#oswald week 2022

[dawwn-art]

Riddlebird week 💚💜

Day 6: Crossover

Gotham and The Batman

[mrs-stans]

‘A Different Man’: Oscar-Nominated Makeup Artist Explains the Link Between Storytelling and Prosthetics

Mike Marino, who also worked on HBO’s “The Penguin,” earned his third Oscar nom for the Sebastian Stan film about self-acceptance

Face masks from the making of "A Different Man" (A24)

“I’m basically a storyteller, just with the skin on a character’s face,” explained Mike Marino, the prosthetics maestro whose reputation is fast becoming as lauded as movie makeup legends Rick Baker and Stan Winston.

At this year’s Golden Globes, Marino was acknowledged not once, but twice by winning actors on stage: First by Colin Farrell, who is unrecognizable in HBO’s “The Penguin”; and then by Sebastian Stan, who won for his role in the dark indie comedy about disfigurement and self-acceptance, “A Different Man.”

“That was a huge compliment,” Marino told TheWrap of the shoutouts. “People were texting me that night — producers and actors and heroes of mine like Rick Baker — joking, ‘These are the Marino Globes.’ I’ve been doing this for my whole life and I’m just super thankful and fortunate to do what I do. Prosthetics work isn’t the crazy, booming business it once was, but I’m following in the footsteps of my mentors and trying for greatness every single time, because that’s what I learned from them.”

Makeup artist Mike Marino and actor Sebastian Stan on the set of "A Different Man" (A24)

For his work on “A Different Man,” Marino notched his third Oscar nomination in the makeup category (shared with David Presto and Crystal Jurado). His previous noms were for “Coming 2 America” (2021) and “The Batman” (2022), but “A Different Man” is in a whole other key – the lowest budget of Marino’s three nominated movies, by many millions, with a svelte shooting schedule of just 22 days.

Directed by Aaron Schimberg, the story follows Edward (Stan), a man with facial disfigurement whose insecurities worsen after he undergoes a treatment to improve his face. After the change, he meets Oswald (Adam Pearson), a warm, chatty Englishman with the same facial condition as pre-transformation Edward.

A few weeks before the film began production in 2022, Marino was contacted via text message by Stan, who is also an executive producer on the film, asking if the makeup artist could lend his prosthetic gifts. Marino, who is based in New York, where the movie would be filmed, was intrigued.

“I read the script and thought, ‘This is totally strange and original and I need to do this,’” he recalled. “We’re living in a time where everyone’s trying to look as perfect as possible, and this story actually has something to say about that. Edward goes through this metamorphosis, where he becomes a handsome guy like Sebastian Stan, but after he loses his face, he doesn’t know who he is.”

With Pearson as a blueprint (the actor, who made his film debut in Jonathan Glazer’s “Under the Skin,” has neurofibromatosis), Marino crafted a three-piece silicone prosthetic for Stan’s character.

“In a previous era, it would have been seven or eight pieces, but the majority of this was one main piece, with also a tiny eyelid and a lower lip,” Marino shared. “And with Sebastian, we got it down to a two-hour application, once the hair and the eyebrows were glued on.” While not filming, Stan wore the makeup on the streets of New York City, both to test its credibility and to feel the reactions of passersby, a theme that the film handles with a mixture of poignancy and irony.

The story also called for several stages of makeup, as Edward is experiencing his facial transformation. For a scene in the bathroom, Marino paid homage to a moment from an 1980s ghost horror classic.

“Aaron, Sebastian and I, we’re super film geeks, and we watched that nightmare sequence in ‘Poltergeist’ where a guy in a mirror peels off part of his face. The funny thing is that for that movie, they only had one shot to get it right, so [screenwriter] Steven Spielberg stepped in and did the peeling himself. Those are his hands in the scene. For us, Sebastian had the responsibility to get it done just right, which he did perfectly.”

Marino also cited “The Elephant Man” as his favorite movie — the one that most determined the path of his life and career — and is grateful that critics and audiences have understood the ideas in “A Different Man” on similar terms.

“David Lynch captured the beauty and the humanity of Joseph Merrick in that film,” he said. “And I love the reactions to Adam’s performance in our film, which prove that people get it. People love Adam when they see him and talk to him, and it doesn’t matter what he looks like and all that superficial stuff.”

The history of movies, Marino mentioned, is notable for the contributions of makeup artists, as far back as Lon Chaney in the silent era and Jack Pierce, who worked on the original “Frankenstein.” Marino is an avid devotee of their efforts and even studied as a protégé under Oscar-winning makeup man Dick Smith (“The Godfather,” “The Exorcist,” “Amadeus”).

“I look at my work as who I am,” he said. “I’m not just a hired gun, which sometimes people want on their production. I have to be interested in the material and feel that it’s right, like with this movie. I love to approach a character and ask, ‘How did this person grow up? How do they live? What are they thinking?’ Makeup is storytelling.”

[mr-voorhees-husband]

Yes yes yes yes

Please write more for daddy oz omg 💕💕💕

*Cracks Knuckles*

Your daddy is back bitches (probably for only a day) but I gotchu.

Warnings: Daddy kink, sugar baby sort of relationship, heavy spoiling, reader is called baby, doll, sugar, amore, and tesoro.

Info: Oswald Cobblepot (2022) X GN!Reader, headcannons

Oswald is the definition of a sugar daddy, even if you two are dating. To him, he has to spoil you.

Either it be with classic Italian cooking, or hundreds dollars worth of jewelry and gems, he needs to spoil you. Part of it is because of his Italian upbringing, though, he was raised where a man takes care of his lover.

He also kind of expects you to be a sort of house spouse. If you want to work, he won’t stop you, but he makes it very obvious he would prefer if you stayed at home, cooking and cleaning. (Again, due to his Italian upbringing)

One of his biggest fantasies is the idea of coming home after a long day to dinner made and a clean house, and after dinner and a shower, he shows you how much he appreciates you being such a good homemaker.

Of course, Oswald had a daddy kink, though it’s mostly because he likes the idea of taking care of you. Being your daddy means providing and loving on you, which is all he wants.

Oswald stepped out the shower with a satisfied groan, a towel around his waist as he stepped into your shared bedroom. His eyes fell to you and he didn’t bother hiding the smile one his face. “Dinner was amazin’, amore. Best thing I’ve had all week.”

“You say that every time I cook something, Ozzie.” You chuckled, shifting to sit on the edge of the bed. You were wearing a pair of silk pajamas— which Oswald had of course bought for you. On the chest, right above your heart, was Oswald’s initial’s embroidered in a pretty lavender thread.

“It’s always th’ truth, doll.” Oswald hummed, dropping the towel and cupping your face, tilting it up so he could press his lips against your own. A slow, soft kiss— one that was very common in your relationship, but it never got tiring. “But.. daddy wants t’ show his baby how much he appreciates all your hard work.”

Rough, yet gentle, hands trailed up your shirt as Oswald started to slowly undress you, “Mi tresoro,” he mumbled, falling back into his first language, “come ti amo…”

Oswald can be rough, but he always prefers to be extremely soft, loving. As your daddy, he believes he has to take care of you.

And maybe one day, that daddy title will become husband. Or at least that’s what he dreamed for.

[autism-connoisseur]

i keep watching the penguin episodes almost a week late cause im watching w my dad okay but. i liked ep 7. i have a lot of thoughts about it. way too many, perhaps, so they're under the cut.

the explosion sofia sets off underground obviously damages crownpoint —an already heavily damaged neighborhood. in her haste to get to oswald she doesn't care that she's hurting the everyday folk, or maybe it didn't even cross her mind; just like when, in her haste to get revenge on the falcones, she didn't even think of what she would do to gia: orphaned, spared by some miracle... the same miracle that seemed to have taken her family away.

but back to sophia & crownpoint. crownpoint & this side of the city, in general, was the first thing vic and oswald talked about; the first foundation of the bridge upon which they stand (continuing the metaphor, one might argue that vic's stutter and the feeling of fellow disability it may have sparked in oswald was the reason the bridge was approved for building in the first place). but it's been also source of conflict between francis and oswald: she needed to escape it, so he took her away somewhere better, now he needs to escape that better place and they're back at where they started. i believe that francis is having these regressions in time as a combination of her illness and being back in the bad part of town, likely triggering the possible pstd from burying her two sons. then victor had to come back home & finally face squid: now he can never truly go back. cause sure he's dealing drugs and helping oswald and doing his part, but those make him someone. killing squid, that he'll never shake off. even if it does not get easier. vic is back where he was a mere months ago but irrevocably changed; this place has seen him born and then reborn.

so we have these three characters, on one side, intrinsically linked to crownpoint and what it stands for: poverty, helplessness, misery (even if life can be happy there: vic was happy, francis & oswald were happy) that they desperately try to live behind. they want a good life, the better life, and no one will give it to them, so they'll take it. even if it means standing against the families, who don't even know their names.

and that's why sofia does what she does. brings harm to harmless people, innocent people who (as we've seen in previous episodes) have already lost it all. and eva was right. sofia was born privileged. she will never understand the streets life. yes, that privilege didn't save her, didn't soothe her suffering one bit, but her mansion wasn't flooded, she doesn't know how it feels like to walk into a room and to know no one knows your name —this is both a blessing and a curse. the last ten years of sofia's life were torture in every sense of the word; but before then she didn't know what it was to truly fight for your life, your dignity, to stand your ground. and sofia, for all her rightful demands that people understand and see what was done to her —the injustice, the betrayal, the horror, the belittling, the pain, the loss of everything she ever had or held dear— has no qualms or worries about hurting others. because for her there is only revenge.

and last thing, i don't know if it was intentional, but the way oswald emerges from the explosion, sees all the damage, with his ears blocked and then suddenly unblocked, hearing all the confusion and chaos and suffering of people who have little to none to lose (because it already was), really reminded me of the moment in batman 2022 when the bombs go off and the flood begins. but i haven't seen the move in a while so i could be wrong. even so, it's the same. the struggle between the powerful, these two forces of nature almost, never ends well for the common folk. the blows they deal hit each other, sure, but it's always the defenseless who end up soaked in the aftermath.

[most-screwed-by-writers-tourney]

Already got a list of the ships for the ULTIMATE fucked up ship tournament done. Hopefully will start it in two weeks or so. This is a list of the ships:

1. The Darkling and Alina, The Grisha Trilogy

2. Batman and The Riddler, The Batman 2022

3. stu and billy from scream

4. Vriska and Terezifrom homestuck

5. light and l from death note

6. Dirk Strider and Jake English from Homestuck,

7. Vio and Shadow Link from the Four Swords manga

8. Emilio Murkmere x Tobias Schenien from Ghost Eyes

9. Oswald x Ed from Gotham

10. Anna Croft/ Yu Junghyeok (orv)

11. Dimitri/Edelgard - Fire Emblem Three Houses

12. Will Graham and Hannibal, Hannibal

13. yoonbum x sangwoo, killing stalking

14. Starscream and Megatron, from the Transformers franchise

15. Mukuro Ikusaba/Junko Enoshima from Dangan Ronpa

16. Ladd Russo and Lua Klein from Baccano!

17. Daida and Miranjo from Ousama Ranking

18. Shizuo and Izaya from Durarara!!

19. theresa x otto, honkai impact

20. dorian x fem! inquisitor, dragon age

21. renee x huey from baccano

22. nanami x touga, revolutionary girl Utena

23. madoka and homura, puella magi madoka magica

24. (Ronan Lynch x Joseph Kavinksy) - The Raven Cycle

25. Seishirou and Subaru from Tokyo Babylon/X

26. Misaki/Satou, Welcome to the NHK

27. Bakugou and Deku (My Hero Academia)

28. Akito and Shigure, Fruits Basket

29. House and Wilson, House MD

30. Scarlet and Chase, I’m the Grim Reaper

31. Jong-woo and Moon-jo, Strangers from Hell

32. Moon-young and Gang-tae, It’s Okay to Not Be Okay

33. Medea and Helio, Your Throne

34. Celty and Shinra, Durarara

35. Akira and Ryo, Devilman

36. Yoshino and Kirishima, Raise wa Tanin Ga ii

37. Chateau and Ryang-ha, Love of Kill

38. Satoko and Shinpei, Hotaru no Yomeiri

39. Clarice and Hannibal, Silence of the Lambs

40. He Yan and Fu Shenxing, Who is the Prey

41. Cain/Owen from Promise of Wizard / Mahoyaku

42. Texas/Lappland from Arknights.

43. Jeongmin and Siyun, Dreaming Freedom

44. Han Chae-ah and Park Yunsu, Trapped

45. akane kurashiki/junpei tenmyouji from zero escape

46. Juri/Shiori (from Revolutionary Girl Utena)

47. Jackie/Shauna, Yellowjackets)

48. Cassandra/Rapunzel from the Tangled series

49. Damien and Elena from vampire diaries

50. Kristoph/Phoenix, Ace Attorney

51. Juice and Chibs, Sons of Anarchy

52. Utena/Anthy from the anime Revolutionary Girl Utena.

53. Cutthroat x Swindler, from Akudama Drive.

54. Yuno Gasai x Yukkiteru Amano from Mirai Nikki

55. Sal/Syakesan x Wadanohara from Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea.

56. Jeremy and the SQUIP, Be More Chill

57. Ian Grimm and Poppy Li, Mythic Quest

58. Lestat de Lioncourt and Louis De Pointe du Lac, Interview with the Vampire

59. fuuma and kamui from clamp's x/1999

60. Victor and Eli, Vicious

61. Elisabeth and Der Tod, Elisabeth

62. Rudolf and Der Tod, Elisabeth

63. Veronica Sawyer and J.D, Heathers

64. Akechi Goro × Persona 5 protagonist (Akira Kurusu/Ren Amamiya)

65. Hondomachi and Fukuda, ID: Invaded

66. Harley Quinn and the Joker, DC

67. Christine and Erik, Phantom of the Opera

68. Lisa Reisert and Jackson Rippner, Red Eye

69. Valeta and Reinhart, I Failed to Oust the Villain

70. Light Yagami and Misa Amane, Death Note

71. Sumire and Hakubo, Toilet Bound Hanako Kun

72. Mika Harima and Seiji Yagiri, Durarara!!

73. Emma Wilson and Yohan Lee, My Deepest Secret

74. Sarah and Jareth, Labyrinth

75. Addie LaRue and Luc, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue

76. Ja Yoon and The Nobleman, The Witch, Part One: Subversion

77. Makima and Denji, Chainsaw Man

78. Kyoko and Katsuya, Fruits Basket

79. Mrs. De Winter and Maxim, Rebecca

80. Mutsuki Tooru and Urie Kuku, Tokyo Ghoul

81. Victor and Elizabeth, The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein

82. Constanta, Magdalena, and Alexei and Dracula, A Dowry of Blood

83. Ha-im and Geunhu, Never Ending Darling

84. Frank Cotton & Julia Cotton - Hellraiser (1987)

85. Yuki Cross & Kaname Kuran, Vampire Knight

86. Johann and Sasha, The Double Agent

87. Sian and Yul, Secret Alliance

88. Charlize and Dylan, The Taming of the Tyrant

89. Lin and Dosung, 340 Days

90. Makishima Shougo & Shinya Kougami from PSYCHOPASS.

91. Charlotte Willmore x Lizzie Wells, from The Perfection (2018).

92. “Hikaru”/Yoshiki from The Summer hikaru Died,

93. Dolph Laserhawk x Alex Taylor from Captain Laserhawk

94. Dolph Laserhawk x Rayman from Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix

95. Yuuji Itadori x Mahito from Jujitsu Kaisen

96. (luo binghe x shen qingqiu) from scum villain's self saving system.

97. Heaven Official's Blessing. Ships He Xuan and Shi Qingxuan.

98. Ives and Boyd from Ravenous 1999

99. Eve and Vilanelle, Killing Eve

100. Sephiroth/Cloud (FF7 Compilation)

101. Clary and Jace from the Mortal Instruments

102. Rika Sasaki/Yoshiyuki Terada, Cardcaptor Sakura,

103. Veralidaine Sarrasri/Numair Salmalín, from the Immortals Quartet

104. Eli/Oskar, Let the Right One In (2008).

105. Lavan Firestorm/Kalira, Brightly Burning

106. Lapis/Jasper (Steven Universe

107. PearlescentMoon/SMajor, the Life Series

108. Christine/Erik (Phantom Takarazuka)

109. The Brain/Julia (Animaniacs 2020)

110. Sterek, Teen Wolf

111. Jonathan Sims/Elias Bouchard, The Magnus Archives

112. Fyodor and Nikolai, Bungo Stray Dogs

113. Beatrice and Battler, Beabato, from "Umineko”

114. Father Paul/Riley Flynn; Midnight Mass

115. Edward Teach/Izzy Hands; Our Flag Means Death;

116. Batman/Joker

117. Cesare Borgia/Lucrezia Borgia - The Borgias

118. Dean/Sam Winchester from Supernatural

119. Vegas/Pete (Kinnporsche: The Series)

120. Hitori Uzune and Nanaki Kazuaki from Hatoful Boyfriends.

121. Lanze/Bluepool and Anan from Beauty and the Beasts

122. Blade and Dan Heng from Honkai Star Rail

123. Spike and Buffy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

124. Isaac and Finn, I’m Dating a Psychopath

125. Lenore and Annabelle, Nevermore

126. Estelle and Khalid, From a Knight to a Lady

127. Layla and Matthias, Cry or Better Yet Beg

128. Hyuna and Luka, Alien Stage

129. Karuto and Lily, Dear my Living Dead

130. Andrew and Ashley Graves, Coffin of Andy and Leyley

131. Lydia Deetz/Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice

132. Harrow and gideon from gideon the ninth/Locked Tomb

133. Cathy x Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights)

134. Felix x Ollie (Saltburn)

135. Grace Chastity x Max Jaegerman, Nerdy Prudes Must Die

136. Mikoto and Haijin, Tsuiraku JK to Haijin Kyoushi

137. Eucenielle and Tes, I Hold the Tyrant’s Heart

138. Claire and Balt, The East Wind of the Altas

139. Usui and Misaki, Maid Sama

140. Sebastian Michaelis and Ciel Phantomhive, Black Butler

141. Dabi x Hawks from My Hero Academia

142. Alice “Daisy” Tonner/Basira Hussain, The Magnus Archives

143. Naruto and Sasuke, from Naruto

144. Byleth Eisner / Jeritza von Hrym from fire emblem three houses

145. Akira x keisuke from togainu no chi (nitro+chiral game)

146. Lucy Gray Baird and Coriolanus Snow, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

147. Elias and Chise, The Ancient Magus Bride

148. Gendo and Yui Ikari, Neon Genesis Evangelion

149. Punpun and Aiko, Goodnight Punpun

150. Sang-hyun and Tae-ju, Thirst

151. Hawa and Adam, The Guy Upstairs

152. Satoru Fujnuma and Gaku Yashiro, Erased

153. Root and Sameen Shaw, Person of Interest

154. The Doctor and the master, Doctor Who

155. Juliette and Warner, Shatter Me

156. Ich and Mrs Danvers, Rebecca das Musical

157. Kokichi Ouma and Shuichi Saihara, Danganronpa V3

158. Roxy and Velma, Chicago

159. Griffith and Guts, Berserk

160. Creed and Train, Black Cat

161. Torso and Mutsuki, Tokyo ghoul

162. Vash and Knives, Trigun

163. Sweeney Tod and Mrs Lovett, Sweeney Tod

164. Kuroi and Mashiro, Thou Dhall Not Die

165. Amy and Nick, Gone Girl

166. India and Charlie Stoker, Stoker

167. Pig and Runt, Disco Pigs

168. Anakin and Padme, Star Wars

169. Chloe and Kairos, I Shall Kill That Sweet Devil

170. Jung and Seol, Cheese in the Trap

171. Anthy and Akio Ohtori, Revolutionary Girl Utena

172. Feyre and Rhysand, A Court of Thrones and Roses

173. Lelouch and Suzaku, Code Geass

174. Mikiya and Shiki, Garden of Sinners

175. Gatsby and Daisy, The Great Gatsby

176. Ivan and Till, Alien Stage

177. Sylar and Elle Bishop, Heroes

178. Helena and Demetrius, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

179. V and Rika, Mystic Messenger

180. Yukari and George, Paradise Kiss

[phmonth]

Tragedy Trio Week Starts Tomorrow!

(Lovely art by @h0llyw0lly made for Pandora Hearts Secret Santa 2022!)

Tragedy Trio Week (Lacie, Jack and Oswald), Nov 5th—Nov 11th:

Day 1, Sunday Nov 5th: King

Day 2, Monday Nov 6th: Lyrics

Day 3, Tuesday Nov 7th: Spring

Day 4, Wednesday Nov 8th: Gold

Day 5, Thursday Nov 9th: Guilt

Day 6, Friday Nov 10th: Pocketwatch

Day 7, Saturday Nov 11th: Stars

When you post, please remember to:

Tag me @i-prefer-the-term-antihero, @phmonth, and/or @this-idiots-left-eye in your posts to make sure I reblog them! (My main blog is your best bet).

Tag #phmonth23 in your tags! I will go through that tag and check if I've missed any direct tags. (If you don't see your piece reblogged on this blog after doing both these methods, please dm me!)

Either put a link, or a “read more” on long fics (or long posts in general), so they're easier to reblog!

NSFW content is allowed, but please make sure it’s clear it’s NSFW/tagged that way, and is beneath a read more so anyone who doesn’t want to see it doesn’t have to!

The Ao3 collection is open for you to add your fics to!!

And feel free to post your pieces to the #phmonth23 channel of the discord too!!

Remember, it’s okay if you finish late, you are free to continue posting for prompts even after the day has passed, I will keep reblogging!!

As long as you make sure the characters from the trio are your main focus, it’s okay to use other characters in your creations too!

Since we live across the world, you are free to post whenever the day is for you. I myself will be making posts according to my time, which is Central Standard Time in America. 

If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to send an ask here, or post in the #questions channel of the discord!

As always, you can create edits, fan arts, drabbles, fanfictions, amvs and mms!

I'm looking forward to seeing all your wonderful works!!

i-prefer-the-term-antihero

[feralremains]

Tag nine people you want to get to know better

Thank you @the-toad-in-your-piano for the tag!

Three ships

Hm, I will tell about my most recent one, the one I've written the most about, and the one that got me into writing fanfic and making fanart.

The latest: Nygmobblepot! Edward Nygma/Oswald Cobblepot from Gotham. Well, what can I say? Sad, mentally ill and murderous men, what's not to like? They have an interesting relationship, and I like to see it being explored more in many different forms.

The one I've written the most: Willton, Frederick Chilton/Will Graham from Hannibal. Even though this is the ship with the highest amount of words by me, it's still only somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 words. I'm a beginner, but hopefully getting better all the time! I admit, this one isn't very popular. I like NBC Hannibal's Chilton as a character a lot, and I personally think he needs some other character to develop himself. Will gives us contrast, with his cool calculations and violent mind compared to Frederick's neuroses and anxieties.

The beginning: Good old Mystrade. Mycroft Holmes/Greg Lestrade from BBC Sherlock. I'm a sucker for emotionally suppressed middle-aged men. I suppose I could explore my own experiences through them - anxiety, depression, self esteem issues. Older queer people have always made me hopeful, and even though it really isn't the same, sometimes fictional characters work as a substitute.

First ever ship

Huh, I am not absolutely sure, but I guess this would be Johnlock. I remember seeing one of the older Sherlock Holmes films when I was younger, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, 1970, and Holmes implying Watson and he were lovers felt surreal, almost. This one was an old film for a young kid such as myself, and there they were, queer, and it wasn't only a joke, we were not only portrayed as comic relief. Obviously it was somewhat humorous (Holmes trying to avoid fathering a child for Madame Petrova), but they didn't make it seem like queer people were lesser. In a way, I felt understood - that's what not having obvious actual queer representation causes - and it stayed in the back of my mind for a long time.

Now, thinking about the ships I've now told about, I realise I (often along with other people) have headcanoned one person of the pair as asexual, even though I've only known I'm ace myself for a very short time, comparatively.

Last song

I've been listening to Hannibal the Musical and Possibly in Michigan (Animal Cannibal). Completely normal and sane songs to listen to, I can assure you.

Last movie

I watched The Lady in the Van with my parents last night. It was quite amusing, both light-hearted and serious at the same time. Before that, The Batman (2022), which I didn't like as much as some of the other Batman films, but it was quite decent.

Currently reading

Haha, I'm not currently reading anything, really. The last actual book I read was the Shining by Stephen King some weeks ago. It was much better than the film, which I watched right after, although not scary at all.

Currently watching

Gotham (2014-2019). Finding television series that can keep me watching is not the easiest task, I guess. Usually I only like a few characters, and try to resist the urge to only see their scenes as long as I can.

Currently consuming

Well, I should be getting an evening snack, but I'm writing this. Going to get an apple and some mango gurt with rice cereal.

Currently craving

This is a bit in the TMI territory, but the ability to feel strong emotions, and for once not anxiety. I feel very empty most of the time. Fortunately I have Petunia the blue tongue skink. I also would like to learn Swedish and get even more herps.

Tagging (no pressure to actually do this! Also, with my luck, everyone I tag has already participated in this, but no harm done anyways. I have literally never interacted with some of you, and never in a personal manner with any of you, but let's ignore that for a moment, or otherwise I could never participate in these)

@nygmobblepot-trash @arabriddler @shyjusticewarrior @cliobii @evansdoodles @super-who-locked-me-in-here @barbacarisi @the-chilton @no1raulesparzafan

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 11.24 (after 1950)

1962 – Cold War: The West Berlin branch of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany forms a separate party, the Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin. 1962 – The influential British satirical television programme That Was the Week That Was is first broadcast. 1963 – Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of President John F. Kennedy, is killed by Jack Ruby on live television. Robert H. Jackson takes a photograph of the shooting that will win the 1964 Pulitzer Prize in Photography. 1965 – Joseph-Désiré Mobutu seizes power in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and becomes President; he rules the country (which he renames Zaire in 1971) for over 30 years, until being overthrown by rebels in 1997. 1966 – Bulgarian TABSO Flight 101 crashes near Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, killing all 82 people on board. 1969 – Apollo program: The Apollo 12 command module splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean, ending the second crewed mission to land on the Moon. 1971 – During a severe thunderstorm over Washington state, a hijacker calling himself Dan Cooper (aka D. B. Cooper) parachutes from a Northwest Orient Airlines plane with $200,000 in ransom money. He has never been found. 1973 – A national speed limit is imposed on the Autobahn in Germany because of the 1973 oil crisis. The speed limit lasts only four months. 1974 – Donald Johanson and Tom Gray discover the 40% complete Australopithecus afarensis skeleton, nicknamed "Lucy" (after The Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"), in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia's Afar Depression. 1976 – The Çaldıran–Muradiye earthquake in eastern Turkey kills between 4,000 and 5,000 people. 1989 – After a week of mass protests against the Communist regime known as the Velvet Revolution, Miloš Jakeš and the entire Politburo of the Czechoslovak Communist Party resign from office. This brings an effective end to Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. 1991 – Space Shuttle program: Atlantis launches on STS-44. 1992 – China Southern Airlines Flight 3943 crashes on approach to Guilin Qifengling Airport in Guilin, China, killing all 141 people on board. 2009 – The Avdhela Project, an Aromanian digital library and cultural initiative, is founded in Bucharest, Romania. 2012 – A fire at a clothing factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, kills at least 112 people. 2013 – Iran signs an interim agreement with the P5+1 countries, limiting its nuclear program in exchange for reduced sanctions. 2015 – A Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 fighter jet is shot down by the Turkish Air Force over the Syria–Turkey border, killing one of the two pilots; a Russian marine is also killed during a subsequent rescue effort. 2015 – A terrorist attack on a hotel in Al-Arish, Egypt, kills at least seven people and injures 12 others. 2015 – An explosion on a bus carrying Tunisian Presidential Guard personnel in Tunisia's capital Tunis leaves at least 14 people dead. 2016 – The government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People's Army sign a revised peace deal, bringing an end to the country's more than 50-year-long civil war. 2017 – A terrorist attack on a Mosque in Al-Rawda, North Sinai, Egypt kills 311 people and injures 128. 2022 – Five days after the general elections which resulted in a hung parliament, opposition leader and former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim is officially named as the 10th prime minister of Malaysia. 2023 – Hibiscus Rising, commemorating David Oluwale, is unveiled in Leeds.

[usagirotten]

Series Review: The Penguin a good project that came too late

It is undeniable that there is a very serious crisis in terms of entertainment, whether in film or television, things have not gone as well as the studios had hoped for a few years now, and this is not due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and its variants, nor to the strike of actors and writers, it is mainly due to the lack of original ideas. In March 2022, what was intended to be a new beginning and a new shared universe in Batman created by Matt Reeves arrived in theaters, giving a twist to everything we had seen before and leaving aside Ben Affleck's Batman belonging to the SnyderVerse, a story that narrates the events during his second year fighting crime and corruption in Gotham City as well as facing the serial killer called The Riddler. Despite all the controversy that the film had, it was well-received by both fans and critics. A novel that served as a prequel to the film called Before the Batman: An Original Movie Novel and written by David Lewman that presents his origin as well as his enmity with an orphan named Edward Nashton who years later would become The Riddler, a story that placed us more specifically at the beginning of this universe. A 6-issue comic book miniseries written by Paul Dano and drawn by Stevan Subic called The Riddler: Year One was also presented. This story is a direct continuation of Before the Batman: An Original Movie Novel and tells the tortuous life of Nashton until he became a serial killer. After the film's release 2 years ago, there is now talk of a second installment and 2 television series, one based on the Gotham Police which would be a prequel to the film and the novel showing Batman's first year from the perspective of corrupt Gotham City police force, a project that ultimately ended up being canceled, and the other series based on the character of The Penguin and his ties to the mob, detailing the rise to power in Gotham's criminal underworld after the events of the film and serving as a link to the tentative The Batman 2. With the change of CEO at Warner Bros. things also changed, Gunn and Safran were hired to lead the newly formed DC Studios in November 2022 after working on several DCEU projects including the film The Suicide Squad (2021) and its spin-off series Peacemaker (2022), this pair decided to put aside all the projects that Walter Hamada had planned for development and start their universe from scratch and from which We haven't seen much. Finally, and after many setbacks, in 2024, The Penguin is released, an 8-episode spin-off miniseries in which we will see a more concrete development of the character and his motivations to be the supreme boss of the mafia in Gotham City and establish himself as a Batman villain.

What is The Penguin series about?

Set a week after the events of the movie The Batman (2022) the story tells us about the rise to power of Oswald "Oz" Cobb alias Penguin (Collin Farrell) in the criminal underworld of Gotham City. Once again we see that a series based on the Batman characters but without Batman may not be a good idea, we already saw the failure of Gotham when trying to imitate what was done in Smallville (2001-2010) a fruitless work that left much to be desired in terms of its narrative and chronology of events having serious and very marked inconsistencies in the Batman universe in general, The Penguin as a series aims to be a separate material where we learn more about the corrupt underworld of Gotham City and the relationship that the mafias have and how they operate in their territories. Series like Birds of Prey (2002), Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman's Butler (2019), and more recently Gotham Knights (2023) left a very neutral and succinct impression on the taste of both insiders and outsiders, the current vision that Lauren LeFranc has as creator of this criminal mobster rises, or rather staggers, pretending that this is an epic story between gangs and powerful mobsters from its origins in the comic and that although it is far from surpassing it, at least it remains on equal terms. The Penguin as a series is an adaptation of the dirty, dark, and boring version by Matt Reeves taking as base and inspiration the film Se7en by David Fincher (1995) for his The Batman, this first episode immediately resumes the events that happened at the end of the film, after The Riddler by Paul Dano blew up the sea wall that protected Gotham City and flooded most of the poorest neighborhoods, an opportunity for all the powerful to get a place in politics or the mafia, mediocre mid-level mobster Oswald "Oz" Cobb sees an unrepeatable way to get to the top in the middle of all this chaos, facing the crippled Falcone (Mark Strong) and Maroni (Clancy Brown) who is locked up in Blackgate penitentiary, his idea is to confront these families so that they annihilate each other and thus keep all the domain.

This a story that we have seen told many times with results ranging from very good to truly regrettable cases, what is intended here is to explore and scrutinize the life of this character, Oz's greatest virtues are his ease of speech, his wit, his chameleon-like ability to earn respect and stay alive and this goes hand in hand with his weaknesses that include resentment for those who in his childhood mistreated him, humiliated him and made fun of his physical appearance which incites him to violence. In the first few minutes, we can see that this impulsiveness and insecurity get him into serious trouble, a direct insult from Falcone's heir, Albert (Michael Zegen) incites Oz to take out his gun and shoot him at point-blank range, killing him instantly, and he will have to fix things to stay alive, so he makes up a plan to make everyone believe that the Maroni family was responsible for this crime and that Oz is free of all suspicion. There is a constant push and pull between Oz's ambitions and insecurities that we will see throughout its eight episodes, which somehow makes this low-level criminal epic more complete in the absence of Batman, who is only mentioned very briefly in a newscast that reports on the current state of the city and at least in this episode his intervention is not mentioned again. LeFranc along with director Craig Zobel slowly builds a crime drama that quickly intensifies and desperately imitates the series created by David Chase The Sopranos (1999). It is inevitable not to make the proper comparisons between one and the other, the structure of The Penguin is shamelessly based on this other multi-award-winning series, it is difficult to create an original story when it has a secondary character of an extremely important character in pop culture and that myt recently just turned 85 years old in the entertainment and merchandising media.

The episode that is currently available is:

1. After Hours. A week after the murder of Carmine Falcone (Mark Strong) and the destruction of Gotham City Bay, Alberto Falcone (Michael Zegen) Carmine's son and heir apparent to his entire criminal empire catches Oswald "Oz" Cobb (Collin Farrel) while retrieving Falcone's valuables from the Iceberg Lounge including a folder with confidential information on the city's current politicians, Oz listens as Alberto explains his plans to revolutionize Falcone's drug operation when Oz expresses his aspirations to be a powerful and respected mobster Alberto mocks him, leading Oz to impulsively shoot and kill him. Oz attempts to dispose of the body of and scare off a group of juvenile delinquents who are stealing tires from his car, he catches and recruits one of them, Victor "Vic" Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz) to be his driver and helps him, Oz learns that the Falcones plan to take over his drug ring, he later meets Alberto's sister Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti) recently released from Arkham Asylum, Oz plans to leave town to stay alive but changes his mind after being encouraged by his mother Francis that he should fight for his rightful place and have power over everything and everyone, Oz visits Falcone's rival Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown) in Blackgate Prison and offers to give him back control of the drug trafficking operation, Maroni is reluctant and distrustful after previously betraying him but reconsiders after Oz returns a ring that Carmine had taken from Maroni and that he is forced to leave the city to stay alive. Alberto used, Sofia later captures and tortures Oz but is distracted from killing him by the sudden recovery of Alberto's body arranged by Victor under Oz's orders to implicate the Maroni family, Oz is freed and begins conspiring with Victor to take control of the Falcone crime family. An episode that manages to hook you from the start and that doesn't bore or detract from the narrative work they are doing, they treat this character more realistically, following the noir and dark line of Reeves' film. The question we must ask ourselves now is why is it so necessary to give absurd realism to fantastic characters. This has been the trend of this genre since the Batman trilogy made by Christopher Nolan (2005-2012). Few are those who have done it well, but let's remember that these universes are more fantastic than realistic. Throughout this episode The Penguin does not offer us anything new, it oscillates between the grotesque and the realistic in a crime drama full of stereotypes and clichés of cartoonish mobsters and exaggerated characters with elaborate personal interests, it establishes that Oz and Sofia will fight for power and control of the city, both try with frustration to fight against society and themselves until they kill each other, there is only a place for one of them, a story that aims to be bold and that takes place in the context of Gotham City and the Batman universe but, without Batman, and this series wants to show that his presence is not needed to be able to tell it.

Nothing to say about the makeup, Farrell puts on the costume and facial prosthetics again that transform him into a completely different man, a great job, as well as the costumes, do evoke that this is a sequel to what happens in the 2022 film, every detail has been carefully taken care of so that everything looks and feels the same or as similar as possible to what we already saw, emphasizing more on its color palette to recreate the dark and sinister atmospheres and a lighter one for the exteriors in the daytime scenes. The references to what we already know about the character are very subtle but direct at the same time, Oz uses an umbrella like in his version in the comics, the jewelry called Burgess in a clear reference to the actor Burgess Meredith who played The Penguin in the Batman television series of the 60s, Alberto Falcone in the Batman: Long Halloween comic series is the murderer Holiday Killer, the clear mention of Arkham Asylum, the clear references at the beginning to the end of The Batman movie, which while nice are not important enough in this universe, a blatant fanservice to keep the attention. The cast includes Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz, Deirdre O’Connell, Clancy Brown, Carmen Ejogo, Michael Zegen, Berto Colón, James Madio, Joshua Bitton, David H. Holmes, Daniel J. Watts, Ben Cook, Jayme Lawson, Michael Kelly and Mark Strong. It is impressive what these actors do with their characters, they make something that could be ridiculous take on a more serious and convincing tone. The music composed by Mick Giacchino, son of Michael Giacchino, follows in his father's footsteps with music with its personality, more reminiscent of the noir and mobster films of the 1940s, a good work that perfectly accompanies every one of the scenes, a mix of modern influences with traditional orchestral structures, but with his personal touch. The songs used in the background are Put the Blame On Me by Rita Hayworth, The Promise by When In Rome, and for the closing of episodes 9 To 5 by Dolly Parton, each with a clear reference to its lyrics and the situation at that time. In conclusion, The Penguin as a series comes at a time when almost no one cares what happens or not with the sequel to The Batman. This work took too long to be released and that now seems completely unnecessary but that has given us a pleasant surprise, the life and work of one of the most iconic and recognizable villains in comics will go down as something else that was done with Batman without Batman and that could work in its context. The Penguin is now available on the Max platform. Spanish review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2uSwItbBAg Read the full article

[thebardscipher]

Happy New Year! For your AO3 Wrapped: #3, 12, and 28!

Happy New Year!!!! 3: What work are you most proud of?

I think I'm most proud of "Lucky Rabbit's Foot" or "Morning, Monday, All Week Long Is Not Healthy" Both of which are Disney Dreamlight Valley fics.....

12: How many WIPs do you have in your docs for next year?

I have two on my computer and one on the notes of my phone....though I'm not sure if one of them on the computer will actually be worked on or if I'm giving up on the idea because my brain is still struggling trying to figure out the vibes and where exactly I was going with it lol

28: Favorite work you wrote this year?

ohhhh that's a tough one. It might be toss up between "Lucky Rabbit's Foot" or "Not Magic, It's Alchemy". "Lucky Rabbit's Foot" involves Oswald and I just like writing him, it's fun, but "Not Magic" had been brewing since like September 2022 because honestly, I think Varian (from Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure or whatever that series was called in the end....) would absolutely either get along with or annoy the heck out of Merlin and I needed that combination in some way, shape, or form....

Thanks for the questions!!

[clockspur]

9. Sadness

(I feel like giving them all a hug🥺)

[nightsart]

Oswald Week 2022, Day 1: Lucky

Oswald Week is being hosted by @waci-illstr in honor of his birthday next week! Everyone join in in honoring the mans!

Prompt list here!

He’s petting a black cat because he’s too lucky to have adverse effects from it :) also black cats are the best, he’d know, he’s married to one!

Not my best work anatomy wise but that’s okay, I think it’s cute anyway :)

[bluesmchops]

"Home"

[disabled-battlekukku]

Oswald Week Day 6: Dream

[sketchnskribbles]

[t0onslover]