#is it faithful homage or is it just out of focus half the time?

[chinchillasorchildren]

Films of 2024: The Vourdalak (dir. Adrien Beau)

(3/5)

[meta-squash]

A review of Querelle de Roberval by Kevin Lambert

I picked up Querelle de Roberval at work and decided to read it with absolutely zero expectations or knowledge of its contents, only a deep love for Genet’s work. It is, it seems, meant to be an homage or at least inspired by Genet’s novel Querelle de Brest. I spent the time it took me to read the book completely uncertain whether I liked it or not, and after having finished the novel and mulled it over for the rest of the day, I think I have to conclude that I didn’t like it.

It is well written; Lambert’s prose is stylish, sharp, and flows well. I am not Canadian and therefore don’t know the nuances of specifically Quebecois politics or social issues, but I really struggled to pin down the political message of this book, and it was clearly gunning for something. The ironic, fourth-wall breaking chapter at the latter half of the book set the stakes for the rest of the book too high; the scene in which the neighborhood Greek chorus mourns over Querelle’s body does not feel as heightened as it was obviously meant to feel, because the fourth wall chapter cuts down any faith the reader may have in its glory or passion.

Stylistically it felt like two separate novels that someone had attempted to twist together into one -- the realism of the strike, and the poetic fantasy of Querelle’s world and that of the other queer boys. Unfortunately, either the attempt at combining them was not strong enough, or the lyrical alienation of the queer world from the straight working class world was not deliberate enough.

Aside from the two main characters, Querelle and Jezabel, the rest of the cast felt undercooked; some were not fleshed out thoroughly enough, and some should have remained more like two-dimensional side characters but were given only a little bit extra characterization and therefore felt strange and incomplete.

And unfortunately I couldn’t help but compare Lambert’s work to Genet’s original, and it falls far short of the beauty of Querelle de Brest, or Genet’s work in general.

Part of the fascination of Genet’s work is how often violence or “perversion” (sexual or otherwise) is not an act of revenge or anger, but one of love or reverence, and more importantly one of transcendence. Aside from the descriptions of Querelle with his lovers and Jezabel’s final act in the pool, this symbolism and emotional transformation did not occur. The violence was just violence, something more akin to torture porn than something loving, transcendent, or symbolic. Murder itself - the actual taking of a life - as an extension of the self and therefore an act of complete liberation of the self is not the point of Lambert’s work like it is in Genet’s. Instead, it is the violence itself, the causing of pain that he seems to focus on. In Genet’s work (particularly Funeral Rites), consumption of another is not an act of revenge or hatred as it is in this work, but one of reverence and love. Acts of violence such as sacrifice, murder, and betrayal take on a transcendent, romantic symbolism because they are acts in which the self is destroyed and transformed into something else. Corruption, violation, violence, perversion, are rarely about the outside world directly. Rather, they are ways in which the self becomes something more, confirms itself to be a living thing or an empty thing or a thing which acts out of love, submission, or dominance. Rarely are acts of violence things Genet’s characters do solely for themselves; they are ways in which two characters are eternally entwined, which is what makes his violent or twisted characters so romantic.

All this is something that is consistent throughout Genet’s work and blatant in both his direct prose and his symbolism. Much of the violence in Lambert’s work lacks that philosophical thoughtfulness, and the political passion that would have smoothed that over does not seem fully thought out.

Unlike Genet, whose feelings towards authority have a conscious duality and whose works are unmistakably working-class, with the questionable morals of its characters being portrayed as a positive aspect, Lambert seems more intent on portraying the strikers as reprehensible in their actions, in that they are merely violent rather than transcendent in some way. This frames their actions then as either simply brutish or ultimately futile, rather than an act or event which either allows them to come alive for the first time or to change their self into something else. It also means that the characters whose morals are more “old-fashioned” like Fauteux or Bernard do not have the same dark, rounded-out intent and shadowy depths like that of Mario in Querelle de Brest, and instead are simply shallow and unlikable due to sexism etc.

In Genet’s works, violence always, always means something symbolically, and its meaning is usually expanded upon through descriptions of the character’s internal monologue or reaction or transformation. But much of the violence in this book was simply vengeful or retaliatory (the coffee, the molotov cocktails) and the moments during and after the fight with the baseball bats did not dig deep enough into any symbolism to make it feel like anything more than a violent, vengeful midnight rumble at a park. The closest thing was perhaps Jezabel’s vision in the grass of the little children healing her wounds and the neighborhood sleepwalkers singing a Greek chorus mourning for Querelle, but even that did not quite dig deep enough into the the tender, sensitive bits of Jezabel’s emotional transformation.

Querelle, in this case, was not a vehicle by which the novel’s characters as well as the reader are made to ponder relationships between people who mirror each other or expose hitherto unknown passions or weaknesses; instead, he was simply a vehicle for violence that is hardly thought out, and the brief paragraph referencing the sexual insecurities and incestuous perversions of the fathers was not enough to change that. Similarly, the sex scenes in the novel could have been the most Genet-esque thing about Lambert's text, but it supplants the transcendent and self-defining or self-immolating nature of strange or unsavoury sex in Genet's works with simple brutality. The "second" boy of the three unnamed teenagers nearly meets the brief, as he is described as having love within him that the other two must dig out, but Lambert only allows this theme a single sentence, then returns to grotesque and visceral sex without the layers of symbolism and subconscious conflict that gives Genet's views on sex that mystical, philosophical quality.

Within Genet’s work, his voice not as the narrator but as the literal writer Jean Genet is consistently inserted, so that throughout all of his novels he inserts himself and his own thoughts and experiences into the narrative, breaking the fourth wall to describe a memory or emotion of his past that connects through layers of symbolism and feeling to the narrative. The single chapter in which Lambert breaks the fourth wall and lets his voice through does no such thing, and is introduced so late in the novel that it simply pulls the reader out of the narrative entirely, and it is a struggle to get back into it.

No matter how meandering or erratic the narrative of Genet’s work, it always seems extremely self-contained, as though Genet has tight control over every piece of the story and his choices to digress to a personal memory or focus on a different character are deliberate. The self-contained nature of Genet gives the reader the sense that he is writing for himself first, and for an audience second. Lambert’s work, while interesting, can’t decide if it wants to be a kitchen sink drama or magical realist, and therefore its rambling nature seems less self-contained and less controlled.

I think the major issues I had with this book were its ambiguous political stance, its uncooked characters, and its rather bland use of violence. Compared to Genet’s deeply personal, extremely strong and passionate symbolism and emphasis on emotional and mental transformation, this novel felt shallow and disconnected, and without any firmly established positions, opinions, or symbols. I think if an author writes a novel and deliberately mimics the title and main character of a different, more famous novel, they should have a clear and solid reason why they have chosen to draw such a distinct and direct line, and some consciousness of how their work will be compared to the other by readers. This book seemed to lack that clear reason or that consciousness.

[bushfulofbirds]

OK I'm like 3 minutes in and a lot of these points are already re-hashing themselves a lot

This seems to set up a very common "wasted potential" argument so far

Ur pointing out a visual homage to Gurenn Lagann in your video to go along with a criticism about writing potential/misusing writing tropes because they're cool...?

OK so the aim is to focus on the first "era" (3 volumes) even tho the 2nd half supposedly also has separate issues that warrant criticism and then expect actual fans to agree with your opinions on it off the bat (presenting them as the default)

I had to pause for a moment thinking abt the landscape of RW,BY spaces in the past few years when the video frames the discussions as giving fans more points to think about rather than trying to create disdain for something

RvB nostalgia babyyy

I'm terrible at reading contexts but choosing to set up the argument that everything in conglomerate era RT is a cash grab using a jokey convo about milking RvB between Gus Sorolla and Monty Oum confuses me

IDK it's like the 2nd or 3rd time he's spent just dunking on the RT founders so far

Kudos for digging so deep into twitter to find some early teases and stuff tho

I'm glad we can acknowledge that the Red Trailer is a whole other type of beast. It's also very factual to state that the Red Trailer had more views than any other official RW,BY material at the time but why do it like that

Hell even Jeff Williams gets no escape 💀

WHAT IS THIS BLAKE SLANDER BROOOOOO NOOOOOO

*acknowledges that RT was built up over small scope projects between-friends* *immediately proceeds to dunk on amateur voice acting*

I find the choice to label Casey as "being pushed" to do a more intense anime track interesting

Aaaand finally we made it to actual writing criticism, only 17 minutes later

Comparison between Adam/the Beowolves from the Red trailer in terms of him being written to just be Generic Evilman by nature with no other development

At least he acknowledges the weirdly specific impression of two guys who only have experience with writing RvB trying to write a teenage girl (Yang) in the Yellow Trailer

This is starting to get into "fights POG any actual writing bad and slimy (it was made by a couple of dudes as a fun project)" territory now

I'm gonna note the line about Monty having total control over the characters he designed closely to ones he animated before

We go straight from more Red Trailer praise to re-hashing "this is just straight up bad y'all" over again

Oh OK we're getting into some meat (responses to criticisms on the writers' end)

So justifying Miles Luna for saying he doesn't want to act on good criticisms because they're written by assholes who just wanna find shit to complain about in extremely uncalled for ways but then is also like "but actually they just don't actually want to act on criticism at all tho" (I wonder why)

OK, so valid point pointing out the times where Miles Luna responded much more frequently to bad-faith crits with good arguments but then frames him not doing it for good-faith criticisms as much as "stepping over" said criticisms. I wonder when he's gonna move away from Miles to get to any other CR,WBY members who have commented on hatewatch at all.

Taking note of the immediate follow-up with the affirmation of saying this crit is "coming from a well-meaning place" as a Monty Oum and RT fan

"Look I'm so committed to approaching this in good faith that I even set these animated segments in a chapel!"

Damn bro commissioned a whole fucking song saying RW,BY is lame (which plays right after going after some of Monty's more direct involvement) with a bunch of gags and immediately follows that up with "Dedicated to Monty Oum" 💀💀💀💀💀💀

Sidenote: Finding it interesting that there's a separation here between Miles and Monty, in the sense that he is choosing to frame Miles as the Big Bad Beef-picking Writer and Monty as the godly animator with a passion project. Volume 1 credits Monty as a lead writer and director, with Miles being credited as a co-writer and assistant director (with the leads being Monty and then Kerry, who somehow hasn't been mentioned or even glossed over at all yet)

Woah more plot dunking who could've predicted that

Characters who- in a diegetic sense- reflect that they have no idea what the bigger picture of what they're fighting is -in a diegetic sense- or what the future is gonna look like -in a diegetic sense- is an obvious reflection that the writers have no idea what the fuck they're even doing -in real life- and are trying to project that into the show. It's not like this whole season has been character and motivation building while adding setup to the bigger plotline or anything.

OK let's go we're having a vague shift into volumes 4 and 5 now. The infamous mega crunch supreme seasons. Where not much happens. I wonder which of Miles Luna's supervillain behaviours as a director & writer could have led to larger production issues of scenes with choppy camera work & editing and limited animation

This is another moment where I wish ppl looked deeper into how production pipelines for animation actually work and what the scope of RTA/RW,BY 4-6 actually looked like in terms of turnarounds BEFORE they go after the wrong ppl for the amount of dead space in them. Screenshots of storyboards with iteration dates exist, and episode release dates are very available. Dig deep enough and maybe you'll even find some staff accounts about how bad the crunch was too. The time gaps really fucking hurt to look at. Volume 5 is arguably one of the most lore-heavy seasons but it literally could not be afforded the time it needed to be presented in an engaging and concise way, on top of the writing fumbles that ACTUALLY exist in that sense.

AH finally Kerry has been Mentioned for the first time, 25 minutes into the video

This is leaning into the territory of modifying clips to fit an agenda? That "gag" cut frames everything as being so much worse than it actually is. A lot of people start out writing parody or short stuff it's really not that unusual. Also very clever putting that in right after literally going over their previous writing/production work. Including Monty's involvement this section feels very contradictory.

This video relies on lack of attention a lot

Why is this video edited in such bad faith. It feels so goddamn passive-aggressive to watch man.

OK we're getting Shane Newville in the mix. Very clearly introduces Monty as having brought on Miles, Kerry and Shane onto HIS project early down the line.

So citing a panel where Monty talks about Miles and Kerry as helping him flesh out the plot and the written aspects.

Acknowledges that outlines and set rules on workloads and who handles what were made in advance, but also sets up conflicts between Monty and M&K from Monty's side that they had to compensate for. These materials are used to reverse-engineer a picture where the bulk of the early plot is fights with other fluff around it.

Comments that the initial setup has no actual substance towards the plot, aside from introducing humans+dust and the Grimm as foils

So far this commentary amounts to "here's everything wrong with these people this show sucks ass just trust me bro"

Actually a valid criticism in terms of the Faunus/White Fang not being introduced heavily or too fleshed out (though this is a common concensus within the fandom already)

"Why do volumes 4-5 have so much exposure in bulk?" *complains when the literal intro episode of the series doesn't have an elaborate exposure intro* (to be clear yes the Faunus and WF could absolutely have been elaborated on and explored better in my opinion but even so... huh?)

Broski did not watch Volume 2

1/

Tired RW,BY fan braves hbomb video after three years (he finally downloaded it of Internet Archive), more at 12

[mamusings]

Supernatural Season 2 thoughts

Continuing with my rewatch. This season kicks up several gears on season 1. Overall the storytelling is much better. There is a less formulaic approach to the even the MOTW episodes. Its inventive: you get one from the perspective of the ghost (Roadkill), two that layer in the boys run ins with the law. The first 4th wall breaker (Hollywood babylon), first alt reality (What is and what should never be) and I think the first straight up comic one (Tall Tales). This works much better. S1 episodes give you: a kill, work out the lore, find the creature and kill it right back. Instead of s1 espousing the lore and developing the brothers as a team, we now get to explore the show's moral compas and the complexity of what brotherhood means within it. I think Hollywood Babylon riffs off ditching the initial importance placed on accuracy in how Spn presented itself in it's own storyline. Yep we like story telling thank you, realism isnt really the point. The monsters and sub plots more clearly refract on the season themes and plot.

Supporting characters are another aspect of the shows blooming. They are a much more varied and interesting bunch. Gordon helps explore a key issue for the show - the distinction between being a hunter and a killer. Its significant he appears twice - it's a big issue. The psychics Andy and Ava are fun. Bank heist dude Ronald garners the right mix of derision and respect - I'm not sure spn homages to freaks and geeks hit the right note most of the time. And theres the Roadhouse crew and Bobby who really help flesh out what can become an overly confined universe.

The first third explores grief. You get the contrast in Sam and Dean's personalities in how they try to deal with John's death. But you also get the sense of them learning from each other as the season progresses. Dean tries talking. Sam tries keeping busy. Both grow while staying themselves. Nice. You also get a switch from s1 dominance of Dean's concern for Sam, with Sam's concern about Dean's increasingly high octane behaviour here and it's a nice switch. With grief you get guilt. Sam's is the easier too little too late regrets. Dean's is the motherload of guilt that John sacrificed himself for him. Given the shows dominant theology is Christian I find it hugely interesting that the focus here is on the receiver of the sacrifice. The overwhelming guilt Dean feels underpins the opening episodes, gets hammered home in Crossroads and then comes back for an even bigger bite when Dean does the same to Sam in the finale. Bobby's anger with Dean and Sam's devastation leaves me little doubt that as much as we all love that Sam is back, Dean did wrong here. Although maybe Dean's guilt comes from his low self worth. Sam might cope very differently?? But I do think the zombie episode declarations of 'what is dead should stay dead' make the point that thus wheeling and dealing with death cant be good. I personally find the idea that moral rules dont apply to Sam and Dean because of love is a weak one. I think fandom does spn a disservice by reducing something really complicated here into 'well they are soul mates'. Loving someone is not an excuse to chuck the rules out the window. But maybe the show itself descends into a moral free for all with no underpinning message and the blame lies there? I'm not sure. In a way that is what I'm trying to figure out with these commentaries.

What works better in explaining why Dean does to Sam what John did to him is the other big theme of season 2: the idea that right and wrong isnt black and white. This is the focus of lots of episodes some of which explore whether hunters are just killers. And others that explore at what stage something becomes evil and why. Both these questions are crucial in relation to Sam's destiny and how each of them should respond to that destiny. The first half of the season sees Dean trying out his fathers black/white approach and the hardening off of himself he thinks he needs to achieve in order to kill Sam should that becomes necessary. Its the mid season finale that finally answers that one for Dean. Sam goes proper bad, Dean doesn't kill him. Along the way, with Sam's prompting, Dean questions not only his father but also the morality he had assumed of his hunting so far. How Dean outgrows John is a huge theme for me. I find it fascinating because he remains the same kind of man as John. Tough, difficult etc he diesnt become Sam. What he changes ir accepts are that what he prizes isnt what John prizes, but rather the people he loves and he learns that this isnt a failing or a weakness. But it's a long long road.

Sam wrestles with the fact that he may turn evil trying to find ways to hope and ways to cope. He takes a leaf out of the Dean playbook at gets drunk. He prays. He looks for a safety net getting Dean's to promise to off him. Dean promises to save him, but the message in Heart is that sometimes the only way to save someone is to kill them. However, the other message is solving things one step at a time, making the right play for the circumstances and not drawing one arbitrary line somewhere - be it between people and non-people or even that evil acts make you irredeemably evil. Slippery stuff, but that's what makes it interesting.

One thing I really like in this season is how the brothers begin to influence each other. They are still a study in contrasts, but they try out each others approaches and they've learned to value what the other brings to the table. As Sam says in the opener they have just started to be brothers again. Their relationship is so supportive that the comic Tall Tales reminding us how much they wind each other up is a needed counterpart lest things get just too damn sweet. The disturbing siblings at the centre of 2 episodes is also sends the message that it ain't all roses too. Andy has an actual evil twin. The ending of Playthings with the sisters is filled with creepy foreboding is particular to this episode. One sister gives her life up for the other and it feels wrong. Of course its foreshadowing other famous brothers but let's leave that alone just now.

In terms of Sam and Dean, their brotherhood seems to have kicked the S1 Sam and Dean team up into formidable. Their run-ins with law enforcement moves our perception of them beyond boys hunting into being increasingly impressed as they outwit cops and feds. It also moves their interactions with outsiders beyond gratitude from victims towards validation from peers and this feels important. There's the seamless teamwork with code words and all. But more importantly trust and loyalty - Sam is unswayed under police questioning in The Usual Suspects. Folsom Prison Blues most explicitly highlights Dean's almost fanatical sense of loyalty and paying your dues.

This pays off in the final two parter. As strong as All Hell Breaks Lose 2 is, part 1 is a yawn fest. But what is interesting is that while Sam does his best to found a team, Azazel can just pluck them off one by one by appeals to each person's individual self interest. The only one of the psychics who gets that the only way to win is to stick together is Sam. In my view Sam learned this from Dean. Dean is always playing the stronger together card. At this point in the show, brotherhood is about solidarity, trust and loyalty. That's actually the message here far more than love. Of course they love each other. But that alone wouldn't have got them this far. What gets them here is sticking together. When Dean finally surpasses John in killing Azazel he gets his moment of John unqualified approval and love. But right after comes the key dialogue of the season. Sam says 'you did it' and Dean replies 'I didnt do it alone'. That seems to me to highlight what's been going on so far. Learning not to do it alone. Learning to lean on and accept others. That's where the Winchester boys outgrow their upbringing and themselves.

Addendum: the angel episode House of the Holy deserves a mention. Its so finely balanced between being about angels and not when viewed on it's own. Its only on rewatching that the effects and props leave you in no doubt that even if F. Gregory isn't an angel this episode is about angels. Its curious as to why it's in season 2 rather than maybe in s3 - no angel appears until season 4. I refuse to count Gabriel in s3 as an angel appearance as he's for many seasons yet still just the trickster. So why? Maybe it's to help us understand the significance for Sam? Angels give Sam hope - making it even more awful for him that he is the object of their suspicion. Or is it about the need for faith, which tellingly Dean hadn't got.

#supernatural #spn #sam #dean #winchester

[davidmann95]

thoughts on the unity saga?

I had occasion to reread it fairly recently, and while distance definitely takes the bloom off the rose I still like it a lot; it overreaches in a big way but what it does accomplish is considerable.

I’m not gonna pretend its failings are negligible: its focus on Jon in the second half while yielding lots of interesting material means Clark himself ends up sidelined for a lot of this, Rogol Zaar is indeed either a total waste of potential or a big fat nothin’ depending on your perspective, all the space stuff was apparently set up in Supergirl,* and the Legion popping in at the end while not thematically out of place is ridiculously jarring. This is Bendis at his clumsiest plotting-wise, and while I wouldn’t go so far as to advocate for Unity Saga being any longer, it probably should have at least had a breather arc breaking it up in the middle. I’ll still stand up all day every day for The Man of Steel (2018) as flat-out excellent but this isn’t something that should end up on the shelf of anyone other than Superman devotees; it’s the mixed bag that pretty much all of Bendis’s good stuff that still isn’t on the Ultimate Spider-Man (with Bagley) tier is.

That being said? I’d say a solid 70-80% of this was a blast, and the first story in Superman proper that I’d call good since 2007 that wasn’t either a one or two-shot or Chris Roberson playing clean-up. Bendis gets Superman himself *exactly* right and believably pushes him to the limit of his mental and emotional endurance without breaking anything, Reis and Prado are off the goddamn charts and Brandon Peterson’s a perfect fit for the intimate sci-fi feel of the Jon and Krypton sections, there’s tons of inventive superpower-driven setpieces, #4 is the closest Superman has ever come to feeling like a shonen manga in the best way, Jor-El is used as best he can be if you’re dealing with him having been brought back in the run before yours and then he’s shuffled back offstage where he belongs, Zod is for the first time an actual character,** and even Adam damn Strange is fun to have around. And nuclear take, everything with Jon in here rules. Could I have stood for him to have a few more years before a big coming-of-age story? Totally, there was so much potential to be mined with kid Jon, but he was around for all of two years in comics that numbers wise overwhelmingly tilted towards ‘lifeless crap if not actively wretched’, so it’s not as though that was a status quo with much weight behind it. As-is it’s the experience of learning how the world really works as you grow up blown up into big mythological Superman terms, seeing the world and learning about the worst in it across spacetime and dimensions, and Jon still stays the good kid he is and in the process pulls off the only Action Comics #1 cover homage I can recall that’s actually thematically weighty instead of an empty Easter Egg. Given the time travel shit it’d be easy to bring back kid Jon, but I sure hope that doesn’t mean taking this new vision off the table, just let ‘em be weird brothers or something. 

It’s that thread specifically that lets Unity Saga pull off putting Clark into a position of political power that actually feels sensible and in keeping with his priorities: it’s not a lack of faith in the people of Earth that leads to him deciding he needs to stand for them, as was rebuked in that killer speech in #2. It’s seeing that there’s no kindly galactic community waiting for them but instead just further and bloodier extensions of the exact same problems, problems Krypton and his father were both actively complicit in and possibly victims of. He’s not stepping up because he doesn’t believe in us, but because he’s coming to understand just how heavily the deck is stacked against us - both in the odds of a world figuring thing out for itself ideally and the threats said worlds can come to represent on the cosmic stage - and that not having someone standing up on our behalf isn’t going to be an option. That strong unifying concept isn’t enough to overlook the problems I mentioned, but on the whole even if it comes together awkwardly nearly every individual scene in this is still at worst pretty good, and while there’s no reason to expect Bendis is going to suddenly resolve all his problems going forward #16-18 have already extrapolated on the ideas presented here in exciting and promising ways. Sorry folks, but for now I remain the Bendis Superman liker; for what it’s worth I’ve been ambivalent at best on almost everything else he’s done for DC so far.

* The last time I fell for “this comic focusing on a side character will be about a mystery set up in the main book and will give the big answers” was Red Robin when I first started collecting comics. How could I have possibly expected that this time they’d mean it?

** Historically some of you may cite New Krypton as a counterpoint, to which I’ll say that I don’t care because I haven’t read it and almost certainly never will, but my understanding is that if New Krypton is the closest thing you have to an argument you’re on shaky ground.

[angelmoongirl]

2019 Fanfiction Year in Review

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Thank you to @faulkner-blog for the tag!!! 😘

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1. List of fics completed this year:

It’s a sad list, I know. “The Thing About Your Transformation” is the only COMPLETED fic this year, though, I did update WIPs “Blind Faith”, “Anomaly”, and “The Castle of Lethe”. Real life was just a smidge distracting with getting married and going on a honeymoon and all that 😉

2. Number of words written

Taking the lazy road out on this one 🙈 With all the various chapter updates I’m honestly not sure but it’s a lot?

3. Your most popular fic this year

I guess it depends on how you measure popularity! “Blind Faith” has been a big hit in terms of readership and reviews. But “The Thing About Your Transformation” garnered the most buzz particularly among SM fanfiction legends like @idesofnovember and @floraone (bows to your supreme prowess!) so there’s that 😅🥰

4. Your personal favorite this year

“Blind Faith”, hands down. I have SO MUCH planned for it and I cannot wait to show you guys how kickass blind Usagi will become or how much growth her relationship with Mamoru is going to go through 🙃 And of course there’s still THE REVEAL!

5. Your favorite scene

I really loved when Luna encourages Usagi to “Let go” and it’s like this dam inside her breaks and she just screams and yells and destroys her bedroom in “Blind Faith”... it was really cathartic for her since she can’t cry anymore! I also loved writing Usagi’s pain spell in “Anomaly”... yes. I am a little sadistic. You don’t have to tell me that!

Writing Usagi and Mamoru slooooowly, very slowly, falling in love in “Blind Faith” is pretty swell too 😊

6. A fic or scene that challenged you

“The Castle of Lethe” has been a challenge because it’s this monstrous new world with lots of original characters and while our beloved Senshi and Mamoru still play a role, most of the main focus will be on Usagi and her journey back to remembering who she is. SO MUCH IS AT STAKE IF SHE DOESN’T GUYS SO MUCH 😬

“Blind Faith” has had its fair share of challenges as well. It was a tricky thing having Usagi go through the depression of losing her sight without losing what makes her Usagi... but she’s in a better place now, and a big part of that is to do with Mamoru 😉 Speaking of... that first ‘lesson’ that basically became a screaming match was challenging too! I wanted it to be raw and bitter and to kind of... maybe not cross the line but toe the line? Hopefully it succeeded!

7. A line of writing you’re proud of

Um... would it be wrong of me to say I’m still SO proud of Usagi’s “And what about now?” line in “The Thing About Your Transformation”? Like... I’m so proud of her for dealing out some innuendo Mamoru’s way and it’s this wonderfully teasing affectionate moment but also girl got fire and she’s not afraid to let Mamoru know she can play tit for tat 🤣

8. A comment that touched you

That’s like asking me to pick a favorite child 😭 I get so much awesome feedback from all my reviewers and I treasure EVERY SINGLE ONE!

9. Something that inspired your writing this year

Anything from music to dreams to TV shows. There’s a definite homage to Stranger Things in an upcoming chapter of “Blind Faith”. And a future segment of “Anomaly” is based on a pretty terrifying dream I had. But most of all... I draw inspiration from my hubby for the romance. He’s my own personal Mamo-chan ❤️

10. Your proudest accomplishment (that one scene, finally finishing that one fic, posting your first fic, etc)

Honestly... just the fact that I wrote anything at all. This year has been one of the most stressful of my life with single-handedly planning a large wedding AND honeymoon... it’s quite the time-consuming affair! But I balanced the two somehow!

11. Do you have any writing goals for the next year?

I’d definitely love to complete all the WIPs out there... and that includes “Snapshots of the Royals” which still holds a soft spot in my heart. It was supposed to go all the way up until the Black Moon attack and Chibi-Usa’s first trip into the past, with a couple epilogue-like shorts to follow. But I keep putting it off until I go through and give it a facelift. It was written over a decade ago and my writing has grown a lot since then. ONE OF THESE DAYS I swear I will actually do it lol! Teaser for an upcoming chapter, the royals celebrate Endymion’s birthday by sneaking out for a day among the common people! And little Small Lady has been having some strange, perhaps prophetic dreams...

There are a couple one shots I’m half done. One is tentatively titled “Dirty Laundry” and it’s a post-Makai Tree U/M exploring their undefined relationship. The other has no title but it’s about Mamoru’s angst that new baby Chibi-Usa has no grandparents on his side of the family. Hopefully you will see those this year 😜

[spooki-local-cryptid]

Since no-one else is saying it... War of The Worlds 2019

!SPOILERS!

If you haven't seen this, or any other version of War of the Worlds, this contains spoilers

The 2019 War of the Worlds TV series produced by the BBC had high standards. Real high. But it had a good cast, design seemed good, and it was set to be the most faithful of all adaptations. It wasn't. Apart from being set in Edwardian England, having tripods, (very) loosely following the main plot, and having the black smoke, it wasn't accurate.

Also it was a real bitch to find and watch. Dispite being done by the BBC, it never played on TV or the BBCi Player for whatever reason, so I had to pirate it :/ Even then, I had to go through a good 20 sites to find it. Why the hell is it so difficult to find 😫 So I'll have a whinge, here's some of the stuff they really fell short on.

Characters

Some key characters like the Artilleryman, the Vicar (or Priest, whatever, the church guy) and his wife were scrapped for characters you don't really get invested in. The Artilleryman was still there, but he didn't make his appearance at the end. The vicar and his wife either wasn't included at all, or just left 0 impression. The small group you're accompanying, I could not care about.

I don't care about Amy (even as well as she was acted) because you wasn't supposed to care about any characters. It was supposed to be one man's determination to survive to reunite with his wife. When that element of determination is gone and they're together, it doesn't really work. You're not supposed to care about the characters individually. You're supposed to be caring about humanity as a whole. The focus is not on the people, but the disaster they're living in.

I do love Ogilvy and the Artilleryman, though they still could have been developed more. (Artilleryman especially, they done him dirty 🙁)

Martians

Oh my dear Martians, what happened to you 😭 Rather than being the huge, crawling squid-like creatures they were in the book, now they're just big metal spiders (?) Who are able of climbing and jumping around just fine on earth, when they should not physically be able to lift themselves up (???) If they can jump around, why would they need their machines?

And also now they eat people despite not having a stomach (?) When I believe in the source material it was just their blood they were after.

But now talking about their machines, the pod that first arrived are... Strange. They're not hollow as they should be, but just a clump of flammable material. The Martians are underneath or something. The tripods are okay. Nothing special. As much as I hated the Tom Cruise version, they had much better tripods. The heat ray doesn't exist in this, they just throw flammable mud. WHY DOES NO-ONE EVER USE THE CRAB MACHINES hhhhh please!! Someone, give us Martian machines besides the tripods! Give us Crab Machines, give us the flying machines!!!

Also the Martians didn't make any noise really so that sucked ass. The "Uulah!" From the Musical and the Siren from the 2006 version were so well done and effective. You didn't have anything here and it was super disappointing :(

Story

Key scenes and moments were cut. The ThunderChild wasn't there at all :( The fight over the Themes didn't happen :(( No tripod over Big Ben :((( The Red Weed either wasn't mentioned or was barely covered, it crystal now for some reason :(((( Artilleryman didn't come back :(((((

They included the smoke though (which I don't think any of the others have yet) so :)

But like, the image of a Tripod looming over Big Ben after the sinking of England's last defence is such an iconic scene and it wasn't included. They really really missed their chance.

Also when they did start dying, the Martians were just on the ground. It didn't have half the impact it would of being on Deaths door, having a tripod looming over you, accepting your death only to find that it's dead. And the few behind it, they all are. It sucked tbh.

I was not a fan of the disjointed approach to the story. I don't get the point of the time jumps. It interrupted the flow of the story and apart from a few scenes that blended well, it just didn't work.

Music

It was okay. I didn't really pick up too much on it to be honest, but I was expecting more. Especially with the more known and recognised version of the story being a musical. Obviously I don't expect them to burst into song, but homage to this would have been nice. They did make a reference though with "like bows and arrows against the lightening" so something close. But that was the only reference I caught. Not even a reference to "the chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one" which was a bummer considering how many good quotes the source has.

I ran out of things to talk about so I'll finish up. Overall it was, okay. I can't say more than that. Maybe I set my hopes too high, or maybe it really did fall so low, who knows. The actors were great, the effects were great, costume and set were great. But the Martians, direction and story were bad. They only barely stuck to the original plot, and moved completely away after where the ThunderChild scene should have been.

The Jeff Wayne version is still by far the superior and more accurate version of the story. Which is disappointing considering how hyped this version was but I guess it just highlights the qualities of the musical. It was one of the best sellers for a reason.

Overall it was good. Worth a check out if you like your Sci-Fi, Fiction, Drama, Period Drama or even Romance. But if you're a big fan of the franchise, it's nothing to get too excited over. I really wish it was though. It deserves a 7/10, although it could have been a 10/10 so easily if they just followed the formula properly

[ruwithmeguys]

Arrow Season 7 wishlist

I had a season 6 wish-list: about half of them came true.. Sadly, the rest didn’t and there were some really juicy ones.

In no particular order... (I’ll add to this as I go and please be assured; anything I say about characters relates in no way to the actors who portray them)

1) One of he NTA needs to go...

Okay, so this is a dark thought; especially to start off with. But they did this. The writers/creators/producers/executives; they screwed with characters many of us were warming to or flat out loved and forgot how loyal we are to OTA regardless. They FORGOT. I mean, I was very sure they were more attune to their audience than that and we were clearly wrong.

But not in every way. They got a lot right. I’m not holding a grudge; there’s no point. I... have no interest in Rene beyond Zoe, I do NOT like Curtis and Dinah... she shows potential.

But they can’t come back from the clusterfuck of the civil war arc. They can only push forwards. I’m doing the same.

The problem is that, until the majority of us see serious growth, something to keep us/me interested, we’re going to stay in the ‘I don’t give a crap’ squad, which tells me that maybe - just maybe - something huge is going to occur in the first or second episode to make us all spit out our food/drink during the airing of 7.01.

Unfortunately I couldn’t care less that Curtis has a boyfriend or that he’s working with Felicity. People who act likes dicks tend to get the good things in life. Granted he’s suffered: I understood Paul’s reason for divorcing him but his genuine desire to NOT fight for his marriage confused me. This and the fact that he seemed to just exist for a full season (5) made me feel reluctantly sympathetic. Especially when part of his literal reason for existence was to reunite Olicity who didn’t need his help but... that was his thing.

Now? Sympathetic? Not so much. He’s become a massive juvenile, callous and selfish hypocrite that makes us all question his existence on the show. Even his fans.

However, as the sole homosexual character on the show with a love interest, they won’t kill him off. He has zero SL. He very literally has to be joined to Felicity’s, each time. The boyfriend is the only difference. I can’t ‘like’ this person. The man needs to learn humility. He’s become unnecessary enough that he wasn’t even present in the trailer: the ONLY character who wasn’t in it. That’s a bold neon light on the truth right there. Being a judgemental ass is a bad look. 

I don’t have blind faith in Beth but I very much love everything she’s said about S7 so far. I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt THROUGHOUT the season. She’s already proven a better spokeswoman. It’s all good.

Dinah... there’s potential here. Now that she’s finally stepped off her high horse, I’m hoping Oliver’s incarceration will make her question her own horrible choices and what it REALLY means to be a masked vigilante, because she clearly didn’t know in S6. Thankfully, shes actually mentioned this. I don’t need a LI for her this season; that fell flat. Right now, I need her to find purpose that doesn’t make her a hypocritical ‘insert expletive’. 

(I’m a huge fan of love interests occurring when we least expect it: two people that shouldn't fit but do, which is part of the essence of Olicity)

Leaving the civil war arc behind, I still kind of like her. I WANT to like her again. 

Oliver went to prison for them all; surely that should change them all?

She, Rene, Curtis; they have no idea what true heroism means. They’re only in their second/third seasons and they still haven’t been through anything to close to one year of Oliver Queen’s life. 

I’d like to see her find this. And I’d like to see her change and accept responsibility for who she’s chosen to be. It would provide a nice mirror to BS’s viewpoint and actions in season 6.

But Rene... this one is dicey. While he made more headway than the other two, I felt it was partly undeserved. If he wasn’t obnoxious, he was confusing. When eh apologised, he managed to add in a few insults. That kind of, you know... nullifies the apology. But he got away with it. His ‘Hoss’ and ‘Blondie’ have gone dry. Over-dry. His zero care about going against Oliver on trial made his defence fall flat, even when Oliver showed distrust. The only time I liked him, was when he was with Zoe.

If any of them get killed, it will be Rene. I’m not saying it will happen; but IF it does, it’ll be Rene. 

So either... kill Rene or change all of them, because honestly at this point, most of us aren’t here for them.

2) If Felicity isn’t allowed friends, can we get a couple of scenes between her and Dinah or Lyla or both that aren’t all based on their night lives. Give me a few heartfelt moments. Give me something real to believe. Friendship is built; it doesn’t just exist because the writers tell us it does. Show not tell. A mistake made with LL in season 4. 

3) Reunion sex for Oliver and Felicity because, damn if they’ve been deprived. And, why not? I mean, chuck in some hot argument sex, some poignant love affirming sex, some flirty flirt sex, some nude shower scene sex, some epic love reaffirmations; go for it!

They've been put through shit; some of it because of friends. If even ONE friend cock-blocks them, this includes Diggle, they’re on my shit-list.

4) Give Oliver the agency he needs during this prison arc; let us see the process of him falling back into that dark place he started in, S1. Let us see him crawl back upwards without Felicity’s help. 

We know, thanks to Stephen, that Oliver has - in the 5 months since has incarceration - realised his choice was a ‘fucking bad choice’ in terms of what it’s done to Felicity and William. In fact I’d go out on the limb and say he knew that immediately when he got in the cell judging by the dead look in his eyes.

So let’s see him escape prison because this is BEGGING for a break out, and let us see him go to his family, because you know part of the reason he breaks out will be because of THEM. Because he HAS to. Because he’s needed.

Let’s see him and Felicity heal this forced separation, which was, at part, due to him. It was selfless, because he didn’t WANT to. He did it because he thought it was the right thing to do. He’s going to regret it and it’ll hurt to watch in all the best ways.

5) I’d enjoy a scene between Diggle and Felicity which focuses on him being there for her and mentioning that he wasn’t last season.

I’m sorry. I love Dig. But if he’d been there, Oliver might not have gone off on his own.

6) Given that this is a season about redemption, then can all characters be included?

Why? Well...

The theme redemption doesn’t just mean characters finding it, it means characters failing to reach it. People who may realise that it isn’t for them, like BS possibly. Or people who try really hard but can’t and are left devoid.

It involves characters who don’t need redeeming: people like Felicity who, this time, is done with reacting and is going to be proactive. Who deserves nothing but the happiness that has been robbed from her as a woman and as a wife.

It means understanding that redemption isn’t always clear cut and can mean unusual realities occurring.

It means the city, who need to open their eyes to what one man, his wife and his best friend did for their city all these years.

7) Focusing.

I won’t lie: I’m biased, BUT. I’m not wrong when I say Olicity need to be focused on this season. I’m not talking A full season: and there will be plenty of focus apart before they’re together. 

I’m talking time to focus on them as a couple. Separate from them as parents and them as parents, them as friends to others.

This is a normal thing: for a show to focus on a couple that has been put through the mill. I’m guaranteeing it won’t be a lot. 

I do think it will be more than you expect.

I’m highlighting this for a reason. A lot the fandom are under the impression that they get sidelined: Olicity are given quite a bit more screen-time than we think. But some of us notice the lack of other things happening so, those people, rely on more Olicity in order to forget that. Episodes 6.13 - 6.15 come to mind.

Like it or not, they were focused on in season 6. I know Felicity had little story and Oliver was sidelined several times but, sometimes that happens (it happens quite a bit in Felicity’s case). Doesn’t mean we won’r get what Oliver and Felicity NEED in season 7 and onward.

 8) Felicity

I never needed Smoak Tech. 

I just want her to be INVOLVED.

The fact that she’s a) in protective custody living under a different name and looking after William and b) in contact and in actual scenes with Watson, getting more and more INVOLVED (I like this word) with the law whilst committing crime like the ultimate paragon for getting shit done and for being the backbone of (Oliver) heroism in the city and a paradox (a very good person doing the right things by being a cyber badass and vigilante hacker) makes me feel like I’m going to enjoy season 7 already. 

Then we’ll get a prison breakout. Olicity reuniting. Olicity re-acquainting Themistocles with each other through touch, words, sex etc. Re-finding what it means to be a vigilante in eyes of the public will be just as much her mission as Oliver’s.

9) Paying homage

Let’s have tribute to everything Oliver, Felicity and Diggle have done for the past 6 seasons. We’ve had focus on Tommy, on Robert, Moira and LL. They died: none of them needed to.

Robert died to save his son.

Tommy died to save the woman he loved.

Moira died to save her children.

Laurel died because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time and it was reaffirmed in season 6, that it was partly due to her lack of skill and experience, her incredible stubbornness to listen to anyone else’s logic, and her need to reach that high.

They all died, except LL, for love. And all of them had tribute paid to them, some more than others. 

But now that’s over so can due attention be given to what these three have sacrificed over the years? Can we have people see how much Oliver has given to the city, what Felicity has both lost and gone through, the time and effort and heart John has spent on their mission of three?

You don’t have to die to have people recognise the amazing good you’ve done. This isn’t the time of the Renaissance artist: let’s have a little respect paid to the OTA as separate people and as a team of three amazing heroes and as people who have loved each other in many different ways: team mates, partners, friends, family... lovers. Married soul mates. Brothers/comrades in arms.

Let’s have that moment that makes us all glad we’ve been watching for years, where the city, Rene/Dinah/Curtis and the law recognise them.

I’ll probably add to this list.

[gingerandwry]

Montgomery, Alabama

After Birmingham my next step was 1.5 hours south, the state capital Montgomery, another historically-charged city in the South. I read it was pretty sleepy (truth) so I decided I would just spend a few hours there but my time did not disappoint. Even more so than Birmingham, Montgomery is a step back in time with important lessons for the present. If only they would learn....

My first stop off I-65 was the brand new National Memorial for Peace and Justice. It opened last year to commemorate victims of racially-motivated violence, from slavery to police killings, but its primary focus is lynchings. Atop a grassy hill under a low slung roof hang 400 rectangular iron slabs, one for each county where lynchings took place (mostly in the South, but parts of the midwest too). On each slab is engraved the name of the county and the people who were lynched there (tho only a fraction of the victims and their stories are known). The pathway slopes downward in a loop until the slabs’ hanging effect becomes unmistakeable. Along the sides are engraved inspirational quotes and the shocking stories of some of the victims (one man was lynched after a coat went missing). The horrific details of torture and death are not spared. Outside this roofed area an identical set of 400 slabs lie on the ground like a field of coffins, waiting for each county to pick theirs up and display it, in an attempt to create a truly national memorial and a semblance of accountability. It’s deeply saddening and moving, a truly provocative, moving, overdue addition to our country’s national monuments. But unlike, say, the Vietnam Memorial, here you must have your bags inspected, pass through a metal detector and be told not to take selfies with the statues of tormented slaves in chains. How awful that those precautions are still needed.

From there I moved to Montgomery’s most famous institution, the Rosa Parks Museum. It has two halves: a children’s wing that tells a very simplified version of black history from slavery to Jim Crow (all while sitting on a “time machine” bus with hydraulics driven by the robot Mr. Rivets); and a wing focused on Parks’ protest and the ensuing bus boycott. Annoyingly the ticket person didn’t tell me that the first part was for children when he sold me a ticket, so I wasted 30 minutes riding this Magic School Bus. At least I was all alone (except for Mr. Rivets) so I didn’t have to give up my seat to anyone.

I decided to postpone the second half of the museum and walk through downtown Montgomery to the capitol building. The main street, Dexter Ave, has not changed much since Parks was arrested there almost 65 years ago. Most of the storefronts are deserted and judging by the signage left behind, they have been empty for decades. Some of the structures are quite beautiful and historic, such as the fountain at Court Square (originally a slave market and later the bus stop where Parks boarded that bus) and the Winter Building (where the Confederate leaders sent a telegram to their generals permitting them to fire upon Fort Sumter, which started the Civil War). But mostly it’s pretty bleak. Even the more modern government buildings at the end are really unattractive smorgasbords of too many architectural styles.

The capitol building itself is fairly nice. The grounds are well-maintained, and they had the decency to remove the Confederate flags from their massive monument to the Confederacy.... (Fittingly I had the disgust of seeing Jeff Sessions pass by as I was photographing the monument.) The building has undergone several expansions and renovations and even tho there has been some attempt to restore original details, it still looks like the interior came from Julia Sugarbaker of “Designing Women.” The walls are mostly painted pink and lavender, and the carpeting and chandeliers are quite... ornate. The original Senate chamber is where the Confederacy was born, and the front steps are where Jefferson Davis was sworn in as president. (Over one hundred years later, MLK would address 25,000 supporters from those steps after they walked in protest from Selma, the first attempt ending in the police severely beating the marchers.) Weirdly I think I saw maybe three people working in the entire STATE CAPITOL, not to mention the dozen I saw walking around the city for an hour. It is sleepy there....

Montgomery has an interesting way of addressing its dual history as the birthplace of both the Confederacy and the Civil Rights Movement. The public signage is notably impassive: “This happened here. This happened there.” Of course true objectivity doesn’t exist-- they use “secede” and “secession” a lot, rather than, say, “rebel” and “traitor”-- but I do think the state has struck the right chord. They know how divisive their history continues to be. They clearly just want to acknowledge historic events and keep the government neutral in these heated discussions, a wise lesson for Alabama. (My biggest gripe is that I saw nothing acknowledging that Montgomery began as an important port for slave trading. Even the sign at the riverfront only mentioned that the port traded a lot of cotton, grain “and other commodities”.)

The non-state sites, such as the Rosa Parks Museum and the Lynching Memorial, stir enough passion to make up for the official indifference. My next stop was the National Civil Rights Memorial, an homage to 40 people who died as martyrs during the Civil Rights struggle, Some of them were active protestors; others were bystanders whose deaths helped propel the movement. Some are familiar, like Medgar Evers, Emmett Till and MLK; others are unknown. The terrifying, harrowing personal stories hit hard. Outside of the museum is a water sculpture designed by Maya Lin (of the Vietnam War Memorial) that is solemn and dignified, while its flowing water and circular design suggest the struggle has always been happening and continues to this day.

After this it was time for lunch at Dreamland, a small Alabama BBQ chain that was as delicious as it was friendly. It’s in an area just northwest of downtown by the riverfront that is undergoing a promising, well, gentrification. It’s full of beautiful old brick factories and warehouses that are being restored and converted into lofts, galleries, restaurants, bars, etc. It sounds tragic to coastal ears, but I think Montgomery could really benefit from development that draws in young people. And the restorations look remarkable.

After lunch I walked to Old Alabama Town, a collection of small old homes spread across several blocks that display what the city used to look like (I’m not sure when exactly). It was cute and charming but not architecturally noteworthy and hardly worth the walk over. I went back, past the Hank Williams statue, and popped over to the riverfront, also not worth the walk (at least not on a grey winter day).

My last stop was back at the Rosa Parks Museum to see the “grown-up” wing I missed before. It’s one of these museums that makes you sit through various presentations rather than proceed at your own pace. I’m not a fan of that, especially when I’m tired and trying to get to Mobile before the rain and dark arrive. The first video describes life for blacks under segregation and explains how the bus segregation was the most hated of all, which was actually pretty interesting. It tells Rosa Parks’ backstory as well, but although it explains how she worked with the NAACP, it glosses over how much of her protest was plotted in advance so that the museum can stick to the “just a tired lady on the bus” narrative. Once that video ends, some doors open and lead the viewers into a room designed to look like a bus stop, complete with the shell of an old bus. In the windows a video is playing, and for the next ten minutes actors in the video recreate the scene when Parks wouldn’t give up her seat. It sounds weird-- and it was-- but somehow it works. (Fun fact: under city law Parks was allowed to sit where she was and did not have to give up her seat, tho neither she nor the driver was aware.) Unfortunately I had to skip the self-guided history of the boycott (which is really the best part) because my meter was running out. I also decided to skip the Lynching Memorial’s sister Legacy Museum. It sounds amazing, but I wanted to get on the road and frankly, it sounds really depressing, and I had had enough for the day.

I then left for Mobile (to be continued) and while I was having dinner there I caught up on the news of the day. It turns out that while I was touring Montgomery’s and Alabama’s tortured history of discrimination, the US Supreme Court handed down a decision in the case of Domenique Rey. Rey is a Muslim man on death row in... Alabama. After exhausting his appeals, he asked that an imam be allowed to pray with him during his execution. The state told him that only the officially sanctioned (Christian) chaplain would be allowed. Rey appealed, citing the Constitution’s anti-establishment clause which forbids the government from favoring any religions. The Eleventh Circuit stayed his execution but the US Supreme Court decided against him. The new conservative majority of five thought that because his petition arrived just weeks before the execution, he was only trying to delay it (nevermind that he filed as soon as he learned the imam would not be allowed). Even many conservative commentators think this will go down as one of the Court’s worst decisions, along with Dred Scott and Plessy (which I learned about on the time machine bus tour!). Curiously, after the Eleventh Circuit stayed the execution, Alabama figured the jig was up so they changed the rule so that no clergy of any faith would be allowed to comfort the condemned during an execution. This echoes the state’s tactics during the fight against segregation, when they closed parks, pools, schools, etc. rather than integrate them. Alabama, will you ever grow up?!

[thefutureisplywoodbikes]

The “My Top Films of 2018″ post positively no-one has been crying out for

Hi friends, it’s been a while.  I’ve been meaning to do a little monthly film round up / review thing for a while now (A suggested enterprise that I should say I have received specific encouragement for) but it felt a bit weird starting in the middle of the year so maybe consider this a warm up for that.  I HATE spoilers so rarely read any kind of detailed review for anything I feel inclined to see until after I’ve watched it, so the usual format here will be a sentence whether you should bother to go see a film, a few films that might have a similar feel of characteristics if you’re still undecided or looking for more of the same, and finally I might give some extra details or specific opinion.  If you’re a spoiler pedant like me you might want to skip this last part but I imagine most of you will be OK.

As what follows are what I consider the best films of the year, it should be a given that I suggest you seek them out and watch them.  If you can’t be arsed with or don’t want the details and discussion, of which there’s a lot below, skip down; I’ll put the list near the bottom, along with a selection of other highlights that didn’t make the cut.

Anyway, onto the business at hand.  To qualify for my long-list films had to be new releases that I’ve seen in a cinema this year.  I’ve not counted any Netflix or Amazon fare, or any classics, some of which obviously are some of the best films I’ve seen in the cinema this year, but you shouldn’t really need specific encouragement to go see Rear Window, Once Upon a Time In The West or The Apartment if you get the chance.  I did have a solid 10, but had forgotten something important, so you’re getting a top 11 and a best of the rest section instead.  

11 (also 10)

- You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay)

- A Woman’s Life (Stéphane Brizé)

Two very different films share 10th place.  You Were Never Really Here is a bruising tale of a damaged person not so much seeking redemption as just getting by.  Set in contemporary New York, it features a superb central performance from Joachin Phoenix and is beautifully shot by Lynne Ramsay.  Has a similarly feel, in terms of the editing at least, to her earlier film We Need To Talk About Kevin.  There was a lot of talk about this being a modern day Taxi Driver which is an understandable comparison given the subject matter but might unfairly raise expectations if you’re not careful; it isn’t and it isn’t trying to be.  It does however have a bit of a Paul Schrader feel to it so if you enjoyed First Reformed this would be worth a look.  Currently on Amazon Prime, if you’re not boycotting Bezos.

A Woman’s Life I saw pretty much solely on the strength of how much I liked Stéphane Brizé’s previous film, The Measure of A Man which covers similar territory to I, Daniel Blake but with considerably more subtlety and sharper focus and is for me more successful for it.  An adaptation of Guy de Maupassant first novel, Une Vie, the story as the title suggests, takes you through the life of a woman in 19th Century France.  It‘s a slow, measured and intelligent film, sympathetic, naturalistic and moving and slyly shines light on the inherent cruelty of the pervasive limitations of the patriarchal society of the time.  Not sure what to recommend for comparison since it was early in the year I saw it and I don’t think I’ve seen much else like it.  If you’re a fan of Bresson give it a look.  If you enjoyed Jacques Rivette’s The Nun maybe.  If you liked Barry Lyndon but think it needs toning down in terms of flair and mood.  Tolstoy was a big fan of the novel if that floats your boat, Mostly I’d say watch Measure of a Man and maybe track this down if you liked that.

9 

Let The Corpses Tan (Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani)

From the Brussel-based French duo behind Amer and The Strange Colour of Your Body’s Tears, if you’ve seen either of their earlier films you’ll have some idea of what you’re getting here.  It’s not going to be to everyone’s tastes; if you want a straightforward plot, narrative resolution or ultimately to fully understand what the fuck is going on, you’re in the wrong place, but if you like the sound of a pristinely crafted and gorgeously shot amalgamation of spaghetti western and Poliziotteschi aesthetics, this is likely very much up your street.  If you liked Mandy as a film that is effectively an homage to the mood a variety of 80′s films, I think this does similar for a different period more smoothly.  If you’re not sold by now I’m not sure what else to say but you can watch it on Amazon Prime if you’re curious.

8

Lucky (John Carroll Lynch)

On paper this shouldn’t be as good as it is.  Not a lot really happens.  It’s competently shot but not visually exceptional. It would seem to unashamedly be a vehicle to showcase the enduring charm of Harry Dean Stanton in a role that I would be astonished if i were to discovery it wasn’t written specifically for him.  And yet it’s HUGELY endearing.  It’s sweet without ever approaching being mawkish or saccharine.  Stanton is an irascible, charming and poignant delight as a man doing his best to defiantly maintain his independence while coming to terms with his encroaching mortality .  David Lynch is less convincing as a man bereft after his tortoise has escaped from the garden, yet still it all kinda works and has context.  If you’ve liked Harry Dean Stanton in anything else, but particularly Paris, Texas.  You’ll likely enjoy this.  If you’re a Twin Peaks geek, liked The Straight Story, St Vincent (As in the 2014 Bill Murray movie), Mystery Train or maybe even On Golden Pond you’ll likely be OK too.

7

Filmworker (Tony Zierra)

You’d be forgiven for not knowing who Leon Vitali, the subject of this film, is.  Some of you with better memories may place him as the actor who portrayed Lord Bullingdon in Barry Lyndon, likely because at some point you’ve looked him up after watching his superb performance wondering whatever happened to him.  What you’re unlikely to be aware of (unless you’ve already seen this) is his immense contribution to, and sacrifices for, the work of Stanley Kubrick, an ongoing commitment that will likely persist until his dying breath.   

In awe of the auteur on the set of Barry Lyndon, he effectively abandoned his acting career at the moment it was set to take off, to work with Kubrick in whatever capacity he could, over time becoming his most trusted, and woefully overworked, assistant.  There is a sense that this a tale of one man being exploited in another man’s ruthless pursuit of their vision, which in part it is, but Vitali’s devotion is effectively religious and so he commands more respect and admiration than pity for the extent he has given over his life to his passion.  If you like Kubrick, have seen and loved any on his films at the cinema, on video, DVD or blu-ray you have a responsibility to see this, because it is extremely likely that Leon is the man who has personally checked the prints and colour gradings to ensure they are precisely as they should be.  It should also be a reminder that there are hundreds of thousands of others unsung who’ve had a hand in making the films you love.

If you’re a film geek, serious cineaste or fan of any of Kubrick films but particularly the last four (Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut), you should see this.

6

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig)

At heart Lady Bird is a simple story, very well told.  It has suitable faith in its script to keep things simple and in doing so delivers 95 breezily delightful minutes of cinema.  I saw this immediately after having endured The Shape of Water (Superficial, predictable, indulgent, emotionally-manipulative dross, with some insultingly shallow politics shoe-horned in to bolster its credibility) so the contrast may have inflated my enjoyment but after that, this was a breath of fresh air.  It has a lean, clever script flawlessly delivered by it’s stellar cast, led by primarily by the equally excellent Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf but also featuring Timotheé Chalamet and the reliably remarkable / remarkably reliable Lucas Hedges in supporting roles.  The result is a film full of well-rounded, flawed and relatable characters.  The depiction of teenagers seem particularly sharp; the traumas of negotiating the trials of burgeoning adulthood are treated sympathetically but you’re also shown achingly absurd moments of pretension that’ll likely spark a pang of amused recognition in anyone over 20.

If you liked 20th Century Women or Greta Gerwig’s other cinematic outings (I don’t think I’ve actually seen many others but it stands to reason.) you’ll likely get a kick out of this not really sure what else compares suitably.

It’s a nice film.  Give it a go if you haven’t already.

5

Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson)

The latest offering from Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread is a curious creature and a bit of departure for the director, stylistically at least.  On the surface a dry tale of a celebrated English tailor discovering a new muse and lover and the shifting of power and negotiation of compromises as their relationship develops, I’d say the real meat here is in the subtexts but I don’t want to prejudice your viewing with my half-baked theorising so I’ll say no more.  Visually sumptuous, pristinely photographed and with a deliciously acerbic and quotably witty script, you also get a trio of marvellous performances from Daniel Day-Lewis, Leslie Manville and Vicky Krieps in the lead roles.  A wry treat for all who like seductive subtlety at a steady pace and one that’s sure to benefit from repeat viewing.  (I’ve yet to rewatch myself but am keen to and in the course of writing this list I’ve been compelled to bump it up a few spots and suspect it may well have faired better if I had)

If you’re a PTA fan you’ve likely already seen this but if you need specific prompting I’d say it’s closest in spirit to The Master, but it’s still more idiosyncratic among his output than similar to the others.  If you like the barbed charm of the writing of the films of the British New Wave, or Pinter’s script for Losey’s The Servant you'll also likely find this worth your time.

4

Climax (Gaspar Noé)

Despite it's place here, I have a hard time recommending Climax. Watching it was possibly the most queasily unnerving experience I've ever had in a cinema, which is entirely it's intent.

Following the events that unfold one snowy evening at an isolated rehearsal hall where a group of dancers having a final night party fall victim to an LSD-spiked sangria, what starts out as a mesmerising display of dancing skill and exuberance slowly shifts into a hellish, decadent descent as innermost fears and desires surface and are enacted.

The film is technically spectacular, largely composed of a single twisting shot that woozily drifts among the action and skilfully approximates the helpless intoxication of the characters. Prior to this the film opens with a series of interviews with the dancers, shown on a tv flanked by videos and books, the theme of which would appear to be transgression in its various forms. It's a simple, smart device that foreshadows events to come but also lays out the story's influences and inspirations. The overall result is the sense that experience you receive has been carefully and precisely crafted, something all films obviously aim to do but that this actually delivers, extraordinarily well. Even when things slow and drag in the last 20 minutes (which they undeniably do) you feel like you're being made to endure the comedown of the preceding proceedings. It's not going to be for everyone and I'm not sure the visceral unease of seeing this in the cinema will translate to small screen viewing, but it's a brilliant affecting piece of cinema for those prepared to brave it.

If you didn't like Enter The Void, you're probably not going to like this but if you did, you probably will. The content isn't necessarily especially graphic but there's a sense of callous disregard and cruelty that made for uneasy viewing for me at least, similar to the darker moments of Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer or Man Bites Dog. You probably know by now if you're gonna watch it or not, so let's move on.

3

Utøya: July 22 (Erik Poppe)

Not to be confused with the Paul Greengrass Netflix film (Which went into production a year later than this then stole it’s working title) Utøya: July 22 is the second film on this list to centrally feature an extended tracking shot.  This one was shot in one interrupted take and, much like Climax, is a harrowing film elevated by the directorial decisions that informed and shaped its creation.  

Unfolding in real time the film shares the experience of Kaya, a teenage girl attending the summer camp on the Norwegian island of Utøya during the 2011 terrorist attack there.  It’s a heartbreaking watch.  Less generous reviews suggest it to be manipulative, others, which I am obviously  moreso inclined to agree with, feel that the films choices place the victims in the forefront of the story and in doing so highlights failings within the usual handling of such events on film and more broadly in the media, failings which, while I haven’t seen it, I have heard the aforementioned Netflix film is guilty of. While the characters in this film are fictional, their stories are based on the testimonies of survivors and survivors were heavily consulted both during the writing of the script and the filming.  The terrorist is not named and is only shown once in the distance which, given the intention of his murderous assault was to draw attention to himself and his toxic political views, is very effective at both resisting unwitting complicity in advancing these aims and preventing the victims and the horror of their experiences from being shifted into peripheral significance.  They are not merely a notorious individuals tragic statistics and  they, or any other victim of mass murder, should never be allowed to be seen in such terms.  This film has been painstakingly and thoughtfully constructed to honour them and the gravitas of their suffering and is intelligent and powerful film that deserves far greater attention.

It feels somewhat ridiculous to offer comparative suggestions for this one; it’s not an enjoyable viewing experience, so if you’re not already moved to watch it maybe you shouldn’t bother.  If you’re still undecided this does feature perhaps the most effective and emotionally involving uses of the single shot proximal viewpoint, a technique employed in a number of titles of recent years (Birdman, Victoria, The Revenant, Gravity etc.) that I’ve seen.  It something which Son of Saul was celebrated for, where the intent was similarly a claustrophobic immersion, but which, in that instance, I found somewhat distracting.  This succeeded for me where Son of Saul did not.

2

Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski)

I still haven’t seen Pawlikowski’s previous film Ida but the strength of esteem that it garnered led me to see this without knowing anything about it.  (And if you really want to enjoy it, you should skip the rest of this and do the same.  Actually you should do that anyway, because I likely create an unreasonable high expectation by the end of this.)

The film covers a love story as it unfolds and transforms over the space of 20 years under the shadow of the Cold War.  At various points the romance is  frustrated either by the ubiquitous demands and expectations of the Soviet state apparatus or by the lovers diverging fates negotiating it.  Given the tale is loosely based on the story of his own parents, one would be forgiven for fearing this might be a melodramatic tale of predictably plucky triumph, but the nuance and complexity of the central relationship, challenged as it is by not only external forces but internal conflicts, has a suitable quantity of bitterness and disappointment to feel like a truthful portrayal.  It’s refreshingly unsentimental, as is the depiction of life under totalitarian rule and in some ways this is as much a film about the potential for lives to be crushed by oppressive regimes as it is about loves ability to resist them.

Also of note; the film is gorgeous.  The black and white photography is pristine throughout and subtly shifts with the films location.  The soundtrack comprises  Eastern European folk and 50s Jazz and, with music forming a central role in the plot, the scenes where it features most heavily stand out and are at times breathtaking.  The acting too is great with Joanna Kulig proving a particularly enchanting screen presence.  It’s a manifoldly beautiful film.

If you still need persuading (though you really shouldn’t, because by this stage I’m just over-egging the pudding) if you liked Ida obviously this’ll be up your street, if you’re a Tarkovsky fan in general you’ll likely appreciate some of the framing and pacing here but if your especially fond of Ivan’s Childhood (And if you’re not you probably should be) the look and feel of this should prove particularly appealing.  

1

Shoplifters (Hirokazu Kore-eda)

It’s unlikely that I’m alone in placing this at the top of my list.  I don’t think I’ve spoken to anyone who hasn’t liked this film.  Most have loved it.  This is very rare.  In fact, if you haven’t yet seen this, don’t bother reading further, just go see it in the cinema while you still have the chance.  (I don’t want to hear any shit about spoilers or whinging about missing it.) If you’ve seen any of Kore-eda’s other recent films (with the possible exception of The Third Murder) you will have had some idea of what to expect with this.  He is a master of tender, low-key tales of everyday life and the drama contained within.  Our Little Sister was my first encounter with his work and was my favourite film of 2016. It features the intertwining lives of three sisters who live with their grandmother and the half-sister they effectively adopt when their estranged father dies.  It’s a simple, wonderfully uplifting film that unceremoniously shows you the progressing lives of a loving family in rural Japan.  After The Storm looks at another family, this time in Tokyo and more fractured and dysfunctional but still observed with compassion and though flawed, prove deeply sympathetic and relatable.  In Shoplifters we are again presented with a family, this time a gathering of humble misfits and miscreants predominantly bonded by solidarity in the face of poverty, hardship and neglect.  Their love for each other is evident in their actions but as the film progresses it is brought into question by figures of authority and more broadly a society that though unwilling to help them when in need is more than prepared to judge and condemn them regardless of their circumstances.

This is both an overtly political film and a deeply philosophical one but fundamentally it’s an achingly sensitive and compassionate drama.  It brings to light rarely discussed economic disparity in Japan and the difficulties of those struggling to get by.  It examines what constitutes a family and questions the value of traditional familial and societal bonds when they don’t encompass a duty of care.  It lead you to reflect on you own fortunes compassion and morality.  And it does all of this simply by presenting you with a group of characters with complex stories.  Acts that might be considered otherwise outrageous are given suitable context to leave you entirely capable of empathising with the decisions to undertake them.

A devastatingly moving and humane film, this is beautifully shot, scripted, edited and brilliantly performed by a hugely talented cast.  An irrefutable masterpiece.  Must watch.

Right, below is a recap of the list then below that will be a list of notable highlights that made the long-list, for those of you not already bored shitless

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OK, welcome back slackers. Here’s the list.

10. - You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay)

      - A Woman’s Life (Stéphane Brizé)

9.  Let The Corpses Tan (Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani)

8.  Lucky (John Carroll Lynch)

7.  Filmworker (Tony Zierra)

6.  Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig)

5.  Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson)

4.  Climax (Gaspar Noé)

3.  Utøya: July 22 (Erik Poppe)

2.  Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski)

1.  Shoplifters (Hirokazu Kore-eda)

And now for the best of the rest.  You should maybe try to watch these before reading the details too

The Rider (Chloé Zhao)

This was unquestionable beautiful and does an excellent job of showing the limitations of investing in an outmoded code of masculinity, in this instance that of the cowboy.  The amateur cast effectively play versions of themselves in the thinly disguised the story of lead actor Brady Jandreau’s struggles to adjust after a severe rodeo injury curtails his career and hopes. Why it’s not in my top 10: This is a cinematic love letter to Brady and while it’s effective in display the depth of the directors affection for him and his, admittedly very endearing, family, it’s less so as a means to convince you to share it’s viewpoint if, like me, you don’t share Chloe Zhao’s unquestioning sympathy from the outset.  Questions about animal welfare, the validity of cowboy traditions, practices and iconography in the modern world and whether that imported culture dominating life on a Lakota reservation can ever be anything but a toxic cul-de-sac, all go unasked and unanswered.

The Wild Pear Tree (Nuri Bilge Ceylan)

This probably should be in my top ten.  It’s absolutely spectacular.  Beautifully naturalistic and expansive in scope and ambition.  One regular customer at the cinema where I work said it authentically encapsulates the experiences of everyday Turkish life and so if that sounds up your street and you have a spare three and a bit hours to invest this is richly rewarding watch.

Why it’s not in my top 10: It’s just soooo long.  It’s 188 minutes but feels like longer, which I’d actually say is a good thing because it covers so much ground at such a measured pace you’re surprised when it’s over that you’ve experienced so much in such a, relatively, short space of time.  But it’s still exhausting.  While lengthy discussions work within the context of the film their inclusion teeters on the brink of indulgence and the main character, a youthful and arrogant would-be intellectual, is frankly a bit of a dick, and that’s a long time to spend in the company of someone you don’t necessarily like.  So in essence, while this is a masterpiece, it is a demanding one, and it’s because I found the physical experience of watching this to be more challenging than either enjoyable or invigorating that it slipped into the runners-up.  Once Upon A Time in Anatolia, which I rewatched earlier this year, manages to cover similar territory but still leave you enlivened so I was hoping this might do the same.

Leave No Trace (Debra Granik)

A well-paced, great looking and emotive little drama featuring exceptional central performance from Thomasin McKenzie and the dependably compelling Ben Foster as a father and daughter living on the margins of society in contemporary America.  Comparisons with with the work of Kelly Reichardt seem justified.

Why it’s not in my top 10: It’s a great film, I just personally think I saw at least 10 better ones this year.  You might feel otherwise.  (But you’d still be wrong)

The Miseducation of Cameron Post

I found this to be really sweet and engaging and similarly effective to Lady Bird in giving dignity and truth to the voices of youth.  It felt a bit like a modern day update of a John Hughes film (but with the startling misogyny and casual racism excised obviously)

Why it’s not in my top 10: It’s good, but not that good.

Marlina the Murderer In Four Acts

Indonesian.  Feminist.  Western.

What more do you need to hear.  A great little film that deserves a wider audience.

Why it’s not in my top 10: You’ve got the gist of this by now surely?

A Fantastic Woman 

I think this did a really good job in highlighting the various forms of conspicuous everyday cruelty that hinder the lives of trans women and more broadly the harmful prejudices that nestle within normative society.  The film is far from perfect and is not without it’s justifiable criticism; I have heard it said that this represents a CIS gendered persons idea of what trans experience is like rather than the reality and it is true that the central character is pretty much entirely defined by her victimhood rather this being a more nuanced portrait.  So, yes, it’s maybe more than a little melodramatic but the central performance of Daniela Vega is i think still suitably engrossing to warrant your attention.

Why it’s not in my top 10: and nor are the films below

Faces / Places (Agnès Varda, JR)

This was a really lovely film.  I tend to overuse the word charming (You’ll likely notice a bunch of equally overused synonyms of it where I’ve attempted to avoid doing so above.) but it’s really apt here.  This is a delightfully playful look at the collaboration and friendship of it’s creators, filmmaking legend Agnes Varda and photographer/muralist JR as they travel around France making work.  And that pretty much it.  It’s smart, fun and funny but mostly it’s nice.  Refreshingly and unashamedly pleasant.

This was one of 3 Agnès Varda films I saw in the cinema this year and I’m deeply disappointed both that I didn’t catch more but also that I’m so late in being introduced to her work.  The other two I saw were Cleo From 5 to 7, a truly stunning piece of work that effortlessly makes many of it’s French New Wave contemporaries look painfully austere, and One Sings, The Other Doesn’t, whose first 5 minutes alone are so deliciously, guilefully political as to make this, and discovering Varda’s films in general, one of my highlights of the year.  

While the ship has sailed for the folks of Manchester to catch the Gleaning Truths season, the lucky folk of London still have a chance to catch them all and suitable time to plan as they’re all showing in early 2019 at the Prince Charles Cinema.  I heartily recommend you do so (or at the very least see Cleo From 5 to 7 then see how you go) Link here.

Lastly I want to mention a trio of horror films that stood out this year.

Hereditary was hokey, divisive and derivative of a bunch of late 70′s horror but had a great cast, some surprising twists and I found it to be a great deal of fun.  Others did not.  The choice is yours.

Mandy was a more maniacally entertaining treat, again derivative but as it’s effectively an adoring pastiche of 80′s genre films it can’t be judged too harshly on those terms.  I still think Let The Corpses Tan covers similar territory better, but this has some spectacular visuals, a superb soundtrack and a gloriously unhinged Nicholas Cage to keep you amused along the way.

The new Halloween marked an entertaining return to for the long-suffering franchise and, pleasingly, a box office success but what I found most interesting about it were the sly touches in the screenplay that suggest changes may be afoot in Hollywood.  The key protagonists are all women, they’re surrounded by a parade of shitty men who show themselves to be either abusive, untrustworthy or impotent when the time comes to face up to the embodiment of senseless murderous misogyny, Michael Myers.  There was a similar vibe in Widows, and with both it was encouraging to see politics being injected into successful mainstream offerings.  Lets hope it persist.

Celebrated films I haven’t seen that may be notably absent above:

I’ve heard good things about both Wajib and 120 BPM but haven’t seen them, so obviously can’t comment on them.  Also I haven’t got around to watching Cuarón’s Roma yet.  Or Sweet Country.  I missed that one too.

Alternative facts

In the interest of fairness and balance and the spirit of sharing here’s an alternative top 10 from my learned colleagues at HOME: https://homemcr.org/article/top-10-films-of-2018-ushers-choice/ 

(Just because their reviews are more thorough and better written, it doesn’t make them right)

And a 2018 highlight podcast if you’re really keen: 

https://homemcr.org/media/the-home-film-podcast-special-2018-round-up/

Things I’m looking forward to seeing next year:

The Favourite looks deliciously vicious and entirely up my street so I can’t wait to see that.  Green Book I very much like the look of too and is an intriguing shift for Peter Farrelly that I hope pays off.  I also have high hopes for If Beale Street Could Talk, like the sound of Destroyer, the look of Vice and am intrigued by Burning.  Anyway that’s more than enough for now.  I’m gonna go do something else.  So should you.  See you in the new year.

[jonjost]

Cara Clara

The last days I drove with my friend Marshall down to Yellowstone park, in the northwestern corner of Wyoming.  I’d gone there in October of 2017 to shoot a landscape film.  I’d gone then as it was the last days before the park would close for the winter, and I thought sitting with a camera for a day then maybe 10 hours long would be better than doing so in the summer.  Less hours, far less tourists.  However I neglected to think of the light, and with the sun lower on the horizon, the canyon was filled with shadow, and hence not so dazzling.  I decided not to shoot then and hope I could return.

So we drove down on August 1st, passing through some extra-beautiful Montana landscapes on the way – extra because normally in early August the hills and valley would be dry and parched and yellowed, but this year it has been very wet and they are green and alive, and there is no forest fire smoke in the sky.

We got to the park in time to scout the best place to shoot from, unfortunately the visually best place is also a major tourist point, so I’d have to put up with them.  We slept in Marshall’s car over night – or I’d like to say we slept, but it was more like torture.  Very little sleep, lots of discomfort and cramps and pain.  Up at 5:30 a.m. to shoot before sunrise.  It began draped in mist, and as the day moved along, the sun burned that off, and the sky cleared, and later, as is normal here, in the afternoon clouds built up as I had hoped.   Originally I had thought to shoot, as I had for a film of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and another, Bowman Lake in Glacier Park in Montana, until sunset, but changed my mind and we left in mid-afternoon.  Because the light later would put the canyon in shadow, and because the tourists were just too much, and because I was tired and Marshall had to go on a fair trip the next day.

The place, “Artist’s Point” is a major tourist focus, and in mid-summer there are simply way too many.  Half seemed Asian, another 25% European, and another 25% Americans. Most came for only a few minutes, time enough to take selfies.  They hardly look at where they are, only long enough to place themselves visually in front of the falls and take their pictures.  Then off to the next place – Old Faithful or Norris Basin or some other highlight of the park.  It is a sickness of our society.

Today I did a quick edit, and the above are images from the film.  I think I will do two versions, one a purist one of only the landscape, probably for an installation.  It will run about 75 minutes.  And the other a kind of film, which will include several of the Thomas Moran paintings, for which it is an homage, and also a minute and a half long shot of the tourists taking their selfies, perhaps 80 minutes long.  I hope to have it all finished in a week or so.

Last night I had a good sleep, but I still feel rather beat up from sleeping in Marshall’s car.  At 76 perhaps my time for these kinds of things is over.

Today is gorgeous outside and it promises to be so the coming week – hopefully I can get out into the countryside for some of it.  Meantime in the coming week also a plan to shoot a similar landscape film of the Berkeley Pit.

Which reminds that a week ago, a man I did not ever meet or know, Edwin Dobb, but with whom I was corresponding and collaborating on a project which he intiated, Extraction , died.  He was originally from Butte.  He was 69.

I do not know what your mother has done to you in the last 18 years, though given the nature of parental alienators, I can have a rather good guess.  As well as what I saw in the short time I was able to see you before she brought the curtain down between us. Not to mention the things she had written before she went into hiding.  I bring this up only to remind you that it will be best for you in the long run of your life, that you meet me again before I join the lengthening list of my friends who have died.  You will not want to live the rest of your life not having done so – just ask some people who have undergone something similar to what happened to you.

Amo-te, Clarinha and I hope the your summer there is being as lovely as the one I am having here in Montana.

Teu pai,

jon

      Yellowstone: Cartões Postais para Clara Cara Clara The last days I drove with my friend Marshall down to Yellowstone park, in the northwestern corner of Wyoming. 

[beardycarrot]

Because... I don’t know, I’m some kind of idiot, I’ve decided to watch the Netflix Death Note. I know next to nothing about it, aside from the fact that they cast a white actor to play Light, and American fans have been bothered by the production every step of the way (the Japanese internet doesn’t seem to mind the casting). This should be an interesting experience, given that I’m actually very familiar with the source material... but don’t really like it that much.

I watched Death Note as it aired in 2007, and really enjoyed it right up to the point where L welcomed Light to his team and moved them into a pointlessly gigantic building. Death Note starts out absolutely amazing, but then for a majority of its run is dull, uninspired, and unsatisfying.

Years later, I watched Bakuman, a semi-autobiographical series from Death Note’s creators, and they made it pretty clear (through what happens with Reversi, the in-universe analog to Death Note) that they hadn’t been allowed to end Death Note at the point that they’d originally intended. Going back and reading the Death Note manga... yeah, this was exactly what had happened. The reason Death Note started sucking was because the authors were forced by their editor to keep the story going.

While I haven’t seen the Japanese Death Note movies, I have seen the live action tv adaptation, which... Well, it sucks. They make a lot of completely pointless changes, totally changing the tone of the series. Instead of being incredibly clever and secretive, L was bold and bombastic... and for some reason, had a habit of changing his shirt in virtually every scene he was in. The changes to Near and Mello were even weirder.

It’s fine to change things (there’s no point in adapting something like this if you keep everything the same), but there are two things that MUST remain true for the story to work: first, Light has to be bright, charismatic and loved by everyone, to the point that him being Kira is completely unthinkable. Secondly, L has to be one of the greatest intellects in the world, always, ALWAYS one step ahead of Light, only tripping up because of factors impossible to take into consideration.

So, how does Death Note: A Netflix Original Movie hold up?

I kinda liveblogged myself watching the movie, which you can read below, but in general my thoughts are... it’s okay, bordering on bad. Some things are adapted fine, while others are just stupid. They Straight Up Goofed, making Light an unlikable social outcast and having him outsmart L in the end, the two things I directly said ya just can’t do. Though to be fair, at all other times Light is such a complete idiot that L is easily ten steps ahead of him. L and Watari are the only characters that are somewhat faithful to their original portrayals, although L is never really shown being that clever, and kinda... has a mental breakdown and chases Light through the streets with a gun?

They changed so much in the story, with Light being the one hopelessly in love with Misa (in this version, Mia), while she’s more interested in acting as Kira, to the point of writing Light’s name in the Death Note to force him to give it to her. Ryuk is cruel and seems to have no fondness for Light at all, and Light’s dad... is even more of a generic cop character.

These characters and what they go through are SO different to the source material that I’d go so far as to call it an original story which pays homage to Death Note’s story in certain places. Honestly, it would’ve been so simple to make this an original Death Note story that most would be happy with: just change the names. Make Light... Elliot, change L and Watari to Number 8 and Winston, bam, you have a new story in the Death Note universe. It wouldn’t have been great, as there are some stupid bits and parts that don’t make sense, as well as Death Note rules that directly contradict ones from the manga... but it would’ve been better.

Unfortunately, since they’ve decided to reimagine the original story, direct comparisons are going to be made... and this version is missing the single most important thing to the original’s story: the cat-and-mouse between Light and L. That’s really the core of Death Note, and a version of this story without it just falls flat.

So, is this a good adaptation? Absolutely not. Is it better than the tv drama in which L is constantly changing his shirt, Near is a woman in her twenties, and Mello is literally a ventriloquist’s dummy? Ehhhh.... I think I’d put them on about equal footing.

The important one, however, is whether the movie is worth watching... and to that, I’d say yes, if you’re a Death Note fan. If you’re unfamiliar with the series, you’re better off checking out (the first half of) the anime, because if you watched this movie first you’d probably think you have a grasp on what Death Note is, which the movie definitely does not provide. It’s far from Dragon Ball: Evolution levels of missing the mark, but it’s definitely only for Death Note fans who want to laugh at all the weird choices that went into this thing.

We open with.... Uh, Seattle? Yeah... Yeah, okay, I can get behind this actually. I hadn’t even thought of where it might be set, but Seattle works for me.

Also, Netflix has apparently decided to do this thing where the subtitles are half over the movie, half over a black bar. I’m not turning the subtitles off, so... that’s something I’m going to have to deal with.

‘MURICA. You have no idea how much my heart sunk when I saw this. American public school culture as it’s typically portrayed in movies is NOT a good fit for Death Note, and with the cheerleaders, football players, and the weird outcast guy doing homework over at the edge of the field (which TOTALLY happens in real life, honest), it feels like that’s what they’re going for. Eurgh.

Did I say weird outcast guy? Because I meant Yagami Light. Wwwwwwhat. I can understand why he doesn’t look quite as sharp as the real Light, given that American public schools don’t have uniforms... but why does he look like that? This isn’t a charismatic character that everyone loves, this is the guy who gets the crap beaten out of him and shows up to school with his dad’s gun.

Some cheerleader makes eyes at him, a storm rolls in, and the Death Note falls from the sky right next to him. This... is asinine. In the original, Light notices the notebook falling from the sky because he happens to be looking out the window, and after class picks it up because he’s walking by. If there was a sudden storm out of nowhere, everyone would be looking up at the sky and see the notebook.

Anyway. Light is promptly beaten up (of course he is) for defending Eyes Girl in the most pathetic way possible... and because this is written by idiots, he’s the one who gets in trouble. The teacher who found him lying unconscious in the rain apparently decided to look at the papers he dropped instead of helping him, and discovered that he’s been doing other students’ homework for them. I am literally FIVE MINUTES into the movie and they’ve both completely missed the point of Light’s character and fallen into the single worst school cliche. Lovely.

I’m trying not to be negative, really, but how this is shot just rubs me the wrong way. I’ve seen Dutch angles, transitions zooming in and out of objects, the edges of the screen fading to black or being out of focus, heavy shadows in what should be normal lighting... Basically, the “trying just a bit too hard” school of cinematography. I’m only to the fourth scene and the cinematography is already bothering me. This is going to be a long movie.

Anyway, Light has detention. The moment the teacher steps out, he pushes all of his books, including the one she just put on his desk, onto the floor (...?), and pulls out the Death Note. The rules written in the Death Note consistently refer to it as a “note” and not a “notebook”, despite calling a notebook a “note” being a purely Japanese thing and doesn’t happen in American English. The rules actually ARE supposed to be written in English, as Ryuk just used one of the most widely-spoken languages on Earth and dropped the thing at random... but calling it a “note” instead of a “notebook” was for the convenience of the Japanese audience, and makes no sense in English.

My first thought was, “okay, they know the rules are iconic among fans, so they probably wanted to keep the phrasing exactly as it was”... but then they’ve completely cut off the second half of the second rule. C’mon! That’s one thing they definitely SHOULD have changed for an English adaptation, isn’t it??

Okay, okay, okay. I need to think positive. I need to stop nitpicking this movie, and enjoy it for what it is. It’s going to be dark and brooding and probably not very faithful to the source material, but it can’t be THAT bad throughout.

Eight minutes. I got EIGHT MINUTES into this movie before just completely checking out. Fine. Whatever. Light is in fact the LEAST cool character in existence in this version, let’s see where they go with it.

Light meeting Ryuk before ever using the Death Note completely changes the dynamic, turning him from someone who has developed a god complex learning of the source of his power into... a screaming idiot kid being tempted to sin by a demon. Light kills some jackass, and it turns out that Light’s mom is dead, his sister is... potentially nonexistent, and his dad is still a cop, but more of a disagreeable hardass (because ’murica).

Finally, about fifteen minutes in, we get the first interesting change: someone has written in the Death Note that Ryuk is not to be trusted. This is a complete departure from the original, as Ryuk could be trusted completely. He was only in it for his own entertainment, and found everything Light did entertaining, so was basically just a chill friend and willing to help with whatever. Light not trusting Ryuk will completely change his motivations. I’m actually interested to see where they go with this.

Whaaaaat is thiiiiiiiis. Who talks like that. Nobody talks like that. Also, Light Turner is a terrible name. Is that a pun? Is the movie going to end with redemption for Light? Eyes Girl turns out to be Mia, a near miss on Misa, and... Light just straight up tells her about the Death Note in what seems to be their first conversation ever. They’re really wasting no time, huh? Also, I guess this means Misa’s Death Note won’t be in the movie. It turns out that she’s totally okay with him killing people straight away. Moving right along, I guess?

Did I mention the heavy shadows? Light is too much of a weenie to kiss Mia, so she kisses him instead. That’s what you’re looking at here. What follows is the obligatory ♥ Teen Romance Montage ♥ intercut with them choosing victims, and those victims dying. It hasn’t established that people die of a heart attack if no method of death is specified, and they’re giving their targets fittingly ironic deaths... which makes me wonder how L is going to get involved. Kira only came to exist in the public conscious because criminals were dying of mysterious heart attacks. Are they going to just decide to make themselves known, or--

Alright, before the montage is over they’ve done just that. They had a bunch of inmates kill themselves and write a message about Kira punishing them on the walls in their own blood or something. I guess that works! This would be a good time to mention just how violent and gory this movie’s been so far. Every death has unpleasant practical effects.

Cut to Tokyo, where what looks like a black guy in a hoodie and mask awkwardly pokes around a crime scene. Uhh. Alright.

Oh hey, is that Masi Oka? Neat. The subtitles spoil for me that the guy in the mask is L, though it’s pretty apparent anyway. Apparently leaking the information on these criminals has helped him determine that Kira is in Seattle, not Tokyo, though it doesn’t do a very good job of explaining it. Through a narrative contrivance L hires Light’s dad, and L reveals the first criminal Kira actually killed... but this just comes across as a major logical leap on L’s part. That said, L is the most source-accurate part of the movie so far.

In a kinda interesting twist, Light doesn’t want to kill the FBI agent set to tail him, and Mia is the one who does it. Presumably, she got the information on who all the agents are similar to how it was handled in the manga, though this isn’t really explained and would probably be confusing to someone seeing this movie and nothing else. Ryuk has his first speaking role in a while, and... wow, I am like 98% sure that’s Willem Dafoe. Good casting choice!

L is so sure that Light is Kira that he has his father go on tv, with his name stated beforehand, and trash talk Kira. Mia wants to kill him (obvs), but Light refuses, and... still seems to be basically the same guy he was at the beginning of the story. That’s a huge departure, and I really have no idea where they’re going from here. It feels like Mia is building up to becoming the villain, I guess? Maybe? In any case, L meets with Light, and when asked why he doesn’t just arrest Light on suspicion of being Kira, says “I don’t go for checks, only checkmates,” which is an AWESOME line! It’s not very true to manga L, who was always too gloomy for his confidence to cross over into badassery, but it’s a great line nonetheless.

Light and Mia use the Death Note to command Watari to give them L’s name, but given that he doesn’t know he, end up sending him to the orphanage where L was raised to find it... and Watari disappearing, obviously, alerts L that something is going on. WOW is this version of Kira incompetent. Ryuk remains a lot more menacing than in the source (I mean, if you’ve got Willem Dafoe, ya gotta use him, right?), implying that as soon as Light gives up the Death Note, Ryuk will find a new keeper and have them kill him.

Most of the stupid cinematography tricks have stopped by this point, though it’s still dark as all hell. At the homecoming dance (’murica) Light calls Watari, who is killed right before telling him L’s name, and Light finally learns that Mia has been Kira’ing behind his back... and has written his name in the book, specifying that his heart will stop at midnight. She wants him to hand over ownership of the book, after which she’ll burn the page, which... apparently prevents him from dying. This is a direct contradiction of one of the rules, which states that the person will die even if the Death Note is destroyed. This is bad adaptation. For whatever reason, rather than immediately burning his page, he writes down a whole bunch of names from a “hey Kira kill these people” website and then runs from the police, including L chasing him with a gun due to Watari’s death. L does an honest-to-god Dukes of Hazard slide across the hood of a car. I really have no idea what’s happening right now.

He also firmly plants this guy’s face in a bowl of soup.

L eventually corners Light, who tries to explain things, until a Kira-supporting busboy knocks him out a a 2x4. Light makes it to the ferris wheel where he promised to meet Mia, and she betrays him (of course she does), choosing the Death Note. It’s revealed that Light wrote her name in it as well, just in case... and then Ryuk starts psychically tearing apart the ferris wheel (Ryuk has telekinesis in this version).

They both fall from the ferris wheel, Mia landing in a giant crate of... uh, flower petals, I guess, dying instantly, while Light lands in the water. This was a boardwalk amusement park or something, the film didn’t really establish that very well. L arrives on the scene just in time to see the loose page from the Death Note fluttering through the air, and for whatever reason he decides to follow it, where it lands in a burning barrel (I guess this is a boardwalk amusement part frequented by old-timey vagrants...?), and he sees what’s written on the page as it burns.

CONVENIENT.

A mysterious figure (well, as mysterious as someone can be while wearing a baseball cap) finds the Death Note washed ashore, and takes it. Cut to L being berated by some higher-ups, because there have been four new Kira murders while Light is in a coma. The mysterious figure walks up to Light’s bed in the hospital and puts the Death Note on it. Pretty ballsy, considering he’s in a coma and and nurses will be checking on him regularly... but no, as it turns out, enough time has passed that he’s conscious now.

L realizes that the method Kira uses for killing can be found in Mia’s house based on things Light said, and finds a page of the Death Note. In a twist, it’s revealed that the whole ferris wheel thing, Mia’s death, the page burning, and the guy retrieving the Death Note were all part of a plan Light put together while writing those names down during the dance. His dad figures out that he really was Kira, and L seems poised to write Light’s name on the page in Mia’s room... but then, maybe decides not to? Ryuk laughs and says that humans really are interesting.

...Then the credits roll. That’s how it ends. I was certain that there would be scenes during/after the credits giving more of an ending, but nope, just some bloopers because this is apparently a comedy movie now.

[metalgearkong]

Resident Evil 2 (PS4/Xbox One/PC) - Review

Developed by Capcom, released January 25th, 2019

The Resident Evil series was first to put the “survival horror” genre on the map. The very first game released in 1996, surviving the zombie filled Spencer Mansion, immediately became a revolutionary and iconic experience in the video game industry. Resident Evil 2 in 1998 was a well received sequel that further popularized the series and the genre. With the series changing and evolving over the generations, it took a more action-oriented tone. Resident Evil 6 was the peak of the over the top action phase the franchise transformed into, and the worst reviewed in the main series to date. Fans became extremely vocal and specific about how Resident Evil, their beloved video game series, had become unidentifiable, and needed to change. Capcom heard player feedback, and course corrected strongly with the extremely subdued, suspenseful, disturbing, immersive Resident Evil 7, which fans any myself adored.

Resident Evil 2 2019 continues Capcom’s streak of making games that returns the series to its roots. Remakes and re-released have been big business for this current generation of gaming, but I was skeptical about how faithful the Resident Evil 2 remake would be. Unless you’ve been boarded up in R.P.D. for the past few weeks, you may have heard how outstanding Resident Evil 2 turned out. From the graphics to the faithfully recreated maps, puzzles, retained difficulty, and modernization of the gameplay, Resident Evil 2 yet again is a smash hit. Not only is this already a contender for the best game of 2019, this may be my very favorite incarnation of a Resident Evil game of all time. While its level of commitment to the original does inherit some of the 1998′s imperfections, Resident Evil 2 stands as an industry standard on how to remake or re-imagine an old classic.

We chose to play as either Clair Redfield or Leon S. Kennedy, both with similar campaigns which overlap briefly on occasion. Whether you pick one protagonist over the other, the game is largely the same. Something I was worried about was the 3rd person camera angle, and the ability to shoot and move at the same time. Hearing about these features conjured bad memories of the action-heavy Resident Evil 6, notorious for being too fast paced and completely lacking in horror and suspense. Resident Evil 2 may have similar gameplay, but major tweaks keep this game from making the player feel too empowered. Any movement whatsoever while aiming greatly drops your firearm’s accuracy, so holding still while shooting is basically the only way to do it. The camera follows the protagonist closely, and nearly every room and corridor of R.P.D. is shrouded in darkness, barely illuminated by emergency lights and the beam of your flashlight. Somehow Resident Evil 2 has the best gameplay of the series, while still retaining nearly every shred of suspense from the original games. It’s the best of both worlds and I’m honestly shocked how well Capcom pulled it off.

The game begins with extremely limited inventory space, but can be grown over time by finding hip pouches. This is crucial as you’ll want to carry as many items with you as possible each time you navigate the halls and corners of the dark police station. There’s nothing more frustrating (in a good way) than finding an item and not being able to bring it with you because your inventory is already full. This retains gameplay from the old games that makes the series just as much of a strategy game as it is an action game. Resident Evil 2 retains the universal item boxes as well, usually found in save rooms safe from monsters. One of my favorite parts about this remake are key features that make the game less of a chore to play without sacrificing the atmosphere or suspense. For example, your map has always been your best friend in a survival horror game, and in Resident Evil 2, the game will indicate which rooms have had all of its items collected or not, and will label items on the map if you came across it, but didn’t pick it up yet. This is incredibly helpful for finding all the items in the game but also gives substantial peace of mind as you look at your map always wondering if you’ve truly found everything that can be found in any given room or hallway. It completely eliminates the “backtracking out of desperation.”

Saving is much more convenient as well, as in any difficulty short of the hardest, saving can be done as many times as you’d like. I do miss the Ink Ribbons from the past, as it added yet another layer of strategy to the original games, but I will take this level of convenience over having to suffer through the hardest mode in the game (when its already difficult enough). Ammunition is still very limited, and even simple zombies can take anywhere from 3-6 head shots before they are truly defeated. Zombies lumber around and moan more organically than ever before, and even with the added mobility of the characters, the small rooms still mean you’ll be grappled and bitten by a zombie more often than you’d think or care to admit. It makes all those “how did they not see it coming?” moments in zombie movies or TV shows much more understandable when you have to experience it for yourself. Most of the times zombies will even get back up after being defeated, requiring another 3-6 head shots to permanently kill them.

A great new twist are how we use knives and grenades. If you are carrying one of these items, you can trade using that item when being hurt instead of taking the damage. It’s like a safety net to keep you from damage if you foolishly get to close to a zombie, licker, or zombie dog, and I love the new way these items are used. The biggest and baddest enemy of them all is Mr. X, an Umbrella B.O.W. as persistent as a S.O.B. This does lead to a slightly negative aspect of the game I have, as he can follow you into almost every room except save rooms, meaning you have to run around losing him if he’s in an area you need to focus on (i.e. solve a puzzle or collect items). The sound design is fantastic as you can hear him through the R.P.D. stomping on the wooden and tile floors. Capcom wisely changed the sound of his footsteps if Mr. X enters the same room you are in, queuing you into getting the F out of there. He can make the second half of exploring R.P.D. a bit more tedious than it needs to be, which is why I find him almost as annoying as I do terrifying.

Claire and Leon’s campaigns do slightly differ, but not as much as some people may make you think. While you do explore the same levels, fight the same bosses, and solve most of the same puzzles, items are in slightly different places, and certain areas of the game are only seen by one character or the other. Each campaign also has a guest hero, who we get to play as in exclusive sections unique to each campaign. For example, Claire has a small scenario playing as a little girl escaping a creepy orphanage, and Leon has Ada Wong also running from Mr. X in the sewers. But, I do recommend beating both campaigns as this is how you get to see the true ending of the game. Plus, the game is so damn fun and well made, its easily worth two plays anyway.

Nearly every aspect of Resident Evil 2 is executed perfectly. From the graphics to the lighting, to the difficulty, to the strategy aspects, nearly every part of the game is a major win. Capcom did the world right with a reimagining that not only is great as a stand alone game, but is also a faithful and compelling recreation of the 1998 classic. Game studios across the world should take note on how to do survival horror well, including how to properly pay homage to a series fan favorite. Resident Evil 2 does become annoying with one or two puzzle areas, and Mr. X isn’t always a warm welcome, but with how intelligently the vast majority of the game was pulled off, it’s easy for the imperfections to sink below how awesome the rest of the game is. I can’t wait to see what Capcom does next for their Resident Evil series, whether it be a remake of Resident Evil 3, or make an entirely new entry with a Resident Evil 8. Both are exciting prospects, and I have confidence they will do it right.

9/10

[will-tomorrow]

Rainbow Brush Awards at Gen Con 2017!

For the last two years, the Rainbow Brush has striven to highlight issues of great social importance, celebrating the downtrodden in response to political and legislative attempts to ostracize them from our great melting pot. Miniaturists from across the globe have taken the opportunity to use the power of art to shine their light on these issues.

In 2015, there was a celebration of the LGBTQ community, in response to the “Religious Freedom” bill that was championed by then Indiana Governor, Mike Pence. It was a celebration of the inclusivity of the Gamer/Painter subculture, and a statement re-affirming how important we all feel it is that you can come from all walks of life and find friends in this uniquely welcoming band of misfits and social butterflies alike. Using every color of the rainbow in the submitted pieces was a way of opening the door even wider to our LGBTQ friends and family, and letting them know that even if it was cold and cruel outside, they’d always be welcomed at our painting and gaming tables.

Last year, artists from every political spectrum came together to highlight the plight of Muslims, both in America and abroad, and to celebrate the many cultures in their identity; not to mention their vast contributions to both science and the arts. It’s easy to forget with the current state of hyperbolic political discourse that Islam is responsible for many of the pillars of our modern world. The first hospitals, cesarean section, dissolvable sutures, and forceps all come from the Islamic world. The famed Islamic doctor, Al Zahrawi, created the first surgical encyclopedia that went on to be used as a surgical reference guide in Europe for the next 500 years. There simply isn’t enough time or space in which to list all the ways that Islam has directly and indirectly improved our lives. Once again, our little corner of the art world came together to affirm that all peoples are welcome at the table, and to celebrate the many accomplishments of the 1.6 billion Muslims around the globe. Homages to the unique geometric Islamic art, Islamic folklore and arabesques abounded. It was a special feeling, seeing firsthand a celebration of the faith tradition while the world outside seethed with callous disregard for the humanity of Muslims in the face of trumped up fears and demagoguery.

This year, I’d like to shift the focus to an issue of perhaps even greater import. The focus of this year’s Rainbow Brush is an issue that affects us all. Gay or Straight. Woman or Man. Young or Old. Muslim or Atheist. This year, we’ll be focusing on the environment.

I’m sure you’re all aware of the overwhelming body of evidence regarding the fact of climate change that is being ignored wholesale by the people empowered to halt it. With this new administration embracing crony capitalism and fossil fuels over common sense and renewable energy sources and scrubbing climate change data from government sites; there may never have been a more pivotal time for the people to take a stand for our planet’s future. The Trump administration has elected Scott Pruitt to head the EPA, a man that sued the agency many times and has made his desire to dismantle it crystal clear. Scott Pruitt recently fired half the scientists on the EPA’s advisory council, and is currently seeking to fill the positions with representatives from the industries it is required to regulate. According to scientific consensus, there is precious little time to save our pale blue dot, and with every step taken to line the pockets of these folks is a step away from a world habitable by our children’s children.

With that in mind, the theme of celebrating and protecting the environment is open to broad interpretation. Depicting scenes from popular fiction, such as the the scene from Lord of the Rings where the ents go to war to defeat the corruption and environmental destruction of Isengard. Maybe a post-apocalypse, teeming with irradiated life in the rubble of our hubris? On the flip side, maybe a celebration of nature, a lush ecosystem, teeming with endangered species, or perhaps a figure engaged in environmental protest or conservation? Sculptors and and designers have provided us with a dazzling array of fantastic beasts and anthropomorphs. The choices are nearly endless!

As always, this will be an epic undertaking! Celebrating (or mourning, if that is more your flavor) something as all encompassing as our environment should be as spectacular as our world itself. I wholeheartedly welcome anyone who wants to offer help by contributing ideas, prize support of simply sharing this event across their social media feeds.

The general outline of the event is as follows:

RAINBOW BRUSH, GEN CON 2017

This event will be held at Gen Con, 2017 in Indianapolis, IN (August 27th - August 30th). It will be an add-on to the MHE painting competition, and subject to all the rules of the main event. There will be an additional form to fill out indicating that you’d like your piece to be entered in the Rainbow Brush.

In order to be considered for the Rainbow Brush, your miniature or diorama display will need to feature themes tied to environmental conservation, which, as we’ve already touched on, is pretty open to interpretation.

Prize Support is as follows:

TECHNICAL MERIT

1st Place - Tier 1 Prize 2nd Place - Tier 2 Prize 3rd Place - Tier 3 Prize

BEST INTERPRETATION OF THEME

Were the Rainbow Brush a typical painting competition, pieces would be judged solely on their technical merit. I’d be looking exclusively for the flawless technique of people who’ve spent years honing the craft, picking apart things like technical aptitude, composition and color theory. While that leads to some truly spectacular pieces taking home the accolades, it works against the environment of inclusivity we so value. As a result, this category is intended to award awesome/engaging/thought provoking interpretations of the theme, even if the artist isn’t yet painting at a masterclass level!

JUDGES FAVORITE

There will be prize support for the Judges Favorite category as well. Sometimes you come across a piece full of heart that just doesn’t fit any of the other prizes. It’s a shame for those diamonds in the rough to go unrecognized, as they often shine with their own brilliance. This is the category for them!

PRIZES

Miniature manufacturers from across the globe come together to celebrate the Rainbow Brush, and this year will be no exception. Expect the same awesome prize support of previous events!

[gamerszone2019-blog]

SolSeraph Review - Play God

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/solseraph-review-play-god/

SolSeraph Review - Play God

SolSeraph is overtly inspired by the Super NES cult classic ActRaiser. If there was any shred of doubt of its roots given its mixture of action-platforming and sim-style management, that was removed when it opened with a slow spinning first-person view barrelling towards the earth–an homage to ActRaiser’s Mode-7 showpiece so specific that it virtually winks at the audience. Curiously, though, it’s some of SolSeraph’s departures from ActRaiser that let it stand on its own, for better and for worse.

SolSeraph puts you in the divine boots of Helios, the Knight of Dawn, as he helps build civilization and fight against a set of Younger Gods who each manifest as the embodiment of a natural disaster. There is a hodge-podge of religious iconography at play, and Helios looks especially angelic, but this isn’t tied to any specific faith. Instead, SolSeraph invents its own mythology, borrowing bits and pieces from world religions.

Each of the five territories consists of two distinct game types. To begin, you fight through monsters to unlock a new civilization. Each one is housed on its own environment type which presents its own set of hazards. An island nation is prone to constant flooding, for example, while the snowy northern tribe has trouble tending farms and needs to rely on livestock instead. You guide the people to manage their population and resources, like food and lumber, while also building defensive structures to fend off attacks from monsters. Then you can build a temple near one of the monster lairs, take part in another action-platforming or arena battle to clear it, and continue until you unlock the final portion that houses the Younger God boss.

This all may sound very familiar to ActRaiser fans, but the focus on defending against waves of monster attacks is actually a wild departure. SolSeraph’s approach is more akin to a tower defense game, as the waves of monsters all march on a set path toward a centralized base marked by a campfire. Defeating waves of monsters takes a variety of defensive structures, even earning its own part in the radial menu, along with the godly powers to summon lightning or dispatch a guardian. In short, it takes the formerly minor threat of monster attacks and makes it much more active and central to the experience.

On one hand, this change makes the sim portions feel that much more dynamic. Protecting your people from brutal waves of monster attacks can be much more frenetic than the relaxed, casual sensation of watching your society grow and occasionally guiding your people in the right direction. On the other hand, this approach comes at the expense of what made ActRaiser such an interesting examination of faith.

In ActRaiser, society grew on its own as you mildly steered them, and your tools were limited. You could summon an earthquake to destroy houses and encourage stronger building, but you couldn’t meticulously place each individual building on a grid. In some ways, ActRaiser functioned as a reflection on the limitations of divinity. Interactions were indirect, and the stories that played out were sometimes tragic. The people assumed it must be the will of a higher power, but in reality, you were powerless to stop some events that they had set in motion by their own free will. It’s a powerful idea that, in SolSeraph, is undermined by having such direct control over everything your civilization does.

The spirit is still there, to a point. The people pray to Helios without ever hearing an answer, so the idea is still present that they’re operating on faith and hoping some dispassionate deity will end their struggles. But this is present only in short story sequences, and it’s discordant with the mechanics of the game itself. There is no sensation that the culture is flourishing on its own. You aren’t gently guiding as much as dictating, which feels oddly out-of-step with the idea that the people have unproven faith in a higher power.

Functionally, the sim segments are relatively simplistic but often unintuitive. Monster waves come infrequently enough that it’s often easy to build up a massive arsenal of defenses before the first attack ever comes. There’s no real penalty for failure, and in fact getting a game over screen just starts the monster clock over again from zero while keeping all of your recent building changes. At the same time, it isn’t always clear where the monsters will be coming from or in what numbers. Building temples to clear monster lairs relies on meeting a threshold of “Souls,” which are gathered from defeated monsters. This can be counterintuitive in a game about a god gathering worshippers, who could also logically be counted as souls and more sensibly connect to building a worship temple. Instead, the population only matters inasmuch as it gives you bodies to assign to defensive structures and farms. There is no counter for your total number of assigned versus idle villagers, which means you may reassign them at a critical moment by accident.

The game’s other half, the action-platforming segments, can be unforgiving. The controls are rigid and monsters come from all sides, which often makes it difficult to turn quickly to take on different threats. Life comes at a premium, with very sparse health regen and a magic spell that only recharges one measly health point at a time. Checkpoints are often nowhere to be found, which is especially frustrating when you accidentally wander into an optional area with a tougher battle that grants some small permanent reward like extra Weather Magic for the sim portion.

Much more problematic in the action sequences is the interplay between the foreground and background. Helios does his battle strictly on one plane, but enemies often approach from the foreground or background. You can see them approaching, but until they reach your plane, slashing with your sword won’t touch them. The transition between untouchable and vulnerable isn’t clearly signaled, so oftentimes your best bet is to slash wildly at an approaching enemy until it takes damage–but since some of them fly diagonally towards you, this isn’t foolproof. The interplay between these areas can present a good challenge when it’s just background characters firing projectiles that you’ll need to dodge, but the tendency for enemies to cross from one plane to another just creates more frustration than it’s worth.

The Younger Gods boss characters are the exception to this rule and where the combat shines. The old-school challenge isn’t hampered by the gimmick present in normal enemy encounters. Better yet, the collection of boss designs are largely a creative mixture of different cultural traditions from around the world, and each one’s power set and attack patterns connect with the natural disasters they have represented for your people. Defeating them grants you a new power, but it’s nearly as satisfying to have defeated the personification of floods, drought, or wildfires, after watching your culture struggle with them.

SolSeraph could have hemmed slightly closer to the conventions of its clear inspiration, and it may have been better for it. The changes to the sim aspect create gameplay depth at the expense of tonal depth, and the action segments can be annoyingly clunky, especially with the unnecessary addition of enemies that are untouchable until an unclear point in time. The willingness to riff on one of the most beloved classics of an entire console era shows a remarkable amount of audacity, and it actually halfway works. It’s the half that doesn’t that makes SolSeraph such a qualified recommendation.

Source : Gamesport

[yamijay357]

Top 10 Movies of 2016

Another year has passed and another Top 10 movie list must follow. I found this year to be a tad weaker than 2015, with many of my picks for this list not coming to theaters until November or December. This year started to show, quality wise at least, the blockbuster fatigue that constant releases in expanded universes (superheroes, especially) can evoke. Fortunately, once I narrowed down my list along with a few honorable mentions, it became very difficult to put them in order, which is usually a sign of some great films. I believe that every movie listed here will be a great addition to one of your movie night queues. So, without further ado...

Honorable Mentions

Deadpool

Superhero movies have flooded our theaters to the point that we’ll soon be getting over half a dozen in a single year. This year they ranged from the painfully mediocre (Batman v. Superman, Doctor Strange) to just bad (Suicide Squad). Deadpool was a nice breath of fresh air as Ryan Reynolds brought the much loved Merc with a Mouth to the screen. Deadpool is funny, lampooning everything from the superhero genre as a whole to the questionable decisions made regarding both previous appearances of Deadpool and the career of Reynolds himself. If only all comic book movies could be this faithful to the spirit of the character.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Another year, another Star Wars movie. This installment was a landmark film for the franchise in that it was the first major release not to focus on the main narrative following the Skywalker family. Instead, we were given the story of how Princess Leia ended up with the Death Star plans she had at the beginning of A New Hope. We get a look at a different side of the universe not particularly focused on magic space wizards but instead on real people fighting the threat of the Empire. Felicity Jones leads a great cast in a solid movie that has one of the best third acts of the franchise. Alan Tudyk stands out as a reprogrammed Imperial droid that is loyal to the Rebellion but throws shade like no other. While not all characters were developed fully, in the end, Rogue One stands as the best blockbuster of 2016.

The Top Ten

10. Manchester by the Sea

Grief is often the hardest thing to sell on screen, so making such a deep theme the focus of your movie is a bit of a risk. However, Kenneth Lonergan deftly writes and directs a unique view of grief for a unique family dynamic. Casey Affleck plays Lee Chandler, a handyman who resides in Boston away from his home of Manchester following a family tragedy. The death of his brother brings him home where he discovers that he is now the guardian of his nephew Patrick, played by Lucas Hedges. The film follows both of the men as they deal with death and all of the complications that come from it. However, their story is both painful and funny, as the movie makes for several reactions that seem all too real to those of us that have lost someone close. While the ending leaves several elements uncertain, Affleck and Hedges give strong performances that give us one of the truest depictions of loss ever set to film.

9. Pete’s Dragon

I hate the original Pete’s Dragon. When I found out a remake was being made the chances of me seeing it were slim. However, when it received several good reviews, I fit it into a four-movie day at the theater, mostly because I was curious. I didn’t expect to walk away with such a satisfied feeling. All of the awkward elements of the original (Animation that stood out in a bad way, sub par musical numbers, and Mickey Rooney) are gone, leaving a wonderful modern fairy tale about an orphaned boy and his invisible dragon friend that hit in all of the right places. Bryce Dallas Howard leads a great cast including Karl Urban, Robert Redford, and promising newcomer Oakes Fegley as Pete. A great story, seamless effects, and an ending that will bring tears to your eyes allows this movie to soar above its predecessor and claim its place on this list.

8. Lion

This movie snuck into theaters near the end of the year and I saw it on New Year’s Eve. It was a pretty great way to end the year. Lion is the true story of Saroo Brierley, an five-year-old Indian boy who, while searching for work with his older brother, gets transported across India to a region that is entirely alien to him, including the language. After Saroo finds his way to an orphanage, he is adopted by a loving Australian couple. 25 years later, Saroo is obsessed with finding out what happened to the family he lost. This may be the most genuine, human film made this year, as the audience feels the panic and fear of a strange new place with young Saroo, and the hope and frustration plaguing his adult counterpart as he searches one of the most populated countries in the world for a single small village. Dev Patel gives his best performance yet as Saroo in a film that will take you on quite the feels trip when both you and Saroo reach the conclusion.

7. Jackie

We all know what happened November 22nd, 1963. But have you ever thought about what the person most affected by that day did in the week that followed? Natalie Portman plays Jackie Kennedy, who is interviewed the week after her husband President Kennedy was assassinated. The movie rests completely on her and she doesn’t disappoint. She completely becomes Kennedy as we see a world that is rocked by loss on both a personal and national level. Kennedy must face everything that comes in the aftermath from being moved out of the White House for the Johnson family to trying to explain to her children why their father won’t come home again. There are times that I forgot I was watching Natalie Portman as I fell into the world captured so perfectly by Pablo Larraín. This film speaks not only to the humanity of Jackie Kennedy, but also to her amazing contribution to the legacy JFK left behind.

6. Arrival

What would happen if we really were visited by alien lifeforms? A history of cheesy and often terrible movies (cough, Independence Day, cough) has built in the assumption that the aliens would be hostile and seek to destroy us. If aliens were to visit, I believe that Arrival shows us the most likely outcome compared to anything else. Amy Adams plays linguistics professor Louise Banks who is called in by the government to try to decipher the communications of alien visitors. Along with a brilliant physicist (Jeremy Renner), Banks must figure out the intentions of the visitors before other countries take hostile actions. This movie does an amazing job of displaying both our actual ignorance of other lifeforms and all of the possible directions we could take with it. In the midst of people not understanding each other, Arrival is a brilliantly made film that speaks to all people.

5. Moonlight

Similar in structure to Steve Jobs, Moonlight consists of three short films focusing on Chiron (aka Little), and his coming of age in a poor neighborhood that has no shortage of drug dealers. As a child, he finds a crack dealer named Juan (Mahershala Ali) who, along with his girlfriend, serve as loving parental figures in the place of his disinterested and drug-addicted mother. Juan helps Chiron trust people, which leads to him sharing an intimate moment with his high school friend Kevin. Circumstances lead to Kevin and Chiron separating but encountering each other as adults, leading to one of the most beautiful ending scenes of the year. Alex Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, and Trevante Rhodes give stellar performances as each stage of Chiron’s life. Such a simple story gives way to profound emotions that will resonate with you well after the film is over.

4. Loving

Speaking of simple, there was probably no more simply put-together movie this year than Loving. And yet, it managed to be one of the most profound films of the year. Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga play Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple whose illegal interracial marriage led to the Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court case that ruled all marriage laws having to do with race unconstitutional. But that is not what the movie is really about. With limited dialogue and politics, Loving focuses almost solely on the relationship of the two main characters and the hardship they have to face from their home state. We learn about their dreams and the lengths they will go to in order to be together. The leads are absolutely fantastic and give you the entire weight of the story while spending only a few minutes of screen time in courtrooms. In a year where several films on this list took my heart, Loving is a true standout.

3. Zootopia

The reason that The Good Dinosaur didn’t succeed as much as everyone thought it would was because it failed to deliver on its premise of a world full of dinosaurs by showing us just a few dinosaurs. Zootopia doesn’t suffer from this problem, as the world of Judy Hopps (Gennifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) is a rich world of animals with different personalities, troubles, and ambitions. This movie would have succeeded as a fun movie on that alone. But Zootopia goes a step further and delivers one of the most profound messages of almost any animated film ever made. It not only highlights the obvious prejudices different groups of people feel toward each other, but also how we may not even be aware of our own unwarranted feelings of distrust and how they can affect people close to us. This was the movie that 2016 needed and that we’ll need for years to come. Also, who wants a full Gazelle album? (Raises hand)

2. La La Land

Earlier this year, when introducing one of my friends to my favorite movie, Singin’ in the Rain, I made the comment that “they don’t make this kind of movie anymore, and it’s sad.” Well, turns out that Damien Chazelle felt the same way and gave us an amazing film that serves as both an homage to the musical genre that preceded it and as a beautiful piece of art that will inspire future artists for years. Emma Stone plays Mia, a girl trying to pursue her acting dreams in LA, along with thousands of other people. She frequently runs into Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), an unemployed jazz musician who dreams of owning his own club. The two chase their dreams together to the tune of the best soundtrack of the year and delightful dance numbers and city backdrops. La La Land succeeds in every technical aspect as Los Angeles is turned into a magical, musical dreamland. Stone and Gosling go beyond their usual charm and give us amazing characters with surprisingly good singing voices that would make Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers proud. And then the ending. Well, if the ending sequence doesn’t fill you with emotion, then you’re probably a robot.

1. Hell or High Water

The biggest surprise of the year for me turned out to be my favorite movie of 2016. Hell or High Water is David Mackenzie’s neo-Western masterpiece that is perhaps the best possible step to take after the Cohen Brothers’ No Country for Old Men. The film shows Chris Pine and Ben Foster playing brothers Toby and Tanner Howard. When their mother dies and Tanner gets out of jail, the bank handling the loan for their mother’s farm seeks to seize the property. In order to pay off the bank that overcharged their mother for years, the brothers begin to pull off small robberies of the local branches. While authorities don’t see it as a priority, the crimes attract the attention of two Texas Rangers (Jeff Bridges and Gil Birmingham) and a chase across Texas begins. Every performance is incredible in this movie. Chris Pine shows his dramatic chops while giving the best performance of his career (so far) and Jeff Bridges is outstanding beyond even what you would expect. The cinematography shows off the gritty yet beautiful western landscapes yet never loses the scope of how the region has been hit by the advancement of modern times. But the true winner here is the best screenplay of the year as every character is able to draw you into a story that begs questions of morality and loyalty. While La La Land may walk away with all of the awards, Hell or High Water is my pick for Best Film of 2016.