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gunterfan1992 · 4 years ago

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Season One of “Adventure Time”: Short Episode Reviews

At the start of 2021, I had this idea to write up a book wherein I reviewed every episode of Adventure Time, condensing my thoughts down into a few paragraphs. It seemed easy enough at the time —I could knock a season out in a week, no prob, I thought — but it turns out it was quite the challenge. Part of this was the difficulty of boiling everything down into a few coherent paragraphs that didn’t just repeat the ideas that “This episode is wacky. This episode is bad.” (I was also dealing with untreated ADHD, so that probably didn’t help.) Even though it was a hurdle, I still got through seasons 1-4, and I thought I’d post my reviews here. Maybe one day I’ll do something with ‘em, but for now, enjoy!

Season 1, Episode 1. “Slumber Party Panic” (692-009)

Airdate: April 5, 2010

Production Information: Elizabeth Ito and Adam Muto (storyboard artists); Tim McKeon and Merriwether Williams (story writers); Larry Leichliter (director), Patrick McHale (creative director), Nick Jennings (art director)

Synopsis: Princess Bubblegum accidentally resurrects a violent mob of candy zombies, which leads to Finn doing the unthinkable: He breaks a royal promise to Bubblegum.

Commentary: It is always a delight to remind people that Adventure Time—a show that would go on to win a slew of prestigious awards and be lauded by critics as one of the smartest kids show that has ever been made—begins with Princess Bubblegum “add[ing] three more drops of explosive diarrhea” to a scientific mixture with which she hopes to bring the dead back to life. This elision of a macabre topic like the resurrection of the dead with a poop joke is in many ways emblematic of the sort of humor upon which Adventure Time was built, and while “Slumber Party Panic” might not be the season’s best episode, it does a solid job introducing the odd, madcap energy that would allow the show to flourish in its youth.

The plot to “Slumber Party Panic”—storyboarded by future series director Elizabeth Ito as well as eventual showrunner Adam Muto—was hammered out well before the show’s mythology was set in stone, and so some of the more hyperbolic plot points from this episode (e.g., the dramatic revelation that candy citizens explode when scared, or the fact that the Gumball Guardians are also the nigh-omnipotent Guardians of the Royal Promise, who can stop and reverse time itself) had to be ignored in later seasons. Nevertheless, the main characters’ personalities are all firmly established, allowing them to play off one another in a way that does not feel forced or misguided; Jeremy Shada and John DiMaggio, in particular, have excellent chemistry, breathing whimsical life into Finn and Jake right off the bat. All things considered, “Slumber Party Panic” is a fun entry and a solid preview of the silliness that was to come. (3.5 stars)

Season 1, Episode 2. “Trouble in Lumpy Space” (692-015)

Airdate: April 5, 2010

Commentary: “Trouble in Lumpy Space” is a Ito-Muto production that introduces us to Lumpy Space Princess, the loquacious and dramatic drama queen who was destined to become one of the show’s breakout stars. A sentient blob of “irradiated stardust,” Lumpy Space Princess is an alien valley girl parody voiced by none other than series creator Pendleton Ward himself, and this episode does a commendable job illustrating the character’s immaturity and her ridiculously inflated sense of self-importance. This makes for good entertainment in and of it itself, but what really bumps this episode up a peg is the vocal delivery of the cast. Adventure Time always excelled when it came to its voice acting, but in this episode it is obvious that in this episode Jeremy Shada, John DiMaggio, and Pendleton Ward had extra fun playing around with their ridiculous “lumpy space” accents.

Aesthetically, this episode is quite the sensory experience. Lumpy Space itself is a hauntingly beautiful alien dimension of dark magenta skies and purple, pillowy clouds; it is a right shame that the show very rarely made use of this unique environment, considering how pleasant it is to look at. The episode’s soundtrack is also deserving of recognition, with much of the background music—especially the vapid pop tune that plays while Finn, Jake, and Lumpy Space Princess hitch a ride in Melissa’s car—recalling the elastic hyperpop that electro-wizzes from PC Music produce. The tunes add an extra dimension to the whole experience, helping to sell the idea that Lumpy Space is a silly but alien otherworld. (3 stars)

Season 1, Episode 3. “Prisoners of Love” (692-005)

Airdate: April 12, 2010

Production Information: Adam Muto and Pendleton Ward (storyboard artists); Craig Lewis and Adam Muto (story writers); Larry Leichliter (director), Patrick McHale (creative director), Nick Jennings (art director)

Commentary: Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Ice King! Beginning the series as a cartoonishly incompetent antagonist, Ice King would grow into one of the show’s most well-developed characters. While “Prisoners of Love,” being the character’s debut episode, sees the Ice King still in his one-dimensional “wicked wizard” stage, there are hints even at this early juncture—like the character’s dramatic insistence to pluck out a yogurt chip from his trail mix, or his spasmodic attempts to play the drums—that the Ice King is more than just a textbook baddie. Is he evil? Judging by his actions, it often looks that way, but there is also a deep sadness to him that makes even his worst behavior somewhat pitiful.

But as pathetic as he may be, Ice King’s lecherous habit of kidnapping princesses is completely unacceptable (Princesses, Adventure Time would like to remind us, should never be married against their will), and by episode’s end, Ice King receives his just desserts—a feminist-fueled kick to the face, courtesy of Finn the Human. The moral of the story is clear: Poor old Ice King might just be lonely, but that does not excuse him for acting like a frost-bitten incel. (3.5 stars)

Season 1, Episode 4. “Tree Trunks” (692-016)

Airdate: April 12, 2010

Production Information: Sean Jimenez and Bert Youn (storyboard artists); Tim McKeon and Merriwether Williams (story writers); Larry Leichliter (director), Patrick McHale (creative director), Nick Jennings (art director)

Commentary: “Tree Trunks” introduces the audience to the eponymous character, voiced by Polly Lou Livingston, an eccentric octogenarian with a pronounced southern drawl whom Pendleton Ward knew growing up in Texas. Despite Tree Trunks appearing as a sweet old pachyderm, much of her dialog is riddled with double entendres and subtle sex jokes that go over the heads of children, and as such, she is something of a divisive character in the Adventure Time fandom: While some viewers find her hilarious, others find her decidedly off-putting. In this episode, however, storyboard artists Sean Jimenez and Bert Youn strike a decent balance between the character’s funny and creepy sides (case in point: The scene wherein Tree Trunks, in the gawdiest of makeup, tries to seduce an evil monster with her “womanly charms and elephant prowess”). The major exception to this overall balance is the episode’s decidedly morbid conclusion, which features Tree Trunks exploding after tasting the crystal apple. This was perhaps the show’s first non sequitur ending, and almost certainly left an indelible imprint on the minds of viewers young and old alike. (3 stars)

Season 1, Episode 5. “The Enchiridion!” (692-001)

Airdate: April 19, 2010

Production Information: Patrick McHale, Adam Muto, and Pendleton Ward (storyboard artists and story writers); Larry Leichliter (director), Patrick McHale (creative director), Nick Jennings (art director)

Commentary: According to the annals of cartoon history, the initial storyboard for “The Enchiridion” was whipped up by Ward and his crew members to prove to Cartoon Network that Adventure Time could be developed into a full-fledged series. This was almost certainly a stressful task, which necessitated that Ward et al. dissect the pilot, determine what elements worked, and then infuse those elements into a new storyboard. As a result of this “open art transplant,” there are quite a few analogs between the pilot and “The Enchiridion!”—e.g., the wacky dancing, the dream sequences, the ridiculous language—but this episode does a solid job of emulating the style of the pilot without wholesale duplicating it.

In terms of plot, “The Enchiridion!” is a fairly predictable adventure story, but it is one with enough clever variations that prevent the whole affair from dragging or being too boring; standout scenes include Finn and Jake having to deal with granny-zapping gnomes, and the D&D-inspired reverie in which Finn is tempted to slay an “unaligned” ant. The episode is further buoyed by several fun guest stars (including Mark Hamill, Fred Tatasciore, and even Black Flag’s Henry Rollins) that sprinkle a little additional energy on top of the whole thing. Given the exuberant fun of the episode and the way it easily introduces us to supporting characters like Princess Bubblegum, it is intriguing why the producers did not choose “The Enchiridion!” as the series premiere. That question aside, “The Enchiridion!” is one of the season’s stronger episode and an excellent place to start if you want a crash course in what made early Adventure Time so unique. (4 stars)

Season 1, Episode 6. “The Jiggler” (692-011)

Airdate: April 19, 2010

Production Information: Luther McLaurin and Armen Mirzaian (storyboard artists); Tim McKeon and Merriwether Williams (story writers); Larry Leichliter (director), Patrick McHale (creative director), Nick Jennings (art director)

Commentary: “The Jiggler” opens on a fun, hyperactive note, with Finn singing “Baby,” a catchy song coated in layer upon layer of sweet, crisp autotune. But soon after Finn and Jake discover and “adopt” the titular creature, the affair quickly devolves into a cartoonish snuff film of two dullards accidentally torturing a wild animal; the whole thing is made worse by the high volume of bodily fluids excreted by the Jiggler. Thankfully, Finn and Jake are able to return the Jiggler to its mother before it keels over, but this victory is undermined given that the whole situation was Finn and Jake’s fault to begin with. Perhaps it is best to view all of this as a cautionary tale: No matter how cute a wild animal may look, you probably should not take it home and make it dance for you. (2 stars)

Season 1, Episode 7. “Ricardio the Heart Guy” (692-007)

Airdate: April 26, 2010

Production Information: Sean Jimenez and Bert Youn (storyboard artists); Tim McKeon, Adam Muto, and Merriwether Williams (story writers); Larry Leichliter (director), Patrick McHale (creative director), Nick Jennings (art director)

Commentary: “Ricardio the Heart Guy” introduces the titular villain, the brainy-but-sleazy heart of the Ice King voiced to perfection by the sonorous George Takei. Given how arrogant the character acts even before his true intentions are revealed, it is not much of a shock that Ricardio is a rotten egg, and this lack of mystery drags the whole episode down to some degree. Nevertheless, Takei’s histronic performance injects into the episode a funny sort of melodrama, with is further reinforced by Casey James Basichis’s sparklingly dark score, which mixes in elements of opera alongside the usual chiptune blips and bloops to emphasize Ricardio’s pretentiousness. (3 stars)

Season 1, Episode 8. “Business Time” (692-014)

Airdate: April 26, 2010

Commentary: On the surface, “Business Time” is but a silly parody of corporate culture that sees Finn and Jake become the veritable CEOs of an adventuring firm. It is a silly little set up, and the show has good fun poking fun at business-speak and the deleterious effects of rampant corporatization. At the same time, by relegating Finn and Jake to the sidelines near the middle of the episode, “Business Time” does itself a disservice by focusing not on the wacky shenanigans of the business men, but rather on the mundanity of Finn and Jake’s “managerial life.” It all comes together in the end, when Finn and Jake are forced to jump into the fray and destroy the Business Men’s vacuum robot, but the noticeable lag there in the middle of everything throws the pacing of the episode off.

But while “Business Time” might not be the strongest first-season entry, it has gained respect in the fandom for being the first episode to underline that the Land of Ooo exists in the far future after some sort of nuclear holocaust. In an interview with USA Today, Ward explained that this was a natural development that he had never planned: “[When] we did [the] episode about businessmen rising up from an iceberg at the bottom of a lake … that made the world post-apocalyptic, and we just ran with it” (X). Considering how major the post-apocalyptic trappings would become to the show’s mythology, it is a bit startling to learn that it was added in on a whim. Regardless, it was an inspired choice that added a tinge of sadness to the story of Finn and Jake. They were not just frolicking in some fantasy world; they were frolicking in the ruins of our world, long after nuclear war had devasted the planet. Is it bleak? Absolutely! But this bleakness contrasts nicely with Adventure Time’s colorful surface, resulting in a deeply rich ambivalence. Not many shows—let alone children’s shows!—have managed to fuse such extremes into a workable whole. (3.5 stars)

Season 1, Episode 9. “My Two Favorite People” (692-004)

Airdate: May 3, 2010

Production Information: Kent Osborne and Pendleton Ward (storyboard artists); Tim McKeon and Merriwether Williams (story writers); Larry Leichliter (director), Patrick McHale (creative director), Nick Jennings (art director)

Commentary: Almost all the first-season episodes that we have considered so far have placed a heavy emphasis on comedy. The point of these episodes is to make you laugh, and anything beyond that is gravy. “My Two Favorite People,” in contrast, may be the first that is grounded on a solidly emotional foundation, and while the episode is very funny, it is primarily interested in telling the poignant story of two brothers and a gal they both like. If anyone has ever found themselves caught up in a love triangle—whether real or, as in the case of this episode, imagined—Jake’s actions, although immature, will likely feel relatable. It is a cheesy cliché, but the story’s strength is that it all feels so real (which I recognize is a funny thing to say about a cartoon dog and his unicorn-rainbow beau).

“My Two Favorite People” is the first episode that really features Lady Rainicorn as a mover of the plot rather than just a fun side character, and it is a wonderful showcase for her. While a handful of later installments—namely season four’s “Lady & Peebles” and season eighth’s “Lady Raincorn of the Crystal Dimension”—would try to highlight Lady, “My Two Favorite People” is arguably the character’s funniest episodes, thanks in large part to her use of a universal translator, which allows the other characters to understand her. To some, a device such as this may seem like a cop-out, but storyboard artists Kent Osborne and Pendleton Ward cleverly preempt this criticism by making the device’s only useable setting one that gives Lady the voice of a great-great grandfather. Lady’s “old-man voice” is an episode highlight, and it makes many of the character’s lines (e.g., “Come on my darling! Wrap your legs around me!”) both hilarious and unsettling. (4 stars)

Season 1, Episode 10. “Memories of Boom Boom Mountain” (692-010)

Airdate: May 3, 2010

Commentary: During the production of season one Ward exerted considerable effort trying to shepherd the show’s crew in a coherent direction, all the while responding to critiques levelled by dozens of Cartoon Network executives. Many of these critiques were contradictory, and in the process of creating something that he was proud of while also appeasing everyone around him, Ward very nearly went bananas. The experience provided the bedrock for “Memories of Boom Boom Mountain,” and to anyone who has been given the arduous task of pleasing a whole slew of prickly critics, the episode will be immediately relatable.

In terms of the show’s budding mythology, “Memories of Boom Boom Mountain” is notable because it firmly establishes that Finn was adopted as a baby by Jake’s canine parents, Joshua and Margaret. This plot point was likely guided less by worldbuilding and more by humor (perhaps playing on the whole “raised by wolves” idiom). Nevertheless, this decision would have major ramifications for the show’s overarching narrative. Finn’s nature as the only human in Ooo was no longer a silly afterthought—it was now a mystery. Just who is Finn the Human, and where did he come from? These questions would linger for seasons, finally culminating in season eight’s touching miniseries Islands. (4 stars)

Season 1, Episode 11. “Wizard” (692-020)

Airdate: May 10, 2010

Production Information: Pete Browngardt, Adam Muto, and Bert Youn (storyboard artists); Tim McKeon and Merriwether Williams (story writers); Larry Leichliter (director), Patrick McHale (creative director), Nick Jennings (art director)

Commentary: “Wizard”—co-storyboarded by Pete Browngardt, an artist who storyboarded on Chowder and The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack before creating the divisive Uncle Grandpa for Cartoon Network—is an absolute bonkers installment that throws logic out the window by giving Finn and Jake magical powers. It is a plot setup almost guaranteed to be fun, and you can tell that the writers likely a good time coming up with increasingly asinine magical powers (e.g., “endless mayonnaise”).

But underneath all the distraught dust motes and captivating new hairstyles, “Wizard” also has a degree of depth, reading like a biting commentary on higher education-industrial complex in the United States. It does not seem coincidental that the strategies employ by Bufo’s scam wizard school are strikingly similar to those used by predatory colleges, which offer students a worthless degree alongside thousands of dollars of debt. The parallels are made stronger when it is revealed that all those whom Bufo has tricked are reluctant to upset the oppressive status quo, because they believe “newfangled thinking will get [everyone] killed”; this eerily mirrors those who downplay the student loan crisis, arguing that “that’s just the system works.” Finn will have none of this, however, and by episode’s end, he—channeling his myriad wizard powers and the vigor of “youth culture”—proves that if a system is broke, it has got to go. Maybe we could learn a thing or two from that. (4 stars)

Season 1, Episode 12. “Evicted!” (692-003)

Airdate: May 17, 2010

Production Information: Sean Jimenez and Bert Youn (storyboard artists); Adam Muto (story writer); Larry Leichliter (director), Patrick McHale (creative director), Nick Jennings (art director)

Commentary: “Evicted!” is considered a classic by most Adventure Time fans for one simple reason: It introduces the audience to Marceline the Vampire Queen. This iconic undead rocker chick managed to steal the spotlight whenever she appeared in an episode, and eventually she became one of the show’s more well-regarded characters. Given all this, there is some irony to the fact that in her debut, Marceline is the antagonist who steals our heroic duo’s beloved Tree Fort. Marceline is therefore similar to other season one baddies in that she tests Finn and Jake’s patience before engaging them in direct combat. But Marceline is set apart from other foes in how Finn and Jake defeat her—namely, that they do not. In fact, she pounds them into the ground almost effortlessly! Besting Finn and Jake is no easy task, meaning that while “Evicted!” might showcase Marceline’s nastier side, it nevertheless does an excellent job emphasizing how much of a badass she is; this goes a long way in explaining the character’s huge popularity.

But Marceline alone cannot an episode make. Luckily, “Evicted!” is further bolstered by several excellent design choices, including a bevy of fun background critters whipped up by character designer Tom Herpich, a slew of colorful background designs courtesy of Ghostshrimp and Santino Lascano, and a killer soundtrack. Regarding the latter, the stand-out tune is inarguably “House Hunting Song,” a comically overblown ballad detailing Finn and Jake’s arduous quest to find a new place to live. The song, sung mostly by Ward with a few lines delivered by Olson, is an emotion-laden earworm guaranteed to wiggle its way into your brain. (I mean, how can you not love a song that blames the murderous tendencies of vampires on simply being “burnt out on dealing with mortals”?) It very much is the blood-red cherry on top of everything, which helps to make “Evicted!” one of the season’s strongest episodes. (5 stars)

Season 1, Episode 13. “City of Thieves” (692-012)

Airdate: May 24, 2010

Commentary: “City of Thieves” is a workable if somewhat forgettable mid-season entry. The episode’s main strength is its titular setting, a bizarro municipality where theft is the law of the land. Unfortunately, the city is nothing more than a silly plot device, and the episode itself never really rises above “fine.” (2.5 stars)

Season 1, Episode 14. “The Witch’s Garden” (692-022)

Airdate: June 7, 2010

Production Information: Adam Muto, Kent Osborne, and Niki Yang (storyboard artists); Tim McKeon and Merriwether Williams (story writers); Larry Leichliter (director), Patrick McHale (creative director), Nick Jennings (art director)

Commentary: If you think the idea of Jake sassing Ooo’s cattiest witch is funny in and of itself, wait until you see this episode’s visuals. From Jake’s grotesque but silly “manbaby body” to the abject horror of Gary the Mermaid Queen, “The Witch’s Garden” is replete with several memorable character designs that make it a satisfying entry. (3 stars)

Season 1, Episode 15. “What Is Life?” (692-017)

Airdate: June 14, 2010

Commentary: Giving Finn and Ice King a son is not a move that I thought Adventure Time would ever make, let alone in the first season, but here we are. The bouncing baby boy in question is actually a clunky robot named NEPTR, voiced to sadsack perfection by comedian and musician Andy Milonakis. If you had told me prior to this episode that Milonakis could give a sentient microwave a sense of pathos, I would have never believed you, but in “What Is Life?” he does a commendable job conveying NEPTR’s pitiful nature. As for the episode itself, “What Is Life?” is a solid entry that introduces viewers to several recurring characters (one of whom being Gunter the penguin) while offering us a peek into the Ice King’s sad, lonely mind. (3 stars)

Season 1, Episode 16. “Ocean of Fear” (692-025)

Airdate: June 21, 2010

Production Information: J. G. Quintel and Cole Sanchez (storyboard artists); Tim McKeon and Merriwether Williams (story writers); Larry Leichliter (director), Patrick McHale (creative director), Nick Jennings (art director)

Commentary: “Oceans of Fear”—storyboarded by Cole Sanchez and J. G. Quintel, the latter of whom would go on to create Regular Show for Cartoon Network—is in an interesting installment that establishes Finn’s fear of the ocean, reminding the viewer that even great heroes will be forced to deal with irrational phobias at some point in their life. The character designs in this episode are quite amusing (with the standout being Finn’s grotesque “fear of the Ocean” face), and Mark Hamill, as always, does a wonderful job, using his trademark “Joker voice” to give the Fear Feaster a delightful air of villainy. But as with “Business Time,” many of these elements are upstaged by the episodes’ post-apocalyptic trappings. In fact, when I watched the episode for the first time, I paused it in several places, asking to myself, “Is that a wrecked battleship? Is that a bombed-out tank? Why are there ruins of a city underwater?” It is an understatement to say that this episode is positively littered with rusted debris and centuries-old detritus that testifies to Ooo’s traumatic history. For eagle-eyed fans hoping to piece together Adventure Time’s mysterious mythology, this episode is an absolute hoot. (3.5 stars)

Season 1, Episode 17. “When Wedding Bells Thaw” (692-013)

Airdate: June 28, 2010

Production Information: Kent Osborne and Niki Yang (storyboard artists); Tim McKeon and Merriwether Williams (story writers); Larry Leichliter (director), Patrick McHale (creative director), Nick Jennings (art director)

Commentary: One of the first episodes to team Ice King up with Finn and Jake, “When Wedding Bells Thaw” is a goofy lampooning of bachelor parties and the institution of marriage in general. Although the episode ends on a fairly predictive note (spoiler alert: Ice King tricked his fiancée into marriage), seeing Ice King get along with our heroes is charming, and in many ways it presages the Ice King’s future character growth. The episode’s strongest part is the short dialogue-free montage near the middle depicting Finn, Jake, and Ice King getting into all sorts of “manlorette party” shenanigans; this sequence is made all the stronger by Tim Kiefer’s chiptune score, which enlivens the party with a burst of synthesizers and electro-drums. (3 stars)

Season 1, Episode 18. “Dungeon” (692-013)

Airdate: June 28, 2010

Commentary: If there is one episode that feels like the entirety of Adventure Time’s first season distilled down into 11 minutes, then it would be “Dungeon.” An episode replete with outrageous monsters and wacky action, “Dungeon” is a high-energy installment that pays homage to the sprawling world of table-top gaming; indeed, it is not hard to imagine storyboard artists Elizabeth Ito and Adam Muto reaching for a D20 or a well-worn copy of the Monster Manual whenever it came time to block out a new scene. Stand-out moments from this episode include Finn’s encounter with the Demon Cat (famous for having “approximate knowledge of many things”), his visitation by a “guardian angel,” and the deus ex machina ending that see Princess Bubblegum swoop in to save the day. (“Get on my swan!”) And amidst all the silliness, “Dungeon” even manages to sneak in a sweet little message tucked snuggly in between all the wacky monsters about the importance of recognizing your weaknesses. (4.5 stars)

Season 1, Episode 19. “The Duke” (692-023)

Airdate: July 12, 2010

Commentary: For most of season one, the audience is presented a version of Princess Bubblegum that is bright, effervescent, and totally nonthreatening; the monarch, it seems, is as aggressive as a marshmallow. But in “The Duke,” this all changes, and we finally get to see the princess’s darker, authoritarian side. Unhinged Princess Bubblegum is quite a sight to behold (as is the sight of green-and-bald Bubblegum), but it adds another layer of to the saccharine sovereign, setting her up for substantial character development a few seasons down the road. (3 stars)

Season 1, Episode 20. “Freak City” (692-008)

Airdate: July 26, 2010

Production Information: Tom Herpich and Pendleton Ward (storyboard artists); Tim McKeon and Merriwether Williams (story writers); Larry Leichliter (director), Patrick McHale (creative director), Nick Jennings (art director)

Commentary: “Freak City” introduces the audience to Magic Man, a deranged and flamboyant Martian wizard known for meaninglessly harassing the citizens of Ooo. Although the character’s backstory would be fleshed out in later seasons and eventually come to play a major part in the mythology of the series, this episode was storyboarded well before these developments were dreamed up, meaning that here, Magic Man functions as a simple (albeit funny) villain-of-the-week whose nihilistic tendencies clash wonderfully with Finn’s optimistic worldview. Finn is so used to dividing the world up into “good guys” and “evil guys,” but his run-in with Magic Man is proof that morality is far more confusing than he would like to believe. The main problem is that Magic Man is not really evil: He is clinically insane—a violent psychopath—who does not care about his actions impacting others. No climactic fight or eleventh-hour pep talk is enough to fix him.

On top of this rather weighty consideration of morality and mental instability, “Freak City” contains another, more straightforward message about the power of teamwork and how people should work as one to overcome common problems. Storyboard artists Pendleton Ward and Tom Herpich have quite a bit of fun taking the idiom literally by forcing Finn and the other denizens of Freak City pile on top of one another to function as a single, grotesque being that is capable of fighting Magic Man. While “Freak City” loses some points for espousing rhetoric that folks who are depressed can simply will themselves out of their funk, it makes up for these deficits elsewhere with its character designs—ranging from the inside-out bird to the two-headed monster that Finn groin-strikes—which are all bizarre in the best, most creative way possible. (3.5 stars)

Season 1, Episode 21. “Donny” (692-018)

Airdate: August 9, 2010

Commentary: A rather forgettable protagonist and only a smattering of memorable lines make “Donny” the season’s weakest link. The episode does get points for introducing us to “whywolves” (“Creatures possessed by the spirit of inquiry—and bloodlust!”), but they are not enough to completely save it from mediocrity. (2 stars)

Season 1, Episode 22. “Henchman” (692-021)

Airdate: August 23, 2010

Production Information: Luther McLaurin and Cole Sanchez (storyboard artists); Tim McKeon and Merriwether Williams (story writers); Larry Leichliter (director), Patrick McHale (creative director), Nick Jennings (art director)

Commentary: While “Evicted!” depicted Marceline as an apathetic asshole, “Henchman” starts to soften the vampire queen by showing that her evil exterior is an elaborate facade, and that deep down she is really just a prank-loving trickster—or, as Finn puts it, “a radical dame who likes to play games.” This might seem nothing more than a subtle tweak, but it does wonders for Marceline’s characterization; by episode’s end, as Finn and his vampiric “master” chat quite cheerfully in a field of strawberries, it is clear that the writers are setting up Marceline to become a legitimate pal to Finn and Jake, rather than just an avatar of chaos who drops in every once in awhile to shake things up. This was a wise decision, as it provided Marceline with the chance to grow into a hero in her own right with whom the audience can happily cheer along.

Since “Henchman” is predicated on Marceline pranking Finn, storyboard artists Luther McLaurin and Cole Sanchez have a great deal of fun mocking up outrageous scenarios that seem evil at first glance, but are revealed to be quite benign. Perhaps the funniest of these situations is Marceline raising an army of undead skeletons only to throw them a concert, and the vampire queen’s demand that Finn kill a little dimple-plant, which looks like a cutie before it turns into an Audrey II-esque abomination from John Carpenter’s darkest nightmares. (4 stars)

Season 1, Episode 23. “Rainy Day Daydream” (692-002)

Airdate: September 6, 2010

Production Information: Pendleton Ward (storyboard artist); Tim McKeon and Merriwether Williams (story writers); Larry Leichliter (director), Patrick McHale (creative director), Nick Jennings (art director)

Commentary: “Rainy Day Daydream” is a beautiful representation of creativity in its purest form. Channeling his love of multilevel video games and Dungeons and Dragons, solo storyboard artist and series creator Pendleton Ward uses the pretext of Jake’s imagination affecting reality as an opportunity to bounce from one ridiculous plot point to another to great effect. The whole thing feels like an exercise in jovial spontaneity, and while “writing the story as you go” can sometime result in disjointed or sloppy final products, here Ward makes it work, using the approach to illustrate the almost limitless potential of imagination. Another strength of the episode is the way it throws dozens of ridiculous obstacles at Finn and Jake without the aid of equally ridiculous visuals; in fact, almost every hindrance in the episode is invisible to both Finn and the audience, and we only learn what is going on thanks to Jake’s narration. The fact that this approach works and is not boring is a testament to Ward’s skills as a storyteller and dialogue writer. (4.5 stars)

Season 1, Episode 24. “What Have You Done?” (692-027)

Airdate: September 13, 2010

Commentary: In addition to providing us with another glimpse of Bubblegum’s dark side, “What Have You Done?” also serves as an interesting meditation on morality and preemptive punishment. As earlier episodes have confirmed, the Ice King is a creepy little deviant, but is it right for Finn and Jake to imprison him without a cause? This is a real legal question, and the show handles it in a surprisingly sophisticated way, concluding more or less that the writ of habeas corpus must be preserved. Of course, this is all undermined to some degree when we learn that the Ice King actually is to blame, but thanks to some quick thinking on the part of Finn, our heroes are able to save the day without having to turn to the carceral powers of the state. (And people say Adventure Time is not sophisticated...) (3 stars)

Season 1, Episode 25. “His Hero” (692-026)

Airdate: September 20, 2010

Commentary: Who is the greatest hero ever? If you answered, “Finn!” it is obvious that you have yet to see “His Hero,” for the correct answer is Billy, of course! Lou Ferrigno guest stars in this episode as the aforementioned defender of Ooo, enlivening the character with his distinctive voice. As for the episode itself, storyboard artists Kent Osborne and Niki Yang—with an assist from the ever-dependable Adam Muto—produce some of their best work this season, filling each scene with witty dialogue and zany shenanigans. Arguably, the episode’s pièce de resistance is the short montage of Billy’s past achievements, which plays alongside a song, sung by Muto, extolling the hero’s greatness; energetic and wacky, the song in many ways typifies the “chaotic heroism” that defined the show’s first season.

Like many other first-season episodes, “His Hero” ends with a counterintuitive “anti-moral,” stressing that while a commitment to non-violence might seem subversive on the surface, it is actually an ineffective way to make the world a better place; instead, the episode argues that direct physical action—i.e., beating the snot out of monsters and bad guys—is necessary if heroes want to save people from oppression. This may all come across as contrarian silliness, but I would argue that it is profoundly radical, rejecting “common sense” ideals about peace that really only help those in positions of power. (Side note, if the kids who grew up watching Adventure Time turn into a bunch of revolutionaries, I think we will know the cause.) (4 stars)

Season 1, Episode 26. “Gut Grinder” (692-024)

Airdate: September 27, 2010

Production Information: Ako Castuera and Bert Youn (storyboard artists); Tim McKeon and Merriwether Williams (story writers); Larry Leichliter (director), Patrick McHale (creative director), Nick Jennings (art director)

Commentary: Much like “Ricardio the Heart Guy,” this episode suffers due to a lack of a solid mystery; from the start, it seems obvious that Jake is not the one responsible for the robberies. Furthermore, the reveal that Sharon is the one behind the robberies comes with almost no dramatical weight, since we have no idea who she is. The whole thing is forgettable, which is a shame given that this is the season finale. (2 stars)

(Huge shout out to @sometipsygnostalgic for reading over these a few months ago and offering feedback. Also, I want to thank @j4gm for posting his “Slumber Party Panic” review, which made me remember these write-ups!)

#adventure time #atimers #season 1 #season one #reviews #finn #jake #finn the human #jake the dog #marceline #pb #bubblegum #princess bubblegum #marceline the vampire queen #ice king #pen ward #pendleton ward

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Where in Fiction Would You Spend Christmas?

https://ift.tt/34FuLCB

It’s been a staying-in kind of year. That New Year’s Resolution you made to travel more? It’s gained 20 pounds, started cutting its own hair and is now in a jigsaw club with your neighbour Ken. The only marathon you’ve completed in 2020 is a Battlestar Galactica rewatch. The only mountain you’ve climbed is the metaphorical one it takes to shower daily. That beach trip you’d planned? It went okay actually. You made some bells by selling coconuts to Nook’s Cranny and dug up a bunch of Manila Clams with a flimsy shovel.

For obvious reasons, escape is on our minds this year more than most. So we started thinking, if you had your wishing socks on, where in the collected imaginations of everyone who’s ever dreamt up a film, TV show, game or book, would you spend the holidays? On the holodeck of the Starship Enterprise or roasting on an open fire with The Simpsons, exchanging gifts with Ewoks or witnessing Scrooge McDuck’s transformation from miser to philanthropist first hand?

To get things started, here’s what our writers picked…

Alec Bojalad would spend Christmas … reveling with the Sterling Cooper staff on Mad Men

If I’m to indulge this hypothetical in which I’m torn away from one reality and thrust into another, one thing is very clear: I will have to be extremely intoxicated to avoid my heart exploding from the stressful terror of it all. Thankfully, I know exactly where in pop culture to go to get absolutely blitzed: Mad Men. In terms of sheer debauchery, a Sterling Cooper Christmas party probably falls somewhere between a Bacchanalian orgy and Valhalla itself. As Don, Roger, Bert, Peggy, and company gather together to celebrate another successful year schmoozing clients and sexually harassing one another, I will don my finest 1960s attire and infiltrate the festive event.

As Don Draper wonders who this soft-bodied weirdo in an ill-fitting suit is, I’ll catch up with Harry Crane about television. Then I’ll ask to see Bert Cooper’s weird tentacle porn painting. Sometime around my 9th J&B Whisky on the rocks I’ll visit the secretarial pool and beg them to demand better treatment because “you’ree ssssooo strong and eleganttt. Don’t listen to thessseee men. They’re Mad Men.” Hopefully I’ll be taken away to an old-timey hospital at that point, given electroshock treatment, and return back to my own continuity.

Ryan Britt would spend Christmas… at Deanna and Will’s cabin from Star Trek: Picard

When Jean-Luc Picard uses the spatial projector to zap himself and Soji across the galaxy to the planet Nepethene, the result is a cozy pizza dinner with Will Riker, Deanna Troi and their daughter Kestra. For those who had been pining for more ‘90s nostalgia in this Trek series, the episode ‘Nepthene’ delivered, but with a strong shot of realism. Although Picard was written and created before the Covid-19 pandemic, the idea that Riker and Troi would leave the busy and crowded life of Starfleet, and retire in a remote cabin to protect their family is a choice many have actually faced in 2020. As people around the world have fled pandemic epicenters and tried to put shields around their own families, the peaceful and remote home of the Riker-Trois represents the optimistic ideal of Star Trek with a quiet, and very close-to-home twist.

Spending time with the Riker-Troi family would mean great conversation, great music (oh the jazz!) and, above all, great food. I would happily put my own family in their ‘pod’ if only so Kestra could teach my three-year-old daughter the best way to construct a bow and arrow, and of course, how to learn that secret language of butterflies.

Then, after the kids were in bed, having a glass of wine or some Romulan whiskey with Will out on the porch sounds pretty damn perfect. 2020 has been tough. A bear hug from Riker seems like the perfect Christmas gift of all.

Caroline Preece would spend Christmas… at The Muppet Christmas Carol’s Penguin Skating Party

Ever since young-me set eyes on the ultra-festive world of The Muppet Christmas Carol I’ve wanted to visit. I can’t imagine a better way to spend Christmas Eve than in the cuddly version of Dickens’ cautionary tale, helping Kermit and his co-workers tidy up Scrooge’s office for the holidays, dancing down the snowy London streets and attending the Penguins’ annual Christmas skating party as the ultimate topper to a perfect evening.

As well as being super-merry and joyous (‘tis the season), judging by Kermit’s performance on the ice, they let anyone take part.

It could just be the general lack of socialising and festive frivolity in 2020, but Bob Cratchit’s hopeful walk home from the office (remember the office?!?) on the night before Christmas has always epitomised the idea that the anticipation of Christmas Day is the best part. Add to that a trip to the market to pick up some singing vegetables, or the cosy Cratchit dinner with Miss Piggy and their gaggle of pig and frog offspring, and it’s a version of old-timey festive cheer that will always hold a place in my heart.

Louisa Mellor would spend Christmas… with the strippers in Hustlers

This choice won’t reflect well on me. It’s neither edifying nor improving and has a core of savage capitalist consumerism, which is probably what makes it so Christmassy. Midway through Lorraine Scafaria’s Hustlers – a film about a group of strippers who right the wrongs of the 2008 financial crisis by drugging Wall Street guys to run up their company credit cards – there’s a scene that’d make anyone’s heart grow three sizes.

A dozen lap dancers gather for Christmas in a high-end apartment, their daughters and a grandmother in tow. Dressed in luxe loungewear and chunky gold, their skin glowing like a sucked butterscotch, they swap gifts, smile and sing and dance and thank the lord for their sisters. Expensive elegance is everywhere. Someone gets a fur coat, somebody else a pair of animal-print Louboutins. The woman who dips the dancers’ tits in bowls of ice before they go on stage is given an iPhone 4. Mostly though, they give each other affirmation. Without a natural hair colour, nude fingernail or a man in sight, it’s a dream family Christmas. Picture a Norman Rockwell painting with Jennifer Lopez in gold lamé, a cashmere Santa hat and a balcony bra. Feel-good festive perfection.

Michael Ahr would spend Christmas… secluded in Hogwarts

Some may have found Harry Potter’s winter holidays without his friends rather lonely, but I can think of nothing more magical than having the vast empty halls of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry all to myself. Why let the staff have the warm, dry, magical snow that fell annually in the Great Hall all to themselves? Not being of school age myself anymore, I might choose to share a butterbeer (or perhaps a hot buttered rum) with Dumbledore and Hagrid by a roaring fire.

I might even be tempted to make the trip to Hogsmeade to see all the shops decked out with lights and blanketed in snow. I’d still be able to enjoy the comparative solitude without all the kids running around, but I’m almost certain there would be a group of carolers wandering about the square, never mind the singing enchanted suits of armor back at the school. And of course, if I could pick a particular present, I’d choose to receive the same amazing gift Harry received that first Christmas from Dumbledore: his father’s Invisibility Cloak. I’d likewise pass it along as a family heirloom to my own children on some Christmas morning to come.

Jamie Andrew would spend Christmas… in a Deep Space Nine Holosuite

At first, I entertained the idea of spending Christmas in Baltimore with the denizens of The Wire, mainly because I liked the idea of children running up and down the streets hollering, ‘Omar’s coming!’ moments before the shotgun-wielding Robin Hood of the Hood came swaggering down the street wearing a big red coat and a white beard, tossing out bank notes and whistling ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’. Then I realised that the chances of me ending up a corpse inside a boarded-up derelict building before the turkey was even cooked were surprisingly high, so I thought I’d try Christmas with Frasier Crane and family instead. Unfortunately, my foreknowledge of Martin’s and Eddie’s deaths would cloud the occasion, and I’d probably spend all night slumped crying in Martin’s recliner, unable to tell anyone why I was so upset without violating the temporal time directive.

Best, then, to spend Yule time on Deep Space Nine. Christianity and its associated festive traditions don’t appear to exist in the 24th Century, so after saying hello to Sisko and co., and maybe playing a bit of Dabo at Quark’s, I’d probably spend the rest of my time in a faithful Holosuite reproduction of a 1990s Irish bar on New Year’s Eve getting absolutely wasted with fellow Celt Chief O’Brien. Now THAT’S what I call Christmas.

Juliette Harrisson would spend Christmas… in Narnia

Not, of course, the White Witch’s eternal winter, when it’s always winter but never Christmas, but a regular Christmas in Narnia. It would, of course, be a white Christmas because otherwise, how would Father Christmas come and deliver presents to everyone? So I could spend the season in a snowy woodland surrounded by magical creatures, and be in with a chance of a really good present. Or possibly a sewing machine.

Movies

Why Chronicles of Narnia’s Santa Claus Celebrates Christmas with Weapons of War

By Juliette Harrisson

Movies

The Rod Serling Christmas Movie You Never Saw

By Chris Farnell

On the first moonlit night when there’s snow on the ground, Narnian fauns, dryads, and dwarfs perform the Great Snow Dance, with the fauns and dryads dancing around while the dwarfs throw snowballs that don’t hit them (an often forgotten detail from the book version of The Silver Chair!). I would join in, although possibly not throw any snowballs as my aim isn’t that good. Then I’d go back to Mr Tumnus’s for sardines and cake on Christmas Eve and talk to him about his somewhat dubious taste in books (just what is Nymphs And Their Ways about, eh Tumnus?). I’d spend Christmas Day up at the castle of Cair Paravel, eating and drinking like a Queen, and then I’d go visit Mr and Mrs Beaver on Boxing Day for a feast of leftovers and maybe a little light ice fishing.

John Saavedra would spend Christmas…celebrating Life Day with Star Wars’ Poe Dameron

No one has ever cared so much about Life Day, the Star Wars galaxy’s own version of Christmas, as much as ace pilot Poe Dameron does in the Lego Star Wars Holiday Special. From decorating the Millennium Falcon and choosing the right Life Day sweater to roasting the traditional tip-yip (also known as Endorian chicken), Poe shows there’s something much stronger than the Force in the Star Wars universe: holiday spirit. Who knew the Resistance hero best known for his knack at blowing stuff up had such a soft spot?

Hanging with Poe on Life Day would mean chestnuts roasting on an open exhaust engine, drinking whatever passes for cocoa in the Star Wars galaxy, hanging out with Wookiees on their homeworld of Kashyyyk, singing festive carols in Huttese, and finding just the right Life Day tree for the Falcon. It’d also mean dancing to the hip tunes of Max Rebo’s drum (the rest of his band is unfortunately no longer with us) and partying with Lando Calrissian, Finn, Rose, Rey, Jannah, Mon Calamari, Jawas, Rodians, Ewoks, and maybe even Chewie’s son Lumpy. If you’re not sold by now, your taste in holiday parties might be bantha poodoo.

Elizabeth Donoghue would spend Christmas…. at The Office’s Classy Christmas

Dunder Mifflin has many memorable Christmas parties, but Steve Carell’s final festive special includes some of my favourite things about The Office; weird Gabe, Michael’s enduring hatred of Toby, and Michael and Holly’s adorable relationship.

After Toby announces he is taking a leave of absence for jury duty (‘Thank you, Scranton Strangler. I love you. You just took one more person’s breath away’) Michael learns that Holly will be returning to Scranton and demands that Pam’s regular Christmas party must get classy. What makes a Christmas classy? A backwards Kangol-esque Santa hat, a red velvet smoking jacket and a quarter of a jazz quartet of course.

I would actively enjoy watching Dwight take down Jim in their snowball fight (total bully, needs to be taken down a peg or two), get drunk with Kelly and Meredith, dance with Phyllis and Erin and learn more about the enigma that is Creed. And although it is slightly more subdued than their Benihana and Moroccan Christmas parties, I’m sure we could keep the party going at a Poor Richard’s after-party.

Kayti Burt would spend Christmas … on Themyscira

The Amazons’ decision to opt out of the “Patriarch’s World” has always been a relatable one, but never so much as in The Year 2020. Historically, I’m not really a beach person, but Themyscira, aka Paradise Island, has a lot going for it: warm weather, a supportive community, and live sporting events where you don’t have to worry about some drunken dudebro spilling cheap beer on your toga.

As far as I can tell from the Wonder Woman movies, no one (besides Young Diana, who’s usually working through some stuff) ever seems to be having a bad time on Themyscira. And why would you? The pre-Crisis comics incarnation of the island (which I am going to choose to accept as my holiday canon) includes indigeneous kangaroo-like creatures called Kangas that the Amazons ride like horses. Diana’s is called Jumpa; mine will be called Jimmy Hoppa, and we will explore the island’s cascading waterfalls and cliffside terraces together. In the evenings, I will attend performances at the Themysciran amphitheater with my new Amazonian friends or, if I’m feeling introverted, catch up on my book reading and crossword puzzles.

Listen, I wouldn’t want to spend forever on Themyscira—I’d miss my friends, family, and TV shows (Themyscira doesn’t seem to get a good wireless signal)—but a few weeks (or months, especially as I will be quarantining for my first two weeks) for Christmas 2020? Bring me to the enchanted feminist utopia.

Alana Joli Abbott would spend Yule… at the coven house from the Nightcraft Quartet

Witchkind, as presented in Shannon Page’s Nightcraft Quartet, don’t celebrate Christmas, but they do love a good Yuletide celebration. Page’s witches and warlocks are separate from humans, long lived, and magical. Young witches train in the magical arts at a coven house, living there like a dorm; the adult women of the coven (always numbering thirteen) may be involved in scientific research (like protagonist Callie), medicine and healing, or reading Tarot, and they teach their specialties to the young witches. The coven house is a central place where women gather to live, to practice magic together, to celebrate, and to honor traditional rituals. While Callie’s coven in San Francisco has their problems, the community there is caring and genuine, full of both youthful energy and centuries of experienced witchery.

One of the perks of editing this series is that I get sneak peeks into parts of the story readers haven’t seen yet—including Yule decorations. Rather than cutting down dead trees, witches coax living fir boughs to weave along the walls and mantles, accented with red ribbon and gold—coins, beads, chains. I can imagine the cozy San Francisco coven house filled with witches all rushing to perform their tasks to make the perfect celebration, some of them convincing the fir boughs to expand in just the right ways while others brew hot chocolate or prepare the feast. I picture them eating in the large hall, voices lifted in joyful chatter, and then making their way out to the grounds beyond the house to celebrate beneath the stars, singing midwinter songs and looking forward to the next year. After months of 2020 with smaller communities and less human contact, being surrounded by such a vibrant, magical group of women sounds like just the right way to end my year.

Rosie Fletcher would spend Christmas… with the Roy family from Succession

Go hard or go home, they say, so since I can’t go home this year, I’m going round the Roys. That is, of course, the family at the centre of Succession, a show peopled by the very wealthiest and utterly worst. Festivities would be held at the home of patriarch Logan Roy. His children and their partners would be obliged to attend. Logan would hire a chef to cook, waiting staff to serve, some of whom he would abuse. I would give them sympathetic “I’m sorry” looks but do nothing, secretly thankful Logan’s ire wasn’t focused on me.

In all likelihood I would be a figure like Greg (the egg), or Tom Wambsgans – mostly tolerated, vaguely despised and very much the second class citizens of the Roy clan, skulking on the periphery as Kendall, Roman and Shiv compete for Logan’s love and oldest son Connor comes up will another entirely ridiculous life plan – I dunno, maybe this year he’s decided that his next career move is to become Santa Claus.

The food would be extraordinary. The booze the very finest – how long before, like Greg, I would be claiming the bottle of vintage rose champagne I had just motored through was ‘not my favourite’? And the dinner table conversation would be electric. Electric like an electric shock – sharp, painful, disorientating, unexpected.

So Christmas has become too commercialised? Fine, fuck it. I’ll take the eye-wateringly expensive gift that’s grudgingly bestowed on me, I will gorge on the finest cheeses known to man and coat my tongue with port made from molten rubies, knowing I am on my way to moral bankruptcy and doing it anyway. Go hard or go home…

Kirsten Howard would spend Christmas… singing along in the closing moments of Scrooged

You’d be hard-pressed to find a Christmas movie that feels as genuinely uplifting during its climax as 1988’s Scrooged. Bill Murray’s arrogant TV boss Frank Cross, having been visited by the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future, disrupts a live broadcast of A Christmas Carol to rant openly and honestly at the cast and crew (and eventually you) as he makes a passionate case for a life less invested in exploitation and capitalism, and eventually kicks off a collective singalong of Annie Lennox and Al Green’s version of ‘Put a Little Love in Your Heart’.

That’s where I’d like to be this Christmas. Not just to sing along with Bill, but to be around people immediately swept along by the much-less-explored altruistic route of ‘no fucks given’.

Also hanging out with Bill Murray, though, of course.

So much of the last few years has been a public race to the bottom of Nothing Matters Mountain, but even if it hadn’t all been so demoralising and forced so many of us to reevaluate our priorities, Frank’s message of redemption in love and living as well as we can, while shrugging off our own heavy expectations of success, still feels really special.

This Christmas, there is light at the end of the tunnel. We may not be able to grab the nearest stranger and sing “put a little love in your heart!” at them right now, but we CAN carry that feeling with us into 2021. As Frank says: “There are people who are having trouble making their miracle happen”. We can always try and find time to stop focusing on our own for a while and to help them.

David Crow would spend Christmas… chilling with Harold and Kumar

Not many people are aware of this, but A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas is the best Harold and Kumar. It may not have the pop culture cache of their medicinal-fueled quest for mini-cheeseburgers, but it does have something very special, indeed: Wafflebot. If you’ve had the misfortune of living your life oblivious to Wafflebot’s existence, allow me to introduce you to a greater world of wonder and magic.

Wafflebot is the best Christmas present to ever come out of Santa’s Workshop. Displaying an eerily sophisticated artificial intelligence for a toy meant only to cook delicious breakfasts, Wafflebot can make you waffles any time by just popping the top and letting that batter drop. But he can also do so much more! Vaguely aware of the concept of friendship, this brunching Frankenstein can learn how to love and appreciate his owners… and defend them from any threat with scalding hot projectile syrup!

With the ability to serve breakfast, save your life, be manipulated into dangerous attack mode, and learn how to see the real you, all while playing a mean drum solo, Wafflebot would make any Christmas a sweetly warm experience. And then Harold and Kumar, and I could also steal a Christmas tree from NPH or something.

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natsubeatsrock · 5 years ago

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My 10 Favorite Posts, So Far

Well, tomorrow makes 5 years of blogging as natsubeatsrock. It’s been quite a crazy 5 years and I’ve made a number of crazy posts in the time between starting this blog and today. To celebrate I wanted to talk about 10 of my favorite posts over the past five years. This list isn’t necessarily ranked from least to most favorite, but there is one post I can call my absolute favorite.

Let’s go!

Honorable Mention: The Rewrite of Fairy Tail: Part 16 (Lisanna) [originally posted March 27, 2019]

As an honorable mention, I want to shed some light on my favorite post from last year. I started making this post months before the series was on the verge of ending. As I was working on this post and decided to work on rewriting Fairy Tail, I started to rework this series as a defense for keeping Lisanna in the series, as opposed to cutting her. This has been a theme in a lot of the posts I’ve made about Lisanna since a post I made before that one and I do plan to talk about that in the future.

#10. My Incredibly Unpopular Thoughts on: Ships/Zervis [originally posted October 25, 2015]

This is the earliest post in my top 10 and it shows. Around this time two big things happened: I made a post on August 31st called My Incredibly Unpopular Thoughts on: Juvia and the fandom exploded over Zervis, due to the revelations in canon. I intended to make that first post a part of a series and this was too big of an opportunity to pass. I remember that writing this was ridiculously easy for me. In fact, it’s one of the shortest posts for me to draft and upload with its relative size.

While I’m not as proud of how my writing prowess shines in this post, almost everything I’ve said in this post has become my philosophy on ships since posting it. My thoughts on shipping fandoms? Check. My thoughts on canon weight of ships? Check. My wishy-washy feelings over Zervis? Check. For a long time, this was my favorite entry in this series, but we’ll ge tto that soon enough.

#9. Bye, Bye Lucy: Part 4 [originally posted May 20, 2017]

A lot of you may be shocked to see this post on the list. “Bye, Bye Lucy“ was a series of posts I did explaining all of the issues I have with the infamous subset of fanfics that has Lucy get kicked off the Strongest Team in favor of Lisanna, resulting in her leaving Fairy Tail. I had a ton of fun working on this series. So much so, I actually ended up writing a story based on the idea I posit in Part 3 of this series, which I released earlier this month. But, individually, Part 4 is my favorite individual post in the series which focused on the idea of Lucy leaving the guild over the whole situation.

Originally, this whole series was going to be one really long post at just over 10,000 words. However, around the time I was working on the part that would become this post, I realized that these stories fail with each successive plot point important to this trope of story. At this particular point, any stories lose me as both stories inspired by Fairy Tail and as their own type of stories. No good story that I know even tries to play with these tropes has Lucy actually leave the guild, even temporarily.

#8. Why I Still Ship Nali (Even if Most of the Rest of Fandom Doesn’t) [originally posted March 1, 2020]

I didn’t want to add too many posts from too recent on this list. As much as I think my current writing is my most consistent writing, it would be hard to say that too many of my posts now are at the same level as many of the posts coming up on this list. But, I’m honestly glad that I made this post, especially considering some of the things surrounding its creation.

About three months into my blog, I made a post called “What I Need to Stop Shipping Nali (and why I still do)”. Around the time I was going to post it, I guess someone made a post questioning why people would still ship Nali. It’s become one of my least favorite posts and I’ve felt it desperately needed to be updated for a while. I decided to tackle an issue I’ve had seen in much of fan interpretations with Nali: doing nothing past Edolas with Nali. I wrote the first draft out months ago and waited for a good opportunity to type it out. When I got the hate messages, that felt like as good a time as any. Speaking of which...

#7. My Response to Anon-san [originally posted March 31, 2016]

A bit of backstory may help with this one. I posted “My Incredibly Unpopular Thoughts on: Lisanna” on Easter that year. I check my phone coming out of my church’s night concert and I got the two messages I respond to in this post. When I first saw I got messages, I was worried because that was the first time I ever got negative anon messages. But when I read them, I knew I needed to talk about this as my 3,000th post on this blog - a milestone I was on the cusp of approaching when I got the messages.

While I like the precedent my response seemed to set for my dealing with this type of stuff, the reason this post is here that I legitimately love the messages I was responding to. Every now and then, I read them to myself just to remind myself they exist. I’m not even sure why I got them in the first place. They don’t even seem terribly connected to that Lisanna post. While complaining about fandom has been something I’m apt to do for a number of reasons, I can’t imagine which post got on their “nevers”. But believe me when I say that I am feeling very cooling about the fact that I did.

#6. My Incredibly Unpopular Thoughts on: Nalu [originally posted July 9, 2016]

I’m sure this one isn’t much of a shock too many of you. Around the time I made this post, the “anti-Nalu“ community was very different from how it is now. I had made a couple of posts about some of the issues I had with the ship and its fandom, but nothing on this scale. As a part of Fairy Tail month, I figured should try to explain everything I saw wrong with both.

Even as I wanted to do this and made plenty of similar posts before this, the thought of backlash terrified me. I made sure to set it up to post when I knew I’d be away and wouldn’t be able to see how it was received. When I finally did see the responses to this post, all of them were positive and from people who agreed with me. It’s become my favorite post in the series and still seems to serve as a great primer for people who don’t ship Nalu.

Though I’m kind of sad that a lot of the stuff I talked about in that post regarding the development of Nalu and fandom habits haven’t changed almost four years since I first posted it. When I went to make the sequel for this post, I was shocked how little fandom changed and how stuff inside and outside of canon seemed to embolden fandom to be worse about other actions over abour 18 months. Though, I didn’t hate Nalu when I made this post, even as I stopped wanting to ship it around that time.

#5. Opinion I’ll Probably get Stoned For #100 [originally posted April 29, 2016]

I really have to get back to making these. “Opinions I’ll Probably get Stoned For” was the series I was known for starting less than two months into making this blog. It’s a series where I drop spicy takes ranging from Sweet Bell Pepper to California Reaper. I’ve gotten into it with fans over more than a few of the posts in this series. However, my favorite of the series is one of the longest editions in the series.

Months before posting this, I remember seeing one of my favorite Graytear bloggers get into trouble with Gruvia shippers. One point brought up that particularly pissed me off was the moment that Gray was about to used Iced Shell against Silver. According to the Gruva shipper, the fact that the panel remembering Juvia is bigger than the panel remembering Ultear showed enough of Mashima’s priorities. This argument literally made me sick to my stomach. For months, I’d privately joke that this proved the exact opposite: Gray went through with Iced Shell because he remembered Juvia.

To celebrate hitting the milestone of 100 posts in that series, I decided to make a longer version of the series and explain my thoughts in depth. As soon as I had the idea, I knew that had to be the one. My favorite thing about this post is that, despite clarifying that I’m not terribly serious about this argument twice in the post, I actually got blocked by a Gruvia fan over this post. I guess they didn’t see it as that funny of a joke. Weird how that works.

#4. Nali Week: Scars and Unkept Promises [originally posted July 24, 2016]

Every once in a while, someone will make the remark to the effect of “People should stop complaining about the ships they don’t like and make stuff for the ships they do like”. Thank goodness no one has actually said that in regard to my posts. As much fun as I’ve had over the years complaining about the stuff I don’t like in Fairy Tail and its fandom, I do make a point to talk about the stuff I do like and why every now and then. While the series was running, ship weeks usually meant meta posts from me and this is my favorite of them.

This post was born from my own musings about how the anime dealt with Natsu and Lisanna’s relationship. I wanted to talk about its handing through the perspective of Lisanna being an important person Natsu lost and how that works with his desire to see Igneel again. The big moments I draw on is his promise in episode 75 where Lisanna asks Natsu to save her if she ever gets lost and their reunion in episode 79.

The perspective I took in that post is one I don’t really take a lot. I’m not arguing against an idea a lot of people in fandom agree with. I’m not even really arguing that my perspective is the correct perspective. I’m explaining the thought process that Natsu, as I interpret him, has regarding someone he cares about. The stuff I talked about in this post has become part of my interpretation of Natsu and traces of it can be seen in a lot of the posts I’ve made since. We have to bring Nali Week back.

#3. An Open Letter to the Nalu Fandom [originally posted October 1, 2017]

I love satire as a rhetorical tool. I love taking an idea I disagree with to so large an extreme that the problems with it are obvious to even the people who agree with it. While many of my posts have drips of sarcasm and irony, I love making an entire post based on the idea of pointing out the problems with an argument. Consider that I’ve done similar things with Opinion #100 and, to an extent, my most recent story.

The trick is finding something with problems that are so glaringly obvious, you can’t imagine people actually taking its side. In the case of this post, it was a hilarious letter addressed to the “anti-Nalu’s”. Apparently, the idea that people openly didn’t like Nalu got on “the nerve of every last one of their pussy hair“. So they wrote a short letter they meant for fans who don’t like Nalu to read. I would give them a pass becasue they were apparently on their period, but they were defending those Twitter pics of Natsu and Lucy on chain leashes.

It’s worth mentioning that this was a few months after the original series ended. I had been trying hard not to make a post about Nalu and the stupid things I saw their fandom do. I didn’t even talk about the pictures they were defending. When I made this post, I figured that I was probably not going to be making many more posts about Nalu for a while. So I decided to throw in every issue I had with the Nalu fandom between talking about it a year earlier and then.

As you can probably tell, I haven’t stopped complaining about Nalu and its fandom. This post seems to have set the tone for how I would deal with the ship and its fandom this side of the ending. Instead of pointing to why a ship fails for me, I’ve been talking about why others should have expected the ship to fail. And, if recent events are a sign of the future, it seems like I’m going to have stuff to say about it for a while. Yay?

#2. Why was Ichiruki Popular? [originally posted July 6, 2018]

What does it say that this post is among my top 10, both on this list and in terms of most notes on a post on this blog? This is a Fairy Tail blog for crying out loud. I shouldn’t be able to get so much attention for talking about a series that isn’t Fairy Tail. It almost certainly shouldn’t get more attention than most of my posts about Fairy Tail. A few people even liked and reblogged it this week.

Then again, this wasn’t my first time talking about other series. I’d already spent time talking about Rave Master, Naruto, and Monster Soul on this blog. I asked my followers if it would be cool if I spent time talking about other series, now that Fairy Tail had ended. Since I got a fairly decent response I decided to talk about a few series, including Bleach.

I got into reading Bleach about a year before it ended. At the time, I was following people who were already into it and was well aware of the popularity of Ichiruki and infamy of its fandom. I was fairly behind but I didn’t see much reason to ship Ichiruki when it ended and I saw the fan meltdowns. Imagine my shock when I got to the end and felt exactly the same about its chances when Rukia said Ichigo’s just her friend. I made this post to vent.

If I started reading Bleach about a year before getting into Fairy Tail, I likely would have been a Bleach blogger. This post served as an interesting glimpse into what that timeline might look like. It’s also one of the few posts that sparked actually interesting responses. While many have pointed to the anime as a reason for its fan popularity, I can’t tell how the staff came to the conclusion that Ichiruki needed to be portrayed as more romantic than in the manga.

#1. I’m late to the “Nalu wasn’t the original plan” party, aren’t I? [originaly posted December 10, 2016]

I’ve made a lot of posts on this blog. I’ve said a lot of things, done a lot of analysis and meta, and shared a lot of opinions here. And yet, I can’t say that too much of the stuff I’ve said is important. Not to say that my insight into certain topics isn’t appreciated. It’s just that much of what I’ve said over the years, even in some of the posts on this list, likely has been and would have been said by anyone else if I didn’t say it. The biggest exception to that has been this post.

A few months before this post, there was a leaked image of Mashima’s afterword in Fairy Tail S regarding the extra chapter Special Request, which happens to be one of my favorite chapters in the series. In it, he admitted that he didn’t originally plan on writing Natsu and Lucy’s relationship as romantic and was currently writing them as somewhere between friends and lovers.

When I first saw it as an image on a Tumblr post, I was extremely hesitant to say anything about it. I didn’t know about Fairy Tail S and assumed it was a troll. When it was confirmed by another blog, and it source was ultimately verified, it was a dream come true. Mashima had vindicated my thoughts on the ship literal months after my big post on Nalu. And yet, not many people were talking about what this actually meant for Fairy Tail and the fandom moving forward. So came this post.

In many ways, I’m still shocked that I still have to point people to this afterword and what it means for Fairy Tail. I’m sure many people know Mashima didn’t plan on making Nalu happen, but I doubt many people understand that fandom is outright incorrect to say that Nalu hsa been obvious from the jump. In a weird connection to the previous post, Mashima’s comments on Nalu are similar to comments Tite Kubo made regarding his writing Ichiruki. Even now, it’s hard to say that Nalu will become canon knowing Mashima’s original intents.

Of the most important thing to come from this post, this marked the start of me starting to hate Nalu. Up to this point, I went from being indifferent to it to not liking it. However, once this came to light, I came to actually hate the idea of Nalu as romantic. I’ve had even less patience for the fandom that made itself near synonymous with the Fairy Tail fandom at large on every site ever. I doubt that will change anytime soon and I’m not sure if that’s a bad thing anymore.

Well, that’s my list of my favorite posts. I’m sure you guys have favorites among my posts and maybe some of them are on this list. If you want to see more of my other personal favorite posts and reblogs, I’ve tagged all of them as fav on my blog, including this one. Here’s to 5 more years of whatever the heck I’m doing on this blog!

See you!

#this was fun #i spent too much time through the anti nalu tag for this #i've made a lot of fun posts #fav

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monkey-network · 6 years ago

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Good Stuff’s Best of 2018

WARNING: I just want to say cheers to you for making it through another year. I send you best wishes for next year to be fruitful. Thank you, take care out there, and enjoy.

Dedicated to Stan Lee, Stefán Karl and Stephen Hillenburg, the number ones of children entertainment

Bow Whacka Wow, playas and players. 2018 gave us quite a lot to consume while society continues to fumble like a Tumblr update. While hopefully the chaos has died down for the final weeks of the year, I’m counting down the best cartoons/animations I’ve seen and loved this year in no particular order. Only two rules, no sneak previews of future projects (sorry 101 Dalmatian Street and MP100) and no potential entries from last year’s list (sorry True). With that said, roll it....

10. UNIKITTY!

I love the Lego Movie. I’ll potentially like the sequel. I like Unikitty. She got a show, and it was a great show to start off the year. Upbeat, colorful, off the walls sometimes, perfectly capturing the spirit of the eponymous character. I’m glad the other characters are just as enjoyable, I never get tired of the theme song, every episode had me smilin’ one way or another, it’s just a quality bottle of positivity juice. Don’t know how else to explain it, Unikitty, the show and character, just makes and continues to make me smile.

9. POP TEA-- SIKE!

This anime ain’t nothing but unfunny randomness and skits with a forgetful arc in the first and final episode. I don’t get it, never gonna get it, so I don’t want to get it! MORE LIKE POOP TEAM EPIC, ‘nuff said. Which is why the actual number nine is....

9. BOB EPIC TEAM

Honestly, there is something endearing about the way Bob Epic Team presents itself. The simplicity and variety of its animation is remarkably good and makes it feel timeless sometimes. The comedy works in a way that gives you a clear grasp on the two characters while letting them do whatever they want. The surrealism of this is fun to think about, showcasing a hedonistic philosophy that rivals that of Epicurus. The duo’s chemistry is what especially got me, as they felt like the best of friends, potentially love birds *wink wink*. This anime was just creative in every sense of the word and, like Unikitty, it was a great anime to start of the year.

8. CRAIG OF THE CREEK

The ska is RAH. I honestly find this to be the loose spiritual successor to Hey Arnold and Recess. Like the playground, the creek is a well fleshed out setting with the many characters that hang there, from the TAZ trio to the loving witches of the creek. Though I will say the best episodes are when we get insight on the main three’s personal lives with their families and when the characters themselves go through a personal trial to understand themselves a little better. The shows thrives in the theme that the creek is a place where you can enjoy getting your hands dirty and work towards something you want, even if it doesn’t add to any concrete long term benefit beyond learning a thing or two about yourself and others. And I say for somebody that relates to Craig as a character, that’s a welcoming thought that the show has yet to perish. And the ska is a welcome choice of music, IMO.

7. THE EPIC TALES OF CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS

It’s funny in how a little over a year of getting a movie, Captain Underpants gets an animated series with not only original stories in lieu of just animating the already printed stories, but puts it all in a format similar to reading a book with a sardonic narrator and separating the plot of the episode into chapters with subtitle cards; one of the first I’ve seen do this. But really, a “Captain Underpants cartoon” is something I can’t say would turn out bad, and I’m right as this is a show that revels in what made CU great in the first place. George, Harold, Melvin, and Mr. Krupp/Captain Underpants are all great characters with the additional supporting cast providing welcome life to the world. Every Incredible Violence Chapter is brilliant in their own right, and while I wasn’t a fan of the ending they had for the season, it’s great that almost every episode is self-contained, boosting its replay value. Honestly, any compliment I have for this was already said in my review of this and the movie, so I’ll just say this too was faithful to its source material and benefited heavily for it.

6. GARY AND HIS DEMONS

Rick and Morty done better. BOOM, send tweet! It is safe to say that this was quite the sleeper hit and I can’t help but say it’s lowkey one of the best adult cartoons this year next to Ballmastrz and Final Space. And while I certainly appreciate the other two *hint hint* this one got a step above on the grounds that it works as a comedy and a solemn tale of a chosen hero that stumbles through years in the office life. It’s improv humor feels natural and it can be as melancholic as Bojack Horseman without making it all too deep like so; has a great balance of both. Main man Gary, unlike Rick for the most part, is a guy that’s both reasonably reprehensible yet pretty relatable. Not to mention, while it was bittersweet, it had a very satisfying finale to where I feel like this was a complete series all together. With a rough art style that compliments it’s tone, this was a series that surprised me in its sharp quality.

5. APPLE & ONION

I’ll admit. Initially wasn’t a fan of it as it felt like a knock-off to Regular Show (may it rest). Just had a duo of bros living together, doing mundane labor while coming up with impromptu tunes along the way. Then again, I was gladly proven wrong because the charm of it generally being a simple show, even with every person being food, somehow more regular than Regular Show. Every song they make is upbeat and catchy, all of the characters are endearing, and with only 10 episodes, each one was well paced and had quality writing to the point where I teared up a couple times. It stinks that this and Summer Camp Island have generally been receiving the shaft this year after their premieres, but I'm just glad that they haven’t been truly forgotten by CN and are getting more episodes next year. Plus, I love food and this show is about food. Debate over.

4. LEGEND OF THE THREE CABALLEROS

I was familiar yet never saw The Three Caballeros, ironic since Donald is one of my favorite Disney characters. But then, out of the blue, I found this and I was stunned, amazed, confused, nonetheless invested. It has a bumpy start, but it’s a joyous adventure from that start to end. The look of it is something I’ve rarely seen in animation since... freakin’ Wakfu. I love Xandra and I was glad to see her be an active player on the team. The villains are such a hammy delight. And Jose and Panchito were very lively and entertaining foils to Donald’s cynic nature while all three work as well together like the 3 stooges. Donald himself gets a great arc of his own throughout the season. And the theme, HO MY GOD I LOVE THIS THEME! It’s a damn shame Disney hasn’t released this already (since it’s all online already) because this series is much better than it has any right to be.

3. GOLDEN WIND/VENTO AUREO

I say, the beauty of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is that regardless of what part you start from, you’re enthralled into its world and ya feel compelled to dig into it more. Parts 3 was what got me into Jojo, like most I bet, but it was part 5 that got me “Oh yeah, this series [just] works on more than level”. The characters are what keep me hooked, regardless of Crunchyroll refusing to give their stands proper English names [Zipper Man, CR?], Fighting Gold and Freak ‘n You will never get old, and David Productions putting great effort into the small details and giving life and style to the original manga. I’ll just say, as one who’s read and loved the manga, this anime has not ceased to keep me impressed and guessing for more.

2. INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE

Funking superb, you afro having web-slinger. I hate to say it, but 2018 didn’t have the most impressive line-up of western animated features. Most were average, entertaining sure, but nothing felt like 110% was given. Until Spidah-Man came on the scene and I was like “WIG...

The only major problem I have with this film, besides a bit of slow pacing, is more of a missed opportunity where the stakes of getting the Spidermen back to their dimensions before dying felt like an afterthought. Then again, that’s ALL I have for problems. It looks fantastic. The action is smooth, coherent, and satisfying to see. The tiny details and comic book aesthetic of it was a blessed touch. I loved almost every character here. Nick Cage and John Mulaney. The fact that it has so much yet was able to juggle it all blew my mind. Even the post credits scene made this such a love letter to the wall-crawler. This film was refreshing to say the least and the central theme behind the idea of Spider-Man made this as great of a superhero movie as Infinity War and Lego Batman. Just saying, this better make its budget back and THEN SOME. It deserves it.

1. HILDA

Netflix, we’re not on good terms mind you, but ya done did it again. This is honestly one of the few shows that I genuinely took my time with as opposed to binging it, because binge watching is a devil in itself. Like the Spider-verse movie, it got the style of its source material down to cozy colored T with its autumn color palette and etched lining in the characters. Like the Captain Underpants series, while having a grounded arc of Hilda journeying through the city life and her colliding wildlife, each episode can be generally be enjoyed on their own. Like Gary and His Demons, it felt like a complete season and the fact it’s getting a season two made things all the better. But above all, it was a generally peaceful yet captivating fantasy cartoon to watch with incredible animation, an endearing main character, amazing looking folk creatures of all sizes and powers, and a cuddly deerfox for a pet. I say this is to the fall what Harvey Beaks was to the spring, and if I can compare a show to Harvey Beaks you know you’ve achieved greatness. Like True and the Rainbow Kingdom, gives you a moment of honest bliss and happiness that can influence your outlook on looking forward to better things because like Hilda herself, you push forward and have some fun exploring.

Just saying, I cannot stress this enough this is NOT my number one favorite show of the year, hell of all time. THAT goes to....

1. 👏TEEN 👏TITANS 👏GO, BABEEEEEEY!!

ONCE AGAIN, Teen Titans GO reigns supre-- Huh, what’s that? Oh my god, you’re serious?! The Number One is

TOTAL DRAMARAMA OUT OF NOWHERE! IT IS NOW CARTOON NETWORK’S ‘NEW FAVORITE SHOW’.

THE STREAK *DING DING DING* IS OVER

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allenmendezsr · 5 years ago

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Food, Health & You - Complete Implementation System

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Dr. Carl Bamlet Doctor of Chiropractic, Certified Nutrition Specialist

Dr Alan Christianson Naturopathic Medical Doctor

Dr Victoria Flight General Medicine Practitioner, Nutrition Specialist

Samantha McSorley Herbalist, Naturopath

Diane V Capaldi Founder of Paleo Boss Lady

Dr Eric Wood Naturopathic Physician

Dr Rodney Ford Pediatrician, Assoc. Professor

Elora Harre Founder of The Shrinking Violet

Mark Webster Naturopathic Pharmacist

Kippy Miller Founder of Kippy’s! Non-Dairy Ice Cream Shop

Dr. Jennifer Lamoureux Pharmacist, Founder of Egyptian Smoothie Detox

Rachel McClelland Founder of South Beach PrimalFounder of Dinner For Mary

Durgadas Lingham Ayurvedic Practitioner

Lisa Willert Founder of Everybody’s Butchery

Michelle Joy Kramer Holistic Health Practitioner

Dr. Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D Founder of Bright Line Eating

Dr Cade Copeland Doctor of Chiropractic

Drew Canole Author, Fitness Specialist

Summer Bock Holistic Health Coach

Ari Whitten Author, Fat Loss & Nutrition Expert

Paul Greive Farmer at Primal Pastures

Dr. Izabella Wentz Author, Thyroid Pharmacist

Ben Ceccarelli Founder of Dinner For Mary

Dr. John O’Malley Doctor of Chiropractic

Vandana Sheth, RDN Nutritionist, Certified Diabetes Educator

Dr. Catherine Heinlein Nutritionist, Certified Diabetes Educator

Lauren Kanzler, CCN Nutritionist, Diabetes Specialist

Kirsty Higgins Fitness Specialist

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Dr Charles Livingston Author, Doctor of Chiropractic

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Gary Watson Author, Founder of Wake the Fork Up

Sean Ghazzara Fitness Specialist

Perla Bucknell Yoga Instructor

Gina Broom Wellness & Lifestyle Blogger

Leigh O’Brien Registered Dietitian

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kbrown78 · 6 years ago

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Monthly Wrap Up: April

So April has been my lowest month of the year. While some things improved, my reading slump didn't really didn't and it shows. This month I only completed 7 books (but I'll be reviewing 8 in this wrap up), which is by far the lowest amount of the year. The month did not start out well, with a DNF, then a 1 star that I really wanted to DNF. The next 2 books were better, not great but still decent with 3 stars, and the last few books managed to pull off 4 stars. I was able to continue with the PopSugar Reading Challenge, and completed both books I read for the Pick-It-For-Me Challenge, but I didn't manage to do Tome Topple this month, which was disappointing. I think my continued slump, and the reason the ratings were so low this month is because I spent more time away from my preferred reading genre (Adult Fantasy) than I would have liked. The first 3 books of the month were a mix of literary fiction genres, but were all distinctly lacking in any mystical elements. While I thought one of these books was decent, I hated the other 2 and found them incredibly disappointing. The rest of the month transitioned into more fantasy reads (and 1 dystopian) and from there things slowly improved. Next month I'm definitely going to shift things to focus more on the books that I want to read, regardless of the genre.

Eldest by Christopher Paolini: Technically I finished this one at the end of March, but I forgot about it and didn't want to go through the stress of adding it to my already posted March wrap up, so I just decided to add it in this one. Eldest is probably my least favorite book in the Inheritance Cycle series, and while that remains to be seen, it definitely was a step down from Eragon. In fact I ended up skimming quite a bit of it to ensure I finished it on time (since I was renting it from the library) and didn't take notes, so this review isn't going to be as thorough as it could be. What was probably the biggest cause of the book's slump was one of the 2 new POVs that was introduced, Eragon's cousin Roran. In Eragon Roran leaves to train as a blacksmith so he can marry is sweet heart and has a close relationship with Eragon. While he's just got the bare bones, and was only in the first quarter of the book, he's still an established character. So why did I dislike his POV? I was so bored with it. It was basically Eragon's story but with a lot less excitement. A young, noble boy fights to save his village and is admired and respected by everyone except the villains. It was just one of those wonder boy, chosen one narratives (which I'm already pretty tired off) and unlike Eragon, who is novice but very powerful and deserves respect, it makes no sense why everyone seems to make Roran the de facto leader. I knew his POV was coming but I didn't realize how much his POV character dominates the narrative. I used to like his POV as kid just because it had a long journey/ escape aspect to it and I used to love those as kid (at this point I think they work better on TV) but this time around it helped emphasis one of the flaws in the series, and that is the fact that long journey's are over quickly. I mean the people of their hometown left at around the half way point and reached their destination before the book was over despite the issues they encounter. Roran's POV contained the most glaringly obvious flaws, but I can't say that it was irrelevant because it was it's own independent narrative, and in the later books it's nice to see Eragon and Roran together as family. Speaking of Eragon, I thought his chapters were okay. Didn't love them, didn't hate them. Ultimately I thought they were pretty forgettable because of how generic they are. He definitely is still this wide eyed wonder boy at the beginning of the book, and then he goes off to do training and ends the story a different person. I still don't like that he's one of those characters that the universe just seems to hand everything too, and most of his time with the elves I found to be simultaneously boring and rushed, but they did show his evolution as a character (sort of). By the end of this book I think he's more aware of who he is, the role he has to play and the power that wields. At the end he has a startling revelation about his lineage and his relationship with another characters. It was a twist that I think both made sense but was genuinely surprising (although not the second time reading it). I have yet to see if this is something that Eragon will brood over, which I really hope he doesn't because I think that will drag his character further down into that of a generic fantasy hero. The one thing I do remember of his chapters because it surprised me was his romance with Arya. When I first read the series as a kid, I totally shipped them. Now I don't ship them, at all. Arya and others repeatedly make it clear to Eragon that their romance would never work, including the fact that she is grieving the loss of her previous lover. In this book I thought there was so little chemistry between that I honestly don't understand Eragon's romantic feelings toward Arya. This might change in the later books, but this was something I just wanted to briefly mention. The other new POV was actually my favorite part of the story, but it was only 2 f**king chapters, out of 60 . The third POV follows Nausuda, the new leader of the rebel group the Varden after her father's death at the beginning of this book. She was briefly introduced near the end of Eragon, and while I liked her I was worried she was just going to become a Eowyn type character. That, fortunately, did not happen. She demonstrates herself as a capable leader, and a threat to her enemies. Despite her young age, she is well aware of the political machinations and is able to maneuver things well. She can come off as harsh at times, but it's because she grasps the severity of their situation and doesn't have time for any nonsense. Most of the people she is closest with or relies on the most are women, which I love because it means she respects and values a persons abilities, regardless of gender. My favorite scene in the entire book is where she asks the head warlock (who is woman and whose name I am forgetting) to make lace because it's easier and quicker to make by magic than hand, and can be sold for a profit that will help support the war effort. This shows Nasuada's ability to take a situation, however minor it is, and make it work to her advantage in a way that makes sense and can be applied to real world tactics. If the entire series had been filled with moments like this, than it would have worked much better for an adult audience. As a whole there were bits and pieces that I thought were good and helped propel the story forward, but there were a ton of generic fantasy elements and filler narratives which really dragged the story down. Eldest received 2 out 5 stars.

The White Princess by Philipa Gregory: I've been wanting to dip my toes into more historical fiction, especially ones that aren't set during WW II because there are so many of those (not that I'm unopposed to them) and Philipa Gregory's novel's seemed like a good place to start. I was initially going to read the White Queen but I happened to find this one at a book sale, and thought it would work out fine. What I really want in a historical fiction is you take familiar historical figures or events and make them come to life, you make them personal, and it's probably difficult to find an author that does just that. This book is set during the Late Middle Ages (a period of history that has always fascinated me) at the conclusion of the War of Roses with the marriage of Elizabeth of York and Henry VII, which I believe was the inspiration for Game of Thrones, and featured an introduction discussing women of that time period and how even though they are constantly being put in the corners of history, they certainly weren't doing nothing and could even be quite powerful in their own right. Basically this book had a very promising premise and during the first few chapters it seemed like it was going in a good direction. Unfortunately that quickly came to a halt. Elizabeth was an insufferable protagonist. She had zero agency whatsoever, kept being pushed from one bad situation to another had did little or nothing to change that, was blissfully ignorant about everything around her, and served as nothing more than a mouth piece for the narrative and a baby making machine for the king. To put it simply, she was early Sansa Stark who wasn't even being subjected to a psychopathic despot (at least that wasn't how the narrative was portraying Henry, though he did have other issues which I will get to in a minute). She was the exact opposite of the protagonist that I expected for this book, and it was very disappointing. In fact there are only 2 women that seemed to hold any sort of power, Elizabeth's mother Elizabeth Woodville and Henry's mother Margret Beaufort. Elizabeth Woodville has both power and experience at playing the game, but we don't get to see much of that because she's sent away about a third of the way into the story and Elizabeth of York remains ignorant of all her mother's doings. Margret Beaufort, on the other hand, wields a considerable amount of power because she is the only one the king trusts, but she's clearly being portrayed in a villainous light. She does everything possible to undermine Elizabeth and her family, exercises absolute authority without anything keeping her in check and does this to accomplish some awfully petty and mean tasks, and on top of that is a zealot. There is fine line between being devoted to one's faith and being a zealot, and since Margret again uses her power to get in with the Catholic Church, uses her faith as the justification for most of the things she does to Elizabeth, and brings about how the outcome was “God's will” in every other conversation she has, I think she's leaning more on the zealot side of things, and one of the fastest ways to make me hate a character is to make them an obnoxious zealot. I think Margret could at least have been put in a sympathetic light because she does know how costly the game is and wants her son to be safe in a dangerous and constantly shifting environment, but we never get this. So the female character that clearly has the most influence and power is the one that the readers are designed to like the least. This seems to go directly against everything that the introduction set out, and it's not just disappointing, it's a bit infuriating. The other major black stain on this book was the romance, and just like the female empowering narrative, was something that had potential in the beginning and was shattered upon Elizabeth and Henry's first meeting. I don't mind arranged marriages, in fact they are something I like to see if done well, and this was not done well. First there's Henry ignoring Elizabeth, like keeping her family sequestered in one area until after he's coronated. While not a promising start it was a reasonable political move and is something the relationship could still recover from. Then they final meet, I believe around Christmas, and the very first thing Henry does to Elizabeth is have her dance for him so she can feel like a slut, then proceeds to rape her when they are alone together. Gregory has now created a relationship I absolutely cannot get behind. After that he insults and degrades Elizabeth, is very blase about the rape (like he's entitled to it and even says when they are married it's not rape), doesn't try to form an emotional relationship with her and is constantly accusing her of conspiring against him (despite her crippling ineptitude), and even makes it clear he would have raped her sister if she hadn't proven fertile. This doesn't just make the “romance” awful, but it also makes Henry a pretty awful character. Plus the fact that he has a rather unsettling relationship with his mother, who again, constantly works to undermine Elizabeth's family. The fact that the only happy and tender moments between the couple that I can remember occur after Elizabeth has given Henry the son that he wants, makes those moments just feel cheap and unsatisfying. Ultimately I didn't see the characters improving, I didn't the relationships improving, and if I wanted to know how the rest of the story goes I could just do basic history search (and probably get more details on the events of the time). I ended up DNFing this book and needless to say I gave it 1 out 5 stars and was my pick for the PopSugar prompt “based on a true story.”

The Guest Book by Sarah Blake: I received an ARC of this book from Macmillian Publishers back in February, completely out of the blue. I had never heard of this book or author before, and it's not the kind of book I would consider reaching for unless there was a ton of hype around it (like The 7 Husbands of Evelyen Hugo), but because it was my first ARC I felt compelled to read it. Almost immediately, I had issues with this book. The writing of the book was a strange hybrid between dry, precise writing and the flowery purple prose, and it just didn't work. The other big issue I had with the writing itself was that the time lines and character POVs were all over the place. During almost the entire first half of the book, so for around 200 pages, I could not grasp what decade it was unless explicitly stated. The POVs weren't much better. The story was written in third person, but this didn't actually help me with identifying who was who because the POV would jump around so much, even within a chapter, that it took me awhile to finally identify who was who. This may due to the fact that there wasn't anything distinguishing about any of the characters, they could have literally been the same person with different names. This did change, but that didn't reflect well on the characters. One of the first scenes were I felt any sense of identity came from Kitty, in the first generation time line, and it made me hate her pretty quickly. I was already inclined to dislike the Milton family because they were privileged snobs, but again I didn't really get any sense of character. There was nothing specific about them that I liked or disliked. That all changed in the scene with Kitty at the Island, where I think she rejects taking in a woman and her son specifically because the woman is Jewish, and the rest of the group present constantly shut down this woman's conversation because her valid points about Hitler's rise to power made them feel a little morally uncomfortable. This was the scene that really defined who the Miltons are, and the thing is they never really improve even in later generations. Evie, one of Kitty's grand daughters, is struggling to ensure that they keep the Island. She tries to project herself as this progressive woman yet works to hold onto the very symbol of her family's corrupt and racist history. It makes her come off as a hypocrite in the worst way. I also had issues with the minority characters (mostly how they felt like token characters that served the purpose of redeeming the racists) but honestly I wouldn't be able to do a good job of discussing them because of the last major issue I had with this book, and that's the overall story itself. So this is definitely a “slice of life” narrative and while I don't generally gravitate toward those, I have found ones that I enjoy. In order to do this well I think you still need good characters and a complex plot with a clear conflict, even if it's just a personal one. For this book nothing works. The characters are bad on multiple levels, and I don't want to see racists who are vehemently denying their racism and issues be redeemed, and there wasn't any real conflict except for the family trying to keep their Island house. What plot I could identify was boring but most of the time, I couldn't tell what was happening. This is the main reason why I couldn't really review this book in detail. Ultimately nothing worked in this book, not the characters, not the story, not the writing. This wasn't a book I expected to love but I at least thought it would be decent and go somewhere, and it still failed at that. The Guest Book received 1 out of 5 stars from me, and if you want more articulate reviews them I do recommend looking at the Goodreads reviews.

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia: I guess I've lately been reading books that are outside of my typical SFF genre. As my reviews of the previous 2 books indicated I have not been having a good time exploring other genres. Fortunately this was an improvement, but I still didn't love it. The biggest struggle I had with the book was my inability to connect with the main character Eliza, and I blame that more on my personal issues than the book itself, and here's why. Eliza lives something of a double life online, where she is the creator of the popular web comic, while in reality she's a quiet nobody who struggles with daily interactions. Her 2 worlds start to collide when she meets new kid Wallace, who happens to be one of the most popular fanfiction writers for her comic series. The two slowly start to form a relationship and Eliza starts becoming more active in the real world, while starting to struggle with her online personality. Above all this entire story felt like a love letter to fandoms and online culture. Talking about online friendships, trolls, fandoms, creative pressure and escape. I really, really liked the story that was told, and Eliza is the kind of character that I think many young adults can relate to. I liked reading about Eliza's various relationships, from her online friends, to her family, and romance. Each one brought out a different aspect of her and each one had their own set of issues. So why didn't a get a higher rating. Well like I stated earlier I still I was never fully invested in Eliza, despite liking the book objectively for the narrative it tells. I think it's because outside of her being “average” in real life and a famous creator online, I never got much of a sense of who she is. It also took a little while for me to get into the book, and I don't feel that the rest of the book was good enough to fully recover from that slow start. The other thing has to do with Eliza and Wallace's romance. It started out really cute, but I don't like how things ended with them. They had their struggle's, which I thought was good because I wanted to watch them overcome their issues. Once they did encounter a problem though, things went downhill pretty quickly. Their dynamic got worse until it exploded and then quickly remedied itself and is never addressed again. I didn't like how often it's implied that things are fixed and getting better but we're not really shown any of it. I wish I could have liked this book more than I did because I think it's a good story that works well with a modern audience, but I just couldn't get fully attached to the characters and the conclusion left something to be desired. Eliza and Her Monsters received 3 out 5 stars and was my pick for the PopSugar prompt “book about a hobby.”

Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson: Oh man. I picked this book up because I was in the mood to read a lighter fantasy, and I wanted to get around to reading the rest of the series. I had hoped that my opinions of the book would change from the last time I read it, but my reactions and opinions were all exactly the same. The best thing that probably came out of the reread was now I can discuss more precisely what exactly it was that I didn't like about the book (which is one of the reasons I reread books). First there's the pacing and the plot, or I should say lack of. The book immediately kicks off with Lia running away from her arranged marriage on the day of her wedding, so we're immediately thrown into the action. I usually don't like that, but the book remedied that problem by using the first few pages to show Lia's feelings on the wedding and how others in the court regard her, including her own father. So when she runs away, we sympathize with her and want her to succeed. Then the book shows her and her loyal hand maid arriving in the city of Terravain where they intend to live the rest of their lives working at an inn. This time delay and again was used well because it showed Lia's determination and adjustment to her new life. The book also splits POV's between the prince she was supposed to marry, and an assassin who was sent to kill her. Since this is my second read through, I already knew who was who, so the suspense of those scenes was gone, and I started to view them as unnecessary to the plot. A few chapters after the prince and assassin arrive, is when I started to have problems. The book really does nothing, there's no romantic, political, or personal drama. It's just a bunch of filler until Lia decides to go back which leads to her being kidnapped, and that's well after the half way point. After that things do pick up a bit and the book starts to resemble the beginning narrative, but it's a case of too little, too late. By the time we got to Lia's cross country journey (which I've made clear I struggle with those story lines) I just wanted the book to be over and while I could identify interesting, relevant or even emotional points, I found myself not caring. For example when Lia finds her brother killed in a battle near the end of her journey, she buries him and his entire platoon with her bare hands because she refuses to leave him for the animals. It's clear that this is supposed to be emotional scene but it doesn't work for 2 reasons. One, like I already stated I just wanted the book to be over and didn't care but that's a personal reason. Two, we only saw this brother in 2 short scenes through the entire book, and during Lia's entire time in Terravain, there are no moments when she's fondly thinking of her brother. So the readers aren't emotional attached to this guy, and even Lia doesn't seem to come across as emotionally attached to her brother, so the burial scene fails to make the impact that it was trying to. My other big issue with this book was the female characters. I have mixed opinions on the female characters in the book. On the one hand, it's great to see multiple female characters with different personalities that Lia gets along well with. Even Lia herself seems like a decent protagonist, she's rebellious but matures, and she has that underlying intelligence and determination (which is actively demonstrated in the book). On the other hand none of the female characters, besides Berti, really has a personal conflict that doesn't involve a male. Lia running away from her arranged marriage and not going back because she doesn't want to marry the prince. In fact whenever she talks about her past with the other characters, it always has to do with the marriage and how it makes her feel like a set piece and she's determined to hate the prince she's never met. Gwenyth and Pauline are both women with children but no husbands, and Pauline spends the majority of her screen time gushing about her beloved, then spends a decent chunk of time mourning his “death.” It undermines the independent female narrative when it always comes back to the men. Even the conversations among the women does this, where almost all, if not all, are on the subject of the males in their lives, be it family or love interest. I'm not even sure if this would pass the Bechtel test, and that really bugs me, because the narrative really tries to present Lia as this strong independent woman. Surprisingly I didn't really have any issues with the romantic plot, in fact I think I would have liked to see more of it. Originally I thought that the love triangle was pretty good because I could see Lia falling for Rafe or Kaden. During this reread though, it's apparent that Lia prefers Rafe because he's the one she's always thinking of and wants to spend time with (which is fine, he's the one I prefer). There is still a good chance for a love triangle to arise due to the reveal of which boy is the prince and which one is the assassin, which completely changes Lia's dynamic with the 2 boys, so it will be interesting to see how the romance is played out in the next book. Ultimately there were things that I liked about this book, there were things I didn't. There's a lot in this world that I think was underdeveloped (like the world, conflict, and even characters) but there is clearly a lot of potential for the series, because this first book gives you that feeling that it's building up to something. I have heard that the series improves, so I am hopeful that I will like the next book better than this one. Kiss of Deception received 3 out 5 stars.

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale: This is a reread that I have been putting off for awhile. Why? Because I was worried that it wasn't going to be as good as I remember it being. The last time I read it was probably in elementary school, and based on the fact that there has only been one reread I liked, let alone loved, from all my junior high rereads I had some legitimate concerns. Princess Academy ended up being a delightfully cute reread, that I overall enjoyed. With the last 2 books, I knew I wasn't really enjoying them because I got to a point where I just wanted the story to be done and rushed to the ending. I didn't have that feeling with Princess Academy, and it probably helped since the book itself was fairly short. Since it's a book geared for more children than teenagers, it does keep things fairly simple and quick, yet still managed to convey a good story with a positive message. The story's about Miri, a 14 year old from a village in the mountains who, along with other girls from the village, must now attend the titular academy because the prince will choose his wife from this group of mountain girls. Miri at the start is a delicate and sheltered girl who lacks confidence and sees herself as a burden because she's not allowed to mine the mountain, and by the end she is confident in who she is and what she wants. Of all the books I've read I honestly think she has one of the better character arcs. I liked how organic and straight forward it was, and that education played a huge role, and her determination and love of learning become core traits. With her growth in confidence also comes friends. In the beginning she's basically an outcast, which drives her to fill the void with books, and then she slowly makes more friends due to a mix of her new confidence and selflessness. The book has a few plot driven moments, like entering the Academy, the ball, and the bandits, and I think these moments were well spaced out and appropriately added in at the right moment so that things are moving forward at an appropriate pace. The romance is cute and light hearted, with 2 good people who were childhood friends being sweet on each other. It's not a romance that tugs at my heart, but it's the kind of romance I love seeing and wish I could see more of. The world building was kept fairly simple (it is a children's book) but it still felt plausible and had a distinct identity with the quarry. There were only 2 things that I did dislike, the “magic” and the teacher, Olanna. So the magic in this book is called quarry speech, and what it does is allow people to communicate through the linder stone itself (the stone in Mt. Eskel). What I didn't like was how subjective it was, but it really is a minor aspect that connects to some bigger themes of the book very well. It's an important part of the identity of the people of Mount Eskel, and helps Miri connect to the other girls and grow in confidence. So while I don't love the quarry speech itself, I like what it does for the characters. Olanna on the other hand was something that had no redeemable qualities. In the beginning she acts as more of an antagonist than a tutor. Not only was she very snobby, constantly talking down to the girls and trying to belittle them, she was also flat out abusive to them. Hitting them, locking them in a closet, and wouldn't allow them to go home to their families. Olanna also acted as a hindrance for Miri gaining any friends because she would collectively punish the group for something Miri did, essentially putting a target on Miri's back. I really like good student/ teacher relationships (not romance) and those are hard to find, so it's disappointing that Olanna is the exact opposite of the supportive teacher that I wanted, but that isn't her worst offense. She only changes because the girls force her to change ways, and ultimately sees no consequences for her horrible behavior, which really grated my nerves. Putting adults like this in positions of power, and letting them go free after they've proven what an ass they are is something I put under the category of “yes, it happens in real life, but I hate seeing it in fiction.” I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would, since it is geared toward a young audience, and ended up giving it 4 out 5 stars.

The Fifth Season by N. K Jemisin: I finally, finally got around to reading this. This was my other Pick-It-For-Me Challenge (the first being Eliza and Her Monsters) and I was a little worried about because everyone (and I mean everyone) that reads it loves it, and it's an award winning series. I also tried reading a bind up of Jemisin first work, The Dreamblood Duology, and I put it down after a couple of chapters (I might pick it back up). While I do think this book was as amazing and unique as everyone says it is, and it worthy of the praise it receives, I think the bar was set just a little too high for it. As more time passes I'm beginning to realize that while I don't love this book. It's good but not great. It's unique, it's heart wrenching, it's contains relevant themes, but I personally didn't get super attached to this book, and there are some opportunities that I think the book missed out on. I noticed that one of the best elements of this book and probably the driving force for the narrative are the themes. Books that are theme driven do generally leave a good impression on me and have a good impact, but I don't fine myself loving them as much as could because I think they kind of lack a personality (the exception to this is In An Absent Dream whose themes and the way it presented them happened to really strike a cord with me). The major themes in The Fifth Season are oppression and motherhood, as well as humans being tied to the earth. All important topics and I do think this first book handled well, for the most part, but it's that “most part” bit that drives the book down a smidge. I wanted more of Damaya's POV because I wanted to see more of how a child deal's with oppression and how it shapes them (also school setting). I wanted to see more growth in Essun and Hoa's relationship since he starts out as this strange surrogate child who follows her after she's lost her son and is searching for her daughter. These things might be further developed in the later books but I just don't know. There a few other things that I wish were done differently, but since they contain spoilers I'm not going to go into it here. The strange thing is I think this book was so hyped up I expected it to be a perfect book rather than just a good book. I still really liked this book but it also disappointed me to an extent. The Fifth Season received 4 out 5 stars and was my pick for the PopSugar prompt “own voices book.”

The Handmaid's Tale by Margret Atwood: It's a little surprising that I enjoyed this one as much as I did. I fully expected it to be a very depressing read that I just wanted to quit and get rid, so I thought I would be putting this off for awhile. Instead something compelled me to pick this book up and I ended up reading it much sooner than I expected. While there were definitely some uncomfortable scenes, I think this book did a fantastic job at conveying the message that it did, and this was a book I wanted to continue reading despite my initial hesitancy. For those who don't know what this book is about, it follows Offred, a Handmaid (whose entire purpose is to produce a healthy child) as she tries to survive her daily live in the oppressive new American regime. There isn't much plot, since the whole story serves as a cautionary tale. The characters in this book aren't much either, they really don't have much depth to them, however they don't need it. They mainly serve as set pieces, including the narrator, to illustrate the world around them and all the injustices now present. In fact the narrator, Offred, distinctly comes off as a passive set piece, not just because of her current oppressive circumstance but even in flashbacks, she basically reacts to others around her. While this doesn't always make her a likeable character, it works here because she really is trapped and has essentially no options, she has to go with the flow in order to survive. It's a very introspective novel and there is something about Atwood's writing that makes the story work, despite the lack of elements I usually enjoy in a story. The downside I would say about that is it's easier to forget specifics and just remember the feelings you had at certain moments throughout the story, and I struggle to write about something when I'm just going based off of feelings. It's why I don't have much say in this wrap up. I think it's one of those books where you have to read it for yourself to see what all the hype is and honestly if a book like this can last in the mainstream media for as long as it has then that that says something about both the book and the environment it's in. It's a testament to both Atwood's writing and the current socio-political environment that this book still appeals to a modern audience. My rating of The Handmaid's Tale managed to stay same, leaving it at a solid 4 out of 5 stars.

Thank You Everyone

Keep Calm and Keep Reading

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weekendwarriorblog · 6 years ago

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WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND April 19, 2019 - THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA, BREAKTHROUGH, PENGUINS

Yay! Another week where I haven’t seen any of the new releases! This is what happens when studios offer a single press screening rather than a few options, I guess.

After a rather dismal weekend, this weekend sees the release of a mixed bag of movies that will wrap-up the winter/spring movie season before Avengers: Endgame comes along and just destroys everything else in theaters. This is also Easter weekend and with no schools and many being off work for Good Friday, we’ll see a large bump with most movies being frontloaded for the weekend. (Easter Sunday is usually reserved for family meals, Easter egg hunts, etc, so not as much movie business.)

Beginning on Wednesday, we have two relatively family-friendly films in Fox 2000’s faith-based BREAKTHROUGH (20thCentury Fox) and DisneyNature’s PENGUINS (Walt Disney Pictures), again, neither which I’ve seen. The first is a higher-profile faith-based drama that’s being released in perfect timing with Easter, but unlike the movies of PureFlix, I feel that the marketing campaign could bring in a wider audience, especially with popular actors like Chrissy Metz, Topher Grace, Mike Colter and Dennis Haysbert. Penguinsis another Disney nature doc, this one a cute story about a penguin named Steve, voiced by Ed Helms, and its G-rating will help make it a choice for family with young kids over the holiday weekend.

Then on Friday (or rather, Thursday night) comes the latest horror film from producer James Wan, THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA (New Line/WB), which looks like another solid scare-fest even if the reviews out of SXSW weren’t as strong as the ones for Pet Sematary (which I still haven’t seen!) and Us (which I’ve seen twice). I’m definitely interested in checking it out, especially the work of director Michael Chaves, who has already been attached to direct the next Conjuring movie (although this one is not related).

Opening in 300 theaters Wednesday is the Bollywood release KALANK (FIP), directed by Abhishek Varman, a romantic drama about six characters looking for love in the town of Husnabad, North India.

Also opening fairly wide this weekend is Michael Berry’s adaptation of Riley Thomas’ stage musical Stuck (Eammon Films), starring Giancarlo Esposito, Amy Madigan, Omar Chaparroand Ashanti as four of six New York commuters stuck on a subway car, as they sing their stories to each other. Sounds more fun than what normally happens in New York when the subway car stops between stations.

Apparently, Bleecker Street plans on expanding Max Minghella’s Teen Spirit, starring Elle Fanning, wider, although I don’t have a theater count at this point in time, so I’m not sure if it’s expanding enough to get into the top 10 or how many areas it will be in.

LIMITED RELEASES

My favorite movie of the weekend is Pamela Green’s doc BE NATURAL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ALICE GUY-BLACHÉ (Zeitgeist), which will open in L.A. at the Laemmle Monica Film Center then move to NYC on April 26. If you don’t know who Alice Guy-Blaché is then you really need to see this movie, since she was such an important part of cinema history. She was there from the very gestation of cinema in France as the first female director who was making so many inroads into various filmmaking techniques while being mostly ignored by the men in the industry, including those who documented the history of cinema. This is an amazing film to see all of Ms. Guy’s accomplishments, while also being demeaned by a philandering husband who took credit for much of her accomplishments. I was also amazed to learn while watching this film that Fort Lee, New Jersey used to be the hub of cinema in the early 20thCentury before Guy’s husband and others moved to California and set up Hollywood, mainly to get away from paying fees to Tom Edison. This is an amazing doc that I recommend highly if you consider yourself a film buff on any level.

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Another great doc opening this week – New York on Weds and in L.A. Friday – is Penny Lane’s new one HAIL SATAN? (Magnolia), which explores the Satanic Temple and its leader Lucien Greaves, who have created a political movement around the ideas that church and state should be kept separate. They do this by raising funds to set-up statues of Baphomet on the same capital grounds where governments have set-up statues of the Ten Commandments. They also do this with a sense of humor that reminds me of The Yes Men, whose own pranks have been documented well in film. Either way, this movie is not what you might think i.e. it’s not a commercial for Satanism as in the type that sacrifices babies. It’s just a group that uses the name of Satan to fight for religious freedom.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays a woman who goes on the run after her superpowers are discovered in Julia Hart’s FAST COLOR (Codeblack Films). This opens in select cities this week, and I’ve reviewed it over at The Beat.

It Follows director David Robert Mitchell’s new noir thriller UNDER THE SILVER LAKE (A24) seems to be getting dumped with a quick release in New York and L.A. on Friday before debuting for streaming on Amazon Monday. I guess the mixed reviews it got at its premiere at Cannes last year didn’t help matters. It stars Andrew Garfield as 33-year-old Sam who discovers the mysterious Sarah (Riley Kough) in his apartment swimming pool, but when she vanishes, he goes looking through L.A. to find what happened to her. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but it’s looking unlikely I’ll see it in theaters now.

Dame Judi Dench stars in Trevor Nunn’s RED JOAN (IFC Films), playing Joan Stanley, a widow living in retirement when the British Secret Service arrests her for giving classified information to the Soviets for decades. Based on a true story, it will open at the Landmark 57 and IFC Center in New York as well as other theaters and On Demand.

Tessa Thompson and Lilly James star in Nia DaCosta’s feature film directorial debut LITTLE WOODS (NEON), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last year, at which DaCosta won the Nora Ephron award. Thompson plays Ollie, a North Dakota woman who was once arrested for smuggling prescription drugs across the border, something she gives up until her pregnant sister Deb (James) shows up needing $3,000 to save their family home. I’m hoping to catch it again sometime this week, since I want to give it another chance.

Currently playing on DirecTV and opening in select theaters and On Demand Friday is Fred Wolf’s DRUNK PARENTS (Vertical Entertainment), starring Alec Baldwin and Salma Hayek. Semi-wealthy Frank and Nancy Teagarten are dropping their daughter off at college just before the repo man shows up at their door, so they do some drinking and hold a yard sale as to hide their deteriorating wealth.

Orange is the New Black star Taylor Schilling stars in Laura Steinel’s Family (The Film Arcade) as career-focused Kate Stone, who is asked by her estranged brother to babysit her ‘tween niece Maddie, as one night turns into a week.

Prolific Korean auteur Hong Sang-soo’s new movie Grass (Cinema Guild), will open at the Metrograph in New York. It’s a rather talkie piece that involves a bunch of people talking to each other in a café where a young woman (Kim Min-hee) eavesdrops and adds their characters to her story. I’m generally mixed on Hong Sang-soo, and this one seems a bit more artsy with less of a narrative, but I assume diehard fans will enjoy it.

Wanuri Kahui’s Kenyan coming-of-age drama Rafiki (Film Movement), the first Kenyan film to show at Cannes, will open at BAM on Friday. It follows the journey of Kena and Ziki, two young woman whose fathers are rival political candidates but who have formed a bond of friendship.

Just in time for 4/20 comes Robert Ryan’s doc Breaking Habits (Good Deed Entertainment) about Christine Meeusen’s decision to leave her cheating husband of 17 years with her three kids, reinventing herself as Sister Kate and setting up a cannabis farming business that would become the Sisters of the Valley medicinal marijuana empire.

Also, a reminder that Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, starring Adam Driver and Jonathan Pryce, is supposed to get a limited release this weekend after its Fathom Events “one night only,” although I have no idea of number of theaters or locations or anything.

LOCAL FESTIVALS

As with every weekend, there’s a lot going on, and in New York, up at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, they’re kicking off this year’s ART OF THE REAL on Thursday and running through April 28. The Opening Night film is Frank Beauvais’ Just Don’t Think I’ll Scream, compiling the thoughts and revelations of the filmmaker. I haven’t been able to get to any of the press screenings, but it usually has an interesting and diverse line-up which you can read more about at the link.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

Fans of Brazilian cinema will want to check out some of the Metrograph’s new series about Brazilian filmmaker Nelson Pereira dos Santos, which runs from Friday through April 28. The movies range from his groundbreaking 1955 doc Rio, 40º to 2011’s The Music According to Tom Jobim with nine films, few of which have received distribution in North America. This week’s Late Nites at Metrographinclude Sion Sono’s Anti-Porno and Bertrando Bonello’s 2011 film L’Appollonide (House of Tolerance), neither which I’ve seen, but the weekend’s Playtime: Family Matineesis Disney’s The Love Bug, one of my absolute favorite films from childhood.

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

Besides showing Henri-Georges Clouzet’s murder-mystery Quai Des Orfevres on Wednesday afternoon, Tarantino’s rep theater is showing double features of Hitchcock’s Family Plot (1976) and the thriller Black Sunday (1977) on Weds. and Thurs, the classic Jack Lemmon-Walter Matthau The Odd Couple (1968) and Robert Redford/Jane Fonda’s Barefoot in the Park (1967) on Friday, then Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie (1980) and Ice Cube’s Friday (1995) on Saturday. This weekend’s KIDDEE MATINEE is a surprisingly recent movie in Universal’s Hop – cause it’s Easter weekend, get it? – and the midnight movies are The Hateful Eight on Friday night and the 1981 John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd movie Neighbors on Saturday. Sunday and Monday are double features of Only When I Laugh (1981) and I Oughtta Be in Pictures (1982). Monday afternoon is a screening of Martin Scorsese’s 1999 film Bringing Out the Dead, starring Nicolas Cage and Patricia Arquette.

FILM FORUM (NYC):

One of the repertory series I’m most excited about since first hearing about it is the Film Forum’s latest series “Trilogies,” which this weekend will show all three of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather trilogy, and Sergio Leone’s Western trilogy with Clint Eastwood: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1966) and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966). This weekend is also the start of Masaki Kobayashi’s The Human Condition, while Monday is a trilogy of films by Jacques Beckere called his “Paris Youth Trilogy,” including Antoine and Antoinette. Sadly, they don’t seem to be showing Edgar Wright’s Three Cornetto Trilogy as part of the series. :( This weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is the 1985 crime-comedy Clue, based on the board game.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Word came out last week that Netflix is looking to buy the Egyptian, so hope they retain the repertory programming. Thursday is the new restoration of Bjork’s 1990 movie The Juniper Tree, Friday night there is a Brian Yuzna double feature of Society and Bride of Re-Animator, both from 1989 with Yuzna in attendance. Saturday sees a TRIPLE feature of Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness (1992), Waxwork (1988) and Fulci’s The Beyond (1985), all in 35mm!

AERO (LA):

The Aero’s “Classic Movie Clowns” series begins Thursday with a Harold Lloyd-Buster Keaton double feature of Safety Last! (1923) and The Navigator (1924), Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator (1940) plays on Friday, as well as a series of Silent Comedy Shorts (with live music!) on Saturday, as well as Laurel and Hardy’s Sons of the Desert (1933) along with their shorts Brats and Helpmates. Easter Sunday sees a collection of Bugs Bunny and Friends animated shorts and a double feature of Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko (2001) and Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead (1981).

IFC CENTER (NYC)

The IFC Center started its spring series last weekend, but I received the info too late to include. This weekend’s Waverly Midnights: ParentalGuidance is Hitchcock’s Psycho, while the Weekend Classics: LoveMom and Dad is Terms of Endearment and Late Night Favorites: Springis David Fincher’s Fight Club.

MOMA (NYC):

Modern Matinees: B is for Bacall this week shows the 1947 film Dark Passage on Weds, Howard Hawk’s To Have and Have Not (1944) Thurs, and The Big Sleep (1946) on Friday. Also the What Price Hollywood series continues with Clarence Brown’s 1931 film A Free Soul and Josef von Sternberg’s 1934 film The Scarlet Empress on Weds, the 1939 film Midnight and 1935’s Sylvia Scarlett on Thursday and more. They’re also showing Franco Rosso’s Babylonover the weekend.

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

This week’s series is See it Big! Action with screenings of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Seven Samurai, Anne of the Indiesand The Adventures of Robin Hood. On Good Friday, the family program is the animated Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

The Quad continues its Wild Things: The Ferocious Films of Nelly Kaplan this weekend with Charles and Lucie, Néa, The Pleasure of Love and more.

BAM CINEMATEK (NYC):

Thursday ends the The Anarchic Cinema of Věra Chytilováseries of the Czech film star.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART (LA):

This Friday’s midnight offering is Panos Costamos’ too recent to be repertory Mandy, starring Nicolas Cage.

STREAMING AND CABLE

Streaming on Netflix this week is Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s SOMEONE GREAT, starring Jane the Virgin’s Gina Rodriguez as an aspiring music journalst trying to get her dream job at a magazine, even though that would mean moving to San Francisco. Her boyfriend of nine years (Lakeith Stanfield) decides to break up so she and her two best friends (DeWanda Wise, Brittany Snow) decide to go out for one last adventure in New York City.

#WhatToWatchThisWeekend CurseOfLaLLorona Movies TheWeekendWarrior #BeNatural HailSatan

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studentyr2-blog · 8 years ago

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DES202 Design Contexts Charles Scammell 1602255

Design Contexts - Negotiated Response:

Will In-Game Ads Ruin the Industry with Developers Greed?

Looking into what could be a possibility to base this assignment on, I looked at complaints in the industry, as nothing sparks discussion more than online rants, and I came across this topic that I never knew was rapidly becoming a common complaint in the gaming community. I always looked at in-game ads as simply part of the industry and that people had made their peace with it, but then again I have rarely properly played a game released after 2013, I’m still very much stuck in the Skyrim and counter strike era of games. But moving on, I found large online groups relentlessly complaining about how the constant attack of advertisements break the immersion into the game story lines when they see ‘real life’ products being advertised through-out the game.

The most subtle type of in-game ads are called static, these are most commonly built into things like story line or integrated product placement, a perfect example would be EA Sports FIFA, or mainly any real life simulation sports game, to create a real life environment requires an array of billboards and advertisements in the stadiums. I found however, what irritates people most is the more, in your face, style of in-game ads commonly known as ‘dynamic’ or ‘DIGA’, this is the newest version of marketing that has become common and usually involves real word products such as the latest ‘Dell’ gadget being advertised on billboards or posters in-game. This used in a non-real world simulation game is understandably distracting for serious gamers; however I myself don’t feel this way just yet.

What first came to mind of ‘in-game advertisement’ for me, were small game apps from in the app store, I understand it is frustrating when pop ups constantly interrupt games on your phone and/or can’t actually be closed. I thought to myself though, that’s not a big enough point to base a submission on, but this came up, time and time again, as a complaint from more serious , some might say ‘self-important’, gamers on console and PC games. In fact the advertisement industry last year reached over ‘2 billion dollars’ for in-game advertising, and, shockingly, is estimated to grow to 7 billion dollars by the end of this year. This rise in profit to the industry is what worries gamers that these small inconveniences in today’s games are only the beginning of such a rising, and very profitable, part of the industry.

If that is the case, then is it only a matter of time before adverts actually interrupt gameplay itself, just like it does in television? Relentless and seemingly never-ending advertisements today have all but driven the younger generation away from television and onto online ad free streaming and sites like Netflix. Sony has actually released a patent for these interrupting, TV show like, ads, but I feel the lack of information on this ‘patent’ towards console and PC games may be a sign they don’t intend to fully go ahead with the interruptions just yet, but it shows the industry is beginning to change for the worse. However as long as they stick to breaking adverts into the free-to-play apps, I don’t have any complaints against Sony; I mean the apps are free after all.

I think what people are noticing more today is the greed shown by big companies in other aspects of the industry, like the software that blocks used games, which is causing a concern. This greed threatens to change the industry for the worse with rising prices, less content included (so that gamers have to buy more and more in-game purchases) and of course selling more and more advertisement space in games to the point PC and console games become just a glorified App store.

Although if anything I actually see a silver lining coming from these changes, the further I research this subject, although there is a significant rise of dynamic in-game adverts, the reality of the business side of this, is that the industry is getting a serious rise in profit and funds. For example in 2006 the industry received 34 million dollars for its advertisement schemes in-game, and it is now a seriously fast rising billion dollar aspect of the industry. This opens up more opportunities for bigger and better games to be released in the near future from the industry.

Also on a not totally unrelated note, it also opens up countless opportunities for the advertisement and marketing industry. An industry that has, in recent years, taken a large hit with the rise of online streaming and ad blockers used more and more by the younger generation. Done in moderation this could bring out the best in both worlds in the years to come as it combines two very different businesses, using purely digital platforms.

However, again the arguments stands that it is not in large corporations’ nature to not go completely over-kill on any profitable opportunity that rises in the new digital age. An example of how this has already started to show is that the very first known example of an in-game advertisement was released in 1978, in a game called Adventureland. In it, the developer, Adventure International, placed a very small advertisement for another game called Pirate Adventure. At the time it was seen as an innocent, rather clever idea, although now that original concept of Adventure Land has turned into a multibillion dollar industry.

I am not saying I completely agree with the money-grabbing, over the top actions of developers and the marketing industry in today’s entertainment business. But I personally think the reality of the situation is that the standard of production and storytelling that is given through games today deserves to ask for slightly increased prices, and for companies to look elsewhere to bring in profitable income, such as oversold ad space, will only keep prices of games from rising further. The day my game is interrupted with an advert for say, the latest IPhone, then I will definitely side with the online community currently in rebellion of the industry, but for now I have nothing but admiration for where the industry has come in the past years.

References: Rapid fire: http://www.rapidfire.com/blog/the-three-types-of-in-game-advertising/

Cracked: http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-video-game-complaints-were-just-going-to-have-to-get-over/

G4TV:http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/704876/alan-wake-the-worst-product-placement-in-gaming-history/

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In-game_advertising

Kotaku: http://kotaku.com/tag/in-game-advertising

Two Critiques

CRITIQUE ONE:

Y Tu Mama Tambien

(film)

Critique/ review

Y Tu Mama Tambien is a 2001 Mexican film following the travels of two teenagers and an older woman as they drive across Mexico to a supposed hidden beach known as “Heaven’s Mouth” and gain a greater understanding of life, love, death and friendship along the way.

Before I delve into why I found this movie to be appropriate to critique in my submission I’d like to mention that the director and joint producer of Y Tu Mama Tambien is Alfonso Cuaron, the Mexican filmmaker responsible for Prisoner of Azkaban, which transitioned Harry Potter from pre-teen adventure escapades to a much darker and menacing series, throwing it into the sub-genre of fantasy thriller that captivated a much wider audience than the previous two films, and arguably created the most visually interesting instalment of the entire franchise, this is just my opinion, I add this extra line as I have found others to disagree but I digress.

“Y Tu Mama Tambien” translates to “and your mother too” which said on its own is not offensive, but if put in context of an argument or used as a deliberately arrogant retort then it becomes offensive. This is appropriate because the title perfectly describes the relationship between the two male leads, Julio (Gael Bernal) and Tenoch (Diego Luna) two best friends who revel in insulting each other in an attempt to charm Luisa (Maribel Verdu) sometimes playfully and other times with a bit more cruelty.

Though all cast members give great performances, surprisingly I would say this for all actors for such a small film, the stand out is Maribel Verdu whose portrayal of Luisa is nothing short of flawless. Whether she’s teasing the boys with questions of their sexual endeavours or on the phone to her cheating husband trying to keep composure in her voice as she breaks down in tears, Verdu steals the show for performance.

Thinking about what film to do this assignment on, I was scanning my own movie shelf for ideas, Y Tu Mama was always one I avoided purely because of the foreign title, however earlier that day I had been watching a video essay by the Nerd writer (I’ll put a link to his YouTube channel somewhere in my blog) on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and in that video the Nerd writer notes how surprising it would have been at the time for Warner Bros. to choose Alfonso Cuaron to direct a film in a series that was essentially for children when his previous film had been Y Tu Mama Tambien, which the Nerd writer described as “an explicit Mexican road trip drama about sexual discovery.”. I then looked up Roger Ebert’s review of Y Tu Mama, the opening lines of which explain how though marketed as a teen drama with a very used premise, and while that premise is technically true, it in no way prepares you for what the film is really about or how long the thoughtful silence after you watch it will be. This is what made me pick this film up after so long of avoiding the ‘crazy’ looking title, regardless of my appreciation of foreign films.

The DVD I own, I have no Idea where it came from, has a number of special features including a short film written and directed by Carlos Cuaron, a couple of radio interviews with Alfonso himself, a pretty entertaining behind the scenes video and a load of marketing material (an overload of misleading trailers). I watched one of the promos before I watched the film itself, and after watching the film I completely understood what Ebert meant. The marketing would have you believe that Y Tu Mama is a raunchy all out sex romp of a film and even though there are sex scenes in Y Tu Mama they are filmed in a way unlike any other film I’ve seen that depicts the act of “love-making”.

It was either Alfonso Cuaron or Emmanuel Lubezki (I forget exactly who as the interview contained both) who said that the sex scenes were shot in one take deliberately from a distance so as to create the impression that the events unfolding were just happening naturally and that just by chance there was a camera nearby, therefore any nudity you see appears to be down to subtle and seemingly unintentional movements by the actors and not by result of the man behind the camera. Never do you see a jump cut to a glorified close up of perfectly lit breasts or hear unrealistic pornographic moans; what you get with the combination of excellent direction, and great cinematography and a cast with brilliant acting ‘chops’ are sex scenes that are grounded in reality, and to comic effect in a number of ways. In fact some of the funniest takes in the film stem from the awkward fumbling of the teenage characters treating sex like a race.

I briefly mentioned cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki above and I have to praise him further as I have a great appreciation for the art, he apparently used 90% natural light for most of the film, which I have found from further research is a key feature of his, which adds to the environment the characters are travelling through. The flat desert-like daylight shots use the sun as the key-light to create a slightly iconic contrast with the harsh fluorescent high-key lights of a ‘throwaway’ Mexican bar at night that illuminates the actors from above in a much more dramatic and dynamic way. Even today this is a very uncommon take on lighting for a movie, which I have even tried to incorporate in the lighting and mise-En-scene for another cyber punk style module I have been working on for my second semester; I will credit Lubezki in my assessment for this module.

A key artistic choice I’ve yet to mention in this film has little to do with visuals and everything to do with audio, I realise now I have understated this so far but at least 50% of this film is credited to the voice-over narration throughout. Narration that doesn’t just speak the minds of the characters, but instead tells stories of events that happened in the same places the characters are travelling through, but only years before, and at some points even tells us the future, not just of the characters but of Mexico itself and how century old traditions are ended by ‘corporations’ ever growing need to expand business.

It took a bit of time to get used to, mainly because of the complete 2-3 seconds of silence that immediately precedes the narration, which I find to add more to the film than it is given credit for in any online review I’ve seen, I honestly was fooled at times into thinking my speakers had cut out without warning. The narrator himself, Daniel Gimenez Cacho, delivers his speech in a, matter of fact, sort of way, much like the narration found in “Amelie”, which is a reference I was given by a friend but fits perfectly (link to his blog will be included also) only with less of a flair, quoting a friend, the performance is dead pan but completely fits the tone of the film.

I get the feeling that I’ve used a lot of words thus far but I haven’t really said much about my personal opinion on the plot, other than praising the genius behind the camera, but to be honest I don’t want to say much more than what I have as I spent more time enjoying the extras than the film itself. This in truth was the reason I chose this film to submit my critique on.

I definitely suggest having your own copy of Y Tu Mama Tambien because after the first viewing you’ll want to watch it again and I guarantee that you’ll find the second sitting to be almost an entirely different but equally powerful and deep film. It has easily become one of my all-time favourites, well in fairness a favourite in the foreign category of films but still worthy of submitting my outlook on another wise overlooked film.

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y_Tu_Mam%C3%A1_Tambi%C3%A9n

Aint it cool: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/11923

Guardian Review: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2002/apr/12/1

CRITIQUE 2:

Darksiders II.

(game)

Critique on game art and design

Darksiders is a game trilogy that is produced by Vigil Games and is now possibly coming into its third instalment of the franchise. I previously owned the second instalment of the series Darksiders II, which is why I have chosen this game to be appropriate to critique. Noteworthy points of this game is that the plot follows the main antagonist which a rendition of Death and it is set in a gothic inspired fantasy world and is primarily a third person single player game.

What attracted me to this game originally, and why I feel it fits the assignment, is that in-game Darksiders looks exactly like the concept art, which I feel is rare in this industry. This was the goal of the games art-style inspiration and co-creator Joe Madureira, originally a comic book artist for X-men. This style was taken by teams of artists and brought to life by Vigil. Other key artistic inputs include free-lance environment designer Jonathan Kirtz, and a character artist’s team led by lead character animator James Brian Jones.

Character Artwork and Design

I find it hard to fault the character design in this game series as I think it is probably the most relatable to my own style of art work and the style of work that inspires me to improve. Notably in the style of the characters created by James Brian Jones’ art team is the exaggeration of strength and stylised frames of the characters. This is a very satisfying combination with the exaggeration used in the games environment art. Along with one of the most impressive and iconic horse designs in any game around today.

The main character design for Death however, I feel fell short in delivering on ‘the most feared’ of the four horsemen. In a world that is filled with such giant and powerful looking characters the main character seems rather small and un-menacing. This was a let-down for such an anticipated character. Although the visual of the character fits perfectly to the theme, the colour purple fits the role of death. Of course Black would be the go-to colour for death, but would not be as recognisable in a game like this, I mean it has the word ‘dark’ is in the title, more black really would be bordering on over-kill, the purple works best for this character in my opinion.

Another aspect of the main characters design is his face, which is a mouthless skull, this caused real concern for the character designers as it created a real restriction on expression from the games main character. However they found a way to modify the eyebrows and head movements of the character, which I feel, works even better than a talking skull as it brings a real creepiness to the character, along with a really strong voice actor.

Environment Artwork and design

The style of Darksiders is unquestionably heavily stylised and chunky, which would best describe the architecture of the environments used in this game. The majority of the environment art is set inside monuments and ruins of old halls and cathedral like structures. This shows off some impressive architecture designs done by Kirtz.

The overall aesthetic of his work in this game is very gothic and medieval with excessive use of heavy arches and strong pillars that bring a hint of religious structural design to the environments. This comes across profoundly on the design of windows and arches which strongly use geometric shapes to create gothic medieval designs, used almost as a substitute for stained glass windows.

However this plays nicely into the constant use of skulls in almost every design used, which was said in an interview with some of the main artists ‘where used purposely as a symbolism of ‘death’’, which in this context is one of the four horseman and main character.

Although constant use of skulls in almost every area of environment becomes very arduous to look at and even though there is some variation to this with the use of bird and animal skulls etc. The aesthetic seems to be rather stuck in one place when it comes to the design aspect of the atmosphere in this game, however attractive the art style may be.

Colour palette, I don’t see much other ways they could pull of this style of environment of endless stone walls and floors without the excessive use of stone grey. However this again becomes very strenuous after constantly being hit with a grey screen on every level. Although in fairness this does get cut through with the beautiful lighting used in this game to not be a main criticism.

Even though I did put some thought on what game to critique for this module I was pretty sure I would end up writing about the Darksiders artwork, as I feel it just, at the time especially, was iconic and the characters had so much story behind them for such a small game, which really came across in the designs for each. I can’t say Darksiders is my favourite game in the world, or that in fact I spend enough time playing games to have experienced a wide range of styles out there, but I definitely recommend anyone with an appreciation of Game art to play these games.

References:

Kotaku: http://kotaku.com/5935552/the-art-of-darksiders-ii

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darksiders_(series)#Games

Kotaku: http://kotaku.com/5929162/the-heavy-metal-art-of-darksiders-ii

Forbes Interview: https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/08/13/the-art-of-darksiders-ii-an-interview-with-vigil-games-creative-director-joe-madureira/&refURL=https://www.google.co.uk/&referrer=https://www.google.co.uk/

Google Image Search: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=darksiders+2+art+style&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiTwpOr9vTSAhVHLsAKHZiKCgcQsAQIIQ&biw=1707&bih=789

Game Informer: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2011/07/01/embracing-the-supernatural-the-art-of-darksiders-2.aspx

PRESENTATION SLIDES:

Eddo Stern - Week 12 presentation

1602255 - Charles Scammell