#like. are you ever watching a documentary or reality series

[vimbry-moved]

forget every "so tell us about dial-a-song" question in tmbg interviews, I still want to hear an elaboration of the vibe report where flansburgh's like "john linnell does not believe there should be music in films" and he goes "that's true :)" and they just move on

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

20 minutes of my life I'll never get back. 🤦‍♂️

I must be a glutton for punishment because I actually watched Kinsey Schofield's 20 min interview w/Valentine Low. May this rant save you from making the same mistake:

Valentine Low & Kinsey Schofield just reminded me that the British press is in desperate need of a grief recovery workshop to let go of their palace manufactured PR image of Sparry, "the CONSERVATIONIST," and accept the REALITY: Sparry has ALWAYS been a member of the lost boys who never intend to grow up. He loves drugs, perverted soho house sex play pens, and living a secret lifestyle in San Francisco, CA. As we saw in the South Park Documentary, Sparry has always wanted to be left alone so he can just bang on his drums all day.

The British media needs to accept that they never knew the Sparry aka Prince Harry. Much like Fergie & Andrew: The Meghans are two (2) intellectually below average individuals who married in haste. Both their academic & professional work histories indicate that these two (2) immature adults, lack even the basic skills necessary to function in society without the help of a PR "machine" whose job is to clean up their messes and repeatedly rebrand them into more acceptable members of polite society. It's past time for Valentine Low and other UK journalists to admit that they never really knew Sparry. All their Diana goodwill should now be invested into the future of the BRF (the family of Prince William)

No amount of hoping for the best or "covering up" for Sparry's misdeeds can transform the moral rot in his character. They bought and sold the PR image manufactured by the palace. It was the paparazzi & other "undesirables" who had the misfortune of observing the REAL Sparry. They watched him mistreat drivers, security, staffers, etc long BEFORE he was seduced by MEgain.

V Low believes Sparry flew a helicopter! 😳 Come on! Too many REAL service members have spoken out about Sparry's military character and performance and there's nothing good about it.

Sparry, like his wife is also a liar and a bully. He's not intellectually bright, he never was... He even bullied his grandparents before the "spectacle," he bullied Meghan's father...we heard reports about seeking a left wing wife and his interest in living in the US----all before MEgain.

Low also thinks Sparry loves his children. Has Valentine Low ever seen the invisibles? No. He's transferred a PR image to a couple of never before seen kids and their so called father. A so-called "father" who is willing to destroy his brother's children (and the innocent children of other couples) through the spread of destructive lies, has zero interest in the REAL wellbeing of anyone's kids, least of all his own.

As for the Wife: her ability to earn a college degree as an American teenager/young adult without even the offer of an ACADEMIC scholarship means that she too is mediocre and overrated. Her university commencement program states that she was a candidate for a degree in "communications" NOT some whip smart area of study like biochemistry or engineering! 🤦‍♂️

As a university student, thanks to her dad's brother (mike), she spent a measly six (6) weeks in Argentina on an exchange program (paid by her father) until she failed an exam that would have allowed her to apply for (real) jobs in the States. An intellectual or any hard worker would have studied until she passed the test. Not Rachel Meghan Markle. If no one was willing to make an exception for her low marks, then she would whore her way up a series of ladders until she found someone dumb enough to give her a platform.

No, this is NOT a "smart" couple. This couple is a cautionary tale about how Water seeks it's own level: Sparry's mother and teachers did him a disservice, just as MEgain's father did her a disservice: SPARE the rod & SPOIL the child

Kinsey believes that MEgain is "smart" because she achieved a Duchess title. (What does this tell us about Kinsey's IQ. 🤦‍♂️😳)

MEgain became a "Duchess" because she was a professional "seductress" employeed by Markus Anderson & Soho House. Everything this couple achieves is smoke & mirrors based on TRANSACTIONAL relationships where they bully & harass anyone standing in their way.

They don't even possess good work ethics, let alone above average IQs. Please call a spade a spade (or in this case a spare a spare) and stop gaslighting the public about what Sparry could have done had he not been involved with the wife.

We watched the wife verbally abuse KP staffers over bereavement flowers and feckless Sparry stood by in AGREEMENT. Wicked queen Jezebel 2.0 and traitorous king ahab 2.0. Let them go!

[blonndiec]

🍃 Of Murphy's Law (of Destiny), Grieving and the Duality of Luck 🍃

With the re-release of Murphy’s Law (of Destiny) and gearing up for Yuuri’s day one-shot, I figured it’d be a good time to share how this story came to be and what inspired it. You could say that this is part of my creative process, as sometimes my brain works as if creating a 365 pitch or putting together a mood-board with colliding ideas to create a concept.

Some of the context: I officially joined the fandom this January (unofficially, it’s been about a year), and in March, something massive hit. Everything I knew felt like it shattered, and I turned to writing and making art as a way to get through it.

Murphy’s Law (of Destiny) came out of that moment—a really low point, the lowest in all this life process. It was the time when I kept thinking —and hoping, desperately— about how sometimes the absolute worst days might actually be leading to something way bigger and better, like the universe’s twisted version of a “double butterfly effect.” That whole concept of the worst things happening before something better was a bit of hope I held onto. But at the same time, life, as cruel as it may seem, just keeps moving on for the rest of the world while you’re stuck in this phase, going through it. To some other people, what feels like your lowest point could even be their best time, and feels like you’re watching their joy on the other side of a glass. It’s so crude, yet it’s real—life doesn’t stop, and that reality can be both harsh and grounding.

I was in the thick of grieving, constantly thinking about those concepts and life experiences, especially because you have no control, and it feels totally random.

Writing was my way of handling the mix of numbness and tangled-up thoughts I was feeling. I tried to get a grip on my emotions by grounding everything in logic—facts, science, data, numbers...whatever made sense—because what was happening inside was a mess of thoughts and empty feelings that didn’t.

This contrast of grounding something as abstract as “destiny” in logic isn’t new to me, either. I grew up binge-watching documentaries and reading science books (it’s also how I learned English, go figure). At the time, looking at destiny through a scientific lens just made sense—like a buffer against all the chaotic feelings I was dealing with.

Murphy’s Law (of Destiny) became my way to explore this idea: sometimes, the worst things in life are just one side of the coin, leading to something better on the flip side. By examining fate through logic, Viktor’s world is reframed as a series of catalysts and reactions, making even the worst experiences stepping stones toward an unseen “other side.” Viktor’s chaotic day, filled with humiliating stumbles and unforeseen disasters, symbolizes a struggle to piece together meaning from seemingly senseless pain.

What surprised me most was how much people resonated with it.

Since writing Murphy’s Law, I’ve been working on stories about “the other side of the coin”—how I’m slowly finding my way out of that dark place and noticing the bright spots again. There’s something comforting in realizing that even the worst moments we go through can end up opening doors we didn’t know were there. So if Murphy’s Law (of Destiny) resonates with you, maybe it’s because sometimes, what feels like a disaster might just be the start of something you end up grateful for, even if it’s wrapped in the messiest package.🌠

Have you ever had a moment that felt like that, only to realize later it opened up something unexpectedly positive? 💖 I’d love to hear your thoughts on those 'other side of the coin' experiences. 💖

Also, if you haven't read it yet, you can read Murphy’s Law (of Destiny) here.

[jikookficsdiarry]

HELLO LOVES!! I'm here to express my deepest love for episode 4. Finally, it has been a long week, and the wait for episode 5 is almost over :)

OFCOURSE I'm gonna begin with

너는 나, 나는 너 🥹

Jikook in the swimming pool, enjoying their time together, getting on with their daily antics was the best thing ever!! The way they played rock, paper scissors under water🥹 CUTIES my goofballs for real!! Also, yes I have the same question as you, why did Kook have to remind minie that the glass was see through?? What kind of mischief was jiminie upto?!!!

Also, umm hello?! My 2015 baby army self would have never survived this. Please I think BT21 took hiatus too seriously. Damn, I used to lose my mind over foreheads...we have come a long way lads.

Also, the ppeuri after the whole ramyeon conversation?! Hello?! Like what was going on?! The way I screamed into my pillow. BYE.

BUBBAS🥹🤍 (the yawning in sync, they are the embodiment of you are me, i am you)...also I felt so bad for tae cause his neck hurt after head banging...I really hope his neck felt so much better when kookie gave him the message🥺

You wanna know the exact moment I said "what in the AO3?"

This right here. I combusted. I smiled, then I teared up and I replayed it 10 times to know if this wasn't a fever dream. It wasn't. It was reality and then I teared up some more. Happy tears I promise🥹🤍

When I first saw this thought the sign was edited🤭 little did I know the universe was trying to give me sign instead.

All the food moments, apart from making me extremely hungry made me realise how much attention kookie pays to minie whilst he is eating. Not only in these episodes but every time kookies ensures jiminie has eaten well🥹 like idk how to explain but it tugs at my heart strings🥹🤍

Also, idk why tae bear didn't join them for snorkelling, but his smile when he looks at kookie and jiminie has my whole heart🥹🤍

I was so happy that my baby caught to fishes!! Look at that adorable boxy smile🥹 my whole heart...oh I miss tae. Okay sorry no more tears.

I usually don't point this out, but omds I could not hold back this time, the SIZE DIFFERENCE!! I know there are so many other moments, but something about kookies hand enveloping jiminie hands and jiminie holding onto kookies thumb....yeah, my heart is doing a triple axle as we speak.

To conclude, I really from the bottom of my heart enjoyed watching this episode. I was struggling health wise last week and this epsiode gave me the energy I needed. I also feel I was more relieved by the fact that Jiminie didn't feel sick anymore and wasn't hurt in any way. I was so happy to see vminkook giggling.🤍 And jikook being so happy in each other's presence. Their moments, the little things they do for each other, I see them🤍 I know there are so many theories and asks about so many moments not only in this episode. I'll reteriate, I am not going to respond to asks that are offensive or not OT7, and I am just trying to enjoy the show, please let me kindly do that🤍

Episode 5 has me already excited. Less than 24 hours!! LESSSGOO!!

Are you sure?! You truly are my serotonin🥹🤍

Thank you.

~ Nel🤍

Please drop a good review for AYS if you can🫶🏻

[thewarreview]

Band of Brothers

Band of Brothers Review and Yap Sesh

!Disclaimer!

This blog post discusses war, violence, and death. The events in this mini-series are based on true events and real characters. Any references to these characters refer to the actors portraying them, unless I explicitly mention the real person they represent. Comments made about the characters are not intended to disrespect the real-life individuals who fought and risked their lives for us.

First Here's a Quite Summary of the Series:

Band of Brothers is a World War II miniseries that follows Easy Company, a group of American paratroopers in the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The series portrays their training, combat experiences, and struggles from D-Day to the end of the war in Europe. It highlights their bravery, leadership, camaraderie, and the personal challenges they face during the war. The show emphasizes the harsh realities of battle and the deep bonds formed between the soldiers.

Now Lets Yap:

For my first ever post ofc i had to talk abt one of my fav shows right now, Band of Brothers. This tv mini series keeps you locked in and entertained until the very end. The immaculate performances of the cast and crew translates into how amazing this was to watch. You can tell how hard everyone worked on this. I am no historian (tho I am studying to be a history teacher) but the show stays consistent in its translation of the time period they are in, down to the way they speak and the characters mannerisms. Not only is the cinematography Immaculate, the sound effects were to die for. While watching this on my iPhone it felt like I was there in the trenches with the troopers. The sound of a bomb going off made my ears ring and the table vibrate. The overall quality of this show is 10 out of 10. Even while filming a scene that involves a lot of movement the picture never became blurrier or unclear, it was still crisp.

OKAY OKAY now let's talk about the fun stuff… the troopers. My personal favorite character would have to be Ronald Speirs played by Matthew Settle. His performance was outrageously amazing. My first time watching this series I couldn't quite place where I had seen this actor from before so I kept a close eye on the character whenever he was in a shot. Before I had this realization that I knew him from somewhere my original favorite character was a draw between Winters and Malarkey (not surprised to hear I'm sure). Though I did have a little thing for Blythe during his little episode but he wasn't around long enough for me to consider him my favorite character (RIP). Finally I realized I knew his from gossip girl lmao, Rufus Humphrey, the DILF, iykyk, but I digress. After noticing that, my love for him went crazy. Like I already loved this character and how mysteries he was, this broody guy WOAH. Now i have an unhealthy obsession with him. I watched quite a bit of BTS videos bc i was interested in the making of the series. I found out that the actors went to boot camp and trained as paratroopers. They had to stay in character or at least go by their characters names while in this boot camp. They were trained by Dale Dye and officers. This training definitely showed through in this series, making their performances feel very authentic. I forgot that these were actors in a show a few times thinking I was watching a documentary for a sec. Like how did they get a colored camera in 1940...anywayyyy. I think I have said everything I need to say.

5/5 stars

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed <3

[kennedycore]

Ok I’m watching the kennedys, as you know, and I want to know your opinions on it if you ever watched it!

I also want to know why caroline had it canceled ?

aaaaaa i love reading your posts when you're watching the show!!! i'm happy to know you're continuing it lol

i watched it around 4 years ago ago so my memory of the show is pretty hazy (i've been itching to rewatch...)...

i think there's such a scarcity of kennedy media that i get happy regardless when there's a show/movie/documentary coming out about the kennedys.

i LOVE barry pepper as bobby, kristen hager as joan (in the sequel series), and kristin booth as ethel. they did such an incredible job!

i thought greg kinnear as jfk was okay and i didnt like katie holmes as jackie because i kept being distracted by the fact that she was katie holmes lmao

i like the pacing of the show but the production quality is a little iffy at times and some of the acting is sooo bad (the actor for j. edgar hoover stands out to me in particular).

like many people, i wasn't a fan of them treating kennedy family "myths" as fact and i wish there was more kick, joe jr., teddy, etc. the show mainly focuses on jack, bobby, ethel, jackie, rose and joe sr.

caroline got it cancelled because she didn't like a lot of the inaccuracies the show presented, which is the reason why a lot of critics didn't like the show as well. i'm sure she also wasn't a fan of the show presenting her father hoeing around with actresses and mobster's girlfriends lmao

some of the inaccuracies that were presented for example:

the family myth of joe offering jackie a million dollars to not divorce jack. when jackie heard about that rumor she called up joe sr and said "why only 1 million, why not 10?" lmao so it definitely wasn't true

jackie being on the verge of a drug addiction and constantly about to break down. jackie would take a lot of vacations away from the white house to recharge and she was nowhere near a drug addiction. she was chain smoking profusely though lol

bobby going soft on mobsters (including sam giancana) when in reality bobby famously struck down on a lot of organized crime syndicates during the 50s.

jack being reluctant to help james meredith, the first black student to attend the university of mississipi during segregation, when in reality he threatened to utilize the national guard if he wasn't allowed to attend that university.

the show just felt really sensationalist and i'm fine with historical inaccuracies for the sake of entertainment, but the acting and production quality was just... bad so it definitely didn't help.

[noona96n]

Hi....If you don't mind, can I ask, what are your top 10 (or top 7) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

no worries, im happy to answer. and, if i happened to already answer sth, I'll link u to it.

so, fav medias... hmm...

book(s): the radiant emperor duology

ik it just came out and was only recently finished (like, finished Sept 2023 lol) so this is probably bias speaking but i am extremely taken by She Who Became the Sun and He Who Drowned the World, these books are fckn phenomenal. the gender-fuckery, the exploration of gender and sexual performances, the hidden message of embracing ourselves in all our ugliness and 'deficiency' and making a place for ourselves and ppl like us when others shun us. these books are just!!!

documentaries: immortal egypt (Joanne Fletcher)

i really really love documentaries and this mini series hold a special place in my heart bcs i love history and I've always been fascinated by egypt and Joanne's enthusiasm is just so joyous and infectious, i love it. i put this on repeat in the background when i was doing my graduation project in 2018 lol yea, just me listening to egyptian docu while working my ass off on AutoCAD lol

anime: sarusuberi/miss hokusai

idk how to explain but there's just a quality to this animated film that got me going... like, i adore howl's moving castle but miss hokusai is sth else. it's so peaceful but also deeply profound and visceral somehow.

tv series: aircrash investigation

i love planes, i love the Concorde in particular, but it has nth to do with how cool planes are but with how child-me saw riding planes as a thing that only ppl with money could do. it evolved from there.

i also love mysteries and aircrash investigation is both lol

i remember watching it on tv when i was an adolescent and i was fascinated with the mystery and problem-solving of it all ever since.

movie: the prince of egypt

it's a story about love; love that forgives, love that creates hate, love that divides.

drama: nirvana in fire (c-drama), beyond evil (k-drama), kluen cheewit (thai soap opera)

bl-specific: old fashion cupcake (anime AND manga)

the plot of these dramas is impeccable (tho kluen cheewit is extremely dramatic so pls beware lol), the character developments are fckn amazing, and what's even more important is the platonic relationships between the characters!!!

also, special shout-out to thai bl soap opera khun chai/to sir (with love) as well! the drama is off the charts, the characters are flawed & human & infinitely relatable & Tian & Yang's brotherhood is EVERYTHING

just one of the best bls out there and I've consumed A LOT of BLs/yaois... ALL SORT of em lol

the story is really grounded in reality, the plot is so mundane and relatable, the characters are mature but extremely flawed, and the art (in the case of manga) and the acting (in the case of the series) are amazing.

song: queen bee by vannda (contemporary music from my country)

i DO NOT agree with the lyrics AT ALL but i adore the melody. i absolutely love, love, LOVE how he blends traditional khmer music with the modern one. it's not a necessarily modern take but it's sth different. this artist is very good at blending the old w/ the new and i applaud him for that. his music is so pleasing the ear but the fkcn lyrics... urGH

well, a song of his with message that i completely agree with is time to rise with master Kong Nay... though the mixture is too in my face lol which is why i prefer queen bee

[tragicbeauty1991]

Today I got called a “murder apologist” (and other not so nice names) by someone who apparently does not like the fact that I love a good villain redemption arc. Let me explain a few things…

First off, welcome to my blog. We believe in the inherent goodness of humanity here. We believe in love and forgiveness and that people can change. We believe in kindness over bitterness, in hope over despair, and in reconciliation over revenge. And if that’s not your thing, maybe this isn’t the best blog for you to check out. And that’s okay. People are allowed to have different opinions.

Second… We recognize that there is a difference between fiction and reality. Just because I like a character and want to see them come around to the side of good does not mean that I approve of any or all of their actions. Murder is bad, kids. I think we can all agree on that point. I don’t support the character’s evil deeds. I support the idea of them working through the reasons they got to the point of doing them and then coming out on the other side of it as a better person who wants to try to make up for their past. I also recognize that there is a distinct difference between a fictional villain and a real-life serial killer in jail. I’m not that person who’s gonna be caught sending love letters to violent men in prison. I am, however, fascinated by them and am the kind of person who will listen to podcasts and watch documentaries that investigate the psychology of such people. I like to see what makes people do the things they do and I firmly believe that in the vast majority of cases, there is more than a little bit of nurture lacking in the “nature or nurture” cause of evil. People aren’t born evil. Learning how and why they became teaches empathy. And yes, I can empathize with them and still think they’re a terrible person. Maybe I’m naive, but I think the world can use more empathy, and I’d rather be a little too kind to someone who might not deserve it than bring more hatred into the world. Real people often don’t change their ways, but it does happen. And fiction allows a safe environment for us to play around with that idea.

Third… In the words of Wonder Woman, “It’s not about deserve.” Do I think these characters who have done awful, horrible things deserve to be redeemed? Probably not. But that’s the thing about grace and mercy…they are inherently undeserved gifts. And that doesn’t mean you don’t set boundaries. It doesn’t mean you put up with abuse. It doesn’t mean that actions don’t have legal or emotional or financial consequences and everything is automatically all rainbows and butterflies. Forgiveness isn’t a feeling. It’s a choice. It’s choosing to allow the legal system (and God, if you believe in Him) to do its work and taking yourself out of the equation in terms of offering vengeance. It’s not allowing yourself to get walked all over, but it’s also choosing not to go walking all over your enemy when you have the chance. Also…redemption isn’t something that happens overnight. It’s hard work. It’s a long process of the person slowly coming to realize that they were in the wrong, grieving deeply over the wrongs that they have done, and doing the best they can to make up for it by living a different sort of lifestyle. It’s not a single choice to do one good thing. It’s a million little choices to do the right thing instead of the easy thing over and over and over again. It’s stumbling along the way and making mistakes and getting back up and trying again. It’s learning to control anger and to accept that love and friendship and fear and heartbreak aren’t weakness. It’s learning to put others before themselves when before they only ever had to worry about looking out for Number One. To use a recent quote from the Loki series, “Raze it to the ground. That’s easy. Starting over is hard. Hope… Hope is hard.” Redemption doesn’t always mean a totally happy ending. It means becoming a better person, and there is often a lot of pain involved.

Finally, I’d like to conclude with the words I once heard from an Orthodox priest that really stuck with me and which I think are especially relevant to how I approach my thinking in both fictional villains and my actual fellow human beings… “Other sinful human beings are not the enemy. They are slaves of The Enemy. And you don’t hurt your enemy’s slaves. You try to set them free.”

[irisbleufic]

So, I spent the last 5 days of sitting around with this serious arm injury rereading the very first epic fic series I ever wrote. Although the posting dates on the below chapters are all 18 November 2013, the reality is that these were originally posted as individual stories on LiveJournal throughout the entirety of 2004 and into the spring of 2005. Those were my junior and senior years of college. This series was the last thing I relocated from LJ to AO3, and I was too exhausted to do a proper comb-through for typos and minor formatting issues.

Well, that state of things is no more. I cleaned up all of the editorial issues during this week’s rewatch-the-film-and-reread-my-fic binge. I also changed the names of a few of the chapters (they’re really stories strung together), although not drastically. The chapter called “Clippings” used to be called “Business,” “Spiral” used to be called “You Must Listen to Me Now,” and “Closer to Fine” used to be called “The Middle of Things.”

I had an ask a few days ago along the lines of: What the hell is Toy Soldiers, anyway? On the surface, it’s a 1991 action movie/teen drama. It stars a young Sean Astin and Wil Wheaton as Billy Tepper and Joey Trotta, the central protagonists among the cast of younger characters. At the time I saw it in early 2004, I had only ever seen Sean Astin in The Lord of the Rings. And, incredibly, I didn’t even know who Wil Wheaton was.

That might be one reason I was able to take this film to heart so earnestly (i.e. I completely lacked knowledge of Wesley Crusher, Wheaton’s Star Trek character from around that time who it was traditional to mock, although I still don’t get why). However, the primary reason this film wrecked the back end of my 2004 spring break was that I had watched The Celluloid Closet for the first time only days before watching Toy Soldiers.

I challenge any queer person to watch this documentary (about the Hays Code and the horrible fate met by queer-coded and queer characters in cinema) and this under-appreciated action film back to back and come out of it without feeling devastated and furious about what happens to Billy and Joey. Especially to Joey. And now, in an era of rampant school shootings and hostage situations, Toy Soldiers hits with even more gravity than it did in the 1990s and early 2000s.

These boys are where it started for me. Every every horrific canon media ending that has ever made me furious, every hundreds-of-thousands-of-words long fix-it series I’ve written in the past 19 years, can be traced back to this moment. This string of stories was what I wrote before I ever wrote the likes of Crown of Thorns (Good Omens), Anthology (Pacific Rim), and Delicate, Dangerous, Obsessed (Gotham). Hell, one of my instrumental original characters in CoT appeared for the first time at the end of Book of Hours before I ever thought to use her in a Good Omens context.

This story has meant the world to me even though the fandom around it at the time of writing, and even now, was never more than about 20 people. Most of those people are still with me, the dearest friends I could ever hope to have 💙

*

Chapter Index for The Series / Book of Hours by irisbleufic

1. Stereotypical (2013-11-18)

2. Persuasion (2013-11-18)

3. Taste Testing (2013-11-18)

4. Leaving a Mark (2013-11-18)

5. Trick or Treat (2013-11-18)

6. Omerta (2013-11-18)

7. Translation (2013-11-18)

8. Sketches (2013-11-18)

9. Falling (2013-11-18)

10. Caught (2013-11-18)

11. What It Takes (2013-11-18)

12. Noteworthy (2013-11-18)

13. These Shadows Have Offended (2013-11-18)

14. Love Never Did Run Smooth (2013-11-18)

15. Within Reason (2013-11-18)

16. Composure (2013-11-18)

17. Clippings (2013-11-18)

18. Without End (2013-11-18)

19. Prologue: Every Hour (2013-11-18)

20. Book of Hours: Part 1 (2013-11-18)

21. Book of Hours: Part 2 (2013-11-18)

22. Flashback: Spiral (2013-11-18)

23. Flashback: Silver (2013-11-18)

24. The Orchids (2013-11-18)

25. Closer to Fine (2013-11-18)

[meltran]

i watched Jane Schoenbrun's A Self-Induced Hallucination, an experimental documentary about the slender man. that's a topic i thought about a lot as a child. i wrote a little something about this film for letterboxd, that i will now reproduce here.

and there really was something in the woods, yeah

somehow, against all odds, the definitive word on this subject, on a subject that resists ever having a definitive word said on it. the slender man epilogues. the patching up of the psychic wound

where do you go, as a community, from the stabbing? everymanhybrid slowly ambled its way to a conclusion that really had nothing to do with the big guy anymore, and all the power to it - tribetwelve and its creator fizzled out of existence immediately when he was accused of, and admitted to, various breaches of consent. (he now works as an optometrist.) darkharvest … did end fairly recently actually, so who knows what's up with that. i assume nobody is doing blogs anymore, since nobody would know they exist or how to find them - with the exception, of course, of jordan dooling, who will never stop

but, like, more than just confronting a real-world traumatic event… it was also proof that the community had been outmoded. the psychic core of slender man simply did not exist within the circles of independent filmmakers and amateur writers that built it up, it existed within a dubious network of junk data, of the rumors of children in comment sections and iphone videos. adam rosner's slick editing work has nothing on the fact that slender man apparently owns a mansion now. obviously in any adult interpretation he doesn't, but in real life, he has to, because the people who think he has a mansion were the people who were actually being affected by him in real life. clearly their interpretation is the most potent one

by the time this happened, even "the slender man is a tulpa and thus all artworks self-reflect him onto reality" had become too obvious an interpretation. the ability to point to cases like these and say, see, he's growing in power like we always said! were still ultimately dead ends. because he was growing in power, but you can't redirect it onto an eraserhead-inspired amateur youtube series, because it's a different kind of horror now. it's a horror that does not grow a fiction but dissipates it, makes it impossible to find a way to continue it. it's a horror that grows around a fiction, rendering all of it futile. one must imagine slender man happy

and that's the only real way out, isn't it? as a child, i thought any sympathetic interpretations of the slender man were going to take away the anonymous unknowable menace of the simple potent image of "the childhood friend who wasn't quite human". i couldn't entertain them. he was a lovecraftian, absurdist horror - not "slenderman", but "the slender man". he was the upsetting memory you can't quite remember, the troubling presence in your childhood. i wanted to preserve this interpretation, tinged with an adult menace that i couldn't actually understand yet

but as time goes on, i've become more and more resistant to the idea that he kills anyone. he certainly doesn't directly kill anyone in marble hornets et al. other people do the killing in reaction to him, in proxymity to him, they are driven against eachother because they cannot understand the frightening situation they are in. video games like slender can simulate the part where you run away, but they give the wrong idea, as if these stories are at any point ABOUT that part - that they are about a guy Who Gets You. a boogeyman, a slasher villain. someone who might want you to sacrifice someone to him

no, in the end, the sympathetic interpretation is the proper one - that is to say, the ONLY possible one, the only way to ever end this story. (certainly injuring him didn't work, when the bloggers tried that.) the healing of the wound is to accept that the slender man never meant anyone harm. the healing of the wound is to let him go - not as a failed creepypasta, an embarrassing and regrettable part of internet history, but as our childhood imaginary friend who was vital to our growth. he was with us every step of the way - in our photos, our tapes. he really was always watching

and there really was something in the woods, yeah

[swiftlymoniquesblog]

Gorgeous- Tim Bradford x Reader: Chapter 1

Warnings: Tim being a bit of an ass but that's what he does, alight fluff

Word Count: 1,554

Being a police officer was all I ever wanted to do. I was a legacy officer; my grandfather, my father, and if my parents had a boy, it would’ve been him, but they had me so naturally it was destined for me to become an officer too. Not that I ever wanted to do anything else; policing was always so fascinating. I spent countless hours watching body camera footage from my dad, reality shows, and documentaries; anything to learn the job without being on the job. Finally, the summer after my 27th birthday, I applied and got into the newest police academy at the Los Angeles Police Department. Okay, so it took longer than I initially planned, especially because my dad thought it would be a good idea to have a degree in criminal justice as a “backup plan” just in case something happened while being on patrol. So, after high school, I went straight into college and got both an associate's and bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. Then grandpa died and it shook all of us for a good year until Dad was finally on board for me to join the LAPD. And that brings me to today, sitting with the other rookies at a table, away from everyone else and in front of the class, waiting for my first briefing for duty at the Mid-Wilshire Division. I watched as the room filled with other officers and detectives, all of whom paid no attention to me. Twiddling my thumbs, two Sergeants came into the room and settled the room down: finally. 

“Alright quiet down. Looks like we have fresh meat here today,” one Sergeant said looking at my table. Please stand and introduce yourselves, your badge numbers, and a brief reason why you joined the LAPD. One by one, my other colleagues gave their speeches before it was my turn. 

“Hi, I’m Officer (Y/F/N) Jones, badge number 787, and uh, I became an officer because it’s all I wanted to do since I was born. Guess that happens when you’re a legacy,” I say and sit back down. 

“Ah yes, granddaughter of Captain Robert Jones and daughter of Lieutenant Justin Jones. Just because you’re a legacy, don’t expect to climb the ranks quickly. Both your father and grandfather sat where you do now to get to where they are. They both busted their asses and proved themselves. Remember, you’re a rookie at the bottom of the food chain here. Respect isn’t given, it's earned.” The second Sergeant said, shooting a devilishly handsome glare back to me. 

“Sergeant Bradford is right, you have to prove yourselves to get any kind of respect around here, is that understood?” Sergeant Gray, whom we later learned his name was, said and we all agreed. 

“Good. Now onto business. Detectives Harper and Lopez need our assistance identifying new suspects in relation to a series of unsolved murders in the last two months. Ladies?” 

“We don’t have a primary suspect as of today, but we are finding more leads, and we need help questioning people. There’s supposed to be a sale going down in Griffith Park, so we need all hands on deck,” Detective Lopez explained. 

“Rookies, this is a good day for you, ideal for learning. And with that, assignments. Walters will go with Nolan; Rodriguez will be with me and Jones you’ll ride with Sergeant Bradford. That is all; be safe out there.” Everyone leaves and walks over to their training officers. 

“Sergeant Bradford, I’m,” I’m cut off before I can finish.

“I don’t care who you are. You’re my boot, a rookie, bottom of the totem pole. You will not speak unless spoken to. Understood?” He says, and I’m afraid to answer him at first. “You can speak,” he snaps at me before I answer. 

“Y-yes Sir.”

“Good, follow me,” he says and walks off. “This is our shop, not a car, not a ride, shop. Each shift, you will prepare our shop. You will check the backseat to make sure nothing was left behind and if there was, you did something wrong. You will need to process it and add it to your report. You will need to grab all our gear and load it into the trunk before each shift,” he finishes his rules before telling me where I need to unless go to get gear.

“Sarge, where do I go to get the gear?” I ask and immediately regret it. 

“Didn’t I just tell you not to speak you are spoken to?” He says but proceeds to show me where to go. “Follow the other Rookies and they will tell you what to do. Be back here in five.” 

I see my fellow academy class over at the firearms counter and watch as they ask for equipment for the respective T.O. I follow their leads and gather up everything for Sergeant Bradford and myself. 

“Man, I love Nolan! He’s so cool and laid back,” Officer Walters says.

“Shit, you’re lucky. Bradford is tough!” I say, rolling my eyes in the process. 

“Just don’t let him hear you say that” Rodriguez adds. 

“Right, I just don’t know why he hates me already.” 

“Don’t take anything Tim says personally. He was hard on me when I first started. He just wants to make sure you’re fully prepared for what you can expect out there.” A voice from nearby says. We all look over to see Officer Chen leaning against the doorframe that leads to the garage. 

“Bradford was your t.o?” I ask.

“He was. He’s tough and he will push you to limits but all to make you a good officer. If he pushes you a little too much, just text me; he has a soft spot for me.” Officer Chen says, handing me her card. 

“Thank you,” I say. 

“Boot, let’s go!” Sergeant Bradford yells and I scurry off to the shop. I took off all the equipment that I gathered for our shift and dropped it all in the back of the shop. 

“Be careful with the equipment, Boot! It’s expensive.” 

“Sorry, Sir,”  I say before heading to the driver’s side of the shop. 

“What are you doing?” 

“Driving?”

“Oh no, you don’t get to drive this early. You must earn it.”I was shocked that I wasn’t able to drive this early like the rest of my academy did, but not working with Sergeant Bradford. 

“Seriously?” I complained.

Tim’s deadpan expression gave me a chill so I knew he meant business.

“I don’t joke about this stuff, Boot,” his voice was thick with seriousness with a touch of annoyance. 

“Yes Sir,” I say, biting some skin from the corner of my thumb. Suddenly the shop stopped short causing both of us to jolt forward.

“Quick, where are you?” Sergeant Bradford asked. 

“Uh,” I said, looking around.

“What street are we on?” Bradford asks.

“I think Marlow?” 

“You think? What if you needed backup, how are they going to get to you if you don’t know where you are? You need to know you’re location at all times, Boot! This could be a matter of life and death!” He says, growing more frustrated as he talks. 

“I-I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Well if you’re out on a call alone, you could be in serious trouble if you can’t get the help you need.”

I gasped, the realization of the seriousness of the situation hitting me; he was right. 

“I-I didn’t think of that,” I say, my voice breaking and barely louder than a whisper. 

“Well, that’s why I’m here,” Tim said, his voice suddenly softer.

For the first time since we met, Sergeant Bradford was showing me compassion. I offered him a small smile before he drove to the end of the street and I took note of where we were. I could feel a smile on Sarge’s face as he noticed that I was starting to take things more seriously. Throughout our shift, I kept quiet, looking and watching, and only answering questions when asked. Surprisingly, the day didn’t have too many crazy calls and before I knew it, the shift was over. We drove the shop into the garage and I unloaded all our gear.

“Hey Boot,” Sergeant Bradford said when I walked back into the station. 

“Yes Sir?” I ask, trying to make sure I pay full attention.

“So you’re first day although was very rough in the beginning, you did well in the end. Just don’t get used to the compliments because from now on, it’s only going to get harder.”

“Understood Sarge, thank you,” I say and head into the locker room.

“So, how was the first shift?” Officer Chen asked. 

“Honestly, Sergeant Bradford is scary! He yelled at me several times and made me feel like I had no idea what I was doing like I was incompetent!” I said to Lucy, and she just chuckled. “But then something happened. I guess he had sympathy for me because I was getting super hard on myself and he-he had compassion. His voice lowered and he even smiled a bit at me.” 

“Wow, I guess you made an impression on Tim and that’s very rare. Good for you,” Lucy says. “Now pack up your things and don’t stay out too late; we have an early shift in the morning.” 

[madeitlate37]

The Monument Mythos by Alex Casansas (also known as M4NTICOR3)

This is another gem that cited alongside Midwest Angelica as a fantastic series, at least if you were to ask those on R/AnalogHorror.

We are back to series’ now. This week’s concept/theme: Historical conspiracy/multiversal horror.

Have you ever been afraid of seemingly still objects rather than typical monsters? Have you ever thought that possessed/corrupted/evil-by-design architecture or artwork as an underrated source of fear?

Or, simply: Do you want to see someone turn your favorite monuments or sites into something scary?

It’s important to note that—since I’m sure many are sick of it thanks to a few key studios—the multiverse is a large part of the story. It primarily focuses on two mingling universes/realities of US history, but one reality wound up getting its own sort of spinoff known as “the Nixonverse”. I can’t spoil that because I haven’t seen it. If you’re tired of multiversal narratives, this may not be for you, but if any of the other qualities below jump out enough to cancel this out, that’s also good!

As for the main series, here’s what I’ve got in terms of spoiler-free qualities:

• Multiversal narrative, it’s introduced immediately and has a sort of background importance until a few key events.

• Historical conspiracy, if you’re like me and are really into history and especially historical conspiracies, you’re likely to enjoy this one.

• Alternative history, again, sadly, the main focus is on US history and monuments, but as I stated above, if you’re into history this might be worth a try.

• “Mockumentary”, the majority of the series is done in the format of a historical documentary or in animations explaining how historical machinery worked. You also have interviews and other personal accounts involved as well to prevent it from getting too repetitive.

• Non-possessed-evil object, if you’re like me and often get excited to see cursed objects, only to learn that they’re actually just puppeted by a demon, the main threats you see in the series ought to be pretty refreshing.

With the main ones out of the way, let’s get to the more analytical part:

The Monument Mythos is a series that is very unique to me. With all of my interests and with how well the story is executed, this should have been my favorite, but Vita Carnis holds that title instead by a landslide. Because while I honestly see very few faults with it and while it has a lot of scary elements, it just doesn’t scare me to the same visceral point as Vita Carnis does.

When I say unique, I say that, at least for the first couple seasons of Monument Mythos, the scary parts have a different feel to them. They’re scary, but in a different way than what you see in a lot of other horror.

What M4NTICOR3 does really well in this series is create that all-around threat, but use the historical-documentary-framing to almost make it feel like a true crime documentary with supernatural elements. The feeling of fear that I got in this series is closer to the feeling I get when I learned about Jack the Ripper, for example, or the Keddie Cabin murders. The fear is there, and it’s obvious to the audience members as they’re watching, but it’s almost a sort of fascinated fear or a melancholic fear. I strongly suspect that this is because of the format. Either you’re gaining the knowledge of what’s happening via reading text or watching animations, or you’re being told via a narrator using the mist neutral voices, even those doing direct interviews. Almost every voice in this series is so nonchalant and accepting that every episode feels downright eerie to watch.

What adds to this as well is both those supernatural elements and the fact that it’s made clear right away that this is an alternate version of the world, particularly the United States. So on top of this, the audience also ends up trying to imagine what living in this world would be like, which M4NTICOR3 assists in by including those interviews from people who directly experienced these events. Again, using voices that demonstrate that they are used to experiencing these things.

For a series that constantly explains how it works, the Monument Mythos is a difficult series to fully explain/articulate. And I can only respect M4NTICOR3 for how well they made it.

As always, it’s on YouTube for you to watch if any of this is intriguing to you. M4NTICOR3 is also fantastic at organizing the channel/series.

As for next week…

[culttvblog]

Monty Python: Michael Ellis

This is by way of another experimental post, because I am trying to overcome the inability I have always experienced to blog about Monty Python's Flying Circus. I can happily watch this show over and over again, roaring with laughter each time, but when I have tried to blog about it, I invariably find I have nothing to say. I am therefore wondering whether this is because Monty Python doesn't work with my usual format of one blog post per episode of a show and am going to let the show overflow the usual format and blog about a few things in addition to Michael Ellis. My excuse for this is that of course the idea of a blog originated as a 'weblog' so I'm going to log Monty Python's effect on me and just log what comes into my head, so this post will be even more chaotic than usual, I'm afraid, but you can blame the penguin on top of the telly for that.

In reality, I find that the way Monty Python affects me is that a particular sketch or episode will enter my consciousness for a matter of months and flatly refuse to leave, until it is replaced by another one.

For a long time the Monty Python sketch which was inhabiting my head was Mrs Premise and Mrs Conclusion Visit Jean-Paul Sartre, from the third series episode, Whicker's World. There is absolutely no reason that these two pepperpots should be introduced in the middle of Njorl's Saga and the repentant mass murderer, just as I'm not sure there is any reason Monty Python should refer to the female characters they playin drag, as pepperpots. But I love the way it starts off with a philosophical discussion in a laundrette.

Completely off-topic, I have to say that the laundrette in Birmingham most likely to chance to have a Paris phone directory would be the Selly Soak (in Selly Oak), which as well as laundering also allows you to transfer money, which tickles me no end. This is of course because it is closest to the university, and I'm only sorry that I couldn't choose the laundrette in Moseley for this honour because there was once a showing of My Beautiful Laundrette *actually in the laundrette*, which if you don't know Birmingham tells you everything you could ever want to know about Moseley.

I love Mrs Sartre, I love the life of a philosopher, I love that the two ladies just drop everything to go and ask Jean-Paul their question, and I love the way Mrs Premise met him on holiday in France. There is something completely perfect about this sequence, it's perfectly paced, just realistic and ridiculous enough, and it took a long time for it to leave my head.

Then for a long time Ethel the Frog (from the series 2 episode Face the Press) entered my head and wouldn't leave. I love the way it's in the form of a mock documentary which is absolutely insane.

Doug and Dinsdale Piranha are, of course, completely inapproproately based on famous vicious gangsters Reggie and Ronnie Kray, who did a lot worse than nail people's heads to coffee tables. The comparison is made complete by Dinsdale's interest in boys' clubs, sailors' homes, choristers' associations, scouting jamborees, and the household cavalry, which perfectly mirror Ronnie's interests. Also Inspector Harry 'Snapper' Organs mirrors the officer who brought down the Krays, Detective Superintendent Leonard 'Nipper' Read.

When I say that Ethel the Frog parodies a documentary I mean this quite literally, and of course there are lots of documentaries about the Krays reflecting our national interest in them. However perhaps the best example of the sort of documentary which Ethel the Frog parodies is the 1977 The Ruth Ellis Story, about the last woman to be hanged in Britain. It is exactly the sort of cast of larger than life characters and eccentrics that the Pythons parody in their spoof documentaries, and reflects the same hopelessness and inefficiency of our national life in actually getting anything done or sorted. The Ruth Ellis Story periodically appears online before being taken down again, but I'm not aware of any commercial release at the moment. However honestly it's just like a Monty Python documentary, just that the subject is real and deadly serious.

The same eccentricity at the centre of our national life is also reflected in the current Monty Python episode to settle into my head and refuse to leave, the final series episode Michael Ellis.

I think the reason it has taken hold of me is that it has taken a perfectly normal setting - a department store - and filled it with the sort of eccentrics that couldn't possibly be real but are perilously close to characters we know. The collecting animals and TV sets appear relatively normal in comparison to some of the things in the store, and I think what I like best is that some scenes (such as the scene where the man who isn't Michael Ellis hears Michael Ellis being called on the PA), were clearly recorded in a real department store, which I haven't been able to identify.

A department store is a wonderful setting for Monty Python because it is an institution anyway, so the outsider feels out of sorts and isn't necessarily acquainted with all the rituals of the insiders. It also particularly has a high level of artifice: the furniture is arranged in rooms which aren't real, and the clothes are displayed on models which aren't real. Like all retail settings a department store sells dreams which actually aren't ours yet.

Haven't we all wondered whether you could actually buy a flame thrower from a department store? After a suitable test in the shop which would involve setting your fellow shoppers and the complaints department on fire, of course. Harrods in Knightsbridge of course has always been said to sell literally anything so you probably could get one there. The show further draws on reality in the act of buying a pet ant - only a few years ago a British Pathe film had shown a London secretary walking her pet leopard on a lead round the streets, so the Pythons have only really gone one step on.

And we all know someone with a passion for collecting technology, even if it does mean heaping up the television sets in the living room while you're giving drugs to the tiger. My own father used to collect and restore antique grandfather clocks, and at one point we had four of them in a row on the landing, all working. He would stop them chiming at night of course, but during the say they would often chime different times because they weren't very well. We were used to it but guests could get rather freaked out by the clocks randomly striking 13 when they felt like it.

Michael Ellis is another example where it's close enough to reality that it could actually happen. The show inserts us further into its own reality in the Victorian poetry reading scene by having the audience in mixed Victorian and contemporary clothing: possibly not as valid 50 years later but it's like we are the characters dressed in sta-prest and bri-nylon next to the Victorian characters.

It's also unusual for being one of the only (I think) two episodes of Monty Python that carry one setting or story arc across the whole episode. This provides quite a different atmosphere, more like a film, than most of the other episodes. The show once again derails this continued narrative by having the end titles at the beginning and by considering several different endings before the actual abrupt ending.

Even though it has actually ended, Michael Ellis nonetheless managed to live on in my head. I'm also impressed with the utter bizarreness of the blog post it's managed to produce.

But then that's life in the UK. You didn't think Monty Python was a comedy did you? It's a documentary.

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Archives from 2013 to September 2023 may be found at culttvblog.blogspot.com and there is an index to the tags used on the Tumblr version at https://www.tumblr.com/culttvblog/729194158177370112/this-blog

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

I think it's really rich how the Loki series showrunners like to talk about Loki's problems and emotions as if he were some moody, hormonal teenager, while currently in the show Sylvie is acting like some sullen, edgy, emo bitch-brat, hating everything and everyone, sticking safety pins in her armor and working at frickin' McDonalds. And this is supposed to be seen as cooler than Loki because her "trauma was worse and her scars are deeper", yadda yadda yadda. Like??? Do they not see their own double standard??? Do they not smell their own bullshit???

I know you aren't watching the show, and the Loki series is your least favorite subject right now, it is mine too, but every time I see something related to it I just. Want to put my fist through a wall. Everything these people have said about Loki is so wrong it's like my brain can't comprehend it. Anyway thank you for being so incredibly patient with all the Loki-related anons, including mine!

And on the subject of Sylvie's armor, I can't stand seeing her wear that design. If she is so special, being "her own person" and all, then she really should stop co-opting Loki's costume and find something else. Something that's just as, um...."original" as she is. 😒

Hey, I love the anons so keep 'em coming! (I know I'm super slow with them though, so sorry about that)

I couldn't agree more about the double standard. It genuinely baffles me that they're so uninterested in one of the most complex characters the MCU has ever had. They clearly understand he's like a magnet for the fanbase, hence all the promo centring him, but they seem so keen to grab that complexity and turn it to shreds in order to make him more palatable, and it's like... he already has a lot of fans kissing his ass. You want more? Don't change him, just make a good series! Get the same freaking character acting the same way he's always been, put him in situations and we'll watch the damn thing even if it's not that good just to see him. What's not clicking?! 🤦‍♀️

It doesn't make sense to me. Disney+ needed the Marvel series to be profitable, and they want a bigger audience and more money. Okay, cool. But why, why do the execs think the only way to get people interested is by nerfing the characters and making them simpler? It's such a classist belief that ""people"" will only understand something if it's on its most superficial state.

It reminds me of this idiot minister in the UK who said he was worried people wouldn't be able to understand The Crown is fiction and not a documentary on the actual events in real life. At the time so many news headlines read "The citizens are so stupid, they think TV series are an accurate depiction of reality!" instead of "This minister is so stupid he thinks everyone is as dumb as him".

Sorry about that, I needed to rant too lol I don't know what Sylvie is wearing now but I suppose she will be wearing the Loki armour still. It is funny, she's not a Loki but she has to wear the suit otherwise no one would remember she's supposed to be a Loki since she doesn't act like one at all. See how Loki is wearing stupid TVA clothes and we all know who he is? But she has to wear the Loki suit.

[talkingnerd]

Highlights from Aka Akasaka interview with ANN

What inspired the original idea of “reincarnated as your favorite idol's child”?

Aka Akasaka: During my debate with my assistant about ways to create manga, we were discussing ways to create a story based on “strong desire.” At that time, one of the assistants and I talked about wanting to be reincarnated as an idol's child. That is a famous joke in Japan, often tweeted as a set piece when news of an idol's marriage breaks. I wrote the idea down in my book of story ideas. A while later, I started to hear more and more grumbles and complaints about the entertainment industry through the live-action version of Kaguya-sama and new streamer friends of mine. I thought this was the right time to create a story about the entertainment industry, and I realized that I could utilize the idea I had back then.

How much of the story's overall plot did you have in mind when you started drawing the first chapter?

Aka Akasaka: For me, the plots of the first act and the final act were a set. Then I pondered what kind of events I wanted to add in between. I had the impression that Japanese entertainment manga in Japan often used dramas, movies, plays, variety shows, etc. as themes. Today, however, the entertainment industry has changed dramatically. Talents [entertainers who frequently appear on TV in Japan] can no longer ignore the internet, YouTube has become super popular, movies are watched with subtitles, plays are increasingly based on anime and manga, and there has been an instance of a suicide stemming from a reality show. Considering all those facts, I then decided to take a contemporary subject, something that is happening in the real world of Japanese entertainment today. That was the first concept.

To what extent do you (Aka Akasaka and Mengo Yokoyari) exchange ideas when developing the manga's plot?

Aka Akasaka: Mengo-sensei has made a hit with Scum's Wish, which isn't based on an existing story or a separate writer's script. She is capable of writing interesting manga without me. When I am stuck on a story, I often consult with Mengo-sensei. I go out to dinner with the editor and Mengo-sensei. We call these “prep meetings,” but we mainly just shoot the breeze. Basically, think of it as me having the flow of the story in my mind, and whenever I get stuck, I consult with someone.

How does working on Oshi no Ko compare to your previous manga?

Aka Akasaka: Fundamentally, I believe myself to be a writer in the vein of Oshi no Ko. The comedy style in Kaguya-sama is just a particular formula that originated from the editorial department's request. So, for me, that series is something made from that particular formula. However, I have also included Kaguya-sama-style comedy in the Oshi no Ko series to make it easier to read.

What is your process for designing new characters? Were there ever any disagreements on how a character should look?

Aka Akasaka: For the main characters, I draw a rough sketch and send it to a lady in charge of storyboards. However, at times Mengo-sensei draws an entire character even without me providing the finer details in writing. Sometimes, the process is more interactive, like I became fond of the character and increase the frequency with which they appear. I like that style of character creation. If there is a problem with the character design, we discuss it and change it. However, it was only once that we actually made a change. That was when I modeled a character off a real person, and the design looked too much like the person in question. Oshi no Ko uses pieces of real-life stories in its plots, but it is not a documentary, and it definitely does not intend to attack real people. I adapt events that could happen with the trends and rules of the current entertainment industry in the storylines. This work is fiction.

What kind of research did you do on the entertainment industries depicted in this manga?

Aka Akasaka: The lines of coverage of research for Oshi no Ko are very extensive. We go around hearing real stories and personal estimations from top talents, underground idols, people who work at TV stations, real producers, managers, editors of gossip magazines, YouTubers, scriptwriters, and many others. What is revealed in this process is a great deal about power balance and logic, and there are quite a few instances of dissatisfaction, like “A is taking B lightly, B is taking C lightly, and C is taking A lightly,” that are chalked up to specific circumstances and rules. Sometimes, I think that if they work with this understanding, the talents and the people around them can work without stress. I have heard that the entertainment industry in the U.S. and Japan are completely different. In the Japanese entertainment industry today, there is no union for talent and writers, there are no guarantees, auditions are disregarded in casting, opportunities are given based on the balance of power between companies, and basically, you can't go against the office manager…those sorts of things. And they continue to happen. If you, American readers, can enjoy reading Oshi no Ko with the knowledge of this unique Japanese situation, you may deepen your understanding of this story.

What inspired you to portray the idol world in such a dark and dramatic way for a fictional work?

Aka Akasaka: There was an instance of a cast member being attacked by a fan who saw a picture of the first news of a movie release. When that happened, the person came across as very tough, but after we became friends, they confessed that they were badly hurt emotionally. When I found that out, I realized that talents hide their true colors for the sake of their works and for their fans who are supporting them. With the spread of the internet, we live in a society where fans' voices are heard directly. I want people to know how young talents are being hurt, exploited, and suffering. I think that this work also asks the question of how people should deal with and treat those talents. I guess it is correct to say that when I wrote about reality, it naturally became darker.

full interview: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2023-05-10/how-accurate-is-oshi-no-ko-about-the-japanese-entertainment-industry-an-interview-with-aka-akasaka/.197795

[arcticdementor]

TLDR: I wouldn’t recommend it, except for it’s maybe being amongst the most important films of the Century, and 100% necessary pre-watching if you plan to visit India. NSFW, NSFL, Warnings for everything humanly possible, refused rating, beyond NC-17, contender for scariest/most disturbing film ever made, IRL Infohazard, IRL Lovecraftian Horror, IRL Spiritual danger, might be a crime to view/own/recommend in Europe, probably read the review first.

…

It is said by the wise anons of 4Chan and Twitter that one can never be truly Fascist until they watch the first season of the anime series K-On. 

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Only by immersing oneself in Japanese sentimentality can one see an approximation of what Victorian and Edwardian sentimentality was, and why Fascists were willing to fight so hard against the sudden imposition of Weimar’s Proto-21st-century culture and conditions.

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In that case then, the “Nature Doc” India: The Worst Country on Earth, also known simply by the Anti-Indian Racial slur Pajeets (Akin to Cunts, Kikes, or Niggers), is a film much more unique than simply being the first AI Feature Film and the first proof of concept that an Amatuer with AI can now compete with Hollywood… or atleast with the BBC and Michael Moore. Made by the mysterious creator known only as “Thames”, It is the immediate opposite and ideological complement of K-On.  If the light of K-On’s innocence does not permanently kill your egalitarian universalist values and sense of human brotherhood, convincing you that some people and ways of life are uniquely worth fighting for, then, for the purposes of analogy, Pajeets’ pitch black horror would almost certainly convince you there are certainly some uniquely worth fighting against.

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It is a testament to the writer’s extraordinarily refined sense of racist 4Chan humor that the film remains as watchable as it, indeed the raw quantity of racist humour and ironic references required to stomach any of these realities is almost certainly why so much of this is vaguely felt but almost entirely unknown and certainly unexpressed in the West.  Even then, by the time we reach the title card, precisely at minute 3, I wouldn’t be shocked if a great number of viewers had already turned off the film in sheer physical revulsion. Many who make it that far report turning it off by minute 16.  I’ve watched it in its entirety multiple times now. And still I find myself intuitively bracing for cuts and edits… not specific cuts and edits, but in general. Any shot that lasts too long creates a brief window of comfortable familiarity, and resultant nervous anticipation… knowing that safety will end any second. However those who bear through to reach the title and hear the inspired musical choice of Open Your Eyes by Guano Ape soon see the sight of men touching live high-voltage wires, dead bodies floating in the Ganges, dozens of deaths of stupidity, multiple rapes, scatalogical and hygenic horrors straining comprehenision, and even worse things I cannot bring myself to describe.

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And, oh yes, it is all real. Artificial intelligence has only been used to digitally draw David Attenborough from his aged retirement, and add a few humorous cartoon-ish stills. Thames has assembled presumably hours of viral videos, internet memes, 4chan gross-out clips, liveleak clips, documentary footage, TikTok videos, and news stories to make this film. I recognize many of the clips, stories, and “cultural curiosities” having seen them make the rounds on Twitter and 4Chan to memery and disgust.

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Thames has just assembled it all into a feature film length package so violently racist it is doubtful the likes of Goebels, Bull Connor, or the racist terrorist factions of Revisionist Ultra-Zionism such as Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira or Moche Orbach, have ever produced its approximation. The humor and conceit of the BBC nature documentary format, as well as his technical and literary mastery of the 2000s-2010s environmentalist polemic, merely serve as the artistic structure for perhaps the most uninterruptedly hateful film ever produced.

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And this is why I think the film is artistically significant. Setting aside Thames’ Attenboroughian auditory appeal to abhorrence and animosity, as a connoisseur of horror films and shock productions I can't really think of anything so unbroken in its aesthetic hatefulness, its visual vitriol and verisimilitude of valueless violence. The pestilence of it! I’ve never seen such gross gangrenous gutter gore portrayed so unflinchingly and unbrokenly.

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However aside from the depressing damage to the environment, epidemiology, world cuisine, animal welfare, and the gag reflexes of the poor viewer… the most disturbing part of the documentary is the Sexual violence: against woman, child, man, and beast.  I have never seen a documentary with so much real footage of real rape and sexual assault. I’ve seen footage of sexual assaults, one cannot peruse Twitter or 4Chan without the seeing the newest outrages, likewise the presentation of real criminal sexual assaults in documentaries is not unheard of, but on top of everything else you see in the documentary, if the cruel and unhygienic horrors imposed on animals and wallowed in by men did not tempt you to shut off the film, the sexual horrors certainly might.

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Why make this the first film reviewed on Anarchonomicon if we don’t count Macbeth 2015 and Blackberry (neither of which anyone read). Am I just scoring points in my unending quest to become the great curator of Forbidden Knowledge, to gain clout amongst extremiscists and connoisseur of the callous?  Maybe… but I think there’s something more here. The Shocking is necessarily the surprising, and the disturbing is necessarily the confusing.

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Meanwhile surgeons and anatomists do not find gore disgusting, they might find violence or jump scares difficult… but they’re used to bodies coming apart. Seeing it happen vividly on film doesn’t violate their intuitive subconscious expectations and models of the world the way it does for most people. Likewise veterans of major wars (notably several of Napoleon’s Marshals) have been noted to seemingly ignore gunshots or grievous wounds even to themselves the second they find they’re non-fatal. They’ve seen it countless times before and it’s merely a nuisance for it to have afflicted them as opposed to others. Likewise farmers, butchers, paramedics, and horror fans are often shockingly calm in comparable medical emergencies even when it’s themselves. So if even gunshot wounds and maimed limbs can be ignorable discomforts to those already familiar with their like, in the immediate second and even first person… How is it so much visceral shock, horror, and lasting disturbance can be attained through a screen… depicting archival and documentary footage!

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This isn’t some great violation of all expectations and norms. When Samara crawls out of the TV Screen at the end of The Ring after an hour and half of built up tension and filmic and narrative tricks to get your mind feeling threatened and expecting a violation of all laws of physics, whilst employing every editing and pacing technique to subtly trick your mind into fleetingly thinking that she’s crawled out of your TV and she’s coming for you! That provokes a lesser reaction in most people.

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Whereas India: TWCoE has people shutting off the video before the Title and opening song at minute 3. For archival and cellphone footage! Nothing fictional, no jump scares, no ghosts coming out of the TV itself, no tricks or spooky artificial atmosphere. The only filmic conceit: an AI voice changer meant to make the subject matter funnier, more tolerable, more intellectually distant. “It’s disgusting” Do you react to footage of farm animals in manure covered barns this way? What about photos of roadkill or decaying animals carcasses? I see both all the time on long bicycles rides through the country. I showed this to a family member who immediately wanted to turn it off… she regularly watches horror movies of the most disgusting violence, the film Ready or Not which she considered a fun horror/comedy, had a scene in which a woman shot in the hand falls into a “gore pit” of animal carcasses, and must crawl over the decaying flesh using her mangled bleeding hand to escape (it is a genuinely fun/funny movie). Yet she could endure that laughing and wincing, but not this.

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This has been the state of a country of 1.4 billion, comprising 1 in 6 human beings on earth, for the entirety of your life. Why is this shocking? Why is this surprising?  What overwhelmingly massive truth has been purposefully concealed from you, such that this experience is maybe amongst the most violently unpleasant and soulshaking experiences a western can endure without leaving their living room?

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But whereas most countries and societies are improving… India is one of the few countries in which such metrics are getting worse. Indian height and penis sizes are shrinking, both proxies for nutrition as well as exposure to pollution and parasites. Indian civilization is quite literally “degenerate”, they are physically deteriorating before our very eyes. And while I cannot bring myself to describe the hygenic horrors, one need not watch much of the documentary to more than sufficiently understand why.

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Egalitarian minded Westerners, even after accepting that IQ stats measure meaningful differences within national and ethnic groups, or who accept many of the tests and proxies for intelligence, protest that if the average IQ was so low as the international scores suggest, then low IQ societies would not be able to function at all, that they’d go about in a violent, horrifying, screaming, shit-covered madness…  Such Egalitarian minded westerners react less than happily when you point out that they in fact do so go about.

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The dark truth is that morality, cleanliness, and almost all ordinary exercises of will and judgement necessary for any human functionality, are all IQ tests. Very simple and easy IQ tests… but ones which billions of people are incapable of. Indeed according to many classical western definitions of “person” the bottom 1-2 billion are not “people”. If you define “man” as the moral or rational animal then these are not men. Many dissident linguists have noted many sub-Saharan languages do not have any functional way to express abstractions and indeed the concept of promises or other moral commitments are alien to the tribes who speak them, or only are expressed through elaborate metaphors taught to them by white missionaries.

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But Whilst Africa has countless slums equally as horrifying, as of yet the population density is such that the Africans are not universally forced into the urban and sprawling horrors we see in india. Whilst they pollute at comparable rates, one may still see large areas that are tribal, post-tribal, and suitably primitive such that the median African settlement is not sickly and decaying as what is witnessed in India, primevally wild Africans still go in states of relatively noble health, analogous to the beautiful wildlife of Africa, they are not yet past the population density event horizon of becoming the sort of decaying hive societies beset by cults of Nurgle, which we witness in India. Median Height, intelligence and Penis size is not yet shrinking. Indeed the much maligned African Warlord, acting as apex predator, serves to keep various regions and populations thinned to a less than truly horrifying state of health. In India, and as Egyptian and other commentators have noted, in an expanding suite of countries, we see the true nightmare scenario of the modern state just barely existing in an anarcho-tyrannical form able to sustain and regulate the human organism well past the point of degeneration, and able to prevent the wars and violence so desperately needed to restore the slow march of IQ and other markers of genetic and physical fitness.

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The violent discomfort and horror felt by the Western egalitarian at India: The Worst Country on Earth which is not felt upon viewing Pigs wallowing in manure or seeing roadkill or animals dead in equally bizarre, miserable or stupid manners, The reason we recoil at the sexual horrors of India but feel relatively little for the incest sexual assault and worse that occurs in the animal kingdom… is because the Western Egalitarian is trained to identify with the brown foreigner, in many instances even beyond their identification with their own ethnicity or race. In their religious and now post-religious ecstasies, purity spirals, and consciousness raising, in their more than decade of moral instruction under the priesthood of the public school teachers, and the legacy priesthood of the lamb of God; in their daily prayers and religious contemplations of diverse television, film, and media, the modern westerners are taught the belief in the universal moral merit, intelligence, worthiness, and nobility of man irrespective of race, religion, sexuality, and creed… it is not simply A moral good, but THE moral good. The Axiom upon which all civilization, moral worthiness, and hope of salvation rests. At the moment of death their passing or failing the final judgement of God or “History” depends on how sincerely they earnestly believed, in spite of the constant knawing of evidence, in this universal equality and brotherhood. India: The Worst Country on Earth inflicts violence of a spiritual and metaphysical variety upon the westerner. If only Samara was crawling out of their TV to kill their physical body, they might die cursing a white girl and their salvation would be assured. Instead India: TWCoE attacks their very soul. The Westerner MUST identity with the foreigner. MUST empathize. MUST psychically place themselves in the Indian’s shoes. MUST Imagine themselves one and the same.

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They MUST empathize, and their gag reflexes must activate and they must feel their skin crawl as if beset by parasites and sexual diseases welcomed in through a million disgusting wallowing practices. They cannot do what Hundreds of millions of high caste indians and upper class third worlders do every day: Stop Empathizing. Stop looking on them as your fellow man, and instead look upon them as revolting stupid bottom feeding animals, akin to diseased racoons or possums…or various mamilians who wallow in their own filth, or seek their missing nutrition in the droppings of more noble creatures such as the bovine. For to stop empathizing, so the western thinks, to stop believing “there is only one race the human race” or “that all men are created equal” would be to abandon all that is good and true and transcendent in this world. Except for the what is obvious to plainly see: it is neither good, nor true, nor transcendent.

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Of course if one disagrees, and still believes in the universal egalitarian brotherhood… they can just Watch the Movie. 

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In the end I can guarantee you the most offended by this film or this review will be a white westerner. Intelligent and upper-class people from the third world are very aware of the decayed state of their lower-classes and keenly aware of the Caste, ethnic, class, and genealogical differences that separate them from those horrific masses. Amongst the intelligent aristocratic upper-classes of more decayed countries they develop very specific exclusionist identities to describe their separateness from the masses about them (mostly accurately, some are delusional… but none who read this blog). Ironically the people who suffer the most racial panic upon accepting HBD ideas are intelligent mixed race westerners who, in the egalitarian doublespeak of the west, never have anyone to tell them that they actually are exceptional or actually can achieve great things, or actually should feel empowered and confident… as opposed to all the fake empowerment, fake expectations, and fake encouragement we pour upon the 75 IQ illiterate urban criminal classes.  One need only speak to people in commonwealth countries to see many of the most opposed to mass immigration are earlier waves of Immigrants who had to pass a higher standard and were of that aristocratic upper class, and now don’t want the people they’ve escaped following them to the west.

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But the most significant impact of the film, which is already showing a surprisingly viral interest, is going to be on Western political discussions around diversity and Immigration. “This is what we’re importing” as the warning goes.  But beyond that the wider politics of disgust, and its relation to conservative, fascist, ethno-exclusionist and other right wing politics is a long established phenomenon. A film this vomitously moving, cannot but become a modern staple of the online right. Like K-On it too immediately sums up the worldview of far-right politics to be ignored I may have been the first to write a review of this film, and I am almost certainly the best. But I will not be the last.