#she-ra’s internal trilogy

[girl4music]

“With all our focus on memory and the promise, this “trilogy” is a trilogy on perspective. Memory and perspective are deeply entwined because memories aren’t an exact recall. They’re coloured by how we feel, context around them, and they’re different every time we remember. The first two episodes show memories impacted by a combination of external influence and internal biases: aka, the major things getting in the way of Catra and Adora’s communication and pushing them farther apart. Catra and Adora’s whole conflict, and the catalyst for the whole story, is based on a difference in perspective. In this spirit, of course the one thing I do wish we’d gotten more of is Adora’s point of view to see her inner journey go from “I mean you are kind of disrespectful” and “you never protected me!” to “Shadow Weaver hurt us, I haven’t forgotten that”…

But it still works.

It’s fitting that this all leads to ‘Corridors’, where we see our first flashback without outside influence, and that’s where things start to change for the better. Where instead of distorted half truths, it’s just a simple honest reflection that opens a path forward. From ‘Promise’ to ‘Corridors’ we get the bookends of the beginning and end of Catra’s proper villain arc. And both include shots of her looking into a mirror. First disoriented in ‘Promise’ and then more soberly in ‘Corridors’.

So having gone over all these similarities - do I think the “trilogy” is intentional? I don’t know but probably not. What it is I think is a mark of good writing. I think the amount of parallels, callbacks and symmetry between these episodes is a testament to solid writing instincts when writing significant episodes and the story’s arc. So me pointing this out is less a “Aha, they all planned this from the start” and more of a huge amount of praise to the care, attention and understanding put into the story. And the byproduct of this kind of understanding are these fun patterns and artistic harmony which make the story all the more immersive, fun to watch and fun to think about.”

I attest to all of this, including the assumption that it probably wasn’t intended because TV show making just doesn’t work that way. At least it never used to work that way. Maybe more so recently - where they map out a full season’s worth of narrative and characterization content in a TV show right from the beginning - due to the show creators’ anxiety of cancellation and they want to make sure they’re not just wasting their time, energy and money so map it all out beginning to end.

But otherwise… no, a TV show is basically treated like a living being and so things can change at any moment throughout both the writing and production processes. So yes, I would just say this particular show creator had a very good grasp on what it was that he wanted from the story that these 3 episodes do seem like a trilogy.

It is the mark of very good writing that there is this many parallels, callbacks and symmetry in episodes.

It’s passionate, careful and conscientious writing. I could (probably have) pointed out many in Xena too because that show also was treated like a living being where they just let the show basically write itself by paying attention to how certain aspects with the narrative and characterization played out and… of course the audience’s reception from it. With the exception of Joss Whedon I can’t think of any truly great writer that doesn’t let things happen naturally and isn’t a control freak about absolutely everything.

Odds are Stevenson had a vision of what he wanted for the trajectory of the show but just allowed nature to take its course and wrote to whatever felt most right.

TV shows that are treated like living beings are the very best kind in my opinion. She-Ra is no exception to that.

[catras-breakup-song]

1x11 | 5x03

from "promise" to "corridors" we get the bookends of the beginning and end of catra's proper villain arc, and both include shots of her looking into a mirror; first disoriented in "promise", and then more soberly in "corridors".

~ five by five takes: "she-ra's internal trilogy" (16:13 - 16:27)

[zephyr-ro-emenki]

Random Batfam Headcanon's #23: The Adoption Habit Trilogy!

(continuation of #22)

Another thing the Batfam has a habit of adopting (but this time collectively) is mother figures.

Of course, we have Thalia, who is Damian's birth mother (and the one Jason refers to when he speaks of Mom), and the rest of the Batfam have a precedent to call Thalia Mom in that her and Bruce were once in fact married, and the only reason they split up and never had a happy married life being that Ra's ordered her to tell Bruce she had a miscarriage with Damian and return home with him. So, the rest of the family can (and in life and death situations where they need to stun her, Have) called her mom.

Then there's Selina, Bruce's on again, off again love interest that he was also engaged to. She's the one most Batfam members seeing when they picture Bruce actually settling down with someone, and she's truly become either their mother or their spinster Aunt who has a lot of useful (but criminal) habits that your parents don't want you to know (and the difference depends entirely on the writer for that comic run.)

Now, we get into the Various Female Heroes (and newspaper journalist) that get referred to as Aunt but they all mentally call them Mom.

We have Lois Lane (the Batkids have a running betting pool for when either Bruce or Damian Realizes they've unintentionally started dating the Kent Family. Tim doesn't count, he knows for a fact he's blatantly dating Kon. And so, The Kents have become referred to internally by the Batkids as the In-Laws.)

We have Wonder Woman (the full equalizer to the Throuple that is Bruce, Lois, and Clark, truly making it a Polycule. She also just radiates mom energy.)

We have Zatanna (this is mostly just a joke from Steph being Horny/stupid on main and accidentally posting the words "Magic Mommy" in the Batfam chat when referring to Zatanna's show coming to Gotham. It's stuck around longer than they ever thought it would.)

We have Dinah (she's the family therapist for not just the Batfam, but also the therapist of the entire JL, of course she radiates Mom energy.)

We have Leslie Thompkins (she's the Batfam's go to doctor, they've all been high on painkillers and accidentally referred to her as Mom before.)

And thats it if you don't count some Batfam members jokingly and sarcastically referring to Harley and Pamela as "Mom" in that very mid-Teens sarcasm that everyone gets, and Harley becoming a hyperactive parent like "OMG IVY WE HAVE KIDS!!!" and Pamela having to calm her down with "Harley, Darling, love of my life, centerpiece of my garden, they're little menaces." Only for Harley to respond "I know, aren't they PERFECT!?!?!?!"

[lemonsrosesandlavender]

2024 Writing Year in Review!

Thanks @commander-krios ! I tag… @darkurgetrash @redroomroaving and @purpleasters-inseptember (nvm RED YOU GOT ME FIRST. How dare you! ;) @forget-me-maybe I’m throwing you a tag instead.)

Here we go!

Words posted: 157,651

Words unposted: 5,054 (...approximately, it's hard to count bits that I think might get ripped up and rearranged!)

Total word count: 162,605

Fandoms: Barring a teeny bit of work on an Ambition: A Minuet in Power WIP, BG3 has occupied my days.

Highest Kudos: Planar Tears, at 247 kudos.

Highest One-Shot Hits: Laced Close, my Rolan x Steel Weave Tav corsetry one-shot, at 1,328 hits. You little freaks. He would look amazing tight-laced and moaning about it <3

New things I tried: Scrivener! (Excellent, never going back. Especially good for multi-chapters). Trying different voices and styles. Writing prompts (and some of them have inspired utterly delicious filth, sweetness, or both, so thank you!). Writing sprints (banging). Proper outlining (couldn’t have done this much of Planar Tears without it).

Looking back, it seems like this year was pretty successful in terms of new writing habits I tried!

Fic I took the most time on: Planar Tears. I started at the end of January, and (hilariously) thought I’d be done by October. We’re at the 70% mark now! At a conservative estimate, I’ll say I’ve spent at least 250 hours on it… but the truth is definitely far higher.

Fic I took the least time on:

Short Shorts (And Cold Beer) came to me in a vision and took approximately 3.5-4 hours to write and edit. Same for Nailed! I’m also very proud of both of those fics, which is cool. Sometimes lightning strikes and you just have to sit down and dash* out those words (and credit to Barb for providing the lightning for Nailed!)

* “dashed out” for me is a top speed of 500–600 words written in an hour. I’m a tortoise compared to some on here!

Favourite thing I wrote?

It has to be Planar Tears <3

Favourite Fics I read this year?

I’ve read and rec’d some great fics this year, but I’ll keep it to a top three!

The Northern Bastards series by @graysparrowao3 is just fantastic filth. (Aradin x Rugan, you will love them and you will hate them. As it should be!)

I loved all of the other entries in Volo’s Erotic Library, but my special shout-outs have to go to @darkurgetrash for ruining my life (negative, severe internal pain) with “Discord Daddy Rolan”, @sav-not-tav and her orb-linered Lorroakan x Tav version of My Immortal, and @littlemisscactus 's absolutely heinous Strange Ox x Tav yaoi (kyaaaaaa?!).

And finally, the omelurg trilogy (starting with research methodologies) by weathered_law is just god-tier. Beautifully smutty and absolutely thrumming with affection for these mushroom nerds. It’s wonderful.

writing goals for 2025:

Finish Planar Tears by mid-June! I am feeling the pressure of wrapping up all these plot threads nicely, but I also know it's going to be the most rewarding part of an already very rewarding project, so I'm determined to make it sing.

Publish Fingering the Fist by the end of January, and Minthara x Gale by the end of February.

Return to my original novel now my skills are stronger and the ideas have fermented a bit.

Write freakier, filthier, and hopefully better. I’m always on a quest to improve my skills; if you recommend any great craft books/blogs/videos I'll gladly read them!

new works for 2025:

The omega!Rolan/f!alpha!Tav idea from Barb has been brewing for ages and I had some great thoughts whilst chatting to @ra-scheln about it, so that’s definitely coming at some point. (Once I’ve cleared my other oneshots from the above goals!)

I’m pretty committed to writing a Catrin-POV one- or two-shot I think! I want to write more smut than we have time for in Planar Tears, and I have a pushy-sub-Rolan/top-drop Catrin idea I’d like to explore where he oversteps her boundaries and inveigles her into doing something that he thinks is hot but she thinks is dangerous. I love exploring kink communication and conflict, what’s new ;)

Lennie! Poor Lennie! I have tragically neglected her, but the ideas have been stewing and I really want to get them down. So expect awkward car sex and another steamy spanking soon. <3 (I also need to make an OC reference so I can get some art of her picking Rolan up like the weightlifting hottie she is).

(This whole section is really an ode to the way a good idea will age until it’s ripe enough to write. I love those, because I often find when you DO sit down to write them, they come out quickly, and I can't wait to bash them out once my current queue is done!)

[izunias-meme-hole]

My Top 10 Batman Villains (Revamped)

(Because I currently need to get this off my chest, also a lot of these are just in my opinion)

Honorable Mention: Bane (Various) - Despite being misrepresented as a dumb brute and the fact that one of the best adaptations of him somehow gets his voice and nationality wrong, Bane is a villain with QUITE the deserving reputation. A walking tank with a luchador mask that has the brains to match his brawn.

Number 10. Scarecrow (Nolan Trilogy) - Crane wasn't a big villain in the grand scheme of the trilogy, but my god Cillian Murphy does a great job with the character. Like I wish that his supervillain outfit wasn't just a bag over his face, but Scarecrow manages to be quite the dangerous and cowardly loon with a mask of sanity in Batman Begins, an active member of the underworld in The Dark Knight, and the guy actively sending folks to their deaths in The Dark Knight Rises. Could we have had more of him? Yes. Did he use up his screen time well? Absolutely. Though his fear toxin could've been infinitely wilder.

Number 9. Mr. Freeze (BTAS: Heart of Ice) - I feel like this is a "to the surprise of absolutely nobody" moment, but this show reinvented Mr Freeze as a tragic and vengeful figure, and his debut was a perfect example of that.

Number 8. The Phantasm (BTAS) - The Phantasm is one of the best darker counterparts to Batman a lot of levels.

Number 7. Harley Quinn (BTAS) - The minor side villainess turned breakout character of the show. If anyone has seen B:TAS and then seen the rest of the media she's in, then you know why this is the best version of her. A good amount of things about the character being based around her actress (R.I.P Arleen Sorkin), her interactions with half the cast, Peak HarIvy content, the best representation of how bad her situation with her abusive ex was, and the perfect mixture between being a not-so-great-person and a precious lil' thing who deserves better.

Number 6. Ra's Al Ghul (Various) - Ra's Al Ghul may be a more international threat in comparison to the other antagonists I've listed, but he's undeniably one of Bruce's greatest foes. A very rich and powerful older man whose mission and persistence is similar to that of the caped crusader. Though unlike Batman, Ra's is willing to do more than just kill, he's willing to commit genocide, and he's willing to use other harsh and controlling methods in order to create his ideal world. Ra's is pretty much the the worst elements of Batman shoved into a singular self-righteous figure, and when done well he's easily one of the greats.

Number 5. Two-Face (Various) - Harvey Dent is a man split down the middle, a two-faced dude in more ways than one, and an irredeemably tragic figure no matter the perspective, though funnily enough he's always a victim of chance. He's a victim of the one worst possible outcome that had just as much of an opportunity to be the best possible outcome. It's part of the reason why he makes choices based off a literal coin flip. Chance put Dent in the circumstances to become a villain, and as he surrenders his entire being to chance as Two Face.

Number 4. Oswald "Penguin" Cobblepot (Various) - He's just a pathetic and horrible little man. No I'm serious. Oswald has had various portrayals over the years, but they can all be summed up at "pathetic and horrible little man wanting respect" and its great to see in action because despite the fact that he can be legit menacing and sometimes tragic, Oz is just inherently ridiculous on some level. It's great.

Number 3. Catwoman (Various) - Selina, Selina, Selina... she's cool. Sure she is a classic example of a "femme fatale," but aside from that Selina has always been a thrill seeker in some way or another. Be it as a jewel thief who proudly shows this, or an anti-hero that covers this part of herself with actual justifications, there is always an aspect of Selina that enjoys what she does when she puts that mask on. Mrs Kyle is enjoyable, idk what else to say.

Number 2. The Riddler (Various) - Genuinely impressive intelligence and creativity mixed with an ego as big as 3 Russias and as fragile as a glass bottle. That's what you're always bound to find in Riddler. Be it in the 60's show, BTAS, Batman Forever, The Arkham Series, Gotham, or The Batman, Riddler is a Redditor with the theatrics of a gameshow host and the resources of John Kramer.

Number 1. The Joker (Various) - Come on. We all knew this was gonna happen. The Joker is a crook who fell into a vat of chemicals and got a clownish makeover, who ended up becoming the nemesis of Batman. While the other rouges have their particular danger levels, they all have some type of cause they're fighting for or they're purely out to benefit themselves. Joker just causes chaos, death, and suffering, for the sake of his twisted sense of humor. He is willing to kill and ruin lives in the most creative way possible, so long as he finds it funny. Yet despite how twisted he is, this evil ass clown actually can be funny. Not only that, but he's the most effective contrast to Batman, even more than the other rouges. Batman is a frightening figure with a semi-demonic visage who suffered one bad day in his youth, yet he is a hero dedicated to the cause of justice and protecting the innocent citizens of Gotham City. Joker is a colorful figure with a big 'ol grin on his face and a jovial demeanor, yet he is perfectly okay with causing as much unwarranted harm to others for the sake of artistic chaos. Ultimately, the Clown Prince of Crime is a villain that's managed to last for decades, despite the ever marching clock, for these exact reasons.

[fuck-yeah-romantica]

The love of my l- Sada. Just, Sada.

Romantica photoshoot

- Position: guitar / bass

- Birthday: april 3 (no there is no year. Being lucky, only ten years later than Karen)

- Zodiac: aries

- Height: 170cm.

- Weight: 53kg.

- Bloodtype: A

- Previous musical projects: ...

Sada's first look, claims Karen Fox, 2004 (look at him. Look at him. L o o k.)

- Favourite bands (Japan): X japan, Baiser, Kuroyume, Shazna, Velvet eden, Art marju duchain, Luna sea, Malice mizer, Moi dix mois, Raphael, Hizaki grace project, Izam, Lareine, Metis Gretel, Sadist, Parasite, S (visual kei era), Syndrome, Phantasmagoria, Jun solo, hide, Anti feminism, Madeth gray'll, Je*reviens, Dir en grey (visual kei era), La:sadie's, Aliene ma'riage, Noir fleurir, Eliphas levi, Noi'x, Missalina rei, Neil, Celestia le ciel, Eze qul, Luinspear, Marry+an+blood, Misery, Orugo/ru, The piass, Loon eye's millye, Verfe gorl, Schwardix marvally, Due le quartz, Kagrra (visual kei era), Da'vid shito:al, Alc A dia, Kar maria, Allegory pill, Lanus dune, Aikaryu, Kamaitachi, Gargoyle, Kuroahega, Sex Android, Angel heart.. and a looot more....

- Favourite bands (Outside Japan): Sex pistols, Specimen, Siouxsie and the banshees, Cinema strange, London after midnight, Heart Throb Mob, Queeny Blast Pop, The devotchkas, The damned, The adicts, Vice Squad (80's), Misfits, The Ramones, Motley crue, Visage, Dead or alive, Boy george, Mayhem, Dana International, The horrorpops, Dick dale, Dead can dance, Karen Fox, She-ra. (Damn that goth strike)

- Favourite Videoclips: Fade to Grey (Visage), Out of fashion (Boy George), Long Hard Road Out Of Hell (Marilyn Manson), Zero (Smashing pumkins), Sad Mask (Velvet eden), Omocha no miisha (Noir fleurir), Metamorphose (Lareine), Gekka No Yasoukyaku (Malice mizer), Sumire september love (Shazna), Sister (Kuroyume), Koi shite kura kura (Izam), Weekend (X japan), Tsuki ni kasamura kumo hana ni kaze (Omnyouza), To.ki.me.ki. (Missalina rei), Sangeki no yoru (Dir en grey), Michi no sora (Psycho le cemu), Hoy no (Entre Rios), Paris (Romantica).

- Hobby: ...

- Interest: Hollow earth, Nazi esoterism (ufo), not official science, comics, manga.

- Personality: dejado (ditzy, out of touch with the surroundings), dreamer.

- Favourite colour: black, violet.

- Ambition: youth.

- Your first love: myself

- Would you like to be in love again?: here I am.

- Romantica in one word: machos (alpha males)

- Favourite phrase: y.. ya no se puede confiar en naides!! -by: shinjidark- (well... Neinbody is to trust!!)

- Favourite book: ...

- Favourite writer: Pierre Boulle, H.P. lovecraft, Julio Verne, John uri lloyd, H.G. Wells, Ray Bradbury, Ellis St. Joseph, Edward Bulwer Lytton.

- Favourite movie: Hedwig and the angry inch, Star wars (original trilogy), Dagon, Glen or glenda.

- Favourite t.v. series: Lost, The outer limits (60's), The twilight zone (50's).

- Favourite politic: Gral. Juan D. Peron.

- Favourite word: ...

- Type of woman liked: Real doll.

- Type of woman disliked: Real women. (Somebody should tell this guys homosexuality isn't the answer to mysoginy... Or maybe it is?)

- Treasured thing: my body.

- Who is your rival: myself

- Favourite anime: NHK ni youkoso!, Neon genesis evangelion, Arbegas (El rayo custodio!), Mononoke hime, Gunnm, Magic knight rayearth, Petshop of horrors, Robotech, Berserk, Gantz.

- Animated series: The smurfs, South park, The simpsons, Batman the animated series, Transformers, Spiderman and his amazing friends, Dino raiders, G.I. Joe, Thundercats, Birdman.

- What did you wanted to be as a child: pope

- What subjet did you like at school: none, I hate school.

- When did you discover music: 14 years old

- Something you always carry with you: Brain.

- Time of the year: autumn

- Where you would like to go: tokyo, inside of hollow earth.

- Who you would like to meet: ...

- What song defines you: sad mask - velvet eden.

- Message to fans: I don't know who you are, but I don't believe you anything!!!.

[julinamimunson]

Hi everyone! I'm Júlinami, I'm gonna make this post so you can know a few things about me

I'm 17 years old and I'm from Barcelona, Spain

I like to read, write, listen to music and watch animes, cartoons and tv shows

I'm a Cancer and my mbti is ESFJ

My favorite national autors are Iria G Parente and Selene M Pascual, Marta Alvarez and Blue Jeans

My favorite international autors are Rick Riordan, Sarah J Maas, Cassandra Clare, Alice Oseman, TJ Klune, Taylor Jenkins Reid and Holly Jackson

The music I listen to the most is pop in Catalan Spanish and English. One of my favorite singers is Taylor Swift

I like and follow various influencers mostly in catalan, the Spanish and english ones that I follow mostly do content about tv shows movies and anime

My favorite bookfluencers are Niloa Gray, Josu Diamond, Clau Reads Books, Raiza Revelles, Cronicas de una Merodeadora and Andrea Rowling (they're all in Spanish, I'm not much into english book community)

One of my favorite Disney movies is Encanto, I write a lot about it. My favorite characters are Isabela Camilo and Mirabel and Camilo and I relate a bit to Mirabel

I don't watch much horror films but my favorite ones are the Fear Street trilogy and the IT duology

I love fantasy and comedy films and rom-coms. one of my favorite rom-coms is Do Revenge

Some of my favorite book series are:

- ACOTAR Throne of Glass and Crescent City

- The Shadowhunter Chronicles

- Heartstopper

- The Green Creeck Series

- Camp Half-Blood Chronicles

- Some of Iria G. Parente and Selene M. Pascual's

- Mystical

- the Pretty Little Liars book series

- Memòrias de Idhun

- La chica invisible

- El Club de los incomprendidos

- The Lunar Chronicles

- A good girl's guide to murder

My favorite anime are:

- One Piece (My bi queen Nami the first reason behind my username)

- Pretty Cure (there's only a season that I don't like)

- Naruto

- Dragon Ball

- Kimetsu No Yaiba

- Black Clover (I"m watching it right now)

- Ojomajo Doremi

- Ranma 1/2

- Keroro

- Sakura Card Captor

- Fushigi Yugi

- Lamu

- Fairy Tail

- My Hero Academia

- Jujutsu Kaisen

- Wedding Peach

- Madoka Magica

- Yuuki Yuuna is a Hero

- Magia Record

- Kamikaze Kaitou Jeannne

- Kamichama Karin

- Tokyo Mew Mew

- Pichi Pichi Pitch: Mermaid Melody

- Nanatsu no Taizai

- Bandori: BanG Dream

- Aikatsu

- Pripara

- Love Live and Love Live: Sunshine

My favorite tv shows are:

- Stranger Things (My boy Eddie Munson the other reason behind my username, I relate to him and also to Robin. I also love Steve and steddie is my fav ship)

- Doom Patrol

- Titans (2019)

- Pretty Little Liars and Pretty Little liars: Original Sin

- Heartbreak High (2022)

- Rebelde Way

- Ginny and Georgia

- Wednesday (#cancelpercy #cancelpercyhyneswhite)

- Sex Education

- Power Rangers (almost all the seasons)

- Heartstopper

- Never Have I Ever

- Cobra Kai

- The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

- First Kill

- Blood and Water

- One of us is lying

- Firefly Lane

- Young Royals

- Warrior Nun

- Gossip Girl (the original one)

- The Umbrella Academy

My favorite cartoons are:

- My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

- Ducktales (2017) (I relate to Webby waay too much)

- Amphibia

- The Owl House (I relate to Luz)

- Gravity Falls (as a kid I used to relate to Mabel)

- She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

- Steven Universe

- Bojack Horseman (unpopular opinion: I love Mr. Peanutbutter while also relating to Diane)

- Total Drama

- DC Superhero Girls (2019)

- Arcane

I'll mostly post in english, but my maternal languages are Catalan and Spanish

See you later!

[unrepentantcheeseaddict]

Hoooh boy. I made a whole list of which childhood media experiences make up the key parts of my personality and creative process, this seems like a good excuse to share it.

Here we gooooooo!!

List starts here

The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

The Wild Girls by Pat Murphy

Doll Bones by Holly Black

The Egypt Game, also by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

(These books are all about outcast, more or less traumatized young girls coping via their very active imaginations. They made me realize I wasn't alone in how I dealt with the world, and made me want to spread that feeling of recognition by writing books of my own.)

The OG 5 Percy Jackson Books

The Extended Riordan-Verse

(Uncle Rick has had the single most profound impact of any author on my creative self. Hands down. His actual writing style is what I generally try to emulate.)

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

The Muppet Show

(Both foundational for my sense of humor, including how I write humor.)

Labyrinth

The Dark Crystal and Dark Crystal AOR

Brian Froud’s art books

Lord Of The Rings Movie Trilogy

Elfquest by Wendy and Richard Pini

(These all influenced me a lot, mostly with their very distinct visual aesthetics and epic world building.)

She-Ra (2018)

(Transformed my approach to fiction from "it has to make sense to our world" to "it has to make sense within its own world, you can add whatever the hell you want as long as it has internal logic". Also inspired me to make everything I write way more queer.)

SPN

(Helped me stop making my characters communicate more directly than real people would. Also helped me stop pulling my emotional punches.)

Extra inspirational vibes came from too many indie fantasy music YouTubers to name here, some highlights are Adrian Von Ziegler and Antti Martikainen. Seriously, check them out.

Turning this into a no-pressure open tag thingy because I'd love to see people's answers too:

@somethingclevermahogony @sarandipitywrites @thepeculiarbird @queen-of-the-weenies @mundanemoongirl

question for writers

I was thinking about what sources of media most inspires my writing style and themes, and after some thought I realized I am most influenced by the media I watched when I was 13-15.

Now, writers, I want to ask you: what TV shows, movies, web series, games, comics, etc. inspires your writing style the most, even implicitly?

[realm-sweet-realm]

What 5 characters taught you something and what was it?

Great question!

1.      Rarity (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)

Rarity taught me that femininity can be powerful.

I discovered My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic when I was 13 years old and babysitting. I was still in my internalized misogyny “not like other girls” phase, and I was not real happy with myself for falling in love with a world of cutesy pastel ponies. I tried to turn myself off of it by watching episodes with the girliest character in the cast, but here’s the thing: Rarity is awesome. She’s a mature, professional woman who’s brimming with confidence and assertiveness, she’s talented and passionate about her art, and she can kick ass, too. Yes, they make jokes at her expense, but overall, her femininity is not presented as demeaning. So, she kind of helped me to embrace my feminine side without shame.

I’m really glad that there are several characters like Rarity in modern media. Another example would be Pearl from Steven Universe. She’s a tidy, quiet, nurturing person, and she’s also a great technician and swordswoman and a war veteran, and those aren’t presented as contradictory. I like that.

2.      Adora (She-Ra: Princesses of Power)

Adora taught me that in writing, sometimes the best way to do something that goes against the grain is to not acknowledge that you’re doing it at all. She also taught me that you can go against the grain a lot more than I thought and look good doing it.

I love how Adora is handled. Love it. She’s a heroine that gets all the trappings of a male superhero. She never experiences any sexism or anyone questioning her leadership or strength due to her gender, and she’s adored by the people she protects for her strength and heroism. She has her struggles and flaws to be sure, but they aren’t related to gender. The idea of a woman being heroic is not the least bit subversive or unfeminine in-universe.

Similarly, Adora being a lesbian is treated as the most normal thing in the world. They aren’t making a point about same-gender love being okay (they’re not afraid to show that Adora’s relationship with Catra is extremely fraught and dramatic because they’re on opposite sides of a war), it just is. They let Adora have a silly schoolgirl crush on a muscled hunk of a woman and make jokes at her expense just as one would a straight girl with a hopeless crush. It’s treated as though it couldn’t be anything but normal. I just like that.

I've always wanted to write a female hero who is like Isaac Clarke, who is not sexualized, is respected as a leader without their gender ever coming up, who is overpowered and fears their own power, and who feels a responsibility to protect those close to them and is devastated when they can’t. I used to think it would bend too many gender-related standards at once. Now, I’m about to write that heroine in my next story. I’m glad that she taught me that the “rules” are much more flexible than I thought, if they even have to be followed at all.

3.      Henry Stein and Isaac Clarke (Bendy and the Ink Machine, the Dead Space trilogy)

Henry Stein and Isaac Clarke taught me what I idolize. Isaac in particular taught me that being damaged or complicated doesn’t devalue you as a person.

Let me get this clear right off the bat: I never devalued anyone else for being complicated- I was just struggling with finding out some stuff about myself.

These two are kind of the horror game protagonists of the most unstable period in my life. Dead Space became my comfort game after I moved away for university. To keep things short, I had a lot of difficulties adjusting and found out a lot about myself in a short time-span that were hard to come to terms with. Dead Space allowed me to go back to a familiar place, do something I knew how to do, and be someone I saw as stable and uncomplicated. After I finished Dead Space, I moved on to Bendy and the Ink Machine, and another older man who seemed brave, stable and uncomplicated. If Isaac was this action hero paragon of bravery, toughness, and resilience, Henry was the more realistic counterpart who probably had four kids and would make a good Scout Leader and whatnot- someone you could actually meet or be.

Here’s the thing, though: I realized eventually that Isaac isn’t uncomplicated in the slightest. He’s the polar opposite of uncomplicated. He has PTSD. He’s been mind-controlled by an alien artifact, and it left him with permanent neurological differences. He’s gone through and even done terrible things because he had to. Henry, similarly, will be forced to deal with all kinds of demons if he makes it out of the sketch dimension. And that doesn’t change anything about them. I have plenty of issues with Isaac’s characterization in Dead Space 3, but none of his complicatedness keeps him from being a leader and showing the power and resilience I idolize him for. I’d like to think that Henry could get back to being himself, too.

I’ll say it outright: I want to be Henry one day. I want to be serene, stable, resilient, and at peace with myself. I want to have a family and be reliable to them, and have a worthwhile career. I want to be respectable and good with people. Almost all Henries in this fandom are like that- including ones that aren’t cishetallo, neurotypical, etc. I just like that.

4.      Jack Fain and Sammy Lawrence (Bendy and the Ink Machine)

Can my own versions of characters count? Well, I hope they can. These two taught me that even if you don’t see your worth, there’s someone who does.

This is something I’ve thought of a lot. Jack is pretty insecure and feels somewhat inferior to Sammy because of Sammy’s beauty, prodigal talent, confidence, and ability to garner attention. I wonder if he knows that Sammy also wishes he were like Jack- that he could connect with people so easily and handle stresses without freaking out. I wonder how Jack would react to that if he found out. I just like these two a lot- they fit together like two puzzle pieces.

5.      Entrapta (She-ra and the Princesses of Power)

Entrapta taught me the power of good representation.

I’ll be honest, when I first saw Entrapta, I didn’t think I’d be able to stand her. I actually came to love her, though. I love her quirkiness and childlike enthusiasm. I love how she actually does care about people even though she isn’t always good at it. I like that she’s prone to feeling rejected because she knows she’s bad with people. I love her loyalty to those who accept her, and of course, I love her little arc with Hordak.

I feel like I’m a bit like Entrapta. She also made me realize that I had never in my life seen a female autistic character before, or, honestly, just any positive representation of autism. Granted, I wasn’t looking for one and probably would have actively avoided it if anything (until about two years ago, I pretty much just associated my autism with painful things and didn’t want to be reminded of it), so it’s partly my fault, but still, I’m really glad that Entrapta exists.

[sixth-light]

We have finished our re-watch of ATLA and some final thoughts, in no particular order:

The attention to background detail in this show is so good and it really rewards a re-watch. So many minor characters who pop up again and again, even without dialogue, so many call-backs that aren’t necessarily signposted but make the universe feel coherent. 

It’s also super, super, super obvious that they had the whole story arc planned out from the beginning and it makes story arcs where that was NOT the case (yes, this is a SW sequel trilogy call-out) seem even more disappointing in retrospect. 

This show notoriously has a Dead Mother problem but I would argue what it has even more is a Missing Adult Women problem - the only adult women with any real agency we see are, what, Li and Lo? All the White Lotus Masters are men, all the senior political figures are men, there’s a decent number of women in the protagonist/antagonist groups but they’re all teenagers. Big contrast to something like She-Ra or even The Dragon Prince. 

They really did stick the landing in the final few episodes, damn. There’s maybe one or two other TV shows that manage that. (Admittedly I do not watch a lot of TV, but even so.) 

The problem with Katara/Aang as a Thing is largely the conventions of heterosexuality; the show never bothers to develop their romantic relationship beyond the basic framing of ‘boy wants to kiss girl, does girl want to kiss boy?’, because romance is assumed as being on the table because...he was a boy, she was a girl, etc. In the meantime, their relationships with other people (e.g. Zuko!) are much more deeply developed because romance isn’t on the table. And also Aang is 11 or whatever and - I actually like the concept of them and what we see of them in Korra and their kids, but the question of their romance doesn’t even need to come up during the period of the show and it would be stronger if it didn’t. 

Relatedly: given this show is the progenitor of shows like She-Ra in many ways, the complete straightness is so jarring. 

Regarding Zuko’s redemption arc, which is as good as advertised/remembered: it works because it’s less a redemption arc and more a “this kid is still struggling with right and wrong” from the moment we meet him. By the time he tells his father to get lost and leaves to join the Gaang, you’ve been rooting for him to get it right for half a season, because you’ve seen him almost get there (at the end of the second season). Redemption works for characters when it’s positioned as an internal victory the audience wants them to achieve. 

The worldbuilding isn’t perfect but it’s strong enough to hold up the arc of the show and really that’s all you need. 

We were ROBBED of not seeing Old Man Sokka in Legend of Korra. ROBBED. 

[popculturebuffet]

The Loud House Reviews: L is For Love

Happy Pride Month Everyone! I have to admit I didn’t realize pride month was in June. Luckily that just meant two things: 1) This was a plesant suprise for once in an escalatingly terrible year when I found out early yesterday morning when most of this review was written. And 2) I already, thanks to thinking about them due to the she ra finale and watching more loud house again now i’m back on cable, planning to do the three Saluna episodes as at trilogy after getting blood moon ball out of the way. 

Today’s ep takes place in late season 2. As mentioned in the “Brave the Last Dance Review’ the series had some growing pains before it got to it’s current shape: the series largely focused on lincoln at first, but as season 2 went on the show slowly eased off him. While he still gets plenty of episodes focusing on him, and still gets the ocasional weird zach morris talk to the camera moment when the episode calls for it, the show wisely decided to make itself into an ensemble piece. INstead of being about the one boy navigating a big house it became about 11 children and their parents navigating being a big family and the perils of adolsence and what not.  As such today’s ep , while focusing on the kids as a whole, evnetually zeros in on my faviorite Loud child, Luna. Luna, as you probably know but what the hell, is an aspiring rock star, most of the time fairly chill and using the word dude a lot but not afraid to get loud, pun intended, or throw up the devil horns at a moments notice. She’s also a loving big sis, cares about her siblings, and is in short a wonderful character that season 1.. really didn’t give much focus. Season 2 rectified that to my delight, giving her a focus episode early on, Roadie to Nowhere, which revealed that she also has some confidence issues that are brought to the forefront here and go on to be a vital part of her character. I also admitely was delighted to see her voice actress, Nika Futterman, in a major role again, and she’s delightful in the role and even does luna’s singing. And this ep while being an “all hands on deck’ episode about all of the siblings, does have a major focus on luna as it goes, and thus I jumped on it immidetly.. that and you know, the fact it canocially made her bisexual, making a headcanon I had about her canon and being something they actually hinted at back in season 1. But we’ll get more into that later. For now, L is for love, lunacy and luna after the cut!

We open with Lincoln getting the mail and then gasping in shock at one letter, before calling an emergency sibling meeting. The sibling meetings are something that had been set up before with Lori,a s the oldest, leading them, and a thing I like: it makes sense with this many kids to have some sort of internal way to solve problems with them or vote on things as a group when needed. Simple, makes sense and i’m glad it’s stuck around. After dealing with the previous meetings minutes, Lincoln reveals what rattled him a bit: A mysterious love letter adressed to “L.Loud”. And it’s a nice way to use the series cute naming gimmick as a plot point: ONE of the siblings has a secret admirer,a nd while Lori, being lori, assumes it’s her boyfriend bobby, sh’es quickly shot down. And that.. makes sense. Bobby is a romantic, and a great character who I love dearly and will watch the spinoff soley because he’s in it.. but it’s been shown before this ep that bobbi’s a big romantic gesture guy. The boy put himself in a giant present and nearly suffocated to death to surprise his girlfriend for Christmas and went above and beyond for their anniversary. The guy’s a peach.. but he’s also not subtle. He’s also, while not lacking in cleverness as his later career as a bodegaman shows, not very bright so if this was him, his name would probably be crossed out somewhere on it.  But each of the louds have their own crushes... which is a problem with the ep. Now to the shows credit, besides the obvious of having Sam come back, two of these characters DO come back later: Chaz, Leni’s crush, ends up mentioned in season 3, and Luann’s crush Benny ends up the focus of a spotlight episode for her in late season 3, voiced by another one of my boys (and girls) stable of voice actors Sean Gambone later on. However even with that in mind this disconnect is the episodes biggest issue: outside of sam, since we see Luna visably struggle in a bit and we’ll get into that then, we have no real investment in seeing the louds get together with most of those people other than because the episode tells us to.  It didn’t really help that Lincoln and Lucy HAD love intrests in previous episodes. And sure Ronnie Anne had moved at this point, but Lincoln had a previous crush before her Cristina to use, and we had an entire episdoe about Lucy having a crush on rocky. And somehow Rocky still hasn’t come back, but his dumbass brother is a recurring character, which if nothing else is my proof that god hates me specfically. Also yeah.. while the crushes all have names I’m purposfully not looking them up as most of them are nondiscrept at best, and the only notable one is LIsa’s crush who looks like a tiny Doctor Octopus..so apparently Otto cloned himself and gave his son black hair? I mean that’s what i’m going with it sounds like the kind of contingincey he’d do and he did die for a while. Twice. Oh and the fact Lily is crushing on a teddy bear which is just really cute.  That being said, the episode DOES get something big right: Doing this kind of stock plot right. I mean “everyone thinks a romantic letter/card/card and flowers’ is for them is a stock sitcom plot and an annoying one at that half the time as the person who sent them comes off as super dumb, or the card has to be smudged or it has to be a nickname or something something, etc etc. Here... while they all think it’s for them, it makes perfect sense for once: They ALL have the same initials, so not knowing which ones which, aside from not Bobby because of reasons I mentoined already and Bear because AS FAR AS WE KNOW he’s not alive... I mean they do live in a house with a 4 year old who tampers with the natural order as part of her to do list every day, so it’s really a matter of when not IF with that.  It also avoids: “Everyone fights and gets petty over it” .. which itself the series has botched at times for other plots, so instead while they all want it to be them and breifly get agitated over it, they instead all work together using the same tactics to try and suss it out. It’s a nice change of pace and part of why this episode works despite the repettition.. more on that later.  Anyways of all of them it’s Lucy who offers the easiest way to narrow it down, knowing how secret admirers work because she reads a lot of vampire fiction and vampires , while inhumanly goregous are also deeply insecure which, having watched all 5 seasons of angel.. yeah that tracks good work. As such she suggests they all send a signal to gage their intrest and if their intrested, they’ll send another letter.  Shenanigans insue, my faviorite being Leni pretending to be a manquin and scaring the shit out of Chaz. Not bad jokes, but we’ll get to more about it later.  The plan actually works and the next poem has a rose and-mentions the targets brown hair, so our bachlerottes are down to Luna, Luann, Lynn and Lisa. It’s also a nice clue for the reveal later. Naturally their all stoked.. except Luna who looks visably depressed. Turns out she never GAVE her signal because she talked herself out of it, thinking Sam’s out of her league. But her siblings quickly all jump in to encourage her. It’s a nice scene. Starting with the easier part to talk about I do love the siblings comradere. Sure they fight, scheme against one another, ocasinally encourage one of their siblings to date a bully or throw him out of the house.. okay the last ones aren’t as typical or easily forgivable but still, the point is despite it all.. they love each other and when it counts, their there for each other. Hell here Luaan, Lisa and Lynn are all directly against Luna, hoping the letter we’ll be there’s.. yet they have nothing but support for her. The rest of her siblings just found out this wasn’t about them.. but the instant they realize Luna is so down on herself she thinks she’s out of the running, they change from disapointi to being her cheer section. It’s really sweet and it’s this among other moments that helps boost the episode up. I also like the special touch of Lori chiming in at the end, not to be lost in with the rest of her siblings, knowing likely that being both the oldest and the only one there having been in a relationship for a while, her words likely carry some weight. The other thing.. is Luna’s character, and how this episode cements self-doubt as a major part of her character. And i’ts a part I really like, a nice contrast from her usual confidence, and most episodes about her afte rthis would zero in on this aspect for good character growth.  So since Lucy was already right, they follow her advice for round 2: Give there crush a token of affection, and wait for at third letter. Which honestly aside from actually giving signals back, she’s not entirely wrong: most “love letter plots” have this sort of rhythm.  Speaking of rhtyum.. yeah this sequence is basically the same one as before just with a diffrent goal in mind.. however I do give the episode credit. In my previous review I spoke about my annoynce at the series love of repettion, and while this episode does suffer for it.. I inflated it in my head that it was worse here. Here the jokes land enough and it does work to the episodes benifit to repeat stuff. Plus here it ends up being plot relevant: After gifts of a pie to the face (Luann), a literal hart (Lisa) and a jock strap (Lynn), Luna has a decidedly less psychotic gift in mind: Her faviorite guitar pic, which even has a heart within a heart and is a very cute gesture... but she once again backs out and accepts not being that lucky. But I also like it because it cleverly shows that it’s not Luna herself that’s the problem: out of the 4 remaning siblings she’s the only one with a valid gift, and it make sense given both her personality and her siblings inexperince. It’s jsut she’s so scared of rejection she can’t bring herself to try.  So the family is familing in the living room when Leni comes in with the final letter from the mail man... and with the final letter admitting to a love of their sounds and all things british, yeah it’s gotta be Luna? So the secret admirer has set up a meting at bangers and mosh, a place that serves british food and is a rock venue. Luna is shocked but happy and the family carry her off.. minus Leni who being Leni wants to make sure the mailman is okay since she tried letting him down gently thinking the letter was from him.  The kids arrive, all coming with for moral support apparently.. only to find their parents. Wah wah wah! In all seriousness, this twist works. With the episode geared towards Luna, most fans probably woudln’t think about their parents or this being some wacky sitcom solution, but the episode gives decent hints: Brown hair, a love of british things , an established trait for Luna as much as Lynn senior, who spent a year abroad, ironically enough revealed in the same ep Luna hinted was bi and all the girls stalked an innocent british person because of course the head writer with a history of sexual harassment would think that was a good idea. Anyways, he also was established to have a band in “House Music”, luna’s other spotlight ep from season 1, So it’ a really good use of continuity, and if you were a diehard fan of thes how or rewatched those two eps a lot, you’d probably be able to figure it out. To their credit though I did not.  Anyways Leni gives out an amaazing line “Sam likes dad?” , Rita, after a bit of confusion at her daughter’s hilarous dumbassery, explains she sent the letter: As it turns out it’s how they met. Now granted you’d think they would’ve told the kids this before but I brush it off as the kids simply not thinking of that: It was a resonable assumption the letter was for them, and none of the letters had anything about Lynn Sr. That didn’t apply to his kids. Anyways, thinking Lynn Sr out of her league, much like her daughter’s current delimma which is a nice touch. ON the third note she asked him to meet her at the very restraunt they are now, celebrating the 20th anniversary of their first date. And to me this little story is just.. really fucking adorable, as is Rita’s love of Lynn Sr.’s pisstake british accent.  Rita, being a great mom, does try and comfort luna hoping she’s not disapointed. However while Luna was at first... her story inspiries Luna to take a risk. After all it worked for her parents, she and Sam could work. She just has to make that move and rallies her family to do the same. We also get one more fantastic gag before we get to the end montage: Lynn Sr: This calls for a celebration! Meat pies for everyone! Restraunt: Yay! Lynn Sr: Actually I just meant my family Restraunt: (grumbles) Lynn Sr: Oh come on theres 13 of us! So we end on one last montage as each loud kid gives their crush a note, some seeing it some not, and for Leni does the manquin bit again, which is adorable. Also the otto kid is apparently not named otto, but in my defense.. I don’t care. So after some genuinely cute bits, we get one last one as Luna leaves a note for sam.. and you see, as you probably know for most of the episode the show hadn’t been specific on which one Sam is, so when it turned out to be one of the girls, it’d be a twist. Of course it isn’t NOW: I called this a saluna trilogy after all and really most people hearing about the loud house probably know about her and Luna but at the time it was a smart twist. 

And I loved it. WHile i’d headcannoned her as bi, there were hints after all, it was, much like the korassmi ending of legend of korra , a plesant shock to have it be REAL. And the ending shot, of luna simling at the above from behind the lockers, is really sweet.  But I also give Nick and the Loud House credit where it’s do. While they weren’t the first children’s cartoon to have an out and out gay/bi/pan protaganist, they were one of the first to not only have a bi protagnist during the context of the show, but to have it be visable.. it was really nice. Even if I do wish they’d use the term bi i’m not greedy and the show to it’s credit, while giving moments like this florish, dosen’t go out of it’s way to pat itself o the back about it’s represenation. The characters who are queer or disabled or POC are just.. there , with enough prominence to be proper representation while not letting that be ALL they are. Now sure at the time of this writing Representation, even within the Loud House itself as it followed up on this, has taken even greater leaps: In Adult Animation we have Harley Quinn having the last act of it’s second season be dedicated to Harley’s emotiona turmoil over being in love with her engaged best friend and said best friend, for now NOT wanting more, a pairing fans had wanted to see played out since the two first met. She Ra had two LEADS angished declartions of loved save teh unvierse and be the emotional climax of the finale. And netflix has gone on to have several gay characters in it’s childrens show on top of that, all leads. But while I think all of tihs would’ve happened without L is for Love, I do still applaud it as a good step forward. Sure the show had Clyde’s  dads’ before, and they are good characters don’t get me wrong, but this was something else and as  Bi person myself.. I really welcome it.  Final Thoughts: Not much to say I haven’t, but overall a realy damn good episode with a hell of an ending that makes use of the repetttion rather than usingit because “Oh shit we have a lot of episodes to get out this season”. Of course we’ll be getting back to sam and luna soon enough with season 3′s followup racing hearts, and with me knowing it’s pride I have tons of review ideas a coming, but for now, reblog this review if you liked it, or just like it if youd ont’ feel like that, send me an ask if you have any other episodes i’d like to cover, or comission one if you wnat to make SURE I cover it, and i’ll see you next time. Later days. 

[fulcrumahsokaamidala]

Saturday Spectacular #10

Happy Saturday!!! So this is me thanking awesome fanfic writers for their amazing work and all the time they put into their fics. ♥️ I want to recommend spectacular fanfic stories I read this week! ♥️ They are posted in the order I read them. All posts will be tagged #saturday spectacular fic rec

| ONE | (Oliver The Footballer) by @someonesaidcake | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Felicity Smoak had a plan; to save enough money to kick her monotonous job and start up the company of her dreams. She made good plans, solid plans, attainable plans. He was never part of her plan. His name was Oliver Queen, the reclusive Brazilian football star with a broken smile and a story to tell He’d never planned on her either.

The Year Of Good Things by wordscreatereality | Arrow | Completed

Summary: Oliver and Felicity are finally together and are determined to live life to the fullest and have promised to make the next twelve months good for each other. The criminals of Starling City and the Bratva have other ideas. This is the final installment of The Ties That Bind trilogy.

Can’t Help Falling in Love by @smoaking-greenarrow | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Collection of fluff fics based on Tumblr prompts! Some are angsty, but most of this is fluffy. Enjoy!

And So the Adventure Begins by @mindramblingsfics | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Felicity spent her first year of college focused solely on her studies. In year two, with the convincing of her best friends Iris and Sara, she lets her hair down a bit. Oliver spent his first year partying with his wingman Tommy and living up to the status that came with his last name. He realizes he should buckle down focus on the most important part: actual school. Oliver and Felicity meet, and even though they are on different ends of the spectrum, they soon realize that they can each bring out hidden parts of one another.

“Time for a story” Drabble Series by @smkkbert | Arrow | WIP

Summary: This fic shows Olicity and their life as a (married) couple with family. Although Olicity (and their kids) are the protagonists, other characters of Arrow and Flash make appearances. It started as a drabble series, but developed more and more into a full domestic AU.

Semper Fidelis by @oliversmuse | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Oliver Queen is a member of the Bravo Squad, a team that specializes in search and rescue, covert infantry and translating foreign documents. He is known as one of the best and even though he is one of the youngest recruits he advances quickly. While serving he meets Lance Corporal Felicity Smoak, a young woman with skills in hand to hand combat. Despite the fact they butt heads they fall in love and soon start to talk about a future together. However, when her plane disappears on a mission in China and she is presumed dead, Bravo Squad searches frantically for her, only to find her plane and her bloody dog tags. Five years later Oliver runs into “Megan” at a coffee shop near that gym he has been running with his friends. She has lost her memory from the plane accident but has had dreams of Oliver and the Bravo Squad. With the help of his friends and team mates, can he help her reclaim her past and fall for him once again?

The Roommate by GameOfOlicity | Arrow | WIP

Summary: AU. Where Oliver is a cute nerdy guy going to MIT and finds himself having a beautiful blonde as his roommate. Oliver and Felicity become really good friends. Oliver is soon going to find out how hard it is not to get attached to his blonde friend.

Alpha by @oliversmuse | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Oliver Queen was a powerful vampire that was captured by a group experimenting on hybrids. Turned into a hybrid that is half vampire and half wolf he is strong, fast and deadly. While in captivity he meets Dr. Felicity Smoak a hermatologist who is called in to monitor his feedings. All Oliver wants is to be free, away from the experiments and being in a cage, and strangely he feels he can trust Dr. Smoak. There is also an unspoken attraction between them that is forbidden. Can he convince her to set him free or will her attraction to him tempt her to keep him close?

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by @allimariexf | Arrow | WIP

Summary: He is waiting for her on the other side.~~~Post-7x22 Olicity Reunion!~~~

Artemis by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: When the Queen’s Gambit sank, two people were stranded on Lian Yu. Five years later, four came back.

Daughter of the Demon by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: What if in 1988 while traveling through Las Vegas Ra’s al Ghul bumps into a nice waitress named Donna Smoak and they have one-night stand together? A little bundle of joy named Felicity Smoak is the result. In 2014, the Demon Head becomes aware of his youngest daughter’s existence.

The Ravager by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Slade Wilson’s plan for revenge against Oliver took time, money and no shortage of lives to pull together. His plan didn’t anticipate Felicity Smoak. How will his plan change now that his lost-lost daughter is working with the very man he’s trying to destroy?

The Daughter That Was Left by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Before the Gambit, Oliver Queen met QC intern Felicity Smoak. When he boarded the Gambit, he left something behind. Now, five long years later someone is waiting for him.

Felicity of Themiscyra by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Years ago, Donna Smoak left the island of Themiscyra and her sister Queen Hippolyta behind to live in man’s world. She never told Felicity the truth about where she came from. As a result of the Undertaking, Felicity discovers some of her Amazonian abilities and makes an interesting new friend: Diana Prince.

I Scream But No Sound Comes out by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: When Oliver returns from Lian Yu after five years, he comes back different. What happened there damaged more than just his body. How will his friends and family deal with this new Oliver?

I wear high heels (she wears sneakers) by @mogirl97​ | Supergirl | WIP

Summary: “Lena. It’s not just about football.” Kara waved her hands around emphatically, “It’s about school spirit and hanging out with your friends—“ Lena didn’t want to bring up the fact that she didn’t have any friends to hang out with. “—and watching me obliterate a bunch of guys’ egos and going out for celebratory Big Belly Burger afterwards.” ~A Supercorp High School AU~

Love and Little Cupcakes by @christinabeggs | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Felicity loved sweets so much that she paid no attention to her love life. Until Thea Queen came into her store wanting fabulous cupcakes for her sixteenth birthday.

Did I Forget to Mention That My Dad is a Supervillain? by @laxit21 | Arrow | WIP

Summary: When Felicity told Oliver about her father, she wasn’t lying per se. She wasn’t completely honest either. It’s just that ‘my dad left us’ sounded better than the truth.

Or: A Series of one shots in which Felicity’s dad is a supervillain and we see how Oliver and the team finds out.

Providence by @so-caffeinated | Arrow | WIP

Summary: Will Queen has struggled in silence in the year since he was shot. But when a shadowy crime lord known as Domino targets the only woman Will’s ever truly loved, fate forces him to confront his demons in ways he never could have imagined… Whether he wants to or not. Amelia Prescott has fought to take control of her life since learning two years ago that her personal and professional worlds were manipulated by others. But nothing can prepare her for just how hard she’ll have to fight to set her own course, especially when her heart belongs to a damaged man and a crime lord threatens her every professional move… And her life. Destiny brings them together, but as chaos reigns and personal demons haunt Will and Amelia both, it may also threaten to tear them apart.

(i want to) save that light by @callistawolf | Arrow | WIP

Summary: What if one little thing changed in the history of Arrow? What if, instead of going to Laurel’s apartment after discovering the extent of Merlyn’s plans for the Glades, Oliver stayed at the foundry and talked to Felicity instead? This series of short vignettes explores some of the ripple-effect changes that could take place throughout the next season as a result of this one, fortuitous change.

and we’re somehow caught up in a web of lies by inlovewithimpossibility  | Arrow | WIP

Summary:  After their encounter with the Count and Moira’s release from prison, Thanksgiving is upon the residents of Starling City but when an article arises in the gossip magazines that throws both Oliver and Felicity under scrutiny, the two of them somehow find themselves caught up in the most elaborate lie they’ve told. What was supposed to be a relaxing week at the Queen cabin in New Hampshire for Oliver and a week celebrating Hanukkah and Thanksgiving alone for Felicity turns into a week at the cabin of acting, the Queen women and bubbling not-so-platonic feelings.

When Did It All Go Wrong by @wrldtravler | Arrow | WIP

Summary: After a mission with A.R.G.U.S. goes south, agent Oliver Queen learns something he shouldn’t about Director Amanda Waller. Sent on the run when A.R.G.U.S. turns against him, he’s forced to seek out the one person that never wanted to see him again but whom he trusts with his life: his ex, Felicity Smoak. Putting their past behind them, the estranged pair come together along with John Diggle and Lyla Michaels to stop the looming threat. However, the past never stays buried for long. With their renewed connection comes great strength. But where there is strength, there is also great weakness – one that may cost them everything they worked to prevent.

[letterboxd]

All the Cinephiles!

Talking films with filmmakers at TIFF 2019, including Bong Joon-ho, Beanie Feldstein and Daniel Radcliffe.

The 2019 Toronto International Film Festival brought pay-offs for the Letterboxd community from some heavily anticipated world premieres: Taika Waititi’s “anti-hate satire” Jojo Rabbit, Rian Johnson’s entertaining whodunnit, Knives Out, Marielle Heller’s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Todd Phillips’ Joker, and the Canadian premieres of big-hitters like Palme d’Or winner Parasite, The Lighthouse, Bacurau and Marriage Story.

The following films also went over well with the Letterboxd members in attendance: Blood Quantum, Saint Maud, Color Out of Space, La belle époque, Waves, 37 Seconds, The Burnt Orange Heresy, About Endlessness, The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão, Uncut Gems, The Obituary of Tunde Johnson, Dolemite Is My Name, Just Mercy and documentaries The Australian Dream and Collective.

We took the chance to ask some of the many filmmakers on the ground in Toronto about films they love (and the films they were there to represent).

Choi Woo-shik, Bong Joon-ho and Song Kang-ho at the Toronto premiere of ‘Parasite’. / Photo courtesy of TIFF/Tommaso Boddi.

Parasite

“All the cinephiles, the film geeks!”

We had just one question for Bong Joon-ho: how does he feel about Parasite being not just our highest rated film this year, but this decade? “I’m so happy with that. All the cinephiles, the film geeks! Me, also the cinephile, so I’m very happy with that news, thank you!”

Choi Woo-shik, who plays Ki Woo, the son in Parasite’s poorer family, described what it’s like to be directed by the acclaimed filmmaker. “This is my second time working with director Bong. He gives very friendly but subtle, very descriptive direction to actors, so I think that gave us a lot of confidence to act better.”

His favorite scene to film? “It must be the scene where the whole family’s drinking together in our semi-basement, right before my friend comes from work and gives me the stone. It was really fun working with director Bong and Song Kang-ho as my father. It was perfect.”

‘Parasite’ opens in US cinemas on October 11.

Producers Debra Hayward and Alison Owen, actors Beanie Feldstein, Alfie Allen, writer Caitlin Moran and director Coky Giedroyc. / Photo courtesy of TIFF/Phil Faraone.

How to Build a Girl

“That’s someone who’s really enjoying writing.”

Beanie Feldstein, admired for her work in Booksmart and Lady Bird, hit the TIFF red carpet for famed feminist writer Caitlin Moran’s adaptation of her semi-autobiographical novel, How to Build a Girl. Feldstein is a riot as Wolverhampton teen Johanna Morrigan, who reinvents herself as “Dolly Wilde”, a rock critic and “lady-sex-pirate”. Feldstein promised Letterboxd that if Moran’s next two books about Morrigan, which have been optioned by the same producing team, are also adapted for the screen, she’s in for the trilogy. “Of course! I mean, she’s my girl! I feel so protective of Johanna and I love her so much.”

We asked the reigning queen of the coming-of-age genre about the films that she loved, growing up: “I grew up obsessed with Funny Girl. Fanny Brice is my idol! Bridesmaids, my senior year of high school, was, like, the best movie ever. It was the most memorable theater-going experience of my life.”

How to Build a Girl is Caitlin Moran’s first film screenplay. (Working with her sister, she has previously adapted their family life for the British sitcom Raised by Wolves.) We asked Moran which screenwriters she most admires. “Oh my gosh. Who do I really love? If you read the scripts of Bruce Robinson, who did Withnail and I and How to Get Ahead in Advertising, those scripts read beautifully. All the description is there; he describes the sky looking the color of burnt sugar. That’s someone who’s really enjoying writing and you feel that vivacity come through on the page and in the character of Withnail. I love Bruce Robinson’s scripts.

“Juno was my favorite film of the last ten years. The way that that story was told just made me incredibly happy. I just love Diablo Cody so much. Like, when you read her stuff you feel her heart, sometimes her groin, and her massively exploding soul! So that’s what I’m always looking for. I just want to see things on screen that look real, that someone went ‘I’m going to have to write this or bust’. I hate films that look like someone went, ‘Oh, we’d better make a film that looks like a film’. I want people to have sat down and done a list of things where they’re, like, ‘What would I like to see on screen that I’ve never seen before?’

“And that’s what we tried to do with How to Build a Girl. I just literally, when I was writing the book, just [had] a list of things that I’d never heard anybody talk about with girls.”

‘How to Build a Girl’ does not yet have a scheduled release date.

Willem Dafoe, Robert Eggers and Robert Pattinson. / Photo courtesy of TIFF/Tasos Katopodis.

The Lighthouse

“I think the fart jokes work.”

The Lighthouse, directed by Robert Eggers and co-written with his brother, Max, is a film that the word “bonkers” has been thrown around a lot to describe. Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson go head-to-head in the black-and-white, claustrophobic, psychedelic and disarmingly funny psychological horror.

Max told us: “I came up with the original conceit that, you know, the sort of horror-genre of a lighthouse, I’d never seen done. And then Rob needed a writing partner. Well, actually, he had said to me, ‘Do you mind if I steal this lighthouse idea?’ And I was like, ‘Sure, fine, whatever,’ not knowing where it would land me eventually!”

Writing as brothers, says Max, involved “a lot of turpentine being drank! That’ll make sense for people who see it later. No, I’m just joking. It was a perfect fit. We trust each other, and I think that’s the big thing about writing teams is you gotta trust each other. And brothers, you know, it’s easy. You’d hope it would be easy. Sometimes it’s not.”

When we suggested that the brotherly relationship likely influenced a lot of the flatulence comedy in The Lighthouse, Max agreed: “Yeah, again, it’s one of those things where we took risks. Comedy is about that. You’ve gotta be able to be honest and trust yourselves. We didn’t know how it was going to play but, thankfully, I think the fart jokes work.” (When asked at the TIFF Q&A whether those farts were real, Dafoe replied: “Half and half.”)

Robert, when asked about the film he remembers as inspiring him to think about filmmaking, immediately offered Star Wars, particularly because of the available behind-the-scenes coverage that aided the “discovery process”. Max couldn’t recall the first film that inspired him into a movie-making career, but “one that reaffirmed my work would be a film by Elem Klemov called Come and See, which is the greatest, one of the best films I’ve ever seen. Amazing film.”

‘The Lighthouse’ opens in US cinemas on October 18.

Taika Waititi at the TIFF premiere of ‘Jojo Rabbit’. / Photo courtesy of TIFF/George Pimentel.

Jojo Rabbit

“Adults are ridiculous.”

“To me, Kak was so visceral and real.” That’s Jojo Rabbit producer Chelsea Winstanley talking about her imaginary childhood friend, for whom her family would set a place at the table and open doors, at her instruction. Jojo Rabbit’s writer-director Taika Waititi is also Winstanley’s husband, so her producing role naturally started early in the process, when they would share stories at home about childhood imaginary friends. Waititi plays the title character’s imaginary confidante: a stupid, vain, petulant and badly-dressed version of Nazi despot Adolf Hitler. It’s a character not found in ‘Caging Skies’, the Christine Leunens novel from which the film was adapted.

“We talked a lot, shared stories like that, so I think it’s very clever that he introduced that,” Winstanley explains. “It’s almost like we want to have some kind of heroes in our lives but we don’t know if they’re good or bad. Jojo doesn’t know the actions of adults. We’re just ridiculous. Adults are ridiculous. So it’s a really incredible way to show this kid that [Hitler is] not such a great hero.”

Winstanley, a director herself, was last at TIFF with the female-directed anthology film Waru, and produced the acclaimed documentary Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen, which was picked up by Ava DuVernay’s Array Releasing and is currently available on Netflix. “It’s amazing how I get messages, emails from people around the world who have watched it, because they can, thanks to Ava DuVernay. She championed this film to get out there. I have a massive girl crush on her.”

On the topic of inspiring women, Roman Griffin Davis, who has been gaining notice for his title role, praised his acting coach, New Zealand actor Rachel House: “She’s properly amazing. She’s a great actress and she’s very good at teaching acting. She kind of taught me how to act. Apart from my mother as well!” Fun fact: House is a long-time collaborator of Waititi’s (and voices Gramma Tala in Moana).

At the Jojo Rabbit Q&A, actor Stephen Merchant revealed the inspiration for his Nazi Gestapo officer: “I don’t think it’s going to come as a shock to anyone that I obviously watched Raiders of the Lost Ark. The great Ronald Lacey performance as the Nazi Gestapo officer… he’s very scary and terrifying so that to me seemed like a great guide; you can be comic but every so often you just turn on that chill factor.”

Meanwhile, Jojo Rabbit production designer Ra Vincent told us that the film Life is Beautiful—and the personal interests of filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson—were his key influences for the film’s design. “I’ve had quite a long relationship working with Peter Jackson and being around his interests, which are First World War memorabilia and stories. So I’ve had an opportunity to see how close to people’s hearts these stories are, and how it’s important to protect them.”

As for the films that made him want to be a filmmaker, Vincent, who began his movie career as a model maker, replied: “I think Star Wars did it to me. And also, oddly enough, Medusa [Ray Harryhausen’s work in Clash of the Titans], because of the claymation aspect to it. That’s my background.” Vincent is already working with Waititi on his next project, “a very nice little feel-good film about the American Samoa soccer team of 2011. It’s exciting to do a job at the beach!” (Michael Fassbender is reportedly in talks to play the team’s coach.)

‘Jojo Rabbit’ opens in the US on October 18.

Rhys Darby, Daniel Radcliffe and Samara Weaving. / Photo courtesy of TIFF/Phil Faraone.

Guns Akimbo

“Life’s too short to work with assholes.”

Daniel Radcliffe hit the red carpet this year for New Zealand director Jason Lei Howden’s Guns Akimbo, the follow-up to his micro-budget, metal-horror, splatter-fest Deathgasm. Also starring Samara Weaving and Rhys Darby, Guns Akimbo finds Radcliffe drawn into a live-streamed game in which guns have been bolted to his hands. It’s a far cry from Harry Potter and, looking over his recent output, we couldn’t help but comment that he must be having the time of his life picking roles as far from the boy-wizard as possible.

“I mean, I’m looking to be happy and live a nice life,” Radcliffe replied. “I’m very fortunate to be in a position where I can really pick and choose what I wanna do. No actor is in that position. That’s such a gift, so I’m very lucky to just get to work on stuff that I love and is maybe, I am told, weird, but I love it. And, yeah, also life’s too short to work with assholes, so I generally love to work with lovely people like Samara and Rhys and Jason. It’s very nice.”

Getting Radcliffe to name the film that made him want to work in movies is a tricky ask, since he started out so young. “That’s what’s weird about me is that I feel like most actors get into it by becoming a fan of film and then, like, ‘I wanna be an actor,’ whereas I was on film sets already by the time I realized I liked film. And I love film sets. I love being here. I feel like that’s what I fell in love with, was actually the experience of making things on set.” When pushed, he ponied up: “The first films I remember falling in love with are, like, Toy Story. Those are the first films that I remember seeing and going, ‘Oh, this is amazing’.”

Rhys Darby, who plays a down-and-out character named Glenjamin in Guns Akimbo, had been at the premiere of his friend Taika Waititi’s film the night before (Darby played Psycho Sam in Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople). “There’s nothing like it,” he said of Jojo Rabbit. “He manages every time to cast these fantastically comic-driven, gifted children, and [to] have so much pathos and heart. It was a triumph. I’m just jealous I wasn’t in it!”

Asked what the film was that made him want to get into the entertainment business, Darby responded: “Wow, that’s a good question. To be honest, I’ve always been a James Bond fan. I grew up watching the Roger Moore James Bonds, and it was the epic-ness of those 1980s films, which are ridiculous. The Roger Moore ones, there’s a lot of humor in them, there’s gadgets, and there’s these great locations, and I kind of dreamed of the idea of maybe being part of that world. It just seemed so ridiculous that it would never happen to a kid from Pakuranga, but it’s kinda happening!”

Darby recently achieved a dream of visiting Bond creator Ian Fleming’s home. “I actually went to Goldeneye! Yeah! Who would have thought that I’d get to go to Ian Fleming’s resort in Jamaica, and sit on his chair, where he wrote these novels? That was really special to me.”

‘Guns Akimbo’ does not yet have a scheduled release date.

[majingojira]

Just to tally, here's what I've gotten from both Tumblr and a forum I frequent so far:

4 Mentiones of A Song of Fire and Ice/Game of Thrones. 3 Mentions of Avatar the Last Airbender 2 mentions of Discworld, Harry Potter, and Castlevania And 1 mention each of Masters of the Universe/She-Ra, C.S. Lewis, The Worst Witch, Hercules: The Legendary Journies, Xena, Percy Jackson, Berserk, Ken Liu's writing, and Dragon Ball.

I personally mentioned more international stuff over the course of that thread, including: Obsidian and Blood trilogy, Throne of the Crescent Moon, and The Dragon & the George.

The Influences on D&D ... if Made Today

A thought has been percolating around my head, about Dungeons & Dragons, and the literary influences that helped design the world of the game. Among several articles, there were a LOT of influences that ranged from major (Tolkein) to "One creature from this one story" (The Displacer Beast). The ones that stood out to me the most, literary wise, were:

J.R.R. Tolkein/The Lord of the Rings

Robert E. Howard/The Conan and related stories.

H.P. Lovecraft/The Cthulhu Mythos

Edgar Rice Burroughs/Tarzan, Pelucidar, Barsoom

Fritz Leiber/Farhad and the Gray Mouser

Michael Moorcock/Elric of Melniboné

Of that original list, most have fallen off the pop-cultural radar. Only Tolkein, Howard, and Lovecraft really remain -- though the influences of the others are felt well beyond D&D. A thought occurred to me looking over all this "What if someone did this Today?" I know we have faith edition showing some bleed-in from newer series (4 Elements Monk/ Avatar the Last Airbender is kind of obvious), it's been only minor. If influences from modern fantasy/science fiction works got a stronger foothold over in the creation of D&D, what would those things be and what would it look like? I mean, besides Avatar, since that is already tapped thematically for D&D. Same for Star Wars, because that influences Everything, And on that note, you are not limited to literature specifically for this thing. Any story told in any medium is valid.

[thetheatertheory]

Reboots, Remakes, and Reimaginings

One of the most common types of content being produced today are reboots, remakes, and reimaginings. These three terms sound awfully the same, doesn’t it? Well, to the average consumer, yes, but these terms in actuality they do not mean the same thing. Below are their distinct definitions:

Reboot: Take an existing series and start again keeping the same central theme, but ignoring the previous timeline (i.e. Men in Black International (2019), She-Ra & The Princesses of Power (2018) )

Reimagining: Recreate an existing property but with one (or more) major changes (i.e. Maleficent (2014) )

Remake: Recreate an older property with minor tweaks (Aladdin (2019), A Star is Born (2018), Halloween (2018), Pete’s Dragon (2016) )

Now that these terms have been clarified (as seen above), we, the consumers, can dive deeper into detail. As described in the previous post using the magical girl anime sub genre as an example, we, the consumers, surprisingly remain mostly okay with the content that lies within our comfort zones. If one is a Sailor Moon fan, then he/she will most likely fall in love with Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Pretty Cure, Kill La Kill, Glitter Force, or Card Captor Sakura. If one liked CSI, then that person will more than likely get hooked on Law & Order (and their spinoffs),  NCIS, True Detective, Mindhunters, Blue Bloods, or Dexter. Streaming giants like Netflix and Hulu will make these guesses by using their recommendations feature. When you watch a movie or complete your binging journey for a particular show, the streaming empires will do their best to keep streaming by recommending shows and movies similar to what the viewer just saw. A new menu will be customized to there viewer’s tastes “Because you watched (title of film/show)”. How do they do this? by using big data. Big Data is the ever-growing collection of your internet history, from every google search to the likes you give on Instagram and Facebook. Even if you clear your browser history, it is never truly gone because the data of your searches have already been collected by the time you are finished with that search and delete it. Social media and streaming sites use that data they collected from you to entice you into either purchasing an eye-catching product relating to the content you like or watch a show/movie that is similar in genre. With this information, streaming services are able to profit off of consumers by catering to their tastes. 

Remember that deja vu feeling previously mentioned in the introduction? Reboots and remakes are responsible for that. When Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man first displayed the web-slinging hero on the silver screen in 2002, true believers (a term coined by Stan Lee meaning another name for Marvel Comics fans) were thrilled with this new experience. Because of the film’s massive success, a trilogy blossomed. Years later, Peter Parker and his alter ego got rebooted under an altered name: The Amazing Spider-Man (2014). Rather than the goofy, geeky quirks of Tobey Maguire under the mask, Andrew Garfield was next to take it. Fans had mixed feelings about this, since the Raimi trilogy had already set the bar of expectations incredibly high. In the end, things weren't looking up or down for Garfield’s run. Overall, fans and general audiences can come to this same conclusion (or argue against it): Andrew Garfield was a better Peter Parker, but not the best Spider-Man. Shortly, in 2016, the wall crawler got rebooted once more. Now that Disney has made a deal with Sony to share the character (since Sony owns the entertainment rights to the character), the young hero is officially part of the mouse’s universe called the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) and walking a different path compared to his predecessors who donned the suit. Today, with Tom Holland’s youth and charisma, he puts a unique twist on the interpretation of the web-slinger. 

Tobey Maguire           Andrew Garfield         Tom Holland

(2002)                        (2014)                          (2016)

In the PBS Ideas video below, one can get further understanding as to why reboots, remakes, and reimaginings are so common today (aside from profits). 

[stormyrecords-blog]

new arrivals july 20th 2017

lots of used lps this week - kiss, bowie, hendrix, black sabbath. zeppelin. tons of new arrivals in the used vinyl world. a whole new bin of rock records and a whole new bin of jazz records. lots of fun listening for your summer - and all at great prices!! also - this week is the second week of the east dearborn musical event - tunes at noon. full desription and schedule just below the list of this week's new arrivals. items in stock thursday - july 20th 2017 Belfi, Andrea: Ore LP $21.99LP version with download code. Andrea Belfi (born 1979) is an international respected electroacoustic musician and composer. He began playing drums at the age of 14. He studied art in Milan, before becoming involved in experimental music and since 2002 he's been in collaboration with a wide range of artists, currently residing in Berlin, Germany. His new album Ore is released on the new UK record label Float which was founded by Sofia Ilyas, who was previously the label manager at Erased Tapes Records. The new label exists parallel to Float PR, the London based agency dedicated to the promotion of unique artists and projects, and Andrea Belfi is the first signing. Titled Ore, the album places the drums as its centerpiece, while textures are embellished and mutated through electronic manipulations and dark, eerie sonic details. Over the years, Belfi has built a sound-world that artfully combines a modest drum set-up with an equally concise electronics component. He has searched long to produce and refine the acoustic timbres of his music, but has now reached a certain point of fulfilment, courtesy of his Saari drum-kit from Finland. Melded seamlessly with the acoustic elements are a Nord modular and sampler. On Ore, Belfi attains a masterful synthesis of these two sonic realms. Belfi has gained a reputation for his energetic and charismatic performances, both as a solo musician and within numerous collaborations. 2016 saw him tour with Nonkeen, the German three-piece band headed by Nils Frahm. Belfi became an instant highlight following a sold-out gig at London's Barbican Centre, lighting the stage with an impressive and explosive drum solo that became one of the most memorable moments from the evening. "When I started the record I really wanted to find something very direct. I was looking for something very raw, something sonically and acoustically complex. The title Ore actually was suggested by my wife. I had to look up the meaning and loved the concept -- something raw that you can extract, and the refinement into a precious material. It's a very simple metaphor but there's a lot there, you can just put that word out and you don't have to explain too much. You give an input to the listener, and just leave it to the imagination." Mixed by Francesco Donadello; Mastered by Nils Frahm. Mitchell, Nicole: Mandoria 2LP  $29.99Double LP version. "Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds is Nicole Mitchell's second album for Chicago-based FPE Records. Recorded in May of 2015 at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, it features her longtime collaborators Renee Baker (violin), Tomeka Reid (cello, banjo), Alex Wing (electric guitar, oud) and Jovia Armstrong (percussion), along with new members Tatsu Aoki (bass, shamisen, taiko) and Kojiro Umezaki (shakuhachi). Also in the mix is Chicago artist, scholar and poet Avery R Young, who brings her lyrics to life with visceral humanity. Composer and flutist Nicole Mitchell, once hailed by Chicago Reader music critic Peter Margasak as the 'greatest living flutist in jazz', continues the work begun when jazz visionary Sun Ra and his Arkestra first touched down on Planet Earth and told humanity that space (outer and inner) is indeed the place. As with contemporary Afrofuturist pioneers like cosmic jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington, post-everything beat maker Flying Lotus, R&B cyborg Janelle Monáe and dystopian noise-rappers Death Grips, she uses Afrofuturism as a platform to launch her own, unique vision. Her vast sound often encompasses contemporary classical, globally oriented fusion, gospel, spoken word, funk-inspired groove research and even brittle shards of avant-rock. Mandorla Awakening II collides dualities such as acoustic vs electric, country vs urban, simple vs complex, while also sounding through intercultural dialogue between Black, European and Pan-Asian improvisational languages. The outcome is a creative music suite that blurs musical styles into recognizable fragments that weave a unique sound fabric, where human emotion and the struggles of today swim." O'Malley, S: Dread Live LP $25.992017 limited repress. Stephen O'Malley deploys the second in a trio of documents of his improvisational prowess following his crushing Fuck Fundamentalist Pigs, which was brought forward in tribute to the November 2015 Paris attacks and released in December 2015. The minimalist electric guitar mantra Dread Live was performed at Studio Helmbreker in Haarlem, Netherlands, on September 6, 2013, and recorded by Mathijs Ton, with technical support by the great Tos Nieuwenhuizen, using a hypercardioid ribbon mic with immaculate '70s valve amp backline. The set was programmed as part of the opening of the Dread -- Fear in the age of technological acceleration exhibition at De Hallen Haarlem, curated by Juha van't Zelfde. It renders 40 minutes of Sunn O)))'s O'Malley at his most depressive and heavy and is something akin to a slow-motion baptism by waves of tarry, blackened harmonic distortion, holding the listener under its sinking pressure. How low can you go? O'Malley knows. Mastered and cut by Matt Colton. Edition of 700 hand-numbered copies. O'Malley, S: End Ground LP $25.99Limited 2017 repress. End Ground forms the 3rd and final installment in a series of records documenting the solo prowess of Sunn 0)))'s Stephen O'Malley released on Sweden's iDEAL Recordings. It was performed on electric guitar thru Sunn model T amps, and captured on zoom H4 at Centre Cultural Suisse, Bad Bonn Carte Blanche, Paris, France, on October 18th, 2013. In solo mode, stripped of his usual accomplices and collaborators, O'Malley is no less than an elemental force. His durational meditations absorb and consume with steady-handed wave after wave of charred, sustained, and sub-harmonized chords casting the mesmerizing minimalist practice of La Monte Young into the physicality of Black Sabbath's original, heavy metal die. The A-side/first half of this 45 minute performance features O'Malley tentatively coaxing out languorous riffs which turn the air around him to a pensive, vibrating mush. As the 2nd half dawns he begins to deliver more crushing blows, drawing out and subsiding the chords with a patented, gut-wrenching and vivifying power that transcends rock, avant-garde, minimalism -- all of that -- to awaken dormant senses not usually experienced with other musics or concise temporality. As with many of the most affective heavy drone recordings by Sunn 0))), among others, a modicum of patience is required in order to attain the right state for reception, but once your mind and body are malleable, the impact is deliciously visceral, primal and whelming. Mastered and cut by Matt Colton. Individually hand-numbered edition of 700 copies. O'Malley, S: Fuck Fundamentalist Pigs  2 lp  $31.99 Stephen O'Malley on Fuck Fundamentalist Pigs upon its initial release in December 2015: "On 8 January 2015, the day following the Charlie Hebdo murders in Paris (the city I have called home for the last eight years), I started a week-long tour of Norway. During this jaunt I faced the toxic reality daily of the horrible blossoming events intermittently via television. . . . The Trondheim concert on 9 January (depicted here) happened on a particularly intense day in this timeline... and was personally a true example of the purging power of immersion in music. Through a web of emotions resolving distance, disintegration, the intense power of the moment and the brutal fundamentalist, cultural and psychological aspects behind. . . Like most of us I have also sometimes fallen for the constant baiting toward anger, outrage, paranoia and fear in the daily life, often but not always misdirected, but it is not debilitating by any means. It's clear that as an experimental guitar player I have absolutely no political power (or even ability to articulate in those forms) but it's important to take the opportunity to say 'fuck you' in these situations. To the fascist and fundamentalist movements. To the absurding of the worst sides of monotheistic belief systems. And not only the perpetrators behind these events but also on other sides including the reactive and opportunistic. Those with most to gain are the underlying authoritarians in our own societies who have opportunities to implement and increase their control even further for their gains. The 'security' changes we face in fact may also result in yet further increase in the loss of liberty and freedom. The reactions aimed toward increased separation of cultures, xenophobia, nationalism, and especially racism are highly regrettable. I hope these recordings offer a small sense of solace in the time, even for the few hundred who hear them. . . . For the concert on this record we had a massive backline with beautiful vintage Hiwatt amplifiers, and two PAs (including a Funktion One) in the small venue Blæst, the night hosted by Nymusikk. . . . This record is actually the third part of a trilogy of live solo guitar records we intended to be released on iDEAL during spring 2016." Mastered and cut by Matt Colton; Edition of 700 (hand-numbered) Langhorne, Bruce: Hired OST LP $24.992017 repress. "Classic 1971 Peter Fonda film soundtrack from Dylan side-man & folk scene impresario. Beautifully melancholy score performed with guitars, tonal effects, fiddle, banjo, sitar, and more that evokes high plains drifting, lonesome cowpokes. 'It's The West seen as Purgatory, its characters endlessly moving on, but Langhorne conjures beauty from the pain." -- The Wire. Palestine, Charlemagne: Arpeggiated Bosendorfer + Falsetto Voice  LP $27.99In 1974, Ileana Sonnabend commissioned Charlemagne Palestine to create a limited edition, double LP in conjunction with a performance to celebrate the opening of her new Soho gallery at 420 West Broadway. Charlemagne made several recording attempts, first at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania where they had a Bösendorfer Imperial Piano in their theater. He recorded "Bösendorfer + Voice", "Voice Piece" as well as some Bösendorfer tests, with Mayo Thompson as producer and Kurt Munkacsi as sound engineer. These ecstatic Swarthmore recordings, recorded late at night in the big empty theater space, represented the original elements on which Charlemagne Palestine later created the piano pieces for Four Manifestations on Six Elements (ALGAMARS 004LP, MAGNE 008LP). For more than 40 years since these recordings were made, Palestine never went back to listen to them, but recently on re-listening to these Swarthmore recordings with Alga Marghen, he found several blissful, arpeggiated piano and falsetto voice studies which he feels now deserve to be heard. Included in the Alga Marghen VocSon series, this LP of two previously unreleased 1974 recordings finally see the light of day. Edition of 405. TUNES AT NOONevery thursday at 12 noon in dearborn city hall park at the corner of michigan ave and schaeferone hour of free music - bring your lunch and enjoy some fun in the sun!! 7/20 Lac La BelleLocal musicians Jennie Knaggs & Nick Schillace create music that blends history with the present via accordion, mandolin, banjo, ukulele, harmonizing vocals, and fingerpicking resonator guitar. With their separate experiences learning folk and blues in Appalachia, American roots bind Lac La Belle’s compositions with a heavy thread. For this performance enjoy some of their favorite old time, bluegrass and western swing favorites, alongside their original tunes. 7/27 Detroit Pleasure SocietyDetroit Pleasure Society plays the traditional jazz of New Orleans with a fresh twist and raucous candor. 8/3 Libby DeCamp"Libby DeCamp makes dusty folk and American Roots-inspired music with a lyrical edge and a classic three-piece energy, delivered with a haunting vocal closeness that reaches listeners of all kinds. Sweetly soulful "Broken Folk." 8/10 Michael Malis TrioMichael Malis is a pianist and composer based in Detroit, MI. Malis bridges the gap between original composed, complex material and the spontaneity of improvisation. His trio (piano, bass, drums),   featured on his latest album, has toured in the United States and Canada, and in September 2016, they performed at the Detroit International Jazz Festival. 8/17 Viands "Viands is a spontaneous collaboration between two auteurs of Detroit's underground music scene: Joel Peterson and David Shettler. The music they create is a deep, reflective and fearless alternate-reality keyboard meditation that draws on the pair's broad musical vision to explore new vistas.