still with President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian Motherland Monument. I couldn't find one I liked, so I made my own. I'm going to share it here, and if anyone else likes it, please feel free to use it as your lock screen or wallpaper.

[utilitycaster]

OGL 1.2 summary

Finally have had a chance to look through properly. I do strongly suggest following people like Gabe Hicks and James Haeck, who are game designers with extensive experience working with WoTC but neither of whom are currently employed by them; Hicks also has done extensive design on other TTRPGs (as showcased in Dimension 20's Shriek Week; they are also a developer for Motherlands RPG and worked on the Uk'otoa tabletop game). Both have had pretty thorough and thoughtful criticism that is grounded in the facts of the matter.

Also: I am doing my best but I am not a lawyer. Please defer to verified lawyers if my paraphrasing is incorrect. Additionally, I am rephrasing things in simple terms, so do not jump to conclusions based on my word choice; if you are looking at the highly specific legal implications of a word you should refer to the actual OGL 1.2 document. And, most importantly, All of this can be commented on at this survey link.

In general:

The core rules, not including classes/races or specific spells, will be covered by a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 license. This includes things like ability checks, saving throws, the core stats stuff, conditions (prone, exhausted, etc) and creature types (but not the creatures themselves). The full SRD 5.1 is available here if you want to check for yourself.

It affirms the fan content policy (never affected by 1.1, but worth mentioning given how often it came up; Actual Play is covered here)

D&D Beyond and DMs Guild are, also as previously, under their own standards that are available for review on those sites. (I think I may have made some errors regarding DMs Guild being a WoTC property with its own rules in the past, but it is and you can review some of their policies here.

The OGL 1.0 is deauthorized, which means that once the OGL 1.2 (or whatever version is ultimately finalized) takes effect, new works must abide by OGL 1.0 rules; however, older materials originally created under 1.0 are still valid under 1.0. The full revocation was perhaps the most problematic part of OGL 1.1, so this is a good step forward and means existing 3PP materials you have can continue to be sold as is.

The actual OGL 1.2 stuff

This applies specifically to commercial content using material in the WoTC SRD not covered by the CC-BY 4.0 license created after this license goes into affect. Again. Does not affect streaming or other fanworks including free homebrew; does not affect other games; does not affect material published in the past.

It also only applies to static published materials and to VTTs; VTTs have a separate section.

Third party works under the OGL 1.2 are owned by their creators in full (this means no possible claims from WoTC to royalties or the IP created by those third parties). There is a clause stating that in the case of unintentionally similar content (the "3PP creates a fire-based druid around the same time as Tasha's came out" case I mentioned previously) a lawsuit may only be for financial damages, not injunction (which I understand to mean things like emotional impact etc) and must rely on proof that WoTC "knowingly and intentionally" copied the work. This is, from what I am given to understand, extremely standard in copyright law because coincidences do happen and people do try to sue over them, and has been deliberately rephrased to affirm that WoTC does not own the third-party content provided the terms of the OGL 1.2 are maintained.

Works must also indicate they are derived from OGL content using appropriate signifiers as put forth by WoTC, clearly state they are third-party and not endorsed by WoTC (this is why Griffon's Saddlebag has been foaming at the mouth) and creators must be in a position to enter into the terms of the license (of age or has had a legal guardian review the terms as proxy), cannot infringe on material that is not in the SRD, cannot violate the law; and there is a morality clause regarding no hateful conduct, the decision of which is made by WoTC.

Additionally, the OGL 1.2's terms cannot be modified, other than the specific details of how to attribute, and some legal pieces at the end regarding notifying creators.

VTT Policy

SRD materials are permitted in VTTs these do not and have never included official images as the SRD does not have images. Fan images are permitted. This information must be static; stat blocks are permitted, but, per the example given, animations such as that of a magic missile are not.

My thoughts/editorial:

I will direct you to James Haeck about VTTs. I have said before I don't really like VTTs. I don't even have a D&D Beyond subscription. I went to cancel mine and found that I was actually just using the free tools (I've bought some books through D&D Beyond, to be fair but I have not subscribed to share them and I have under 6 characters). Personally, I find myself in the awkward position of "I love theater of the mind and imagination in TTRPGs and so I think having an animated magic missile is kind of stupid; honestly I'm not even into D&D Beyond animating the dice rolls" and also "you shouldn't disallow things at a business level solely on the belief that they are kind of stupid." So: worth providing feedback on that one! Also, more relevantly, is this only about licensed D&D content? Can you provide animation for your VTT if you're doing things in a different game, just, once there's SRD content in play on the field, you must stop? Can you provide animation in D&D as long as it's not material covered in the OGL, ie, can you have a sword swinging animation or can the player sprites move rather than just appear in a space, neither of which are unique concepts to D&D (vs. magic missile which is)? In summary: my feelings aside re: VTTs, clarification is in order and I will be providing the latter feedback.

Morality/Hateful conduct clauses are complicated. I absolutely agree that I do not trust a corporation to determine what's hateful. I also 100% do not trust the community either, and I 110% do not trust people who say the community will police itself. I've been open in the past about how I don't fucking trust the D&D community on Jewish depictions (spoiler: actually, non-Jewish people handwringing about goblins, golems, and phylacteries has often been extremely condescending and misinformed, and while obviously Jewish people are not a monolith, my primarily Jewish D&D tables have never taken issue with these things as presented within WoTC materials, but have taken issue with fan-created depictions, and I'm tbh hardcore side-eyeing the Hasbrodeus module for like 20 reasons, of which that is one). However, the same is not necessarily true for other minority groups, notably PoC, of whom there have been some quite harmful depictions; and I think most of us are aware that morality clauses have long been exploited to label queer depictions as obscene: I don't have a good answer for this other than "needs more specificity." A good start for the latter issue would be spelling out bigotry (ie, "discriminatory on the basis of sexual orientation or gender presentation") and providing a clear process for appeal. I do understand where WoTC is coming from given the whole issue with the new TSR but this is incredibly complicated and impossible to outline in a one-size-fits-all clause. Worth noting, however: DMs Guild, again, has separate and more rigid standards. This does not mean the horny gay vampire game that was removed from it would be permitted to be self-published under the OGL 1.2; it also does not indicate that it wouldn't, because, again, lacking in specificity on what "obscene" means.

I find the choice to make the core mechanics Creative Commons but not the class structure (which is under the OGL 1.2 proper) to be a really interesting one, and I mean this in a neutral-to-complimentary way. Not sure what the implications are, but excited to find out, because I think it might lead to more interesting indie games that can capitalize on the widely known core combat/ability check mechanics of D&D but develop wildly different class structures.

DnD Shorts continues to shit the bed in the extreme; for real, do not listen to this dude. His twitter is currently a wild self-contradictory mess, his journalistic integrity never existed, and he is literally a clickbaity mediocre white man who has probably been playing D&D for less time than you. I understand that not everyone learns how to determine trustworthiness of a source online but like...why would you trust a guy who has no reason to have insider information and every reason to want clicks and attention. He isn't even a creator affected by the OGL (unlike, say, Hicks or Haeck), and some of what he said was literally obviously false to anyone who's filled out a UA or OneD&D survey.

Honestly, in general, I think the end takeaway really has been "try to determine the motivations and concrete actions of people talking about this." Are they pushing a specific game (rather than generally providing alternatives for those looking)? Do they run channels that don't rely on the OGL 1.0 OR 1.1/1.2 in any way but do rely on clicks? Are they a creator genuinely concerned for their livelihood, or are they a person who thinks that when a game company gets sufficiently large (or even when they don't...see someone asking a tiny Native-owned TTRPG for their SRD) IP laws should no longer apply?

[freelystrangenight]

Rating every Eurovision final performance until I get bored (tw: opinions):

1) Austria : 9/10 not the greatest thing since sliced bread but a solid vibe, my kinda weird and pleasant musically, like the "ghostly" harmonies, scrarch my brain pleasantly, and as English lit student I appreciate poe.

2) Portugal: 5/10 not bad but legit don't remember anything and it just finished; piano riff sounded like I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor

3) Switzerland: 4,5/10 feels very general-pop; good lyrics but the arrangement/melody makes me kinda too bored to really listen; formal line sounded like "Sk8ter boy" by Avril Lavigne

4) Poland (motherland, I'm so not proud, WHY): 4/10 song is generic summer radio pop, nothing original but honestly not the worst I've heard, tho I'm pretty sure I have heard a Latino/Spanish pop song at least very similar; also unfortunately heard fragments of this before and this performance is not too bad for her, at least she worked on it; why the dance solo (pun intended hehe) exists tho

5) Serbia: 6/10 man, the boi is pretty, but can he sing? Apparently not really 😬 visually interesting performance, auditorily not so much 😭 (dunno if it's a word). Points for originality tho, but will not stream.

6) France: 8/10 Strong vocals. Song is definitely not what I initially expected, which makes it more interesting. Really vibing. Honestly didn't find anything I didn't like aside from the length of her nails but their hers not my business. Maybe not "Eurovision crazy" enough to win but still love it

7) Cyprus: 3,5/10 pleasant voice but nothing special yet; song feels ESC-generic, don't like the falsetto high notes. Lyrics feel like AI generated broken heart song

8) Spain: 8/10 kinda arabic vibes? Great vibes, song very original, not my personal fave, but still amazing quality-wise imo.

9) Sweden 7/10 Loreen my girl this isn't Euphoria -level :( not bad, but nothing special, tho the singing is mostly amazing. Her nails are a safety hazard, sorry to the French lady.

10) Albania: 5,5/10 very Eastern vibe. Original enough, the main lady sings great, but the song doesn't really resonate with me so far. Don't like the dude.

11) Italy: 9.5/10 sounds like a generic pop but in Italian, and I like his bedazzled top. Ok, nvm, song is not groundbreaking but his voice makes up for it. Not sure if win material but "add to playlist material" for sure. Im pretty sure I've just heard "calzone" in there, prolly incorrect but don't care, extra point

12) Estonia: 9/10 not the most innovative but has 'something', like it so far. Would fit a fantasy soundtrack, maybe that's what has me hooked. The auto-playing piano cracks me up tho, same with the wrist-belts, but those take nothing from the performance.

13) Finland: 6/10 heard it all over Tiktok through last week and am fed up with it😬 is a vibe, but after too many times imo plain annoying. Points for the outfit, personally hate it but is already iconic. Unfortunately song is even more irritating live :/ but also frustratingly catchy, gonna be stuck in my head

14) Czechia: 7/10 was loving the slavicness, wish it didn't switch to English, ruins the vibe, also Female Power points. The performance doesn't give much to watch, but nice to listen to.

15) Australia: 8/10 yeah, never saw a dude in a car on stage before. I like the song very much, but not the most original in the genre. But, might be on of the best ones tonight.

16) Belgium 4/10 generic EDM pop, gives the same vibe as Be My Lover by La Bouche but worse and with Positive Message™️

17) Armenia: 6,5/10 pretty but? Im gonna forget about it in 5 mins or make it my personality for the next 10 days, but option 1 is more probable.

18) Moldova: 9/10 don't know what's going on but in a good way. I think this song may be doing to me what Chachacha was supposed to, tho it's not the greatest thing. (Got a bit bored in the edm interlude)

19) Ukraine: 3/10 feels like they knew what they wanted to say but unfortunately needed to make it into a song. Don't like it at all tbh, but organs in the background are cool.

20) Norway: 10/10 my fave!!!!! Haven't heard the beginning yet! Sounds like she has stage fright:( love tho pls win? Love how she looks like she's enjoying herself

21) Germany: 6/10 why is their leader cosplaying Vecna from ST???? Song stands out but, feels generic at the same time?

22) Lithuania: 6,5/10 life story but make it Disney soundtrack. Nothing we haven't heard on ESC before, but not bad. Pretty visual display .

23) Israel: 3/10 ummm no. Shame it isn't in a language I don't know, would like it much better. Like the voice, and the instrumentals at the beginning, but that's it. No, I didn't wanna see you dance. Choreo is nice tho.

24) Slovenia: 9,5/10 sounds like something I usually would like (i think(on second thought no, not really)) but I do. Guy has a good voice, love their energy, somehow they look friendly.

25) Croatia: 10/10 gay sailors who's mother bought a tractor? Eurovision at it's finest 😂 this one stands out like nothing else

26) UK: 2/10 don't be boring pls!!! Ok, you are ;( the intro was promising, then she started to sing... Nothing criminally bad, would bear it on the radio, but boring af

Disclaimer: I now nothing or next to nothing about the artists, their backgrounds etc. Also my ratings don't reflect any predictions as to who may win.

[nicascurls]

Breaking the Dollhouse/Final Family AU

*getting ready to take Henry and Caroline trick or treating*

Nica: Rachel, chill out, okay? It's gonna be fine. What doesn't kill 'em makes 'em stronger.

Rachel: Not if they fall under a bus, Nica!

Charlotte: *stressed* Right. Let's go!

Andy: Wait! Kids, huddle in. Remember, think like a pedophile. Stick together and don't accept sweets from strangers.

Kyle: *already eating candy* Except the ones whose doors you're knocking on.

@barclaysangel @fairchilds-glasses @streets-in-paradise @high-functioning-fang1rl

[reallytinylaura]

Raelle: On this day two years ago, I married my best friend.

Raelle: Scylla and Adil were both really pissed about it but Abigail and I were drunk and we thought it was funny.

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this Week #129 (Year 3/Week 25):

A few months ago I discovered the early films of Alice Guy-Blaché, the first ever female filmmaker, and history's first director of narrative cinema. An enormously important figure, who was erased and forgotten until her recent resurgence.

The documentary Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché shows how central she was to the development of all of cinema. A most fascinating and moving detective story laying open the amazing life of this pioneering heroine, who helped define its crafts and systems.

Narrated by (another prodigy) Jodie Foster. Like 'The Méliès Mystery' biography, these two are a must-see for any film lover.

Best film of the week! 10/10.

🍿 

The short film essay Celebration Sequences gives some excellent examples of “Storytelling's Most Useful Type of Scene”: Weddings, funerals, birthdays, parties, balls (and orgies). Celebrations give a story the chance to gather every important character and let them interact for a while under the auspice of important themes such as love and death.

Because of it, I watched Kurosawa's Hamlet-inspired The bad sleep well. Coppola listed The bad sleep well as one of his favorite films, citing the wedding ceremony of the first thirty minutes "as perfect as any film I've ever seen". He then used it as inspiration for the wedding sequence in The Godfather.

🍿 

The devil and Miss Jones [Not to be confused with the 1973 'The Devil IN Miss Jones...] was an unusual 1941 Capra'esque comedy, with a pro-labor bent. It dealt with some real labor, wealth inequality and capitalism issues. And, it did not paint them outright as 'communist' agenda!

The 'richest man in the world' goes underground in order to root out 'agitators' and union leaders, who cause trouble at one of his department stores. However, after working as a regular shoe salesman down in the weeds, he learns to sympathize with the cause of his new working class comrades (after falling in love with one of them, of course).

🍿

3 by French director Nicolas Bedos:

🍿 Masquerade is a sleek caper, like Jim Thompson's 'The Grifters' but on the glitzy part of the French riviera. A young gigolo specializing in seducing rich, older woman falls for a beautiful young con-artist and together they devise a long-con to bilk high-maintenance diva Isabelle Adjani and wealthy real estate broker François Cluzet. Lots of erotic twists and thrilling turns. 6/10.

🍿 In his previous, genial comedy La Belle Époque, Daniel Auteuil is allowed to participate in an immersive reenactment of any historical period of his choice. After being kicked out by his wife, he decides to re-live a week in 1974 when he met her, the love of his life, at the La Belle Époque café in Lyon. A mix of Fincher's "The Game', with 'The Truman show' but with an imaginative heart. Better than Charlie Kaufman. 9/10.

🍿 OSS 117 was a French series about a fictional secret agent, a-la-James Bond, featured in 11 films and parodies. OSS 117: From Africa with Love is a stupid spoof of the EuroSpy genre of the 60's and 70's. and the third starring comedian Jean Dujardin (from ”The artist”). He plays a self-important idiot, politically-incorrect who can't get it up, more Peter Sellers than Sean Connery. Tintin was much deeper. 2/10.

🍿

Because I don’t usually watch such low-brow low-budget trashy sub-genres, I enjoyed the crowd-funded Swiss exploitation Mad Heidi much more that I would under normal circumstances. The absurd story deals with a fascist cheese-based dictator, and a zaftig mountain girl who must escape Stalag-type prison in order to save the motherland and prevent a tainted cheese apocalypse.

As Joe Bob Briggs used to write in his early reviews "Cheese Nazis, cheese zombies, edelweiss throwing stars, and goat cheese hustlers. Mustard covered sausages inserted up the ass. About 10 exploding heads and torsos. Every Swiss cliché in the book, from 'Sounds of Music' and Toblerone to Alp horns, cuckoo clocks, cheese fondue, watches, and pocket knives - dialed up to 11. Women's prison-fu. Gladiator-Fu. Lesbo Fu. One Black Goat Peter. Drive-In Academy Award nominations for Casper Van Dien as the megalomaniacal president of Switzerland. Check it out.” 4/10.

🍿

Pierrot le Fou, my 8th New Wave stream of consciousness improvised exploration by JL Godard. Without a screenplay, and Everything Goes attitude, it's one long Pop Art of random allusions, aphorism, literary riddles and intellectual bon mots. Actually, apart from his brilliant debut 'À bout de souffle' (Breathless), I was bored by most of his films.

🍿

The Novice, another remarkable first feature by a young female director (Lauren Hadaway, who doesn't even have a Wikipedia page yet). An obsessive freshman joins her university's rowing team and is so driven to compete that she destroys everything in her path, especially herself.

Hadaway's frantic use of film language is thrilling. Also her blending of music by Brenda Lee and Patsy Klein.

🍿

As a teenager I admired Knut Hamsun, read and collected all his books. My pride and joy, and the oldest book I owned was the rare Hebrew translation of 'Hunger', published in Poland in 1889. So I stopped everything to watch Jan Troell's lionizing drama Hamsun about his final and dying years.

Hamsun was a towering Norwegian hero who later turned Nazi-sympathizer traitor and supported Hitler & Germany even as it occupied Norway. Max von Sydow plays him as a venerable 'Great Man', complex, selfish, stubborn and conflicted, and Danish diva Ghita Nørby plays his wife, who was even more pro-German than him. 3/10

🍿  

Another re-watch, Edgar Wright final installment of his Cornetto trilogy, The World’s End. Immature alcoholic Simon Pegg brings his 4 childhood friends back together to recreate the greatest achievement of their youth, a legendary 12-station pub crawl. Massive drinking & mayhem mixed with an alien invasion by blue-blooded androids.

Like the new 'Demon 79' it culminates with an unexpected apocalyptic Götterdämmerung. Yeah, 'The world's end' is not only the name of the last drinking hole. Plus points for the beautiful Rosamund Pike.

With every re-watch of any Edgar Wright movie, I go back to 'Every frame a picture' showing his visual comedy style, or other essays explaining his unique editing techniques.

🍿

Instead of watching Jason Reitman's 'Up in the air' for the 5th time, I picked up his Front Runner. A bland 2018 Political drama about the fall from grace of Senator Gary Hart, caught with his fly open aboard a yacht called 'Monkey Business' while running for president.

I saw Gary Hart at a political rah-rah at UCLA the first week I came to the US in 1984. But the film itself added no new wrinkle to the usual cliches of election campaigns, newspaper editorial rooms, media ethics or the hypocrisies of public figures. 3/10.

🍿  

(My complete movie list is here).

[aspoopalypse]

compiling a list of (my) incorrect genders:

- the motherland calls

- no gag reflex

- legacy board game

- coin operated

- nerve damage

- ultrafast pump probe