#made between 1996 - 2005 ...

[millenial-net-utopia-2010]

i doubt it is on youtube, but there used to be series, 5 to 15 minutes long, on var. space facts. it was usually "anchored" by this woman who looked, iirc, like trinity from matrix actress; or Kaylee Frye (Actress Jewel Staite) from Firefly, TV series; but neither i guess is right, it was just how similar she looked the intro and bg was brown, like cafe-pergamen old paper got it was called "via universe" "vea voyage" or such, but idk, it was like 10-20 years ago probably, and the programme could be even older, made between 1996 - 2005 …

[nutzo0001]

i doubt it is on youtube, but there used to be series, 5 to 15 minutes long, on var. space facts. it was usually "anchored" by this woman who looked, iirc, like trinity from matrix actress; or Kaylee Frye (Actress Jewel Staite) from Firefly, TV series; but neither i guess is right, it was just how similar she looked the intro and bg was brown, like cafe-pergamen old paper got it was called "via universe" "vea voyage" or such, but idk, it was like 10-20 years ago probably, and the programme could be even older, made between 1996 - 2005...

[morgana-lefay]

Gotta agree with you! Till has just the perfect amount of body hair! Not too much and not too less! Just perfect!

Hello, Anon! :) I had this sitting on my drafts since April! 😱 Apologies! But I think it's never too late to discourse over Till and his hairy chest and so I decided to finish my answer (I ran out of image space back then). So let's go. First of all, glad to meet another "the perfect amount of body hair" appreciator (for some context, it came from this post) and thank you for bringing this subject to me, which allows me to expand my research further more (meaning, I now have an excuse to post more glorious topless Till 🤷🏻‍♀️. As if an excuse was needed for that in this house, but anyway...). Let's start from the beginning. Our guy seems to have always been a hairy one and, thankfully, 90's Rammstein were ever so naked, so we can appreciate it evolving.

1994...the beginning of it all. Till sports a muscular, hot as hell, body (but again, not too much, just the perfect amount) and a fairly distributed body hair between chest and belly. 10/10, would put my hands all over it. [Bonus look: 1994 Till, just casually hanging around backstage, half-naked, with suspenders on. I accept and embrace this look 👇🏻.]

1995, the year it all disappeared...(for a breef while)

If the information was correct, first one is from November 3rd and second one from December 10th. I guess in the second photo he had already shaved for the Seemann music video, which leads us back to this:

(side note: this post, by @tipsywench described this video hilariously on point. Also open the second picture for chest close-up, where we can see it's not 100% shaven/already growing back).

Seems it was short lived, as in December 19th, hairy belly and chest peeking out again, so back to our regular program.

1996, the happy trails continue.

1997-1999 - Sehnsucht Era

Not sure if it's because of the light in the photos, the water and sweat or if he actually shaved a bit at times, because in some he looks hairier than others.

2000-2002 / Mutter Era There's a lot of changes in the hair department in this Era, but more in haircuts than the rest (but that's subject for a different post).

2004-2005 Reise, Reise Tour (or the Era where everyone looked incredibly hot in their BDSM/Gothic looks)

2009 - 2011 | LIFAD Era (another personal favourite of mine)

Boobs are changing and it looks like there's more hair in the belly area.

2011-2012 Made In Germany

Turning 50, our guy seems to have become more shy on stage and the MIG Era was the last one he graced us with a full shirtless version, unfortunately.

From 2015 on, we got very rare occasions to appreciate his hairy chest, now turned grey.

What is also important to notice for our "perfect amount of body hair" research, is that there's no back or shoulder hair.

(I don't know if it's the image quality, but it actually looks like he shaved his legs in that fishing one)

[wellofdean]

OK, I was going to reblog this excellent post by @luckshiptoshore so go read it, because yes. Yes!! YES!!! But then when I got started my post got super long and I felt bad tacking it onto her post and decided to make my own in response to these tags:

#i am actually a bit obsessed by the whole hunting as queerness metaphor#it’s so clearly something everyone involved in the show is thinking about#supernatural

Gurl, me too! Like go back to the start! By the time Supernatural began, the backlash against the Joseph Campbell Monomyth-style mode of storytelling had already begun in the hallowed halls of USC film school, and yo: I was there at the time of Kripke's graduation, and my best friends from college are full scale big giant time filmmakers now, whose names I will not share on main because it's uncool, and I don't want that attention, but... yeah. I am referencing FIRST HAND SOURCES on this.

But, for a real source? The Oxford English Dictionary places the first use of the term "Queer Theory" in 1990, with Queer Studies as an option in the academy by 1992. I know the kids think it's a new-fangled thing, but Kripke graduated USC in 1996 (I graduated in 1995) and it was ALL THE RAGE by then. My friends read queer theory in their Critical Studies courses in the Film School, I read it in the College of Humanities getting my degree in Literature. By that time, you could not get through that school with any degree in any non-STEM subject without knowing about ye olde postmodern lenses, queer and feminist theory, and without knowing how to employ those lenses.

Queer refers to sexuality, yes, but the word's earliest use (again, according to the OED) is in the 1500's, meaning: strange, odd, peculiar, eccentric. Also: of questionable character; suspicious, dubious.

So, ok, in 2005, Enter Supernatural, episode 1:

Presented? Two brothers. One actively seeking credit in the straight world that is not available to him in the bosom of his family: Stanford, law school, hot co-ed girlfriend, the other bound to his fractured, wounded family by duty, yes, but also by love, living on the fringe, alone, fighting monsters, and chasing after his father's approval, and who has long since given up any dream of being 'normal'. Episode 1 presents Sam's call to adventure, which he refuses when it's just familial duty, honor and love calling him, but accepts when the show takes a very straightforward and very telling path by classically fridging his woman. Ok, now he's on board. Like John, whose motivation is another dead woman, his motivation is revenge. So far so straight!

Dean though: he's different. He is already on the adventure and he was not 'called' or given the option of accepting or refusing because he had no agency when his feet were set upon this road. He does not fit the straight world at all, because he is cobbled together out of love, duty, deep guilt, striving, desperation and fear. This is who he is now, in some elemental, incontrovertible way. It was not a choice for him, he was born to it. His mother is dead, and we later learn, she made the choices that brought them all to this fate. Dean remembers her idyllically, but he is not motivated by revenge, more than any other thing, he wants to be worthy. He wants his father's approval, his brother's love.

Enter Supernatural's main theme: fucked up relationships between men enmeshed in patriarchy, which will eventually expand to include fucking GOD HIMSELF.

And like, there are SO MANY CLEAR STEPS ALONG THE ROAD in season one, and I am not even talking about sexuality and gender here, but there is SO MUCH TO SAY about it in season 1. But I am not talking about that -- I am talking at a structural, narrative level, the whole thing is just fucking all the way queered, yo.

The big climax?

At the end of the season, Dean says: "I just want my family back together. You, me, Dad... it's all I have." He is Sam's mother, John's partner! His vulnerability and emotion is feminized and contrasted with Sam and John's more overtly driven by their more masculine/straight heroic revenge quest. John: "Sam and I can get pretty obsessed, but you always take care of this family." Only that's not John talking, it's Azazel, and Dean knows it is because his father would never forgive how soft he is, how he will always choose love and family over revenge. Then, in the end, the show makes a huge point of telegraphing that Sam is finally aligning with Dean by refusing to shoot Azazel because he's possessing John, and Sam just can't do that to Dean.

Sam and Dean are thus bound together and cemented into a marginalised path, living on the road, haunting liminal spaces and cheap motels, confronting the monstrous everyday. Sam is presented as the brains of the operation, he does research, logics his way through things (masculine) while Dean is the heart who acts impulsively and on instinct and intuition (feminine).

It later transpires that Sam has a piece of the monster inside himself, and Dean has to learn to love the monstrous, he has no choice, because Sam is his brother and then Cas... and, and, and!

Like... I could go on and on, citing ENDLESS EXAMPLES. This could be a literal book. Maybe one you need to read with a magnifying glass like my condensed edition of the OED. LIke, the queerness of Supernatural is DIZZYING and MYRIAD.

But basically? FROM THE START, hunting is a queered version of family, and within that, Dean is a queered version of a Campbellian hero. Hunting is a metaphor for otherness and liminality, and that's even before you say a WORD about sex. It starts in deviation from the norms of family, masculinity and expands from there on so many levels both in story and on a meta level. The story is flesh on queer fucking bones.

I'm so sorry, but anyone who thinks queerness was not BAKED INTO Supernatural and more specifically into Dean from DAY 1 has clearly never seen Dean's insane lip gloss in season 1, and vastly underestimates the cultural awareness of people who write shit in Hollywood, and also the other people who put pink lip gloss on pretty boys in Hollywood. Nothing that gets on your screen wasn't a fucking choice made and approved by a LONG LIST of people who know what they are about.

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Bengiyo's Queer Cinema Syllabus

For those of you who don’t know, I decided to run the gauntlet of @bengiyo’s queer cinema syllabus, which is comprised of 9 units. I have completed four of the units (here is my queer cinema syllabus round up post with all the films I’ve watched and written about so far). It is time for me to make my way through Unit 5- Lesbians, which includes the following films: The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995), Bound (1996), Water Lilies (2007), Saving Face (2004), D.E.B.S. (2004), Set It Off (1996), The Handmaiden (2016), Carol (2015), Imagine Me and You (2005), Two of Us (2019), Rafiki (2018), and The Color Purple (1985). 

Today I will be talking about 

Bound (1996) dir. Wachowski Sisters

[Run Time: 1:48 , Language: English]

Summary: Tough ex-con Corky and her lover Violet concoct a scheme to steal millions of stashed mob money and pin the blame on Violet's crooked boyfriend Caesar. Cast: - Jennifer Tilly as Violet - Gina Gorshon as Corky __

OKAY! THIS MOVIE KICKS ASS! What a gift to dykes everywhere, let me tell you. I cannot believe this was the Wachowski Sister’s directorial debut. It makes so much sense to me how they would have gotten such success off of The Matrix and Sense8 if this was their first foray in to directing because it is evident how strong of an idea they have for the story they are telling and what they want their audience to see. Maybe it helps that they wrote it as well, but still they know exactly what they want to do in every scene. 

It’s really fun watching Bound knowing that it was made before Lana and Lily Wachowski came out because it is so clear to me that queer women made this film. Corky and Violet are so horny for each other, we get multiple on camera lesbian sex scenes, they are both hot as fuck and the camera lets us know it in a way that somehow (for me at least) manages to convey both a carnal desire to Tap That without feeling like it is objectifying the women on screen.

I think it is really interesting that this entire heist took place across two rooms in an apartment complex, and that all of this could still go down. I loved how run down the apartment Corky was fixing up looks and how grandiose Violet’s apartment is. The class disparity is there, but we know where Violet stands because she always places herself in Corky’s spaces. 

I saw a little interview from the Wachowski’s talking about what is one of my favorite shots in the film, when the camera transitions birdseye between Violet on the phone in her bedroom and Corky on the phone on the other side of the wall. They were talking about how these two women are trapped and how caged in they wanted the set to feel, so not only did they keep them in those rooms but they covered the apartment in squares to just keep them caged and caged and caged at every level. And you can see it, even though it is sometimes subtle. It’s in the wallpaper, it’s on the floor, the concrete slabs, etc. (You can see an example in the gif above)

I liked that Corky set the plot up so well by telling Violet that if they were going to steal the money that she needed to know her mark as well if not better than she knows herself, and how the rush job to take the money backfires so spectacularly at the very last part of the plan because Corky doesn’t know Ceaser well enough to realize he is going to stay and fight rather than turn tail and run when he realizes the money is gone. 

I talked a few times about the color red and the symbolism associated with it in Heartbreak Alley, how every time I saw blood on screen in the back half of Unit 4 the only thing I could think about was AIDS. So it is really interesting moving in to Unit 5 to spaces where we see a lot of blood and where suddenly that symbolism is gone. Now the blood is prison and freedom all in one. I love the way Ceaser’s blood mixes with the white paint at the end. The blood dripping on the white tile of the bathroom, on the toilet. All the ways in which sins and crime can be wiped clean, and how white makes everything else stand out, until it doesn’t. I was struck by the transition between Ceaser bleeding out in that pool of white paint, and the Landlord Special room we transitioned to with all those impossibly white walls. 

Favorite Moment: 

Oh god, there are so many little things I loved, the shot of Corky and Violet’s lips an inch apart and then crashing together to make out. Their fingers intertwining in the car at the end of the film. The fact that Corky wears her lockpicks as earrings, #innovation. But I think my absolute favorite little moment in the film is when Ceaser has Corky bound at his feet and he’s interrogating her about the money, and he points the gun at her face and he says: “Fucking queers you make me sick” which sounds like a weird choice to have as my favorite moment, but it is entirely because of the second after that line when Violet’s eyes flick upwards to look at him. Because she, too, is a queer woman and we are not allowed to forget that just because she spends so much of the film bound to this man because of his money and his power over her. 

Favorite Quote: 

“I had this image of you inside of me. Like a part of me.” 

It’s repeated a few times in the film though it always feels kind of randomly placed. But I like it for the simple fact that it is like calling to like. Queer woman trapped in her own life calling out to a queer woman trapped in her own life. I like that we get the counterpart to this quote at the end when Corky asks Violet “do you know what the difference is between you and me, Violet?” // “No.” // “Me neither.”  It’s just such a lovely parallel that comes at the end of all of their suffering, their abuse, and the freedom they have gained. 

Score

10/10

Gina Gershon hot.

What else is there to say?

[hotjaneaustenmenpoll]

Welcome to the HOT JANE AUSTEN MEN bracket! Submissions for the Austen Silver Foxes Tournament are now open!

Voting on all the HOTTEST Jane Austen Gentlemen and Rakes from all the many TV and Film Jane Austen Adaptations ended earlier this year and after nearly two months of voting we have our Winner! Thank you everyone for taking part and all your propaganda now send me some for the old men!

All polls—including ongoing polls, previous rounds,mini ask polls—can be found in the #hotjaneaustenmenpoll tag. The Silver Fox Tournament will be tagged #janeaustensilverfoxes Every poll in the Hot Jane Austen Men Tournament is tagged with the hot regency man and the year his adaptation was made if you need to search for a hot man in particular.

FAQs:

"Will there be a Hot Jane Austen Women Tournament?" Yes! My aim is to start late September/early October baring any disasters - the Jane Austen Men Poll lasted about two months in the end (and I think the women may end up longer) so I thought it would be nice to bookend the year! This will also give me a break between this and the silver foxes poll.

"Can I submit hot Jane Austen men?” If it's for the Silver Fox Tournament - Yes! Fill out the google form here (or send me an ask and I may consider it too)

“I have additional propaganda for the hot men!” Great! Send me an ask, tag me in gifsets, fancams etc or reblog the poll and add your propaganda to it. Also feel free to send in any book propaganda!! I'll try to boost as much propaganda as possible

If you’re submitting propaganda for your hot man, I don’t accept propaganda that is of the actor outside of their Specific Jane Austen Adaptation but I do accept propaganda from them in their respective books. I would love to be tagged in gifsets and fancams, and I'd like to boost propaganda that tells us why your Jane Austen man is your favourite :)

I won’t post or boost negative propaganda. If you really hate that a certain hot man is winning, send me positive propaganda for their hot opponent. I may make exceptions if your propaganda is of another Austen character bad mouthing him though...

Why is the propaganda so uneven on this poll? To stay impartial I only add propaganda to the main poll that has been sent in before each round's polls open. If you submit any after then I will reblog or post and add to the winner's propaganda in the next poll. If it's uneven it's because you never sent any in, not because I'm being biased.

“Where is [my favourite Jane Austen man]?” Have you checked all the polls in the tag? Have you done a tag search for him? Only some of the actors are tagged but if you search for his adaptation and the year he was in it you should find him! If you still haven’t found him, he probably isn't in this poll.

“WHERE ARE THE HOT JANE AUSTEN MEN. I want to see all the hot men competing in one place!" -

The Final , Third Place Poll ,Semi-Finals ,Quarter-Finals ,Round Three Master List , Round Two Master List , Round One Master List

“Who was included in the original tournament ?” We started with 64 opponents readied their duelling pistols to defend their own hotness! I included men from Pride and Prejudice 1940/1995/2005, Sense and Sensibility 1971/1995/2008, Emma 1996/1996/2009/2020, Northanger Abbey 2007, Persuasion 1995/2007/2022 and Mansfield Park 1983/ 1999/2007 as well as a couple from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, one from Sanditon and one from Love and Friendship/Lady Susan. Most are the main hero/anti-heroes but there are a few others scattered in too.

Have you included Spin Offs ?”  In the Silver Foxes Poll - Yes! However the only strictly none Jane Austen adaptation in the original poll were from Pride and Prejudice and Zombies because it is set in the correct time period, the characters are basically the same in terms of personality and I thought the casting was great! In terms of Sandition, Sidney Parker is the only man I have entered as he is mentioned in the book as well as the TV so sadly as much as I love the other Sanditon Men they aren't included!

"How have you paired up the men ?" I did start to try and vaguely seed the men but I will be honest I did get a bit slap dash towards the end which means a couple of the match-ups are maybe a bit too even but fun I hope!

If I see repetitive, trolling, and/or bigoted remarks in the comments, I may block you from this bracket. If you want to point out a hot man’s flaws or misdemeanours, that’s fine, but if I see consistent bad-faith trolling, you will be blocked.

On that note—if you have an issue with a poll, offer a solution! I'll do my best to keep the poll happy and fun, and I'll block people being dicks. If you don’t like a poll photo or a description, offer one I can use instead.

“My FAQ isn’t on here :(” send me an ask! I'd love to hear from you guys—just please check these basics first.

Thank you for being here! Enjoy the tournament.

And Thank You @hotvintagepoll for the inspiration!

[batsplat]

We were a good team. And we had a lot of fun in that 1996 season. Or rather, I had a lot of fun. That was me at my craziest. I really was an absolute pest. I had no respect for anyone on the track. To me they were all the same, it made no difference if it was a veteran vying for the title, or a debutant like me. I just wanted to go fast, very fast, and if I saw an opening, I went for it. I wanted to overtake everyone, come what may. In other words, I made people uncomfortable. I was fast, but I made mistakes. Too many times I threw away decent positions. I think I must have fallen fifteen or so times that season. In the very first race, I got into an argument with Jorge Martinez. We were at Shah Alam in Malaysia. I was making my debut and had secured a spot in the third row. I started very well and I'm not sure how, but I somehow found myself alongside the leaders early on. I was cruising along somewhere between seventh and eighth position. At one point, Dirk Raudies was in front of me and Martinez just behind me. Raudies' engine seized up, and, to avoid him, I instinctively braked, changing trajectory. Martinez was unable to avoid me, hit me, and fell. That was the year in which Martinez, riding the "official" Aprilia, was heavily favoured in the race for the title. I had just upset one of the darlings, one of the "untouchables" of the world championship. I finished the race in sixth place and was quite pleased. In fact, everyone around me was pleased, we were all celebrating. Then, suddenly, I came face to face with Martinez and Angel Nieto. "Son of a bitch!" they shouted. "We're going to tear you a new arsehole!" That's when I realised they probably did not like me very much. So I slipped behind the mechanic, who was a big guy, using him as a shield. The two Spaniards were rabid, they looked as if they wanted to beat me up, so the big mechanic did come in very handy, as a deterrent. But I soon started enjoying the scene, rather than being frightened. The pair of them were absolutely furious, but they also looked so funny, in the way that only short people can look funny when they get really angry. And both of them were tiny, unintimidating in every way. I was not really worried at all.

Valentino Rossi in his 2005 autobiography, What if I had never tried it

he went on to beat jorge martinez for his first ever race win - from the rec list:

[melblur]

Finally feeling comfortable enough to call this somewhat definitive after a lotta back-and-fourth. This is my Topsters 25 favorite albums, made with the self-imposed restriction of only featuring one album per artist/band. (Not in any real order, just grouped for aesthetics)

Ofc please feel free to send me recommendations of any sort or ask about any of the choices - some of these were reallllly close calls between others from the artist/band's discography lol

List & short desc. below the cut:

Kara's Flowers - The Fourth World (1994)

Green Day - Saviors (2024)

Paramore (2013)

Arctic Monkeys - Favorite Worst Nightmare (2007)

Game Theory - Lolita Nation (1987)

underscores - Wallsocket (2023)

Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007)

Weezer - OK Human (2020)

Explosions in the Sky - The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place (2003)

Coldplay - Ghost Stories (2014)

Muse - The Resistance (2009)

Tribe Friday - Hemma (2023)

SiIvaGunner - RIP² (2023)

(t-t)b - Suporma (2021)

The Wannadies - Bagsy Me (1997)

Origami Angel - Somewhere City (2019)

Boards of Canada - The Campfire Headphase (2005)

Crying - Beyond the Fleeting Gales (2016)

Anamanaguchi - [USA] (2019)

Porter Robinson - Nurture (2021)

Hey, ily! - Psychokinetic Love Songs (2022)

Jamiroquai - Automaton (2017)

Kmoy - The Precure Album (2021)

Popsicle (1996)

Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane (2002)

[timeagainreviews]

In Space, Nobody Can Hear You Scream for Your Nappy Change

Few shows have had as many pilot episodes as Doctor Who. From “An Unearthly Child,” to the 1996 TV movie, to 2005’s “Rose,” and now “Space Babies.” However, one could argue that every new Doctor is essentially a pilot episode. There are notable shifts in the show’s dynamic to such a degree that it’s practically a reset. Any major personnel shift is a renewal. The transition from William Hartnell to Patrick Troughton, the transfer of power from Russell T Davies to Steven Moffat, and again, from Moffat to Chris Chibnall, for example. Even series ten began with the cheeky title “The Pilot,” where we find the Doctor earthbound as a college professor with his student, Bill, and his wife, Nardole. But “Space Babies,” is an odd one, for so many reasons. Mostly because it’s introducing us to characters we’ve been getting to know for a couple of episodes now. Then, of course, there’s everything else.

For some, an episode called “Space Babies” was always going to be a hard sale. Back in March when they revealed the new episode titles as a series of vignettes, Space Babies looked and sounded a lot like what we got. Sometimes a very literal title can be a bit of fun. “Snakes on a Plane,” tells you everything you need to know going in. While it may have benefitted from a bit of virality, you could argue that it does more with its premise than something like “Cocaine Bear,” which was little more than its title. I’ve complained in the past that my issue with the concept of the Timeless Child was that you could figure out the story by hearing the words. If I can watch a story in my head from its title, then in the words of Amy Pond- what is the point of you? My reaction to the title “Space Babies,” was very similar. Except in this case, I would say it was closer to a “Snakes On a Plane,” than a “Cocaine Bear.”

We’re off to a great start. I got to mention cocaine and babies in the same sentence. Speaking of awkward starts, why did Russell T Davies decide to open the show with the twee episode for the kiddies? Those types of stories are usually relegated to the mid-season point, after a really good one. I guess they needed a palette cleanser to put some space between “The Giggle,” and “The Devil’s Chord,” as they’re essentially the same story twice. But that��s for the next review. Though “Rose,” has its own brand of wacky weirdness with man-eating rubbish bins and plastic boyfriend doppelgangers with pizza peels for hands. Even still, it’s an odd choice for the “pilot.”

A lot of the episode’s enjoyment is predicated on how cute you think babies are. In my case, it’s not very much. If they had called the episode “Space Kittens,” it would have hooked me. But babies come with baggage. People are weird about babies. Babies are often politicised, which this episode definitely does, but more on that later. Another reason why babies were a hard sell for me is they’re not actors. Child actors are rarely good, so filtering their performances through the vacant faces of babies is like making a bad thing worse. Sure, they animated their mouths with cutting-edge technology straight from 1995’s “Babe,” but their faces gave us no range of emotion unless you count Eric, whose facial expression was that of one constantly bricking it in his diaper. I was reminded of the Gelflings in “The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance,” in that it takes some getting used to the look of their faces. Except in the case of the Gelflings, the Jim Henson Creature Workshop knew their limitations and used CGI where the puppets fell short. A furrowed brow would have gone a long way to sell the babies.

However, I’m not made of stone. I’m not so joyless that I can’t send my critical brain on a little vacay for 46 minutes. I also appreciate that Doctor Who still takes the time to do stories for children. It’s a family show, after all. I was even impressed that the episode was able to sell me on the concept of a booger man (or Bogeyman to be precise) when “Sleep No More,” had so utterly failed to sell me on the concept of eye booger men previously. Even more, I had never expected to feel an emotional connection to said Bogeyman. While a lot of it had to do with Ncuti Gatwa’s performance, I’ll admit I actually got a little choked up at the end of the episode. Even a snotty little freak of nature deserves a place in the world, and I identified with that. It’s nice when a Doctor Who episode ends and it was actually about something.

As mentioned before, Russell T Davies uses the baggage that comes along with babies to stoke the fire of his own story. Through the eyes of Jocylen, the ship’s reluctant nanny, we see the babies in another light- as a constant source of worry. Having never wanted the job in the first place, Jocylen’s part is one of necessity rather than vocation. No one working in the field of charity or crisis aid wants to be doing the work. Sure, it’s fulfilling, but the nature of its necessity is telling of the world at large, or in this case- star system. In a perfect star system, no child would go unhugged, unattended, or forgotten. Yet here she is, forced by circumstance and emboldened by compassion to rise to the occasion. She may not be nailing it, but seriously, who the hell else was taking care of the children they forced to exist? If “Kill the Moon,” was Doctor Who’s pro-life story, this episode stands in stark contrast as the pro-choice story.

An episode with a butt-shaped space station that farts its way to the shores of freedom seems like an odd choice to talk about refugees, but it’s also the episode that gave a booger a soul. While a lot of the tone aligns more with “Aliens of London/World War Three,” or “Love and Monsters,” the message aligns more with something like “Turn Left.” Russell T Davies is giving us a spoonful of sugar with our medicine, which seems the correct approach in a show where Christmas trees are capable of murder. Suffice it to say, seeing a Rwandan refugee playing a British icon on the BBC commenting on the conservative government’s Rwandan bill is better than anything the show could do on its own. You almost have to do it, and more than I’m glad RTD rose to the occasion, I’m glad it was Ncuti who got to do it.

Speaking of things only Ncuti Gatwa could do, I appreciate that his Doctor is emotionally available enough to offer a hug to a child while still being alien enough to scare the bejeezus out of them. I can’t really picture Tom Baker hugging anyone, though I can imagine him scaring the bejeezus out of someone. Maybe Matt Smith would do it. Jodie as well. But Gatwa’s Doctor is an interesting mixture of compassionate and completely aloof. It’s a mixture that is sometimes at odds with itself, but it works. You see it in brief moments like when Ruby’s caretaker instincts take over and she runs head-on into danger, while the Doctor takes a moment to pop around the corner and catch up to her. It’s the classic dynamic of the Doctor being reminded of human nature by his companion.

I really like this selfless defender of the people streak in Ruby’s personality. It reminds me a lot of an ‘80s companion. She’s like a mixture of Nyssa and Ace. She puts herself in harm's way to protect others. She writes songs to cheer up lovesick lesbians. She’s got a very full personality that is palpable very early on. We got this level of character development with RTD’s earlier companions, and it’s nice to see it continue. What’s less nice is how he seems to have also taken a page from Steven Moffat’s book where the companion must also be needlessly complicated. What’s more is it feels less enticing and more like retreading familiar territory. It’s giving “The Impossible Girl,” vibes with an Amy Pond pregnancy body scan to bring it full circle. This is one of my biggest issues with the RTD2 era so far- it feels like a remix of past Doctor Who. That isn’t to say he’s added nothing new to the show, but it does feel a bit Clara 2.0. I’m just saying, it doesn’t always have to be some star-crossed destiny. If you do it every time, it loses its power.  Sometimes people just meet each other. Say what you will about Yaz’s characterisation, but at least she was allowed to be a person.

The story at the heart of “Space Babies,” is ultimately a bit thin. You could argue that there was never any real threat, but that happens sometimes on Doctor Who (take “Listen,” for example). I’ve seen some people online complaining that the Bogeyman doesn’t die, but what does it really do other than scare people? Sure, you see Eric’s pram toppled and find him characteristically bricking it in his diaper, but he’s not got a scratch on him. What if Eric went missing because the Bogeyman “ate” him. They could reveal that he actually was protecting Eric from the dangers of the malfunctioning bowels of the ship. Imagine the bogey bits tearing away out of the airlock, slowly revealing Eric inside. Not only would Jocylen have almost taken an innocent life, but two innocent lives. Pair that with the Doctor's brave rescue and blammo! It could have upped the tension and implied more danger, is all I’m saying.

I was a bit confused by the ship’s computer creating the Bogeyman in the first place. That entire aspect of the plot was skimmed over and very flimsy. I thought they were doing something with the show’s new magical premise, a “superstition of the Bogeyman made him exist,” sort of angle. But no, it was just something the ship did, for reasons. I also expected that to be the reason for Ruby's transformation into the weird scaly lizard woman. I expected it to suddenly be possible through superstition that stepping on a butterfly could change the course of history. But instead, the Doctor forgot to push the butterfly compensator on the TARDIS console. Kinda weird that RTD had two moments to further his own mythology but sided on technobabble. Not bad, just odd.

One aspect that bothered me was how long it took them to reveal the Bogeyman was made of snot. When they took the time to do this whole to do with the babies blowing their noses, I immediately looked over at my wife and said “The Bogeyman is made of baby boogers,’ to which she responded “I hate that you’re right.” They telegraphed it so hard that it made the Doctor seem slow on the uptake. If you recall from my review of "The Husbands of River Song," I felt like they did the same thing to River with how long it took her to recognise the Doctor. However, I imagine it's a bit of a balancing act to know when to reveal something. The Doctor doesn't necessarily have all of the information we have as an audience.

As pilots go, “Space Babies,” could have done better at introducing a new audience to Doctor Who. Much of the expository dialogue about who the Doctor is or where he came from felt rushed and unnatural. My friend Taryn said she enjoyed this aspect of the Doctor being less cryptic and more forthcoming with information. While I agree, I feel like the execution was clumsy, a word we’re starting to see more often in my reviews of the RTD2 era. For comparison, take Fallout, a show that came out only a month earlier. Both are technically first seasons of tv shows based on pre-existing properties with dense lore. Both have eight episodes to tell their stories. And yet with Fallout, we get a trickle of information as things happen. With Doctor Who we have the Doctor stopping his companion mid-sentence to say “Oh yeah, by the way, I have two hearts.” Look, I get it, I’m neurodivergent. I appreciate a good infodump. But there’s a big reason people are calling Fallout a triumph- it respects its audience enough to reveal things over time.

RTD said recently that young people won’t watch black and white. I don’t know if this is true as I am a cusp gen x/millennial. I don’t know much about what kids get up to these days, but I also don’t go around saying what they will and won’t do. It sounds a lot like “Those damn kids with their hip hop video games,” or like “Kids don’t like anything that isn’t Tik Tok or Roblox.” It feels like it misunderstands the appeal of storytelling in the first place. Studio executives have never fully understood what is good about Doctor Who. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, it was “Why can’t it be like Star Wars?” In the Chibnall era, the goal was to compete with Netflix. And now it’s “We need to meet the same standards of Marvel.” But if Doctor Who is always being compared to something else, you curse it into always being behind the curve. When I fell in love with Doctor Who, it was because it wasn’t like anything I had ever seen before. If I want to watch Iron Man, I’ll watch Iron Man.

Not all of the expository dialogue was without merit. I’ve been continually impressed by RTD’s handling of the Timeless Child storyline. As longtime readers know, I was not a fan of that story. Hell, first-time readers probably picked up on it in this article. But I don’t think it’s fair to discount the people who did enjoy that story. And I think it is far more interesting for the show to develop the idea as opposed to sweeping it under the rug. We learned that the Time Lord genocide was cellular, which helps the whole concept of the Master achieving what millions of Daleks couldn’t do make more sense. It’s amazing how much a single line of dialogue can overcome a lot of shoddy writing. I liked the Doctor stating that it doesn’t matter where he comes from, as I’ve been saying that the whole damn time. It’s also nice that despite everything, the Doctor is still a Time Lord in his hearts of hearts. We as fans kinda need those moments so we can collectively move on from what has been a rather ugly time in the fandom.

That’s not to say we aren’t still in an ugly culture battle within the fandom. Racism is still a very real aspect to the conversation. As are ableism, sexism, transphobia. And despite RTD meeting these things head-on with the grace of a fish out of water, we’ve still got some great points of intrigue. Who is this woman played by Susan Twist we keep seeing in the background? Who is the one who waits? Is Mrs Flood the White Guardian to Susan Twist’s Black Guardian? I would love to say it’s the Rani because it’s been 20 fucking years of it not being the Rani, which is also the exact reason I won’t say it’s the Rani. But god I wish it was the Rani. They even name-drop her! Give us this one, please. My point being, despite its daftness and its expressionless babies, “Space Babies,” still gives us a lot to go off of. If you didn’t like it, do what I did and watch it twice. The emotional resonance works better when it feels less like you’re watching a car accident.

Look, if you didn’t like “Space Babies,” I get it. Maybe it’s not for you. There are weird little problems with the episode. The expository dialogue I mentioned, for example. The babies are a bit much. The Bogeyman howling like a werewolf was batshit weird. I guess it was because they compared him to a dog. Even then, why not make it bark? You could ask things like “Why didn’t the Doctor use the TARDIS to fly them to safety instead of setting their space station on a crash course with the planet’s surface?” or "Why didn't the Doctor get sucked out of the airlock? It's air pressure, not gravity." Is the humour still falling a bit flat? Sure. It’s easy to pick stuff apart. But come on, the episode is called “Space Babies,” you knew ahead of time if that concept was going to work for you or not.

_______________________________________________

Thanks for reading! I'm sorry these articles are taking a while. Having two episodes drop simultaneously doubles my workload! I'll have the review for "The Devil's Chord," up tomorrow! Hopefully next week will be more timely.

[pompadourpink]

hi mom ik you're a big fan of cinema and im lookign for new movies to watch, can u share your top 4? thank uuu

Oh dear, you're killing me.

Phantom of the Paradise - Brian de Palma (1974), a musical and the lovechild of the myth of Faust, the Phantom of the Opera, and the Shining (the soundtrack is to die for).

La Folie des Grandeurs - Gérard Oury (1971), an adaptation from a play (by the author of les Mis) about politics, the Court of Spain, love, greed - I've been in love with the lackey my whole life.

The Seventh Seal - Ingmar Bergman (1957), the story of a medieval soldier playing chess against Death to save his life (and a great source of relief when my head was playing against me).

The 101 Dalmatians - Stephen Herek (1996), not quite auteur cinema but my favourite comfort movie, at first a great reminder of how peaceful life without modern day tech was, then an amazing love story, then an investigation, a fantastic cast, perfect villains, many dogs, great music, my whole heart on a platter.

I will make a longer list and you cannot stop me:

Rear Window - Alfred Hitchcock (1954), where a photographer stuck at home after an accident grows suspicious of a neighbour whose wife has disappeared.

La Jetée - Chris Marker (1962), an experimental sci-fi short movie made by one of my favourite directors, about the scientific experiments done on a man to save the world, that later inspired Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys (that could also be on this list).

Anything? (Seven chances, Cops, The Cameraman) - Buster Keaton (1920s), my second favourite director and a firework on legs who was never afraid of a stunt.

The Host - Bong Joon Ho (2006), where lab waste thrown into the sea creates a monster that kidnaps a girl, forcing her good for nothing father to finally do something with his life.

Death becomes her - Robert Zemeckis (1992), where two middle-aged actresses fight for a man, get blinded by their desire for youth and cross paths with magic and murder.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Jim Sharman (1975), the meeting between a young old school couple and a group of weird creatures in a mansion (including my husband Tim Curry).

Pride and Prejudice - Joe Wright (2005), of course.

Body Snatchers - Philip Kaufman (1978), one of the four adaptations of the book and the best one in my opinion, the story of people mysteriously disappearing and returning changed and a tale about human passion.

Old boy - Park Chan-Wook (2003), the visually stunning and heartbreaking story of a man randomly kidnapped, kept somewhere for years, then released without a word.

Minority Report - Spielberg (2002), a dystopian movie about a world where the efforts of science and exploitation have put an end to criminality, at a great price.

Sleeping Beauty - Disney (1959), the most beautiful one, the only one with a composer's music, one of the best villains.

The Age of Adaline - Lee Toland Krieger (2015), the story of a woman who stopped aging and navigates the world while trying to not get caught or catch feelings.

Planet Terror - Robert Rodriguez (2007), an unserious tale of zombies, a virus, and Rose McGowan's pew pew leg.

Home alone 2 - Chris Columbus (1992), for Christmas in New York, Tim Curry, the toy store's owner, and the pigeon lady.

Electrick children - Rebecca Thomas (2012), where a Mormon teenager gets pregnant with the child of God after listening to a tape and runs away to Vegas to find the dad.

And many more I'm afraid. Hope you will like those! x

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

Shudder Before The Beautiful • Weak Fantasy • Élan • Yours Is An Empty Hope • Our Decades In The Sun • My Walden • Endless Forms Most Beautiful • Edema Ruh • Alpenglow • The Eyes Of Sharbat Gula • The Greatest Show On Earth (i. Four Point Six, ii. Life, iii. The Toolmaker, iv. The Understanding, v. Sear-Worn Driftwood)

Spotify ♪ YouTube

Submitter's note included under the break due to length.

This album is the first album made with their current and third singer and first without their previous drummer who had to retire due to severe insomnia and is themed around science and reason to constrast the previous album about fantasy. The latter part of the album quotes passages from Charles Darwin and Richard Dawkins. One of their live shows even had Richard Dawkins as a guest and he read live for their insane 21 minute track 'The Greatest Show On Earth' which is a song about evolutionary history. The album is intended by the songwriter Toumas Holopainen to be listened to beginning to end like a movie. The band camped out in an isolated cabin to write this album. They also got a crab "Tanidromites nightwishorum" AND a prehistoric rockshelter (Alpenglow Rockshelter) named after them/their songs for this album.

The band: Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band that started in 1996 that has had three different lead singers over its run, with the first (Tarja Turunen) parting ways with the band in a very public and emotionally fraught friend breakup in 2005 that to this day causes divisive fights in the fanbase about the decision between the really old fans and the newer ones. Their current lead singer and the one for this album is Floor Jensen, a classically trained dutch singer who joined in 2015 and has incredible range. They are one of the most successful Finnish bands. Their songs contain repeating themes of wonder at the natural world and wanting to return to innocence/childhood, but may broach a variety of topics.

Songs not on this album you might know them from: End of All Hope - Song used a lot in amvs on youtube. Wish I Had An Angel - biggest US hit single Amaranth - got very popular in Europe as a single Ghost Love Score - The live version with Floor instead of the album version with Anette (the second singer) is fairly popular on youtube. This is a song that most fans start with as its a good introduction to Nightwish's current style without being too isoteric. Interesting song notes: In 'Yours Is an Empty Hope' that is indeed Floor doing the super low death growls. Marco is the one singing clean. Yes really. Alpenglow is considered the "ultimate Nightwish song" by Holopainen.

The Greatest Show on Earth is the longest song this band has recorded to date, includes quotes by Dawkins and Darwin, and includes homages to music history with excerpts from Dies Irae, Minuet in G major, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565 by Bach and Enter Sandman by Metallica. Holopainen considers this song their most ambitious song to date he says the song "is probably the culmination of everything that we've done together". Personal notes: AAAAUUHGHGHG This band makes me insane. They make a song an atmospheric experience. Most bands are not great live- they are better live. Somehow. They have incredible stage presence. This album is my favorite Nightwish album and probably my favorite album of all time.

[juanabaloo]

Top 5 sapphic movie recs? :)

Thanks for the ask! In order, from 5 to 1: D.E.B.S. (2004) - Lucy and Amy Mosquita y Mari (2012) - Yolanda y Mari - the one movie i would show my kid self (if i could time travel) Bound (1996) - Violet and Corky Imagine Me and You (2005) - Luce and Rachel Saving Face (2004) - Wil and Vivian - the one movie I would save from a fire (if i could only save one)

[captions top to bottom: Lucy and Amy with guns drawn in D.E.B.S. Yolanda and Mari hanging out in Mosquita y Mari. Violet reaches out to hold Corky's hand in Bound. Luce laughs as Rachel fishes her wedding ring out of the punch in Imagine Me and You. Wil looks at Vivian's hair and then stares longingly at her face in Saving Face.]

Highly reco all of these! More spoiler-free ranting, worksafe gifs, and trailer links under the cut. (one mild SPOILER ... but good news: none of these women die, like not even a little bit!!)

starting the list at Number Five: D.E.B.S. (2004) is Comedy, rated PG-13, and a campy delight. I buy the chemistry between Lucy (L below) and Amy (R ), and it's a cute enemies-to-lovers story. It doesn't take itself too seriously. And as the gif text says: Charlie's Angels but it's actually gay!!!

Best to watch: when you want something campy with some fun spy action scenes. Kissing plus. Also: Jordana Brewster!

D.E.B.S. (2004) trailer

Number Four: Mosquita y Mari (2012) is an unrated Drama (PG-13-ish IMO) that's one of my all-time faves*. Mari (L below) and Yolanda (R ) are high schoolers and they are INTO EACH OTHER. You can practically see the vibrations in between them. It's about two Chicanas and it touches on family and money and immigrant stuff. (*If I could go back in time and show my kid self one movie - out of all the movies in the world - it would be this one.) There is a lot of intimacy between them, but there's nothing explicit.

Best to watch: when you want to reminisce about high school and that friend you had feelings for. Grappling and holding hands and snuggling. Also: gorgeously shot scenes that set the mood, even with no dialogue.

Mosquita y Mari (2012) trailer

coming in at Number Three: Bound (1996) is a Heist movie, rated R, and amazing. The directorial debut of the Wachowski sisters. Chemistry for MILES between Violet (L below) and Corky (R ). Also a strong crime/thriller/heist plot, aside from all the chemistry. I don't find the violence to be THAT explicit but that's my opinion.

Best to watch: when you want to see a very sexy heist movie and don't mind some violence. Rated R for a reason (both sex and violence). Also: Jennifer Tilly and her voice! Gina Gershon in a white tank top! Both of them in leather jackets!

Bound (1996) trailer

Number Two: Imagine Me and You (2005) is a Rom-Com that's rated R, and super cute. It's love at first sight but there's some angst. Rachel (first gif below, L) is trying to resist her attraction to Luce (R ). I feel like this movie doesn't really deserve the R rating. Anyway, it's cute and fun.

Best to watch: when you want some decent angst, but a happy ending. Lots of intense making out. Also: British accents! a flower shop! Dance Dance Revolution! Piper Perabo and Lena Headey!

Imagine Me and You (2005) trailer

and at the top of my list at Number One: Saving Face (2004) is another Rom-Com that's rated R, and it's PERFECT TO ME. If I could only grab one movie to save from a fire - out of all the movies ever made - it would be this one! It's childhood friends - who reconnect as adults - to lovers. Vivian (L below in the first gif) is a dancer while Wil (R ) is a doctor, technically a surgeon. There's family and immigrant stuff, and they are both Chinese-American.

Best to watch: when you want angst with a happy ending, with some good mother-daughter stuff too. Flirting, making out, intense making out, hand holding, and yes a bedroom scene. Also: authentic Mandarin! a comforting mother-daughter relationship! a race to the airport scene!

Saving Face (2004) trailer

Lightning in a bottle stuff here, seriously. Lynn Chen (who plays Vivian) had never been in a feature film before. Michelle Krusiec (who plays Wil) had never had a lead role before. Alice Wu wrote AND directed the movie, and this was literally her FIRST MOVIE. You would never guess any of that watching this movie. They all knock it out of the park!!

Any questions about any of these movies, send in an ask!

[frenchgremlim1808]

    I calculated every years of birth of every characters 

(yes i have no life, i don’t even if someone needed  to know every date of birth of every characters, help me)

SARA CHIDOUIN: Since Sara is 17 years and the game is set in 2017, Sara is born in the sacred year of 2000′s

JOE TAZUNA: since he has the same age as sara then he is born in the 2000′s. Actually i’m gonna do something simple and put every that are in high school.

Sara,Joe,Ranmaru,Anzu,kugie are all born in 2000

( wait actually kugie is younger than sara so  16 so kugie would be born in 2001)

KEIJI SHINOGI: So with keiji it’s kinda difficult because he is canonically in his “late twenties” which mean he between 25 to 29. So i calculated that  keiji is born the earlier in 1992 or the latest in 1988. So yeah this man is canonically a dilf.

KANNA KIZUCHI: Kanna is 14, so kanna must be born in 2003. Hinako since she has the same age, was also born in 2003

QTARO BURGERBERG: Okay so q-taro is “in his mid twenties” so 25, so q-taro is born in 1992.

SHIN TSUKIMI:  Just like keiji, shin doesn’t have a real age, Shin is  in his early twenties, the wiki states between  21 or 22, so shin is either born in 1996 or 1995

REKO YABUSAME: As the younger sister, reko is 23 so she must be born in 1994

NAO EGOKORO: My poor girl is 19 years old so she was probably born in 1998

KAI SATOU: Actually kai is the same age as keiji, so he’s most likely born just like piss hair boy inbetwen 1992 and 1988. 

GIN IBUSHI : The goodest, the most amazing boy on earth is really just 12 so he was born in 2005

KAZUMI MISHIMA: Even though it’s difficult to admit it, mishima is thirty, big shocker to anyone who didn’t know but that man is just thirty. So in all the participants he is the oldest. Mishima was born in 1987.

ALICE YABUSAME: the older brother of the yabusame siblings is supposed to like keiji and kai in his late 20′s. So just like them he either was born inbetwen 1992 to 1988.

NAOMICHI KURUMADA: The best male doll is actually in his mid 20′s so 25 years old, so he was born 1992.

MAI TSURUGI: The best female dolls is in her early twenties so inbetwen 20 to 24. so she could be born earliest 1997 and latest in 1993.

SHUNSUKE HAYASAKA: Was born in either earlist in 1992 to 1988......... what do you want to say it’s hayasaka man.

Then there is the floormasters: 

Gashu is 50, safalin is in her late 20′s, miley is 30, and welll midori is ......... undetermined. No seriously he has no age which is pretty funny. 

Gashu was born in  1967, safalin is in the keiji/kai/alice category, i’m not gonna rewrite it just go up you will see the date, miley was born in 1987, and rio is 3 so like 2014. And i suppose midori is around shin age....... I fuckin hope so.

So if i made a chronology of birth it would be like that

Yes I write badly. If you have an issue reading a part of this don't forget to tell me in the comments. Also if I made a mistake please correct me in the comments

For your own sanity do not open the wall of tags please

[adridoesstuff]

Rating/roasting Death costumes from Elisabeth das musical

So, this, ladies and gentlemen, is somewhat of my small magnum opus. I'm rating the costumes based on how well I think they're constructed, how much I think the design fits Death as a character and personal preference. What entitles me to undertake this task is me being a student of costume design at uni and being a crazy fan of this show

Disclaimer: I'm only rating costumes from the European productions of Elisabeth das musical, because this post would be way too long if I were to get into all the Japanese and Korean productions costumes.

Original (Vienna, 1992-1996)

Love the iridecsence and shimmer the fabric has, love how flowy it is, altough I wish I could see more contrast between the separate fabrics. The right amount of androgyny with the jacket skirt and the super fluffy hair to set the bar really high for future productions. But, it could have been tailored a bit more in some parts and the execution could have been a teensy bit better. A believable unearthly being. 9/10

German productions (2001-2008)

Not totally on board with making the entire costume black, since it can look a tad too plain in pictures, but that shimmery velvet is so pretty. Not sure if I like all of the seams finished by bias tape, leaning more towards no, since it's giving the costume more of a pyjama appearance rather than some luxurious fantastical coat. I love the cut they gave the jacket, because long jackets with trains are awesome, but with the amount of stories of Deaths tripping on it, I don't think a train is a wise choice for this role. The idea was there, but it wasn't thought through too well. 7/10

Budapest production (1996-2005, 2007-)

I love how goddamn shimmery this Death is! Like, it's balancing the line between being too much and just enough, but I love all the glitter going on. This Death looks like some otherworldly alien and for the most part, I am digging it. I love the decoration going on on the top part of the jacket, but I'm not sure if I like how baggy the coat's silhouette is. And I think the trousers could have benefited from some decorations, because they look like they belong to some other costume. Also, some Deaths wear a waistcoat with this costume and for that piece, I feel like the waistcoats are a bit too long. 8/10

1st revival (Vienna, 2003-2005)

Kept the basic essence of the original design, but upgraded it with a cleaner execution and super sharp tailoring. It could have used some decoration, but I am not too upset about that. We lost a fair bit of the androgyny, but I like their decision to go for an empire style cut for the jacket. And the color contrasts between the black and that bright saturated ultramarine are so good. This design is simple, but hits hard and it's iconic for a good reason. 9/10

Finnish production (Turku, 2005-2006)

This feels very similar to the German tour design to me with the long coat, but with more decorations. I like the choice of the braided cording (perhaps as a nod to Elisabeth's love of Hungary by including elements similar to a hussar uniform). And I like the poofy shirt he seems to have underneath along with the fingerless gloves. But I'm not sure if gold was exactly the best color to use for the deco for Death (I think silver would have looked much better). So, poins off for that and for the trip hazard of the coat. 7.5/10

Flemish production (Antwerp, 2009)

An omen of the bland designs to come. Completely destroyed the color storytelling and made Der Tod look plain as heck. At least the tailoring seems decently good. The only saving factor other than that was the glitter on the black costume. 3/10

2nd revival (Vienna, 2012-)

No. Just... no. This is literally the most plain, most boring costume they could have given him. I get that they wanted to go for a more "masculine" look for Der Tod, but even if I was a fan of this approach, the execution is so boring. Like, the tailoring is good, but it's just bland overall as a costume (and you know you've got a bland costume at hand when the most interesting detail on it are two patches of quilted/couched pleather). It's missing everything that makes a Der Tod costume good in my book. This Tod isn't an otherworldly being, he's just... a dude in pleather. If I were Elisabeth, I would in no way be enchanted with this man and his untucked shirt. 2/10

Kecskemet production (Kecskemet, 2021-2022)

A bit unusual, I'm unsure if I like or dislike it. Like, he is very nicely dressed, which I like, the tailoring looks good, but he kinda looks like a pimp (I do like the cane, tho). With skunk hair, which I don't know if I'm a fan of. Also, I'm not really fond Death being in white through the whole show. And those white contact lenses this Death wears are kinda scary. 5/10

Czech production (Plzeň, 2019-2023)

I didn't think I'd like this costume this much, but this is like what the 2nd revival designers wanted to do with Der Tod, but were too afraid to do. In my opinion, this is how you do a Death costume out of pleather. Despite the material, the coat is flowy and has just the right amount of length to not be a hazard. All the little details you notice once you take a good look at this costume, despite it looking very simple at first glance, are so great! This is a Death, who doesn't quite understand the concept of how a human dresses and all those little details hint at that. I like the choice of making this Death styled after a crow/raven, down to that epic feather shoulderpiece. And thumbs up for them not being afraid to really go in with the makeup. 8/10

Bruxellons production (Brussels, 2022)

This Death costume is so simple, but I commend the designer for going for something new and fresh. The tailoring is crisp, I love the shade of blue they gave Death and the choice of a mesh shirt isn't something I would think I'd like, but I do like it. And I like that this Death has some accessories to complement the simplicity of the base costume. And I love the matching painted nails! It's very much something outside of the box of how we usually see Death designed and it's refreshing. 8/10

[skyscratch-wc]

WC Skyfall AU Timeline: From The Skyfall to The Light in the Mist

This is a draft timeline for the Skyfall AU outline. All dates are approximate and subject to change.

Winter 1920 - Skyclan is exiled from the forest after human settlement drives them from their home territory. The remaining clans refuse to aid the homeless clan and Skyclan leaves the forest. Only Birdflight, the mate of Cloudstar of Skyclan, and their kittens remain behind. Skyclan vows to never turn to Starclan again, causing the formation of the Skypaws, which becomes Skyclan's ancestral skies.

Spring 1921 - Skyclan arrives at the gorge. Cloudstar dies soon after, the stress of the events in the forest and the subsequent journey catching up to him. Buzzardstar is named leader.

1938-1940 - The Thunderclan Civil War fought between the Cloudstar and Redstar's descendants within Thunderclan. The result is the death of many warriors and the Thunderclan leader (and Cloudstar descendant), Yarrowstar, and the formation of the Skybloods as a group within Thunderclan.

Summer 1950 - Amberstar of Thunderclan becomes the first true Skyblood leader of Thunderclan. Her descendants (Birdstar, Oakstar, Pinestar, Tigerstar of Shadowclan, and Bramblestar) would lead Thunderclan for the majority of the next several decades.

1958 - Birdstar of Thunderclan and Frondstar of Shadowclan begin leading raids into the town, kidnapping kits in the process. These raids would continue through the reigns of the leaders' successors Oakstar and Houndstar.

1975 - Mapleshade's Vengeance takes place. Darkstar of Riverclan, upset at Oakstar for damning the kittens along with the mother, adds a law to the warrior code: Kittens are to be protected, regardless of their origins or the actions of their kin.

"Mapleshade may have been the one to bring those kittens to the river, but they would not have been there had it not been for your rashness, Oakstar. Kittens are not to be blamed for the actions of their kin."

1984 - Pinestar's Choice begins

1985 - Doestar of Thunderclan ends the raids on the town and establishes friendly, although fragile, relations with the cats of the town.

1986 - Goosefeather's Curse begins [this may be scrapped-- I am not a big fan of this novella or it's implications for future events]

1989 - Yellowfang's Secret and Tallstar's Revenge begin

1991 - Pinestar becomes leader of Thunderclan

1994 - Bluestar's Prophecy and Crookedstar's Promise begin

1996 - Pinestar leaves Thunderclan to become a house-cat, abandoning his family in the process. Leopardfoot, his ex-mate, suggests a new law for the code in her anger: A noble warrior rejects the life of a house-cat and will lay down their life in service of their clan

1997 - Tallstar becomes leader of Windclan and Leopardstar's Honor begins.

Winter 1998 - Blueflame [Bluefur/Bluestar] gives birth to Mistykit, Stonekit, and Mosskit in Thunderclan. Mistykit and Stonekit are given to their father, Oakheart of Riverclan, while Mosskit passes away on the trip to the river. Blueflame is named deputy of Thunderclan.

2000 - Redtail's Debt and Spottedleaf's Heart begin. Crookedstar becomes leader of Riverclan.

2001 - Bluestar becomes leader of Thunderclan.

Spring 2003 - Rusty the Kittypet joins Thunderclan as Firepaw. Windclan is driven from the forest by Brokenstar.

Summer 2003 - Brokenstar is driven out of Shadowclan.

Early Fall 2003 - Fireheart and Graystripe help bring Windclan home after they are driven out by Brokenstar.

2005 - Tigerclaw is exiled from Thunderclan. Fireheart is named deputy of Thunderclan.

2006 - Firestar becomes leader of Thunderclan. The Darkest Hour takes place.

2007 - Firestar's Quest takes place. Skyclan is re-established in the gorge, albeit with very different structure from the Forest Four due to a prolonged time apart. Leafstar is made leader of the newly refounded clan, with Sharpclaw as her deputy and Echosong as her cleric.

2008 - The New Prophecy begins

2009 - the clans arrive at The Lake. Leafpool discovers the Moonpool

2009 - Windclan Civil War takes place after Tallstar's death. Peatstar [Onestar] is named leader of Windclan.

2010 - Leopardstar passes away and Mistystar becomes leader of Riverclan.

2011 - The Three are born to Leafpool of Thunderclan. Her sister, Squirrelflight, adopts the kittens and presents them to the clan as her own. In reality, Lionkit is the son of Leafpool and Mothwing of Riverclan while Jaykit and Hollykit are the kits of Leafpool and Crowfeather of Windclan.

2013 - The Battle of the Eclipse takes place.

Spring 2014 - Hollyleaf reveals the truth of the Three's parentage at a gathering and murders Ashfur before fleeing into the tunnels.

Summer 2014 - The Fourth Apprentice takes place.

Summer 2016 - The Battle of the Dark Forest takes place. Blackstar of Shadowclan dies in the battle and Tawnystar becomes leader of Shadowclan. Firestar of Thunderclan also dies in the battle and Bramblestar becomes leader of Thunderclan.

2018 - The Apprentice's Quest takes place

2019 - Darktail and The Kin arrive at the Lake

Fall 2019 - Tawnystar is killed attempting to drive Darktail away from the lake. Shadowclan is temporarily leaderless.

2020 - Darktail is killed by his estranged father, Peatstar. Harestar becomes leader of Windclan and Goldenstar becomes leader of Shadowclan.

2021 - Lost Stars takes place.

2022 - Ashfur is defeated. A shaken Bramblestar steps down from leadership and Squirrelstar becomes leader of Thunderclan.

-----------

A few notes to make:

Bluefur is now Blueflame

Tigerheart is now Goldenheart (I hated that he was named Tiger to begin with)

Squirrelstar becomes leader several books earlier

The prequels have been shuffled around a little bit in order to better match the cats ages in TPB

Leader deaths have been moved around a lot on the timeline. Some leaders live wayyyyyy too long

I added a large time period between Cloudstar's Journey and Mapleshade's Vengeance. The clans need time to forget that Skyclan existed.

Please let me know if I have made any glaring mistakes in terms of seasons -- I haven't re-read any books recently other than The Prophecies Begin, which I read a few weeks ago. I am mostly relying on my memory of the books, knowledge gained from tumblr, and the wiki.

I likely won't do a ton of work on anything past OotS, since that is the last arc I fully read when I was reading the books as a teenager.

A timeline for DotC through to The Skyfall will be posted eventually

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Bengiyo's Queer Cinema Syllabus

For those of you who don’t know, I decided to run the gauntlet of @bengiyo’s queer cinema syllabus, which is comprised of 9 units. I have completed four of the units (here is my queer cinema syllabus round up post with all the films I’ve watched and written about so far). It is time for me to make my way through Unit 5- Lesbians, which includes the following films: The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995), Bound (1996), Water Lilies (2007)[finally got my hands on this one but I still need to watch it], Saving Face (2004), D.E.B.S. (2004), Set It Off (1996), The Handmaiden (2016), Carol (2015), Imagine Me and You (2005), Two of Us (2019), Rafiki (2018), and The Color Purple (1985). 

Yes, I know I already watched one today, but you see I still had an awkward amount of time left between posting my thoughts on Set It Off and bedtime so I figured, why the hell not?

Anyway, today I will be watching

The Handmaiden (2016) dir. Park Chan-Wook

[Run Time: 2:25, Language: Korean, CW: hanging, blood and removal of fingers, dubious consent, child abuse]

Summary: In 1930s Korea, a girl is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress who lives a secluded life on a countryside estate. But the maid has a secret: She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler to help seduce the Lady and steal her fortune.

Cast:

Kim Min-hee as Lady Hideko

KIM TAE RI (MY BELOVED) as Sook-Hee

Ha Jung-Woo as Count Fujiwara

__

WOW! WHAT AN INCREDIBLE FUCKING FILM. AND I AM NOT JUST SAYING THAT BECAUSE MY BELOVED KIM TAE RI GETS TO FUCK WOMEN IN IT!

IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THIS FILM, STOP READING THIS, GO WATCH THE FILM, AND COME BACK BECAUSE I DO NOT WANT TO SPOIL THE STORY FOR YOU!

The first thing I have to say is that the structure of this film was fucking brilliant, the way that each of the parts reveals and recontextualizes the pieces before it is expertly done. It’s so interesting seeing Sookhee interacting with Hideko in Part One because we know she is there on a mission to convince Lady Hideko to marry the Count and to get her placed in a mental hospital so the Count and Sookhee can acquire wealth. But because we only get brief glimpses of Sook-hee’s life before she became a handmaiden, we are still learning about her character as we go. Getting those little moments of internal dialog really had me curious about which aspects of her clumsiness, her stuttering, her interactions with the Lady were an act, and which pieces were as result of experiencing Gay Thoughts and accidentally fucking up what she was supposed to be doing. 

gif by @wlwsource

I love when a piece of media, a book, a show, a film, whatever presents the audience with a story and then forces them to re-examine everything they think they know about the situation. While I was distracted wondering which pieces of Sookhee were an act, I was not paying attention to the fact that Lady Hideko was putting on a performance of her own. So when Sookhee is dragged in to the mental hospital and Part Two begins, my jaw was on the fucking floor. Learning that certain lines that Hideko said to Sookhee like “he wouldn’t like making love to a corpse” and “like pulling one's hand from a flame” were words straight out of the Count’s mouth was such an elite moment of script writing. As Part Two unravels and you start to learn that Hideko was in cahoots with the Count the entire time, it is those little anchor points that really drive that reveal home. 

gif by @jattawa

The way that Hideko says she’s scared of the Count despite the evidence that he is nice (even though the evidence we have seen also speaks differently) pairs well with the feeling we get seeing Hideko’s uncle. In Part One we really only see him interacting with Hideko in the reading room, and there is a lot of stiffness and distances between them that speaks to tension but doesn’t necessarily feel inherently sexual. Sookhee and the audience are made to believe that Lady Hideko is naive about the world, and the visual storytelling of Hideko always carrying around and sleeping with that doll really cements this image of childlike naivety only to have that image completely shattered in Part Two where you learn that Hideko and her aunt before her have been trained to read pornographic content to men so they can use her body in their mental fantasies. I like that Park Chan-Wook solidifies that through creating little scenes where Hideko is strapped down to a table with whip marks on her ass, or the Count is strapped to the table getting whipped, etc to really drive home the point that Hideko’s function as the reader of pornography is to be used as fantasy. 

gif by @candlewinds

And then we get another reveal where Lady Hideko and Sookhee confess to attempting to betray each other and decide instead to shake themselves off of the Count and to run away together. It was fucking brilliant. 

All that said, I want to talk about the use of sex in this film because despite the fact that Hideko has been sexually exploited her entire life with the things her uncle has been making her do, despite the fact that the men touch and fondle and cross boundaries over and over again, this film is not anti-sex, nor is it anti-porn and I think that is very very important to say. The men in that room listening to her read porn come across a little creepy, but honestly there is nothing inherently wrong with consuming pornography, and it is not inherently strange for a group of men to be gathered together in a shared space to consume said pornography (adult movie theaters used to exist) the issue really centers around the fact that Hideko does not have any choice in the matter. 

gif by @theresatreeofmanyone

Sookhee and Hideko go around destroying as many of her Uncle’s porn books as they can before they run away to Japan, Sookhee rips them apart with her bare hands, she slices up the pages, she spills ink all over them, she throws them in water. And in all of this she is helping liberate Hideko from the abuse she has suffered under her entire life. It’s really interesting to me when they expand upon the first sex scene, showing all the different ways that Sookhee and Hideko were engaging in sex. To watch Hideko and Sookhee clasps hands while they are tribbing and then have a shot a few moments later of Sookhee looking at a statuette of two women clasping hands and tribbing was really smart to me. It solidifies where Hideko has learned all the sex stuff she employed with Sookhee in the bedroom, while also existing in a space that has been riddled with sexual exploitation. 

We get multiple sex scenes in this film, the longest ones really centering around Hideko and Sookhee, (and I love the little moment where they start to fuck and the doll that Hideko carries around everywhere falls off the bed because she is no longer hiding under the guise of childlike innocence) and the reason that I say that this film isn’t anti-porn is because Hideko’s engagement in sex with Sookhee is informed entirely by what she has read in her Uncle’s novels. The porn is not the problem, Hideko gets a hell of a lot of sexual gratification and satisfaction out of what she has read for the men. It just occurs in the privacy of her own room with someone that actually cares about her, of her own volition with someone she is also attracted to/in love with.

gif by @liyazaki

It feels to me very much like a reclamation, especially at the end when Sookhee and Hideko place the silver bells in their mouth and then insert them. Hideko was forced to place those metal balls in her mouth as a child when she tried to speak out against her uncle, she was hit over the hands with them and her cries were muffled by the bell in her mouth. She was told by her Uncle to think about the taste of metal any time she thought about speaking out, so to end the film with her placing those bells in her mouth and recreating a scene from one of the pornographic novels that she was made to read feels like a way to take control of the things she has endured. 

That said, there is undoubtedly a highly nuanced discussion to be had around those sex scenes being read and that being seen as exploitative to watching the sex scenes between Hideko and Sookhee which technically occur in private but exist for the audience to consume. If and where the male gaze exists in this film, who is writing it and whether or not the sex acts are true to vagina to vagina sex or more like lesbian porn created primarily for consumption by men. But it’s late, and I don’t want to write all that right now. 

Favorite Moment: 

gif by @candlewinds

I think my favorite moment was when Sookhee and Hideko go to the library and lays waste to all the books. Hideko has been suffering her entire life, her aunt was driven to madness, she is down and depressed, and mentions that there is barely ever sun because her uncle does not allow it. He cares far more for his pornographic content than anything else. It feels very freeing for them to do that, and I think it is an important moment for Hideko to internalize the fact that Sookhee genuinely cares for her, understands inherently what she has been through from just a few moments in that room, and wants to help. Especially when all that rage and destruction is followed by Sookhee jumping over the fence, realizing that Hideko can’t do that, jumping back over the fence to stack the suitcases so Hideko can get to the top of the fence. Sookhee is truly the first person in a good long while that has paid Hideko any positive attention, and I love that. 

Favorite Quote: 

I unfortunately have to give it to Fujiwara 

“At least I will die with my cock intact.”

Fujiwara I hate your fucking guts, but with that line you have earned my respect. Enjoy Hell. 

Score: 

10/10 

Everything in this film was beautifully done. The performances were incredible, the script writing brilliant, the use of background music and sound to set the mood was well done, and the VISUALS OH MY GOD THIS FILM WAS FUCKING BEAUTIFUL. 

ALSO DID I MENTION THAT KIM TAE RI FUCKS WOMEN IN THIS????????