#on youtube .. and if you're going to deep dive ... actually deep dive get interesting ...
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dykefever · 1 year ago
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so many youtubers with commentary channels truly have nothing interesting to say all they do is repeat some facts and go and like yeah... its really strange ! over and over again. have some backbone say something ANYTHING !!
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224bbaker · 16 days ago
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So, hypothetically speaking, if someone had never been interested in Sherlock Holmes before but wanted to get into it because of Fawx & Stallion... Where should they start?
Oh my GOD, anon, so upset we didn't see this until now because what a great question and also, our show inspiring someone to go check out Sherlock Holmes?? Deeply upsetting for our characters but SO exciting for us!
Hopefully since you sent this you've just dived in to the stories--because, honestly, that's how both of our writers got into them as kids, and also because despite what roughly 40 contradicting scholars will try to tell you, the timeline is nonsense and Watson's continuity doesn't make sense (we have made our own peace with this and addressed it in-universe because we didn't want to go on deep-dives to decide what puns we were allowed to use for the place we're at in the timeline it's fine, we're fine).
However, just a quick sidebar before we jump into The Stories--if you would rather start with an adaptation than the original ACD stories themselves, there are two options we'd recommend as starting points that are pretty true to canon while remaining engaging in and of themselves:
The Granada TV series with Jeremy Brett and David Burke/Edward Hardwicke: It rules, and most of it's on YouTube! Highly recommend their Solitary Cyclist, Speckled Band, Scandal in Bohemia, and Blue Carbuncle (we may be biased towards the early, David-Burke-Watson entries). These actors and sets are what we picture when we read Holmes.
For an audio adaptation, the 1989 Bert Coules radio adaptation, which you can get for a single credit on Audible in full and has basically the whole canon! Incredible dramatization work that preserves the stories and really deepens the character work in a way that we're obsessed with. Big fans!
If you're liking the vibe of these, you'll probably like the stories themselves! In which case, there are also awesome online book clubs like Letters from Watson that have great communities here on Tumblr (just peruse the tag, it's super fun!), and also over on Discord.
SO. If you're still here and looking for our direction on the stories:
If you just want to start with what is/will be relevant to Fawx & Stallion, we recommend:
Our goal is that our audience doesn't NEED to have read any Sherlock Holmes to understand anything in F&S. We'll hopefully lay things out or give context clues. However, we do have little jokes for the fans, and in season 2, some subtext may be a bit clearer, or have a bit more weight, if you've read some of the stories.
A Study In Scarlet: I know, I know I know I know, Holmes fans, the Utah Mormon stuff, I get it, BUT. Holmes and Watson meet in this one, and it's incredible. The first few chapters of them meeting, starting to live together, going from roommates with a mutual fascination to, through Watson's unintentional insult of Holmes's writing and a fateful invitation to a crime scene, actual friends, are electric. It's a crime (pun intended) that we have so few dramatizations of this in the canon era (we're trying to fix that), we love it so so much. Sacrilege, but, wikipedia the stuff in the middle, enjoy the fantastic meet cute that bookends the thing.
Hound of the Baskervilles: Happening during the events of Fawx & Stallion season 1. I don't need to tell you this one is a banger, we all know this. Less Holmes content than you expect, but a GREAT setting, mood, and roster of suspects, and a thrilling, well-paced mystery with some great Watson.
The Final Problem: Occurs right before the events of season 2, and though you again don't need to have read it, some stuff might hit better if you have, particularly in the back half of the season. High recommend. On the same note, The Beryl Coronet is also mentioned a few times, which is the case right before this one.
Ok, with that out of the way, we highly recommend:
The "Jump Around To Whatever Short Story or Novel Sounds Cool" Approach
This is the move, in my opinion. As I've said before, the timelines are nonsense, you CAN try to get into the weeds of continuity as we have and there is delightful madness to that, but would I recommend it as an intro? No. They're short stories! They're serialized! Treat it like a TBS rerun series at 1 AM and just pick one that is on/sounds cool!
Now, if you want our PREFERENCE? There are different genres of Holmes mysteries, different types of mysteries for different preferences, but we're going to recommend one particular sub-genre of Holmes mysteries that we find particularly fun/unique: The "It's Not Necessarily A Crime Yet But the Vibes Are There" Mystery.
We love these. They're the best. Not depressing or gruesome off the bat, usually starting with some whimsy at Baker Street, these stories usually begin with a client coming to Holmes and the following interaction happens
CLIENT: Um, hi. Honestly it's pretty silly that i'm even here. It's probably just a Weird Thing, you probably don't-- HOLMES: No no no please tell me I love Weird Things. CLIENT: Ok. Well. My boss/guardian/brother/[insert-person-who-has-power-over-them] has been doing this Thing where he [insert extremely weird thing that again, is not a Crime, but the vibes are there]. It's kinda weird. HOLMES: Yeah, super fucking weird. CLIENT: I know! But it's not a crime, so I don't know, you're probably not interested, I'm just a [not rich not male not high class not privileged identity] so there's really no point in checking that out-- HOLMES: No girl (gn), we are DEFINITELY checking that shit out there's a crime in there somewhere and we're gonna find it!
And we're off! If this sounds interesting to you (and it SHOULD), check out: The Solitary Cyclist, The Red Headed League, The Copper Beeches, The Greek Interpreter, The Speckled Band, The Stockbroker's Clerk, The Musgrave Ritual, The Resident Patient, and honestly probably some others we're missing because it's REALLY common.
Other fun Holmes bangers:
Holmes overworks himself and Watson takes him to the country to rest, only to solve ANOTHER FUCKING MYSTERY: The Reigate Squires
The Christmas One!: The Blue Carbuncle
The Dancing Men: I don't have a fun little thing for this one it's just a banger and the Granada Adaptation rules!
The One Where Sherlock Holmes does NOT fall in love with Irene Adler but does get completely owned because 1) he thinks women don't get up early, and 2) he wanted to have a sleepover with Watson: A Scandal in Bohemia
There are a ton, and hopefully you'll find one that you like and just jump in!
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halucygeno · 1 month ago
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Mouthwashing: Into the Clickbait-Verse
Starring:
Blatant hyperbole:
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(Bonus points for the soft spoilers in the thumbnail.)
Vague nonsense engineered to sound ominous:
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(Um, what? What is this even implying???)
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(To be fair, this last one could actually be a valid analysis, but it's still too vague for my liking. Why can none of these be titled something like "How Mouthwashing Critiques Complicit Leadership" – something clear and direct?)
Literally just a summary of events:
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(In case you're too lazy to play the game yourself and too strapped for time to watch a let's-play...)
"""Analysis""":
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(Because the capitalistic critiques in Mouthwashing were just SO SUBTLE and ambiguous! I would have never clocked them! [/sarcasm, the opposite is true])
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(This one could also have been classified as Blatant Hyperbole...)
To be clear, Mouthwashing is GOOD.
You could say it's above average stylistically, with how it employs non-chronological storytelling, changes POV and uses these abstract hallucinations to transition between scenes. Its story touches on some really heavy, poignant themes, and I think it does so tactfully. However, the package as a whole is still fairly middle-of-the-road, especially if you have the proper frame of reference.
The gameplay is standard walking simulator stuff. The core premise – "crew of a spaceship gets stranded in the middle of nowhere" – is pretty much a sci-fi trope at this point (see: Alien, Interstellar, The Martian... the list goes on). The psychology of the game's characters, while interesting, is not that exceptionally complex or groundbreaking – and the social commentary about capitalism is bog-standard.
Nothing here really pushes the envelope, AND THAT'S FINE. I don't expect a 13€ indie game to "revolutionize horror storytelling" or something. But the lazy YouTube regurgitators have to pretend that "Moutwashing is a MASTEPIECE that PERFECTED horror and has THE MOST DEPRAVED villain in ALL OF GAMING (deep dive + analysis)", because it makes for good engagement bait (especially combined with the imagery of Cpt. Curly's mangled body – now THAT's a thumbnail-worthy face!).
And the most annoying thing is that this is largely just a thinly-veiled way to let people vicariously experience the game. Many of these "analyses" are just a straight-forward summary of events, a beat-by-beat retelling of the story. The commentary they provide doesn't go much deeper than what the average player can interpret by simply playing the game and paying attention.
This is what YouTube "analysis videos" have mostly devolved into: a way of turning interactive works of art (ones which require active engagement and critical thinking) into easily consumable "content". The game gets played for you, the plot and chronology are explained for you, and the interpretation is done for you. Because fuck actually experiencing anything first-hand, am I right? (/sarcasm, faux enthusiasm) God, what utter slop!
You people realize that Mouthwashing is completely linear and, like, 2.5 hours long, right? It is an extremely small commitment; you can beat it in one afternoon. Some of these videos are almost as long as the game itself! Seriously, folks, just PLAY the bloody thing!
And maybe read some books while you're at it, especially sci-fi. Do that, and you may realize this is far from the "peak" "masterpiece" of psychological character writing everyone is touting it as.
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hovershiplogos · 10 months ago
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Guess who's doing rewatches again? It's me, and well, not entirely a rewatch:
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Yes, that's right, it's Enter the Matrix. Because it's criminal that for a blog named for the little ship that could, I've haven't actually done a deep dive on the game itself! So I'm going to fix that!
I'm also going to play through as both Niobe and Ghost, as depending on who you're playing, the missions play out slightly different, and the cutscene dialogue varies as well. Also, not going to do like a  blow by blow kinda thing. Only going to comment on things that caught my  interest, or seem rather amusing to me.  If you want a little more context, I suggest checking out the couple of playthroughs/cut scene compilations on youtube.
Also of note, the game picks up right after the Animatrix short Final Flight of the Osiris.
Anyway, let's get to it!
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AND IT'S THE MAIN REASON I'M STILL HERE, BECAUSE OF THIS PESSIMISTIC SNARKY COWARD RIGHT HERE. And he's self aware about it as well.
Also interesting to note is that according to this cutscene, Sparks has been operating on board the Logos for 3 years. Now, a standard US navy tour of duty (and I'm going with Navy rather than Army as Zion's army is referred to as a Navy fleet) is between 2-3 years. Not really going anywhere with this, but it's interesting to note.
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Niobe is a 'my way or the highway' kinda person. No wonder it didn't work between her and Morpheus. It's also telling that Ghost has known Niobe for long enough to know that this is what she's like. I wonder if Ghost is the glue in this ship dynamic? As in, he knew Niobe and Sparks separately before they knew each other, if that makes sense?
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And it's the little hovership that could, the little lightning bug of the fleet! Those red lights on the ship look like they're the same as the ones on the sentinels. I wonder if a bulb blows or something they scavenge one from a deactivated squiddie as a replacement?
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It's not particularly clear, but I never realised that Niobe's hair is tied with what looks like string with gold in it? Maybe a metal band with gold on it? I'm not sure, but it's pretty!
Also, I appreciate that they give a reason why Niobe is going after this drop, rather than waiting for someone else (ie: Neo) to go get it.
Also, saying are you red or blue on this is a very cool in universe way of saying are you with me or not?
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The subtitles are missing here, but what he says:
"You know me Niobe. It's not a choice, it's a way of life."
Ghost, you're awesome, you know that, right?
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I get Sparks' complaint here, there are only two of them, and it would be a lot safer to wait for back up to help them out. But nope, you know what Niobe's like, get it done.
Also, as I remarked earlier, the fact that Niobe is willing to risk going in without support , especially given what she says about Thaddeus not using the drops unless he had no choice? And now they're all dead? They definitely need to get that package before the agents do.
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I personally love Niobe's little eye roll here.
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I also love that Ghost is more chill and amused by Sparks than exasperated like Niobe is. Yeah, Ghost is the glue holding the team together.
Also, a little mention of Zion funerary practices. As someone pointed out to me years ago, I suspect that the gardens is similar to the Exodus fleet's method of burial, but who knows?
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Yup, words to live by!
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Once again, Niobe is rolling her eyes behind the sunnies. This is what she has to put up with. Also, I would love to think that one time Sparks pranked Ghost by running some program that sent his guns soaring upward.
I always used to think that Ghost was the serious, no nonsense one in the crew, but I'm beginning to think I'm wrong on that front.
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Sparks, why do you want his boots? They're too small for your big feet!
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Niobe has great taste in old muscle cars. Good old 1967 Pontiac Firebird, in eggplant purple instead of black. Very stylish!
That's all for now, next up will be the post office. See you then!
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olderthannetfic · 1 year ago
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Been thinking about daring to try to get into vidding (but I have zero knowledge about video editing lol) and wondered if there are ship manifestos that are in fanvid-form, so to say. Am shocked that there are only six on AO3. Though I guess it may have to do with videos being taken down because of copyright stuff?
(One of them was by you by the way if I'm not mistaken, ha! And now I want to watch Veritas: The Quest. Your video got me interested.^^)
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Haha. I was going to say!
Veritas is a fun dumb time. It makes me sad that they never released properly. (And yes, my love of baaaaaad "archaeology" canons full of magical woo and tomb raiding goes way back. Also my love of fake death and fake betrayal plots.)
AO3 is only moderately popular for fanvids, and mostly in a very specific community of people who send vids to the small-scale fancons—the sorts of people who founded OTW and who were vidding on Livejournal. (It won't be because of takedowns. The AO3 work would still be there, just with a dead embed.) That lack of popularity overall is part of why you don't see so many video manifestos, but I think it's more a terminology thing:
I think it's rare for vidders to call their vids "manifestos". I don't think of that one video as a vid that is a manifesto: I think of it as a vid I made to include in a manifesto. Instead, we tend to call them "pimp vids", but you don't tag with that because it's presumptuous. It's something you say retroactively about other people's vids or that you tell a vid beta you're aiming for. You don't get to decide if your vid successfully pimps people in any more than you get a say in whether you go viral, you know?
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There's a weekly vidders' zoom run by DC Slash (one of the tiny slash cons), and we just had a week where we brought in vids that got us into fandoms. A lot of other people's were ancient, blurry VCR transfers because they've been at this a lot longer than I have, but I can show you some of the vids that have gotten me into fandoms:
Killa's Haven vid Soldier annoyed me so much. What is that one brief flash of a scene? Did that dude die? It's not that sad a vid though? What the hell? So I had to watch just to find out. (Yes, he died. But he got better. Because Haven.)
The fact that I know and like Killa didn't hurt, but it's not like I loved the vid itself: a lot of it was my sheer annoyance at that one shot.
Of course, then, I made my own Haven vid, Captain Kidd, that was supposed to be an angry deep dive into show lore and how the other sanctimonious, fake-moral but actually pretty useless characters were treating my blorbo. (This is a theme with me, it appears.) It was not even 1% supposed to be a pimp vid...
To date, this is by far my most successful pimp vid, luring a whole bunch of people into the show just in time for it to massively jump the shark. (Damn it.) I've never even seen the ending.
More recently, akiv's Beyond Evil vid I'm a Ruler made me fall hard for Beyond Evil. Imagine my shock when what looked like a relatively normal buddy cop series starts with one of them secretly investigating the other as a serial killer. It was so much more intense and fucked up than I realized! Yessss.
After bouncing hard off of DMBJ, it was this Youtube vid Hei Ye falling for the Thorny Flower that got me intrigued again. The tone is so obvious and the dynamic is so clear, which really helped me get interested in a franchise that's often pretty hard to follow plot-wise.
I admit I never actually watched canon, but this Mr. Queen vid by Mozzaphne made me go look up a plot summary so I could read all of the fic. Lots of youtube vidders overuse show dialogue and mix it horribly over songs, but this one was really well done and adds a lot to your understanding of the character dynamics.
I don't think my foray into Detroit: Become Human was entirely because of a single vid, but Figure 8 by Dirty Mind Gene definitely helped. I knew it was a video game with robots. Nobody fucking told me it was a Caves of Steel ripoff with a jaded cop getting his mojo back via getting to know his robot partner.
I of course then went and made one with all of the zillions of deaths in the game because I love that shit. This apparently also got at least one person into the fandom.
Another vid a different person mentioned pimping them into a fandom was Lola's Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty vid ME!
It's a fabulous vid, and it's a fantastic illustration of how the central (canon) ship is supposed to read. Sadly, my personal opinion of the show is that Tang Fan is a perpetual victim and piece of shit who puts his own shallow grasp of morality and his personal feelings over the greater good, often getting characters killed unnecessarily. (I hear this is largely due to some questionable adaptation choices where they swapped who's the hothead and who's the one cleaning up messes.)
I've noticed that fluffy bunnies who watch the show tend to think Tang Fan is ~nice~ because he spouts modern morality instead of a selfish little bitch because he refuses to face the reality of the setting he's in and find the best real world solution instead of holding out for an ideal he'll never attain and thus making everything ten times worse. It reminds me forcibly of tumblr wank where people see themselves as these great moral leaders but lack all grasp of nuance. Their sensitivity extends only to their own feelings.
Yes, Sleuth left me with a lot of rage...
How dare the writing pretend like Tang Fan is the moral arbiter of anything, when my own personal fave, whom half the cast thinks is a villain, is constantly cleaning up after him, trying to keep the body count low, trying to maintain order as everybody else flies out of control...
And then the show made it all better by tormenting Tang Fan in the iddiest way possible. Ohohoho. It's not just that he gets his face rubbed in his own inadequacy and inability to save people. It's the ridiculously over-the-top flashback to "You're my only friend" right in the middle of the death scene. Way to twist the knife!
I, of course, have made my own vid for this fandom, Tiny, Pretty & Angry, and it is absolutely a manifesto, just not a ship one. It's a manifesto about how Wang Zhi is not only the most competent, but also the actual moral center of everything and fuck all of y'all if you don't agree.
In fact, there's probably another reason we don't call them manifestos:
In the oldschool Media Fandom vidding traditions, most vids are video essays and manifestos, really. That's a lot of the point of the aesthetic: making an argument. Partly due to technological limitations and partly due to vidding being innovated by slashers who were constantly challenged about their ships, the pretty visual spectacle styles so common in AMVs and currently on Youtube were largely absent. Meta argument was everything. That's the default.
Here's another one of mine that's pretty explicitly a fuck you to how most people in Untamed fandom see Wen Ning.
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mysticgeekzartz · 2 months ago
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Hey y'all I have a YouTube channel now!
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So I decided to scrap the pole that I originally had about completely restarting my YouTube channel out with the old and in with the new I deleted the old channel because it just brought cringy memories of my high school year and I just decided to start completely fresh So here's my new YouTube channel guys I am still working on art pieces and I'm going to post actual art post soon I am working on a big post actually two big posts there's my oc Eve character deep dive post and a big 10-parter type of memey comic that is going to take me a while to finish because it's a lot of illustrations but in the meantime I am working on posting my first YouTube video just a simple introductory video talking about what I am and what I do featuring my OC Eve I am going to make myself a character Sona for my YouTube channel but that's going to take work for later on so I'm just going to use Eve for the time being lol So if you're interested in following my YouTube channel where I'm going to probably be discussing art stuff and art subjects as well as posting my speedpaints keep in mind I do not know how to edit videos or anything so I'll help you try my best with what I got and this is all for fun shits and giggles and away for me to track my progress in my artistic endeavors also y'all don't be afraid to comment things you would like to see on the channel or discussions to talk about The only thing is I will not do art drama I am not going to be the type of channel that will be the drama channel No Siri I'll just talk about artist issues and some fun art things that I like and speedpaints and just for y'all to relax maybe put it in the background while you're working like I like to do when I'm working on my projects So yeah if you have any suggestions put them down in the comments and I'll be more than happy to do them for a video I do not have an upload schedule yet but I'll figure it out as I go lmao And if you do subscribe thank you for subscribing! Get ready to hear my weird ass voice lmao 😂😂😂 also my YouTube channel is on my Card.co which is pinned on the top of my account
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a-libra-writes · 2 years ago
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Quick question, but where would you suggest to start researching? I’ve never really done it before, but I want to, but I’m worried I wouldn’t get a reliable resource and only realize it later. Any suggestions?
So Im gonna guess this is gonna refer to historical events and such (bc I mentioned that), BUT I think it can be applied to most research? This is how I go about it!
First, wikipedia article! Obviously they have the sources that you can dig through, but I use it to skim over the general idea (like if it's a war or a type of fashion), and make notes on what I want to focus on. Earlier I was researching how the Ottoman Empire was split up by France and Britain after WWI, and the interesting/turbulent decades of Syria as an independent state following the fall - that's A LOT of complicated shit to go through. So, from there I make a list of what's most interesting to me.
(This may be tough depending on how broad your subject is! "American Civil War" is really broad so maybe pick a very specific aspect that's interesting you the most. The battles? How a specific part of the US was affected? The history of black Northern soldiers vs Southern soldiers? etc etc)
Narrow it down - from "History of the Ottoman Empire", focus on "Post-WW1 Fall of Ottoman Empire and Creation of Turkey" and then what events, documents and people were important to that? Pick like two from each category. More examples - I love queer history, but maybe I want to focus on Queer terminology from 1920-1960. Narrow it down further - "Queer Slang from the 1920s", "History of Queer Clubs In the 1920s", "History of Queer Clubs in Harlem in the 1920s", "and so forth.
I google and use credited websites; it's great when you find the website of a museum that specializes in that or a special article put out. Sometimes what I need is so specific that I'm digging through any link I can find. Again, that gives me more details, but like you said, is it reliable? And even if these articles or websites can get detailed, it may not be exactly what you want.
So! Depending on how deep you wanna get. I love love love non-fiction and if I'm really passionate about the subject, I look into non-fiction books that audible or my library might have. Audiobooks work best for me personally. Auto-biographies are fantastic as well. And if the book has several revised editions, you can be sure it's regularly updated and accurate (usually), as well as check for reviews on the accuracy of the book and author.
Also, documentaries! I went on a kick about the rise of nursing as a proper profession in France from 1900-1950 - very specific! - and Netflix actually had a French-made documentary with english subtitles about it. So interesting! You can find documentaries online and on Youtube. Sometimes Youtube has really interesting videos, and if you're lucky you can get a deep-dive on your chosen subject... but most of the time it's just a 10~20 minute overview video (avoid the videos that are like, "History of This Complex Historical Event or History of X Country in 1-3 Minutes", just. Trash.) Sometimes I get a video that a museum made; they aren't the best production quality but you can tell they're very passionate.
Oh! And ofc Im focusing on historical things, but I also looove to research fashion for specific decades in the US. That's fun because there's quite a few websites where you can get lots of photos of what every day people wore, what was high fashion, esp if it's after the 1900s! Vintage Dancer is one of my favorite websites for the sheer detail of 1920s fashion, with descriptions and photographs.
By this point you probably have a lot of notes and things to cross-reference! So if you get a feeling that something may not be correct or biased, ideally you'll have multiple sources (docs, videos, books) etc to pull from. Again when I'm very serious about a subject I really prefer non-fiction books because they're (supposed to be) rigorously researched and the authors typically spent years on them. I think Youtube and Wikipedia is like your start, documentaries and specific websites/blogs are the middle, and tons of non-fiction or going out to do your own research (look for local museums, ask librarians, etc) is getting deeeeep in that rabbit hole! It's all so interesting and very very fun and just. Gah. I love how terrible and fascinating history is.
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goombasa · 8 months ago
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Youtube Recommendations: Wha Happun?
If you've been around gaming youtube for any length of time, you've probably come across a few videos by one Matt McMuscles, a Canadian youtuber who is mostly known for covering and showing off a lot of more obscure games, primarily fighting games, beat-em-ups, and occasionally RPGs. He was also a part of the (now discontinued) Super Best Friends Play channel, and collaborates with Maximillian Dood and Justin Wong on the fighting game focused Triple K.O. Podcast. The guy does a lot in the video game space on youtube, and is genuinely entertaining with a level of passion and giddyness that I think is kind of missing in a lot of other gaming-centric youtube channels. He's not over the top or anything, but his more down to earth demeanor, combined with actual experience in the industry (he worked as a QA tester for many years) gives him a fun perspective on what he covers.
And among many of his other projects, he's done some informative and investigative work into the industry, talking about the history of certain series, doing deep dives into a single game where he simultaneously walks you through the experience of playing it, start to finish, while also telling you a bit about its development history, and my recommendation today, his investigative show ‘Wha Happun?’
Anything on his channel is worth watching, in my opinion, but Wha Happun is my favorite. It's a series of investigative videos, focusing on a single subject, and taking you through the development process that led to it being, well, either cancelled or not very good. He's covered a lot of heavy hitters like the exhaustive, constantly changing development of ‘Duke Nukem Forever’ and the lie-filled terror of ‘Aliens: Colonial Marines’ (the reveal that the broken AI of that game was basically due to a single missing letter in the game's code in particular made my eyes pop), but he also has covered more obscure or cult games as well, such as “Four Horsemen," “Vex,” and the original version of “Prey 2”, recent high profile disasters like the remake of ‘Saints’ Row' or the GTA collection or ‘Gollum’.
From games to movies to consoles, whether it turned out good or not, Wha Happun goes through the history and minutae that led to it being the way that it was, and what it took to get there, paying specially attention to how the various high profile names on the projects behaved, and how the staff was treated during its development. A lot of his ire in the ‘L.A. Noir’ is directed at Brendan McNarmara for his constant and consistent abuse of his staff while shifting blame away from himself at every turn, for example. And he goes out of his way to get information and quotations from people who worked on the game at the time, which helps to lend the videos more authenticity rather than just grabbing quotes from, say, Wikipedia.
What I think I love the most about this series is that it really hammers home just how freaking hard it is to get these things made. Whether it's making a game, a movie, or a console, and then doing it all over again and again, there is always something that could potentially hold it up or ruin it, whether it's working with unfamiliar technology, unpleasant people, small budgets, or just unchecked ambition, it's a miracle that this stuff ever sees the light of day, even if the final product isn't what anyone wanted. And sometimes, it doesn't even get that far.
Wha Happun has been running for a long while now (over 200 episodes uploaded over the course of 6 years) and I guarantee that there's at least one episode in that spread that is going to cover something you either care about or have always been really curious about. You can find a full playlist of all the episodes here if you're at all interested, and I'd very much recommend that you peruse it when you have the time. You can also find the link to Matt McMuscles' main channel up at the top of the post, and I'm also going to link to his let's play channel Flophouse Plays because his off-the-cuff  stuff is just as fun as his scripted content.
Recommending Videos
Predator: Concret Jungle: At the time I write this post, this is the most recent video and a good starting point for the typical format that most of the videos follow, walking you through the history of the development of the game, the history of the developers, and the major names that were involved in the development. This one in particular is interesting because of its timing and the license chosen.
Sega Saturn: This isn't the first video done on the troubled history of a particular console, with both the Atari Jaguar and the 3DO being covered before, and the Gamecube being covered just a few episodes later, but I have a bit of a bias for classic Sega, and the Saturn itself is just such an interesting topic, and I think McMuscles explains its history wonderfully.
Daikatana: A lot of the earlier episodes in the series are a lot lighter on details, and also quite a bit shorter. Daikatana however, I feel, is an early episode that is worth going back to because the story of this game is so weird and wild, and its creator, John Romero, is just as interesting to observe as the game he was trying to make.
The Super Mario Brothers Movie:Ho boy, if you ever wanted to know why the 90's Mario movie turned into a bizarre science fiction story, this video lays it all out and discusses at length the various cancelled versions of the movie that we could have had before really get into just what a horror show the filming of the movie was.
Metroid Prime: This is a great example of how even games that are fantastic and beloved can still have had a rough time getting made, and watching this, it really makes you appreciate all the more how good a game like Metroid Prime managed to come out.
TimeSplitters: This is one of the longer episodes, at just under a half hour, but is a great example of how Matt can get really passionate when talking about something that really means a lot to him, or when he's covering something he's particularly disappointed by.
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buryymeinblack · 2 years ago
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hello!
For someone that has never ever been on a roller coaster due to fears and anxiety, do you know of any types of roller coasters that might be good for someone that's never gone and/or do you have any interesting safety facts about roller coasters?
thank you for your time and consideration I hope the question is not too big :)
Omg yes!!!! Thank you for asking!!!!!! I will always always talk about roller coasters when asked!! I love talking about them lol thank you for the opportunity to!
Starting with the Safety Rant!!! My obsession with roller coasters actually stems from my obsession with Tragic Freak Disasters. A few years ago, I started researching roller coaster accidents and why they happened. I ran out of accidents to learn about. I ran out because they're so few and far between. So I started learning about why they don't happen often! I used to be so scared of roller coasters, because I'm a very anxious and paranoid person. After taking a deep dive into how they work and why accidents happen, I realized I genuinely had nothing to be scared of.
A lot of roller coaster accidents in media are highly exaggerated — for example, out of all the roller coasters on the planet, only ONE has ever gotten stuck upside down on a loop. And the infamous Final Destination scene has been TORN INTO by roller coaster enthusiasts & engineers (I highly suggest watching any video that dismantles why that scene is ridiculous!). You've probably seen a lot of media telling you that roller coasters are dangerous and risky, when that isn't the case in the slightest!
Roller coasters seem more dangerous than they are because the few accidents are so highly publicized. When people are scared of something, they'll feel validated when something confirms they were right to avoid it. So journalists dramatize the shit out of the very few accidents that happen. In reality, they are the safest way to have fun. They're inspected thoroughly daily, and even more thoroughly weekly. You're statistically more likely to get hurt on the drive to the amusement park. You're statistically more likely to get struck by lightning standing in line! Ask any roller coaster designer or operator or maintenance person, and they'll tell you there are literally failsafes for the failsafes. I think they call it layers of redundancy because nothing is likely to go wrong in the first place lol.
Even if it's just about the roller coaster looking scary, and not about how they're generally viewed as dangerous, learning how they work will be an incredible help. Like, knowing that the lap bar is actually supposed to make you feel like you're gonna fly out will make airtime feel a lot less scary. Knowing how block zones work will eliminate any fear of crashing into something on the track. I suggest Coaster Bot on youtube for this type of thing!
TLDR for the safety part: Roller coasters get a bad rap because they're scary-looking, kind of like snakes and spiders. Learning about the dangers of them will miraculously make them seem less scary. You'll quickly find that accidents are super super rare, and that you're perfectly safe from the moment you're strapped in to the moment you step off the ride.
As for which roller coasters are the best for first-timers – I'd look at the amusement park's map to see what the smallest one is! Not a kiddie coaster, but a tamer Big Boy Coaster. Most places with roller coasters have some kind of thrill rating next to every ride on the map, and you could start with the smallest/least intense one. Then go for the second smallest, and so on! Wooden coasters tend to have much tamer layouts, but they're more rough and jerky. Steel coasters are much smoother, but their layouts can be a bit more intense or go upside down. Wooden vs. steel just depends on what you think sounds less scary.
I'd also recommend doing a launched coaster first (if your park has one)!! You can't get super scared on the way up to the first drop if you don't have the time to get scared. It's IMMEDIATE fun without the pants-shitting anticipation of the lift hill's click-click-click. Just try not to look at the other launches before you get on!!!
or, if you immediately want to get over any fears you may have... ride the biggest one first. Just spot the biggest one in the park and make a beeline for it. Don't even let yourself think about it. starting small works, but it makes every new coaster scarier than the last — if you ride the biggest one first, none of the other ones will be NEARLY as scary! It takes a lot of balls but it's worth it!!!!
No matter which route you take, just make sure to remind yourself: these are specially designed to be scary, but they're also specially designed to be FUN. The worst thing that can happen to you is nausea afterwards, and even then, it goes away after sitting down for a while!
I also suggest taking friends with you that'll peer pressure you into riding something lol. All I needed to get over my caveman brain anxiety was a little bit of bullying! It really does help.
TLDR for the First Coaster: Anything that doesn't look too intimidating! And if they all look too intimidating, go for one where you don't have the time to psych yourself out of it. Or just ride the biggest one and stop being scared forever! Just keep reminding yourself that they are fun, they're designed to be fun, and that you will have fun!!!
Sorry if I went on for too long or if I come off as Insane Fucking Crazy! I'm very passionate about roller coasters and emphasizing how safe and fun they are. Good luck, and have fun!!! Drink a lot of water and bring something to put your loose belongings in!!
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writer168 · 2 years ago
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I don't even know Leon Kennedy since I never played the game or seen the movie (if there is) but I am so down for him! He's such a marshmallow! I liked how a dose of reality that his father probably won't approve of Sakura only made his resolve stronger. (I am bracing myself to be honest!)
i actually got into the series pretty recently! when the re2 remake came out my friend (who'd already been a fan of the series) got me to play the game with him and i've been spiraling ever since
and if we're talking about movies, well, here's a list and my short opinions on each if you or anyone else wanna take a deep dive into surface lore! (the games i get if no one's interested in those, they take a lot of time to get into but any playthrough is accessible on youtube! my favorites are the streams by ray narvaez jr)
(feel free to ignore my ramblings if you so choose <3)
Resident Evil film series (2002-2017): live action movies, main character isn't in any of the games. there's cameos from game characters, but i'm not really into these movies
Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008): animated movie, mains leon and claire and this leon's... fine. character consistency isn't resident evil's strong suit and let's just say we're not watching any of the animated movies for their A+ quality
Resident Evil: Damnation (2012): animated movie, mains leon, definitely a step up from Degeneration but still not my favorite leon! i'd say it's a pretty solid installment tbh
Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017): animated movie, mains leon and chris (and rebecca who i haven't mentioned in my crossover), HOT DAMN my favorite movie to date. the quips, the action scenes, the stupidest gun-kata you ever did see - 10/10, i've watched it too many times
Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021): animated netflix miniseries, mains leon and claire, definitely the best visuals i've seen just because of the natural progression of how these kinds of animations go. leon? love him. plot? slackin. still watched it multiple times lmao
Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City (2021): live action movie... we don't talk about her. no, seriously. my friend (same one mentioned above) and I watched it in theaters, almost left at multiple points, then sat in the car for a solid 10 min after just in shock over how bad it was. but i've heard that it's a pretty good movie if you're not attached to the lore (even if the SELLING POINT WAS THAT IT FOLLOWED THE GAMES)
Resident Evil (2022): netflix live action sesries, whole new cast of characters, lost interest after ep 1 tbh so i can't give much here
Resident Evil: Death Island (2023): coming out in july and I'm HYPED
but in terms of mint limeade - brace yourself even harder! because it's the Mr. Kennedy vs Sakura stand off next!
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godlessondheimite · 3 years ago
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why adam ragusea is my designated shitty youtube cook man
1. used to be a journalist = hot
2. used to be a professor = HOT
3. also used to be a music guy? not as hot but pretty interesting
4. talks really fast
5. other than some quick SponCon, his videos are lean. this guy is not afraid to make a 6-minute video. (youtube only allows ads on 10+ minute videos, so the fact that he's leaving ad revenue on the table to make quick, easy, bare bones cooking videos is pretty great)
6. like there might be 20 second throwaway lines about his wife/kid/italian family but you're also not gonna get filler like that, either
7. great hair
8. if you go into his lore he clearly has a bit of an ego but his videos emphasize simplicity and stray away from food snobbishness. he's not big on exact measurements if they're not gonna fuck up a recipe, he intentionally doesn't use fancy gadgets, and he'll cut a corner to avoid washing pans and encourages you to do the same and i think that's really neat
9. he doesn't just do recipe tutorials, he does deep dives into food science and history etc
10. one time he made like 100 trays of brownies to discover what actually makes brownie skin
11. his italian meringue cake is DIVINE
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danandphilnews · 4 years ago
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GQ: Daniel Howell on queer self-care in a straight world
Daniel Howell came out on YouTube a year ago and now has a bestselling book about how straight and queer men can best look after their mental health. In a weird year for Pride, and for mental health, we asked Howell how the LGBTQ+ community should look after themselves
Being a man is not easy, nor is navigating your mental health as one. But for queer men the problems are both very similar and entirely their own. Finding space in this world to process the hard parts of being queer and making sure we don't bring the worst parts of masculinity into queer spaces isn't easy either. Coming out might seem like the seminal moment in a gay life but, actually, much of what follows is no easier.
Daniel Howell – “a professional internet clown” – has documented his own experiences with coming out, being gay and the struggles with his own mental health on his YouTube channel. Now he's released a book, You Will Get Through This Night, which is currently at number one on the Sunday Times chart. The decision to do a book around mental health was partially inspired by a resistance to doing a memoir – “My entire life story is on the internet, go watch it if you want” – and also by the fact that, “For 28 years, I never even took a slight interest in my own mental health, asking how I was feeling, because if you've had a busy work day the last thing you want to do in your spare time is homework about mental health.”
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So the 30-year-old set out to condense all the knowledge he'd found tough to swallow into a more palatable format. “It's a lean, mean mental health machine. I'm not going to go off too deep on one topic and we're not going to waste any time. We're going to give you the information that you need right now.” For Howell, this is a book you can reread over and over again to find the advice you need for the problems you're currently facing. “I'm in this position where I'm opening every wound in my entire life, inviting everybody to stick their finger into it and hoping that I can make it seem more relatable and accessible,” he explained.
As we enter a very odd Pride Month and Pride season, indeed, we asked Howell how LGBTQ+ readers might be able to use this time to find solace and mental tranquility, particularly after the year-and-a-bit the world has had and we start to return to some semblance of normality.
GQ: We are here, as part of this discussion about mental health and your book, to talk about how queer mental health is impacted by heteronormativity, the patriarchy, by straight society, all of our favourite things. You documented your coming out and, since then, your journey with queerness. So I was wondering how your mental health was beforehand and how it changed afterwards?
Dan Howell: I could not have estimated how intrinsically linked my sexuality was to most of the suffering in my life. It really boils down to a single point about authenticity: if you are living a lie, if you are pushing against something fundamentally true and inevitable about yourself, you're just going to burn out and reach a point where you can't do it anymore. That's what happened to me. I had such a traumatising relationship with my sexuality throughout my life. I was one of those people – and many will relate, whether they're queer or not – who said, “I'm just gonna focus on my career. I'm not gonna deal with this skeleton in my closet right now, because I've got to focus on other things.”
What happened with me was I reached that wall, I hit that point where I just couldn't keep going anymore in my day-to-day life. As someone who creates, and is supposed to be an entertainer and to talk about myself for a living, I literally couldn't work anymore until I tackled this topic. It had everything to do with my self-esteem, my world view and my own relationship with my own emotions. Every time I dived down that rabbit hole of anxiety, or I slipped into a depressive mood and felt like I deserved it, it was because there was something that I couldn't escape from yet.
For me, the moment – well, I say “the moment” I came out, it was a year-long process – it was literally a weight that lifted, in a way I can't describe to anyone that hasn't been there. It felt like my entire life I'd been wearing a suit of chainmail that I just instantly dropped on the floor and I felt like a completely different person. And that kind of acceptance of yourself allowed me to re-evaluate every aspect of myself in relation to my mental health. I've just done a complete 180.
We love that for you. But like any of us who come out, you are then faced with a world that is in many ways wildly uncaring once we have done it. What have been some of the struggles you have faced as someone being gay in a fundamentally straight society?
There are a lot of, let's say, “sensitive straight people” that feel like gay people having a moment for themselves takes something away from them. This is true of queerness of any shade, but it also applies to anything else in life: if someone is going through something bad and needs a moment or if they just want any kind of equality, that's not taking anything away from you. To all the racists on Facebook, Black Lives Matter isn't making your life worse, it's just that they want equality. It's the same thing for people coming out: they're not coming out to have an attention parade, that's just them becoming a normal member of society, like you.
I wish I didn't have to come out because I hated all the speculation and attention I had to deal with for the ten years prior to it. Until anyone having to come out, in any way, with their gender or sexual identity, is normal, it's going to be a surprise to you. So I don't know what you're complaining for.
We are all, technically, at one point, part of the straight world and then slowly but surely our relationship with it changes – or at least that's my experience. What has been your relationship with engaging with a world that is, in some ways, in stasis while you have gone on a journey of change?
I had to accept that a lot of the audience that have been with me over the past ten years were, unfortunately, not gay. And that's really sad, but I still want to say that they're welcome and bring them along with me on the journey slightly. Even though I've come out as this alien, it doesn't mean I'm flying away to another planet and you'll never be able to relate to me again.
This is why mental health is a great example for my audience of how my being gay is so linked to my experience of my health, but you can relate to it too, because you're also a human with a brain and you have emotions. We're not so different. So, for me, it's about saying, “Hey, there are certain things that I am going to talk about now and there are parts of my life that I'm going to share.” And you might be like, “Oh, well, I haven't had a leather orgy in the basement, I can't relate to that.” And to that I say, “Well, that's my culture, you just have to accept it.”
But it's important to find the common ground in everything that I do. But I'm aware that, whether I asked for it or not, I am in this position where I'm representing queer people, especially on the internet. So even though my coming out moment has happened, I will never stop having to talk back to people and explaining things for the rest of my life. You don't just come out once. I'm going to have to do it every ten minutes, every tweet, everything I'll ever do for the rest of my life, if ever someone's surprised and goes, “What's that about?”
Have you been intrigued as to the ceiling for some people of what they're willing to engage with as a queer creator, telling stories of your own life, sharing in your own life? Have you been surprised by how far some people are willing to go with you or surprised by where someone's boundaries are?
It was definitely a surprise how positive humanity can be sometimes. That's just my perspective, because I am very much a product of my childhood, which was very upsetting and, as a result, as an adult I am incredibly cynical. My default position is to expect the worst from everyone.
Because I was brought up in a very toxic masculine environment, I have the same mental health struggles that anyone male – regardless of whether they're gay or not – can relate to, which is that pressure to have the stiff upper lip and not show any vulnerability and not ask for help in case you're perceived to be weak. There's still this notion that young people on the internet, people like me, are always complaining about things and asking for attention and talking about their feelings. Can't they just deal with it? There's this idea that they're weak or not being manly, but in my experience it's the opposite of that.
If you are willing to look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, honestly, “What am I not dealing with? What am I too stressed about? What are the issues with my life?” If you can open up about that and ask for help, that's bravery. It's not a weakness to be honest with yourself and look at the shit that's hiding underneath something. That's what's gonna make you stronger; you have to go there and confront it.
When I come out, I expected that everyone's going to hate me, it's going to be a disaster, my career is going to be over. But the younger generation on the internet today is, by default, much more accepting. Because I just told the truth of my story, it wasn't even about whether I was gay or straight, people just empathised with what I've been through. People who watched my coming out journey might not have been gay, but they had a connection with me. You definitely do get the odd lost Trump Twitter bot that somehow stumbled into the weird gay Zoomer space, but, for me, I have actually been surprised by the people of the internet.
Let's not aim all toxic masculinity in the patriarchy at straight people either: the bad parts of it percolate into our own communities as well. Have you found restrictive parts of masculinity still crop up in your life or in queer spaces?
I am not instantly free of my psychological upbringing and culture and I'm aware of that every single day. I am a miserable bastard. I think men across the world have a certain mindset of being cynical and competitive, but, specifically for British people, it manifests in tearing each other down. We're all comparing ourselves to each other.
You think the moment you come out it's a big gay rainbow parade – everyone's a hippie, all hugging each other – but gay people can be so vicious within their own communities. Hurt people can still hurt people, so you still have all these horrible people in the gay community who are willing to be toxic and horrible. Being gay doesn't mean you're not racist. It doesn't mean you're not an asshole. And everyone has to have a moment where they think about themselves and how they act.
How have you found being queer with accessing mental health provisions in this country?
The current support for mental health in this country is just abysmal. Mental health support shouldn't just be there if you've snapped. Our entire society and healthcare should be trying to prevent it in the first place by educating people about how to look after their own mental health so that we're all fine.
When I first started going to a therapist I assumed I could talk to anyone, but they just don't understand my perspective all the time. For me, this has shown the importance of having a community. One of the good things that the internet has done, especially for queer people, is to allow the only gay in the village – wherever the hell you are in the world – to go onto the internet and to find a community of people like you that are supporting each other.
I look at young people today and they're like: here's a list of resources, services and things that you can read to understand your own body and your sexuality, how to think and feel and mental health. I just think, “Oh, my God, if I had Twitter when I was 13, I might have had a drastically different life.” Because it wasn't until I was 23 or 24 and social media started taking off that I even saw that these spaces existed. So at least people today are using technology to create the resources that aren't already being made for them out there in the world.
Feminism benefits men as well as women and many forms of intersectional equality benefit the oppressor as well in the long run. What parts of thinking about a queer, inclusive mental health system and a queer inclusive society benefit straight people as well?
The most straight, white patriarchal man feels like they're being oppressed by this cage that they built themselves. You want to talk about why the male suicide rate is so high? It's because society expects guys to not share how they feel and to fit a certain role in society that's complete bullshit.
To any man who feels like life isn't fair, because they wish they could have a bit more help, they wish they could open up a bit more, they wish they could be more honest, if we move closer to acceptance we can just be on some even ground here that's much healthier for all of us.
It's exactly the same thing as gays becoming bullies because they're just regurgitating something that happened to them before. It's all a cycle of this toxic relationship with ourselves and our self-esteem and our mental health and how we take out our emotions on others. And people need to be allies in order to have a better relationship with how they see themselves. It's just a fact.
You were talking about how, often, when we tell anecdotes about our pain it can seem like we're dealing with it, but actually it's just another way of being palatable for others. How do you balance making sure that you're being vulnerable and engaging with yourself honestly, while also presenting something that is fundamentally well-crafted for an audience?
There's a difference between me five years ago being like, “I'm depressed, ba-dum-tsch” and how I talk about my mental health now. What was behind that way I used to talk? I think for so many people – and this can apply to any issue that you can be stressed or upset about in your life – humour is this coping mechanism, it builds up a wall but allows you to get something out on the table without really dealing with it.
There's this whole discussion about what are you allowed to joke about and the line before you say, “Hey, you should stop talking about that and take it seriously.” For me, I still think you should be able to joke about your sexuality. I will tell stories about it, you can laugh at me being depressed, it's just that the person doing that has to acknowledge the pros and cons of approaching it that way.
It can also make you feel like you can see other people that are talking about it. Is 10,000 people joking about how depressed they are slightly weird and maybe there's an issue there? Yes, but at least that one depressed person goes, “It's not just me.” So there's a good side to it.
What every single person then has to do is not just let that procrastinate the issue. It can't be a band aid and then we all say, “Oh, there we go, we've done all the work that you have to,” because you can only joke about it for so long until you hit the wall.
For queer people who are confused, who are exhausted from various facets of existing in a heteronormative patriarchal, straight society, what are some good things to be able to do to be able to tuck themselves away to look after themselves?
The biggest thing is realising that it's not a big mysterious force that you can't control. You are actually not built and wired a certain way and there's nothing you can do about it. I used to tell myself this lie when I was feeling really depressed sometimes that I was just having a bad day and therefore on those days I guess I just have to spend the whole day crying into a pillow or something. That's not true. Unfortunately, you don't have that excuse. Because what I've learned from writing the book is there are so many things you can do to change how you think and feel, just in the moment.
For me, I'm that guy that bolts awake at 4am in the middle of the night in cold sweats, thinking about some traumatising gay thing that happened to me when I was 15. Now I'm obsessed with being mindful, trying to do something to indulge your senses to be present in the moment instead. When it comes to lifestyle, I hated this realisation myself, but it's not all therapy. There are lots of little everyday choices that every single one of us can make that have profound impact on how we think and feel. As much as I like to be an insomniac nerd that doesn't go outside and mostly eats takeaways, it's things like your support network, what's your social life like, are you getting a good night's sleep, how much do you move during the day, what's your environment like… Little decisions we make day to day, all of that adds up to create the foundation that your health and happiness is based on.
That's why I think the book is so important. It may make you feel personally attacked, but it's in a good way. If that's what I've had to go through publicly for the past ten years, I think it's only fair that everybody does that for themselves.
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lokiondisneyplus · 3 years ago
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Director Kate Herron calls from her childhood bedroom. She's staying at her parents' home in Southeast London for the summer, having spent the past year apart due to the pandemic and directing her latest series, Marvel's Loki. "It's so surreal seeing the show go out," she says over Zoom, "and being in the room that I was last in as a teenager."
Loki's first three episodes have seen the God of Mischief (Tom Hiddleston) team up with Agent Mobius (Owen Wilson) and the all-powerful Time Variance Authority to track down a fugitive Variant of himself: A female Loki that goes by Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) who's set on blowing up the Sacred Timeline and, with it, the MCU as we know it.
"My dad, bless him, he was never into Marvel before, but now he's obsessed with it," she says. "When I got the job, he started watching his way through the films, and he's got all these different YouTubers that he now watches for theories, and he tries to get spoilers out of me. He's like, 'What does it mean?!' and I'm like, 'Dad, I can't tell you!' It's very sweet, but very funny."
Now, with three episodes left of the season, she's bracing for their first family viewing experience. "I might not be able to, though. I might be like, 'You have to watch it by yourselves and then we can talk!'" she laughs. "Wait to hear the Loki theme and be like, 'Oh, I can go downstairs now.'"
In the meantime, Herron fielded all of ET's midseason questions about making Loki's bisexuality canon in the MCU, flexing more of his magic than ever before and why Sylvie isn't really Lady Loki or the Enchantress.
We are halfway through the season. Outside your parents, how has the reaction felt so far?
It's been amazing. We had these big ideas in it -- like, about free will and good and evil -- and wanting to [know that] if we're going back in with Loki because he's so beloved, that it's going to be a good story for that character, but some fresh terrain. I think the response has been pretty joyous and it's just so fun seeing what people are liking, what people's theories are. I couldn't be more happy, to be honest.
Being someone who appears pretty online and active on social media, how deep are you going into reading what people say and diving into those theories and all that?
I definitely read a lot of them -- I don't comment on them -- but I used to love Lost and Game of Thrones, and I was on Reddit, commenting, like, "Ooh, maybe it means this or means this," and I think that's the fun thing with our show, right? Our fans are so smart and it's fun seeing what they're getting right and what's not right but is very interesting. The Easter eggs they dig up are always amazing to me. Some of them we put in there, and I'm like, "Well, let's see..." and I'm like, "Oh, they found it!" So, it's really fun tracking it online. It's very weird directing something where you know every frame will be [screen]grabbed by some fans because they're looking for stuff.
I loved your tweet about why it was important for you to confirm that Loki is bisexual in the show. Not really reveal -- because he's bisexual in the comics -- but make that canon. Talk to me about having those conversations with Marvel.
I think it was something very important to everyone. And I felt like, OK, how can we acknowledge this? We have aspects of the story that are there, so how do we build this into the story so it feels earned in the moment? I didn't want it to feel like we were just wedging something in, but we had this beautiful scene where these two characters are being really raw and really honest about who they are, and I was like, "Well, it is a part of who he is and who they are." For me, talking with Michael [Waldron] and Bisha [K. Ali], it just felt like it was the right moment for that line. This episode is really beautiful for me, because it's these two characters getting to know each other, so in that sense, it felt like the right place for that conversation to happen. And I thought it was done really beautifully by the writers.
Obviously, like I've said, it's very personal to me, and I said it was a small step in some ways -- because obviously, he's just talking about it -- but in the bigger scale of things, I'm like, oh no, it's massive actually. If I saw that when I was 10, it would be really big for me. It's been really nice getting comments from people online. Some people were like, "It helped me actually talk about how I feel to my family and helped me come out." And I thought, "Well, if it helped one person do that, then it's worth it."
This is the MCU's first lead character who is openly queer. Did you know that? Were you aware of how big a milestone this would be?
Yeah. Well, in some senses, yes, and in some senses you're never sure, right? Because [Marvel is] so secretive about all their other projects. [Laughs] For me, I was like, I'm telling Loki's story, it's a part of who they are and I just want to acknowledge it. It's canon in the comics and if we can make it canon in the films, that would be amazing. When I came on board, I was like, if there's a way to do this, it would mean a lot to me and, I'm sure, a lot of people. But it was very welcomed, and I think we're all very proud of how we did that.
This may be getting into spoiler territory that you aren't able to talk about, but acknowledging one's sexuality is one important part of representation, seeing it play out through relationships is another. Can we expect to see any further exploration of what it means for Loki to be bisexual in this show?
I'm trying to think how to answer your question. [Laughs] I would say in our story, this is how we acknowledge it. But I hope that that paves the way for deeper exploration.
We're halfway through the season. What were your biggest goals in these first three episodes?
I think the biggest one was obviously, the Loki we're with in this story is on a completely different path, so it was tracking his character in the sense that he basically sees this amazing arc that the other Loki had gone on across the MCU movies, he sees that he reconciles with his brother, but that wasn't him in that moment. He's watching a different version of himself. But seeing that moment and seeing that he has room for growth and change is really interesting with our Loki, because he's in a very different headspace. So, it was tracking, what's familiar about this character from the Loki that we've seen over the last 10 years go from villain to antihero? And what is going to be completely different and completely different sides to this character that we get to now dig our teeth into? That was something really important to me and to Tom and the writing team, and it was really fun unpacking that and what his identity means.
The other challenges, honestly, were just setting up the TVA, because it's outside of time and space and giving that a grounding and a reality and making that feel like a whole new exciting corner of the MCU. That was a big responsibility, and I was really excited by that. And then you have the bigger arc of the story, but you also knowing it's going out weekly on TV. So, how are we going to track this week by week. Where are we leaving the characters and what are we leaving for the audience? Something we always thought about was we knew there'd be discussion week to week, so it was like, "Where are we going to give them certain bits of information across the show?" We wanted to provoke conversation and discussion about even just things like free will, you know?
I will say about the TVA, I'm basically a human Miss Minutes stan account. I think she's the baddest bitch in the MCU. I watch every Miss Minutes fancam that pops up on my Twitter feed.
She's incredible! What I love about it is that she's in our first episode and she actually used to come out of the presentation that Loki watches -- she came out on the screen -- but it was too crazy. We were like, "OK, we can't do that in the first episode. We'll do it in the second episode!" But what I love about her is that we're seeing the TVA through Loki's eyes and it's, like, the status quo, right? And if our status quo is a Southern-talking, Roger Rabbit-style clock, the show is going to probably get quite weird. I think that's what I love about her. And obviously, Tara [Strong] is awesome. Yeah, Miss Minutes is a lot of fun.
You talked about exploring who Loki is and could be. He's always had an arsenal of powers, but in this series, you really get to explore and define what his power set is. What were those conversations like?
That was something else, coming in, I was so excited about. We have six hours of him, let's see some more magic. Because across the comics, he's super powerful, and for example, in the last episode, that's what was so exciting to me about that, the oner at the end of episode 3 was that I've seen a lot of oners but I haven't seen one with magic. So, I was like, let's put loads of magic in there! We get Loki using his telekinesis and his magic blasts and then also Sylvie, as well, and her powers.
For me, it was exciting getting to bring those in in a way that pushed the story forwards. Because I get it, when he first lands in the TVA, they can't use magic, so I know if I was watching, I'd be like, "What? No magic?!" But I think that's the fun thing is, we still have three episodes to go and also it was fun to put him on Lamentis and see him using his powers in different ways. It was definitely something important to me and the team, was to get to show a little bit more of him. But across the films, you can only do so much. Now we have six hours, so it felt like, of course we have to delve into that more.
I don't know if you saw this on Twitter, one of my favorite reactions to episode 3 was someone tweeted a screenshot of Sylvie screaming and her hands glowing and wrote, "she did the meme!!"
[Laughs] That's great!
We've now officially met Sylvie, and we're starting to piece together that this may be sort of a hybrid character of Lady Loki and Sylvie Lushton, the Enchantress. Are you able to confirm that you pulled from both to create your Sylvie? Or is that something that's to be further revealed?
I would say there's more to be delved into. One thing I would say is, like, she's different to the comics. Like, she's a unique character, but obviously, there's things that have been pulled from. I think for her character, she's on the run and she's called Sylvie and she's dyed her hair. The blonde that we associate with Sylvie is played in that sense, but it makes sense for her character within our story. But I would say deeper than that, yeah, there's more to be revealed about her character to comes.
The main thing I would say is: Lady Loki in the comics is a very different character to our character, obviously. I love that character and I think she's got a very different journey. But our Sylvie is a female Loki, in that sense -- because in episode 1 and 2, they know it's a Loki they're tracking -- but I think that's part of the discussion. It's almost like Loki -- as in Tom Loki -- he's like, "Wait, how much of my life have you got? Who are you?" And I think that's the real question is, who is she? So, we will discuss that as the show goes on. Why does she not like being called Loki? What's her past? Where did she come from?
Tom and Sophia have such great chemistry, but how challenging was it for you and Michael and Sophia and the writers to create a character that essentially has to match up with our Loki, who's had however many films to become the fan-favorite character that he is?
It starts in the writing. Because she's a unique creation, and that was exciting and I was intrigued where they were pulling from with the comics. I was like, OK, that's cool. Beyond that, I think it's casting it. Sophia is an incredible actor. I've worked with her before. She has this fire in her and she brings this amazing vulnerability to all her characters, but she's also, like, so funny. It's just, so many of these things she always brings, I was like, they're so Loki. So, I was like, "We've got to get her to read!" And we were just all blown away by her read of it.
She definitely can hold her own. That's the other thing, as well. I know her, and I was like, she will hold her own. I know she will. Because she's going against Tom's Loki and that's such the fun thing about them. Even just on the train, where it's the end of the world and Loki's solution is, "I'm going to have a party and I'm going to have a drink. I'm going to have a lovely time." And her solution is, "I'm not going to have a glass of champagne, thanks. I'm going to focus on the mission of getting off the moon." Those little differences is what's quite fun about them to me. How are they different, and how are they the same?
Was there something you got to do as a director in these first three episodes that you had never done before that you were especially excited or nervous or both to tackle?
I suppose so much of the show, right? Because I've done a lot of drama and a lot of comedy, but they were like, "Here you go! Here's the reins to this massive, genre-driven piece where you have to set up a new corner of the MCU and you're going to have this beloved character." There was a lot to carry. But I'd say in terms of something I was excited about, only because Kevin Feige was teasing me, when we filmed the big oner at the end of episode 3, I was really inspired in the writing, because it sounded like you were really with the characters. I love doing long takes anyway and I remember thinking, "Oh man, this sequence feels like the one that we should do as this oner," because I want the audience to feel like they're with Sylvie and Loki in this moment, and it's also a moment where you finally start to see an apocalypse and it feels more real, because you're seeing the horror and the terror that's going along with that.
For me, that was exciting, but the really cheesy bit that made me so excited is they had these foam rocks that fell on people, but it felt like real movie magic to me. I was so obsessed with the rocks. I was like, "Oh my god. This is like real, big Hollywood filmmaking." And I remember Kevin Feige was like, "You can take a rock home, if you want," and I was like, "Oh my god!" So I have this rock. It's in bubble wrap now, and I'm going to unpack it when I move into my place. But that's probably honestly the most excited I've ever been. [Laughs] I was just so excited by the rocks. Oh, and also, I remember when we were at Roxxcart and Tom gets thrown into those robo dogs, I was obsessed with the robo dogs. He was like, "I think this is the happiest I've ever seen you." So, those are my favorite moments on set. The foam rocks and the robo dogs.
Somebody's going to come into your flat in the future and there's going to be a shelf with just a rock and a robotic dog on it.
Mhmm! And I'll be like, "Yeah, guys, I did something." [Laughs] They'll be like, "What is this...?" But the foam rocks are genuinely amazing, because they look like real, heavy rocks, but they're so light. I was so fascinated with them. I was so excited. I made a lot of low budget stuff before this, so it was a big deal to me.
My favorite part of the first three episodes is the Kate Berlant cameo. How did that come to be?
Basically, I love comedy and my producer, Kevin Wright, does as well, and we were trying to think of people that could be fun. We've got Josh [Fadem] in episode 1, and that was a miracle. I just spoke to her about the part and was like, "This is a very small role, but if you're interested, you're very talented and you're so funny." And she was like, "You know what? That sounds really fun. Renaissance faire? Yeah, I'll come do it." So, it was very kind of her to come down and do that for us. She's so funny, man. She's so funny.
Do you let her riff at all?
We did. We have a lot of alts and a lot of very extended bits of her talking to the Minutemen. I think there's one where she talks about a bird show at the faire. She's so funny. I was very flattered and grateful that she did that for us.
I'm going to start the #ReleaseTheKateBerlantCut campaign. I want a whole episode of her alts. Or she can be the new Stan Lee and cameo in every MCU project. Before I let you go, if you had to choose one word to tease these upcoming three episodes, what is that word?
Hmm. I thought of one word, but then I'm like, it's spoiler-y, so I can't say that. [Laughs] Oh, one word. Exciting? I have to say "exciting," because I can't say the other one I wanted to say!
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ace-of-haerts · 3 years ago
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I posted 4,776 times in 2021
24 posts created (1%)
4752 posts reblogged (99%)
For every post I created, I reblogged 198.0 posts.
I added 424 tags in 2021
#gremlin (affectionate) - 111 posts
#personal - 96 posts
#fic rec - 45 posts
#yesh dude - 36 posts
#important - 33 posts
#my boys - 25 posts
#lex buddy - 23 posts
#fic - 22 posts
#eat the food - 19 posts
#here you go gremlin - 14 posts
Longest Tag: 113 characters
#i will marry her and marry you in your future if i don't know her name is a little more then she is the only one.
My Top Posts in 2021
#5
I know you reblogged my tumblr mutual home address thing with “ffs yesh” and “bad” but now I’m tempted to give you my home address just for the meme
I will stab you I swear to god
@chaosgremlin9
Come collect your human
8 notes • Posted 2021-07-10 19:27:26 GMT
#4
I will bite you. As revenge.
No biting. Bad baby
8 notes • Posted 2021-07-27 05:18:03 GMT
#3
Thanks @rockmarina !!
Catch Up Tag
How was your day?
It was alright. Had a few aches and pains, but I went into town and got fancy drinks so it ended well!
What's keeping you entertained these days?
Definitely my cat, Discord, and a bunch of true crime videos on YouTube. And whatever the fuck Supernatural has going on.
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If you're in some kind of quarantine/self isolation, is there anything you'd like to achieve in this time?
Not in quarantine, but it is summer break so I'm hoping to get a bunch of work done.
Post a selfie! (if you're comfortable with that)
Have one of my 30 saved picrews instead!
See the full post
9 notes • Posted 2021-07-03 01:05:22 GMT
#2
Imagine an elf is given a job to do at a human institution. The humans think elves don’t need bathroom breaks, since they know they can hold it for days, but this elf has been traveling to reach their job, and has already been holding it to the point they are in pain. They ask for a break, but their job is important and time sensitive, so they admit they can still hold it when asked. After a full day of work, the elf tries to reach the bathroom in time, but they were never told where it is.
Whichever one you this is, what did I do to deserve this.?
12 notes • Posted 2021-07-04 19:45:10 GMT
#1
About Me
Name: Antóin (Ant-o-in) Age: 18 AO3: unlucky_god (bookmarks and recs) Pronouns: he/him Fandoms: Drarry (Heavily fanon, rare to none canon), Sk8, 9-1-1 (Mostly Buddie), and anything I find interesting, I have a small attention span Sexuality: Pansexual
Tagging system: I'm not the greatest at tagging, I only mainly picked up the habit in the last couple months so. All tags listed are frequently used and is updated when needed. Green= resource tags Orange = untriggering Yellow = potentially triggering
#gremlin (affectionate) #yesh dude #lex buddy are my tags where I interact with my buddies Rain @illogicalthinking Lex @chaosgremlin9 Yesh @littlecatsnotkids There's a lot of back and forth here, so no offence taken if you blacklist this or any of the ones below
#my boys #and their son! #buckley siblings or bust #number one dad and son duo #9-1-1 family dynamics #9-1-1 misc. are my Buddie (Buck x Eddie) posts, Buddie & Christopher, Maddie and Buck, Buck & Bobby, 9-1-1 family dynamics, 9-1-1 misc. and other assorted 9-1-1 tags.
#important resources (writers guides, art guides, life hacks, lgbtq resources, chronic illness and disability resources, etc)
#lucky's friends random cat videos and pictures I find to show my cat later
#EAT THE FOOD posts that mention food. this is a newer tag so beware if you're doing a deep dive and have food issues as they aren't all tagged correctly
#prattles by ant tag games, asks, etc.
Please feel free to reach out to me if you feel like my posts need a certain tag. I am always open to advice and actually could use the help.
And as Rain so eloquently put it, DNI if you: If you are an exclusionist of any kind (I.e ace phobic or panphobic), racist, abusive, xenophobic, sexist or anything like that, fuck off you are not welcome on my blog
20 notes • Posted 2021-07-25 10:22:30 GMT
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introvertguide · 4 years ago
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Star Wars (1977); AFI #13
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In honor of May 4th and the original movie that started it all, the group reviewed Star Wars (1977). Nominated for 10 Academy Awards and winning 6 with one extra special achievement award for Sound, this is perhaps the most highly decorated science fiction movie of all time. The special effects and the music were especially moving making the Star Wars experience something amazing to behold. I was lucky enough to see one of the re-releases in the theatre back in the mid 80s. In fact, I might well have seen the film 100 times over my life. The music might be the most well known soundtrack globally. With inflation, this is the 4th highest grossing film of all time. It is truly a fantastic work and I would like to now spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it. Let me start with the usual:
SPOILER WARNING!!! I DON'T THINK THERE ARE MANY WHO HAVE NOT SEEN THE FILM, BUT FOR THOSE FEW THAT DON'T KNOW, I AM GOING TO RUIN THE PLOT!!! STOP NOW AND GO WATCH IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY!!!
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Amid a galactic civil war, Rebel Alliance spies have stolen plans to the Galactic Empire's Death Star, a massive space station capable of destroying an entire planet. Imperial Senator Princess Leia of Alderaan (Carrie Fisher), secretly one of the Rebellion's leaders, has obtained its schematics (this entire effort was originally a throwaway concept but was completely fleshed out in Rogue One almost 40 years later) , but her starship is intercepted by an Imperial Star Destroyer under the command of the ruthless Darth Vader (acted by David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones). The movie is just starting and the odds against the rebels are shown by the scale of the two ships. Before she is captured, Leia hides the plans in the memory of an astromech droid called R2-D2 (Kenny Baker), who flees in an escape pod to the desert planet Tatooine accompanied by protocol droid C-3PO (Anthony Daniels).
The droids are captured by Jawa traders (little shiny eyed beings who are now meme legends), who sell them to moisture farmers Owen and Beru Lars and their nephew Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). While Luke is cleaning R2-D2, part of a holographic recording of Leia starts playing a message for Obi-Wan Kenobi where she requests his help ("Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!"). Later, after Luke finds R2-D2 missing, he is attacked by scavenging Sand People while searching for him, but is rescued by elderly hermit "Old Ben" Kenobi (Sir Alec Guinness), an acquaintance of Luke's, who reveals that "Obi-Wan" is his true name. Obi-Wan tells Luke of his days as one of the Jedi Knights, the former peacekeepers of the Galactic Republic who drew mystical abilities from a metaphysical energy field known as "the Force", but were ultimately hunted to near-extinction by the Empire. Luke learns that his father fought alongside Obi-Wan as a Jedi Knight during the Clone Wars (another throwaway concept that was eventually fleshed out) until Vader, Obi-Wan's former pupil, turned to the dark side of the Force and murdered him. Obi-Wan presents Luke with his father's old lightsaber, the signature weapon of Jedi Knights. The connection between Darth Vader and Luke's father is explored in depth during the next eight films.
R2-D2 plays Leia's full message, in which she begs Obi-Wan to take the Death Star plans to her home planet of Alderaan and give them to her father, a fellow veteran, for analysis. Although Luke initially declines Obi-Wan's offer to accompany him to Alderaan and learn the ways of the Force, he is left with no choice after discovering that Imperial stormtroopers have killed his aunt and uncle and destroyed their farm in their search for the droids (cue the Academy and Grammy Award winning theme music composed by John Williams). Traveling to a cantina in Mos Eisley to search for transport, Luke and Obi-Wan hire Han Solo (Harrison Ford), a smuggler with a price on his head due to his debt to local mobster Jabba the Hutt. Pursued by stormtroopers, Obi-Wan, Luke, R2-D2 and C-3PO flee Tatooine with Han and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) on their ship the Millennium Falcon. As they reach the planet's orbit, two Star Destroyers try to intercept them, but Han is able to jump to hyperspace by reaching lightspeed.
Before the Falcon can reach Alderaan, Death Star commander Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing) interrogates Leia about the location of the Rebels's secret base, with the threat of destroying her home planet, and, when she answers that the base is on Dantooine, he orders Alderaan destroyed simply as a show of force. As the group arrives in the asteroid field that now stands in place of Alderaan, Han spots an Imperial TIE fighter and is taunted into chasing it and shooting it down, allowing the Falcon to be captured by the space station's tractor beam. Inside the Death Star, Obi-Wan attempts to disable the tractor beam, and Luke persuades Han and Chewbacca to help him rescue Leia after discovering that she is scheduled to be executed. After disabling the tractor beam, Obi-Wan sacrifices his life in an epic lightsaber duel with Vader, allowing the rest of the group to escape the Death Star with Leia. Using a tracking device, the Empire tracks the Falcon to the hidden Rebel base.
Leia's schematics reveal a hidden weakness in the Death Star's thermal exhaust port, which could allow the Rebels to trigger a chain reaction in its main reactor with a precise torpedo strike. While Han abandons the Rebels after collecting his reward for rescuing Leia, Luke joins their starfighter squadron in a desperate attack against the approaching Death Star. In the ensuing battle, the Rebels suffer heavy losses as Vader leads a squadron of TIE fighters against them, but Han unexpectedly returns to aid them in the Falcon, narrowly managing to save Luke before Vader can shoot him down. Guided by the disembodied voice of Obi-Wan's spirit, Luke turns off his targeting computer and uses the Force to aim his torpedoes into the exhaust port, destroying the Death Star moments before it fires on the Rebel base. In a triumphant ceremony at the base, Leia awards Luke and Han medals for their heroism.
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I want to explain the connection between this movie and the Joseph Campbell version of the hero's journey that so many people have pointed out. This journey starts out with a call to adventure that is refused and then forced (Luke is given an opportunity to leave, he declines, the death of his family pushes him forward, he leaves with his team). Campbell then predicts an initiation that involves meeting a woman and gaining weapons, a meeting with an incredible power, and an achievement of the hero's power (goes to star destroyer, meets Vader and loses Obi-Wan, gains power over force). The story ends with a refusal, a magic flight, a rescue from without, and a hero's return (Luke goes to attack the Death Star, Han refuses and then eventually saves him, and the day is saved so the heroes are rewarded). It is a story that is called the Monomyth and has been recognized in Greek myths that are thousands of years old. It is a good story that has been proven to work and it makes for one of the most enjoyable movies of all time.
There was some negative opinions of the film because it is such a simple old story that became extremely popular and film goers would no longer be interested in intelligent thinking movies. It is kind of the truth because blockbuster summer films are full of explosions. The highest grossing films since then have tended to be highly explosive action films. Films like Star Wars, Jaws, and Indiana Jones are a lot of fun, but they are not super deep. They are easy to understand at surface level, but they can also be interpreted to mean much more significant things. The choice of the viewer about whether the story has deep inner meaning or is just the Odyssey in space is personal and likely colors opinions about how good it is. Some people think it is stupid fun while others have actually formed religions around the idea of the force.
One thing is for certain, the formula worked amazingly well for a large group of people and this made movie producers want to copy it. This is what is generally called a watershed moment because the look of movies changed significantly. There were so many more space operas and they all had that worn post-apocalyptic look to them. Star Wars and Mad Max combined to give a different look of what futuristic was. There was advanced tech in some cases, but there was a scorched Earth that had run out of resources and people suffered. Think about how many movies and television shows there are that have come out since the 80s and combine industrial tech for space and distressed almost Western appearances for the planets. The movie changed the way many people see the future.
One thing that is inarguably great was the score. I am not going to try and describe it with words, I am just going to put links to the different themes here so you can hear for yourself:
Star Wars Main Theme (Full) - YouTube
Star Wars- The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme) - YouTube
Princess Leia's Theme - YouTube
Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope (1977) Soundtrack 11 Cantina Band - YouTube
This is somewhat strange for the AFI so I went back and checked, but I believe that this is the only film with a ranked villain (Darth Vader), hero (Han Solo), and theme song (Main Theme). Even if it is somewhat simplistic from some perspectives, the story and the songs and the sounds and the characters speak to those who watch it. Seeing the movie is an incredible experience and I envy those who get to see it for the first time.
I am a big fan of the original Star Wars trilogy and I could completely nerd out going over all of the little things throughout the movie, but this is not a deep dive but instead an overall review. So does it belong on the AFI top 100? Maybe more than any other movie. It is an epic tale that changed the way movies were made across multiple genres. We could probably look at all science fiction films and put them as before or after this one. It is an important piece of American film and (no matter what anyone thinks of the other Star Wars films or George Lucas) it is a masterpiece. Would I recommend it? I cannot say yes enough. It is part of my culture as a California movie nerd and understanding this film is understanding some of the basic knowledge I grew up with. All sticks are swung around like light sabers. If I say "Princess Leia hair," everyone around here knows exactly what I mean. If something is impossible but still needs to be done, we tell people to use the force. I have lived in the Bay Area for 20 years and I can still reference a location by how close it is to Skywalker Ranch were George Lucas worked on movies. Please check out this film and you will know why I am such a fan of movies.
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sfjn · 7 years ago
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I'm sorry if I'm mistaken (if I am, please, just ignore this), but do I remember correctly that you're a fan of Mountain Goats? I wanted to get into their stuff and I was wondering if you have any recs (what should I start with, things like that)? It's quite intimidating to be faced with such amount of content, hence my question. I hope it's fine, me asking about this! xo
hi!!!! this is fine to ask me, i love speaking w ppl AND i am a hUGE MOUNTAIN GOATS FAN. i am not the biggest fan there is, but i am quite up there. i saw tmg perform twice this november and i ascended!!!!! they’re wonderful and there’s no one quite like em. i’m honored you’d ask me abt this
it actually took me a while to get into tmg - i was first introduced like six years ago, but spent several years getting hung up on john’s voice or some of the earlier stuff. but now i’m deep in the guts of it. i think the biggest part of falling in love with the mountain goats is. finding the one song that fits your exact mode of weird disillusionment and awe at the world, at that point in time. and staying with that song or album for a bit. and then using that as fuel to get to the next song, or album. like last february, for me, it was “Never Quite Free.” and it is always about the lyrics - these lines that hit like a punch. listen for your lines. here’s what i’ll offer as recs:
if you wanna start w an album, i would start with We Shall All Be Healed. i think it is one of the best cohesive albums in their discog, and it balances the freedom/guitar feel of john’s early composition years with the nice production value of his later years. (tbh i think that sunset tree is an easier album to start with but i personally am just rly into we shall all be healed at the mo.) if you’re able to do that, then i would move to All Hail West Texas; that’s his best lo-fi album. it’s gorgeous and it captures the energy of tmg. i would then move through a bunch of his later stuff, because it’s (quite simply) hard to get into the poorer quality recordings that come before ~2004 without having this innate interest in john’s lyrics and the sense of style and shit (which i grew to love over the course of years). i would do an order sort of like: Transcendental Youth; Heretic Pride; Tallahassee; The Sunset Tree; All Eternals Deck… then go far back and do Full Force Galesburg, Zopilote Machine, Sweden… then come forward again and … etc. etc. and if at any point you get tired of one album, switch to something else. it’s like going thru a fridge. i sometimes would get tired of the humming in the more lo-fi stuff, and switch to later stuff and it was like coming up for air and then diving back down. (btw his last two albums are absolutely FANTASTIC so honestly just dip into them as much as possible, too, i just am mostly talking about older stuff bc you seem to want to learn more? and maybe you’ve heard his latest stuff.) i’m currently mad for sweden just bc i ended up crying to a song from that album when john played it live. i used to never listen to sweden
if you’d like a playlist, i was actually already working on one for a friend on spotify, so here ya go i put it on youtube for you. it’s a bunch of my favorite songs mixed with ones that are particularly big among fans. if you have any questions or want to tell me certain lines that strike you, even anonymously, please do. sometimes i walk around just thinking about a certain line and doing nothing else and it’s nice xx
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