#should I start linking my letterboxd more

[sabrinatvband]

I'm starting a transfem media criticism site and I'm looking for contributors.

I'm starting a transfem media criticism site [tentative name NEET Ozma] that will probably go live at the beginning of November. Why? Because I've noticed that very few websites have transfem people in editorial, and it's also not common for transfem people to be staff writers.

I'm hoping this site can be a place for transfem people to publish some of their first pieces, things that aren't "notable" enough for bigger sites, and stuff that's maybe too personal for non-transfem editorial to pick over.

Before I continue, I should probably establish my cred. I'm not a big deal or anything, but you can see my portfolio on Muck Rack here. I also have a personal website that I update every week. Of course, once NEET Ozma goes live I'll be moving most of my "effort posting" there.

The editorial focus of NEET Ozma is going to be pretty broad; as long as it's about a movie, comic, videogame, etc, it's fair game. Things about media in more broad terms [comics business, physical media, etc] are also fine. Articles don't need to have some kind of trans-related angle. Articles that aren't about media [queer community discourse] aren't the focus of the site. One more thing; I'm not interested in pitches about the wizard books.

A goal of the site is that I want every post, aside from monthly round-up posts, to be a substantial feature, at least 1,500~ words long.

To provide an idea of what I'm looking for, here's some of what I've written for NEET Ozma's November and December: -Ranma 1/2: Ranma's Declaration of Womanhood piece -Thoughts on The Craft -Orcs Must Die 3 review -Destroy All Humans 2 review

And here are a few pieces that have already been published that will be re-run on NEET Ozma: -Extreme Strong Female Characters and the Transfem Gender Callus -The Genre Comics Graveyard -A Survey of Every Joan Jett Song Part 1

Articles don't have to be about things that are new, and they don't have to be about things that are popular. Please send pitches about weird PS2 games, forgotten horror movies, and misunderstood comic runs. Whatever you care about.

NEET Ozma will be volunteer driven, at least in the beginning. Everyone who writes for the site will own all of their own work, which means it can be republished later on a personal site, or sold in a collection of essays, etc.

If you want to pitch, please include a link to previous work you've done. It can be a review on Letterboxd, an effort post on Tumblr or Cohost, an article you've written for a different website. Even detailed threads on twitter or Bluesky are ok, as long as I can see that you're good at writing.

The website is going to use WordPress, so you'll eventually need a WordPress account so that you can use the site's system.

I've had some confusion about this on Bluesky [btw here's a corresponding thread on Bluesky], but you can send samples of your work and a pitch at the same time; you don't need to wait for me to ask for pitches. Send pitches and samples over DM.

[oh-honey-its-maxine]

So I wrote a review/analysis of Revolutionary Girl Utena on letterboxd and my friend told me I should post it on here, so here it is. I'll put the link to the review and I'll also paste it under the read-more for convenience.

This is my 3rd watch and boy do I have a lot of feelings. I really recommend people to read the Palace Perspective on archivesofourown.org. It's a very in-depth essay about the deeper themes of the show.

Anthy Himemiya is probably one of my favourite characters of all time. She's just a girl. She's been here from the start. She's not really here. She's an awkward teenager. She's at the centre of the world. She's a bird in a cage. She's an allegory for all the ways women suffer under patriarchy. From the first episode, before we know the truth of the rose bride, we see her be blamed anytime something bad happens to a male character. On the first watch she's seems to not have much personality, but once you have a better understanding of her and what she's been through she (and subsequently the show itself) becomes so much more interesting. You notice all the ways she exercises her agency, mostly to fuck with Nanami, and that's important! Because that's the point of the ending, nothing changed, there was no revolution. Anthy didn't suddenly become more powerful, Utena just showed her that she was worth being saved and so she saved herself. I'm going to give Akio a (rare) break and say he's not the one that started calling Anthy a witch, however he is the one that kept her in that coffin through abuse and manipulation and continually scapegoated her.

Akio is also interesting. For all intents and purposes, he was once a victim himself. Though it's debatable how much of the Himemiya's backstory is just metaphor, it seems he was once put on a pedestal and made to live up to impossible standard. But when he couldn't meet them, Anthy took the fall for him. Ever since then he's been stuck trying to regain his glorious past, and keeping Anthy stuck with him. Akio is the most miserable motherfucker, despite being the one with the most power. Probably because he surrounds himself with teenagers he grooms, and never makes any meaningful connection with anyone despite the respect he clearly has from other adults. In the end he's the one who is the most stuck in his coffin. He refuses to heal from the pain others caused him in the past, so all he can do is perpetuate the cycle and keep everyone else trapped. He talks a big game about wanting to "revolutionise the world" but when Utena was on the verge of making real changes, he panicked and tried to stop her.

Utena is a lot smarter than what people give her credit for. The cantarella scene, the rooftop scene, she does realise the harm she's caused Anthy without meaning to. She realises the duels are inherently harmful because they keep Anthy in her role of rose bride and at Akio & the duelists' mercy. The reveal in episode 34 is so important because it shows that it wasn't really about becoming a prince, it was about saving Anthy. It was always about saving Anthy. Utena was simply told that the way to save Anthy was to become a prince, but someone who believes in the system of princes, princesses, and witches cannot save Anthy. That's why Akio was never able to open the rose gate. All Utena had to do was hold out her hand, both literally and figuratively.

Nanami is also underestimated quite often I think. She's easy to dismiss in the beginning, just another anime mean girl with a big brother complex. However, as the show unfurls, you see how she plays into the show's themes. In many ways, Touga and Nanami are a future Akio and Anthy. You see then how Touga feeds into her brother complex purposefully to control her, especially when she distances herself and his advances become more explicit. Nanami being a parallel to Anthy is crucial in showing the cyclical nature of violence in RGU and how abusive behaviour is taught and passed down to the next generation. Even the "filler" episodes show her as an animal raised to be slaughtered and consumed by Touga, her fear of being alienated from Touga and how her whole sense of self centers around being Touga's little sister.

I could go on, every character in the show is so interesting. The ways they uphold patriarchal ideas, the ways they don't. How they all try to fit into this prince-princess-witch system and it hurts all of them, but still does more harm to the girls because it strips them of their agency. How that system prevents real love from flourishing, because it forces relationships with uneven power dynamics. To finish, big love to the Shadow Girls, the best modern take on the greek chorus I've ever seen. Always throwing shade (pun intended) at the characters in the most cryptic ways possible, except when they called Akio a miserable bastard to his face.

[orlafilmblog]

Final Year Project - Yay Cinema!

Happy New Year! Welcome to our last first week! I spent the festive period doing a lot of thinking about films, specifically Saint Catherines, and also watching a lot of films. I am feeling officially inspired and excited about making our films this semester and I am really looking forward to hitting the ground running. It is a really lovely feeling to be honest. This time last year I was at my peak “I don’t think I want to make films” spiral, and it feels like a very full circle moment to now be this hyped about cinema! 😊

We had our first big group meeting yesterday (15/01) which I thought went well and was a nice way too start the semester as a cohesive unit. The discussion had a light structure, but we jumped about a lot as everyone has a lot of thoughts and questions, which was great! I talked mainly about my reflections from the test shoot and my aims going forward:

Reflections

What went well?

- we worked really well together despite challenges such as rain and changing actors halfway through the shoot.

- the final result of the test shoot achieved a basic goal of allowing us to learn how we work together and we produced a fine film

- I am pleased with how I worked with the actors

What could be better?

- need a more solid production/post production schedule

- I need and want to work closer with camera before shooting and on set

- I need to solidify the focus on Phoebe

- I need to solidify the style of filming

Some Brief Thoughts on Aim and Tone Going Forward

The aim of this film, for me, is to portray a realistic and raw experience of the complicated experiences of sexual assault.

As well as this, I want the audience to be able to feel what the characters are feeling, specifically Phoebe. I want the holiday they are on to feel like a memory everyone has, I want the characters to feel like real people that the audience know. For this film to have the emotional impact we want to achieve, it needs to feel authentic. There is definitely room for us to explore nostalgia and memory and how these can link to hurt and trauma. I’d like to focus on how my directing can highlight these aspects of the film. An example I thought of was Aftersun (a film student favourite). When I first watched it, I felt an aching sense of nostalgia in every scene. To quote my Letterboxd review, “Paul Mescal isn’t my dad and I have never been to Turkey, but I am in this film.” I felt like the experiences in Aftersun, from the feel of the tablecloth at the restaurant to the noises of the video camera, were experiences I had lived. This allowed me to connect with the characters and their environment even though it was a story I had not lived. Basically, the small details created a big connection. I want to work closely with Aimee on the production design to see how we can do this, along with every department.

Confirmation of POV

I want to quickly talk about and confirm the point of view of the film. I think I have rambled on a lot about the idea of this ‘5th friend’ who represents the audience member, which I think confused some people, and to be honest, it also confuses the emotion of the film. I’m not throwing the whole thing out the window, just redefining what I mean by it.

The film is from an observer’s point of view. However, this is an observer of Phoebe. Whilst being part of this larger group, we are focused in on what Phoebe is feeling, seeing, and experiencing. I think this maximises the emotional impact of the film and ensures the audience understands who to care for the most. I don’t want to risk the film having an ambivalent stance on sexual assault. This was something that became clear in the test shoot. We use a lot of shots of Harry, and that is because we had better coverage of him, and because I liked his reactions and performance. However, this muddles the intention of the film. We should always be focused on Phoebe’s reactions. Yes we can cut away to Harry at times, but Phoebe should dominate the screentime.

An example of this is in Priscilla which I watched over the holidays. There is never any doubt that the film is about her story, despite Elvis Presley being a character. This is achieved by always focusing on her actions and reactions, like in a dinner party scene when the camera never leaves Priscilla’s face, despite all the noise and events happening around her. We just get a sense of her emotion in the scene, the other stuff doesn’t matter.

How To Have Sex

Another film I watched over Christmas was the astonishing How to Have Sex. This film is an essential watch for everyone, but especially the crew of Saint Catherines. Peer and Katie have also seen it already, but I have given out my Mubi account for the rest of the team to watch it. There are so many aspects of this film that we can use as inspiration. It simultaneously inspired me and broke me. One small detail I liked about the film (among many) was one way tension was built. During some of the scenes post-assault, the shots ever-so-slowly push in. This was barely noticeable, however created a very effective sense of dread. It is definitely something Katie and I will be experimenting with! I won’t go on about the film, but I do strongly encourage everyone to watch it.

Next Steps…

There is a lot to do!!!!!!!! I am co-producing the project with Jack, which I am comfortable with and glad of as I do enjoy producing (perhaps I am just a control freak). I have created a wonderful colour-coded spreadsheet that details our meeting plans for each HoD. I aim to host a group meeting fortnightly, and to see each HoD individually at the very least fortnightly, but will be meeting with Katie and Jack weekly. We have set u our Instagram and an email, but are yet to post anything. We are planning to do a location recce at the end of January, and to do a crew photo shoot asap, along with casting calls. The wheels are turning!

As I mentioned at the start of this post, I am very excited to work hard on this film. Also terrified about finishing uni very very soon. But that’s a problem for later. Right now, it’s just cinema! <3

[blazehedgehog]

I watched so many dang movies this year

People like to do the "52 books/movies/games in 52 weeks" challenge but I never thought I'd ever be able to pull something like that off. Then I started attending my friend's movie nights, where twice a week they group stream movies for a small group, and I hit and exceeded that 52 number.

Funnily enough, when you start watching movies regularly with a group, you also start feeling like watching more movies on your own, too. So my movie watching this year went from "a few movies around halloween" to 8-10 movies a month.

Generally (not always, but generally) when I watch a movie I try to write a little bit about it on my letterboxd, so if you like my writing I've been doing a lot of it I'm only linking here for the first time. Here's all the movies I watched in 2023, listed chronologically:

Cars 2 (⭐⭐1/2)

Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Escape to Witch Mountain (⭐1/2)

Fright Night Part 2 (⭐⭐)

Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (⭐⭐⭐)🎥

Mikey & Nicky (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

The Monster Squad (⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (⭐⭐1/2)

Phantasm (⭐⭐⭐1/2)

Cocoon (⭐⭐⭐)

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (⭐⭐⭐1/2)

The Dark Half (⭐⭐⭐)🎥

Thinner (⭐⭐)🎥

It (⭐⭐⭐)🎥

Avatar: The Way of Water (⭐1/2)

Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare (⭐⭐⭐1/2)🎥

Let's Scare Jessica to Death (⭐⭐⭐)

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2)

Legend (⭐⭐⭐1/2)🎥

Bulletproof (⭐⭐1/2)🎥

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (⭐⭐⭐1/2)

Six String Samurai (⭐⭐⭐⭐)🎥

The Return of Captain Invincible (⭐⭐1/2)🎥

Bug (⭐⭐)🎥

Slugs (⭐⭐⭐1/2)🎥

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Bad Taste (⭐⭐⭐1/2)🎥🎃

Dracula 2000 (⭐⭐⭐⭐)🎥🎃

Evil Dead Rise (⭐⭐⭐)🎥🎃

The Devils (⭐⭐⭐1/2)🎥🎃

Mark of the Devil (⭐1/2)🎥🎃

No One Will Save You (⭐⭐⭐⭐)🎥🎃

The Babysitter (⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2)🎥🎃

Night of the Big Heat (⭐⭐⭐⭐)🎥🎃

Raising Cain (⭐⭐⭐1/2)🎥

Red Eye (⭐⭐⭐1/2)🎥

Army of Darkness (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Creep (⭐)🎥🎃

Poltergeist (⭐⭐⭐⭐)🎥

Talk to Me (⭐⭐⭐1/2)🎥🎃

Out There Halloween Mega Tape (⭐⭐⭐)🎥🎃

Reign of Fire (⭐⭐1/2)🎥

There's Nothing Out There (⭐⭐1/2)

The Curse of Bridge Hollow (⭐⭐⭐1/2)

Scooby Doo! And the Samurai Sword (⭐⭐)🎥

Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure (⭐⭐⭐)

Lupin the Third: The Mystery of Mamo (⭐⭐1/2)

Dragon Ball Evolution (⭐⭐⭐)🎥

Lord of War (⭐⭐⭐⭐)🎥

Wild at Heart (⭐⭐⭐⭐)🎥

Scrooged (⭐⭐⭐1/2)

Assassin's Creed (⭐1/2)🎥

Barbie (⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐)

Five Nights at Freddy's (⭐1/2)

🎥 = Movie Night with Friends 🎃 = Hallostream (Movie night, but a specific theme)

(I reserve the right to update this post should I watch one more movie at some time today.)

[obsessiveviewer]

OV425 - Abigail (2024) & Sasquatch Sunset (2024)

This week, Mike joins me for a feature review of Abigail in non-spoiler and spoiler sections. We also talk about early 2000s teen sex comedies and more. Then, in this week’s secondary review, I share some brief non-spoiler thoughts about Sasquatch Sunset.

Timestamps

Show Start - 00:28

News - 02:23

Mike Intro - 09:54

Feature Review

Abigail - 12:48

Spoiler - 49:08

Mike Outro Potpourri - 1:06:44

Secondary Review

Sasquatch Sunset - 1:16:27

  Closing the Ep - 1:30:26

Patreon Clip - 1:31:06

  Related Links

Start Your Podcast with Libsyn Using Promo Code OBSESS

Horror Overkill Dooms ‘Abigail’ as ‘Civil War’ Ekes Out Narrow Second Weekend #1

Dan Stevens' Abigail Character Inspired by Tim Robinson's I Think You Should Leave Sketch

PopCon Indy 2024

Podcaster Stage Schedule

Mike’s Band As Good As it Gets released a new single: Stay (Be Honest)

  My 2024 Podcast and Writing Archive

One Year of Criterion Channel - Dec 24, 2023 - Dec 23, 2024

Movies I Own But Haven't Watched/Rated Yet

  Follow Us on Social Media

My Letterboxd | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter/X

Instagram | Threads | Bluesky | TikTok | Tiny’s Letterboxd

  Subscribe to the Podcast

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Audible

  Support Us on Patreon for Exclusive Content

Official OV Merch 

Obsessive Viewer

Obsessive Viewer Presents: Anthology

Obsessive Viewer Presents: Tower Junkies

As Good As It Gets - Linktree

  Mic Info

Matt: ElectroVoice RE20 into RØDEcaster Pro II (Firmware: 1.3.4)

Mike: Blue Snowball via USB in Google Meet

  Episode Homepage: ObsessiveViewer.com/OV425

  Next Week on the Podcast

OV426 - Shōgun (2024) Miniseries & Samurai Cinema Potpourri

Check out this episode!

[woozi]

helluu yza <333 🫂🫂🥰🥰🥰

i've been doing good overall <33 it comes and goes hddjkd last year ended up leaving a sour taste in the mouth, it's been quiet since 2024 started, not liking it but can't do much to change it either, can you tell i have a hard time letting things go lmao?it'll eventually get sorted out (i hope)

ANYWAY, i decided to join letterboxd community, i am a complete movie person now (if you wanna be moots there lmk), the recent one i watched was "call me chihiro", do watch it when you can, i liked it, AND AND AND there's this indian movie called "three of us" (2022) i'm still recovering from it, people who think 2521 was traumatic wouldn't be able to handle this movie at all, it's about this woman going back to her home town with her husband for a visit after something happens to her, to recollect herself and she meets her childhood friend there 😭😭😭 IT'S LIKE PAST LIVES MOVIE BUT ALSO KINDA DIFFERENT. i love both of them equally. please do watch it if you can't find link i'll send it you <333 there's too many gems i've been finding out about after making an account on letterboxd. ( also i finally watched kiki's delivery service, i had been meaning to but kept delaying it, it's soo good, the kid with specs annoyed me lmao but i got over it quickly (in the sense that i didn't care much about him or his plot hdjskss)

we can always pick up our movie hangouts, feel free to lmk on disc or even if you want ro reach out to say something 🥰 it'll reach me faster compared to here im not much of a tumblr girl anymore it seems

what's new with you? how are you doing?

i hope you're well

i find myself humming to wait so much these days, it's funny because when it was released i listened to it and then never looked back 😭 ( fake carat booo fake ot13 booo 🍅🍅🍅🍅) now it stays rent free in my mind as i go about my day, the dance break towards the ending is so so good, i've been also enjoying yugyeom's album esp summer blues it's so my kind and OMG YES I WANTED TO ASK WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON BIBI'S BAM YANG GANG? 🎤 (atp i feel like i should call myself bibi stan)

thank you for even replying back even though you don't really have to hddjsk i missed you too 🫂 you're so kind to me always <333 sending you more peaceful and good weather days, i hope you are also finding space and time for pausing in between the chaos around you 🥺💌

MA CHERIE 🥺🥰😻😘😚😍♥💜🧡❣💝💞💟💌❤💛💚💙🖤💓💖💗

i'm so sorry to hear that :(( and if it's any consolation, it really is as they say!! all things really will come to pass, it's just a matter of time <3 hope u know i'm always here to lend an ear as well i lov u 🥺

ALSO LOVE LETTERBOXD REALLY IS A FILM GIRLIE EXPERIENCE FDJKJFDJKFD i unfortunately dont have it (shame on me as a prev film major LMFAO) but i'd love to be moots i'll create an acc for u <3 ALSO LOVEEEEEEEE THESE RECCS I'M TAKING NOTES!!! also still dk why 2521 was So Sad for people, i really loved it and just thought it was realistic 😭 AND KIKI'S!!!!!!!!!!!! that was also super fun for me and i loved jiji's little love story line SOOO MUCH

also felt abt that </3 I WAS ALSO JUST GONNA TELL U ABT DISC GJKFDKJFDKJ we really r soulmates atp <33 think i've also been away from tumblr since jan of 2023 now 😭 i honestly just come back during times when my love for the sebongs is Monumental and bc there r svt nets who still dont have admins 😭

the past year has also been super rough for me so i really get u when u said u hope things will sort themselves out soon FDJJKFD but i'm sure it will on both our ends!! that's just how life is sometimes. thank u for checking up on me <333

ALSO SO REAL ABT JUST CHECKING OUT RELEASES AND DIPPING DKJSJKDSS I LOV U SM!! AND I REALLY LOVED ITTTTTTTTTTTTT, think it showed a v different side to her <33 ((although the lyrics are Very Much still bibi, it's just the melody and presentation that gave her a new spice)

AND WHY WOULD U EVEN THANK ME 😤😤😤😤 i should be thanking YOU for the gift of friend chip <33 hope the days r also kinder to u, i'd fight ur demons if i could 😡 LOV UUUUUUU LET'S HANG OUT AND WATCH MOVIES AGAIN TGT SOON <#3333333333333 MWAH

[fragileswift1313]

Lightfall! And some other quick things

Kia ora, folks!

This is going to be another short one of these today, and once you read the next little bit I think you’ll understand - I just haven’t gotten around to putting aside time to work on things. There’s some stuff coming, though, don’t worry!

So, some of you may be aware that the fifth major expansion for Destiny 2, titled Lightfall, dropped this week (either because you follow games news or because I just would not shut up about it on twitter), and y’all, it’s really fucking good. Last year’s expansion, The Witch Queen, was really great but I think Lightfall knocks it out of the park. It’s goofy and silly even though the overarching story themes featured are very serious and scary, and I think it strikes a really good balance between the two modes. AND WE FINALLY GOT A SPEAKING NON-BINARY CHARACTER. Nimbus is a big (figureatively and literally), goofy thembo (like a himbo, but a they!) and I honestly love them so much, even though they can get a little annoying sometimes. I was going to link to something about them here, but I literally couldn’t find anyone else saying anything positive about them so 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️. I’m not going to get super deep into why the apparent discourse around this character bothers me and bums me out as much as it does because I feel like that should be fairly obvious at this point. I am a non-binary person, and this is a videogame series I love and have been playing since 2014. And here is the first time I’ve felt real representation for my gender in a videogame, I think ever, and all anyone can talk about is how annoying they are. It honestly feels really shitty when even folks I adore in games media are sniping at Nimbus. But I guess that’s all I have to say about that. Anyways…

I really liked Osiris’ arc in this expansion, too; it’s been a long time since he was so central to a Destiny plot, and I really hope they keep him around for a bit longer in the upcoming seasons over the rest of 2023. I’m not going to get into any plot spoilers here or anything, I just wanted to mention it since I have lost roughly a week to this game at this point and I still have a lot to do here.

In other news, I have my review of Atomic Heart incoming probably next week, and I am also pretty close to being done with Persona 3 Portable so I might share some feelings about that sometime soon. I’m also working on something about the recent relaunch of the Microsoft search engine ‘Bing’, which I’m sure you’ve all heard at least a little something about - that will more than likely go up later this week.

Tabitha’s Story is still very much a work in progress, and I’ll be honest, I probably shouldn’t have talked so much about it already because I was feeling much more ambitious about that project at the outset than I can realistically deliver, so I apologise for that. It is definitely coming though! I am still just trying to bank a bunch of posts before I start regularly putting them out into the world.

Thanks so much for reading, folks, I really appreciate it. As always, if you have comments/questions/suggestions, you can hit me up at the links at the bottom of the page. There’s also an email address there now, so if you want to get in touch that way, you can! You may not know this, but I also have a personal Tumblr page where I mostly just Taylorpost (the term I invented for endlessly reblogging GIFs of Taylor Swift) and reblog stuff that stands out to me in a kind of emotional way, I guess?

Thanks again, friendos. I’ll talk to you all again soon. Ka kite anō au i a koe. 💚

Socials etc | Twitter | Mastodon | Cohost | Substack | itch.io | Letterboxd | Instagram | Carrd | Email

[james-stark-the-writer]

oh btw, letterboxd removed the entry for What If...? so my review got deleted but, here's the review if you're curious.

you are Captain Margaret Carter, the epitome of womanhood and science.

to quote my internet mother ashley:

what is it with Captain Carter? i don't understand. why are we so far up Captain Carter's ass? i can see out of her mouth. it is ridiculous... we need to stop.

but Captain Carter aside, what a fucking glow up S02 is.

now i was coming at this as somebody who thinks <i>What If...?</i> S01 is one of the worst things Marvel has ever made, it lands basically at the bottom of my MCU tierlist (haven't updated it yet but What If...? S02 would go right between Defenders and Iron Fist S01), i hate like the majority of it, i would say like i hate 90% of it. it's genuinely insufferable and looks ugly as shit and the writing sucks, it lacked imagination despite its literal premise, and took as few risks as possible. it's genuinely awful. but i thought similar things about Loki S01, and Loki S02 surprised me quite a lot so i was hoping that S02 was a redemption arc for What If...? as well and. turns out it was.

this was a lot of fun. nothing less than a monumental improvement over the first season, even if there are still parts of it i heavily dislike like all the references to the movies and just how much Marvel is up Peggy Carter's asshole. but besides that? genuinely incredible stuff. S02E06 is one of the greatest things Marvel has ever made, and what every episode of this show should have been, bold and imaginative. gave me chills multiple fucking times, got me to the point of crying over it. genuinely transcendental.

this season started out ROUGH but it really got much better as it went on and i think it averages out to one of the better things Marvel has made. it's certainly no Ms. Marvel or Hawkeye or She-Hulk or even WandaVision, but it's way better than Moon Knight and Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki S01. this season is perhaps a little too invested in characters from the Thor universe and in Captain Carter and Steve Rogers, but there's still a lot of fun to be had outside them. i think that's why S02E06 works as well as it does, it's actually taking advantage of this entire show's fucking premise and doing something fun and creative and is actually bold.

there's more thoughts here [this was just a link back to his post] you can go read on every episode that are much more detailed than i currently care to get into, so i'll just leave some brief thoughts here and my ratings for the episodes:

episode 1: 5/10, honestly nonsense premise, shit writing, boring plotting, looks ugly, wasted potential, is annoying and just isn't remotely interesting enough. it tries to go for a neo-noir or cyberpunk vibe but it just doesn't remotely come close to achieving anything serious or affecting. it's just so blah. doesn't remotely take advantage of its medium and it's weirdly shot like it's a fucking live-action movie when it's not, and it just is honestly really boring.

episode 2: 6/10, the episode's title is an outright lie, and the episode is just a build-up to doing a worse version of the climax of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. felt like they were trying to milk the Guardians property for all it was worth given the hype around Guardians Vol. 3 now that James Gunn has left Marvel and we know he will never write for these characters ever again.

episode 3: 8/10, still absolutely loathe all the stupid pointless voids in the dialogue that are just references to movies we've seen and mean nothing to the characters, but honestly kind of a fun episode. the basic fucking premise of this episode is just a stupid Hulk Hogan joke and a Die Hard reference and it's so ridiculous and gonzo that it's actually kind of fun and respectable, even if they make some characters really fucking boring (Justin Hammer, sweetie i'm so sorry) and have the fucking audacity to nonchalantly put Maria Hill back on my screen as if they didn't fucking massacre her in Secret Invasion.

episode 4: 6.5/10, this felt like a mashup of the episode they cut from the first season because of covid and also just a new episode they were already making and it kind of makes the episode feel pretty divided and uneven, and i still hate all of the references to the movies and just how imitative this is of Thor: Ragnarok, but it almost comes together cohesively because of how they write Gamora, and there are some fun sequences in it, like the racing stuff.

episode 5: 6.75/10, honestly, this opens with a sequence that is just the climax of The Avengers but with Peggy Carter in it instead of Steve Rogers, and then the plot of the episode is just Winter Soldier meets Black Widow, and honestly it kind of sucks but it kind of fucks too. had more fun with this than Winter Soldier, and this does its plot points better, had less fun with it than Black Widow, and Peggy Carter's presence definitely drags it down (the opening quote is from this episode), but it's got some fun action sequences that actually take advantage of the medium and a few neat things that make it a fun time for the most part.

episode 6: 9.8/10, honestly, it's not a number higher than 10 because the ending is kind of shit. like i honestly was going to give it a 15/10 like it's genuinely fucking incredible. could not believe i was watching something made by Marvel. it's kind of Marvel's Prey (2022). genuinely fucking incredible stuff like i was stunned how 85% of the episode was not in english and just let us breathe and live with these characters in their native language and how they weave their culture and vocals into the score and soundtrack itself, and just how much the protagonist rules, and that she gets to kill some fucking conquistadors. i wish the ending was her killing the queen of Spain but Marvel reminds you that it only holds liberal politics at best so the Indigenous Natives go to the queen of Spain and tell her they're going to make peace, right after killing a bunch of Spaniards and destroying their ship. it's fucking irritating. but the rest of the episode is still incredible and i love it.

episode 7: 7.25/10, even more Asgard shit and the plot is just Thor meets Shang-Chi which sucks given the literal fucking premise of the show and sucks even more so after how incredible last episode was, and the episode doesn't even understand the basic fucking emotional point to this making because it tries to portray Odin as this evil warmonger who abused Hela and then the conclusion of the climax is him being proven right because she's worth of her crown, like it's just a mess, and the emotional theme is kind of a paraphrase of an MLK quote lmfao, but there is interesting stuff here and Cate Blanchett makes it mostly fun. the politics of it are still shit and i hate them but it's fun enough.

episode 8: 8/10, the forced references drag this down quite a lot but the rest of it is wacky enough to work and feels like at least it's trying to take advantage of its premise. still so much fucking time taken up by Peggy Carter and it's clear that she's basically the protagonist of this show at this point, which is irritating, but fine, whatever. the dialogue and characters and the plot is fun enough to basically carry it and make it still interesting.

episode 9: 9/10, honestly just a pretty great finale. brings together both the first season and this season into something great, cohesively. kind of does Civil War better than Civil War, both the comic and the movie. it doesn't have the splash page still-frame imagery like a comic panel, but it does have the right energy for one of those comics where everybody is fighting everybody. and the ending genuinely feels like a bunch of kids playing with toys, in a fun way. the visuals get a little busy when everybody's fighting and it got a little hard to keep track of some characters but it was mostly pretty fun, and i enjoyed it both on a singular narrative level and as a satisfying conclusion to the season. it was just good.

season as a whole was a 7.75/10. genuinely a massive improvement over S01. there's just so much fun shit in here that feels like a gonzo comic run, and like it's actually taking advantage of the premise, at least when it's not recycling plots and imagery with slightly different characters. and tbf S01 had some interesting ideas but almost all of them were terrible and execution so it doesn't really matter bc it just wasn't fun or interesting to watch.

so excited to watch Echo now, and glad to be done with this, even though i had fun. Don't think I will ever be revisiting it (outside of S02E06) simply because i'm fucking tired of seeing Captain Carter. let her fucking rest. glad Haley Atwell keeps getting paid, but i'm tired of fucking seeing her. unless you're making Agent Carter S03 in which case bring her back and give me that third fucking season. anyway, onto Echo and hoping it's as good as Hawkeye. and soon onto Agatha All Along.

so, i just finished What If...? S02.

now i was coming at this as somebody who thinks What If...? S01 is one of the worst things Marvel has ever made, it lands at the bottom of my MCU tierlist (What If...? S02 would go right between Defenders and Iron Fist S01), i hate like the majority of it, i would say like i hate 90% of it. it's genuinely insufferable and looks ugly as shit and the writing sucks, it lacked imagination despite its literal premise, and took as few risks as possible. it's genuinely awful. but i thought similar things about Loki S01 and S02 surprised me quite a lot so i was hoping that S02 was a redemption arc for What If...? as well and. turns out it was. this was a lot of fun. nothing less than a monumental improvement over the first season, even if there are still parts of it I heavily dislike like all the references to the movies and just how much Marvel is up Peggy Carter's asshole. but besides that? genuinely incredible stuff. S02E06 is one of the greatest things Marvel has ever made, and what every episode of this show should have been, bold and imaginative. gave me chills multiple fucking times, got me to the point of crying over it. genuinely transcendental. this season started out ROUGH but it really got much better as it went on and i think it averages out to one of the better things Marvel has made. It certainly no Ms. Marvel or Hawkeye or She-Hulk or even WandaVision, but it's way better than Moon Knight and Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki S01.

anyway, here's my thoughts and some notes on every episode. under the cut bc it's a long post and i have a lot to say.

episode 1:

episode 2:

episode 3:

episode 4:

episode 5:

episode 6:

episode 7 and 8:

episode 9 and final thoughts:

[disaster-lineage]

content creator 2021 wrapped tag game

Cut this into what works for you. Want to do only one instead of five? Do it. Tag 2 people? Do it. This game is not your mum or the Apple App store to tell you what to do. But there are a couple of rules:

RULE 1: Review your creations over 2021. Tag some gifmakers/creators, friends and strangers to get them to do the same.

RULE 2: Link to the content, commentary optional.

thank you @usermurdocks and @capinejghafa  for tagging me!

5 (or more!) creations from others that made you smash the reblog button hard, closely followed by your ‘insp’ tag or ‘fave tag’. Link to sets that started conversations, outstanding composition, colouring, etc.

oh man there are so many that i’ve love i will probably never be able to list them all but will try my best

ladies of shadow and bone -> color palette / characteristics by @capinejghafa

okay okay this set is just so gorgeous and was such a great gift. and it has like everything you could want, all the sab ladies, gorgeous blending, and beautiful colors!

i also want to mention myra’s kanej + reincarnation au gifset because like it’s gorgeous it’s kanej and it’s purple...like what more could you want!

the witcher › season 2 by @jjmaybanks

there are so many of beck’s gifsets i could mention but like the fact that this edit was made just from the trailer is just amazing! like it’s so gorgeous, the coloring is amazing and has such a cool layout. but like my favorite part is the middle gif, i’ve never seen anyone use do the mix of colors and b&w on a layout and I just thinks it’s so cool!

okay i’m going to mention another one because I can’t help myself but this ciri gifset is ummm just art, it’s stunning and gorgeous and i don’t know what else to say about it other i think you all should just go stare at because it’s gorgeous

darkling by @clarke-griffin

okay the first time i saw this gif i just stared and then i want to both make gifsets as stunning and to never make gifs again because i could never make something as stunning. it’s just amazing and one of coolest uses of overlays and textures i’ve seen in gifs!

yennefer meme: femme fatale by @yenvengerberg

i just...it’s gorgeous and don’t really know what else to say because what is there to say??? I could stare this edit for hour and probably have but it’s just stunning and fits the film noir/femme fatale vibe so well

rebecca + alone by @queencalanthes​

i think my jaw literally dropped when i saw this edit. like the way... THE WAY THE TEXT DISAPPEARS IN THE LAST GIF?!?! it’s so good it makes me lose my mind

okay, i’m going to stop now but i could probably keep going forever there are sooooo many talented creators on here

4-5 creations of which you’re proud. These are goals you scored. Nothing to do with notes.

nina zenik

i think this was probably the first edit  of mine where i really tried to do something cool with the typography and really liked how it ended up!

kaz brekker

i think this was the first gifset that i felt 100% confident post and just overall felt good about

inej ghafa

this edit took me forever, like i’m pretty sure i had a headache by the end of making it. i think i colored most of the gifs frame by frame but honestly it was worth it. this edit is still one of my favorite edits i’ve ever made and the one i’m most proud

ciri of cintra

i just love the colors in this a whole lot and honestly had a lot of fun making this. i mostly used it as an excuse to try some different coloring and affects that i hadn’t done before

3-4 creations others loved. Include the one that one that got most notes, great comments, or the classic ‘how dare you!’

letterboxd reviews + sebastian 

letterboxd reviews + lilo and stitch

inej ghafa

2-3 creations that stretched you as a creator: style, coloring, blending, text, etc. include the one that should have got more notes.

nina zenik 

making this edit was an experience...one that might have involved tears 

daredevil

this was the second edit i made with a layout and like it tested me man. first the math of trying to figure out the size of the gifs and then just putting everything together was an EXPERIENCE

1 creation of yours that you find most aesthetically pleasing to the eye and self AND 1 creation that broke and (maybe remade you) as a creator – we all have that one.

   aesthetically pleasing: yennefer + tissaia

maybe one of my more simple edits but think it’s one of my favorites!

creation that broke me: inej + knives

i was so excited to make this edit and it just...like still can’t think about it. i just could not make it work how i wanted to

0 the creation that never was because nothing was working that day.

i have a good chuck of sab ladies rainbow edit done. i started it for sab ladies application week but just didn’t finish it in time and i just haven’t had the motivation to work on it since but i do plan to finish it at some point. here’s one of the gifs from the set:

Overall comment on your creativity year 2021: i started gif for the first time in like a year and half and have trying out some many new things and just created so much that i’m proud of!

i don’t know who’s already done this so i’m just going to tag some people:

@rreputatiions, @steve-harringtons, @yelenabeluva, @nikolai-llantsov, @kazs-rietvelds, @queencalanthes​, @riietveld​, @spideyandrews​

[wildeoaths]

LGBTQ Book & Film Recommendations

Hello! As someone who tries to read widely, it can sometimes be frustrating to find good (well-written, well-made) LGBTQ+ works of literature and film, and mainstream recommendations only go so far. This is my shortlist. 

Some caveats: 1) I have only watched/seen some of these, though they have all been well-received.

2) The literature list is primarily focused on adult literary and genre fiction, since that is what I mostly read, and I feel like it’s easier to find queer YA fiction. Cece over at ProblemsOfABookNerd (YT) covers a lot of newer releases and has a YA focus, so you can check her out for more recommendations.

3) There are a ton of good films and good books that either reference or discuss queer theory, LGBTQ history and literary theory. These tend to be more esoteric and academic, and I’m not too familiar with queer theory, so they’ve largely been left off the list. I do agree that they’re important, and reading into LGBTQ-coding is a major practice, but they’re less accessible and I don’t want to make the list too intimidating.

4) I linked to Goodreads and Letterboxd because that’s what I use and I happen to really enjoy the reviews.

Any works that are bolded are popular, or they’re acclaimed and I think they deserve some attention. I’ve done my best to flag potential objections and triggers, but you should definitely do a search of the reviews. DoesTheDogDie is also a good resource. Not all of these will be suitable for younger teenagers; please use your common sense and judgement.

Please feel free to chime in in the replies (not the reblogs) with your recommendations, and I’ll eventually do a reblog with the additions!

BOOKS

> YOUNG ADULT

Don’t @ me asking why your favourite YA novel isn’t on this list. These just happen to be the picks I felt might also appeal to older teens/twentysomethings.

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo - poetry.

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender - trans male teen protagonist. 

Red, White & Royal Blue

Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda

The Gentleman’s Guide To Vice And Virtue

The Raven Boys (and Raven Cycle)

> LITERATURE: GENERAL

This list does skew M/M; more NB, trans and WLW recommendations are welcomed!

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. One of the most acclaimed contemporary LGBTQ novels and you’ve probably heard of it. Will probably make you cry.

A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood. Portrait of a middle-aged gay man.

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. M/M affair, British student high society; definitely nostalgic for the aristocracy so be aware of the context.

Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman. It’s somewhat controversial, it’s gay, everyone knows the film at least.

Cronus’ Children / Le Jardin d'Acclimation by Yves Navarre. Winner of the Goncourt prize.

Dancer From The Dance by Andrew Holleran. A young man in the 1970s NYC gay scene. Warning for drugs and sexual references.

Dorian, An Imitation by Will Self. Adaptation of Orscar Wilde’s novel. Warning for sexual content.

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. Two wlw in the 1980s. Also made into a film; see below.

Gemini by Michel Tournier. The link will tell you more; seems like a very complex read. TW for troubling twin dynamics.

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin. Another iconic M/M work.

Lost Boi by Sassafras Lowrey. A queer punk reimagining of Peter Pan. Probably one of the more accessible works on this list!

Lie With Me by Philippe Besson. Two teenage boys in 1980s France.

Maurice by E. M. Forster. Landmark work written in 1914. Also made into a film; see below.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. An expansive (and long) novel about the story of Cal, a hermaphrodite, by the author of The Virgin Suicides.

Orlando by Virginia Woolf. Plays with gender, time and space. Virginia Woolf’s ode to her lover Vita Sackville-West. What more do you want? (also a great film; see below).

Oscar Wilde’s works - The Picture of Dorian Gray would be the place to start. Another member of the classical literary canon.

Saga, vol.1 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples. Graphic novel; warning for sexual content.

Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinburg. An acclaimed work looking at working-class lesbian life and gender identity in pre-Stonewall America.

The Holy Innocents by Gilbert Adair. The basis for Bertolucci’s The Dreamers (2003). I am hesitant to recommend this because I have not read this, though I have watched the film; the M/M dynamic and LGBTQ themes do not seem to be the primary focus. Warning for sexual content and incestuous dynamics between the twins.

The Animals At Lockwood Manor by Jane Healey. Plays with gothic elements, set during WW2, F/F elements.

The Hours by Michael Cunningham. References Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway. Probably a good idea to read Virginia Woolf first.

The Immoralist by André Gide. Translated from French.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline MIller. Drawing from the Iliad, focusing on Achilles and Patroclus. Contemporary fantasy that would be a good pick for younger readers.

The Swimming Pool Library by Alan Hollinghurst. Gay life pre-AIDS crisis. Apparently contains a fair amount of sexual content.

What Belongs To You by Garth Greenwell. A gay man’s coming of age in the American South.

> LITERATURE: WORLD LITERATURE

American and Western experiences are more prominent in LGBTQ works, just due to the way history and the community have developed, and the difficulties of translation. These are English and translated works that specifically foreground the experiences of non-White people living in (often) non-Western societies. I’m not white or American myself and recommendations in this area are especially welcomed.

All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson. The memoirs and essays of a queer black activist, exploring themes of black LGBTQ experiences and masculinity.

A People’s History of Heaven by Mathangi Subramanian. Female communities and queer female characters in a Bangalore slum. A very new release but already very well received.

Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima. Coming-of-age in post-WW1 Japan. This one’s interesting, because it’s definitely at least somewhat autobiographical. Mishima can be a tough writer, and you should definitely look into his personality and his life when reading his work.

Disoriental by Négar Djavadi. A family saga told against the backdrop of Iranian history by a queer Iranian woman. Would recommend going into this knowing at least some of the political and historical context.

How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones. A coming-of-age story and memoir from a gay, black man in the American South.

In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado. Another acclaimed contemporary work about the dynamics of abuse in LGBTQ relationships. Memoir.

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo. Contemporary black British experience, told from the perspectives of 12 diverse narrators.

> POETRY

Crush by Richard Siken. Tumblr loves Richard Siken, worth a read.

Diving Into The Wreck by Adrienne Rich.

He’s So Masc by Chris Tse.

If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho, trans. Anne Carson. The best presentation of Sappho we’re likely to get.

Lord Byron’s works - Selected Poems may be a good starting point. One of the Romantics and part of the classical literary canon.

Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire. The explicitly lesbian poems are apparently in the les fleurs du mal section.

> MEMOIR & NONFICTION

And The Band Played On: Politics, People and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts. An expansive, comprehensive history and exposure of the failures of media and the Reagan administration, written by an investigative journalist. Will probably make you rightfully angry.

How to Survive A Plague: The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS by David France. A reminder of the power of community and everyday activism, written by a gay reporter living in NYC during the epidemic.

Indecent Advances: The Hidden History of Murder and Masculinity Before Stonewall by James Polchin. True crime fans, this one’s for you. Sociocultural history constructed from readings of the news and media.

Queer: A Graphic History by Meg-John Barker. It’s illustrated, it’s written by an academic, it’s an easier introduction to queer theory. I still need to pick up a copy, but it seems like a great jumping-off point with an overview of the academic context.

Real Queer America by Samantha Allen. The stories of LGBTQ people and LGBTQ narratives in the conservative parts of America. A very well received contemporary read.

The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson. Gender, pregnancy and queer partnership. I’m not familiar with this but it is quite popular.

When Brooklyn Was Queer by Hugh Ryan. LGBTQ history of Brooklyn from the nineteenth century to pre-Stonewall.

FILMS

With films it’s difficult because characters are often queercoded and we’re only now seeing films with better rep. This is a shortlist of better-rated films with fairly explicit LGBTQ coding, LGBTQ characters, or made by LGBTQ persons. Bolded films are ones that I think are likely to be more accessible or with wider appeal.

A Single Man (2009) - Colin Firth plays a middle-aged widower.

Blue Is The Warmest Colour (2013) - A controversial one. Sexual content.

Booksmart (2019) - A pretty well made film about female friendship and being an LGBTQ teen.

Boy Erased (2018) - Warning for conversion therapy.

BPM (Beats Per Minute) (2017) - Young AIDS activists in France.

Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Cowboy gays. This film is pretty famous, do you need more summary? Might make a good triple bill with Idaho and God’s Own Country.

Cabaret (1972) - Liza Minelli. Obvious plug to also look into Vincent Minelli.

Calamity Jane (1953) - There’s a lot that could be said about queer coding in Hollywood golden era studio films, but this is apparently a fun wlw-cowboy westerns-vibes watch. Read the reviews on this one!

Call Me By Your Name (2017) - Please don't debate this film in the notes.

Caravaggio (1986) - Sean Bean and Tilda Swinton are in it. Rather explicit.

Carol (2015) - Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara are lesbians in 1950s America.

Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) - Hard to summarise, but one review calls it “lesbian birdman” and it has both Juliette Binoche and Kristen Stewart in it, so consider watching it.

Colette (2018) - About the bi/queer female writer Colette during the belle epoque era. This had Keira Knightley so by all rights Tumblr should love it.

Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) - Lesbian love in 1920s/80s? America.

God’s Own Country (2017) - Gay and British.

Happy Together (1997) - By Wong Kar Wai. No further explanation needed.

Heartbeats (2010) - Bi comedy.

Heartstone (2016) - It’s a story about rural Icelandic teenagers.

Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party (2015) -  Queer teens and religious themes.

Je, Tu, Il, Elle (1974) - Early Chantal Akerman. Warning for sexual scenes.

Kill Your Darlings (2013) - Ginsberg, Kerouac and the Beat poets.

Love, Simon (2018)

Lovesong (2016) - Lesbian and very soft. Korean-American characters.

Love Songs (2007) - French trio relationship. Louis Garrel continues to give off non-straight vibes.

Mädchen In Uniform (1931) - One of the earliest narrative films to explicitly portray homosexuality. A piece of LGBTQ cinematic history.

Maurice (1987) - Adaptation of the novel.

Midnight Cowboy (1969) - Heavy gay coding.

Milk (2008) - Biopic of Harvey Milk, openly gay politician. By the same director who made My Own Private Idaho.

Moonlight (2016) - It won the awards for a reason.

My Own Private Idaho (1991) - Another iconic LGBTQ film. River Phoenix.

Mysterious Skin (2004) - Go into this film aware, please. Young actors, themes of prostitution, child ab*se, r***, and a lot of trauma.

Orlando (1992) - An excellent adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel, and in my opinion far more accessible. Watch it for the queer sensibilities and fantastic period pieces.

Pariah (2011) - Excellent coming-of-age film about a black lesbian girl in Brooklyn.

Paris is Burning (1990) - LANDMARK DOCUMENTARY piece of LGBTQ history, documenting the African-American and Latine drag and ballroom roots of the NYC queer community.

Persona (1966) - It’s an Ingmar Bergman film so I would recommend knowing what you’re about to get into, but also I can’t describe it because it’s an Ingmar Bergman film.

Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975) - Cult classic queercoded boarding school girls.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) - By Celine Sciamma, who’s rapidly establishing herself in the mainstream as a LGBTQ film director. This is a wlw relationship and the queer themes are reflected in the cinematic techniques used. A crowd pleaser.

Pride (2014) - Pride parades with a British sensibility.

Rebel Without A Cause (1955) - Crowd-pleaser with bi coding and James Dean. The OG version of “you’re tearing me apart!”.

Rocketman (2019) - It’s Elton John.

Rent (2005) - Adaptation of the stage musical. Not the best film from a technical standpoint. I recommend the professionally recorded 2008 closing night performance instead.

Rope (1948) - Hitchcock film.

Sorry Angel (2018) - Loving portraits of gay French men.

Talk To Her (2002) - By Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar.

Tangerine (2015) - About trans sex workers. The actors apparently had a lot of input in the film, which was somehow shot on an iPhone by the same guy who went on to do The Florida Project. 

The Duke of Burgundy (2014) - Lesbians in an S&M relationship that’s going stale, sexual content obviously.

The Gay Deceivers (1969) - The reviews are better than me explaining.

The Handmaiden (2016) - Park Chan-wook makes a film about Korean lesbians and is criminally snubbed at the Oscars. Warning for sexual themes and kink.

The Favourite (2018) - Period movie, and lesbian.

Thelma And Louise (1991) - An iconic part of LGBTQ cinematic history. That is all.

The Celluloid Closet (1995) - A look into LGBTQ cinematic history, and the historical contexts we operated in when we’ve snuck our narratives into film.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018) - Adaptation of the YA novel.

The Neon Demon (2016) - Apparently based on Elizabeth Bathory, the blood-drinking countess. Very polarising film and rated R.

The Perks of Being A Wallflower (2012) - Book adaptation. It has Ezra Miller in it I guess.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) - No explanation needed, queer and transgressive vibes all the way.

They (2017) - Gender identity, teenagers.

Those People (2015) - They’re gay and they’re artists in New York.

Tomboy (2011) - One of the few films I’ve seen dealing with gender identity in children (10 y/o). Celine Sciamma developing her directorial voice.

Tropical Malady (2004) - By Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul. His is a very particular style so don’t sweat it if you don’t enjoy it.

Vita and Virginia (2018) - Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West biopic

Water Lilies (2007) - Celine Sciamma again! Teenage lesbian coming-of-age. 

When Marnie Was There (2014) - A Studio Ghibli film exploring youth, gender and sexuality.

Weekend (2011) - An indie film about young gay love.

Wilde (1997) - It’s a film about Oscar Wilde.

XXY (2007) - About an intersex teenager. Reviews on this are mixed.

Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) - Wonder what Diego Luna was doing before Rogue One? This is one of the things. Warning for sexual content.

[carolinesiede]

Reflecting on 2020

The strangest thing about 2020 was how familiar much of it felt: Working from home, extended periods of isolation, weeks and months blending together. To a much lesser degree, those are things I experience each year as a freelancer. And while I suspect it will take awhile before the full extent of the trauma we’ve all lived through this year fully sets in, right now I’m mostly focused on gratitude. I’m grateful for the health of my loved ones. Grateful I already had a work-from-home routine to maintain during the pandemic. And grateful that I was able to quarantine with my family for much of the year—which had its challenges but also its rewards too.

In my 2019 year-end post I wrote about feeling like my career was finally on an upward trajectory after several years of plateauing. This year obviously offered some new wrinkles in that regard. I made significantly less money and felt familiar fears about how sustainable this career actually is. But having less work also gave me more time to focus on the actual craft of writing. I feel like I reached a new level in terms of voice, clarity, and the ability to self-edit. I'm the sort of person who constantly (arguably, obsessively) strives to be better, and it’s rewarding to feel like that hard work is finally slowly starting to pay off.

In addition to devoting my quarantine time to mastering a favorite curry recipe, getting really into the Enneagram, finally learning to French braid hair, and rewatching all of New Girl, I also had some really cool opportunities scattered throughout the year. I interviewed John Barrowman about his surprise return to Doctor Who, which felt like a real milestone for me. I also contributed to the Los Angeles Times’ list of TV shows to binge-watch during quarantine, which appeared both online and in print. And thanks to everything going virtual this year, I was able to attend a press panel for the fifth season of This Is Us, which is the sort of thing I’m not usually able to do as a Chicago-based critic. 

My career is always a juggling act between film and TV, and this year made me appreciate how valuable it is to be able to move seamlessly between both worlds. I took on new TV assignments covering the first season of Stargirl and the second season of The Umbrella Academy, both of which were a blast to write about. And while I didn’t watch quite as many films as I did in my insane catch-up year last year, I did fill in some more major blindspots. I also contributed to The A.V. Club’s list of the best films of 2000 and shared my own ballot over on Letterboxd. Oh, and I set up a Letterboxd this year too!

Elsewhere, I made my debut on Bustle and The Takeout, and ended the year with a Polygon article about “Kind Movies” that pretty much sums up my entire ethos on storytelling. I was also named a Top Critic by Rotten Tomatoes, which was a real honor. But the pride and joy of my career remains my rom-com column, When Romance Met Comedy. I devoted a whopping 49,000 words to analyzing 25 different romantic comedies this year. And I’m really pleased with how the column has grown and with the positive feedback I’ve received.

I have to admit, I sometimes worry that year-end highlight reels like this one can make my life seem easy or glamorous in a way that doesn’t reflect what it’s like to actually live through it. I'm tremendously lucky to get to do what I do, but I also struggle a lot—both with the logistics of this career and with bigger questions about what value it brings to the world. My goal is to approach 2021 with a greater sense of intentionality. I want to be more thoughtful in my career choices, more purposeful in how I use social media, and more active in my activism and politics. I’d also like to do 20 push-ups a day everyday for the whole year, but we’ll see how long that resolution actually lasts.

Finally, on a sadder note, one other defining experience of the year was the loss of my dear internet friend Seb Patrick, who I’ve known for years through the Cinematic Universe podcast. Seb created a wonderfully positive nerd space online, and was a big part of my early quarantine experience thanks to the Avengers watchalongs I did with the CU gang in the spring. I’m so grateful for all the fun pop culture chats we got to have throughout the years, several of which are linked below. Seb is tremendously missed, and there’s a fund for his family here.

As we head into 2021, I’ll leave you with wishes for a Happy New Year and a roundup of all the major writing and podcasts I did in 2020. If you enjoyed my work, you can support me on Kofi or PayPal. Or you can just share some of your favorite pieces with your friends! That really means a lot.

My 15 favorite films of 2020

My 15 favorite TV shows of 2020

Op-eds, Features, and Interviews

Women Pioneered The Film Industry 100 Years Ago. Why Aren’t We Talking About Them? [Bustle]

2020 is the year of the Kind Movie — and it couldn’t have come at a better time [Polygon]

Make a grocery store game plan for stress-free shopping [The Takeout]

What’s Going On: A primer on the call to defund the police [Medium]

Doctor Who’s John Barrowman on the return of Captain Jack Harkness [The A.V. Club]

Episodic TV Coverage

Doctor Who S12

This Is Us S4 and S5

Supergirl S5

Stargirl S1

The Umbrella Academy S2

The Crown S4

NBC’s Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Musical!

When Romance Met Comedy

Is The Ugly Truth the worst romantic comedy ever made?

Working Girl’s message is timeless, even if the hair and the shoulder pads aren’t

You’ve Got Mail and the power of the written (well, typed) word

Love & Basketball was a romantic slam dunk

How did My Big Fat Greek Wedding make so much money?

America eased into the ’60s with the bedroom comedies of Doris Day and Rock Hudson

I can’t stop watching Made Of Honor

Notting Hill brought two rom-com titans together

It’s time to rediscover one of Denzel Washington’s loveliest and most under-seen romances

Something’s Gotta Give is the ultimate quarantine rom-com

20 years ago, But I’m A Cheerleader reclaimed camp for queer women

On its 60th anniversary, Billy Wilder’s The Apartment looks like an indictment of toxic masculinity

The Wedding Planner made rom-com stars out of Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey

After 25 years, Clueless is still our cleverest Jane Austen adaptation

William Shakespeare invented every romantic comedy trope we love today

Edward Norton made his directorial debut by walking a priest, a rabbi, and a Dharma into a Y2K rom-com

The forgotten 1970s romantic comedy that raged against our broken, racist system

His Girl Friday redefined the screwball comedy at 240 words per minute

Before Wonder Woman soared into theaters, the hacky My Super Ex-Girlfriend plummeted to Earth

Dirty Dancing spoke its conscience with its hips

The rise of Practical Magic as a spooky season classic

In a dire decade for the genre, Queen Latifah became a new kind of rom-com star

Years before Elsa and Anna, Tangled reinvigorated the Disney princess tradition

Palm Springs is the definitive 2020 rom-com

Celebrate Christmas with the subversive 1940s rom-com that turned gender roles on their head

The A.V. Club Film & TV Reviews

Netflix’s To All The Boys sequel charms, though not quite as much as the original

The Photograph only occasionally snaps into focus

Jane Austen's Emma gets an oddball, sumptuous, and smart new adaptation

Pete Davidson delivers small-time charms in Big Time Adolescence

Council Of Dads crams a season of schmaltzy storytelling into its premiere

In Belgravia, Downton Abbey’s creator emulates Dickens to limited success

Netflix’s Love Wedding Repeat adds some cringe to the rom-com

Netflix takes another shot at Cyrano de Bergerac with queer love triangle The Half Of It

We Are Freestyle Love Supreme is a feel-good origin story for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first troupe

Sara Bareilles’ melodic Apple TV+ series Little Voice is still finding itself

Netflix’s sexist rom-com sensation gets a minor upgrade in The Kissing Booth 2

With Howard, Disney+ movingly honors the lyricist who gave the Little Mermaid her voice

The Broken Hearts Gallery tries to find catharsis in heartbreak

Netflix’s ghostly musical series Julie And The Phantoms hits some charming tween high notes

After We Collided slides toward R-rated camp—but not far enough

Holidate is a bawdy start to Netflix’s holiday rom-com slate

Kristen Stewart celebrates the Happiest Season in a pioneering queer Christmas rom-com

Isla Fisher gets her own Enchanted in the Disney Plus fairy tale Godmothered

Podcast Appearances

Debating Doctor Who: “Orphan 55”

It Pod To Be You: The Wedding Singer

Reality Bomb: Defending Doctor Who’s “Closing Time”

The Televerse: Spotlight on Doctor Who Season 12

You Should See The Other Guy: The Ugly Truth

Only Stupid Answers: Stargirl’s season finale

Motherfoclóir: Ireland and the Hollywood Rom-Com

Called in to Nerdette’s Clueless retrospective episode

Cinematic Universe Appearances

Cinematic Universe: Superman IV: The Quest For Peace

Cinematic Universe: Birds of Prey

Cinematic Universe: Infinity War watchalong

Cinematic Universe: Endgame watchalong

Cinematic Universe: Terminator 2

Cinematic Universe: Josie and the Pussycats

Cinematic Universe: The Cuppies 2020 (Cuppies of Cuppies)

And here are similar year-end wrap-ups I did in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, and 2013.

[letterboxd]

Kid Detectives, Adult Problems.

As The Kid Detective becomes “a surprising darling” of a hit with our members, Jack Moulton talks to its Canadian writer-director Evan Morgan about broken projectors, the pressure of proving yourself, and what happens when precocious kids grow up.

“The premise felt immediately funny but it also felt immediately sad and painful.” —Evan Morgan

A growing number of indie films over the past decade recognize that ‘coming-of-age’ is not a teen-exclusive life event—indeed, that it often takes decades to work out who we are, versus who people perceive us to be. The Kid Detective takes that premise and steals off into the night with it, blending noir with indie slacker in an offbeat, genre-flipping tale of a washed-up, thirty-something private eye who was once a star solver of local mysteries.

Adam Brody (Ready or Not) stars as Abe Applebaum, the detective in question, who seizes a chance to step back into the small-town limelight when a young woman (Sophie Nélisse) asks him to help find her boyfriend’s murderer. Veep’s Sarah Sutherland also stars as Abe’s secretary, taking calls about lost cats and other inane mysteries.

Reviews on Letterboxd praise the “delicious premise” that explores “the darkness lurking beneath the surface of small-town America”. They also appreciate Brody’s “phenomenally pathetic” performance, and the unexpected swerve in the final twenty, noting that “sometimes movies don’t recover from a shift in tone in the third act… but here it all [falls] into place”.

The Kid Detective is the directing debut of Toronto filmmaker (and Letterboxd member) Evan Morgan, who first received attention for The Dirties (2013), an alternately funny and upsetting micro-budget dark comedy in found-footage style, which he produced, co-wrote and co-edited. Morgan’s work is drenched in pop culture: Abe’s talent for deduction is demonstrated by how he digests movie narratives; The Dirties, too, has endless movie references. So we were chuffed to quiz Morgan about the films that have played an important role in his life.

What was premiering The Kid Detective at the 2020 Toronto Film Festival like for you, under the current conditions? Evan Morgan: We were in quite a rush to get the film finished for the online platform that they had made—I signed off on the final cut on Thursday and then I was reading a review of the movie by Saturday. I was still in that mode of trying to scrutinize everything and implement my final notes, and then all of a sudden the movie was done and I could never touch it again. It certainly was a surreal transition to make that quickly.

It was also extremely gratifying to see people respond to it for the first time. We knew that we weren’t making a movie that was for all tastes but when you’re reading the first response from the first person who’s ever reviewed it and they’re picking up on stuff you intended, you start to let your spine unclench a little bit. You can sort of finally say goodbye to the process of making something and enjoy the process of people interacting with it.

Have you been reading the Letterboxd reviews? Obsessively. I’ve been refreshing Letterboxd all the time. I’ve been joking with my editor and composer a lot about how people posting their reviews on Letterboxd, on their YouTube channel, or other little outlets would never expect the filmmakers to be instantly reading their reviews.

You’re also a member! How do you use Letterboxd? I’ve always been a big film nerd. Ever since I was a teenager I was making lists at the end of the year and obsessing over an order that would always change. A friend of mine, Matthew Miller, who produced The Dirties, recommended that I hop on Letterboxd and instantly I was going through the library rating and organizing everything, and it became a real slippery slope. I remember spending hours on it in the first week.

Now, after actually having made a movie that’s on a larger scale, I’ve found that my sensitivity has changed a lot in the last year. I’m less inclined to give a star rating. I’m happy just to catalog the film so I can reflect on it and just use the ‘like’ button. That’s been an interesting shift in my relationship with how I see movies after having finally completed this project.

I know this idea had been gestating a while for you, what was the seed of the story? I’d written a short film in film school, which I never shot, that was about a child detective who was still a child and was solving grisly murders. I was obsessed with the first season of The OC and I thought Adam Brody was so funny. I was impressed with how he broke out of the formula of that show. I knew he was someone I really wanted to work with and we happened to cross paths at Sundance because The Dirties was premiering at Slamdance. It was clear to us that we shared a similar sense of humor and taste.

I was looking back on my old ideas and I saw an opportunity to re-conceive this one for him because I immediately identified with the protagonist. I’ve always known I wanted to be a filmmaker and thus had that sense of expectation where people would joke: “he’ll grow up to be the next Spielberg!” It’s incredible encouragement when you’re young but it also creates this unfortunate sense of pressure where you’re beholden to a future that you actually haven’t achieved or lived.

When I graduated film school, I was suddenly left in the space of my own apartment where now it was up to me to actually make this happen, to write and direct a feature film. The process acquires this unfortunate pressure because it’s not just about watching ideas unfold in front of me, I also have something to prove. I was at a point in my life where I was doing a lot of writing and not having great success in terms of actually finishing a script so this premise resonated with me and I saw an opportunity for people to connect to this character in their own way.

I revisited The Dirties after watching The Kid Detective and I finally understood why there were those huge The OC posters in Matt and Owen’s edit suite. I assume that was your idea? Yeah, it was. We were all big fans of that show. The cultural references they made were things that were important to us at that particular moment and we loved Seth Cohen [Brody’s character]. When I ran into Adam at Sundance, I shared a link to The Dirties, forgetting that his face was in the background of about twenty minutes of our movie. We were back in our hotel that night and it suddenly just occurred to us—“wait a minute, shit. We should probably warn him that his face is a big character!”

How did you conduct your research into detective work? What excited me about this premise was the character and not so much the genre. I think the genre is alluring in a sense that it’s so hallowed. The set pieces are so familiar in terms of the PI office, the receptionist and the glass of scotch. That stuff was all super cool and enticing, but I was never a big mystery person. I was intimidated by the process of writing because it felt very much outside of my wheelhouse.

The first thing I did was buy a bunch of Raymond Chandler books from the Philip Marlowe series. I read those super quickly and thought they were super funny. I also read a bunch of Encyclopedia Brown books. So, the world of The Kid Detective exists between these two realms. I started watching bad TV procedurals where the detectives try and find the victim within the span of 42-minutes just to absorb as much as I possibly could.

Here you have a whimsical directorial approach while the film reflects upon a cynical, changing world. In comparison, The Dirties also deals with young adult trauma but couldn’t be further from this in style. Can you talk about your use of juxtaposition this time around? There was no more fun experience than shooting The Dirties. It really was a film made by four best friends having an endless sleepover in their parents’ basement. That’s where the energy, the life, and the humor of the film comes from. We were always relying on the darker component of the dramatic payoff to provide us with a structure so that we could goof around as much as we wanted knowing that it wasn’t all for nothing. Those dramatic stakes would provide it with a different kind of technical legitimacy. We didn’t have any money to make it but it didn’t have to look like a big Hollywood film because it was made by the characters.

It wasn’t a conscious decision to recreate the same dynamic with The Kid Detective in terms of dealing with dramatic issues in a very light way. The premise felt immediately funny but it also felt immediately sad and painful. I wanted to find a way to wrap them together without forfeiting the humor or the reality of the characters. It’s interesting how a lot of people are responding to the way the movie reveals itself to be dark because, for me, this was always inevitable. If you’re going to tell a story about a stunted adult, like a kid detective who never really grows up, the only way for the character to grow up is to confront something that is so sinister that it would break them from their selfishness.

Which detective movies most influenced The Kid Detective? The biggest films that were in my head when I was writing this movie—and also in terms of our aesthetic—were Chinatown and Blue Velvet. Chinatown was a movie that I had more of a relationship with as a teenager than I did the older Humphrey Bogart movies like The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon. Blue Velvet also has a suburban setting that reveals this darker underbelly—two characters driving around in a convertible, interviewing people, and putting themselves in greater and greater risk. Those were the movies that we wanted you to be able to put the film on the shelf with.

Jim Carrey in ‘Ace Ventura: Pet Detective’ (1994).

Which film made you want to become a filmmaker? This is an easy one for me. I was a very big fan of Jim Carrey when I was eleven and I remember seeing Ace Ventura: Pet Detective for the first time and having my mind blown. I didn’t even know what some of those jokes were referring to, but I was so delighted by his energy and the absurdity of that movie. It invited this ferocious interest in acting and consequentially, the world of film. I got really excited when I heard he was working on his first dramatic feature and that it was going to be directed by Peter Weir since I was already a fan of Dead Poets Society.

I remember going to see The Truman Show with my family on the first night that it played and the projector broke about an hour into the movie. I was broken—I knew that was I watching my favorite movie that I’d ever seen. I was absolutely blown away by the world and the story. After about 30 minutes, the theater staff came out and started offering vouchers to see it again but I wouldn’t let my parents leave—I said “no, we have to stay and finish it!”—and then I was rewarded with what remains my favorite movie ending ever.

That was the point when my interest shifted from wanting to be in front of the camera and the center of attention. I was kind of the class clown as a child. If you’d asked at the time, I’d say I wanted to be a comedian. This was the moment where I decided I wanted to tell stories and start writing scripts.

Which coming-of-age protagonist did you relate to the most as a teenager? Not super original, but I was obsessed with The Catcher in the Rye as a teenager. I don’t know if I necessarily saw my experience reflected in a movie—I’m sure it’s out there. Rushmore was another film that Adam and I used as a reference when we were pitching this movie, in how The Kid Detective exists between that and Chinatown. It’s also about a character dealing with his own expectations of himself and ultimately having to evolve out of his selfishness.

I think that there’s something about the coming-of-age genre that is very special to me and I continue to really appreciate and recognize it. I really enjoyed Adventureland, which came out about eleven years ago and it’s sort of underrated. I guess in its own way, Blue Velvet is a coming-of-age story too. Those are the ones that are the top of my list.

What are your favorite Canadian films that really could not be made anywhere else but Canada? It seems I should have an immediate answer to that question. It just proves how bad Canadians are at celebrating themselves. There was a movie called Monsieur Lazhar that stars Sophie Nélisse, who’s the leading actress in our film. It was her first film role at eleven and it’s an incredibly sensitive and quiet movie that was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars that year. That’s a really amazing example of Canadian filmmaking at its best.

If you’ve had time to watch any films this year, what is your favorite film of 2020 so far? This is another tough one for me because I was honestly so immersed in trying to complete The Kid Detective—we were editing intensely from the very beginning of the year and throughout the lockdown. I was so exhausted by that process that I lost track of what was happening in terms of new releases, so I watched quite a few old movies and there were a few movies I revisited.

The movie that probably had the biggest impact on me was Midsommar, from last year. I couldn’t believe the precision and how unshakable it was in terms of those images. It got me excited again in the way that sometimes you feel when you have to see a movie more than once in order to truly see it, because the first time you’re dispensing your expectations. Maybe you wanted to like it or maybe you didn’t want to like it, but the second time you don’t have the same anticipation, and as a result you notice things that you didn’t notice previously.

Related content

Melissa’s list of films about Detectives, Private Eyes, Mysteries, Film Noir, Neo Noir, Thrillers, Erotic Thrillers, Cat and Mouse, Chasing, Crush, Obsession, Stalking, Escaping

Phillip Marlowe, Private Eye: RetroHound’s ranked list of films featuring Raymond Chandler’s famous detective

MovieMaestro’s Teenage Wasteland list of coming-of-age movies

Follow Jack on Letterboxd

‘The Kid Detective’ is in select US theaters now.

[christiangaleofficial]

movies everyone should watch?

Wild to get anons all the sudden in the year 2020. 

I don’t know if such a movie exists!

I definitely wish everyone would watch It’s Such A Beautiful Day at least twice.

I wish that anyone who is passionate about art, and the creation of and devotion to art, would watch: All That Jazz, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, 8 1/2, Inside Llewyn Davis, Synecdoche New York, Andrei Rublev

I think if these were broadcast on a giant screen to the entire country the USA might be a little better off: Dr. Strangelove, Little Women (1994, but 2019 will do too), Sans Soleil, Night on Earth, Stop Making Sense, Do The Right Thing, Eighth Grade, Boyhood

I wish that everyone who was raised religious could watch: A Serious Man, The Seventh Seal, Fanny and Alexander, Stalker, Mother!, Silence

I wish that people who swear by only entertaining or feel good movies would watch: Frances Ha, Beginners, Raising Arizona, The Night of The Hunter, After Hours, Spirited Away, O Brother Where Art Thou?

I wish people who are starting to get interested in what movies can be like would watch: Eraserhead, La Jetee, As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty, Videodrome, The Red Shoes, Le Samourai, Slacker, Ces’t La Vie (Ari Aster short), Bottlerocket (Wes Anderson short version), Lighthouse

I wish that everyone I know would watch: Love Streams, Dead Ringers, Fargo, Sans Soleil, They Shoot Horses Don’t They, Paris Texas, and almost everything in category #1, A Serious Man, Fanny and Alexander because all of these movies feel somehow linked to my identity.

I don’t know exactly what this list is or why I picked what went on it. Basically there are so many movies and so many good ones and so many ones that stretch your understanding of what movies can be, and I have seen a lot that I really love and know there are so many great ones I haven’t seen and haven’t even heard of. Don’t have the confidence to say anything that’s for everyone (It’s Such A Beautiful Day). All in all I’m glad for everyone to watch what they like, but I do wish people who get interested would take the time to look into what’s out there because there is so much incredible diversity beyond the ones that are regularly hyped, although I love a lot of those to death too (as you can see), I wish I knew a less annoying way to communicate that cuz it is the hill I would die on.

One more note, letterboxd is an incredible resource for finding things to watch, and the biggest reason I’ve gotten to hear about and see a lot of my favorites, and maybe also the biggest reason I know how little I know!

[shyanlibrary]

I was scrolling through your blog and you mentioned that faq doesn't work for Android and I have an android so could you please tell me the gist of what I should know? Thanks!!

Okay, so:

~ To know before asking

English is my second lenguage and I’m latina. Sorry for any mistakes I may make with my english and my different time zone.

I have read ALL finished fanfictions tagged under Ry*n B*rg*ra/Shan* M*dej tag at AO3 posted until feb. 14, 2018. I read everything that calls my attention in the tag from that day on.

I have my preferences and I have not read certain fics that may trigger old traumas and etc. Personal preferences are listed here.

Most recs I do are personal and come from my favorite fanfictions in the fandom. I’m a very picky person, so what I may like, you may not. I will not tolerate any kind of hate because of this.

Hate speech of any kind and “anti” sentiments are NOT welcome in this blog. I will never support the bullying and self-righteous feeling some members in certain portions of the fandom may post in the tags.

I only read shyan fanfics and I’m not into polyam. This doesn’t mean these kind of fics aren’t allowed in this blog, just that I won’t be reading them.

This also means platonic stuff will NOT be listed here, since this blog is dedicated to the romantic aspect of this dynamic, as already pointed out by the shipname SHYAN.

I believe all fics deserve exposure, but for safety and the purpose of this blog some may not be listed here.

~ Won’t be on this blog

Contains narrative, dialogues, tropes and speech born from racism, homophobia, transphobia, any kind of hate speech.

Platonic works crosstagged in the Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej tag. Exceptions: Pre-slash and queerplatonic.

Shipping works crosstagged in the Ryan Bergara & Shane Madej tag, since we should not be the problem by invading spaces that does not belong to us.

The author is a known bully, guilt trips other people into doing things for them, is a racist, homophobic, fetishist, abuser, toxic member of the fandom.

Feminization that isn’t born from a kink explored in the story is also not welcomed and will not be encouraged.

Contains queerbaiting.

Fetishises the relationship or one of the boys in any way, especially Ryan.

Abusive relationships that stay that way, especially between the boys.

Contains non-con, underage, pedophilia, necrophilia, bestiality, especially between the couple.

Exposes a kink or dynamic that is not abusive in real life in an abusive way. This applies especially with BDSM fics. Works that expose the dynamics in a negative way without this being part of the story, aka makes believe the reader is a positive rep, are not allowed in this blog.

~ Frequently Asked Questions

Do you know this one fic…?

If you want me to find you a fic you read a long time ago and you can’t remember the name or author, please tell me as much as you can about it and I will try to find out which one is. In case I can’t, I will make you a list with options that may be.

Before sending this, PLEASE, check the finds tag to know if someone else has already asked about it.

I don’t read watpatt fics, only AO3 and tumblr fics.

You think I should post my fic?

DO IT. All authors deserve exposure and I will support you as much as I can. I will read your fic, I will comment it, I will rec it.

You gotta realize that this fandom is small and very nice; people do care about their writers and try their best to leave feedback and is very, very rare that someone would leave a bad comment.

I understand the fear of posting, believe me I do, but I want you to know that you are not alone and you will find your own public, there is always a reader for each author.

What’s the most famous fic in the fandom?

No such thing, to be honest.

But the most hitted and kudoed fanfc in the tag is Foolish Mortal by ghostwheeze, most commented fic is A Ghoul’s Guide to Life, Death & Afterliving by MercurySkies, and most bookmarked fic is two to fall apart by literalmetaphor.

Fics I’ve seen more recommended in lists and so are Foolish Mortal by ghostwheeze (which isn’t actually shyan–  it’s platonic, by the way. But even though the author told this in the story, people still considers it a shyan story, so I’m torn if I should keep including it or not. Let me know what you think), be all my sins remembered by spoopyy (in which Shane is a vampire), Oblivion by InkStainsOnMyHands and contrapposto by spoopyy.

Would you recommend me a fanfic about…?

Here is my personal rec list: post | page. I also check my rec lists masterpost with all the list I’ve made.

Would you read my fanfic?

Please, first read this little page and then, if your fic doesn’t contain any of these things, go ahead, send me a link and I will happily read it.

Can I rec you/your followers a fic?

Sure, submit your fic rec here (and remember to follow the rules). If you don’t know how to submit, visit this page. Do not rec platonic stuff, this is a blog for shyan. Means romantic dynamic.

Allowed kind of platonic: queerplatonic and pre-slash (meaning It is known and obvious they will eventually land into a relationship).

I don’t want my fanfic in your blog.

That’s fine. Just tell me which one is and you won’t see it ever again over here.

Why do you call yourself Nini from Fandom Resources?

My friend, Beru (yaboimadej), always called me Fandom Resources Girl before we became friends while in another fandom. I’m someone who loves to help, and every time someone had a doubt about something in that one old fandom, I tried to help them no matter what.

When I started to do the same in the BFU fandom, she started to call me ‘Nini from BFU Fandom Resources’ and here we are.

Which of the boys is your favorite?

I love both of them, but maybe Ryan is ultimately my “favorite”. Yet, I’m a little more sexually attracted to Shane. Probably because he is the type of man I usually date. My current boyfriend is a 6'4 big guy with sandy blond hair and a devilish smile, so there is that.

What the fuck with the big-dick-Madej thing?

So, abuelas and tías in Mexico say that a man with big hands and big feet have a big dick. In my experience, cocks tend to fit the dude’s body, so me and many other authors came into the conclusion that Shane probably has a fitting cock. And well– he is the Big Guy, you know.

What do you think about their girls?

I respect Sara and whoever Ryan may date in the futre, fanfics that bashes them are not allowed in this blog. I also made a little rant regarding the way outsiders or newies always try to damage our fandom regarding them here.

What else will be in this blog aside from fanfics?

Fanart and edits done for fanfics. In case someone did a fanart and next, an author made a work based on it, it will be reblogged. You will also find prompts, prompts lists, writing memes, writing resources and references that may help for fanfics (aka information about the boys and their work).

Also, I will be reblogging the videos of the episodes and other “official” stuff of BFU and/or the boys.

Can I tag you in my fanfic?

Yes. You can mention the blog or you can tag the blog in your first five (5) tags of your post, and I will reblog it here and (maybe, unless you ask me to) read it.

Tag tag the blog as #shyanlibrary NOT #shyan library, please.

Do you enjoy doing this?

I love it. Please never stop writing and/or supporting fanfiction.

Do you write BFU fanfics?

I do! My AO3 profile is here. Right now, I’m busy with life and other sutff, but I do have plenty of ideas you can check out here.

Other social media I can find you in?

yaboybergara | twitter | letterboxd | instagram

Nina, can you help me with something else?

Fandom related? Of course. Please check this tag with all the thingys I have helped with on my main blog, and if your thingy is not there, send me a message at yaboybergara and I see what I can do.

I help finding information, videos, icons, screencaps, etc.

Writing? Send me a message and let me see what I can do. You can send me your ideas, fic or drafts at the Library’s e-mail. Send me a message for it.

Personal? I’ll try my best.

[palaeolithicc]

DOCS:

A LIST OF SOME DOCS I’VE WATCHED (since 31/4) I WILL UPDATE AS I WATCH: 

Dear Zachary (youtube/iplayer) 

The Imposter (watch here it’s a vimeo link)

Indian Hospital Train (youtube)

Interview with a Cannibal (youtube) WARNING: graphic images. very graphic.

life on the psych ward (video link)

Confessions of a Jr Doc (channel 4OD. i have other links if anyone overseas wants to watch it)

Queer Britain -  Does God Hate me // Ep 1 + The Search for the Perfect body image // Ep 2 “ + Out On The Streets | Queer Britain - Ep 3  + Preference Or Prejudice // Ep 4 + Porn Idols // Ep 5 (it’s been deleted off youtube)+ Queer and Proud // Ep 6

“Tickled ” - AMAZON PRIME. Truly interesting and one I would suggest watching highly. The concept was a weird one which is why I decided to the watch it but it took a turn!

Mommy Dead and Dearest  - An amazing doc with twists and turns I didn’t see come I highly recommend it. It’s truly amazing, and horrifying at the same time. 

A Mother’s Love (youtube) - i wasn’t a massive fan of this one. It ended with no resolution. The one above it, mommy dad and dearest is a much better exploration of a similar crime.

Britain’s Challenging Children - Dispatches  (youtube)

Madness in the Fast Lane - BBC (youtube)

Don’t deport me. I’m British (link is to iplayer) actually a truly apt and moving documentary. 

Inside Broadmoor - Channel 5 (Recently shown again) it is also on youtube. 

Gareth Thomas v Homophobia: Hate in the Beautiful Game - iPlayer

Is it safe to be Gay in the UK - iPlayer (highly recommend this one) // a VERY moving account of violence towards LGBT people and if you think that there isn’t much watch PEOPLE ARE STILL BEING MURDERED. 

MND and 22-year-old-Me - iPlayer (very moving and MND needs more and more funding and research needs to be done into finding a cure! having lost my aunt at a young age to MND. support MND charities! and maybe even support the girl called Lucy’s who suffers from it in the documentary charity. Not everyone is as fortunate as Stephen Hawkings)

My lesbians mums - iPlayer.

Hidden Killers of the Tudor Home - (youtube)

UK’s toughest teenage prison - Youtube

Teenage Cancer Ward - Youtube (set in Birmingham, UK) A moving documentary into teenage cancer. 

Roth Kemp Extreme: Northern Ireland - youtube // A must watch for all UK and Irish citizen. IMHO - it should be watched to see how still the Protestant and Catholic community within NI are struggling with the peace deal brokered nearly 20 years ago. Whether or not you’re Catholic/protestant etc. It should definitely be on your watch list!! 

The girl who muscle turn to bones - youtube // not to spoil it or anything but here is an update on how she is doing. The Doc was filmed in 2006 or thereabouts. 

The Madness of Bedlam: Time Team Special.  an interesting watch. Too little on the osteoarchaeology for my liking, but then again, I am an archaeology student. definitely an interesting grounding. if you are interested in Bedlam or how bones are incorporated into archaeology deffo watch. or the history of psychiatry. 

The drug trial that went terribly wrong - I would highly recommend this especially as an insight into drug trials and modern drug trials and that you always think you are going to be safe. Documenting a case in the UK. (Youtube). 

Stacey Dooley: Second chance sex offenders (iplayer) - I would highly recommend watching this especially from a UK perspective. Warnings it does involve talk about sexual assault on minors! But eye opening. 

Deliver us from evil: Corruption in the. Catholic church that allowed child sex abuse to occur - this documentary focuses on the priest Father O’Grady.

Stacey Dooley: Face to face with Isis (Iplayer) 

Lost Kingdoms of South America: People of the. clouds (Youtube)

The Work: Four days to redemption (BBC Storyville // idk where it was originally shown)

Dangerous Sons (HBO) - a massive insight into child and adolescent mental health in American in terms of “dangerous” kids. on Letterboxd I gave it 2/5 because I didn’t really get the aim of the documentary and it seemed somewhat cut short.

Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the house of God (Youtube): A look into the horrifying world of child sex abuse scandal in the Catholic church, from the bottom upwards and how the CC does very little to stop it. It looks at numerous differeing cases of CSA in the CC but focuses on a school, St John’s school for the deaf. 

— I forgot to write down a lotta the docs I watched, and therefore lost count of the docs but am re starting now ( August 2018) —

History Cold Case: the york 113 // YouTube (originally BBC): forensic archaeology / anthropology my fav 😍.

The secrets of Silicon Valley (ep 1) // for a bunch of companies that wish to cause disruption to the status quo, they sure do fit in with those they try to overtake. From Uber drivers killing themselves in India over false advertising, to tax evasion. Perhaps we are just all becoming what we feared.

Americans Hate Preachers (BBC iPlayer) I’m shocked. I’m aware of what hate groups preach but their convictions are weak. They are not CHRISTIAN. They do not live by the bible. One of them suggests lgbt+ people should kill themseleves, and the other group is spewing islamaphobia. It’s sickening.

—-think I forgot to write some down but ones I can remember: ——

Young Nuns (2011) // follows twos girl hoping to join the sisterhood.

Inside the court of appeals (2018) - ITV // looks at prior convictions and whether they were too lineant, wrongly convicted etc.