#its such a pretty show and the comedy is fun and the acting is top notch that it makes me ignore how much sadness there actually is in ever

[petrichoraline]

I found this to be such a random comment until I realised it was Balgeum saying it and it suddenly felt so heavy

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Some Surprises

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

NOV 2024 Week 1

Ongoing Series - Thai

Fourever You (Thai Thurs YT) ep 5 of 16 - I love this show, but I absolutely hate the main couple's communication style. Or complete lack of communication style. I really hope the other couples are not gonna be this bad and it’s just because this one is leaning into the worst of BL archetypes. But I’m not confident. Poor Ter dating Hill put a big old target on his back. Earth being a dramatic stressed gay queen was peak comedy tho. Apparently the good kisses are only on WeTV (I am annoyed) so props to the giffers who keep me supplied. You're doing the BL gods work.

I suddenly realized, after the bullying sequence, that one of the reasons I’m liking this so much is it reminds me of early Japanese yaoi. There’s something about the dynamics of the characters and the way they're reacting to situations that’s not very Thai BL feeling. And if I think of this is more JBL, I forgive it. Or maybe that’s just why I’m liking it so much despite its flaws? Difficult to understand my own feels about this show.

Jack & Joker (Thai Mon IQIYI) ep 8 of 12 - I don’t like this new evil-bonkers rich kid character and whatever is going on with Jack and Rose and that whole story. It’s boring. And then my brain short circuited. No further thoughts... just War in a wife beater. 

Love Sick 2024 (Thai Sun iQIYI) ep 7 of 15 - Phun's bitch face really is epically wonderful. I kinda enjoy everybody ribbing the two of them because they have no idea what’s actually going on. I'm chronicling my experience with 2024 as compared to 2014 here.

Kidnap (Fri YT) ep 9 of 12 - Omg cutest boyfriends EVER. I don’t even mind how cheesy their bf era is. Does this lull jive with the rest of the story? Nope. But ya know that’s GMMTV’s thing these days, flailing during the final act.

Perfect 10 Liners (Thai Sun YouTube?) ep 1 of 24 - Pretty standard Thai BL university fair. I am hoping it’s better than ForceBook’s previous offering. Yet another sniff test. Is this the trope of the year? Meanwhile, they also deployed the crash into me trope in episode one. Who do they think they are? Taiwan?

New is directing this uni BL with a massive cast + massive run time. It's an endurance test ya'll - we will be watching this until APRIL of 2025! Su su na.

Every You Every Me (Thai Mon Gaga) ep 4 of 10 - I really like that they had the bandwidth to give us a little side couple with this installment. Fun crumbs. Meanwhile, the thing with the shirt in front of the mirror was extremely sexy. This installment was very sad though. And, of course, I’m not happy about it. To top it all off, next week is musical themed, so you know I’m disgruntled about it. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

See Your Love (Taiwan Weds Gaga) ep 3 of 13 - Aw spoiled neglected rich boy wants to be cared for and spoiled honestly. I do love them. Also tiny idiot syndrome is spreading. 

Teenager Judge (Vietnam Sat YT) ep 6 of ? - The side couple (teacher student, hyung romance but he’s using em) interesting. Not sure how I feel about them. The subs are so bad it’s largely incomprehensible but I’m still enjoying it for no defensible reason. 

My Damn Business (Korea Sat YT) eps 5 of 7 - I love that our uke can be such a little shit. I love it when a tsundere has some serious snark and attitude to back his petulance up. Also liquid courage. At least we got to the root of the tsundere. Also neck kisses and cuddles! 

Eccentric Romance (Korea Weds Viki) eps 7-8 of 12 - Oooo, cute kiss. Drunken but adorable. I do like it when they use older Korean actors in KBL, they actually know how to kiss. Has the kiss saved this show? Possibly. I’m shallow. 

Love is Like a Poison AKA Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru (Japan Tues Netflix?) 7 of 10 eps - Our con man is such a good little homemaker. And it’s sexy yukata time! Love this trope. 

Love in the Air: Koi no Yokan (Japan Sat Gaga) ep 1 of 10 - Same plot as the Thai original, only from Japan. Very similar so far. I hope Rei is a bit more smart and Arashi is a bit less of a sleaze. I still get too much secondhand embarrassment and my mame alert is blaring.  I'm wary.

Blue Canvas of Youthful Days (China Sun iQIYI) eps 1-2 - Triggers for child abuse, alcoholism. Two artists, one an abused rich kid and the other a tough scrappy poor kid, in the same art prep school. I of course adore the side couple of the much younger kid and the older teacher. Oh, I do like it. But it's CBL, I'm very scared as to where it might go.

Bad to Bed (Taiwan Sat YouTube) ep 1 of 10 - Influencer Wan Xiong suffers from insomnia, it’s a physical and mental battle. As he tried to find a solution, he encounters five boys along the way. I'm putting this on the list because it's airing and I just found out about it but I didn't have time to watch it yet. I hear it's v weird.

It's airing but...

The Hidden Moon (Sat WeTV) 10 eps - Supernatural romance (my ghost boyfriend trope) by Violet Rain (I Feel You Linger). A man is hired to write an article about an old mansion. He sees the ghosts of people who died at the mansion, falls in love with one of them. Was substantially recast. I loved IFYLITA except the ending so I think I'll let this one run it's course you can tell me if it's work tracking down... if they managed to land it. I have my doubts.

Bad Guy My Boss (Thai Sun Gaga) 10 eps - I DNF'd at ep 7, I couldn't make it. I am weak. Life is hard enough right now, this show is making it harder. It’s not what I want from my entertainment.

Let Free the Curse of Taekwondo (Korea Thurs Gaga) eps 4 of 8 - I put this one on pause. It's too heavy for me right now. I'll wait to know if the ending is hard fought happy (and then watch) or not (and won't finish). Sorry all, rough times this side of the screen.

Random I watched it

Vending Machine Sabi Koi AKA Can I Buy Your Love From A Vending Machine AKA Sono Koi, Jihanki de Kaemasu ka? (Japan 2023) - This show is utterly adorable, impossibly awkward, and kinda old fashioned. About a cute nerdy little office worker (he's out!) who has a big'ol crush on the tall hulking vending machine guy. They fall in love. And that’s it. And it’s charming. There’s some first name eroticism, because Japan, and there's emphasis on communication, which is so not Japan, but turns this into an organically loving and talkative relationship. There’s a bit of an age gap, and our office cutie may or may not have a muscles fetish (the hot bod not the shellfish) because (if I’ve told you once I’ve told you 1 million times) Japan always goes kinky. And you know what, I loved it. 9/10

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

November BL:

11/4 Our Youth AKA Miseinen: Mijukuna Oretachi wa Bukiyo ni Shinkochu (Japan Mon Gaga?) 11 eps - Minase was an exemplary high school student who hates Hirukawa, head bully and top delinquent. But then Minase uncovers Hirukawa’s secret and the two get intimate.

11/15 Caged Again (Thai Fri WeTV) 10 eps - Penguin escapes zoo by turning into a human. Gets trapped again and a panther falls in love with him.

11/17 Your Sky (Thai iQIYI) 12 eps - Due to an unforeseen situation, a naive freshman and the campus’s popular senior agree to pretend to be a couple - but their fake deal begins to generate real feelings.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

Honor the crumbs indeed. This pair is so much crumbs it's practically dust. (Love Sick 2014)

God he is so stupidly in love.

(lask week)

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in its infinite wisdom doesn't like too many at-ings.

[tyrantisterror]

I've been in a Digimon mood and, like, man, we gotta give it to the dub voice actors for giving a wide spectrum of villain voices and personalities to the original Digimon Adventure. Like, above here, we have the quartet that serves as the final(ish) villains of the series: a cyborg sea serpent that sounds like a surfer dude, a goofy little puppet boy, a theatrical yet menacing clown in the vein of Pennywise, and... Machinedramon.

Straight forward and batshit terrifying Machinedramon.

Like, there's a lot of weird shit in Digimon Adventure, and there was a delicate balance to strike to make it all feel tonally consistent, especially given how high the stakes get (and how dark the series was willing to go at times). You can't do it completely straight-faced when there's talking poop monsters and other goofy goobers running around, but you have to be serious enough for things like the death of Wizardmon to have the weight they deserve, and the dub team for the American cut of the show actually put in the work to pull that off.

I posted this video like a week ago or whatever but, like, Etemon really was the big test of the dub team here. Making a character design like Devimon into a big threatening villain is hard, but when the series decides its second big bad should be a rockstar monkey, that's... that's a much harder sell, man. And they definitely embraced the humor with the Elvis persona they gave American Etemon, but also managed to make him... genuinely threatening despite it? Like, Etemon's funny, but you also know he's a legitimate threat to the kids that they can't afford to underestimate.

Which is what allows the Dark Masters up top to work so well. Between them and Etemon we get Myotismon, who like Devimon is not hard to take seriously - an evil vampire overlord isn't a hard sell for a villain. And the Dark Masters aren't either, for that matter - even Piedmon and Puppetmon, the goofiest looking of the quartet, are pretty stock horror archetypes: an evil clown and an evil living puppet. But, as if missing the fun that Etemon brought to the table, the dub team decides to give them all a bit of a comic edge - Metalseadramon has the surfer dude voice, Puppetmon sounds like a goofy wee puppet man, and Piedmon's theatrics are played for comedy in a Joker-y way.

Not Machinedramon, though. Every comedy troupe needs a designated straight man, I suppose.

And, like Etemon, they succeed at being genuinely threatening despite the goofiness. When Metalseadramon and Puppetmon are hunting the kids, the goofy bits of their characterization seamlessly blend into the fact that they're still clearly deranged murderers deadset on killing children and anyone who gets in their way. Piedmon successfully acts as the big chessmaster of the quartet, and Machinedramon...

Machinedramon is just terrifying.

[the-9th-genderfluid]

I finally got the digital ticket and bonus features of TGWDLM!

I got the digital ticket and bonus features for TGWDLM and will be putting realizations and stuff I like in this post so its gonna be a long one. A really long one. I'm sorry if this monstrosity of a post happens to cross your feed.

During the small bonus stuff:

I did not realize that the cast is truly that unhinged until the Kickstarter blooper real.

I do wish they had time to keep the clickbait/ top ten news site plot. It seems fun.

The Lipschitz name is from the landlord that was cut from the musical what? IDK what to do with this information.

The fact in the OG script, the meteor landed in a football field ( If Mariah's audition tape is to be believed) meaning the fan theory I once saw that the reason the hive mind sings is because its first victims were theater people so they were doing musical stuff so the spores thought that was how ppl acted on this planet would not work if the script had not changed that detail.

The Dracula arms becoming dabbing is great, I'm surprised but happy that it was not cut.

As a techie, the non actors dancing along in the corners is so accurate.

During the main musical stuff:

(Mostly not new things that the digital ticket version taught me, just me pointing out things I like, funny lines, etc.)

Paul and his autism face during the ted introduction scene

The small dialogue changes between the potshot on Youtube and the digital ticket are all very interesting. The first one I realized was Emma saying "please no come back." instead of "so mean." when man in a hurry says he will never buy there again.

Why does Paul look so awkward while Emma rants about her job.

Right as Lah Dee Dah Dah Day ends, you can hear a character saying "quick change quick change" as they run off stage. Cute and fun detail, I love it.

Legally required to mention the "think about the implications" scene. It is truly iconic. Are you frightened?

I feel like Emma would have a tumblr.

Kind of off topic, but they mention boardgames in the shrub scene, and specifically settlers of catan. I want to announce this is a settlers of catan hate blog, I would rather die than play it ever again. I am Paul hating musicals levels of hatred for that game. If you write anything positive about it, i will actually block you.

The entire alley/ trash can scene is amazing and I love it.

Paul constantly reeks of neurodivergent.

I may be ACAB, but god is Show Me Your Hands amazing and catchy.

Jeff struggling with props is my spirit animal, I am also chronically clumsy

As someone who was raised Christian, Ted's different denominations comment is so accurate to how some people act.

Iconic lines like kick your......head and fuck Clivesdale.

Paul and Emma's whole deep conversation about their childhoods and dreams takes place like two meters from Bill and Ted, and I always forget that because of the way it's cut but like it's funny to think about because it feels so personal, but the two guys are just... there.

Join Us (And Die) is horrifying. I feel like we need a musical where Jaime is the lead? I hear she is pretty vital to the Me and My Dick musical, I will have to watch that later I guess?

While Hidgens is pitching working boys, Ted is so invested, this is why you need to see both unedited and potshot of the musicals.

I love the references that aren't even references yet that the musical makes to NPMD and nightmare time.

I actually love the crack ship of the working boys polyamory theory.

The "should I take the chair?" "yeah and I will take the piano." bit is peak comedy.

I am not the first person to mention this at all, but Ted saying "I bleed red, white and..." *background turns blue* is so smart, bravo team Starkid.

I always cry at let it out, poor Paul.

I love the meta crowd thing the bows do, with Emma seeing the audience, even if its a repeat from Trail to Oregon, it's still good.

As a techie, I want to do lighting for TGWDLM sooo bad.

It's 2 am right now, and I have to decide if I finish this post tonight by watching the commentary video and editing the spelling errors, or if I decide not to fuck up my sleep schedule.

I decided not to completely fuck my sleep shedule, so it sadly took me a couple days.

The commentary video:

I actually don't have many comments after seeing the commentary video, but the things I do mention are long rants, mostly my own similar stories from the high school musical I did tech for.

Lauren hiding from her performance with a eye mask and earbuds is a mix of sad and funny. I hope she has more confidence now, because she is absolutely amazing.

Robert had tonsillitis?! God being sick while doing a musical sucks, half our cast and me had a cold or something for the show. I was right next to the camera because of the location of the tech booth, and so in the recording you hear me trying not to cough and failing for most of the show. I felt so bad.

People saying stuff about Melissa and obnoxious teen/hot chocolate boy surviving as a joke has me thinking thoughts because the actor that played Melissa played Steph, and hot chocolate boy ended up being Pete. IDK what thoughts I'm having, but I'm having them.

Jaime making props, without being asked, is so nice of her.

Omg, Jeff was sick too! That really sucks. The closest thing to a actually accident that would make us end the show was when we had a stage fall turning into a real fall because the actor was too dramatic. Damn theater kids!

Omg the megaphone stories are giving me flashback to the fucking piece of shit mics we had. Half of them would not actually work, one had to be constantly re adjusted and turned back on, the main girl's mic had way too much feedback, the other girl sang way too quiet and had a not great mic meaning you could never hear her, and for one performance, two of the actors somehow got mics mixed up and I had to spend so long switching channels to fix it. No one actually knows how it happened. I literally made jokes that someone must have walked the mic boxes under a ladder, opened a umbrella inside, and said Macbeth around them for how much of a pain they were.

Jeff despising the brain prop is great. Sometimes a prop is a stupid nightmare that you want to light on fire at the end.

What was Jeff doing to forget the main character's name? How did he land on Steve? He literally wrote some of the songs? I have so many questions.

Them not having the meteor prop until the opening day is terrifying to me, I would cry if that happened to me.

I want to reiterate my want to do tech, specifically lighting for this musical.

Ok that's all I have to say, I am going to go watch the musical again, bye babes, boys, and boomerangs

[batsplat]

have you ever done a ranking of your fav vale podium celebrations (or celebrations in general)? Would love to hear your thoughts <3

I love ranking dumb things so I HAVE done this, years ago actually, but I've not posted it on here! going over my list and I stand by the order with two minor alterations. I won't just limit my picks to podium celebrations but WILL exclude all his title-winning celebrations, because that feels like its own thing. so here goes

next off list *deep breath*: first win, brno '96 (so thrilled he almost rode into the wall, bless); playing the violin, donington '05 (just slaps idk man); bowling, jerez '07 (cute but also kinda funny in hindsight given how the rest of the season played out); hazing your baby teammate, catalunya '09 (like it's not even anything specific it's just SO hammy); superman, assen '97 (jorge martinez saw that shit and was like ENOUGH I need to retire NOW); bike medical check, catalunya '04 (endearingly corny and quietly ominous); 46 yamaha wins, sepang 2010 (delightfully stupid dick measuring contest with jorge); serving the champagne, brno '05 (it's silly and it's sweet, especially uccio correcting valentino's tea towel placement); beachwear, mugello '98 (this one HURT to leave out, not least because of the poor veteran valentino was upstaging)

and here's my actual top ten:

10. empty grandstands, andalusia 2020

idk this one's just so quintessentially valentino to me; I'm glad he had something fun like this for his very last podium. he parks the bike on the side of the track, gets up on... whatever you call those things, barriers? and then he wildly gesticulates in celebration at an entirely empty grandstand at the height of the pandemic as if he's being serenaded by fans. I like that it was at jerez too, feels like a full circle moment for a celebration featured later on the list - one that's also about like... subverting expectations in 'communicating' with the 'crowd'. it's just so FUN, the vibes were incredibly off back then (to put it mildly) but he did his thing and it did low key cheer me up at the time. which is the classic valentino magic, isn't it

9. tricked them all, welkom 2004

another one of the simpler, more spontaneous celebrations - valentino stopping at the side of the track after winning his first ever race with yamaha. he kisses the bike, he briefly sits down and buries his head in his hands. the commentary thinks he is crying, overcome by the magnitude of what he achieved - but in his autobiography he says he was laughing (x)

“So I was right!” I thought to myself. “I can’t believe it, I tricked them all, what a show!” I kept repeating.

it's just such a pivotal valentino moment... and in its own way, it's a very memorable celebration. an intimate *cough* moment with the bike, a genuine outpouring of emotion from a man who had won pretty much everything there was to win the last few years... but was now attempting to achieve something almost nobody thought he'd be capable of. he WAS right, he DID trick them all - and he certainly put on a show

8. robin hood, donington 1998

listen. I'm a lesbian. this gets as high up the list as it does on sheer concentrated power of lesbianism. I don't even have a lot to say about this one, I just think it's neat how he was winning everything and also winning everyone over while swanning around like THAT. valentino charmed his way into the hearts of the british to such an extent that they would terrorise anyone who looked at him wrong for the next decade plus, and it all started with some remarkably dyke-coded behaviour. look at him with his cap and his bow and his arrow. no wonder he had them all eating out of his hand

7. chicken, catalunya 1998

redefined commitment to the bit. everything about his whole 'inventing a fake sponsor to fuck with the press' saga is obviously just. excellent. all the comedy hijinks where they're getting someone to act as osvaldo and trying to continue stringing the sceptical press along... something about how he managed to still treat the whole thing as a game, still had fun with his friends, didn't take himself too seriously. obviously this celebration is a culmination of sorts of that whole ploy - valentino riding around with his imaginary chicken sponsor to the delight of the crowds. I'm always a fan of a recurring bit, so I also like the continued chicken-themed celebrations over the years. let him be a silly little guy y'know

6. speeding ticket, mugello 2002

this one is just pure camp. what can you even say. like it's such an annoying lame bit that crosses the line again to be incredibly funny, classic valentino style. this race set off valentino's mugello streak after he'd crashed out of his home race in 2001... also low key the speeding ticket was a good idea, given it kept valentino away from a rather dangerous track invasion where one rider was dragged off his bike. so he just stayed out of trouble, did his silly camp theatrics and continued to rack up wins at the circuit for the next six years. so deeply lame. bless

5. portaloo, jerez 1999

this one I confess I didn't really Get when I read about it the first time. kinda went... okay, that's cute, but I also don't really know what the point is. so it's been a bit of a slow burn for me. think it's one that helps to actually watch and then read a bit about the crowd reaction... it's just a classic case of subverting expectations, right. this entire crowd is going nuts at your victory, you're known for your zany post-race celebrations, and then you just... dive into the portaloo. he has to sell it too, I reckon, like it just wouldn't work the same way without his earnest little dash. and so the crowd goes quiet - until erupting with even more volume once he emerges. just that feel for engaging the crowd... for toying with them and winning them over all the more as a result

4. donkey ears, misano 2009

huh, this one really has snuck up the order for me. idk I just find everything about it annoyingly endearing. I like how valentino was willing to take the piss out of himself after his indy crash (which he very much should because it was extremely stupid). I like how he showed up to his home race with a donkey helmet because he'd been such an idiot. it's a tense moment in the championship given that the indy crash having very much reopened the contest. so you've got valentino really committing to this playful way of bouncing back from an embarrassing failure... smart too! it takes the sting out of things, right, just defuses the optics of his big error by gently mocking himself

The donkey is because I was stupid to crash at Indy. [...] [In this race] I was in trouble, I found myself fourth and I didn't feel confident with a full tank. So I took my time to put some more temperature in the tyres and then I attacked. Today, I was the flying donkey!"

I like how he gets his crew to wear donkey ears to greet him in parc fermé. I LOVE him mock-formally shaking the hands of his team - including obviously with luca - before giving them all a proper hug. unfortunately just unavoidably very sweet. and I like him imitating donkey ears to the camera

and OBVIOUSLY I love him putting on those bloody donkey ears for the actual podium. the way he gets down onto his knees in front of the adoring crowd. wonderfully annoying

just something about these later celebrations, when he wasn't doing them as often anymore,,, it's almost strategically recapturing that sense of whimsy, right - using this old part of his repertoire to regain a measure of authorial control. helps bring to the forefront what the celebrations are actually doing for him in practical competitive terms, what he's getting out of them beyond just having a laff. and of course I love how big a fan of these celebrations jorge is (x, x):

Rossi's donkey. At Misano my Captain America was replaced on track by Rossi’s donkey - the one he put on his helmet and the ears he wore onto the podium. It is one of the funniest celebrations I have seen Valentino do and I laughed when I saw him get the helmet out. He is an expert at turning things around, and that wasn’t the only occasion he put that talent to good use this weekend. On the podium he tried to hush the fans who were whistling at me. Personally I saw their reaction as normal because they were defending one of their own. 

one of THE key moments you need to get their dynamic imo. jorge understands exactly what valentino is doing here and they're in the middle of a title fight and jorge really does think it's GREAT. it's sort of the precursor to the misano fish helmet to aragon shark fin 2015 dynamic, right, where jorge is such a keen student of valentino's... and he also is so determined to be magnanimous and honourable and all that other stuff - which is why him glazing the celebrations makes it all the way to his biography. and the helmet makes him laugh, because it's funny! jorge might know what valentino's game is, might be taking notes on exactly what he's doing - but nobody's completely immune

and now *drum roll* my top three in just. a little more detail:

3. kissing the corkscrew, laguna seca 2008

okay, picture this. you are currently leading the championship, but your main rival (who kicked your arse the previous year) has won three races in a row and is steadily closing in on your points tally. he's doing his thing again all weekend, looks ridiculously dominant to the point pretty much everyone is framing this race as a fight for second place. you spend the night before the race plotting and scheming how to make up the difference, and you tell your best friend you will not let your rival win the race whatever happens - even if the both of you have to crash. you go out there and - with all your cunning and guile and ruthlessness - somehow prove yourself capable of hanging with your rival as you gradually infuriate him. on lap four, you plunge down a terrifying blind corner and go off-track as you make an overtake, bumping into your rival and only by some miracle keeping the bike upright. around twenty laps later, you finally break your rival and manage to tease an error out of him that makes him tip the bike into the gravel. you ride the remaining laps in utter tranquillity - not only are you under no threat, but the two of you ran so ferocious a pace that your rival can finish in second even after crashing. you win the race. the championship momentum is back on your side and you have finally managed to drag down your toughest rival down to your level. you know just how much he will have hated that. so, what do you do to commemorate this moment? well, of course you go back to said terrifying blind corner where you almost crashed on lap four of 32. you get off your bike. and you kiss the ground

idk, there's just something beautiful about the presence of mind valentino had to have in order to know that this overtake would be the defining image of the race - to pay tribute to it immediately and reinforce the memorability of that moment in everyone's heads. was he thinking about doing this while cruising home to victory? planning it out while the laps pass by? or was it really just a spur of the moment thing? it's my favourite of the spontaneous celebrations - because of course it could only ever be spontaneous, because he never could have expected to win that race, and certainly not in such a memorable fashion

and then the second part of the celebrations: how valentino decides to really, really, really rub it in. these are for my money quite possibly the most triumphalist celebrations of valentino's premier class career (catalunya 2009 is the only one in the same league), to the point where the eurosport commentators commented on how unusual it was for valentino. back in the day, during his prime, he really did go for a bit more of a cheery but cool tone for his celebrations - almost as if minimising the effort it took to take the win. all just a bit of a laugh, right? no ecstatic fist pumping on the bike, no sign that the victory had ever been in doubt... but here, valentino goes all in. he makes no secret of how delighted he is, no secret of just how much he loved beating casey. interrupts casey during his post-race tv interview in front of lurking cameras and microphone, grins his way through parc fermé and the podium. no playing sly here - he's making a point to savour it. and in commemorating the most memorable moment of the race, in getting a rise out of casey, valentino has gotten exactly what he wanted. together with the race itself, it is this post-race theatre that changes the complexion of the season, that has helped immortalise the episode

which very much includes all the ways valentino interacts with casey directly! the way valentino just REFUSES to leave well enough alone and keeps nagging casey while casey is trying so, so, so hard to not say something he will come to regret in the coming weeks. a task he is ultimately unsuccessful at, but my god is it a brave effort to not strangle valentino then and there. it's fantastic stuff because it's also a pattern of behaviour reserved entirely for casey - latching onto his defeated rival is NOT actually part of the valentino rossi playbook. the closest he gets is interrupting jorge's tv interview too in catalunya 2009 (which is how you know it's a deliberate ploy lol), but after that if anything it's jorge who is initiating communication...

whereas at laguna, obviously casey has less than zero desire to talk to valentino. and obviously valentino is 100% aware of this. valentino usually isn't the sort to get in someone's face like this when he knows they're pissed off at him - he's more the avoidant type - but he makes an exception for casey. partly it'll be because he knows casey isn't doing himself any favours with his on-camera behaviour, partly because it's his chance to twist in the knife and make the experience as hellish as possible for casey - but partly I reckon he's just getting a genuine kick out of casey's reactions. beautiful, isn't it

hell. hell! hell <3

2. prisoner of your own success, brno 2003

look, I've yapped extensively enough about this celebration by now that there's probably not much new for me to say. to make an analogy circa two people reading this will appreciate, you know that episode in revolutionary girl utena where a flashing pointing finger directing the viewer's attention to the symbolically important objects on screen? this is valentino's in-universe equivalent. flexing those authorial muscles to make everyone aware of The Themes. something charming about how it's like. zero subtlety. just valentino turning to the camera and explaining to you, the audience, what character arc he's currently undergoing. you see, he's unhappy at honda - he's feeling trapped, if you will. like his individuality is being suppressed. he had a big cock-up at the sachsenring that made him reevaluate how he tactically approached races - from now on he'd be "taking no prisoners". he feels the media is being too harsh on him, almost as if they're punishing him for how dominant he was the past. which would make him a 'prisoner of his own success'. if you will

here's a post that just like,, has a few relevant quotes from the commentary and the autobiography and all that. key detail about that weekend is that after sulking/partying with his title rival on ibiza during the summer break, valentino shows up to the paddock with his snazzy new hairdo. which obviously the commentators speculate during the race is a form of mind games

dyeing my hair red to psych out the competition. like a pro. the race itself is obviously fantastic, but I love that he had celebrations this elaborate planned out for a race he won by *checks notes* .042 seconds. I mean. come on, could've easily gone wrong. in the end, however, valentino plot armoured his way to reversing the defeat from a few weeks prior - and immediately does this whole chain gang routine, which is just another elite camp bit. and crucially it's also a bit of a throwback! the planned celebrations had petered out a little at this stage of his career, as if he'd grown out of them... both the hair and the celebrations are recapturing his wild lesbian youth from the days before he became a honda factory man

he's got to break free, you see, got to express his identity again. and "prisoner of my own success" is just. such a funny phrase. deeply insufferable. the way he carries that stupid ball and chain around with him, on the bike and off it... how sete has a kick at it during the podium ceremony... how valentino's still holding that blasted thing mid-champagne spray...

open wide

valentino brings back the celebrations later that year when he seals the title - carried aloft by fans dressed in convicts' garb while sporting a massive novelty lock and key. back in brno, he had told yamaha under the cover of night that he would sign for them. when he seals the title, his last for honda, he is freed from the expectations of the press and the fans that had been weighing on him all year. he is about to liberate himself from honda. the novelty lock is now open... whatever that might symbolise. and the following year is about truly embracing his own identity, for better and for worse. beyond being a fun celebration, it functions as a neat little thematic road map for what's to come. plot significant celebration. imagine having plot significant celebrations

1. sweeping the grid, sepang 2004

sue me, I'm horrible, but this one will always come top of the pile for me. this is another one I've talked about way too much by this point - but to me it really is the definitive marriage of joy and cruelty that valentino so thoroughly embodies. he's having fun! coming up with a little joke with his team :) but of course the whole thing is also incredibly, shamelessly malicious. valentino is obviously on one that entire weekend... or, well, he's on one that entire month tbh. he's already exhibited some generational malice in the press conference that started off proceedings, he's doing his thing that entire weekend to unsettle poor sete as much as possible - and eventually he wins the race in reasonably straightforward fashion

which in itself is already enough to swing the title fight back to being basically wrapped up (though I'd still advise keeping the risky last lap phillip island lunges to a minimum, but you do you), so you'd think that'd be job done. except valentino is still feeling furious and vengeful towards both sete and honda. so after blatantly ignoring sete's outstretched hand on the cooldown lap (to the surprise of one of the commentators, who said such unsportsmanlike behaviour was unlike valentino - which... buddy), valentino then stops at the side of the road for another one of his fun little celebrations. this time, it's reenacting the sweeping of the grid that had given him that nasty back-of-the-grid penalty the week before

similarly to misano 2009, what valentino's doing is defanging his own mistake from the previous week - he's reducing its power, drawing attention away from the self-inflicted nature of his precarious championship situation, making his setbacks into jokes better than anyone else can. except unlike in 2009, valentino does not primarily blame himself for his recent humiliation. valentino's pre-planned celebrations are generally about himself, not his rivals - but he makes an exception here to mock sete and honda. to show them that nothing is forgiven. the sete rivalry is about valentino gaining more agency in his story, including in torturing his rivals, so it feels right that this gleeful malice really comes to the fore here too. I didn't include jerez 2005 in this post because that's more... valentino reacting to the crowd in his celebrations rather than doing his own thing (though obviously I'm also a massive massive fan of that energy and dearly wish valentino had been booed more often). and well, that's the same vibe of valentino just relishing how much torment he was causing sete, the spanish crowd... the fourth wall break when he's mocking sete's injury, just properly embracing the nastier side of his celebrations. joy and cruelty, cruelty and joy - these two things were never really in opposition to each other for valentino

and just to mention my favourite detail, the cleaning company valentino and co invent to 'eliminate dirt from the world championship':

as in, they're cleaning starting grids... but they're also taking action against dirty rats. naming no names. lovely, isn't it

the whole thing's mean-spirited to a somewhat cartoonish extent - especially when you consider what a tight timeline they were on here. seven days between qatar and sepang, both flyaway races, like logistically it's honestly kinda impressive they made this happen. what the power of spite will do for you, I suppose. I also love that jb has one of these shirts. I love jb being completely ride-or-die in getting revenge on sete, helpfully commenting that it's dangerous to piss valentino off. watch out :) get yourself a crew chief who will enable you in psychologically torturing your opponents

and, remember, all this came in the third-to-last round of a tight title fight!! with a slender fourteen point lead in the championship, a mere week in between races including quickly nipping back to italy to attempt to address the hole in his finger... and valentino's spending his time coming up with custom shirts to take the piss out of his enemies? fantastic sense of priorities, 10/10 no notes

[thealmightyemprex]

Halloweenathon:Elviras Haunted Hills

So a few years ago I watched Elvira Mistress of the Dark and was utterly enchanted by it ,a well deserved cult classic that I found very endearing and heartwarming.So this year I decided to check out Elviras second feature ,which is very diffrent .....But still charmed the hell out of me

This 2001 film follows Elvira (Cassandra Petersen ) and her servent Zhou Zhou (Mary Jo Smith ) as on her way to a show in Paris finds herself in Castle Hellsubus where resides the tortured and brooding Lord Vladimir Hellsubus (Richard O'Brien )

OK so....I hvae to explain what this film is,cause it is NOT a Mistress of the Dark sequel and that might dissappoint some people......What it is ,is something definately in my wheelhouse but kind of niche.....A parody of the Roger Corman/Vincent Price Poe films (With a dash of Hammer ,though mostly Corman ).ITs basically a mix of Fall of the House of Usher and Pit and the Pendulem but Elviras there .Now I LOVE the Corman Poe films and this is a brillaint parody .The common thing said about parody is you MUST parody something you love ,and this is one of the most loving parodys I have seen since Young Frankenstein ,not the funniest,but so loving,with scenes taken directly from USher or Penfulum,the convulated plot ,the crumbling castle ,and especially the hammy acting .I think the most brillaint choice in the film has to be the casting of Richard O'Brian as the Vincent Price type character....Cause he NAILS it ,I mean O'Brian is a spooky cult icon in of himself(I mean he created Rocky Horror for crying out loud ) ,but he absoultely gets the angsty torment and maniacal villainy of a Price character while gobbling up bits of scenery and nailing the humor of the part ,all while doing his own spin,hes not imitating Price ,but he nails the type of character Price excelled at ,he gets the vibe down .The rest of the cast is pretty fun especially Mary Scheer as the villinous wife who is wonderfully over the top and Scott Atkinson who plays the conniving Doctor while doing an impression of George Sanders .Elvira is Elvira ,despite it being a period film she plays it totally modern and I think it works as if Elvira is stuck in one of the movies shes used to hosting on her show .As a comedy it worked for me,mainly cause I got what they were spoofing ,I laughed a good bit ,my three fave bits where the doctor explaining the depraved history of the family and all the ancestors are Richard O Brien while Elvira comments on their activities,O BRiens take on the Vincent Price Pit and the Pendulem monologue ,and especially the handsome heroic stabkle hand played by Gabriel Andronache  who isintentionally dubbed badly by voice acting legend Rob Paulsen

Not all the jokes land and Zhou Zhou feels like a bit of a one note and kind of mean joke .....But those are my only complaints

This is a very fun love letter to the Vincent Price movies of the 60's.If you are a fan of the Corman/Price/Poe films,this is a must watch ,if you like Elvira its a must watch ,if you like Richard O Brian its a must watch and if you are looking for a horror comedy this is a good one .ITs not for every one but its a fun time

@ariel-seagull-wings @themousefromfantasyland

@the-blue-fairie @countesspetofi

@theancientvaleofsoulmaking @filmcityworld1

@amalthea9 @barbossas-wench

@princesssarisa

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group E Round 1: #E8 vs #E1

#E8: Lesbian vampire & human go on road trip to escape the horrors

In a bleak world where music is banned and Vampires have emerged at the top of the food chain, a girl named Momo breaks past the barrier and connects with Fine, queen of the Vampires, and the two journey to find a safe haven where their races can co-exist.

#E1: Modern people transmigrate* to ancient Chinese fantasy world (BL)

People from the modern world transmigrating into the ancient fantasy world has become a common and everyday occurrence that the royal court in the latter has decided to moderate them. If you’re a transmigrator, you must report your existence to Lou Zhu, the master of Best Tower. Once you pass his test and prove that you are indeed a modern person, you can then be assigned to work in different areas of the government and be given a high salary.

Because of this promised benefit, many impostors have showed up before Lou Zhu. And one day, Zuo Yunqi shows up for this test. Is he an impostor, or is he an actual modern person?

But some transmigrators also choose to hide their existence out of distrust in the government. Where are they? And with their knowledge of science and technology, what are they planning in the dark?

*Transmigration = similar to isekai, but the world where the characters get isekai’d to is not always a western fantasy type.

Titles, propagandas, trailers, and poll under the cut!

#E8: Vampire in the Garden

Propaganda:

This anime came out a year ago, but I literally never heard of it until earlier this summer because Netflix had it. You guys are SLEEPING on such a good series—it’s 6 episodes so it’s short, but it feels like a whole single film. The voice acting is so fun, the music slaps, the animation goes HARD during fight scenes, and it’s just so so good. The art style is pretty, and the scenery makes me lose my mind, it’s SO pretty. I need to write an essay one day about how VitG uses music to carry the story because wow that is 🛐🛐🛐 Also there’s a goofy looking dog named Connie that continuously appears and serves no purpose in the plot. Love that

Trigger Warnings: Child Abuse, Emotional Abuse, Graphic Depictions of Cruelty/Violence/Gore, Racism, Self-Harm.

Child abuse & emotional abuse for Momo’s complicated relationship with her mother. Also emotional abuse for Fine’s past traumas and current strained relationship with other vampires.

This is a vampire anime, so there’s a lot of blood and fighting. There’s also a drug introduced in ep1 that mutates a vampire horribly.

Racism is human-versus-vampire shenanigans.

Self-harm for a scene where a human attempts to feed a vampire and for drug usage as mentioned above.

#E1: Are You Ok (You Yao)

[Admin: I could not find a single trailer of season 1 w/ English subs, and its OP seems to have been taken down on YouTube since Iqiyi, its producer (?), started their own channel. As such, I’ve cut a small portion of S1E01 instead, featuring the test the transmigrators have to take.]

Propaganda:

This donghua (Chinese anime) is based on a comedy novel with the same title, and the adaptation is just stellar. Instead of showing each character’s story separately like in the novel, the donghua combined everything. Because of this, there’s more focus on the plotty and political mystery aspect—but without losing the heart of the original. The entire show is still just as hilarious.

And for an adaptation with several original characters, for once I actually don’t mind it. I usually find such additions annoying, but in this show they really serve a purpose and also add to the enjoyment.

I also like the choice of animating it in 3D, like the one in video games. It fits the “transmigrate into a fantasy world” setting well. The donghua also plays around a lot. In one episode, they had one character sing and dance like in a musical, with the beginning of the song sounding like “Do you wanna build a snowman?” from Frozen 😂

Moreover, this is a Boys Love story, and with more than one couple, too! The secondary couple (Zhou Rongqi and Li Ke) even gets a very gay ending song that’s all about them. But since this show is from China, where censorship rules are strict, don’t expect anything explicit. Just think of it as another shounen with homoerotic undertones, except the homo is actually canon.

All in all, it’s a very fun show that doesn’t lack in depth. If you’re in the mood for something light but don’t want to miss out on plot, you should definitely watch this. And if you’ve never watched a donghua before, then you’ll definitely find this fresh and intriguing.

Trigger Warnings: None.

If you’re reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

glorious masquerade: final thoughts

I’ve received several asks requesting that I share my opinions on certain aspects of the event, so I’ve compiled and condensed all my major thoughts into one post! ^^

***Spoilers below the cut!!***

I think the setting of Fantasy Paris the City of Flowers is a really interesting one that provides a ton of unique locations and cool lore! From their stalls to Noble Bell Academy campus and its bell tower, to the local specialties and legends, and its jolly people… It’s such a charming place!

It was fun to see the dynamics of each group and learn miscellaneous facts about them through their banter. This is something that TWST has pretty much always excelled at doing, so I can’t say I’m surprised.

The touring the city highlights for me mainly revolve around Sebek being fucking ridiculous 😂 Insisting he isn’t hungry, trying to impress Malleus by answering a history question correctly, chasing the goat around, the coffee mix-up, trying to sit in Azul’s lap, constantly sobbing and shouting like a kid despite trying to be an adult… chsvsidnksne god, it’s so funny OTL

I wasn’t expecting more lore about Trein and his wife, but it was a really welcome surprise. You can tell just how much Trein cherishes the dates and the other memories he had with his beloved in the City of Flowers… ashbldbiyasdbiald AND THE NRC BOYS KIND OF TEASE HIM AND ASK HIM ABOUT HIS RELATIONSHIP 

Something else I really liked but wasn’t expecting was actual adult involvement in the story, even if it is pretty minimal. (It’s still a lot more than Crowley intervening.) Like, Trein actively tries to guide his students and he cries when he thinks they’re acting unbecoming. He genuinely cares for them and wants them to become upstanding gentlemen.

I was 100% anticipating RSA cameos ever since the event was pitched to us as a gathering of students from various magic schools. It was a treat to see Chenya and Neige show up and actually do something meaningful; their sacrifices really highlight the difference in values between RSA and NRC–and it shows just how much they cherish their friends, something the NRC boys have yet to fully embrace themselves.

I adored the plot twist of Rollo’s true motives and the contrast between the facade he puts up and how maniacal he is behind that cold mask. Rollo in general is just a really fascinating character to me.

NOT TREIN HAVING HIP PROBLEMS, NOT LILIA HAVING HIP PROBLEMS SDHABSIDASLIDASBIDAS

I’m not super bothered by Yuu not being involved in the main conflict; they did their part by helping the townspeople. Even if they are magicless (and thus unaffected by the crimson flowers), it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’d be helpful in combat or anything (being magicless does not ward the flowers off, it just means they don’t attack a person/they can touch a person without bringing them harm); Yuu would just be another body to protect as they ascend the bell tower.

The cutaway gag to Jack and Ace on NRC campus wondering what the symposium attendees are up to was AMAZINGLY TIMED. Ace saying he wished he was with them right now before the game goes back to Deuce having a not-so-fun time with the crimson flowers… That’s peak comedy right there.

I mentioned this before already, but this event showcases how resourceful the NRC boys can be, specifically in the use of their unique magic. They’re limited in what magic they can use to begin with since the crimson flowers suck it from them and become stronger as a result, so they’re forced into corners where they need to come up with creative solutions. For example, Epel uses the coffin conjured by Sleep Kiss to protect Riddle from making contact with the flowers. Ruggie and Jamil use their respective unique magic to get NBC mob students to do the fighting for them. Azul uses It’s a Deal to borrow Deuce’s Bet the Limit/Double Down in preparation for the battle he anticipates with Rollo at the top of the bell tower. It’s so masterfully done!

I also enjoyed seeing Sebek and Silver fight together. Despite how often they are at odds with each other with their personalities and general demeanors, they are perfectly coordinated in combat and their grueling childhood training comes in clutch here.

GARGOYLE-KUN 😭 I’M SO GLAD HE AND HIS FRIENDS CAME BACK

The NBC students and Gargoyle-kun are useful side characters that help paint a nuanced image of Rollo to us long before learning the truth of his dark machinations. They see him as such a good and reliable person, and cannot fathom that he would stoop so low, which makes the tragedy all the more bittersweet.

THE SSR CHARACTERS FOR THIS EVENT WERE ACTUALLY IMPORTANT. Every character gets their time in the spotlight, but I really liked that the SSRs actually played significant roles in the story (unlike in a lot of previous events, especially the ones involving an extensive cast of characters). Malleus actually leads the trio as their powerhouse, Azul strategizes, and Idia is there to emotionally shame Rollo/foreshadow the twist with his little brother. They actually earned their standing as the event SSRs, and their strong ties to the event story makes me feel more compelled to actually roll for them.

AZUL AND DEUCE’S UNIQUE MAGIC INCANTATIONS AAAAAAAAH

I’m not a fan of Malleus at all (and I’m still not; he continues to be my least favorite character by far), but he’s significantly more interesting in this event than in his other appearances. Most of this is due to the fact that he’s actually allowed to be in an active leadership position rather than sit around waiting for others to act on him or to him (as is the case for a lot of the main story).

I don’t like the moments where Malleus lashes out in anger, but I did appreciate the parts where he was a gracious and strong leader. He thanks his peers for volunteering to be decoys, he praises Sebek and Silver for their vigilance, and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to get to Rollo and stop him. Malleus realizes the threat that Rollo’s plot poses to his country (which is predominantly fairies, beings of magic), and he’s finally behaving like a true king to the Briar Valley, doing all in his power to save his people. This is admittedly very admirable of him (well, if I focus on the duty he has to his people rather than the petty personal grudge he has with Rollo).

I really want to see more complex aspects of Malleus’s character like this rather than the emphasis on his woe-is-me loneliness that so often occurs within the fandom and in the main story; however, this really isn’t different from what my opinion of him was prior to Glorious Masquerade. I have always known that I was dissatisfied with his general portrayal and that I wanted something more substantial to him. It’s just that the game is now finally getting around to providing the kind of Malleus content I was hoping for, but it doesn’t necessarily endear him to me or make me like him. This is just him meeting my bare minimum 😂

Malleus fanboying over meeting Gargoyle-kun though, that was 👌 Gargoyle is best boy.

ROLLO UNIQUE MAGIC????????!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?? HELLOW???!?!?!?!?!?

Man. Rollo’s actions are so atrocious and unjustified but you also end up feeling so bad for him when you learn about his full backstory 😭 This is the kind of content I live for, characters and stories that make me think deeply about what drives them and why they act in the ways that they do.

Yo, Idia laying the verbal smackdown on Rollo????? Shaming him to hell and back????? AND DARN IT, Idia’s speech made me remember episode 6 and I started crying all over again OTL

THE GARGOYLE GIVING AZUL MALLEUS AND IDIA NICKNAMES AaAhHhHHHHHH AnD OFFERING TO LISTEN TO ROLLO’S WOES 🥺

THE NBC MOB STUDENTS BEING SO SWEET AND WORRIED ABOUT ROLLO????? ADMIRING HIM SO MUCH??????? GOD THEY’RE SO PURE AND INNOCENT THEY LOOK UP TO THEIR PREZ 

Rollo’s punishment is so ironic, but I think it’s perfect for his character. Living with the weight of his sins is worse than death itself for Rollo, someone who heavily internalizes guilt.

Aaaaaah, I love that Rook is super proud of Epel and how much he has grown up… asbhldilbasdbas and how he talks about telling Vil about it when they get back?? Pomefiore family for the win…

SILVER AND SEBEK TOSSING PEOPLE INTO THE AIR TO PRAISE THEM ASDKHABSILDLABISDBIASBD THAT WAS SUPER CUTE, AND I LIKE THAT IDIA SUFFERED FOR IT

The two rhythmic sections were cute! (GRIM SPINNING LIVES ON IN MY HEART FOREVER) Malleus, Idia, and Azul providing a song with lyrics in the second one caught me off-guard but it was super enjoyable and the vibes reminded me of a grand and somber opera.

Idia suffering is my bread and butter of his appearances cbjsvsjshwksns The way he just hides behind a pillar while his classmates praise him and he complains all the way up to the performance, trying to stave it off or to avoid it entirely… Relatable.

ROLLO AND MALLEUS SHARE A DANCE TOGETHER AT THE END????? I like how this is how they “reconcile”, it’s so awkward. LIKE. Malleus asks Rollo to dance with him, Rollo tells him to fuck off find another partner, and then Malleus guilts him into accepting by saying “Oh, are you really going to refuse an invitation from an HONORED guest?” AND THEN ROLLO PASSIVE AGGRESSIVELY DEMANDING MALLEUS’S HAND??? Hey, baby steps I guess 😂 (One of my friends was screaming about how the ending felt very “enemies to lovers” to them, but I was just excited for the prospect of Rollo’s return in the future!)

It’s interesting the way Malleus talked about being fearful of Rollo almost like it was a positive experience 😂 I guess that’s a novel feeling for the oh-so-great-and-powerful Malleus Draconia so anyone willing to approach him (regardless of their reasons for doing so) excites him. And that weirdly gives him a playful “rival” dynamic with Rollo, who still pretty much hates his guts cldbskxbjsmdkzh

… As expected, Yuu learned nothing in the City of Flowers which would help them find a way home 😂 I knew Crowley was full of bullshit.

I’m surprised that I like most, if not all, of the Groovies??? Usually I find event card Groovies to be kind of unappealing (*stares at Groom Ace*); I think the last one I was SUPER crazy for was actually Groom Idia… but the Maskquerade Groovies had a ton of atmosphere, nice lighting, fluttering fabric, and the boys just looking like they’re enjoying themselves. I do find it kind of odd that the background looks so empty for a dance (you’d think there’d be more people), but I can forgive that as the artists probably wanted to avoid clutter. The SSR Groovies were especially a treat; the lighting there is so heavenly and the detailing on each individual student is astonishing.

Overall, I really loved this event! I might even call it my favorite one so far!! ✨ I definitely appreciated its more serious vibes and how dark the story got. It was balanced pretty well with the light-hearted moments and worldbuilding, and a lot of characters had their time to shine. I’m hoping that we get more events with similar vibes to Glorious Masquerade in the coming future!!

[ladyloveandjustice]

Fall 2022 Anime Overview: Five Anime!

I’ve done a lengthier review of Mobile Suit Gundam:The Witch from Mercury you can read here and now it’s time to tackle the five other anime I watched last season!

There’s some anime I chose to save for later, like Bocchi the Rock! (which I’m watching now and enjoying) and Raven of the Inner Palace, though I’ve heard great things about it and it’s a rare shoujosei adaptation so definitely go check it out! I might do a review of that when I do get to watch it, since it’s been overlooked this season with so many heavy hitters.

But onto what I did watch!

Akiba Maid War

This jaw-dropping genre pastiche takes the tropes of yakuza cinema and applies them to early 2000′s maid cafes in Akihabara locked in bloody war. Young Nagomi dreams of working in a maid cafe, only to find when she goes to work for the Oinky-Doink cafe (yes, they’re pig themed) that the cafe is heavily in debt and rival maid cafes are gunning to take it down. She’s protected by the deadly 35 year-old maid Ranko, who has a dark past.

Akiba Maid War is wild from start to finish. It starts up with shootout where Ranko kills a ton of maids perfectly timed to a cutesy maid cafe music performance and doesn’t let up from there. There’s a side-splitting bloody baseball episode, a deadly boxing match, and more. The comedy is endlessly entertaining- the way the maids continue to use their stupid animal puns even as they engage in yakuza style violence kills me- but it also has quite a few dark twists in line with its inspiration. This a show that could have easily come off as making fun of conventional femininity or indulged in tons of fanservice, but it doesn’t do either of those things. It’s just women in ridiculous outfits fighting each other and getting into ridiculous situations. It’s just utterly committed to its bit in a way that’s admirable.

I wouldn’t saw this a show with many big themes- though there’s the expected “can we stop the cycle of violence” one that comes up later. But there are some smaller things it’s very consistent about, and one of them is the message that if you want to be a cute, you are, and fuck anyone who says otherwise. Ranko is 35 (later 36) and is also utterly terrifying with a deep voice, but she repeatedly states that age has nothing to do with being cute or a maid, and when rival maids shit-talk her for being older than them they’re always framed as villains and shut down. The series coda especially hammers in it’s message of ‘women in their 30s are cute and can be whatever they want’. This shouldn’t be notable, but anime is well known for acting like any woman over 22 is a hideous old...maid, so it’s actually pretty refreshing. Ranko is fantastic.

If you can stomach exaggerated violence (I would call it an anime that revels in gore and the violence is cartoonish half the time, but lots of folks get shot), I definitely recommend this one. It’s a fun (and occasionally heartbreaking) ride. Definitely in my top 5 for the year.

Chainsaw Man

After being exploited by the yakuza ,the teenaged Denji gains the ability to turn into a ‘chainsaw devil” and is recruited by a shady government organization. He’s told that if he doesn’t work for them to kill other devils, he’ll be killed himself. Denji’s perfectly happy with this, because after a hard life he’s only interested in a warm bed, three meals a day, and his dream of touching a boob. Teamed up with a blood-crazed demon girl and babysat by a tired veteran demon hunter, Denji doesn’t realize the ominous machinations closing in on him...

I enjoyed this anime, and it inspired me to read the manga, which I enjoyed even more. It’s a fun time full of monsters and weirdos and there are themes of being exploited by your workplace and all that good stuff. But I’m not going to count it among my favorites, because honestly, the early Chainsaw Man material isn’t the strongest. Though a good deal of it is needed to build up what the manga does later, a lot of it feels meandering.

Denji is also a bit repetitively horny in the early chapter/episodes (though he at least hops the bar-in-hell most horny anime boys don’t manage to slither over and doesn’t violate consent). Unlike most horny anime guys, his immature attitude is a little understandable as he grew up isolated from other people with little education, this is all new to him. He does develop as a character (shocking twist, I know) as he slowly gains more of an understanding of how to approach the idea of sex in a way that works for him. But it takes 5 episodes to get him on that track. I don’t blame the anime for this like most. They definitely added a few sequences to stretch things out, but it does adapt roughly three chapters per episode, which isn’t a bad pace (and is pretty much needed to fit the first arcs into a 12 episode space). And if they cut anything out, fans would be throwing an even bigger fit than they already are. (It’s very funny to see the same fans that complain about the slow pacing turn around and complain about a small sequence cut out of the second episode. WHICH IS IT GUYS, THEY CAN’T DO BOTH).

I think Chainsaw Man fans need to acknowledge the early material just isn’t as as good as the later stuff, and being able to binge-read it in manga form just helps. The anime can’t do much about that, and it’s clearly a cinematic all-star production, with lovingly animated new ending credits and songs for each individual episode, so I don’t have a lot of sympathy for complaining fans when I had to endure Sailor Moon Crystal and a million yuri adaptations kneecapped by production woes. It’s a good anime doing what it can with the material it has, y’all try having real anime problems for once.

Rant aside, Chainsaw Man has a lot of good action, and importantly to me, a fun range of fucked up women. It’s also the rare anime that plays into the horror of an adult woman grooming a teenage boy. The anime does a good job of throwing up the red flags for Makima, yet she’s so good at what she does you almost fall for her alongside Denji. There’s also the loveable, feral demon-girl Power, who hits a lot of my adoration buttons. I do love that for once, the guy and girl teen leads of a shonen manga are truly just buddies, she and Denji have a fun vitriolic friendship. Because of the themes of the story,  there’s an unlikely confluence most of the women Denji meets manipulating him by offering sexual favors, which is unfortunate if you read into it. But I honestly just think the author just likes terrible women, which hey, same. Overall, the anime got me to read the manga, and now that I’ve devoured it all, I’ll be happy to consume next season at whatever pace it goes. I just hope those unfortunate animators at Mappa get some rest.

Do it Yourself!

Teenager Yua Serufu (yes that’s a pun and it is bought up) is separated by the best friend who gets into a fancy tech school. Yua is endlessly clumsy, but when she runs into a cool girl, she becomes interested in joining the Do It Yourself! club and do some carpentry and crafting. The club quickly grows, but can Yua lure her estranged bff into the fold?

This is just a cute show with cute animation about girls working with power tools. It’s relaxing and sweet and there’s not much else to say about it. It’s set five minutes into the future, but it did handle it’s themes of tech vs analogue well, with the ultimate message being “now that we have all this cool tech, we should focus on doing what we want, like working with our hands”, which is nice in these troubled times. The characters are very archetypal- Yua’s friend is a sympathetic tsundere, there’s a girl who says ‘nya’ a lot, etc. It’s a little noticeable that the American exchange student is way more fleshed out than the South-Asian one (we don’t even get her country of origin stated in the show) and there’s a weird moment with the little robot watching the girls bathing. Other than that, not much to warn for. It’s a sweet show, but it likely won’t set your world on fire.

Spy x Family Season 2

More Spy x Family, and it continues to be a lot of fun! I enjoyed season 1 a  lot, but unfortunately this season covers some of the weaker material in the manga, where the story seemed to be spinning its wheels with a lot of one shots. Because of how the seasons are separated, it’s also incredibly noticeable how underutilized Yor (assassin mom) is in this one and how little we know about her job. Honestly, I don’t think that’s entirely down to sexism or anything, I wonder if the writer was just struggling with how to make readers root for Yor hunting down and killing a man- it’s a pretty big ask for that to be the main focus of an arc in a family-friendly comedy. But fortunately, he does eventually figure it out, and there’s a good Yor arc full of strong material coming up right where this season cuts off, so look forward to that.

For some reason, they also cut out one of my favorite sidestory chapters with Yor. Considering that they adapted all the other sidestories and even added material this season, I wonder if they’re just saving it for the next one? They better be. Anyway, Anya’s still great, there’s a cute dog, it’s still a fun anime, but not as strong as the first season. Fortunately, there’s good stuff coming up.

Mob Psycho 100 Season 3

It’s the final season of Mob Psycho! This is a quieter season than Season 2, but the show’s themes of identity and accepting oneself remain strong. Episode 6 made me emotional about a character I’d never had any emotions about before, there’s a cute little mini-arc focusing on everyone’s favorite weird alien-obsessed girl and the finale is a perfect cap on both Mob and Reigen’s development. It’s a beautiful culmination of all the growth we’ve seen in the  relationship that’s the heart of the show. I appreciated that, as small as they were, we got some glimpses of the real, grounded girl that exists behind Mob’s idolization of his crush Tsubomi. It was a nice touch that she lost her sparkly anime eyes and she got plainer ones like the other characters as it was impressed on us she doesn’t exist on a pedestal. It’s just all around solid material. I’ll miss this show a lot.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really That Bad?

It’s hard to deny that in the 2000s, Will Ferrell was the comedy star. Starting off with minor roles in stuff like Austin Powers and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Ferrell hit it big in 2003 with the Christmas classic Elf, and then followed that up with the wacky newscaster comedy masterpiece Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. From there, the hits just kept coming: Talladega Nights, Step Brothers, Blades of Glory, Stranger Than Fiction, Curious George, and even a hilarious one-scene cameo in the Wedding Crashers. The man was on top of the world!

But then came 2009’s Land of the Lost. Based on a campy 70s sci-fi series, the movie was a pretty big bomb coming from such a massively successful actor; on a budget of a hundred million, it only managed to make about sixty-nine million back. Director Brad Silberling was relegated to producing TV after this, and poor Ferrell’s prospects as a leading man completely shriveled up overnight. After this, he basically has only co-starred in stuff like The Other Guys or done voice work for films like Megamind and The Lego Movie. Any attempts to get him back on top have been pretty middling, to put it lightly; does anyone remember Anchorman’s sequel? Does anyone want to remember Holmes & Watson?

But come on, it’s a 2000s Will Ferrell comedy! He was in his prime back then! Surely this wacky spoof of some goofy show from the 70s couldn’t honestly be that bad, right? Well, that’s what we’re here to find out. Was it justice that Will Ferrell’s promising leading man rep was lost harder than a Sleestak’s skin during sex, or is this a hidden gem unfairly judged because people didn’t understand it was meant to be a parody?

THE GOOD

The Sleestaks are easily the best part of the film, at least when they don’t have those awful CGI mouths transplanted on them. The suits look great, they’re weirdly adorable lizard people, and they mercifully didn’t go with the awful, edgy redesign from the 90s reboot. These guys are pure goofy 70s camp. 

The score of all things is solid too. Michael fucking Giacchino did the score! And it fucking rocks! Unbelievable!

...Yeah, that’s all I’ve got.

THE BAD

Oh where do I even fucking start? How about with Ferrell himself?

Look, I’m a big Will Ferrell apologist. His comedies tend to be absurdly lowbrow, especially something like Step Brothers, but he has a certain manic energy that makes him fun to watch. Here, though? All of the negative aspects of his acting are cranked up t eleven. He’s shoutier, he’s douchier, he’s just obnoxious and ridiculous… He’s just utterly unpleasant in this role.

It’s not like anyone else is remotely pleasant, though! Danny McBride especially is obnoxious in this film, and Anna Friel is boring and forgettable, but as bad as they are neither of their characters hold a candle to Chaka. Played by Jorma Taccone (of all fucking people!), he is an obnoxious chattering monkey man who is basically treated like a servant and who is played so obnoxiously that I swear to God he feels like he’s racist somehow. I don’t know what race this would offend, but it just has some sort of rancid vibes that only a racist caricature does.

The CGI throughout this film is just utterly ass. Like there is an awful CGI dinosaur antagonist, and at one point Will Ferrell vaults into its mouth, and at another he slides down its back, and both of them are effects so bad they make Sharktopus look like Avatar in comparison. I’m guessing that hundred million mostly went to Ferrell’s paycheck and the Sleestak suits, because it sure as hell didn’t go into the visuals.

Truly the worst thing about this movie is that its very existence feels cruel and mean-spirited. I have never watched the original show at all, but this parody is absolutely barefaced with its contempt for the source material. It just oozes a lack of care, passion, or respect beyond surface level stuff like the Sleestaks; do you know how much the characters are mangled from the show to the screen? The big bad of this movie is a fucking ally on the show! Imagine if they made a movie based on Scooby-Doo and they made oh, I don’t know, Scrappy a villain, wouldn’t that fucking su—wait.

At least in that movie’s case it was one singular lame element. This movie is just an excruciating exercise in being as lame and unpleasant as possible. It genuinely feels like it was just made because they had the rights to Land of the Lost and then they remembered the name of Ferrell’s character in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and decided they needed a Ferrell vehicle.

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

Look, I know absolutely nothing about this series. I have no emotional attachment to it at all. I’ve never seen a single episode. But I don’t think you even have to watch a single episode to know that this movie is a slap in the face to fans of it. The entire thing just feels spiteful, and coming from a place of sheer malice. Yes, this film is that fucking bad, I can totally see why it blew up Ferrell’s career, and honestly it should count itself lucky that it has been forgotten because I say this film deserves even more hate. This is The Love Guru levels of bad. That 5.3 up there is beyond generous; this is easily a contender for the bottom 100 of IMDB, but I guess that would require anyone to give a shit about it.

But hey, as a non-fan, maybe my opinion doesn’t hold as much weight as what a truefan of the series would say. Thankfully, I have one of those on call, and here’s his summation of this film’s quality:

Hey, it’s me, @unadulteratedpiratepizza​, and I’m here to take you on a journey back in time! Long before streaming services, TV shows aired their new episodes on different designated times and days of the week, and Saturday mornings were the slot for new episodes of children’s programming. Back in the 70’s, long before me and Michael were born, the brothers Sid and Marty Kroft were the kings of that time slot, with their bizarre plots and expert use of their low budget, bringing us classics such as H.R. Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos, and the subject of today’s review, Land of the Lost.

Land of the Lost was a high-concept soft Sci-Fi series exploring the adventures of Rick Marshall and his children Will and Holly, as they explore a bizarre world full of danger and mystery. They must survive hungry dinos, aggressive lizard people, and even time-displaced humans, as they search for the truth of this world and a way to get back home.

Unlike the high energy upbeat shows the Kroffts were known for, LotL was more serious in tone at times, with a pretty consistent world and strong stories. LotL had a team of prolific Sci-Fi writers, a number of which worked on the original Star Trek, which had the effect of some of the stories feeling like TOS episodes. No jokes, “The Stranger '' is such a strong episode with heavy Star Trek vibes, written by Walter Koenig, the actor for TOS’s Chekov.

When I said the Kroffts knew how to use a low budget I meant it, using stop-motion for all the dinos and reusing that footage constantly, cheap costumes and goofy special effects, this show had it all! But, you could have the best special effects in the world and that would amount to nothing without strong acting, and boy does Land of the Lost deliver on that. Everyone is bringing 110% to this show, which is so surprising given that child actors aren’t usually considered the best for serious roles, but when I hear these children scream for their lives as goofy costumed lizardmen shamble towards them, by god I feel like the Sleestak are the most terrifying creatures in the world.

All and all, Land of the Lost was a strong and fun show that took its world seriously, but still had plenty of room for light-hearted fun. It is unfortunate that by the 3rd and final season, most of the writers had moved on, and the actor who played the dad had also left, leaving it the weakest of the three, but I can still say this is a show I highly recommend, especially if you like old Star Trek.

The 2009 Will Ferrell led remake sucks.

And I think that’s all that needs to be said about that. Anyway, here’s a picture of a nightmarish, terrifying predator with a couple of Sleestaks. 

[petrichoraline]

SLEEPOVER SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🥳🥳🥳

what are your top 5 japanese BLs?

tell me about a fond memory or your comfort food (or both!!!!!)

[I LOVE YOUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

[LOVE YOU TOO MY SWEETESTTTTT💗💞💕💖💓💗]

these are suchh good questions omg okay

i suck at ranking things and don't enjoy it one bit because i don't do faves, im too fluid in my tastes and can't ever pick criteria but! let's try in no particular order

1. Kieta Hatsukoi

i think im in the habit of dropping things from my fave lists as time goes by and especially if they're well beloved by other people like "okay then I'll focus on this less talked about thing, my bby seems to be getting enough attention"; how and why I work that way im not sure but I do and by that logic kieta hatsukoi should not be on my list but it's an honorary member - I've watched it twice (with maybe a bit of skipping which is still a lot cause I don't really do rewatches) and I've read most of the manga. it's just so..easy to like, for a lack of a better phrase. it's inoffensive and suited to be a comfort piece of media in whichever form you decide to enjoy it (and it'd make an amazing anime, i guarantee people would be all over it)

the live adaptation also takes the events of the manga and mixes them around big time but it still makes sense and it keeps you a bit more on your toes when consuming the other version, whether you watch the show or read the manga first

it's also a show I've recommended passionately and I successfully made my then new acquaintance watch which I'm a bit smug about lmao

sweet characters, supportive friends, funny, light and warm 💖

2. The End of the World With You

*indescribable screeches*

this showwww, i dont know if i can call it a fave since i havent once come back to it, i dont feel the need to go watch compilations of my guys or anything and i acknowledge there were some elements i found a bit lacking but! it's amazing. idc, this show gave me proper complex relationship where i still end up rooting for a couple of people who were toxic towards each other and did nootttt know how to handle a relationship; the dynamic is compelling, the premise is interesting enough, there are heavy scenes and plot points but it is embedded with hope

it also helped me bond a bit with a mutual i like <3

i just am thankful for it existing out there in the world, it served fucked up relationship (that i root for wholeheartedly), sexy times, found family, amazing acting and it didnt have most of the chaos an apocalyptic piece would usually be dealing with

3. BL Drama no Shuen ni Narimashita: Crank Up Hen

listen. we're getting some pretty good jbls this year but i said this will be jbl of the year and i still think it's a solid nominee.

the romance is tooth-achingly sweet. the leads are adorable. the acting is perfect and manages to deliver the comedy very well. it's cute, it's fun, it knows exactly what it wants to achieve and works with its timeframe to do it. the side characters do not affect the plot negatively, the hurdles the couple needs to overcome do not feel excessive. if you happen to yell at them for being silly, it's lovingly. also we got more chemistry than i expected! and it was really good. it also set up an example for ''japanese actors working on bls'' (found the things like shooting promos and the portrayed bts process really fun) so now watching 25 ji Ajisaka de i can't help but think of this show

4. Utsukushii Kare

my relationship with this show suffers from the "enough people love it" thing as well, i think i rewatched it or skipped through the first season? and i enjoyed the second one as well but honestly it feels not only as if enough people love it but that they love it and get it way better than i do. i didnt watch the movie out of fear of having to say bye to my guys but i also feel more disconnected from it now. im sure its still a gem of a movie and im so so happy we got two seasons and a movie, the show and the cast deserve it!!

there is just so much beauty in their yearning for each other and the misunderstandings, the downright stupid decisions they make..they all just work in making this a neat story of love that blooms from something different, from worship and the desire to be seen and to be held and to be possesed. they're wild, i love them

5. Kinou Nani Tabeta?

this show i watched years before i got into bl and i didn't even know it was a bl when i started it lol, i was like "ohhh, theyre a couple? cool"

i rewatched the first season, watched the special and the movie, started the second season and kinda got stuck there, again with hte "i dont want to let them go"..and now ive lost momentum and ive got basically a whole season ahead (i started it when it was airing 😭)

these two love each other so much and support each other in every way that matters, my heart melts at every sweet gesture and even though the show portrays some real struggles they have to deal with, its still a very funny and light show. the best word to describe it would be "charming" - you see this couple's everyday life, you see how they came to be and what challenges they face, how they overcome them and you're left with no doubt in your mind they will grow old together, well loved and taken care of

now I wanted ti turn this into a top 10 but I felt like I was being disingenuous cause I can't overcome my need to talk about underrated shows rather than pick my faves..I can't make a faves list without turning it into a diverse recommendation list so I'll just. stop here.

favourite food.. faves again.. hahah

a fond memory involving food.. preparing food the whole day before my birthday (maybe my seventeenth?) - sushi, spring rolls, i think I made dessert too? and then having picnic with my friends who were all in awe and praising me. I felt very appreciated and truly celebrated and it was a fun party 💖

[ginger-snap-talkin-nonsense]

If you have to rake all the season of American, dad which season is the best

Oh geez there’s a lot that would go into something like that, I’d have to do a full rewatch of the show. How about a top ten list of the best episodes instead?

1. Jeff Space Arc (Lost in Space)

Jeff Fischer remains the most earnest character in American Dad. While every other member of the smith family is inherently selfish to some degree or another, Jeff is defined by adoring his wife Hayley and loving her family dearly. The Jeff in Space arc is a culmination of this, with several episode dedicated to his journey from space to home after being taken by Rogers people. The episodes are funny and contain a special kind of heart really only reserved for Jeff. The best of these episodes is Lost in Space where his love for his wife is directly called into question and proven without a doubt, but really any episode in this arc is worth a watch.

Cry Baby

Stan Smiths emotional volatility is something the show loves to toy with in its later seasons, and this is one of the funniest. When Stan can’t cry he’s passed up on a mission, so to learn how he enlists his son Steve to teach him empathy. Only to realize that having empathy is too much for him, at which point he tries to remove Steve’s. This episode has nonstop great one liners and is constantly left turning into a new, unexpected joke.

Wild Women Do

Francine and Jeff are both the strongest characters in the Smith family. Francine is a wild card with a crazy past and Jeff is willing to go along with anything if asked. So there’s no better vehicle for fun than these two going out for a wild night on the town.

The Devil Wears A Lapel Pin

Hayley is a character who’s episodes can be hit or miss, but when the show focuses on her relationship with her father it manages to be pretty strong, and this is the apex. When Stan enlists Hayley’s aid as an assistant while making the CIA yearly calendar, Hayley uses it as a chance to get revenge on Stan for his refusal to show pride in her. Great episode, great comedy, and one of my favorite Jeff moments.

LGBSteve

When an all women roller derby team invites him to join their group, Hayley convinces him to join so she can have girl friends. But when Hayley gets jealous of Al the attention Steve gets and outs that he’s a boy, the rest of the team admit that they assumed Steve was trans causing Steve to question his own gender in a positive way, spending with the idea that Steve is comfortable identifying as male but is also comfortable have GNC qualities. It’s really fun and very sweet. Some really solid work on the trans journey and how questioning gender can be very healthy, even if you realize you’re comfortable being cis.

Rubberneckers

Toonrific Tariq once said that American Dads relationship with rap is so complicated it’s kinda impossible to talk about, and that’s certainly true of rubberneckers which is a musical episode featuring everything from R&B, to rap, to hip hop, to gospel style music all centered around the act of “Rubbernecking” and the consequences Stan facing after lying about the cause of an auto accident to his insurance adjuster.

Gold Top Nuts

American Dad pontificates on what it means to be human, to create a society, and to create religion. All with the express purpose of discussing why we can’t just forget the things people have done to us, but we can be kinder in the future and treat people better moving forward

Rabbit Ears

A classic Twilight Zone riff that’s just very solidly made.

The Great Space Roaster

Roger attempts to kill the family after his birthday roast makes him too insecure. Funny ass episode I have no notes.

A Starboy is Born

The Weeknd stars in this episode as himself and sings a song about secretly being a virgin because it gives him magic powers. It’s delightful.

[fishylife]

Fishy's top movies watched in 2023

It’s that time of year again. Time for my movies roundup for the year.

This post includes movies that I watched in 2023, not movies that were released in 2023. I will rank movies based on my personal impression, so this is not an objective post. As well, I sort the movies in tiers as opposed to individual rankings.

From my ‘About’ page, you can see my movies posts from prior years as well as my Dreamwidth blog where I post writeups on movies and other media.

And on with the list!

My Favourite Movies of the Year

These were the movies that had the biggest impact on me. I think of them often.

The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019)

This movie was about a man and his attachment to his childhood house. It was based on the experiences of one of the writers, who also played a fictionalized version of himself in the movie as one of the main characters. I thought the movie was thoughtful in its themes, about gentrification, and people's attachments to places.

Another reason why I liked this movie was because it was very beautiful. I was so in awe of some of the shots and aesthetic choices that the director had made. San Francisco is such a visually distinct city and the director definitely took advantage of that. As well, the colour palettes in this movie were so pretty. I had fun choosing a gif for this movie in my post because there were so many beautiful shots. (My custom Tumblr theme seems to be cutting off some gifs so if you are viewing this post in my custom theme, please click on the above gif to see it in full because it is pretty :3)

Definitely check out this show if you want a visual feast and a meaningful story.

Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms (封神第一部: 朝歌風雲) (2023)

I know this is more of a fun action flick but it really did move me. This movie is the first in a trilogy covering the Investiture of the Gods, a famous Chinese historical fantasy and mythology novel. The novel is a retelling of the fall of the Shang Dynasty and the rise of the Zhou Dynasty, with mythology weaved in.

This movie specifically followed the journey of Ji Fa, who would be the future King of the Zhou Dynasty (sort of a spoiler though most Chinese audiences will already know who he is). Ji Fa was a hostage son who glorified his captor, Yin Shou, the last King of the Shang Dynasty. Over the course of the movie, Yin Shou’s tyranny was revealed, and by the end of the movie, Ji Fa understood his values and decided he had a responsibility to take down the tyrant. The mythological story line had to do with the immortals seeing that Yin Shou’s rule would be bad for the common folk, and wanting to stop that from happening. It was an exciting movie about war and politics, but it was also a touching story about fathers and sons. I kept rewatching scenes between fathers and sons and brothers and feeling those moments of love for one another.

There have been comparisons between this movie and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and for good reason. The director, Wuershan, took much inspiration from the Lord of the Rings and consulted and hired people who had worked on the Lord of the Rings. Many behind the scenes videos outlined the extensive design process in creating the world that this story was set in. There was also a separate variety show that covered the 8-9 month training camp that all of the young actors attended to hone acting and physical ability. It’s clear that a lot of love went into this movie, and it showed in how rich the movie felt to me.

For some reason, I couldn't find any Creation of the Gods gifs using the Tumblr in-post gif finder. So instead, I looked up specific characters and found a gif from one of the most hype scenes in the movie >3

Check out this movie if you want something fun and fast-paced!

Honourable Mentions

These were also movies that I enjoyed and they made me think. They just weren’t at the top of my list.

The King of Comedy (1982)

The King of Comedy was about a man who was desperate to find fame through any means possible. There were characters in the movie who were fascinated with fame and celebrities in different ways. What was chilling was that some of these characteristics were familiar to us and I was sympathetic to them to varying degrees. I thought the different interpretations of obsession with celebrity were interesting, and relevant even to celebrity culture now.

An Elephant Sitting Still (大象席地而坐) (2018)

This was a drama film focusing on a few main characters living in a town, each with their own battles. One of the characteristics of this movie was its length, nearly 4 hours long, and yet this movie did not feel as long as other long movies I watched. The director Hu Bo naturally had a slow style but it didn’t feel slow. Rather, he captured some of the mundanity of life so instead of feeling bored, I felt that I was accompanying these characters in real time as they went about their day. As mentioned, this was a story about characters and their battles, and I did feel some parts of this story to be somewhat hard to watch. Not literally, but in the sense that I felt bad and I knew I couldn’t do anything for the characters. I know this movie definitely isn’t for everyone given its length and style, but I felt that I could get a sense of what the director was trying to express, about trying to break free of one’s chains.

Movies that were still good

I thought these movies were good and they had messages that would speak to other people.

From Up on Poppy Hill (コクリコ坂から) (2011)

This was a movie about young people, young romance, and coming of age. Our main characters were high school students. Through the course of the movie, they learned about themselves, each other, and they learned to fight for causes they believed in. As a story, it was fun. It was cute, but our characters did encounter troubles which I appreciated.

While this movie was animated by Studio Ghibli, it was directed by Miyazaki Goro, the son of Miyazaki Hayao, and there were notable differences in style. I felt that From Up on Poppy Hill was a bit faster paced, but still showed off much of the Studio Ghibli style that we appreciate, in high quality animation and pacing.

Apocalypse Now (1979)

I’m not normally drawn to war films, but I felt that the story line of this movie offered something a bit different. This movie was about a military captain who was assigned to assassinate a defector during the Vietnam War. I think this movie appealed to me because the plot was more of a personal journey of the captain as he tried to understand why the defector had decided to take the path that he did. It offered a different perspective on the horrors of war that I commonly see. I think this is one of those movies that I’ll have to re-watch several times because it was packed with interesting dialogue.

Bullhead (Rundskop) (2011)

This was a solemn drama/crime film, surrounding an illegal market where livestock were injected with hormones. From beginning to end I felt a serious sense of gravity over the main character as he went about his life, and as we discovered his past. I think the appeal of this movie was the style and the character, as opposed to the story. Not that the story was bad, but rather, I think the story was more of a vehicle to show us what life was like for the people in this movie, specifically our main character.

I Am Mother (2019)

I do love a science fiction story that asks questions and makes me think. I Am Mother was about a child who was raised by a robot. Initially, we were only privy to the nurturing of this child. As she grew older, we were shown more about the truth of the world. I liked this movie because it was simple from a story standpoint, but it did raise a lot of hypothetical questions, which is what I love about science fiction stories.

Quest for Fire (1981)

I included this movie on my list because it certainly left an impression on me. To sum up my feelings on it, I appreciated the commitment to the concept. This movie was about a group of cavemen in prehistoric times. They had had a fire, but it was put out, and so the group sent a few members to find fire again. The reason this movie left an impression was because it was very raw. This was a prehistoric time, a time before many of the social norms we were familiar with would have been common among people. Some of it was gruesome, such as violence or just eating habits that were hard to watch, but I appreciated that the movie retained this cohesive style to immerse us in the time period. I’m pretty sure this movie was not historically accurate (for reasons that I won't say because of spoilers) but I think it delivered the story it set out to deliver.

The Heroic Trio (東方三俠) (1993)

If I was 13 years old I probably would have made this movie my entire personality. This was an action-adventure movie starring three icons of Hong Kong and Chinese entertainment (Michelle Yeoh, Anita Mui, and Maggie Cheung). It was a story about solving crime mixed in with a little bit of the supernatural. It had a surprising amount of backstory, particularly relating to two members of the trio. And of course I loved seeing the women fight in cool action scenes.

Closing Remarks

I’m a little surprised myself that there were some critically acclaimed movies that didn’t make this list. This didn’t bother me in previous years but it did bother me this year. I went into some movies expecting to love them because they were what I would consider my type of movie. Perhaps it was because my expectations were too high, that the parts I didn’t like seemed to stick out more to me. I did do some thinking as to why I didn’t like those movies and I think I still stand by those opinions.

Anyway, that’s it for 2023. Have you seen any of these movies? What did you think of them? Let me know!

Wishing everyone a happy 2024!

[lunatic-fandom-space]

Ive been making subtitles for the 1997 proshot and because I love to be angry I guess I also have a transcript of the broadway version open in another tab to more directly compare them and god they made so many just baffling decisions that I barely even noticed just watching a bootleg

The thing that inspired this post was the revelation that they just completely cut Du bist wirklich sehr nett and like, DotV is way more of a comedy than TdV (or more accurately, its way more american) so I wouldve thought that they would definitely keep the song thats basically just the male main character acting like a total virgin while theres also a Sex Misunderstanding, uh oh how wacky

And like, Ive complained about Alfred's stagetime being severely cut down in the broadway show before and Im pretty sure I actually know the reason why that ended up happening, but putting that aside for a moment, I find it incredibly surprising that this 2002 show did not give him more attention, if only for the purposes of making fun of him. Like, Alfred is unapologetically portrayed as pathetic and he stays pathetic for the entire story, in the end he doesnt so much "get the girl" as much as the girl gets him, and the cherry on top is that a bunch of gay shit happens to him, hes practically a goldmine for incredibly low-hanging fruit jokes, no pun intended. And sure, all of that stuff is pretty thematically important but have you seen the broadway show? they do not give a fuck about themes. They also dont care if the jokes they make are incredibly low-effort anyway

[neon-green-reagent]

Ranked: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

So in all my franchise devouring, this is definitely one of THE most disappointing series I've covered. To be fair, nothing can touch what watching all the Paranormal Activity movies did to me, and there is more to love here, but this is going to be kinda rough all the same.

Texas Chainsaw 3D : So at bare minimum, most of the movies are genuinely well-made and look good. NOT THIS ONE. This was the cheesiest and most sellout, oddly enough, that the series ever gets. Imagine if TCM was the Friday the 13th 2009 remake with less charm. Now that's some stinky shit right there. The concept is interesting, a long lost Sawyer rediscovering her roots and meeting Leatherface, but the execution is downright dumb. It makes it so there are no heroes and no villains and everyone's just a gray lump. A notion that a movie with better production values maybe could handle. But that ain't this. Oh, and Leatherface looked like total shit, which is the only time I can honestly say that of this series. Even the bad entries get that basic part right.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) : What was I just saying about no heroes, no villains, just gray blobs that get turned into tomato bisk? Yeah, that. I don't quite know what the point is of making a film with intensely politically charged talking points and making every character be in the wrong, but I can tell you what it makes. A MESS. Where if you root for someone, chances are they'll do something awful, stupid, backwards, or go against their own principles at some point. This is probably the goriest entry, but who gives a damn? Gore is supposed to serve a story or characters (or ideally both) that you care about. Without that, it's corn syrup.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning : So... this is a prequel to the 2003 remake. About a quarter of the way through, I found myself going, wait. I thought they said in the previous movie this is the first time anyone ever made it out alive to report the murders... YEP. A prequel where it was preordained there will be no survivors. So they made sure to make everyone very thinly written so you wouldn't be too worried about that. The main thumbs up I have here is that it's one of my favorite Leatherface designs of the entire series. Otherwise, it's easily skipped.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation : The reputation this movie has is a bit off in my opinion. It's starting to get "so bad, it's good" cred. Yes, there are things about it that I would say fit that description. Particularly Matthew McConaughey's performance. All the over-the-top acting in general. But at the end of the day, the movie plays all of its extremely weird gags very straight. So the tone is dead serious while we introduce such non-TCM concepts as the illuminati. And it turns out, no, this isn't a comedy. The cocreator of the entire franchise was absolutely sincere. It shows, and it really brings the fun way down. It's ridiculous and way out in left field, but it doesn't mean for you to laugh. Yikes.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) : We're finally in watchable territory. And yet when I say that... The last half hour just becomes what it always is for these movies. A girl screaming non-stop while chased or tortured, and after several rounds of that, you start to check out. I've also never seen a final girl fuck up her own escape as much as this one does. Also, and this goes for TCM: The Beginning too, R. Lee Ermey is one of the most one-note, overrated actors I've ever seen, and his presence here is not helpful in making me enjoy the film. Otherwise, this is serviceable if TCM is your thing.

Leatherface (2017) : Of the later sequels/remakes/prequels, this is pretty fun. Imagine, a TCM movie having fun with the premise. Trying something different. With an origin story that wants you to guess which character will be our big ole chainsaw boy. While him turning out to be the least likely suspect might put some people off, I thought the transformation was pretty dang cool. There's a lot of strong acting going on here from Lili Taylor and Stephen Dorff. The absolutely wild girl with the burn scars was a welcome addition to rather a lot of nutty characters, so it's a real feat she managed to make herself stand out. Overall, a stronger film than I could have hoped for that late in the game.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (OG) : WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S NOT NUMBER ONE!? I mean, it's not. Not for me. I find this movie to be a pretty difficult sit. There are a lot of tiresome and forgettable characters. Our villains are loud and annoying. But the grit this was filmed with, the determination to get it made, the messages that lie underneath, and the character of Leatherface all shine through. It's an important film that ushered in a new era of horror, so while I don't find it that watchable, I deeply respect it.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 : This is the movie The Next Generation wishes it was. Tobe Hooper decided he could never follow the first film, so he decided to make a parody of his own work. Genius. It's hilarious, disgusting, lurid, wild, and extremely fitting with the decade it was made in. Stretch is by far my favorite final girl in the series. Dennis Hopper knew exactly what movie he was in. And the soundtrack is great, too.

Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 : Sorry. Yeah, I'm sorry. But I love this one best. You've got Ken Foree kicking ass. You have Viggo Mortensen serving cunt. The Sawyer family actually manages to feel like a loving and supportive family in a twisted way, which is a trope I love. They realized they can't up the ante when Hooper has already set the bar so high, so they don't try. They make ridiculous fights, silly dialogue, and have fun. Fun is always the biggest component for me as to whether or not a film will be a winner. So uh... winner winner, chicken dinner?

Thus my journey ends. I want to add that aside from that dead last entry, even when I didn't love whatever movie I happened to be watching, they did right by Leatherface. He's one of those Jason-y slashers that you want to hug, because he probably deserves better than being used like an attack dog by his own family. I always enjoyed watching him, and every actor brought a different physicality and presence. So, no, I didn't hate every second. And if Leatherface seems intriguing to you as a character, you'd definitely get something out of going over this franchise, too.

[secretswiftymarvelfan]

2, 7 and 15 for book questions

Thank you for sending in an ask! 💙

2). Top five books of all time

This is an impossible question! I am gonna have to cheat an include series otherwise it will be impossible to pick!

In no particular order:

The ACOTAR series

The Percy Jackson series

The Love Hypothesis

The Bellinger Sisters (Brendon reminds me of Curtis so so much!)

The Carolina Comets series

The off campus series gets an honorable mention but Carolina Comets takes it because I’ve read all of that and I’m only halfway through the off campus series!

7) is there a book / series that got you into reading?

It was the Percy Jackson series! I read it after seeing the movie (which was an AWFUL adaptation, that god they’re making a series now) I read them all through school and loved every single one!

15) recommendation and review a book

For you specifically Amber I would recommend It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey because Brendan is pretty much Curtis with Andy’s hair cut 😂 and there’s some really good spicy scenes in there, including one in a hospital 😉

Here’s my full review of It Happened One Summer:

Absolutely loved this book!!

To begin with I wasn’t completely sold on Piper’s character but as soon as she was out of LA and in Westport I started to fall in love with her!

And Brendan…. Words cannot describe this man, I love the gruff and grumpy fisherman with the soft spot for his fun loving socialite! (I totally was picturing Chris Evans’ character Curtis Everett the entire time too!)

I loved the way both characters grew and changed in the presence of each other, and how this booked touched on moving on after a loss of a loved one

Spice level: 🌶🌶🌶🌶

In general I would recommend The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams which is a NFL based romance with fake dating!

Full review:

Absolutely loved this book!!! I’m so glad I picked this up on a whim, but lets be honest you can’t go wrong with a sports based romance!!

I absolutely loved Nathan and Bree’s friendship and how much of a strong foundation it was to build up on from the get go! You could instantly tell how much they liked each other but also understand why they never acted on their feelings!

The comedy in this book was hilarious, I absolutely loved the internal monologues and how they showed the thought processes of each character in real time, made it so easy to disappear into the story!! And the chapter with the whiteboard had me crying tears of laughter, if there’s one scene I want to see brought to life its that one! And maybe chapter 31 but I won’t say more and spoil it!!

I also loved how panic attacks were dealt with within this book, because they are absolutely terrifying when you feel them creep in and don’t understand what they are. And how the characters dealt with them was amazing and made me feel all warm inside!

Absolutely loved this book and can’t wait to check out Sarah’s other books!!

Spice: 🌶

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