#songs that show character and advance the plot?? yes please

[kikuism]

i've been listening to a lot of musicals lately ... i can't seem to focus on books these days (perhaps bc i read them on my phone) but i'm craving the experience of being immersed in a story and musicals satisfy that itch so well

[thedemonastrophel]

Guys I'm so sorry but genuinely what are these new doctor who episodes

Sighs Rant under the cut

I'm gonna say it now. I do not like the new episodes.

I absolutely adore and treasure the new doctor and companion but the writing is grating against my brain-

And look okay yes the "next episode" clip at the end of devils chord had them in a war zone, so I'm really REALLY hoping I end up taking this all back but at the moment I really cannot get behind the writing.

Also idk if I'm missing something but what was the point of the song at the end of devils chord?? What did that song do to advance then plot

Please please someone tell me why I'm wrong and that these were actually amazing episodes because I want so badly to love the new seasons of Doctor Who but the show is feeling so out of character from what Doctor Who normally is

Even with the goofyness the show had, it still managed to make sense and have serious heart wrenching moments.

I'm not asking for a season finale within the first 3 episodes, I just want a reason to keep enjoying the show, and at the moment I think that reason is Ncuti Gatwa (The doctor) and Millie Gibson (Ruby)

Gah sorry for this rant I'm just a liiiittle annoyed at Disney right now for how they're trying to rebrand Doctor Who

[nobodysdaydreams]

THE WOLF359 CAST IS INCREDIBLY TALENTED AND I LOVE THIS! (or my reaction to the Wolf359 Live Show)

"Another Wolf359 reaction already? But Bods, I thought you said you were busy?" Yes indeed I am my friends, if I wasn't busy, I would have finished the podcast by now. In my younger days, I did all of ATLA in a weekend. Sadly at this age, I can't be doing that kind of bingeing. I'm also tired, because I've been studying all day and figured why not take a little break and watch the Wolf359 Live Show?

I firstly wanted to give a shoutout to @commsroom for not only telling me about when to watch the live show (after episode 26), but also telling me that it is on youtube where you can watch it live so thank you so much!

Tagging the mutuals who got me invested in this, and if you want to be tagged or untagged from these posts, lmk, or you can follow my blog or simply follow the tag "#bods wolf359 reactions". Anyone who has followed me for a while knows my updates are inconsistent, so I apologize in advance for that and for any spelling/grammar mistakes in my posts. Especially in this one because it is late, and I am tired.

@sophieswundergarten @oflightningandstars @acollectionofcuriousreblogs @herawell

Wolf359 Live Show Reaction:

"First ever life show" - are there other live shows?

Oh okay this is very helpful. So it's in the middle of Episode 26, so right in the middle of what I just listened to, that makes a lot more sense.

I honestly don't care about the audio quality difference this is amazing.

Uh...pretty sure Cutter is not the forces of good... see Doug this is why you always read the fine print! It's like that ominous song...the one that was a tik tok audio? The one about an evil corporation in space? I think it might have been video game music? You guys know what I'm talking about please tell me I didn't imagine this.

YES THE ONE COPY OF HOME ALONE 2 COMES BACK!

PLEASE- the way Doug is telling the story is the way I tell stories "Hilbert strikes back: specifically Doug's circulatory system" 😂

"Palpatine MD" 😂

I love how they enter in as their characters are introduced.

I love Hera though it is weird to hear her voice clear without coming through the intercoms.

Zach is doing a fantastic job I love how he's moving around Minkowski to play both Hilbert and Doug 😂 and he's doing a great job switch characters.

Lovelace!

I love how he crosses over to whisper to Hera, I can just see Doug's character whispering into her intercom or in the general direction of the computer even though it doesn't make a difference to her.

I also like Hera's character position on stage away from the others, it's kind of symbolic.

"Team Eiffel's on the case" I have literally used the phrase "Detective Bods is on the case" multiple times on this blog, why do I relate so strongly to every ADHD character I come across sasjdkfjsl;kdfj;slk. Not the talking to himself too... NOT THEM LOOKING AT HIM IN THE BACKGROUND...oh no...

I love how Hera says "yeah we're all here" when she's always there.

17 months Doug? Oh dear...

"No one told me it was my job" Valid Doug, valid, what you're told when you're spaced out doesn't count. ADHD rule #1. Oh she told him multiple times? Well maybe they could have written it down for him. Would that have been too much trouble?

Hilbert shut up.

Poor Hera. The way she shuts them down 😂

SHUT UP HILBERT. THANK YOU.

Oh not the Pyrce and Carter thing again. Do we ever get to meet Pryce and Carter? Do they work for Goddard Futuristics? Is this a NASA textbook? At first I thought she said something about a price and then "Cutter", and I was like "PLOT TWIST" but never mind it's just the tips book.

Minkowski's Lovelace impression 😂 HIS HERA IMPRESSION IS JUST A HIGH PITCHED VOICE. Hahaha...his Hilbert is hilarious. Her Doug impression. 😂

"No no she's Eiffel, that's impossible" This is perfect, and then the switch back to Hilbert. Comedic perfection. I love it so so much.

"Hilbert you're fine try to be less fine" I love Hera.

"Can I ask you to act like an adult?" "That's not my thing" the comedic timing of this is excellent.

"What do you even do here?" Hold Hilbert's Decima virus of course.

Comms line? With who?

PLEASE 😂OH MY GOODNESS CUTTER. The way he stands up from the audience with his smug little smile...

You just know he's been waiting his entire life to play a role like that. Honestly me too, so good for him for getting to live the dream. DID HE JUST PAT THE HEAD OF A RANDOM PERSON IN THE AUDIENCE. HE DID. HE EVEN HAS A SUIT.

"We'll break bread, we'll dance, we'll kiss-" Cutter man, I'm pretty sure you can't say that. I know that you're an evil corporation that murders people on the regular and unethically experiments on people in space so the law can't get you, but you don't even have one HR rep?

Another call Cutter? What deployment?

"He remotely destroys station, then goes on lunch break" Yep sounds like Cutter.

The way Cutters reenters... it's so dramatic I love it.

They are really gonna have to make sure their stories match.

Huh. "Communication problem of our own." I wonder what that could be Cutter? A little issue at Command?

"Alone at last" That sounds creepy Cutter.

Oh so Cutter worships at the alter of the Pryce and Carter manual too. Maybe he forced them to write the book and killed them. Maybe he wrote it under two pen names to make it sound more legit. Either way I can't imagine him memorizing anyone's book but his own.

CUTTER'S ASKING ABOUT HER FAMILY? oh he's threatening her. IS HE THREATENING HER FAMILY?

They are very low on toothpaste.

"I want to help in every way I can, but I can only do that if I know what's going on" Cutter I hope you die. Painfully. Very slowly and very painfully, and if it doesn't happen in the show, I'll write it into a fic.

Oh he's speaking to Hera now because of what she said... that's interesting. Cutter didn't think of Hera as a person or member of the crew before he realized that Minkowski did.

Doug is me cramming for my exams. DOUG IF ITS NOT A VIDEO CALL YOU CAN WRITE STUFF DOWN.

Or fake an illness.

Oh dear poor Hera.

"Manufacturing errors." I hope that doesn't mean anything bad for those robots, otherwise that has to be sad for Hera to hear.

Okay...I love how Hera and some of the other actors look straight at the audience like they can't see Cutter, but Cutter looks directly at them as if he can see them. It adds so much to the creep factor.

Oh my gosh that manual again. Why is he obsessed with it?

"You'd be shocked at how much I know about the Hephaestus" Cutter knows everything.

AND DO NOT CALL HERA PATHETIC.

Oh my gosh Hera talked back to him for a second. I think she's the only one who ever does thus far, which is odd considering all her code that stops her from doing that.

"A real person" THAT CROSSES A LINE CUTTER.

"I don't know if someone like you can understand this. We're trying to change everyone's lives" CUTTER SHUT UP. YOU ARE THE ONE WITHOUT A SOUL YOU HAVE NO ROOM TO TALK.

YES HERA TALK BACK TO HIM.

Hera's memory files? Personality setting? oh never mind...this is awful that he can just go in like that. Maybe that's why he programmed her with the ability and personality that would talk back to him. So that he can get the truth from someone he can easily destroy.

"The people who made you decided you were a mistake, and you were so desperate to rise above who- what you are" Who made Hera? Are they important? Or did Cutter just scrape her up from a tech company that didn't want her? And Cutter "correcting" himself on that line I hope he's blown into space.

"Don't you dare" wow Hera's still talking back. "You have no idea." DID SHE JUST CONFESS THAT HILBERT IS STILL ALIVE. Oh Hera...

"To err is human" oh dear...

Doug looks terrified. Me too buddy.

It's okay Hera. You deserve better.

"I'm sick!" I love that.

Cutter's like wow, I should have started with him.

The way he puts his hand on Doug's shoulder as if they are in the room together, like he has a way to reach them even if they can't get back to earth, I love the choices the actor's are making.

He knows that Doug doesn't know Pryce and Carter. He's been listening in on him. For sure. Bro. Not everyone has read your manifesto that you by this point probably ghost wrote under two fake names and declared the best book of all time. It's like when a professor uses their own text book, I've heard this song and dance before.

Cutter. Doug should have memorized it but YOU HIRED HIM. He is CLEARLY in no way qualified for this line of work. YOU know that. YOU'RE using him as a science experiment. If I knew my professor was using me for lab science that could kill me at any second, do you think I'd waste time studying for their pop quiz on silly tips?

"How did Renee stop him?" Just say that it was all a blur Doug.

"Getting around security protocols, tricking a multiple PhD...stellar Doug" "Thank you?" Doug that's not a good thing. A target is on your back right now.

Not the arm on his shoulder again. Cutter for SURE killed their HR rep and their IRB rep, and ethics department.

"I would have had to skin you alive" There is no "had to" here Cutter.

3 seconds or incredibly painful things will start happening. WHAT THINGS?

DOUG HOW DID YOU FUMBLE THAT? YOU COULD HAVE JUST PRETENDED YOU WERE NERVOUS BECAUSE YOU FAILED. YOU HAD THE PERFECT OUT RIGHT THERE.

"I got the feeling that I would be the same convo you and I just had" I love the fourth wall break.

Oh dear. LOVELACE YOU BETTER BE QUIET. NO NOT ALL THE STUFF DOUG YOU AT LEAST KEPT LOVELACE QUIET. DON'T BLOW THAT TOO.

"Is there anything I can do for you? I want to help you?" Get. Them. Back. To. Earth.

Cutter's little schoolboy laugh. Oh yikes. He's mad now.

Good job Doug, take the fall. Good solider. No, what are you doing, just say you forgot, don't say you kept information from him intentionally. Faking incompetence is so much easier when you actually are incompetent.

The ultimate sacrifice. He will memorize Cutter's stupid textbook.

"If you keep anything from me again, holiday's over..." I don't like it.

"I want to know the second anything new happens with those transmissions".

Haha...well as a matter a fact, after that last episode...

Exactly. Shut up Hilbert.

Yeah the book is unusually dark. Pryce and Carter have clearly been through some stuff, or it's Cutter being ominous with his ghost written book. At this point, he either wrote it under fake names, or he's a Pryce and Carter fanboy. (Is it spelled Pryce or Price, I just realized I have no idea. I've heard of the last name Pryce, so I'd assume that's how it's spelled?).

"Did I mention that I'm sick"

Careful what you wish for.

Well that was amazing. I loved the way the cast used the space to make the characters come alive, the way they moved, the choices they made, it all fit really well. I really enjoyed watching this. It brought me back to when I used to do high school theater. I kinda of miss it. Hilbert, Cutter, and Doug are exactly the kind of overdramatic and unhinged roles I always loved playing (that is if I was lucky enough to have a director who went for gender bent casting, we as a society really need more comedic relief and unhinged women roles with crazy accents). Although I did once win a medal at state in middle school for a 10 minute monologue that was very much in the tone of Minkowski. I was playing a babysitter.

And ask the show said: back to work. Thanks everyone for listening, I hope you enjoyed my reaction. Only two more episodes left in season two so we should be done soon. Excited to see what comes next!

[violet-prism-creatively]

good omens s2 episode reactions: 2

i'm watching season 2 one episode at a time and posting my reactions. e1, e3, e4, e5, e6 (links will be edited in as i post them)

here's episode 2:

the job minisode may not have advanced the present-day plot, but it sure as hell advanced the characters! that last scene where aziraphale thinks he's fallen and is going to hell now and crowley tells him nope, he's just an angel the same way crowley's a demon, is amazing!!! bravo to michael sheen for all the emotions that cross aziraphale's face as he realizes he's not fallen... therefore he can get away with thwarting the will of heaven... but that still means he's not unquestionably on the side of good the way he used to be... so either he's wrong or heaven is wrong. the lines about how being on your own side is lonely!! it will take them a few thousand years to change from "my side" to "our side." 

also shoutout to some funny moments in the minisode: the goats not actually being dead, the kids, especially the little girl who wanted to be a blue lizard, bilah the shuite whose two passions are shoemaking and midwifery, the angels totally believing the fake childbirth. aziraphale trying food for the first time straddles the line between funny and an important character moment. 

"look into my eyes and tell me you want to kill those kids" and crowley does, completely seriously. except because we know him, we know he would never actually kill them. it makes total sense for his character, though, especially at this point before he and aziraphale are really friends, that he would posture and threaten. 

i like that after the main part of the job flashback ends, aziraphale expresses that gabriel really used to be awful. aziraphale may be a good person/angel, but he deserves to be upset at gabriel and have complicated feelings about how "jim" is nothing but sweet and clueless. 

jim continues to be hilarious and the plot about maggie and nina is tying in now. these poor women are about to have the most emotionally-inept beings meddling in their love life. the plot line with the song "everyday" is also intriguing. i wonder whether in show canon the bentley still turns every record to queen or if that tidbit has been entirely repurposed for the jukebox. and how would gabriel know the song? 

aziraphale why would you call the bentley a shared car?? it's obviously crowley's pride and joy the way the bookshop is aziraphale's. does he even know crowley is living in his car? the thinking about both as shared resources also makes me think that maybe aziraphale and crowley aren't on the same page about their relationship. maybe aziraphale thinks they're so committed that there's no reason to discuss it, while crowley needs explicit confirmation that aziraphale actually likes him. 

my overall rating: 9/10. the present-day plot is advancing pretty slowly, but i can't be mad about it when the minisode was so good. 

✅ discussion in the replies and reblogs - yes please!

❌ spoilers for the rest of s2 - no!

[xoruffitup]

Annette: The AD Devotee Review

So I saw Annette on its premiere night in Cannes and I’m still trying to process and make sense of those 2.5 hours of utter insanity. I have no idea where to begin and this is likely going to become an unholy length by the time I’m finished, so I apologize in advance. But BOY I’ve got a lot to parse through!!

Let’s start here: Adam’s made plenty of weird movies. The Dead Don’t Die? The Man Who Killed Don Quixote? There are definitely Terry Gilliam-esque elements of the unapologetically absurd and fantastical in Annette, but NOTHING comes close to this film. To put it bluntly, nothing I write in this post can prepare you for the eccentric phantasmagoria you’re about to sit through.

While the melodies conveying the story – at times lovely and haunting, at times whimsical, occasionally blunt and simple – add a unique sense of the surreal, the fact that it’s all presented in song somehow supplies the medium for this bizarre concoction of disparate elements and outlandish storytelling to all coalesce into a single genre-defying, disbelief-suspending whole. That’s certainly not to say there weren’t a few times when I quietly chortled to myself and mouthed “what the fuck” from behind my mask when things took an exceeding turn to the outrageous. This movie needs to be permitted a bit of leeway in terms of quality judgments, and traditional indicators certainly won’t apply. I would say part of its appeal (and ultimately its success) stems from its lack of interest in appealing to traditional arbiters of film structure and viewing experience. The movie lingers in studies of discomfiture (I’ll return to this theme); it presents all its absurdities with brazen pride rather than temperance; and its end is abrupt and utterly jarring. Yet somehow, at the end of it, I realized I’d been white-knuckling that rollercoaster ride the whole way through and loved every last twist and turn.

A note on the structure of this post before I dive in: I’ve written out a synopsis of the whole film (for those spoiler-hungry people) and stashed it down at the bottom of this post, so no one trying to avoid spoilers has to scroll through. If you want to read, go ahead and skip down to that before reading the discussion/analysis. If I have to reference a specific plot point, I’ll label it “Spoiler #___” and those who don’t mind being spoiled can check the correlating numbers in my synopsis to see which part I’m referencing. Otherwise, my discussion will be spoiler-free! I do detail certain individual scenes, but hid anything that would give away key developments and/or the ending.

To start, I’ll cut to what I’m sure many of you are here for: THE MUSICAL SEX SCENES. You want detailed descriptions? Well let’s fucking go because these scenes have been living in my head rent-free!!

The first (yes, there are two. Idk whether to thank Mr. Carax or suggest he get his sanity checked??) happens towards the end of “We Love Each Other So Much.” Henry carries Ann to the bed with her feet dangling several inches off the floor while she has her arms wrapped around his shoulders. (I maybe whimpered a tiny bit.) As they continue to sing, you first see Ann spread on her back on the bed, panting a little BUT STILL SINGING while Henry’s head is down between her thighs. The camera angle is from above Ann’s head, so you can clearly see down her body and exactly what’s going on. He lifts his head to croon a line, then puts his mouth right back to work. 

And THEN they fuck – still fucking singing! They’re on their sides with Henry behind her, and yes there is visible thrusting. Yes, the thrusting definitely picks up speed and force as the song reaches its crescendo. Yes, it was indeed EXTREMELY sensual once you got over the initial shock of what you’re watching. Ann kept her breasts covered with her own hands while Henry went down on her, but now his hands are covering them and kneading while they’re fucking and just….. It’s a hard, blazing hot R rating. I also remember his giant hand coming up to turn her head so he can kiss her and ladkjfaskfjlskfj. Bring your smelling salts. I don’t recommend sitting between two older ladies while you’re watching – KINDA RUINED THE BLATANT, SMOKING HOT ADAM PORN FOR ME. Good god, choose your viewing buddy wisely!

The second scene comes sort of out of nowhere – I can’t actually recall which song it was during, but it pops up while Ann is pregnant. Henry is again eating her out and there’s not as much overt singing this time, but he has his giant hands splayed over her pregnant belly while he’s going to town and whew, WHEW TURN ON THE AIR CONDITIONING PLEASE. DID THE THEATER INCREASE IN TEMPERATURE BY 10 DEGREES, YOU’RE DAMN RIGHT IT DID.

Whew. I think you’ll be better primed to ~enjoy~ those scenes when you know they’re coming, otherwise it’s just so shocking that by the time you’ve processed “Look at Adam eating pussy with reckless abandon” it’s halfway over already. God speed, my fellow rats, it’s truly something to witness!!

Okay. Right. Ahem. Moving right on along….

I’ll kick off this discussion with the formal structure of the film. It’s honestly impossible to classify. I have the questionable fortune of having been taken to many a strange avant-garde operas and art exhibitions by my parents when I was younger, and the strongest parallel I found to this movie was melodramatic opera stagings full of flamboyant flourishes, austere set pieces, and prolonged numbers where the characters wallow at length in their respective miseries. This movie has all the elevated drama, spectacle, and self-aggrandizement belonging to any self-professed rock opera. Think psychedelic rock opera films a la The Who’s Tommy, Hair, Phantom of the Paradise, and hell, even Rocky Horror. Yes, this film really is THAT weird.

But Annette is also in large part a vibrant, absurdist performance piece. The film is intriguingly book-ended by two scenes where the lines blur between actor and character; and your own role blurs between passive viewer and interactive audience. The first scene has the cast walking through the streets of LA (I think?), singing “So May We Start?” directly to the camera in a self-aware prologue, smashing the fourth wall from the beginning and setting up the audience to play a direct role in the viewing experience. Though the cast then disburse and take up their respective roles, the sense of being directly performed to is reinforced throughout the film. This continues most concretely through Henry’s multiple stand-up comedy performances.

Though he performs to an audience in the film rather than directly to live viewers, these scenes are so lengthy, vulgar, and excessive that his solo performance act becomes an integral part of defining his character and conveying his arc as the film progresses. These scenes start to make the film itself feel like a one-man show. The whole shtick of Henry McHenry’s “Ape of God” show is its perverse irreverence and swaggering machismo. Over the span of what must be a five minute plus scene, Henry hacks up phlegm, pretends to choke himself with his microphone cord, prances across the stage with his bathrobe flapping about, simulates being shot, sprinkles many a misanthropic, charmless monologues in between, and ends by throwing off his robe and mooning the audience before he leaves the stage. (Yes, you see Adam’s ass within the film’s first twenty minutes, and we’re just warming up from there.) His one-man performances demonstrate his egocentrism, penchant for lowbrow and often offensive humor, and the fact that this character has thus far profited from indulging in and acting out his base vulgarities.

While never demonstrating any abundance of good taste, his shows teeter firmly towards the grotesque and unsanctionable as his marriage and mental health deteriorate. This is what I’m referring to when I described the film as a study in discomfiture. As he deteriorates, the later iterations of his stand-up show become utterly unsettling and at times revolting. The film could show mercy and stop at one to two minutes of his more deranged antics, but instead subjects you to a protracted display of just how insane this man might possibly be. In Adam’s hands, these excessive, indulgent performance scenes take on disturbing but intriguing ambiguity, as you again wonder where the performance ends and the real man begins. When Henry confesses to a crime during his show and launces into an elaborate, passionate reenactment on stage, you shift uncomfortably in your seat wondering how much of it might just be true. Wondering just how much of an animal this man truly is.

Watching this film as an Adam fan, these scenes are unparalleled displays of his range and prowess. He’s in turns amusing and revolting; intolerable and pathetic; but always, always riveting. I couldn’t help thinking to myself that for the casual, non Adam-obsessed viewer, the effect of these scenes might stop at crass and unappealing. But in terms of the sheer range and power of acting on display? These scenes are a damn marvel. Through these scenes alone, his performance largely imbues the film with its wild, primal, and vaguely menacing atmosphere.

His stand-up scenes were, to me, some of the most intense of the film – sometimes downright difficult to endure. But they’re only a microcosm of the R A N G E he exhibits throughout the film’s entirety. Let’s talk about how he’s animalistic, menacing, and genuinely unsettling to watch (Leos Carax described him as “feline” at some point, and I 100% see it); and then with a mere subtle twitch of his expression, sheen of his eyes, or slump of his shoulders, he’s suddenly a lost, broken thing.  

Henry McHenry is truly to be reviled. Twitter might as well spare their breath and announce he’s already cancelled. He towers above the rest of the cast with intimidating, predatory physicality; he is prone to indulgence in his vices; and he constantly seems at risk of releasing some wild, uncontrollable madness lingering just beneath his surface. But as we all well know, Adam has an unerring talent for lending pathos to even the most objectively condemnable characters.

In a repeated refrain during his first comedy show, the audience keeps asking him, “Why did you become a comedian?” He dodges the question or gives sarcastic answers, until finally circling back to the true answer later in the film. It was something to the effect of: “To disarm people. It’s the only way I can tell the truth without it killing me.” Even for all their sick spectacle, there are also moments in his stand-up shows of disarming vulnerability and (seeming) honesty. In a similar moment of personal exposition, he confesses his temptation and “sympathy for the abyss.” (This phrase is hands down my favorite of the film.) He repeatedly refers to his struggle against “the abyss” and, at the same time, his perceived helplessness against it. “There’s so little I can do, there’s so little I can do,” he sings repeatedly throughout the film - usually just after doing something horrific.

Had he been played by anyone else, the first full look of him warming up before his show - hopping in place and punching the air like some wannabe boxer, interspersing puffs of his cigarette with chowing down on a banana – would have been enough for me to swear him off. His archetype is something of a cliché at this point – a brusque, boorish man who can’t stomach or preserve the love of others due to his own self-loathing. There were multiple points when it was only Adam’s face beneath the character that kept my heart cracked open to him. But sure enough, he wedged his fingers into that tiny crack and pried it wide open. The film’s final few scenes show him at his chin-wobbling best as he crumbles apart in small, mournful subtleties.

(General, semi-spoiler ahead as to the tone of the film’s ending – skip this paragraph if you’d rather avoid.) For a film that professes not to take itself very seriously (how else am I supposed to interpret the freaky puppet baby?), it delivers a harsh, unforgiving ending to its main character. And sure enough, despite how much I might have wanted to distance myself and believe it was only what he deserved, I found myself right there with him, sharing his pain. It is solely testament to Adam’s tireless dedication to breathing both gritty realism and stubborn beauty into his characters that Henry sank a hook into some piece of my sympathy.

Not only does Adam have to be the only actor capable of imbuing Henry with humanity despite his manifold wrongs, he also has to be the only actor capable of the wide-ranging transformations demanded of the role. He starts the movie with long hair and his full refrigerator brick house physique. His physicality and size are actively leveraged to engender a sense of disquiet and unpredictability through his presence. He appears in turns tormented and tormentor. There were moments when I found myself thinking of Conan the Barbarian, simply because his physical presence radiates such wild, primal energy (especially next to tiny, dainty Marion and especially with that long hair). Cannot emphasize enough: The raw sex appeal is off the goddamn charts and had me – a veteran fangirl of 3+ years - shook to my damn core.

The film’s progression then ages him – his hair cut shorter and his face and physique gradually becoming more gaunt. By the film’s end, he has facial prosthetics to make him seem even more stark and borderline sickly – a mirror of his growing internal torment. From a muscular, swaggering powerhouse, he pales and shrinks to a shell of a man, unraveling as his face becomes nearly deformed by time and guilt. He is in turns beautiful and grotesque; sensual and repulsive. I know of no other actor whose face (and its accompanying capacity for expressiveness) could lend itself to such stunning versatility.

Quick note here that he was given a reddish-brown birthmark on the right side of his face for this film?? It becomes more prominent once his hair is shorter in the film’s second half. I’m guessing it was Leos’ idea to make his face even more distinctive and riveting? If so, joke’s on you, Mr. Carax, because we’re always riveted. ☺

I mentioned way up at the beginning that the film is bookended by two scenes where the lines blur between actor and character, and between reality and performance. This comes full circle at the film’s end, with Henry’s final spoken words (this doesn’t give any plot away but skip to the next paragraph if you would rather avoid!) being “Stop watching me.” That’s it. The show is over. He has told his last joke, played out his final act, and now he’s done living his life as a source of cheap, unprincipled laughs and thrills for spectators. The curtain closes with a resounding silence.

Now, I definitely won’t have a section where I talk (of course) about the Ben Solo parallels. He’s haunted by an “abyss” aka darkness inside of him? Bad things happened when he finally gave in and stared into that darkness he knew lived within him? As a result of those tragedies, (SPOILER – Skip to next paragraph to avoid) he then finds himself alone and with no one to love or be loved by? NO I’M DEFINITELY NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT IT AT ALL, I’M JUST FINE HERE UNDER MY MOUNTAINS OF TISSUES.

Let’s talk about the music! The film definitely clocks in closer to a rock opera than musical, because almost the entire thing is conveyed through ongoing song, rather than self-contained musical numbers appearing here and there. This actually helps the film’s continuity and pacing, by keeping the characters perpetually in this suspended state of absurdity, always propelled along by some beat or melody. Whenever the film seems on the precipice of tipping all the way into the bleak and dark, the next whimsical tune kicks in to reel us all blessedly back. For example, after (SPOILER #1) happens, there’s a hard cut to the bright police station where several officers gather around Henry, bopping about and chattering on the beat “Questions! We have a few questions!”

Adam integrates his singing into his performance in such a way that it seems organic. I realized after the film that I never consciously considered the quality of his singing along the way. For all that I talked about the film maintaining the atmosphere of a fourth wall-defying performance piece, Adam’s singing is so fully immersed in the embodiment of his character that you almost forget he’s singing. Rather, this is simply how Henry McHenry exists. His stand-up scenes are the only ones in the film that do frequently transition back and forth between speaking and singing, but it’s seamlessly par for the course in Henry’s bizarre, dour show. He breaks into his standard “Now laugh!” number with uninterrupted sarcasm and contempt. There were certainly a few soft, poignant moments when his voice warbled in a tender vibrato you couldn’t help noticing – but otherwise, the singing was simply an extension of that full-body persona he manages to convey with such apparent ease and naturalism.

On the music itself: I’ll admit that the brief clip of “We Love Each Other So Much” we got a few weeks ago made me a tad nervous. It seemed so cheesy and ridiculous? But okay, you really can’t take anything from this movie out of context. Otherwise it is, indeed, utterly ridiculous. Not that none of it is ever ridiculous in context either, but I’m giving you assurances right now that it WORKS. Once you’re in the flow of constant singing and weirdness abound, the songs sweep you right along. Some of the songs lack a distinctive hook or melody and are moreso rhythmic vehicles for storytelling, but it’s now a day later and I still have three of the songs circulating pleasantly in my head. “We Love Each Other So Much” was actually the stand out for me and is now my favorite of the soundtrack. It’s reprised a few times later in the film, growing increasingly melancholy each time it is echoed, and it hits your heart a bit harder each time. The final song sung during (SPOILER #2), though without a distinctive melody to lodge in my head, undoubtedly left me far more moved than a spoken version of this scene would have. Adam’s singing is so painfully desperate and earnest here, and he takes the medium fully under his command.

Finally, it does have to be said that parts of this film veer fully towards the ridiculous and laughable. The initial baby version of the Annette puppet-doll was nothing short of horrifying to me. Annette gets more center-stage screen time in the film’s second half, which gives itself over to a few special effects sequences which look to be flying out at you straight from 2000 Windows Movie Maker. The scariest part is that it all seems intentional. The quality special effects appear when necessary (along with some unusual and captivating time lapse shots), which means the film’s most outrageous moments are fully in line with its guiding spirit. Its extravagant self-indulgence nearly borders on camp.

...And with that, I’ve covered the majority of the frantic notes I took for further reflection immediately after viewing. It’s now been a few days, and I’m looking forward to rewatching this movie when I can hopefully take it in a bit more fully. This time, I won’t just be struggling to keep up with the madness on screen. My concluding thoughts at this point: Is it my favorite Adam movie? Certainly not. Is it the most unforgettable? Aside from my holy text, The Last Jedi, likely yes. It really is the sort of thing you have to see twice to even believe it. And all in all, I say again that Adam truly carried this movie, and he fully inhabits even its highest, most ludicrous aspirations. He’s downright abhorrent in this film, and that’s exactly what makes him such a fucking legend.

I plan to make a separate post in the coming days about my experience at Cannes and the Annette red carpet, since a few people have asked! I can’t even express how damn good it feels to be globetrotting for Adam-related experiences again. <3

Thanks so much for reading! Feel free to ask me any further questions at all here or on Twitter! :)

*SYNOPSIS INCLUDED BELOW. DO NOT READ FURTHER IF AVOIDING SPOILERS!*

Synopsis: Comedian Henry McHenry and opera singer Ann Defrasnoux are both at the pinnacle of their respective success when they fall in love and marry. The marriage is happy and passionate for a time, leading to the birth of their (puppet) daughter, Annette. But tabloids and much of the world believe the crude, brutish Henry is a poor match for refined, idolized Ann. Ann and Henry themselves both begin to feel that something is amiss – Henry gradually losing his touch for his comedy craft, claiming that being in love is making him ill. He repeatedly and sardonically references how Ann’s opera career involves her “singing and dying” every night, to the point that he sees visions of her “dead” body on the stage. Meanwhile, Ann has a nightmare of multiple women accusing Henry of abusive and violent behavior towards them, and she begins growing wary in his presence. (He never acts abusively towards her, unless you count that scene when he tickles her feet and licks her toes while she’s telling him to stop??? Yeah I know, WILD.)

The growing sense of unease, that they’re both teetering on the brink of disaster, culminates in the most deranged of Henry’s stand-up comedy performances, when he gives a vivid reenactment of killing his wife by “tickling her to death.” The performance is so maudlin and unsettling that you wonder whether he’s not making it up at all, and the audience strongly rebukes him. (This is the “What is your problem?!” scene with tiddies out. The full version includes Adam storming across the stage, furiously singing/yelling, “What the FUCK is your problem?!”) But when Henry arrives home that night, drunk and raucous, Ann and Annette are both unharmed.

The couple take a trip on their boat, bringing Annette with them. The boat gets caught in a storm, and Henry drunkenly insists that he and Ann waltz in the storm. She protests that it’s too dangerous and begs him to see sense. (SPOILER #1) The boat lurches when Henry spins her, and Ann falls overboard to her death. Henry rescues Annette from the sinking boat and rows them both to shore. He promptly falls unconscious, and a ghost of Ann appears, proclaiming her intention to haunt Henry through Annette. Annette (still a toddler at this point and yes, still a wooden puppet) then develops a miraculous gift for singing, and Henry decides to take her on tour with performances around the world. He enlists the help of his “conductor friend,” who had been Ann’s accompanist and secretly had an affair with her before she met Henry.

Henry slides further into drunken debauchery as the tour progresses, while the Conductor looks after Annette and the two grow close. Once the tour concludes, the Conductor suggests to Henry that Annette might be his own daughter – revealing his prior affair with Ann. Terrified by the idea of anyone finding out and the possibility of losing his daughter, Henry drowns the Conductor in the pool behind his and Ann’s house. Annette sees the whole thing happen from her bedroom window.

Henry plans one last show for Annette, to be held in a massive stadium at the equivalent of the Super Bowl. But when Annette takes the stage, she refuses to sing. Instead, she speaks and accuses Henry of murder. (“Daddy kills people,” are the actual words – not that that was creepy to hear as this puppet’s first spoken words or anything.)

Henry stands trial, during which he sees an apparition of Ann from when they first met. They sing their regret that they can’t return to the happiness they once shared, until the apparition is replaced by Ann’s vengeful spirit, who promises to haunt Henry in prison. After his sentencing (it’s not clear what the sentence was, but Henry definitely isn’t going free), Annette is brought to see him once in prison. Speaking fully for the first time, she declares she can’t forgive her parents for using her: Henry for exploiting her voice for profit and Ann for presumably using her to take vengeance on Henry. (Yes, this is why she was an inanimate doll moving on strings up to this point – there was some meaning in that strange, strange artistic choice. She was the puppet of her parents’ respective egotisms.) The puppet of Annette is abruptly replaced by a real girl in this scene, finally enabling two-sided interaction and a long-missed genuine connection between her and Henry, which made this quite the emotional catharsis. (SPOILER #2) It concludes with Annette still unwilling to forgive or forget what her parents have done, and swearing never to sing again. She says Henry now has “no one to love.” He appeals, “Can’t I love you, Annette?” She replies, “No, not really.” Henry embraces her one last time before a guard takes her away and Henry is left alone.

…..Yes, that is the end. It left me with major emotional whiplash, after the whole film up to this point kept pulling itself back from the total bleak and dark by starting up a new toe-tapping, mildly silly tune every few minutes. But this last scene instead ends on a brutal note of harsh, unforgiving silence.

BUT! Make sure you stick around through the credits, when you see the cast walking through a forest together. (This is counterpart to the film’s opening, when you see the cast walking through LA singing “So May We Start?” directly to the audience) Definitely pay attention to catch Adam chasing/playing with the little girl actress who plays Annette! That imparts a much nicer feeling to leave the theater with. :’)

[michaels-blackhat]

thoughts on evil Forrest 😈

We are going to start out by apologizing. This is very very late. I’m sure when you sent this ask, you meant it to be in the same joking tone that I approach all of my other propaganda posts. Sadly, this is actually going to be a deep dive into a few Evil Forrest related things, including the moment I feel they changed directions, the perfect wasted build-up, and the implications of the change/how it then negatively impacted the story. As I’m sure you already know, by being on my blog at all, I don’t think the story was good to begin with, so we are going to focus on the weird hoops they made themselves jump through to make that story still work. Additionally, I am only going to mention once, right now, how much of a waste it was to not have Forrest ‘fall for his mark’ and complete one of my absolute favorite tropes. Honestly, I think “because I want it” is a completely valid reason to like Evil Forrest. But, the question was “Thoughts on Evil Forrest” and these thoughts have been developing for over a year and a half. So, I apologize in advance.

The majority of this is under a cut, with highlights in the abstract. If no one wants to read this, I understand completely. Go ahead, skip it.

Note: it pains me greatly to not actually have full sources for this essay. Just know that in my heart I am using proper APA citations, I just absolutely do not feel like digging through tweets to find sources to properly cite.

Abstract:

Previous research indicates that Roswell New Mexico has a history of repeating excuses to explain mid-season changes to plots. This essay explores how those excuses are not only loads of crap, but how they hinder the show’s ability to tell a coherent story, misuse the multiple-plot structure to enhance the themes being explored, and lead to decisions that mean the show continuously goes over budget. This also means that characters are not used to their full potential and has led to what some fans consider to be “out of character” behaviors. While these behaviors are not universally agreed on, evidence can be shown that these behaviors directly contradict emotionally important character arc/plot points in the show.

The author of this paper acknowledges that the show took some strides to mend this problem. However, once again no consensus could be found on whether Forrest was a low-level member of Deep Sky and thus just allowed to fuck off on a bus, or his job was recruitment because he did a piss poor job of making Alex not join.

The concept of Evil Forrest has been with the fandom as early as New York Comic Con (NYCC) in 2019, when it was revealed that Alex had a new “blue-haired love interest”. Speculation abounded within the fandom, with some people, including the author, going “yeah, he’s evil” while others rejoiced in the concept of Alex having a loving partner. Speculation increased as fans discussed Tyler Blackburn’s seeming disinterest in his new love interest, prompting some once again to scream “EVIL” at the top of their lungs to anyone who would listen. Very little was revealed, beyond the fact that the new character would show up somewhere around episode 3 of the second season.

Episode 2.04 aired with some commenting on how he barely interacted with Alex- prompting more evil speculation- and others excited to see the characters interact more. The character appears again in 2.06, where he invites Alex to dubious spoken word poetry (which Alex attends); 2.08, where they have a paintball date and go to The Wild Pony; 2.10, where the two are seen writing together briefly at the beginning of the episode; and 2.13, where Alex performs his song at open mic night, tells Forrest his relationship with the person in the song was long over, and they kiss. Forrest was not revealed to be evil during season 2.

Amidst the season airing, Word of God via Twitter post announced that yes, Forrest had originally been planned as a villain, though not the main villain, but it was changed as filming progressed.

The Word of God Twitter post revealed that Forrest had originally been planned as a villain, but they decided that they could not make their “blue-haired gay man” a villain. This mirrors a similar situation and excuse used the previous season, where the character of Jenna Cameron was originally planned to work with Jesse Manes against the aliens, before it was changed because they just “loved Riley [the actress] too much”. Both of these examples occurred while already filming and reflect on a larger problem with the show. Though not the topic of this essay, it is important to note that both characters are white, both in the show and by virtue of being played by white actors. The fact that they couldn’t be villains for one reason or another is not a courtesy extended to the male villains who are all the most visibly brown, and thus ‘other’, members of the cast.

This also highlights the fact that, via Twitter, it has been revealed two other times that occurrences that were reported in season 1 also occurred in season 2. During the airing of episode 1.02, it was revealed that the single best build-up of tension in the show- when Alex walks to the Airstream not saying a word to Michael after a dramatic declaration- happened because one actor was sick at the time and they had to go back and film the kisses later. At the point of airing for episode 2.08, it was revealed that one of the actors were sick and unable to film a kissing scene. Allegedly, this caused the writers to retool the entire scene and deviate from the plan to make that subplot about Coming Out. The execution of this subplot will be explored later in this essay.

The last occurrence revealed via Twitter also revealed larger issues within the show: lack of planning and poor budgeting. During the airing of season 1, Tyler Blackburn was needed for an extra episode beyond his contracted 10. A full explanation was never given, but speculation about poor planning and to fill in because Heather Hemmens had to miss one of her 10 episodes due to scheduling conflicts for another project. During the airing of season 2, yet another tweet came out saying they made a mistake and Tyler would once again be in an additional episode. No explanations beyond “a mistake” were given, though once again speculation occurred. It is the opinion of the author that this was due to changing plot points over halfway through writing, while episodes were already in production. It has been speculated by some that these changes occurred during the writing of 2.08, which was being finished/pre-production was occurring roughly around the time of NYCC 2019.

Previous Literature:

A brief look at different theories of plots and subplots

Many people have written on the subject of plotting, for novels and screen alike. The author is more familiar with film writing than tv, but a lot of the concepts carry over. Largely, the B- and C- (and D- and E-… etc) plots should reinforce the theme of the A-plot. This can be through the use of a negative example, where the antithesis of the theme is explored to reinforce the theme presented by the A plot, or through other examples of the theme, generally on a small scale.

A movie example of this would be Hidden Figures (2016), where the A-plot explores how race and gender impact the main character (Katherine Johnson) in her new job. The B-plots explore the other characters navigating the same concepts in different settings and ways- learning a new skill as to not become obsolete and breaking boundaries there (Dorothy Vaugn) and being the first black woman to complete a specific degree program and the fight it took to get there (Mary Jackson). A TV example that utilizes this concept of plot and theme is the 911 shows. Each of the rescues in a given episode will directly relate to the overall theme of the episode and the overall plot for the focus character. This example is extremely blunt. It does not use any tools to hide the connection, to the point you can often guess the outcome for that A-plot fairly quickly.

This is not the only way to explore themes within visual media. Moonlight (2016) looks at three timestamps in the life of Chiron. Each timestamp has a plot even if they feel more like individual scenes or moments rather than plots as some are more used to in films. Each time stamp deals with rejection, isolation, connection, and acceptance in different ways. So while there is no clear A-, B-, or C-Plot, each time stamp works as their own A-Plot to explore the themes in a variety of ways, particularly by starting out in a place of rejection and moving to acceptance or a place of connection to isolation.

Please note that there are many ways to write multiple plots, there are just two examples.

While there are flaws within season 1 of RNM, overall the themes stayed consistent throughout the season, mainly the theme of alienation. The theme threads through the Alien’s isolation/alienation from humanity which is particularly seen through Michael’s unwillingness to participate and Isobel’s over participation. There is Rosa’s isolation from others, how her friendship with “Isobel” ended up compounding her existing alienation from her support system due to her mental illness and coping mechanisms. We see how Max and Liz couldn’t make connections. This theme presented itself over and over in season 1. While this essay is not an exploration of the breakdown of themes in season 2, it should be noted that there were some threads that followed throughout the season. The theme of mothers/motherhood was woven throughout season 2, with some elements more effective than others. Please contact the author for additional thoughts on Helena Ortecho and revenge plots.

One of the largest problems within season 2 was the sheer number of plots jammed into the season. These plot threads often ended up hindering the effectiveness of the themes and made the coherence of the season suffer. Additionally, a lot of them were convoluted and difficult to follow.

Thesis:

Essentially, season 2 was a mess. To look at it holistically is almost an exercise in futility. Either you grow angry about the dropped plots and premises, you hand wave them off, or you fill them in for yourself. Instead, this essay proposes to look at individual elements to explain why Forrest should have stayed evil.

We first meet Forrest in 2.04 when he is introduced on the Long Family Farm, which we later learn was the location where our past alien protagonists had their final standoff. He’s introduced. He’s largely just there. The audience learns he has more of a history with Michael. In 2.06, we meet him again with his dog Buffy (note: poor Buffy has not been seen again and we miss a chunky queen). There’s mild flirting, Alex is invited to an open mic night, which he attends. For the purpose of this essay, the author’s thoughts on the poetry will not be expressed. Readers can take a guess.

It is after this point that the author speculates the Decision was made. This choice to make Forrest not evil- paired with the aforementioned ‘can’t kiss, someone’s sick’- impacted the plot. We have Alex have a scene with his father- which the author believes could have been pushed to a different episode- and then have Alex go on a date and then not kiss Forrest at the end of the night. Here, the audience sees Forrest hit Alex in the leg, allegedly not knowing he had lost his leg despite ‘looking him up’, which parallels the shot to the leg that happens to Charlie. Besides wasting this ABSOLUTELY TEXTBOOK SET UP WTF, it also takes Alex away from the main plot and then forces a new plot for him. Up to this point, Alex’s plot was discovering more about the crash and his family’s involvement. Turning Alex’s date from a setup for evil Forrest to a Coming Out story adds yet another plot thread to a packed season. It is also the author’s thought that this is where the convoluted kidnapping plot comes in. With Forrest already in 2.10 for a moment, a plot where Alex is evil has Forrest attack him for Deep Sky rather than Jesse abduct him for a piece of alien glass Alex was going to give him anyway and then for Flint to abduct Alex from Jesse. It’s messy. In a bad way. Evil Forrest would have been a cleaner set up: no taking back a piece of alien glass Alex gave to Michael in a touching moment. No double abduction. Instead, there is only Forrest, who Alex trusts, breaking that trust to take him as leverage over Michael.

Implications:

Now, Alex has two plots (Tripp & Coming Out). The Coming Out plot is largely ineffective, as they are only relevant to scenes with Forrest and have the undercurrent of there only being a certain acceptable way to be out. This could have been used for Alex to discover his comfort levels, mirroring Isobel’s self discovery, but there was not enough screen time for that. Additionally, Isobel’s coming out story was about her allowing herself the freedom to explore. Alex’s story was about the freedom to… act like this dude wanted him to. Alex’s internalized homophobia played out often in the series but it was also informed by the violence he experienced at Jesse’s hands and the literal hate crime he and his high school boyfriend experienced. With that in mind, the “kissing to piss off bigots” line comes off poorly. This is a character who experienced what a pissed off bigot could do- reluctance to kiss in public is not the same as not being out. There is more to be said on this topic, but as it is not actually the focus of the essay, it will be put on hold. To surmise: Alex’s coming out is attempted to be framed as being himself, but it is actually the conformity to someone else’s ideals. It does not work as an antithetical to Isobel’s story, as the framing indicates that the conformity/right was to be out contradicts Isobel’s theme.

Further Research:

MAKE FORREST EVIL YOU COWARDS

Author Acknowledgements:

The author of this paper acknowledges that the show took some strides to mend this problem. However, once again no consensus could be found on whether Forrest was a low-level member of Deep Sky and thus just allowed to fuck off on a bus, or his job was recruitement because he did a piss poor job of making Alex not join.

[rumor-imbris]

Hello, Lady Connor! I want to ask out of unbearable, suffocating curiosity in my heart, even though in the previous post you already said to not mention "that certain comic". Could you please enlighten me about your view on that comic and what you despise about it? I would love to read your detailed thoughts about it even if just once. But if this is too triggering for you, I'm truly sorry for your discomfort and you don't need to answer it.

Hello, dear Anon and welcome ^-^ It's weird you naturally called me Lady Connor, as usually only my little fairy @giuliettaluce does. Well, I guess her magic put a spell on everybody here!!

If you really care to know, I'll answer, but brace yourself, it's going to be very long, almost an essay, because I can be very detailed about that comic being a failure in its every part. There's so much to say. You're right, as I mentioned before, it can trigger me, but I have attentively analized it and I know it makes not a single atom of sense. So nothing can actually bother me that much, don't worry ^_-

First of all, my general consideration of the AC Reflections comic issue #4, (yeah, that thing -.-) is that of a mere attempt to desperately make Bayek's remote vision through Senu's eyes a canon feature. It was created and published in 2017, the same year AC Origins was released and yes, they needed an excuse to make believe Connor's alleged daughter inherited a skill someone (who isn't even their direct ancestor!!) that lived 1700 years ago in ancient Egypt had! OMG, this should be funny enough, but I'll go on. Also, I think it was likely a carelessly arranged way to satisfy those AC3 fans demanding a "happy ending" for unlucky Connor (quite 5 years later, of course).

I'll better go step by step to figure out where to start from, seriously.

1) In the comic, when Otso Berg opens the file related to Connor, the scene is set in "1796: Upstate New York." Now this is chronologically and spacially incoherent and illogical. We see Connor still wears his assassin outfit in it, right? According to AC Initiates (2012) in 1804 Connor invites the Dominican assassin Eseosa at the Davenport homestead to provide him some advices and further training as he's involved in the leading of the Haitian Revolution. That's a really cool character, read about him, if you want!

So, until then Connor is still an assassin, probably the mentor (by now) of the Colonial Brotherhood. He still runs the homestead and he still commands the Aquila, I guess, he's the captain still. I calculated the distance between the homestead and the then upper NY frontier territories is approximately 260 miles (quite far nowadays with cars and planes as well). Then, why the hell should he have a family located in the forest upstate NY? It sounds very unconfortable to run back and forth to reach them and go back to take care of all the Brotherhood matters, doesn't it? Unless he knew about teleportation!!! Also, wow, he lives all alone in a nice massive villa with all the comforts of that time while his children and wife still live in a Native village constantly menaced by settlers wanting to steal their land? Beside the fact that Connor, at least in my point of view, seemed at last very familiar with european way of living by the end of the game, this leads us to the next point.

2) By the time the game and the comic are set (second half of 18th century), most of the East Coast Native tribes were facing the tragic and forced migration to western and northern territories (mostly towards Canada, protected by the British) because of all the consequences of the Revolutionary War (lost territories, failed alliances, settlers advancing and buying their lands and so on). So tells us history, unfortunately. It's a fact. And this is wisely showed to us in the AC3 main game when, after all the Kanien'kehá:ka tribes had left the territory around Connor's village (yes, even those near New York, to be clear) even Connor's own tribe at last migrates west, leaving an empty ghost village. They had remained all along to protect the secret temple, but in the end they as well were forced to leave. So, to me it's highly improbable that in upstate NY, one could still find a tribe and even if so, that Connor would let his family live there and risk their safety everyday.

3) The whole comic plot revolves around the fact that Io:nhiòte has a "special gift"... She inexplicably knows how to read the ground and find animal traces, she also can perform a perfect twisted acrobatic flip in the air and land unharmed to the ground. Do we know why? No, don't ask! xD She simply knows U.U, even if right after the next scene she slips and falls miserably down a cliff xD, but... ok!! Beside that, when Connor is far away to search for some water and is about to be attacked by a wolf hidden in the grass nearby, she sees the whole scene from the eyes of an eagle flying in the sky above her. As I said before, this reminds us of Bayek's (never clearly explained) ability to see through his eagle Senu's eyes and spot dangers and enemies. Now can you tell me why the hell this little girl has super powers and a skill Bayek had? As I said, they are not even directely related, as Bayek is not one of Desmond Miles' ancestor, we know him simply because Layla's new Animus is magical and can inexplicably read fragmented DNA from people who died a thousand years ago (it can also prepair coffee, I think!). So, where did she get that from? Magic? Mysteries of life? Convenient improbable connections for marketing's sake? We'll never know and you should simply accept that and ask no question!

4) From her height, way of speaking/moving/running, I assume Io:nhiòte is at least 8 years old, 8 - 9 minimum. She's the youngest of three siblings, who must be at least two years older than her and than each other (according to a human woman pregnancy timing!). If the comic events are set 12 years after the main game ending (1784, when Connor also starts to train the young ex-slave Patience Gibbs, arriving at the Davenport homestead with Aveline De Grandpré, according to AC IV Black Flag bonus mission with Aveline), so, this means that in that same year Connor must have found hastily the love of his life in a Native village (as if he was easy to open himself with other people after all he's been through), married her, impregnated her and seen her give birth to their first child, all in the same year when (let's not foget! xD) he still is the leader of the Colonial Assassin Brotherhood at the Davenport homestead training novices. Now, this may even be possible humanly speaking, (well, if you force the things a bit and hurry up!) but highly unlikely to happen!! xD

These are the main problems affecting the logic of the comic in my opinion, the points making its foundations crumble apart. Though I'm sure there are many little others to point out, such as Otso Berg "opening" Connor's files... like what? Where did those data come out from? I remember playing AC IV Black Flag and uncovering a file where Abstergo researchers themselves closed access to his memories as there was "nothing appealing to this character anymore"! So, if no more researches were conducted on him since 2013, where did Mr Berg magically or conveniently discovered such data in 2017?

Or... do we want to talk about the cover? It shows Connor in the spirit outfit from the Tyranny of King Washington DLC, which has apparently nothing to do with the comic, since it is set in his present day and he wears his assassin standard robe. Now, I think that can be either a simple marketing choice to make the comic more appealing, as... well, that cover is so cool, let's admit that, or maybe the subtle suggestion that the events told in it are just a parallel Disney-like reality and are not to be considered true at all! xD i don't know, maybe both explanations are right.

I'm sure that the deeper i dig, the more nothing rational I'll find!

If you played the old games, if you know well the franchise and its lore, the true, good, old AC lore, you definitely realize by yourself how that comic is useless and senseless.

This doesn't mean I do not wish an "happy ending" for Connor. But I'd rather accept something coherent with the main game events and AC chronology. Also, it doesn't necessarily needs to be a "happy" ending, as they conveniently created to please complaining fans. I wished for something real... coherent with his personality, acquired life-style and endless sense of duty and values.

Maybe that's what pushed me to write my FanFic novel in the first place, after all... To give him MY OWN cohesive ending, including my love, for love is always needed, I guess.

I'm so sorry if the answer took this long in time and words, but you were warned! ^w^

Though, thank you... Seriously, thank you so much for asking. You made me reflect once more about this matter.

Come visit me again, if you want. Take care

- Rumor Imbris 🦋

P.S. Oh, and if you're interested, this is my "jelousy song", for when things like this trigger my inner witch!! xD

[sanzu-sanzu-sanzu]

Hiiiii.🙈

Just came here to say that I love your Songs About Toxic People so much.❤️ I've been obsessed about the Bonten Executives ever since I caught up with the manga and it's just so sad how we don't have enough content about them yet.🤧

I love all the Bonten Executives and my favorites are Sanzu and the Haitanis.🥺🤧💕

It's funny because I don't even know how that happened and I didn't notice it right away but the next thing I know I'm simping after the three of them so hard and for days my mind has been filled with nothing but thoughts of them ever since. Oh, the struggle. (😂)

The lack of content about them almost turned me into a fanfic writer right then and there (🤣) because I seriously wanted to read something about an OC who's also the only female executive in Bonten and I almost wrote it down myself, I swear.😆 I have never written something before in my life. Never. That's why I am soooo glad to find Songs About Toxic People. You have no idea how you saved me from the thirst I've been having ever since I got introduced to Bonten!Sanzu and Bonten!Haitanis and how you silenced the raging thoughts in my head about them if only for a little while, may God help me.

Now. About your absolutely beautiful and wonderfully written fic. Let me just say that I love everything about it.✨ The characterization, the little details about OC, their interactions, the dialogue, everything, is chef's kiss in my opinion. English is not my first language and (I'm guessing your's isn't as well? If I'm wrong, please ignore this but if I'm right then) I admire how beautiful your narration is. The words you use and the way you can create an image in your readers' minds using your descriptions is amazing.❤️

Your "show, don't tell" skills in writing is very beautiful, very admirable, and it's also my most favorite part of your story. I love it very much, seriously. That skill is the one thing I lack that made me give up in being able to write something of my own.😌 I realized that when it comes to writing, there are so many factors to remember and consider in order to make it interesting and engaging for your readers. Worldbuilding, character development, pacing, to name a few. But the hardest for me to master is the one thing you're so amazingly good at. And I admire you for that. That's why whenever I come across a writer like you with such excellent "show, don't tell" skills, I always make sure to make my appreciation shown. ❤️

Another thing I love about your story is the OC.😭 God, I love her so much. She is everything I've wanted to see in a fic that involves the Bonten Executives. She's a badass, she's feisty, and she perfectly fits right in with the other characters. I could just cry with how perfect she is in my opinion and you made that happen.😭❤️ I'm very satisfied with her character and I want to thank you again because I just know that if I did followed up on my need to write my own fic despite my inexperience, I just know that I'll end up disappointing myself and possibly even hate the plot idea because I was not able to meet my own expectations so thank you, thank you, thank you.❤️

She is amazing. You are amazing. Your whole fic is super amazing. I am glad and relieved that I don't have to write my own because yours already exists and it's so perfect.🤧

A female Bonten Executive, and the only female one at that.🥺🤧😭 I am so incredibly happy that the idea is finally out there and someone finally wrote it and that someone is also such a good writer. 🙌🏼

Kudos to you and I hope I can do more than just read and then say thanks. I believe you deserve more than that because I've been looking for this exact content you made and I've been looking for days. And now that I found one, even just the one, I'm relieved because it's already perfect on its own.😌

It's possible that it would take a long time for other writers to write something like this: a female OC that involves the Bonten Executives, my favorite flavor.🤧 It makes me sad, but no matter. I don't mind if I have to reread Songs About Toxic People again and again and again like how Sanzu takes drugs I'M SORRY for a long while because it's enough to satisfy my hunger and my thirst for the time being.❤️

Wow. This got super long. My bad. 😅 I did not mean for this to happen. I hope you don't mind this long ass appreciation message. I love leaving this kind of messages to writers like you.😊

Anyways, yeah. I just came here to tell you that. I hope you're having an amazing day and that you're safe wherever you are. Please take care of yourself. I'm looking forward to more of your works and what you can come up with. I am super excited! 😁

Best of luck and God bless.

- ✨

helloooo :”( this one took me a quite a while to answer because i just couldn’t stop gushing whenever i’d open my inbox huhuhu but you have no idea how much this truly means to me and i wish i can write better words at explaining how this made me feel. <3

first of all, your obsession with the bonten executives is COMPLETELY understandable i’m literally on the same boat as you my friend hahaha with sanzu being my main guy <3 they’re just so hot and dangerous but i also think there’s something kinda funny with all those guys being together LMAO (especially sanzu and the haitanis…add in a dead-eyed manjiro omg..)

just like you i am quite sad about the lack of content on them hahahaha it’s the main reason why i started writing about them in the first place, actually! (also because i'm just obsessed with sanzu) but that was more at the beginning when i still mostly relied on ao3, and then i got more active on tumblr and now literally everyday there’s new fics about them and that makes me extremely happy 🥺 i always did think that the bonten executive OC would make for such a nice flavor so i just latched on to the idea, and i also wanted to keep it a little more casual because i’m not the best with dark themes hahaha but it also helps me imagine the bonten execs in friendlier, more human, more everyday settings—a very fun exercise when you can’t stop thinking about them!

i am beyond happy knowing that you’re enjoying my fic to the point of sending me this lengthy message (whose length i don’t mind at all!!!) 😭 painting a picture with words is one of my favorite things ever when it comes to writing and i just…tear up when people enjoy my descriptions and the interactions and the little details huhuhuhu you have no idea. i didn’t even know i was doing a ‘show, don’t tell’ manner of writing until you pointed it out, so i gotta thank you for this cause it made me think more about how i write (in a good way!), so thank you, i super appreciate it.

i also hope you do get to write if ever you wanna! manifest the things you’d like to see in the world—something like that! hahahaha but also yeah, it can be fun and the possibilities are endless and it’s fanfiction so you can always do you <3

again, this really just made my day and i’ve saved it to my notes to read for when i’m feeling meh hahaha. i gotta say in advance tho that my updates might not come as regularly as before cus (1) life and also (2) need ken wakui to reveal more about my favorite bad boy sanzu LOL so we get to know him better.

and here’s to hoping more people write about oc’s that are bonten execs! so you’d get to have your share of this genre of bonten fic! hehehe you deserve it <3

THANK YOU SO MUCH, i hope you’ll have a nice day too 🥺 and take caaaaare. MWAH.

ps. oh yes, you’re right! english is not my first language hahaha.

[teawithshruti]

How did I keep myself sane amidst a pandemic - My thoughts on books, anime, and restaurants.

Yet another review of The Shining

A plot so well written you would want to go in room 217

Hi there! This blog comes to you from a bored 19 year old who has a knack for reading crime thrillers, watching murder documentaries, and loves watching MasterChef just to see Gordon Ramsay. LOL. And did I mention that she also happens to be a Stephen King fan, because who isn’t? So here is where I try and convince you that The Shining  is the best book ever written and how Stanley Kubrick completely butchered the screenplay, as well as why pasta is life.

Welcome to the Rockies!

The story takes place in the town of Boulder, Colorado, where our main protagonist Jack Torrance gets a job as a caretaker of the famous Overlook Hotel. Winters in Boulder are harsh, and the hotel remains closed as travel is not permitted with all the heavy snowfall. Now Jack is a recovering alcoholic with anger issues which led to him breaking his son’s arm prior to where the story begins. This made Wendy, his wife, question her marriage and the safety of their five year old son,  Danny. Danny on the other hand isn’t your average five year old who just watches cartoons and plays with toys. He is aglow with a psychic voltage, and has frequent blackouts. In the words of old Mr Hallorann, the hotel’s head chef, Danny’s a shiner. When the Torrances meet Mr Hallorann, he feels an instant connection with Danny. He warns Jack about the hotel and its sinister secrets and how the previous caretaker, Delbert Grady, killed himself and his family. But Jack is sure that this huge and lonely hotel with its splendid views is just what he needs in order to earn back his family’s trust. But going to a haunted hotel with a troubled marriage and a psychic son? Maybe not the best idea. But in his defense, Jack doesn't believe in ghosts. Little does he know that’s about to change.

Snowbound at The Overlook

The Torrance's begin settling in the Overlook. But as winter closes in and the blizzards cut them off from the outer world, the hotel seems to develop a life of its own. Meanwhile, Jack starts growing restless, craving for a friendly drink with each passing day. He also starts experiencing hallucinations, and wonders if they are withdrawal symptoms. Danny on the other hand is experiencing his own share of ghostly sightings, like the terrifying lady in the bathtub of room 217 who seems to have never checked out of the hotel. In one instance, he witnesses her climbing out of the clawfoot tub and advancing towards him with her bloated belly and dry hair as he stands frozen in fear in a blood covered presidential suite. This narrative by King with all its details is the truly the most spine tingling I’ve ever read.  Later when Danny’s parents find him in the room, a thumb in his mouth, that is when Wendy truly realizes that they are not alone in that strange big hotel. Jack goes and sees the tub for himself, but the lady from before doesn't want to greet him. Wendy, in tears, sees that both her husband and her son are being tormented by this place and begs Jack to quit the job. Danny later calms his mom down, who is weeping uncontrollably, by telling her not to worry as his daddy doesn't have the shining, so there is nothing to worry about.

Have you never heard of REDRUM?

Sure you have. Read it backwards.  Yes, you got it right. And so did Danny after seeing this word in his visions countless times. It so turns out that Danny is much stronger than he looks and after failing to possess him, The Overlook has turned to an easier target - Jack. As Jack slowly starts to lose his mind, he gives in and starts drinking again from the bar in the ballroom. His hallucinations keep getting worse to the point he actually sees Mr Grady, the previous caretaker / murderer,  and even has a talk with him. Danny sees his changing behavior and so does his wife, who just doesn't see the man she fell in love with in his cold, distant eyes anymore. With everything going on, Wendy takes Danny to their apartment in the employee wing of the hotel and locks them inside in fear of Jack, who is slowly slipping away from reality. But turns out this move from her proves to be disastrous, as Wendy keeping Jack away from his own son is the last straw for him. In one of his many hallucinations, Jack  meets his predecessor,  his buddy Mr. Grady and the two have a disturbing conversation about how fun it is to kill your wife. Yes , no one trumps King when it comes to the unique combination of horror and psychological thrillers packed into one nail-biting plot!

In other words...

The only thing I liked about the movie was Jack Nicholson’s excellent acting. Apart from that Stanley Kubrick let go of many crucial parts which were essential to the story. He eliminated the hedge sequence in the book, which was terrifying to just read. The ending was just a complete mess.  I get that you can’t exactly get all the details right of a 500 page book, but at least do justice to the ones you have chosen. Anyways I’m gonna go sulk in my room over this. Bye

.  

Is it too late to start Anime?

Hi there! Good to have you back! Ever since pandemic began, everyone’s been locked in their own house. So this led to me taking up a few hobbies like sketching and painting and binging on a whole lot of sitcoms.. My personal favorite is the alluring world of Anime. Several of my friends began watching it and I cannot exactly term it as peer pressure, but I did give in and start watching Anime too. And now my watchlist includes just a bunch of 2D characters with powers that even Superman himself can't fight. So this is my take on how a kryptonian can be defeated with Jutsu, as Mr Naruto would say. Lol. This one is for all the weebs out there. 

Manga and Anime are not the same!

To put it simply, manga is a Japanese term for comics and graphic novels, whereas Anime is the term for Japanese animations.. There are many similarities  between them, as they both have been created by Osama Tezuka, who is considered as the Japanese version of Walt Disney. Now have you ever seen a simple comic book? The one with black and white newspaper illustrations - like Garfield. Manga is just like that -  A book of illustrations. Now we arrive at the perennial question - Manga or Anime, which is better. Both of them are equally interesting, but I personally have a soft spot for anime. The intro theme songs, intense background music, and the beat dropping right before a big fight move, all these factors pack a punch. You don’t get that adrenaline rush from just a book.

My first anime - Demon Slayer

The story begins with the main character Tanjiro, who returns home after selling charcoal in town to find his entire family murdered by demons. Pretty intense right? His sister, Nezuko, survives but there’s a twist - she turns into a demon herself.  This makes him vow to take revenge and he sets off to train with Sakonji, who has trained many of the elite members of the Demon Slayer Corps. After many years of training and a painful exam called the final selection, Tanjiro finally becomes a demon slayer and is off on missions along with his sister, who unlike most demons doesn’t consume human flesh. On his missions he meets Zenitsu and Inosuke, who both have excellent powers of their own. My favorite story arc was when the highest ranking slayers, known as the pillars, were introduced. But my words won’t do justice to their powers they possess. So simply get your geek on by watching this short yet amazing series.

The Tale of Naruto Uzumaki

The hidden leaf village is not so hidden anymore! The series I am currently watching is one of the most popular anime from 2020 - Naruto.   The story is set around the shinobi villages and their ninjas and how Naruto Uzumaki plans on being the next Hokage [the most powerful shinobi] of the leaf village. He is trained by some of the best ninjas the village has ever seen. Before graduating from the academy, he was a hyperactive boy with lots of energy who just wanted to be the best. After graduation, he was placed in team seven, along with Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha. This team was trained by Kakashi Sensei who is known for wielding his Chidori and even the Sharingan. The sharingan, to put it simply, is a trait passed down in families. The Uchihas are known for their sharingans and hence it naturally comes to Sasuke as well. The mystery still remains unsolved as to how Kakashi got his sharingan, as he is not an Uchiha. But Naruto does have a super power as well. Not technically his powers per se,  but we can cut him some slack. After all it's not everyday you get to see a beast like the nine tailed fox sealed away in an 11 year old boy. In my opinion the story picks up Orochimaru’s entry, and it paves the way for Sasuke’s powers in the future. My favorite character has to be Sasuke Uchiha. With his effortless fighting skills and sarcastic yet cool personality, he definitely is an excellent shinobi. You have to start this show right away because once you have seen him use his fire style fireball jutsu.....the world just doesn't look the same anymore.

In other words...

My current watchlist includes Naruto Shippuden, Black Clover, One Piece, and a few other naruto spin offs. Anime was something I never thought I would like, but now as it turns out I can't get enough of it. So bye for now, if you need me I'll be at Ichiraku’s eating ramen with barbeque pork. And if you get this reference, have a bowl of ramen on me. K bye.

Home in a faraway land

Good to see you again ! Do you ever get that feeling of an intense craving for your favourite dish? Like say pasta or pizza? My favorite is pasta, but being raised in India, I can’t say no to a classic plate of butter naan and chicken tikka with a glass of buttermilk or chaas if you please. Of Course you can’t beat the taste of a home cooked meal, but let me tell you about the time I went to this amazing little Indian restaurant in Dubai with my family, and how the food there was absolutely heavenly. 

Out and About in Dubai

Skyscrapers, Sleepless nights, Gold Souks and gigantic malls - these are the visions  you'd usually get when someone mentions Dubai. Well, they're mostly right! I went there with my family about 5 years ago. We stayed at the Ramada, which was right next to the Dubai Mall.  The mall happens to be strategically placed next to the Burj Khalifa and we got lucky enough to see mesmerizing musical fountain shows night after night. The streets are spick and span, and everyone follows the traffic regulations dutifully. We also went for the desert safari, which was no less than an actual roller coaster ride. We also visited the Gold Souk, and oh boy. The name definitely fulfills its purpose, as the entire street is occupied entirely by gold stores. Huge gold ornaments are on display like clothes on hangers. I personally don’t have a thing for gold jewellery, but my mom had the time of her life there fawning and gasping over every store we came across. Shortly after our visit here, we came across this beautiful little Indian restaurant, and you can call me old school but at the end of the day, this girl needs a desi meal, because trust me room service gets boring after a while.

Peshwa - Not your typical 5 star restaurant 

Situated away from the hustle of the main city, this place still remains quite underrated. We stumbled across this hidden gem which saved us the efforts of getting back to the hotel for an overpriced lunch. As soon as we entered the restaurant, we could smell the aroma of a classic dal makhani  [ a simple gravy consisting of lentils infused with aromatic spices and hints of burnt chillies ] in the air. So we got a table and had a look at the menu and it was almost like being back home. The endless variety of gravies with paneer in almost every single one of them, to at least 6 different types of rotis, a little piece of heaven in this concrete jungle! We went ahead and ordered a simple meal of rotis and some paneer delicacy, along with dal and rice. Apart from the taste of the food, which was just heavenly, the overall ambience of the place in one word, was exquisite. The restaurant lived up to its very ethnic maharashtrian name. The food was served in those traditional style cutlery, reminding us of a simpler time.

A dish you just can’t miss 

If you have a sweet tooth like me, you definitely have to try the coconut barfi from this place. Made from desiccated coconuts, sweetened condensed milk, a finely ground cardamom, and a hint of saffron, this dish is a match made in heaven. It was freshly made and we could tell it by the intoxicating aroma of pure ghee [clarified butter]. So just for a day, give yourself a break from watching calories and try this mouth watering dish because here’s something to live for.

In other words…

The next time I’m in Dubai, the first thing I will do is find out if the restaurant is still there. And probably avoid the Gold Souk this time. I will most certainly go for the desert safari, because it’s not everyday you get defy gravity and drive through the sand dunes like in a Fast and Furious movie. Lol.  Also thanks for bearing with me throughout this blog. See ya!

[englandsgray]

Sherlolly Self-Interviews 2020

Well hi 👋

Ignoring the internal image of Gilderoy Lockheart smiling smugly while flashbulbs pop and saying ‘In my autobiography, Magical Me...’ 🙈😆 I shall take the opportunity of this lovely event to introduce myself as a writer of Sherlolly fanfiction on AO3...

I am English and somewhere over 30.  I watched the show as it aired, and lost my heart as quickly to Molly Hooper as to Sherlock Holmes.  The kiss is British television history.  Series 4 is my favourite.  Moriarty on the beach is life.  The Holmes brothers break my heart every time.

I am extremely lucky to have been provided some questions to answer here by @ohaine and @mybrainrots - huge, huge love and thanks to these two lovelies, and not just for this.  I admire you both so much as writers, and your support means the world to me ❤️ Thanks too, to @sherlollyappreciationweek!

Where did you begin to write, and have you written for other fandoms?  I wrote my first fanfic when I was eleven years old - a 100 page ramble about The Monkees.  Oh yes.  Then in 2018, I fell for the characters of the Disney Pixar film Cars and began writing and publishing.  So far so random!  Writing in this fandom sprang from binge-watching all four series of Sherlock during lockdown.  I remembered reading Louise Brealey talking about being disappointed Molly didn’t get chance to ‘roundly kick Sherlock’s arse’ and agreeing with her wholeheartedly.  That, over a few weeks, turned into my first fic - Who You Really Are.  

You’re a recent (and welcome!) arrival to the Sherlolly ship, and I was wondering if writing in an established, less active than it used to be fandom has been a challenge?   Thank you, firstly.  My experience of this fandom has been incredibly positive - the sense of welcome has been wonderful.  I will admit I was terrified posting the first fic - there are hundreds of times more stories posted daily in the Sherlock fandom as in the one I had some experience of.  But I needn’t have worried, it’s been a blast.  I will also admit, that it’s no small thing to be surrounded by such brilliant writing and the long-standing passion which goes with it.  But I find that inspiring in itself, and I’m very glad to be here - how supportive the fandom are makes me feel like I always have been!       

What’s your favourite place and way to write?  My aesthetic is Lin-Manuel Miranda in his in-law’s laundry room 🤣 I wrote my first ten-thousand words on the notes app on my phone before my other half told me to stop being ridiculous!  I switch between the laptop, my phone and longhand (I’m a sucker for a nice notepad and a Uni-Ball Eye) and, more often than not, not sat up properly at a table.   

Since you’ve (done something I’ve never managed successfully and) written a novella length fic... how did you organise/keep track of all the details and where you wanted the story to go?  Did you outline/plot in advance?  First of all - I would love to see a novella length fic from you @mybrainrots!  The final scene of Who You Really Are came to me very early on and I knew I wanted the fic to fit within TFP - a lot of it takes place in the timeframe of the final montage.  At first, it was going to be much more about Sherlock’s relationship with the ideas of sentiment and love (the phrase ‘I’m not sentimental about you, I love you,’ haunted me for a while) and I spent some time researching the psychology and playing with scenes from throughout the series - one of my favourites I didn’t go on to use was inspired by the final scene of THoB.  Using scenes from the canon gave an automatic structure, and I was always aiming for the final one I wrote early on - the two of them on the beach (everything is about the beach, with me!)  As I went along and started, inevitably, to slow down, I mapped out the chapters with a short note of what I wanted to be in each, then would add notes or phrases as they came to me - often emailed from my phone!  I had to force myself through a tricky section set in Baker Street at one point, but it came together in the end.  I did plot The Pathologist’s Skeletons on paper first, as I found with a casefic which remains a WIP, that I can get confused and lose focus when it comes to details and how to reveal them in a way which stays paced and interesting.  I’ll certainly do that from now on with longer stories and cases.  How did you keep up enthusiasm for the work?  I want to write an original novel, so I am forcing myself to work through the knotty bits and blocks as a learning experience.  Not everything is destined to be finished or finessed, of course, but I’m finding this process is building my confidence that I can overcome problems and slow periods.  I also find I know when I need some external inspiration - some of my favourite scenes have come to me while out walking the dog or sitting on the beach.  I’ve also been inspired by books or other series or things going on in the world, as we all are, and sometimes that’s pushed me on.  Plus, of course, I’m a newbie - I’m very much in the honeymoon period of my writing, even though I’ve loved Sherlock for ten years! (Ten years! Bonkers.) 

You’ve got a knack for writing Sherlock’s thoughts and capturing his voice.  That said, which character do you find easiest to write?  Which is the hardest?  Thank you so much.  I absolutely love writing Sherlock and Mycroft, and I’m sure that’s because they suit my somewhat over-the-top writing style!  I find Molly and her POV really difficult.  I want the scenes I write from her perspective to sound completely different to Sherlock, but that means writing in a style which doesn’t come as naturally to me.  I’m a long way off happy with that at the moment, but I’m enjoying the challenge.

Is there a scene or character that specifically inspired you to start writing Sherlolly?  The whole of TFP, but especially from the moment Sherlock arrives at Musgrave onwards.  I am desperate to see what a Sherlock Holmes who has been reacquainted with his own heart would look like.  I find his emotionality in those final scenes hugely compelling (Mycroft’s office is one of my favourite moments from across all four series) and, as I have always believed in him and Molly, I practically jumped up back in May after watching it and said ‘right, where’s my notebook?!’.

There’s a lovely peaceful, quiet feeling to your fic ‘We’re All Right At The Moment’.  Can you tell us what inspired it and if you’ve thought of doing the backstory that goes with it?  Thank you!  Like everyone, I would go back to January of this year and start again in a heartbeat, but I am hugely fortunate to be able to say that I have a lot to be grateful to the UK lockdowns for.  I might never have begun writing in this fandom otherwise, for one, and I have had a brilliant time so far and met some lovely people. Honestly, I don’t feel able to do any sort of justice in my writing to what has happened in the world in any broader sense than drawing on my own experiences of staying at home and enjoying my family.  This particular super-short fic sees Molly cutting Sherlock’s hair at home in Baker Street.  I wrote it in the evening after I had cut my other half’s hair and had been reminding myself that despite how horribly worried I was - and still am - about everything, we were all right in that moment, and to focus on that as much as possible.  I wanted to try to capture that, if for no reason other than to look back on this entire experience and remember something lovely, so I am so pleased to hear you felt the fic did that.  It was only after I finished it and reread it, that I realised it is ambiguous as to whether Molly is worried about Sherlock contracting the virus, or whether she is remembering him being treated for it... As I say, I don’t think I could write more about these extraordinary circumstances - perhaps it’s just too close at the moment - so I don’t plan on extending it.  But you know how it is, the plot bunnies hop where they will... 

Do you have a Sherlolly music playlist?  What are your top five favs from the list? Here’s a run down of (6 🙊) songs I have been getting emotional over in the last little while, leading my brain to assign their significance to my favourite couple...

Kissing You - Des’Ree - It’s so 90′s, it’s a bit cheesy, it’s oddly disturbing.  It helped me write A Request, Made Properly, and that gave me an excuse to have Sherlock kiss Molly in the snow.

How Long Will I Love You? - Ellie Goulding - part of the playlist, but also in remembrance of a friend who passed away recently.  Life is very short, love is forever.

High and Dry - Jamie Cullum - It’s made me emotional for a very long time.  The original is my partner’s version of choice, this is mine.  

Think About You - Delta Goodrem - Okay, this one isn’t emotional, and it’s not my usual vibe!  Blame the zoom exercise class I do!  But oh my goodness, it’s Molly.  Bless her.

Blinded By Your Grace (P.T.2. F.T. MNEK) - Stormzy - One of the best ever, I reckon.  Spent an awful lot of time thinking about angels and demons, grace and what it takes to save someone, while writing my latest - The Pathologist’s Skeletons.  This has been in my head most of the (blimmin’) time!

Love Me Like You Do - Ellie Goulding - I didn’t know I was a fan of Ellie until I wrote this list... I don’t subscribe to the theory that the love Molly wants or that which Sherlock has to offer is any lesser because it isn’t ‘normal’ or expected. I don’t think romantic entanglement would come easy to either of them. But it’s still love and it would be beautiful.

Thank you so much for reading.  Thanks and love to @ohaine and @mybrainrots. And thank you @sherlollyappreciationweek for the event and for everything you do ❤️

Feel like I should sign off with a quote from the show...

“You’re not a puzzle-solver, you never have been. You’re a drama queen!” Dr John Watson (Moffat & Gatiss) 2014 😜

X

A fav fic of mine by @mybrainrots

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7563193

A fav fic of mine by @ohaine

https://archiveofourown.org/works/10562904

My stuff:

https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnglandsGray/works

[mantra4ia]

NBC Debris, episodes 1-9: overview of high hopes and adjusted expectations

*Mild spoilers ahead*

I'm rooting for this show guys, really I am. The premise and the two main characters / actors are interesting, or at least try very hard to be. But this series has been slow off the ground despite my excitement during preseason teasers and here's why, in my view.

Pros:

An intercontinental alliance gives room / potential for some interesting spy craft, I just wish it was slightly more artful, less heavy handed.

Alien debris having potential to do good things is also a fantastic promise to expand on. George Jones talked about some terraforming level stuff (whether it goes right or wrong is another story), let's see more of that. Are tech giants fighting over the intellectual property rights to debris-based advances? How are money and favor between industry and the government changing hands (apart from a very literal briefcase full of cash on the black market when we first meet Influx)? How do different pieces of debris interact with one another, maybe it changes some of their properties in unpredictable ways.

Bryan and Finola have good amorphous lead chemistry. We aren't being force-fed where it is going to go, but we know it's a compelling relationship where they're both relying on each other to get through challenging emotional hurdles (marine special ops, family tragedy). And we see them together, riffing off each other from the beginning, and it works as both a personal and professional partnership.

Strongest debris-scifi-based episode was definitely 1x04 "In Universe" with the chlorine- respiration-based biome. To me it's the best of the season so far.

Strongest character episode so far is maybe 1x09 "Do You Know Icarus?" or 1x06 "Supernova"

Cons:

Episodic structure hampers the ramp of tension building. You don't get big payoff because you get short plot points. Yes there's the recurring "ball of light" and Influx references, but those are more phantom thread teasers than a long game of steadily developing insights.

No fully developed villain or antagonist to make the stakes seem tangible and priorities urgent or simmering: is it Influx, Maddox, Ferris, casually mentioned foreign government espionage, the guy who played Michael on The Vampire Diaries? I don't know, and worst of all nor do I really care because I don't feel their immenent threat or ideological purpose. I am more worried about the debris body count, but debris is a problem / quandary, not a viable adversary at this point. We've got a multi-front conflict, and 45 minutes with underwhelming writing complexity to try and meet the task. It's a struggle.

The ABCD action-based plot. I have to do this sequence in order to beat this level. Where's the character building?

Speaking of which, while I like Bryan and Finola's dynamic opposite each other, I can't say the same about their development as individual characters. Their depth and relationship to others has so far been terrible due to superficial telegraphing which tells us rather than a writing structure that shows us why we're supposed to care about them, their lives, or their relationships to others, like Finola and DeDe and George as a family unit, or Bryan and Maddox. Seeing an old family video of sisters dancing to a favorite song does nothing for me when I haven't seen them interact on anything more than a long distance phone call. Can we maybe get a flashback of them at George's memorial so that we can get a sense of how devastated the family was or see the consequences of DeDe's substance abuse habit as a crutch during an emotionally chaotic time in her life? No. We get hearsay. Maddox is supposedly so worthy of Bryan's trust, pulled him from the brink of a dark emotional abyss (1x07), but we get no sense of that bond off the clock like Bryan checking in on Maddox's family, or any sort of personal connection. Just a cold professional relationship with a few one liners.

Telegraphing to ambiguity ratio: certain things the audience gets explained to us, like alternate universes visible in the molecular imperfections of glass or how they damaged George's hippocampus and impaired his memory (like they're just throwing out words to sound sci-fi impressive), and yet some basic details that would help build this world lore and make it believable are left up to off-screen imagination? Come on now, we all know the season one is for world building. Hop to it! Debris falls from the sky, worldwide, and you're telling me no one knows about it and it doesn't impact public life / culture in any way, it doesn't make the news cycle, nothing? You're an Orbital agent, and you're able to fly around in laboratory equipped jets and land in whichever airspace you please, and no one bats an eye? Terrorists are using debris against civilians, and we don't see government restrictions, curfew, lockdowns, etc, we don't get any minor glimpses into ramifications on ordinary life? No, because the focus is always trained on our "field agents" but not the playing field. It's mundane, small stuff questions that keep us grounded, which is a refreshing and needed balance in sci-fi, but apart from a conversation about stale Peeps I don't see attention to daily details of life as we know it.

We are literally told in the pilot by a title card (talk about expedient) that "three years ago images were captured of a wrecked alien spacecraft moving through the solar system" and for 6 months debris has been falling. Has it smashed through any cities causing panic? How is it spun by the media, or how is Orbital keeping it out of public attention? Is there a political power struggle over research access, and what do those higher up agency meetings look like? Where and how is the recovered debris being cataloged and stored when it is not used in active research? Who has clearance to it, what is that clearance called/what does it entail, which government retains agency of debris pieces, or does that depend on where Orbital recovers it? This is like first-five-episode-arc lore building and we are nine hit or miss episodes into the season! I need this show to level up if it's taking the route of being clever and cerebral, which it appears to aim at by focusing on the scientific part of sci-fi. If it's goal is to be a small scale, partner ride along weekly mystery with heavy synthetic sound cues, then it needs to pick a tone that takes itself less seriously.

The dialogue is so lackluster and expository. Please get some of the writer's room to focus on making it sharper, quicker, smarter.

The science of debris: George Jones, as some genius mind behind Orbital tech, isn't believable. We don't get to see any part of his professional life in Orbital in the three year lead up to when we meet our characters, he doesn't even have any dialogue when Finola first finds him captive. We have "science-aesthetic" scribbles on a chalkboard and Finola's word that George is a workaholic research savant. It doesn't ring true and by extension some of the "rules" of this Orbital technology seem murky (not as in we learn alongside the characters, but as in the concept seems under developed). George's biggest contribution thus far is a levity critique of Bryan's driving speed. At this point he's a plot device to further Fin's journey, as is DeDe. That's base.

Lack of interest in supporting ensemble: why should I care about Maddox's family crisis, or DeDe's addiction or George's suicide after he was shut out of his own research at Orbital, etc? Again this ties back to previous points of show don't tell, and build a world, maybe use some flashbacks. Make it personal — why is George's research (apart from a generalized better world) so singularly important to him that it breaks his family, what compelled Brian to transition from military service to Orbital? How are different factions within Orbital — like the research team and the field agents — getting along, who's at the very bottom of the barrel or on the very top of the hierarchy?

I want this show to succeed, but I don't get a clear read on what genre they want to be or more importantly what the characters want. Please increase the focus on dialogue, get the basics of want-obstacle-action done right, and then the debris and the conflict it creates can have a bigger impact.

[have-each-others-six]

no more tears to shed, nothing left unsaid

for @the-quiet-winds- love you, j.

Katherine Howard is trying to summon up the courage to knock on Cathy’s bedroom door.

She’s not scared of Cathy- all of the queens have been together now for almost a year, and they’re definitely to the place where they all trust each other more than anyone else. 

But Katherine still has some things that are hard to share, some things that make her feel overexposed and fearful, and the notebook she’s about to show Cathy has almost all of those things written inside of it. Somehow, she finds herself knocking before she really decides to, and the door opens slowly to reveal Cathy, standing in the doorway and stretching. “Why are you always up so early, kid?” the older queen asks with a yawn, leaning on the doorknob, but then she sees the worry in Katherine’s eyes and her posture straightens. “Are you okay?” “I’m fine,” Katherine replies, a little nervously. “I, um- I have something for you.” Cathy’s brow furrows, but she lets Katherine in her room, opening the curtains and making the bed in a few motions as the girl fidgets with the folded pages of the notebook. After Cathy’s done, she gestures to her desk chair, and Katherine takes a seat and shoves the notebook sort of awkwardly towards Cathy.

“I- what is this?” Cathy asks, managing to catch the notebook and looking at the cover, which doesn’t give her any clues as to what’s inside.

“I’ve been writing. Things. Stories. I’ve been writing stories. They might be more journal entries, maybe? And I know you write, and I wanted to-” she sighs, hanging her head and taking a pause before continuing, trying to gather her thoughts. “Could you read the first story in there, please?” she asks quietly. “And tell me if it’s any good?”

Cathy smiles softly at Kit’s request, both out of amusement from the girl’s endearingly worried rambling and out of happiness that she trusts her enough to share something this significant with her. She’s sick of writing, to be completely honest, and she doesn’t really want to read anything at all right now, but that’s not what she says. “Of course I will,” she tells Katherine, setting the notebook carefully in her lap as she sits down on her bed. “Actually- if you can withstand staying, I know how hard it is to be in the room with someone who’s reading your work- I finished a new short story if you want to look over that while I’m reading this.”

“Really?” Katherine says eagerly, turning in the desk chair as her eyes rove over the papers, trying to find the story in question. She always loves reading Cathy’s work. She prefers her fictional works, but she’s read her poetry and her songs and been amazed by those, too. “Yes, really,” Cathy laughs. “Careful, now, kid,” she instructs, still smiling, getting up from her seat on the bed. “Don’t mess up my system.” She lifts a bundle of pages from the desk and centers them in front of Kit, tapping the top with her finger. “I think you’ll like this. It’s sort of a ‘what if’ scenario with our history, told through a different lens.”

Katherine settles in excitedly, opening the first page slowly so she can savor it, but she ends up devouring the writing quickly like she always does. Cathy’s writing is just so rich, layered with characterization that Kit can’t even wrap her head around the magnitude of sometimes and imagery that transports her to places she’s never been.

Cathy is far more methodical in her reading than Katherine is, marking down a few careful criticisms to share with her later, but mostly she finds herself enamored in the girl’s story- it gets wordy at times, certainly, but the plot holds true and the relationships she builds between the characters seem to live and breathe right there on the page. They come up for air from the story-worlds they’ve been inhabiting at the same time, both finished with their respective tales and blinking a little like they’re getting used to the room again. “So-” “I-” Both of them laugh, having started into their effusive reviews at the same time, but Cathy gestures for Katherine to go first. “Okay. Well. I loved it. I always love it, you know that, but this is amazing- every word has a purpose. There’s no extra fluffy bits, it’s just a well-told, well-based perspective of a story. Didn’t hurt that the mother-daughter relationship was really cute, too.” Cathy smiles. “Thanks, kid. I’m glad you liked it- I was actually pretty proud of that one.” She clears her throat and launches into her review, unsure how much she should soften her criticisms, but the pink-haired girl seems to take them pretty well. However, strangely, it’s when Cathy gets into praising Katherine’s rather depressing story where all the characters die that the girl starts to become subdued. She waits for Cathy to finish, and then when Cathy asks her gently what’s wrong Katherine swallows. “I’m never going to be this good,” she murmurs, pointing to the papers in her lap. “I… your style is so incredible. I could never do this! I don’t even know what my writing style is.” “Well, first of all, however ‘incredible’ you think my style is-”-Katherine whacks Cathy’s hand lightly for using air quotes around ‘incredible’-“-you can’t write something in my exact style, kid. No one can. You write the way you write, and it’s unique and amazing in its own right.”

“But I have no idea what the way I write is.” Cathy squints, deep in thought, and a smile flickers across her face once she gets an idea.

“Would you want to write together?” Whatever Katherine was expecting Cathy to say, it wasn’t that. “What… what would we write?” she asks, confused and more than a little nervous- she has no idea if she’ll be able to even keep up with the way Cathy writes. Cathy shrugs. “I don’t know. Anything. We wouldn’t have to share it with anybody if you didn’t want to. It could just be practice for both of us, learning to write collaboratively. Heaven knows we wouldn’t have come anywhere near that chance in our old lives.”

There’s a few moments of long, quiet silence where Katherine thinks about the offer, but then a grin pulls at the corner of her mouth and Cathy knows what the answer will be. “Why not?”

***

The next day, it’s Cathy who knocks on Katherine’s door, holding an unused notebook that Jane had given to her months ago. Katherine looks up from the book she’s reading and smiles when she sees Cathy. “Are we starting?” “Well, if you want to be technical about it, I’ve started,” Cathy says, opening the notebook and pointing to a paragraph written in her slanted scrawl. “Take it whatever direction you like, kid. I’ll be back in a little bit, and then I’ll write some more. Does that sound all right?”

Katherine nods vigorously, already hunched over another piece of paper to group together ideas that sparked in her head once she glanced over Cathy’s section- she’ll read it in more detail later. Cathy waits in the doorway for a moment before leaving, watching the girl write, and she smiles a little bit before heading into the living room, where Jane is playing chess with Anne. She curls up in an empty armchair and turns the television on with a soft volume to watch a mindless show- one can’t be sustained on books and writing alone, not in these modern times. “Katherine’s been in her room for a while,” Anne comments when it isn’t her turn, her gaze flicking over to the hallway where all the queens’ bedrooms are. “Is she all right?” Jane asks, concerned, pausing in the midst of hopping her knight to capture Anne’s bishop. “She’s fine,” Cathy assures them. “She and I are trying something out with our writing- we’re going to see how it works.” “Do we get to know what this very mysterious writing project is?” Jane questions curiously, intrigued now, and Anne’s turned to face Cathy too, her own interest having been piqued.

“Not yet,” Cathy tells her. “And maybe not ever. We’ll see what happens.”

Jane raises her eyebrows, and after Anne manages to checkmate her king somehow, she walks over in gracious defeat to Cathy and kisses her head, half out of affection and half hoping to avoid Anne pleading for another game.

“I’m very excited for a story written by both of you to exist, no matter if I get to read it or not,” Jane says, smiling. “I think it’s a very good idea.”

Katherine walks into the room a while later, and with a shy sort of grin on her face she hands the notebook to Cathy, trying to be surreptitious, clearly enjoying the overdramatic espionage of it all. “Kat, are you going to tell me what’s going on with the notebook?” Jane asks Katherine, batting her eyelashes, and Katherine shakes her head, smiling. “Nope. You heard Cathy, this is top secret.”

Jane shakes her head, pretending to be annoyed with having been foiled, but in actuality this is the most she’s seen either of her girls smile in weeks. 

She gives in to Anne’s request for a rematch, smiling at Cathy writing eagerly on the couch- it’s not an unusual sight to see the sixth queen writing, but it is unusual to see her smile while she does it.

Jane knows that Cathy loves to write, but with the constant demand from historians and journalists for information on their lives and their reincarnations, she’s been burning out, having to churn out a new piece almost daily, and it’s not hard to tell the joy in writing is dying for her.

But this is a return to the old Cathy, the one who would write ideas down on napkins and the back of her hand because she didn’t want to forget a single moment of inspiration that struck her. 

Jane doesn’t say anything, because she’s afraid she’ll ruin it if she speaks, but the corner of her mouth stays in a small smile as she advances upon Anne’s line of pawns.

***

The notebook passes between Katherine and Cathy a few times before they all head to the theater- they become creative, hiding it on shelves and in cabinets and in plant pots to make it a game to find- and by the time they’re all walking down the sidewalk in the cold to get to the show, the notebook has almost six pages filled with two different types of handwriting. They don’t really know where the story is going, but that’s part of the fun of it, taking the thread of the story through their different styles and ideas and seeing where they end up.

Katherine isn’t thinking about how much better Cathy is than her anymore. She knows her own style has its own merits to it, even if she does tend to use five words where just one would have flowed better. She’s practically skipping as she goes down the street, the notebook banging against her hip in her bag. Cathy watches her and smiles, because she’s not buried in words anymore. She’s harnessed them back for herself again, for her joy rather than for work or for explaining something impossible to somebody else. Their happiness spreads to everyone, and then they’re all chattering about absolutely nothing of importance and trying their hardest to make each other laugh, all of them feeling the lightest they have in weeks, which translates to their performance in the show- the audience is immediately on their feet for a standing ovation when the girls all jump together at the end of the last number.

Cathy finds the notebook on her desk at the end of the show, with a full page added by Katherine, pink glitter dotting some parts of the paper. It’s well-written, but it’s long, and after a long show all Cathy really wants to do is shower and sleep. She sighs and promises herself she’ll get to it later. The notebook is put in the depths of her bag and stays there for a few hours, well after they’ve all eaten dinner and most of the queens have gone to bed. “Is the writing paused for tonight?” Jane asks curiously, tapping on Cathy’s doorframe. The woman looks up, in the middle of writing an article, getting back into the rhythm of writing for work. “Katherine’s staying up for something, but she won’t tell me what.” “Oh…” Cathy starts, then trails off, chewing on her lip. She wishes she was more comfortable with twenty-first century expletives, because saying some of them in moments of realization of crisis is more satisfying than any wordy curse from her old life. She writes out a quick paragraph that furthers the plot and allows the girl room to play around, heading to Katherine’s bedroom to apologize and finally hand her the notebook, but when she peeks in the girl is asleep, curled up tight on the bed. Cathy goes to turn around, trying to let the girl sleep, but her foot hits a creaky floorboard and Katherine sits up in a flurry of blankets, exhaustion thick in her eyes when she blinks over at Cathy, who’s almost to the doorway.

“Cathy?” Katherine questions sleepily. “Is that you?”

With a sigh, Cathy lowers herself from her tiptoes to flat feet, forgoing her soft footsteps. “Yes, it’s me,” she mumbles. “I’m sorry for waking you up, kid, I just realized I never gave the notebook back to you and I wanted… I’m sorry.” “You have the notebook?” Katherine asks, perking up slightly, her eyes still foggy with sleep as she holds her hands out for it. “Kid, you should get to sleep,” Cathy reprimands gently. “We’ve got another show tomorrow. I can leave it here on the nightstand, how’s that?” “But I-” “It’ll be waiting here for you tomorrow morning. You need sleep, kid, I can tell.” “I want to write something,” Katherine says. “Please? I’ll sleep better.” Cathy rolls her eyes at the girl’s stubbornness, but then an idea occurs to her and a slow smile spreads across her face. She left her pen in her bedroom, but she takes a green one from Katherine’s desk and scribbles out a quick message, handing it over to the girl. “This just says good night,” Katherine points out sourly, showing Cathy the sentence she wrote that’s accompanied by three green hearts. “That it does. And now it’s your job to respond- that’s how the notebook works. It’s the rules,” Cathy says seriously. She’s probably laying it on a little thick, but it seems to be working. Katherine pouts, but writes a short goodnight as a reply, laying down in bed with a huff. “I’ll see you in the morning,” Cathy says gently. “We’ll write more tomorrow, yeah?” “Yeah,” Katherine echoes, her frustration finally giving way to a small smile. “See you in the morning.” Cathy goes back to her room to work some more on her own piece, but after a few hours Jane pokes her head in on her way to bed. “You should come see this,” she whispers, laughing softly. Cathy’s intrigued, her brow furrowing, so she lets Jane lead her down the hall to Katherine’s room, where the sight is indeed sort of ridiculous. Katherine clearly took the notebook again, as she has fallen asleep facefirst on top of it, and from what Cathy can read on the page around Kit’s head, it’s mostly incoherent. She fights a laugh, and shakes her head as she gently works the pages out from under the girl and sets her back in a more comfortable position with Jane’s help. “Hope you’re sleeping well, kid,” she murmurs, pushing some hair out of her face, and then when Jane kisses Kit’s forehead she smiles in her sleep. The next morning, Katherine will be up before Cathy again, as she always is, and when she looks over the incoherency from last night she’ll giggle a little bit, but that laugh will fade into a smile when she reads what Cathy wrote after it. Good morning! Hope you slept well last night after your little writing adventure- I’m giving you a chance to redo whatever you wrote here, for... well, just read it, and then tell me what you think. It’s going to be a good writing day, I can already tell- love you, kid! Katherine will eagerly begin to write a good morning in reply, and until the back-and-forth writing comes to an end many years later, their stories are peppered with breaks of good nights and good mornings and messages between writers who care about each other. It’s not your typical group of short stories, but it helps Cathy find her love of writing when she’s scared she’ll lose it, and it lets Katherine find her voice and figure out how to utilize it to its full potential.

In those pages, they aren’t ‘The Wives of Henry VIII’, with all of that title’s significance and pain- they’re just Cathy and Katherine, finding out a story together. 

And that is enough.

[alphabetotter]

Catch Up Meme

Rules: answer + tag 9 people you want to get to know better and/or catch up with! oh, look, no rules

I was tagged by the amazingly creative and talented @the-sassiest-trixster! Huge honor, thank you so much

Favorite color: Orange. Anything but bright neon orange is a good orange, seriously why is that the most popular orange?

Last song / album: Last song I listened to was Andromeda by Weyes Blood, honestly what a time capsule that song is; it’s for sure one of my favorite songs. Last whole album I listened to is Bo Burnham’s Inside because… uhhhhhhhhhhh… yeah.

Last movie: STAR TREK (2009) IS ON NETFLIX AHHHHHHH. It’s my comfort movie I love that shit so much. Look, is it a good Star Trek movie? No, no its not. But is it a good sci-fi action-adventure with an amazing cast, soundtrack, and satisfying plot? Yes, yes it is.

Currently reading: Tian Guan Ci Fu. After not reading it for a few months, I forced myself through Book 2 and now it’s going much quicker. With any luck I’ll finish by the end of summer.

Currently watching: Ummmm, here’s a list with some commentary please enjoy

Sha Hai: I am in the 40’s somewhere(?), right before Li Cu gets taken by the Wangs. This binge was interrupted by SHL, and my life has not been the same since. It might take me a while, but there’s a 100% chance of finishing.

Advance Bravely: Gong Jun being the brat twink he was born to be, but god no one in this show is likeable or compelling so only a 52% chance of finishing.

Killer and Healer: I know, I know, I know, I need to finish this one, but like, I know what’s coming is sad (sadder than it already is, these characters are dropping like flies here) and I just want to live in the moment for a bit. 89% chance of finishing

Detective L: Chinese BBC Sherlock, but let’s have Bai Yu play a loveable consulting detective who’s good with children. Plot is eh, but cast really gives it all they’ve got. One of my more light-hearted shows (despite homicides) so 74% chance of finishing.

Granting You a Dream Like Life: Zhu Yi Long plays this adorable murder puppy that fills the Ye Zun shaped whole in my heart. Plot is simple enough to understand what’s going on despite the fact that I skip ALL SCENES that do not include Long-ge. I’ve heard that his most compelling character (ofc he plays multiple characters, this is Long-ge we’re talking about) dies half-way in so that makes this a 0% chance of finishing (62% chance of finishing the Long-ge scenes).

The Rebel: Zhu Yilong’s newest drama; a spy thriller that might be a bit too thrilling for me. Long-ge is so cute and I want to watch his character progression, but I can barely get through half an episode w/o needing a break. I am only on episode 2 despite starting it 2 weeks ago so 22% chance of finishing

Currently craving: Motivation and confidence to interact with and produce content for fandom. I’ve been in fandom spaces for nearly a decade, but this corner of fandom is the closest I’ve gotten to having an actual presence. I have mutuals now? I love you all even though I’m shy.

Coffee or tea: Both, but my gf can’t handle caffeine anymore so we can only drink decaf coffee, and y’all… I do not wish that weak shit upon anyone. Lately I’ve been drinking lots of iced tea; I like both sweet and unsweet but if its sweet its gotta have some sort of added flavor.

[party-of-rpg-muses]

A Look At Stuff You Probably Never Heard Of: Tak: The Great Juju Challenge

A while ago, I took a look at the Tak TV show that aired on Nickleodeon. Needless to say, I did not like it. So this time, we’re going to take a look at the last traditional Tak game to be released before the quote-unquote “reboot”. Today, we’ll be taking a look at... Tak: The Great Juju Challenge!

Tak: The Great Juju Challenge is an E-rated action platformer game released for the Nintendo Gamecube, Game Boy Advance, and DS, as well as the Playstation 2 and Xbox. It was first released in North America on September 19th, 2005. Europe would get the Gamecube port the same day with the PS2, Xbox, and DS ports being released on March 3rd of the following year and the GBA port 6 days later.

For this post, we’ll just be taking a look at the console versions. The plot is basically the same, but gameplay and game structure are different from the console ports

Every 60 years, the Moon Juju holds the Great Juju Challenge, in which various tribes can enter, provided they can attain the tail feather of a Phoenix. Only two people from a tribe can take part in the challenge to serve as representatives/challengers. Whomever can win the Great Juju Challenge will win the Moon Juju’s support until the next Great Juju Challenge. This means her protection and power to do with as the tribe pleases.

Tak and Lok take part in the challenge, forming Team Pupanunu. Also taking part are Team Grammazon, Team Jibba Jabba (who speak entirely in hip-hop/beatboxing sounds), and Team Black Mist, who are eternal rivals of the Pupanunu Tribe and wish to use the Moon Juju’s favorite to completely wipe out the Pupanunu people.

From the start of the game, both Tak and Lok are playable with various strengths and weaknesses; Tak is smaller and lighter with a focus on ranged magic while Lok is larger and heaver with a focus on strength.

The game itself primarily takes place within stages based off locations from previous Tak games with said stages being similar in structure to obstacles courses. The main objective of each stage is to reach the end while a timer counts down with the final score being affected by remaining time, enemies defeated, and items collected. Upon completing all challenges, the Proving Grounds open up, in which the teams can pick vehicles to complete specific challenges. The final score from across the stages dictate the order in which the teams can pick their preferred vehicle, so getting a high score is highly encouraged. The player can also return to a previous stages whenever desired.

Tak and Lok must work together to complete these stages, as there are tasks they require both of them to perform, such as Lok throwing Tak to a higher ledge to open the path forward. There are also issues that have to be circumvented. For instance, Lok cannot enter water because fish hate him and will kill him if he enters water, so it’s up to Tak to drain the water or create a bridge/alternative path for Lok. Or have Lok lure a gorilla away so Tak can get through.

Suits also make a comeback, allowing Tak to don his Chicken Suit in certain levels to fly high and drop exploding eggs. Lok also gets his own Suit, the Lobster Suit, which allows him to enter water with no issue, fight underwater, and create paths for Tak and/or himself.

And now, it is time for my Final Recommendation Never Let Go Of It||Get It||Hold Onto It||Try It||Consider It||Stay Away From It

This game is honestly something special. The humor is top-notch, as much of the jokes involve Tak and Lok cracking jokes or simple slapstick humor. They bounce off each other quite well and have great chemistry together; they make fun of each other, but have good synergy. A prime example is known as the Gaseous Rap with Tak and Lok singing a rap song with burps and farts backing the lyrics. It’s childish, but it still works and shows just how well they work together. But the humor doesn’t just come from Tak and Lok, but many other characters too, such as the Moon Juju or Two-Headed Juju

It’s also worth noting that this game actually has a co-op option; Player 1 controls Tak while Player 2 controls Lok, allowing for better teamwork. Playing the game by yourself, you’re able to switch between the two with a press of a button, which is considerably slower, but still manageable and you can still do well by yourself. I actually used to play this game with my sister, so take it from me, this game is so much better with a second player. As you can surmise, this was before online multiplayer began to take off, so it’s local multiplayer only.

In a way, this is a game that encourages speed running (and I mean that in the general sense, not so much taking advantages of glitches or exploits). Finish each stage as fast as possible to get the best scores.

As for the next entry? Well... I have something in mind, but I hear it’ll be getting an update (yes, it’s a game) and depending on which that update comes out, I’ll either take a look at that game or hold off on it for a while. So with that, I’ll see you guys next month! Don’t worry, I still got several things to take a look at if need be.

[onefenix]

17 Short Fic Recs

I’ve been mostly a fandom lurker for the past five months (since the Game of Thrones Series Finale). Since then I’ve been reading some of the best fanfiction I’ve ever read. I’ve been a part of some very small fandoms before and can say the J/B fandom is lucky to have many very talented writers. I wanted to make a list of my favorite stories so far for J/B Week, but life… so here it is now. I’ll try to be brief (I anticipate I am going to fail at this) and not spoil the stories.

These are all stories with less than 14k words. The division between short and long fics is a bit arbitrary but necessary due to the length of this list. I am sure there are better ways to classify these stories that I may get around to later on.

Sorry in advance for the overuse of words such as beautiful, perfect and spectacular, the Jaime/Brienne fandom writers are that good. Also, English is not my first language, so sorry for any mistakes.

I’ve tagged the authors whose handles on Tumblr I know. If you wish to have your tag removed or added (I’d love to follow you!), let me know.

You can find a long fic rec list here.

41 Nights and a Day by rhye

This one reads like a collection of drabbles, one for each day Jaime and Brienne spent together in Winterfell. It’s lovely and intimate and we get to see them discover everything about each other in this new facet of their relationship.

no sweeter innocence (than our gentle sin) by sameboots @agirlnamedkeith​

This is a short post S8E3 episode one-shot. It’s a story about loss and comfort. Jaime taking care of Brienne and being tender with her always does things for me. This story is poignant, beautiful and much better than what the show gave us in episode 4.

A Whole City Suffers by Mussimm

A Whole City Suffers is a collection of seven post-canon ficlets, one for each of the deadly sins. Each ficlet is a wonderful dip into Jaime’s mind. It is part of a really creative series called Works and Days which include the seven heavenly virtues from Brienne’s POV which is a fantastic companion to this one.

The Stranger Catches Us All by Miss_M @miss-m-calling​

This is a very bitter-sweet short story. Jaime and Brienne’s personalities and loving relationship are perfectly captured in this Post-Canon short story where they worry about their future.

Ball and Chain and Golden and True by Miss_M @miss-m-calling​

These two stories were in my reading list for quite a while. Reading the description only I wasn’t sure I would like, but boy am I glad I decided to give it a shot. In this story, Brienne is a cop who has to arrest and repeatedly interview Jaime Lannister. The level of the uncontrollable, contained sexuality in this is off the charts, but somehow the story manages to also delve into the trust and intimacy between Jaime and Brienne.

Mercy in You by Miss_M @miss-m-calling​

I love a story where Jaime and Brienne are in an established relationship but are still learning to navigate it and eventually, they have to confront those lingering fears and insecurities. That is beautifully handled in this story. The characterization in this piece are fantastic. Miss_M is very true to both Jaime and Brienne’s characters.

A Woman's War by Lady_in_Red @ladyinredfics​

I can’t say a lot about this story without giving away the plot. It is a wonderfully written and moving short piece. The two chapters in this go beautifully together and Jamie's love for Brienne shines through in both of them. Lady_in_Red  manages to pack a lot in, but the story flows quite naturally.

He Wants (he wants) by ShirleyAnn66

This is one is, I believe, the shortest story in this list. However, it does a perfect job depicting Jaime as a character and dissecting all of his flaws and insecurities. I particularly love that the story touches on the book version of his parting with Tyrion.

Catch Me if I Fall by JustAGirl24

I’m starting to think most short stories I love are more than a little sad. This story has a modern setting. It’s angsty but beautifully written. Please heed the warnings before reading. I love that the story doesn’t shy away from describing how a couple copes and manages to get through dark times together.

Spoken to Skin by SandwichesYumYum

This is a Pennytree to Stoneheart one shot. I love how from the very beginning Jaime knows Brienne is lying but his trust in her never waivers. Brienne is quite hurt at this point and Jaime is incredibly soft and tender with her. The tension and intimacy in this piece are superb.

Salt Wife by Lady_in_Red @ladyinredfics​

This is a post ADWD story where Jaime is banished to Casterly Rock with the constant threat of Daenerys’s wrath. The story is perfectly paced and structured. It reads like being inside Brienne’s head and the ending (however bittersweet) never fails to make me smile.

Same Old Auld Lang Syne by Lady_in_Red @ladyinredfics​

I said it in the long fic rec, but I’ll repeat it here: Lady_in_Red is a true MVP. This story has a modern setting. After a  very volatile relationship with Jaime, Brienne seeks stability with Hyle. This story explores where Brienne is almost six years later in a beautiful, heart-wrecking manner. Also, the short glimpses of songwriter!Jaime are to die for.

A Love Song by ozmissage

This one is very angsty. We are in Jaime’s head as Brienne suffers from amnesia. It’s amazing how even with her lack of memories ozmissage’s Brienne feels so in character. This is a very original, moving story. Each sentence hits right in the feels.

the battlefield between us (isn't here tonight) and no war is enough (to keep me from you) by robotsdance

This is late Season 7/Season 8 Secret Marriage AU. It is incredibly romantic and written in the most beautiful style. I’m so on board with this version of events. The wedding could not be more fitting for Jaime and Brienne. Jaime and Brienne being already married in the dragon pit scene? Yes, please. And the knighting scene is absolutely breathtaking. I love that Jaime's feelings for Brienne shine from start to finish.

once it ends (so it begins) by nubbins_for_all

This is probably a post S8E3 story. It is a great exploration of both Jamie/Brienne as a couple and Brienne and Sansa’s friendship. Brienne has to open up and manage to put her feelings into words in order to be there for Sansa. Every little scene between Jaime and Brienne serves a purpose and is beautifully written. The dialogue in this is honest, teasing and funny and it’s a joy to get to see Brienne learn to verbalize her wants and needs and feelings. 

Madness by RoseHeart

This is a Quiet Isle story. It has almost every Jaime I love: worried/caring!Jaime, jealous!Jaime, and exasperated-because-Brienne-doesn’t-see-how-much-he-loves-her!Jaime. The story is very indulging and filled with every trope and post-ADWD hope of any Braime shipper but it is beautifully executed. 

A Keeping of Oaths by lodessa @lodessa​

This is a Season 8 fix-it. This story gives a much more satisfying ending for almost every character. It’s fluffy and hot and funny but still manages to realistically explore Jaime’s feelings of unworthiness. It has some great Bronn, Aunt Genna, Daenerys and Jorah appearances.

[rnmbb]

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a big bang?

A Big Bang/Mini-Bang is a writing challenge that prompts authors and artists to work together to create a story and work of art that go together. In this case, our fandom is the Roswell New Mexico tv show, and our goal is 5000 words or more!

How do I sign up?

When sign-ups start, there will be a Google Form link posted for you to sign-up as an Author or an Artist or Beta

What if I need to drop out?

Yes! Sometimes life gets in the way or a story just doesn’t happen, and we understand that! However, there is a cutoff point, and if you do not let the mods know before this date, you can be banned from the next round. Even if it is after this cutoff date that you need to drop out please let us know so that we can discuss options. We can’t help if we don’t know there is a problem! Dropping all contact with mods after the cutoff date is grounds for an automatic ban, as we can’t help at that point. Please get in contact with us, so that we can arrange for art if needed!

I need help/support!

Once you sign-up, you will be sent a link to the Discord Server for the Big Bang. Feel free to talk about your story here with other authors, ask questions, look for a beta, ask for advice, freak out, or any general story discussions.

Membership is open to all who want to join the big bang or are thinking about it! Watch the blog for the link post

I don’t want to join a discord server/have never used discord before 

We are making this a mandatory requirement this year. Communication is critical for the big bang to be successful, and a discord server is the best way for mods to ensure they can communicate with all participants. If you’re new to discord, the mods will help you with an introduction and navigation resources to the server. 

Writing Requirements

What type of requirements are there for a fic?

Your fic must be at least 5,000 words long and, preferably, beta-read before the posting date. It must focus on or revolve around the characters from the TV show Roswell, New Mexico. You are not required to write a certain ship or a ship at all. Your fic also has to be completed at the time of posting. All chapters must be posted on the day of posting. 

I've already been writing an RNM story - can I use that?

The purpose of this Bang is to unveil a brand-new, completed piece on your posting date, however we are okay with you finishing your piece as long as you have not posted more than 2,000 words and do not post any more until your posting date. Since this Bang has a minimum word count of 5,000 words we are asking that no more than 2,000 words be posted prior to signing up, so that at least 80% of the fic is new.

Can I write a sequel to a previous story?

Yes, but the sequel needs to be able to stand on its own. Please make sure to link to the first story so readers can read that as well.

I want to gift my big bang to someone, can I? 

Big Bangs are not gift stories or exchanges, so your big bang must stand as itself. 

What genres are allowed?

All genres are allowed as well as crossovers, as long as Roswell New Mexico characters are the main characters of the story.

I've got two ideas in my head - can I write both?

Yes, you can, as long as you think you'll be able to finish both stories by the deadline (if you submit two stories we will do our best to make sure there is a good amount of time in between the posting of each fic).

Can I write the story with someone else?

Yes, you may co-author your big bang if you want to. The word minimum however for co-authored works is 7,000.

What an artist summary? 

An artist summary is written by authors to give a summary of the fic in a holistic manner. It will include all the main ships, main plot twists, trigger warnings, and any relevant tags for the artist to make an educated choice on making art for the work. The artist summaries are anonymous and only 500 words or less. 

What should my outline look like?

A fic outline is an overview of your story. You will need to list major scenes of the story all the way from the beginning to the resolution. The outline needs to show how you plan on finish the story so the mods and artists can anticipate the story.

Can I have an extension?

We will be granting extensions on a case-by-case basis for rough drafts as long as your final fic or art is in by the due date. We would hope, however, that you use the checkpoints and all your available writing time to its fullest.

If you think at any time you need an extension (whether fic or art) contact the mods right away so we can begin working it out with you.

What do I do if I am not sure I will finish my story but still want to try?

If, by the time rough drafts are due, you aren't sure if you will be done with your story and don't want to risk having an artist claim it only to have to drop out you can switch to the Unofficial track. This will mean your story won't be put in the claims post but if you can finish it by the time final drafts are due we will arrange an artist for you and you will post with everyone else.

Artist Requirements

What are the requirements for art?

Each story an artist claims is required to have at least one art of quality for each story they claim. If an artist decides to claim 3 stories, they will be required to create one piece of art for each story, so at minimum, 3 pieces of art. 

You’re creating something for a work that is at least 5k/10k in length, so we want the art to match that effort! Here are the suggested guidelines:

Traditional/Digital art: Cleaned lineart, on unlined paper, that is at least 500x500 pixels is the minimum. Additional sketchier/rougher pieces are welcomed so long as one piece of art is at the cleaned lineart stage!

Manips: Clean renders and non-blurry images that do not contain watermarks should be used for photo manipulation. 

Banners or Icons or Wallpaper: 5 icons, of at least 100x100 pixels. 3 banners. 1 wallpaper. More is of course always welcomed!

Picspam or Gifsets: At least 6 images, but more images, or multiple sets are welcome!

Vids: At least two minutes long, or a full song!

Fanmixes: At least 10 songs and include cover art (this can be a manip!).

What is an Art Claim? 

Art claims is the process through which artists and authors are paired for the big bang. Artists will have 3 days to review summary information provided by all the authors participating in the event. The claims process is anonymous, which means the artists have no idea who wrote which fic. On claims day, artists submit their top 5 choices and are matched with their first available fic. When matches are confirmed, the mods will email each team to introduce partners to each other. 

How do I make a claim?

On claims day, artists will receive a form to submit their choices. 

What happens if the number of authors doesn't match up with the number of artists or mixers?

We will do several rounds of claiming so that EVERY fic has an artist. In the event that fics outnumber artists, we will allow artists to make a second claim. If it's the other way, we may open up the fics so that more than one artist is assigned to the same fic. Either way, everyone who wants to participate will get to participate.

Can I post my art to my blog or another site to show my friends in advance?

No, we ask that you don't preview your art to anyone before the assigned posting date. You are allowed to show it to a few friends or an art beta, to get advice or feedback before the posting date, but please don't post it for the general public until your assigned posting date.

Where can I upload my graphics?

You are free to post your graphics on your platform of choice, as long as there is a link to the art in the fic.

How will I get my graphics to my author?

We will provide you with contact information once you are committed to an author. From there you can contact them to find out more about their interests, or simply send them the links to your final mix/gifsets/art.

We would like to encourage you to be in contact with them and to share what you make for them.

Schedule

What's a check-in?

Check-ins are something to give you a feel on where a typical author should be at in their writing process. There are multiple points of communication with the mods team to share your progress, ask questions, and share any comments you need to.

ALL CHECK-INS ARE MANDATORY! This is the best way for mods to track the progress of works and ensure works will be posted on time.

Why do artists get a check-in?

The artist check-in will be mandatory. This is mostly to make sure that artists have been in contact with their authors and that they are on track. It will help us determine which stories will need pinch hitters earlier.

Posting Requirements

What types of requirements are there for me to post my fic?

You must include a header with all the regular information (title, rating, wordcount, pairing, etc.) on it. This includes warnings. Not all of our readers like the same thing, so you are required to warn them. Besides that, you must include any secondary fandom you're writing in.

Do I post my story to this community or do the mods post it?

Anywhere you wish, so long as it is also in the RNM Big Bang AO3 Collection. Posting it there is how we will count your work as completed*.

*Artists will not be required to post to AO3, though it is highly encouraged. (AO3 isn’t great for hosting some types of art, like picspam or gif sets, we understand that!) If you are not posting your art to AO3, you must make sure the link to where you art is posted is provided to the author and linked within the author notes or story.

Can I post it to my blog a few days early to show my friends?

No, the first time you show your fic for this big bang must be on your reveal day. If you post in advance please lock the post for your eyes only.

If you have any other questions, please reach out to the mods team!