#mythology is still a massive interest of mine
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The new Percy Jackson show means so much to me I’ve barely even started it and it’s already so good. God they all mean so much to me.
#the books were one of my first and biggest fixations as a kid#I still have my beat up old box set of them on my shelf next to me#mythology is still a massive interest of mine#I didn’t get diagnosed with adhd until just a couple years ago#but those books still helped me accept that about myself so much#annabeth was always my favourite. I related to her so so deeply. still do.#of all the adhd representation I’ve seen out there (granted it’s not a whole lot)#she’s the only one I’ve seen like me. smart and put together and respected and not just the butt of a joke#so seeing such a high quality adaptation of the books that mean so much to me is. just so amazing
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Hello!!
Since I've seen that you've listened to both Epic and Paris the musical, I was curious to know what are your toughts on them! Did you like how the myths and characters where handled? What do you like best and worst? (If you'd like to share, what's your favourite song/moment in each?)
Thanks :]
My my you really wanna get me have an even bigger target on my back than the one I put already! Hahaha! Ok so be it! Hahaha If this gets waaaaaay too long or too runty forgive me! ^_^
You have noticed from many of my comments and my notifications, memes or jokes. I am not a fan of EPIC. Not at all. I believe I am one of the most disliked people on Tumblr on mythology matters because I so openly speak my dislike against EPIC and being annoying about it! Hahaha! XD The thing I absolutely love about it is of course the guy's passion with the project, the way the music works and all (undoubtedly the guy is a very talented composer and can combine the scene with music and emotions and the tricks he uses with music are great) but the way the plot of Odyssey was twisted beyond recognition and to the point that to me you can literally change the names of the characters to anything else and still have the story he presents with the Musical. Maybe that was his goal but in my head that is not what a retelling or an adaptation is about. A retelling to me is not something that seeks to change literally as much as possible from the plot to fit the modern standards or the fanbase. A retelling is something as the word says that "retells the story" aka adapts the story as loyally as possible and adapts it to the audinece by taking creative liberties that are still generic to the story as it was originally told so that it will fit more to the modern standards or ear.
I believe we have so much twisted the word "retelling" that nowadays "retelling" seems to be equivalent to "let's change the hell out of the story because the original plot is not even THAT important to be salvaged and no modern person would watch it anyways" which in my opinion is not the case at all. Unless of course one writes satire. Then it doesn't matter, as I mentioned to another ask of mine.
I lost interest and was massively disappointed from the end of second saga and the song "Storm". The first two sagas were a masterpiece. The creative liberties were amazing to make sense with the plot and give the characters motivation (for example "I'm just a man" was FANTASTIC! The way the myth from Iliou Persis that gave us only one phrase "Odysseus kills Astyanax by throwing him off the wall" is now transformed into a marvelous emotional dilemma and a painful decision). In this case the creative liberty work WITH the plot and not against it. I didn't mind it as much that they made Polites a fluffy guy for no reason to fit that stereotypical "innocence of the team" plot because Polites is a clean slate character in Odyssey. However after Storm I started seeing your typical "Hollywood film 'adaptation' logic with changing stuff at the plot". I was intrigued at how they decided to give Polyphemus an excuse to kill like the guys enter a cave that is obviously habitable and kill an animal that is obviously domesticated and they do not know someone lives there? In the original it was clear someone lived there which made Odysseus curious to interract with them. I was willing to ignore that because ok creative liberties but then Athena was there!? And she gave Odysseus every opportunity to kill him while Odysseus was just "TOO NICE?!" like since when? Odysseus was all about killing him but he had no guarantee he would plus he needed him to open the cave. And the way he revealed his name in the musical was so rush and almost "out of spite" for Athena not a result of a secclusion in a cave for days and days and then his pride speaking up when Polyphemus called him a coward (which I tried to capture to my fic, not sure if I succeeded but still). So anyways at that point I was sure we wouldn't see the last of it with the changes. Poseidon destroys the ships instead of the Laestrygonians (no surprise there, rarely ever see anyone even mention the Laestrygonians yet alone show their contribution to the Odyssey) but then Circe happened and I just knew that we would have to derail from the original more and more
Circe's role was incredibly diminished for the sakes of making her actions more mellow and pass the message of loyalty and kindness. Circe in the original gives Odysseus valid information for his trip provisions and much more. In Epic not only we do not see the importance of Odysseus selling himself to Circe and we have Circe for some reason seducing him to kill him (removing her humanity from when she got scared that her magic won't work on him, potentially thinking he is some kind of god, begging for her safety to then suggesting her bed as Hermes predicts) I mean she had lions and wolves to her disposal she doesn't need to seduce him to kill him. Then of course Jorge realized that a big chunk of plot is missing and so he made Odysseus find out about Skylla by the sirens?! Like...okay... Even Tiresias gives him almost nothing (in the original he also tells him how to break the curse) Which seems interesting how Odysseus breaks down with "Monster" in Tiresias when he has received an act of kindess before. Wouldn't it be more amazing if he had that breakdown AFTER he paid the price with Circe with his own body? That even kindess has a terrible price? Of course the most iconic scene of the Odyssey after the murder of the suitors and Cyclops, the Sirens were twisted to whatever we had there; Odysseus listening to their song was of massive importance to his natural curiocity and we didn't get that (not to mention how would the sirens spell work on him and have Penelope there if he didn't hear their song in the first place?) and of course the fact that he kills them?! Like...how that even works I have no idea and like in the original people were running for their lives. Didn't even look back. Apparently they had all the time in the world to capture them, they knew apparently exactly how many they were and then they kill them?! Like I won't even say that they used the medieval mermaid instead of the sirens and then they "leave them drown" (how you drown fish people is beyond me! Maybe they are sharks that need to keep moving lol) and of course again that scene seemed to me that it was there only to show that "Odysseus is a monster" which makes no sense Odyssey-wise for many reasons. and then of course again Skylla; Odysseus doesn't gear up to protect his men, he is the one who chooses the sacrifice out of spite etc etc
Many others got sped up like the Helios cattle but ok I guess that is expected up to one point even if it could be handled differently but of course then we have also Zeus being a jerk and again making Odysseus choose? The storm that took the lives of his men was a natural consequence, not some twisted thing to prove how "monstrous" Odysseus is. In fact Odysseus tried till the last moment to sail away and save the lives he could (see my other analysis here) and of course again as many people said on God Games and all how Zeus was twisted yet another time although in Odyssey he had zero reasons to object apart from the natural hubris nemesis sequence. He never called Odysseus "shameful" either. In fact he says he agrees with Athena that calls him the most pious.
I think the massive change that I believe is abused by modern retellings is the whole "monster to man" trope. Odysseus losing his moral compass and "becoming the monster" and the plot around revolving to it. That was never the pont of Odyssey in my opinion. Odysseus never really lost his moral compass it is just his morality was not all pure and lovey in the first place. Was he changed by his experiences to be more ruthless in general? Absolutely but he was never changed to a monster according to Homeric version (because post-homeric versions already treat him as a villain from the get-go)
As for the things I liked about it, I had made a post you can see here:
I do love the harmonies and the music in it and I love the passion and the talents of the people in it. It is just that the whole plot for me is just not it. Also maybe I am also mostly annoyed with how the "fandom logic" has taken over it. Like internet getting swarmed by it. Epic quotes or facts getting literally mixed up or associated with the original or the fact we can no longer speak on the original unless someone brings up Epic the Musical... This annoys me to no ends. Of course I recognize the passion of the fans of the musical. Is just a personal thing to me. I felt the same when people were using Percy Jackson or Miller's books to talk on mythology before. Is the same here.
Of course I need to say this all the above is my PERSONAL OPINION. I have literally NOTHING against people who love the musical and the original equally. I am just NOT one of them. Also i have nothing against the artist either. I just do not agree with his outtake. Still appreciate his hard work. However when I saw the firsttwo sagas I knew this guy KNEW his mythology which is why I feel so disappointed that his later sagas felt like "Hmm...let me use that knowledge I definitely have on Odyssey just to change the hell out of it!" And that had me very sad and lowkey annoyed because I think this guy had some real stuff to create an actual Odyssey adaptation and yet again we had your average hollywood film plot where you barely see any of the plot he ellegedly adapts
Now on Paris the Musical I had answered another ask you can see here
I will not take more space on this already huge and runty post that probably made me more annoying and irritating around Tumblr! XD Generally again has little to nothing to do with Iliad but I loved the music (it was arguably one of the most original choices for music for a musical) and the songs I mention to the ask. Apart from that I am ot ecstatic by it either (arguably stage musicals do not seem to work for me when it comes to the ancient classics to a large degree because of how much the plots need to be overly simplified to fit the time frame) but I am more happy that it din't get blasted out of proportions like Epic was so the plot of it doesn't even need to be pointed out that it is not accurate and all. It is self-evident. The fact that the creator of Epic needed to "warn the fans" on how inaccurate his work is, speaks volumes to me.
I will close this runt now because is already too long. I think both Epic and Paris musicals have little to nothing to do with the things they adapt but Ironically Paris the Musical changed less stuff than Epic in comparison to magnitude. Both are passionate projects with great potential and very good music but plot wise I am not anymore surprised that they do not follow the actual plots or character developments. I am surprised that Epic was more accurate to the character development of Eurylochus than the main protagonist Odysseus! Made me focus more on Eurylochus than Odysseus! Hahaha!
I am glad that the musicals make more people willing to read the originals though. For that I am grateful.
And if I have to pick one song from each musical I would say "Just a Man" and "Business" respectably but of course I like others as well especially from Epic such as "Horse and the Infant", "Will of the gods" and "Storm".
I hope this answers your questions! I will elaborate further on some of the points I make here if you want! ^_^
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You seem to know a lot about Christian mythology/ or atleast are quite passionate about it have you ever thought about discussing it in general? If yes i'd like to ask about the Antichrist and its many interpretations, i see like a billion of them in a lot of Media so i'm really confused on what it is
i don't mind discussing it in general at all! i will say i'm absolutely not an expert in any capacity, christian mythology has just been a big interest of mine since i was a kid (i was that guy....) and i have actually read the bible (only once all the way through and my memory is. well. bad). and while i haven't looked much into the history of the antichrist in general, i can tell you about its appearance in original text! the antichrist is really interesting from a mythology perspective because this is a case where culture and many, many sources outside of scripture have highly impacted the figure into something not much like their appearance in the bible itself. the actual word "antichrist" appears only in john's epistles, and this was in reference to the splintering of christianity at the time - basically the author was warning christians against "false" christians (early gnostics in this case) as they didn't believe in the second coming of christ in the flesh. they are even referred to in the plural here as basically this author used "antichrist" as a term for anyone claiming to believe in christianity but rejecting certain (core) doctrines, and therefore able to lead people into what he believed to be a "false" faith considering christianity's then lack of central leadership (and so people not being sure on what all the teachings really even are). the term "pseudochrist" is used similarly elsewhere to warn against false believers, but essentially the anxiety is still the same.
revelation is the book that introduces the singular figure often associated with the antichrist but not named as such - the thirteenth chapter describes the "second beast", which is a creature that looks like a lamb but speaks with a dragon's voice, causes many terrifying signs to happen, and famously marks its followers with the number 666. it wields the power of the first beast, which represents the general evil attacking the church and is ultimately satan's presence on earth made manifest. honestly, there's nothing inherently wrong with labeling this figure as "the antichrist", as it is a metaphorical being representing all false prophets in the latter days, but this is purely meant to condense down what would be a massive movement - it is not truly just going to be one guy, but a whole flood of fake messiahs that will come claiming to be christ or to be sent by god.
for what all this means/is, i'm definitely of the opinion that revelation was never meant to be taken literally and is a book written entirely about the roman empire of the time. 666 is nero's number and great harlot is rome (as places in the bible were always depicted as women when personified), with revelation meant to give the christians living through a terrible time of oppression and persecution hope for the future. in this way, the antichrist is representative of the people christians will encounter who will attempt to tear down their faith, who will attempt to make them worship rome or a false, romanized version of christianity (and thereby make them heretics) and are meant to represent a more tangible, real world threat than satan would be to the average person. there are many, many calls to faith in the bible, both in the old and new testaments, and i believe revelation to simply be a very big, very wild refrain of the same sentiment: we know it's bad, we know it's scary, but one day we will be saved and safe forever. i will say as an aside gabriel also reveals an antichrist adjacent figure to daniel, telling the prophet about one who gains power and wealth through deceit to take over the throne and rule in infamy. his defeat by michael brings about the end days, but again this was largely a projection of history and based on the current tensions at the time. IN ANY CASE it's interesting how the figure has become the actual child of the devil, something introduced by later theologians but still usually not literal. i think a lot of it comes from the nebulous nature of the antichrist in general but also because the name just evokes that idea - christ is the child of god, so the antichrist is the child of satan. i can't speak too in depth about the history outside of that, but i hope this answered your question ok!!
#the bible i read (rsvce) does note the context of revelation in the footnotes#and i have done a little reading outside of that to understand that history a bit better#but i don't actually know much about the antichrist as a cultural figure#and how it evolved throughout history#tbh being THAT KID my reading was mostly about satan himself ToT#cake answers#ALSO im not christian and i look much more at all of this with an interest in the mythology and cultural histories#coming from a big catholic family just made sure i got trapped here forever
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5 Random (Sometimes Brief) Hyperfixations of Mine
One of the fun things about being autistic isn’t just the hyper fixations that become part of your official lore, but also the weirder, sometimes brief obsessions that really came and went. Maybe not necessarily what might form your core interests, but still a good-sized part of you.
They formed a strong camp in your brain for about 2-3 months, maybe even a little longer, and then just left as you developed a new obsession… And you sometimes get the urge, years later, to revisit some of those things… Or maybe they are still firm interests of yours, but they’re just in your massive file cabinet room that forms up most of your electric head meat... sharing space with a gazillion other things…
I’ll share some of mine with you today, on this Disability Pride Month. (Yeeehoo! I get two Pride months in a row!)
MAPS/ATLAS/GLOBES - As far back as first grade, 1998/99, I was really into how road layouts worked. Just how all the roads I was on, they looked like interlocking noodle grids when seen from above... And how maps and atlases, carefully done up by people, depicting them. I would get lost for hours in one of my dad's county atlas books, and soon I began to know where everything was. Which exit took you to which, etc. As you could imagine, I really really like SIM CITY and stuff like that back in the day.
But also maps in general. A playground my dad took me and my sister to had a painted U.S. map on the pavement, and I remember learning my states through that before school taught me all of that, or that episode of ANIMANIACS. I had at least one globe as a child, too, and was often mesmerized by it. Learning all the different countries around the world... Fun stuff, and because of that, I can name countries adults older than me (I'm 31 and a 1/2) have never even heard of... Yeeeeah, kinda concerning? Anyways, I think the street maps will always be the ones I liked the most. I still find them fascinating, especially when there are overhead maps of environments in video games. Could stare at those aaaaall day.
THE TITANIC - I think us autistics and neurodees all had THAT phase at one point in our lives. Titanic, Greek mythology, Ancient [Insert Civilization Here]… In third grade, in the year 2000, my class had a unit on the Titanic. I had already been aware of the Titanic because of that little 1997 indie movie that few people heard of, but that was just something in the background for me. I remember hearing the Celine Dion song incessantly on the radio, too. (Not complaining, I think it’s a lovely song.)
From there, the design of the ship fascinated me, and I got into Titanic for a little bit. I had a big coffee table book about the ship, and found what had to have been a clearance copy of the 1996 PC game TITANIC: ADVENTURE OUT OF TIME. I played that A LOT, it’s a favorite of mine, a fascinating and sometimes ominous alt-history sort of suspense/mystery adventure. I also had this random VHS about the Titanic, I couldn’t tell you what it was… It wasn’t the 1950s Titanic movie, it was some black-and-white, almost documentary-like look at the ship? I remember just getting that VHS somewhere, and I have no idea where it went… By early-to-mid 2001, I think that phase sorta set sail…
LENNY LOOSEJOCKS - The adventures of a string cheese-looking Aussie and his canine Donga, LENNY LOOSEJOCKS came from an indie flash game site called Ezone. Launched in 1995, I remember spending quite some time on that site around 2000/01-ish (you know, in the dial-up days of Internet), playing the variety of weird little games they had. Of all the LENNY LOOSEJOCKS games, the one I played the most was the cosmic one, LENNY LOOSEJOCKS IN SPACE.
I was aaaaall about that for some time, and while I had already learned about the Solar System in school (and was subsequently fascinated by all of that), this just made me appreciate it all even more. Each planet had a unique atmosphere and look to it, and the lack of music and the ambience really immersed me into those planets- I know, I’m talking about some flash game that inspired me greatly as a kid, not STAR WARS or whatever cool kids who had “actual” childhoods grew up with, lol. Anyways, yeah, this was my STAR WARS, my Roman Empire, something like that. I probably write so much cosmic/space/galactic stuff largely because of this game.
DRACULA - This one’s rather weird, I think it was spurred by a Hostess commercial from around late 2001/early 2002 where an ersatz Dracula transforms into a bat and flies headfirst into a neon sign that resembles Hostess’ signature telephone cord-looking cupcakes. I found a VHS of the 1931 Bela Lugosi DRACULA sitting around (not sure how that got into my orbit), and just sorta started drawing and writing a lot of horror-tinged, weird vampire stuff for a little bit. I remember whenever I’d play with my Casio keyboard back in the day, there was a pitch shifter wheel of sorts. I remember pressing the keys on the organ setting and using that dial to make it sound like a distorted horror movie soundtrack. From a beat-up film print. Even 9-year-old me in early 2002 picked up on those sorts of things.
I’ve always had a thing for the dark, the macabre, the gothic, and such. Even went as a vampire for a few Halloweens. I also remember doing a book report (this is around fourth grade) for the book DRACULA DOESN’T DRINK LEMONADE, from the series THE BAILEY SCHOOL KIDS. I just thought the idea was pretty cool and creepy, and to this day? I still think vampires are pretty cool, and I sometimes incorporate them into what I write.
THE ROAMING GNOME - Around the mid-2000s, Travelocity - the online travel agency - ran a series of commercials featuring a little garden gnome with an offscreen voice. I caught a couple of the commercials circa summer 2005, one where he get zapped across a room by an electrical outlet…
youtube
And another where he gets hit by a cart at the airport…
youtube
12-year-old me thought these were the height of comedy GOLD. I quoted these constantly, and it was to the point where one of my uncles went out of his way to buy me… A whole-ass GNOME. And we had that at my dad’s place for a little while, I think it got chipped up over time or stored away somewhere. I’d love to find it again, if it’s all in one piece lol.
#Youtube#disability pride#autistic#hyperfixations#random stuff i was into#2000s#i was a weird kid#i'm still weird#1990s#90s kid
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P5R Personal Persona Top 20
Told you I’d do this. I love the Persona designs in this game and that’s outside of the fact of me being a massive mythology, literature, and occult nerd. All of these are gonna be based on their aesthetic design, their place in the compendium, and their skillset and viability. I’m also basing viability primarily on the abilities it picks up through leveling, not through items or fusions. There may be standouts, but there are very, very few exceptions. For clarification, I also limit myself to using only personas whose base level is lower or matches my own until roughly late game on NG+, hence the placements.
Alice-We love her. She’s hella fun and has that horror, unassuming Annabelle doll type vibe (plus Alice in Wonderland—noice). She comes very close to scraping the ceiling, but I give her a pass because not only does she have a glaring weakness in the form of bless damage, but her physical stats and endurance aren’t great compared to the rest of the options that start above base level 80, which is also bad because she is a very late game option. Why I love her though is because she has an amazing Magic stat and she has a unique instakill button for farming through lower tier encounters that can chunk HP and SP on more difficult no item runs where I’m trying to conserve resources.
Nekomata-Catgirl. Fairly obvious, but still my early game go to, because she’s very adaptable. Also, my play style sits in the support/swing area that Morgana occupies if you carry him (which I don’t), so she makes for a good replacement so I don’t have to use him. Plus she represents a Yōkai and Japanese myth has always been a pretty niche interest of mine.
Yoshitsune-I know. I’ve always been very clearly anti-meta and this dude just happened to hit number 3. Hypocrisy. I know. But hear me out. Japanese history and legend is cool as hell. Plus, there is something SO satisfying to stack him with Charge, Zaou-Gongen’s trait, and all kinds of buffs to just devour health bars. I mean 750 per hit on Maruki is truly disgusting and he hits for 8 of those. I won’t use him regularly, but still a personal favorite.
Ananta-A very niche pick, I’m sure, but a very solid mid-to-late-game all-around carry with the abilities it picks up. Plus Nuke is a pretty solid choice. Being that Ananta is a cosmic serpent in Hinduism and has pretty interesting lore plus a kick ass design? He’s very cool.
Angel-My early game carry. Bless, early game is fairly uncontested and she comes with support moves as well. I also am a victim of religious trauma from Christianity, so using Abrahamic rooted characters is cathartic in its own way. Plus, I mean, girls.
Nebiros-Late game pick that’s just very fun. She specializes in Brainwash and turning your enemies against each other. Plus she picks up some pretty neat abilities. Probably could be higher, but bosses resist status effects. Another Abrahamic deep lore entity. High general and necromancer of Lucifer’s armies.
Quetzalcoatl-We love Wing Snake here. My Nekomata replacement late game. Windy boy here pulls his weight DEEP into late game and boasts some pretty butch stats for where he sits.
Yaksini-Early to mid game Kali. Solid for physical abilities and has the bonus of inciting rage. A Hindu goddess of fertility is also kind of like a mood for carrying two swords.
Okinunushi-Discount Yoshitsune, but can definitely still hold her own. She gets me Myriad Slashes earlier than I really should get it. And the whole samurai/ronin vibe is so nice in this game.
Lilim-My ice chick. I usually use Yusuke anyways, but Yusuke is a very good physical damage option and I don’t always want to waste his turn using ice moves, so Lilim helps cover that.
Baphomet-The late game weakness hound (or goat). Covers a wide scale of magic and abilities plus a few solid strengths. Also, I’m a fiend for the occult vibe and Baphomet serves that in spades.
Asterius-There will be a few DLC personas on here, but trust me, I know how broken they are. Asterius, besides been the Greek manifestation of the Minotaur, has a very unique utility where his damage goes up as your health goes down, incentivizing you to take damage, which I think is super cool. That and his design is S tier.
Mara-I will never use him for several reasons, mainly because I have dignity, but his design is truly peak. Two words: Dick Chariot.
Hastur-Probably the latest in the game I ever go because when you hit Maruki, you’re already pretty squared away, but Abyssal Eye is too cool of an attack to miss out on. Plus he adds a bunch of solid resistances and options to your play style. And while I’m not at all a fan of Lovecraft in any way, shape, or form, the Cosmic Horror genre has so much cool stuff.
The Riders (Four Horsemen)-I’m pretty sure I have at least two of these each run through. They build differently, but each one gets a solid mix of status and attacks and they make for good pick ups.
Kaguya-The chief reason I think DLC’s are broken as hell. Izanagi-no-Okami is bad, but you get this bitch at level 20. This, by itself, can bail you out of so many jams it’s insane, which is why I don’t use her. As a level 20, she also gets Repel Phys AND Mediarama AND Shining Arrows. All early in the game. Nasty, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t add her because she’s saved my butt so many times.
Pisaca-My Despair troll and a very fun midgame option that can status effect your enemies to victory. Plus, horroresque vibe on this one is top tier.
Power-Yes, there is a Persona. Named. Power. She isn’t in my inventory for long, but she practically carries when she is. Her defense is great plus she comes with some solid hybrid damage/status moves.
Daisoujou-Truly, the protector. Great for support, but matches most heavy-hitters with damage. Basically, Alice but midgame and bless instead of curse and he comes with more healing instead of assault moves.
Arsène/Raoul-Literally, your first persona and I wish you kept him longer. Raoul is the late game variant and is basically what Arsène would be if you had him the whole time. He also gets a blanket sleep that can set up SO many technical smacks.
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Your about says you’re a Hellenic polytheist, how did you get into that practice?
Well, I’ve always been interested in Greek mythology (world mythology in general is a big special interest of mine but it was Greek that really got the ball rolling on that) but I always sort of thought it was an old practice bc that’s how it was always described to me. But, when my sister was in middle school she had a friend who was Wiccan at the time (she’s now a Norse Polytheist working primarily with Freya) I found out about a whole other world of religion! My sister got a big book of spells and I who was going through my first massive crisis of faith just wanted something to believe in. Various Pagan practices interested me but mostly from an anthropology standpoint, as I was an incredibly annoying atheist. One of those “I’m smarter than you bc I don’t believe in a higher power” types. Then as I grew and matured I became agnostic, just acknowledging there’s no way I know what’s out there. I still don’t fully know, but in a rough patch of my life, I lit a candle in honor of whatever god I needed, saying their names aloud and did little devotional acts to them, simple as they could be in hopes that things would go well, and they haven’t done me wrong since. It felt right to me in a way that folding my hands and praying to the Christian god never did, and unlike the Christian god, my prayers were actually answered. I started just doing it on a whim to see if anything would happen or if it would be a big nothing like it was with the Christian god, but it wasn’t. I saw results fast
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Far too many pics of the Palais Garnier (Part Three!)
In October of 2022, I had the extraordinary experience of getting to complete an 15+ year old dream of mine to visit the Palais Garnier. I took a metric fuckton of pictures and now I want to share them with you all, the PotO community!
Before I start dumping, a few things:
Please reblog this post. I usually don’t post a lot, therefore I don’t have a big following. I’d really appreciate people sharing these as much as they can. When I was a dumb kid in ye olden days of the internet, finding a post like this was the sort of thing I would have been hyped up on for weeks. Help spread that kind of joy!
Feel free to use these photos for any sorts of graphics, artistic reference or any other fandom related projects, as long as it’s not for profit. Please just credit me in some way. In fact, I'd love to be tagged to see whatever creations come from sharing all this!
This is part three, which is a continuation of pictures from the interior. I will continue to share information from the tour I took in this post as well. In fact, these are some of my personal favorites, as I never knew about some of these rooms as just some silly American girl on the internet. I hope you guys enjoy these even more than the last!
Part 1 (Exterior) | Part 2 (staircase) | Part 3 (HERE) | Part 4 (stage)
This is the grand foyer, an area that is pretty heavily photographed already. Standing in this room is almost as impressive as the massive staircase. The paintings on the walls and ceilings depict a lot of mythological scenes. In one of them, there is a hidden portrait of Garnier, along with the other artists that were involved in creating the paintings. The doors leading to the 2nd level balcony are located in the grand foyer.
Historically, only the gentlemen were allowed in the grand foyer, as it was seen as a place for them to converse and do business until one night, the Queen of Spain decided that she didn't care about such arbitrary rules. Ignoring it completely, she entered the room. The men all decided to leave, offended that even a queen would dare to encroach on their space. As word traveled around the Opera that night, all the other women soon joined the Queen in the foyer, wanting to see for themselves that she was there. Afterwards, men and women were begrudgingly allowed to mingle.
I found this to be a very interesting room. At the end of the grand foyer, this room was full of sunlight and comparatively simple decorations. The wealthy patrons themselves served as the real decorations of this room, as they would gather here for refreshments! The common folk, while not permitted to enter, would come to simply watch the rich people indulge in lots of expensive treats.
In fact, the menu still hangs on the wall in the form of all the portraits! All the women are holding items that symbolize various food items, tea, coffee, wine, game meat, fish, ice cream, citrus fruits and pastries.
I couldn't help but imagine Raoul taking various treats and sneaking them out to share with Christine.
We weren't allowed to go down this hallway but it just continued to make this place feel like a giant maze.
These two rooms were nearly identical, though on opposite ends of a hallway. A few mistakes were made during their construction. The top room is known as the Sun room, for its warmer ambiance. The bottom is the Moon room.
Firstly, the rooms were meant to be swapped locations. The Sun Room was supposed to lead into the gentlemen's smoking room, but the Moon room leads to it instead. On the ceiling of the Sun room, salamanders are painted. The little amphibians were believed to ward off the danger of fire and protect the building. By the time the mistake was caught, it was too late to change it.
The other mistake can be seen in the mirror illusion in the Sun room. Because of a fault in the construction of the mirrors, the glass is too curved and the error is magnified with the illusion. The light appears to bend around a corner, instead of repeating on into infinity.
I imagine Erik was quite cross with the workers when he realized these errors occurred. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be on the receiving end of his temper that day!
Looking at the star motifs painted on both ceilings, I wonder if they could have inspired Christine's Star Princess costume in the musical.
PART 1 (exteriors) | PART 2 (staircase) | PART 3 (here!) | Part 4 (stage)
#phantom of the opera#poto#le fantome de l'opera#palais garnier#paris#opera garnier#christine daae#raoul de chagny#erik#photography#art reference#history#architecture
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What is Gintama about? The only thing i know about it is a clip of a Character explaining how filler in anime works.
I mean, the easier question to ask here is "What is Gintama not about?" But okay, lemme see if I can answer efficiently.
On a base level, Gintama's premise is "Hey, remember that time in the 19th century where Western powers forced Japan to open its borders and started colonizing it with foreign influence? What if that, but instead of America and Britain it was aliens?" So it takes place in a 19th century Japan that's been colonized by super-advanced alien races, meaning you've got traditional, pre-industrialization Japanese buildings and infrastructure side by side with futuristic skyscrapers and UFOs. The protagonists are a trio of down-on-their-luck bums who run an odd jobs service and get involved with all sorts of wacky and unusual goings-on around Edo.
So essentially Gintama starts out as: Deadpool: Sci-Fi Alternate History Sitcom Edition. Its humor is irreverent, ridiculous, self-referential, often dirty, often fourth-wall-breaking, and almost always hilarious (I cannot stress enough, this is the good version of Deadpool humor I'm talking about). And at first, it seems content to mostly just be an episodic comedy with an interesting setting. But then...
Well, perhaps this paragraph from my review of the first 200 episodes best sums it up.
"Swiftly and surely, moment after dazzling moment, this show proved itself to be a show with no limits. Every time I thought it had exhausted its capacity to surprise me, it reached into its bag of holding and pulled out such an unexpected new flavor of story that I was forced to completely re-evaluate what I knew it to be capable of. From goofy, irreverent comedy, it proved itself capable of meaningful thematic explorations. From meaningful thematic explorations, it proved itself capable of a sincerely touching humanity. From a sincerely touching humanity, it proved itself capable of a mastery of the meta of its own place in popular culture that exceeds any other story I’ve seen. From a mastery of its own meta, it proved itself capable of awe-inspiring spectacle that left me cackling in shock. From awe-inspiring spectacle, it proved itself capable of wrenching character drama that left me sobbing in my seat time and time again. From wrenching character drama, it proved itself capable of bringing all those elements together into a synthesis of storytelling prowess, juggling so many disparate tones and styles and making them all feel part of the same massive, sprawling universe. And from there, it proved it could just as easily just do goofy, irreverent comedy again and still have it carry all the weight of its established internal mythology."
The bottom line is, what starts as seemingly just a really funny sitcom grows and evolves until it's capable of anything and everything you could ever want from a story, all at the same time. It's one of the funniest comedies I've ever laughed at, one of the most affecting dramas I've ever cried to, one of the most pulse-pounding action thrill rides in shonen history, and the undisputed title holder of the single best cast of characters I've ever seen. Even those seemingly simple meta jokes eventually grow to become a full-blown commentary on the art of storytelling itself, as Gintama uses them to bludgeon tired, problematic tropes into the dirt in order to replace them with better, more progressive alternatives. Not to mention how that alt-history setting is mined for genuine political philosophy. And it accomplishes all that while still primarily being a really funny sitcom... except it's also building up its own epic narrative in the background of that sitcom, piece by piece, until it finally knocks over the longest chain of narrative dominoes ever constructed for a final act that, frankly, blows the entirety of One Piece out of the water all on its own.
That is Gintama. That is the greatest work of fiction I've ever had the pleasure to experience. If any of that sounds interesting to you, give it a shot. I know the length is intimidating, but trust me: it's the most rewarding marathon you'll ever run.
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Your passion towards Nord lore and culture is sparking my enthusiasm so much further, thank you for your contribution to something I did not I cared so much about ✨😤 I was also curious about the parallels and similarities of Kyne's position and symbolism similarly to a real life counterpart of Slavic culture - Perun. Of course, TES Nords understandably were inspired by the ancient nordic cultures of the north, and Slavs were a sister-culture, and a very close and mixed civilization to those who we call 'Vikings' nowadays. Still, I find it really fascinating, and I'm grateful for your writing and art inspiring a lot of interest to delve deeper into this!
What a great message! You've really struck on a special interest of mine, the Viking Age and how all those cultures were interacting and clashing and blending while this inescapable tide (Christianity) washed over europe. There's a lot of inspiration and comparison to be done when thinking about headcanon!
Of course, I regularly read far deeper into things than we're ever shown in the games, but that's the fun. It's fascinating to point out and track real-world references and ideas in this fiction!
Opening statement: Nords are socially and aesthetically Norse. Religiously they are not!
There are MASSIVE parallels between Kyne and Perun, especially as chiefs of their pantheons. The thunder/sky domains of the goddess and the similarities to the norse Thor also can't be ignored, but the fact that the Norse and nord gods both are fallible beings who can die and change is probably the biggest parallel. I'd even say that regliously, nords are proto-Norse or celtic, closer to animism than the story-based Norse mythology we're all familiar with (which isn't to say stories aren't important to TES Nords, they're vital even, but worship of natural forces and magic and personifying them in gods is more their game in my mind. Kyne does not control the wind, it IS her breath. She is Monahven- "Mother Wind").
Side thought-> It’s pretty savvy of the lore writers to have nords- the ‘first men’ and supposed oldest human culture in the fictional world- be spiritually so tied to voices, sounds, air and story. These were real human’s first tools! I think we could sing long before we could use words. It’s how we communicate with the world. A shout feels primal in ways we never figured out words to describe. It’s the perfect metaphor for making a fictional culture feel truly ancient. Before they had steel, they had breath and their voice.
CULTURALLY, largely yes, the nords are Norse (using this term as it's the easiest catch-all for scandinavian peoples during the expansion period of 700-1100) there's no denying it. Back from when the Elder Scrolls was first made it was clear these are the Viking analogue beside the Arab/Persian analogue of Redguards and Imperial Romans of Cyrodiil. It's a fantastic jumble of cultures and why shouldn't it be!
Personally, I view the nords as much more mixed in their inspirations when it comes to religion. I see Ancient Egyptian animal veneration (Kyne and Shor also do a pretty good turn at Isis and Osiris). I see Roman polytheism in how present and integrated gods are into every aspect of life and how willing nords are to adopt new ones. I see the ancestor veneration of neolithic Europe (the same principles from east Asia might be more at home with the Dunmer).
The biggest, hugest reference I love to explore when thinking about this fiction is the parallels between the nord spiritualism and Mongolian shamanism and the veneration of Tengri, (lit. 'the sky'). It folds together all these styles of worship we see in the nords and even included veneration of a cultural hero, Ghengis Khan, into it's later mythos as he ascended and was deified.
Circling back to the Norse elements, I think the nords as we see them currently very similiar to the Rus of the Viking Age. They were ethnically Norse, travelled and changed, met new religions and began to leave theirs behind. The Slavic angle, a region merged between an orthodox Christian east and Norse northwest, is a really good one to think about!!
One thing I really like to do is diversify the nord characters in my cast to better reflect that I'm pulling inspiration from other places than Scandinavia. Nothing will be a 1:1 direct pull, that would be terrible and appropriative to just paste them onto Fantasy Norway, but filtering and blending, and using real world scope for our context in fiction is very very fun.
Anyway thanks for reading :)
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Thoughts on Odin and the ‘ugly’ bits in the myths
Before I really started diving into the lore, I suppose my idea of Odin was very much coloured by Tolkien’s Gandalf and my notion of the Christian patriarch. A wise old man, understanding of everyone, and without judgement. Morally flawless. This is what I felt a god should be. The archetype of the just and noble king who always does what is right for his subjects and is never corrupted by his wealth and power is one that appealed to me when I was young, but as I grew older, I came to think this is a character that is actually awfully dull. I want to see characters struggle with life. I want to see them make mistakes and do bad things. I want to learn something from their struggle. I was intrigued to discover, then, that Odin is a much less noble, much darker figure than I had imagined him to be. When I read the myths, he often comes across as greedy and petty. He is very proud and demanding of respect, and eager to prove and show off his knowledge. There are parallels between Christ on the cross and Odin’s hanging, but I think the most telling difference between them is that Odin’s sacrifice (of himself to himself!) is purely selfish.
So, it seems, then, that Odin is a god to be feared and appeased, a terrible and chaotic force of nature, but one that could prove a powerful ally (like all forces of nature tamed to be used by humankind). If you manage to gain his favour, that is, because his love is not unconditional. He needs to get something out of it. More people to add to his army. More knowledge. More power. A fuck :)
Recently I read a very enlightening post on the “fandomification” of mythology on Tumblr by classicslebianopinions that I misunderstood at first. I assumed the OP was talking about adaptation. I sat down to read their reply to the question why fandomification was a bad thing, and I realized I have been approaching the Norse myths from a similar angle. When I look at all the art I have made of the Allfather, and especially of his relationship with Loki, I can see I have been trying to “fix” them. I have made them so loving and tender :’) I guess it speaks for me that I want everyone to have a wholesome relationship (or maybe all it says is that I am a massive sap :P), but I have made them better people than they actually are. I do not like the fact that they call each other perverts for not sticking to the ideals of manhood in Lokasenna. I do not like that Odin’s sense of his own masculinity is apparently so fragile he starts spouting misogynist shit after being accused by Loki of dressing like a woman. I do not like the fact that Odin taunts and disrespects his own son Thor in Hárbarðsljóð. But, Saskia, you walnut, you just said it yourself, a story about some super woke people never doing anything wrong and just having a lovely old time is going to be so incredibly dull! I must not erase parts of their personality that do not appeal to me. This is what will make them interesting and these are tools I can use to tell my story, especially since I want queerness to be a big part of it. There is shame in there, and toxic masculinity, and self-loathing. I realized I have been worrying too much about making Odin likable (i.e. morally pure! I fell into the trap!) and about redeeming him. But redemption is not mine to give anyway; that is up to the audience. It is... interesting that I apparently have this need to make my own characters Good People (perhaps because part of me thinks my art must reflect Me?), since I really enjoy rat bastards in fiction created by others. When I think about characters that have really stuck with me, there are a lot of them with really despicable traits :) but I am still able to empathise with them and love them as characters. I must trust that Odin’s humanity will be evident. I suppose one of the reasons why I have fallen in love with the supreme witch boy is the precise fact that he is such an amoral asshole, and that he is complex and contradictory and human.
#norse gods#norse mythology#odin#been a while since i wrote anything#but i have done a whole lot of reading and Thinking#these are just some thoughts i jotted down for myself#and are hopefully interesting to read
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Most Marvel post-credit scenes hint at the future. Loki opted for a blunter approach: the God of Mischief would return in season 2.
Based on the final turn of events, there was really no other choice: Loki (Tom Hiddleston), having journeyed to the furthest point in spacetime with his variant Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) to meet the founder of the TVA, a scientist-turned-survivor-of-multiversal-war known as He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors), finds himself zapped into a new reality when his lady self slays the omnipresent being. The mind reels!
Creator Michael Waldron takes delight in the endless possibilities of Loki’s core premise. And as a veteran of Rick and Morty, he knows what anchors a mind-bending show, and what will keep Hiddleston’s character hurtling through his chaotic, rewritten future. Below, Polygon talks to Waldron about landing on the key choices of Loki season 1, what to expect from season 2, and a bit on his next project, the wrestling drama Heels, which is set to premiere on Aug. 15.
Did you know there’d be a second season of Loki from the beginning or was that choice made later in the process?
Michael Waldron: We always knew that it was a possibility. We always knew that we wanted to propel Loki and these characters out into the MCU after this, into further stories. But that didn’t really crystallize as a sure thing until we were in production and everything. And as we were really figuring out the finale.
So you were still cracking the ending as you shot the show?
There was a hiatus due to the pandemic. So things were constantly being retooled because of that. I think, by and large, everything with He Who Remains and the Sylvie-Loki conflict was always there. But that cliffhanger was the sort of thing that suddenly became a really appealing opportunity, a chance for that to lead into a second season.
What element of the series helped you crack the macro story of Loki, and made all the other pieces fall into place? Each episode almost feels like a standalone adventure, similar to Rick and Morty, but what helped it all click?
The first couple of weeks in the writers room was just laying out the individual episodes. It was very important to me that each episode stood on its own, and you could say “This is the Lamentis episode,” “This is the apocalypse moon episode,” “This is the Void episode.” I didn’t want it to just be cut up chapters and have one long continuous story. Obviously, we had to figure out the time travel for things to slot into place. I think a big idea for us was the way you get around the TVA by hiding in apocalypses. That felt like such a big, cool, exciting idea that it drove the action of episode 2, episode 3, and in a way it’s like Alioth is the ultimate apocalypse that He Who Remains is hiding behind. That sci-fi idea cracked a lot open for us. I know that after we had that I went home and I slept a little sounder.
Did adding the multiverse to the Marvel Cinematic Universe feel like blowing something up or expanding it, in terms of narrative possibilities?
In the same way that after the first couple Iron Man movies, and with the first Avengers, suddenly these movies were kind of going to space. Then we had Guardians. I think of the multiverse as another version of that. It’s new ground to cover, and particularly interesting because characters meeting other versions of themselves and other versions of people they know is... cool. That’s just a cool sci-fi concept! But I think with anything, as you expand outward, it only works if the humanity remains. It’s exciting to watch characters dealing with big crazy multiversal conflicts because we can see ourselves in them. I think you just have to hold on to the humanity that makes these stories work in the first place.
Did you go back to the Thor movies for Loki? Was there anything to find in the past of Marvel as you were paving the future?
Absolutely. I mean I watched them many times, contrary to what Twitter might think because I did some bits on there saying that I’ve never seen Avengers and I upset some people [laughs]. I have seen it many times. “Confirmed: Loki writer has seen Avengers and saw it before writing Loki show.”
In fact, I was watching all these movies on a loop in the writers’ room. I gleaned so much because you watch the evolution of the character. Avengers was particularly informative because our story picks up Loki right after that, but I also I found a lot of inspiration in Thor: The Dark World, a maybe sometimes maligned movie that I actually really enjoy. I just think there’s great stuff with Loki being tangentially responsible for the death of his mother, how he reacts to that. That is the start of his journey of that version of Loki’s redemption, so I was inspired by that.
What’s propelling the characters into season 2? Where are you headed in basic terms?
In season 1, you saw a lot of characters reckoning with and questioning their own glorious purpose, and that glorious purpose changing, [characters] realizing that that can change. Everybody except for Sylvie. I think she holds onto hers, which is vengeance, and to the detriment of us all, perhaps. And we’ve got a Loki who, at the top of our show, assessed himself as a villain and, I would argue, at the end of our show, has become a little bit of a hero. There’s nothing more heroic to me than fighting for the right thing and losing. You see that washing over him as he’s there back at the TVA, after Sylvie has knocked back there. And then he gets up because that is what heroes do ��� they keep going. So I think that you’re gonna see a Loki that looks at himself in a different way certainly that at the top of this.
Do you hope to explore more of Sylvie’s backstory in season 2?
I guess we’ll see. We certainly have our own rich backstory for her, stuff that didn’t get to make it into the show. Elissa Karasik, our episode 2 writer, wrote a lot of amazing backstory for Sylvia and everything. So those ideas exist out there.
And her version of Thor?
Tune in.
How did He Who Remains come about? Did you bring the character to Marvel or was that a character Marvel hoped to introduce?
I was pushing and our team was pushing early on in the writers’ room that it should be a version of Kang up in that Citadel, sort of fusing the mythology of He Who Remains with a little bit of the Immortus mythology. And that was a thing we were excited to do. And it became clear that it actually made sense for our story. The only way we were going to do it was if it made sense, but it was like, who had a better argument for creating the TVA to prevent other versions of themselves from existing then a guy as evil as Kang the Conqueror?
You wrote the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness — did Marvel hire you for that after Loki? Does the movie feel like a continuation of the show?
Yeah, that opportunity came as we were getting ready to start production on Loki. It was a pleasure. I got to work with Sam Raimi, a hero of mine. I was in London for five months making that movie at the top of this year. We had a blast. I think that it’s a continuation in as much as ever every Marvel movie is to some extent a chapter in an ongoing story, but these things are meant to stand alone and the most important thing about Doctor Strange too is making the most kick ass Doctor Strange movie we could.
Is Loki a two-part show now or are you invested in telling a longer story with future seasons beyond season 2?
Time will tell, but I do my hope is that season 1 stands on its own. We always wanted to tell a complete story there. And in whatever the next chapter may be will stand on its own as well.
Your next show, Heels, is already on the way. We got a big preview out of Comic-Con this year, but I’m curious about the scope of this story. You’re starting with two brothers running an independent wrestling franchise, but you’ve dropped the name “Vince McMahon” a few times — is this about the building of an empire? Would you liken it to The Godfather or Breaking Bad?
I always thought about it a little bit of a Scorsese-sort-of rise, and we’ll see if there’s a fall. Starting from humble beginnings and trying to build some crazy. Wrestling was certainly not always the empire that it is and that’s what’s interesting, to watch the evolution of a family-run wrestling business from something you do in your small towns and perhaps a national, even global empire. That would be a really compelling arc for a show over the course of several seasons. I’d be excited to explore that.
What’s the most dramatically fulfilling wrestling moment you’ve witnessed? What’s the bar for the wrestling drama of Heels?
It’s gotta be Hulk Hogan turning heel in the WCW. There was an invasion storyline, these guys from WWF, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall, came over and they were the bad guys. It was at a Pay-per-view and and they were beating up on the good guys that you love, and here comes Hulk Hogan in the yellow and red and he’s the hero. “The Hulk’s gonna get ‘em! The good guy’s here!” And then the Hulk just leg drops Randy Savage. That was the original Red Wedding. I just think about the boldness of turning him heel. To a little kid... I wasn’t even like a massive Hulk fan, but he was just such a mythological figure. What a chance that Hulk Hogan took as a performer, as a bankable kind of movie star at that point. That was bold, risky storytelling and it set off two years of amazing storytelling with Hogan just playing a craven, cowardly heel and just being so evil. I really respect the hell out of them for doing that. That was a great storyline.
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Knowing
“Knowing” holds a very special place in my heart, but it’s not a perfect film.
John Koestler is an astrophysicist and a single father to his son, Caleb. At school, Caleb receives a letter that was written fifty years ago and placed in a time capsule at his school. While all the other kids received pictures of what the students thought the future would look like, Caleb received a page with a bunch of seemingly random numbers on it. John finds the paper and discovers that the numbers correlate to real-world disasters that have happened in the past fifty years. The thing is, there are only a few numbers left. It’s now up to John to figure out what the final numbers could mean and save the world.
Watching “The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent” made me want to rewatch some of the Nicolas Cage movies that I grew up with. “Knowing” is the first movie that came to mind because of my special attachment to it. The mother of a friend of mine had just started a new business and invited all of us to come over to celebrate. We were checking out the new building and enjoying some good food. The adults stayed upstairs while we were downstairs watching “Knowing”. I remember all of us collectively freaking out and being paranoid about the end of the world. Most importantly, I remembered how interesting the premise of this movie was. After rewatching it today, I’m happy to say that the story is exactly how I remembered it and still holds up. Unfortunately, as someone who is more experienced with movies now, I have to call out this movie on its flaws. For starters, the performances are horrible in this movie. I’ve always joked that Nicolas Cage was never a great actor, but he makes some questionable choices in this movie. One part that stands out to me is when he’s trying to intimidate the Whisper People that have been talking to his son. He hits a nearby tree with his baseball bat and screams out. I get what he’s going for, but it just comes off as bizarre because of a lack of commitment. The actor playing the son is also really deadpan throughout the whole movie. This all culminates in, what is supposed to be, an emotional goodbye that just falls flat. As a kid, I never noticed how many logical inconsistencies in this movie. There are too many to list here, but I mean, you’re telling me that no one in the world figured out about the solar flares until Nicolas Cage types away for a few seconds on his computer? Wouldn’t NASA know about this before some random lone astrophysicist? I’m sure news would’ve broken so much earlier than it did in this movie. Still, that dumb decision actually spawned some tense end-of-the-world panic scenes. Speaking of those panic scenes, this movie does a great job with each of its disaster scenes. I remember both of the main scenes vividly and they still managed to catch me off guard. Finally, I want to talk about the ending. A lot of people felt like the ending jumped the shark or was religious propaganda. I didn’t necessarily take it that way. I think it was a logical culmination of everything this movie was going for. There was enough in this movie to have the ending make thematic sense. Also, I don’t really see it as religious propaganda. I think it’s a modern take on the Christian religion, much like Thor in the MCU and Percy Jackson with Greek mythology. Maybe it’s just weird for people because Norse and Greek mythology doesn’t have any followers while Christianity is still prevalent today. Still, I love seeing other peoples’ interpretations of myths or religion, so I thought the ending was interesting and through-provoking. While I was watching this movie, I couldn’t help but think that this movie should have a remake or something. I genuinely feel like this movie should be updated and improved upon, especially since the topic of disasters is becoming all too familiar these days. I know that probably won’t ever happen, so I’m glad I still have this movie.
★★★★
Rewatched on May 20th, 2022
#Knowing#March#2009#Disaster#Science Fiction#Action#Thriller#Drama#Mystery#PG-13#Alex Proyas#May 2022#4 stars
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It IS a rethorical question. Quite honest many people use EPIC tag to get views because as you see the tag has literally taken over everything! I can hardly speak on the original material without someone bringing up EPIC anymore and honestly it is a bit sad. I felt the same when people were using Miller's inaccurate books to basically shut everyone up that was speaking on original sources because apparently they do not like to be reminded that the original material and the retellings exist.
The teaming up of people is great and this is why people use tags. Occasionally to show their general interest so whenever they post something related to the Epic Cycle they do also include the musical because they like it.
I have said it many times over since I am not an EPIC fan at least not plot-wise, the musical is NOT just a representation that was not meant to be accurate. At this point it screwed over literally EVERY part of the Odyssey that it made it what it is in the first place. EPIC is no longer a "loose adaptation" is basically an original story without original characters. Literally change Odysseus to any other name and you still have your story. Either way love it or hate it or simply like it etc I don't care as much but it is both sad and annoying to see constantly fandoms take over this way and people not being able to find stuff that used to belong to the original sources or quite honest post it and get attention due to the fact that the fandoms are taking over.
We also see the phenomenon the fandom logic reach the points of confusion where people think the material they are fans of is actually responding to actual material. I remember that at some point even Wikipedia included the "Hermes and Circe lovers" and that corresponded to no source apart from Miller's books. The same goes with many things going on.
Thanks for your insights OP but yeah I am not looking for explanations. I can imagine what is the explanation. As my tags speak of this is just a rant of mine not really a question per se. It is great that people get to know the classics by the adaptations aka they get encouraged to look for them and learn but as others have said before me the fact that the tag is used literally for EVERY SINGLE REFERENCE to the epic cycle has made it very hard for others who do not seek reference to the musical not to get swarmed by them. And as other Greeks who love the classics like me do speak also on the fact that mythology in general and Greek mythology in particular being treated like a fandom is already a bit of interesting and kinda complicated subject to discuss because myths were actually parts of cultures and not just "fairy tales" or fake stories that people used just to pass the time and many modern retellings of myths have created such a massive wave of misunderstandings that right now is impossible to tell truth from lie sometimes or that people are so prejudiced against ancient cultures exactly because of the way they are depicted in these modern adaptations
Either way thanks again for your insights but yes it was a rethorical question.
You realize that a fandom has gone off the rails or that it has REALLY taken over when you see "Epic the Musical" tagged under images of Achilles and Patroclus! Like...how are two characters who were both dead by the taking of Troy, yet alone by Odyssey who do not appear not even as a mention for the Underworld as they were in the Odyssey, relatable to this?!
Sorry! XD
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Ayy, glad to see another Order: 1886 player. It seems that not many know about the game, which is a shame, considering its really good. Same with Plague Tale: Innocence
I know! Even with all its flaws, The Order deserves a sequel 😩 The lore was interesting, although to appreciate it I feel the player has to know about the Arthurian legend because the game doesn't go much into detail. For example, if I hadn't recognized their coat of arms, I wouldn't have known the Lord Chancellor is Lancelot. I love Excalibur (1981) and The Wolfman (2010), werewolves and mythology. The Order is a mix of many of my interests, but a potential sequel needs better writing to become accessible to players who aren't as familiar with mythology as I am.
Sorry for the rambling but the game's a massive guilty pleasure of mine. The ending left me wanting more.
I own a Plague Tale but still haven't played it.
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Hello! Sometimes I see you post stuff from IF blogs and I've recently started playing some IF games, which I've enjoyed so far. Do you have any IF stories you'd recommend in particular? I'm not attached to any particular genre and I don't need romance or a self-insert main character, (though I'm not opposed to either). Though, it's a definite plus if it's LGBTQ+ inclusive! I'm not really sure what the "cornerstones" are of IF so I'll take any and all recommendations haha
Oh god, I play so many IFs. So many. And it’s not even close to all of them, but I’m trying!!
Tbh IFs without romance seems to be very rare, I think because when I think IF I think Choice of Games, and those pretty much always have romance in them. At least, the most well known ones do. But a well done one without romance would be nice too!
Okay, this is a list of my favourites! They’re all LGBT+ inclusive, and most have gender selectable love interests, or at least ones that change gender depending on the gender and sexuality combination you pick. In no particular order, of course. Behind a cut because I’m gonna give them each a mini review. Because I haven’t done that yet.
(There are so many.)
Mind Blind: I absolutely love our big brother Nick, I love how witty and sharp so much of the dialogue is, I love how the MC clearly has a rather large handicap, but is still such an important person to so many people and not looked down on in the slightest. And when they are, we all know it’s because that person is a jerk! They’re not defined by what they aren’t, but what they are, and that’s a great message.
Shepherds of Haven: Part of why I love this one so much is I just love fantasy settings and this one just pulls it off so well. The cast is full of amazing characters, and I gotta say I die inside pretty regularly for not being able to afford the patreon content, lol. The author puts so much amazing stuff on there, and gives us so much great content in the game and through answers on tumblr, and you can tell this whole thing is just the best thing ever to them, and that makes it the best ever for us readers too!
The Wayhaven Chronicles: I’d be shot if I didn’t mention this one, the series that literally killed dashingdon when the book 3 demo dropped!! Again, another author that cares a lot and does their best to do right by their fans. We’ve been given drip after drip of these amazing characters backstories, and I just cannot wait for more! It’s definitely very romance centered, but the overall plotlines are also very good, and I have to say that no matter who I romance, I just feel like the group as a whole is a family. And that’s wonderful.
Speaker: I really like the lore. I really like the lore. I can’t wait until we get more of the overall plotline. Mostly I want my Speaker to get in deep trouble so Seb, Li and Seer (best sister ever) go off and beat the shit out of whatever is causing it. This probably says something about me, but what can I say, I thrive on angst and inflicting near death injuries on my OCs. Sometimes I even kill them, although all of this is offtopic. Or is it? I guess we’ll find out, although I doubt we’ll actually be able to kill off Speaker. And yes, I am definitely playing the Seb & Li poly route. I love them both so much.
Wilhelmina: I love vampires, ok? Ok? And this one is based off Dracula!! The OG!! And you can choose Drac’s gender!! Shit, sign me up forever!! Yeah, she might be literally killing my bff, torturing my fiancé and low key fucking with my mind, but vampires are hot!! Let me live! Or not. But yeah, this is a really well done retelling of the Dracula novel and I like how well it works as an IF. Did I mention I like vampires?? Especially when they get all monstery?? (This one has an MC with a set gender, as it’s based on an already existing literary figure. Mina can have a same sex relationship with dracula, if you make drac a female, or with Lucy, a female love interest.)
More Things in Heaven and Earth: Hi Nell!! First off, I gotta uncover a deep shame of mine. My family literally has a Shakespeare heirloom collection. As in, my greatgrandfather passed down through the family a collection of Shakespeare that was published in 1911. In ye olde englishe. I tried to read it when I was like 10 and was like what language is this?? What the fuck? What the fuck??? And ended up reading As You Like It, a bit of Romeo and Juliet, and a little of Hamlet. Didn’t touch the rest of it. I only got into the other stories through trashy ya reimaginings. That said, this retelling of Hamlet inspired me to go read the whole of the original and now I have a lot of fears for these characters that I’m so much more attached to, oh god I hope my Ophelia has a happy ending. I hope Hamlet himself has a happy ending. The dialogue is so well done, everyone is engaging, and yeah it made me finish an old af book when nothing else did. (This one also has an MC with a set gender, female, for the same reason. However, there are two gender variable love interests, so you can very much play a bi or gay Ophelia if you so choose.)
Guenevere: I love King Arthur. All the myths. I have so many books based on the King Arthur mythos, oh dear god. I love pretty much every version of it. All the movie and tv shows too! I just can’t get enough of those knights. I could go on for paragraphs about how courtly love worked and how all the different social castes were, but I’ll try not to. This series lets you customize Guen as a character to an amazing degree, considering that she’s also based on an actual literary figure like the other two I mentioned above. It really feels like she becomes your own character, and yet she still exists within this world very very well. I worry quite a bit that the author might have bit off more than they can chew with the current book they’re working on, what I’ve seen of it looks absolutely massive in scale. What is out so far is a wonderful read though, full of drama and laughter and lots of chances to make the story your own.
Bastard of Camelot: Yep! Another King Arthur series! Sue me! This one lets you set Mordred’s gender though, so it’s more inclusive in that way. It is very interesting to play as one of the “bad guys” of the King Arthur mythos. You can play them as straight up evil, as good, or you know, a bit of column a and a bit of column b. Or they can just be a rude little shit. It’s got dragons too! You get a dragon pet! Dragons are cool. It can be a bit tough to play sometimes, since a lot of people dislike Mordred quite a lot because of prejudices. Hopefully this will change a bit later in the series if you’ve been a fairly good person up to that point. Gotta say though, as a warning, that Mordred is a product of incest. It’s not glossed over, and it does cause a lot of problems for them in the story.
God of the Red Mountain: I just love that this inspired me to read more chinese mythology tbh. There is just so much here! And it’s just such a good read. I wish I was better at describing things. The MC being a spirit that you can define, the whole setting, most of the love interests also being spirits, the massive amount of history and culture and lore, how it all fits together. It is such a well done story. I really wish it got more attention than it does. I still miss Big Sister. I still can’t wait to find out more about the foxes, and how we can heal our MC.
The Nameless: Another one that lets you play as something otherworldly. I love the lore behind this one, and I love all of the cast I’ve met. I kind of like that our MC isn’t loved right off the bat, that we’ll have to win over all of our love interests and even the other npcs. I’m up for the challenge! Everything I’ve read on the tumblr for these characters just makes me love them all more tbh. I love how much they’ve written for all of them! Most of all though, I love Oisein. All the art of them is just *chef kiss* and their personality is magical.
A Mage Reborn: This is a really recent one but!! Wow, it’s really well done! That cliffhanger!! Oof!! Not many books literally start with killing your MC off! That takes guts! I told the author this already, but I love the way they formatted this, the way it starts with the end, so to speak, and then fills it all out. It just made everything feel so poignant, how MC is literally looking back at all these moments in time in the last minutes they have before they die. Shit. That’s powerful. And there’s gonna be more??? Can’t wait for that angst. Give me that drama. Of course I picked the one who had me killed, that’s just how I am!
These are all just the COG type games, there are a few twine games with graphics I’d throw on here, but the list is long enough as it is and they feel like they’re in a different category to me. Maybe it’s just me?
#if#if recs#rivi's recs#interactive fiction#there are more than these that i like too!#these are just the ones i feel the strongest about#and as i said these don't include the itchio twine ones#there are amazing ones there too but that feels like it should be a separate post?#i'd put links but i think it won't show up anywhere if i do#because tumblr is A Site#i can pass them on though if needed
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Draco, Gemini & Apus for the constellation ask game!
‹ DRACO // : › [ Who’s your favourite character to write ? ]
This is very biased considering I have roleplayed xem on here the longest for bit over a year since I created xem from April 2021 to July 2022 before I left the RPC, but out of a few original characters who I had written for roleplay ( since I’ve never done any novel / project writing... YET! ), I highly enjoy writing this all encompassing and multiversal glitch, [ REDACTED ], also known as just [ ? ] for short, who is the protagonist of the Godly Trilogy along with the Consumer / You! The personality of [ REDACTED ] is literally everything and anything as xe has a whole different identity and life to each individual xe would interact with, so it’s extremely fun to write xem while xe is generally known to be unpredictable, comical and tragic all at once! Even xyr writing style is meant to be chaotic and overwhelming, just as xyr nature is. Here are of my favourite parts of roleplay replies I had written!:
1. Slowly, xe nods, understands how in the Universe, there has to be some form of an explanation for everything— from life to death, lightness to darkness, you and I with our existences. [ Though, I do not have mine yet. Please, be patient with me. I am trying not to make my explanation be of just swallowed stars and stolen shadows. ] A hum falls from the strangest ones and zeroes, this sound gently caressing reality, unholy blade right against its invisible skin.
2. Once, twice, forever, this conversation repeats. It does start differently again and again and again and again, yet, the familiarity in the moment that bears the exchange is still faint, dying— [ I am curious because I am meant to be, all paths lead to this, but in the end, I look at you, with all of your scars and stars, because I care about you. Fate will never have the privilege to write the reasons with my love. ] Xe shifts in xyr seat closer to him, gaze gentle as own scars all over xyr body softly glow white, this sight a reminder that he is not alone.
3. TO BE DEATH BOUND, ALL DARKNESS CONSUMED. Fate does not care about how much would one offer from themself to have a place they most desire in the Afterlife. ( The greatest heroes may still fall into the abyss and be turned into dead memories, the petty wrongdoers may still be brought to the paradise and make rain forever red. ) Fate will have the Universe only keep on expanding while growing hotter until it snaps, and there will be no poems and arts that are correct on how it ends. Though, regardless of where one goes after their death, is their final coming to peace unenough? It should be possible: Making a home out of Nothing , like the way the Demiurge can create Life from Emptiness. WE CAN BE SOMETHING MORE TOO. [ You have to not only pray and pray and pray for a better resting home, but believe, believe, be. ]
‹ GEMINI // : › [ What inspired you to create this project ? ]
I’ve always been fascinated with the concepts of humanity, identity, narrative / metafiction, religion / mythology / folklore, storytelling, the multiverse! There is so much to think about ( and be emotional over, lmfao ) relating to them that makes me very grateful that I have this life to get to experience and explore these things that are very inspiring and wonderful and interesting, so I combined them together to have this massive project. [ REDACTED ] actually inspired by me to have a project that is as all encompassing and multieverything because I want to explore every genres, types of mediums beyond just a novel, prominent and underrated character concepts / story tropes, just everything there is with arts and storytelling as I want to understand and appreciate them all!
With medias that have inspired me to do God Exits and the Godly Trilogy itself, the Adventures With Markiplier series has the most inspiring to me, especially Mark’s In Space With Markiplier that is not only a choose your own story, but it also explores different art styles, the gradual awareness of being in a story and loop, and having compassion even when everyone and everything wants to hurt / kill you. And then, Everything Everywhere All at Once also became another most inspiring media to me! ( Such a beautiful story that shows how love and hope are truly everywhere and can endure everything... )
Ultimately, I hope to have God Exits and the Godly Trilogy be a reminder to people of what life is and how we should come to appreciate it in our own healthy and kind ways before everything and everyone and everywhere comes to the end. <3
‹ APUS // : › [ What’s the hardest part about writing for you ? ]
I feel like the most writing related challenge I have is coming up with these ideas and then sticking to them. Often times when I write my oneshots or do roleplay replies, I just write whatever comes to mind after I have my beginning and end thought out, going with the flow more than making the ideas and following them. I’m not the best at sticking to original plans as if I do come up with any plans, I tend to change them when I’m indecisive as HELL before I just get frustrated and annoyed with myself sdgndsgkd but it’s okay as I know I’ll figure everything out in the end! cx
* SOURCE : CONSTELLATION ASK GAME //
#✨#isherwoodj#[ thank you so much for sending this in friend! <3 <3 <3 ]#[ giggling as Gemini is our sun sign heheh ùwú ]
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