#it's actually really neat to have different versions of the same story ya know

[creative-hanyou-girl]

I don't know if anyone else feels this way but I think a big reason why I'm so chill about the changes made to the PJO show from the books is because I kind of look at each other as their own seperate canon.

Like, I read a lot of anime and manga, and anime adaptations have a huge habit for changing plot points for various reasons, and as a fan of said anime and manga, I've found that I can enjoy both versions of the same story even with the differences when I look at them as their own universe or canon. That's not to say I don't want them to be faithful or true to the source material, but if a scene or situation plays out differently for a logical or entertaining reason, than I can still appreciate that deviation from the manga even if I still like the other original version of that part more. And I can even like the reversal way if I feel an anime does something better than even the manga. But if I want to, I can look at certain moments as more canon than others because I got 2 different versions of that same scene or moment.

And, I don't know, I kind of apply that reasoning to the PJO series as well, mainly with the books, the show, and even the musical (not the movies put that right back where it came from). So far I'm loving the TV show, and while I miss some of the things they changed (like the pink poodle), this adaptation really is doing a great job with staying true to the heart and spirit of the original book that I personally am not even really bothered by the changes, especially when I remember that the books will always still be there with it's own version, or canon, of events.

Like, I will say 1 thing I adore in the books that isn't really in the show is the fact that a lot of Percy and Annabeth's "rivalry" during TLT has more to do with the rivalry between Poseidon and Athena. I just really like on how this adds a level of "forbidden friendship/love" to their relationship 'cause I personally eat the forbidden relationship trope up, especially when it's done well like with Percabeth.

Yet, even if this isn't really the reason percabeth have beef with each other in the show, I can still appreciate and enjoy that according to the show's canon, they have issues because they genuinely have problems with each other as actual people rather than their parents' rivalry, because at the end of the day, that's the PJO TV show canon, and I can always turn to the books for that version of Percabeth's "rivalry", as that is the PJO book canon.

Same goes for the characters too. I will always have and love my dark haired Percy and blond haired Annabeth in the books, but I can also welcome and love Walker's Percy and Leah's Annabeth from the show. And so far, they along with Aryan are KILLING IT as those characters.

I can love both versions of the characters.

I can love both versions of the same story.

I can look at both versions as they own seperate canon or mix them together if I so wish too (especially since both versions of PJO are written by the same guy)

And that's ok. The adaptation doesn't have to be a complete copy of the books. It doesn't have to have things play out eactly the same way. The characters don't have to look exactly the way they are described as in the books. And that's ok. I will still always have the books to love and appreciate, but I can also start to love and appreciate the new adaptation for it's new spin and twists to the same story that sets it apart as it's own canon while still staying true to the spirit of its predecessor.

Anyway, sorry if I'm not making a lot of sense. I just think the people complaining about the changes in the show are looking at it all the wrong way. The show has it's own canon just as the books have their own canon, or even the musical. At the end of the day, isn't that kind of cool to have different versions of the same story and characters? Doesn't it give you so many more options to look at the story in different ways that you can prefer or choose from? Doesn't it give you new versions of canon that you choose from? And really, as long as the PJO adaptation, or any adaptation for that matter, stays true to the heart and spirit of the original story and characters, do the changes made really matter?

[ectonurites]

can anybody please explain the appeal of tim drake because ive been into the batfamily for a while now and tbh im really confused on why people like his character so much compared to the other robins. like they all have their own thing going on and he just... doesnt?

Have you read his Robin solo? Because if not and you want to try to like him but just don’t understand why people do, that’s what I’d recommend. That and like, Young Justice 1998. 

Because Tim definitely... does have his own thing going on. Maybe not in the same way as the others, but like, there’s a reason he has a 183 issue long solo comic that ran for like 16 years: he was fun to read about!

But I will give some more specific thoughts on the subject as a Tim Drake Appreciator™ (this got long im sorry)

The appeal of Tim (especially early on Tim) is kinda the fact that he’s this more normal kid. For a while that is his ‘thing’. He was basically designed to be a self-insert (he definitely became more than that along the way, but from the start he was meant to be relatable) in a different way than how Dick and Jason had been before him. 

Like the role of Robin from the start was this way to create a character young readers could identify with more, could see themselves in more. And Dick and Jason did that, but they still had this element to their lives and stories that was more... unattainable for the average reader. Dick was a circus prodigy, Jason was either also a circus prodigy if we remember pre-crisis or if we go with his post-crisis story he’s this street-wise orphaned kid who had a really tough life but still went on to be a hero anyways. Obviously those lives are relatable for some people, but those’re definitely not as broadly recognized as common upbringings especially not by DC trying to market to the ‘average’ kid/young teen.

But the creation of Tim changed the game a bit. Dick and Jason were these aspirations a kid could look to like ‘wow I want to be cool like that!’ but Tim was a Robin designed for kids to look at and go ‘wow, his problems and civilian life are just like mine AND he’s a hero, I want to be cool like that!’, ya know? Tim was... just a clever kid with an average life who managed to connect some dots and had enough drive to want to fix things he saw were a problem, he didn’t have the same kind of heightened drama backstory the others did. The Robins that came after Tim definitely didn’t have this idea of relatability in mind the same way either. Unfortunately Steph’s time as Robin was much more of a marketing ploy than an actual like... decision to make her Robin, so it’s hard to really fit her into this conversation. But Damian from the start was first of all initially created not to be Robin but just as the son of Talia and Bruce back in the 80’s, but when he was later reimagined into the character that would become Robin he had the whole ‘raised by and is the heir to the league of assassins and is the son of batman’ thing going on still. He just was not supposed to be relatable that same way, he was a character designed with different things in mind.

I really think it was more just DC’s 90′s era younger-audience comics in general that tried to push that relatability thing (like in YJ how Cissie even after quitting the team stays a major character as a civilian throughout, and the civilian aspect that’s super present in Bart’s 90s solo too, etc), but later in the 2000’s that idea was definitely pushed to the side in favor of... putting in even more dramatic superhero-y stuff.

And the other thing that’s... such a more normal thing but it actually made him unique here, was that Tim’s dad was still alive until like 2004 (so 15 years into Tim being around as a character). This gave Tim a lot more typical ‘family school girlfriends normal life etc’ problems on top of/in contrast with his superhero problems. These just manifested in very different ways than they could with the other Robins because of that unique situation with a living civilian parent who doesn’t know about hero stuff (until he did find out which lead to that whole Unmasked thing, but there was only the brief time around War Games & Identity Crisis where Jack knew Tim was actively Robin and he was... still alive) Tim also had his life at school expanded way more than most other Robins, like, he had such an extended supporting cast of civilian friends which is a really interesting thing to read about (and the fact that he hasn’t had that stuff since the New 52 I think really hurts his character)

And then related to that loss of his dad... Personally another thing about Tim that really interests me is how a lot of things were more... his choice. if that makes sense. A lot of characters in the Batfamily were struck with tragedy/extreme trauma before they became heroes and that’s what spurred them into this life of becoming heroes. Tim’s situation wasn’t like that at all! When he first got involved in everything during Lonely Place of Dying, the only tragedy he’d experienced was watching Dick’s tragedy happen. Which sure yes traumatic obviously, but that’s not the same as how pretty much all the other Bats had gone through these very personal losses or other sorts of very first-hand personal traumas that served as motivators. Tim didn’t start to experience those things until after he got involved in the hero life, and aside from his Mom’s death which was more of just an unrelated incident (that technically happened before he was officially Robin but it was during his time training to become Robin), pretty much all these other tragedies and things... would not have happened or been experienced by him had he not become Robin. 

That’s not me placing blame on him or anything like that, because god no that’s not how that works, but it’s very interesting because from his point of view he definitely feels that guilt because he knows him being Robin played a role in a lot of it (Thinking specifically about in Adventure Comics #3 when Kon even says “I know what guilt does to you” to him like it’s... it’s a thing with him!). His dad was murdered because he was Robin. He only met Steph and started dating her through being Robin, and thus he would not have experienced the loss of his girlfriend dying like that had he not been Robin. Tim met both Conner and Bart through being Robin, and would not have had a personal connection to them when they died otherwise. The whole Bruce’s death thing after Final Crisis, like. I could go on honestly, that was only talking about losses not even his own experiences nearly getting killed, but yeah, all these personal tragedies were experienced by him specifically because he chose to bring himself into this life, which I think in turn plays into how throughout his comics you see him go from having this really optimistic view on things and being really hopeful to seeing him at that low point he reaches by the time of Red Robin. (thinking about that one post that points out how Tim started out in the 90′s as an optimist and Steph a cynic and by the time they were Red Robin and Batgirl in 2009 they had switched outlooks...) 

I also think that him having had such a great team book with the original Young Justice can help contribute to people liking him. His friendships with the rest of the core four and that team in general are really compelling. (and that’s something like again when looking at the other Robins, while Dick had the Titans ofc, Jason never really found footing with a team outside of like one mission with the Titans and then We All Know How Damian’s Teen Titans Stuff Went. Steph also only ever really worked with a team outside the batfam on very brief occasions) and even though I’m not as big of a fan of the 2003 Teen Titans run that came after YJ, people who read Young Justice and also that could follow and be attached to those same characters over a pretty decently long period of time. 

Idk man, I don’t really have an ultimate point here i’m just rambling. I can definitely understand not seeing the appeal to him right away (honestly i’ve been into Batfam since like 2013/2014 and Tim did not become one of my faves until 2020) especially if like... idk when you say ‘into the batfamily’ that can mean a lot of different things. If you’re reading more like the bigger events with the batfam sure Tim can kinda fade into the bg a bit, if you’re more talking about fanon the fanon version of him is prettyyyyy uhhhhh not really the same as how he was in pre New 52 canon, if you’re mainly reading New 52 era Batfam stuff then that Tim I also don’t understand the appeal of bc thats Not My Boy, if you’re interested in a different member primarily and only familiar with Tim when he shows up in things focused on that other character then it’s easy to not really understand the appeal right away bc he’s more there to support that character rather than shine in his own right. 

I think it’s also worth mentioning he’s just not everybody’s cup of tea, and that’s totally fine. Like, these are fictional characters and sometimes you just will vibe with a character and sometimes you won’t! idk if this helped at all or even made sense. but yeah. I just think he’s neat 😌

[bibiana112]

would u like to explain homestuck classpects ? i wanna understand how youre categorising ze characters with em :o

Oh my god yes, but also I wanna pretend I was never a Homestuck as much as possible, but also I can't help how relevant this whole system is to how I think about a bunch of stuff, but also did you know I have a 25 page messy ass google doc on this for like five kh characters that I think only AJ ever read, did you know I started on the equivalent to that for ze like last week but it's a very low committal sort of thing, I am absolutely torn between trying to give an abridged version as best I can and just grabbing what little I have already succinctly typed out hmm I think I'll go with the former? Okay I can't for the life of me do that actually and I tried it still goes on for longer than it should anyway, like, the alternative would be making it sound far too shallow and uh yeah idk ya could wait 'til I have the bare minimum to show or ask specifics on stuff? I'll write what the headcanons are here though, I think they always sound funky without much context

It's also just for the 999 cast, what a surprise

Little crash course on what these even are is that they're two notions, a class and an aspect that interact with each other and form a hero title which is pretty much like an overall archetype, since each of those has 12 different ones the total number of possible combinations is 144. A class is things like Witch, Thief, Knight, Mage and those are more tied to personality traits and how one approaches situations, but aspects are the ones I tend to put a larger focus on, those are things like Space, Time, Doom, Life they each represent a great deal more than the namesake though and they're each so very interesting to me for the nuance, they're concepts that are all always present to some extent, what varies is the concentration or how much of it that is present in someone's overall journey, and they're not like teams or houses or anything in fact they're supposed to be as diverse amongst a group as possible and also they come in sets! Both classes and aspects do, they're 6 complementary pairs each, the way it works on classes is that they're divided as active or passive which is really more about either directing energy towards oneself or towards those around you, and for aspects they're complementary concepts the way two sides of a coin are, for example there's the Social aspects Breath and Blood, one is about freedom from social bonds and the other is all about nurturing those attachments and that's an oversimplification but it's serviceable, I really didn't realize it was this complex to explain until now and I probably didn't do a grade A job at it

Ace - Prince of Breath

Snake - Mage of Void

Santa - Rogue of Heart

Clover - Maid of Blood

Junpei - Witch of Time

June - Seer of Mind

Seven - idk

Lotus - Sylph of Doom (?)

Fun little factoid that will not make any sense to anyone, but, with Junpei and Akane I sort of feel like they switch their aspects from 999 to vlr and ztd? Akane suddenly has many more Time player motifs and reasoning and Junpei is the same, suddenly his behavior has so much more Mind vibes in full display. It's a fun observation and by nature of this whole thing drastic shifts in a story can mean recontextualizing a character's role in it, and thus, their aspect and I kind of think that's neat but still like to keep in mind the ones I put up there when writing the two, cause that's something I do

So yeah, hmm my goodness I really never got like any ideas for the rest of the cast? I feel like we either don't get much insight aside from very literal and plot related motivations on most of them at best and shallow characterization at worst, like, freaking Carlos? Idk he's firefighter of murica my dude not much else, Diana can be a Life player because she's a healer/caretaker I guess and Phi and Sigma kind of fuck me up because it almost feels like they're different characters in ztd altogether (Sigma kind of is?? Although I can see Dr.Klim as a Space player maybe) and idk I guess my biggest issue is I have a hard time imagining them just being people separate from the story with a very narrow framing we witness unfold with them which makes this difficult? WAIT I got it, so much of vlr and ztd's plots rely on the characters not being themselves that it makes this murky, like, with radical-6 and mind hacking bullcrap, y'know? My first instinct for everyone in vlr almost would also be Mind but that's probably because of the plot y'know? Except Luna? She could be Hope or Breath idk and share a class with Diana but idk which one that'd be, Dio being a Bard makes sense I guess? WAIT MIRA MIRA THIEF OF HEART WOULD BE SO FUNNY BUT I DON'T THINK THAT'D BE IT LMAOO

Okay that's what I have, I hope this made no sense I will be working on my google docs to show u later if u want akdjkasj

[jade-it-queen]

Jade. The fate of female character in Mortal Kombat

It’s been a while since I posted anything on my blog cause I’ve been busy with my life and rapid changes in it. During this time, I’ve watched the new 2021 Mortal Kombat movie as well as the new animation Battle of the realms and also rewatched the Story Mode of MK11 a few times. As you probably can tell, I have a lot to say.

JADE. MILEENA. KITANA. SONYA.

Skip this if you don’t want to read my very important (and long as sh*t) rant about female characters in MK.

DISCLAIMER. This thing is going to sound extremely feminist and women-supremacist or whatever. By saying things that I’m going to say, I by no means think that male characters should be weak or lacking. If anything, it would be nice to have some godforsaken EQUALITY. I’ll explain further later.

Part One: Mortal Kombat (2021)

There’s no Jade in this movie. 

The end. That should be the sole reason I dislike it.

However, it might be better this way since the Nitara and Mileena portrayals in this movie are... questionable to say the least. Okay, y’all been robbed. If MY JADE would be brought into this movie to BE THERE for like 4 minutes of screen time only to get absolutely brutal FATALITY I. would. be. pissed.

More than I already am and that means something.

Sure, there’s a possibility that she’s going to be present in some of the upcoming movies because this one is definitely not the only one they’re going to make. But do I want that? Yes. And no.

Mortal Kombat movies (and Mortal Kombat in general) have a problem with women portrayal in general. The target audience for them are MEN, potentially heterosexual men, who want nothing more than bloody gorey fighting scenes with occasional sex scene here and there. To achieve that, they need a female lead, an attractive, kinda kick-assish but not too much, to not overshadow the absolutely badass men characters. Girls tend to be “independent” (because God forbid they’d want to express interest in the male leads before the time is right), sarcastic, laid back and sometimes even bitchy. Because, you see, they are fighters. And they are Sonya Blade. They need NO MAN. They just need plot armor, bigger than America itself. And if they’re not Sonya Blade, they are... non existent. They are there, but they are never really there. Here, let me walk on screen for a couple seconds. Let me sit beside Very Important Male Character (aka Shang Tsung) for a couple of seconds, looking absolutely gorgeous. Let me have a fight scene in which I make choices so f*cking stupid there’s no potential explanation to it. I exist in this movie to make people that love me (this character) to come into theatres in hopes to see some good action and interesting plot.

Now, I wasn’t born yesterday, I know how the world works. It’S bEeN LiKe ThAt FoReVeR, gEt OvEr here iT. Yeah, it’s been like that forever and the result is a mediocre movie that pleases neither the casual viewer, nor the actual Mortal Kombat fan. I don’t know, there might be guys who just saw Kung Lao’s fatality on Nitara, thought to themselves “Neat” and went on with their lives. But I exited the cinema with a sour taste in my mouth, feeling like I’ve watched one of the “fighting genre” films based on video games that had nothing worth remembering. Well, besides Kano. He was my favourite part of this movie and I  normally can’t stand the guy :’D

Would it really help if they changed the way the women were portrayed? I mean - is that the ACTUAL problem of the movie? No, women being the eye candy and barely something else (if they’re not Sonya Blade) are not the only problem it suffers from. It’s that MK has been going the same route, retelling the same goddamn story for the millionth time. It’s always THE SAME. The only thing changing is who’s gonna get brutally killed. But - of course - out of the “disposable” character pool. It’s never Sonya (because you need our female lead or else there would be no female characters in the story), who ya know could be killed by Mileena but magically WASN’T. Because Mileena FOR SOME REASON was like: Ya know what? Naaah. Even though Sonya’s from Earthrealm and is actively trying to stop you. If anything, kill her because she annoys you. BUT NAH. It’s never Liu Kang because he’s the Chosen One. But killing Kung Lao is fine, he can die so Liu can awaken or smth. It’s not the main character because how else can you portray THE MAGIC OF LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP? Ya, that’s what I thought, don’t even think about it.

You have an amazing universe, filled to the brim with SO. MUCH. POTENTIAL. Let go of the same boring plot line and show us Kombat from another perspective. Change something. F*ck, go all feminist route and make a story center around Mileena dominating the world. Try with different versions of the same story, making it center around different character each time. 

SURE, YOU’LL PROBABLY LOSE SOME VIEWERS BUT TIMES ARE CHANGING, AND MOST OF US ARE TIRED TO PAY FOR THE SAME STORY OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

Part Two: Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms

Jesus f*cking Christ.

To say this film was rushed is an understatement. While I was watching it, I was like: TF? Everything happens all at once, we have Kuai Liang-Scorpion story line, we have Outworld’s attack, the tournament, not to mention the final fight that should be whole another movie. I felt like no story line was properly laid out, some of the characters died before I got to even know them and the battles were... disappointing. I believe they needed to push this movie out so they squished in everything they had and just went with it. 

But, again, this movie just repeats the same things as its live action version. Let me lay it down for you:

Kung Lao dies (because yes)

Sonya Blade lives (because yes)

Jade is just there (more of it later)

disposable characters are disposed of

Liu Kang is badass and always wins

You watch it and feel like you’ve already seen it before. Sure, gore is fine, human Raiden is precious and need to be protected at all costs and adrenaline is pumping (I guess).

BUT NOW.

You know what’s coming.

JADE.

JADE.

My f*cking piece of sunshine, the gorgeous goddess of beauty and kombat, the woman who owns my heart.

She’s there for like not even a minute.

Words can’t describe how f*cking PISSED I am by this portrayal. These motherfrickers put her in EVERY SINGLE POSSIBLE SNIPPET OF THIS MOVIE. HER BATTLE WAS IN THE TRAILER, ONE OF THE SNEAK PEEKS WAS A SCENE OF HER AND KITANA.

TURNS OUT EVERYTHING I SAW BEFORE THE MOVIE WAS RELEASED... WAS EVERYTHING I WAS ABOUT TO SEE OF HER!!!!

THEY MADE ME HYPED UP FOR NOTHING!!!!!!

I know I’m not the only one riding this trolley. Li Mei was there just to be killed. Kung Lao had a f*cking single dialogue line and then BAM, fatality, buh-bye. But I was watching everything of this movie, being so enormously happy that I will finally see Jade in the movies, FINALLY! Only for her to be present in a single scene, get her ass kicked by Liu Kang (what’s new) and then she’s never seen again, even when the whole f*cking world is breaking apart.

Again. She’s just there. Ladies and gentlemen, one of the best Shao Kahn’s assassins, gets her ass kicked in fourty seconds. They NEVER let her speak ffs. She just spews some general villanous sh*t and proceeds to step on Johnny. Then, she just goes Observer mode as Kitana “betrays” Shao Kahn, gets tied to the column and then the world is ending. 

WHERE THE F*CK IS SHE?!

If you hype me up for her every chance you get, at least GIVE ME what you’re advertising. This is a scam. This is criminal offense. And homophobic. She is more than a revealing outfit and Liu Kang’s punching bag. I’m SO. F*CKING. TIRED. OF THIS. SH*T.

Kitana. The rebellious princess of Outworld... turned damsel in distress in this movie. Her role is so effing bad it hurts me to my core. You see her as a general being so badass and independent... oh right, we need Liu Kang to save her because he needs to maintain his hero look. And we need two kissing scenes. How do we get there? Oh, right, let him save her, because you know - that’s what makes wahmen kiss you. 

ARE YOU NUTS?!

The movie started just fine, with Kitana being in charge with her right hand, Jade. Then, obviously, they water her down and soon she is a princess in a tower (in this case, princess on a column) that needs her buffy sexy man to save her. Oh, and she can’t resist him - you know, every normal girl’s reaction to getting untied is to kiss a guy you’ve known for like a few hours but seen before and you’ve talked like three dialogue lines in total. Sure.

Kitana just gets the unfortunate role of a female main character. She’s Liu’s love interest and that makes her take the role of a strong (but surface level, only) woman who still needs her hero to free her. Classic damsel in distress story, with Kitana being the princess, Liu being the Prince charming and Shao Kahn as the dragon (lul). Of course, they try to cover this up by making Kitana a general, letting her win a few fights but it won’t matter in the end. Some say that women want to believe in fairy tales but the more I see fighting games’ lore, the more I say it’s the men who want to believe them. 

Is it necessarily bad? No. But it’s boring as fuk.

I would like to ask the directors to stop being so afraid of upsetting the target audience. Target audience can change and sometimes it comes out better than originally planned. My Little Pony was designed as a child’s cartoon but it was the creepy men who made it reach the top. Morally? Questionable at best. But business is booming, right? And that’s what they care for, right?

All I’m trying to say is these days women and gays are the future.

Thank you for today, more to come. I’m going to rant about the Story Mode.

[phairfantooooom]

Obey Me Explained….. Kinda

In which I do my best to explain the shit hell that is the Time Travel in Obey Me. 

Spoilers: It’s absolute bullshit

So we start in chapter uhhh 15 technically since the plot twist is explained that Barbatos is actually a OP Time Wizard, which feels like a throwaway plot device… like dude there are so many ideas and you use Time Travel? Come on.

However I do appreciate the Yugioh Pyramid room. Good taste.

Anyways Barbatos gives you VERY CLEAR INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO NOT FUCK UP and what does MC do? Why THEY FUCKING BREAK VERY FUCKING RULE IN THE LAWS OF TIME TRAVEL. *screams in quantum physics*

Barbatos’ Rules of Time Traveling (It’s more so Timeline Hopping but you know what, I can scream all day but it won’t change anything)

Do not reveal you are from the future (More like don’t reveal you are from a different Timeline or Universe)

Do not meet your past self (Hello??? Doppelgängers??? Stay the FUCK away)

Don’t make contact with others from the past. (Go back, observe how Belphie got out and then get the hell out)

To get back to this point in time (Read: Timeline) you need to KNOCK and ENTER through the door you used to get to the past 

Now you may be thinking, Huh? What door? I don’t remember going back through a door in the story…

And you would be right. You didn’t.

From here I’ll be explaining the Timeline and order of events and speculation as to why it occurred the way it did. 

For reference. There is the Original Timeline. Which is OT1, this is the Timeline of chapters 1 to the end of 15.

The Second Timeline, OT2 is the Timeline where Belphie kills you.

The Third and Final Timeline, OT3 is the Timeline we are currently in. Which is from Chapter 16-12 and onwards.

Alright now that’s out of the way let’s get this shit sorted shall we?

When you go through the wack time travel door you are sent back to Chapter 12-13, to the perspective of the brothers as they hide so that THIS TIMELINES YOU can go romance/befriend/ WHATEVER Lucifer. 

So we start with OT1’s MC dropping into Mammon’s bedroom. You know, possibly fortnite like. With everyone in there. Worst possible outcome. And rather than fucking BOLTING, you stay and chat. You know, despite being told not to. You have the option to lie about how you ended up in the room but it doesn’t change the FACTS.

At this point, there are two MC’s. One from OT1 and one that is currently vibing with Lucifer.

The boys end up kicking you out of the room and telling you to go chit chat with Lucifer, unaware that there is already a different version of you doing that.

So you hear Lucifer and your other self coming down the hall and this is where shit starts to get weird.

Regardless of which option you choose (Run, Hide, Turn Invisible- which by the way seems kinda like a weird option right? I’ll get to that later) you end up going into Lilith’s room.

Now. Directly from the transcript.

It’s so warm in here.

I recognize this place. It feels like someplace I know very well.

Now. Time to over analyze. You may be wondering why this matters. I’ll get to that in a bit I promise.

It’s stated that it’s warm. But really that doesn’t make sense. The room is stagnant. Nobody comes in or out. The room is abandoned since Lilith is dead and nobody uses it. However, I have a theory that Lilith is spiritually attached to your body which is why you sense what you feel.

Lilith probably has plenty of memories of sitting by the FIREPLACE in her room with Beel and Belphie. A lot of times people with spirit attachments get senses of déjà vu when they are near places that the Spirit used to frequent when the Spirit was alive.

The next area of weirdness is Leviathan. He comes in, unannounced and addresses you as if you were Lilith.

Transcript:

I’m coming in, okay?

Aha, I thought I’d find you in here.

Wait, Belphie’s not here?

Huh, that’s weird… He was just telling me that he was going to stop by your room.

Both of you were playing hide-and-seek, right?

He said he couldn’t find you. He looked like he was about to cry.

Why don’t you try to go find Belphie yourself? I mean, I guess it’s hard to say who’s it at that point, but still.

Well, see ya later.

Alright. So we have a lot to unwrap here, but I’ll make it short and sweet. Something clearly happened when you KNOCKED and ENTERED Lilith’s room (Hint Hint Nudge Nudge) What happened you ask? You jumped timelines. Which is why everything seems disjointed and jarring. It’s not supposed to be normal or feel normal, the game is subtly telling you that you aren’t supposed to be there.

Time is beginning to fray at the seams and when you exit the room you jump into another timeline AGAIN. As you go to the stairs to get to Belphie which you would think should be vacant, they are not.

From a casual players perspective you’d think oh! Well Lucifer and past me are in the living room, and the brothers are in Mammon’s room. So it’s all clear, right?

Wrong.

From the moment you exited Lilith’s bedroom you entered the OT2 Timeline. Which takes place roughly right after Lucifer imprisons Belphie in the attic. And at this point in time, you haven’t arrived in the Devildom yet.

I make this assumption based on the transcript:

Belphegor: What scares you is the thought of disappointing Diavolo, isn’t it?!

Say something! Lucifer!

The old Lucifer wasn’t like this. He wasn’t afraid of what someone else thought of him. He wasn’t pathetic like that.

Lucifer: You’re free to think whatever you want, Belphegor. Also…

I’d say you’ve changed as well.

It would seem weird for them to be arguing like this in the present since it’s like. Wow y’all are really just arguing over the same plot point for an ENTIRE year? Damn and I thought I was stubborn.

Anyways.

Lucifer comes down the stairs. You hide and yadda yadda and you goooo upstairrrrssss

Oh boy oh boy this gets FUCKED in hurry folks

So you YOU can just. Open the door. Without Lucifer’s pact? 🤔 k. And then you go and have familiar dialogue choices to wake Belphie up and blahhhhh

Let me get something off the table here. I am calling entire Bullshit on the Lilith is my ancestor origin story. I hate it and you may or may not hate it too so I’ll present a better argument.

Lilith, the lovely gal that she was, upon remembering who she was when she died decided to haunt the House of Lamentation. Which would provide reasoning as to WHY people believe the House is haunted.

When you come to the house of Lamentation to stay with the brothers you catch Lilith’s eye, and she sees that you have the potential to fix the rifts between the brothers. When she attaches herself to you she forms a pseudo pact with you. Why is this important? Because that’s how you got the dumb door open in the OT2 Timeline.

Now some of you may be screaming, BUT THEN HOW DID IT WORK IN THE ORIGINAL TIMELINE THEN HMMMM? And to that I answer. Lilith could see how the conversation between Lucifer and you was heading and she went to go unlock the door. And before you yell and say BUT SHE IS A GHOST-

Ghosts can manipulate objects, yeah? All she had to do was open the door.

Now this is my theory, in the canon of the game it uses garbage Terminator Time Travel logic which is A PARADOX. Feel free to fight me on this, I have receipts.

Anyway. You open the door. Oh but! You can choose to call out before you do. But conveniently nobody answers. Which means one of two things. Either Belphie falls asleep very quickly, or something else is at work here.

Remember those turn invisible options? Kinda strange right? I mean they wouldn’t even work anyways so why were they listed? Answer: Lilith. Lilith is a ghost so at times of being discovered it would be easy for a ghost to just vanish. That’s why it’s listed as if it were one of the choices you would instinctively make.

Belphie had just been conversing with Lucifer, and while he is the Avatar of Soth, you have seen his anger. He wouldn’t succumb to sleep while enraged. And he has no reason to ignore you either.

What do I think? 

*puts on tin foil hat like it’s a crown*

It’s because something isn’t letting him hear you.

I’ll get to that something later. First things first.

You get in the room and you have some…. choice dialogue. In OT1 Lilith had let Belphie out and naturally since she is attached to you, you have the same instinctive reaction to do the same. The difference is that you are still you. That’s why there is a Lilith choice and there is a you choice.

Transcript of Chapter 13-10

??? (Lilith):

Belphie…

Wake up…

Sorry Belphie…

Now the choices from Chapter 16-4

Wake up. (Lilith)

Belphegor. (MC)

Sorry. (Lilith)

It’s okay. (MC)

This might be over analyzing but fuck it. We ain’t here to under analyze. 

Moving right along, remember how I said we are at the point where you weren’t in the devildom? Well you went through another door, and jumped timelines again. And not ONLY that but you jump into the body of the OT2 MC, your memories are those of OT1 but you are in the body of OT2.

Where is your OT1 body? It’s hidden by the stairs patiently waiting for you to die so you can inhabit it again.

Weird right? But it makes sense, and here is why.

When Belphie brings you to the edge of death you are lying on the border of the afterlife. As such you would be a lot more susceptible to, let say, communication with ghosts.

A.k.a Our good Lilith.

ALSO NOTE Lilith never outright says she is our ancestor and as such I’m going to ignore what Diavolo says because I don’t trust him for reasons. Don’t get me wrong, I love the guy but I don’t trust him. At. All.

I’m more inclined to believe that Lilith was trying to say “Because you are my last hope.” Rather than descendant. I mean she outright says she chose you and that she has been watching over you and the brothers. Fact-check brought to you by Chapter 16-10.

Alrighty. Still here? Good.

Lilith lends you some of her power. And you pop back into existence.

Now at first I thought. Oh hey Lilith reversed time! That’s neat, now Barbatos isn’t too OP.

Except…. that’s not what happened at all.

The body you had been killed in was in Mammon’s arms. And your OT1 mind and body are now in what I call OT3. The final timeline. Not the true timeline, but the final one.

Now you really should skedaddle back to the palace and go to the yugioh room AND LEAVE 

But you get caught. And things get very very…. suspicious. History at this point IF we were time traveling would be fucked, but since I don’t believe we are, we are still golden.

ALSO TO EVEN PUSH MORE ON THIS FACT YOU HAVE A FLASHBACK TO BARBATOS TELLING YOU NOT TO COME INTO CONTACT WITH ANYONE

But a moment later Leviathan sees you. And things get funky. The OT2 you vanishes, we have canon confirmation that both OT1 and OT2 WERE REAL VERSIONS OF YOU. No fakes here folks.

Now. Here is what piqued my interest.

You explain the story of Lilith and Belphie calls you a liar before Lucifer proclaims it to be true. Then Lucifer asks you how you know about it.

When you tell him the truth, that he had told you, he denies it and asks for an explanation. Before you can so much as breathe a response someone intervenes.

Who you may ask? 

Diavolo, of course.

He makes a proclamation about you being Lilith’s descendant and your connection to her. Lucifer often tries to interject but is shut down. Every. Single. Time.

Hmmmm indeed.

Spiritual attachments, if they are strong enough can cause visions. And you may see memories from the spirit. 

I firmly want to believe that all this is bullshit in an attempt to distract us from the fact that we are not in the correct timeline. 

I mean…. did anyone notice just how easy Belphie gave in once Diavolo used the Lilith card? I mean, seriously, the guy killed you. And attempted to do so again not even five minutes earlier!

Diavolo and Barbatos don’t want you dead. And naturally you’d reason that of course they wouldn’t! The exchange program requires you to be alive after all. But what if…. there is more to it? I have reason to believe that Diavolo has more in mind than just the exchange program.

I mean this is the same man who Barbatos serves, it would be easy for him to just…. manipulate reality. We saw an example of this when the OT2 body vanished.

However keep in mind that the Diavolo and Barbatos we are speaking to are not the same as the original ones. These two are from OT3. And they might have a very very different agenda when compared to OT1.

In Chapter 16-19 we ask Barbatos if we warped history.

This is what we get back:

I know I told you that I have the power to see both the past and the future, but the truth is that there’s one more secret —something I still haven’t mentioned.

You see, I have the power to select from any number of different potential realities and make any of them into the sole reality.

Within the various potential realities, there are an infinite number of versions of MC…

...however, in the sole reality I chose, the one and only MC is the one right there. That’s why the previous MC disappeared while you remained…

Now by this logic, there are an infinite number of Barbatos’. Which poses an interesting question. OT3 Barbatos is acting as if he is OT1, which he is not. But him acting shady isn’t not the big issue here, believe it or not.

He can manipulate reality. Unravel it at his fingertips. He himself could have gone back and figured out that the ghost of Litith was the one to have opened the door. Which begs the question, why didn’t he?

Either OT1 Barbatos does not possess the ability to manipulate reality or he had withheld information on purpose. 

Now that’s a scary thought. I mean why would they withhold information unless…. unless…

You were a danger.

I am in the belief that Barbatos of OT1 is on your side, he gives instructions on how to get back. Because you NEED to get back. There are consequences for messing with time, like…. getting stuck in a parallel reality. *wink wink*

On the other hand… if Barbatos of OT1 COULD manipulate reality then why bother with you unless… there was an extra variable at play.

What if Barbatos couldn’t see what happened. What if Mister OP Time Wizard suddenly encountered an anomaly with you? What if this entire situation was orchestrated by Diavolo in an effort to figure out why Lilith attaches herself to you?

But. The horror doesn’t end here folks.

I believe that OT3 Diavolo and Barbatos are lying in an effort to keep you here, in OT3. After all, Barbatos just yeeted the OT2 MC into smoke after all. And we have NO idea where the OT3 MC is. Honestly I have a very funny feeling that you, the OT1 mc, have powers of your own. Ones that are not related to Lilith.

Because Lilith is just lending her aid, you already have something there for her to boost.

You traveling back in time (Timeline hopping, fight me) May have been a test, a test to see if you had powers locked up inside you.

And I think that you do. I think that we are being played as a fool and that there is something much larger at play here.

Or - And please hear me out - I’m going stir crazy in this quarantine.

Hope you guys enjoyed 💚

A/N this took me about 2 hours? To write and bounce between apps. This is about 2.8k words. Maybe I’ll come back and elaborate more on this but it’s late and I’m tired lmao. Someone take the tin foil away from me-

[nobody-knose--archive]

i’ve been aching to commentate spirit phone’s commentary for ages. glad i finally got around to it, this was an ejoyable experience. liveblog below the cut

-i'm like half certain i've heard this commentary before. maybe not the whole way through & it was probably actual years ago

-nice hearing stuff like this. in-depth personal view of the album-making process. makes it seem like more of a real thing i could do myself someday

-neil cicierega real person momence

-i could probably go real in depth about neil cicierega/tally hall parallels specifically concerning like. the arc of their musical careers. but i won't, here

-wild how i legitimately don't care much about micheal jackson

-didnt we get a bunch of spirit phone stems from the needlejuice release/his patreon? we could probably hear the funny track he speaks of here in that

-i love hearing musical artists, especially neil cicierega, talking about the meanings of their songs. like, not only has this song been claimed to hell & back by the tumblr gays, but with later ones i just can't see where he gets these ideas from. also, claiming there's any one meaning or plot to a song just seems silly to me

-shoutout to neil reusing a midi from like, 1998, that he made at 12 years old, whose entire melody was reused for the main verses of everybody loves raymond. loved finding that out on my own 2 years ago. now it's common trivia in this fandom. not bad times

-it'd be neat if neil did individual trans tracks here like he did with view monstel, those things are half of why i consider it my favorite album

-it's a lot easier to ignore the creator's intended meaning behind a song when he can't even remember it. thanks neil

-seesaw effect

-and there's my joke all but 1 of my followers wont get. moving on

-what kinds of movie theater lobbies has neil been to where there are arcade machines. i mean im not one to talk but that does sound rather strange

-why do songs' titles even need to be taken from the lyrics. ive never seen that as any sort of requisite. it's like titling any form of prose you can just give it whatever name ya like

-"this part sounds pretty cool right"

-is neil's vocal range only mildly better than mine? with training i could change that

-oh i haven't processed any of the last 25 seconds hold on

-god. a shit ton of vocal modification in this song. it's like neil returned to his roots but with quality this time

-i, as an ace/aro, have never related more to an allohet guy in my life. what is the point of eyes!

-professional humming/whistling takes skill. it's different from the recreational or casual stuff. i'd know

-there's a name for the way sound (especially music) gets distorted when moving past you and i can't remember it but it's probably what neil's referring to here in the way he recorded the intro

(- update: it's the doppler effect no need to tell me cas already did)

-as someone who hasnt seen the rugrats or take me there by blackstreet i'll just say it sounded like a bouncy music box melody. nice to hear a song that messes with the typical scales though. lydian & diatonic.

-that's a rather specific thing to be glad about, but given what he talked about in his last full audio commentary about the jew harp i suppose i'm not surprised

-i know that tmbg song now. listened to it & saw the music video too. yep they're different alright

-where the hell does neil get all these instrumence from anyway

-huh. hadnt heard this part of the commentary before making my oc concerning this song but i like to hear neil's approval concerning part of my interpretation

-i love how ive heard a billion different tellings of this mellified man story from lem dem fans talking about this song and neil's is by far the wildest

-good god that does only make it worse neil

-i love making liveblogs of lemon demon albums. with the fullerenes or tally hall i cant name a specific dude to take out my woes on generally but with lemon demon i can just say neil all the time. i like being on a casual first name basis with this dude ive never interacted with once ever

-is sweet bod the one other than cabinet man with a demo in the bonus tracks? i forget

-holy shit the boston molasses disaster someone call up soapy if it doesnt already know, it'd love this

-two thousand nine. god i miss the fiddle solo. the ver with it is truly the best one

-he pronounces it jeff? i've always read it as gef with a hard g. that's what i get for knowing words that are never spoken aloud

-that's a fun meta interpretation of this ghost story that's over a century old. i like that

-i've noticed neil generally does the same synths across a whole album. it's especially more clear in the earlier ones, and does mean i occasionally mix up songs between clown circus & live from the haunted candle shop

-ah! ancient aliens! my least favorite track on this album. i cant even claim to have the least interest in a popular one i've just generally not liked this one much from the beginning. so im curious to see what neil's got to say, i think ive been in ~new commentary zone for a while now

-anyway. newest update on the loolin not realizing a song's funky time signature front: i think this one's in 6/4. or at least switches a lot between time signatures. granted i dont listen to it very often for the reasons stated above

-see the way neil describes it. eldritch horror upon being visited by the unknown at a time when humanity'd hadn't even yet had a chance to imagine such a thing occurring. should be right up my alley. but the sound itself & many of the lyrics simply turn me away.

-must i specify i don't dislike it? spirit phone is neil's best album it not being my favorite doesn't mean i think it's bad yadda yadda nobody should be surprised by this it's not like anyone in these fandoms reads my liveblogs <3

-granted i think this is. the first bit of spirit phone content i've made on my blog ever. so who knows things can change <3

-the transitions in spirit phone are much less view-monster transition tracks & more extended outros. view-monster's were a bit more intro than outro sure but they also seemed directed upon making a 2-way rather than 1-way bridge between tracks. or something like that

-.............soft fuzzy man is an incredible nickname for a cat. i'd steal that if i werent afraid of introducing my relatives to lemon demon

-jirls

-an underlying metaphor is good enough. the literal side of the lyrics are fun. nothing but agreement here neil my good man

-the transition into as your father i expressly forbid it from soft fuzzy man is the best one in this album

-buddy you ask if a musical idea has been used before odds are the answer is yes in this day & age the question is has it been used in the way you're using it. like sure this soul jazz record from the 60s that was sold out in kansas stores for a week used this bassline that youve found yourself copying. but seeing as youre using it in some angsty garage rock ballad type tune does anybody actually care

-doesn't everybody like to say things in an unhinged manner from time to time

-imagine having a guitar dad, i say, with my dad being a folk accordion/fiddle dad, which is infinitely worse in every way

-i think he was in an actual folk band at some point. idk the 90s were weird

-iron my life?

-m-more intimate? there are a lot of ways i'd describe this song but intimate isn't one of them. granted as your father is negatively intimate so from there i guess you've got nowhere to go but up

-...still glad to see his interpretation kinda supports my oc at least

-the way he says characters in songs shouldn't worry about death really strongly makes me think this is some sort of. thematic continuation of stuck from dinosaurchestra, even if there's no real death in there. interesting. would also mean that the dad from these past 2 songs is named carlos betty (no last name)

-i literally never assumed this was a flute solo. piccolo at best. it's pretty clearly a recorder

-my mom plays the recorder. i wonder if she can play recorder better than neil cicierega

-we can throw a party in honor of the crushing weight of responsibility! i simply won't be the one throwing it because i have enough on my plate already <3

-what the hell does "a sense of intent" mean

-i've never heard rush before however i disagree with neil's understanding of 6/4. 6/4 is meant to have emphasis (onbeat or another term i can't remember) on the 1st & 4th beat of every measure, which is greatly different from a measure of 4/4 then a measure of 2/4. it's why his 5/4 always sounds weird, because while it's recognizable in sequences of 10/4, it's more 2 measures of 4/4 with one of 2/4 tacked on the end. that's also how it's different from 3/4. i don't know much music theory but what i do understand i will fight to the death about

-"canonized" that's. a very interesting term to use when referring to a former president

-from now on i will interpret every love song directed at some unseen "you" to be inviting me to marry them for tax purposes. thanks neil for being an aromantic icon

-ah hell yes hell yes man-made object is my favorite goddam song on this album

-short & sweet & good damn vibes. neil's thoughts on it all are only making it better

-wild how he uses very few vocal effects for a song that he clearly is straining his vocal range for. go off neil

-the qualifier of man-made is a wonderful thing. oldest or biggest thing? oldest or biggest man-made thing? what a incredibly important specification. a world of possibilities lie between the two. oh i love it

-just gets me thinking yknow! what we consider weird/impressive in another species, in our own species- what kind of equivalent to that would there be from an outsider looking in? are there alien versions of the significances we place upon things, that we could never imagine? the limits of the human imagination mean we could never conceive of something else in the world that isn't, in some way great or small, just like us- and are we wrong for thinking that? such a juicy topic i wish there were a name for it because it's kinda hard to explain concisely

-spiral of ants. my second favorite song from this album, in fact. a good one to experience

-the vocals are just another instrument. they really truly are. i wasn't going into this commentary expecting to feel solidarity for neil cicierega in this chili's tonight on more than one occasion but here i am.

-like, his whole stance on interpreting songs is something i agree with almost entirely. you can take it at face value, you can dig to their very depths, you can listen to songs without caring what the lyrics mean whatsoever, and those are all fun. & yeah while any of these people can be annoying as one of the types who enjoys gliding on the surface more than anything i find those who dedicate themselves to figuring out the whole meaning of a song over anything else to be both slightly scary & slightly annoying <3 keep up the good work

-i want to make songs for my siblings the way neil makes songs for his sibling(s)

-spinch

-neil really shouldn't be allowed to be this funny like this whole album youre thinking golly! he's just a normal man this neil cicierega! and then he starts listing the cat hacks jokes & you remember he's had ridiculously consistent viral success with all his humorous endeavors and holy shit it's neil cicierega in action talking about his music. god bless you neil

-you're welcome, no problem, my pleasure. good eveternoon, radio audience!

[365days365movies]

March 1, 2021: The Hobbit (Review)

Is “quaint” a good word here?

Maybe its the beautiful backgrounds, maybe it’s the stylized designs that make me think of Christmas specials, maybe it’s the faithful take on a classic story that I loved as a kid, but...I dunno. Quaint’s the first thing that comes to mind here for me, for whatever reason.

All I know is that I did enjoy this movie well-enough...even if it’s not my favorite. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a great story, and I do love the original Tolkien tale very much...but I don’t know if I can say this was my favorite adaptation or not.

Now, it got some things right that the Jackson movies didn’t, at last as far as I’m concerned. Thorin’s pretty good in this film, Gollum is great (as always), and it accurately sums up the story in a single movie without too much omitted (I do miss Beorn, though). But here’s the thing: the things that I think Jackson’s movies did wrong outnumber what this film did right.

You know, the weird addition of Tauriel and Legolas, the added Lake Town plot with fuckin’ Alfrid, the entire Azog thing, the fucking NECROMANCER thing, Rada...well, actually, I like Radagast. He was fun.

And that’s not to say that Jackson’s movies did nothing right. Quite the contrary! I mean, Martin Freeman is a PERFECT Bilbo Baggins, and basically everybody is perfectly cast, to be honest. And that includes what I think is the best part of the films: Smaug, as portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch. And yeah, that motion capture footage is hilarious, but it pays the fuck OFF, what can I tell ya? I mean...come on.

Smaug in these movies is fucking AMAZING, and I genuinely love him. And...well, you know what, let’s actually get into the Review. Enough navel-gazing here. Here’s the Recap (Parts 1, 2, and 3), if you’d like to read that first! OK, let’s get this done and Reviewed!

Review

Cast and Acting: 7/10

Given that this is an animated film, this is an interesting category to grade. I’ll be doing so based on their vocal performances, and...eh. For a Rankin-Bass movie, the vocal performances are a little standard. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some standouts. Orson Bean plays a kind and contemplative Bilbo, and while I don’t know that I like him quite as much as Martin Freeman, I do still like his performance. John Huston is likewise good as Gandalf, although Ian McKellen is...well, Ian McKellen, even in The Hobbit films. And then...there’s Brother Theodore. And, boy oh boy, do I love his Gollum a lot! I think he’s legitimately fantastic as this version of the character, and specifically as this version of the character. Andy Serkis is still the better Gollum, I think, but I do think that Theodore handles Gollum’s last line in this film better than Serkis did. However, I can see Serkis becoming the devious little monster he eventually becomes a lot more.

Also, Hans Conried plays Thorin, and all I could hear was Captain Hook, like, the entire time. There are actually a lot of voice actors from the time period in here, like Don Messick, Paul Frees, and Thurl Ravenscroft, and they’re all fine. There’s also Richard Boone as Smaug, and...he’s OK. Not saying he’s great, but...he’s all right. His deep booming voice does work well for the role, and some of his line deliveries are pretty goddamn solid, but...I dunno, he just doesn’t bring the same gravelly gravitas that I expect of, well, a goddamn dragon, let’s be frank here.

Plot and Writing: 9/10

What can I say? It’s Tolkien! And they’re pretty exact with their adaptation of the original work, as adapted and written by Romeo Muller. And yeah, Muller does a good job...but he also writes this similar to how he wrote all of the other Rank Bass specials. If there’s any problem, it’s that. But even then...I don’t know if I can call that a real problem. Still, I’ll take a point off for it, even though it’s really closer to half a point. If anything, I’m upset that Beorn was completely absent. You coulda worked him in, Romeo!

Directing and Cinematography: 7/10

This is essentially judging the storyboarding, and how shots were positioned in the artistic process. And yeah, it’s...mostly good. Unfortunately, true to form for Rankin-Bass production, it often feels just a little too stiff in places. Makes sense since Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass are the directors. Not as bad as some of their other productions, but still definitely a notable quality of the film. So, points off for that, but the rest of it is honestly fine, especially for animation of the era. What came out from Disney that year?

Oh, damn, the Rescuers? Yeah...shit, yeah, that looked WAY better, and that wasn’t even one of Disney’s best looking film up to that point. Although, different budgets should probably be taken into account. OK, moving on.

Production and Art Design: 8/10

I like the backgrounds in this film a LOT, lemme tell you. They were done by Minoru Nishida, who’s done a hell of a lot of animation stuff, but was also the art director for Kill Bill Vol 1! Neat! But yeah, the backgrounds are absolutely gorgeous here. How about the rest of the art design? Characters were designed by Lester Abrams, then redesigned a bit by the Topcraft guys (specifically  Tsuguyuki Kubo), giving it the very stereotypical Rankin-Bass style that the movie is known for. And does it work? I mean...kinda. The good news is that the different races of Middle Earth are pretty goddamn distinguishable from each other, and creatively designed at that. The bad news...sorry, I never did get used to Smaug, I genuinely don’t like his design in this. Like...why the dog head? By all accounts, Smaug was a stereotypical wyrm-style dragon, with the reptilian features and I. I just...I don’t get it. Sorry, but Jackson’s Smaug wins here, hands down. But that said...I do like Gollum. It’s different, yeah, but I think his design works pretty well. After all, according to Tolkien, we’re not really supposed to know what Gollum is. And I think it works pretty goddamn well!

Music and Editing: 7/10

Glenn Yarbrough. I love ya. I SWEAR, I do actually like you and your main contribution to this movie, The Greatest Adventure. But if I have to hear that song ONE MORE GODDAMN TIME in this movie, I swear...because they chop up the song and use it in EVERY AVAILABLE INSTANCE with Bilbo. And I guess it’s his leitmotif, but they use that song...A LOT. And not instrumentally, I mean with the goddamn lyrics. Just...tone it down a little, OK? But OK, what about the other music, by Maury Laws? I like it! There are some songs in here that are very catchy, and I might actually get “Down, Down, to Goblin Town” on my playlist. Not that it’s all great, but it works for the setting and for the tone of the movie. And what about the editing? Eh. Visual editing is pretty good, bu7t the sound editing is...it’s 1970s animation editing. Hell, even the Rescuers sound editing wasn’t amazing, when I think about it. It’s fine, but it isn’t great most of the time.

Y’know...I think I can gel with a 76% here.

Yeah, I know, it’s low, but that’s because this movie was...good, but OK. I’m not necessarily saying that it was better or worse than the Jackson movies, because I think they compliment each other in some weird ways. I like Thorin as a character more here, but Smaug MUCH more in the Jackson films. While there definitely don’t need to be three Jackson movies...I’ll admit that I think this one is too short, coming in at only an hour and 18 minutes. And I gotta say, I love the fact that it’s animated...but the live-action films also look fantastic, I can never fault them for how they look (except for Dain...ugh). I think they’re similar, but different, at least for me.

But OK, here’s a question: is it just because it’s a property that I really like, and I have my own internal vision of it, which might be influenced by the live-action films? Entirely a possibility. Watch this movie yourself, make your own score! See what you think. Meanwhile, I’m going to try an experiment.

Fantasy movie, same production company, same directors, same animators, also based off of a fantasy book. And, uh...I dunno, a unicorn, maybe?

March 2, 2021: The Last Unicorn (1982)

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I Thought About “Enchanted Grom Fright”

Salutations random people of the internet who probably won't read this. I am an Ordinary Shmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

When I started doing reviews, I told myself to stay limited to specials, movies, seasons, and even entire T.V. shows. I didn't want to do reviews for regular episodes of a show, mostly because there wouldn't be enough to talk about in a single post. For me, an episode has to either be astounding enough or important enough to warrant a review. And low and behold, The Owl House did just that with the episode "Enchanting Grom Fright." Keep in mind that I am going to be spoiling everything that happens in this episode. So if you somehow haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend that you do so. And if you haven't seen The Owl House yet...what the hell is wrong with you?

With that out of the way, let's get started with-

WHAT I LIKE

Luz independently looking for new glyphs: This scene is excellent for two reasons. Reason number one: It shows how dedicated Luz is to learning magic. So far, we have yet to see Hexide teach Luz anything regarding her unique way of doing magic. This is why it's great to see Luz try to find glyphs on her own so she can at least attempt to catch up with everyone else. There's also the implication that it's not an easy task for her, given the multiple crumpled up pieces of paper, which must have been failed attempts to make the plant glyph. This scene adds continuity from "Adventures of the Elements" as well, proving that Luz had learned her lesson in said episode. As for reason number two for why this scene is excellent: It sets up how Luz and Amity defeat Grom. Luz could have used her other two glyphs to destroy Grom, but doing so would take away some neat symbolism with the tree that was grown (more on that later). Therefore, Luz finding the plant glyph was a great set up with a proper pay off. Which is what I love about The Owl House. It takes things you wouldn't think twice about and actually makes something beautiful. Case in point: A 'Grom Night' poster was shown in a previous episode, hinting to the glory that is this episode.

Luz barely texting her mom back: I like this because it finally addresses Luz's conflictions for lying to her mom (Something I may or may not have toyed around with https://archiveofourown.org/works/23321692/chapters/55864000). These scenes present moments of how Luz isn't always the happy go lucky teen that she is. And I like that because it adds layers to a character who is already engaging enough.

That Gromposal: I made a post of all the things Disney has approved of before approving Lumity. I guess you can add to the list a character presenting an anatomically correctly drawn heart with the word 'Grom' written in what I can only assume is blood!

(Jokes aside, I legitimately like the dark humor in this scene, as well as Skara saying yes to the poor boy. It was adorable, damn it!)

Amity’s hostility swapped with being friendly: Here's a nice bit of character development for ya! It's just a few seconds, but those seconds show how far Amity has come since episode FIVE! Which is why Amity is one of the best characters in the show. Her development is so impressive that it's legitimately jarring to compare the Amity who was angry to see Luz, to the Amity who immediately apologizes, to Luz. But she still has years of conditioning from her parents to deal with, so of course, Amity's first instinct is to bare her fangs. And I'm more than positive that that instinct is going to leave her pretty soon.

Eda: While we're on the topic of great characters, let's take a moment to talk about Eda in this episode, shall we? Eda, throughout "Enchanted Grom Fright," has fully embraced her role as a maternal figure for Luz. The way Eda attempts to warn Luz about the dangers of Grom is a testament to how much Eda truly cares about 'her human.' And it's not like Eda doesn't acknowledge Luz's efforts at survival. She knows Luz can take care of herself, but that won't stop Eda from drawing the line when she knows Luz is in over her head. The best part is that when Luz admits that she was wrong, Eda doesn't respond with anger or even with a smug "I told you so." Instead, Eda's reaction is calm and nurturing. A response that Luz needed at that moment. It's sweet and genuinely heartwarming to see.

(And I love how Eda constantly admires her own beauty throughout the episode. Which is something I'm sure most fans can relate to.)

Luz and Amity’s talk in the forest: There is a lot to love about this exchange, due to how adorable it is. So here's a quick list: The clearly romantic music playing in the background. The way Amity slipped in the mud and was inches away from accidentally kissing Luz when getting pulled up. The fact that Luz sits down into the mud so as not to make Amity feel self-conscious about being filthy. Luz's sweet, sincere, and instant "I would" when responding to Amity wondering who would take her place as Grom Queen. The fact that Amity was surprised that someone would be willing to take her place in the first place. The payoff to Luz learning that she really did have a spider on the back of her head (Alright, that one wasn’t adorable, but it was definitely hilarious!).

Amity “destroying” Hooty: While I do enjoy seeing Amity act all sweet and gushy, I will admit that feisty Amity is still best Amity. Plus, this scene was remarkably funny.

Training Luz for Grom: This scene was a fantastic showcase for each of the Blight siblings. Now, because I've talked a lot about Amity (and will continue to do so), I want to start talking about Edric and Emira first. When first introduced to Ed and Em, my initial reaction was that they were meanspirited versions of the Weasley Twins from Harry Potter. Sure, Fred and George are known to cause mischief, but they do realize that there's a line you don't cross when it comes to family. That is something that Ed and Em ignored during their debut episode, where they tried to reveal Amity's diary to the world. Luckily, the writers picked up on this quick and made a subtle detour in terms of Ed and Em's personalities. They're actually decent supporting characters, and it's legitimately sweet with how they willingly help Luz. As for Amity, it's great to see that she still takes things seriously despite crushing on Luz. Most shows fall into the trap of making characters a nervous wreck when around their crushes. And while Amity does have those moments, there are still scenes like this that prove she isn't just some smitten kitten-and I hate myself for saying that. Amity is the voice of reason to her and Luz's relationship. And I'm glad that the writers mostly focus on that aspect of her personality rather than write her off as a flustered girl with a crush.

Those boys dancing together: While it's nice to see Luz and Amity's relationship blossom, that doesn't mean we should sleep on great representation such as this. While it's great to see so many romantic pairings between females in the last few years, it's rare to see two boys liking each other, especially in animation. Sure, male pairings exist, but I haven't seen them as celebrated as often as female ones. This is why it's nice to see that The Owl House crew sprinkled in these two boys dancing with each other. Representation matters for everyone, and this little acknowledgment is something worth mentioning, even if it isn't the main ship.

The hallway scene: But let's face it, this is what we came to see. Now when you think about it, there's nothing all that special with this scene. It's a typical romantic moment with a heart to heart discussion followed with witty banter, all while a romantic melody is playing in the background. You see this in multiple types of media, especially in Disney cartoons. The only difference is that this scene features a same-sex pairing and that what makes it amazing. It's essentially normalizing something that has been seen as inappropriate for years. And the fact that Disney of all companies is the one that greenlit a scene like this? That just makes this moment all the more impressive. Plus, I mean, c'mon. You have to have a will of iron not to think these dorks are adorable with this little exchange.

Splash zone: There's not much to talk about or analyze here. I just think the dark humor of a kid waiting in the 'splash zone' is funny. Because what does the splash zone get used for? Grom? The fighter? I don't know, but the fact that a splash zone exists for either of those reasons is what gets a chuckle out of me.

Skara and her date getting hyped for Grom fight: That's it. Skara is officially the best background character. I'm sorry, but a character earns that title when they immediately switch from wanting to kiss their date to "WHOO! BRING ON THE GORE!" 

I don't make the rules. I just abide by them.

Luz’s greatest fear: This is something fans could have seen coming due to rewatching and reanalyzing the promo that dropped a little over a month ago. But for fans who ignored the promo, the episode did a great job of setting up this reveal. From the two times that Luz practically ignored her mother's texts, it can be pretty clear that Luz's fear would be something involving Camilia. However, before the episode premiered, everyone jumped on the idea that Luz's greatest fear would be Camilia forcing Luz to come back home. Instead, the scene portrays Luz's greatest fear as her mother's negative response to Luz lying for weeks. That idea is much more interesting to me because it reveals how much Luz cares so much about what her mother thinks of Luz. And unlike Amity with her parents, Luz's fears are much more justified due to Camilia actually being a good mother. A mother who planned to send her daughter away to summer camp, sure, but still a mother who would do that type of thing out of love rather than to protect an image. Which makes me hope to see more of Camilia in the future, just to witness the mother/daughter relationship she has with Luz. Because honestly, it feels like I've been working triple time with portraying that relationship myself.

Amity’s greatest fear: Ah yes, the one thing none of us could have predicted...ok, that's not true. Some of us did predict this, but most of us didn't take those predictions seriously. And BOY, were we wrong to do so. Because the idea that Amity's greatest fear is being rejected by Luz is both sad, yet kind of adorable. It proves just how much Amity has come to care for the same human she nearly got dissected, in episode THREE. It's a nice bit of character growth that I just can't help but gush over how sweet it is. But again, it's also depressing knowing that Amity is afraid by being rejected by Luz of all people. Luz! The girl who's sweeter than honey and would absolutely let Amity down gently if Luz didn't feel the same way (Which she does. She just doesn't realize it yet.). What's even more interesting is that it makes so much sense as to why Amity is more afraid of showing her fear to the school. Not only would Grom reveal that Amity has feelings for Luz, but it also has the problem of outing Amity as a lesbian, presumably long before she's ready. And seeing how her parents reacted to Amity's friendship with Willow, imagine what would happen if word got out that Amity had a crush on a human girl. Yeah, let's just say that Amity must be really grateful that Grom morphed into a vague, shadowy figure.

(Speaking of, can we PLEASE calling Luz oblivious for not knowing that Grom morphed into her? Yes, to us, it's painfully apparent who Grom was supposed to be. But it also looks vague enough to the point where it isn't unbelievable for Luz to not know it was her. Because from where Luz is standing, the only similarity is the height and body shape. If the crew stuck to using Luz's more apparent traits, then I'd say it's fine to say Luz is oblivious. But as is, it's not too far of a stretch for Luz not to know it was her.)

That dance scene!: Remember how some fans have been hoping for a slow dance between Luz and Amity? This is better.

From the choreography to the smooth animation, to their expressions, to even pure epicness of this scene. Everything about this dance is just so astonishing that I am convinced that several fans have watched it over and over and over again since the episode's release. And you want to know the best part? This scene has so many problems that I don't care about due to how great it is. Why does Eda just stand there and do nothing? I don't know, and I don't care. Why does Grom stand there and do nothing? I don't know, and I don't care. How did Luz and Amity come up with this perfect plan without communicating? I don't know, and I don't care. How did Luz catch Amity, even though it looked like they jumped off of the abomination at the same height, and would've landed at the same time? I don't-Ok, you get the point by now.

Don't get me wrong, these are all valid criticisms. But that's the testament of good writing to me. Because if a scene can make me forget/ignore the problems within it, then it's ok in my book!

The cherry blossom: And now we get to that symbolism that I've mentioned before. Because according to a five-second Google search: The Chinese describe the cherry blossom as a symbol for feminine dominance and, of course, a symbol for love. Now the feminine dominance part is clear, but I'm confident that The Owl House staff concentrated more on the whole "symbol of love" thing. Because how else are they supposed to hint that Amity and Luz are meant to be the endgame relationship? Reveal that Amity's gromposal was meant for Luz? C'mon. That would be-

It’s revealed that Amity’s gromposal was meant for Luz: ...You know those moments that are so awesome, iconic, and downright perfect that you just can't help but give a grand old cheer to it? That's this moment right here. Speaking of which: WAH-HOO-HOO-HOO-HOO!

Seriously, some of you have no idea how big this scene is. It would have been so easy to cut the scene short at Amity throwing her half of the note, and leaving it up to interpretation for who the whole thing was for. But the fact that we get to see that it was meant for Luz, thus confirming that Amity has a crush on her, is absolute perfection. Not only is it because this is a big step for Disney in terms of representation, but to me, it seems like a normalization of gay culture. This type of reveal is something that would be done for several heterosexual relationships. So to confirm that Amity has a crush on Luz as if it was nothing...that's...that's just awesome. It's awesome, and I am so happy that Disney even greenlit this decision. And I'm not even gay! So I can not comprehend how some of you are feeling about this moment!

(Also, this does not mean that Lumity is canon. But it does at least mean that Lumity is going to be canon. Only now it's a question of when rather than if.)

Luz’s Text to Home: This was just a sweet moment. You get a better understanding of the love Luz has for her mother within these few seconds, then you did throughout the entire series so far. I also like that this implies that Luz is going to try being more honest with her mom about being in a whole new dimension. Which is again, is something I've been playing with.

Speaking of my aforementioned fanfic, during this entire scene, I was thinking to myself: "Man. Maybe I don't have to write a chapter based on this episode, after all. It pretty much did the job for me. I'm just glad that show didn't do anything that would make what I wrote completely worthless. Because that would just-"

Camilia is getting LETTERS?!: “...Well shit.”

Ok, gags and goofs aside, I honestly love this reveal. Because this presents a whole lot of questions. Like, how is Camilia getting these letters? When did she start getting them? And more importantly: Who the hell is sending them?! This is another thing that I enjoy about The Owl House. Just when you think you're satisfied with the episode you're given, the writers throw in something you could have never expected in a million years. This is why lately, it's a toss-up between The Owl House and Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts for the best show of 2020 for me.

(BTW, WATCH KIPO AND THE AGE OF WONDERBEASTS! It's SO GOOD!)

Those Grom pictures: These were just cute. Especially the last one.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

...Uh...Oh! I know!

King’s B-plot: A small complaint that I have for The Owl House is that most of the b-plots in several episodes just feel unnecessary. Episodes like "The First Day," and "Adventures in the Elements" had b-plots that were pointless and not as engaging as the a-plot. What's worse is that they seem like padding for time, when most of that time could be used for significant moments in the main plot. And honestly, King's story in this episode is the worst one yet. It's filler that is poorly paced and wasn't really all that funny (aside from the other b-plots which at least offered a few good jokes in them). I don't know. Maybe it's because I have Lumity brain rot and wanted more moments between those two, but I just could not get engaged in King's story.

And...yeah, that’s about it.

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This episode deserves a well earned A+! Sure it has its fair share of problems, but the many, MANY, things it does right outweighs what it does wrong. On top of that, its one of the few episodes of any show I've seen that kept me up at night. Why? Because I couldn't stop thinking about how amazing it was. "Enchanted Grom Fright" is a worthy contender for the best episode of the season, and probably the entire series. It was heartwarming, engaging, and quite possibly the most important thing Disney has made in years. What else could you call it other than Enchanting.

(And no, this doesn’t mean I’m reviewing episodes of The Owl House from now on. Just the ones that are worth talking about.)

[nulltune]

I actually like reading essays about Hakuno cause I enjoy seeing you gush about Hakuno! You can call me as mushy anon cause I send you stuff that makes you into a mush of feelings over Hakuno hehe~

mushy anon it is!! :D and I SCREAM??? BECAUSE-- i ramble like mad omg but i'm glad you like reading em!! i love getting your asks too so as always, THANK YOU !! ily 🥺❤ and sorry for taking forever to answer these HSKGJAH it has been Literal Months, but i'll definitely be responding much faster from now on!! it's a promise from this clown to mushy anon!!!  (also also if you have disc n you don't mind adding me there... hmu 👀) AND GOSH SAMEE i love reading peoples thoughts on hakuno lots because i feel like her character is just?? pretty damn complex!! there's a lot of ways to look at it and it's just -clenches fist- so very interesting! i wish i can put my thoughts on her into words bc there really So Much to it and i want people to know that!! not just her own character and growth, but also the dynamics between her and other characters.... the devoted person is included in that list too ofc!!! i'm So invested in hakuno and her dynamic with this devoted person so much now... you have No Idea. i DEMAND want an entire series about them and hakuno. and speaking of them, i'll be answering the rest of your asks under the cut >:^)

What if the person is so devoted to Hakuno is that once they die then their reincarnation will be drawn to another version of Hakuno in a different world which both of them feel each other are so familiar not knowing they're now reunited together again in better terms -mushy anon

CAN I JUST SAY---- they are soulmates!!! soulmates i tell ya!!!!! romantic or not (bc ahahaha i may or may not think that they'd be Neat as a couple 👉👈), i just think they'd have that incredibly strong bond that just ties their fates together; though even if fate tries to separate them, i feel like neither of them would let that happen either! this makes me so damn happy tho bc THIS IS THE HAPPY ENDING I WANT FOR THEM!!!! mush anon if you've watched angel beats, then there's this one moment from it 👀 (which involves a song being hummed and a hand reaching out---) that really reminds me of this.... and just like with that anime i s ob about hakuno and this devoted person so damn much!! i don't have many words but pls i'm so frikkin happy at the idea of them being able to peacefully live their lives together!!! them being able to

and ngl...... when i first read reincarnation, i throught of this one trope,,, which i am such a Sucker for and i bring up to you as well: immortal devoted person 😳 who keeps meeting hakuno's reincarnations 😳 and still loves her no matter how many times she forgets them 😳

I can definitely see the devoted person would be the type to be willingly stuck in a neverending loop constantly trying again and again to ensure that Hakuno will have a happy ending no matter what -mushy anon

smh mushy anon giving me happiness and soft only to rip my heart out like this?? ahjfhshd ok but L ISTEN i Love time loops. a lot. and i don't exactly know why, but lemme copy and paste this post right here to tell you why!! (also here's a quick note from lynn of the future, i was gonna link that specific post.... but sadly, i lost it T_T)

Time loop stories are like re-tellings of myths because both say: there is something inevitable & tragic that is going to happen, but we are going to find a space inside of that story for something new & all our own anyway. We are going to chose life and chose love even if it hurts us. I am going to love you even if you’ll forget me tomorrow. I am going to live as best I can even if I’m going to die tomorrow. We are going to keep telling stories because that is all we have and the best thing we can do.

"i'm going to love you even if you'll forget me tomorrow" IT'S LITERALLY THEM???? but also, with time loops you really just get two options: option a being a way for a happy ending but optipn b being.. something that's just prolonging the inevitable. as for option b... i can tell it's going to absolutely crush me :,)  spoilers for madoka magica AND IT LOWKEY REMINDS ME OF MADOKA AND HOMURA'S DYNAMIC TOO....... devoted person going through these loops again and again and the ending being hakuno recognizing how much they've gone through for her sake but also deciding to take matter into her own hands.... a bittersweet ending like the og extra ending is what they'd get, i feel like!! which rlly crushes me bc mush anonnnn, i want a happy ending for them so bad -CHOMPS MY PILLOW-

A song fitting for the devoted person and Hakuno: Carol by balloon0120 and avogado6 -mushy anon

mushy anon hOW DO YOU FIND THESE GEMS??? THE MV ITSELF IS ALREADY MAKING ME CRY SO HARD??? the vibes and just the tone of the song fits them so much and i honestly don't even know where to begin screeching--- the part where the boy and the girl especially hits So Hard for me when it comes to hakuno and this devoted person bc it's like-- they'll always be searching for each other no matter how long and will always find their way back to each other ;___; reminds me of your them meeting each other after reincarnation too!! and like i said, they are simply Soulmates. do not separate!!!! THE LAST ENDING SCENE IS SO SOO GOOD THOUGH!!! my mind's going crazy imagining hakuno and the devoted person in that exact scene and i'm going feral thinking abt what they'd say into the paper cup!!!

couldn't find proper english translations for the song so i just ran it thru google translate 😳 but AAAAAAAA I'M STILL GOING CRAZY BC IT REALLY IS THEM TO A T!! When I remember happiness / Every time you are next to me / How to laugh with your eyes closed / Please don't forget — this part absolutely Kills me btw. the whole song in general feels like the devoted person's pov from maybe hakuno's last moments before losing all her memories?? the mv gives ends it on a happier note which i reaaally want for them gotdang!! though the one thing i'd want is for that flower that the girl gets at the end of the mv to be a white rose instead bc i do associate white roses with my hakuno :^) but also because the meanings and symbolism of a white rose suit their bond so well too!! though i am curious on what the flower in the mv was (i'm not well versed in flower stuff GSJGHS) bc i feel like it'd honestly suit hakuno and the devoted person too <3 AND I'LL BE CRYING OVER IT AGAIN AS PER USUALLL

[fiercestpurpose]

what are some of ur favorite comic writers working today? could u recommend ur favorite runs of them also?

My knee-jerk response to this was “I don’t read comics actually” lmao, but here’s a couple of answers. I’ve assumed for the sake of this list that you are a Marvel fan, but if you’re looking for something else, ask me!

Saladin Ahmed - I got into his stuff because of Abbott, a miniseries from Boom! about a black journalist in 1970s Detroit who investigates a series of murders that are linked to the occult. The book is about race and about loss and about the responsibility that journalists have to their community.

For Marvel, I have to rec his Black Bolt (2017). It’s the series that really made me care about Mr. Blackagar Boltagon; it’s about prisons and torture and what it means to be a criminal or to be in captivity. (It’s more serious than many Marvel comics, but it is still a Marvel comic, so don’t expect shockingly revolutionary political opinions. All the same, I think it handles its subject matter decently.) It’s gorgeously illustrated by Christian Ward, who is always at his best when he’s in space, and it made me genuinely care about all its characters.

If you like Ahmed, he’s currently writing Magnificent Ms. Marvel and Miles Morales: Spider-Man. And if you like Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man, catch them in the upcoming Champions series by Dr. Eve L. Ewing, who wrote the excellent Ironheart series that was unfortunately cut short.

Kieron Gillen - Gillen? On a rec list? Groundbreaking. I know, I know, everyone and their mother will rec Gillen, but it’s for good reason, I promise. I adore his writing. His indies are his best stuff - The Wicked + the Divine, Once & Future, Die, but he’s written plenty of excellent stuff for Marvel too.

Journey into Mystery (starting at #622) introduces a new version of Loki after his death, a version who seeks to do good and be trusted. This heartbreaking run is about trying to fight yourself, your fate, and the fate you make for yourself.

1602 Witchhunter Angela was co-written with Marguerite Bennett. It features Angela and Sera as hunters of witches in the time of King James. It leads into Angela: Queen of Hel, written solely by Marguerite Bennett, in which Angela goes to Hel to retrieve her lover and claim the throne.

Young Avengers (2013). I mean, how could I not rec this? It’s fun, it’s gay, it’s teens who can’t trust their parents learning to rely on each other and themselves to save the day.

Siege (2015), also called Siege: Battleworlds, is the story of Abigail Brand in a never-ending war to defend The Wall. It’s interesting, it’s got a lot of conceptual versions of characters from the Marvel Universe, it’s a pretty neat four-issue mini.

Charles Soule - Charles Soule has the rare gift of taking a character and writing a perfectly respectable, absolutely normal story about the character. That might sound like damning with faint praise, but in this industry, it is truly a rare gift. Real Daredevil fans don’t like his Daredevil (2016), but as a casual fan, I would recommend it. Soule himself is a lawyer, and it comes through in the way he writes.

Also, I don’t know how you feel about Star Wars comics (and I could make a whole other rec list for that lol), but his Star Wars stuff is good - the Lando mini, the Poe Dameron series (honestly the best Poe content ever), the Obi-Wan & Anakin mini.

Mariko Tamaki - Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me is a beautiful, touching coming-of-age story about gay love and gay friendship. It was, for me, one of the few gay YA books that actually felt real and true to my experience.

Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass made me a Harley fan, completely changed my perspective on the character. It’s a graphic novel alternate universe origin story of how a lonely girl learns the true meanings of community, anarchy, friendship, and baseball bats. It explores her relationships with the Joker and with Ivy.

X-23 (2018) made a lot of people mad, but the things they were mad about (the name change from Wolverine back to X-23, the costume change that put her back in that crop top) were editorial mandate and not Tamaki’s fault. Tamaki’s writing is solid, her characterization of Laura is miles better than Taylor’s, and she adds some real depth to Gabby and the Laura/Gabby relationship. The first arc pits Gabby and Laura against the Stepford Cuckoos in a story that takes a different approach to the question of what it means to be a clone.

And that’s what I have for you today! Ask me if you have any more specific recs, but these are the authors whose work I genuinely enjoy reading and look forward to seeing more of.

[ladyloveandjustice]

Shadow of the Batgirl: A review type thing

I just read the graphic novel Shadow of the Batgirl by Sarah Kuhn and Nicole Goux, which reimagines the superhero origin of Cassandra Cain.

It was overall good and EXTREMELY cute! If you want an awesome story about a teenage assassin running away from her shitty dad and finding a neat library, a community of cool ladies and the hero within herself, AND WHY WOULDN’T YOU WANT THAT, definitely get this! 

It’s a standalone Batgirl story completely accessible to all and with none of the weird baggage and the complicated continuity of the regular Batman universe! it’s appropriate for younger teens but still a good read for adults, the art’s colorful and great, it’s packed to the brim with joy and hope.

And on top of all that, it gives a great character who’s been traditionally horribly neglected by mainstream comics for some reason (*cough its because she’s not white cough*) a spotlight and a chance to shine (and get written by an Asian American author for once!)! This also features one of my other faves, who had her disability and adult identity erased in the main universe, but not in this comic, hurray!

SO YEAH, if you like superheroes at all, highly recommend this!

NOW for a more detailed review, calling on all my expertise as a Cassandra Cain superfan and going into pros and cons. This’ll be long, but I’ll do it as a list to break it down.

Let’s start with the good stuff, there’s a lot of it:

- This story takes place in world where Barbara Gordon as Oracle (and former Batgirl) and Cassandra Cain as Batgirl exist, but Batman and The Killing Joke do not appear to. That is honestly transcendentally great to finally see this as an officially realized concept, Batgirl allowed to stand on its own as a legacy of powerful women, with all history of these characters being victimized for the sake of manpain erased. I am elated.

-The art was adorable, the designs were great, the clothes and Cass’s costumes were super cute, the setting was vibrant.

-Jackie was a really fun character and mentor figure for Cass. Loved her snark and how she and Babs basically become Cass’s two Moms and an awesome team in their own right. The relationships in this were just heartwarming. Loved the range of characters in general.

-Cass basically lived in a library aka my life dream. I mean, she did it because she was homeless and on the run from her assassin father, but like.

-Cassandra FINALLY knows her own race, (she’s half-Chinese) and gets to have a goddamn connection and basic feelings about it (Jackie bringing up what the bat means to Chinese culture), etc, god it should not have taken this long for this to happen.

(And it’s really important to have a version of Cass’s story where, y’know, the positive inspirational figures in her life include other Asian people, they aren’t just white people. it wasn’t until I read this it fully dawned on me how screwed up it is she never had that before.)

-For the first time in her entire existence, Cassandra Cain got to be in a canon romance that wasn’t fucking awful, can you believe it. Her love interest Erik was adorable, and him being a budding romance writer was an especially sweet touch- and I think there’s an implication/hint his dad’s the Bronze Tiger? Which is really cute Easter Egg for Cass fans, considering she had a strong friendship with the dude in her original series!

-The idea of Cass liking to draw and expressing herself through art is really fun and fitting. Her being visually focused, it makes a lot of sense.

-Cass extending her body language ability to sort of being able to guess at people’s underlying emotional problems from how they carry themselves is a really neat idea- it could have been implemented a little more smoothly but I like the concept.

-Cass going after the “evil-doers” in the library after becoming a hero was one of the best things I’ve ever seen. Deserves to be framed. I love what a huge nerd Cass got to be in this.

-The comic understood that core of Cass’s character is compassion and empathy, that how she reaches out for people, refuses to harm, and really believes in people and embodies change, rebirth, hope. THAT’S IT, THAT’S MY GIRL, THAT’S MY HERO..

-I’ve read a ton of comics with Barbara Gordon and this is the first one I’ve come across where she discussed her relationship with her mother having any sort of influence on her interests and personality, she isn’t even the main character of this and her mother matters more in it than every other comic I’ve read with her combined how sad is that

-I liked Babs just casually making gadgets and stuff all the time, and loved that she expressed she honestly preferred doing this and that was why she was giving Batgirl to Cass. MADE ME WANT TO SCREAM FUCK YOU DC ALL OVER AGAIN.

-Compared to the original Cass Batgirl comics, this story is obviously more accessible as a standalone, but it’s also just overall more appropriate for a wider range of ages since the darker elements of Cass’s story are way toned down. I was a young teenager when I read Cass’s series and was fine, but there are young teenagers that DON’T want like, graphic onscreen deaths in their comics, so it’s good there’s a lighter Cass story for them. It was just a really sweet, affirming story.

Now for some cons, none of them damning:

The romance was cute, but wish it’d had room to breathe. Ideally, it didn’t need to be happening alongside Cass’s origin, I think it would have been better if it was just hinted at and then was allowed to fully play out as an after-she-became-Batgirl thing, but I can get that Kuhn didn’t know if this would get a sequel and there were probably a lot of good reasons she wanted to include it.

-I think this came from Kuhn being used to writing as a YA author rather than doing comics, but it was weird to read a Cass comic with so much narration and the way it was used really detracted from the potential power of the story. We’re told through Cass’s super chatty narration she’s not a normal teen, she TELLS US that she barely knows how to read and speak and TELLS US she’s better at reading body language-but we never get a sense of this, not even at the beginning, because the story doesn’t trust the reader to take in the visuals without narration, and then she’s able to talk like a normal teen pretty much right off the bat.

 I’m okay with Cass becoming a chatty girl, and her voice in this comic was fun- I know “silent Asian” has a lot baggage and Cass’s original character leaned into some stereotypes- but the first chapter/part would been far more powerful if it had her world be a little more silent and fully emphasized the visual, for her interactions with people and words be garbled and confusing, and if it gave us more of a sense of the world she comes from and how her perception of things differs from the average person. Cass’s original debut and the beginning of her original series did a really good job giving us a sense of this, and took great advantage of comics as a visual medium, and I missed that.

-Cass learns to read and talk SUPER EASILY and it just comes off as unbelievable. I do like the idea of her camping at a library, eavesdropping, and teaching herself, but I would have liked to see her actually struggle like a person would. Moreover, while I know the presentation of it was very flawed, Cass basically had a learning/language disability in the original series. I was kind of hoping this comic would lean into that, and actually give a more realistic and nuanced representation of that kind of disability (it could have been presented as something she always had that was exacerbated by how she was raised, not caused by it!).

 Honestly, I think her romance with Erik would have been far more interesting and meaningful and tied in better if she’d actually struggled to read, maybe even discovered she was dyslexic and couldn’t quite read the same way he could. That could have been a source of development between them.

-David Cain’s a super flat as a character in this comic, he doesn’t have much presence, menacing or otherwise, and Cass’s complicated feelings and relationship with him is not nearly as painful as they were in her original series.This is partly because there wasn’t a lot of a space for it though, and that’s fine.

-Overall, the main thing that hurts the story is that we don’t see all that much of what Cass’s life was like as an assassin, and her life with David Cain was like. It’s harder to invest in Cass’s transformation into a hero when we don’t really have a sense of who she was before,it’s hard to appreciate her breaking free when we can’t get a sense of what kind of cage she was even in. How much language DID she know? How much of the world was she exposed to? What was she really deprived of? I hope if there’s a sequel we can see more of this.

-Babs isn’t the main character of course, so this isn’t a real complaint, but I did miss her cynical and angry edge. She’s pretty much just a chipper nerd with no sign of her own baggage in this, and it makes her relationship with Cass less interesting. It’s implied that her “accident” did affect her and she just managed to work through a lot of it before she met Cass, but I missed the element of their relationship where they both were hurting from losing  “the world they knew” and working through it together, sometimes clashing, etc.

-I read one of Sarah Kuhn’s YA novels in anticipation of this, and while I’m relieved this is better about it than her first book was (I expected it to be, writers improve, I definitely know how messy a first book is) there’s still some cringe-y ideas of how “average” teens talk creeping in, occasional clunky pacing etc.

But all in all? It was a really nice little story that did a lot of cool things, and I really want a sequel and want more of this version of Cass and her universe. As someone who was driven away from DC comics in part because of how badly they treated Cass, Oracle and the Batgirl legacy. it’s really like a salve on old wounds.

[we-rate-tmnt]

Oh sweet! Had a huge crush on 2012 karai too she was awesome :P also the brief time when she hung out with splinter and the turtles and there was a moment when mikey called her their sister during battle i think, that made me so soft 🥺 tbh she and Leo's relationship weirded me out bc they're adopted siblings obvs they didn't know but the writers did, not a big fan of their decision. can u rate the tmnt reincarnations next? like in general, i want to catch up with tmnt but idk where to start :)

I think everyone who watched tmnt 2012 had a gay awakening when Karai appeared 

I love those episodes where she bonds with the turtles and Splinter. One time, when Mikey hummed the theme song, she giggled. It was a parallel to when they traveled back in time and the same exact thing happened. Mikey hummed the song and baby Karai giggled. I like the subtle dynamic between Mikey and Karai, it gives me the warm-fuzzies. 

And yeah, the writers were pretty damn weird about that. 

But now it’s time for the big. bad TMNT overall ratings!

I can talk about every single little thing in each series, including art style correlating to tone, but I’m going to give a run down of what I enjoy the most. The ratings are going to be a bit different, as I’m rating them by ‘version to watch/rewatch first’

With the good original cartoon sliding in, it’s...

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987)

The very first thing I ever said when I watched this was ‘hehe turgle’ because of how small and squishy they looked! The art style is really cute and gives a very warm vibe. It reminds me of when I used to watch Gilligan’s Island when I was a kid, a bunch of goofy characters in potentially life-threatening situations. For me, it’s a show to watch for shits and giggles, rather than a serious plot. I don’t really think this is the best starting point. I prefer going from a dark series to a lighter one, so I’d watch this one maybe after a different reboot. Also, I adore the 80′s Shredder, he’s fun to watch and to make fun of. 

5/10

Next up is the one I watched on Youtube (but since I didn’t know how VPN’s worked so most of the videos were blocked except for Fast Forward and Back to the Sewer)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) 

This one made me go ‘hehe turgle’ less, but still quite a bit. (They’re so short what). I think out of all the series, this is the one I’d start with. The plot is well organised (with a few bumps but what story doesn’t?), some well thought out character development and many, many interesting side characters! Bishop, Leatherhead, Baxter Stockman, these characters were so neat in this series. This show I feel was the darkest, and I guess 4kids agreed as some episodes were banned from airing when they first came out and I think there’s one that never finished production as it was too graphic and violent’. The voices in this series are so recognizable. Like here, read this is Mikey’s voice: “See what I made ya do there?” Anyone who knows the voices can easily imagine them. The animation is very clean and there’s some epic shots in there as well. The soundtrack is implanted in my memory and when I rewatched it, I had to pause and think for about five minutes when I got swept in a wave of nostalgia at a few familiar notes. And despite what everyone says about Back to the Sewer, the theme for that season was a bop. I think this is the best place to start if you like dark shows and all the episodes are on Youtube (In Canada because it’s blocked everywhere else).

9/10

This one is the show I love dearly, grew up on and still have a tiny plastic Katana from a Leo figure I can’t find:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)

This show in terms of tone slides right in between the 2003 and 1987. There’s so many light-hearted episodes and jokes mixed in with some real scary shit. This one was the first version that made them seem like actual 15 year olds, rather than early 20′s. This is also the show with the most accuracy in terms of ninjistu. I adore the animation and art style and there’s so much going on in this show, there’s no way I’d be able to unpack even half of it. April really developed in this show, she became a Kunoichi and got a badass weapon and she trained. She didn’t become a ninjistu master overnight and that was so important to the character. I love the designs of Shredder’s henchmen in this show, Dogpound/Razar, Fishface and Tiger Claw. Beebop and Rocksteady were a huge highlight in every episode they were. It was nice to see them be shown as actual people before they got mutated, along with their clashing personalities that eventually made them into a great team. Also I can’t stop thinking about ‘I will crush your head like the blueberries,’ I love that line. Cute, fun but with a very serious and real edge, neat characters and designs. A really great show! This would also be a great starter, but the episodes are harder to find for free (unless you have Hulu) 

8/10

Now for the series I am currently obsessed with and am BOUNCING for excitement for the new episodes this month,

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Oh oh oh I love this version SO much!!! This how has so much expectation subversion and is really different from the rest. A lot of people were (and still are for some reason???) complaining about this version. ‘Oh no Raph is leader, they’re all different sizes, why are they all Party dudes, etc etc.’ I think that a lot of this is based on the idea that the makers did this as more of ‘change for surprise’ when really, it’s a well thought-out decision. Raph is bigger because it helps him reign in his strength since he could easily hurt others and he’s older, so he assumes the leader position not just by default, but because he’s the one who’s the most grounded. Donnie is a softshell so he relies more on technology to protect himself, Mikey is the perfect balance of funny and annoying, Leo isn’t leader to explore a different aspect of his character. I’m not going to talk anymore about the characters as that is for another time. The art style and animation is AMAZING LIKE WOW. It’s so dynamic and bright and creative! The opening has me speechless alone! This series is still airing and has a lot of potential, with Shredder and Kraang replaced by Baron Draxum (voiced by JOHN CENA, like not a joke, he’s voiced by the wrestler) as the main antagonist. I think this is also a good starting point as it’s fresh and has around 30 episodes, so it’s faster to watch compared to the 100-200 episodes of the other series. 

8/10

I’m not going over IDW since I haven’t read too much but I strongly advise using it as a starting point, it’s not finished and the order is tricky to navigate. 

Idk so far but don’t start here, maybe after watching 2003/10

I hope this helps in your quest for turtles and thanks for the ask! 

[annikasafternoonread]

And that’s the book. Station Eleven has reached its final destination. 

I enjoyed it a lot. It was sometimes a little disorienting and unclear, but overall a really interesting story, with a lot of parallel storylines woven together fairly successfully. I definitely don’t think it’s YA, and I think I still generally prefer YA, but for adult fiction it was very readable and not dry or overly in love with itself. Similarly, the mixed timelines were quite well done and didn’t leave me feeling discombobulated with every time jump. 

The major characters were really interestingly developed, in their depth and complexity. None of them is simple, none of them is all good or all bad. They are all trying and they are all flawed and they are all lost and they are all searching. I’m sure no one will be surprised to hear that Miranda and Kirsten are my favourites. What can I say, I love me some ladies. I especially love me some strong, smart, talented, artistic, independent ladies. To be fair, the men are: a) an aging and mildly narcissistic celebrity who told his second wife he was leaving her less than 24 hours before it hit the papers, b) a former paparazzo who stalked and harassed Arthur and his wives, and c) Clark who is excellent but not crushable as he is flamingly queer. I love him as a great old gay nerd, but that’s a different love. 

I definitely enjoyed the deeper look at fame and what it can do to a person. Arthur was a kind of fascinating contradiction, simultaneously very cognizant of the effects and the detriments and not really enjoying it, but still always pulled into it and never really trying to leave. It dragged him under and wouldn’t let him leave, and he watched it destroy him, destroy his friendships and his marriages and his happiness, but never did anything to stop it.

Post-apocalyptic stuff can also be really neat, thinking about what humanity is like at its core. Most people are basically good. Most people want to help each other, want to make and share and see beautiful things, want to live their lives and not bother anyone. Some people are scared and desperate and willing to do anything, convinced they have to do anything. And some people just take advantage, were always ready to hurt people and now have an opportunity. In life, we want to believe we would be the first. We hope that anyone we would meet would be the first. But we’re scared of the people who aren’t. And that can turn us into people we aren’t proud of. Again, losing identity to a destructive world.

I noted a while ago that a theme that does tie the five point-of-view characters together is purpose. All of the characters are trying to find themselves and find a reason for what they’re doing, find happiness in a world that hasn’t told them how to. Or rather, it gave them a blueprint, but the blueprint has always been a dirty fucking lie. It was a lie before the apocalypse and it’s a lie after. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich, if you’re famous, if you work yourself to death, if you’re a CEO or a corporate shill or a movie star or an ordinary guy. The blueprint is always a lie. You have to find your own meaning, make a difference in your own way, make a life and a living for yourself. 

Even as I make these connections, though, I’m not sure this book needed all the different parts. It worked, I’m not denying that, but the stories didn’t really feel connected. The connections were more incidental than actual. This could have been two or three separate books, and it wouldn’t have lost much and probably would have had a lot more room for expansion. Characters dropped out of existence for entire sections, only to resurface ages later in a totally different context and emotion. The reader is able to follow along, the characters and times always very clearly noted, but it’s disconnected. I’m just not sure the unrelated layers added much of anything. Kirsten in particular, living mostly after the apocalypse while all the others have their stories mostly before -- that just feels like a totally different book. Tell the story about Arthur and his disconnected people, and tell the story about the pandemic and the prophet, but you don’t have to pretend they’re the same book. 

There were also a lot of things where I was just confused, where I made assumptions that turned out to be very wrong and maybe the point was to make me realize the assumptions I make but maybe it was just clumsiness. I didn’t realize for AGES that Arthur didn’t die of the Georgia Flu, for instance, that it really was a heart attack and that wasn’t just a pretty lie. Or the conductor being a woman not a man. I think there was something else but I can’t find it. And there were some scientific things that I just didn’t vibe with about the epidemiology and the response, especially with the context of, you know, now. Those are smaller 

I guess the short version is, I enjoyed this book, I think it did some very challenging things very well, but I’m just not sure it should have done all the things it did. Just because you can pull off having time jumps and have five POV characters and do it well doesn’t mean you should do it. Only do it if you need to. I’m not sure this book needed to. If someone asked me if they should read this book, I would probably lean towards yes (though with MASSIVE trigger warnings, god why are trigger warnings not more of a thing in books THIS IS WHY PEOPLE PREFER FANFICTION), but I don’t know that I’d read it again. Or maybe I would, just to try to understand it more. But I’m not sure I’d enjoy it more. 

Anyways, tomorrow is a new day and a new book! I believe The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins) is currently in the lead, but there’s still a chance for Tempests and Slaughter (Tamora Pierce) or An Absolutely Remarkable Thing (Hank Green) to take it. We’ll find out for sure tomorrow evening! 

See you then, and as always, thank you for joining me on this journey. Be well.

[lovemesomesurveys]

January (Month Survey #1)

Warning: These surveys are long. Take at your own risk.

National Days

Jan 1. National Hangover Day: What’s the worst hangover that you’ve ever had? The one after the last night I ever drank. That night was horrible. I got so sick and it was embarrassing and ugh it just ended up ruining the rest of the night. I still trip out because I honestly don’t recall drinking that much, but I got really drunk. I guess the drinking games made me lose track or something. Thank goodness for my best friend at the time who took care of me. I couldn’t really sleep that night cause I got sick a few times and just felt like shit and the rest of the day I just did absolutely nothing. I didn’t even want to look at alcohol for awhile.

National Bloody Mary Day: Do you believe in the Bloody Mary folklore? No, but I still don’t mess around with that kind of stuff.

Euro Day: Do you have any Euros? No.

National Black Eyed Peas Day: Do you like listening to the Black Eyed Peas? How about eating them? The group was cool, I liked a few of their songs. I’ve never had actual black eyed peas.

Apple Gifting Day: What’s your favorite type of apple – red, yellow, or green? I’m not an apple gal. Well, when it comes to the fruit. I love Apple products haha.

New Year’s Day: How did you celebrate New Year’s? My mom had to work until 11PM and my brother was at a friend’s house and was spending the night, so it was just my dad and I. We got takeout and watched the New Year’s Eve shows, but he ended up falling asleep a couple hours before midnight. My mom got home just in time to watch some of the New Year’s Eve shows before midnight and then we watched the ball drop, so at least I wasn’t alone. My dad slept right through it lol. It was a very chill night.

Jan 2. National Buffet Day: Where’s the best buffet in your area? The only buffet I liked was Mongolian BBQ. You put your noodles, meats, veggies, toppings, and sauces yourself and then they cooked it right in front of you on a big, round, super hot grill, so I felt comfortable consuming it. Other buffets where the food is brought out for everyone to have access to... yeah, no thanks. 

World Introvert Day: Are you more of an introvert or an extrovert? Oh, I’m an introvert all the way.

Swiss Cheese Day: What meat do you typically eat Swiss cheese with? Ya know, I don’t think I’ve ever had Swiss cheese. 

National Cream Puff Day: Do you like cream puffs? Have you ever made them before? Yeah, they’re good. I’ve never made them, I just bought them from the frozen food section at the store lol.

Run Up the Flagpole and See if Anyone Salutes Day: Have you ever tried to climb a flagpole before? No. I couldn’t do that even if for some reason I wanted to.

National Personal Trainer Awareness Day: Do you have a personal trainer? Nope.

National Science Fiction Day: What’s the last science-fiction novel you’ve read? The Hunger Games series several years ago.

Happy Mew Year For Cats Day: Do you prefer cats or dogs? Why? I’m a dog person, personally. I’ve always had dogs and I just vibe more with them. Mine have all been so loving and sweet and silly and pure.

National Pet Travel Safety Day: Does your pet do well during car rides, or do they hate it? She doesn’t like them. 

Jan 3. National Drinking Straw Day: Do you use drinking straws at home, or only out at restaurants? I use a straw with everything I drink.

Festival of Sleep Day: Do you enjoy sleeping, or do you spend most of your time awake? I love sleeping.

Humiliation Day: When’s the last time you were humiliated? Why? Let’s not get into that.

National Chocolate-Covered Cherry Day: Do you prefer chocolate-covered cherries or chocolate-covered strawberries more? Strawberries. 

National Fruitcake Toss Day: Do you like fruitcake? No. It just doesn’t even look appealing to me.

J.R.R. Tolkien Day: Have you read the Lord of the Rings series? What did you think of it? Nope. I’ve never seen the movies, ether. Just wasn’t of any interest to me.

Jan 4. National Missouri Day: Do you know anyone who comes from Missouri? Well, not from there, but my dad lived there growing up and I have family out there now.

National Spaghetti Day: Is spaghetti one of your favorite Italian dishes? Yessss. Spaghetti and meatballs, specifically. 

National Trivia Day: Do you enjoy playing trivia games? Any in particular? Yeah, those like Trivial Pursuit and Scene It.

World Braille Day: Do you know anyone who can read Braille? No.

World Hypnotism Day: Have you ever felt hypnotized before? Can you describe it? No. 

Jan 5. National Screenwriters Day: Have you ever written a play or some other sort of script before? Nope. I’ve written short stories and fan fiction, though.

National Whipped Cream Day: Have you ever used whipped cream for sexual purposes? Nope.

National Keto Day: Do you or anyone you know follow a ketogenic diet? Not that I know of.

National Bird Day: What’s your favorite type of bird? Hummingbirds are neat.

Jan 6. National Thank God It’s Monday Day: Do you actually prefer Mondays to Fridays? Why or why not? The days are all the same to me now, but back when I was in school I always dreaded Mondays.

The Epiphany (Three Kings Day): Do you celebrate this holiday? No. I had to Google that because I had never heard of it before.

National Bean Day: What’s your favorite type of bean? (ie: baked, lima, green, etc) Refried beans.

National Technology Day: What’s your favorite piece of technology that you own? My laptop and phone.

National Shortbread Day: Have you ever eaten those Trefoil  Girl Scout shortbread cookies? Yep. I love shortbread cookies.

National Cuddle Up Day: Who’s the best cuddler you know? My doggo. 

Jan 7. National Bobblehead Day: Do you own any bobbleheads? Of who? I have a Chewbacca one.

National Tempura Day: Have you ever tried tempura before? Did you like it? I’ve had chicken and vegetable tempura, which is really good. 

Old Rock Day: Would you be interested in digging for fossils? Only when playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons haha. That’s part of my character’s daily routine.

Jan 8. National Argyle Day: Do you own any clothing with argyle print? Nope.

National Bubble Bath Day: When’s the last time you took a bubble bath? When I was a kid.

Male Watcher’s Day: Do you like to people-watch? It can be interesting. 

National Take the Stairs Day: Do you prefer the stairs or the elevator? I can only take the elevator.

National English Toffee Day: Do you enjoy eating toffee? I’ve had more toffee flavored things than actual toffee, but yeah.

Elvis Presley’s Birthday: What is your favorite Elvis Presley song? Can’t Help Falling in Love.

National Joygerm Day: How do you treat people with kindness? Do you typically have a positive attitude about things? I try to be understanding and openminded, I try to be a good listener, I don’t put people down or belittle others, I try not to be rude or impolite, and I try to help if I can. I don’t have a positive outlook when it comes to myself, but I can for others. We could even have the same issue and I’ll be able to see it differently for them than I do for myself. I’m forgiving when it comes to others and I’ll see the good in them, truly believing it, but I beat myself up all the time. 

National Winter Skin Relief Day: What do you treat your skin/lips with, when they are chapped? Ugh, I have that issue in the summer as well it’s so annoying. Anyway, I just use lotion and chapstick. I don’t use it as often as I should, though, for some reason. It would definitely help. I should also use a face moisturizer. 

Jan 9. National Apricot Day: Do you prefer apricots dried, in fresh fruit form, or the canned version? I don’t like apricots at all.

National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day: Do you have issues with people of authority? I have an issue with the bad ones who abuse their power.

National Static Electricity Day: When’s the last time your hair succumbed to static electricity? Hmm. I don’t recall. I remember doing that with a balloon when I was a kid, though lol.

National Balloon Ascension Day: Have you ever released balloons purposefully into the air? No, that was so sad whenever it happened. RIP to all the balloons I’ve ever lost. 

Play God Day: What would you do if you were in charge of the entire universe for the day? Noooo way. I will gladly leave that to God.

Jan 10. National Bittersweet Chocolate Day: What’s your favorite type of chocolate? White chocolate.

Save the Eagles Day: What are bald eagles symbolic of? Strength, freedom, bravery.

Peculiar People Day: Who’s the most peculiar person you know? Hmm. I don’t know. I use that word to describe things more often.

National Cut Your Energy Costs Day: What do you do in order to save energy? We wait to run the dishwasher and washer and dryer until after a certain time. I think it’s after 7PM.

National Oysters Rockefeller Day: Have you ever had baked oysters before? Did you like them? Nah, I’m good.

National Houseplant Appreciation Day: Do you have any indoor plants? How about outdoor plants? No indoor ones, but my mom has a couple outside.

Jan 11. National Arkansas Day: Have you ever been to Arkansas before? Nope.

Learn Your Name in Morse Code Day: Do you know how to use Morse code? No.

National Human Trafficking Awareness Day: Do you know anyone who’s been a victim of human trafficking?   Nooo. I can’t believe that goes on, horrific doesn’t even begin to describe it.

National Milk Day: Do you prefer white, chocolate, or strawberry milk? I liked strawberry milk when I was a kid. I could totally go for a strawberry milkshake, though.

National Girl Hug Boy Day: Have you ever been the one to make the first move? No.

National Hot Toddy Day: Have you ever made yourself a hot toddy before? Nope. I’ve never had one.

National Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friends Day No question for this?

National Vision Board Day: Do you have a vision board? Have you ever made one before? What would be on it? Nope. I have no idea what I would do for one.

Jan 12. National Pharmacist Day: When’s the last time you visited the pharmacist? Uhhh, it’s been a long time. My mom or brother just pick up my medicine for me.

National Sunday Supper Day: Do you have big Sunday dinners with your family? No. 

Feast of Fabulous Wild Men Day: Who’s a fabulous man that you know of? lol what an interesting day. Anyway, hmm. I don’t know.

National Marzipan Day: Do you know what marzipan is? Have you ever made it/had it before? I know what it is, but I don’t think I’ve had it. I definitely have never made it.

National Curried Chicken Day: Do you enjoy curry? Have you ever had it before? I’ve only had it once, but I remember liking it. It’s spicy, right? I can’t have spicy food anymore. :/

National Kiss a Ginger Day: Have you ever dated a redhead before? No.

National Youth Day: Do you know of a child who made a huge difference in society?   I’ve heard stories of kids who have done really awesome things for charity and to help their communities, especially during the pandemic. 

National Glazed Doughnut Day: What’s your favorite type of doughnut? Maple or glazed cake donuts.

Jan 13. National Rubber Ducky Day: When’s the last time you used a rubber ducky in the bathtub? When I was a kid.

Stephen Foster Memorial Day: Do you like any songs by Stephen Foster? I had to Google who that was, and the only song I think I know is Swanee River. 

National Peach Melba Day: Have you ever had a Peach Melba before? How was it? Nope. Had to Google that, too.

Korean American Day: Do you know any Koreans immigrants who now live in America? No.

National Gluten-Free Day: Do you know anyone who has to follow a gluten-free diet? Not personally, but a couple people I watch on YouTube have celiac disease. 

National Sticker Day: Did you like stickers as a kid? I loved stickers. Stickers are still awesome. Although, I never know what to do with them now, ha. I can’t commit to putting them anywhere.

National Clean Off Your Desk Day: Do you have a desk in your room? Is it organized? Nope. My desk is my bed, ha. It has my laptop and some other stuff that a desk would likely have. My bed is where I spend most of my time, so.

International Skeptics Day: Are you skeptical of anything? What? Yeah. Like when reading something online, for example. Or certain news stories.

Make Tour Dream Come True Day: Have any of your dreams actually ever come true before? Uhh well, I’ve had dreams about going to Disneyland and I’ve gone. ha.

Jan 14. National Dress Up Your Pet Day: Have you ever dressed up your pet before? In what? Yeah, she has a few sweaters and Halloween costumes.

National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day: What’s your favorite kind of sandwich? Deli sandwich with turkey, salami, Monterey Jack cheese, pickles, mayo, mustard, and oil and vinegar spread is my favorite. I’ll have that at home, too, but it always taste best when I get it from somewhere. I like bologna sandwiches as well.

Ratification Day: Do you remember the significance of the Treaty of Paris? Yeah.

International Kite Day: Have you ever flown a kite before? Nope.

National Shop For Travel Day: When’s the last time you went shopping for a vacation? Back in February before our Disneyland trip. I can’t believe we were in lockdown/quarantine about a month later. 

Jan 15. National Booch Day: Do you like the taste of Kombucha? I’ve never tried it and have no interest to. My brother loves it.

National Hat Day: What does your favorite hat look like? It’s rose gold and has a little white Mickey Mouse symbol on it that I got from Disneyland.

National Bagel Day: What kind of bagel do you eat most often? What do you put on it? I haven’t had a bagel in years, but I always just had a regular one with cream cheese. Strawberry cream cheese is really good.

National Strawberry Ice Cream Day: What’s your favorite flavor ice cream? Strawberry.

Museum Selfie Day: When’s the last time you went to a museum? Several years ago.

National Fresh Squeezed Juice Day: Have you ever made your own juice or lemonade before? How was it? Lemonade, yeah. It was good.

Jan 16. National Nothing Day: When’s the last time you did absolutely nothing all day? Everyday?

Appreciate a Dragon Day: Are dragons your favorite mythical creature? Nah, I’d go with fairies. 

National Without a Scalpel Day: Has anyone ever used a scalpel on you before? Yes, for surgical procedures.

Get to Know Your Customers Day: Is the customer really always right? Why or why not? Not always, that’s for sure. I’ve heard a lot of horror stories from people I know who work in retail and yikes. People can be so rude. 

National Religious Freedom Day: Are you a religious person? Yes.

National Fig Newtons Day: When’s the last time you ate a Fig Newton? I’m not exactly sure, but I know it’s been yearssss.

International Hot and Spicy Food Day: What’s the spiciest food you eat? I can’t eat spicy food anymore D: I used to be obSESSED, though. I put hot sauce on just about everything and loved spicy chips and ramen and just everything.

Rid the World of Fad Diets and Gimmicks Day: Have you ever been on a diet before? Did it work? I’ve had to be on high protein and high caloric diets before and I’m supposed to be on one now, but gah. My appetite is a mess and I have other issues that affect my eating and yeah. It’s hard. Jan 17. National Bootlegger’s Day: Do you know anyone who makes bootleg DVD’s? No. I don’t really hear much about that anymore like I did back in the day.

National Hot Heads Chili Day: What do you like to eat in your chili? I can’t eat chili anymore, but back in the day I loved it spicy. 

National Hot Buttered Rum Day: Are you a fan of rum, or do you prefer another type of alcohol? I don’t like any alcohol.

Ben Franklin Day: Name at least one of Ben Franklin’s inventions. The lightning rod.

Michelle Obama’s Birthday: Do you miss when her husband was back in office? I don’t like getting into politics. 

Ditch New Year’s Resolution Day: How long do you keep your New Year’s Resolutions for? Do you even make them in the first place? I stopped making those years ago. 

Jan 18. National Winnie the Pooh Day: Who is your favorite character from Winnie the Pooh? Awww I love Winnie the Pooh, he’s my favorite. I really vibe with Eeyore, too. 

National Michigan Day: Do you live in Michigan? Nope.

National Gourmet Coffee Day: What’s your favorite “specialized” coffee drink? The winter drinks at Starbucks.

National Thesaurus Day: When’s the last time you used a thesaurus? Recently for something, I forget why.

National Peking Duck Day: Have you ever eaten duck before? No.

National Use Your Gift Card Day: Where would you like to get a gift card to? Hmm. BoxLunch would be cool.

Jan 19. World Quark Day: Have you ever heard of quark? Nope. I just Googled it, though. Doesn’t sound appealing.

National  Popcorn Day: What’s your favorite seasoning/flavor of popcorn? Good ol’ movie theater popcorn with salt and lots of butter. I also love this garlic parm seasoning I get at the store.

National Disc Jockey Day: Would you rather have a band or a DJ at your wedding. DJ.

World Religion Day: What is your religion? Do you have one? Christian.

National Tin Can Day: What’s the last can that you recycled? My family and I recycle our cans and plastic bottles. The last can I had was a Starbucks Doubleshot coffee energy drink.

Jan 20. National Cheese Lover’s Day: What’s your favorite kind of cheese? I loveee cheese. Various kinds.

Martin Luther King jr. Day: In what ways was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. influential? He was a huge influential leader in the civil rights movement and helped spark major changes. He was a very courageous and intelligent man.

National Buttercrunch Day: Have you ever made butter crunch before? Nope.

National Penguin Day: What’s your favorite thing about penguins? Their little waddle and how they mate for life. They’re so cute.

Jan 21. National Hugging Day: Are you a hugger? Not really. Like, I’m not one to initiate a hug. Hugs from certain people are really nice, though.

National Granola Bar Day: Do you eat granola bars? What’s your favorite flavor? I used to all the time. The Quaker Oats chocolate chip, peanut butter, and s’mores ones were my favorite. Sunbelt oats and honey granola bars are really good, too.

Squirrel Appreciation Day: Squirrels or chipmunks? Chipmunks. Aww, this reminds of Ty because he was squirrel and I was giraffe.

International Sweatpants Day: How many pairs of sweatpants do you own? Only 2. I’m a leggings gal, I have a shitload of leggings. I feel like a cartoon character when they show their closest lol.

National Banana Bread Day: Do you prefer your banana bread with or without walnuts? How about chocolate chips? Without walnuts, hands down. SO good. I’ve never tried it with chocolate chips.

National New England Clam Chowder Day: Do you like New England Clam Chowder soup? No.

Jan 22. Celebration of Life Day: Do you believe that abortion should be legal? Why or why not? I don’t like getting into political and touchy topics like this.

National Blonde Brownie Day: What’s your favorite type of brownie? Fudge brownies. Yum.

Library Shelfie  Day: How often do you visit your public library? I haven’t gone since I was in high school, so it’s been over 10 years.

National Southern Food Day: What’s your favorite Southern food/meal? Biscuits and gravy.

National Sanctity of Human Life Day: Do you believe that all humans have some sort of value? Yes?

National Answer Your Cat’s Questions Day: Do you talk to your pets? Of course! All the time.

Hot Sauce Day: How hot do you like your hot sauce? I can only handle a little mild hot sauce now. D: I used to be obsessed with spicy foods and hot sauces back when I could have it.

Jan 23. National Handwriting Day: Do you prefer printing or writing in cursive? Printing. 

World Spay Day: Are all of your pets spayed or neutered? Yes, my doggo is spayed. That was done before we could bring her home from the adoption shelter.

National Pie Day/National Rhubarb Pie Day: What’s your favorite type of pie? Cheesecake. That’s the only kind I like.

Measure Your Feet Day: How big are your feet? I have small feet. I wear a 6 in womens (US). I can wear a 3.5/4 in kid’s, too. That’s the size my Adidas are.

Jan 24. Beer Can Appreciation Day: What’s your favorite type of beer? Ew, none.

National Compliment Day: What’s the last compliment that you’ve received? I don’t even remember, it’s been a long time.

National Peanut Butter Day: What’s your favorite food that involves peanut butter? Reese’s. 

International Day of Education: Why do you feel that education important? There’s a lot of benefits to being educated. It helps you gain knowledge about the world around you, helps you build and form opinions, make better, well-informed decisions on certain things, helps you learn skills that will be beneficial for you... there’s a lot of reasons.

Global Belly Laugh Day: When’s the last time you laughed so hard you cried? It’s been a long time since I’ve had a good laugh like that.

National Eskimo Pie Patent Day: When’s the last time you had an Eskimo Pie? I’ve never had one.

National Lobster Thermidor Day: When’s the last time you ate lobster? I don’t eat lobster. Or any seafood.

Jan 25. National Opposite Day: Have you ever been attracted to someone that was the complete opposite of you? Yes.

Community Manager Appreciation Day: At your workplace, do you have a good manager/boss, or not? Are you your own boss? I don’t have a job.

National Irish Coffee Day: Have you ever had an Irish Coffee before? Nope.

National Seed Swap Day: What’s the last seed you planted? I’ve never planted any seeds.

National Florida Day: Do you know anyone who is from Florida? Not personally, but a few YouTubers I watch are.

Chinese New Year: What is your Chinese animal? (the year of the ___) Snake.

Burns Supper: Favorite poem by Robert Burns? I don’t think I’m familiar with his work.

Jan 26. National Green Juice Day: Do you drink any sort of health drinks? Nope. 

National Peanut Brittle Day: Do you enjoy peanut brittle? Nah, it’s too hard.

National Spouses Day: Do you hope to get married one day? Why or why not? I don’t plan on getting married.

Australia Day: If you were to go to Australia, what would you want to see/do first? I’d probably want to go to Sydney. 

International Customs Day: What do you think of the current level of border security in your area? Uhhh.

World Leprosy Day: Do you know anyone who has leprosy? No.

Jan 27. National Bubble Wrap Day: As an adult, would you still be interested in popping bubble wrap? Um, absolutely! You’re never too old for bubblewrap. 

National Chocolate Cake Day: Do you prefer chocolate cake or another flavor instead? I much prefer white, funfetti, strawberry, or red velevet.

World Breast Pumping Day: If you have a baby, would you breastfeed or formula feed? Why? I’m not having kids.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day: Do you know of any Holocaust survivors? Eli Wiesel, the author of Night, a book about his horrifying experience during the Holocaust and in Nazi concentration camps, came to talk to my sophomore English class.

Wolfgang Mozart’s Birthday: Do you like to listen to Mozart? I have an appreciation for a lot of piano pieces.

Punch the Clock Day: Do you have to punch in and out at work, or do you have a paper time sheet? I don’t have a job.

Jan 28. National Have Fun at Work Day: What is one fun thing about your work?

National Blueberry Pancake Day: Would you rather have blueberry pancakes or chocolate chip pancakes? Blueberry.

Data Privacy Day: Have one of your websites ever been hacked before? Yes, back in the day.

National Daisy Day: Are daisies your favorite flower? No, but they are pretty.

National Lego Day: Do you follow the building instructions if you have a Lego kit, or do you build your own prototype? I haven’t played with Legos since I was a kid, but I just made my own things for the most part. I do remember attempting to make some of the things they showed on the container the Legos came in.

National Kazoo Day: Have you ever played a kazoo before? Nope.

National Plan For Vacation Day: Where would you like to go on vacation? A lot of places. I wish I could just go on a vacation at all right now. :(

Global Community Engagement Day: How do you play a part in your community? Uhhh. I’m not involved in any community things.

Jan 29. National Corn Chip Day: Fritos or Tostitos? Both are good.

National Puzzle Day: How many pieces was the last jigsaw puzzle that you completed? I have no idea, I haven’t done a puzzle since I was a kid. I’ve actually been wanting to do one recently, though.

Jan 30. National Croissant Day: What do you like to put on your croissant? They’re just good on their own.

National Inane Answering Message Day: Do you leave voicemails, or do you hang up and try again later? If I’m calling my doctor I might leave a voicemail, but usually I’ll just try again later. I hate leaving voicemails, though. If I’m calling my parents, I’ll just call again or send them a text.

Jan 31. Inspire Your Heart With Art Day: What form of art would you be most likely to try your hand at? I like to color, but that’s as artsy as it gets for me.

National Backward Day: Can you walk around backwards without tripping over something? Well, I can wheel backwards.

National Hot Chocolate Day: Do you like hot chocolate? Do you prefer a certain flavor? Yes. I just like the regular kind with marshmallows and whipped cream.

National Big Wig Day: What type of job would you like to have that allows you to be in charge? I wouldn’t want to be in charge.

Eat Brussel Sprouts Day: Do you like Brussel sprouts? Nooo.

Brandy Alexander Day: Do you like to drink brandy? Nope. I don’t drink alcohol.

National Weeks

Folic Acid Awareness Week: Do you know anyone with a congenital disability? Yes.

Universal Letter Writing Week: When’s the last time you hand-wrote a letter to someone? I don’t even remember.

Diet Resolution Week: Have you ever gone on a diet before because of someone’s comments about your weight? Yeah, but it was to try and gain weight because I’m too thin. 

National Silent Record Week: Have you ever listened to a silent record before? No.

National Pizza Week: What do you like to eat on your pizza? White sauce, feta and ricotta cheese, spinach, garlic, crumbled meatballs, and pesto drizzled on top.

Home Office Safety and Security Week: Does your home have a security system? Yes.

Cuckoo Dancing Week: Do you like to dance? Sure. Well, by dance I mean head bobbing and maybe moving my arms and shoulders a bit. Oh, and sad attempts at TikTok dances haha.

World Kiwanis Week: Do you know what the Kiwani’s Club revolves around? No.

National Mocktail Week: What’s your favorite mocktail? When I was a kid I liked virgin strawberry margaritas. This one restaurant my family and I often went to had them for kids and they were so good.

Hunt For Happiness Week: Where do you find your happiness? At the beach watching the waves crash in and out, smelling the ocean air, and feeling that nice, cool breeze. I just get lost in it and it’s really relaxing.

National Healthy Weight Week: Do you feel that you are a healthy weight? Why or why not? No, I’m not. I’m underweight.

International Snowmobile Safety & Awareness Week: Have you ever ridden on a snowmobile before? Nope.

No Name-Calling Week: What’s the worst name you’ve ever been called? Who knows what people have said or thought about me that I’m not aware of, nor do I want to know, but the only things I know of are the things I’ve said and think about myself. I’m my own worst enemy.

International Hoof Care Week: Do you like any animals that have hooves? Giraffes. <3

National Catholic Schools Week: Did you ever go to a Catholic school before? No.

National CRNA Week: Have you ever been put under anesthesia before? How were you when you came out of it? Yeah, several times. I always felt sick, groggy, and really cold afterwards.

Meat Week: What’s your favorite type of meat? Or are you a vegetarian/vegan? Chicken.

National School Choice Week: Would you have preferred to be in a public school, a private school, or to be homeschooled? I was fine with public school.

National Cowboy Poetry Gathering Week: Do you know anyone who is a cowboy? Nope.

National Months

National Hot Tea Month: What’s your favorite flavor tea? Chamomile, peppermint, and spearmint.

National Oatmeal Month: What’s your favorite flavor of oatmeal? I like regular oatmeal with condensed milk, brown sugar, and cinnamon. 

National Slow Cooking Month: Do you have a crock-pot? Well, my mom does, but yeah.

National Soup Month: What’s your favorite kind of soup? I’m a ramen gal.

National Baking Month: What’s your favorite thing to bake? If I bake it’s going to be cupcakes or muffins. It’s been awhile since I’ve baked anything, though.

National Fat Free Living Month: Do you eat foods that are fat-free? How about drinks? Not usually.

National Bath Safety Month: Do you prefer baths or showers? Showers. I have’t taken a bath since I was a kid.

National Blood Donor Month: Have you ever donated blood? When was the last time? No.

National Hobby Month: Do you have any hobbies? Doing surveys, reading, and coloring. 

National Train Your Dog Month: Is your dog well-trained? Yeah.

Walk Your Pet Month:  How often do you walk your dog, if you have one? I can’t do that, but my dad or brother take her.

National CBD Month: Have you ever used CBD oil? Nope.

National Black Diamond Month: Do you own anything with diamonds – black or regular? No.

National Mentoring Month: Have you ever had a mentor before? No.

National Menudo Month: Have you ever had menudo before? Nope. It doesn’t sound appealing to me.

[a-zebra-is-a-striped-horse]

[thelifeoftuan]

Personas

Back in 2015, when I was in a completely different head space and stage in my life, I had a written a post about the persona projects I’ve done over the years. It’s here if anybody wants to take a peek at it. I kinda overloaded it with a lot of pictures, so I apologize if multiple sets of my ugly mug sets your viewing device on fire. My b. Hahaha! I have never really considered myself a very photogenic person, hence most of my pictures are of me facing away from the camera. Haha! But when I feel pretty compelled by my emotions, sometimes, I’ll face the camera, and it usually manifests into what I call “persona projects.” An idea or an emotion or some sort of story or memory will pop into my head, and then my subconscious turns it into photographs. Sprinkidink a little writing and some musical expression here and there, and you’ve pretty much covered the gamut of all the forms of my “creativity.” Haha! My first persona project can be dated back to 2008, right when I started college. It was based on the color blue. And here it is 😅:

Hahaha! Forgive me. I waffled quite a bit on whether or not I should post it. But I figured since I’m on the subject, what the hell, right? I’ve never posted this one before, probz because I’m a liiiiiiiittle bit embarrassed by it, now. I mean, look at that little fetus! I barely recognize the kid in these pictures. And the poses and facial expressions were a pretty contrived. Not even a little. A lot. Haha! But ya know, we all gotta start somewhere. I at least gotta hand it to my 18-year-old self for even figuring out who to colorize something like this with my rinkidink little Canon PowerShot camera. Lots of my persona projects have been color-themed over the years. Sometimes they may be based on a song (or songs). Stories. Bits and pieces of me and my persona that I often times may have trouble even putting into words, and thus I make an attempt to capture them in a picture. They’re usually pretty involved and require some sort of planning as far as how I want to execute whatever concept came to mind. My usual standard is a white background--the wall in my room--and natural light. (I honestly don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have white walls and windows where natural light could come in. When I was looking for an apartment in NYC, I made sure my apartment would have these aspects so in the event that I wanted to create another persona project, I would be able to do so with ease.) Coupled with my point-and-shoot camera and a tripod (or back then, a stack of books before I could afford a tripod), and that’s about it! Taking the photographs is one thing and trying not to overthink my positioning with the camera and my facial expressions are another. Haha! I usually try to keep some sort of natural flow to this part of the process, because, one, I ain’t a model, so who the hell cares, right? Hahaha! As long as I’m happy with the final product, I care not otherwise. My face is kinda doofy and my hair is always a goddamn mess. I’ve accepted that those are just parts of my persona, so I don’t dwell too much on making my photographs fit any sort of expectation other than my own. Then depending on whatever concept I came up with and how many photographs I want composed within the project, taking the photographs could take a couple of hours. In the past, a good number of my persona projects included 3, 4, sometimes 6 photographs. The biggest one I created had 12, and that one took all night and into the next morning (pretty sure I had a manic attack on that one, haha!). Then I take a bit of time to put the project together. And let me tell you, this whole process took quiiiiiiite a bit of time to really get the hang of. It started out with some archaic program on Windows Vista and has since evolved. I never had any training on using editing software. I kinda just figured it all out myself and learned as I went. Honestly, I feel like I do a pretty bang-up job, considering. I’ve used the same editing program for years now. And, you know me, that’s not changing any time soon. Haha! I tried Photoshop once, and it was kind of a disaster. I’m sure that if I took the time and investment into Photoshop, I could create some appreciable things. But eh. My persona projects are really just for me. And so I’ll stick to my tried-and-true (and free) editing program. The whole process, from creating the concept to taking the photographs to editing them and putting them together into a final product is quite neat, honestly. It’s always nice to look at a final product and feel a sense of accomplishment that I was able to bring some sort of emotion or memory or story to life in a set of photographs. And I think that’s kind of the whole reason why I’ve created these persona projects in the past. Just like why I write, why I go on adventures, why I take photographs, even why I sing, these are all parts of my persona and ways that I can express myself to the world. Anyway, I hadn’t done a full-fledged, more-than-one-picture persona project in a while. The last one was my Expressions persona project back in 2018. So I figured it’s about time. This upcoming persona project of mine has been on the back of mind for a while, and today, I figured I’d get it done. It’s actually not a new concept. It’s based off my Out persona project I created on February 1, 2016, the day I came out as gay. If you clickity-clicked on the link, you can see this one was probably my most colorful one. Hahaha! I definitely stole this idea from America’s Next Top Model, I ain’t even gonna lie. Haha! But this particular project of mine is one that I am most proud of, pun completed intended, because there was definitely a sense of pride, happiness, and relief that came with the creation of this project and posting it for the world to see. Coming out was a big step for me. And I always have this persona project to look back on and remind me of one of the biggest changes in my life and the fact that it wasn’t even a change at all. This project and the sentiment that I attached with it has always been true: I’m still the same old Tuan you’ve always known, just with a little more color. That color has always been within me, and I’ve never been happier that I finally stepped out into the light and was no longer afraid to show it. So, since 2020 has been a shit year and a quite a drab, I wanted to splash a little bit of color into it. With National Coming Out Day coming up in October and me coming up on five years since coming out, I wanted to celebrate. And thus led to creation of part two of my Out persona project. I didn’t go as crazy with the colors on my face as I did with the first version. But peeps may have noticed as I definitely have that as I’ve gone through the years, my persona projects have taken a little more simplistic element. And I’m quite happy with how the photographs turned out. I’m quite older than the first version almost five years ago with a lot more grey hairs and wrinkles, that’s for sure, but that’s life. I have a better camera. Better backdrop. Better natural lighting (thanks to my floor-to-ceiling windows, my eyes for real popped in these, and I’m kinda digging them). And definitely a better level of confidence. But still the same sentiment: I’m still me and still so proud of showing my colors. Here’s a little sneakity-peekity. (My favorite this time around is yellow.) :]

Coming soon, October 11, 2020.

[lesliesmodsfolder]

Sims 4 Miscellaneous Pack 2 by Gauntlet101010

So, when making my graves I have to admit that I found the Sims4 is missing one BIG aspect of life.  Namely religion.  As a guy who makes a lot of graves I find that I kinda do want religion in my game.  But not any actual religions!  No, I want the religions found within the Sims universe!  Namely the Jacoban and Peteran religions form the Sims Medieval and the Kine Society from the Sims 2 PSP.   Oh and the Door of Life and Death is in here too.  Because ... I want it.

Details and Download under the cut

Other have ripped a lot of Jacoban and Peteran stuff, but NOBODY has ripped them with correct textures.  My items have official textures, correct prices and I've gone as far as to make sure even the environment scores are accurate as well!  I went through so many items to find correctly corresponding environment scores, but I finally did it.  I really hope there isn't a typo anywhere since I had to manually type out the titles and descriptions... I also like the Kine society form the PSP game.  I find them to be a really fun depiction of a cult.  It's a shame they aren't in any other games and that I can't rip form the Sims2 DS.  As it stands, most of the meshes and textures are too low rez even for me, so for the first time I've heavily modified existing items to mimic items found in the Kine Dairy.   It was important to me to rip the holy books from the in-games religions as well, but I've merged the Medieval ones since they share tuning.  I mean, what's a religion without a holy book, right?  Even if they aren't specified in the game I did my best on all of them.   Sims2 PSP Kine Society Banner - A conversion from the Sims 2 PSP it's kind of low rez, but kinda works if you don't zoom in too much. Kine Society Door - This is a remake using a basegame door modified to sort of resemble the door to the Kine Dairy.  It uses all the colors the door had before as well as one sampled from the Sims2 game. Kine Society Refrigerator - This is a remake based off the fridge from the refrigerator found in the game.  It's based off the fridge from Get to Work, but I made it basegame compatible.  It has all the colors that fridge had as well as the red version from the Sims 2.  The pink milk cartons are actually converted from the Sims 2 since I enjoy the Tragic Clown's cameo on the side.  It's pretty high poly. Kine Society Cow Horns - A conversion for the PSP game. Kine Society Cow Picture - It gets a bit pixelated if you zoom in.  I think it mostly works. Kine Society Cow Poster - A VERY pixelated picture, but I think it also kinda works. Beelzebeef Statue - This is the object that inspired the whole set.  It's a shame there isn't more Beelzebeef items in the game and I can't rip from Sims2 DS, so this is the best it gets.  I think the faceted look work alright since it's a statue after all.  Although the carpet is really blurry. Beelzebeef Statue 2 - A version without the blurry carpet, incense, and offering.  IMO this works better, but I wanted the full version as an option. Kine Society Cowprint - Wallpaper based on the ones found in the Sims2 PSP.  The wood on this is darker than in the game, but whatever.  In the end this actually turned out to be decently close to what's in that game.   The Bovinomicon - A confident book.  I feel like the religions really need a readable book to really work and it was neat to bring this into the Sims 4. Sims3 Door of Life And Death - The full door, robbed of it's supernatural powers.  How can I make Grim Reaper stuff and leave this out?  I managed to get it and all it's recolors!  The footprint only extends to the rood itself, however, so Sims can pass through the statures like they don't even exist.  This was actually tricky to get.  In the end I just deleted any element that caused an error when the package was opened in TSW using the Sims3 Package Editor until it opened successfully.  After that I could easily extract the correct texture colors. Door of Life And Death - Door - This is the door alone, separated from the door proper.  I mean ... why not? Door of Life And Death - Mat - The welcome mat is kinda neat all on it's own. Door of Life And Death - Statue - The statue from the door, rotated to face forwards.   Sims Medieval 'Watcher's Eye' Archive of the Priest - This desk also has working candles!  It's modified to have a flat surface instead of the tilted one.  I was surprised to find that it was much taller than an ordinary desk from the Sims 4. 'Watcher's Eye' Archive of the Priest Chair - This is a chair made specifically to work with the Priest desk.  It's as high as a stool, so it really can't be used with anything else.   Jacoban Fireplace - It can't be used for cooking, despite the pot.  Just a fancy old-fashioned fireplace. Jacoban Ceremonial Altar - Also has candles! Stone Loveseat in High Jacoban Style Early Jacoban Temple Pew Proclamation Board - A conversion of the proclamation board with all states - with paper, without paper, torn from the top and from the bottom.  Not only is it a lamp, but it's also a master board for the Sims 4 containing the tuning for the parenting bulletin board, City Living's festival board, and Jungle Adventure's adventure board!  There are some clipping issues when you post messages to it while there's a paper on there, but it's the best I can do without the messages floating too obviously away form the board itself.  It's cloned from a basegame items, so even if you don't have any of those packs, it should still be useful. Jacoban Pulpit - If you have City Living this is a working podium!  If you don't this is still a neat candle.  I don't really know what happens if your code references a function not found in the game.  It contains unused textures you can only see in debug mode.  They're kinda small, so it's not perfect for them, however.  Someone else made their own conversions, but it seems like it was made a long time ago and didn't have the official textures.  Also it seems to have been made before City Living and relies on an old "political" mod.  So I feel like this is more necessary than some of the other items here. Jacoban Grand Guiltstone Grand Gilded Qualmboard of the Jacoban Jacobite Triumph Pennant Altar of Peter Humble Peteran Work Bowl Peteran Civic Fountain in Ochre Masonry - A non-working fountain. Hooded Guardian of the Infinite Spill - Another non working fountain.  It's actually supposed to be for the Peterans. Peteran Pulpit - Basically the same as the Jacobian Pulpit, it also includes unused textures. Hooded Guardian of Peteran Conjecture - A big 'ol statue Peteran Stone of Remembrance Celestial Wall Totem of the All-Seeing Watcher - Actually ascribed to the Peterans. Peteran Urn - A seemingly unused item I converted while converting everything else. Peteran Watcher Wink - A wall banner Giant Peteran Water Cup Peteran Wood Vow Pall Gilded Gimcrack of the Advocate - A neat little statue in a boxlike structure. Gilded Saint Nook of the Syncresis - A neat little statue in a narrower boxlike structure. Sublime Altar of the Glorious Watcher - Doubles as a candle too. Majestic Altar of the Merciful Watcher - a gigantic alter over two stories high!  Fit for a grand cathedral! Prodigal Fountain of the Unsparing Watcher - A non functional fountains.  It was part of the set, so I ripped it. Jacoban Gospel - A focused book.  Comes in an "Archive" and "Altar" version, but it's the same book with different covers.  It was a real pain getting the book to work with the Archive book's texture, but I managed.  These books all use the Sims Medieval's icons as thought bubbles! Peteran Gospel - An Energized book. Watcher's Tome - An Inspired book. Pre-Watcher Pagan Relic - Pagans exist too, ya know!

Download here (DeviantArt)