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renyen808 · 2 years ago

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Smile was Good...But it Could Be Better

Hey everyone! So, I have been bored at home, so I thought, why not check out the movies that I have been putting off for some time? So, since I have access to Amazon Prime, I watched the 2022 horror movie Smile.

(Credit: IMDb)

Smile was interesting, in that it was really great, and I did it a disservice by watching it at home and not in the theater when it came out, but I thought it had some issues storywise. I enjoyed the visuals and the cinematography is fantastic, but I feel the studio shot itself in the foot with the way they created the trailer. The advertisements for the movie were masterful, but the trailer did the film a disservice, thinking it was just another mediocre horror film that I do not need to watch. Ultimately though, it was a good, enjoyable watch, but it is heavy on its themes of guilt and trauma which may be too much for some viewers.

I loved the performances, especially Sosie Bacon as Rose, a therapist, who has the perfect balance of caring before shit hits the fan to a contained craziness that slowly gets bigger throughout the film. I also need to shout out Caitlin Stasey who, although she has a small role in the film, makes an impactful mark on the audience.

(Credit: Geek Girl Authority)

When it comes to horror films, I really enjoy it when it has fun along with the horror and gore, but this film is NOT FUN. Before moving on, I am going to drop both a CONTENT and SPOILER warning, as this film depicts heavy topics, such as suicide, depression, an animal death, and mental health issues.

Established in my first movie review post, I rate things on a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being the absolute best, and 1 being the absolute worst. I don’t do 1 to 5 because I am afraid I will do some dumb rating like 3.3 out of 5. So, for consistency, I will only use whole numbers to rate things.

(Credit: The Lantern)

For me, Smile is a 7 out of 10. While the film may be a bit too long and the story is a bit predictable, Smile is a surprisingly great film, with standout performances from different actors, the outstanding cinematography that catches the audiences’ eye, and the harrowing scares and scenes that stick with you long after the film is over. However, I believe that the ending of the film conflicts with the film as a whole, and that maybe the film would have benefitted from cutting out the ending and choosing to end at another spot. This is the end of my review, which means that I am now moving on to the spoiler summary part of my post. If this is where you are leaving us, thank you for taking the time to read my post! If you enjoyed reading it, share it with a friend who may also like it as well. Comments are always welcome, but keep it nice. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and shouldn’t be attacked because of them. If you want to hear audio versions of these articles, you can find them on my YouTube channel ‘Screen and Joystick’. Thank you for reading! See you in the next post!

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

So, we start the film on a woman lying down in bed, clearly dead from an overdose. We pan around the room, with pills and trash scattered all over the floor and a laundry basket filled to the brim, showing that the chores are still unfinished. We continue to pan to these family photos, where we see a mother (who is the woman on the bed), a father, and two daughters. The camera continues to pan to the door, where we see the youngest of the two daughters standing there, before it cuts to Rose in the present, waking up from a nightmare, played by Sosie Bacon.

If her name sounds familiar to you, Sosie Bacon is the daughter of Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick. I personally first saw her on the Netflix Original 13 Reasons Why, where she played Skye Miller, a love interest for Clay, but she exited the show on its second season. I really loved Bacon’s performance here, having only seen her play a grungy teen before.

Rose’s first patient in the movie is a man named Carl, who is muttering to himself about people dying. The nurse complains that he hasn’t gotten him to speak, so Rose sits next to him and tries to get him to talk to her. Carl tells her that he’s dying and that everyone is going to die, but Rose explains that he is just having another manic episode. This is when one of the themes start to play out. See, here Carl is explaining to his therapist, Rose, that he senses something bad around him, but she doesn’t seem to believe him, since she just chops it all up to being another episode that he is experiencing. The idea of the people you trust not listening to you is one of the biggest reasons why people do not look for help in the first place when it comes to their mental health issues because they will be seen as crazy.

Her boss, Morgan played by Kal Penn, chastises Rose for allowing another patient to stay even if she has no insurance, but Rose argues back that they, along with the board, should be more concerned about helping people, not the money. He is also concerned with Rose overworking herself. She is about to leave work, at the recommendation of her boss, when her phone rings, alerting her about a new patient that was just brought in, a woman named Laura. She is wheeled in on a stretcher, where she is seen struggling against the restraints outside the hospital. The nurse hands Rose a file on Laura, who is considered to be an urgent case. Laura was there at the hospital last week, after she witnessed her professor bludgeon himself to death right in front of her, Laura being the only witness. Rose meets Laura face to face, and we see she is the woman on the posters, played by Caitlin Stasey, who is reprising her role from a previous short film Laura Hasn’t Slept.

Laura is explaining to Rose the torment she is experiencing, explaining that this ‘thing’ has taken control of her life and her mind. It also said that she was dying today, and she panics as she is talking to Rose. Again, however, Rose is trying to ‘therapist talk’ the situation, prompting Laura to go into hysterics, since Rose clearly doesn’t believe her. She claims that she is not crazy, and that she saw her Grandpa die in front of her, similar to what Rose experienced with her mother in the opening scene. Laura also shares that the entity smiles at her, and not a friendly smile, but a sinister evil looking smile. It all comes to a head when Laura sees something attacking her, where she falls off her chair and breaks a pot. Rose doesn’t see anything, however, only seeing Laura crawling on the floor, and rushes to a phone to call for personnel. While she is calling for them, Laura’s screams end after she seemingly chokes on the floor, and she disappears while Rose is on the phone, and looks to where Laura was last.

(Credit: Empire)

She appears behind Rose, the evil grin she explained to Rose earlier about is on her face. In Laura’s hand is a piece of pottery, and as the music swells and becomes more sinister, she proceeds to stab her cheek and bring the weapon down around her neck, collapsing on the floor, still smiling. It then cuts to the opening credits, which I could not enjoy since it was strobing and flashing. I have a history of epileptic seizures and although I have not had seizures in years, I am still not used to flashes, but I do understand the uniqueness of this choice. The music is amazing in this film, adding to the tension and creating this sort of tension that can sometimes be let down by horror movies that people thought that Smile was going to become.

Rose is then interrogated by two police detectives, asking about what they knew about Laura prior to this visit. Detective Buckley, the one on her left, does most of the questioning, and is played by Perry Strong, while Joel, the other detective, is played by Kyle Gallner, and is interestingly not as talkative as his colleague. They ask Rose questions about what Laura might have been like from the position of an expert, but also using inappropriate lingo, such as saying Laura was a ‘head case’ and that she ‘sounds fucking crazy’. It then sharply cuts to an image of Laura’s body under some sheets, and we can see her wound on her neck is in the form of a smile, as the blood seeped onto the sheets. We cut to Rose going home after her questioning, a drone shot that follows her car and makes the world seem upside down for a second before cutting to the front of her house. Before we move on, I just want to shout out cinematographer Charlie Sarroff and editor Elliot Greenberg. They made the movie special for me.

She walks in the door and is welcomed home by her cat, Mustache. She is trying to relax from this awful day at work by taking a shower and opening up a bottle of wine. She drinks the whole glass and is staring off into space when she senses something, The camera pans over to across from her, where we see Laura smiling at her. Laura seems to be in some sort of mirror and Rose continues staring at her right as her fiance comes home. Her fiance is Trevor, played by Jessie T. Usher. Usher is well known for his role in The Boys TV show, playing Reggie Franklin or A-Town. Rose drops her wine glass when she hears Trevor and looks back towards where Laura was, only to see that it was a reflection off of their cabinets. Rose shares with him what happened to her at work, which explains her jumpy behavior. They embrace as she continues to share. Trevor reveals that they have dinner plans tonight, saying they can just bail on them, but Rose declines, saying Holly has already hired a sitter. Trevor goes to clean up the glass, and Rose stares off as it cuts to them at dinner with Holly and her husband. Holly is Rose’s sister, played by Gillian Zinser of 90210 fame and her husband is played by Nick Arapoglou. To be honest here, I do not like the husband. I just found him really annoying.

They are talking about their son, which Rose is zoning out of the conversation, until Holly asks if she is coming on Saturday to the boy’s birthday. Rose said she cannot since she has to work, which causes Holly to explain what she should be doing instead of working at the ‘gross hospital’. Greg begins to annoy me by saying that there are plenty of ‘crazies’ that will pay Rose for her time. Greg even says why become this kind of doctor if you can’t become extremely rich, but Trevor defends Rose, saying she would work in this field for free. It oddly cuts to this weird conversation with Rose and Holly’s family home. Holly wants to sell it, but Rose is not on board. Again, Greg annoyingly butts in with his two cents, and Rose explodes, telling them to ‘shut the fuck up’. Honestly, everytime Greg opens his mouth, I get angrier. They go home and Mustache greets them both at the door. Trevor arms the security system and follows Rose into the kitchen, who is giving Mustache his food in gross closeups of the wet food. He hugs her from behind, checking on her before she feeds Mustache.

(Credit: AMC Theaters)

It is the next day, and she goes back into work. She is making herself some coffee, and as a nurse tells her good morning, she awkwardly says morning back. She makes her way to the front desk and explains to the the Nurse running the front that she learned that the report of Laura’s other incident came in and asked for it to be forwarded to her and she asks about another patient she needs to see, but that one pulled her hair and ate it overnight, she is having her stomach pumped. Just then, one of the detectives from before, Joel, appears behind Rose and talks to her for a bit. It is revealed that they dated in the past and he seems to still harbor some caring feelings for her. Rose walks away after telling him he does not need to check up on her, and the Nurse explains that Rose is engaged, but that she was single, which was the only laugh I got throughout the entire film. Rose is looking at the Witness Statement Sheet from Laura’s case, which was about her Professor’s suicide. Rose reads the report, highlighting everything we knew before. Rose then takes a call from Holly, who apologizes for how she acted yesterday, where Rose apologizes. Rose looks out her window and sees a figure looking up at her, presumingly smiling. Holly explains that Rose could at least get her nephew a model train, along with the fact that Rose sounded weird to her.

Rose is walking down the pink halls of the hospital when she passes Carl’s room, and he is sitting upright and smiling at her. She steps back and into his room, Carl having an eerie smile. Rose asks how he is, but still continues to have that eerie smile. Rose walks in and starts snapping in Carl’s face, trying to break him out of this trance that he seems to be in. She calls his name a few more times as well. Carl then begins to repeat louder than yesterday the mantra of everyone dying, but it scares Rose when he starts saying ‘You’re going to die’ over and over again while staring right at Rose. She then calls for help from the nurses, who rush into his room and restrain him, but it is revealed that he was just lying down in his room, meaning that Rose hallucinated all of what just happened, and we start to see that she won’t be reliable anymore when it comes to her narration of events.

It cuts to Morgan, who stares at her with concern and disappointment. Rose shares what had happened, but Morgan does not believe her, saying he has never exhibited that kind of behavior she is accusing him of. Morgan believes that Rose may have overreacted thanks to the events of the previous day and decides that taking a leave of absence will be better in this case for Rose, since she has been working 80 hour weeks for months.

As Rose leaves the hospital, she's afraid, her breathing is heavy, and she closes the door to her car quickly to take a deep breath. We cut to another drone shot of the city upside down as we pan down to her car again, which is stuck in traffic, the music, again, giving off a wary vibe. She then goes to pick her nephew up a train toy for his birthday. Director Finn decides not to have the dialogue heard in the train store, opting to instead have just the music, which I believe gives it a more interesting, and deeply sinister feel, thanks to the melancholic tone of the chosen music.

Rose returns home and indulges in the same wine she did the night before, she also grabs some wrapping paper to wrap the gift in. She goes to grab herself another glass, finishes it, and drops the glass again in the same spot, thanks to a scare from their security system. The system blares through the house as Rose checks what’s wrong. She then manages to shut the alarm off after closing the front door. She gets scared again when the phone rings. She picks up the phone and it is from the security system company called, First Line Security, asking for her name and passcode. She gives it to them to confirm her identity, as the woman on the other line seems genuine at first, but slowly becomes scarier with her questions. Soon, it is clear that the person on the line may not be real, as she tells Rose to ‘look behind you’. Rose puts the phone down and slowly turns around. She then realizes she wasn’t on the phone at all, instead in another hallucination, and the actual phone call pulled her out of it. She answers the phone again, and with it being the real First Line Security lady, officers arrive at her home.

They searched the house and could not find anything. Rose asks about the back door, and I bring this up because this is the first instance of someone not really listening to Rose, since the cop just dismisses it and explains that maybe she didn’t close it, but we’ll never know if it was closed or not, thanks to Rose’ unreliable narration. Trevor soon shows up, after having to stay late at work, He then checks up on her as she makes Mustache his food. It is revealed that the alarm isn’t normally set that early, and that they usually set it after Trevor comes home, but Rose admits she doesn’t even remember setting the alarm. She calls for Mustache, but he is nowhere to be found, she hits his food bowl with a fork to find him. As Trevor and Rose talk, you can see there is some tension there. She goes outside to look for Mustache, holding his food and shaking it to get him to come home.

We cut back to Rose’s mom in bed after the overdose happened, with her mom gasping, scaring Rose awake. She then, stupidly in my opinion, starts listening to an audio version of the session she had with Laura. I believe this is a stupid decision because she is already facing a lot of repercussions thanks to what happened that day, and she is choosing to relive it through audio. I feel like this was just another way to try and scare the audience, which is fine, I guess, it just doesn’t sit right with me. Then again, I can also see the importance of this scene as Rose finally listens to Laura and what she has to say, although it is too late. Rose is listening to the audio with headphones, when she begins to hear whispering in the audio after she calls out for Laura. The whisper was saying “Rose’, but when Rose increases the volume, she doesn’t hear it, instead Laura, who looks decayed, screams her name into her ear, prompting Rose to fall out of her chair onto the ground. She scurries on the floor, terrified about what she just saw and grabs a knife to defend herself. Trevor wakes up and rushes to check on her, only to see Rose up against the wall armed with a knife. He panics and asks her to drop the knife, but the scene ends before she does so.

We cut to the next day, a woman coming into a building. This is Rose’s psychiatrist Dr. Madeline Northcott played by Robin Weigert. Madeline opens her door and is about to go in, when Rose reveals herself sitting on a nearby staircase. Madeline is surprised to see Rose, and welcomes her in. Rose then explains what happened with Laura, and we learn that Rose blames herself for her mom’s death. Rose actually comes to see Madeline to get some medication, but Madeline declines it, stating she wants to consult her again in a week. Rose also explains what is happening with her, Rose then heads home and prepares to go to her nephew’s party, where she puts on some makeup and she smiles to herself in the mirror, panicking a bit about what happened.

We cut to the party, where Rose is carrying the wrapped gift and Holly is excited to see her. We cut to everyone singing happy birthday, but in the middle of the song, it just gets stuck on birthday, everyone holding that note a little too long, making a joyful song sound creepy. It finishes with us unable to hear it, opting for a more sinister song. It then cuts to Jackson, Rose’s nephew, opening his gifts. Jackson then grabs Rose’s gift off the table and he excitedly opens the wrapping paper and the box. He pulls away the tissue paper, but instead of excitement, his eyes fill with horror. He then pulls out Mustache, dead and bloodied. Everyone at the party panics, and Rose, horrified, goes to Jackson and takes the dead cat away. Everyone at the party looks at Rose, scared as to why she would do this, her sister and brother in law especially upset. Rose continues to cry, not understanding what is going on. Rose is trying to defend herself, saying she’ll never do this, as the camera pans to the other patrons of the party, who look at her like she is crazy. She then turns to a woman sitting in a chair, giving her the exact same smile Laura had before she died. Rose locks eye contact with the woman before shouting at the being to leave her alone, scaring everyone at the party some more. She then cries for anyone to see the person, calling out Holly by name, before the woman appears in front of her and scares her, knocking her backwards through the glass coffee table. Rose screams out in horror as she sees her wrists and forearms have been bloodied thanks to her falling onto the table.

(Credit: IMDb)

We cut to Rose in the hospital, who looks like she is just done with everything. We see a poster on the wall that is a Pain Assessment Tool, which shows that a very happy face is no pain, but a very sad face is the worst pain possible. Obviously, this is about physical pain, not really emotional or psychological pain. Morgan learns that Rose is in the hospital and comes to check on her. By her body language, she is clearly not in the mood to talk to Morgan. She sees Trevor has arrived, with Holly out there already. Holly explains to him what happened as Morgan explains that Rose needs to talk to someone. Rose is too preoccupied with watching Trevor and Holly talk outside to answer Morgan, since Holly is frustrated with Rose’s behavior. We focus on Rose’s face for a second, before cutting to the zero pain tolerance face. We do not see her answer Morgan, instead we cut to Rose and Trevor arriving home in his car.

As they try to get out of the car, you can feel the tension between them, being able to cut through it with a knife. Rose explains to Trevor what is going on, with the monster threatening her. Trevor doesn’t believe her, being the second person that doesn’t listen to her. He begins to walk away and Rose is accusing him of not listening to her, to which he responds with how he should respond to what she is saying right now. Honestly, I can see why Trevor is reacting this way. If my partner were to say that they were being pursued by something they couldn’t see, it could be a bit overwhelming.

Trevor then comes to the conclusion that Rose may have inherited mental illness from her mom, saying it was genetic. I don’t agree with him on what he says afterwards, where he seems more concerned about keeping his image intact rather than making sure the love of his life is okay. They fight a bit more before Trevor goes back into the house, leaving Rose outside. It cuts to her inside her bathroom, looking at her face as she is losing sleep. Her wrists are bandaged up and she stares into the mirror and cries. Trevor is asleep on the couch while Rose takes the bedroom, where she continues to read the Witness Report from before. She learns the name of the professor that killed himself in front of Laura: Gabriel Munoz. She then hears her name echoed from the darkness of her bedroom door. The voice beckons her towards it, but Rose opts to stay in bed, ignoring the voice. The voice then becomes the voice of her mother, crying and begging for help.

The scene cuts to the next day, where Rose is crossing the street in front of a car, who calls her ‘crazy’. She then goes to the house of the Professor’s widow Victoria Munoz, played by Judy Reyes. She explains that Gabriel's behavior changed before it took a nosedive. She recounts how he went into a downward spiral, and was told by the police that her husband was gone. She then shows Rose some drawings he did, depicting what he was seeing, many showing a smile or a monstrous appearance. Victoria mentions that the being was trying to get inside him. She also reveals that Gabriel's brother died twenty years ago, and that he never got over his death. Rose asks when his behavior changed and Victoria told her it was after the conference he went to, where a woman killed herself in front of him. When Rose pushes Victoria and explains that her late husband is not crazy, Victoria stops answering questions and kicks her out.

Rose quickly leaves and decides to go to Joel’s apartment. She lets herself in and asks for a favor from him. She wanted to find out more about Gabriel and to see if he is in any other police cases. He helps her, looking up Gabriel in the system, and learns that the woman who killed herself in front of Gabriel was named Angela Powell. Rose then asks for him to look into her case and they find a security camera video of a man killing himself with a pair of garden shears right in front of Angela. They rewind the video and see the man smiling in the video.

The film transitions to Rose driving back home, her now having the evidence from Joel. She rushes into the house to show Trevor, but is then ambushed at home by him and Madeline, her therapist from earlier. Rose feels betrayed by Trevor since he called Madeline instead of helping Rose with her problems himself. Rose angrily storms out, slamming the door. This is the last we see of Trevor for the rest of the movie.

She then starts ringing a doorbell of another house, where we see Greg (ugh) open the door. She insists on talking to Holly, but Greg being an imposing idiot, thinks it is his decision whether or not Holly can talk to Rose. Holly pushes past him and hears her sister out. Rose tries to explain to Rose that she is cursed, but Holly clearly is not believing her. Rose tries to show her the evidence, but Holly, justifiable, freaks out after seeing dead bodies in those photos. Rose then tells her that she is not hearing her, and Holly breaks down, remembering their mom, and how she had a breakdown before she overdosed. Rose angrily asks how Holly would know that if she was never around, but Holly retaliates by saying that she got the worst of their Mom’s insanity. Rose angrily yells at Holly, to which Holly just walks back into the house, banning Rose from her house for traumatizing Jackson. Rose, regretting what she said, walks back to her car and tries to calm down, but we see Holly walk towards her car. Holly stops and knocks on her car, but it is one of the jump scares, as Holly’s head swings down to the window. Rose screams and swears in response, traumatizing Jackson some more as he looks at his aunt screaming in her car from the window in the house.

(Credit: ScreenGeek)

Rose is then enjoying some dinner from a diner after a cry sesh in her car when she receives a call from Joel. He tells her that the pattern goes back further than where they stopped. He found 20 cases involving 19 suicides connecting them all together. One case, Robert Talley, murdered a woman, where the key eye witness to the murder then commits suicide later, resuming the pattern. Joel drives Rose to go and talk to Robert, who is played by Rob Morgan, who I have seen in Stranger Things as Officer Powell and Tuke Barrett in Marvel shows such as Daredevil. Joel shares with Rose as well that the suicide vicitms don’t last more than a week after they witnessed the suicide, the least amount being four days after. Robert agrees to speak to Rose alone, so they kick Joel out of the room. He shares what happened with him, and that in order for her to survive, she must kill someone and ensure a witness is there to pass the curse onto, since it needs trauma to spread. Rose, under the guise that her patient has it, spills that she is actually the one that has it, which freaks Robert out and both Rose and Joel leave.

Rose decides not share what Robert told her to Joel, and they drive back in silence. Rose returns home, where she receives a call from Madeline, which she chooses to ignore. Rose continues looking at all of the case files, and nervously bites her nail, which results in her ripping the nail off and bleeding. She contemplates killing someone when her doorbell rings, a panning shot revealing it to be her therapist. Rose, at first, turns away Madeline, but after some convincing, allows her to come in. They sit across from each other on the couch, and Rose shares what’s been happening. During their talk, the phone rings, and it is revealed to be the real Madeline. The Madeline across from her is revealed to be the being chasing her, smiling at her and telling Rose her time is almost up. The being then starts to physically attack Rose, terrorizing her down the steps, grabbing her face, and roaring at her.

(Credit: IGN)

Rose is then shown to be in her car, at the hospital, with a knife. She hides the knife in her coat and makes her way inside, bypassing everyone with ease. She makes it to Carl’s room, where he is sitting with his back towards her and muttering to himself. He sense danger and frighteningly scurries into a corner, screaming no. Morgan comes in and sees Rose and Carl in the room. Rose unsheathes the knife and stabs Carl, and as the music gets crazier, she continues to stab Carl as they scream together. Morgan is screaming behind them, but he begins to peel his face, pulling Rose out of her dream. She is still in her car, where Morgan finds her outside. He confronts her and asks why she is there, and he tries to talk to her, but once he sees the knife, he panics. Rose frantically drives away as Morgan tries to talk her out of it. She decides that she needs to be alone, that way she can’t pass the curse onto anyone, so she begins driving. Joel tries to talk to her, but Rose doesn’t listen to him, opting to keep driving on to her destination and facing the thing alone.

She makes it to her old childhood home, the one Holly and her fought over weirdly in the beginning. It gives off Cabin in the Woods, in my opinion. In the car, Rose’s phone rings again, revealing it to be Joel. She decides to leave it and enter the house. The house looks abandoned, as if after her mom died, they moved. Rose goes through all the rooms, and turns to look at her mother’s bedroom, where she can hear sounds coming from. This can be seen as her facing her trauma of the past. It changes to that day her mom died, and a young Rose opens the door. It shows why she feels guilty about her mom’s death, since her mom explained that she made a mistake and that she needs to call for help, but Rose didn’t. Adult Rose looks at the room and looks around in sadness before closing it again. She then goes around the house, looking for sources of light, and anyway to keep herself inside and people out. At night, she lights the lantern and walks around.

Rose sits and waits for the being to attack her. She then hears her mom’s room open, and walks over there to investigate. She hears her mom sobbing as she approaches the door. She opens it and sees her mom sitting on the bed, sobbing. Rose enters the room and confronts her mom. She shared that her mom was a monster, and that she needed help, but it was a lot of pressure for ten year old her. Her mom begins showing off a creepy smile and Rose closes the door, but is stopped by the monstrous mom, which I wasn’t a fan of. The long limbed monster lady thing is just getting old to me. The only thing scary about the monster, in my opinion, is the face, with the creepiest smile I have ever seen on a humanoid thing. Rose is then attacked by the being, having landed on the floor and being choked by it. Rose retaliates by breaking the being’s arm and using the lantern, smashing it on the monster's head. Rose crawls back as the being catches on fire, screaming and catching the rest of the house on fire. Rose gets out of the house and leaves as it burns, not flinching when the windows burst open. We see Rose, who looks relieved and confident, then drives away, having gotten over her trauma. She then returns to Joel’s apartment, and he invites her in. Rose apologizes for dragging Joel into her mess and explains what she is afraid of. She also explains how Joel made her feel a certain way, and pushed him away as a result of it. She asks if he can stay with her while she sleeps, and he says of course, that he will stay with ehr forever, and this is where the film should have ended.

With this, you leave the ending of the film ambiguous, and you do not have the conflicting ending that I am about to explain. The ending is what brings the film down from an 8 or a 9 to a 7. There are many aspects that I did not like, which I will explain here. Joel smiles at her sinisterly, revealing that she did not, in fact, escape. Joel charges at her and she rushes out of the apartment and sees she’s back at her childhood home, actually running out of the front door. She also sees that Joel actually tracked her down, and she frantically runs back in, trying to protect him. Joel, stupidly, begins hitting the door, trying to break it down. Meanwhile, the monster mom returns, attacking Rose inside the house. The mother peels her face, revealing the monster's true form, which then breaks Rose’s mind. Rose falls to her knees and the monster begins crawling inside of Rose. Once Joel can break the door down, he doesn’t see Rose at first, instead he sees the lantern and her jacket. He then hears dripping and finds Rose pouring some sort of fluid on herself. She tosses the can aside and turns to look at Joel, the eerie smile across her face. He watches as she lights the match and then herself on fire. We only see her burn in the reflection of his eyes before it cuts to black. If you want to see the monsters true form, I am choosing not to show it here, you can look it up on Google.

Now, I have so many problems with this being the ending of the film, as it gives the message that people suffering from mental illness can never truly escape the trauma, since Rose thought she had overcome everything, but it was shown to be meaningless in the end, since she took her life anyway. Like I mentioned earlier, I believe ending the film when she reaches Joel’s apartment not only leaves the ending ambiguous, but it shows that you can overcome trauma, as she did with attacking the monster mom and burning her old childhood home. With all of that shackling her to her past, she could never truly move on and have a normal life, like Holly created. In the end, the ending not only conflicts with the film’s message of overcoming trauma, but undercuts it and leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

If you yourself are suffering from mental illness, please reach out to someone. Someone will listen, I promise you. You can even reach out to me and I will be the friend that you need.

With that, it is the end of my explanation and I thank you for reading this far! If you enjoyed reading my stuff, share it with a friend who may also like it as well. Comments are always welcome, but keep it nice. Everyone is entitled to their opinions and shouldn’t be attacked because of them. If you want to hear audio versions of these articles, you can find them on my YouTube channel ‘Screen and Joystick’. Thank you for reading! See you in the next post!

#horror films #smile #horror movies #2022 horror movies

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alleunwalk · 4 years ago

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tokyo revengers idol au hcs part 3 that no one asked for AGAIN here’s part 1 and part 2 to get a better understanding. this is what the members would be doing alongside their idol promotions+ what they would post on social media toman tbh these guys are all just so damn funny on their own that they would constantly be invited to comedy variety shows. maybe perhaps doing something similar to seventeen or wanna one where they even have their own variety show on youtube (ie. seventeen’s-going seventeen series or wanna one’s show on mnet) mikey-he would post basic food pics like of his parfaits or taiyaki but also it’s rare because he’d constantly forget his password. however on important days he’ll post long emotional and sentimental posts that hit you in your feels thanking his members and fans always. he also has a youtube channel posting random funny vlogs. draken- he has his own personal soundcloud to upload solo mixtapes/songs feat diff members. posts photos of his bikes and different tattoos he would be getting. responds with 1-2 words to fans during fansigns or ig comments but like mikey, once in a while, will also write heartfelt posts thanking everyone. baji- his ig feed is filled with animals + dance practice vids. also has his own soundcloud too. trolls his members by commenting on their stuff. “delete this u ugly mf no one wants to see this”. takemichi- very chatty, (sometimes too chatty where he’ll end up accidentally spoiling their next album info) and interactive on social media to his fans. tries his best to respond to most comments or ama ig stories questions. posts a lot of selfies and photos of his members. king of fan service. chifuyu- beautiful photos of the sky a lot on his ig (in canon he wanted to be a pilot :,) ) along with cute soft selfies. (which baji and kazutora troll and comment being like “damn....u ugly AF!” “lmao stop pretending to act cute u loser” kazutora- his ig is filled with pure chaos. just pics of him catching his members slipping (sleeping photos where they’re drooling or have their eyes slightly open or making ugly faces behind the scenes). also has photos of cursed memes and memes made by fans. he’s a literal enigma. mitsuya- very wholesome ig photos- lots of photos of his family, group photos, sometimes cool artsy edited selfies. occasional photoshoot photos. hakkai- ig is filled lots of #ootd photos and occasional photos from his modeling or acting gigs (he’s the visual, duh!) gets a lot of sponsorships from big brands. pah-chin: has a joint youtube channel with peyan. they do silly challenges but will sometimes post dance videos (feat. baji) since they’re the main/lead dancers. fans love him because of his “matter-of-fact” responses that are funny without even trying. (example- fan comment: omg i love u guys soooo much u guys are the best in the whole world!!!<333 toman OUTSOLD!. pah-chin: idk about best in the world but we’ll just take “the best in our neighborhood” for now i guess. thanks.”) peyan: joint youtube channel with pah-chin. at fan signs mikey has to warn him to chill out cuz peyan will accidentally yell and scare fans without meaning to, but he’s just really excited to meet his fans is all ^_^ angry: posts a lot of wholesome photos like mitsuya (selfies with smiley) and writes a lot of motivational sweet captions cheering fans up and reminding them to always be happy :,) smiley: joint youtube account with angry. smiley does a lot of prank videos and angrys just usually in the back like 🧍‍♂️... he also does tiktok- he would be doing all the dances, memes, and trends. inui: ok hear me out, i mentioned before inui has similar vibes as cha eunwoo so i’d figure his ig would give the same vibe as his (iykyk). since he’s the other visual he would be getting a TON of acting and modeling gigs. idk why but i feel like inui would be a great actor (his facial expressions during tenjiku arc, the range!). actor of the year. gets a lot of skincare commercial deals too.

black dragons shinichiro- photos of bikes, cars, and photos where hes pretending to do a cool pose but his members (+mikey) would troll and comment “LAME!!!!!” “why tf do u look like that?” “hey leader, it’s not too late to delete this now bestie :)” does fun ig lives. on variety shows as a joke his members tease him there as well. really great at fan-service and pulls the whole “pretend boyfriend” scenario with fans (the delusional fans are gonna act up if he keeps this up...). taiju- (if shinichiro did not exist in this au OR if you wanted both in the group) photos of him at the gym, photoshoot photos. inui- similar to if he was in toman, his ig would just be a lot of cool and cute photos of him from behind the scenes of dramas or photoshoots. a soft visual king. occasional selfies with koko and bike photos. kokonoi- has a personal youtube channel but he would be Drowning in sponsorship videos all from high-end designer brands. he’s just casually flexing that PPL in his vlogs. ig feed is a lot of #ootd photos or pics taken with inui. him and inui would be makeup brand ambassadors or faces of brands (ex: like jennie from blackpink represents chanel). in this case kokonoi would be the face of fendi (he wears fendi slides in the manga cover) and inui would be the face of jimmy choo (his heels in the manga cover looked like jimmy choo but i could be wrong.. but u know what i mean)

tenjiku izana- pretty leader has a very artsy ig feed. extremely photogenic like inui. has photoshoot photos and candid pose photos. acts in dramas time to time (gg second male lead syndrome). kakucho- posts gym or dance practice videos on his feed but he posts rarely because he’s just too busy or forgets he actually has an ig. loves commenting on takemichi’s posts “haha no wonder ur called baka-michi!” as a joke. kanji- posts gym photos but it’s rare because he always forgets his password. ran- the other visual. he would be modeling for high-fashion brands and go on runway shows. also definitely gives off actor vibes (he would be constantly casted in dark action movies hahaha). loves giving fan service. rindou- in contrast to his brother, rindou when it comes to fan service, he loves trolling fans. also he’s really good at drawing a line between fans (y’know, keeping the delusional ones in check...which means he ‘friend-zones’ them but it’s for their own good tbh idols need to remind people their boundaries). has a youtube channel where he just posts random dance practice vids and occasional vlogs. also comments under his brothers ig posts “you look stupid af in this wtf”. on variety shows people find their brotherly banter hilarious. mutou- posts gym photos, also really awkward selfies (he doesn’t know what his angle is lmao). another member who also reminds fans of their boundaries and keeps it real. (sanzu always likes his photos though and hypes him up in the comments). sanzu- shy baby. constantly following mutou around. posts a lot of cute selfies and random pics of shogi stuff (he tags mutou in it of course). during fan signing/autograph sessions they love putting cute headband props on him like this or this.

bonten because this group’s concept and aesthetic is mysterious, mature, artsy, gloomy, and dark they will take this concept to the grave. (minus a few exceptions) they are invited to variety/talk-shows but never make an appearance because they want to keep the air of mystery around them. (it’s a good marketing technique). mikey- does not have any social media. he does have a private account to lurk around but no one knows what it is. kokonoi- has a youtube channel but it’s locked and you have to pay to get into it. posts super short vlogs and teasers. thats it. (the ultimate scam! but their fans love them too much to notice). lots of sponsored #ootd posts on ig. kakucho- he would be modeling ONLY high fashion brands and high end editorial places. his instagram is just his exquisite and expensive modeling photos whether it be candid backstage photos from shows, candid runway walk pics/vids, pics of diff photoshoots you name it. doesn’t really comment much. ran- visual. similar to kakucho- modeling ONLY high fashion brands and editorial places. instagram is filled with modeling photos but also some artsy scenery pics he took. rindou- posts short artsy dancing clips (like modern dances in black&white filter) on ig. sanzu- since he’s the other visual, he also posts a lot of his modeling/acting photos on instagram. also pretty chatty (he’s the exception) on social media and loves teasing and trolling fans. posts with a lot of random cute emojis on everything. “just ate lunch and now im off to practice hehe 🍜🍇🤟💃🤠🧚‍♂️💞🦋” no one really knows why he uses random emojis but it’s just endearing lmao. kanji- no social media at all. akashi- manager....or if you made him the rapper in this au then he too would also not have any social media.

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multi-lefaiye · 2 years ago

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hello hi please try and explain tribe twelve to me maybe? :3 I have never heard of it before and your rambles are always a delight

hello hi thank u for the ask!!!!! <3 and thank u for the support heehoo

time for another installment of Multi Tries To Explain Some Semi-Obscure Piece Of Media He Enjoys Or Feels Some Level Of Nostalgia For

to start, clarifying: i'm just here to talk about the characters and the story and i'm gonna avoid the creator himself as much as possible, b/c uhh i don't want to touch that with a ten foot pole, i just like the funky little fictional people and some of the concepts this series touched on.

SO tribe twelve is an older horror unfiction series on youtube--essentially, a series that operates under the idea that the story depicted Is Really Happening in an alternate reality, of sorts, but the story itself is still 100% fictional. if that makes sense. or, as one definition i read put it: unfiction pretends to be telling a real story, but it is still ultimately fiction--the audience just isn't TOLD that it's fiction.

(also i do have some thoughts on unfiction as a genre as a whole i might share at some point, but yeah they play with unreality in a very literal way.)

(putting the rest under the cut b/c this got long)

anyway tribe twelve is one of the older unfiction pieces, and it was pretty influential on the genre as a whole in my opinion. it's not the first, but it was on the scene early. it's also a big part of what's referred to as the slenderverse, i.e. media based around the slenderman creepypasta (think marble hornets).

actually marble hornets was a huge inspiration for tribe twelve, especially in the beginning lmao- it moved away from that influence more as the series progressed, but at first. it was obvious (and actually if i remember right, it was originally meant to just be a short parody of marble hornets, but then the creator decided to make it more original.)

tribe twelve centers around the protagonist, noah maxwell, as he unravels a big mystery in his family, starting with the mysterious death of his cousin milo. as the series progresses, noah catches the attention of a group known as the collective, who have been tormenting his family for many, many years.

the story is told via a series of what are essentially vlogs noah uploads that document his experiences as the collective begin following him and tormenting him. the unfiction element is that, in-universe, the channel is noah's and he is the one posting the videos. also should be noted that there's a twitter account and i think a blog that go with the videos and following along those helps you understand the story better as well. (there also was, funny enough, a vine account that had some lore lmao. remember when vine was a thing?)

there's ALSO a series of videos on the channel that are uploaded by the collective themselves, and those are kinda what the series is most known for. those episodes have a very distinct visual/editing style, even if they're usually just kinda Spooky without advancing the plot much (at least at first).

i also want to note, one thing that i think is kinda interesting is that the creator's identity as a jewish man was ultimately REALLY important to the storyline in many ways--the main characters are all jewish as well and this ties into the plot and the history of the collective in a way that i think is pretty neat. there's a lot more relating to that but i'm not sure if i feel personally equipped to type up a whole analysis of that aspect of the series, or even really to start a discussion about it.

as the series progresses, the timeline deliberately gets really fucky and confusing and honestly i'm not even fully sure what's going on in a lot of aspects. there are like three alternate timeline versions of noah running around as major characters that all have distinct personalities and it's Wild. i don't think all of them have names, but i still love firebrand. he's great <3

also the series was never finished and at this point isn't going to be </3 the creator has, afaik, abandoned the series entirely after Shit Happened and while i think he might've posted the plans for the rest of the storyline somewhere, the series itself is dead in the water.

ALL THIS TO SAY. i don't know how much sense any of this makes. i really enjoyed tribe twelve because it touches on really interesting themes, imo, about the nature of reality and destiny and the idea of fighting back against your own fate. i'm still a little feral over the concept the series presents about like... your future self intervening to save you from a terrible fate that befell them, in the process completely destroying the timeline and even reality itself.

ok yeah there's a lot i could say about this series and i don't really know where to go with this so uhhh just know. noah was the true first member of my collection of dark-haired horror men in distress that give me gender envy. i rewatched an episode of this series recently, and it was one where there's a shot of noah all sweaty and bloody and looking in the mirror and all i could think was "give me your gender."

#talk to the bunnykitty #logan!!!#that's your new tag for now ok #anyway uhhhhh yeah this series. wow.#i have a lot i want to say but i don't know how to say any of it #it's very nostalgic for me but associating with it is a weird experience now #just b/c the creator is. Not A Good Person #anyway i will see myself out #(also to anyone reading this. do not come into my askbox with discourse about this. i will cry so hard.)

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seeksstaronmewni · 3 years ago

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The Bear Roots of Burbank Cartoons: A Lookback at Boo Boo Runs Wild

5 years ago, [adult swim] aired the greatest of all Yogi Bear / Ranger Smith episodes, “Boo Boo Runs Wild” (1999), on August 13th, 2016 A.D. at 4 AM.

Look and see, kids, how America’s not-so-average bear connects in the wide world of animation that produces many of the cartoons that you love in Burbank, Canada and more!

As and after I saw it, I knew that I found the greatest band of cartoonists out there, and that greatest band of cartoonists out there was none other than...

Spümcø, whose many creatives would end up working at Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Cartoon Network Studios, and many other popular Burbank and Canadian studios that made the cartoons I grew up and beyond watching.

Obviously, the character design is rather different, but they still look like the right characters, even with the slight color changes...

and with their items of human attire out. Ranger Smith, on the other hand...

Ranger Smith is wildly off model, and probably on purpose, throughout the picture.

Only in one scene appears he with a more familiar face.

Now, I didn’t have to watch Wild Kratts (which, by the way, features 6 Spümcø Canada creatives) to learn that “there’s only one thing a bear likes more than raiding a pic-a-nic basket.”

As the title suggests, Boo Boo loses his temper when Ranger Smith restricts him from tearing bark and decides to go primal in returning to his bear roots: “From this day forth, I’ll not dress in the man’s attire, and I’ll not speak in the man’s tongue. From now on, it’s going on all fours and grunting for me!”

Boo Boo wreaks havoc for the trees with his natural bear roots.

Unlike past episodes, however, the artists went far wilder than the usual Hanna-Barbera cartoon, making the trees alive and screaming in pain! OH, WHAT TOURTUE! Not to mention how I love Boo Boo’s goofy/manical laugh, a beautiful product of John Kricfalusi’s voice (Yes; I know that he was a formerly abusive megalomaniac who still has ADHD, but God knows what cartoons would be like today—at least those produced in Burbank and Canada—if it wasn’t for the many layout artists that he led).

Also unnatural to a Hanna-Barbera cartoon is the extreme levels of slapstick, wackiness and graphic nature of cartoons since such shows as Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, Beany and Cecil’s DiC reboot, and The Ren & Stimpy Show. Boo Boo and now Cindy Bear are licking away at all of the honey... and bees... with insanely long tongues (may be that they’re sloth bears?). This left Yogi Bear practically speechless.

The mere sequence of dialogue between Yogi and Ranger Smith, discussing what to do about Boo Boo, involved HEAVY work in the storyboards by Vincent Waller. So many expressions that they couldn’t fit in each of Spümcø’s 3-panel storyboard pages!

As you see, in addition to Vincent Waller’s storyboards, John K. added extra poses (storyboard revisions more or less, but definitely layout poses) under the respective scenes. That way, Vincent could focus on telling and writing the story in rough pictures. (source of storyboards)

I also love the sound design. While it’s definitely true to a Hanna-Barbera cartoon, John K. and the late Henry Porch were very creative with some weird, dated and out-of-context sound effects, similar to what they and Horta Editorial did on The Ren & Stimpy Show in the first two seasons. The production music (probably APM and Capitol Records) also gave it a vintage, nostalgic feel.

Ultimately, with the aforementioned abusive megalomaniac aside, Spümcø undoubtedly harbored some of the finest animators and artists ever. Such names as Bob Jaques (Spongebob Squarepants, Buy One, Get One Free*, The Baby Huey Show), Ben Jones (DC Super Hero Girls, Cats Don’t Dance, Teen Titans GO!), Vincent Waller (Spongebob Squarepants, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog), Albert Lozano (Inside Out, A Kitty Bobo Show), Todd White (Spongebob Squarepants), Eric Koenig (Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Madagascar, Cats Don’t Dance, The Simpsons, and The Tigger Movie), and Erik Wiese (Samurai Jack, The Mighty B!) are among the hundreds of creatives who ended up almost everywhere working in Burbank and Canadian animation.

Other names on the Spümcø team that one might recognize include Gabe Swarr (Dexter’s Laboratory, The Buzz on Maggie, Foe Paws, El Tigre), and even background artists such as Richard Daskas ( @rdaskas - Samurai Jack, Time Squad, Sym-Bionic Titan, Batman Beyond), Richard Ziehler-Martin (Tiny Toon Adventures, The Wacky World of Tex Avery), Hector Martinez (Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse, Timone and Pumba, Captain N, Evil Con Carne, Dora the Explorer), and Tony Mora (MAD, Teen Titans GO! to the Movies, Pickle and Peanut). I mean: in short, these artists worked for Warner Bros. Animation, Disney Television Animation and Walt Disney Feature Animation, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network Studios!

Spümcø’s production assistants on Boo Boo Runs Wild feature Matt Danner —a fantastic character designer, storyboard artists, director and producer, whose credits range from (Johnny Test and The Legend of the Three Caballeros to Team Hot Wheels and The Looney Tunes Show—and Cartoon Brew editor Amid Amidi. Brian A. Miller was an executive in charge of production, not for but probably in association with Cartoon Network.

Spümcø’s creatives, as I said, are all over the place in Burbank animation. Other shows that still air on @adultswim have ex-Spümcø creatives. For example: today’s re-run of Samurai Jack EPISODE XVI features Chris Reccardi (The Powerpuff Girls, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy)...

Scott Wills (Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal, The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat)...

Lynne Naylor-Reccardi (The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show, Wander Over Yonder) and Jim Smith (YooHoo and Friends, Tom and Jerry Tales, McGee and Me)...

and Leticia Lacy (TRON: Uprising, Sym-Bionic Titan, Wander Over Yonder, Korgoth of Barbaria).

Even outside of Cartoon Network Studios, where most ex-Spümcø artists end up, @cartoonnetwork’s The Amazing World of Gumball, from Cartoon Network Studios Europe (AKA Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe), features ex-Spümcø artist Charlie Bean (The Powerpuff Girls, Robotboy, Batman: The Animated Series, Timone and Pumba, Creature Crunch) on The Cartoon Network Europe Development Team.

One of Cartoon Network’s biggest and craziest hits, Teen Titans GO!, also features such ex-Spümcø artists as storyboard artist, director and producer Luke Cormican (The Buzz on Maggie, Brandy and Mr. Whiskers, Brickleberry, The Replacements, El Tigre)...

Gerald de Jesus (The Book of Life, The Ricky Gervais Show, TMNT)...

and Eric J. Pringle (Fosters’ Home for Imaginary Friends, The Problem Solverz). What wacky cartoon filled with live-action images, unpredictable visual gags and extreme slapstick humor wouldn’t?

Relatively, you could even tune in to Nickelodeon, the original home of Spümcø’s ground-breaking hit, The Ren & Stimpy Show, and see names of creatives associated with Spümcø and Ren & Stimpy, such as Zeus Cervas (Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Spongebob Squarepants, Clarence) on today’s episode of The Patrick Star Show...

or even Gabe Del Valle (Mighty Magiswords, Spongebob Squarepants) on today’s episode of Middlemost Post!

Overall, Boo Boo Runs Wild introduced me to the cartoon studio whose works I took for granted and on which I was missing out all of my life, and I strongly encourage this generation to support this Yogi Bear / Ranger Smith episode, which you can watch RIGHT NOW on [adult swim]’s site. It was officially on their YouTube channel, but it was removed for unknown reasons. This short never even got a DVD or VHS release!

The last televised airing of Boo Boo Runs Wild on [adult swim] so far was January 6th, 2019 A.D., but Spümcø also produced “A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith” and “Boo Boo and the Man” (based on true events in the life of John Kricfalsui) for Cartoon Network.

As I come to a close, it’s worth noting that layout Ed Benedict, an animator and artist whose credits go all of the way back to the 1930s with Disney and continued with MGM and Hanna-Barbera/Cartoon Network Studios, originally worked on Yogi Bear episode “Yogi’s Birthday Party” as a layout artist, and reprised that very role for “Boo Boo Runs Wild”. What a legacy the animators and artists of this episode leave!

Always will I remember how Spümcø, whose legacy connects to my Cartoon Network-infused childhood, blessed me and graced me that fateful day, August 13th, 2016 A.D., with the ultimate example of the fine art of cartooning that is the Yogi Bear / Ranger Smith episode “Boo Boo Runs Wild”. I was living in the moment, and I thank God for it.

“For years they have [been] asking me to make new Yogi cartoons, but I can’t even get a half a million [dollars] to make one, probably because I actually like the characters, but 60-70 million $ to make walking corpses is economical.” - John Kricfalsui on Yogi Bear (2010)

Another Ranger Smith, Boo Boo or Yogi Bear cartoon from the people behind The Ren & Stimpy Show is highly unlikely today, due to the abuse and harassment of John K. angering the world to the point of hating and condemning the man who helped to shape not only Cartoon Network but also television animation—and animation as a whole—with an undeniable legacy of artists and animators who deserve way more credit and respect than we perhaps thought of giving as kids.

Tweet version of this post here.

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ghostbustermelanieking · 4 years ago

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oddly specific memories i have of listening to tma

in honor of the finale, and because i am a sentimental asshole, i bring you this potentially uninteresting and completely pointless list. i'm gonna miss this show a lot

half my original reasoning for listening to the podcast was to motivate me to walk on the treadmill. this did not work. but i did it the first time, when i was going through the trailers and anglerfish, and i remember the room where my dad keeps the treadmill is really dark and the spooky chanting sort of freaked me out

after the treadmill, i ended up listening to the bulk of the first four episodes on the couch, and halfway through i let my oldest cat, winnie, who always lived outside (i know, i was very against actually keeping her outside) in the house. and she jumped up on the couch with me, which she literally never did. (she was very grumpy and not super affectionate.) i had that cat since i was five, and she passed last june, and i really miss her. quarantine kind of gave us the opportunity to hang out with her a lot, because we were home so much. so i'm glad these memories are kind of intersected in my mind. (below: a pic i have from that day.)

my friend sarah relistened along with me the first time around, which was extraordinarily sweet of her, and also led to some interesting interactions. for example: she forgot when it was revealed that sasha was dead, so she accidentally spoiled that for me when i asked when the others would find sasha (and i spent all of season 2 just like. anxiously vibrating over this fact). she also made this post, when i was still in like early first half of season 1, and my immediate thought was "oh no martin is dead." i hadnt even MET martin at this point

back in early quarantine, my mom had this rule that we had to do something new every day (to keep away the depression... ha ha). anyways, all i wanted to do in my free time was sit around and listen to tma (and also watch this show i was into on netflix), so i came up with some lame excuses, one of which was "i'll give myself a pedicure." this led to the memory i ultimately associate with mag 56 (trevor herbert 2) being me sitting out on our roof balcony thing, giving myself a horrendous pedicure

another time, my family wanted to go play tennis, and they brought me along and brought a hammock for me to lay in. there was this excess material from the hammock, and the sun was in my eyes, so i ended up pulling it up and over me to block the sun and creating this ridiculous hammock cocoon thing. one of the episodes i listened to that day? "tucked in."

before i ever started the show, my friend sarah stayed with me while i was pet sitting. i remember when she got there, she'd just listened to 150 and was telling me how freaky it was (she was still trying to get me into the show), and she was like "of course we're staying on a CUL DE SAC." (that was also the weekend she watched us for the first time and was very upset because i slept through the whole thing, which is scary when you're staying somewhere by yourselves.) anyways, i spent the whole show waiting for the scary cul de sac episode

while i was listening to the show for the first time, my step-dad (an artist) started painting an EYE on the door downstairs near my bathroom. a fucking EYE. he didn't finish it til i had finished the show. but still weird!!

i binged like 12 episodes in one day to finish season 4, which is not impressive at all, but it's still my personal record. i just remember staying up late in my dark bedroom (til like.... 11 i'm lame and i go to bed early), listening to like 158 & 159 & 160 and just being knocked on my ass by how good it all was... i was SUPER spoiled by this point, through my own fault, and i knew exactly what was coming, but actually experiencing it was nuts

the second week i listened live was 167, where the public release was delayed by a couple hours by accident. i spent like 20 minutes refreshing spotify, thinking it was broken, before going on tumblr and seeing what the deal was. (and 167 remains one of my favorites of s5 because i remember just going "thank god it was worth the wait.")

this one car ride where sarah and i made some of our friends listen to the first three episodes of the show. it was the middle of the night and we were just like blasting down i40 listening to anglerfish and do not open etc

the night the what the ghost episode publicly dropped was the night after my graduation, and i was sleeping out on the couch in the living room so my grandfather could sleep in a bed. it was super dark, and i am a jumpy person, and i Remember being mildly disgusted with myself because the corny sound effects were actually freaking me out. (i think i mightve actually seen something weird that night, maybe, but that's another story.)

the weekend my parents moved me into college, we couldn't get the cable in the house we were staying in, and we were all sitting around doing nothing, so i jokingly suggested starting tma with them, and they were like ok grace. my step-dad promptly fell asleep and my mom zoned out -- which is probably good, she doesn't like horror and she's super claustrophobic, so it's probably better we never got to do not open

my brief roommate in college talked about how she was into those youtube channels where people just read scary stories, so of course i was like try tma out. so she listened to the first episode on her own, and we were out one night, and she started mag 02 while i went into an ice cream place. she was into it (she kept being like open it, ya pussy) and wanted to keep listening while we went home, and even back in our room. i had only been in town for a couple weeks, and barely knew my way around, but i also didn't want to turn the gps on and be interrupted every five seconds. so i tried to find our way back on my own. it took the entirety of mag 03, and into mag 04, before i did it. so now i will forever associate across the street with all those wrong turns i took in a dark, semi unfamiliar city, trying to get back to our college without a gps

the day of the early drop for 179 was the day i moved back home from college -- a five hour drive by myself. i ended up listening to it on the final stretch of the trip, when i was super tired and it was dark and i knew it'd probably be a crazy episode. just me full blasting down i40, drinking an energy drink (which i never do) through a hole punched in the top, listening to daisy's death

186 early dropped the day after initial u.s. election day (when we still didn't know anything). my mom had set up a "watch party" in the living room with these giant air mattresses, and we all sort of spent the day crowded around the TV watching the numbers. not much of a memory, but i remember sitting on that air mattress and listening to martin's monologue in the midst of that messy week

i had a virtual therapy appointment on the day of 187's early drop, and my dad was home, so i drove to an empty parking lot to do the session in some privacy. i was trying to listen to the episode before the session started, so i ended up listening to the last half sitting in my car, in the pouring rain, just staring at my radio in shock (187 remains one of my favorite s5 episodes)

my friend sarah had just come home for winter break the day 189 dropped, and we decided to listen together, just like driving around in circles drinking coffee and listening and speculating on whether or not that was really martin

i started my relisten right after thanksgiving and was just kind of blowing through fast as i could through the whole of december. i had to go back to college to empty out my dorm, and i went to the beach after, and i ended up listening to mag 11 while just like walking around in circles in the tide pools. the closer it got to christmas, the more christmassy i wanted to keep things, so i would like. listen in the mornings and turn on one of those Netflix fireplaces and get all cozy

my other friend went with me on a mini bagel road trip in december, and he was still trying to get caught up, so we listened to mag 169, 170, and 171 on the drive home. (by this point, i was accustomed enough to s5 and smiting scenes to automatically reach for the volume controls when jude perry and jared hopworth died.)

when i relistened to mag 47, i was sitting with my cat beezus. i paused the episode to write this big long meta, so i was in a different headspace when i pressed play again. jon immediately yelled for sasha and i immediately jumped, and beezus gave me a searing glare and just got up and left

i relistened to piecemeal while i was cooking, which i thought was kind of funny and also disgusting

after christmas, i got into the habit of bringing my cat georgia into my room in the mornings, and she'd crawl under the covers with me while i listened to tma

one story i've always liked to tell from my first listen is how when i first listened to the meat arm grinder episode, my dad asked me to help him cook hamburgers later that day and explained how hamburgers are ground up (to my disgust). i hit meat grinder in my relisten and um. you'll never fucking guess what i made for lunch that day

so i had all these arbitrary rules for myself when i started tma last april, and i've broken like all of them. i started listening to tma while virtually working -- you just pull it up on your computer and it works. (i got the life scared out of me when one of my coworkers started talking over the podcast, wondering who it was that had walked into jon's office and why he wasn't reacting and why i didn't remember it.) i also started listening a lot while driving, which led to several long meta posts i wrote being typed up in a parking lot somewhere

i spent the entirety of 194 anxious-cuddling georgia. (i tried to do this for 198 and then didn't have any anxiety to cuddle her over.) i fully plan on doing this for 200, where i am sure i will need it again

my favorite place to listen to tma probably ended up being the roof room at my mom's, and unless something goes awry, this is where i will listen to the finale. (with georgia, of course.)

this list is super uninteresting, like i said, but here it is. i'm gonna miss this show a lot. i can't wait to return to it, later in life, and make all new listening memories in the process

#the magnus archives #personal #food mention tw #pet death tw

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aion-rsa · 3 years ago

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Army of Thieves Review: Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead Universe Gets Second Helpings

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Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead universe is expanding, and not in all the ways you expect. The first movie, which involved time loops, robots, aliens, and even copulating zombies, unsurprisingly left viewers with lots of questions, but don’t expect this universe’s sophomore outing to deliver any of the answers you’re looking for. Instead, Army of Thieves is a prequel that largely ignores the zombie-infested hell of Las Vegas, and it’s all the better for it.

Green lighting a prequel before the first movie had even dropped always seemed a bit presumptuous on Netflix’s part, but the connections between the two films are so minor that it hardly matters. Director and star Matthias Schweighöfer (who plays master safecracker Ludwig Dieter in both Army films) has made an entertaining heist movie that stands on its own two feet.

Army of Thieves is really an origin story for Ludwig, arguably Army of the Dead‘s best, most likable character. Six years before Ludwig joins Scott Ward’s expedition into post-apocalyptic Las Vegas, the quirky safecracker is living in Berlin, working a dull office job, and running a YouTube channel nobody watches. His life is a boring routine, but he dreams of conquering the Ring Cycle, a series of legendary bank vaults created by a grand master locksmith that have never been cracked. Ludwig has learned everything there is to know about these mythical vaults and has even put in countless hours of practice into unlocking whatever he can get his hands on. In a flashback, we even learn that while other kids were playing outside, Ludwig was in his room cracking small safes. That someone would dream of becoming a safecracker from a young age seems a little outlandish but it works when the character is as weird and meticulous as Ludwig Dieter.

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Unfortunately, becoming a master safecracker doesn’t seem like an attainable dream for Ludwig — until he meets the mysterious Gwendoline (Game of Thrones‘ Nathalie Emmanuel) who offers him a new gig that will change his life and put him on the path that will eventually lead to Vegas. Along with genius hacker Korina (Ruby O. Fee), action hero wannabe Brad Cage (Stuart Martin), and constantly hungry driver Rolph (Guz Khan), Ludwig and Gwendoline set out to find the Ring Cycle and steal all the money inside.

Yes, it’s a trope-y, by-the-numbers heist movie, and not a particularly original script from Army of the Dead co-writer Shay Hatten, but Thieves sort of knows it and doesn’t take itself too seriously. In fact, it happens to be pretty funny movie, thanks to Schweighöfer excellent comedic timing and warmer outlook on life in juxtaposition to his much colder comrades, who play things straight despite how increasingly ridiculous their caper set pieces get. The movie is light on the gritty (sweaty) tone of its predecessor, and that’s a better fit for a character like Ludwig, who felt like an underdeveloped, comedic relief redshirt in the original but is fully fleshed out here and in his element. Despite its over two-hour runtime, Ludwig and the gang’s romp around Europe feels relatively breezy (although 20 minutes or so should have probably been excised anyway).

Army of Thieves isn’t just a showcase for Schweighöfer’s talent as a charming comedic actor but also as a promising director. While his predecessor used some…unusual camera techniques for the original, Schweighöfer goes for something much cleaner this time around, including shots of beautiful European vistas that would feel right at home in a James Bond movie. Some of the action sequences are better than others, but Schweighöfer does deliver a few standout moments, such as a fight scene with Emmanuel in the cavernous depths of a heavily guarded bank.

Ultimately, the best parts of Army of Thieves are the performances, from Schweighöfer’s nervous genius, to Fee’s sarcastic hipster hacker who also moonlights as a DJ, to Martin’s try-hard gunslinger who often feels like a tongue-in-cheek nod to some of Snyder’s own characters. There’s also Jonathan Cohen as a loser Interpol agent named Delacroix who is always two steps behind Emmanuel’s calculating master criminal. This ensemble is fun to watch, even if some characters feel more fully realized than others. I would have liked to spend a bit more time with sandwich-loving Rolph, who feels more like a henchman than a real member of the team. His intro sequence is cool, though.

As I said, if you’re mostly in it for the zombies, Army of Thieves won’t really scratch that itch. Yes, the movie nods to things going on in Sin City but you won’t be spending any real time there. In many ways, this prequel feels like the start of a spin-off series starring Ludwig and friends, and judging from the quality of this first outing, I’d definitely say more vaults await.

Army of Thieves is out on Netflix on Oct. 29.

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dopescotlandwarrior · 4 years ago

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Sinners & Saints-Chapter 13

A special thank you to @statell for your help and wisdom

Previous chapters on AO3

Chapter Thirteen (nsfw)

In Washington DC, Hesser’s second in command watched the crime scene, grinding his teeth. The forensic team worked quickly to finish before dawn to keep a lid on this. They had not prepared for a tourist with insomnia who wandered the streets of the Capitol taking pictures with his phone. A week later the man and his family were back home in Flint Michigan where it would take another several days for him to review the shots of their vacation.

The pictures were sent to the Washington Post where they were forwarded to the CIA without printing them. They were also sent to a popular political vlogger who devoted a ten-minute stream showing the pictures and sharing his guesses like they were facts.

An unmarked van pulled up to the tourist’s home in Michigan and held the family at gunpoint while six other men removed every cell phone and computer in the house. They threatened the man within an inch of his life and piled all of their electronic devices into the van and drove away. The vlogger was spared the rough treatment but every platform he used on social media was closed and his content was deleted. Gab, YouTube, twitter, Instagram, and numerous boards, went black. One hour after he posted the pictures he was out of social media, lost his lively hood, and had absolutely no recourse.

Little Maia was a gossip junkie and that included the conspiracy channels that whipped her mind into a tornado of awful scenarios coming to the world. Darius teased her so badly about it she started watching her saved videos when she was alone. The Washington crime scene was in her downloaded videos which she watched some days later. When she mentioned a murder in Washington, supposedly at the CIA building, Jamie launched from his chair and pulled Maia out of her seat, almost dragging her upstairs. They all gathered in front of her laptop and watched the vlogger show pictures of a late-night crime scene.

“Jamie, do you think that’s Hesser?”

“I know it’s Hesser. Thank Christ."

“Does this mean we’re free?”

“Of Hesser, yes. He said no one in the government will know us, so we can hope.”

The days ahead were kind to the four of them. Jamaica’s perfect weather, great fishing with rods and spears, gorgeous water to swim, snorkel, and treasure hunt made the days speed by with nary a care. Jamie spent time in his studio each day and occasionally all night. There was still an aggressive edge to the way he made love and Claire tried to be patient until he wanted to talk about it.

After spearfishing with Darius one afternoon, Jamie asked if he would come with him to the island the next day.

“I can’t live with this thing in my arm anymore, it’s driving me crazy not knowing if they will be coming for us. Nor can I forget your warning the ping might be keeping us alive. I have to do something.” Jamie looked around at the beautiful surroundings and then focused on Darius. “I’m going back to the doctor to have it removed tomorrow. I want you there, just in case.”

“In case you die, is that what you mean? Before you take the ultimate risk, maybe look for an expert in this technology or super-spy stuff that you can talk to.”

“I’ve already done that and learned even more that terrifies me. Apparently, it takes a fair amount of energy to be an RFID and even more for the sonar pulses. The battery will go dead at some point and the pinging will stop. We have no way to know how long the battery will last.”

“Same doctor?”

“Yes, I spoke to him yesterday, he said he would do it.”

“Claire knows?”

“No.”

“What kind of a partner does that?”

“One who loves the other more than anything in this universe Darius.”

Claire lowered the aft deck and sat with her legs in the water, deep in thought. Adso sat next to her waiting for something interesting to happen and then left to find a soft seat in the saloon. Claire hardly noticed. Jamie seemed distant the past week, spending nights in his studio, and days with Darius or hiding with his laptop. When she walked into the bedroom the previous day she saw him click off the website he was on and slam the lid down. He was hiding a secret, and with every woman and girl fawning over him on the island she wondered if she should be worried. She missed him and hoped she was wrong.

Later, in the evening, a time the four of them usually sat on the foredeck and played cards or watched a movie, Jamie was painting, Darius carried Maia upstairs, and Claire sat by herself and cried, contriving multiple scenarios of Jamie cheating. She wandered into her bed and fell asleep with her clothes on.

Jamie wanted to write a note to Claire, just in case he didn’t return from the island the next day. He knew they were well into a movie above deck so he took his time. He tried over and over again and the trash can filled with balled-up paper. When the words wouldn’t come he gave up trying and climbed the stairs to a dark and lonely saloon with no one in sight. He laid down behind his Sassenach, filled with sadness this might be the last time to hold her while she slept.

The next morning, Claire poured coffee into a mug and asked Maia where Jamie was. When she heard he and Darius had tendered to shore the tears came tumbling down her cheeks, leaving Maia speechless. Claire shared her suspicions that Jamie had hooked up with someone on the island and Maia’s eyes became slits of anger.

“So Darius is helping him? Or maybe she has a sister? Oh, hell no. We are going after them so get your suit on and bring something to wear into town.”

“Maia, we don’t even know where they are, we can’t start knocking down doors.”

“I know exactly where Darius is every minute of the day.” She held her phone up and punched one of her apps that opened to the streets of the island with a glowing red circle in the middle. “He is here. Let’s go.”

Maia tied her flipflops and waterproof canister to her waist and Claire did the same. From their mooring, the island looked very close but as they swam toward it Claire was getting tired. Maia looked around and waved at a tender with a big smile and let’s-party eyes. Soon after, they were helped onboard by two very hopeful young men. She dismissed them on shore with a kiss on the cheek and pointed to someone else’s yacht while blowing kisses. Claire looked at Maia’s phone over her shoulder. They headed in the direction of the red circle.

“This can’t be right Maia, it’s the doctor’s office we visited before.”

“There is no mistake, Claire, at least Darius’s phone is in there.”

The doctor had closed his office while he performed the extraction, just in case. He heard pounding on the front door and motioned for his nurse to check on the commotion. She glanced at the monitor behind the front desk and recognized the woman who sneered at her the previous week. Quickly she unbuttoned the top of her nurse's uniform and pulled it open so her push-up bra could display her ample bosom, then she tossed her hair pulling stray pieces of her updo into her face. She grabbed a nail file from the pencil holder and rubbed it savagely against her lips making them puffy and red.

Maia pounded on the door again and both women gasped when the nurse pulled the door open five inches, enough to see her bouncing breasts and disheveled look. She was panting and whispering she was at lunch and they had to go away.

Claire looked at the hair in the nurse's face, her breasts pouring out of her loosened uniform, and her lips that looked ravaged. It was the same nurse that waited by the door to watch Jamie leave. Her heart dropped into her stomach and she turned around and walked away while Maia was arguing with the nurse. She was almost to the water’s edge when Maia grabbed her arm.

“Have you condemned Jamie already?”

“What else would he be doing there during their lunch. Do you know how to drive that thing?”

“Yes, I’ll get you home.”

The nurse put herself back together before taking her seat next to the doctor. She looked at Jamie’s beautiful face, relaxed from a shot of Valium, and watched him strip her in her mind.

“Nurse!”

She jerked out of her daydream and held the instrument tray for the doctor. He teased the tissue back exposing the RFID chip and locked the forceps on it.

“Mister Smith, do you want me to pull it out?”

Jamie turned his head from the window and said yes, then he smiled like he had not a thing to worry about.

“Wait just a minute.” Darius sounded angry and closed his hand on the doctor’s arm. “He is high as a kite and you’re asking him if he’s ready to die?”

Jamie looked at Darius and his eyes cleared suddenly. He recited the navigational terms he learned and named the doors on the yacht that closed with a watertight seal in case they were sinking. He looked at Darius, “I love my wife more than my next breath and this will save her.”

Darius released the doctor’s arm and watched him pull the chip out of Jamie’s arm. They waited, silently, while the tension crushed them. One minute, nothing happened, two minutes, then three. Sweat rolled down the doctor’s temple as he pumped up the blood pressure cuff on Jamie’s arm and then pressed a stethoscope to his chest. He repeated the procedure at five minutes, ten, and then fifteen minutes while Jamie dozed from the Valium. He pulled his equipment away and slumped in his stool.

“I do not know if there is some kind of poison in the second object, but if it was strong enough to kill him, he would have a reaction already. I am too old for this. He wiped his forehead with his sleeve and started suturing the incision.

Darius smiled and handed the doctor five one-hundred-dollar bills before helping Jamie stand up and walk toward the door. They both watched the sky as they walked to the beach and half expected black SUV’s to come screeching around a corner, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.

When Jamie saw the ocean in front of them his smile was huge. It felt foreign to him and he realized there hadn’t been much smiling for the past week. It was time to make up for all of that. If he didn’t drop dead in the next twelve hours they were completely free…and rich…and in love.

There was a strange vibe in the saloon that was uncharacteristically quiet. They both felt it and went in separate directions to find the girls.

Claire was breathing hard from the heavy suitcases she carried from the closet. She looked up at Jamie and jumped back, pushing the hair out of her face. He could see she was completely undone and wondered what had happened.

“What’s this then?”

“I think I got all of it. There was more than I thought so I gave you my new suitcases.”

Her voice was so quiet he could barely hear her, so he got closer and she backed away.

“Thank you, love, that was a lot of work, and very generous to give me your cases. What am I to do with them now?”

Jamie took another step toward her, and another until she was pressed against the wall, still looking at her feet. Something huge had happened to Claire and it was not based in truth so he acted authentically until she found the strength to tell him.

“Do you love her?” It was no more than a whisper.

He was standing toe to toe with her, looking down on the top of her head, there was no room for Jesus between them.

“Oh yes, more than the air that fills my lungs,” he whispered. “I am fascinated by her mind, and soft coiled curls, not to mention her body that steals my soul. He ran his fingertips up her thigh as she shook with the confusing arousal caused by his touch. He pulled her chin up so she was forced to look at him. “Mostly, I love her whisky eyes because I see all of my tomorrows in them.”

Claire was under his spell so he brought his mouth down on hers and tasted her fear, her love, and her growing passion. He studied her eyes and her confusion. Clearly she doubted his love for her and that hurt her deeply.

“I would give my life for her,” he whispered, “and I did, today.”

Jamie’s large warm hand covered her globes before inching up her back. She was fighting her need to touch and claim him so he continued his soft touch that came closer to her heat making her exhale into his chest. There were noises upstairs, shattering glass, and tumbling furniture that threatened to break the spell so he kissed the sounds from her mind and let his tongue dance with hers. He moved with her toward the bed, like a dance that she followed. He grimaced when he laid down and quickly moved to her other side so his good arm could support his head.

Claire was in a love stupor and she asked why his arm hurt. Her eyes were foggy with lust and pain from her broken heart. Jamie pushed the hair behind her ear and studied the tragedy on her face wanting to carry her away to a world without threat or danger to erode her faith in him. He dragged his fingertips up her thigh and under her sundress. His warm hand covered her abdomen from side to side and moved slowly toward her breasts.

“Unbutton my shirt love, help me out of it.”

When Claire pushed the shirt off his shoulders she looked at the bandage that circled his arm and he could see her confusion.

“Like I said, she is my everything, her love is so honest and sweet, how could I not give my life for hers.” He kissed her deeply and she could feel his need. In her tortured mind she decided something was interpreted wrong and she opened herself up to his body as he covered her. She felt drunk from relief and gave herself over to his unrelenting soft hand and his power between her legs. The remaining clothes fell away and he pushed into her while he kissed her face, neck, breasts, and mouth. It was a soft, slow build of passion while their eyes affirmed what was in their hearts.

When they came back to earth, Claire held him tightly and buried her face in his neck. He could feel her slight puffs of air as she fell asleep. He held her and let himself truly rest for the first time in days.

Claire’s eyes opened and her stomach growled from the smell of food. Jamie watched her mind clear and then she looked around and gripped his arm. She expected to wake up alone, that was obvious, and he felt shame for leaving their bed so many nights. She smiled at him and he pulled her close. `

“I plan to have a bit of fun loving you back to me.”

“What do you mean?”

“We are truly free Sassenach. It’s over, forever. I know you’re confused and I am so sorry about that. I smell lobster, your favorite. How about a nice dinner while Darius and I clear things up.”

Jamie and Darius went into battle with an invisible foe and won the day. Claire and Maia were brought to their knees but rescued by love in the end. Their story came out over a delicious meal that provided enough distraction to soften the shock of what had transpired.

“We realized a new threat with removing the chip. Maybe it would cause the second object to release something deadly.”

“I found experts online who were more concerned with the battery dying because sonar takes so much power.

“I thought he was nuts to take the risk but he was determined, with or without me.”

“It looked so obvious she had been kissed senseless and her boobs were overflowing her uniform.”

“I grabbed the doctor’s arm before he could pull the chip out. I didn’t think Jamie was capable of giving him the go-ahead. Then he listed the navigation definitions and watertight doors on the yacht and I knew he was clear-headed.”

“I took Claire back in the tender, then returned it and swam back to the boat. If I hadn’t been so pissed at you Darius I never would have made it.”

“I thought you went to her and she did nothing to change my mind, that fluzzy. Coming to the door with her hair in her face and puffy lips.”

"So all those nights and closed doors with your laptop was researching the chip?

"I was looking for proof they could not kill a person with it and found just the opposite. The CIA has studied mind control and building the perfect soldier for forty years. A chip that costs ten cents to make solved both problems."

"So you had it removed, why?"

"So you could turn yourself in and force them to remove it. You would be out in your early fifties and still have decades to live."

Jamie put his arm around Claire protectively. It was over, all of it. They had been on the run for so long and now they were free. Two people, complete strangers at first, had given so much to see them safe were now trusted friends. It was overwhelming.

“I suppose I’m next to get this thing cut out of my arm.”

Jamie kissed her neck, “right, tomorrow it’s your turn.”

”Well, I say we have drinks on the deck and enjoy the beautiful evening. By the way, Maia, will I need to order a new bedroom set?”

“Not all of it.”

The breeze touched her skin like a whisper, so soft and lovely. She dropped her head back on Jamie’s arm and sighed. Looking in his beautiful eyes she asked for a kiss and when his lips were millimeters from her she jumped at the sound of a boat horn.

They looked at the superyacht getting ready to drop anchor beside them with the crew running around on every deck. They almost missed the small woman waving to them.

“Hello, neighbors! I don’t want to intrude but might you come and bring me over so we could have a chat?”

Darius raised his eyebrows at Jamie who asked the woman if she was ready to come now, and they went to fetch her.

“I like people who are straight forward, I suck at subtleties. Sut-el-tees,” she said slowly, “is that the right word?”

“Yes, although depending on the person hearing it, you might want to skip the suck part.”

Claire never realized how little Maia actually spoke because she had grand gestures that made it clear what she was thinking. A bit of encouragement and she was trying out her growing English vocabulary regularly. They went to meet their guest while Maia practiced the word under her breath.

Claire held her breath while Jamie and Darius helped the elderly woman on board and then led her into the saloon and offered her a seat.

“This lovely saloon is entirely comfortable for a chat but weren’t you all sitting outside before I butted in?”

“Of course, let’s sit on the deck and get to know each other.”

The woman seemed so happy to meet new people and sat with a warm smile on her face. “I believe you were drinking, is that right?”

“What can I get for you?”

She looked Jamie up and down, “You in fifty years perhaps, for now, I’ll have beer if you have it.”

Jamie smiled at her, “we never run out of beer.”

The woman looked around at the young faces and healthy smiles, “my name is Sepora. My mother insisted and my father could not pronounce it so he called me Danny and that is the name that stuck to me. It’s just me and my crew, sailing around the world, looking for something to do.”

“I’m Claire, this is Maia, Darius, and Jamie.”

The old woman watched Claire’s face when she said each name and knew Jamie to be loved like no other. He was a special man, she could see that and wanted to know more. But first, she turned toward Darius, “You are the captain, and you love your first mate.”

She touched Maia’s skin and smiled at her. “I see you at the United Nations, telling men what they have come to hear. You are desperately unhappy surrounded by concrete, bricks, and glass. The sea calls to you but you have left it behind. Don’t do it Maia dear, money won’t make you happy.”

Looking back at Darius she smiled disarmingly and told him to take the honest path and leave his family behind.

“When you doubt your path is the right one you have only to look at the picture. It is the real you, and honestly shows your strength.”

The four friends were stealing looks at each other, wondering who this crazy old woman was, but fascinated, hanging on her every word. They didn’t speak fearing they would miss something.

Darius did not believe in seeing the future but couldn’t help his curiosity about some picture. “Ma’am? What picture shows the real me?”

“It’s downstairs dear. Let it guide you toward your path.”

“Jesus,” Jamie whispered and moved from foot to foot.

Danny looked at Jamie, “the dusty old masters could not bend paint into emotion like you can Jamie dear. Paint your world authentically, from your heart, like, the conversation. The world will beat a path to your door.”

Jamie was entranced by her, “how could you…”

“The next one will see you remembered as one of the masters, you will belong to the ages, but the conversation will see you better.”

Jamie’s eyes bored into the woman’s, “How…how could you know my paintings?”

“It is time for me to go home. Could I trouble you boys for a ride back?”

Suddenly she looked pale and tired so Jamie and Darius helped her to the tender and took her back. Five of her crew were waiting on the aft deck to help her aboard. She nodded and smiled at them and then batted at their over-eager hands to assist her. She turned and looked into Jamie’s eyes as they waved, “she is still a mystery that thrills me.” He heard every word and felt the hair on his neck stand up.

Jamie and Darius were arguing when they joined the girls on deck. Darius was begging to see the painting of him and Jamie was saying his paintings were not shared with anyone. “How in God’s name did she know about those paintings Jamie, and what painting is called the conversation?”

Jamie turned a strange look on Claire as the old woman’s words came back. There was no denying she knew what she couldn’t possibly know and if her suggestions were a gift to each of them he had better get out of the way of the message.

“I’ll be back.”

Jamie invited them into the saloon where his paintings were propped up on chairs and couches. They walked through the huge room admiring his talent and use of color but mostly looking from one to another.

“Darius! Oh my God, it’s you. Oh my God,” she whispered and blinked her eyes to clear her vision.

He stared at the image of the man he aspired to be and felt a shiver go up his spine, “someday…I hope.”

From behind him, Jamie said, “I have a photographic memory, and that is the man on the bridge the morning of our wedding. You are him, my friend.”

“What a beautiful place, it’s how I see Scotland in my mind.”

It is Scotland indeed, my boyhood friends, Ian, Rupert, and Angus,” pointing to each of them when he said their names. “The painting is for Rupert, in a few years.”

In her mind, Claire heard boys laughing, twigs snapping, and screams of glee as they dropped from the rope into the ravine. It was rare when a painting pulled her to another place where she felt the emotion of the scene. She looked up at Jamie with wonder and he pressed his forehead to hers for a moment.

There were a dozen more canvases in some stage of completion and all were commented on. Darius was trying to remember all that Danny said.

“Where is The Conversation?”

Jamie blushed and looked at the floor shaking his head side to side. “It is private and it is in our bedroom Claire if you want to see it.”

Claire looked up at him and took his hand, leading him into their room where she gasped and stood rooted to the ground. She was stunned by the life-like tones of her skin, the clear eyes of Adso watching her like he was listening to something profound. Claire was painted naked, laying on her side in their bed. Her one finger was under Adso’s chin so he would listen. Her naked breasts looked lifelike as did her ample butt and flat stomach. Her black coils spilled across her shoulders and down her back and her mouth was open in conversation with the kitten. Adso’s body was stretched out but his eyes were fixed on hers. There were so many emotions conveyed in the picture. Sweet, parental, sleepy beauty, enticingly sexual. Claire’s chiseled features were perfectly painted, full lips, loving eyes, playfully serious. The colors were muted giving the viewer an almost voyeuristic experience.

“My God, Jamie, have I ever looked like that?”

“Every morning love,” he breathed in her ear.

“I keep feeling different things, happiness, love, teaching Adso how to be a good cat, our bed in the morning awe, sexual energy, Adso’s worship. It’s absolutely marvelous Jamie but if we don’t let them see it, I fear they will search for it every time we leave.”

“It is your beautiful body mo chridhe, do you mind them seeing it?”

“I don’t mind, besides, the cute energy between me and Adso is predominant, they won’t even notice.”

Jamie got control of his spontaneous laugh and looked at his wife, as you wish Sassenach.

Claire walked Darius and Maia into their room and apologized for being in her birthday suit. Not a word was spoken from the mouths that hung open. Jamie watched their eyes move around on the canvas, delighted in the exchange between adorable cat and owner being the central focus.

Jamie dropped a sheet over the canvas and blushed at the comments. When they walked out on the deck Maia had grown quiet and pensive. When Darius asked about the new painting she tried to act interested and push down her hurt feelings because she was the only one he didn’t paint.

“What is the subject of your new painting Jamie? She said it would make you famous as a master painter, so what is it?”

Maia stared at her toes, trying not to cry when she heard, “it’s Maia.” She jerked her head up and her heart jumped to her throat.

When Jamie heard Danny comment about how famous it would become, he closed his mind to her abilities to see the future. It was just sweet Maia being iconic and would never be a promoter of his talent. He kept that to himself because the others were having so much fun with the predictions.

“Bring it up! Let us see,” Darius was about to bust with his desire to see the painting. Jamie was worried Maia would be offended after the seriousness of the other paintings.

“Maia, last month I walked into the galley when you were baking, remember?”

Maia was smiling and shaking her head no.

“Come with me and I’ll let you decide.” She followed Jamie into his studio and watched the covered canvas with anticipation as Jamie exposed the picture. She didn’t smile, or bounce around, nor did she make a sound as her eyes flicked all over the canvas.

The painting was life-sized showing Maia from the waist up leaning forward to exert force on the rolling pin over dough. Her face looked like beautiful determination punctuated by the tip of her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth. Her bikini could be seen under her white shirt and her long ponytail had slipped to the front of her shoulder and was covered with white floor. Adso was in the foreground shaking flour off of his fur. “Morning” was painted in a lower corner.

“Oh Maia, you sweet baby girl.”

Darius pushed into the studio and wrapped his arms around Maia while he studied the picture.

“I walked into the galley, early in the morning, and this is what I saw. It was cuteness overload when Adso shook flour all over her. It’s a very intimate picture Maia, I hope you like it when it’s done.” She turned her happy face to him and Jamie was relieved.

Darius looked at every line and shadow in the painting feeling weird about her floppy white shirt exposing part of her bikini-clad chest. One nipple pushed against the fabric and Darius smiled to himself. Maia’s nipples didn’t look like that, they were much bigger, so it was creative-license and not Jamie memorizing his girlfriend’s breast. He turned a knowing smile on his friend.

Jamie felt self-conscious with all the attention and covered the canvas before ushering everyone out. The evening had been extraordinary and the day, a roller coaster of highs and lows that suddenly felt exhausting.

Jamie slid into bed and turned the last light off before pulling Claire to him. He thought about all the crazy things that happened since morning and felt overwhelmed. He cuddled with Claire.

“Life is a journey Sassenach and there are no absolutes except one…me.”

He pulled her close and felt her let go of her conscious world. He would ride the night next to her, a happy occupant of that sacred position.

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underaswift-sunrise · 4 years ago

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Hello, anon back! (੭ु˙꒳˙)੭ु⁾⁾ I hope all is well with you! Oh yeah, I agree with you! Waiting for the next episode is pure torture, especially since now it’s 3 episodes a week on the YOUKU channel ( ཀ͝ ∧ ཀ͝ ) yeeaaahh, my speculations about Wen Kexing were correct haha! When it was revealed, those goofy, squeaky words popped in my head, the “oh no... oh no... oh no no no no” haha (ᗒᗨᗕ) He’s definitely an interesting and complex character because his actions are controlled by wrath and some sort of revenge. It will be interesting to see how Zhou Zi Shu has an impact on him, like a struggle between truth and his revenge, or choosing his revenge over what is ultimately right. I saw a post (probably a small spoiler lol) that compared Wen Kexing with another character. Wen Kexing was not considered a “true villain” because he cared and never let his ambitions impede those he cared for... but over all of that, I just want Wen Kexing and Zhou Zi Shu to be happy!!! I ship them so hard!! ( ´༎ຶㅂ༎ຶ`) And it’ll also be interesting if there’s a whole “who’s the real villain here? Is it the Ghost Valley or the Five Sect Alliance/someone within it?” I have yet to read “Faraway Wanderers,” so I’m not sure if that plot will come into play. And speaking of Wen Kexing speaking in poetry and not having a clue what the poems say, I was browsing through YouTube and I saw this video of a lady who explained some of the poems he spoke... I’ll attach a link to it in case you’d be interested: https://youtu.be/jvOzbhiiMNA ԅ| . ͡° ڡ ͡° . |ᕤ Of course, I’m always happy to discuss and share thoughts on any dramas/movies with you! I have fun with it! I did watch The Yin Yang Master and it was pretty good! It’s interesting seeing people’s adaptations of the story (even tho my dumb a** self hasn’t read the story yet lol (〃ﾉωﾉ)). And the interactions between Qing Ming and Boya never cease to be amusing, no matter the adaptation (｡￫∀￩｡) I loved all the creatures! Their designs were so cool! And to me, for some reason, the movie had an almost rustic feel (like in a different comparison to the Dream of Eternity version... I can’t describe the feeling of their version). The Peach Blossom Fairy’s crown, dropping pedals behind her back... I want one lol. The character design for the Snow Queen was so pretty! And the story plot with Qing Ming was quite interesting and poor dude lol. I honestly didn’t like the design for Ci Mu when he transformed.. it just didn’t feel right and looked kind of weird ( ‘_>’) What are your thoughts on the Yin-Yang Master?? I hope you have a wonderful weekend! ♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪ I enjoy our little discussions!

Hello dear anon!!! :D I hope eveything is good with you as well! 💜☺️

I’m happy you liked the Yin Yang Master because I enjoyed it!! I usually don’t like comparing movies, I enjoyed both of them for different reasons! :D Here I absolutely loved the world building and the special effects, the scene with the painted sliding panels was sooo gorgeous!!! And all the creatures!! I also appreciated the soundtrack, there was a piece of music in one of the first scenes that was so beautiful, I hope they’ll upload it somewhere! The only comparison I’ll make, purely for fun, is about the ending song: as much as I adore Zhou Shen, who sang the ending theme of this Yin Yang Master, I have to say I’m in love with the one sung by Deng Lun in the other movie... It was so full of feeling, and had such a melancholic and dreamy melody! 🥺 And I agree about Ci Mu’s design when he transforms, I didn’t like it either xD Except for when he simply has red hair, that design was cool!! William Chan can really play a convincing villain!

Ahhhhh WoH!!! I’m currently at ep. 18 (there was such a romantic scene omg!) and the wait for Youtube episodes is really testing my patience ahahah xD I was used to have an episode on Thursday too and now when Thursday comes I’m just... 😭😭😭 And YES!!! Let them be happy please, there has to be a happy ending! They’re suffering a lot already... And thank you so much for the link!!! :D Right now I’m enjoying watching the bts and some Zhang Zhehan and Gong Jun’s interviews, they’re just so funny together! And I didn’t know Zhang Zhehan could sing so well!!! I love his voice! 😍 I think today they had an interview for Happy Camp, I watched some parts and it was really cute! ☺️

Now I want to watch the Japanese version of the Yin Yang Master so I’ll have watched all the film adaptations! 😂

I wish you a great day and hope you’ll have a nice end of the week 🥰❤️

#ask #💕

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doorbloggr · 4 years ago

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Thursday 6/5/21: Masters of Musical Mashups

I do not consider myself a musically minded person, but I feel I enjoy music as a past time more than the average joe. When I engage with audio entertainment, I do so with my soul, to the point where songs I have nostalgia for can move me to tears.

Sorry for using K-On for mood-setting imagery again, but its a cute and fun aesthetic.

But before I meander too much off-topic, today's on-topic is specifically about music derived from existing media. Parody is the immediate word that comes to mind, but the type of derivative musical masterpieces I wanna highlight in this blog post goes a bit deeper than that.

The internet is an amazing place (maybe I should retitle this blog series to that string of words), and I've been exposed to many smaller or otherwise hidden musical talents that I would not have encountered in everyday life. Today let's discuss two musical talents from YouTube who have made it their mission to incinerate existing music in a grand inferno, and rebirth a new sound, like a radiant phoenix. The masters of mashups.

High Quality Videogame Rips: SiIvaGunner

SiIvaGunner (spelt s-i-i-v-a-g-u-n-n-e-r) is a videogame OST ripping channel. It owes it name to fellow videogame rip channel GilvaSunner, (g-i-l-v-a-s-u-n-n-e-r), who in turn pays homage to original videogame ripping channel Silvagunner (s-i-l-v-a-g-u-n-n-e-r).

Confusing names aside, the purpose of a videogame rip channel is to provide audio acquired directly from a videogame's files in order to fully enjoy the original soundtrack (OST) in its purest form. There are hundreds of such channels on YouTube, but SiIvaGunner has been set apart from the rest by the specific ripping skillset of its community. Take a listen to this:

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SiIvaGunner songs are a fun bait-and-switch type entertainment, where the bit usually involves using the thumbnail and title of a video game song, but the artist has used the sound font of that game to construct a completely different tune.

A lot of the time, this is as simple as using a Mario soundfont to play notes of a TV show theme (as above), but sometimes, it can go further. Many of SiIvaGunner's most popular hits involve just straight remixes of mainstream music mashed up with videogame tunes.

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And sometimes, the musician will go one more step, and sentence mix lyrics from the videogame song or mainstream song to make a song of entirely new meaning.

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SiIvaGunner is not one artist, there is an entire community of musical artists who contribute their pieces to this channel. The channel uploads often double digits of videos daily, so if I've intrigued you at all, please check the channel out!

A World of Mouth: Neil Cicierega

Neil Cicierega is an internet legend. He has been creating online entertainment for almost two decades. Particularly credits include his Potter Puppet Pals series, and his own original music under the name "Lemon Demon", with works such as The Ultimate Showdown and Two Trucks.

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Given his aptitude in comedy and musical talent, it is not surprising that Neil jumped into the parody/remixing scene. But whereas other parody artists and remixers simply created their own altered versions of popular music, Neil Cicierega created something on entire other level.

Neil has recently released his fourth album in the Mouth series, a collection of mashup music that transforms popular mainstream music into something new and fantastic. Neil will take the vocals from one song and transplant it into the instrumentals of another song. Often this contrast is used for comedic effect, but in my opinion, many of the songs he's remixed sound catchier and more fun than the originals.

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The namesake of his series, Smash Mouth, feature heavily in a number of his songs. Given the meme-able nature of Smash Mouth, thanks to Shrek, the Mouth series is known across the internet for its fun parodic nature.

Smash Mouth is far from the only source Neil Cicierega uses. Source music is taken from all genres of popular 20th and 21st century hits. Neil has a musical ear where he can perfectly match any lyrics with their instrumental soulmate. The pairing needn't be songs of the same genre however, and some of his most fun music comes from combining music from polar opposite genres.

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Using the vocals from AC/DC's Back in Black with the instruments from Vanessa Carlton's A Thousand Miles sounds like a pair that shouldn't work. But Neil knows his rhythm and it goes off. And while Neil is a master of putting hard-ass lyrics to a softer song, that doesn't mean he can't go in the other direction. Below is Spongerock, a mashup of the Spongebob theme song and Queen's We Will Rock You.

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Some of Neil's remixes aren't mashups at all, but rather a transformation of a song into something silly, bizarre and barely recognisable from the original. The prime example being Bustin.

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Neil Cicierega posts his original music on Spotify, and his Mouth series can be found on his Soundcloud. Fans have uploaded most of the Mouth series to Youtube, and if you have a spare few hours (or want to consume it over a few days), a fan has compiled all of his albums into one long video, The Mouth Experience:

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I've given my readers plenty of good music to listen to today, so if you do enjoy yourselves or have already experienced these musical geniuses before, be sure to let me know and spread the word.

#blogpost #blog #mashups #remixes #siivagunner #neil cicierega #lemon demon #music

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japanessie · 5 years ago

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Hi. I'm new to fandom. I just wanna ask you is there some kind of translation or highlight/summary of event that happen in zenshin documentary? thanks a lot before.

Hi ✌️😊 Welcome to the fandom 🤗

Sorry this answer came late. I almost forgot to post this from my draft 🙏

At the moment, I’m sorry that there isn’t yet a full English translation for Zenshin Documentary. It’s a big task and there aren’t many translators in the MFS fandom yet. Our fellow Storytellers from @ourstory-mfs recently did the Budokan concert soft-sub. It wasn’t easy. It took a whole team (which included native Japanese speakers too) to do it.

As for me, I have only touched a few things here and there from that documentary on this blog. Only the parts my poor ears could pick up with my limited vocab.

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Basically Zenshin is something like this:

1. Introduction of how the band started but then ran into a snag when original drummer Masack quit. They then explained that the situation was saved when Kid’z joined.

2. Interviews with each member & their producer Nori of how they met and got together.

- Masack & Nob were already friends when they met Sho and started a piano rock band together called Fromus.

- Nori was a uni classmate of Masack's friend. That's how Nori ended up meeting Sho through all these connections.

- Nori liked Sho's music & expressed his desire to be a band manager.

- Sho, Nob & Masack were already in a band together called Fromus. It was Sho who brought Nob & Masack into MFS. Basically the 3 of them were already set together.

* I nicknamed Fromus as MFS Real Twin Band. Read about the reason here & who is Fromus to MFS here.

- Nori was friends with Pay Money To My Pain a.k.a PTP's singer the late Kei Goto a.k.a K who was also friends with Hiro who was still a high school kid at the time.

- Nori & Hiro met at the after party (打ち上げ / uchiage) of PTP's concert in 2011.

- Hiro & Teru already knew each other when they tried to start a band together before that.

- Basically it was Nori who brought the band together when he suggested Hiro to Sho as the vocalist to the Sho/Nob/Masack combo.

3. Interview with an early supporter of MFS, the late Mr. Yutaka Matsubara. You may read the background story of their friendship here.

4. Hiro and the “nanahikari” accusation

5. Hiro’s illness during the 47-Prefecture 2016 Tour

6. Interviews with each band member where they described each other’s personalities. I think Teru said that Nob was not the type of person who let out what he was thinking or feeling easily 🤔.

* Hiro’s explanation of the “fighting with Teru” scene from Rolling Stone Japan

7. Kid’z describing what Nob means to him

8. Preparation for the Budokan show. The captions basically described that Hiro heavily oversaw every detail. He was also the one who planned how Sho would appear onstage that night.

9. Clips from the final performance with emphasis on the song Home.

10. The teary Home performance onstage and the band members comforting Hiro.

11. Hiro talking about his family where Hiro described how his left fingers represented each member of his family.

Thumb = Papa (父 / chichi), Index finger = Mama (母 / haha), Middle finger = big bro Taka (兄 / ani), Ring finger = big bro Tomo (兄 / ani) and Pinky (僕 / boku) = Hiro himself.

Hiro then said even though him (Pinky) and his father (Thumb) were the furthest apart (I think he meant their age gap) but he and his father were the easiest to come together as he demonstrated how when you brought your fingers together, the Thumb and the Pinky would connect.

* I saw a few OOR fans' video translation of this part in passing. Sorry I don’t have any link though 🙏

12. The tearjerker scene with Papa Mori backstage.

13. Hiro’s ultimate dream translation in the last interview scene.

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The official DVD/BD has extra scenes (short snippets officially available on YouTube MFS_MOVIE Channel) and as far as I know, MFS has never released those extra scenes in full to any TV station or streaming sites.

#reply #my first story #マイファス #zenshin #全心 #maifasu

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bbq-hawks-wings · 5 years ago

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Series Review Pt. 1/3

So, this isn’t even a YouTube video where you have the advantage of hearing a voice over a recording with snappy editing to lighten the mood or convey feeling; but believe me that there was a lot of earnest sincerity put into the review this time around.

But before I put the rest of it under the cut, there are some corrections/clarifications I want to put down about my last review that I believe we're significant shortcomings on my part.

My first, and probably most MAJOR goof was my choice of words in trying to describe the scene with Hawks and Twice at the end of 263 - “ he clearly hasn’t killed Twice yet, and we don’t know why, but if he has to he’s prepared to do so without hesitation or remorse.”

BIG OOF. I hadn’t even been looking much at others’ opinions and the common-enough impression that Hawks doesn’t care about Twice at all/is incapable of empathy/ONLY concerned with his mission from the Commission. When I looked back at my own review, though I didn’t have any indication anyone believed I was one of those people (“without remorse” being the problematic phrase in question), I could easily see how others could get the impression and decided to wait until the next review to do a better job instead of just saying I would. My views on that particular scene will be clear later on, but at least that’s out of the way in case that was keeping people from reading this in the first place.

Second, I failed to arrange my observation points in a more ideal order. If anything, the fact that we were seeing that last page from Twice’s perspective should have been the first point. This mistake made it sound like a neutral assessment of the situation instead of an observation through the context of Jin's feelings. This ended up confusing even myself, as someone who usually writes these reviews solo, into forgetting to factor in that Twice's perspective may be warping the perception of Hawks guarding him into one of intent to kill while forgetting that the Hero Code forbids killing others unless it's truly a necessary last resort. For some reason, Sad Man's Parade and Twice's two-double limit also slipped my mind which brings me to the last point.

Third, I rushed things. When I rush, I make mistakes, sometimes pretty sloppy ones. It has been a ROUGH couple of weeks to be a Hawks or villain stan, even more so if you’re both, so for some reason I felt like I needed to get my thoughts out there quickly. I don’t have any kind of real incentive to do so other than a faster response - I don’t make any money off this, don’t have any relevance algorithm to feed as if I was on YouTube or Twitter, and I’m not the only half-decently known blog to hold these opinions so I don’t know what I was thinking. That’s my problem, but that doesn’t mean I have to make it anyone else’s.

For complete transparency, I’ve been reading and re-reading through the entire series canon again, starting with Hawks’ manga debut, and reviewing the entire series’ events and in-universe history, and have been taking literal whole pages of notes and drafts since Thursday the 12th. I’m glad I did because it brought to mind things that often get left out of pockets of fandom discussion who hyper-focus on their circles of interest while forgetting that each individual section is meant to work with the whole.

That’s what we’ll be working with today, and additional thanks goes to @baezetsu and @dorito9708 for volunteering as proofreaders and editors to make this more focused and concise. If you’re interested please keep reading. A fair warning, this is what we in the professional field call a “long-ass post, no seriously guys grab a drink and a snack we’re gonna be here a while.” It's actually so long I have to split it up into parts because Tumblr Mobile is stupid and doesn't like making the "read more" function available to the mobile version.

So here we go, people, let’s try this again one last time…

Where we’re at in Chapter 264 (or at least, you know, ignoring literally everyone in the series that isn’t these two) is Twice and Hawks’ confrontation in the study room; but let’s put a pin in that for now and come back.

The biggest piece of information to keep in mind is that even though both these characters are currently front-and-center and have major plot and symbolic value in the series, they are still not the main characters. Their conflict is also not the central conflict. Let’s zoom out to the big picture and see what happens when we put everything together at the end.

The whole inciting incident of the series is when humanity began to display superhuman abilities in a few random individuals. These abilities are neither inherently good or bad - they are constantly intended as neutral with the potential being dependent on the user. Eventually these abilities began to be collectively termed as “quirks” - literally just a single facet of each person’s unique identity. From a social commentary standpoint, quirks have been used as a narrative stand-in for the unique situational circumstances or combinations of circumstances individuals may find themselves with that are either mostly or completely outside of their control like aptitude, physical ability, race/appearance, mental state, and inherited societal station. While more of these examples have been explicitly stated and inserted into the story later on, quirks still serve as the main catalyst and lens by which these topics are discussed.

Because of the initially new and unfamiliar nature of these abilities, people who possessed them faced descrimination and persecution despite having no say in whether or not they had them; and some who did possess these abilities began abusing their power. Taking advantage of this, a man calling himself One-for-All took unwanted quirks from people and redistributed them claiming to want to help others and bring about peace but merely wished to amass power and a following for his own gain. Morally upright individuals eventually rose to the occasion and placed themselves between innocent bystanders and evildoers, earning no official reward or compensation for their work, though eventually they became so effective that they became recognized and endorsed if they went through proper governmental training and channels. These endorsed specialty crime fighters came to be dubbed “heroes.”

All-For-One had risen to prominence by this point and his loyal following actively supported him in his now blatant criminal empire despite the morally reprehensible actions he committed which incessantly terrorized innocent bystanders - earning him the title Symbol of Evil or Symbol of Fear. Eventually a hero named All Might rose up to specifically deal with All-For-One’s reign of terror, having worked his way up from obscurity taking down criminals and saving civilians in unprecedented numbers, determined to create a world where everyone could feel safe in the face of danger. Though only succeeding in beating AFO into hiding All Might ushered in a new era of safety and prosperity earning him the title Symbol of Peace.

Therein lies the central message - “It’s not the situation you’re given that determines your worth or potential but what you choose to do with it” - and the main conflict is - “I want to use what I’ve been given for my own benefit" vs "I want to use what I’ve been given for others.” Deku and Shiguraki are merely the next generation iteration of this conflict distilled down to their simplest essence. Deku's desire is to save anyone who needs help the moment he realizes they need it. Shiguraki wants to remove people's sense of security regardless of their character or situation.

This conflict is initially framed as simple - a clear black and white/good and bad dynamic that’s easy to see from a distance; but as characters and groups developed over time it’s become more and more difficult to tell the two sides apart. It was not a coincidence that immediately after introducing the clear-as-day bad guys to the series we were presented with the idea that who we perceived to be “good guys” could be bad people doing good things or that people could do good things for the wrong reasons when we were presented with the personal conflicts that Bakugo, Shinsou, and Todoroki all faced at the Sports Festival that were either their internal struggles with the way the were perceived by others or were their personal struggles with the way they perceived themselves. Immediately after that, we were introduced to Stain's criticism of modern heroes and shown who would come to be the core members of the League of Villains.

At the current events in the series we’ve waded through so many shades of grey we’re expected to determine who’s a “hero” and “villain” not by what they say but what they do, how they do it, and why they do it. The individual members of the League of Villains touch on various ways a person might be driven to a life dedicated either to the pursuit of personal satisfaction with no concern to others or to the active pursuit of destroying others, and generally the villains are some of the most morally gray characters we have in the series, though not all of them - the two most notable morally gray “good guys” are Hawks and Endeavor.

There’s one last thing to note about how the series chooses to distinguish morally gray characters as “good” and “bad,” and that ultimately boils down to the choices they make with the hand they are dealt - that being to help or to harm others. This is not quite the same thing as a “hero” and a “villian” (I know, as if it wasn’t confusing enough), but the series has now gone to great lengths to make a clear distinction between the ideals of heroism and the institution of heroism.

Looking at the difference in institutions and ideals as the series presents them we get a better picture of the actual core issues the series seeks to address. The institution of heroism is a utilitarian approach to maintaining a sense of order and safety, and it does so by incentivising people to resolve as many public altercations as possible in exchange for wealth and fame. Criminals are those who break the law regardless of the motivation for the crime or its degree of impact. The institution does not take into account factors that may drive someone to commit a crime nor is it concerned with the core motivations of those enforcing the sense of order.

On the opposite hand, the ideal of heroism offers no reward, no recognition, may require some amount of suffering on the part of the hero, and never guarantees that the victim in question will be saved. Conversely, villainy/evil is any action taken for one's own gain with zero regard to the impact on others and/or is any action committed with malicious intent. These definitions are about moral obligation and human to human connection.

While having a strong correlation (helping others because it's right usually helps the majority in the long run, and doing harm is often ultimately bad for the majority) these two schools of thought are able to function independently of each other. In other words, a criminal can be a good person fallen on hard times (like stealing food to feed their family, but only as much as they need from someone who won’t notice it missing) while a “professional hero” can be an evil person doing good things for the wrong reasons (like obsessing over gaining wealth and popularity with no mind to collateral damage they may cause). Most characters are categorized and even described in-universe as morally aligning with the institution they associate with; but several have been explicitly noted as exceptions to the rule such as Gentle Criminal and La Brava, Endeavor, and Twice.

Are we properly confused yet? Great, because there’s one more layer to consider! What do we make of someone who is trying to do a good thing (like saving as many people as possible from a known threat) but to do so has to make a choice that might leave a few people in the fire? Which outcome do we use to decide if this is a good person or a bad one? Do we judge based on intent or on the outcome?

Now we zoom back in to Hawks and Twice, but we’ll pick that up in Part Two.

Part Three

#bnha meta #mha meta #BNHA Chapter 264 #MHA Chapter 264 #BNHA spoilers #MHA spoilers #long post

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