#interesting interview too

[loveandthings11]

Made in America

Entertainment Weekly 10/3/24

[brainrotcharacters]

"get 😠my country's 🇨🇦name out📤 of your 🫵 fucking🖕 mouth😗

and my sword 🗡️

give me that 🤨"

[platoapproved]

And the ones I did on my own were to protect me from you, Mr. Molloy. Why did I owe you my shame?

[criticalamityz]

come out

[sofipitch]

The man eating magma fish scene is funny on two levels, John fumbling through a metaphor and the introduction that there is someone (Mercymorn) who can and will heckle God AND it's funny bc what it really is Tamsyn finding an elaborate way of avoiding this:

[dreadfuldevotee]

Too much hate for Armand's Paris hairstyle. Not enough talk about how that is seriously meticulous look that requires skill, and nightly styling to maintain. Like, let us all think about the fact that Armand goes to coffin looking like this

[blue-cookie-for-percy]

His half-blank, half-apocalyptic look has captivated me

[sentientsky]

do you think assad zaman understands how important he is to me?

[mmelolabelle]

Dreamstat referring to Claudia as “our daughter”rather than “sister” doesn’t just reveal that whatever he tells Claudia (and himself), Louis still ultimately thinks of Claudia as his daughter and knows on some level that he’s failing her, but also tells us about the real Lestat’s view of her, because apparently even the most fucked up parts of Louis’ mind cannot conjure up a version of Lestat that doesn’t treat Claudia as his fledgling/child before everything else ->

“It's not as simple as choosing a new family configuration. 'Now I'm your cousin.' 'Now I'm your aunt.' I am your maker!’” (Lestat, 1x06) ->

“Claudia was my dark child, my love, evil of my evil. Claudia broke my heart.” (The Vampire Lestat)

[demonicsuffrage]

Just heard a Robert Pattinson interview in which he said that when he went to the circus he saw a circus performer die right in front of him. Foreshadowing?

[xx-psych0-rabbit-xx]

anyways heres some misc jamba cult info from the japanese version of star allies the official translation removed/changed the meaning of i found a couple days back (fan translations can be found here)

-this is implied but misworded in english, the jamba cult worships dark matter rather than be masters of it (this is prob why gooey gets positive nickname privileges from zan on twitter)

-the magic n science ancients old relationship prior to the magic clans ban is explicitly positive in japanese

-english hyness says magic overcame science n reached prosperity, japanese says science n magic could only reach prosperity when together

-for wtv reason, english replaced one of the mentions of the "book of legends" (the book abt void hyness has) w talking abt ambiguous ancient scrolls instead...?

-theres some references to a paradise void will destroy in the japanese screens w that one cult prayer that were cut from english (the second n fourth ones specifically iirc), the sisters guest star screens make references to paradise as well, make of that what you will regarding the religious side of the cult

-most if not all instances of void being called dark lord r used to censor out void being called god/god of destruction in the original version

-pon & cons japanese title (a-un guardian beasts) is a reference to a buddhist concept of beginning n ending, the pause screen states they surrendered to the enemy n thats why theyre doing guard work there, rather than they became cultists off screen between games like one might assume

-japanese hyness uses ~ when talking a lot, while most ppl associate that w a character having a sweet cute voice tone, for him it likely just indicates he tends to drag out the end of words a lot

-fully removed from english, hyness has a complex abt his face, which is why its so well covered

-zans second boss screen in english credits her loyalty to hyness' intoxicating charisma n her sense of duty, while japanese later does canonize she has a strong sense of duty in a different screen, it instead says for the second boss she feels indebted he took her in n is also "enamoured" by his charisma n "admires him from within the heart", quoting the used wording bc i think shes both adorable n so deeply worrisome

-weve all heard the english translation censored zan being heavily implied to have attempted suicide n being saved by hyness after it fails (succeeds?) after shes struck by lightning n nearly dies/gets bought back by him.wtv take on hyness saving the mages you prefer

-zan is never called the eldest of the sisters in the original, just the chief of the trio

-hyness misremembers zans name as zan paruru, a pun on the japanese word for forgotten (wasuraruru), that same pun is used for her boss themes title

-one of zans attacks in japanese is named after the "thunder candies" (type of wagashi) found in kaminarimon, where a statue of the shinto thunder god raijin is found, zans drums used during that same attack r literally based on raijins own drums

-zans first boss screen claims she toys w her enemies through her quick attacks rather than render them helpless like prey.just mentioning bc thats silly n has a slightly new show of her personality that line up w her depiction on the official twitter in a way

-flamberge wasnt taking a break in her second boss fight she was just slacking off n picked a nice star/planet on purpose for that.thats funny of her so its justified

-flamberge calls francisca kiss-chan in japanese, this is the same nickname zan gives her in japanese thats officially translated as franny

-this isnt mentioned in the documents but im bringing it up bc its funny.that part of HIAD where francisca calls flamberge "miss flamberge" was just flamberge-san in jp, -san is just a polite honorific to use that isnt immediately translated to miss/mister, specially if the characters know each other.why did they make it that lmao

-japanese explicitly says too much heat might straight up make francisca melt (english also implies that tbf)

-francisca dislikes "pointless murder", but is fine freezing ppl n keeping them for her collection if she deems them an enemy

-hyness' japanese title can be read as both mage priest n devil priest

-the sisters titles all have a reoccurring use of ice blossom, hellfire n thunder fang respectively, n theyre called the demon generals instead of mage sisters

-HIAD hyness' title fell priest has a reference to fallen angels.i feel thats giving pre corruption hyness too much personality credit but alright

-void is refered to both as devil n angel in different forms titles.this is awesome

-theres a kanji for hope thats associated w the jamba cult throughout the whole game

-the japanese guest star screens for the mages say theyre no longer praying n r seeking a new paradise together, for whatever reason, english completely removes the no longer praying part, completely losing the meaning of the sentence n development the sisters have (interestingly, hyness is mentioned in those n still called their master, n zans description straight up states she wants him to watch her triumph (translated officially as her wanting to make him proud), so its not actually explained if they disbanded the cult or theyre just.some kind of normal religion now? but theyre atleast touching grass now)

todays conclusion is the KSA translators just hate us 👍 check the linked fan translation for more examples of that

[andypantsx3]

urgh i was listening to a podcast where they alluded to some published romance authors dunking on other authors for writing "gratuitous" and "less tasteful" smut and it reminded me of the time i also accidentally implied something like that on here while i was talking about the less descriptive vanilla shit i write and i want to build a time machine and go back and break my own fingers before i could type that reeee

[raineandsky]

#132

tw: knives, stabbing, death

Everything is, quite literally, on a knife’s edge. Everything the villain ever wanted, everything they didn’t, is right here, in this moment.

Victory, happiness, freedom, all a few seconds away. They need this. They need to act.

“I can’t,” the villain says.

The hero is under their blade like it’s where they belong. One little flick—that’s all it would take. One flick and the villain’s worries would be over.

“You’re strong,” the hero says plainly, and the villain isn’t sure how they mean it.

They’re strong? The hero must be joking. No, the villain isn’t strong. They’re faltering, they’re second guessing. What the hero must think is great self-restraint is nothing more than cowardice.

The villain knows that their knife is trembling traitorously in their grip but they can’t find it in themself to care. Why is this so hard? Why did it have to be the hero?

The hero smiles, the confident kind that all heroes seem to do, shifting slightly to pull themself closer to the villain. The edge of the blade brushes against their neck, and the villain flinches more than the hero.

“It’s okay, [Villain],” the hero says. Their tone is bland, like they spend most Sunday afternoons under the blade of someone who supposedly wants them dead. Well, no, not supposed—the villain hates them, they do. “You can stop now.”

The hero is everything the villain despises; the agency’s abhorrent nature personified. Too cool, too nonchalant, too easy to trip and kind of fall in love with.

All the villain can find to say is that same faint, “I can’t.”

The hero slips past the villain’s blade with that stupid smile still on their face. Maybe, the villain thinks, the hero is the affectionate kind. The type to pull a villain into a hug and warp their heart into abandoning their life as a criminal. The villain hates that they want that. They’d change the world for the hero.

Warmth blossoms in their chest as the hero gets close. Then the warmth turns hot. Pain pierces the feeling like glass is buried in their heart. The villain’s own blade, tight in the hero’s grip, is hilt-deep against their chest.

“I know you can’t,” the hero says in that usual flat voice, “but I can.”

It’s hard to breathe. The hero tears the knife out, giving the villain an idle push as they study the blade. The villain meets unforgiving concrete and the hero laughs.

“I think I’ll keep this, if you don’t mind,” they say brightly. “I doubt you’ll be using it any time soon.”

The hero turns on their heel and leaves without another word. As heroes do—the villain knows that well. They should’ve known this would happen. They did, really. Villains just have a habit of ignoring common sense and flying into danger head-first.

It’s colder than the villain remembers it being. They should’ve brought their coat. The breeze bites at their face as they watch the hero’s frame recede until they’re nothing more than a memory the villain is already forgetting.

[kindaeccentric]

'vampires are bad at art', factoid just statistical error. most vampires are quite decent at their crafts. Marius De Romanus who paints like all his works were made by AI is an outlier and should not have been counted

[dxxtruction]

Louis' "You're boring!" Could mean so many things, but I think what's most apparent about that line is that Armand takes no initiative just for himself. He's not really anybody, because he never goes out and finds himself or gets attached to anyone but Louis. Without Louis as his guide he's literally just sitting on a couch picking lint! That's the thing.

He orbits constantly around what would make Louis happy, and never really fully going what would make me happy? Ultimately that drive to please Louis is what drives him to torturing Daniel, not so much that he'd care to just do it. Ultimately, not giving proper care to Louis is just a way to make sure Louis knows he has to orbit around him as well, with shoving Lestat onto him just that other nail on the coffin. So, even if he fails to figure out how to make Louis happy with him, he still knows what Armand is good for, and better than.

That dependency is what drives Armand's abuse. It really just comes down to that. Armand doesn't even realize how suffocated he is by his own dependency. This is just how life is to him. (It shouldn't be lost either that dependency is a theme considering this episode also deals with addiction).

Daniel's fascinating because he's just so driven to be somebody. He's largely independent, he seeks things because he wants them. It's his drug to poke and prod at all the things that he shouldn't. Daniel's exciting because he lets Louis in to something different, lets him in to all this potential in another person that he can also do the same with for himself. It's a real connection. A two way street. It's easy to tell how Armand can be smothering then because he's never introducing him to anything really new, and most the ways both of them connect are all painful and traumatic. It's never just fun because there's always that layer of that pain. Fun died with Claudia.

50 years on they've gotten to a lot better place, both of them, but it's still that same shit. No seriously, "How is this any different from last time, Louis?"

Well... Because Armand's going to be, at the very least, making one [1] decision only for himself - and that's to hold power over Daniel's life. Fucking sick foreshadowing.

They aren't driving each other to the brink anymore but "The vampire is bored" STILL. Maybe it's even worse, despite being in better places, because Louis' sort of just been defeated by it. (I mean, can he even really leave this either?). He's accepting the dependancy cause he kind of has to. He'd literally ended up letting all the enjoyment be up where he can't reach [The book shelves]. Armand so desperately wants Louis happiness but what really ends up happening is that Louis ends up having to give Armand all his own. He's got no one or anything else to get it from. But like an iPad and an over the top eating ritual. Two extremes of what's just more lint picking.

This whole relationship is one I find just tragic inside and out. You have to just pity it, really. There's ways in which you can find yourself feeling bad for both of them. But you can only really be mad at Armand for any of it. Armand, who isn't even 'free' in any sense, having so little concept of his own independence, but is at the same time so controlling over other's. It's a tragic cycle. It's an infuriating one.

Louis at least has the mind to know when enough is enough. If just needing that extra push to get there. Armand's too scared of it being over to even try.

[island-in-the-shadows]

Truly, my sympathies to people watching IWTV and are getting tired/bored of different perspectives. I'm not bored or even remotely tired.

Interviews by their very nature are perspective based. The story has this specific framing. As did the first book. They added to it with Armand now being an active participant and Daniel being more seasoned at interviewing. I understand how Armand's very edited and hyperbolic take on events that Book Lestat describes in The Vampire Lestat rubs people the wrong way. I do think that one could argue the way Lestat writes his own autobiography is the objective truth (note Armand in his book does not contradict Lestat). However, sorry to say, there is never an objective truth. The truth is always subjective.

I was raised by a whole family of lawyers and if I learned anything is that you can spin things in any way, but an objective truth will never exist. Not in crime, not in person to person storytelling, not in fictional storytelling. Hell, viewers seeing the SAME show CANNOT come to a consensus. Why? Because we all put our thoughts, experiences, and feelings to it. That's all perspective.

We see Louis give Armand a kiss in bed. Some think aw domestic and cute. Some think Louis is deliberately withholding and rewarding Armand for good behaviour. Some saw the act they put on in E2 as some version of truth and domesticity and some think it's only an act. Some think Dreamstat is actual Lestat out there somewhere and some think it's Louis' conscience.

Yes, the narrative will confirm one thought or another on some things but not all of them. They're deliberately left up to interpretation. Something btw, Lestat urges the reader to do in TVL when he does not go into details about his time with Louis and Claudia. And part of that has to do with perspective.

We could have a straightforward narrative with no corrections and no perspectives. But would that be as interesting as seeing how minds that far exceed our own twist and bend and interpret events? Would it be as interesting as seeing a vampire who tells himself a story so that he can carry on living despite being miserable? Would it be as interesting as this vampire who tells himself a story get pushback on what he's saying by someone who notices errors and inconsistencies? Would it be an interview at all? Or would it be, as Daniel put it in the very first episode, "a fever dream told to an idiot."

If you want a straightforward non-challenging version of the story, the 1994 movie exists. It's not perfect and a lot of details are missing, but there's only one, unchallenged perspective to it. And even then...how many people didn't (want to) see the queerness in it?

TL;DR I get being frustrated or tired or bored by the way the show is trying to tell the story, but at least it's doing something a little different and not word for word.