#lol they were making shitty sequels to all my favorite films way back in the mid 90s too

[stephantom]

Unpopular opinion but people are just so whiny about ‘the state of media/film today”

[radellama]

Fanfiction "Would you rather?"

Tagged by @future-dregs , yours were so fun to read and I got a bit rambly but had fun answering too!

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Friends to lovers, or enemies to lovers?

Friends to lovers, definitely. I'd rather not have animosity and troubled backgrounds that add baggage to the relationship, it's frustrating for everyone. Unless it's a very rare case of well done enemies to friends to lovers slowburn.

Be forced to watch a terrible movie adaptation of your favorite fanfic, or an amazing adaptation of your least favorite fanfic?

Amazing adaptation. If something like Harry Potter can be decent movies with THAT kind of source material, you can do anything. I think I've already seen enough terrible fanfic movies with all these shitty 'franchise reboots/sequels' so. Yeah. looking at you star trek and resi

A more fun question for me would be which one I'd have to direct, my favourite fic with too much upper management meddling and ruining it, or adapting a source material I hate but with mostly free reign over how I go about it - to which I'd still go for the one I hate cause I'll work through it with pure, hard boiled spite and turn it into something good LMAO

Read fanfic chapters backwards, last to first, or read them as parsed from google translate?

Backwards, but I'm taking the assumption that each chapter is in order and I'm reading the chapter order backwards, not each word of each chapter backwards as well.

Consume every fanfic as an audiobook read by a monotone narrator, or have to read every fanfic on a tiny printed piece of paper written in yellow highlighter?

I can't fucking read yellow highlighter and I already watch enough of that monotone shit on YouTube when I'm studying/drawing, easy win to monotonous reading.

Get a tattoo on your body of every fanfic title you read, or never read fanfic again?

Tattoos. Just get a good artist and make a kind of design out of how all the titles are placed, make em tiny so you got room for more, and off ya go.

Vampire AU or Werewolf AU?

Vampire! But good ones please lol. Werewolves are fun too but a lot of what I've read is too bland-angst or unfunny crack, and vampires just appeal to me more

Get sold to a boy band, or be stuck in a time loop with your love interest?

Time loop! There's some really nice episodes of shows that have time loops (I'm mainly thinking star trek but I'm SURE I've seen other time loop episodes) so I'd be interested to see how that'd go with different stakes and have it be relationship oriented/character driven instead of in massive high stakes must save the world lol

Kill your favorite character, or marry your least favorite character?

I MEAN.... CT already gives you the option. I can just do that. I've also jokingly already been married and divorced to the annoying shit head from CT as well, but I don't think it counts cause I love to hate him. Dunno. If eventual divorce is an option maybe I'd get married, cause I can already kill

Meet your love interest in a coffe shop AU or a college AU?

Really depends on what we're studying. If it's my current major, that could be kinda funny. Making short films with these constraints and pretty much no budget is insane, and I'm even more so. It'd surely be interesting. Also tbh I don't go to coffee shops because I don't like the smell and they're always loud as fuck and I don't even drink coffee to begin with soooo......

Have your fic history leaked, or never read another fanfic again?

Fuck it. No shame. I've read some shit and it'd be a bit nostalgic to see what I read way back in the day cause some were fun (most the fics are lost or got deleted) but most of it is cringe LMAO

Be able to read amazing fanfiction but it always has an mpreg plot twist, or only read bad fanfiction for the rest of your life?

Listen. If it's amazing, mpreg could be good. I just don't like seeing weird mpreg that feels fetishy and not well done. Plus if this means cool trans rep in fics, sign me up I'll get over my own personal discomforts. Also will it stay a plot twist if it's in EVERY fic I read? That's just overdoing the trope with no innovation

Gay ships or straight ships?

Honestly I prefer The Gays ™ cause at least back in the day, when did we ever get shit. It was all queer baiting or villain characters or bury your gays. But! If it's written well I honestly couldn't care less, I'd take an interesting het ship over a bland gay one any day

Ship a rarepair with almost no content, or a pair with lots of content but almost all of it is cracky nightmare smut?

Haha both of these are reality 🙃🙃 I mean, I made an OC to ship with my favourite dude (almost no content cause I'm da only one making shit) BECAUSE all the other fics with my man were fucking gross. Not even funny cracky nightmare smut just straight up. Enemies that are together but not really lovers, taking advantage of power imbalances, incest, and straight up being disrespectful and blurring lines of consent and all of it feeling wildly ooc. YUCK NO THANKS I'LL STAY IN MY CORNER WITH MY OC AND CONTINUE MAKING DUMB MEME COMICS AND ATTEMPTING THE NICE FIC

See your OTP shatter years after their happily ever after, or never have the happily ever after happen in the first place? 

Hmmmm..... Well considering my oc ship I mentioned previously ALREADY HAS a betrayal and break up with ambiguous ending in mind for their 'canon' fic, I might have to go with the first one. Cause it can be done well and having that reflection of all the good times together being only memories can be so bittersweet... Though I'm up for reading a good one that explores never having gotten together. Any otp I'll read either if it's good

Read a poorly written but complete fanfic, or a literary masterpiece last updated June 2013?

Listen. I've already read some masterpieces that haven't updated since earlier than that. I still think about a lot of abandoned fics all the time. If it's good and I have to live with it being incomplete I'll take it

Read SSSS++++ tier smut with almost 11k words, or 70k words worth of fluff?

Both, if they're both well written. But tbh I'll take the smut if it's that good

Read only alternate universe fanfics, or only canon fanfics?

Considering I get a little inwardly pissy when I see some utterly whacky ooc stuff, I'd rather take the aus, cause then if people feel too ooc for me it's just an au lol..I know the point of fanfic is that you can do whatever but also, if you're doing a canon/canon adjacent fic, I prefer when they're taken seriously. I know that's pretentious as fuck and definitely of the 'you will never understand these characters like I do' shit but. Aus are so much easier to enjoy cause so many people have weird interpretations that'll piss me off way more if they're trying to pass it as canon...

Introduce fanfics to your normie friend with an ongoing smut fic with great writing, or a complete fluff fic with terrible writing?

Great writing. Nothing wrong with some smut if it's really good, no need to be prudish. And honestly, if the normie friend is REALLY against it, I could just create a censored version for them and snip out the smut scenes.

Read your NOTP with all your favorite tropes and perfect characterization, or your OTP with tropes you despise and inconsistent characterization?

Notp done well for sure. If it's that good and in character with good plot and tropes, it could be fun. Dunno if it'll change my mind on it being notp lol but I'd rather that than have to read those shitty fics for my man all over again lol.. Already been through that don't make me do it again

Read a fic with an interesting concept but very poor writing, or read a fic with an uninteresting concept with really good writing?

I've already read plenty of both. Some fic authors are just able to make the most mundane things compelling, and some are still honing their skill but clearly have the passion, and both are fun to read. Don't really have a preference here, I'd probably just go on whatever is recommended to me/piques my interest first lol

Have a major character death, or have a bed sharing scene but it's a ship you hate?

Both lol, I don't really care. I'd be mildly curious about how others characterise the ship I hate, and major character deaths can be very interesting and help create some fascinating dynamics and character driven moments. Actually maybe I'd lean more towards character death

Read a fanfic that has consistent grammar and spelling mistakes, or one that the characters are wildly different than canon?

Grammar and spelling mistakes. I'm taking this as 'wildly different to canon but trying to make a canon fic,' in which case it's a massive no thanks. If it's a crack au or clearly meant to be silly, I don't mind, but grammar and spelling aren't that bad

Every fanfic includes Jackson Wang, or every fanfic includes at least one NSFW moment?

Fucking .. Jackson Wang... I've already been in the dark days where I read Kpop fic and every other fic he'd be there anyway and sometimes it's the most random thing... He's a nice enough dude irl but now I'm older and have different fandoms to actually read I realise I'm rather uncomfortable reading fics of irl people, no matter what the mental gymnastics I might've used to justify back in the day. So I'll take the nsfw thanks

Read the most absolutely messed up dead dove with your most wholesome otp, or subject yourself to 100,000 words of your NOTP all written in a solid block with no punctuation and horrible grammar?

Dead dove. I can take that, I'm fucked in the head anyway and might really enjoy it. Spelling and grammar being poor I can deal with, but a solid block? Even of a ship I do like? No thanks that's going to make my head cave in

Have the power to read every fanfic in existence, or have the power to make any ship canon?

All da fanfic, and please have part of that be that I remember the titles and where to find them LMAO. Unless we're talking about turning my oc ship canon in a game mod.... Coders hmu I have ideas to make this a reality

Have your OTP get together in canon but one of them dies in a tragic way, or all members of your OTP survive but get together with other people?

Hmmmm.... Really depends on what ship it is. And the context. I'd take either cause they're both great angst.. I am trying to think of what I'd lean towards but it really feels split down the middle for me lol

Read a cringy 70 chapter Harry Styles mafia AU, or a highschool Kpop AU y/n fic horrible grammar?

Already read those cringe kpop high school aus with next to no grammar and I'll fucking do it again. I don't care for Harry Styles at all lol

Accidentally send your boss a super detailed smut fic, or read a super detailed smut fic about your boss?

Read one, I can keep that to myself. Yeah maybe the first couple days/weeks after I read it will be hard not to laugh or something, but I'll get over it I can be professional.

Read smut fanfic aloud to your parents, or submit fanfic to the employer of your dream job?

I MEAN....... I'M STUDYING TO MAKE MOVIES RN AND IF IT'S MAKING A SCREENPLAY FOR AN ALREADY EXISTING FRANCHISE THAT'S TECHNICALLY FIC!??? I dunno if making movies is my ~dream job~ but I've always wanted to be creative and make stories so. Easy. Also if I make movies or whatever and there's a sex scene in it that's really similar to reading a smut scene to them anyway..

Pine after an oblivious love interest, or be the oblivious love interest being pined after?

Mutual oblivion 🙈🙈 🤯💥

jk, I think both have their interesting qualities, I can't really say. What about being oblivious to the fact that you're pining??

Hanahaki disease, or your soulmates first words to you tattooed on your body (and they're really stupid)?

Ummm... I don't really read soulmates aus all that often. Hanahaki has a really cool aesthetic to it but all the fics seem the same, and tattoo ones... Like once you meet, what's next? I'd probably say hanahaki just for the aesthetic and fingers crossed it's interesting and not bland tragedy porn, or I'd just ask for a better soulmates au LMAO

Be an Alpha, Beta, or Omega in omegaverse?

I've never read any of these kinds of fics so I dunno. I'll be whatever is funniest or provides the most compelling plot

Read a fanfic where the characters turn into furries, or a fanfic where the characters all get pregnant?

Nothing wrong with furries, could be fun. Lowkey interested in what's caused everyone to get pregnant, like is it just slice of life and EVERYONE is pregnant, like men women and all inbetween alike? Or is it a sci-fi or fantasy where there's some magic/science bullshit? It could be interesting? And tbh I have a few scenes in a fic I'm writing with sci-fi bs for some characters getting pregnant but it's coming from a body horror perspective so? If it's a cool premise I probably wouldn't care about everyone being pregnant?

Be able to resurrect dead fics, or have the power to create of plethora of new fics effortlessly?

So uh. This is the choice between resurrecting dead fics or actually having the time to write my 20+ aus just for ct? That I could even write fics for other fandoms? This is easy I wanna finish writing my fucking fics babbbeeeyyy

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Tagging @stillmoveforward @hellishgoat @fanimefreak @kanonavi @dishesoap @nyx4 and anyone else I'm forgetting if ya wanna do it. No pressure to it you don't want to either

[madsdefencesquad]

another kevison fanfic none of you asked for (also on ao3):

[Thread] Who's the nicest celeb you've met in real life?

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Kevin Pearson. Was an extra for one of his movies and couldn’t be any nicer. Chatted with us even though technically you weren’t supposed to. He joked around a lot and showed us pics of his family. Real top bloke.

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I met this guy once on vacation in Italy. We were at a table next to him and my newborn was screaming bloody murder, mom was in the bathroom. Couldn’t quite calm my son and I was getting real embarrassed with the loud noise. Some of the waiters came over to their table to ask if they wanted to move but Kevin shut them down immediately. Actually got a bit cross that they even suggested it. His wife suggested to rock my baby on the side to make him stop and he did! She knows a few tricks having twins and stuff. Also shared that joy/misery thing of being first time parents. Anyway, they left first (they got there earlier) and we learned after that they paid for our meals too. Couldn’t believe it.

replied: Wow. That’s the so fucking nice of them.

replied: Yeah made my wife cry haha

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I’ve heard only good things about him too! My mom lives in Philly and his brother was running for city council a few years back and he was there and took photos with all the Korean mamas including my own and my grandma! apparently he smells really expensive :P

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Didn’t know that I was fully chatting up his wife at Starbucks until I saw a pic of them at the premiere for one of his movies. I’d be embarrassed by my god she was fantastic! 10/10 would’ve gone for it if I wasnt such a potato

replied: And wasn’t married.

replied: That too

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My daughter was an extra on one of his movies and says he’s the nicest guy and “such a dad” lol! And her dad’s a real “dad” dad so for her to say that about a famous actor is funny

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I used to teach his kids in my kindergarten class. Daughter’s wicked smart. I can tell you all the mothers would have a fit every time he’d come by to pick them up and if it’s not his wife or them together, it’s him. Very hands on. I’d say that counts for nice.

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Rocked out to a Lady Gaga show with him and his wife in Vegas. His wife and I are practically best friends now! We’re on first name basis ;)

replied: Sounds fun! What were they there for if you don’t mind me asking? Coz isn’t he like sober now?

replied to a reply: I think it was for a niece’s birthday or something? Couldn’t remember, was pretty wild night :P And I didn’t see any drinks.Even his wife wasn’t drinking I think? They were literally there to enjoy Gaga like the rest of us

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I love hearing stories about him like this because it always looks like he’s such a pretentious pretty boy jerk especially back in the day

replied: Getting your life sorted can change a man

replied to a reply: Yeah he’s pretty mellowed out since getting sober. He’s had that DUI and rehab stint but now he’s a real family man and seems to love his wife very much. Good for him.

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Doesn’t he remind you of George Clooney? Got married late and had boy girl twins and is loving life!

replied: True!!

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Not sure if everybody knows but his wife Madison is pretty big in the interior design space especially coz she like pretty much runs their fam construction business. I follow her on Insta and I know everyone has a crush on Kevin but I’d pick her over him any day!

replied: OMG YES SAME! She puts together these amazing DIY palettes and I’m obsessed! I’d also pick her over him any day even just to pick her brain

replied to a reply: She also recommends the best books!!!

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My mom’s in the planning side of construction and met his wife in West Chester. She did a presentation and afterwards her and my mom shared parenting tips like they’re in some mom club. Apparently she was the sweetest and her babies are adorable and also Kevin calls a lot lol

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Met him at the airport, wife’s a huge fan of the manny so sucked my gut to ask for a pic. When he found out it’s for the missus, he recorded a special vid saying his iconic line. Missus was over the moon. Real good fella

replied: MANNY SAY WHAAATTTTT

replied: That’s so nice

replied: He did for my mom as well! All the moms love him!

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Kevin Pearson helped re-build my grandparents’ burned down convenience store. Couldn’t thank him enough even if I tried

replied: Wow, that’s real generous. How are the grandparents?

replied to a reply: Thanks! They’re over the moon. They have a house near the area but gran said he’d come by with his kids from time to time. Even if gran didn’t want to, they always insisted to pay for whatever the kids wanted.

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Delivered the cake for his uncle (grandpa’s?) wedding and he gave a seriously generous tip. Oh and his wife packed me pigs in the blanket.

replied: Pigs in the blanket?! What in the middle school

replied: Apparently it was the uncle/grandad’s favorite or something and they double ordered. But who cares free food!

replied to a reply: Did it come with ketchup?

replied to a reply: Hot, wrapped in foil and handful of ketchup packets. I felt like one of the kids

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Not him but his brother who’s like a big shot in politics right now. Real top guy and had the best laugh

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This doesn’t sound real but I’ve bumped into him literally five times over the past year he’ll probably think I’m some stalker. Rarely saw him without his family and once his kid threw a ball at me. He apologised but c’mon you either throw a ball or bounce it no big deal. Besides, that kid has David Beckham’s kids manners. Real like English folk polite it’s insane

replied: That’s always nice to hear that celebrity kids aren’t spoiled brats. We know a few good of them are

replied to a reply: Celebrity kids are different from kid celebrities though

replied to a reply: Didn’t say they were the same? Just saying that for a kid of someone so rich and famous you’d think they’d be a bit more spoiled but they weren’t at all and was beyond respectful and that’s a testament to the parents.

replied to a reply: Agree. I’ve met this particular celebrity’s kids and mind you they’re teens now but god they were just awful and pretentious. Even more than their famous parent which is saying something

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Not him but I did meet that actress that was so embarrassingly flirty around him during the press conference of hat film he did a few years back. She’s a real bitch and so fake and I’m so glad she’s been dropped from the sequel

replied: Oh god yeah I remember her. She was so obnoxious laughing at everything he said like stfu it’s not that funny!!!! The secondhand embarrassment watching her and him being all polite about it *chills*

replied: She’s the worst. No talent

replied to a reply: I was an extra for some scenes in that movie and she was WAY worse and such a diva for someone unknown. Kevin’s a real nice guy though and just let her be. He talks about his wife and kids a lot but she would not take a hint!

replied to a reply: That is just embarrassing

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Alright story time. Was working as a barista at a cafe and it was one of those really shitty days. He came in, ordered and waited and was all nice and took some pics with fans. Anyway, like I said shitty day so I mixed up his coffee order and got him two lattes instead of cappuccinos. Mind you, it was a busy asf day as well and I was the only one making coffees. He comes over and tells me and I apologise but by this time my manager’s already all up on my ass for serving Kevin Pearson incorrectly. He kept apologising to him and berating me till Kevin himself stepped in and told the manager off. But like calmly and stuff like it’s no big deal and people make mistakes whatever and I kid you fucking not he apologised to me too and said I was doing a good job. He probably won’t know how much that meant to me after an already shitty as day but it did. I made sure to make him the best fucking cappuccinos

replied: I’ve met him in irl too and he is this!

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I saw him sitting at a cafe with his daughter. Super nice. Asked him if I could get an autograph for my mom who’s a huge fan. He asked me some questions about her and wrote a really nice autograph, for her. His daughter stuck one of her stickers on there too and my mom loved that even more. I told him where she works (at a grocers) and he went out of his way to shop there the next day and made a point to look for her and chat. Great, great dude

replied: That is so fucking cool man. And your mom must’ve been so happy!

replied to a reply: She was over the moon! She loves his wife too! Apparently she was even chattier than Kevin haha

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Met him at the airport. I was an employee and he had some TSA questions. Genuinely nice and friendly, chatted for about 15min. After he was set, we shook hands, he had his kids say thank you individually with a high five. Adorable. His wife was super nice and friendly too. Very good social interaction, would participate again

[frumfrumfroo]

What are your favorite movies and TV shows outside of SW? I’m looking for new things to watch since SW was so disappointing

My tastes are pretty eclectic, so I will stick to just things that are either similar to sw or are in the reylo-esque romance wheelhouse and have happy endings:

Chuck. It is a goofy, light-hearted action-adventure show with extremely endearing characters and a very prominent central romance (seriously, heavy romance and there is a lot of payoff for it, you will be FED- it's kind of slow burn but also shockingly NOT slow burn, they are deep into it pretty much immediately). The main couple is the classic Stoic Badass gradually softened by an innocent they have to protect who is a liability in battle but full of the Power of Heart. Chuck is The Heart btw. He is of that vanishingly rare male Beauty (of B&tB) type. He's incredibly generous and open, Sarah is prickly and closed-off. It is Quality. Very much a gender-swap of your typical cliche anime couple lol. I would recommend stopping at the mid-season finale in season 4, because it's downhill from there. The beginning of season 3 is very rough, but it's definitely worth it to stay for the back half, imo. There are several great endings to choose from before things go to shit, so we don't need to talk about the finale. Probably the most tonally similar to SW thing possible without being high/space fantasy. More humour, more silly, but definitely has a spiritual kinship. Has the best THE BEST 'secret revealed' scenes I have ever seen in anything. If you're into that and were hoping for that in ep IX, you need to watch Chuck.

The Shop Around the Corner. 1940 romance/drama film. You've Got Mail is a remake of it. Jimmy Stewart being profoundly adorable, Frank Morgan (aka the Wizard of Oz), various amusing side characters, and an absolutely deathless double blind 'secretly in love with the workplace nemesis' plot that can and probably has been a great reylo AU.

Mirromask. Fantasy/coming-of-age film. Touted as a 'spiritual successor' to Labyrinth by the filmmakers (one of whom is Neil Gaiman) and let me tell you, that is extremely apt. Beautiful, magical, laden with symbolism and Mask Discourse, and has a great ship. I quote it regularly.

Speaking of which, I'm sure you've seen Labyrinth? If you haven't seen Labyrinth, drop everything and watch Labyrinth.

Legend (the Ridley Scott director's cut, not the theatrical cut). Sumptuous fairy tale, runs on proper fairy tale logic, stunning to look at and overall captivating. Tim Curry. Tim Curry as a lonely tragic lord of darkness who tries to seduce the heroine and has drippingly overwrought monologues.

Howl's Moving Castle. Fairy tale adventure/romance film. Beautifully animated, has the ending you want.

The Silence of the Lambs. Thriller/drama film. Actual masterpiece. Use it as a gateway drug to read the books and rejoice that Clannibal is canon and it is spectacular. Just SotL and Hannibal, you don't need to read the other two. Stan Clarice Starling and revel in that ending. Most triumphant 'villain'/heroine ship of all time (he is not technically a villain but for shorthand's sake).

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Terry Gilliam 1988 fantasy/adventure film. THE TRIUMPH OF IDEALISM OVER CYNICS I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH HOW HEALING IT WAS TO WATCH AFTER THE TROS BULLSHIT HIT. Jonathan Pryce's spiritual villain is basically Chris Terrio and it is cathartic to see imagination and sentiment conquer him.

Sabrina. 1995 romance film. Modern fairy tale with Harrison Ford. Rejecting what you thought you wanted all your life for the thing you actually need, growing up but still believing in magic, beautiful character development across all the leads. Could be (and is irrc) a fantastic reylo AU.

The Scarlet Pimpernel. 1934 adventure film. High romance, secret identities, play-acting, people who aren't at all what they appear to be, falling in love with your own spouse, Big Heroism, guile and wit and audacity. It makes me do little kicks like a happy baby. This is one of the 3-5 films constantly tied for my favourite film of all time. There is a good quality rip free on youtube. Watch it and fall in love with Leslie Howard (this is possibly my favourite acting performance of all time).

Oh, related note. Pygmalion 1938 or My Fair Lady. (The musical is based on this film and borrows from it heavily, including its much more romantic ending compared to the original play.)

The Mummy. 1999 action/adventure/romance film. Very tonally similar to sw. A fucking great time, A+ characters.

EVER AFTER. 1998 romance film. The flawless and perfect and best ever Cinderella adaptation. This is the most satisfying film in history, maybe, the ending is so good it is amazing it exists. Also, it has Richard O'Brien being slimy. Huge selling point. Grapples with identity and stewardship, is brilliant.

Fruits Basket. drama/romance anime. I haven't watched the new version yet, but it's following the manga so I know the story. The original anime didn't do the whole plot (because they caught up with the source material) but it's wonderful and I still recommend it. The central ship is (spoiler.........) a B&tB type where we eventually discover the main love interest both feels like a figurative monster and turns into a literal monster. He has an incredible speech about his relationship with people's fear, it makes me weep. I called the endgame from the first episode and always thought it was obvious, but there is a red herring love triangle dynamic. It's really not annoying, though, because it is a red herring. (I hate love triangles)

I am Dragon. Russian monster romance film. Beautiful, simple fable with a really great heroine.

Jane Eyre. 1943 Gothic Romance film. It's Jane Eyre, byronic hero x sensible heroine love story with much atmosphere and Gothic drama. I stan this version because I am an Orson Welles fangirl and I'm also not convinced it can be improved upon. Elizabeth Taylor's film debut btw.

Hellboy. 2004 action/adventure/romance film. Defying destiny, reconciling identity, monster romance. The complete package and a great time. Tonally similar to SW and probably thematically closest to it out of this whole list. Don't watch the sequel.

Beauty and the Beast 1987 tv series. Exactly what it says on the tin. Deals with the classic B&tB themes, but in a different way. He's not cursed and will never transform into an ordinary man. The first season is very episodic and 'case of the week', but the second season gets more into character drama. It's dated, but if you give it a chance you can get past some of the cheese factor and it's really a unique experience. Its concerns are SO atypical that it feels like something fandom would make rather than a mainstream network show. It was so massively, insanely popular with women at the time that a record of Vincent (the beast) reading poetry topped the album charts. Also Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton. Stop at season two. Point of interest: George RR Martin wrote for this show.

Stargate (the movie not the series) sci-fi fantasy about a nerdy guy who accidentally a hero.

Possession. 2009... mystery/supernatural/romance. Okay. This is a whole thing. Lee Pace and Sarah Michelle Gellar. It's based on a Korean film I've never been able to find for some reason, but being Hollywood they ruined the romanticism and nuance of the original in the theatrical cut to make a shitty punative ending. However. If you buy it on dvd and go to the alternate ending (which follows the original story) with around 20 minutes left (scene after Lee Pace's character wakes from a bad dream-go to deleted scenes and select the alternate ending), you will get a very, very interesting character study/thriller/redemption about sincerity within deception, compassion, and a major question about second chances with a positive answer. It's kind of dark and kind of astonishingly idealistic at the same time. The heroine makes a very powerful choice, twice over. It's fascinating. If you're into the conflicted and uncertain period in reylo, the part where he is most ambiguous, and you wanted more of that and much darker shades to it, you might be really into this. Also, it should be noted, there is a MASSIVE height difference and they show it off. The film is flawed (and the seams show on the Hollywood rewrite) but idk, it's fascinating. Shocking to me that they even got to shoot the original ending. It is pretty balls to the wall with its themes on forgiveness.

I would recommend getting into kdramas because there is a wealth of female-gaze tropey amazing content, but always check the ending before getting invested. My all-time fave is the 1st Shop of Coffee Prince, but it's not sw related at all lmao. It has a happy ending with all the elements you'd want, but it's not satisfying in execution, so that's it's major flaw and I find that pretty common with kdramas. One that is maybe more relevant is My Love from Another Star, which has a hero who is a little bit like Ben in personality. The heroine isn't my favourite, though. It does have a decent ending.

Oh yeah- brain fart. Kurosawa films and classic westerns were both very influential on SW. Or you can combine both and watch The Magnificent Seven.

[sixofravens-reads]

Mid-Year Book Freakout Tag 2020

Tagged by @anassarhenisch​. Thanks!!

Best book you’ve read so far in 2020:  Probably Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. I’ve read a lot of awesome books this year, but that’s the only one I spent an entire day marathon-reading.

Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2020: In an Absent Dream AND Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire. Don’t make me choose :(

New release you haven’t read yet, but want to: You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson. Hopefully I can get my hands on it soon, though it’s still out of stock online and at all the stores in my city....

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year: A tie between Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (which was delayed until September) and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

Favorite new author (debut or new to you): N.K. Jemisin! I read The Fifth Season back in February and WOW I must read all of her books!!

Biggest disappointment: This little anthology called Ride the Moon that I bought at the comic expo a few years back. Not only was every story bad, they were all bad in the same way. Same shitty characters, plots, typos, and weird edits that made it seem like at the last minute they had to force this book to be child-friendly. It was....bizarre.

Biggest surprise: volume 1 of Shade, the Changing Girl was surprisingly awesome. Since it’s published by DC I was expecting some superhero type stuff, not the poetic, psychedelic tale of an alien taking over the body of a bratty teen girl.

Book that made you happy: Got into Dragonlance again, and the sheer delight that series gives me is incomparable. It definitely falls into the “I didn’t say it was good, I said I liked it” category, but still.

Newest fictional crush/newest favorite character:  Raistlin Majere from Dragonlance lol. When I last read those books I was a Tanis stan, but now I’m like, oh no this evil wizard is very good.

Book that made you cry: A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow. Not a particularly sad book, but the ending is so moving. I’m so proud of the characters lol

Favorite book to film adaptation you saw this year: I think Emma is the only one I’ve seen, but it’s very good! Though I haven’t read the book yet...

Most beautiful book you’ve bought or received this year so far: I’m in LOVE with the cover of The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin!

Book you need to read by the end of the year: I really want to read Widdershins by Charles de Lint. Having large, unread books stresses me out (like having large, unfinished tasks at work does, though reading is more fun than work...I think it’s just the concept of a very long book that scares me) so it’s time to suck it up and read it so I can get it off my TBR list.

I need to run back to my desk now, so I’m just tagging anyone who wants to!!

[gronjon44]

Ok. So I’d like to do s omething. Because of MARVEL and DC’s constant turf war, not many other comic characters get their turn at the Spotlight. Some do and some don’t, but there are a strong few who don’t get to shine like the Avengers or Batman. So, I’d like to show off three of my favorite underrated comic characters. -THE MAXX First up, is a character that I found out of sheer accident. The Maxx is an unconventional super hero. He lives in a city( forgot whether it was New York or something else), and he is the actual version of what happens when you have a Super Hero in the modern world. He is made fun of, beaten around and homeless, and his only friend is a woman named Julie, a freelance social worker. The thing about the Maxx is, he isn’t sure why he exists. He knows he belongs to a Jungle World called Pangea, a land ruled by him as the kind of the wild, and Julie in that world, is his Jungle Queen. But his life is constantly ruined by the Mysterious old man who follows him and messes with his mind. The Maxx isn’t a conventional hero, as he is trapped in a world he doesn’t understand, his mind jumping from one to the other. It offers a different take on the Super Hero genre and it even had a short lived TV series on the original MTV. It was really good and The Maxx deserves more than he was given. I plan on making a story to bring him back to popular light so stay tuned. -XOMBIE REANIMATED The next is the Xombie Reanimated series. Now, unless you have or had an original IPod from when Apple released them back in like, 2009, or you watched the stop motion art series by James Farr, you have no idea what I’m talking about. If you do, then hey good on you I’m not the only one. XOMBIE started out as a YouTube series made by James Farr. It was a short lived series that went from 2003 to 2007. It was interesting and centered on the aftermath of a Zombie Apocolypse, where anything and everything becomes a Zombie. It focused on a young girl Zoe, who is lost and searching for her missing mother in one of the last human sanctuaries. After nearly dying, she meets Dirge, a Zombie with some sort of Remaining humanity. He lives in a Graveyard with his zombie police dog Cerberus, and listens to Mozart. He agrees to take her across the forsaken city and find her mother. They meet another sentient Zombie and her monstrous pet ( won’t say what cause lol) and they do take her home. There is also a present threat if strange zombie like creatures. The series does continue forward not too long after with a 5 issue comic series. It went more in detail about the existence of the sentient zombies, and the strange connection between Zoe and Dirge. It is a very underrated series, despite not being a conventional super hero. In only see Dirge as a Super Hero because he is an extraordinary individual in a wasted world, and he exists to help the ones he cares for and he only wants to help humanity get back on its feet. It was an AMAZING series and I recommend not only reading it, but also watching the YouTube series first. It’s all over YouTube and the creator just recently brought it up again with a new series. I say check it out. If you want to read it your best bet is to buy the comics online on EBay cause you won’t find an anywhere else unless you own an original in updated IPod. -THE MASK Now, if you know The Mask it’s because of the Jim Carrey film, or if your old enough you saw the TV series that came out shortly after by the same name (we don’t talk about the shitty sequel) But, do you know of the Comic series that came out shortly after? Yes itnwas originally comic series before the movie, but it was much different. The comics still focussed on Stanely Ipkiss, but Stanley wasn’t as friendly as he was in the film. In the comics, he was an insane nut job who, when wearing the mask, was less of a hero and more of an unhinged anti hero. He made Deadpool look like Captain America for Pete’s sake. The man was almost a villain, but he still had moments of good. I haven’t read his comics too much but either way isn’t tour conventional comic character like what Marvel and DC offer. Now, there are other characters as well who deserve more light, like Hellboy( I count him cause he doesn’t get as much light despite four films, cartoon and live action, and an upcoming live action reboot), Moon Knight and Gwenpool from Marvel (look em up they’re to die for), and The Tick sort of. And there are countless others as well. These are just three that hold a special place in my heart and I think they deserve more than they were given. I might do artwork of them and a Q&A series and have them as the people who answer. So stay tuned.

[carthonasi]

My Thoughts on The Last Jedi

It’s been about 3 days now since I’ve seen The Last Jedi and I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on the movie and man oh man, do I have some thoughts on this sucker. This would have been out sooner but I unfortunately had to work all weekend due to the movie’s release and have only gotten around to making this post now. Spoilers under the cut.

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Okay, spoiler time. I’m going to do split my thoughts into a pros and cons list, and for once, I’m actually going to start with the negatives considering all of the controversy surrounding the movie.

CONS

Luke’s characterization for a good bit of the film is so off. Like, come on, you expect me to believe the same Luke Skywalker who refused to kill his father would attempt to murder his nephew in his sleep? Nah, that’s fucking bullshit. I could buy it maybe passing his mind, but to physically turn on that lightsaber? No. It was shit. And it was clearly only there to give Kylo some sort of sympathetic backstory. There were other things that irked me about how Rian Johnson portrayed Luke, but that was my main grievance.

I’m sure someone has written up a better explanation as to why this sucks so I’ll just leave this here simply: I hated that Luke died

Rey and Luke’s plot on Ahch-to just felt like a let down to me. Nothing really deep here, just felt it didn’t live up to the hype. This might change after a second viewing.

I wasn’t a big fan of how much the movie focused on Kylo, including the majority of Rey’s plot being focused on saving him when just a movie ago she literally was ready to kill him for killing Han. (More on things I liked about Kylo in the Pros section)

WHY DID NO ONE BESIDES REY MENTION HAN??? WHY DIDN’T LEIA ESPECIALLY MENTION HAN??? WHY DIDN’T WE GET TO SEE LUKE REACT TO HIS FRIEND’S DEATH IF WE FOUND OUT THAT HE DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT IT??? WHY WASN’T HAN MENTIONED MORE??? 

While I loved Finn and Rose and even liked their plotline (More later in the Pros), I felt the kiss from Rose came out of nowhere. I mean, it was obvious she had a crush, but idk. If they’re pushing FinnRose in the next movie, I’m gonna be slightly disappointed with the build up since their dynamic screamed platonic to me.

When we walked out, my brother mentioned to me that the humor felt “too much”. I didn’t agree or disagree with him at first since I had noted that something about the humor felt different, but now I agree with him as I saw someone mention exactly what type of humor this felt like. This was Marvel^TM humor. And not the good Thor Ragnarok kind. Some of this felt like the faux-Whedon quips that have become standard for Marvel movies. However, I will say that this doesn’t cover all of the humor, just that some of it felt like my brother said: “too much”

One thing that bugged me about the Holdo/Poe plot was that everything could have been avoided if she had told Poe the plan. Like, I understand this is a movie and they needed conflict, but this was handled very poorly in my opinion. 

On the subject of Poe, his character felt slightly off compared to how he was portrayed in TFA and some other material. For a standalone movie, his arc was good and handled decently, but considering this is a follow up and the middle movie of a trilogy, it just seemed off to me. Maybe a second viewing will clear it up for me, but idk that was just my first impression.

Speaking of, I felt that while this movie worked really well and was very good as a standalone movie, I do not think it works well as a sequel to TFA. There were so many elements from TFA that seemed wasted or just completely forgotten. It was very obvious that this movie was written before TFA was finalized, as Rian Johnson has stated. Which leads me to…

Rey’s parentage reveal. It was shit.

Ok, so maybe I’m biased since this was a a subject I’ve been reading into for a while, but this “reveal” did not sit well with me. For one, the reveal came from the fucking villain in a moment where he was obviously trying to manipulate her, so you know, I’m not inclined to believe him. And secondly, the reveal doesn’t line up with what was in the TFA movie proper, or in the TFA novel for that matter, which was based off an earlier version of the script. If Rey’s parents were drunks who sold her off for drinking money and were in a desert grave, why was she shown in her force vision in TFA, crying out for someone in a spaceship to come back? Rey clearly wasn’t a slave in TFA. If she was, she wouldn’t have been able to leave Jakku. I think there are more discrepancies that others have pointed out, but the fact of the matter is, things just don’t line up. I sincerely get what Rian was trying to get across by having her be a random, but God, the execution was so fucking terrible if you look closely.  I’m gonna elaborate more in another post on this subject once I see the movie again tomorrow, but fuck dudes, this was so disappointing. 

Ok, on a less critical note, I just felt the movie dragged towards the end. By the time they reached Crait, I was like, we’re not done yet??? I might have just been tired so if this changes on a second viewing I’ll add an edit. 

Snoke was kind of a disappointment, but I never really cared about him so it didn’t really bug me. Not really an extreme con like the majority of this list, but it’s still a negative so here it is.

Also, I’m adding this in after writing my pros, but I just realized R2 had so little to do and now I’m sad. 

Ok, so a lot of negatives. But there are a lot of positives too so let’s get to those.

PROS

LEIA FUCKING ORGANA. LEIA USING THE FORCE. LEIA BEING AN AWESOME GENERAL. CARRIE FISHER’S PERFORMANCE. JUST. LEIA.

VICE. ADMIRAL. HOLDO. DID. THAT. I’m not gonna fucking lie, that was hands down my favorite scene in the fucking movie. Besides another scene in the movie, it’s the only one that had me genuinely awestruck in the theater. 

MY BOY LUKE SHOWING UP IN AN AWESOME BLACK OUTFIT AND TRIMMED HAIR TO SHOW UP HIS SHITTY NEPHEW. THAT SHOULDER BRUSH WAS SUCH A MIDDLE FINGER TO KYLO I LOVE THAT MAN. MARK HAMILL GETS TOP MARKS FOR PORTRAYING LUKE NO MATTER HOW CRAPPY HIS CHARACTERIZATION WAS IN SOME PARTS.

Ok, I think I’m past the screaming section of this lol. Moving on, I absolutely adored Rose. While her initial scene was a bit iffy, I quickly fell in love with her. Kelly Marie Tran nailed it and I can’t wait to see more of her in Episode IX.  I only wish that we had gotten to know Paige a little better and seen her relationship with Rose before she died, but considering how the film started, I’m not too surprised that didn’t happen.

You know who else I love with all my heart? My beautiful boy Finn. John Boyega continues to make me love him as he sold all of his scenes in this movie. From his scenes with Rose, to the fight with Phasma, he never stopped being such a damn delight to watch. 

Speaking of Finn, FINNREY FUCKING LIVES. I loved all the moments where they referenced each other and I had the biggest smile on my face when they reunited. God I love those kids. 

Speaking of ships, REY//O IS FUCKING DEAD IN THE GROUND. But seriously, how are shippers thinking that this movie confirmed their ship? If anything, this just confirmed that Kylo is forever lost to the dark side and that Rey will probably end up killing him. She literally shut the door on him how do misread that scene? 

Kylo was a fantastic villain. Adam Driver did a great job of portraying him and I love the lengths they went to show just how shitty he is and just how manipulative and evil he is. They even gave him an out with a sympathetic backstory, but nope, he’s still a piece of shit. I’m so glad and relieved he’s not getting a redemption arc because he such a good bad guy. 

That moment where Rey made it look like she was gonna take Kylo’s hand but then swerved and went for the lightsaber and then left his ass unconscious, I was like, “that’s my girl”

Also the lightsaber battle beforehand between Kylo, Rey, and Snoke’s guards was genuinely awesome to watch. A great fight scene. I didn’t get the same emotional feeling that I did watching Kylo and Rey’s duel in TFA but it was still fucking awesome to watch nonetheless.

R2 projecting Leia’s message nearly made me cry.

Another thing that actually made me tear up? Luke and Leia’s reunion, even if Luke was only an astral projection in hindsight. It felt like a goodbye to Carrie, even if it wasn’t shot that way, and his line to Leia (I can’t remember the exact quote) really fucking hurt. 

John William’s Score. I feel like this is a given. I will however note that I think I enjoyed the score for The Force Awakens more. Nonetheless, it’s still John fucking Williams and as such it’s still fucking good

As you can see, I’ve got some very mixed feelings on the movie. No doubt I forgot to mention something, but I’m still pretty wiped from working all weekend. But I’ll just leave with this. I think as a standalone movie, this was very good. There were some great cinematic moments and awesome action sequences. Based on that, I’d probably give it an 8/10. However, as a follow up to TFA, it left me disappointed in many fields, which considering it was written before TFA was actually finished, isn’t all that surprising. So under that criteria, I give it 6/10.

However, I do think you guys should see the movie for yourselves and make your own opinions. It’s such a decisive movie that I think that the only way you’re gonna know how you feel about it for sure, is if you see it with your own eyes. And if you happen to love the movie, I’m happy you got an enjoyable experience.