#not satire. not serious. but as secret third thing

[tomasens]

jestem chory wiec puszczaja mi hamulce

[saytrrose]

is this blog satire or serious

I’m neither joking nor serious, but a secret third thing

[mirceakitsune]

Banned from Furaffinity for drawing jokes / caricature / satire 7 years ago

Furaffinity always had serious issues and strange behavior toward its community. What happened over the past two days however is beyond what I think any of us would have ever imagined seeing someday. I'm not really sure how I can even translate the situation without people thinking I'm biased and exaggerating because it happened to me, it's one of those things you have to experience for yourself to fully grasp it.

They have now banned me and another artist I followed for 15 years and admire. Our only crime was making satire art… 7 years ago (in both our cases) plus my latest render in my case. All pieces were SFW and in no way sexual, literally intended as jokes and nothing more. After two thirds of a decade, during which the pieces were up and nobody once complained, a coordinated ban was conducted over what our past selves did at a time when there were probably no rules against it to begin with; In my case I had even forgotten that old sketch, initially I thought they mistook the age of a character in my recent works since I didn't even remember doing child characters (only did that one time and another joke I think).

https://inkbunny.net/s/886450

From what I remember, this was essentially a joke about a similar artist who got harassed: I believe Subwoofer made a parody about animals eating babies and everyone started yelling at him because of it, I found the situation hilarious and made that drawing to honor it. Initially FA suspended me for one week over that sketch, citing how it was somehow cub porn… I'll let others deal with the mental gymnastics as they're far beyond me. Then they needed a reason to get rid of me for good, and so…

Yes: A parody with cartoon bunnies poking fun at the capitol insurrection on January 6th. The accusation, I kid you not, is that this image was promoting COVID misinformation along with QAnon… it also says they deleted some journals which I'm not even aware of. That render… is COVID… misinformation…

And to be absolutely clear, it legitimately wasn't even intended to support anything in any serious manner. As I said it was strictly parody with a silly story attached, mostly to poke fun at what went on. I did NOT claim the elections were stolen, that Trump was right, and in fact I legitimately believe QAnon is 90% crazy from the little I even bothered looking into that group.

This is a screencap for anyone who thinks I must be blowing this out of proportion and it couldn't have been like that. See for yourself: This is the reason they gave, the image they reference is the one with the same title. Let me know how in the heck I even said anything about COVID-19 in that 3D render.

The real motive they came after me is because I took Foshu's defense in that journal, against the people harassing them also for making a cartoon joke those same 7 years ago. I wasn't suspended for anything I said there however: The FA mods instead decided to look through my gallery and pick two jokes I made seven years apart. It was because of my stance there however, we both got banned at the same time and it was clear it came from the arguments we just had with the angry mob.

Though I figure worse is possible, I imagine this is one of the biggest abuses in FA's history. Both in what they try to interpret as being against their extremely vague TOS, as well as how they handled it. I'll see if anyone in the appeals will contact me after I explain the situation, but even if I get unbanned I'm unlikely to post there again: FA has gone completely nuts, everyone including the mods are acting like a cult on anything that is a social issue… not everyone as far as users go of course, but the platform at large has clearly become a nest for the most violent and delusional circles (just like Twitter).

I'm posting this to let everyone know it happened and I'll likely leave the place whatever happens next. But also to expose the extent of the abuse, in case anyone feels they can look into it and do some investigation; FA is of course its own private site and can do any insanity it wants, but for a community of its size I really wish someone out there could hold it up to a minimal standard. Inkbunny is the only one I trust any more, it's made some mistakes too but never anything like this… may it live longer than me and stay free no matter what the world's insanity throws our way.

[rachelbethhines]

Vintage Shows to Watch While You Wait for the Next Episode of WandaVision - The 60s

So the 60s is the era that Wandavision pulls most heavily from for it’s inspiration. So much so that one could make the argument that each of the first three episodes are all set in the 1960s. Episode one pulls from the early 60s with multiple Dick Van Dyke refences, episode two is very Bewitched inspired, and episode three is aesthetically very similar to The Brady Bunch which started in ‘69. As such it was hard to narrow down the list for this decade and I had to get creative in some ways. 

1. The Andy Griffith Show (1960 - 1968)

The Andy Griffith Show gets kind of a bad rap now a days for being, supposedly, a conservative’s wet dream. People claiming it as such have apparently never actually seen the series. Oh yes, it’s very much set in white rural 60s America and will occasionally present the obliviously outdated joke, but the story of a widowed sheriff being the only sane man in a small town full of lovable lunatics, who prefers to solve his and others problems with negotiation and hair brained schemes as opposed to violence has far more in common with modern day Steven Universe than whatever genocidal fantasy fake rednecks have in their heads.  

As the gif above shows Andy Griffith was very subtlety progressive for its time. Andy was a stanch pacifist, pro-gun control, treated drug addicts and prisoners with respect, and all the women he would date had careers, ect. and so on. It’s not a satire making any sort of grand political statements but the series had a moral center that was far more left than many realize. 

But if it’s not a satire, then what type of comedy is it? 

The Andy Griffith Show excels in what I like to call, ‘awkward comedy’. See everyone in Mayberry is far too nice to just come out and tell a character they’re making an ass of themselves, so therefore whoever is the idiot punching bag of the episode’s focus must slowly unravel as everyone looks on in helpless pity until said character realizes the folly of their ways and the townsfolk come together to make them feel happy and accepted once more. Wandavision takes this polite idyllic awkwardness and plays it up for horror instead of laughs.  

2. The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961 - 1966)

The creators of Wandavision actually met with Dick Van Dyke himself to pick his brain and learn how sitcoms were made back then. Paul Bentley also took inspiration from Van Dyke in his performance of the sitcom version of Vision, while Olsen stated Mary Tylor Moore had a heavy influence on her character of Wanda. But more than just being a point of homage, The Dick Van Dyke Show was hugely influential in modernizing the family sitcom and breaking a lot of the unspoken traditions and ‘rules’ of the 50s television era. It’s also just really, really funny.  

3.The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962 - 1965) 

Bit of a cheat here. Alfred Hitchcock Presents actually started in 1955 as a half hour anthology show, but in ‘62 the show got a revamp and was extended into a full hour tv series. I knew I wanted The Twilight Zone to be covered in my episode one recap, but ‘The Master of Suspense’ couldn’t be forgotten. While The Twilight Zone reveled in the surreal and supernatural, Alfred Hitchcock pioneered the thriller genre and made real life seem dangerous, horrifying, and other worldly.   

4. Doctor Who (1963 - present day) vs Star Trek (1966 - present day) 

Just like how westerns dominated the air waves during the 50s, science fiction was the center of the cultural zeitgeist of the 60s. From Lost in Space to My Favorite Martian, space aliens and robots were everywhere. So naturally I had to name drop the two sci-fi juggernauts that still air to this today. If you thought that the rivalry between Star Wars and Star Trek was bad then you’ve never seen a chat full of Whovians and Trekkies duking it out over who is the better monster, the Borg or the Cyberman. But which one has the more influence over Wandavision?

Well Star Trek owes it’s existence to sitcoms. As with The Twilight Zone before it, Star Trek was produced by Desilu Productions and it’s co-founder and CEO, Lucille Ball, was the series biggest supporter behind the scenes, lobbying for it when it faced early cancelation. As with all things sitcomy, everything ties back to I Love Lucy in the end. However despite that little backstory, it would seem that the series has very little to do with Wandavision itself beyond being quintessentially American. 

I would argue that Wandavision owes much to Doctor Who though. Arguably more so than any show mentioned in this retrospective. Time travel, alternate realities, trouble in quite suburbia, brainwashing, people coming back from the dead, ect... just about every trope you can find in Wandavision has also appeared in Doctor Who at some point. As a series that can go anywhere and do anything, Doctor Who was a pioneer of marrying genres in new and interesting ways. 

5. Bewitched (1964 - 1972) and I Dream of Jeannie (1965 - 1970)

It’s hard to pick one series over another because they’re essentially the same show. A mortal man falls in love with a magical girl who upends their lives with magic filled hijinks as they try their best not to have their secret discovered by the rest of the world. And both have their fingerprints all over the DNA of Wandavision. 

There’s only two core differences; Samantha and Jeannie have completely different personalities, with Sam being confident and knowledgeable and Jeannie being naïve and oblivious, along with their relationships with their respective men, Sam and Darrin being married and in love at the start of the series and Jeannie chasing after Tony in the beginning in a will they/won’t they affair, finally only getting together in the last season. 

6. The Munsters (1964 - 1966) vs The Adams Family (1964 - 1966)

Fans of these two shows are forever sadden that there never was a crossover between them. Because they’d fit perfectly together. Both shows are about a surreal and macabre family living in American suburbia and disrupting the lives of their neighbors with their otherworldly hijinks. Sound familiar?     

The main difference between the two shows is the way the characters viewed their placement in the world they inhabit. 

The Munsters were always oblivious to the fact that didn’t fit in. They just automatically assumed everyone had the same personal tastes as them. Whenever they encountered anyone who behaved strangely around them they would write that person off as being the odd one rather than questioning themselves. As such the main cast was structured like a stereotypical sitcom family who just happened to be classic movie monsters. 

The Addams were well aware that they were abnormal and they loved it! They lived life with in their own little world and didn’t care what anyone thought of them. As such the characters were far more colorful and quirky as individuals but there was little in the way of refences to other horror franchises beyond just a general love of the twisted and strange. 

7. Green Acres (1965 - 1971) and the Rual-verse (1962 - 1971)

So the MCU is not the first franchise to bring viewers an interconnected universe to the small screen. Far from it, as sitcoms had been doing this for decades, starting with the ‘rualverse’. Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres were all produced by the same company and were treated as spinoffs of each other, complete with crossovers and shared characters and sets. 

Of the three, the last show, Green Acres, has the most in common with Wandavision. A well to do businessman and his lovely socialite wife settle down in small town America on a farm in order to get away from the stresses of city life, only to find new stresses in the country. Eva Gabor, herself a natural Hungarian, plays the character of Lisa as Hungarian making her one of the few non-native born Americans on tv screens during the cold war. Despite her posh nature and original protests to the move, Lisa assimilates to the rural life far easier than her husband, Oliver. Who, as the main comedic thread, can’t comprehend his new quirky neighbors’ odd and often illogical behavior.  

8. Hogan’s Heroes (1965 - 1971) and Get Smart (1965 - 1969)

So as comic fans have been quick to point out, it’s looking like both A.I.M. (Hydra) and Sword (Shield) will be players in the story of Wandavision. To commemorate that here’s two shows to represent those opposing sides. Although in truth, neither series has anything else in common with each other but I need to condense things down someway. 

In Hydra’s corner we got Hogan’s Heroes. A show all about taking down Nazis from within. 

I love, love, love, ‘robin hood’ comedies where a group of con artists try week after to week to pull one over the establishment. The Phil Silvers Show, Mchale's Navy, and Top Cat, just to name a few examples are all childhood favorites of mine. However while those shows had a lot of morally ambiguous characters, Hogan’s Heroes has very clear cut good guys and bad guys, cause the bad guys are Nazis and the show relentless makes fun of the third reich as should we all. In fact I was watching Hogan’s Heroes while waiting for the GA run off election results. Fortunately my home state decided to kick out our own brand of Nazis this year. 

For Shield, we got the ultimate spy spoof, Get Smart. Starring, Inspector Gadget himself, Don Adams, as the bumbling Maxwell Smart. Get Smart, is a hilarious send up of Cold War espionage but the real selling point of the show, imho, is Max and his co-worker 99′s relationship. You can cut the sexual tension in the air with a knife all while laughing your ass off. 

9. Batman (1966 - 1968)

First was Superman and then came Batman. Yet while Superman was a serious action show, Batman was a straight up comedy. Showcasing that superheroes could indeed be funny. 

Also shout out for Batman being the only show on this list to have an actual crossover with it’s competitor, The Green Hornet. 

10. Julia (1968 - 1971)

Since episode two features the first appearances of Herb and Monica, let’s highlight the first black led sitcom since the cancelation of Amos ‘n Andy over a decade earlier. The show focuses on single mother and military nurse, Julia, as she tries to live her life without her recently decease husband, who was killed in Vietnam, as she tries to raise their six year old son on her own.  

The series is cute. It’s more of a throw back to earlier family sitcoms where there’s no fantasy and life lessons are the name of the game. It’s the fact that the main character is a single black woman is what made the show so subversive and important at the time. 

Runner Ups

There’s much good stuff in the 60s, so here’s some others that didn’t make the cut but I would recommend anyways. 

Car 54, Where Are You? (1961 - 1963)

I call this the Brooklynn 99 of the 1960s. Bumbling but well meaning Officer Toody longs to do good in the world and help anyone in need, but often screws things up with his ill thought out schemes. He often drags his best friend and partner, the competent but anxiety riddled, Muldoon into his escapades. 

Mr. Ed (1961 - 1966)

The grandfather of the sarcastic talking pet trope. 

The Jetsons (1962 - 1963 and 1985 - 1987)

Hanna-Barbera often took popular sitcoms and just repackaged them as cartoons with a fantasy theme to them. The Jetsons has no singular show that it rips-off but is rather more a grab bag of sitcom tropes that feature, robots, computers, and flying cars. 

The Outer Limits (1963 - 1965) 

The Outer Limits was The Twilight Zone’s biggest competitor in terms of being a sic-fi/horror anthology series. 

Gillian’s Island (1964 - 1967) 

The only comparison to WandaVision I could think of was that this is a sitcom about people being trapped in one place. But by that point I was running out of room on the list. Still it’s one of the funniest shows on here. 

So yeah, this took longer than expected cause there’s a lot, here. Hopefully the 70s will be easier. Which I’ll post on Friday. 

[ninja-muse]

i’m trying to branch out and read outside my genre (fantasy) do you have any book recs for someone whose heart is in fantasy but needs to see what else is out there?

Hi anon! Thanks for the ask! Fantasy’s such a wide genre, and this is such an open ask, that I’m mostly going to be recommending books with similar feels or themes from other genres, to push you a little outside the fantasy bubble and introducing you to different genres and types of storytelling. If you have a favourite subgenre or trope or author, I can maybe get a little more specific or offer read-alikes.

Also, I don’t know if you knew this before asking, but fantasy is my favourite genre too, so some of these recs are books that pushed me out of the genre as well, or that I found familiar-but-different.

And this is getting long, so I’m going to throw it under a cut to save everyone scrolling.

Science fiction

the Vorkosigan saga by Lois McMaster Bujold - This is space opera, which means it’ll have fairly familiar plots except with science-y things instead of magic. There’s an heir with something to prove, heists, cons, and mysteries, attempted coups and assassinations, long-suffering sidekicks, and a homeworld that’s basically turn-of-the-century Russia but with fewer serfs. It was one of the first adult sci-fi books I read and genuinely liked.

The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey - I finished this recently, and the second book of the trilogy just came out. This is post-apocalyptic sci-fi, but not grim or particularly complex. (Some SF gets really into the nuts and bolts of the science elements; this isn’t that.) Basically, Koli’s a teenager who wants more than his quasi-medieval life’s given him, and finds himself in conflict with his village (and then exile) because of it. I could see where the story was going pretty much from the start, but I loved the journey anyway.

The Martian by Andy Weir - This doesn’t have much in common with fantasy, but it’s my go-to rec for anyone who’s never read science fiction before, because it’s funny, explains the science well, and has a hero and a plot you get behind right away. In case you haven’t heard of it (or the film), it’s about an astronaut stranded on Mars, trying to survive long enough to be rescued.

Foreigner by C.J. Cherryh - This is an alien first contact story, about a colony of humans in permanent quarantine on an alien planet. The MC is the sole social liaison and translator, explaining his culture to the aliens and the aliens to the human, and working to keep the peace—until politics and assassins get involved. It’s been over a decade since I read this, so my memory’s blurred, but I remember the same sort of political intrigue vibes as the Daevabad trilogy, just with fewer POVs.

Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor - One from my TBR. It looks like dark fiction about women, outcasts, and revenge, which sounds very fantastic and the MC can apparently do magic—but it’s post-apocalyptic Africa.

Speaking of political intrigue and sweeping epic plots, the Expanse series by James S.A. Corey has both in spades. Rebellions, alien technology, corrupt businesses, heroes doing good things and getting bad consequences, all that good stuff. It takes the science fairly seriously, without getting very dense with it, and will probably register as “more sci-fi” than my recs in the genre so far.

Oh, and Dune by Frank Herbert is such a classic chosen-one epic that it barely registers as science fiction at all.

Graphic novels

It’s technically fantasy, but assuming you’ve never picked up a graphic novel before, you should read Monstress by Marjorie Liu. Asian-inspired, with steampunk aesthetics, and rebellions and quests and so many female characters. It’s an absolutely fantastic graphic novel, if you want a taste of what those can do.

I’d highly recommend Saga by Brian K. Vaughan. It’s an epic science fiction story about a family caught between sides of a centuries-long war. (Dad’s from one side, Mom’s from the other, everyone wants to capture them, their kid is narrating.) It’s a blast to read, exciting and tense, with hard questions and gorgeous tender moments, and the world-building somehow manages to include weaponized magic, spaceship trees, ghosts, half-spider assassins, and all-important pulp romance novels without anything feeling out of place.

Historical fiction

Hild by Nicola Griffith - Very rich and detailed novel following a girl growing up in an early medieval English court. It’s very fantasy-esque, with battles and politics and changes of religion, and Hild gets positioned early on to be the king’s seer, so there’s “magic” of a sort as well.

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry - A widow goes to the Victorian seaside to heal and reawaken her interest in biology. Slow, gentle, lovely writing and atmosphere, interesting characters and turns of plot. Doesn’t actually deliver on the sea monster, but still has a lot to recommend it to fantasy readers, I think.

Yiddish for Pirates by Gary Barwin - The late-medieval Jewish pirate adventure you didn’t know you wanted. It’s funny and literary, full of tropes and set pieces like “small-town kid in the big city” and “jail break”, and features the Spanish Inquisition, Columbus, the Fountain of Youth, and talking parrots, among other things.

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - A thousand pages about the building of a cathedral in England, mostly focusing on the master builder, the monk who spearheads the project, and a noblewoman who’s been kicked off her family’s land, but has several other plots going on, including a deacon with political ambitions, a war, and a boy who’s trying so hard to fit in and do right.

Sharon Kay Penman - This is an author on my TBR, who comes highly recommended for her novels about the War of the Roses and the Plantagenets. Should appeal to you if you liked Game of Thrones. I’m planning to start with The Sunne in Splendour.

Lady of the Forest by Jennifer Roberson - Either a Robin Hood retelling that’s also a romance, or a romance that’s also a Robin Hood retelling.

Hamnet & Judith by Maggie O’Farrell - A novel of the Shakespeare family, mostly focused on his wife and son. Lovely writing and a very gentle feel though it heads into dark and complex subjects fairly often. A good portrait of Early Modern family life.

Mystery

There’s not a lot of mystery that reads like high, epic, or even contemporary fantasy, but if you’re a fan of urban fantasy, which is basically mystery with magic in, then I’d rec:

Cozy mysteries as a general subgenre, especially if you like the Sookie Stackhouse end of urban fantasy, which has romance and quirky plots; there are plenty of series where the detective’s a witch or the sidekick’s a ghost but they’re solving non-magical mysteries, and the genre in general full of heroines who are good at solving crimes without formal training, and the plots feel very similar but with slightly lower stakes. Cozies have become one of my comfort-reading genres (along with UF) the last few years. My intros were the Royal Spyness novels by Rhys Bowen and the Fairy Tale Fatale books by Maia Chance.

If you like your urban fantasy darker and more serious, and your heroines more complicated, try Kathy Reichs and her Temperance Brennan novels. Brennan’s a forensic anthropologist, strong and complicated in the same ways of my fave UF heroines, and the mysteries are already interesting, with a good dash of thriller and a smidge of romance.

Two other recs:

Haunted Ground by Erin Hart - The first of four books about a forensic anthropologist in Ireland, who’s called in when the Garda find bodies in the peat bogs and need to know how long they’ve been there. They’re very atmospheric—I can almost smell the bog—and give great portraits of rural Ireland and small-town secrets, and since not all the bodies found in each book are recent, they also bring interesting slices of the past to life as well.

A Burnable Book by Bruce Holsinger - This is essentially a medieval thriller about a seditious book that’s turned up in London. I liked the mystery in it and that it’s much more focused on the lives of average people than the rich and famous (for all that recognizable people also show up).

Classics

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift - I swear this is actually one of the first fantasy novels but few people ever really class it as such. Basically, Gulliver’s a ship’s doctor who keeps getting shipwrecked—in a country of tiny people, a country of giants, a country of mad scientists, a country of talking horses, etc. It’s social satire and a spoof of travelogues from Swift’s time, but it’s easily enough read without that context.

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - Another, slightly later, fantasy and satire! Even more amusing situations than in Gulliver’s Travels and, while it’s been a while* since I read it, I think it’ll be a decent read-alike for authors like Jasper Fforde, Genevieve Cogman, and that brand of light British comic fantasy.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare - Also technically a fantasy! I mean, there are fairies and enchantments, for all it’s a romantic comedy written entirely in old-fashioned poetry. It’s a pretty good play to start you off on Shakespeare, if you’re interested in going that direction.

On the subject of Shakespeare, I would also recommend Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, and King Lear, the first because it’s my favourite comedy, the others because they’re fantasy read-alikes imo as well (witches! coups! drama!).

the Arthurian mythos. Le Morte D’arthur, Crétien de Troyes, The Once and Future King by T.H. White, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain, etc. - I’ve read bits and pieces of the first two, am about 80% sure I read the third as a kid (or at least The Sword in the Stone), and have the last on my TBR. Basically, these stories are going to give you an exaggeratedly medieval setting, knights, quests, wizards, fairies, high drama, romantic entanglements, and monsters, and the medieval ones especially have different kinds of plots than you’ll be used to (and maybe open the door to more medieval lit?) **

Beowulf and/or The Odyssey - Two epics that inspired a lot of fiction that came later. (There’s an especial connection between Beowulf and Tolkien.) They’re not the easiest of reads because they’re in poetry and non-linear narratives, but both have a hero facing off against a series of monsters and/or magical creatures as their core story.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - The first real science fiction novel. It’s about the ethics of science and the consequences of one’s actions, and I loved seeing the Creature find himself and Frankenstein descend into … that. It’s also full of sweeping, gothic scenes and tension and doom and drama.

* 25 years, give or take

** There are plenty of more recent people using King Arthur and associated characters too, if this "subgenre” interests you.

Other fiction

Vicious by V.E. Schwab - I don’t know if you classify superheroes as science fiction or fantasy or its own genre (for me it depends on the day) but this is an excellent take on the subject, full of moral greyness and revenge.

David Mitchell - A literary fiction writer who has both a sense of humour and an interest in the fantastic and science fictional. He writes ordinary people and average lives marvelously well, keeps me turning pages, plays with form and timelines, and reliably throws in either recurring, possibly-immortal characters, good-vs-evil psychic battles, or other SF/F-y elements. I’d start with either Slade House, a ghost story, or Utopia Avenue, about a ‘60s rock band. Or possible The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, which I fully admit to not having read yet.

Devolution by Max Brooks - A horror movie in book form, full of tension and desperation and jump scares and the problems with relying on modern technology. The monsters are Bigfeet. Reccing this one in the same way I’m reccing The Martian—it’s an accessible intro to its genre.

Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson - Contemporary fiction with a slight literary bent, that doesn’t pull its punches about Indigenous life but also has a sense of humour about the same. Follows a teen dealing with poverty and a bad home life and drugs and hormones—and the fact that his bio-dad might actually be the trickster Raven. Also features witches, magic, and other spirit-beings, so I generally pitch this as magic realism.

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones - Another Indigenous rec, this time a horror novel about ghosts and racism and trying to do the right thing. This’ll give you a taste of the more psychological end of the horror spectrum.

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia - A good example of contemporary YA and how it handles the complexities of life, love, and growing up. Follows the writer of a fantasy webcomic who makes a friend who turns out to write fic of her story and who suddenly has to really balance online and offline life, among other pressures. Realistic portrait of mental health problems.

Non-fiction

The Book of Margery Kempe - The first English-language autobiography. Margery was very devout but also very badass, in a medieval sort of way. She went on pilgrimages to Jerusalem, was possibly epileptic, frequently “saw” Christ and Mary and demons, basically became a nun in middle age while staying married to her husband, and wound up on trial for heresy, before talking a monk into writing down her life story. It’s a fascinating window into the time period.

The Hammer and the Cross by Robert Ferguson - A history of medieval Norse people and how their explorations and trade shaped both their culture and the world.

A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor - Travel writing that was recommended to me by someone who raved about the prose and was totally right. Fermor’s looking back, with the aid of journals, on a walking trip he took across Europe in the 1930s. It’s a fascinating look at the era and an old way of life, and pretty much every “entry” has something of interest in it. He met all sorts of people.

Tim Severin and/or Thor Heyerdahl - More travel writing, this time by people recreating historical voyages (or what they believe to be historical voyages, ymmv) in period ships. Severin focuses on mythology (I’ve read The Ulysses Voyage and The Jason Voyage) and Heyerdahl’s known for Kon-Tiki, which is him “proving” that Polynesians made contact with South America. They both go into the history of the sailing and areas they’re travelling through, while also describing their surroundings and daily life, and, yes, running into storms and things.

Hope this helps you!

[chriscdcase95]

D.E.B.S: Why this movie needs an update.

I wrote a review for "D.E.B.S" for college and made a slightly modified version of the review for this page. You should be able to pinpoint where this version of the review becomes less of a college report and more of a fan discussion.

D.E.B.S is a 2004 romantic comedy spy film, which has a plot based around the D.E.B.S program. With a secret portion of the SAT's tests, students are selected based on if they have what it takes; the ability to lie, cheat, fight and kill. The selected students are recruited into the D.E.B.S Academy to be trained to be spies. Their top student Amy Bradshaw is assigned to lead a squad to stop and catch a notorious super-villainess Lucy Diamond, who has a reputation for being a dangerous threat, who has killed a number of agents in the past. Things take quite turn when Amy and Lucy actually meet.

The film was not well received upon its initial release, with largely negative reviews, and faded into obscurity. Despite this the film has long since developed a cult following over the years. It is noted to being one of the few mainstream films that has a main focus and positive representation of homosexual and lesbian relationships, in a time where such depictions were rare.

One criticism is the focus on humor, emphasis on the romantic plot, use of cartoon tropes, and minimal character development. The character who gets the most positive development in my opinion is the films ostensible super-villain antagonist, while the bulk of the cast are pretty one note. 

This can be alluded to the film not reaching it's intended audience, being a near decade before it's time, or perhaps the mainstream audience was expecting something different. If you watch the movie expecting it to be a fully serious and strait forward spy adventure movie, you may be disappointed; but one must understand going in that this is not a strait spy movie, this is a genre parody/satire/borderline deconstruction. And that's before it outright switches genres.

While the film is far from being a masterpiece, one word I use to describe this film is "Subversive". This subversion can be best demonstrated in how the antagonists and protagonists switch over the film; how we are introduced to a mysterious super-villainess who is supposed to be a threat to the known world, turning out to be a socially awkward bean who is more interested in making love than war.

The actual antagonists having an unsubtle parallel with religious groups who believe that conservation therapy can cure homosexuality. Yeah, I know the D.E.B.S issues where that Amy was in love with a supervillain that would cause them bad publicity, as opposed to Amy being a lesbian, but the symbolism is still obvious.

One of the secondary antagonists, Amy’s boyfriend Bobby, is rather ahead of his time; nowadays we’d can see him as a commentary on  quote — unquote Nice Guy's who think they are entitled to the girl, and owed their affections. This kind of behavior is only getting called out nowadays, and yet this movie came back in 2004.

Even with the subversion, it is a more simplistic film, and lacking in that much depth. It is more about the forbidden romance than a typical "Save the world" story. This is a bit of a shame really; can you imagine the kind of movie we'd get where the antagonists are an organization - claiming to be a heroic spy agency- that are trying to groom child soldiers with an aged elitist who is more concerned in publicity and reputation than actually stopping alleged threats ? Now suddenly the headmistress Miss Petrie is reminding me of Supreme Leader Snoke.

We get something like that, but it's actual execution is lacking, and for all it's satire, it doesn't go the extra mile it could have to be a subversive masterpiece. 

Now for the fandom comparisons.

I have heard some people try to compare and contrast between D.E.B.S and Kim Possible; specifically  AgentDiamond to Kigo, but for the life of me I just don't see it. My unpopular opinion regarding Kigo aside, I don't see that much similarity between these relationships. Amy isn't very similar to Kim, and Lucy isn't too similar to Shego (honestly Lucy is more how I picture a Drakken and Shego’ daughter growing into). The point is Amy and Lucy are too different from Kim and Shego to make a comparison.

Amy meanwhile reminds me more of characters like Buffy Summers and Laura Hollis than Kim. 

Amy’s characterization is that she is the top D.E.B.S student and Agent, and like Buffy is one of the best of what she does (even though we don’t see that much spy action throughout the movie, so how exactly she is the best we do not see or know, we’re just going to have to take their word for it). 

Honestly I am more reminded of Laura Hollis from Carmilla the Series when I look at Amy. Both just have this kind of geeky, kind of naive, air about them, who becomes more strong after initially acting tough, and both are journalist students. Mind you, Laura is a far more animated character; she has more depth to her, is more three dimensional and her character arc is told over the course of three seasons, while Amy is condensed in one movie. As a result Amy feels more like a audience stand in.

I think that’s the other problem with this movie; as the whole everything is rushed. Amy has just gone through a breakup and is all to quick to start her relationship with Lucy. Amy becomes more willing to stand up for herself, but she was only being kicked around for the third act of the movie, Lucy has a Love Equals Redemption arc, and the most developed character in the movie, but even that is condensed in under half an hour. 

As far as AgentDiamond’s actual relationship goes ? I see it as more of a high school version Supercorp. Mixed with Hollistien. I very rushed version of the two.

My final thoughts; what I liked most about the movie was its subversiveness, even though I didn't think it went far or deep enough to make it a masterpiece. That and the film was way ahead of its time. Personally I wouldn't mind seeing reboot to this movie; be it a movie trilogy or TV Series, updated to the present day. There is some good pieces for deconstruction aside from the romance, I just think they didn't go all the way with them.

That’s just my thoughts though.

[lia-nikiforov]

Spring 2018 Anime Final Review

So, uh, this is six months late. I’ve had half of this post in my drafts forever. To make it short, as I’ve mentioned previously, mom lost her job, which has not only been a heavy hit to my sense of stability for the last six months, but also means my time to watch anime was seriously reduced and even now a slight change of plans fucks up my whole schedule and sets me back for a full week. Anyway, nobody cares about any of these shows anymore so let’s get straight to it? I’m gonna ommit the two-cours that continued into the Summer - hopefully I’ll be able to make that post soonish? idk. Worst to best, same as usual

The crappy gender politics pit of shame

Darling in the FRANXX: I think everyone has ripped this show to threads at this point and there isn’t much I could add to that. It is quite funny to me to see how many people flipped out when the show went completely bananas in its last few episodes. Feels a bit like KADO, I’ve been telling y’all this was a ton of empty crap since episode 2, it just took the writing to completely self-destruct for everyone else to notice. A part of me feels tempted to do a long post breaking down just how badly the show collapsed in its final shebang, specifically how every single twist and turn completely nulled any remote kind of message or central thesis the show may have had, but at the same time it doesn’t seem worth the time. In the end, I may have given What is Internal Consistency, The anime way too much credit. It’s not hateful antigay propaganda, it’s just dumb as shits, with a writer and creators who didn’t think for half a second of the implications of what they were doing, and who were so incompetent they couldn’t even conserve the minimal plot and character coherency within a single episode, let alone 24. In other words, Darling isn’t saying “gays shouldn’t exist” but “I have no idea of anything regarding gay people”. What makes it egregious is that the show spent so much time acting like it was “meaningful” and “important” and yet it ended saying absolutely fucking nothing. Except mayb “have babies”. Down to oblivion you go, along with the likes of KADO, to the void of shows that couldn’t even be offensively bad and no one will remember a year from now. Bonus garbage points for the half-assed “bury your gays”.

Nil of Libra Admirari or whatever this show was called: I’m not trying to diss on the show, I just genuinely never remember the title because I have the JP and EN all mixed up. Not that it matters much, as far as I could tell, the show could call Shalabalabatuna and it would have the same significance in regard to the content. But the title isn’t important. In fact, it may be a bit unfair to have this show in this section. For the most part, Main Girl is very self-determined and has an active role in the story.... but then the last two episodes heavily featured a lot of rape threats or rape themes and forced pregnancy (real and threat) and I don’t really understand why they’d go there all of a sudden. One of them was treated relatively well, even empowering the victim in the process, but when the ikemen bad guy was rambling endlessly about how he wanted to impregnate the protagonist it really turned me off :/ I’m also not a fan of “main boy was her secret fiancé all along”, but at least they also handled that somewhat decently. It’s a very disposable series, but since I watched all of Amnesia, I think I owe every otoge adaptation at least the smallest chance to clear that very low bar, and Libra of Nil does it, more competently than most other stuff in the same genre.

Hisone to Masotan: I really, really wanted to love this show. Even now, as I put it in the pit of shame category, I’m pained. There was a good show in this, and a lot of it made it to the screen: an adorable, charming little story about a woman finding her place in the world, making new friends, finding her calling and bonding with an adorable dragon. Unfortunately, it got buried down under this opressing, horrendous gender politics that tried to do something with bringing attention to sexism in the military only to cancel it out making the one dude that embodied that sexism getting rewarded with the affections of a girl he explicitly tried to crush. It also called back on the virgin or whore fallacy and even managed to shove in a “bury your gays” trope. Even though Hisone challenges the ritual bullshit, it’s too little, too late, and she does end up carrying it out anyway, so the defiance to the status quo is of little importance in terms of problematizing the ritual itself. Sorry BONES, it wasn’t meant to be this time. 

The ni fu ni fa section

Ni fu ni fa is a Mexican colloquialism for “It was okay but it didn’t change my life.”

Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu HAPPY KISS: This soft reboot of the franchise had some really great episodes and did an actually good job of developping its characters. For the most part, it achieved what its predecessor did in terms of satirical comedy and I enjoyed it quite a bit. However, what bunked it down so low in the list was the final episode. At some point, the writers forgot they were doing a parody and made the show somewhat self-serious, way closer in tone to the magical girl anime it was supposed to be making fun of, rather than the satire its predecessor was. Whereas S1 ended with the whole Magical boy stuff being revealed as a crappy space reality TV show, this one ended with a real cheesy conflict about happiness and family and blablabla. Which is not bad by itself if this were a Precure show, but that kind of self-serious plot development just didn’t work for this series. I still enjoyed it, and the fanservice episode is one of the best of the whole franchise, but I’m a bit sad the finale missed the mark so badly.

Hinamatsuri: Hinamatsuri was very hit-or-miss for me. There were some truly brilliant episodes, a lot of funny vignettes and heart-warming stories, and then there was some stuff that made me uncomfortable -like every single Hitomi story- or felt unnecessary and dry. It also threw me off that the superpower dynamic completely disappeared in the second half of the show, especially in Anzu’s part of the story. It was okay but I feel like I needed something that felt like a closing, and choosing to end it with Mao who featured very minimally in the show overall didn’t cut it. It’s a fun show, I’d reccommend people check it out, but it felt a bit too disjointed for me

Persona 5: The Animation: This is a hard show to place because I love the looks of it and I think the concept is interesting and pretty cool, but there is something that’s keeping me from connecting emotionally to the story. The part where changing the villains’ heart makes them repent from their sins and become “good” feels very artificial and very tasteless when you’re dealing with rapists and abusers. I ended dropping it at episode 16, I just couldn’t find the motivation to catch up with the 6 episodes i’d fallen behind on because my schedule is a tragedy

Tokyo Ghoul: Re: I guess it’s fair to say I’ve kind of outgrown Tokyo Ghoul. There’s something messy and confusing about how this season panned out, and there comes a point in which misery porn just doesn’t cut it anymore. I still watch because Ishida has a way to make every single goddamn character extremely sympathetic, which makes for an emotionally engaging viewing even when you’re not sure of what the plot is supposed to be or who you should be rooting for. I tried picking up the new season that just started airing and immediately found I had no idea of what was going on, who was on who’s side and in general, who the fuck were 90% of the characters, so I dropped it.

Nanatsu no Taizai: Imashime no Fukkatsu: I’ve mentioned it before, this second season had the opposite problem than the first one: the pace was too slow. It took more than half of it to get to Escanor, and then the season ends at a kind of random spot. I really thought we’d get further along on the story, since Gowther’s backstory was hinted at in the openings, but no such thing happened. They did manage to give us a variety of cool moments and fights, and I love Ban so his scenes with Zhivago and Elaine made me quite happy, though I really wish the romance between Elizabeth and Meliodas wasn’t su dubious and cringy. In light of some revelations that take place further along the manga, going out of their way to emphasize that Meliodas was a sort of mentor figure for Elizabeth when she was a toddler seems unncessary and just very squeamish. I do hope we get a third season though, and an OVA of the Vampires of whatever side story would be great too.

Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori: I was pleasantly surprised by this show, and it’s closer to being one of my top of the season than it is to “meh”. It had some weaker, cheesier segments, but it also managed great whacky moments and a genuine soothing atmosphere. What surprised me most is that the vanilla looking cast of moderately handsome dudes managed to develop into interesting, funny individuals with a dynamic that made every episode enjoyable. A solid reccommendation for anyone wanting to see delicious looking food and moderately handsome dudes being ridiculous. Also, the cat episode is the best episode of anime ever produced.

The I’m probably the only person alive who enjoys these shows

Mahou Shoujo Ore: This is a difficult show to place because it wasn’t quite as great as I wanted it to be and its parodic nature took me by surprise, but somehow I was still seriously entertained more often than not. The twists in the final quarter and the absolutely bonkers finale was a total riot, but I definitely advise caution before going in, given that some of the jokes may seem insensitive or in poor taste in regards to gender presentation, sexuality and there are even some mild harrassment jokes that certainly made me roll my eyes.

Yowamushi Pedal: Glory Line: I don’t know if anyone’s noticed, but I think through half of the show’s 25 episode run, I was convinced the title was actually Glory Road. It’s kind of anticlimactic that it’s called Glory Line if they don’t actually reach the final Goal btw. Anyway, I feel I say this a lot, but really, if you didn’t like the previous Yowapeda seasons, there’s nothing here for you, and if you did, you’re probably not gonna hop off this late in the game. This season does suffer from the same dragging than its predecessors, with the added issue of being quite pessimistic for no reason in about half the episodes, and a diminished presence for Onoda. I really wish they hadn’t dragged the Day 2 goal so long, I really hoped we’d see the end of the race, but no such luck I guess. Still love most of it and hope we get one more season or a movie to complete the story.

The favorites of the season

Golden Kamuy: In spite of its pacing issues, terrible animation and general clunkiness, I can’t help but love this show. When season 1 ended my feelings for it had mellowed quite a bit, but as soon as I picked up season 2 this Fall I just fell in love all over again. It’s fun, unique, over-the-top in some ways, incredibly grounded in others, and the dynamics between the characters are incredibly charming. 

Hozuki no Reitetsu: It’s hard to talk about this one because it feels repetitive, given how tonally the show remains just the same across its three seasons. It could’ve very well been a one-season, 36 episode show, for how little it changes in spite of the time that transpired between the first season and the second. But in short, the comedy continues to be as spot on as always, the Zashikiwarashi twins are the best addition to the cast. It’s definitely a show I could watch endless episodes off, and the rare case of an episodic series with no overarching plot that I can enjoy wholeheartedly. 

Card Captor Sakura: Clear Card arc: Over the course of the series, I’ve expressed a few concerns and misgivings about how the story of this 20th anniversary sequel was playing out. The final episode was particularly troublesome in that it left the story unfinished in spite of deviating from the manga. In spite of this, more than anything I’m very happy that this continuation still retains what made the original so special, that they captured the magic behind Sakura’s “everything will be alright” spell and gave us the chance to spend more time with these beloved characters and see their stories continue. The slow but sweet development of Sakura and Syaoran’s puppy love is a definite highlight. Needs more Touya/Yukito and Yue in general.

Piano no Mori: This show got heavily overlooked because it was kidnapped by Netflix (pls stop immediately), and then when it was finally unceremoniously dumped a month or two ago, it came under fire for the wonky CGI during the piano scenes -and it is indeed very wonky-. But beyond that, I found the story very engaging, especially because Kai is such a fascinating protagonist, his intense rivalry-friendship with Megane-kun (sorry, it’s been six months, i can’t remember names) is exactly the type I can’t help but root for. Kai’s participation in the final episode gave me goosebumps. I’m very happy we’re getting a continuation,  can’t wait to see how the Chopin competition develops.

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii: Sweet, funny and absolutely delightful from start to finish, Wotakoi was easily one of the highlights of the season. Although there were some aspects about Cosplayer-senpai and Yuri Otaku-senpai’s (I’m really trying to remember the names, I’m sorry!! ;---;) that didn’t work for me -namely the izakaya segment- Narumi and Hirotaka more than made up for it with their clumsy yet adorable romance. I spent the entirety of the amusement park episode screeching. I really hope we get a continuation -and get a chance to see more of Hirotaka’s brother and his gamer friend too- and that in general we can get more anime about adult stories

Megalobox: Who would’ve thought that a show that wasn’t even in my radar before the season started would’ve end as one of my favorites, possibly of the year? Even as someone who’s only marginally acquainted with Ashita no Joe and has no interst in the sport of boxing, I was completely enthralled by the style and passion of this production. As I said a bit above, intense rivalries are very appealing to me, and the build up in the tension between Joe and Yuri was almost palpable, their mutual respect gave me chills. Definitely the surprise of the season, made even better by its optimistic happy ending to contrast with its predecessor’s tragedy. Megalobox is a unique anniversary project that is closer to an homage and it works perfectly. Definitely check it out.

That’s it for the Spring season! I hope i can do the summer season this weekend and maaaybe even my watchlist for the Fall season. Fingers crossed i won’t get swallowed up in other stuff :’D 

[whilereadingandwalking]

Crazy Rich Asians is madness. It is a soap opera, it is Mean Girls and Desperate Housewives set in Hong Kong and Singapore. It is rich people at their worst, and it is an extravaganza of glamour and house design and jewels. 

And it’s a lot of fun.

Kevin Kwan’s writing isn’t perfect—his dialogue can be unrealistic and even corny at times, and his close third person narration jumps often unexpectedly during dramatic moments. But what he evokes is more like a film than all that—and I can’t wait now for the movie—a flashy scene of glitz and glamor and cruelty and judgment and constant, constant scheming and gossip. The basic plot is that Nicholas Young is bringing his girlfriend Eleanor to his best friend’s wedding and to meet his family, but he fails to warn her that his family is rich. Like, rich rich. Like the rich people who own several properties and fly to islands on their private planes type rich. Like people who fly to Paris and scoop up a couple hundred-thousand-dollar dresses and gems type rich. And his family, as well as society, is less than pleased that he’s getting serious with a professor of economics. The entire thing is a soap opera with twists and turns and gasps. It’s all a bit melodramatic, but much like a soap, that’s what you’re there for. It’s in many ways an almost meta satire of richness, because it makes fun of the fact that these people are awful and often vapid and cruel, and yet here you are, sure, rolling their eyes, snickering at their insanity...but still watching them. Still turning the pages as fast as you can, wanting to know about their lives, their secrets, the parties they throw, the outfits they end up wearing. It’s fascinating and terrible, but it’s also a brilliant love story and family drama, and an even smarter satire, and I enjoyed every chapter. 

[wiener-soldiers]

love is for idiots - peter parker

summary: You have been alone all your life, and from a young age, you learned that love doesn’t exist. However, as soon as you met Peter Parker, you learned to love again.

pairing: Peter Parker x Fem!Reader

words: 2,477 (goddamn that’s a long one)

warnings: kinda agsty, kinda fluffy, couple of swears, my really bad spanish skills (I SPEAK FRENCH STILL LEARNING SPANISH) also first fic so there’s that

a/n: guys i did it. first ever fic. i don’t know if y’all will hate it or love it, but it was so much fun to write. ALSO THERES AN IN THE HEIGHTS REFERENCE.

You didn't need love.

You were an independent person who didn’t need to feel satisfied by having someone love you.

You were strong, independent, and brave.

That's what you told yourself everyday when you looked in the mirror.

Truth be told, you lied to yourself everyday. Everybody needed somebody, but you just weren't used to that. With your mom out of the picture, and your dad always gone for work, you had convinced yourself that love was for the weak.

You just never realised how emotionally weak you actually were.

"Hey sweetheart. It's me, dad. I, uh, I don't know that I'll be home in time for your birthday. Work has been crazy as hell. I'm actually flying out to D.C. tonight for a conference, then I'm going over to Paris for another convention. I'm so sorry baby, I'll talk to as soon as I can."

A loud beep follows the end of the voicemail.

This has been the third voicemail this week from your dad saying that he might not be able to come home as soon as you thought. First, it was a convention in Dubai, then a lecture at MIT, and finally this one.

Rolling out of your bed, you shiver as your feet come in contact with the cold hardwood floors. It was a chilly Tuesday morning, which was the norm in New York City during the spring. You shrug it off, knowing that it was an amazing excuse to wear comfortable clothes.

Deciding that a pair of boyfriend jeans rolled up a couple times and a white NASA tee tied in the front was decent enough, you hastily comb through your (Y/H/C) hair with your fingers and trudge into the kitchen, wear Kevin, your uncle was waiting.

"Morning Kev," you mumble midway through a yawn. Ever since your Dad started going on extended work trips, your uncle Kev, who lived an hour away, give or take, would always take care of you.

"Well, buenos días to you mi amor," Kev says sleepily.

You scoff. "You're practising Spanish for that guy again, what's his name...Michael?"

"Miguel, el cariño, his name is Miguel. And he's single."

You smile slightly. "Love isn't real, Kev."

He rolls his eyes playfully as he hands me a granola bar, "Wow. Is that you or your teenage angst talking?"

You narrow your eyes at him as you snatch the bar from his hands. Slipping on some black Vans, you call back, "That's me talking. Bye Kev! Good look with Miguel...I guess."

You speed walk down the stairs of the subway station and barely make it to your train. You glance at your surroundings and see that the only empty seat is next to a boy, probably your age. Huffing slightly, you walk over and stand in front of him, preparing to ask if the seat is taken.

His earbuds are in and his eyes are closed, so you decide to just sit down next to him. The noise must have woken him up because mystery boy jolts up, ripping his earbuds from his ears. You giggle.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." For the first time, you get a good look at him. With his brown hair, dark brown eyes, and his obvious liking for music, you deem him kinda cute.

He smiles, "It's totally fine. I shouldn't have been dosing off anyways."

He's smooth, you think to yourself, very composed.

However the brunette was freaking out. A very, very pretty girl just happened to walk into the Subway car with one seat open, which just happened to be the seat next to his. He was so distracted by your blinding beauty, he didn't realise you had asked him another question until he realised that you were staring straight into his eyes.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

You laugh, "I said how did you even hear me sit down? You had earbuds in and it's pretty noisy in here, regardless."

The boy freezes, knowing if he slips up, his identity might be revealed. From that question alone, he can tell that you’re smart, and that a girl like you would easily find out his secret.

"I uh, you just, uh, you just hit my arm accidentally," he blurts out.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! First I wake you up, then I hit you? I'm so sorry," you squeak, a blush beginning to come up your neck and cheeks.

"It's all good. I'm Peter by the way. Peter Parker," Peter says, sticking his hand out to shake.

You smile in return, sticking your hand in Peter's to shake. You let your hand linger on his, oddly finding a form of comfort in his touch.

"(Y/N) at your service."

And that was the start to something beautiful.

After riding the Subway to school together, (you had learned that you went to the same school and were shocked that you've never met before) you and Peter had become inseparable. The two of you would embark on adventures, which basically consisted in going off campus for lunch and finding the best spots in town, and the best bodegas to eat in. Ned, who completed your version of the modern day, American Golden Trio, always teased you that one day you and Peter would get married, and have children; to which you would always reply with:

"I told you guys, love is for--"

"For idiots, we get it." Peter interrupts with a small smile on his face. Deep down though, he felt his heart tear a little.

Faster than he'd liked to admit, Peter had fallen in love with you. Well, not really. He is still falling in love with you. Every second of every day, Peter Parker falls more and more in love with you. Maybe it was fate, maybe it was soulmates, but Peter didn't care. He didn't wanna risk scaring you away. He already knew that you believed that love was absolute bullshit, and he knew that his friendship with you was far more valuable than saying "I love you" to the girl who didn't believe in love.

On the day’s latest adventure, you and Peter had planned to go to a little bodega in Washington Heights. Both of you were aware that it was more than an hour ride on the subway, but you both knew it was a great way to explore the city, and you had also insisted that the bodega had the best coffee and sandwiches you had ever tasted.

With only one period left to go, you raced to your English class excitedly. Bursting into the classroom, which was on the other side of the building from your last class, you let out a huff as you sit beside Peter, who shared the class with you.

"How'd you get here so fast?" he asks with an amused look on his face.

"Oh, don't look so smug. I ran. Yes, that's right, you heard me. Actual physical exercise," you retort. Peter throws his head back in laughter. You pout, fake punching him in the arm.

"Aw, boohoo. Is little (Y/N) winded by a little running?" Flash Thompson, aka the biggest douche in the school, taunts from the back of the class.

Peter's face contorts, and is about to defend the beautiful girl sitting beside him, but said girl beats him to it.

"Oh, shut up. Your nickname might be 'Flash', dickwad, but you do Barry Allen no justice. Don't think I was the only one who saw you fake an injury to get out of the mile run."

The class let's out a series of 'ohs' and 'damns', (most of them coming from Flash's friends) while you turn around with a smirk etched on your face. Peter smiles out  you, with eyes filled with adoration. One thing he learned was that you could always stand up for yourself.

The teacher walks into the class and attempts to settle down the noise. Peter steals another glance at you, nose deep in To Kill A Mockingbird and already working on the book report due soon.

After an uneventful rest of the period, the final bell rang, and you and Peter were out of the classroom faster than you could say 'bodega'. The duo were on the Subway as soon as possible as the chatted about the day’s latest events.

"So," you stated, "Homecoming is coming up."

Peter laughs, a little too loudly, and almost chokes on the Boba they had bought before they hopped on the train. You attempt to shush him as people were beginning to stare.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just, when did you care about Homecoming? I though we were gonna binge watch Lord of the Rings together that weekend. Besides, it's in like, what, three months?" He replies.

You shake your head. "Peter, I'm serious. Who is she?"

Peter nearly spits out his tea. "What?"

"The girl, Parker! The one I hear you and Ned talk about when you think I'm not listening." You retort. A part of you wants your best friend to go to Homecoming with the mystery girl, happy. But the other part of you wants Peter to go to Homecoming with you.

Peter coughs. "It's no one, I swear."

"Well," you start, "do I know her?"

Peter hesitates. "You do actually. You know her really well."

"Really?" you say in disbelief. You couldn't think of many people. The first name that popped into your head was MJ. Or maybe Liz Allan. "What's she like?"

"Well, she's smart. Like ridiculously smart. Smarter than me, even. She's funny, in her own way. Like sarcastic, satirical humour. She also really like reading. Um...she can definitely stand up for herself and hold her own. Very confident. And she's beautiful," Peter gushes.

"Hmm," you say in shock. Logically, you think he's talking about Liz Allan, one of the most popular girls at school. But once again, your mind drifts to the thought of being with Peter. What it would be like to hold his hand, hug him, and kiss him. It sounded wonderful.

"(Y/N), did you hear me?"

Your realise that Peter is nudging your arm. "What?"

"I said this is our stop. C'mon. I'm getting hungry and you said this place had good sandwiches." Peter grabs your hand and pulls you out of the Subway car, throwing your empty Boba cups in the trash can as you walk by. He doesn't let go of your hand as you march up the stairs and exit the station, and walk the streets that alive with salsa music and great smelling food.

"So, where is it again?" Peter asks, only now becoming conscious that he was still holding your hand. His grip falters a little, not knowing if you were freaked out, but to his surprise, you squeezed his hand a little tighter, enjoying the feeling of his fingers caressing yours.

You blush a little, "It's just up the street. It's beside this salon and has a beautiful mural on the side of the building. Oh! It's right there,” You explain while pointing to a bodega at the end of the street.

The two of you step inside to the small bodega, greeted by the smell of fresh coffee.

"Well, if it isn't (Y/N). How ya doin', mi amor?" the dude at the cash whistles. You roll your eyes and are about to respond to his antics when Usnavi, the bodega owner, walks in from the back room.

"Cut that out Sonny. I'm serious. You ain't gonna pick up girls with that attitude. Besides, (Y/N) seems to have a niño with her," Usnavi says.

"Usnavi!" you cry in embarrassment.

He laughs, "Lo siento, (Y/N). Two sandwiches, I'm guessing?"

"And two coffees!" Peter calls out beside you, "I hear that you have the best coffee in all of Washington Heights?"

The man lets out a laugh. Peter finds himself laughing along. He kinda liked it in the Heights.

"Si, señor. Whatever the lady says."

As they wait for their sandwiches, you realise you haven't introduced Peter to your Latino friends. "Oh! Peter, by the way. This is Usnavi, the bodega owner, and his cousin Sonny."

Peter smiles, "I'm Peter Parker. Nice to meet you."

Sonny, who is sitting on the counter replies with a 'sup bro', and Usnavi, who is sporting his signature hat, waves in response.

"¡No me diga! (Y/N), is that you?" a voice from outside the bodega exclaimed.

"Diana! No way!" You said excitedly, running outside to greet your old friend while mumbling an 'I'll be back' to Peter.

Not long after you left, Usnavi comes to the counter with two sandwiches (which smelt incredible) and two coffees. Peter began to pull out some money from his school bag to pay when Usnavi stopped him.

"No, it's on the house kid. That girl out there, she's special. More than she'll ever let on. She thinks she can do it a alone, but we both know that no one can. I know that she told you that she doesn't believe in love, but trust me, that girl loves you. You treat her right, you here me?" Usnavi tells him. He can't help but think that (Y/N) sees Usnavi as a role model if Usnavi cares that much.

"Yes sir."

Usnavi smiles. "Good, now go enjoy your sandwiches!"

About half an hour later, the duo find themselves under the George Washington bridge, munching the last of their sandwiches and sipping their coffee. They both lean against a rock listening to seagulls and the traffic above them.

You stare at Peter. For the first time in your life, you feel like doing anything with him is better than doing it alone. You felt something in your chest, something you haven't felt since you were a kid, before your mother left and your father became addicted to work.

Something like love.

You watch as Peter looks at the scenery, a smile on his face.

"Where'd you find this place? The bodega, I mean," he asks you, while pretending to yawn and putting his arm around your shoulders. You blush a little; it was a classic move, but it still worked.

"Kev has a crush on this guy, Miguel. He's completely head over heels for the dude. He just so happens to be Sonny's older brother. So Kev started bringing me here a lot. He introduced my to Miguel and Sonny. Sonny then introduced my to Usnavi and soon, the entire neighbourhood knew who was, it seems." You explain, while leaning your head on Peter's shoulder.

"Pete?"

"Yeah?"

"What does love feel like?"

Peter furrows his brow. "Well, it's kinda like a magnet. Like you seem to be opposites, but you fill each others missing pieces, so you work in perfect harmony. And everything seems to be pushing you together. If you try to turn your backs on each other, the world puts you back together...why do you ask?"

"Peter Parker, I think I'm in love with you."

Peter sits up in shock and turn to face her, studying her face for signs to show that it was all a joke. "What? I--I thought you believed that love was for idiots."

You shake your head, "Then I must be the biggest fucking idiot in the galaxy, because I'm in love with you."

Peter searches your eyes, in search for any signs of regret. However, your were filled with determination and love.

So he kissed you.

And like magnets, the whole world seemed to push you together.

[emfedorchuk3p18]

Interpreting and Decoding Mass Media Texts – Serial Style Versus Binge Culture and the Use of Satire (Week 7)

It is no secret that audiences interpret messages in different ways, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that there aren’t patterns of common interpretations within groups of viewers. According to Sullivan, “individuals’ interpretations of mass media may be connected in some way” (Sullivan, 134), and we can see this across many examples of popular media texts. As Granelli and Zenor (2016) explained in their analysis of audiences’ moral judgement of the hit show Dexter, it is possible to define trends of dominant audience perspectives. These two researchers found that Dexter audiences could be categorized into one of four main interpretations of the show and its content. The first factor was called the “Justified Vigilante” and includes people who faithfully do not believe that “Dexter Morgan is a crazy sociopath” and instead, “believe that he is a hero” who is doing what he needs to do in order to keep society a safe space free of evil people (Granelli & Zenor, 5068). The second factor, called the “Psychological Puzzle” includes viewers who claim to watch the show to be exposed to the “complexity of humans” and find the concept that “we never know who people really are” to be truly fascinating (Granelli & Zenor, 5068). The third factor, called “Gratuitous Murder” claimed that they “were turned off by the show and found it to be gratuitous violence and celebrating murder” (Granelli & Zenor, 5069). And lastly, the fourth factor, called “Deviant Escapism”, included viewers who “felt bad for liking the show” and admitted that the show was a form of dark comedy for them, noting that they had “a sick sense of humour” (Granelli & Zenor, 5070). In a time where many of us believe that audiences have agency and are able to interpret media texts in their own, unique manner, I think that it becomes easy to forget that although we are all different, there are still commonalities that can be found within how we interpret media messages. These factors can include many cases, such as class position, occupational status, political preferences, childhood upbringing etc. 

This is interesting when thought of in relation to the world of streaming that we now live in, where huge streaming services such as Netflix have conditioned “viewers to believe that streaming must be equivalent to immediacy” (Alexander, 2019). Because we are now able to binge entire seasons of shows in the manner of a few days, someone like John Fiske might argue that that does not allow audiences to have the time that is needed for them to speculate about what is going to happen next, because they can find out what is going to happen next by simply continuing to play the show until the very last episode. Fiske argues that television is an “open” text “due to its many gaps in narrative structure and lack of flow” that arises from the “continual interruption of the serial program and commercial breaks” (Sullivan, 154); this invites the “audience to seal those gaps through their own interpretive processes” (Sullivan, 154). With the serial nature of traditional television shows like Dexter, which released new episodes once a week, audiences had the time to become “activated” as Fiske would put it, where they could receive television texts and “begin the creative process of associating meanings with the information on the screen” (Sullivan, 154). The down time that audiences had between episodes caused them to exercise their creative minds and create theories or subplots relating to the narrative of the story, ones that could be discussed with other fans in platforms such as Reddit or other discussion board sites, as well as in person with friends and family. This creative process was and still remains to be “pleasurable for the audience and serves as the source of television’s enduring popularity” (Sullivan, 154). But with the emergence of binge culture, are people really enjoying and interpreting the meaning of shows in the same manner that they used to? It seems as if individuals, in the attempt to steer clear of internet spoilers, are alienating themselves from the broader audience that is watching the show which is undeniably stifling group creativity. Many people “argue endlessly about the spoiler etiquette on popular shows like Stranger Things, where many viewers will have watched the entire season within the first day of release, while others only have the time to experience it gradually” (Alexander, 2019). Would it be more beneficial to the creative audience to go back to the serial release of episodes? Disney+ and Hulu have already tried to, and claim that their “content strategy is about quality, not quantity” (Alexander, 2019), which could be beneficial to audiences and could be a way to bring us back to the Dexter era where audience members actually have time to contemplate the narratives at play.

Another thing that I found immensely interesting was the notable difference in which groups of audience members can interpret texts when irony or satire is involved. Different readings of shows that involve “irony, jokes, contradictions, and metaphors allow for viewers to draw many of their own conclusions from the television narrative” (Sullivan, 154), even ones that were not intended. This can be seen in the polarized readings of the character of Archie Bunker on All in the Family. Archie Bunker was an opinionated misogynist and racist who played the role of the father of the Bunker family, and according to Norman Lear, the series creator, he thought that “By giving bigotry a human face, the show could help liberate American TV viewers” and “audiences would embrace Archie but reject his beliefs” (Rosenberg, 2014). But, the show seemed to do the opposite. Some viewers took the satirical depiction of the show in a literal manner and began to view Archie as a hero; a man who bypassed all of what they might have considered to be the “antics” of the budding progressiveness of the time, and really “told it how it was”. Some fans even went as far to get bumper stickers saying “Archie for President” (Rosenberg, 2014). Another example of this can be seen in The Colbert Report, to enough of a degree that in 2009 “a paper [was] published in the International Journal of Press/Politics” where researchers looked at how 332 people responded to the messages portrayed on the show (Rosenberg, 2014). It was found that “conservatives were more likely to report that Colbert only pretends to be joking and genuinely meant what he said, while liberals were more likely to report that Colbert used satire and was not serious when offering political statements” (Rosenberg, 2014). This kind of polarized interpretation of the political jokes made on the show make us realize that satire can be a tricky and possibly harmful style of comedy when not all audience members are aware of the comedic tactic being used. As Rosenberg puts it, “Maybe satire can help us recognize the qualities and behaviours in other people are harmful. But when it is aimed squarely at us, are we able to acknowledge the critique?” (Rosenberg, 2014). 

This week’s topic was very interesting and made me rethink how we, as the audience, all have different readings of media texts, but commonalities can still be found between us. It makes viewing television and other media texts a very thought provoking experience, but also a difficult one, where intended meanings may get lost in the sheer force of opposing readings. This theme yet again reinstated the power that audience members can have over media texts, but also the responsibility that these texts have to convey their message appropriately.

Alexander, J. (2019, August 29). Disney is leading the charge against Netflix by returning to weekly episode releases. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/29/20831410/disney-plus-apple-hulu-netflix-binge-episodes-full-season-drop-vs-weekly-release-streaming-model.

Granelli, S., & Zenor, J. (2016). Decoding “The Code”: Reception Theory and Moral Judgment of Dexter. International Journal of Communication, 5056–5078.

Rosenberg, A. (2019, April 28). 'All In The Family' and the limits of satire. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2014/04/01/all-in-the-family-and-the-limits-of-satire/

Sullivan, J. L. (2019). Media audiences: effects, users, institutions, and power. Los Angeles: SAGE.

[tigertanyx]

 My name is TanyX Winchester, and I love Supernatural. Not so much the latter seasons, but like, in the days when Destiel were free to declare their love for each other in the pit of purgatory. I don’t understand why their wedding wasn’t televised, but their happily married selves have settled into a “no-homo” camouflage situation, and while I understand the need to hide from homophobes, you guys can be yourselves at home. And yet, you don’t seem to know that. 

ANYWAY there’s a really old SPN book tag,  made before Jack’s time. Let’s do this!

The Colt: If you could own a fictional item, what would you choose?

I don’t particularly want any of the Deathly Hallows, so i’m going with a series I had a difficult relationship with and broke it off: the sword pen from Percy Jackson. You could kill someone and no one could find the murder weapon, and carry it with you always, like pepper spray. V convenient, as long as you didn’t mistake it for an actual pen and stab your desk.

The Impala: If you could own a fictional vehicle, what would you choose?

The TARDIS! I know, I should choose the actual Impala. But the TARDIS is more practical. She doesn’t need anything; as long as you love her and land on a ley line once in a while, she’ll love you back. She’s an entire house, pool, wardrobe, time and space machine all in one!

Crowley: a villain you love to hate

I love so many villains it’s hard to find anyone except Umbridge that I hate. I hate pink, I hate it when teachers abuse their power to torture students, and i hate the third grade teacher that she reminds me of. I hate this question because answering Crowley with her taints his evil name. I love Crowley; genuinely love him, and I don’t want his image associated with the likes of her.

Sam & Dean: Two characters from different books that’d make a perfect team to fight evil

I don’t usually think about crossovers! Sherlock and Data! Data loves the old Sherlock stories and usually spends his free time playing Sherlock on the holodeck- but what would it be like if Data and Sherlock worked together, instead of Data playing as Sherlock? It would let both of their humanities show as they try to work out a crime of passion, rather than relying on themselves to make logical deductions. 

Destiel: Two characters from different books that’d make a perfect couple 

Again with the crossovers! How about Dimtri from Vampire Academy and Edward from Twilight?

Bobby: Your favorite fictional mentor-figure 

Lupin! He was the best Dark Arts teacher and really allowed his students to grow and enjoy themselves.

The Angel Tablet: One Of The Best Books You’ve Ever Read

If We Were  Villains!

The Demon Tablet: One of the worst Books you’ve ever read

Hmm… I really believe in DNFing books if you don’t enjoy it, but the book I was forced to read? ROMEO AND JULIET. This could be the way it’s taught, that this is a serious piece of literature, and not the satire that it actually is.  Still not going to reread it.

Shapeshifter: A book with a better cover in a foreign country 

I don’t actually pay that much attention? But after some research, I think the Dutch and Italian versions of Leah On The Offbeat are prettier. I also don’y like how the American versions of the other two in the semi-series have the same blue and red palette but Leah has a slightly different shade. I want consistency! 

Hunters: A character you’d love to hunt 

Laura Hollis must die. I love Carmilla, respect that she’s killed people and hopefully will kill people, and would be willing to give her my blood whenever she wants. Laura Hollis is nothing but a bigoted human that only cares about her fantasy of Carmilla, and not Carmilla herself. 

Chuck: A book you guessed the plot twist or ending to

I remember Uglies being really predictable when I read it in middle school. I still loved the series, but the MC could be really dumb.

Cass’ Trenchcoat: A book that looks much better without it’s dust jacket

😦

I’m sure there’s special editions and things, but why.

Carry On My Wayward Son: Put your playlist on, what book does that song remind you of?

Lucky Strikes by Troye Sivan. Aristotle and Dante Discover The Secrets Of The Universe (which is getting a sequel!!!) They’re both set in the summer and are full of gay longing while your love interest is right there.

Charlie: Your ultimate fanfolk moment thus far

Uh…..

I sit at computer and blog about books. Not fanfolk moment, fanfolk life.

I do think I have a tendency to talk about the most obscure fandom to the wrong people. When I first moved into college, I asked my dormmates if they wanted to see a viewing of Serenity and no one knew what Firefly was. I  defended Loki against my pro-Captain America friends. A guy climbed up the walls to show off his parkour or whatever and I called him Spiderman. There were a few days when I was obsessed with cass’ trenchcoat and asked everyone why he never takes it off. 

I swear I’m asexual.

Support this blog on ko-fi!

I tag you! What do you associate with Supernatural? 

Supernatural Book Tag!  My name is TanyX Winchester, and I love Supernatural. Not so much the latter seasons, but like, in the days when Destiel were free to declare their love for each other in the pit of purgatory.

[greetings-from-the-void]

Books I Thought Were Neat

I am not feeling well, so to keep my head busy, I shall present the world with a list of books and series that I have read that I think were pretty neat. There's not much detail here, but if someone wants more info for some reason, I mean feel free to ask. Anyway, in no particular order, here we go:

* The Discworld Novels by Terry Pratchett

All of them. They are great. Really, anything by Terry Pratchett is pretty neat. It's well written satire on... everything, really. Often funny, sometimes serious, it's just great writing. I recommend you read them in the English original version if you at all can. Personally, my favourite discworld book is one called "Night Watch", followed closely by "Jingo", though those may not be a good place to start. 

* Inkheart and its sequels by Cornelia Funke

These are children's of maybe young adult books, I am not sure. I first read them when I was 11 or so, and they were amazing. The premise was interesting to me, and the writing pretty good. The sequels are called "Tintenblut" and "Tintentod" in German, I have no idea what they are called in English. I read these books too many times. The story mainly revolves around a girl called Maggi and her father Mortimer, though there are more main characters added quickly. 

* The Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy

It has a living skeleton and a teenage girl fighting crime and evil with magic, what more could you possibly want? The writing is lovely, it made me laugh, action is nicely done and plot gets more messy by the book.

* The Book With No Name and its sequels/prequel by Anonymous

It reads a bit like a Trentino movie in book form, as it is put on the cover. There is a lot of blood, gore and murder. It has a mass murderer called Bourbon Kid as a main character, various types of Undead people, Monks killing people and all kinds of other mess. It may fall into the so bad it's good category, I am not sure. But I still thought it was grand. For some reason...

* The Name of this Book is Secret and its sequels by P. Bosch

It's a children's series I think, but it is a fun one, anyway. And the third one has a recepie for hot chocolate in the back, so there's that. The Author likes to talk to interrupt the story to say things himself, which is also part of the story in a sense. It's a pretty funny read with mysteries and such. Pretty neat. 

* The Book Thief by Mark Zusack

This book is amazing. And sad. It actually made me cry. I mean, I guess it is a WW 2 story, those aren't usually the most cheerful tales. In this case, it's about a German girl that steals books. She also does other things, but I think those might be spoilers. Death is technically the narrator, and he may spoiler you, but you won't notice it too much. Just go read it if you haven't yet. Trust me, it's good. 

* The Age of the Fish by Ödön von Horváth

The German title is "Jugend ohne Gott" ("Youth without God"), I am not completely sure if I got the English one right. Anyway, it's short and a nice read. Best book we read in class by far. It is the story of a teacher in Nazi Germany, before the war began. It was published in 1937 or so by someone who was not too fond of Nazis. Not quite as gloomy(?) as "Book Thief" I'd say, but still far from a funny read, ya know. 

* The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

I mean, it's great, funny writing. Same goes for the other books in that series. Well written space/sci-fi stories with a very good dose of humour.  A lovely combination. Do read it.

* Grimms Fairy Tales

I dare you to read the entirety of that collection. In the original German version. My own copy has over 900 very thin pages and some of the stories are in Nether German(?), so that it was annoying to read for me. But still, go read fairy tales. Because why not?

Well, there you go. I might make a second part, though I'd have to figure out more of the English titles for my books :b 

[gigsoupmusic]

ArcTanGent 2019 review

‘ArcTan…what?’ ‘ArcTanGent. In Bristol. Same team as 2000trees.' ‘Oh yeah, the chilled punk fest you keep talking about. Same vibe?’ ‘Similar set-up, but different music.’ ‘What kind of music?’ ‘Heavier, more prog and math-rock’ ‘What’s math-rock?’ ‘…..never mind.’ If 2000trees is the UK festival worlds best kept secret, its sister festival ArcTanGent is a fleeting rumor, a prog and math-rock haven known only to insiders. While Trees has, despite its relative obscurity, bolstered something of a ‘little fest that could’ indie-reputation, and a whack of awards, ArcTanGent seems to only be known to those who go to ArcTanGent*.   Seven years in, and Goc O’Callaghan’s Bristol event has expertly carved out its niche, filling that gap between Download and Bloodstocks ‘big arena festival with a general-heavy vibe’  and Damnations ‘niche genre festival that’s too small to justify a full weekend’. With a cap just shy of 10,000, ATG (as she’s known to friends) enjoys a nice-sized crowd while retaining a relaxed ambience, mellower staff and the gratifying ability to manoeuvre the site, check a new stage or run to the car within a 10 minute window.

While it’s categorically a genre festival with no claim to offer ‘variety’ in the Glasto or Leeds sense, it would be remiss to call ATG one-note – there are plenty of flavors within the fairly flexible  boundaries set here. Those looking for ‘fuck my eardrums’ heavy get an atmospheric, highly visual set courtesy of the always-excellent Cult of Luna and tech-metal Scots Frontierer. Bossk are out offering the layered sludge, enigmatic Carpenter Brut does his synth-wizard thing, with Bostonian veterans Caspian providing the bass-laden post-rock. Further afield, affable Taiwanese trio Elephant Gym are a grand discovery.  Matt Calvert makes two appearances this years event, once with Three Trapped Tigers, and again with an orchestral arrangement – only the third time he has performed in this style, and a thoroughly enjoyable change in tone. There’s more experimental and some brass with The Physics House Experiment. And The St Pierre Snake Invasion, swiftly becoming one of the most fun heavy festival staples, bring the hardcore, the cracking stage-irreverence (‘this is a song about being a sad Welsh twat’), and whatever the hell that keyboard-recorder is – if you’ve not seen a St Pierre set, get right with that. Friday night splits the crowd and pits the experimental (official headliner Battles) against the groove-metal (Brutus, packing out the tiny PS3 stage)

Opening night headliners Coheed and Cambria are probably the closest thing to a ‘mainstream’ act on this years bill – one of the few on a major label anyway - and considering they are an indie-prog band whose albums are accompanied by a series of existential graphic novels, that says a lot. Lets talk about that headline set though - their first this side of the Atlantic, and it was a journey – both a display of prog-smithery and a nostalgia bite for those of us who cut our teeth on ‘Good Apollo’. With swirls and eddies of melodic riffs backed by enticing yet unobtrusive visuals, Claudio ‘Cousin It’ Sanchez* and his merry prog-men prove an excellent choice, and a contender for the ongoing ‘next generation of metal headliners’ debate. Setlist-wise, it’s a very ‘festival’ tracklist – aka, heavy on the 00’s ‘hits’* and the latest album. Not a bad thing - Dark Sentancer proves a powerful gig-opener, and we get ‘In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth’, an unexpected ‘The Suffering’, and come the encore, an explosive cheer as the iconic acoustic intro of ‘Welcome Home’ ushers the first night to a close.

The event has been lumped with something of a ‘Friday curse’ – this year is no exception, as the second day was treated to 12 hours of relentless downpour, turning the entire site into a quagmire of Mr. Whippy-consistency. If there’s one negative to throw out about this years Arc, it’s the relative lack of effort from the team to counter-act this apparently recurring problem – the stalls quickly ran out of ponchos and there was enough straw for the main stage, but not for the mud-Baikal that blocked the entrance. It’s a festival of treats, many sets feeling like rewards for the loyal punters here for the music. Northern Irish instrumental colossus And So I Watch You From Afar have garnered a well-earned reputation as one of the most exciting live acts in the genre, and their playthrough of their self titled debut to mark its tin anniversary is an experience – watching the pure intensity on their faces as they carve out an intricate wall of sound is a feeling of watching master craftsmen at work. Its not even the only album play-through, crowd favourites Black Peaks give their last record, ‘All That Divides’ a full run, with Jamie Lenman (‘I don’t have a saxophone and my moustache isn’t as good’ he cheekily warns the sodden crowd) featuring up front.

Speaking of treats, a rare set from elusive Swedish titans Meshugghah finishes the weekend – the crowd gathered before the Medusa columns segue beautifully between a 10k strong sing-a-long of ‘I Want to Know What Love Is’ into a war chant of ‘ME-SHU-GAH!’ as the grizzled quintet emerge on stage for a blistering, relentless hour-and-fifteen onslaught that is both technically complex and phenomenologically overpowering. Its an unassuming festival with no need for bells and whistles – while there are a few fun side activities (axe throwing, a board game café) the crowd are unquestionably here for the music. Still, the team must be commended for the subtle touches – havens of quiet, some intricately designed merch. Food-wise, Arc shares Trees selection of small-time festival stalls with few of the big names from arena events – the Pad Thai stand bringing so many bangers it became a sixth stage. Shoutout to Piggie Smalls and a peanut-butter jelly hot-dog that was transcendental. A selection of local ales, real West Country cider and White Russians grace the bar, while new for 2019 is the Bar Room stage – treated to a number of sets, the apogee of which comes courtesy of No Violets, whose frantic grungey vibe and captivating PJ Harvey-esque front-siren Ellie* mark them as one to keep a serious eye on.

The after-hours entertainment is a fun twist on the norm - ArcTanGent does the typical Silent Disco but with its own take on this festival staple – the Thursday night crowd are treated to a full-on silent gig, with Gost providing an entire set through the headphones. The Disco King revellers for Friday and Saturday get an astute blend of nu-metal classics and 80’s numbers….with the added option of an entire channel dedicated to Mars Volta* ArcTanGent is a strange one to critique – of course its highly recommended for fans of the heavy and the intricate – but it seems a futile recommendation when pretty much anyone whose heart lies in this heady world is likely already an ATG convert. As for casuals looking to explore a new avenue…. Well if you like your riffs complex, your crowd in good spirits, and a place that’s somehow heavy-as-balls while retaining an easy-going atmosphere, well, ArcTanGent has you covered. As long as you can deal with a little mud. *As a metal-fest aficionado but math-rock casual, I was only dimly aware of Arc before my flatmate Nathan, an ATG regular, piqued my curiosity enough to check it. *There was something of a contest going on in the photo pit as to if anyone could get a shot of his face. *I mean, Coheed don’t really have ‘hits’ as such, but the Apollo/Silent Earth tracks that were singles – Suffering and Home here. My wish for Ten Speed wasn’t met and Wake Up would have probably confused the crowd…. *6 seconds of Google did not turn up a last name so……sick vocals, Ellie. *Speaking of bar…. the crowd managed to literally drink both remaining bars dry by the end of Sunday’s disco. I’ve literally never seen this at a festival before, and took weird pride in having the last can of cider at the event. *I’d heard of this beforehand but genuinely wondered if Nathan was going for satire. Nope. Whole channel. Just plays Mars Volta for four hours. Read the full article

[the-cryptographer]

Seifer/Zell because y'all convinced me

How long has it been since I’ve played this game, anon?!?I feel like my ideas about them are kind of up in the air, and subject to change upon closer evaluation of canon, but I had fun~ Thank you so much for the ask, anon :)

Under the cut:

What they watch during movie dates and what kind of snacks they get from concessions.

Zell’s taste in movies is probably wider than Seifer’s. Helikes all those ‘inspirational’ sports movies and screwy romantic comedies andcorny martial arts shit like Karate Kid,but I think they can both get behind action films. And obviously Zell gets hotdogsand gummies. Seifer only eats a couple of the gummies tho.

Which one gets in to a fight with the other’s parents.

Seifer. He doesn’t actually fight with Ma Dincht of course,but always fighting with Edea. Eventhough the whole sorceress thing wasn’t really her fault, she can literallynever do anything right for Seifer afterwards. Although most of his complaintsabout her are really petty and he knows this. Let him have this.

What kind of street performance they’d put on to raise money if they were stranded somewhere.

Probably Zell puts on martial arts demonstrations and Seiferis the unfortunate crash test dummy that bears the brunt of Zell’s impartialwrath, lol. He gets tossed around and thrown to the ground a lot, lol. Also,remember how in FF8 you had to synthesize all your weapons? Yeah, that’sprobably what they’d actually do for money, go bounty hunting for beasteyeballs or smthn.

How they’d be as parents if they had-a-kid/someone-forced-a-kid-on-them.

I really kind of wonder? Neither of them strikes me as superinclined to parenthood. But I think they’d do their best to rise to the task~ Ithink they’d both split responsibilities pretty much evenly for the sake offairness. Zell probably takes the kids on extended training vacations wherethey run and lift weights a lot. Seifer’s probably more relaxed and whatever about things, trying to be easygoing and not doing the best of jobs. Also he’s the one who packs the schoollunches, and bends down to fix untied shoes, and calls them ‘sweetheart’affectionately.

Who would cause the most trouble during a camping trip and how.

Zell would get into a fight with the wildlife, and Seiferwould get tangled fishing line or tree branches and vines or poison ivy. Theyare both camping failures but, upon returning to civilisation, they miss being outin the wilderness and reminisce about these adventures fondly~

What they would give each other as both a serious gift and a troll gift.

For serious gifts, they probably give each other practicalkinds of items, which ranges from things like weapons and weapon accessories toNEW VACUUM CLEANER!!! which is a passive aggressive way of suggesting thatsomebody’s not pulling their weight with the chores hmmmmm. Zell gets a newpunching/sand bag at some point, and also Seifer wakes up early one day to waitin line for hotdogs – best gift according to Zell. Troll gifts are probablyrubber chickens and custom made dolls with satiric ridiculous face scars.

Who moves in with them as an unfortunate third wheel roommate.

Idk if it’s Squall or Selphie, lol. They come over to sulk orbe overbearingly cheerful respectively while they’re on the outs with Rinoa orIrvine respectively, lol. I think both Zell and Seifer find Squall’s moodinesseasier to ignore than Selphie being :D :D  :D  and then D’x D’x  D’x  But Seifer gets really competitive whenSquall shows up so it’s kind of a tossup who’s more difficult to deal with.Quistis and Fuujin&Raijin also visit and stay over kind of regularly, but Idon’t think either Seifer or Zell find them difficult in the same kind of way.

How they feel about handholding and sudden kisses in the ear-cheek vicinity.

Probably they make a big deal of holding hands around Gardenone day just for the sake of it, and it kind of becomes a habit. It’s goodbecause both are prone to running off suddenly in some direction, so this waythe other one gets dragged along for the ride, lol. I don’t think they’re biginto surprise kisses though. They like to know it’s coming in advance.

Who’s always snapping photos and who’s pack-ratting clutter.

Yeah, I don’t think either is big into clutter. Zell’s asecret neat freak, and Seifer’s not going to mess with the tidiness. I thinkthey both like photos though. Zell takes nice photos most of the time, butSeifer’s mostly in it trying to catch Zell during those ugly moments when he’sstuffing his face or otherwise making a fool of himself. So many terrible but cutepictures have come out of Seifer’s photography.

Who hogs the bathroom in the morning and who causes toothpaste related drama.

They are both huge bathroom hogs. Taking 5 years in theshower. Preening in the mirror. ‘Should I get another tattoo?’ Neither of themgives a single shit about toothpaste and the inherent drama surrounding it though. Theyboth use the same stripe mint tube.

What their matching costumes were for that one party.

Selphie put so much effort into this costume party – decorating,getting the music right, food and drinks, all the thematics, coming up withgreat party games – and Seifer and Zell both have the nerve to show up in thelamest costumes. Like, they put on capes and fake fangs, ‘we’re vampires, Iguess’. Terrible friends. Selphie would ban them from future parties if shewasn’t so fond of them.  

If I think they’d get married and why or why not.

I don’t really see it… but I can’t exactly pin down why(?)I think their friends might be more into the idea of holding a wedding ceremonythan them, and they might cave and do it just for the sake of having a funparty with everyone, if at that point they consider themselves practically married anyhow~

Who has over a thousand unread emails in their inbox or five hundred icons on their computer desktop and how the other reacts to this gross mismanagement.

Neither of them has a thousand emails, because neither ofthem answer their emails consistently or timely so everyone has given up onemailing them, lol. Seifer’s the one with too many desktop icons though – most ofwhich are for games. Zell is lowkey bothered by the sheer number of themanytime he passes by and gets a glimpse of the computer screen, but he triesnot to let it bother him.

What their hidden artistic talents are and how appreciative the other is of these talents.

These guys? Artistic? I think not. Or maybe Seifer doodles alittle in the margins of books, and Zell thinks some of the designs are cool.It’d also be cool if somebody did something with a tattoo art AU, so in thatcase one of them might have to git gud at drawing and iconography.

What they consider each other’s most attractive quality and/or their favourite thing about the other.

I’m so bad at this *crying* I think it’s that they can be real™ with each other. That’s what appealed to me about the fic I recced before. Other than that… I think they both have moments when they’re talking really passionately about something, and it really gets to the other. D’y’know what I mean?

[vileart]

Dramaturgy Go Nowhere: Julie Shavers @ Edfringe 2017

Black Rocking Chair Productions Proudly Presents

Studio One - Assembly George Square Studios, George Square, EH8 9LH

TIME: 1:25pm 

DATES & PRICES: 3rd-28th August (not 14th or 21st)

£14-12. Previews @ £8.

From Black Rocking Chair Productions and critically acclaimed playwright Julie Shavers comes a brand new black comedy and a deliciously dark script for this year’s Fringe-goers. 

Workshopped under the guidance of Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel at the esteemed Sewanee Writers Conference, Shavers’ new comedy satirizes the extreme competition and achievement-obsessed culture of Los Angeles. Lala Land isn’t all sunshine and rainbows; it’s surveillance by the neighbours, the police and the PTA.  In a world where strangers snap cell phone videos of you for leaving your child in the car, or call the cops if your kid walks home alone from the playground, it can feel as if everyone is out to get you. 

Mary Go Nowhere is an absurdist take on trying to get by as a parent in LA, where if the droughts, fires and earthquakes don’t get you, your fellow parents will.  Mary’s 3 year old son curses, carries a gun and brings spiders to school.   Trying to keep him enrolled and keep up with the Joneses has got Mary at her wit’s end.   This is a story of one October in Los Angeles, where the weather and residents are hot and mean, and Mary is going nowhere.  

What was the inspiration for this performance?

I was inspired by being new to Los Angeles. It's such a strange and varied place from the landscape to the people. Also the current social climate in the US is totally weird. Everyone is watching everyone else and cataloguing grievances along the way. There seems to be a lack of trust and camaraderie. Like everyone who is different is dangerous. And everyone is different. 

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? 

Absolutely. My work is very personal. I write what I see. The little things that are ignorable in real life show up more clearly under the magnifying glass of theatre. I think this effect is greater when you experience it in a room full of people. 

How did you become interested in making performance?

My parents were musicians and I began singing and dancing at a very young age. I wrote my first play when I was eight years old. It's what I've always done. Nothing moves me like live performance and I want to give that experience to others.

Does the show fit with your usual

productions?

My last several shows have been more spectacular, in that they have included a lot of music dance and multimedia. This play is more of a story. A very funny, dark and twisted story, but more about relationships than fanfare. Until the end at least. 

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

I hope that the audience will laugh. Maybe that they'll recognize something that makes them feel their own humanity. Maybe they'll hate me. It's hard to know. 

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

The cast is really important to this play. We have chosen people who understand comedy and can make it fun for the audience. We are also committed to creating a highly theatrical experience. Something different than you might see on screen. 

This production reunites director Paul Urcioli and star Dan O’Brien, who return to the Fringe for the first time in 17 years following their 2000 Scotsman Fringe First winning, highly acclaimed production of Brian Park’s Americana Absurdum. Mike McShane has now been confirmed as cast member, watch this space for further cast announcements! 

Paul Urcioli (director)

The main acting teacher at David Mamet's Atlantic School for the last 20 years, Paul has appeared in numerous Hollywood movies including Viral, The Amazing Spiderman 2, The Wolf of Wall Street, Adult Beginners, Shelter, Thanks for Sharing, Morning Glory, 3 Backyards as well as countless TV series; Elementary, Blue Bloods, The Americans, The Blacklist, Person of Interest, Unforgettable, Homeland, The Good Wife, Golden Boy, Royal Pains, The Unusuals, Cupid, Fringe, Cashmere Mafia, Six Degrees, Conviction, Law and Orders, Third Watch, Sex and the City, All My Children, The Guiding Light and a recurring role on the CBS drama Queens Supreme.  He’s currently producing the feature Phoenix to be directed by Amy Redford.

His New York Theatre credits:  Point Last Seen (Atlantic Theatre Company 2nd Stage), The Invitation (Ohio Theatre), Goner, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, (The Present Company) Over the River and Through the Woods (The John Houseman), Americana Absurdum (Lucille Lortel and P.S. 122) Greg Kotis’ Eat the Taste (Barrow Street Theatre).  Internationally:  Americana Absurdum (Edinburgh Fringe First Winner 2000) and at the Menier Theatre in London in 2004. 

Directing credits include an all-female version of The Learned Ladies (Cake Productions and Ateh Theatre Group), Reckless, Weekend at an English Country Estate (Ateh), Revenge of the Space Pandas, Our Town, The Devil & Billy Markham, Twelfth Night, Bridezilla Strikes Back (NY Fringe Festival Award Winner), Brian Parks’ Suspicious Package (HERE), The Rimers of Eldritch, The Women, Pullman Car Hiawatha, Harm’s Way, Goodnight Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet.  

Paul has taught Acting, Improvisation, Sketch Comedy and On-Camera Technique at the Atlantic Theatre Company Acting School, PACE University, The Tom Todoroff Conservatory and On Camera Technique at The Matt Newton Acting Studio and was an Artist in Residence at Oberlin College teaching acting, movement, improvisation and performing with members of the Royal Shakespeare Company.  

JULIE SHAVERS (writer)

“Indie Theatre All Star Julie Shavers,” (nytheatre.com) is a playwright, actress, choreographer and mama from Shelbyville, TN.   In 2014 she participated in the Sewanee Writer’s Conference as a Tennessee Williams Scholar with Paula Vogel and Dan O’Brien. In 2006 she participated in the Royal Court Theatre’s New York residency with Simon Stephens and was a finalist for the Emerging Artists program at the Public Theatre.  Recent productions of her work include Silver Bullet Trailer (Ohio Theatre 2008), Go Robot Go (The New York International Fringe Festival 2004), Sunshine on a Monkey’s Balls (Vineyard Theatre 2004), The Secret Life of Plants (The American Globe Theatre 2003), The Kitchen is Small (The Planet Ant Theatre, Detroit 2003) and Lips and Assholes (The Red Room, NYC 2002).  She currently lives as a minivan hobo with her husband and three little boys somewhere between New York, Los Angeles, Virginia and Tennessee. And just between us chickens, Tennessee is still her favourite.

As an actress, The New York Times praised "the compelling Julie Shavers" for her work as the title character in Len Jenkin's Margo Veil at The Flea. Other acting credits include Adam Bock's Three Guys and a Brenda at the Lucille Lortel and Julia Barclay's multi-genre collaborative Word to No One, produced by the Present Company at Siti Company in NY and the Camden People’s Theatre in London.

DANIEL O’BRIEN

Dan O’Brien is a Los Angeles based actor, director, voice over artist and producer.   He has worked with Academy Award winning writers and directors from Aaron Sorkin to Erol Morris, but also in church basements, fringe festivals and community arts centres all over the world.

TV credits include Grey’s Anatomy, How I Met Your Mother, and two seasons as Mark on the NBC primetime sitcom Whitney (aired in the UK on Comedy Central).   Dan’s TV experience has given him the opportunity to work with award winning talent like John Cleese, Ben Stiller, James Burrows, Andy Ackerman, and more. 

He earned a Scotsman Fringe First Award for his work in America Absurdum by Brian Parks at the 2000 Edinburgh Festival and has since worked on numerous productions in theatres in New York and London including The Atlantic, The Flea, The Vineyard, The Ohio, and The Camden Peoples Theatre.

He and playwright Julie Shavers first met when he auditioned for a play she wrote in 2002.  Since then, they have produced a half a dozen critically acclaimed plays, married, and had three beautiful sons.  

MIKE McSHANE 

Four time 2017 Emmy nominated (inc. Best Actor) American actor, singer and improvisational comedian, Mike was an original regular contestant on Whose Line Is It Anyway? on Channel 4. Other TV credits include Seinfeld, Malcolm in the Middle and Doctor Who. He played Friar Tuck in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves alongside Kevin Costner, provided the voices for Tuck and Roll in Disney’s A Bug’s Life, and has starred in various Fringe productions over the years, including the highly acclaimed Talk Radio in 2006. 

CHRIS GRACE 

Chris previously originated the role of Christian Grey off-Broadway in 50 Shades! The Musical, co-wrote and performed in Fringe smash-hit Thrones! The Musical Parody, and performs regularly with Baby Wants Candy. His TV credits include Superstore, This Is Us, Idiotsitter, The Thundermans, Serious Music. Film: That Awkward Moment. He earned his BFA from University of North Carolina School of the Arts. 

from the vileblog http://ift.tt/2tqnHFN

[thewritingrealm]

Character Types

1. Antihero: This character, a protagonist (typically seen in detective and adventure genres) whose personality flaws distinguish him or her from a standard hero, is inherently much more interesting than the upstanding counterpart. The key characteristic is usually misanthropy, but that’s not enough to round a character out. An antihero must have a solid foundation on which to stand.

2. Absent-minded professor: Perhaps Professor Fumblebuttons is just pretending to be a shock-haired scientist who can’t remember where he put his glasses (“Um, the glasses you’re wearing?”). What’s his motive for his deception?

3. Boy/girl next door: Is John or Mary really what he or she seems? What dark secret does that wholesome countenance conceal? This character easily pales in comparison with a complicated villain or sidekick, so make an extra effort to invest your protagonist with personality — or relegate the squeaky-clean persona to a secondary role.

4. Clown/fool: Traditionally, the court jester — often someone of fragile mental stability or feigning the same — was the only person allowed to mock or question his powerful patron, and his antics involved not only lighthearted entertainment but also sometimes barbed satire or veiled criticism. A comic-relief character needs to be more than just a wisecracking or mischievous type. Perhaps he’s the omniscient narrator, or he’s pretending to be a smart-aleck to divert attention from his true purpose.

5. Damsel in distress: The helpless young maiden is one of the most tired tropes in storytelling — and so is the helpless young maiden turned butt-kicking babe. Better yet, imbue your ingenue with the characteristics of another character type, either one on this list or another stock persona.

6. Everyman: The peril of presenting a character designed to represent everyone is that he will appeal to no one. Make sure your everyman (or everywoman, or boy or girl edition) possesses enough distinguishing characteristics to be interesting, even intriguing. Remember: Relentlessly virtuous characters are boring, and stories in which they have no real challenges fail to engage readers.

7. Femme fatale: The enduring appeal of the deceptive villainess is whether she is in fact aiding or thwarting the protagonist. It’s a balancing act to keep readers guessing to the very end of the story—and that may not be enough. What if your femme fatale is herself deceived, either by the protagonist or by a third character? Twists within twists keep this trope fresh.

8. Hooker with a heart of gold: The bad girl turned good girl is a nice repudiation of moral intolerance, but it’s a stale stereotype. As in the case of her sister the femme fatale, readers shouldn’t be able to predict how she will behave. Is a second-act act of kindness part of a climactic ruse? Is she pressured to betray the protagonist, or is it part of her own plot?

9. Knight-errant: This bright-eyed variant of the hero can drag down a story with him (or her) — take care that the conscientious crusader is not too glistening of tooth and sparkling of eye. The most interesting knight-errant in literature is Don Quixote, who was an abject failure (and was all the more appealing for his indefatigable idealism).

10. Manic pixie dream girl: This phrase, coined relatively recently, refers to the offbeat and seemingly off-her-rocker character who upends the protagonist’s carefully ordered world. The problem? She’s done and overdone — at least in films. For the stereotype to not be stale, there has to be more to her than quirk. Why is she such a goofball?

11. Nerd: Geek, dork, nimrod — been there, done that. But, for example, in the brilliant film Brick (film noir meets adolescent angst), the school brain is not an object of scorn but an awkward, laconic human database for the teenage gumshoe — and there’s a touch of empathy for him in the way the lead character keeps him at arm’s length. What makes a nerd a nerd? And what makes him (or her) interesting? Hints of depth, or of deviousness, or both.

12. Sidekick: The protagonist’s right-hand man or woman serves as a counterpoint: intrepid vs. timid, serious vs. silly, and so on, one way or the other. Make sure your lead character’s attendant complements him or her, but also keep their relationship fresh by introducing some vulnerability in the main character the subordinate can exploit.

13. Tomboy: The tomboy transformed is a tired trope, not much better than the mousy maiden who becomes a blithe beauty just by taking off her eyeglasses. Resist the urge to go the Cinderella route: If an androgynous or athletic woman or girl refuses to conform to societal standards for feminine appearance, go with it. But why does she rebel against such norms? That’s the key to her character.

14. Tortured artist: In literature as in real life, complicated creative types are tiresome. A broadly comic tortured artist may be an effective device, but the writer must handle this type with care.

15. Wise man: The scholarly mentor is a time-tested element of many classic stories (think Merlin, or Yoda), so any such character must possess distinct traits. Perhaps your story’s wise man is brilliant about some things but inept concerning others — he needs his protégé’s help in affairs of the heart, or, like the absent-minded professor, with whom he shares some characteristics, is a sage when it comes to intellectual areas but is at a loss when it comes to practical matters.

Source.