#ooooooh this was brutal to type out

[headspacedad]

One Piece: Ep.2 - spoilers

so I'm not going to play by play this, just gonna summarize each episode as I go. Under a cut of course because its going to naturally have spoilers

Second episode wasn't as much fun as the first but it was still a really great story with good set up and building. The world fleshed out a bit as well in a 'well, THAT;S very Mad Max kind of way which honestly? I appreciate. Pirates are so popular in media right now that its nice to see the 'no, no - they're horrible' and this episode managed to do that in a way that was creepy, brutal, desperate and yet totally manga so not as bad as you know it would have been in a different type of media. All the elements were there, enough to give you plenty to think about if you wanted to look at what was circling under the water but the story only needed to hint to get to its point so it didn't deep dive and I can respect that. That's what fanfiction would be for.

Anyway, pirate clown showed up earlier in the show than I expected him to given the bump in the end of the first episode and the fact Netflix was making him a selling point. I'm going to assume he shows up later? or they just didn't want to spoil and so chose an early minor boss for their spread. I'm going to vote for a later revival and showing but we'll see.

As far as the pirate clown went he was a lot scarier than I expected him to be but that was all on the actor and the delivery. Scary pirate clown is pretty one note and flat but the actor made his facial expressions and body language much more threatening than it should have been and I appreciate that. Plus he tries to play psychological games and that was a nice touch. He really did feel like a Bad Guy, especially the way he used the villagers and the way those actors responded to him. Really all the acting on here so far is pretty top notch even from extras and its making this show.

I'd be more concerned about Luffy's connection to his hat but I seem to remember seeing manga covers for years where he still had it so unless he loses it in the final episode of this first season I think we're pretty safe. It's like a comfort stuffed animal and a promise ring all rolled into one for him and I also worry about people that let a vulnerable part of their heart be something so easy to have taken away. It's hard enough to invest that into a pet, much less an inanimate object no one else is going to value enough.

Nami is being set up for double trouble but that was pretty clear from the start and I'm looking forward to how it plays out. She's very sneaky and self-saving but not enough to make her stupid or making her give away what's working for her just to have the story make a point or be dramatic. Which also brings up how utterly bizarre some of the 'tech' elements of the show are to me. I'm totally digging it! It just adds another layer to the 'not the world you know' world building but so much of it seems sensible and then they whip out the snail phone and it throws me back to the 'ooooooh, riiiiight. NOT fantasy Earth'.

The cravat to the 'superpower' from the devil fruit is interesting. I like how its called the 'devil' because it takes away the sea's blessing, which is enough to make everyone consider it evil. As they should.

The flashbacks were well done and I really enjoyed Shanks crew. I think we can all see the 'ultimate end boss' he's going to be coming from nautical miles away but that's not a bad thing. There's enough emotional investment going on that its going to be deliciously terrible when it comes.

Also I'm enjoying the High muckety muck Marine. The pirate at the beginning 'cursing' the world with pirates looking for his treasure was genius and I love that this guy was there to see it/have it happen on his watch and is now in charge of the entire kit. He makes a much more threatening villain than Tiger-pants because he's so obviously clever. He's also got a great voice to listen to.

Zoro's quote about Luffy believing in himself was a very cool line. I'm really enjoying the dialogue. It's a little lyrical and it doesn't rely on trite banter. The banter that does show up doesn't feel forced.

All in all, the second episode gets a thumbs up from me. Well told contained story that also advanced the overall plot and showed up more of the world as well as set up plenty for later story.

[sadistic-softie]

Absolutely wild quotes from last night's dream recorded in my dream journal because the dream version of me and the people in my dreams are incredibly unhinged.

"In a big fashion/beauty product store-There was a mannequin in the more open section that they excitedly told me had a special feature. You could look up her skirt. I asked if it had genitals and they said yes, she had very detailed genitals."

"I said “aren't we going the wrong way?” to which the lady rolled her eyes and responded by saying a bunch of things that I couldn't really hear or make out because she was talking so fast, but I noticed that what she had said was written on her light pink shirt in small white text for no reason, so I was trying to stand in front of her to read it and ask her to repeat herself"..."This made her really uncomfortable and I was getting frustrated to the point where I eventually lied and said I was deaf and had an automatic subtitle generator installed into my eyes that would tell me what people were saying, but that it was slow, so I was struggling to understand her. She stopped feeling uncomfortable and started to treat me like a child instead, but didn't repeat herself"

"I had noticed a bug peeking out of the checkout counter and got excited because I like bugs, to which the lady that was guiding me around and the lady who was standing around at the tech area made jokes about me, assuming I was autistic (I'm not autistic in my dreams or in real life), infantilizing me, and laughing at me. I ignored them because I hated them and I was too busy playing with the bug anyways"

"got bored and headed back to the fashion area. And they were working on the mannequin. I started to yell at them, covering the genitals so I don't see, and saying it better look good because I don't wanna see it being worked on, but rather i wanna be able to look at it under the skirt. I quickly changed my mind and looked at it. It was in very low detail, which pissed me off."

"it is heavily implied that I was half naked for the whole entire dream and didn't notice, nor did anyone point it out"

"They laughed about how I was gay, and told me I need to try fucking my college roommate and trying on her clothing, to which I had no idea who they were referring to, because I didn't go to college"

Here's some from another dream I had a few days before:

"In the back area of this, is the kitchen with chefs and storage maintenance staff very much struggling. Food storage conditions are hideous. Staff are knocking things over, spilling food all over the floor and putting it back, and fucking everything up. Gordon Ramsey would have fainted."

"The bar top is dirty and despite the smug staff with their guise of luxury and elegance, nobody else is at the restaurant besides me and whoever I bring because it, in universe, sucks."

"there's another building at the head of the table, but it's an outline because it was demolished. Used to be a pizza place but it sucked harder than the fancy place."

"Had a little group there in the pizza place. I think my mind based them off the cast from one of the Saw movies I watched and decided to make me their friend. I was fucking around making fun of the place. One person in the group asked me something and I answered, to which they responded that it's impossible for  me to lie, also implying that I'm some sort of magical type of honest, to which I responded “I don't understand? What do you mean? I just started a simple fact.” "

"and proceeded to make fun of it all by being way too brutally honest to the staff, saying in these exact words, “well, i need to go home so i can piss and jerk off” to which the staff smiled and responded “there’s bathrooms here" and pointed to the bathrooms. i grinned and said “here? I can do all that here? Ooooooh~” and started running my hands all over their big fancy display screen saying “i can do a lot here! That makes me want to stay!”

"this place sucks and the pizza sucks. I only come for the party and because the building looks amazing, which is unfortunate because nobody ever comes here”

"This dream seems to also subtly hint in my dream subconscious that I have a penis"

"i remember saying something along the lines of the following while unzipping the parachute device slowly while we were in grave danger because it was being difficult but eventually did open: “sometimes, in a dream, you need to do things slowly to get what you want…because if you rush, you fuck it up and you die” it wasn't those exact words, but i remember it was something like that. He looked extremely confused and concerned in response"

[repl1c4nt]

ffxvi desperately tries to grapple with its identity as a final fantasy game while also trying to be something the series has never been before (m rated game of thronesesque dark fantasy) and honestly i think that internal conflict really is what kills the game most because it is at its best when it sheds its expectations as a final fantasy title and becomes its own thing with gripping political drama and high stakes in a less world-ending way. ultima kills just about all intrigue the story builds up which is especially disappointing because Annabella worked incredibly well as the games primary antagonist.. her and olivier were fumbled severely imo you cant get any cooler than THE! dion lesage having an actual unspoken war with a 10 yo

there was no reason (in my opinion!!!!!!!!!) to bring ultima into the mix and change the stakes so rapidly and drastically. wow this man is being manipulated by his evil cousin fucking wife into dragging the entire continent into a pointless war all while theres disloyalty stirring among the knights dragoon led by his OWN son but its all just ultima. like ok whatever but annabella would have made a vastly more interesting antagonist liek :P but of course it has a long history of intergalatic threats (usually god adjacent) that Should be the antagonists because its what final fantasy is. stakes larger than life, epic battles and flashy effects, i know i keep comparing ffxvi to heavensward, and i generally dont do that when criticizing games but i feel like its warrented for this: how thordan functions as an antagonist and final boss vs ultima

i think the most obvious difference is thordan is there and apparent since the beginning however ultima serves roughly the same purpose as lahabrea the background scheming ever-present force manipulating the game however lahabrea is merely a conduit by which thordan achieves his goal of being the god-king and not the surprise twist antagonist there to shed every character of their interesting appeal. barnabas suffers the most from this being easily the most interesting man here (i struggle to really say id like to see more of barnabas given what we do see of him is.............Well)but no matter what glimpses of his psyche we do get the allure is non existent because hes not a character in any meaningful way hes Just an extra limb to ultima who ultimately serves no narrative purpose besides saying cryptic things and be a boss fight (admittedly his fight is good. maybe the most ive struggled in the game which i mean as a compliment that dps check was brutal barely made it through by the skin of my neck spamming max potions when i could and relying solely on lb haha) where lahabrea acts as the mysterious force pushing the plot along hes only relegated to a dungeon boss as opposed to a trial because narratively it isnt lahabrea who wants this its thordan. its by his own hands that his god king form is achieved he feels like an actual character... barnabas is there to serve vague exposition that only goes barely explained by the end of 16

olivier and annabellas roles as antagonists feel more complete and thought out than the actual main 'villain' which is really disappointing, because any intrigue built by the conflict in Sanbreque is dashed when dion was simply wrong and olivier was ultima the whole time ooooooh

joshuas entire sideplot is relegated to following ultima similar to cloud but with none of the intrigue because we dont know Anything about ultima. hes only introduced to the plot as some vague concept joshua has an unexplained connection to (btw we still dk how/why joshua 'trapped' ultima in his heart/soul/whatever becos. none of it is elaborated on. i tried too i was hoping for an ff7og type hidden revelation if i did jotes side quests too but no....... i looked yall i tried i did

not to mention how joshua survivng kind of killed clives arc for me.. L3+R3 to accept the truth was kind of badass as fuck... too bad it doesnt matter and theres no truth for clive to accept joshua was never dead. clives arcs are perpetually meaningless. internal conflict about this power hes been given that could change the world for the better.. or worse and he could (and has) hurt/killed the ones he loves.. well doesnt matter joshua is alive and ifrit has caused no real harm to people who matter..

i remember talking to my irl, they were going off about fe3h about how the trailers built up political intrigue and expectation that was dashed when it all turned out to be villains behind the curtain manipulating everything with no foreshadowing and yeah... yeah

ultima was so poorly handled to me, nothing about his buildup felt coherent to me and all it did was serve to distract me from what i was genuinely enjoying (dominant political dramas) i really dislike it all.. god i wish there was more, theres a dlc coming out about leviathan, you might have honestly forgotten about leviathan because it was a single line of dialogue with no explanation build up or payoff. if you want to know why joshua namedropped leviathan and then moved on like it never existed pay square enix extra money and hopefully this wont be utter bullshit too lol.

[mystacoceti]

William H. Gass’s forward to The Making of Americans

The computer on which I am writing these words has a function which allows me to examine the layout of the page I am readying for the printer. Since this look at my text is so wide-eyed I cannot read a line, only view the lineup, a magnifying glass which I can draw down out of its shy place in the corner is provided to enlarge and make comprehensible some chose bit. Because Steven Meyer deals so wonderfully with the development and general themes of The Making of Americans, I thought I might take a moment to microscope a single sentence, one which he quotes, since that is convenient, and since it would be my contention that almost any sentence would yield the same results.

It should no longer be necessary to argue Gertrude Stein’s importance or insist upon her artistry, but I would like to highlight some of the remarkable aspects of Gertrude Stein’s prose; aspects which, if the reader pays attention to them, will slow her pace, but perhaps quicken her sense of the journey. The passage begins: “A man in his living has many things inside him . . .” (149). If we listen to this line, we shall discover how a real artist proceeds. If we look at this line (not merely read it), we shall find out how important looking as well as listening are to the understanding and appreciation of prose.

In one sense Gertrude Stein’s style is very plain, and she uses a severely limited vocabulary, but she also insists upon a colorless, somewhat vague language which is almost always oddly phrased—just far enough out of the ordinary to disconcert. If we hear that “a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do,” we know that the speaker is using this generalization to refer to himself (unless he is being ironic). Here the narrator is referring to David Hersland, and through him to the rest of us. Earlier the text has distinguished between home life, business life, midlife, and so on, but the categories have been expressed in a progressive way as “business living,” “middle living,” and “home living.” This usage is not customary. So the placement of the phrase “in his living” makes an otherwise straightforward sentence somewhat strange.

She does not write “A man through his living” because that would imply that a man’s way of life made him what he is. By emphasizing the preposition “in,” Stein suggests submergence and containment. A man’s living is larger than he is. “A man in his living has many things inside him . . .” Amanin, the music begins. The the is and the ms and the ns take over. a m an in h is l iv in g has man y th in gs in s id e h im.” The “in” in “living” and in “things” is not pronounced, but must be seen. The “man” in “man” changes to “men” in “many.” “A man in his living has men (ee th ings) inside him.” Both the look and the listen of the language matter. The “in” in “inside” and the “in” in “living” look alike but, in terms of sound, go their separate ways.

It is also typical of Gertrude Stein to employ quite colloquial expressions as technical terms “Does Merriweather have it in him to cross the country?” That is, does he have the gumption. Our selection continues (using a comma where a colon would normally be): “A man in his living has many things inside him, he has in him his important feeling of himself to himself inside him.” The schoolteacher would be expected to delete the the “in him,” because it is redundant, however this “in him” will be followed by ten more, as well as two that are submerged slightly in “inside him,” with the total number of “him”s reaching seventeen. One way or another the passage will beat away on im im im like a drum.

“A man in his living has many things inside him.” What things? “He has in him his important feelings of himself to himself inside him.” What’s that? “He has in him the kind of important feeling of himself to himself that makes his kind of man.” “In” looks its way out of “kind,” which sound the “I”—kEYEnduh. “Kinda” is the colloquial form. Meanwhile, against the in ims, and the narrow slit-shaped vowels, are increasingly placed the open os of “-port-” as well as the look-alike os of “of” and “to” with their uv oo music, and the rhyming of “come and “some” and “from,” as here: “this comes sometimes from a mixture in him of all the kinds of natures in him, this comes sometimes from the bottom nature in him, this comes sometimes from the natures in him that are in him that are sometime in him mixed up with the bottom nature in him.” You couldn’t spell “bot tom” better than it is.

We have shifted from “im” to “om”— that is, um, I’m. The function of “sometimes” (as common as “kinda”) changes, as the passage moves shrewdly from “himself” to “themselves.” “Sometimes in some men this other nature or natures in him are not mixed with the bottom nature in him at any time in his living.” The rhetoric has recaptured the opening formula. “Many of such men have the important feeling of themselves inside them coming from the other nature or natures in them not from the bottom nature of them.”

The sound shifts throughout follow and reinforce the sense. The sound connection slink the language into one melodic line, and the repetitions return us in the manner of the baroque to early elements over which we pass again like swifts in flight.

In this spindle diagram (so named because we can run our eye, the way one used to be able to thrust a knitting needle through holes punched in IBM cards, down common points of verbal return to see how the sentence revolves, eighteen “in”s and thirteen “him”s line up on the right side, and these “him”s are not the half of it, since four more can be found in the expression “important feeling of himself to himself,” giving “him” those seventeen appearances I mentioned, while “nature” has to be satisfied with eight, “sometimes” with five, and “bottom” four. the “his/this” combination is also frequent (eight).

We could easily draw up a phrase diagram, which wouldn’t split “in his living” and other grammatical combinations the way the spindle layout does, arranging the groups as the paragraph balances them throughout its length. assonance, consonance, rhyme, rhythm, repetition, phrase placement, the movement of singulars to plurals, the elaborate colloquial vagueness of reference, the careful distinctions which underlie the meaning, are used together to give emotional weight to the journey—in this case a short passage of analysis, but one which mimics the movement of life itself—a trip which trips over itself, aims at a target reflected in a mirror, returns, redoes, as habits do, when we shave ourselves, or powder our cheeks and comb our hair again, though one more day has passed, because life belongs to the progressive present, it is living, but living is “same after same,” it is variations on a theme, a deep theme, made of the mixtures of natures, it is a round, it is fugal, like the ring which Gertrude made to round her roses, and it gives rise to the feeling that, as automatic as habit is, as if it were in charge of each action, and therefore of most of life—our clamorous family of familiar, customary gestures, squalls and bites—it is nevertheless we who run the comb’s teeth through our hair, it is we who grimace in the glass, feeling always who we are despite the mechanics of our motions, the repetitions which sum a life: “Some can remember something of some such thing,” she writes; however just how does this feeling arise while scraping carrots, preparing dinner, kissing, as always, with puckered lips, so as not to get too intimate—the whore’s reserve—how does it happen that we feel we are present in a present our reruns make us absent from? shifting gears, poking in a purse, lighting up, the same creases from the same sheets in the same sleep wrinkling our bare back, so that we recognize even the rare as regular—that’s the danger—not even sighing when someone says: “your voice sounds better through the mail; and we continue simply to continue, continue to feel a sip’s a sip, the same as always, yet just this one, cool and pale, though another, cool and pale will follow, as we’ve always done, wine at five in a fine glass, because if it didn’t arise, if the feeling failed to materialize, we’d be good as dead, a phonograph, rounding on itself silently, making no music, though the needle wears and the grooves deepened and the table’s turning slows to let us know that something’s happened, something of notably no importance.

In the sentence which follows the one which Steven Meyer and I quote and comment on, another variation on the same words, another teasing of meaning out into the open, another singing of the nearly same song, occurs:

Many men has sometime in their living the important feeling of themselves to themselves inside them, some men have always this feeling inside them, most men have such a feeling more or less in them, perhaps all men and mostly all women have sometime in them a feeling of themselves to themselves inside them; this comes sometimes from a mixture in them of the kind of natures in them, this comes sometimes from the bottom nature of them, this comes sometimes from the natures in them that are mixed up with the bottom natures of them, sometimes in some of them the other nature or natures in them are not mixed with the bottom nature in them, many of such of them have the important feeling of themselves inside them coming from the other natures not from the bottom nature of them.

In the great dirge which concluded The Making of Americans, in the surge of life in the ending of it, the answer is given, and we can hear it: consciousness is like the  music of the words, for in them, and in their pace, and in their arrangement, their rhetoric, their repetitions, the patterns they lay down, in their prolonged investigation of nuance, of the subtle differences in sameness, in the in of “in” itself, lies the wonderful, the saving rainbow of awareness, the presence of force and feeling; but what should anyone expect me to say, except to say “style”—style is consciousness, arising from relation, from the way this syllable connects with that, or cell with cell until the brain bursts into seeing, with sentences whose shape is their understanding, like one which declares, as Stein might, my knowing that I am going, though I go, is never gone, if my going, and my knowing, are strongly sung. She says:

Family living can be existing and any one can come to be a dead one and every one is then a dead one and there are then not any more being living. Any old one can come to be a dead one. Every old one can come to be a dead one. Any family being existing is one having some being then not having come to be a dead one. Any family living can be existing when not every one has come to be a dead one. Every one in a family living having come to be dead ones some are remembering something of some such thing. Some being living not having come to be dead ones can be ones being in a family living. Some being living and having come to be old ones can come then to be dead ones. Some being living and being in a family living and coming then to be old ones can come then to be dead ones. Any one can be certain that some can remember such a thing. Any family living can be one being existing and some can remember something of some such thing. (925)

A routine—a rite, a rigamarole—of this kind is a recognition, a recognition which is one of a kind, though every word is old and overused and one, each perception trite, and each sorrow common. Any and every one of us will die, but only a few, a small sum at any time, can remember—really remember—something of some such thing: when our organs no longer peal, when our words no longer rhyme.

[cdyssey]

“Lyra’s Jordan” Reaction:

Hello!! I just recently got into the His Dark Materials series, and now that I’m almost done with the The Subtle Knife, I wanted to start the first season of the show! It caught my eye on Tumblr and made me want to start the books in turn. I’ve heard such good things about the series, and I’m keen to see what it does with this gorgeous world of Pullman’s.

DJDJS, nooooo, not the expositional text scrawl. I get it. You have to introduce people to this world, but still.

OH, it’s Asriel, Stelmaria, and Lyra!!!!!

Aughshsh, baby Lyra smiling at the Master. 😭

Lmao, the canon of Asriel literally just dropping his baby off at a college is objectively the funniest thing in the world. The Master is just like, Wtf? What is wrong with you, man? (To which the right answer, ofc, is a lot of things.)

OH, Dafne Keen is already everything I’ve ever wanted in a Lyra adaptation. Playful, witty, adventurous, (currently) carefree. The type of girl who has no qualms playing with a skeleton’s bones.

And I’m also really glad we get to see these shots of Lyra and Roger playing together. It feels like such a real childhood friendship.

Ooooooh, the show’s letting us see what Asriel’s up to even when Lyra’s not around, which I think is a great move. In the book, Asriel really only showed up at the beginning and end, so having some extra content to help flesh out his character is nice.

Whoa! The title credits and score are so pretty. They remind me of the ones from The Crown.

The Librarian’s fond smile at Lyra when she says please is wonderful. And then she yeets out JSJSJSJSJS. Perfect Lyra.

“The retiring room is expressly forbidden!” / “Not for family reunions.” SJSJSJ.

The Master’s hand shaking as he pours the poison into the Tokay. 🥺

They did such a good job capturing Stelmaria’s air of elegance and regality. I love her VA!!!

God @ Asriel pinning Lyra down. You suck. When I was reading the book, I didn’t know what to think of him until this precise moment, which shaded all my impressions of him from there on out.

(Holistically, tho, I actually do love both his and Mrs. Coulter’s characters. They’re both stunningly vile, but Pullman invests them with such interesting nuances that they’re genuinely two of the most electric characters in a series full of electric characters.)

God @ Lyra rubbing her shoulder after Asriel lets her go. Worst. Father. Of. The. Year.

“I’m sure he had a good reason. To be honest with you, if I were him, I would be afraid of me.” / Huh, I don’t remember if these lines were in the book, but the self-awareness here is really interesting. Asriel knows that he’s playing with dangerous fires, and he’s still doing it anyway.

That sweater on Asriel? And that little gray curl in his hair? Hot damn.

A subtle worldbuilding detail that the show was spot on to pay attention to is how all of the Scholars are essentially old men.

Between Asriel and Dr. Malone, Pullman really understands how much of academia runs on asking for grants hahahaha.

OH, MY GOD. IS THAT MA COSTA.

SHE’S SO WARM AND LOVELY AND OH MY GOD. BILLY. HE’S SO SMALL. JESUS.

And the inclusion of this little coming of age ceremony is beautiful. 😭 The Gyptians are so wonderfully communal.

BILLY 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭.

Aufh, Asriel carrying a sleeping Lyra to bed. That’s so soft.

Ur still a shitty father, tho.

But you’re a nuanced man, and I appreciate that.

Lyra waking up and smiling gently in realization. Asriel untying her shoes. Oh, my g o d.

“Can I see the man’s head?” / “No, why would I let you do that?” KWEODIDJ.

This Master and Librarian conversation has me tender. They both care for Lyra so much.

Lyra desperately pleading for Asriel to take her with him. 😭😭 And Asriel’s response: “I am sorry, but I just don’t have time for you right now.”

GOD.

“Did it look like this?” / “What?” / “The airship that my parents died in.” / “No. No, it was smaller.” Jesus.

Something that got me from the books, and that gets me here, too, is that the adults in Lyra’s life had had a similar refrain. “A college is no place for a child.” “The North is no place for a child.” And because these are the only paradigms that Lyra knows, whether through experience or imagination, the most consistent lesson that she’s ever been taught is that there is no place where she belongs.

JOHN FAA!! I love him.

And man, I’m really appreciating the way the show is paying close attention to the Gyptians, who are marginalized in their world. The way that they’re organizing to look for Billy just has me feeling some type of way.

OH? Lord Boreal!!??

“That includes her.” IT’S TIME.

I’m not going to lie. The Tumblr gif that got me interested in the series was a set of Ruth Wilson acting her ass off, so I’m ready to be hurt by her in so many more ways than one.

LMAO, this evil theme at her power walk entrance. Perfect.

The golden monkey!! He looks so deceptively cute here.

It is insane how much Dafne and Ruth weirdly favor each other. If you told me that they were really related, I’d actually believe you.

Thinks about how this is the first time Mrs. Coulter has seen her daughter in, like 12 years.

Also, ooooh, the Master in the background is intently monitoring the conversation because he knows how significant it is, and ofc, he’s absolutely wary of Mrs. C.

She’s so soft-spoken here. 😭

AUGH, and her reaching up to briefly stroke Lyra’s cheek.

“You feel utterly alone. And you feel utterly... magnificent.”

Lyra’s wide-eyed adoration of Mrs. C breaks my heart. It only makes the revelation of her true nature all the more awful. Though she doesn’t know it at this point, Lyra looks up to both of her parents, and both of them so completely fail her.

Wow, in the show, is the implication is that Mrs. Coulter gets Roger kidnapped because Lyra talked about him to her??????? Brutal.

OH, GOD. RUTH WILSON’S FACE AT LYRA UNRESTRAINEDLY HUGGING HER FOR THE FIRST TIME. THE SURPRISE, the CONFUSION, the TENDERNESS.

Roger. 😭

Ma Costa sobbing and Tony hugging her oh my g o d. I’m upset. It is no coincidence that this scene almost comes directly on the heels of the Mrs. Coulter/Lyra hug. The juxtaposition is bonechilling. Mrs. Coulter is partaking in the joys of motherhood for the first time, and Ma Costa is contending with the grief of missing a child directly because of everything that Mrs. Coulter is doing.

“Lord Asriel himself brought it to the college when you were just a baby.” Cue the Master and Librarian smiling fondly at their little Lyra, remembering. 🥺

Lyra frantically shrieking for Roger stings. The show did an excellent job of capturing their friendship—honestly, better than the books I would argue.

“BECAUSE YOU’VE BEEN A GOOD AND STRONG MOTHER TO HIM, MAGGIE.” I’m crying a little at this line because my name is Maggie, and so now I love Ma Costa even more if that’s at all possible.

John Faa’s casting is pitch perfect. He’s authoritative and stern but so caring and compassionate at the same time.

In an alternate universe, Mrs. Coulter and Lyra track down the Gobblers would be such a badass plot line.

“We’ll have plenty of time to discuss whenever you wish.” Wow, this line echoes Asriel’s from earlier: “I am sorry, but I just don’t have time for you right now.” But the irony is that they’re both saying nearly the same thing. Mrs. Coulter may say this, but she absolutely doesn’t mean it.

OH, the complexities here!! The monkey noticing that Lyra shoves the alethiometer deeper into her pocket, Pan noticing the monkey growling, and then Mrs. Coulter looking up. Such quick but charged moments.

What a magnificent first episode. I’m already hooked.

[twilightofthe]

Star Wars Characters in an Avatar: The Last Airbender AU

So I’ve been thinking of this for a while. The way I’m doing it, only Force-Sensitives will be benders cuz that feels right

PREQUELS

Anakin Skywalker: Earthbender. Well, actually he’d be the Avatar and his best skill would be firebending, but Anakin grows up in the Earth Kingdom in this AU in that desert where he races sandships and wins by sandbending. He also figures out metalbending cuz he’s a nerd and still good with metals and mechanics.

Obi Wan Kenobi: Firebender. NO WAIT LISTEN. Firebender!Obi is a hill I will die on because ik he might SEEM more like water or air or even earth, the guy in ATLA who Obi Wan mirrors the closest is Uncle Iroh. They both are distinguished war generals former war generals who ended up outcasts because the government they served was no longer what they stood for and their loved ones got hurt/killed. Both are the Wise Old Mentor who guide the troubled young men whose fathers brutally maimed them. Both are fucking deadly when they want to be and only grow stronger with age. The only difference is that Obi Wan gets along with Mark Hamill while Iroh.... Does Not. Obes is a firebender because he knows how to control it. Also, if Anakin goes evil in this AU, y’all KNOW the Mustafar fight in this would have to be an Agni Kai. Speaking of, another firebender story Obi Wan matches is Roku (yes he’s the avatar but again, was born Fire) whose friendship fallout with Firelord Sozin is VERY similar to Obi Wan and Anakin’s mess, right down to someone’s wife dying because of their BS.

Padmé Amidala: Earth Kingdom. She also leads the Kyoshi Warriors cuz c’mon Pads and her royal handmaidens are basically MADE for that right down to the facepaint. She serves the Earth King, and is a diplomat between nations

Ahsoka Tano: Waterbender. Ooooooh I debated this for a while whether she should be water, air, or fire, but ultimately chose water cuz Ahsoka gives off big Korra vibes. She’s from the Southern Water Tribe, probably figured out bloodbending but flat out refuses, more of a fighter than a healer, WILL freeze your ass Elsa-style.

Qui Gon Jinn: Airbender. Yeah so no one wiped out the airbenders in this AU, he’s the go-with-the-flow type and has the same tendency to pick up weird animals. It was between air earth and water for him but I figured he was too stubborn for water and too idealistic for earth. Definitely uses his height to wield a big airending staff around and can knock like twenty ppl over at once. Figures out energybending but only to really make his plants grow xD

Satine Kryze: Water Tribe. Ooooooh y’all Satine was the one I had the most difficulty with because ugh basically ALL freaking Mandalorians are fiery hotheads and Satine the most fiery of them all so putting her as the nonbending pacifist leader of a bunch of firebenders is VERY tempting because that would make an interesting story. However, I ultimately chose Water Tribe, the Northern Water Tribe in particular because Satine feels a lot like Princess Yue. Very put-upon leader who’s facing enemies from the outside as well as arguments within her own advisors, just wants the best for her people, ultimately willing to die for her beliefs and her people when some asshole outsider comes in and attacks, traumatizes her boyfriend when she does die and the fandom tends to poke gentle fun at her boyfriend for it afterwards. Also, Bo Katan and her Nite Owls feel a lot like the water tribe wolf warriors to me.

Palpatine: Firebender/Earth King. Yes this makes sense because although Sidious HAS to be a firebender because lightningbending, he also has to be able to screw over Padmé and Anakin. So, he’s a firebender who manages to manipulate his way into the Earth Kingdom and take control of the throne and Ba Sing Se. May or may not still hold power in Fire Nation and talk them into invading everyone anyway or not, but he’s def evil.

Yoda: SWAMPBENDER. Bahaha ok so I know that the swampbenders all kinda fell under waterbender status, right? But yea waterbender would work really well for Yoda, but you KNOW he lives in the swamp as a cretin alllll the time in this AU and trolls everyone else and likes splashing them in the face. Yoda could also def be an airbender

Count Dooku: Earthbender. Dooku is solid, tall, works with the earth, and I think Form 2 kinda looks the most “grounded”, shall I say, of all the forms. Just the way he moves and his stubbornness definitely say earthbender to me, though he could also def be fire

Mace Windu: Firebender. The way in canon he’s all about self-control and knowing how to work with the darker side of you and the rage that’s there, yea, Mace would be a smokin’ (haha) firebender

Maul: Firebender (dammit there’s too many Fire Nation in this AU see this is another reason why I put Satine in water). Maul’s all about the fiery anger, again would really work well for a faceoff against fire!Obi Wan in this AU, Maul to me really looks like a tragic, worst-case scenario never-redeemed!Zuko. So basically Azula lol which ALSO works very well for the S7 Maul vs. water!Ahsoka fight echoing the final Azula and Katara fight

Ventress: Airbender. No, not just because she’s bald and has tats xD. Ventress would make very good use of the air glider AND the airbender ability to create a bubble around someone and suffocate them. (Airbenders can’t be pacifists in this AU otherwise the only people who could go there would be Satine and the Organas lol). She fights in almost a dancer, flying around sort a way that’s similar to what Aang does, and I could also see her whapping someone with an airstaff.

Jango Fett/Boba Fett/The clones: Earth/Fire. Ok so idk how clones would exist in this universe so I’m just gonna say Jango gets around and has a LOT of kids. Jango seems a lot like a down to earth get ‘er done kind of guy, he’s got the heavy hitting kind of play the Earth Kingdom likes. Boba would be much more of a Fire Nation emigrant. The clones I’d say are mostly Earth Kingdom in personality if I had to pick with a smidge of water and some fire of their own.

Bail Organa: Fire Nation. Bail is the one who lives in the Fire Nation and refuses to really play any way besides fairly. Also good for if he and Breha raise Leia because Reasons

Bonus! Hondo Ohnaka: Air Nomad. Hondo has no bending abilities, but he flies around on a flying bison named Melch and Causes Problems. He harasses Fire Nation blimps and Earth Kingdom trading routes and dive bombs the Water Tribe and is just the Horrible Goose of the ATLA!SW world.

ORIGINAL TRILOGY REBELS AND ROGUE ONE COMING UP NEXT

[soul-embers]

Apparently it's possible for humans to become Food Souls (it was some translation from lines between Boston Lobster and Rice a while back), so could you do a scenario where Boston Lobster becomes close friends with his MA who convinces him to ease up on humans a bit, but they die and return as a food soul that hates humans even more violently than he did (like Disaster Fallen Angel level hate). They meet when MA hears about the Lobster Gang's history of fighting for the liberation of food souls.

a/n: ooooooh this sounds so cool and bittersweet. because all i can see is how the rolls are now reversed, and now it’s boston’s turn to help the fs ma to ease up and give humans a chance. 

(´;︵;`)

i just kept typing so the rest is under the cut! i stg one day i’ll sit down wth the thought of making it short it will be short. xD 

“Just give humans a chance alright. We’re not all the same, every human is different.” 

Your words meant nothing to him at first, why should he care or try to change when humans so rightly deserved the suffering that befalls them in any shape form or fashion? Now he looks back and calls himself a fool, a fool for not realizing how near and dear he held you to his heart, how close he was to you until it was too late. It wasn’t until he was holding your crumpled form in his arms, that smile that spoke of the finality of your fate, and the mix of emotions that followed afterward when you took your final breath. 

It tore him apart, the sudden severing of the Contract’s strings. How he reached out to defiantly hold onto them to feel something, anything from you, but was met with nothing. Nothing but a cold body and a dead end. Days bleed into weeks, weeks bleed into months and months bleed into years and years... become centuries. Boston loses all sense of time for so long, just going about life and having no meaning to his actions or mindless wandering with the Food Souls who remained by his side. 

Too afraid to leave him, too afraid to not be there when he finally, finally falls apart. 

“Everyone needs someone.” 

You would say this often, no matter who you would be talking about at the time. Everyone needs someone, even Boston Lobster despite how he would isolate himself or act other wise, the way his shoulders would relax when you would go to him was proof enough of that being true. The Souls can see how a now faded, and old photo that Boston keeps of you, despite its age, despite how faded it is, he takes care of it. 

They can see the care when he does those delicate little touches as if he’s running his thumb across your cheeks. The way he would look at you hadn’t changed, still that lovestruck look in his eyes he hasn’t stopped loving you after all this time. The way he would wipe the tears that had fallen onto the picture with such a delicate touch. It breaks their hearts to know that he had lost someone who he cherished so much. 

The first time Boston lays eyes on the Food Soul standing before him he is shocked. Everything else around him fades away, all he can see is you. He doesn’t realize he’s holding his breath until he says your name, in such a delicate way that the Food Souls were hopeful that you would remember, remember him. Hopeful that now, now the two of you would not be parted, but the words to come out of your mouth sting. 

To feel the hatred, the anger you have towards humans throws Boston for a loop. He takes a step forward and hears a crunch beneath his feet. Broken, bent and faces frozen in fear. The brutalized corpses of humans laid littered around you, while you stood there with a smile on your face, the energy coming off of your form is the scent of disaster. 

“I heard on the breeze, that the liberator of Food Souls would be coming this way... so how do you like this? Is this enough.. to join your ranks?” the little laugh that escapes your lips is not the laugh that he remembers, the one belonging to a close friend. 

[cheswirls]

update i watched the last 2 movies and ooooooh they were so gooooood

ss 1- typical case w the crew from the end of s2 which. caught me off guard bc i forgot they had extra manpower so they didnt replace anyone. it was oddly similar to the first pp movie?? im surprised they left tokyo, it was interesting seeing aomori, ig i knew all of japan was isolated and in peace but everything operates from the capital so like. i didnt expect anywhere else to have anyone. granted it was a nuclear waste facility and nothing else. but it makes me wonder if there are other settlements outside tokyo?? major settlements at least. after s1 i had assumed it was mostly agriculture land n stuff. anyway k back to the eerily similar, so the entire thing at the end ended up being orchestrated by another cyborg that housed a sibyl member, thus sibyl itself, which was exactly like the seanu commander in the pp movie. weird that they would go that route again. the whole plot was rly neat i like when the psb goes places they dont have complete authority in, it rly provides a new perspective. also i like mika now. she seems to have mellowed out a little. 

ss 2- ahhh and now i can see where foreign affairs comes in and takes a member, maybe, they were very vague about all of it. im assuming the new case was concerning bifrost but maybe one of the interconnected cases from s3 had more to do w them, cant remember correctly. it was cool to get info on sugou bc he was such a bg force in s2, even though d3 and d2 got more focus than in s1 sugou wasnt as big as the inspectors of s2 or the other enforcer who ended up dying i think so like. this was cool to see!! i didnt think japan had a military since they had such a heavy isolation policy but ig taking the movie into account its a way to gain territory and expand sibyls reach or thats how im gonna take it. what other reason would there be. why would they aid foreign countries when they are entirely self-sustaining. i rly felt for rin tbh i knew the dropped package was some kind of weapon but i didnt think it was gas. brutal tbh. seeing masaoka again broke my heart also seeing risa again was a nice surprise!! i was scratching my head the entire time trying to figure out if she was a d1 inspector or if kogami was still the inspector. i know akane replaces kogami or at least she fills a slot, but risa is in d2 later on so trying to figure out who is where was uh. hm. granted if kogami was the inspector hed jus go w masaoka so theres that. seeing okinawa was a trip omg!!! at least theres some sort of care facility. the subtitles said ginoza’s mother had youth stress deficiency but i think it meant eustress, which has been mentioned in s1 and s2. its prolly a rly small settlement that only consists of ward patients or smth bc there was no one else around. besides that seeing sugou’s backstory was rly great. 

ss 3- hnnnnnnnn this one was. good. dont know what i expected but that wasnt it. rly cool seeing cultural stuff in tibet even if its future and war-torn tibet. tenjin was adorable i was never able to gauge her age but i wanna say older than 10. maybe like 12. shes rly tall but i wouldnt put her over 15. shes such a good and well written character. seeing kogami again was a trip. the only thing biting me was the entire movie showed him not using lethal force on anyone and yet. at the end he ends up killing someone anyway. granted it was another revenge kill but like it jus hit me that the movie worked up that he wouldnt kill only for him to do so in the end. dunno if the message was ‘if its for good reason’ or ‘in the end itll always turn out like this’ but i think theyre both meek points at best. i rly like all the camaraderie in this one. it doesnt take long for you to get why everyone is so friendly w each other and you dont need it shown thru very much. its jus little scenes that pile up. besides that kogami is jus likeable. seeing him Struggle was jus. :\ like killing someone, actually killing and not sibyl-sanctioned killing w a dominator, rly fucked w him at the end. the essence of makishima is literally haunting him now thats fucked to see. well ig now i know how he joins foreign affairs but not ginoza still!! like the first movie focused on him n mika and yet he wasnt approached or anything at the end so. so. maybe it was setting up that his heart would be swayed to join but in the end he was in the dark abt the director so uhhhhhh hmm. dunno.

all of these were so good im at least rewatching the first ep of s3 now to get a lil more context. ik foreign affairs doesnt come in until the end of the case but tbh this first one is so boring. or at least the least exciting of the three. i would however watch the end of s3 again bc i love the situation type it presents. theres not a name i know of for it, but like the locked in a building n have to disable everything n fight your way thru the levels type deal. i could watch that type of plot for forever. i dont even remember why foreign affairs was involved tbh i think the pathfinders?? had smth to do w it but they were never explained. i thought theyd get explained in the ss but. no.

actually nothing was set up for s3 in the ss movies???? still dont know why akane was locked up. maybe theres extra content i need to see or so. anyway movies were good, think that concludes my psycho pass (re)watch

[demoisellebeauty]

It seems I have been tagged by my partner in crime @princebete to write a shitty explanation of my character so AWAAAY WE GO

Hello, my name is Belle which means “beauty” and damn did my parents have good foresight because I’m a banging piece of ass. Or well when I say parents I mean my dad since my mom was brutally murdered by the company that made this movie for the sole reason that she is my mom and I’m not allowed to have a mom except to have her memories make my dad angsty and shit because if there’s one thing that really needed explanation it was the reason that I’m living in a village? Not really a question I had as I’m more interested in wondering why I can’t have a mom but what are you gonna do?

Anyways this village is pretty much the French equivalent of Hicksville, probably including the incest for all I know. Like we’re talking ultra conservative “women who wear their hair down are going to the Devil” type people. So obvs they don’t like the fact that I’m literate even tho let’s be real they’re probably also jelly of my mad skills at simultaneous reading and walking without bumping into shit. I got that fucking mastered and I’d like to see you try it and look as fly as I do. And I really just wanna get the fuck outta here but because I have a dad who’s dangerously close to blowing up himself and our house at any given moment I don’t have a lot of choice. Also we’re poor and if you’re poor you’re kinda fucked if you’re not spending every waking moment working your ass off.

It doesn’t help that there’s this fuckboi named Gaston who doesn’t know the meaning of “you ain’t getting NONE of this.” Damn jerk always throwing my books in the mud, do you know how expensive books are in this time period? Ass. And then he talks some shit about how women shouldn’t be reading and thinking and I’m like... ew. Like Gaston’s pretty hot but if his looks are a 9 out of 10 his personality is a 0. And I’m a pretty modern girl for my time, right? Like I’m all about women’s rights so it REALLY fucking sucks to be stuck in a time period where all they want you to do is get married and pop out babies until you die of the plague.

So I’m pretty damn happy that Dad’s finally got his amazing if probably lethal judging from how it can either chop you into pieces or give you a concussion invention and he goes off to a convenient fair so that we can get rich and get the fuck out of this place leaving me by myself which, really? You couldn’t take me with just this once? I know we got a farm to take care of and all but you remember fuckboi Gaston? BARGES THE FUCK INTO MY HOUSE AND PROPOSES TO ME, AFTER GETTING MUD ON ANOTHER ONE OF MY BOOKS. Did I mention he already had the wedding set up because he didn’t think there was any way I would say no? What a douche. NOT TO MENTION THAT I DON’T KNOW HOW HE HASN’T PICKED UP ON THE FACT THAT GETTING MUD ON MY BOOKS DOES NOT TURN ME ON.

After very literally dumping fuckboi in the dirt Philippe just HAS to interrupt my wistful longings for a better life to let me know that Dad somehow managed to fuck up a simple trip to the fair meaning that I have go and find him.

Naturally, my Dad just HAD to turn out to be in a spooky haunted castle straight out every gothic novel ever ruled by a giant ass talking and rly extra dramatic buffalo-lion thing that’s fugly as hell. I don’t know at the time whether he’s actually a giant animal or just a furry but both options are not ideal. I end up promising fugly buffalo-lion guy that I’ll stay in exchange for dad’s freedom and he agrees only for the asshat to drag my dad out without even letting me get to say goodbye smh. But I barely have time to think about that before it turns out that to make the castle even creepier, a shitton of the furniture is alive and walking and talking and it’s horrifying in a “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” kind of way. It’s really messed up when you try to think about what that must be like. But that said, dancing plates makesfor great dinner theatre, Toby’s should hire these guys.

Once I’m done with dinner I sneak out into the West Wing. Yeah, buffalo-lion guy said not to but I DO WHAT I WANT OK. And I mean yeesh if he’d wanted me to stay out of his room, maybe he should have told me that it was his room instead of forbidding it. Guy was asking for someone to come a-knocking. But damn, his room is more trashed than the aftermath of the worst frat boy party you’ve ever seen but hey, at least there’s a portrait of some random but hella fine dude but oh wait, there’s a pretty glowing floating rose that’s pretty obviously magic so I do what any reasonable person would do and try to touch said shiny floaty flower.

Of course I nearly shit myself when buffalo guy just comes in out of nowhere and starts screaming at me for invading his man cave (beast cave?) and tells me to gtfo I’m like “I can do that. I’m noping out, that’s it. im out bitches” Except maybe it wasn’t a brilliant idea to ride a horse out into a blizzard and thick woods filled with starving wolves. Thankfully buffalo guy saves me before dramatically collapsing and making me having to drag his ass back to his castle. Do you have any idea how much that guy weighs? It’s a good thing I work out cause I was this close to giving up. Its around then that I start to realize Buffalo guys (who’s name I never catch for whatever reason) might look scary but he’s actually just a large hairy man child and once he gets his shit together he’s not that bad a guy I guess.

Course it doesn’t hurt that he gave me a whole library. definitely turns me on more than dropping my book into mud. Not that buffalo guy turns me on but like he’s nice, you know, actually kind of sweet but im not thinking about him that way ya nasties. except ok maybe a little cause like we had this dance and everything and it got really sensual and idk what would’ve happened if I hadn’t cockblocked us by wondering about dad. Which, turns out buffalo guy (how do I still not know his name?) has a magic mirror that shows you shit (and I really hope he hasn’t been using it to look at me at certain times in the evening cause usually around then im either singing off key in the shower or masturbating over weird kinky beast sex).

dad’s in trouble fucking AGAIN cause the poor guy can’t go ten minutes without me around to bail out his ass and Buffalo guy lets me know and its really nice but I friendzone him for the moment and out to find dad and take him to the village instead of the castle where we might find better medical care and comfortable conditions for him. not one of my greatest ideas I admit. Things still would’ve been if only GASTON MCFUCKBOI hadn’t come to fuck everything up by trying to extort me into marrying him by throwing my dad into the insane asylum, which yes, he’s a little insane but like I’m into bestiality so... I can’t judge him. I try to wipe the smile off fuckboi’s face by proving buffalo guy exists only... now fuckboi wants to kill buffalo guy so I kinda fucked up . 

I eventually get back to the castle just in time to save buffalo guy only not really because GUESS WHO FUCKS ITS UP FOR EVERYONE? if you guessed fuckboi you’d be right cause he just goes full Shakespeare and stabs buffalo guy right before falling to his death, which sucks maybe but I’m more sad about buffalo guy (SERIOUSLY WHAT’S HIS NAME) dying before I could tell him that I was up for kinky beast sex but instead of that I just tell him I love him.

Then I swear it was like I had an acid trip or something because Buffalo guy suddenly starts floating and glowing and going through a magical girl transformation into the hella fine dude from that portrait in his room and- ooooooh I get it he was cursed it was super obvious, you’d think a smart girl like me would’ve caught on to something like that but I guess not. 

But the good news is that buffalo guy is human so I don’t have to worry about being into bestiality and we kiss and there are actual literal fireworks which is awesome and there’s something about a spell or whatever idk but i’m more concerned with asking WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR REAL NAME SO I CAN SCREAM IT IN BED.

But yeah we live happily ever after and all that jazz cause I’m a princess now and don’t have to do my own shit anymore. Moral of the story is find a hairy sugar daddy cause he’ll turn out to be secretly hot and not mind your weird kinks.

TAGGING: all the shitty muses