#or classic sci fi he likes Star Wars

[gargoyleofhumankindness]

Jack says they stole his books

Jack had books?

What does jack read?

[vaguely-concerned]

I couldn't help myself, I had to make Zero in beskar armour a reality. my desperation to see it realized overpowered my trepidation in the face of drawing armour, such was its power. (it was actually really fun to draw tho, turns out!) I imagine that it's beskar prosthetic arm + plate armour on the upper body and right arm, where the majority of Zero's remaining organic parts are still hanging out, and beneath that a cortosis weave undersuit for the whole body as an extra layer of insurance. altogether it probably costs more than the yearly national budget of a decently sized Mid-Rim planet and involved several acts of brazen, breathless corruption/treason on Blue's part, but damn if Zero isn't going to be all but invulnerable by the end of it (and ready to face down lightsaber users especially -- this could be real cool if they'd end up going against Louphan eventually).

needless to say blue has a picture of zero in full armour hanging over his bed like a pinup poster. yes in a horny way. he also definitely helped design the look of it

+ my first little design idea sketch! (or rather the first one that stuck/didn't make me want to crawl under a rock and never come out haha)

[lestatslestits]

The reason David Tennant is the universal Tumblr experience is that he’s just unavoidable. You like sci-fi? He’s the Doctor (x2). You prefer other science fiction? Star Wars? He’s there. He’s Crowley Good Omens. You like Marvel? He’s Kilgrave. You like your standard Disney animated fare? He’s Scrooge McDuck. You like Shakespeare? He’s Hamlet. He’s Macbeth. He’s Benedick. He’s Richard II.

And if he’s not there, his family is. You prefer Classic Doctor Who? You’re watching his father-in-law. You’d rather watch fantasy, like something set in the Game of Thrones universe? Well, buddy, you’re not gonna believe this—

[mylastmoleculeofserotonin]

Ik that this probably isn’t a new take, but I haven’t seen it talked about enough: I think the reason why so many Star Wars fans dislike the Acolyte is because the fan base is dominated by men and the genres that the Acolyte occupies tend to attract female audiences. Star Wars started out as an action-adventure sci-fi story which are genres that attract male audiences and features the Hero’s Journey which has roots in ancient mythologies and is often accompanied by the main character transitioning from boyhood to manhood. However, the Acolyte is dark romance mystery/suspense story, which not only attracts a more feminine audience, but is also (to an extent) the exact thematic opposite of the stories that men typically read/watch.

The interesting result of the audiences being used to different genres is that they identified different characters as the focal character. Male and action/adventure accustomed viewers picked out Sol as the hero of the story as he at first seems like the most heroic and likely to go on a Hero’s Journey; female and dark romantasy/mystery accustomed audiences, however, saw Osha as the main character because she resembles the classic YA Fantasy protagonist (sources: instagram posts and other random opinions I’ve come across). Episode 3 painted the Jedi in the best possible light and Mae and the witches in the worst possible light, and while female audiences immediately identified it as an unreliable narrator moment, male audiences took it at face value and thus assumed the inconsistencies of the witches’ deaths and Mae’s motives were careless writing. Then, when the Jedi’s actions weren’t painted as heroics, the criticism from male fans shifted away from the writing being poor to the show “glorifying” the Sith and breaking down the Jedi=good Sith=evil dynamics, while the female fans began getting excited for Osha’s corruption and Mae’s redemption.

So, in conclusion, this show is just a different genre than the rest of Star Wars and men need to just accept the fact that they were not the target audience.

[pinkanonwrites]

The Immensity of Vacancy

Energon Universe Jetfire/Human Reader, +1200 words

Just a little bittersweet something I wrote after the last issue of the Skybound comics came out. Jetfire my sweet, you did not deserve your fate.

ENERGON UNIVERSE COMIC SPOILERS AHEAD.

It was curious how even the most harrowing of circumstance could, with enough time and enough patience, shear down its jagged edges until it became something nearly palatable. 

Not comfortable. Primus, no, never comfortable. But palatable.

Stars no longer graced Jetfire’s curious optics, all light snuffed in favor of an inky nothingness soothed only by memory. There could be no ache of stasis lock when the freedom of movement had been ripped from his frame entirely, left to the whims of his fellow Cybertronians. The breems of silence would stretch into cycles, tuning his remaining audials ever finer upon the low thrum of Teletraan, the rattle-step of Autobots passing through corridors below. 

Perhaps that was why he could always hear you coming.

Your footsteps didn't boom or echo like those of Optimus Prime, never accompanied with the screech of tires like Arcee or Cliffjumper. Instead came the soft tink tink tink of tiny, booted feet against the resonant floor, the jangle of metallic jibbitz swinging from a clip on your belt. ‘Keys’ you had called them, though they were nothing like the data-keys or passcodes more familiar to him. ‘One for my car, one for my house, one for the back door at work.’ Primitive, but undeniably clever. 

You always paused in the doorway of the hangar when you approached, a brief instance of silence. Perhaps you were waiting for a transformation from him, a flourish of panels shifting and plates fluttering into place to reveal his root mode, his towering form compared to your own tiny one. You knew as well as he did that idea was an impossibility, but you paused nonetheless.

“Hey. Are you awake?”

Jetfire spent much time in recharge nowadays, the only respite from the insurmountable emptiness that surrounded him that remained in his control. It was another consistency from you, willing to let him rest for untold lengths of time, as if your own presence was not wildly preferred.

“Yes. For quite a while now.”

You let out a soft, sad sounding hum. “I’m sorry I couldn't get here earlier.”

“That's alright. I’m sure you have much of your own work to attend to.”

“Maybe, but it's not really anything exciting.” He could hear the shuffle and thunk of your backpack hitting the metal landing bay, the pull of the zipper. When you settled in your spot on the floor and leaned back against his landing gear, heat radiated through the space where your back pressed to his cool plating. “Work, mostly. Had a late shift last night, so I ran to the library this morning instead. The librarian actually recognized me.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No, I just didn't expect it. I never went there until recently, anyway. Guess now that I’m going in a couple days a week I’m becoming a regular. Imagine that.”

Jetfire let out a soft hum. “We’ll never be wanting for reading material then.”

You seemed to hesitate for a moment as you removed something from your bag, the flutter of paper against your fingertips tickling his audials.

“I brought a new book. ‘The War Of The Worlds’. It’s an old sci-fi classic.” You softly fanned through the pages again. “It’s about, um… It’s about aliens. That come to take over Earth. It was probably a stupid choice, we can read something different if you want.”

He could understand your hesitation. Though Jetfire had not spent long interacting with the local lifeforms of your planet, he’d heard more than enough from the other Autobots about the occurrences at the power plant; The terror, the violence. The story of a hostile occupation from beings infinitely more powerful and dangerous than the planet’s inhabitants could strike offensive if presented in the wrong way, to the wrong bot. And yet…

“I would like to hear it.”

He couldn’t help that part of himself that yearned to understand. To learn. How often would he get the chance to hear the perspective of another species, better yet from the species themselves? Considering his current state, likely never again.

“Are you sure? It doesn’t have to be this, I brought other books. To Kill A Mockingbird, Treasure Island, maybe some Shakespeare-?”

“No, I… I want to hear it. I’d like to understand.”

You hesitated further still, as if you were waiting for Jetfire to change his mind. Then you let out a small, huffy noise, like you were trying to clear your vents. Jetfire recognized the sound to be what you’d called a “sniffle”. Paper shuffled, you let out a low, steadying sigh, and began to read.

“No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own…”

You were a delightful narrator, though you’d often brush off Jetfire’s compliments as to the former. ‘You should hear David Attenborough!’ you’d reply, though Jetfire had no idea who this apparent man was. Your cadence and accent would adjust slightly when switching characters, like you were putting on a play. The first descriptions of the alien conquerors were read with a faux suspense, as if you could scare the Cybertronian with narration alone. And yet, when you came upon the paragraph describing the first human deaths, there did your energy began to falter. You shifted against his landing gear, swallowing thickly as you described the heat ray that jumped from man to man, ‘...as if each man were suddenly and momentarily turned to fire.’ Your hesitance didn’t seem to stem from the words themselves, but the context in who you were reading them to. Did the recent Decepticon attack on the hospital strike as close to home mentally as it did physically?

You paused again at the end of the chapter. Usually here Jetfire would have rattled off the questions he’d saved while you were reading, foreign concepts and names of unknown locations and the intricacies of human interaction that he didn’t quite comprehend. But he found himself in silence here as well. Not stunned, not scared, merely… contemplative.

“Sorry. It’s not too late to read something else, you know. Treasure Island’s still on the docket.” You murmured, fingers tapping absentmindedly along the book’s spine. 

“There’s no need to apologize. Already it’s a fascinating tale.” He paused for a moment, mulling over his words. The question he was about to ask seemed painfully obvious. Yet, he couldn’t find it in himself to leave it unsaid. “Are all humans this afraid of… aliens?”

‘Will all humans be this afraid of us?’ He did not ask.

“I think…” You hummed, head thunking back against his landing gear plating. “I think that most humans are afraid of the unknown. The idea that there’s something out there we can’t understand. We don’t like being reminded that we aren’t actually in control. That at any point in time we could die.”

Jetfire thought back to Cybertron- the expeditions failed, the cities razed, the lives lost- and he understood the sentiment exactly. 

“Would it comfort you to know that the experience isn’t uniquely human?” 

You barked out a short laugh. “A little, actually.”

Jetfire had spent so much of his life in the cold. The cold of space. The cold of the ice. The cold of the silent, empty hangar. But here, in this moment, with your body pressed to his plating, your voice filling the blackness, he felt inexplicably warm. 

“I’d still like to hear more, if you would continue.”

Though Jetfire could not see your smile, it was more than enough to hear it in your voice.

“Sure thing, big guy.”

[moodyvoid]

if the lov decided to have a movie night, what movie would each of them want to pick?

The League of Villains movie night choices.

Okay keep in mind I don’t know Japanese films so this is all coming from my own americanized movie knowledge. These are merely suggestions and there could be way better Japanese movie options for each of them!!!

Mr. Compress: I could see Compress having such a wide range of taste. Musicals, yes. Mafia movies, yes. True Crime Documentaries, yes. Heist movies, yes. Courtroom Dramas, yes. Old black and white films, yes. Any of these genres could work for him. I’d say movies like “Ocean’s 11” “The Godfather” “Les Miserables” and “Sweeney Todd”.

Spinner: Spinner is gonna like some sci-fi action films like “The Terminator” or “Alien” series. He’s also going to like the nerdier stuff like the “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings” franchises. He also likes video game movies.

Toga: “JENNIFER’S BODY” — ENOUGH SAID. (romance, blood, girlies being bisexual.)

Dabi: I don’t see him watching very many movies, but he loves a good revenge plot like “The Crow”. Otherwise, any horror flick is also a good time for him. Sometimes psychological horror. Sometimes body horror. Everyone dreads when it’s Dabi’s turn to pick the movie. He tortures them on purpose. 💀 (Which he is very proud of— also, speaking of torture, he likes the “Saw” franchise).

Twice: COMEDIES like “Jackass” and “Stepbrothers”. Also ACTION COMEDIES like “Bad Boys” and “Hot Fuzz”. I can also see him liking some classic 80’s films like “The Goonies” and “Back to the Future”

Shigaraki: Similar to Dabi he also likes revenge movies, “John Wick” in particular— but even more similar to Spinner, MAKE ‘EM NERDY! “Kill Bill” vol 1&2. VIDEO GAME movies. “Resident Evil” “Silent Hill” “Mortal Kombat”

Yeah, they all argue every movie night.

The only ones not arguing are Shigaraki and Spinner bc their tastes are similar.

[ryin-silverfish]

Ping Jinchuan: A 19th century Sci-fi Shenmo Novel

Like all popular novels, when something sets a trend, many imitators follow suit, until the formula becomes its own genre of sorts.

FSYY is one such genre setter. Specifically, the "Battle of Arts" (斗法) formula, where immortals and deities are added into a historical event——usually a war, but it can also be something like Admiral Zheng He's voyage——and proceed to use said setting as an excuse to battle it out using spells, magical treasures, and formations.

It's such an enduring formula, late Qing novels were still following it. And because it's the 19th century, western technology and ideas were entering China and making their way into popular culture.

My first exposure to the results comes from Legends of the Eight Immortal Attaining the Dao (八仙得道传), where the narrator occasionally interrupts the story and goes: "Electricity-based technology is totally the work of Mother Lightning, guys!"

Why am I telling you all these random facts? Because Ping Jinchuan ("Quelling the Golden Stream") is that, but turned up to eleven.

Technically, FSYY is set in Shang dynasty China. Technically, Ping Jinchuan is an obscure 1899 novel about the quelling of rebellions in Qinghai and Tibet during the 18th century by the historical general Nian Gengyao.

However, considering that FSYY has 11th century BCE gunpowder weapons, and...the entirety of Ping Jinchuan, I really doubt the claim of the latter novel's author that the story is based on the eye witness accounts of his ancestor, who worked as an advisor under Nian Gengyao.

But if you insist, here's a rough summary of the historical background: the first war Nian fought in Tibet happened during the reign of Kangxi, because the Dzungar Khanate invaded Tibet.

The second rebellion Nian quelled in Qinghai, during the reign of Yongzheng, was started by  Lobzang Tendzin. He fought against the Dzungar Khanate with the help of Qing army, but rebelled together with local chiefdoms and Mongol leaders when he was not granted the rulership of Tibet afterwards.

(Confusingly enough, during the reign of Qianlong, there were also 2 other rebellions by the chieftains of "Greater and Lesser Jinchuan" in northwestern Sichuan, which might be where the novel's name came from.)

Naturally, the novel proceeds to tell a "Battle of Arts" story, about Tibetan Buddhist monks, Muslims, Daoist sages, and the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church duking it out with typical Shenmo novel treasures...and 19th century magitek.

There is potential for some serious analysis about Qing military expansion, violence on the frontiers, how foreign religions and people are perceived through the framework of popular fiction, etc. But honestly, after seeing the above summary, are you really here for *that*? 

I'm not, because I don't know nearly enough about the historical context, and the entire premise is ridiculous enough to defy any attempt at taking it seriously——unless the attempts are ironic.

Case In Point

The novel starts off pretty tame: Lobzang Tendzin, "King of Jinchuan", wanted to send his own Dalai Lama candidate to Tibet after the previous Dalai's death, as part of a power ploy to make himself the de facto ruler of Tibet.

He allied himself with Galdan, the Dzungar ruler, to force the Tibetans to accept his candidate at gunpoint——literally.

Their firearms and cannons got stopped by a Lama named Ding Chan, who used his meditation power to summon divine warriors and fend off the first wave of attack.

However, his meditation was broken by the plight of Jinchuan soldiers disguised as female refugees, and later, Galdan assassinated him in his sleep with a firing squad during a treaty talk organized by the Qing.

Emperor Yongzheng was not happy and sent Nian Gengyao and Yue Zhongqi to quell the rebellion. Also, Nian is actually the Heavenly Dog Star incarnate, who learned martial arts, classics, war strategy, and all sorts of neat stuff in his youth from a poor Buddhist monk.

Later, said monk and Yue's master sent a bunch of their disciples to Nian and Yue as reinforcement, before the battle began. 

Then, in Chapter 4, Nan Guotai was introduced as the fictional son of the historical Belgian missionary, Ferdinand Verbiest. Nicknamed "Little Lu Ban", he was well-versed in the arts of western machinery and firearms, and the first sign of the story going completely off the rails.

The first "Battle of the Arts" round was pretty standard——Five Phase Formation, magical breaths, treasures. But Nan was ordered to make 15 "mechanical carts" that could produce flames, in conjunction with a field of landmines, to assist in the breaking of the Five Phase Formation. 

Despite the similarity, they aren't tanks, but more like...trapped cargo trailers/RVs. Basically, they had "doors and windows" with built-in mechanisms that only allowed entry into the carts and could not be opened from the inside, and once the enemies were trapped, the carts became giant incinerators.

After losing the first round, the King of Jinchuan put up a recruitment poster for "talented followers of the Three Religions"...except the Three Religions weren't Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism, but Islam, Buddhism, and Daoism, since the story is set in Qinghai, where there was a notable population of Hui people (Chinese Muslims).

After seeing the poster, Galdan's wife decided to seek help from her own master, the Patriarch of the Snowy Mountains. He is a Muslim sage with 12 powerful disciples...who all wielded typical Daoist treasures.

They all got overshadowed by the next round of Steampunk Shenmo Battle, though, when an unrelated Daoist showed up with his trump card: "Strong Water", a.k.a. magical hydrochloric acid.

The magical HCI was then put into giant glass syringes and fired at Nian's troops, resulting in significant casualties. To bypass the HCI syringe cannons, Nan unrevealed his latest invention: the Skysoar Orb, a.k.a. hot air balloon.

The Qing troops then mounted firearms and cannons onto the air balloon, flew it above Galdan's camp to a height where the HCI syringes couldn't reach, and started shooting. However, they were all mortals, and got decimated when the enemy immortals flew up to take control of the balloons, forcing an emergency landing via needles.

After that, the hot air balloon was manned entirely by immortals, until Galdan covered his camp in a mesh of barbed wires, blocking the aerial fire but also making it impossible for him to use his own HCI syringes.

Then a little 13 years old immortal, Gengsheng the Acolyte, joined the Qing army, who's the reincarnation of the Lama executed by Galdan's firing squad. Abandoned at birth and adopted by a Daoist master, he was able to fly on clouds since he was 8-9 years old, which he used to travel to Europe. 

While he was there, a Swedish sage gifted him a powerful treasure——the Electricity Whip, which can be used to electrocute people to death...but also magically heal injuries with its currents.

I have trouble visualizing the thing. Is it a literal whip of lightning arcs (since it's described as being able to turn into a white beam), a taser, an electric cattle prod, a plasma whip, or the unholy lovechild of all the above plus a tesla coil?

Hilariously, the Electricity Whip treasure of the Nikola Tesla Sect (/sarcasm) stopped working when exposed to "dirty stuff" such as a woman's magical handkerchief. Classic folk magic style. 

After a bunch of boring fighting sequences, 6 of the 12 disciples of the Patriarch decided to get the big formations out, which were broken by buckets of pig blood. 

…Yeah, that's pretty much the extent of the author's understanding of Hui customs and Islam. (sigh) The surviving disciples went to get the Patriarch for help, who casted an AOE spell of poisonous smoke, water and fire to block the Qing troops' path...

Annnnnd Nan to the rescue again! With the help of Nian Gengyao's monk master, he built the Earth Travel Cart: a magitek subway train shaped like a pangolin, able to carry a hundred people and move a hundred Li per hour. It didn't need rails, you just dug a hole in the ground, put the train in, and it started tunneling through the earth on its own.

The entire army used 500 of these magical subway trains to bypass the Patriarch's AOE spell coverage, forcing them to retreat to their home base, Tianshan (Heavenly Mountain). Which is a real mountain range in central Asia and Xinjiang province, and going there from Qinghai is plausible. Kinda.

I'm still skeptical about the novel's claim that the path through Tianshan is the only path leading into Jinchuan proper, but whatever.

The Patriarch put his most powerful formation on said mountain pass——the Ice Freeze Formation, which will insta-freeze immortals, mortals, and flying birds alike when they step in range.

Then comes the craziest part of the entire novel. Honestly, everything after this chapter is pretty boring and formulaic, which makes it the perfect note for this article to end on.

Nan suddenly revealed that the current Roman Pope is the grandson of Matteo Ricci, who's the mentor of Nan's dad, and took his hot air balloon to Rome to get reinforcement. To no one's surprise, the Pope's treasure is a cross.

The Pope agreed and took his 12 disciples——supposedly because it's the same as the number of apostles——to the snowy mountain.

He gave a cross and a white candle to each of his disciples; they walked straight into the Ice Formation and broke it by holding the two holy objects up in the air, while loudly chanting (a highly localized translation of) "Hail Mary!"

After making his grand entrance, the Pope neutralized the Patriarch's spell attacks and turned his last disciples' army of soldiers back into their true forms——a bunch of farm animals.

He then told the disciples that as the Roman Pope, he had authority over "Russia, England, France, Netherlands" and all the European nations, and he'd leave the Patriarch to mind his own business if he surrendered and stopped interfering in the war.

Three of the four examples he gave aren't even Catholic, but maybe the Protestant Reformation just never happened in this novel's 18th century world because Pope Magic.

The Patriarch accepted the cease-fire treaty, went back to teach his religion to the population of northwestern China, and that's pretty much it. His last female disciple (Galdan's wife) got her troops' firearms neutralized by the Pope's cross, taken prisoner, and executed by Nian. 

After revealing that the Qing immortals' power also came from the Grace of Our Lord and Savior, and that was why westerners couldn't use spells (but could make electricity-based treasures?), the Pope flew back to Rome on Nan's air balloon, exiting the novel once and for all.

Which is a pity, because in the second half of the novel, one of the defeated foes escaped to (Ottoman?) Turkey to beg their king for reinforcement, and the Russian Tsar agreed to help the Jinchuan troops to make his French wife happy. I want my Papal 13 vs. Russian Orthodox Bishops Shenmo battle, dammit!

Food for thought: if the Pope was Matteo Ricci's grandson, and Matteo Ricci was also a mentor of Ferdinand Verbiest, Nan's dad (historically, Ricci died 13 years before Verbiest was even born)...

...Is this a timeline where the Jesuits won the Rites Controversy, Ricci cultivated himself into the first Catholic immortal, and ushered in the age of Syncretic Daoist-Catholic Steampunk? 

[ofmdrecaps]

07/08/2024 - 07/09/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Rhys Darby: AfterMidnight; TheCryptidFactor; Taika Waititi; Time Bandits; Con O'Neill; Samba Schutte; Nathan Foad; Kristian Nairn: Beyond The Throne and Surprise Wee John Wednesday; Madeleine Sami: Deadloch S2!; Astra TV Awards Nominations; YouBearFineThingsWell Day 1; Gold Derby Voting Reminders!; Fan Spotlight: YouBearFineThingsWell; Cast Cards; Never Left Podcast; Sea God Ed; Non-Binary Awareness Week; Love Notes;

== Rhys Darby ==

Rhys was on AfterMidnight last night, and boy did he deliver! You've probably seen gifs, and images everywhere, and the list of links to youtube below are courtesy of the Rhys-Archiver Extraordinaire @wastingyourgum!

Part 1 - Intro

Part 2 - Tokbuster

Part 3 - Talk Show

Part 4 - Pop or Unpop

Part 5 - Hashtag Wars

Part 6 - Final

Please Note: That is a Great Big Cow Band T-Shirt he's wearing, talk about a Proud Dad <3

Source: AfterMidnight Instagram / Rhys Darby's Instagram

= The Cryptid Factor =

Video version of the new Cryptid Factor Episode is up their Patreon! Here's a preview on Dan's Schreiberland Instagram!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dan Schreiber (@schreiberland)

Source: Schreiberland Instagram

== Taika Waititi ==

Looks like the promotions for Time Bandits are finally here! First off is an adorable photo of Taika and the main kid of Time Bandits, Kal-El Tuck!

Source: Kal_El.Tuck Instagram

Apple TV released their full Promo Poster!

Source: Taika's Instagram

Next we have an interview with ScreenRant, Taika, and Jemaine!

ANNNND this article from Variety + more BTS Info from ScreenRant if you're interested.

Also, apparently I'm late to the game as Con has announced this before on WJW a while back-- so his won't be news to everyone-- but for those who didn't know-- Con will be in Time Bandits as well!

And last but not least, the full trailer with some amazing shots of Taika as the Supreme Being:

Side Note: There were some trolls out there on the Time Bandits trailer trying to spread some grump, and sassy Taika came out to play! Thank you so much to IBrokeCharacter on twitter for capturing this!

Source: IBrokeCharacter on Twitter

== Samba Schutte ==

Just a quick update from Samba in his Voice Acting adventures: "Sacré booth!🎙️✨🙏🏾"

Source: Samba's Instagram

== Nathan Foad ==

Nathan out with friends looking cute AF!

Source: Nathan Foad's Instagram Stories

== Madeleine Sami ==

FANTASTIC news! Mads is getting a season 2 of Deadloch!!

Source: Madeleine Sami's Instagram Stories

== Kristian Nairn ==

Can you believe it? Kristian's doing a signed version of his book that's coming out in September! It's even got a chapter about OFMD in it! Wanna get in on it? You can preorder them in the US/UK on his Linktr.ee!

AND THEN -- Last Minute Wee John Wednesday July 10, 2024 at 9 PM BST! Kristian and Nathan will be chatting about all things Beyond The Throne, Our Flag, catching up & answering questions!

Source: Kristian & Nathan's Instagram

== SO MUCH BELOW THE CUT ==

== 2024 Astra TV Awards Nominations! ==

Our friends over @adoptourcrew were kind enough to share that Our Captain has been nominated for "Best Actor in a Streaming Comedy Series!" at TheAstraAwards! Visit the article below!

Source: AdoptOurCrew's Twitter

== REMINDER!: Gold Derby Voting ==

Be sure to get your nominations in by July 10, 2024 9pm PST!Rhys, Taika, and Our Flag Means Death are up for some more nominations-- this time the Gold Derby for best Comedy Series / Comedy Actors! It does require you to sign up, but if you'd like to add to the nominations you can follow this handy guide: Voting in Gold Derby | OFMD Renewal Repository

Thank you again to @adoptourcrew for sharing the GoldDerby information!

Source: AdoptOurCrew's Twitter

== YouBearFineThingsWell ==

As you've probably heard, @adoptourcrew has started up celebrating the upcoming #HungryGames! Check out the daily plans! Fan contributions will be highlighted in the fan-spotlight below!

Source: AdoptOurCrew Twitter

Source: AdoptOurCrew's Twitter

== Sprizzy 'Arts & Crafts' Week ==

For all you Sprizzy fans out there, 16th-23rd July is Sprizzy Week! You can join the celebration by creating things with a general theme of Arts and Crafts (fic, art, craft, edits, music, cake… whatever you would like to make!) If you're interested, please follow the Sprizzy Week accounts below! Twitter / @xoxosprizzy on Tumblr!

Source: Sprizzy Week Twitter

== Gotcha For Gaza Updates==

The sign up period for Gotcha For Gaza has ended! Starting July 9 through Aug 9 you can donate to help raise money for Palestine (they must be to the specific causes listed on their Carrd) and submit a prompt to the artists and writers! Visit OFMD Action's Gotcha For Gaza Cardd for more details!

Source: ofmdaction's Tumblr

== Fan Spotlight ==

#YouBearFineThingsWell

Starting off the fan contributions of #YouBearFineThingsWell is our glorious crewmate Meaghan! Aka @ theMeaghan on twitter! I was seriously thinking about Paddington when this whole week as announced.

Source: TheMeaghan's Twitter

Next up is our fabulous crewmate Kate! aka @ Kaddele over on twitter! Never stop Kate! These are so much fun!

Source: @ Kaddele's Twitter

And how could we pass up an entry from one of our Gif-Master Generals @ofmd-ann!

Source: @ofmd-ann's Twitter

We even had a a fine video with the description: "This gentlebeard gentlebear 🐻 was SHOCKED" made by the spectacular Ashley aka @ Seven_Sugars on Twitter!

Source: @ seven_sugars Twitter

And last but certainly not least is the magnificent Sarah, aka @ chaotickraken91 on twitter! The bear family between the cake toppers really got me in the feels!

Source: ChaoticKracken91 Twitter

There were so many amazing submissions! I was only able to get permission for some but feel free to check out the hashtag on your favorite platforms for more! Great job starting off #YouBearFineThingsWell everyone!

= Sea God Ed =

As you can imagine, our fellow crewmates have begun to draw parallels between Time Bandits and our beloved OFMD! Another fabulous edit by the one and only Ashley aka @ Seven_Sugars on Twitter!

Source: Seven_Sugars Twitter

= Cast Cards =

@melvisik's back with Marcelo Olivas! Another frequenter to Spanish Jackie's in the Republic of Pirates!

Source: @melvisik's Twitter

= Never Left Podcast =

New episode of Never Left Podcast! This week is focused on micro motifs! Listen in on your favorite platform by visiting their https://linktr.ee/neverleftpodcast!

Source: Never Left Podcast Instagram

== Non-Binary Awareness Week ==

Happy Non-Binary Awareness Week friends! Sending so much love to all our Enby crewmates out there! This week is about celebrating the identity and experiences of all our non-binary friends, so as I find them I'll try to include some relevant articles as they roll in!

28 non-binary stars and activists making the world a better place

Source: Pink News Instagram

== Love Notes ==

Hey there Lovelies! Holy Moly! What a week it's been, and it's only Tuesday!! I cannot tell you how nice it is to see so many folks so excited! It's like we got an injection of pure dopamine from all the news, and I'm so happy it's helping everyone feel a little levity!

And you know what?

You deserve a break!

You deserve to feel happy!

It's been a lot lately, and some people might try to shame you for being happy about something while there's so much not so happy going on in the world, but please oh please remember, that you deserve to have happiness too.

Even if it's just a little here or there, or bounds of happiness -- you deserve a break from all the things you have to deal with every day. You deserve a chance to smile, and to laugh, and to enjoy this crazy life we live, and bask in the warm sun, or the cold wind.

You do not need to feel bad for enjoying yourself once in a while. No matter what it is-- even if its unrelated to the fandom, or anything that's happened the last couple days, please go out today or tomorrow and enjoy something.

Do you like tea? Drink a cup of your favorite tea!

Do you like going for walks? Get on out there and move those legs!

Do you like animals? Find a random neighborhood cat (not a wild one) and give it some much needed pets if it's friendly!

Do something that brings YOU joy, not anyone else. Take a moment to savor that feeling, hold it deep down in your chest where you can feel your breath coming in and out, and remember that you deserve to feel that joy, and you don't have to do anything different, or be any different to deserve it. 💖 Sending so many good vibes lovelies-- may your day be filled with excitement and wonder, or calm and love, whatever it is that will brings you joy. 💖

[scifigeneration]

Blade Runner soundtrack at 30: how Vangelis used electronic music to explore what it means to be human

by Alison Cole, Composer and Lecturer in Screen Composition, Sydney Conservatorium of Music at the University of Sydney

In June 1994 the late composer Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou – better known as Vangelis – released his soundtrack for the 1982 film Blade Runner. It would go on to become emblematic of his skills, with only a handful of soundtracks reaching a similar level of cult status.

Prior to this, sci-fi film scores tended to be characterised by orchestral sound palettes. For instance, John Williams’ 1991 Star Wars soundtrack leaned on the London Symphony Orchestra to communicate the vastness of a galaxy far, far away.

Vangelis, on the other hand, used an electronic approach to bring a subtlety and complexity that shifted the focus inwards. His ability to communicate deep emotion, alongside expansive philosophical concepts, was perhaps his greatest achievement with Blade Runner.

Missing pieces

Director Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner was adapted from Phillip K. Dick’s 1968 sci-fi novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? – which itself was a thoughtful examination of empathy and what it means to be human. The emotional gravitas of the original story, along with Vangelis’ accompanying timbral exploration, created an aural experience that was new to sci-fi films at the time.

Vangelis began work on the score in 1981. He received edited footage scene-by-scene on VHS tapes and created live takes in his studio with his synthesiser collection.

However, the first official soundtrack was delayed some 12 years after the film’s release, due to what was reportedly an ongoing disagreement with producers.

When it finally was released, purists viewed it as more of an album than a soundtrack. They criticised it for not having much of the music used in the original film, and for including pieces that never appeared in the film, such as Main Titles and Blush Response.

While the 2007 version (a 25th anniversary edition) included some unreleased material, parts of the original soundtrack remain unreleased even today.

A symmetry between newness and nostalgia

By emphasising longer drawn out notes, rather than thick instrumental combinations, Vangelis thoughtfully taps into the atmosphere of Scott’s visual world to create something truly unique.

Early sci-fi movies such as Forbidden Planet (1956) and The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) often used electronic instruments developed in the early to mid-1900s, such as the theremin and the modular synthesiser. While these instruments helped augment concepts such as aliens, spaceships and robots, they did this somewhat simplistically.

A more sophisticated perspective pervades through Blade Runner, which combines film-noir instrumentation with classical, electronic, jazz and Middle Eastern music genres.

Specifically, Vangelis leverages the different sound qualities of synthesisers – such as bright and airy, thin and cold, or dark and thick – to at once capture emotion and highlight the complex ideas in the film’s narrative. In the final act, expansive synths dominate as the film reaches an intellectual and emotional climax.

While the synthesisers lend an artificial timbre to the score, the musicality simultaneously communicates life and feeling. In this way the foreign and familiar became enmeshed.

The film’s retro costuming and brutalist architecture also set up an expectation for the soundtrack. At times, the score will meaningfully go against this expectation by delving into a more nostalgic sound. The track Love Theme is a perfect example.

Innovative takes

Vangelis’ innovative use of dialogue in the soundtrack also helped to translate the complexities of the human condition. The tracks Main Titles, Blush Response, Wait for Me and Tears in Rain all feature dialogue in a way that makes them feel like a part of the film’s DNA.

The soundtrack’s arrangement was also uncommon for its time, as it mirrored the action narrative sequence. Tracks 1 through 4 are mixed as a single ongoing track. Tracks 5 through 7 are separated by silence, while tracks 8 through to 12 are also combined into a single piece. While this technique is common in electronic composition now, it was unique at the time.

The films dark, fraught and sad dystopian themes are further highlighted through collaborations with Welsh singer Mary Hopkins in Rachel’s Song, and Greek singer Demis Roussos in Tales of the Future.

Today, the Blade Runner soundtrack remains the most beloved of Vangelis’ works by his ardent fans – and it continues to commands its place in the 20th-century electronic music canon.

[j4desblurbs]

RESIDENT EVIL CHARACTERS AT THE MOVIES

hello from your fav cinephile (ugh)

inspo from @yurozo, their restaurant au and vape shop au made me giggle

apologies in advance if i disgustingly mischaracterize your fav. i tend to only focus on one version of them in my mind cuz i’m not 100% familiar with RE yet so pls bear with me.

enjoy :)

ashley graham (re4r)

ashley is the type of person to dress up for movies. not all the time, but when it’s right to do so. when barbie came out she dragged leon to the theater on opening day in an all pink outfit.

ashley also cries during movies and has no shame. she was blubbering her way through wicked.

as for the kinds of movies she likes, she’s mostly into romances, comedies, classic fantasies, and the odd animated film.

examples: 10 things i hate about you, enchanted, harry potter, moana.

carlos oliveira (re3r)

carlos definitely laughs out loud in a movie theater, even if the joke isn’t very funny. he mostly catches super late shows so it’s not a rare occurrence for him to be the only one in the theater.

want to see a movie you’re not sure other people will want to see? call carlos! this guy will watch almost anything and have a good time with it. when ashley wanted to watch wicked, she went with carlos because no one else was free/interested. they ended up having a great time and he even wore whatever outfit ashley had created for him. (he also blubbered his way through the movie).

because carlos seems like he’d be into so many different genres, it’s hard narrow down specific ones. but i’ll have to go with action comedies, occasional superhero/comic book flicks, and sci-fi.

examples: the nice guys, rush hour, deadpool, star wars.

chris redfield (death island)

chris is the guy who doesn’t go to the theater on his own. it’s almost always in a group outing or if claire manages to drag him.

even so, he will be out like a light without fail. the longest he managed to stay awake was an hour. one time he even fell asleep during the previews. he vastly prefers to watch a movie at home.

chris is into the classic action movies. he also enjoys buddy cops.

examples: die hard, rambo, rocky, lethal weapon.

claire redfield (re2r)

i think if anyone in this list is close to being a movie buff it’s claire. she’s at the theater the most out of everyone and always manages to drag at least one person with her too.

she enjoys the previews, loves a good post movie debrief at a restaurant, and will smack chris awake when he starts to nod off but then give up after a few times.

with that, claire is very much a “if it’s good, it’s good” type of gal so it’s hard to say exactly what kinds of movies she’d like, but i think she’d be into both sci-fi, action, and drama, as well as more lighthearted comedies.

examples: star wars, little women, the hunger games, whiplash.

jill valentine (re3r)

the movies aren’t jill’s first choice of a pastime but when she’s with a group of people, she enjoys it. usually doesn’t start out too invested in whatever it is she’s watching but ends up getting more into it as time goes on.

i’d say jill would be into a good thriller and would also appreciate some sci-fi or horror movies as well.

examples: prisoners, interstellar, the silence of the lambs, se7en.

leon kennedy (re4r/death island + infinite darkness)

leon is also like chris in that he’d prefer seeing a movie at home rather than in the theater, but he’s also less susceptible to falling asleep in the theater. leon also lets himself get dragged to movies a lot (as mentioned previously, ashley took him to barbie and he even wore a pink shirt. how sweet).

leon is a basic bitch and likes basic action movies but hey! they’re popular for a reason. he also enjoys a good comedy.

examples: the equalizer, deadpool & wolverine, the matrix, ferris bueller’s day off.

[physalian]

On Writing Theme (Or, Make it a Question)

An element of story so superficially understood and yet is the backbone of what your work is trying to say. Theme is my favorite element to design and implement and the easiest way to do that? Make it a question.

A solid theme takes an okay action movie and propels it into blockbuster infamy, like Curse of the Black Pearl. It turns yet another Batman adaptation into an endlessly rewatchable masterpiece, seeing the same characters reinvented yet again and still seeing something new, in The Dark Knight. It’s the spiraling drain at the bottom of classic tragedies, pulling its characters inevitably down to their dooms, like in The Great Gatsby.

Theme is more than just “dark and light” or “good and evil”. Those are elements that your story explores, but your theme is what your story *says* with those elements. 

For example: Star Wars takes “dark vs light” incredibly literally (ignoring the Sequels). Dark vs Light is what the movies pit against each other. How the selfish, corrupted, short-sighted nature of the Dark Side inevitably leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom—that’s what the story is about.

A story can have more than one theme, more than one statement it wants to make and more than one question to answer. Star Wars is also about the inevitable triumph of unity and ‘goodness’ over division and ‘evil’.

Part of why I love fantasy is how allegorical it can be. Yes I’m writing a story with vampires, but my questions to my characters are, “What makes a monster? Why is it a monster?” My characters’ arcs are the answer to my theme question.

Black Pearl is a movie that dabbles in the dichotomy between law-abiding soldiers and citizens, and the lawless pirates who elude them. Black Pearl’s theme is that one can be a pirate and also a good man, and that neither side is perfect or mutually exclusive, and that strictly adhering to either extreme will lead you to tragedy.

Implementing your theme means, in my opinion, staging your theme like a question and answering it with as many characters and plot beats as possible. In practice?

Q: Can a pirate be a good man? A: Jack is. Will is. Elizabeth is. Barbossa is selfish and short-sighted, and he loses. Norrington is too focused on propriety and selfless duty, and he loses.

Or, in Gatsby.

Q: Is life fulfilled by living in the past? A: Mr. Buchanan clings to his old-money ways and is a sour lout with no respect for anyone or himself. Daisy clings to a marriage that failed long ago, to retain an image and security she thinks she needs. Myrtle chases a man she can’t ever have. Her husband lusts after a wife who’s no longer his. Gatsby… well we all know what happens to him.

The more characters and plot beats you have to answer your theme’s question, the more cohesive a message you’ll send. It can be a statment the story backs up as well, as seen below, questions just naturally invite answers.

—

Do you need a theme?

Not technically, no. Plenty of stories get by on their other solid elements and leave the audience to draw their own conclusions and take their own meaning and messages. Your average romance novel probably isn’t written with a moral. Neither are your 80s/90s action thrillers. Neither are many horror movies. Theme is usually reserved for dramas, and usually in dramatic fantasy and sci-fi, where the setting tends to be an allegory for whatever message the author is trying to send. That, and kids movies.

Sometimes you just want to tell a funny story and you don’t set out with any goals of espousing morals and lessons you want your readers to learn and that is perfectly okay. I still think saying *something* will make the funny funnier or the drama more dramatic or the romance more romantic, but that’s just me and what I like to read.

When it is there, it’s right in front of your face way more often than you might think. Here’s some direct quotes succinctly capturing the main theses of a couple famous works:

“He’s a good man.” / “No, he’s a pirate.” - Curse of the Black Pearl

“What are we holding onto, Sam?” / “That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.” - LotR, Two Towers

“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.” - LotR, Fellowship of the Ring

“A person’s a person, no matter how small.” - Horton Hears a Who

“You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” - The Dark Knight

“Can’t repeat the past? Why of course you can!” - The Great Gatsby

“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” & “Life finds a way.” - Jurassic Park

"Ohana means family. Family means nobody gets left behind." - Lilo & Stitch

“But… I’m supposed to be beautiful.” / “You are beautiful.” - Shrek

“I didn’t kill him because he looked as scared as I was. I looked at him, and I saw myself.” - How to Train Your Dragon

“There are no accidents.” & “There is no secret ingredient.” & “You might wish for an apple or an orange, but you will get a peach.” - Kung Fu Panda

*If any of those are wrong, I did them entirely from memory, sue me.

Some of the best scenes in these stories are where the theme synthesizes in direct dialogue. There’s this moment of catharsis where you, the audience, knew what the story has been saying, but now you get to hear it put into words.

Or, these are the lines that stick in your head as you watch the tragedy unfold around the characters and all they didn’t learn when they had the chance.

When it comes to stories that have a very strong moral and never feel like they’re preaching to you, look no further than classic Pixar movies.

“Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.” - Ratatouille

“I’m not strong enough.” / “If we work together, you don’t have to be.” - The Incredibles

“Just keep swimming!” - Finding Nemo

Ellie’s adventure book, to live your own adventure, even if it’s not the one you thought it would be - Up

The Wheel Well montage, to slow down every once in a while, because in a flash, it’ll be gone - Cars

The entire first dialogue-less section of Wall-E, to stop our endless consumption or else

The real monsters are corporate consumption - Monsters Inc

One cannot fully appreciate happiness without a little sadness - Inside Out

With enough loud voices, the common man can overthrow The Man - A Bug’s Life

A person’s worth is not determined by their value to other people - Toy Story

These are the themes that I, personally, took from these movies as a kid and later in life. If I remembered the scripts any better I could probably pull some direct dialogue to support them, but, sadly, I do not have the entire Pixar catalog memorized.

—

After you’ve suffered through rigorous literary analysis classes for years on end, the “lit analyst” hat kind of never comes off. Sometimes you try to find a theme where none exists, coming up with your own. Sometimes you can very easily see the skeleton attempt at having a theme and a message that came out half-baked, and all the missed opportunities to polish it.

Whatever the case, while theme isn’t *necessary*, having that through line, an axis around which your entire story revolves, can be a fantastic way to examine which elements of your WIP aren’t meshing with the rest, why a character is or isn’t clicking, how you want to end it, or, even, how you want to approach a sequel.

Unfortunately, very, very often, a movie, book, or season of TV has a fantastic execution of a theme in its first run, and the ensuing sequels forget all about it.

No one here is going to defend Michael Bay’s Transformers movies as cinematic masterpieces, however, the first movie did actually have a thematic through line: “No sacrifice, no victory.” They didn’t stick the landing but, you know, the attempt was made. Where is that theme at all in the sequels? Nonexistent. They could have even explored a different theme and they abandoned it altogether.

Black Pearl’s thematic efforts fell away to lore and worldbuilding in its two sequels. Not that they’re bad! I love Dead Man’s Chest, but to those who don’t like the sequels, that missing element may be part of why.

Shrek and Shrek 2 both centered on their theme of beauty being how you define it and no one else. Fiona finds true love in her “true” form, then strengthens that message in the sequel when she has the chance to be “normal” and conventionally attractive, and still chooses to be an ogre, to be with Shrek. Shrek 3’s theme is…? 

When it was never there, that theme is missing isn’t so obvious. When it used to be there and got left behind, it leaves a crater in its wake everyone notices, even if they can’t pinpoint why.

—

TLDR: Theme is more than just vague nouns and dichotomies. Good, evil, dark, light, selfishness, altruism, beauty, ugliness, riches, poverty, etc are what your story uses. Your theme is what your story has to say with those elements, using as many characters and plot points as possible to reinforce its message. Is it necessary? No. Is it helpful and does it lead to a richer experience? Yes.

[the-river-rix]

for the ask game:

17 and 22 for zack and sweets ! (can you tell i love hearing peoples hcs lol)

Ah, yes my two favorite white boys‼️‼️

I also love hearing ppls hcs it’s so fun and silly :)

17 What's a book, movie, or show you think [character] would like?

I’ve talked abt this before but to me Zack is a total theater kid and he would absolutely love Spies Are Forever.

I think Sweets would love resident alien and also he’d be such a Rocky Horror freak.

Even though this isn’t part of the question I think the two of them would watch classic sci-fi movies/shows (Star Trek Star Wars firefly etc) together and then bicker over the best one

22 give a hc

I’m gonna do a silly fun hc for Sweets and a fucked up sad one for Zack

Sweets: I think that he’d be super hyperfixated on the Loeb and Leopold case. I think he’d find it super fascinating and he has like every book on the subject. He’s also definitely written a thesis on it. He ends up referencing it and info dumping about it a lot on a case and Brennan starts talking about the forensic/anthropological aspects of the case with him. Booth is just sitting there going wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf

Zack: I’m gonna cheat and do two because they’re connected in my mind

1- The reason he was sent back from Iraq is that he was responsible for a soldier being injured. Given that whatever happened was bad enough to warrant a discharge and Zack is specifically described as “detrimental to a team approach” it makes sense that that would be the case. Since he was there to identify bodies and stuff like that I think he probably went out with groups and likely strayed or something like that. He either left the group or wasn’t paying attention to them saying they had to leave and one of the soldiers in the group got injured as a result. Something like Zack almost getting shot and a soldier taking the bullet. - this is quite vague and convoluted I need to do more research and flesh it out but I think about it a lot

2- Gormogon killed the other apprentice in front of him and/or made him clean the bones/body. Based on some of the specific acting and writing choices in his confession scene (ie. “the apprentice is expendable, I’m expendable”, the way he says “the master”, how terrified he is, how many details he knows: “he’s very strong and very fast” despite supposedly being blindfolded at his house etc.) it seems clear to me that Zack’s life (and likely his loved ones lives) are directly under threat by Gormogon, especially if he doesn’t comply. I personally think as part of recruiting him Gormogon made an example out of the prior apprentice, essentially warning Zack that if he doesn’t play along he’ll meet the same fate. Also clearly the stakes for Zack must be incredibly high if he’s willing to blow up his hands and put the lab at risk it would take a lot to trigger that type of action. I think that Gormogon stabbed and killed the other apprentice in front of Zack then had Zack clean the bones and cooked the apprentice, offering Zack a seat at the dinner table (which Zack declined even though he recognized the clear subtextual threat )

Sorry that’s kind of fucked up and poorly articulated but ty for the ask!!

[simon-roy]

The idea of logging on a colonized alien planet brings my mind back to the planet Lalonde from Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn books - a world that had very hard wood as its only meaningful export, and was also stuck developing its economy from agriculturalism (due to investment shortages, though).

All this is to say - Hey! What are some foundational inspirations for your sci fi verse? You gotta have some like recommendations of classic or older sci-fi for us, right? What are some of your suggestions of books and authors to read?

OK SO - My sci-fi tastes have sort of ended up in some very specific niches. Growing up, I was a Larry Niven +Jerry Pournelle man, in part because my dad amassed a huge collection of their books - then gave 90% of them away before i was old enough to read them. So one of my teenage missions was rebuilding that library, trash and all!

Stuff like Footfall, Ringworld, Gil "The Arm" Hamilton, Protector (yes i attempted to name a comic series similarly, and paid for it) "The Mote in God's Eye"... you name it, I read fuckloads of these books. And while they tend to land on a sort of human chauvinist "mankind will win based on his inherent adaptive human-ness, and the aliens will fail because of their rigid alien-ness", this shit was very foundational to me.

Their more collaborative series, The Man-Kzin Wars and War World, also loom large in my teenage mind. The Man-Kzin wars are super fun - humans meet a race of tiger-men, and go from being NWO peaceniks to roughneck cat-skinners in a generation! PEACE AND LOVE WONT DEFEAT TIGER MEN!

Similarly, war world (like lots of that 70s/80s military sci fi) was a sort of catch-all for western military nerds to play with their favorite factions - it was a planet where all the un-ruleable ethnic groups and nationalities had been deported by the authoritarian earth government, and left to rot... until a race of genetically engineered fascist super men land on the world, and start trying to rule the place. Pretty fun shit.

As I got older, I turned hard into William Gibson, and read the absolute shit out of both the Neuromancer trilogy and the Bridge trilogy, as well as his short stories. Bruce Sterling was part of that wave for me, too, and I religiously sought his old paperbacks out too. In terms of novels, "Distraction" is my favorite coherent Sterling Novel - though the short stories in the "Schismatrix" novel/collection of his remain my absolute favorite space opera pieces.

At this age, too, I found my top-top fave Sterling Stories - "Taklaman" and "Bicycle Repairman", both gritty pseudo-cyberpunk stories of the highest degree, in this collection:

This thousand-plus page collection of short stories and novellas was basically my bible for a few years - i put sticky notes on each story i loved and meant to return to, until the book was so festooned with sticky note bookmarks i abandoned the practice altogether. If you have the chance, just buy this book and chew on it for a few years.

As i got into my 20s, Charles Stross became my lode star - his books like Accelerando and Glasshouse were total game changers for me. They come with their own peculiarities, but I loved his transhuman/posthuman musings (or at least i was obsessed with his stuff for a good few years - the venn diagram of his obvious interests and my own overlapped enough that his books were great fodder for a growing sci-fi loving brain).

But since then, my main literary squeeze has been the great man, JACK VANCE. Working on Prophet, my friend @cmkosemen made a remark about how much the early issues of the series reminded him of a book series called "Planet of Adventure" or "the Tschai Cycle", by Jack Vance. The book has a beautifully simple setup - a man from an entirely undescribed spacefaring human civilization crash-lands onto a weird planet. But on that planet, he finds four separate civilizations, each who possess a population of enslaved humans, culturally and physically molded to the needs of their masters. And each book of this series covers our generic hero's interactions with each bizarre expoitative culture. I was extremely intrigued.

Soon thereafter, I found my current absolute favorite book - "THE DRAGON MASTERS". A book about an isolated medieval world... which gets visited, once every few generations, by a black pyramid starship, flown by a reptilian race known as the Greph. The greph capture humans to (surprise surprise) breed them into hyper specific slaves... who in turn become Greph-like in their thinking and demeanours. But the last time the BLACK PYRAMID landed, a bunch of angry medieval dudes stormed the thing, blew it up, and captured a bunch of greph... who became the breeding stock for a whole new human world of slave labour. By the time we meet this planet, the two rival lords of the human-populated regions have been breeding greph slave warriors, or "dragons", for generations, for combat against one another. But soon, the black pyramid will return...

I love this book I even spent a good few months during covid talking with the Vance Estate and several publishers about developing it into a graphic novel, but nobody could quite agree on how it could get made with old Simon getting a paycheque... so sadly it fell apart. There are concept drawings floating around my patreon and other corners of the internet. But one day I'll use 'em...

My other favorite books of his, to name a couple of the MANY books of his I love:

THE BLUE WORLD: A caste system of humans, descended from a crashed prison ship, live on floating settlements on an ocean planet, paying protection to a giant long-lived intelligent crustacean. But one man is tired of giving up all his crops to this tyrannical megafauna...

THE MIRACLE WORKERS: Rival lords on a planet descended to medieval tech (surprise surprise) fight using armies... and rival SORCERORS who employ the powers of suggestion to voodoo each others' warriors... but when facing non-human intelligences, these sorceror's skills fall short.

But there are heaps more, and I love most (thought not all) of the ones i've read. They're generally short, concise, and full of all sorts of bizarre bullshit.

THere are more books i've read and enjoyed in my life, of course, but these are the core ones that I think of when I think of my career as a sci-fi reader... let me know what your top recs are!

[orchideous-nox]

what kind of books/movies do you see everyone reading/watching???

I love yapping about books and films, anon, how did you know?

Okay AHHHHHHH so many thoughts. I'm going to include modern films though

Remus - I think he loves Lord of the Rings (both the films and the books) and some Greek Mythology classics like The Odyssey and The Iliad

Sirius - Boy doesn't read. What's a book? Films though, I think he likes a good action film. Maybe something like Bullet Train with some comedy in there, or like John Wicke and he spends who whole time like "Keanu looks so good in a suit, don't you think?" and stares until you agree.

James - James says that he likes films like Blade Runner, but when he's home alone he's watching Krrish. I could see him being into Star War too. In terms of books, I think he prefers non-fiction or maybe like a sci-fi book, idk too much about those.

Peter - As a kid, he was reading Goosebumps like there was no tomorrow and loved the Swiss Family Robinson. I think he'd also like Star Wars with James and maybe Indiana Jones. I could see him enjoying Stand By Me and The Goonies as well, he's be really into classic 80s movies.

Lily - Anne of Green Gables all the way. I think she got called Pippi Longstocking when she was younger and has refused to have anything to do with it since. Lily would love the tv show Anne with an E. I think she likes watching the LotR films with Remus because she loves the women but would complain that they don't have enough to do. She's also a lover of Wuthering Heights, I feel. And The Princess Bride.

Mary - OUR ROMCOM QUEEEENNN!!! Her favourites are Clueless, The Notebook, The Proposal and whenever she watches Love Actually she gets irrationally angry at Harry before he's even done anything to hurt Karen, it's just a vibe. She reads those smutty romance books with the cartoon covers, but also loves Janes Austen like Emma and Pride and Prejudice. She's also into Eve Babitz and Joan Didion I feel.

Marlene - She reads a lot of biographies and autobiographies. One time someone caught them reading Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter and they hated all men for two weeks, even James who she was normally friends with. I think films...I want to say Bend it Like Beckham but that feels so obvious. She can also recite a lot of The Devil Wears Prada but that's their girlfriend's fault. Marlene could probably be a horror film buff? That seems kinda fun.

Dorcas - Like I just mentioned, The Devil Wears Prada. I think she also likes period romances like the 2005 Pride and Prejudice and Atonement. She'll also watched Bend it Like Beckham...and there is absolutely no link between those three films that would explain why she likes them. In terms of books, I think she would enjoy some Stephen King, her and Marlene have a joint love for The Shining and Carrie.

Pandora - I've been thinking about this and I think Pandora would be a big fan of Guillermo Del Toro's film Pan's Labyrinth. Maybe also The Dark Crystal? In terms of books, I think she let Marlene borrow her copy The Bloody Chamber but she also likes Maya Angelou.

Regulus - Motherfucker is so pretentious. He is reading Russian novels and glares at anyone who calls him out for it. I think if Regulus watching films, he's watching very deep and thoughtful films, ones that either aren't particularly popular but are good for discussion. I couldn't name one though so 🙃

Barty - No.

Evan - I think he could be into horror novels or like psychological thrillers. The first one that came to mind was I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid, but I think he could fuck with The Picture of Dorian Gray which doesn't fit the same vibe but it makes since to me I think. Also medical journals and books about the human body. I've said previously that I think Evan would really like films like Martyrs and The Idiots and I stand by that. Maybe also Un Chien Andalou.

Xenophilius - I mentioned earlier in this post that I think Xeno fucks with folk stories so that's what he'd be reading. Maybe like a classic dystopian such as 1984? I am struggling with films though, I genuinely have no idea.

[rollercoasterwords]

What do you think the other marauders besides Remus/Lily would like to read?

hmm interesting question....honestly lily & remus r the only ones i really imagine as big readers...

assuming this is in a canon-ish/canon-adjacent setting. i think mary would be a big poetry girly she'd fuck w plath & glück & césaire...also think she'd be into romantic fantasies like goldman's princess bride & dianna wynne jones' howl's moving castle...beagle's last unicorn as well perhaps...

don't think marlene would be big into reading but i do think lily would put her onto some sci-fi she'd enjoy--vonnegut, joanna russ, charlotte perkins gilman...i imagine her as a sci-fi fan as well but less into reading more into like. star wars & alien movies. same w james i don't imagine him as a big reader but i do think lily would find some sci-fi he'd enjoy...maybe more of like the philip k. dick lane than the vonnegut/russ lane tho. i think he might like some leguin as well; i imagine he'd be one of those people who really just wants to read a book that feels like a movie, nothing too dense or slow-moving.

i think all of the marauders would get a kick out of lord of the flies lol. & i imagine peter might find greek mythology interesting i could potentially see him reading like the odyssey or something. i think sirius would lowkey fuck w poetry but have a bit of a complex about it--think his faves would be the classic romantics so like shelley, byron, keats, etc. i think he would also fw baldwin & wilde, due to the homosexuality. also wuthering heights, & would have a complex abt that as well lol.

dorcas i imagine favoring a writing style that's a bit more brutal & dry...maybe some flannery o'connor, steinbeck, faulkner, etc...could also see her being big into like agatha christia murder mysteries. maybe some shirley jackson as well. emmeline would be into atwood i think...in my mind she'd also fuck hard w stone butch blues & would be reading lorde & butler (judith, not octavia) in the 90s. pandora would be into the weird gory shit she'd be reading like jack ketchum...probably stephen king & angela carter as well. maybe some more classic horror like poe & stoker's dracula, etc. also think she'd get really into octavia butler.

& regulus wouldn't read shit but if he did it would probably be like. fucking ayn rand. & maybe bukowski

[fellthemarvelous]

The Giggle is a true work of art

It's a love letter to humanity, but everyone has to be willing to listen for it to work.

I love this gif. Think about it. The MCU has a LARGE audience base and Tony Stark is the face of the MCU and is one of the richest men alive. It is no accident that UNIT looks like a tower that was erected by a a white male American narcissist who sacrificed his life to save the entire universe. Love him or hate him, Tony Stark gets your attention. And so does Iron Man. And so do the other Avengers. You know who else has a tower? Batman. (Right?). He's DC. Some people like both. I don't know enough about the DC characters.

And think about RDJ who is trying to step away from the Tony Stark image. It's a character he loved, a character that changed his life after he got out of prison, and he will always love Tony Stark, but he and Tony Stark are not the same person.

https://www.thestreet.com/media/vintage-video-of-robert-downey-jr-visiting-wall-street-resurfaces-goes-viral

Robert Downey Jr told us what was up in the 1990s.

This is meant to connect to the people who love superheroes and superhero movies. To see that Robert Downey Jr is the way he is because he's seen the ugly side of humanity and he has always told us what he really thinks. People look up to him.

This is meant to catch their eye, to say THIS IS WHAT WE ARE DOING. Please listen to our message.

Nerd culture is beautiful art.

And if you don't spend your time asking yourself how often Neil Patrick Harris is bullshitting us because I refuse to believe that he had never heard of Doctor Who before joining the cast. I think he just threw 100% of his "please" attitude into Barney Stinson.

Remember when Neil Patrick Harris played Doogie Howser, MD? The 14 year old Doctor?

Oh, he was a Doctor too! So let's not forget this other cult classic Doctor character he played. If you haven't seen Doctor Horrible and His Sing-along Blog you are missing out.

He was once listed as one of Times' 100 Most Influential People in 2010.

He's charismatic and is openly affectionate with his husband and their children.

Love him or hate him, he has a large fanbase. And he is an AMAZING actor. And a really good magician too.

And they used his skills as a magician on Doctor Who, took us to Soho in 1925, and the Good Omens fandom arose from our slumber severe hyperfixation and meticulous meta analysis to dig into a fandom where David Tennant is the most popular incarnation of a particular character, so we are already doing nonstop detective work.

The Good Omens fandom LOVES David Tennant. He is our favorite rebellious demon.

He played the MCU's most terrifying villain (there is not one single MCU villain that has ever terrified me as much as Kilgrave because that fucker uses his powers of mind control to force Jessica Jones into being in a relationship with him...among other things). As a character though, he was fucking fascinating despite the fact we have met so many men who act just like him, and we hate all of them.

Side note: When I typed "Doogie Howzer" into the gif search, this is the most popular image that came up. I consistently get Howser and Howzer confused.

Now I've got the attention of the Star Wars fandom! Howzer rocks.

You know who else appeared on a Star Wars show (again) this year?

This entire episode was crafted in a way that it formed as many connections as it could with other fandoms.

And not just that. It made sure to include as much representation as possible. Was it perfect? No, but the point is that Doctor Who is telling the world that it is moving on. It is ready to grow and it is ready to be a mainstream voice for everyone whose existence is being threatened by unjust laws.

The new Doctor defied expectations. This Doctor is a breath of fresh air, and a reminder that we will all be okay, but change is inevitable and this sci-fi show about an alien who is either 2,000 or 4,000,000,005 years old. I can't keep up anymore. It doesn't matter because he's a Doctor free from the confines of societal expectations.

Nerd culture is vast, and I know I've left out fandoms because I don't really have all day nor do I know all the fandoms, so I'm just giving you a taste of what I do love.

This episode is meant to be for everyone who needs a place to call home.

And the old Doctor finally gets to retire to make way for the new Doctor.

And as a reward for longtime fans, the retired Doctor has found a place to call home on Earth with his best friend. David Tennant will always be Doctor Who because the old Doctor was allowed to live.

And for the Staged fandom, you know what that means, Michael?