#no hate to the actors or creative team at all btw

[festus-eats-tabasco]

alright I finally watched the last episode.

[blow-me-a-kis]

I just think ofmd is a fandom that is gunna have a lengthy legacy, and I feel sorry for you if you are apart of the history of this fandom that is worthy of shame.

It's shameful to treat others poorly because you disagree with how they enjoy a character.

A character that, btw, is well loved among the cast and crew of Our Flag Means Death. Vico loves Izzy. Taika loves Izzy. David Fane loves Izzy. The writers love Izzy. No one on that entire team has suggested they feel anything but respect and appreciation for the effort Con has put into Izzy and Izzy's role as a foil.

If you are seeking an example of how we should treat one another as fans, you need look no further than the love and respect demonstrated among the cast and crew of this beloved show.

This show is rife with queerness and so many layers of the queer experience explored. David J even suggested fans pay attention to the love story happening between Izzy and Ed upon a second watch.

So I feel sorry for you that you choose not to be apart of that, if you choose to reduce your capacity for appreciating queer experience to just Stede and Ed's romance.

I feel sorry for you that your prejudice against Izzy puts you at a distance from enjoying this fandom and the show fully.

I feel sorry for you if your needless hatred of Izzy puts you at a distance from some of the best art and writing in the fandom, and may even undermine your own creativity, as judgmental attitudes often do.

I feel sorry for you if you are a person who has chosen to make other fan's experience harder based on your reduced capacity for the variety of queer experiences, especially when we turn off this show and must face a world that wants us as queer ppl dead.

I know the bad actors agree that their behavior is shameful, because they don't direct their cruelty at the highly visible cast and crew who celebrate Izzy. Just his fans, who, in their logic, do not matter.

It takes emotional maturity to change your mind when you no longer have a valid reason to stick to a belief. None of these characters are real, we don't have to hold them accountable to anything.

If you no longer believe you have a reason to hate Izzy and his fans, you are welcome to stop and move on to something else.

I dont think it makes you happy. I don't agree that ppl "love" to hate Izzy. Most ppl who hate Izzy seem demonstrably unhappy to me, and that feeling of unhappiness is what they tend to spread to others. Especially when their hypocritical bullying tendencies isolate them from one of the most accepting and non judgmental corners of the fandom.

I want you to know, you can always change your mind. You don't have to like Izzy, but you can let go of hating him, free yourself of all that needless anger. Even if you're not ready to let go of hating him, you can set boundaries with yourself about how you will engage with the fandom, to remain respectful and carry yourself with integrity.

You can distance yourself from other bad actors if they put pressure on you to engage in behaviors you know are shameful. If you want to have a different, more peaceful experience, you have the power to create it.

You can change your mind and reject being apart of the shameful side of this fandom's legacy.

Most of us will be happy to have you when you ready to be done.

[gracefullou]

No need to publish but since you mentioned the disturbing amount of likes F stuff gets--I've now seen SO MANY video compilations of him in Louis' tags and the worst part is having been around for years I know that half the pics are either not F or not even Louis 😬 I see no difference between these "fans" and the ones that relate everything to H. It's depressing that his team isn't interested in fostering a fan base outside of the loonies.

It's really disturbing to see the obsession ngl. And it's not only fans. Just a few days ago, i saw a PEOPLE's article about Freddie's recent pic and i'm like wtf? I don't know if they ever wrote ONE article about a louis music release but just randomly writing a whole ass article about a child? It's so so weird. And i hate larries and babygaters for igniting this obsession amongst fans. If babygaters didn't exist, i don't think we would have this amount of posts or even accounts that work as Freddie's ua. In one hand we have the freaks who allow themselves not only to believe but to fucking post their proofs how Freddie isn't Louis' son daily (just imagine someone coming to you and saying you're not your parents' son/ daughter and i won't believe it until i see your birth certificate. Like seriously who tf they think they are). I still don't know what they think they're achieving with that, even if you think he isn't his child, holding that against him and always threatening to boycott his projects if you see the kid (which never works btw 💀) and hating on a kid daily is just disgusting and (bc i know that's what they care about) frankly useless. No one with a working braincell will ever believe a single word from crazy people like larries (i came back to Twitter the last couple of days and they're honestly truly schizophrenic there's no other explanation to the utter and complete dissociation in their thinking). They don't even think on how it reflects on louis, to have them as fans. I can't tell you how many irl friends became fans of louis after fitf but were so so put off by larries, they chose to remain casual fans only. On the other hand, we have some fans who work a little too hard to prove larries wrong. They hold on too strong to Louis' heterosexuality and fatherhood as a got you moment for larries. Totally ignoring how weird it it to keep posting a child's face. PS: A lot of the likes for Freddie's posts come from hrries who cling to that (and Louis' Larry denials ) as proof that larry isn't real since their fav didn't really give them a firm denial to shut larries up. I think louis is too talented to have a fandom like this. I always thought that his discography is too good to be included in this circus. Someone like him should've had a carrer trajectory similar to some of the top actors'. Drama free, promote his projects when the time comes, charms everyone with his wit and sense of humor then disappears until the next masterpiece drops. Unfortunately, he was sabotaged for too long and his current team is so useless, non creative and non ambitious it really is depressing. Even the big side projects if you will (afhf, aotv, lfl...) were all louis' ideas and made reality out of sheer will and determination from him. I will never forget in the afhf documentary where HE was the one telling Matt that the festival will happen and the logistics will be figured out and insisting so that the lazy man gets on with it and does his job. Like you're his MANAGER and not only you have zero useful ideas to promote him but also act like you're doing him a huge favor (against your will just so you could shut him up) when he asks you to do something that is in reality your job. His label is also useless (no radio, no playlisting). Hoping LT3 will have a better promo cycle (i'm a clown i know) and some miracle happens so we can get rid of larries, they're so harmful to his career and replace them with new healthy normal fans

[thatiranianphantom]

Okay, since people reacted like mad to a post that wasn't even dedicated to Lili/Betty and I just shepherded 20 5-year-olds around for 4 hours in the blazing heat and my head is pounding, let's stir the pot!

I am extremely aware that actors have talking points, actors have to deflect, actors have to talk the show up, so to save you guys some anon messages, let's put that out there right now.

In this, Lili seems to imply that the relationships are not the core of the show, and that is just absolutely not true. Whether or not it's a talking point she's been instructed to say, it's profoundly untrue. The relationships have been the core of the show since s1. What else would be? The friendships? We never see those, they are ignored sometimes for full seasons. The character growth? That is progressed and regressed at random, and some characters are functionally the same as they were in s1. The family relationships? Hard to think of 1 that isn't toxic at best and lazy at worst. The plots? We watch those because of the relationships.

Seasons 5-7 Riverdale are not camp. I actually do understand what camp is. "Camp" denotes a show that knows what it is and doesn't take itself too seriously. Camp requires consistent characterizations and plots, even if the plot is insane. Camp requires a show understanding it's silly and not be expecting people to think its plots are incredibly profound or meaningful, but to just have fun with it. I'd submit that seasons 1-4 may have been a version of camp, but seasons 5-7 are not camp. If you are weaponizing the Emmett Till tragedy for views, that is not camp.

It's.....quite a thing to take a fandom's critique (I am not just generalizing this to Lili, btw, this is a RD cast and crew thing), along with the plummeted ratings, the falling out of any top lists in Netflix, the complete lack of Con attendance, the exodus from social media trending, the shutting out of any award shows, the drop in the cast's social engagement and a million more things as just "haters being hateful" and never acknowledging that they have an actual point about this show. Riverdale was built through social media. And now people should only use to adulate the show when it's actively terrible? Nah, not doing that.

To be clear, I don't hate Lili at all (I don't hate any actors, that would require me to care a lot more about them than I do), I just don't particularly appreciate being talked down to, whether it's Lili using talking points from the "creative" team or Lili herself.

[dojae-huh]

I guess op doesn't remember but LSM wasn't in Korea when the whole jyj stuff happened, he was in America with his wife who was suffering from cancer (he came back when the whole drama was about to end, as for a 10 year contract they're still common in smaller companies). Now too his kids who don't want to be part of entertainment, this is why he wanted to sell and live his life comfortably.

We forget he's alot older than he looks. As for his tax evasion scandal, Most Korean actors/businesses (Samsung) are stuck in this scandal so it's not weird. Most in entertainment don't pay enough tax, this is why we had Chinese authorities basically cracking down on celebs coz they were under-reporting their income.

U cant blame lsm in this mess even if u want to, he wanted to sell his company but he didn't want anyone to be the major buyer. Kk just pushed him to sell to someone who might kill the creative process of sm.

Also sm was a business and lsm 2as a business, if he cared about the profit and taking his share for stuff then is it really bad. I hope now SM fans learn to not abuse the company, unlike sm hybe isn't forgiving to even small hate 9nline. This is why I won't see anyone abuse the owner or the company on the internet.

Btw gfriend had one comeback under hybe and then they were told to leave the dorms and all. With the way things are going I want to see if hybe can control the mess, coz I've read that they've kicked LSM from the creative team too

Also just to clean something up, cj entertainment owns net marble and ultimately they're the second biggest share holder of hybe... So hybe isn't free of big tech money

This just means Samsung was shit at their own music label so now they're just buying bits of others.

Not abt entertainment but media is controlled by CJ ent, and their parent company is Samsung... Now Samsung can have their own media narrative 9f all the things that happen in sk

And noone will be able to say anything

Tencent (China) also has a big share in Hybe.

SM's LSM's dear child. If he is so desperate to avoid Kakao, then, I guess, he didn't like what they were offering during meetings with him. Also, wasn't he favouring CJ entertainment at the end of his long selling of his shares? He wanted means to develop his metaverse idea, Netmarble might be the thing. Netmarble produced Mave virtual group, 3D quality is high. Maybe the same company did updated Naevis.

[buffyfan145]

I’m so upset right now after seeing that Emilio Estevez won’t get the Covid vaccine that’s required for all Disney shows/movies and is leaving the “Mighty Ducks: Gamechangers” TV show. :( He was always one of my fav 80s actors and I love the “Mighty Ducks” movies and season 1 of this show was great. We know too they were supposed to bring back Charlie and Keenan’s character but now Deadline’s confirmed the writers are having to rewrite season 2, and since Gordon and Alex were going to become a couple. Hate to say it but this likely has doomed the show to be cancelled now all because he won’t do the right thing and get the vaccine. I’ve already lost so much respect for not only my favorite actors, athletes, and musicians for turning out like this but also cut ties with my own family members because of this and it’s just heartbreaking for me as I looked up to so many of these people most of my life.

ETA: He’s now released his own statement saying it was more that he had long-haul Covid and felt Disney didn’t do that much to help him and felt they still couldn’t now and wasn’t happy with the creative team and what they were planning for season 2. Also he said he’s not an anti-vaxxer but never once said that he got the vaccine (which his father is all for btw) so not sure if I can fully believe him as if he got the vaccine I’m pretty sure he’d say so.

[insertdeeplyrics]

On the ending of Supernatural

Hi, I’ve never actually posted anything on Tumblr of my own creation (I mostly reblog stuff), but I’ve just seen the ending of Supernatural, and given that this is where I’ve been fed my SPN content, it felt right to share my thoughts here. I’m sure nobody is going to read this, but whatever, I just need to get this out of my chest. Sorry in advance if this is too long, but I have to type this out if I want to move on.

I still need to take some time to process everything that’s happened, because it is a lot. I did have my hopes up for the finale, thinking that Cas would at least show up, but like many of the fans, I was let down.

So I guess that would be the first issue I had with the episode. Regardless of what Dean felt towards Cas, if he reciprocated his feelings or not (which he totally did, I mean, we have all been watching the same show for 12 fucking years, and if you don’t believe me, there are plenty of metas that would support this statement), he still is his best friend and it doesn’t sit right with me the fact that he doesn’t even try to find a way to rescue Cas from the Empty. And okay, maybe he didn’t, make Cas got resurrected by Jack, then why the hell wasn’t he on the final episode? He was a pivotal character for the series, I mean, the proof is in the ratings: Season 7, when he was killed off to apparently never return, the ratings were at their lowest. The show may have started as just Dean and Sam, but over the years it became much bigger than them, and it is so disappointing that the show runners failed to acknowledge it. But I’ll get back to this point later.

Okay, I need to talk about Dean’s death, the only part of the episode that made me cry, because my poor baby had to suffer so much! Like, when he started saying that Sam never put up with John’s crap (which reinforces my headcanon that John was abusive towards the boys) and how much he admired him for it, my heart just shattered. I just love Dean Winchester so freaking much, and they did him so dirty... Don’t get me wrong, Jensen and Jared’s acting was 10/10, like, I thought I had a grip of myself and then Sam started crying and tears came back to my eyes. Nonetheless, I felt that the scene was so freaking long! I mean, Dean was dying, and he had time to make a 10 minutes-long speech! C’mon! Also, I get that Sam and Dean’s relationship is quite deep and strong and whatever, but I felt a bit unconformable watching it: it didn’t feel like a brotherly goodbye, more like a lover’s one. They were too touchy and intimate, and, overall, their relationship from this point on was coded as a romantic one, in my opinion. And Chuck, did I hate it! I have an older brother and I know what it is like to be close to your sibling and to love him more than anything else in the world, but the way they portrayed their relationship on this last episode felt incest-y, which makes me believe that this scene was originally written with another character in mind (cough CAS cough) or the writers don’t know the difference between romantic and brotherly love. To finish off, the way they killed off Dean??? I mean, I did expect Dean to die, but this was such a horrible and ridiculous way to go... I would have accepted it if he died actually fighting, but impaled??? After all he’s been through, after fighting so many demons, angels and deities, that’s how he dies??? That just felt cheap and rushed. Dean did not deserve that ending and I refuse to accept it. In fact, I refuse to acknowledge the existence of this whole fucking mess of an episode. Also, I just can’t believe that no one showed up to Dean’s funeral. I just can’t. I get that maybe it was difficult to bring in a lot of actors due to the pandemic, but they could have added them on post-production...

Next, we have Sam’s ending. He quits hunting and finally obtains his white-picket fence life. I did like the fact that he honored all of his friends and family that he lost along the way, especially Dean. Like, yes, if my brother died, I would like to keep a token (don’t know if that’s the actual word for it, my first language is not English), to have something with me that reminded me of him and to have him with me wherever I go. And I did like that he named his son Dean, in honor of his brother. However, we don’t know how he met his wife, we don’t even know who she is. They set up Sameileen for what?? Like, Sam and Eileen deserved better, tbh. And, again, even with Covid restrictions they could have done something to signal that Sam got married to Eileen, you don’t need the actor there. In fact, we never actually found out what happened to her, and just like I can’t believe that Dean didn’t even try to save Cas from the Empty, I can’t believe that Sam didn’t reach out to Eileen. Furthermore, the montage with his son felt cheap and a way to try to appeal to the audience’s emotions... (Btw, as a side note, the grey wig and the glasses, my god, they did Jared dirty 😂😂). But it wasn’t doing it for me, I didn’t care much for the kid, and while I do believe that was always going to be Sam’s ending, I didn’t like how it was executed.

And the worst part of it all: that suuuuuper long scene with Dean driving in Heaven, waiting for Sam. They could have used that time to show something more meaningful, even to develop a bit more Sam’s new life, how he adjusted to domesticity and fatherhood and all that crap. Or, I don’t know, A TEAM FREE WILL 2.0 REUNION??? And I guess this is my biggest issue with the whole episode. I get it, Sam and Dean are the central characters, the ones that started it all, but family don’t end with blood, and they were not the only ones who deserved a goodbye. They had formed so many bonds and friendships over the years, and to not have them address them on the final episode just feels infuriating. Especially Cas. His arc was not finished, he deserved to be on the finale. We never got Dean’s reaction to his confession, we don’t know how he felt about him, nor did Cas get to say goodbye to any other character. How did he get out of the Empty? What is he doing now? Is he still an angel? Also, he gave his life to save Dean, only for Dean to be killed not long after. My headcanon that is helping me cope with Dean’s death is thinking that he was so quick to accept his death because he was hoping to reunite in Heaven with Castiel. A girl can dream, ok??? But also, what about Jack? He is the new God, but I highly doubt it that he won’t drop by the Bunker from time to time, after all, Sam and Dean (AND CAS, ESPECIALLY CAS) raised him. And Charlie? Did she get back with Stevie? Did she and the boys go for drinks from time to time? And Jody? Donna? Claire? Sorry to be so repetitive, but I just can’t understand why the writers thought that these characters weren’t important enough to deserve a spot on the finale, and not just an off-hand mention (and not even all of them got that). Of course, the brothers are the main characters and their goodbye must be the longest and the most emotional of them all, but like I said before, the show stopped being just about the Winchesters on season 3, when Bobby was first introduced, maybe even 4, with Cas.

Overall, the finale left a lot of questions unanswered, most of them regarding secondary characters (but not less important for that!), completely destroyed Sam and Dean’s character development (Dean never got to be free, like he had been fighting for all season, probably all his life; Sam’s development is non-existing, as he ended up as he would’ve if he never had gotten on that hunting trip with Dean 15 years ago), and completely disregarded all the themes they had been setting up this season, probably on previous ones as well. It is sad knowing that the writers, either don’t know the show good enough to give it a proper goodbye, or they just didn’t care to do so. I don’t know who’s to blame here (definitely not the actors, though, probably someone higher up the chain), but I just know that I am so fucking disappointed. I expected more from the last episode of a 15-season TV show, one that has been part of my life for 7 years. I guess, that despite all of it, I can’t hate Supernatural. Maybe I was not a hardcore fan like some people on this site, but I did care for the characters and what happened to them. This is the show that introduced me to the world of shipping (Destiel will always hold a special place in my heart, it doesn’t matter how badly their relationship was treated, as well as the characters) and I got to discover one of my favorite characters, Dean Winchester. He is just such so complex, one that I relate to on so many levels, and his relationship with Cas has been the source of many short stories that I’ve never posted anywhere, but that have made me take up writing again. That’s the reason why I love the show so much, it has helped me tap into my creativeness and go back to writing, a passion of mine that I seem to have forgotten over the years. Anyways, maybe one day I’ll publish some of those stories, and maybe even write my own fix-it fanfic, but right now, I can’t deal with anything that has to do with the show, I am too hurt. Maybe once the five stages of grief are over, I might give it a try and read all of the amazing codas and fanfics that I’m sure will be posted here or on AO3. But for now, Supernatural is dead and gone, and I don’t want to talk nor think about it anymore. I’m done wasting my time here, because I feel like that’s what I’ve been doing this past 7 years after watching this crap of a finale.

To finish this long rant off, I just want to say thank you to some meta-writers, the true heroes of the fandom. Thanks to them, I carried on watching the show, because they made me have hope that things will get better. They are the ones that have made this experience worth something, and even though I’ve never spoken to any of them, I see you and I love you. Thanks for everything ❤. 

@tinkdw @charlie-minion @dotthings @heliodean @verobatto-angelxhunter @misha-moose-dean-burger-lover

[princessamericachavez]

so, you're posts about critical role and you're ship have got me quite interested. do you have any tips on watching it for someone who knows next to nothing about it?

Hey! So I knew next to nothing about D&D when I started watching Campaign One, but I found that most of the rules are easy to infer as you watch them play and any other stuff you don’t understand is one quick google search away. Mostly, it’s pretty simple.

I suggest you start with Campaign 2, since it’s still on-going and it will let you participate more actively in the current fandom.

You can find all the episodes on Youtube. Here’s a link to a playlist with all of them so far:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byva0hOj8CU&list=PL1tiwbzkOjQxD0jjAE7PsWoaCrs0EkBH2

New episodes air on Thursdays on the Critical Role Twitch channel and are uploaded to Youtube on Mondays.

Don’t be too intimidated by the ep count or length. You can go at your own pace and, in my experience, the stories are so compelling that the episodes end up feeling short!

You can also find all of the episodes as Podcasts, so that might be simpler if you wanna listen as you drive or work or do other stuff.

Other things you might like to know about it before you start:

The show started as a homegame between the cast, who are friends irl, and halfway through their first game they were invited to livestream it. From then, it took off at a pace that still amazes the cast. Most of them are Voice Actors or Voice Acting Directors or writers, which makes them amazing storytellers.

Their first campaign is also on YT. It’s 115 episodes long and a lot of fun! I’m almost entirely caught up with it and also really recommend it, but maybe focus on one campaign at a time for starters.

The cast, btw, are all amazing and loving people. A quick basic guide:

Matt Mercer: the dungeon master, a soft loving soul, and an incredible storyteller. He loves his friends a lot and always tries to make their game/story in a way that will make them have fun and be happy even if people online might complain that it isn’t how they would’ve done it.

Marisha Ray: his wife, a total badass, CR’s creative director. She used to get a lot of hate for her character in C1 from some terrible people online but she never let that stop her from playing her in a way that felt true to herself, she’s also a very loud advocate for stopping online harassment.

Laura Bailey: she’s another badass, literal angel with a dirty mind, she’s married to Travis and they are adorable. Her first campaign character was Liam’s twins and they have a very sibling-like relationship despite not being related irl. Legend has it, the first time they all played together, Laura was the first one to go in full on acting and making voices and stuff and it pushed the whole cast to really immerse into the experience.

Travis Willingham: a wonderful soft jock with the heart of a nerd and strong heart-eyes for his wife. He’s the opposite to toxic masculinity. Also, he used to play a dumb barbarian in the first campaign so this time around he’s trying something entirely new for him and it’s delightful to watch.

Taliesin Jaffe: the closest thing you will find in real life to a fey creature, goth dad, his air is full of magic and his heart full of love and good advice. He’s really an amazing person all around. Also, probably, immortal. Used to play the smug tortured man in the first campaign, his old character also invented guns so you’ll see the cast side-eyeing him whenever they encounter fire weapons during the second campaign.

Liam O'Brien: this man is such a wonderful actor that loves breaking all of our hearts with his storytelling, he really loves tragedy but is also kind of a trickster himself? He is “twinnies” with Laura and bffs with Sam, they and the fandom constantly joke about being married.

Sam Riegel: a chaotic trickster god. Really though, this man is a comedic genius who lives to make people around him laugh and will rip your heart out when you least expect it. People like to joke about Bards being the worst class but his C1 bard was the stuff of legend. He’s an amazing player and actor. His current character is a rogue, like Liam’s C1 character, which is why you’ll see Liam gushing with excitement about Sam rolling stealth checks.

Ashley Johnson: Yet another badass lady. You might have seen her in that old movie What Women Want or more recently in Blindspot. She has the face of an angel but is a real undercover agent for chaos. She comes and goes because her show is shot in NY but you can tell how much brightness she brings to the table when she’s home. Her old character and Travis’s were bffs and this time she’s playing a Barbarian, so you’ll see Travis going wild whenever he gets to see her fight.

Brian Foster: He interviews the cast every Tuesday about the latest show, he’s incredibly funny and charming. Also, he and Ashley are engaged! People joke that he smells like cabbage (idk why?) but he’s amazing all around and part of the family. He doesn’t play in the campaign but has appeared in a few of the one-shots.

Dani Carr: An angel that works with the team, gushes over ships and banters with Brian during Talks Machina. She’s wonderful and sweet! Also she runs a preshow recap of last week’s episode to refresh everyone on the important stuff or fill in anyone who might’ve missed it. 

The characters, well, I could speak forever about them but the real joy is getting to know them yourself. Here’s a quick line-up of them, though:

I hope you have fun watching! This is all I could think about for now but let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to know about!

[praphit]

Another Year, Another Recap - “Have a Coke and a smile... :)”

So, we're getting to the end, people. We're about to finish off another year. Personally, this year has been immensely better than the last.

I didn't even want to stay up and do any celebrating at the end of 2018. I just wanted to go to bed and be done with that bleepin year. This year has been a hell of a lot better. I hope that all of you can say something similar, but if not, there's always going to bed early, and putting your hope in the next year.

This past Christmas (and all Christmas', really) I spent time doing a lot of hating on Christmas music; it's a valued tradition of mine. I am, however, always surprised to find a few songs each year that don't bother me all that much. This year, one of them was John Legend's "Baby, It's cold outside" ft Kelly Clarkson  

- a rewritten, sans rapey vibe rendition to boot its 1940's something predecessor.

In this version (at least how I interpret it), both people wanted some action that night. John says all of the right stuff ("I'll call you a car", "maybe you SHOULD go"), creating a safe environment, and most importantly, not coming off as sleazy and rapey. He's also protecting himself with this recording:) But, let's be clear... he wants some, and he wants it bad! While Kelly, also wants some, but doesn't want to come off as being a hoe. Nobody wants to be labeled a hoe.  So, she says all of the right things as well ("My dad and brother are waiting for me", "I've gotta visit my sick grandma", "Gotta get home to the KIDS") But, at the end of the night, they both make a decision to sing to one another "Baby, It's cold outside, so let's stay in and BLEEP." That's how you do it! No guilt! No #METOO! No wife and kids around. All is well:) Divorces are still rising, and more older people (as well as old as bleep people) are on dating apps than ever before. Consider this song a Christmas gift from John & Kelly to you.

Sexiest man alive in 2019 btw

Congrats. Classic coming-up-out-of-the-water sexy.

There has been some good music in 2019. Good stuff happening. Also some sad and weird stuff happening in music - all things balance out, I suppose.

GOOD:

Lizzo

I am here for all things Lizzo.

SAD & WEIRD:

Maroon 5's Super Bowl performance. It wasn't even really M5's fault; they simply did what they always do. It was more a poor choice by the NFL. A boring and awkward performance. There was a time when all anybody wanted was a shirtless Adam Levine- both women AND men. Even times when he wasn't performing, he would show up places, some random person would announce to everyone "Don't worry, Adam WILL be taking off his shirt tonight." Talk about ME TOO. It was so bad that the old, white, slaveowners of the NFL hired Jay-Z (one of the blackest icons we have) to come and save them. We'll see how that turns out.

GOOD & WEIRD:

Tyler, The Creator - "IGOR"

One of my fav projects of the year. Tyler, the Creator is an odd dude - I mean this as a compliment. I love how Hip-Hop has evolved. There's a lot more room nowadays to be yourself, no matter how outsiders might deem your behavior as weird (sometimes, others NOT saying this as a compliment). I love his creativity, and hope he continues to inspire other artists (especially in hip-hop) to be creative. Heeeee also says stuff like this "I like girls, but I have sex with their brothers." But, also uses the word "gay" as an insult. Who knows?? There's a lot to unpack there.

SAD:

In other news, Camila Cabello might be a racist. Y'all can look it up if you'd like, but some posts of hers resurfaced. I'm a fan of hers, and checked out the posts for myself, thinking "People are prob just overreacting" - they're not, it's bad. She has apologized, saying the whole "I'm older and wiser now" thing. The prob with that is she's only 22.

GOOD & BAD, I GUESS:

ADELE

It's always good to see Adele out and about. These holiday pics show that's she's still alive (I get concerned, cuz she tends to disappear for a while) and apparently a lot thinner. This of course stirs men to say men type things, women to go on the attack, and all genuine compliments towards her to get lost. The good news is, Adele seems to be getting pretty chummy with Santa, and everyone knows that St. Nick is a heartbreaker. Adele should be spurned and back in the studio writing amazing tunes soon enough.

WEIRD:

Kanye

These pics say it all. 

... that being said, I love his new music (which is how I stamp all of my conversations about Ye).

GOOD:

Billie Eilish! 

Now (like many), one of my fav artists. 

BAD:

She just turned 18, so of course, us men being ourselves again say things like "She's 18 now. You know what that means." Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out what that means. Nothing says crossing-over into womanhood quite like being objectified.

Speaking of 2019 pervs - R.KELLY!

We can throw MJ and... what the hell, I'll just throw Spacey in there as well (his documentary is coming soon enough, I'm sure).

We were all enthralled by these two docuseries. It's interesting how different races respond to MJ. Both see him as... you know, but most black people are still listening to his music. White people on the other hand are ready to riot every time someone plays one of his songs... except around Halloween - gotta have "Thriller".

We love depressing television.

There was "Chernobyl" as well as "When they see us"

Movies too -

"Joker"

I love this movie, but it's about a homicidal clown, struggling with mental illness.

"Us"

I love this movie, but it's about classism and marginalization.

"Endgame"

It's largely about grief.

It's the best movie of the year, as far as I'm concerned!

It should win all awards!

ALL OF THEM!

Best Horror

Best Comedy

Best Romance

Remember when he sent the message to his wife? Cute, right?

Personally, I think he and Nebula were banging in each other.

... I think that story is going to come out some day. C’mon... they were up in space, alone... they both thought they were going to die. She was like “OMG, I’ve always wanted to bang Robert Downey Jr. 

He was like “I don’t blame you.”

But, afterwards, he was like 

 - you know? He felt all bad, because he’d never get to do that again (that was the last of his energy). Annnnd also because he cheated. Which led to that cute recording for his wife. SEE, it’s all connected!

Best actor in Josh Brolin (Thanos) - the range of emotions (satisfaction, terror, humility, revenge, arrogance, beatin ass, defeat) Leo and Brad Pitt ain't have to do all of that!

Best Actress... hmm.. idk about this one. Many say J.Lo deserves an Oscar for her performance in "Hustlers" - a movie made for strippers, by strippers.

Exotic dancers are making a comeback! Maybe one day, stripping will be going in the same direction marijuana is - just something people do. No more shame! You can actually make a decent living at it - ain't that right, Stormy?

And who can forget this J.Lo quote "This city, this whole country, is a strip club. You've got people tossing the money. and people doing the dance."

There have also been plenty of things in 2019 that I have not understood:

1) Hatin on Greta

Greta - trying hard to do what she believes will make this world a better place for us all.

Certain people - "Shut that bitch up! She's crazy!"

2) Hatin on Megan Rapinoe

MP - leading a soccer team to a World Cup victory, being outspoken for women's rights and gay rights, having awesome purple hair, and trying to be the best leader and athlete she can be.

Certain people - "Shut that bitch up! She's Crazy! Equal pay my ass!"

3) Popeyes Chicken Sandwich

 - the gov't test for a new crack epidemic. Sadly, I never got to partake.

4) Allison Mack

- This whole story began being unveiled in 2018, but continued through this year. I still don’t understand how this story has not gotten more attention. Some of y’all don’t even know what I’m talking about.... google it, and be horrified.

5) BTS (and K-pop in general)

-I love them, but... our country's K-Pop fetish has gotten kinda out of hand. All kinds of artists are trying to share the spotlight with them. Next, we're going to see them team up with Kendrick Lamar.

6) TikTok - I just don't get it. What’s the difference? 

7) Cancel Culture

To me all cancel culture is silenced by Trump being our president. Where was all of this righteous indignation when we voted him into office? You might say "I didn't vote for him." Yeah, but, WE did - Idk what that says about us, but it's prob not good.

It doesn't even really work - Louis CK is currently selling out venues for an unapologetic tour. I'm not even saying that it SHOULD work (in SOME cases). I'm simply saying that it doesn't work (in most cases). But, perhaps the fear of it working is enough. Or perhaps we should think through how we spend our anger.

BUT, enough of that! It's time to pass out this year's PRAPHIE AWARD!

Here are the noms:

Jordan Peele

Pedro the turtle

(no need for context, just know he’s awesome)

Baby Yoda

 (btw - studies show that if you have access to "The Mandalorian" and you AREN'T watching it, you're an asshole. This is not ME talking, this is science)

Megan Rapinoe (who I’ve already mentioned)

Flying Elbow Guy (Again, this requires no context. It’s Flying Elbow Guy! There is a baseball player who’s name I can’t remember. He took on a whole team, and... you know what - that’s too much exposition. It’s Flying Elbow Guy!

  Keanu Reeves

Annnnnnnd! It’s...

...

KEANU!

This year:

Of course JW, Toy Story 4, Cyberpunk 2077, “Always be my Maybe”, plus we found out that he’s down for The Matrix 4, John Wick 4, and Bill & Ted. CRAZY!

Also my BAMF of the year (see previous post)!

We love Keanu Reeves so much, that he's allowed to murder as many people as he wants (as John Wick).

We'll get mad if an actor who's not handicapped is playing someone who is, we'll get mad about whitewashing (as we should), we'll get mad if things are too sexualized, we GOT MAD at "Joker" for predicted violence. But, Keanu can murder all he wants:)

(See the scene above? - that was a McDonald’s before he showed up)

He found love as well. Women are loving that he chose someone closer to his age. Honestly, Idk why it matters. I'd still love this man, even if he were dating 22 year old, racist ass Camila Cabello.

But, he's viewed by some as the perfect man. I disagree. I don’t think that he’s merely the perfect man, but the perfect human.

His career and popularity paths are unique. No one would call him a... GOOD actor, but look at him! And he seems like a genuinely, awesomely, good person. And whatever "good person" means to you, he's at the top! We should all (men and women) be a lil more like Keanu in 2020.

Let's all be as lovable as we can, so we may all get away with as much as we can:)

With each new year, I challenge myself with a slogan to live by. In 2020, it's going to be this - 

From Eddie Murphy’s “Raw”- Richard Pryor’s advice to Eddie, concerning Bill Cosby 

Telling certain people in my way "To have a Coke and a smile, and shut the bleep up." Sometimes, I might need to be the one to do this, rather than say it - we'll see.

Here was the runner-up slogan (his response)

Magical.

Happy New Year, Everyone! Enjoy yourselves. Be less of an asshole. And be safe... enough to at least make it TO 2020.

Much love!

[zachwritesstuff]

Dragon Pilot: Old vs New

Warning: This article contains spoilers to Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan’s later parts and ending.

Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan is, in many ways, a fabulous series. The animation is great, the characters are lovable, and the story hits emotional high points in strange and unexpected ways. It’s probably one of my most recommended series of the Summer Season, and possibly of the year! But I could spend paragraphs talking about how much I loved this series, when really, I want to talk about one specific thing that stood out to me about it.

I don’t think it’s a controversial statement to say that anime has changed in the last decade or two. In fact, it has to change, or else it will stagnate and die. But in recent years, there has been a different kind of change happening, not on screen, but behind the scenes. While reports come in on Anime shows and franchises seeing record high profits, more reports are coming out about the troubling financial and personal conditions that animators and production assistants on shows have to live in, and the treatment from upper management and fans alike that people inside the industry have to go through. It’s no surprise that more public figures, like voice actors and idols, become traumatized and sick from all of them issues they have to deal with outside of their control.

It’s reassuring to see that things might be looking up for the lower workers in the Anime industry, from more affordable dorms and housing being crowdfunded, to new avenues of production opening up new ways to get anime to an audience, doing away with the strict and punishing guidelines. And creatively, more challenging shows are starting to be made, ones that poke fun and challenge the classic cliches and tropes of Dumb Big Breasted Women, Blank Slate Heroes, and Marketing Driven Shows. Instead, we are seeing more uses of Absurdist Comedy (Pop Team Epic, Asobi Asobase); Introspective shows about the creators of anime and the people who indulge in anime (Shirobako, Wotakoi); And shows that take classic romance plots and apply them in new, inventive ways (Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid, Recovery of an MMO Junkie).

A wholesome slice of life comedy~

Even outside of the industry, Japan is seeing political change, with more protests against militarization of the country and support for LGBT rights popping up to challenge the instilled conservative views that have been a mainstay in Japan for so long.

I bring all of this up because I believe, whether purposely or subconsciously (And I do believe that it’s mostly on purpose), Dragon Pilot is a reflection of the changing industry and how it’s dealing with these issues, especially when it challenges the classical/traditional way of doing things.

The first major clue, and the thing that caught me on to this theory, is the design of the show. From the get go, it stands out from other shows in how it lays out it’s world. It strays away from the use of Key frame animation and highly detailed backgrounds, instead using a much more fluid movement and watercolor spaces to give everything a more down to Earth feel. And even when they use newer technology, like CG animation, it’s only used sparingly, as to not interfere with the natural flow of the animation. The two styles are used complimentary, instead of as a way to fill space.

Inside the actual designs of the Military base, everything looks old and lived in. There are spots of dirt everywhere, doors are uneven, and equipment has been put through the ringer. Even the character designs themselves seem to carry this style, many of them being a mismatch of character archetypes from the 60s, 70s and 80s. This all in spite of being in the modern day, and many of them having smart phones and updated Military hardware, like the parts that make up the Dragon’s disguise.

This, I feel, sets up the main conflict, even before you learn what the series is even about. It’s an establishment that has done things in one way for many years, and even though it tolerates minor advancements around it, it always sticks to its core values, never straying too far from what they believe to be the proper path to success. This could be applied to the Anime industry, as even when experimenting with new ideas, core ideas have always been forced in: Fanservice, merchandising ability, storyline tropes, etc...

Awkward situations is the main staple of modern anime

Which brings us to the main plot of the show. In a quick summation, the main Pilots, called OTF pilots, must control dragons, disguised as planes, to lead a world destroying God Dragon to it’s new resting place, a tradition that they must do every 76 years. They do not find out until after they begin, however, that one of the main parts of the journey involves sacrificing a shrine maiden, in order to ensure safe passage. This appalls the main characters, and they hatch a plan to prevent it from happening, eventually succeeding with much hardship.

This, I feel, reflects the current state of the Anime industry. For years, it’s been leaning heavily on the things that made it the most money, like shows with heavy fanservice, shonen shows that were played into the ground, harem series that allowed the viewer to place themselves into the empty husk that is the main character. While they allowed little changes in technology and storytelling, the core values have roughly been the same since the 70s. But it’s not the 70s anymore, and things do have to change, lest they get eventually outdated and left behind. Of course, the people running things do not and will not agree, so sometimes you have to be a bit more forceful and creative with how you make those changes.

It’s not just the overall plot that clues into this either. Even the smaller side plots play with classical tropes in interesting ways. Romance ends up being a leading factor, as the Pilots end up not able to link with their dragons properly if they are feeling love for someone else. While it’s mostly played literally straight with Hisone and vaping engineer Haruto Okonoji, things play out slightly differently with the other three pilots.

The biggest crime of the entire anime, promoting vaping...

For example, let’s look at the other focused romance between the hard nosed dragon pilot Eru Hoshino and the perverted male pilot Yutaka Zaito. On the surface, they are introduced as a very played out idea: Perverted, somewhat sexist boy falls in love with a girl that is sickened by his attitude, yet still falls for him when he starts to become less sexist and perverted. And though it’s pretty much done word for word as it’s done in the past, they do pull one interesting twist out. Because she fell for him, she’s unable to pilot, and despite the man’s best wishes, he actively sabotages the relationship, making her hate him so as to complete the mission successfully. Though it works out in the end, it’s a surprising route to take for a show that has romance as a main plot mover.

And speaking of romance, let’s talk about the other two pilots: The motherly Mayumi, and the sullen Liliko. When they are analyzed for their possible romantic links, they are simply written off as “not a concern”. While it’s never openly stated, the coding for the two characters  seems to be that of an aromantic type, and at least in Liliko’s case, asexual. Throughout her time on the base, Liliko seems to show no romantic interest in anyone, and when even asked at the end if she was interested in anyone, she simply mentions “Kingdom”, the manga she reads. Mayumi is a little harder to tack down, as her interests seem to lie in caring for someone rather than having an active relationship, shown in her way she deals with her dragon and how she only seemed interested in someone else because they seemed well fed and groomed. When you have an industry filled with strict guidelines for relationship (Shonen has only hetero relationship, romance is either m/f, m/m or f/f, no crossover), it’s very refreshing to see a mishmash of different ideals represented.

One of the funnest characters, btw

Even the way that Hisone reacts to her choice between love and duty is different. Hisone is forced to choose: Either stop loving the engineer boy Okonoji-san, who represents her personal life and self worth, or else never be able to pilot Masotan ever again, who represents her dedication to her craft and what she’s built her life around. When faced with a final choice, she initially chooses neither, instead choosing to quit. This gets a negative reaction from her higher up, who somewhat literally throws her out, yelling insults the entire time. But soon after, she chooses to actively follow the plan, only to go against it at the last moment when she learns about the sacrifice, ultimately deciding to take things into her own hands and perform the ritual herself, risking her own life.

This, in a sense, could represent the constant struggle of newer animators, producers and voice actors face when breaking into the industry. They are told the traditions and things they have to do, and to question or reject them could lead to their abilities being insulted or questioned, their job threatened, and in some cases, termination and blackballing from the entire industry.

No pressure

When Hisone reenters the Air Force, apologizing for what she did, she is showing her respect for what the tradition is, and how it has helped their country for centuries. She feels that she can balance work and her personal life if given a chance, despite the heavy toll it takes on her, like having to work for dozens of hours on end because that’s the expectation of her; Having to follow ridiculous order after ridiculous order, with little explanation of why or what the benefit is; And any question she places against it being shot down. These conditions which might resonate, not only with production workers, but also many other jobs around the globe…

But when faced with the horrible idea of having a person losing their life, she knew it was the final straw. She saw a young person forced to take the fall for an institution that consciously and knowingly lied to and built up this person for failure, something they had done for years. Hisone knew it was too far, and instituted change herself, despite those around her telling her it was a suicide mission.

And what happens? Hisone does it, and everything works out. Despite being told for eons that this thing must be done one was, and any other would destroy everything, when Hisone tried a new, inventive, and more importantly, less toxic way of doing things, it worked out fine. Hisone lived, the Air Force learned that their lesson, and everyone was left to figure out how to live their lives with this new way of doing things.

And being fucking adorkable while doing it all~

Ultimately, Dragon Pilot is a show of hope. It shows that, even against overwhelming odds, the way things have been done before are not the way things must always be. The world evolves, so with it, an industry must as well, or else they’ll simply be left in the dust. And even if it might seem hard, impossibly hard even, sometimes that’s just a sign that you must work even harder to make it happen. So hopefully, the Anime Industry learns a lesson from it’s own show and cleans up its act a little. A little less of shows like Darling in the Franxx, and a little more of shows like Dragon Pilot.

[michigzb]

My “lil fashion student ass” has been tingling for awhile so I just want to express how much I love the effort that the CL’s team put into her outfit for her Olympics’ performance. 

I feel that most people out there doesn’t really appreciate an actual outfit to its roots so I hope this post will be able to show it accurately. If ya’ll already understand then WELL, I’m still gonna post this because I love this.

During most of my lectures in my major, my lecturers always pushed us students to create something that incorporate our traditional culture with the modern style, like contemporary style and all that.

In our third semester, students must create a collection and those with the best ones will be chosen for the annual fashion show in the fashion week in my city (which is a huge thing, unfortunately I had some financial problems so I had to stop my study during that time until now). Many of my seniors showed a lot of stunning, contemporary styles, where they included many traditional styles into their designs, which I think a pretty similar concept with how the designer designed CL’s outfit.

Now, first of all, the designer of CL’s outfit is Juun.J. He is one of the famous designer from South Korea, he’s famous with his experimental silhouettes within his designs, which is why, I think in my point of few, overall of his collections are mostly has this baggy outfits, just like CL’s coat in the beginning of her Pyeongchang performance. 

The white one was for the fitting btw and the black one is the final result. Apparently they already have another outfit prepared before but then they had to start from scratch because the sudden change for the stage colors/lighting and all that? Idk, Mazurbate said that in an interview.

If you do a lil research about fashion brands, it’s easy to remember Chanel, Saint Laurent, Versace, to Givenchy, but if you put a tad bit effort to dive a lil deeper, you’ll find Juun.J, I said he’s pretty a big deal but for me he’s not one of those a really mainstream ones, He’s sort of like Tex Saverio, like the huge name but still kinda lowkey?? Idk how to describe it, but YOU GET ME RIGHT. I HOPE YOU DO. Like It’s not well known to the people who are outside of the fashion community like those well known high end brand that I listed above.

BTW it also surprised me back then when my other bias came into the picture AHAH WELP:

Maybe ya’ll remember this iconic moment of GDYB? yup, that man in between GDYB is Juun.J, and those are Juun.J’s outfit. They were in Paris Fashion Week, attending Juun.J’s fashion show. Pretty sure there are other Korean artists/actors who attended Juun.J’s Fashion show as well. 

Ya’ll can just google Juun.J’s collection and you can see that his style are mostly baggy, unusual silhouettes.

NOW to the most interesting part. [for me its interesting bish, if its nothing for u, WELL its still interesting for me.]

That is Juun.J’s sketch of the outfit. In all my life learning fashion, Fashion Illustration is my favorite class to learn. It’s the most fun to see other’s works especially through their mood board until their illustration, you can definitely see where they took their inspiration from. It’s like looking at someone else’s picture of imagination and see how they make it come to life. 

You can see how her outfit is inspired by traditional Hanbok, added a punk feel to the outfit, to me it’s just amazing. In a blink of an eye, this outfit doesn’t really show those details, but once you got to know the behind the scene, it’s just amazing and how creative these people are in presenting their culture by including them within this outfit. Some might hate it, I guess there will always be pro and cons of something like this but I love it, it’s badass and different, it suits CL’s persona really well.

Nowadays, most clothes I see in the kpop industry are looking the same for me, don’t get me wrong, they look good, of course, they look expensive, classy, it’s great but I want to see something different again.

[anxiety-trademark]

The week in review:

Raw 08/10 NXT 08/12 Smackdown 08/14

Raw:

Bianca is strong af, but wbk.

Holy shit I forgot Mickie James even existed.

I'm ngl, I like Lana with Nattie in any capacity, as I did in 2017. If there's anyone that can teach Lana wtf to do in the ring without being held back, it's Nattie. Should've kept them together. Also they look cute. Points.

I really like Peyton's finisher. It's flashy and looks effective.

An irrelevant complaint now, but it still irks me that Baysha never found an actual tag theme. I hated them coming out to each others' music. & this may be random, but I wish more women would pose on the turnbuckles for their entrance. I think it's just Asuka that does? More ppl should.

Bayley to Asuka: "Where's Kairi??" PPPFFFFFTTTTT I guess in kf, Bayley really is my hero.

I love how Bayley snaps in an ankle lock outta nowhere. I wish she'd get a win with it. While I'm praising Bayley, let's give a round of applause to her for her gear (or rather to Mikaze) also while I never underestimate her speed and stamina, sometimes she still surprises me with her core strength. Girl is built.

aaaahahahahha Bayley mocking Kairi’s spinning backfist, ridiculous stomp, and her spyglass. A hero, truly. Good match.

Raw underground is dumb. It’s like watching a low budget Fight Club remake with 1/3 the extras.

Why is it smoky in there? Why is there music playing?? Who are these women??? How did you find worse actors than Shayna for her to demolish???? Why is this woman barefoot???!? WHAT IS THE POINT.

I hope there’s never another women’s segment on there ever again, let’s avoid watching this entirely plz & thnx. Thank god it’s gone now, whew.

Highlight: Bayley vs Asuka

---

NXT:

I absolutely love Dakota Kai. She is so talented. There are only three women in nxt that I feel have the full package, and she’s one of them.

“Dakota Kai is acting as if she’s a big star, but until she betrayed Tegan Nox, no one even knew who Dakota Kai was,” shady af. Io’s not wrong though, I was hardly a fan of Dakota, or her music... oof that music. Watching her beat the crap out of Tegan was ace though, so. Even if she sorely reminds me of Bayley.

Hi who tf is Indi Hartwell other than some girl who was inspired by Bayley vs Sasha Brooklyn? Have I missed something??

I would’ve preferred Mia Yim to stay in nxt as a gatekeeper - somewhat as nxt’s version of Nattie. I get that she goes where Keith Lee goes, which is fair, but I feel like she’ll never even reach midcard as a solo competitor on the main roster.

That was a match.

I don’t care for Kayden’s music but she gets points for posing on the turnbuckle.

What happened to Chelsea Green btw? How you gonna team her with Charlotte only to never be seen again? I’d really like to understand why her and Aliyah couldn’t have been a team together in RSB :/

Did Mercedes sell those masks as merch? She should have sold them as merch.

I really like Kayden Carter, and I really appreciate the women’s tag division in nxt. They put the work into their chemistry with each other, and it shows.

Love Rhea but this whole “Rhea has to get her entrance in” thing is annoying. I’m nitpicking, I know.

*sees Dinner With the Garganos coming up* No.

Highlight: Kayden & Kacy vs Mercedes & Aliyah

---

Smackdown:

I’ll never get over how supportive Bayley is of the rest of the locker room, but I’m not sure I’m a fan of her wearing other peoples’ merch as a heel. I didn’t even like her wearing Sasha’s merch. Bayley’s sweet though, so half point.

“After what happened on Raw, we now know that I have to face Asuka at Summerslam,” Sasha referring to ‘did somebody hear something’ Bayley pppffffffttttt. Still sour on them not defending all of their titles at SS, but it’s a moo point now.

Fucking ring announcing 😂

“How’s Summer doing” bYE

Creative way of skipping the majority of the entrances, cuz who has the fucking time to hear them all be announced. Points.

Kind of sad that Alexa isn’t involved, but I guess it’s to be expected since she’s in the process of becoming possessed.

HAVE I MENTIONED THAT BIANCA IS STRONG AF

Clever elimination by Shotzi.

Advancing Riott Squad/iiconics and Naomi/Lacey (a feud I despise), a callback to Shayna/Shotzi in nxt, planting seeds for Shayna/Asuka, and foreshadowing Bianca/Bayley were all nice touches.

The fact that Tegan got to eliminate Bianca is criminal. I irrationally cannot stand her. I’m not sorry. Tegan with her dumbass chokeslam attempt on Shayna, goodbye. Negative points.

Fantastic finish. Again, still sour that Asuka challenged for both titles at SS, but it’s also a moo point now. Still... great fkn finish. Points for creativity.

Bayley: “It’s not like my title was even on the line on Monday, so at SS I’ll actually have something important to fight for.” Ohhh noooo the look on Sasha’s face. Man. She sells vulnerability and heartbreak way too well. I’m so happy she finally got hers later in the year, but oof is this gonna be hard to watch.

Shame Sonya had to leave. She is missed.

Love how Alexa’s interview ended, with her grinding her jaw and then looking off as it fades to black. Solid direction.

Love that Braun can’t even look at her while he tries to convince her/himself that he doesn’t care about her. He’s doing remarkably well.

Love how they cut to black with her in midair.

I think y’all are way too fucking hard on Alexa just cuz she beat your favs a couple years ago. She’s talented, she’s legit shining in this role. I’m a big fan, this is the best I’ve seen yet of this story. That’s where I’m at rn.

Highlight: Alexa’s interview & segment w/ Braun

---

*Smackdown shined the brightest for me this week. Really great pre-match segment with Bayley and Sasha, and so far I’m really into Alexa’s character arc.

[survivor-algonquin-blog]

IMMUNITY RESULTS #1

Hope everyone got their groove on!!! Let's get to the results,,,

But first let's meet our lovely JUDGES!!!!

Zach!!

Hey! Zach here. A couple of main seasons under my belt and lucky enough to have played with all of the hosts. I've done this challenge and work in entertainment, so I'll be bringing a critical eye to the table and have no reservations about not holding back. Good luck!

Sarah!!

Hi my name is Sarah. Ive played 7 main ts seasons so I am officially qualified to judge now. I cant wait to see what yall did.

Vilma!!

Hi I'm Vilma and all you need to know about me is that I have a burning love for music videos so I hope y'all put in your best effort tonight <3

Now let's get to some music videos!

Castor's Music Video & Explanation

This is the official submission for the Castor Tribe. We choose to do the music video “Bring me to Life” by Evanescence. This song has a strong theme of Duality throughout the lyrics, and we chose to represent that by only using two tribemates for the lip-syncing portion of this challenge. The video focuses on Bobby, crying out for help, but being shut down by his inner thoughts, portrayed by Bryan. At the beginning of the video, you can clearly see the inner turmoil going on, shown through the colour colour changes and spinning screen. Throughout this portion, it is clear he is listening to Bryan, and letting it hold him back, keeping all these negative emotions inside. About half way through the video, there is a clear tone change, with the scarf starting to come off, signifying an opening up, of Bobby starting to let his thoughts out in a healthy way, and his inner voice becoming quieter and less relevant as time goes on. The video ends on a dark room, lit by a single light, showing that as dark as things may seem, there will always be light at the end of the tunnel, you just must keep moving forward. We felt that this was a good representation for survivor for several reasons. Firstly, in order to progress far in the game, you must be able to rely on other people to keep you sane. One of the Key elements of survivor is the ability to outlast the other players, and that requires you to mentally outlast them as well. You can clearly see that on the Edge of Extinction season, where it is only the mental fortitude of these voted off contestants giving them a chance now. Secondly, there have been several survivor Contestants that have struggled with the ideas of self-doubt, and depression both during and after the show, most notably, Sugar, after Survivor Heroes Vs Villains, as well as Spencer Bledsoe, after Game Changers. Finally, no matter how dark you may think your prospects in survivor are, if you believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and keep pushing through, you will always be able to make an impact. We chose to make the video focus on only two of our tribemates because most submissions for these types of challenges tend to include almost all the tribe members, and we wanted to create something that stands out. All of us contributed to the final product in several different ways. Firstly, we had Lilly, who was the Creative Director, and Task Manager. She came up with the narrative and focused on creating a realistic schedule in order to get everything done on time, and to a good quality. Bobby and Bryan, you saw in the music video, as our lead lip-syncers. Aaliyah was the editor of this video, putting to use her skill in a way much better than anyone else on our tribe could have accomplished. Finally, Michael and Jack created the write up, in order to communicate our thoughts to the judges, to show the amount of effort we put into this project.

Zach:

Creativity:6

The explanation for idea of the music video was strong and well intentioned, if not wholly originally, but I’m not sure it is entirely reflected in what got with the video. I appreciate the deliberate choice to use only two members of the cast to support that idea, so I can’t ding for points there, but I don’t think what we got was what we were promised in the explanation.

Effort: 7

Going off of the intro text, I’ll take it in good faith that everyone contributed as much as was mentioned, and despite execution, I cannot fault their efforts if they all tried.

Composition: 5

Any time there’s a vertical video, it’s going to hurt a little, but I won’t dwell on that too much. I will say that the video ending before the song ends does not help its case. Also, the idea behind the colors and the black and white to show emotional change was a good thought, but did not have the payoff that it should have had. The rationale behind it feels more film school interpretation of something after the fact than intended execution.

Theme: 7

The theme as explained was a solid one, and definitely can see tones of it in the performances and set dress of the actors. Nice job. Bryan will haunt my dreams.

All-in-all, I think this was a good effort and it’s obvious that this team works together well and has lofty ideas. I think the technical skill might be lacking, and it seems like everyone here is very structured in their thinking. I prefer that way of thought so I’m with them, but they needed a little more creative flair here to pull it off.

Sarah:Creativity: 5/10

Effort: 5/10

Composition (editing): 7/10

Theme: 8/10

I wish I saw everyone from the tribe in this but I get your reasoning behind it. It was still just overall ok

Vilma:

Creativity: 4/10

You made a creative decision to include only two people of your tribe in the lip sync and while I appreciate the ballsy move I can’t help but feel I would’ve enjoyed the video more if more people were included in it.

Effort: 5/10

Bobby was the king of the show and really put his soul into it.

Composition: 4/10

Rule number one in music videos: film horizontally! Overall I wasn’t a huge fan of the constant use of cheap looking effects but otherwise the editing was fine.

Theme: 6/10

I think the duality theme in your video was nice an well thought-out but it would be a bit hard to understand without your thorough explanation of it.

Castor Total: 69/120

Elan's Music Video & Explanation

She walks! She talks! She twerks! She's BARBIE! Jump, dance, and sing with your very own customizable doll! Dress her up and take her out. Barbie is your BEST FRIEND! You can be a Barbie Girl too! SHE'S BARBIE! (batteries not included)

Zach:

Creativity: 7

The idea of using Barbie girl for the song was a strong and out of the blue choice, making it look like a commercial really took it over the top. I can’t go higher than 8 because they used a lot of the original music video to cover gaps, but overall, more creative an idea than I’ve seen in a while, and the execution was beautiful which leads me to:

Effort: 8

To put what they put together as quickly as they did takes a lot of coordination from whomever was putting it together, but the fact that most people went so far as to dress as “Barbies” shows that almost everyone was committed to the gag. There were a couple of people who obviously didn’t have as much time to give to this, but substituting them as the Ken was a nice save.

Composition: 9

Obviously when working with iPhones and computer cameras, the visual leaves something to be lacking, but that is more than made up for here with the various superpositions, graphics, texts, crawls, and cuts. It felt like I was watching a bizarro QVC commercial that was as fun to watch as Barbies are to play with, keeping them right on mark for their:

Theme: 9

The fact that this is basically a weird commercial for Barbies is as fantastic as they are plastic. Every inch of it was filled with something to reinforce the theme, whether it was ordering details, people playing with the toys, warnings, calls to actions, or disclaimers (the bottom Mattel crawl was a brilliant example of all three categories of judgement coalescing to reinforce the them.

I wasn’t planning on rating anyone high, but this was weird, original, well done, and fun. Nice job. It was visual candy, high energy, and all surface, which I wouldn’t typically go for, but that’s what Barbie is about.

Sarah:Creativity: 9/10

Effort: 10/10

Composition (editing): 10/10

Theme: 8/10

You guys impressed the fuck out of me and made me literally LOL.

Vilma:

Creativity: 8/10

Cute outfits, cute barbie nicknames, cute editing, cute CuTe CUTE I want these slutty barbies to myself

Effort: 9/10

The barbie QUEENS and the editor guy did a phenomenal job. It looks like most of your tribe participated, although the Barbies outshined the Ken’s a bit. But overall you guys really put yourself out there and put in the most effort.

Composition: 10/10

The editing was ON POINT. Great job ten out of ten.

Theme: 8/10.

I stan the barbie theme and song choice btw Aqua is a Danish band so I love me some nordic representation <3 My only complaint is I wish you introduced us to the handsome Kens too.

Elan Total: 105/120

Hibou's Music Video & Explanation

We lip synced Survivor by Destiny's Child. Due to time constraints Gavin couldn't be in the video, but it doesn't matter since Sammy stole the show. :) The editing got a little weird at the end. Some of the file types were different and that causes playback issues. Also the deadline was fast approaching so the sequences towards the end are a little longer. :p

Zach:

Creativity: 2

Hate to be harsh, but going for Survivor for Survivor is a little too on the nose. Listen, it’s a great song, and some people have some great energy, but creatively, this was low hanging fruit. On top of that, the video is literally just lip-syncing, which is basically like playing a Borneo Game in 2019. Given that they’d be given plenty of examples of other ways this can be done well, I can’t rate this high. To paraphrase the song “you’re better than that.”

Effort: 4

To the people that contributed to this, I appreciate your attempt. The one guy who really embraced the challenge, got a mic, light-up glasses, the hat, et al, if this was based on just your effort, I could go much higher. It’s as high as it is because of you. Unfortunately, it’s a team challenge, and for the brief moments that we saw most of the other players, you can see them reading the words on the screen as they capture their performance. I hope everyone enjoyed it more than it shows, but again, to the point of the song “you’ve gotta work harder.”

Composition: 2

Vertical videos really just need to be turned 90 degrees and it would feel like we’re watching a movie. Or if you’re given vertical videos, copy the layer, move it to the back, enlarge, and blur. It will make it instantly more watchable. This grade isn’t solely because of that though (3 vertical videos don’t help though). The titles screen is cute, but assembled poorly. Some of the text is covered some of the pictures. There’s no real pace to guide us through the song. The cuts seem arbitrary. Editing is very hard and never appreciated, so to whomever put this together, if you did your best, nice job and I encourage to stick with it, but kinda feels like “I’m not gonna give up” was something you were saying to yourself over and over again when trying to make this work.

Theme: 2

Picking this song was a bold choice since it’s so obvious, but you can’t lose points in this category based on choice alone. But given that choice, you have to really knock it out of the park, and I don’t think the bat even touched the ball with this one. There’s nothing here that screams either Survivor nor what Destiny Child was singing about, I don’t know if we’d be weaker without this song in our life.

Look, I hate to be critical, especially since it’s obvious some people put it in a lot more work with this than others, but to be honest, this wasn’t a shining example of what you’re all capable of. It’s hard putting these together, and maybe it just wasn’t worth it this time. Making music videos can be fun or terrible depending on with whom you work. I wish you the best, but I feel like because of this, for one of you “I’m gonna make it, here on Survivor” just isn’t true.

Sarah: Creativity: 4/10

Effort: 3/10

Composition (editing): 6/10

Theme: 4/10

You tried.

Vilma:

Creativity: 4/10

I feel like you guys could’ve been more creative with your Survivor theme. I like that you introduced everyone in the beginning but other than that the video was very simple.

Effort: 6/10

Most of your tribe seemed to participate and that’s always nice to see. Some of you guys were really feeling it too so big props to that!

Composition: 3/10

Again, gotta deduct some points for not filming horizontally. Plus the lip syncing was VERY off most of the time, such a simple thing to fix and the video would’ve seemed much more professional!

Theme: 5/10

Your song choice is literally perfect, you GUYS are survivors and you know it but I wish you would’ve included little skits or something to emphasize the theme.

Hibou Total: 45/120

Congratulations to Castor and Elan for winning immunity!! which unfortunately means Hibou you will be heading to tribal council, where you will be voting off the first person in Tumblr Survivor Algonquin. Tribal will be live over Google Hangouts, and we plan to start at 9:00 EST. please let the hosts know beforehand if you will be able to attend tribal council or not.

[askdacast]

Rant from an ex-fan: RWBY’s Volume 5 shorts are terrible

Quick warning: if you are a huge fan of RWBY, especially of the third volume onwards, I am going to be needlessly cruel towards the series in this post. Turn back if you don't wish to hear the ramblings of a jaded ex-fan.

So I used to love RWBY, or more specifically the first two volumes of RWBY. They were far from perfect, but I enjoyed what fun action and neat fantasy and tech ideas they had to offer.

Then Volume 3 came about, in its glut of sudden edginess and shocking twists, and I came down with a case of salt poisoning.

As you can imagine, I dropped the series harder than a slab of concrete and have been very hesitant to pick up the series again since. Then I saw in my YouTube Feed that Volume 5 of RWBY was coming out, and there were character shorts and teasers, one of which was of Weiss, being released as promotions. So I thought, "Fine, why not? I might as well see if they win me over once more."

I was not won over.

Problems that I had with the series when I dropped it were somehow encapsulated in 3.5 painfully long minutes, and after some mental testing out of my hair, I decided to do the following moment-by-moment analysis of the trailer below as follows.

Please keep in mind I have sworn entirely off Volume 4 and any details I do know about it are from my friend @randomnumbers751650 who HAS watched it. Nothing first-hand.

0:00 We begin with some abstract shots of totally-not-symbolism set to yet another generically sad Casey Williams song.

Okay look, I don’t want to hate on Casey Williams. She’s an amazing singer at the age she is, and she’s got great talent! I don’t hate her work at all. The problem is she’s in EVERYTHING RWBY RELATED. No, literally, everything. RoosterTeeth has shoved her into every single vocal song for the series and I’m getting tired of it. There’s no variety in any of the vocals unless they get Jeff Williams to do some screaming or Lamar Hall to do some okay-rapping in them. Even they seem to sound overused.

Not to mention sometimes I feel like they’re forcing Casey’s vocal chords to sing certain songs that really do not lend well to her vocals (*cough* When it Falls *cough). She’s a beautiful singer, but when you just churn out song after song with her, the songs lose their magic. I don’t even wanna get started on these lyrics, but let’s rant one thing at a time, shall we?

0:12 Hey look, the moon is still broken. We ever gonna find out what that means?

Now one compliment I guess I’ll give is that the art has definitely improved. The characters still move jankily (albeit more smoothly now), but the background art has really upgraded. The shot of the manor Weiss is fighting in, the ice fountain with the Schnee logo and the snowing effects in this are actually kinda pretty!

0:25 And now we meet best girl Weiss! Well, she originally wasn’t my best girl. It was first Ruby, but unfortunately she had no personality (despite being the main character). Then there was Penny, but she was.

You know.

Dead.

Thanks RoosterTeeth, I’m still not over that. You introduced a precious cinnamon roll and killed her off for shock value. And fan theories about her being rebuilt have not been acted on.

Uh-huh. Sure. I’m totally okay with that. Not bitter at all.

Anyway, just look at those expressions. Mouth movement still looks as awkward as ever. I think enough people have probably mocked the expressions in the Volume 4 opening so I won’t harp on it, but…yeeeeah.

0:36 Oh hey look ominous snow wind out of nowhere. That sure is whacky and wacky.

And listen closely to the lyrics of this super-duper-sad song.

“And in its place is nothing, just an endless empty hall.”

GEDDIT? BECAUSE WEISS IS LONELY! SHE’S SAD AND LONELY CUZ SHE’S GOT NO FRIENDS! WE’RE SO SUBTLE AND SYMBOLIC GUYS!

Jeff Williams, or…whoever did the lyrics for these songs, the instrumental is lovely on its own. You could’ve just let the emotions speak for themselves. You don’t have to HAMMER IN THE MESSAGE THAT WEISS IS OBVIOUSLY STILL SAD AND LONELY. I THOUGHT WE GOT THREE ENTIRE SONGS FOR THAT ALREADY. Or was Mirror Mirror just not subtle enough? >_>

0:45 Oh look. Ice Beowulves. How interesting and original.

And don’t tell me they’re a different species of Grimm or whatever, those models are clearly palette-swapped Beowulves! It’s like they’ve become the Goombas of Remnant or something.

You know last I checked, one of the bigger reasons people liked this show at all was because of the fantasy setting and how not just the heroes and their weapons, but the creatures of Grimm had all sorts of creative designs. I get that this is just a teaser trailer and the fight here doesn't have any actual plot bearing, but one on, you could've at least come up with something more interesting for an ice-based Grimm. Even better, give hints of new Grimm to be introduced later in the volume or something, I dunno! Just anything more than a freaking palette swap.

0:59 ...did...did Casey just say 'Weissolation?' I hope she didn't; that's a level of goofy I think not even RT would stoop to.

Also, still piling on that reaaaally subtle lyric-work about how lonely Weiss is! Ugh.

1:01 I dunno why but that shot of the Beowulf pouncing at her just looks so goofy. “COME AND GIVE ME A HUUUUUG!”

1:12 ...okay, I admit, the change in tempo and shift in instruments for this song and the ensuing fight made me excited.

If there's one thing Jeff Williams has always done well, it's his instrumental. I complain a lot about RWBY's vocals, but the way the songs mix hard rock and more classical music has always been amazing. It's the perfect blend of instruments to get you pumped up for a fight while still getting into the different moods and settings each fight takes place in. Even better is that they don't have to constantly rely on awkward dubstep or techno beats like most other shows nowadays do with their action scenes. All things considered, if you just changed the lyrics, I would totally replay this song in my free time.

Even this initial start of the fight isn't bad at all. The violins and Casey's vocals really match up to the angles, Weiss jumping on the glyphs, shots like the pan up to when she's standing on the ledge, and oh man, those melting icicles. That was such a neat touch!

1:31 That is an adorable Weiss happy face. Can we get more of that? Please? And not all the random depressing edgy plot points?

1:40 "Forced to conform" YES WE GET IT WEISS FEELS TRAPPED, MOVE ON CASEY

You remember how the original Mirror Mirror's lyrics were about Weiss' self-doubt and fear of what's inside her? Only 2012 remembers.

1:45 Once again, more of those awkward expressions. Her face is literally OAO in this moment. A second shot of it is passable. You hold it for longer than that though, not to mention in a close-up shot, and it just looks goofy.

This, however, is probably a good time to get to one of my major complaints of this trailer. Namely that this trailer could have been stuff like foreshadowing of plot points, a quick character insight into how Weiss has been doing since the end of the last Volume, a whole number of things. But instead, what do we get?

Fighting.

Just. Fighting.

Look I get it, RWBY is an action series, fighting is kind of what it's selling. But if you would humour me, let me take you back to 2012, when RWBY just became a thing and people were fawning over the awesome trailers. Let me remind you guys that the first two trailers shown, Ruby's and Weiss', were both consisting of nothing but -you guessed it- fighting. We didn't hear their voice actors at all, we didn't get a glimpse as to what their characters like beyond their small facial expressions and song lyrics (you know, like the incredibly deep revelation that WEISS IS LONELY), or their place in the plot.

As much as I loved the fighting choreography in those old trailers, when the show was finally released, the characters suffered for it. People were wondering why Ruby was a squeaky high-pitched now girl when she looked so stoic and badass in the trailer. People were wondering why Weiss was so snooty and insufferable when once again, the trailer painted a different picture of her. My point is the original trailers for RWBY tried pushing for its awesome action scenes at the expense of the writing of its characters.

And now it's happening again.

Let me be blunt: when I first saw this Weiss short, and after the initial few cool shots of fighting, my brained tuned out and I IMMEDIATELY skipped the whole fight scene. I knew what to expect – another flashy action scene that has no bearing on the plot or Weiss as a character or what's to come.

You know guys, most of us who are anime fans safely say that most of us who enjoy action scenes and stuff like shonen anime is NOT just because of random fighting. I need to care about what I'm watching. I need to know the fight I'm seeing matters. And failing THAT, I at least want to see something new; new fighting techniques, new ways of attacking and reversing your opponent's moves onto them, rather than just the same old.

I remember when I used to enjoy the fight scenes in RWBY. It was cool seeing the fighting techniques, the crazy weapons and having some vague idea of how Dust worked. It was all fine and dandy back then. But RWBY hasn't evolved since. As much as I like Weiss, her simple sword tactics have always struck me as rather plain compared to the rest of the team. Clearly, she's designed less as a combatant focusing on power and more as the 'Mage', what with her glyphs (which we still haven't gotten an explanation of how her Semblance works btw) and her Dust usage. I could've gone for something simple like Weiss combining Dust in her attacks or something like that.

But no.

RoosterTeeth is just doing the same old action sequences over and over again. It's to the point where the fight scenes are just white noise! Congrats, RoosterTeeth. You guys made me think of an action scene as WHITE NOISE.

Mind you, I actually went to rewatch the trailer to try to see what I missed in the fight scene just to be fair, but even then I tuned out again. Nevermind the actual choreography or some weird wide-angle shots, everything just felt so generic. I honestly can't muster up any energy to even critique the fight.

So enough of my whining I guess, let's just get back to the trailer shall we...

2:48 And somehow despite Weiss being best girl, she still continues to have the weakest of the voice actresses. The way she screams Winter's name sounds more like annoyance rather than the actual fear she might have been feeling.

Also WAIT WHAT?! THOSE WOLVES WERE WINTER'S CREATION?!

...so not satisfied with giving us a dull action scene, this trailer decides to pull the rug out under us and render our investment into Weiss surviving this fight pointless. Fantastic.

3:04 Oh hey, Winter! One of the few parts of Volume 3 I actually liked!

Great to see you and your Icy Cool Big Sis self again! Boy, it sure was a good thing you...weren't important in the last Volume...or the second half of Volume 3...oh man was your great character totally utilized and not squandered in the face of the changing plot or anything...

3:15 More stilted Weiss voice acting. The way she says "I'll get better" is just so oddly rushed and lifeless.

3:26 And so we end this trailer with a reprise of Mirror Mirror, showing how even after 4 whole Volumes, Weiss has not grown as a character despite her trials with her barely-visible team, and she's still left alone with the insecurities and loneliness plaguing her, sending her back to square one!

Yay. RWBY is such a well-written satisfying show.

3:36 But ZOMG! This whole trailer was a flashback! And Weiss is still sad remembering old sad times!

...

BULL.

What was even the point of having that entire fight be a flashback? Narrative-wise, it's a slap in the face to the hope of Weiss growing as a character. Didn't she spend the last part of Volume 4 singing an entire song about how she's going to forge her own path and break away from her family? But her face when she remembers this memory of her old self and replaying Mirror Mirror in the background seems to imply this isn't the case. That she's still stuck in the same mental chains she's been in since the show started. If there's no promise of her truly overcoming herself, why would this flashback have any meaningful bearing on her arc?

Technicality-wise, this only confuses the viewer and short-changes the animators. Believe it or not, I was actually confused as to if Weiss in the trailer was from present time; thought maybe she just put on her old clothes again or something. But it's not; we are just seeing her old self fighting some of Winter's illusions. If we aren't seeing any cool new stuff about Weiss, what is the point of making this a teaser for Volume 5?

So with all that said and done, RWBY has once more proved that it’s just going to be nothing more but a swirling pot of wasted potential and eye candy with some irresponsible writers mixing it all into one big mess, and it’s only going to get more incomprehensible from here on out.

Wonderful.

Let me clarify one last thing: I did NOT drop RWBY in Volume 3 because it was ‘too dark and depressing’. I like a good serious story myself. The purpose of this rant is to show you all my real problem with RWBY: it does not handle its writing with any care whatsoever, or the responsibility to deliver a satisfying product to its audience. Volume 3’s out of nowhere shift, as much as it angers me, I feel is symptomatic of every other writing problem in this series.

It’s lazy. It’s half-baked. It’s popcorn entertainment in the end, sure, but even popcorn needs to be cooked well. I want the tastiest popcorn ever, not some cold barely-microwaved corn kernels left out in the open!

Ugh, if you guys will excuse me, I’m gonna go write my own action-packed fantasy story. With blackjack and hookers.

[letscomplainaboutshit]

Cannibal Holocaust: My unfiltered reaction.

Hey all,

I just watched this movie (the one titled above) with a few friends and was like “HOLY FUCK”. With this reaction alone I decided to talk about it. 

Due to this movies themes (sexual abuse, animal abuse, gore, animal gore, literal rape, etc etc) I will simply put my reaction underneath the cut. This movie is not for the faint of heart or easily triggered. In all honesty its not for most normal people. I am not kidding here. A muskrat gets disemboweled on screen (and yes it does scream) for 2 minutes and that is not by any means the worst thing shown on screen. It is very graphic. DO NOT WATCH THIS if you are sensitive to animal abuse, rape, gore, and subjects of that nature. You have been warned. 

.

Ok? We good? Good. Welcome to the opinion section. 

So the plot of the movie is about a rescue team going into the deep jungle to find a group of lost filmmakers, discovering their film canisters, and watching the found footage while the debate of “should we really show this to the public” is constantly thrown back and fourth between A professor on the rescue expedition and a group of TV executives. In the words of a friend I was watching this with “You have this movie to thank for found footage horror” since this was the first to do this sorta thing, and 50% of the movie is actually the found film canisters being played to the audience. The whole movie itself is some Italian man making a jab at the morality of shock films/documentaries  while simultaneously making one of his own. Gore, violence, rape, and other shit like that are so present within this film it was actually mistaken for a legit snuff film. He was actually taken to court over the matter and was nearly arrested if he did not cough of the secrets of the films special effects! 

Not to mention all those animals I mentioned earlier, those where 100% real! Those animals actually got mutilated and died on camera! Keep in mind this movie was made in the 80s. There was good special effects that would of eliminated the need for actual death to occur! As both an animal lover and reptile owner, the deaths of all of these animals greatly angered me and honestly gave be the vibe of cheap shock horror rather than proving a valid point. Sure they ate the Muskrat and turtle for food, but in all honestly was actually killing one really necessary? Actors in this directors movies (which btw the director insisted on killing live animals for this) have actually walked out before! If your wholeass crew is telling you not to do something because its fucked up, and you do it anyway... that does not make you “creative”. It makes you a sociopath. Again, I think I have a natural bias against this sorta thing but I am deeply disturbed. Not because of the film subject matter, but due to this 1 lone fact. Especially since the movie was shot in the amazon, those animals may have very well been endangered or extincted by now. The complete disregard for life for the sake of film/art is not to be praised, rather in my eyes to be ridiculed. Its just sick. 

As for the rest of the movie; despite my obvious problem(s) with it, it does bring up a rather good point about morality and what we should show on TV. For years we have constantly pushed out documentary after documentary inorder to simply shock the public. Super size me: look Americans, your slowly being poisoned and McDonalds hates animals. Kony 2012: Look, little African children are dying because of a warlord and its up to YOU to free them. And there are probably many more I have not personally watched that follow this same pattern. They are simply made to shock the masses while not actually accomplishing anything. They are all made from a western perspective and often dont take in differing cultural norms or the like into account. Its all American/west influenced film made to offend the viewer. In all honestly who is the really in the wrong in this documentary/film? The Natives that have been separated culturally and geographically from everyone else for thousands of years? The ones who operate via a set of religious principles moral principles that differ from our own due to their separation. Or the western filmmakers who disregard their culture, force their ways upon others, and rape and pillage simply because they can for the sake of the film and for shock value. Its funny how when you really think about it, despite the things the natives do, they are not actually in the wrong here. The ones who in canon of the film were making the documentary were the ones who actually caused the most net damage. They burnt down a village, they raped a random native woman who was later killed as a result, they did not bother to understand the cultures of the cannibalistic tribes they were trying to document. And notice how the TV executives wanted to show the footage regardless what was on it to the public untill they themselves saw the film makers rape a woman and then get disemboweled later on ON FILM. 

Was this a bit of a thought provoker, yes. Yes it was. But was this message distracted from for me a bit by the animal brutality and sounds of woman having rocks stabbed into their Vaginal cavity... Yes. A lil bit. I suppose these movies just are not my thing. I was never one to enjoy horror movies, or just movies to begin with... so Idk why I thought this was going to be different. Would I watch it again, no. Would I recommend it, no. Does it have a meaningful underlying message, yes. I dont really know how to feel about it besides “holy fuck, that made me feel something. Idk what I am currently feeling but im feeling something”. 

So yeah... that.